So originally, I had a different chapter planned, one that would condense a few months and cover a period of time between the end of September and Christmas day 1996, but it seemed there was more to tell about Melanie's first Saturday at the school. So this completely unplanned chapter picks up where the last one left off. And when I say unplanned, I mean it wasn't in my outlines. It just... sort of happened. It's shorter than the last one, but I'm still happy with it, and hope you enjoy it too.

All characters are the property of SNK/Playmore. I don't own them, the video games, or the anime.


Chapter Eight: An Understanding

Dinner had gotten out, and Melanie had been on her way back to the dorms, looking forward to putting on something more comfy and just vegging in the rec room until lights out (according to Kimberly, they got to stay up an hour later on Saturdays). True, she had homework, but she could do that tomorrow. Overall, the day had been a good one. She'd gotten to do some combat training, take a day trip, eat one of her favorite foods for lunch. She didn't think anything could ruin it... until she was jumped from behind by Regina's crew.

One minute, she was continuing her argument with Kimberly about how animes were cartoons, despite what her roommate said, when suddenly she felt rough hands grabbing her arms, Janis at her left and Lacey at her right, while Sunako nudged Kimberly off to the side and then stood impassively between her and Melanie. Regina faced the now-restrained smaller blonde with Amanda standing at her right side.

"This doesn't concern you, runt number two!" Regina said to Kimberly. "So get lost!"

Though she didn't try to move past Sunako, the dark-haired girl remained equally impassive, her gaze fixed on her struggling roommate. "No," she said.

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid, Kim. I can handle myself." Kimberly still remained where she stood. After another tense moment, Melanie snapped at her: "Are you fucking deaf? Go to your stupid cartoons! I'll be fine! I can take a punch, remember?"

"If that's really what you want," Kim said, her tone not convinced.

"Yes, now fuck off. I apparently have business with these girls, and like Queen Bitch said, it doesn't concern you! Get lost!"

Another tense moment, Kimberly's gaze fixed on her roommate's. Then she gave a sad sigh, turned, and kept walking towards the dorms. After she was out of earshot, Regina gave the small blonde a smirk of pure malice. "Smart move, runt. Better not to drag anyone else down with you."

"I could care less about her," Melanie said with a snort. "I just don't like letting other people fight my battles."

"Yeah, whatever," Regina growled. "You and I have something we need to discuss."

"And what's that?" If Melanie's arms were not held, she'd have given a bored shrug.

The taller blonde took a step towards her, eyes narrowing. "I'm asking the questions, here."

"Oh, you're asking the questions?" Melanie asked without skipping a beat.

"That's what I just said," her adversary answered.

"You?"

"Yes!" Regina started to sound more annoyed.

"You're asking the questions?" Melanie repeated, a devious smile on her face.

"Yes!" Regina practically shrieked.

"So, questions are being asked by you?"

Regina was about to haul off and punch her in the gut, when she felt Amanda's hand around her arm. "You realize what she's doing, right, Regina?" The other three henchmen were all doing their best to stifle their laughter.

The ringleader's brow furrowed, and after a moment, she blew out a sharp breath. "Right. Of course I did." Then she turned her aggression back towards the new girl. "So, my question to you is: why didn't you offer me any tribute earlier?"

"Oh, that's your question?" Melanie asked, an obvious look of malicious glee on her face.

This time, Regina was not as slow. The color rose in the Alpha's cheeks, and Lacey twisted Melanie's right arm a little. "You should pop her, Gina!" She said.

"No," Regina raised her hand. "Empty her pockets!"

Sunako moved forward and reached out a hand, and received a kick to the stomach from the wiry blonde. She staggered backwards a few paces, and then started forward again, her almond eyes narrowed into deadly slits. "You're gonna pay for that, runt!" She hissed. Melanie would have tried to kick her again, but Lacey and Janis were standing on her feet. Sunako reared back a fist, ready to smash it into Melanie's gut...

"Wait!" Regina shouted before she could swing it forward. "She wants to do this the hard way? Let's at least make it more fun. Sunako, step back! You two, let her go!"

Sunako moved off to the side again, but the other two girls hesitated. "You sure?" Lacey asked her. "Why not just deck her?"

"Because I don't need you two giving me freebies," Regina said impatiently. "This runt is easy meat. I can take her without you holding her down. Now drop her!"

The two girls shoved Melanie forward onto the grass. The small blonde raised her head and took a moment to assess her situation. Lacey and Janis were flanking her on the left and right, while Amanda and Sunako flanked Regina, forming a perimeter that would prevent Melanie from just rabbiting. And directly in front of her, Regina was filling her field of vision. "On your feet!" The taller girl snarled.

Melanie planted her hands on the ground, appearing to comply, but then she suddenly lashed out with one hand, fingers curled into a fist, and slammed it into Regina's knee. The Alpha grunted in pain and felt her leg buckle, then hobbled backwards a step or two. Melanie had moved to her feet, and assumed the same stance she'd seen Kimberly use earlier, arms raised chest-level but still loose, hands open instead of balled into fists. Be the river, she thought to herself.

"Well, this is cute!" Regina said with a cackle, noting Melanie's new stance. "She might actually make it fun for me this time, ladies."

The cronies all laughed. "I wouldn't bet on it," Amanda mocked the smaller blonde.

Regina assumed her own stance and came at her opponent with the same ferocity as she had on Monday. This time, Melanie was a bit looser, more tuned in. She swayed on her feet, watching for the first jab, which came suddenly from the left, and managed to knock it away with her right hand. Regina's opposite fist came in low, towards her belly, but Mel swiped her left arm downwards and deflected it. She then tried to launch a right jab to the Alpha's face, but Regina bobbed her head right to avoid it, and tried to counter, but her punch was diverted by a sweep from Melanie's wrist.

It was clear she was learning, but Melanie still faced someone who had several years worth of training on her. Regina tried another jab with her left, which was blocked, but it put her opponent in an ideal position to launch a high kick. Melanie just barely saw it coming in time and was forced to backpedal, narrowly missing a sneaker to her jaw. Before she could regain her stance, Regina pressed the advantage.

As soon as her foot was back on the ground, the taller blonde spun on her heel and thrust her other leg forward, the sole of her shoe slamming into Melanie's gut. Melanie doubled over briefly but was quick to recover. Regina came in with two high ones, which were deflected, but then mixed things up by bringing her knee into Melanie's solar plexus. The smaller girl could not adapt fast enough and the hit connected, driving the air from her lungs.

Melanie sank gasping to her knees, both hands rubbing her tender belly. Before she could recover, Regina grabbed her by the hair and yanked her upright, then delivered what Melanie was starting to think was her signature move. Once more, Melanie's vision became aglow with radiant starbursts as the Alpha's forehead slammed into her nose, which was followed by an uppercut to the jaw which sent her sprawling onto the grass.

"Ow..." She muttered, still a little dazed from the blow but shaking it off as quickly as she could. Before she could get to her feet, Regina's crew moved in once more, Lacey and Janis pinning her arms to the ground while Sunako held her feet.

When the white faded from her vision, Melanie could see Regina towering over her, Amanda at her side. "Let's try this again," the taller blonde said with a sinister sneer. "Amanda?"

"Right," Amanda said, then got down on one knee beside Melanie and turned out the pockets of her jeans. Melanie attempted to struggle, but couldn't gain any leeway, not with three people pinning her.

It didn't take long for Amanda to complete her search, as there was not much in the smaller girl's pockets: Just her lighter, her Swiss army knife, the yo-yo she'd bought, and whatever change she had left from her shopping today.

"You'd better have something more for me this time next week, or we'll go through this again," Regina said as she pocketed the change with disdain. She then turned her attention to the other items. "What the hell is this?" She asked, holding up the yo-yo.

"What's it look like?" Melanie spat at her.

"Like a baby's toy to me," Regina answered, and tossed it over her shoulder. "So it suits you." She opened the knife up next. "And what's the point of this? The blade doesn't even work." To drive the point home, she jabbed the palm of her hand with it, and her skin was not even pierced. "This is the type of knife you deserve."

"I dunno," Amanda said with a cackle. "I still think it's too good for her."

Regina glanced upwards, as if considering. "What say the rest of you?" She asked the other three "lesser bitches."

"Definitely too good," said Sunako.

This was seconded by Janis and Lacey. Melanie could guess what was coming, and although there were things she wanted to say, she was determined not to show any weakness in front of Regina. So she simply said: "It's still not as nice as your knife, right? So, what's the big deal?"

Regina shrugged. "Yeah, but the votes are in." So she snapped the dull blade off the knife and tossed both pieces over her shoulder. Melanie's amber eyes practically dripped venom, but the Alpha gave a bored yawn and started walking towards the dorms. "She's all yours, girls," she called over her shoulder to the other four.

Melanie spent the next few minutes getting worked over by the four jackals, who were grateful to finally get tossed some scraps in the form of action against the new girl. The petite blonde lay in the grass for a few minutes after that, waiting until she was sure they were gone, then she dragged herself to her feet and combed the ground for her stuff. She found the yo-yo easily enough and slipped it back in her pocket. The pieces of her knife were laying close by.

Melanie found that she actually had to fight back a tear. Part of her kept saying it was just a stupid knife that didn't even work, but then... she'd had it for as long as she could remember, long enough that if you were to ask her where it came from, she couldn't tell you. In the end, she took a deep breath to compose herself (tears never solved anything, and were also a sign of weakness, which she could not afford to show in this school), then she slipped the pieces into her pocket. Someday, when I have my new knife, I'll shove the old one down Regina's fucking throat, she thought to herself.

When Melanie got back to the dorms, she managed to sneak past the open door of Ms. Wallace's combination office/bedroom, since she didn't feel like answering questions about what happened to her. She went straight to the showers, tossed her clothes into a heap in the corner, and stepped under one of the shower-heads, turning the knob for the hot water. She stood under it with her head tilted back, letting the spray hit her directly in the face, cleaning off the blood from her scrapes and also her nose.

Finally, when the water that ran down the drain was clear, Melanie shut off the shower, dried off with a towel, wrapped it around her torso, and went to her room with her clothes in hand. Kimberly was nowhere to be found, which the battered girl was thankful for. She donned a pair of shorts and a nightshirt, finished drying her blonde hair, fixed it into a ponytail, then left her bedroom in search of the rec room. This time, she was unable to avoid Ms. Wallace, as the supervisor was making her rounds.

Though Melanie had cleaned the blood off herself, she still had fresh bruises on her face, including another purple mark blossoming below her right eye (and so soon after the last one had almost cleared). Melanie insisted she didn't need the infirmary, and also refused to say who did it to her. After a few minutes of back and forth, Wallace took her by the hand and practically dragged Melanie back to her office, where she gave the girl an ice-pack.

"Put that on yer eye, girlie," she said. "Just so it doesn't swell. And don't try to argue with me on this!"

"Yes, ma'am," Melanie grumbled.

"And yer sure that you don't know who did this?"

"Never saw their faces," the small blonde insisted.

Ms. Wallace seemed unconvinced, but finally gave a nod of surrender. "Okay, then, go watch TV or something. And try not to get in anymore trouble tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," Melanie said, then turned and left her room.

"And keep that ice pack on your face!" The heavyset woman called after her. Melanie did as asked until she got to the bottom of the stairs, then she dropped the pack into a wastebasket and continued on towards the rec room.

Several girls were already there, some of them gossiping, others playing board games. In addition to the television, there was also a Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine sitting against one wall for anyone who had quarters to put in it. However, the machine appeared to be gathering dust.

Kimberly was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, watching a video of something called "Bubblegum Crisis," having signed up for a half-hour slot the previous day (she'd told Melanie about the sign-up sheet for the TV on Mel's first day of school). Two other girls were watching with her, but one of them held a VHS of her own, so they were probably just waiting for Kimberly's time to be up so they could watch their own program.

Without a word of greeting, Melanie sat down on the sofa next to her, and tucked her knees up under her chin. Kimberly winced when she saw Melanie's right eye, but she simply said: "Hey."

"Hey," Melanie answered out of the corner of her mouth, while she looked at but didn't really look at the TV screen.

"So, um..." Kimberly faltered over what to say next. The blonde girl definitely didn't want sympathy right now, so after a moment, she got out: "So, thanks for keeping Regina occupied. If she's not spending her Saturday evening beating on someone, she's monopolizing the TV in here. She has no regard for the sign-up sheet."

Melanie snorted. "What a surprise." A few moments of awkward silence passed, and then Melanie turned her head a little. "Listen, Kim... I, um... I wanted to say that..."

"Yeah, Mel?"

"I'm... uh... sorry that I needed to snap at you earlier. But, that's because you didn't listen to me the first time, so it's kinda your own fault."

The dark-haired girl laughed. "I know what you're really trying to say, Mel, and it's nice to know that deep down, you care."

"No, I don't," Melanie said defensively. "Like I said, Regina's beef was with me. It was none of your business."

Kimberly laughed again, then got up and pressed EJECT on the VCR, and pulled her tape out. "I know I've got a few more minutes, but I'm done," she said to the two girls who were waiting. Then she sat back down on the sofa next to Melanie. "Okay, Mel. Whether you want to or not, we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other for a while. So we should probably set some rules."

"I agree," Melanie said quickly. "First rule: don't ask questions about my past. Not about the orphanage, the streets, the foster homes... nothing."

"Fair enough," said Kim. "Second rule: I won't bore you with my hobbies, but you have to promise to stop calling animes 'cartoons.'"

The blonde girl gave a curt nod. "Fine."

"And you also have to listen when I give you warnings. If, for example, I tell you you shouldn't mouth off to someone, then don't mouth off to them. Simple, right?"

There was a longer pause for that one. Finally, a nod. "Okay. I think I can handle that. If you promise to stay out of my beef with Regina, and let me fight my battles by myself. If she tells you to walk away, just do it."

"You know, Mel, I can take care of myself. I was taking shit from her crew long before you showed up."

"And now you're not. And anyway, it's not because I care what happens to you. It's because it's my fight, and I wanna keep it that way."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Okay. Agreed." She held out a hand, and the two girls shook on it. "If anything, Melanie, I think it's cute the way you keep running inside yourself. It's definitely not healthy, but it's still cute."

Now it was the blonde's turn to roll her eyes. "You are such a fucking weirdo."

"And proud of it!" Kimberly said with a laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." So saying, she picked up her video, rose from the sofa, and left the room. After she was gone, Melanie got up as well.

"Hey, new girl!" One of the girls still sitting on the couch said.

"Yeah, what?" Melanie turned to face her.

"Thanks for actually saying grace tonight."

"Don't thank me. I did it for myself, not any of you." And with a huff, Melanie went over to the shelves, found a deck of cards, and sat at one of the empty tables playing solitaire until lights out.


ADDITIONAL NOTES

So, I honestly don't know a whole lot about anime. I just googled "Animes in the 80s and 90s," and read descriptions off the lists I found. I feel like both "Bubblegum Crisis" and "Devil Hunter Yohko" are both animes that Kimberly would like, since the main cast is largely female and they sound action-oriented.

Well, until the next chapter, feel free to post a review. I thirst for them.