"Cruz!"

"Shit!"

Kiki held her pork bun in her mouth and high-tailed it out of there. Shingo gave chase, almost immediately closing the distance between them. Kiki weaved through pedestrians, hoping to shake Shingo off. The boy ran ahead of her and cut her off.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed as he winded up a punch.

"Mrgh!" Kiki let out a muffled swear and ducked, dodging Shingo's attack. Noticing the whiff, Shingo kicked out a leg, and Kiki brought both her arms up: one to defend herself and one to catch her pork bun just in case she spits it out on impact. Shingo's foot connected, and he followed up with an overhead kick. The girl rolled behind him before the next hit could land. Rising to her feet, she ran past Shingo, hoping her evasion gave her enough distance. The apartment complex was just in sight, however, Shingo caught on quickly and managed to close the gap.

"This isn't over!" he cried as he reeled a fist back. With a whine, Kiki lunged herself forward and kept running towards the apartment complex's entrance, avoiding Shingo's incoming punch. Once Kiki was at the entryway, she stretched an arm out to the door handle, yanked it towards her, and threw herself inside the building. Though she could hear the boy shouting at her, Kiki dared to not look back as she fumbled with her keyring to get her key into the inner door's lock. Finally unlocking the door, Kiki dashed inside, up the stairs to the second floor, and into Iori's apartment.

She slammed the door behind her and leaned back against it. Her whole body relaxed as she slid down against the door to her butt. The pork bun she held in her mouth fell onto her lap as her jaw slacked. After a moment of catching her breath, Kiki took a bite of her bun. A small reward for a successful getaway.

Hearing the door slam, Iori peeked out from the kitchen and looked down at Kiki, "... What's with you?"

"Shingo chased me again," she replied and took another bite of the bun. "Speaking of which, mind if we skip out on training today? I'm beat."

Iori furrowed his brow. Hearing a faint shouting from downstairs, he walked over to the balcony. "He's outside," he called out.

"H-Huh?!" Kiki scrambled up to her feet and joined Iori at the balcony.

Peering down at the sidewalk below, she could see Shingo waving his fist at her. "Come back down here, Cruz, and fight me!"

"Are you fucking serious," she muttered under her breath.

"You heard him," Iori said plainly.

"What?"

"If you're not going to train, go fight him," He turned to her. "He's been chasing you for the past few weeks, right? So, fight back."

Kiki rubbed the back of her neck and showed Iori a half-hearted smile, "Do you think he'll leave me alone if I beat him?"

Iori looked back down at Shingo who was still barking up a storm like an excited puppy, "No." The smallest faint of a smile cracked on Iori's lips, "Speaking from personal experience."

"... Ah."

He nudged Kiki towards the exit. "Go on. Your rival's waiting."

Kiki pouted and wolfed down the rest of her food. Don't want that getting in the way.

As soon as Kiki emerged from the front door of the apartment complex, Shingo got into his fighting stance, "Done running, Cruz?"

She rubbed the back of her neck and groaned as she trudged closer to the boy, "Yeah, yeah." Placing her feet shoulder-width apart, one in front of the other, Kiki declared, "On one hand, I don't wanna do this. On the other hand," she brought her hands up and glared at him, "this is for all the times you interrupted breakfast."

The two fighters charged at each other, readying their attacks. Shingo leaped into the air, while Kiki crouched down. Shingo let out a battle cry as he launched himself leg first into Kiki, "Shingo Kick!" The girl watched him carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to counterattack. However, he came at her much faster than she anticipated. Shingo hit her clean in the back of her head with his foot, knocking her down onto the pavement.

Peeking up to see that Shingo is within range, Kiki jumped up and launched an uppercut into Shingo's jaw. He let out a choked-back cry and flew back from the hit. Catching himself before his fall, Shingo rolled back and stood back up, barely breaking a sweat. Leaping into the air again, Shingo lunged towards Kiki. She braced herself for another airborne kick, but the boy stopped short in front of her. Dropping down, Shingo swept his leg at Kiki's ankles, throwing her off her balance. He followed up with another kick, then a right hook, "Your body's weak!" Kiki stumbled back from each hit. Her head pounded from Shingo's first kick causing her to struggle to focus on her opponent. She blinked a few times, trying to get the stars out of her eyes.

Kiki stretched her hands out in front of her and bent her knees slightly. Shingo charged at her again, winding back a fist and letting out a battle cry. As he shot out a punch, Kiki pivoted away and grabbed his outstretched arm. Yanking Shingo closer, she kneed him in the stomach and shoved him away; he stumbled as he struggled to get back on good footing. She followed up with a tackle, knocking the boy onto his back. The adrenaline began to rush through her, and whatever pain she felt before began to subside. "Come on!" she taunted. "Is that all?!"

With a grunt, Shingo rose to his feet, cleared his throat, and smirked at Kiki, "I'm just getting started!" The two of them ran towards each other and let punches and kicks fly in a flurry. Both fighters blocked each other's hits, not letting the other land another blow. That is until one hit from Kiki connected: a right hook to Shingo's side. The punch caught him off-guard, temporarily stopping his train of thought. Kiki capitalized on this by punching upwards into his chest, doing it again, leaping forward, and hammering both fists down onto him.

Kiki panted as she stumbled back. She leaned against a nearby fence, caught her breath, and observed Shingo who, aside from his heaving chest, laid still on the ground. "I-I won…?"

Shingo groaned. Whether it was out of pain or disappointment, Kiki couldn't tell. She walked to him and crouched beside him. Bruises started to form on his arms and his face was completely flushed. The boy looked up at her, "Can't believe I lost."

"It's okay," Kiki smiled softly and wiped the sweat off her brow, "Who knows? You might do better next time." Shingo cocked an eyebrow at that last remark. "What? You said so yourself: we're rivals." She stood and offered a hand, "This definitely isn't gonna be our last match, Shingo."

The boy's whole face lit up. He sat up and took her hand, "Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure." Pulling him up, she quipped, "Just let me eat something beforehand."


A/N:I looked up combos for Shingo and played some Iori vs. Shingo matches in '98UM to help with the fight scenes here.