Chapter 5: Sometimes You Need to be Serious
A/N: This is late. By about a month and a half. In the meantime I started another story. Meh. Thanks to LynnStark for pulling my head out my ass with your review (and correspondence after the fact). I finally finished this fucker.
I'm not beyond a bit of fan-service here and there, I just refuse to write lemons. They serve no purpose and have no place in the plot. If you want to draw your own 'conclusions' from my 'rendezvous(s)' with Ryuko, go ahead, but I'm not responsible for any injuries you obtain in the process. Oh, and for reference, this starts at around 10:00 into Episode 7 of the anime, in case you're curious.
On a related note, some might be wondering how I plan to top the revelation last chapter. Well, I only have to offer you a wide smile and the reminder that I still have 18 episodes left to get through plus an epilogue. Oh, and there's still three more people I need to rub 'my scar'…
Blearily, I opened my eyes, not quite remembering where I was. Sitting up cautiously, I tried to move my left arm and winced at the soreness the actions wrought. Memories of the battle between Ryuko and Sanageyama leapt to the forefront of my mind, and I realized at once why I felt like shit. "Ugh," I groaned quietly, the sound of my voice a light rasp from disuse. "How long was I out?"
"A couple weeks," I heard the response from in front of me and tried to refocus my vision. "Do try not to scare me like that, asshole." Ah, that had to be Ryuko. "I don't appreciate worrying over whether you're ever going to wake up, and you weren't even the biggest casualty of the day." I shrugged, immediately regretting it as the muted pain jolted through my body.
"I suppose. Sorry for that, by the way. What happened while I was out?" It seemed in my relative hurry to wake up, I had given myself a migraine. Lucky for me, the room was suitably dark, so I blinked a few times to dismiss any lingering black spots and gazed at my girlfriend.
"Well, you might not have noticed, but you're in an actual bed. I had the brilliant idea of starting up a Fight Club, one Mako is the President of. Since she gains rank every time we succeed in a certain number of battles, the living situation for the family has increased in standard pretty drastically. Now we live in a quaint little condo in the one-star area. She'll be ever so pleased you've woken up, too, since this way we'll have double the fighting power."
I could sense a 'but' in her tone, and I raised an eyebrow at her, reaching out a hand. Ryuko smiled at me and took it in her own, continuing on after a moment. "But I'm not sure that I'm a fan of this anymore. I did it to help get the Mankanshokus a better state of being than the slums, but Mako has only gotten more and more demanding of my time, and the rest of the family is slowly drifting away. We're close to another promotion, too, and I dread to think of what will happen."
Massaging my temples with my free hand, I hoisted the girl up onto my lap, trying at a smile when she blushed. It was the first time we were consciously in a real bed together, after all, and we were the only ones in the room for once. "So," I started, the rasp fading from my vocal pattern with every word. "Let me get this straight. You started a club in the hopes of helping the fam, and now they're getting drunk on greed and debauchery?" she nodded, and I sighed. "Fucking figures I'd wake up at a time like this."
"Yeah, it does. Did I mention you're an asshole for that?" I noticed a shift in the tone of my girlfriend's speech, shooting a glance at the only door in the room. Predictably, it was locked, and I pretty much guessed at what was about to happen. Not like I was one to complain about finding myself alone in a bedroom with my fucking hot badass romantic interest.
"I seem to recall you saying something of the sort. I take it you've got a couple of weeks of buildup to rel – Mmph!" My quip was interrupted by the arrival of Ryuko's lips. Seated sideways on me with her feet hanging off the side of the bed, I belatedly realized that she was only in her pajamas, and that it was dead midnight outside. I also realized I was wearing pretty much nothing under the sheets. Well, this ought to be interesting, I thought before I could get too distracted. Sen's going to kill me when he finds out about this, and Kurai's going to be insufferable about my luck. Stupid amorous Kamui of mine.
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When I woke up in the morning, Ryuko was snuggled in next to me. After making sure all my clothes were in their proper places, I looked to make sure the same was true for her and did a bit of a double take. While I was fully clothed, Ryuko was only covered from the waist down, and the sheets had shifted quite a bit since our… adventure. As a result, when I sat up, I got a view that not many have had, and after blinking a bit to make sure the event was firmly in my memory I laid back down, closing my eyes and wrapping an arm around her.
"Mmmh," Ryuko groaned aloud. "Five more minutes…" I tried not to laugh at the cliché saying, instead tightening my hold and dragging her closer to me.
"Good morning, Ryuko. It's time to wake up and go to school. Just think about how exciting all those wonderful 'fights' are going to be. Oh, and we might want to locate your shirt before we go, since it seems to have disappeared over night." My girlfriend tensed as my words sunk in, throwing off my embrace and hopping out of bed.
"G-Good morning, R-Rou," she stuttered, a hearty blush covering the better portion of her face. Raising an eyebrow, I relaxed myself against an arm, letting the sheets pool around my waist and revealing my own bare chest. "Don't ever tell anyone about this!"
I snorted. "As if I would ever share the memory of my beautiful girlfriend sleeping next to me without a shirt with any of those perverts at school. Come to think of it, I'm shirtless as well." It took a lot of effort to stare Ryuko in the face, especially since she was so far away from me. Granted, she had since covered up, but I was still enticed by the sight since she had chosen one of my few undershirts. "Besides, it would kind of tarnish your reputation as an honest-to-God badass."
"Put a shirt on!" she called frantically, ignoring my statement in her panic. I looked around, but realized that she was wearing the only one that wasn't dirty and got out of the bed, stretching and moaning when my back cracked. Scratching my neck, I stared at her some more. "Well? What's stopping you?"
"You're wearing my shirt," I said, raising my other eyebrow and smiling, unfazed through a combination of lethargy and apathy. Ryuko looked down at herself and blushed when she saw I was correct. "I suppose you'd like for me to turn around?" she nodded and I rolled my eyes, acquiescing nonetheless. "It's nothing I didn't see five minutes ago, and it's quite the beautiful upper body anyways, but I'll do as you ask anyway."
"S-Shut up and put on your damned shirt!" she yelled, throwing the offending garment at me and slamming the door on her way out before realizing that all her clothes were in here as well. Pulling on Kurai bit by bit, I barely noticed her slip back into the room, holding my own idle conversation with the Kamui. Just as I had predicted, he was making a big fuss about how lucky I was and how he wished he had human parts.
"Really, Kurai? You know she's in the room, right? Unless you want to mate with Sen, but I don't think he'd appreciate that very much since the only thing he has in common with a female is the shape he's been created to take." Kurai sniffed indignantly, making sure to tighten himself around me uncomfortably in retaliation. "Is that really necessary, ass? Damn, you don't know how to take a joke, do you?"
Unfortunately for my first friend and me, Ryuko had been paying more attention to us than we had realized or suspected. "Why is your Kamui such a pervert?" she asked, a scarily innocent tone in her voice that made me shiver despite the situation. I didn't dare look around to find her, instead responding carefully.
"Hell if I know, Ryuko. He wasn't like this until we met you and Mako. Then again, we hadn't had much contact with any humans until meeting the two of you. He'll likely be tense like this the rest of his life too, since he can't exactly relieve himself of his libido like we can." I knew my allusion would have made her blush, and hoped that she wouldn't attack me because of it.
I was wrong, and a slender fist hurtled towards my bicep, impacting it with a thud and shoving me to the side. "Damn girl, you pack a punch. Was it really necessary to punch me so hard the day after I wake up from the coma? You're going to put me right back into one at this rate!"
"I hope so. Come on then, pussy, we're going to be late if we don't hurry and the great Mako is going to be pissed since we'll be missing 'fighting time'." I could sense the quotes in her voice and turned to follow her out the door. She was faster than me, though, and I soon found myself struggling to catch up, falling behind with every minute that passed. Stupid coma, I thought. Stupid atrophied muscles.
"Oi, wait up! I've still got two weeks of no movement to make up for!" I called, in a slight panic, but Ryuko just ignored me. With a groan, I forced myself into a jog, trying to keep up with my now annoyed girlfriend. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay? My joke was in poor taste – both of them were, really."
I stumbled and fell to the ground in a heap when Ryuko stopped suddenly. At first I thought there was danger ahead, but when I raised my eyes to look at her she just had this expression of longsuffering on her face that made me wince, knowing full well I had caused such a reaction. My thoughts spiraled into a marvelously shaped ravine of guilt and self-hate, and then she hugged me and the ravine shifted into a confusing inverted mess. There's no way I'll understand this girl to the fullest extent, I thought sardonically. Made to be hers or not.
"Just don't do it again, Rou," she spoke at last, her voice both hard and soft in a weird union of scolding and understanding. "Now I know how everyone else feels when I do the same thing."
"You know I can't promise that, but I can promise that I'll try my best to withhold any of my more… inappropriate… jokes." I enjoyed her embrace for a few minutes longer before speaking again. "So now we're done with all the awesome sappy stuff, can we move a bit slower on the way to school this morning? I'm still a bit weak from that extended slumber I inadvertently had. Still don't know why I was asleep for so long; probably had something to do with the freaking amnesia."
"I'm sure you'll figure it out," she replied, equal parts anxious and amused. "You always do with these things, in the time I've known you. And no, we can't slow down. You'll understand once you see Mako." Ah. There's the bitter smile that more than hinted something was going wrong with our mutual friend, and I had a suspicion I knew what it was. A rapid increase in the standard of living for a family that grew up poor was almost guaranteed to corrupt their thought processes, and Mako was likely going through the brunt of it, greedy for more and more power.
Outwardly, I sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I hope you're going to make it up to me soon; I'm feeling kind of slighted by all this…" I was joking again, of course, and we both knew it.
"Like I made it up to you last night?" the innocence reflected in Ryuko's tone made me blush slightly.
"I had certainly hoped so," I mumbled away from her, but it seemed she had heard me anyway, taking my arm and leaning her head on my shoulder.
"Well I'm sure we can just make that a regular occurrence then, you handsome bastard." Was that a hint of excitement I heard? Surely not, but I wasn't too eager to ruin the moment by asking, instead contented to hurry my pace alongside my surprisingly clingy girlfriend. We still had a fifteen minute walk ahead of us to reach the school, after all.
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"It's about time you two showed up! You won't be attending any of your classes today, oh no! You're going to be finishing off the rest of the clubs all day today, and no breaks will be allowed! And don't make any excuses! Isa, you might've missed a couple weeks because of your stupid recklessness, but you certainly won't be missing any more while I'm Fight Club President!" I winced. After she finished, Mako herded us towards a giant pit teeming with students.
"You know, Ryuko?" I said on the way down, having been pushed in by the eccentric, power-hungry girl. "Somehow I get the feeling this was your idea. I shouldn't listen to your ideas anymore. They always get us in trouble."
"Shut up and fight, asshole," she snarled back at me grumpily. "Let's see you come up with something better, Mr. Coma." I snorted and shrugged, unsheathing my swords once I hit the ground and bringing them up in an instant parry. Usually it was easy to take care of the two-stars, but there were too many for me to really tank the battle.
"It's not as if I have a choice here, Ryuko. I can't always be around to keep you malleable and in check." I was being deliberately infuriating in the hopes that she'd get all aggressive and end this faster. As I thought about it, I had to curse myself for the twisted logic I was displaying. I was starting to sound like I belonged here, and I was supposed to be the level-headed one!
"Malleable?! I'll show you malleable after I cut off your legs!" I sighed inwardly at what I had done to myself. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have teased her about my being unconscious for two weeks, but I couldn't help it under the circumstances. Cutting down another three students with a single slash of my blades, I twirled around and back flipped towards my girlfriend, meeting her halfway.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. You're a badass and hard as a brick. No need to get all angry at me, it'll only make this worse." We only had a few more left, and I was starting to doubt Mako's statement that we'd be fighting all day when a gate opened at the other end of the pit we were in and a seemingly endless stream of two-stars flew through it. "How many clubs does this school have?!" I complained with a huff.
"Ass, you were asleep when that happened. Apparently the great and mighty Kiryuin bitch offered whoever could beat us a three-star uniform, so the clubs all disbanded and started new ones to combat you and me." I sighed again, audibly this time and ejected the auras to my blades, crossing them against the wave of enemies that crashed towards me on my side.
"Whatever. I hope you're keeping count of how many you've annihilated. We'll have to compare later for shits and giggles. It's not like there'll be anything else to do with the numbers, anyway." Ryuko's response was carried away by the wind as we were forcibly separated by two tsunamis' worth of students colliding over us. My blades whistled through their ranks with deadly accuracy as I dodged and flipped over whatever pathetic attacks the two-stars threw at me.
After an eternity, the flow of the mob slowed to a trickle, and I met up with Ryuko again in the middle. "How much do you want to bet the Mankanshokus go mad with power and privilege after this shit?" My girlfriend snorted in dark amusement and elbowed me.
"Watch your left, asshole. How embarrassing would it be for you to get knocked out by one of these fucks?" I laughed and lunged in the general diection she had called out, satisfying myself with the rather high-pitched scream that issued from an obviously-male mouth.
"I could say the same for you, Ryuko! How much more of this do we have, anyway?"
"Oh, this should be about it for today. Why do you ask?" I nudged her and pointed ahead of me. She turned around and her eyes widened. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Indeed. The trickle of students had once again broadened to a veritable flood, and I winced at the volume of her exclamation. "Enough is enough, already!"
"I wholeheartedly agree, babe. Seems to me that we have a few more hours after all. Afterwards, want to beat up Mikisugi?"
"Don't call me babe, and yeah. You know just the way to my heart." Her tone was oddly pleased, and I shrugged.
"What can I say? I was made for you, beautiful."
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Later that day, after all the fighting was over, we found out that Mako had successfully petitioned for a higher standard of living. We should have figured that even after all that bullshit at school we would be forced to do more work, moving all the family's belongings into a mansion where the rest of the two-stars lived.
Truthfully, the whole situation sickened me. I was asleep for two weeks and already the family that took me in was falling apart. I understood that Ryuko had only wanted to help out with everything, and I couldn't really bring myself to blame her, but this was out of control. Two weeks, and the guys in the family didn't peep on Ryuko once anymore.
Dinner that night was quiet. All but Ryuko and I were 'busy' with various things during the night, and I was close to bursting at the audacity of them all. They abandoned all pretense of a warm, welcoming environment all because they had a little money and a bigger house. There wasn't a single upside to the entire situation, even though I got to sleep with my girlfriend every night without fail nor interruption.
That isn't to say we engaged in intercourse; rather, we literally slept. We didn't have energy for much else after the day we had had, and were looking forward to a night's sleep in each other's arms. "You know," I murmured once Ryuko had climbed into bed next to me and I laid an arm around her waist. "I wish I hadn't made that bet earlier. This is just depressing."
"Shut up, Isa," the girl responded sleepily. "I'm trying to ignore it and you aren't helping, but yeah, it's fucking depressing. It's my fault, too. If only I hadn't started up the Fight Club…" she trailed off, and I sighed, kissing her neck comfortingly.
"No one blames you for this, least of all me. You couldn't have known how greedy your friend would become, and I'm sure we'll find a way out of this somehow. I have a feeling there's still a lot more to this story left anyway." Ryuko hummed indifferently and snuggled deeper into my chest, turning around and burying her face in it.
"I hope you're right, Rou. I don't know how long I'll be able to live with all this emptiness. At least you're still here."
"Yup. And I don't have any plans whatsoever to leave. You're pretty much everything to me, and I don't really see any alternatives to the situation." I felt her smile and squeezed her lightly.
"I think you're an idiot, but I'll try not to complain too much. Now go to sleep already, I'm tired of talking to you." I harrumphed quietly but closed my eyes anyway, resting my chin on top of Ryuko's head with a small grin. My last thoughts before unconsciousness were less pleasant, wondering how this would all get resolved. I knew it wouldn't be pretty, and could only ponder which side of the spectators I would end up on.
An alarm blared. A hand shot out and silenced it, only for one on the other side to screech. I tried to reach it but found myself unable to lift my arm, so merely groaned instead. I was deathly sore from the previous day, and I supposed that this one wouldn't be much better. Worse, even, since everything already hurt.
"Come on, Isa, get up. I have to piss, you've gotta let go of me." I groaned again at Ryuko's voice, knowing she'd be annoyed with my answer. I tried to avoid the situation by pulling myself away from her; however, when I got close I failed and collapsed atop her with a huff of exhaustion. "What's the holdup?" she asked impatiently.
"I can't move my arms," I muttered petulantly. "How am I supposed to deal with this atrophy?" My response was met with a cynical snort and a shove from my girlfriend. Unfortunately, she pushed a bit harder than necessary, and I toppled off the side of the bed with a yelp, smashing my temple against the corner of the bedside table in the process.
"Rou!" Ryuko shrieked slightly, but only slightly. Before I had a chance to respond, she showered me with questions. I guessed she was still a bit worried about my falling into another coma, though this one would actually be her fault.
"Ugh," I moaned in pain, clutching the wound with a hand, having landed with that arm poised to do such an action. "Fuck, I'm bleeding from that! You trying to kill me, woman?" Her eyes filled with tears above me, and in a surprising show of strength considering my debilitated state, I leaned forward and met her lips with my own. "I'll be fine, sorry. I might have a headache or three, but once I get some food in me I should be able to move again. Or maybe some of you in me, whatever comes first."
"Hmph! If you can be this lewd already, I think you're fine, asshole. You shouldn't worry me like that. And besides," she continued quietly, almost too softly for me to hear. "If anything you'll be the one inside me." My eyes widened comically and I stared at her, pain long forgotten in the innuendo uttered by my girlfriend.
"W-What? I-I don't quite think I'm ready for that kind of thing, beautiful." Truthfully, I wasn't sure I was prepared for what she had referenced. I had mixed feelings about it, and a really bad one about timing the action. I felt there was still more to do before we engaged in such… activity.
Ryuko blushed deeply at my reaction. "Y-You weren't supposed to h-hear that!" she stuttered at me. Suddenly able to move, I dodged out of the way of a thrown pillow, then ducked when one of the two alarm clocks followed, narrowly missing my head. "And don't think you'll be able to stop me!" I grimaced.
"Isn't that rape?" I questioned bitterly. "Made for you or not, I don't know if I'd be able to deal with that. I might be a guy, but that doesn't mean I'm purely a sexual creature. I just have a bad feeling about it, I guess. Like something really bad would happen if we hadn't both accepted the action prior to actually… you know… coupling."
Ryuko gaped at me as I turned and stormed out the door, too angry to stay. I wasn't sure why exactly her remark had so influenced me, but I suspected strongly one of the main causes was the remaining gap in my memory. Though I had most of my childhood down and the events leading up to the amnesia surgery itself, I was still missing a massive chunk spanning about a year and a half between the two events.
Whatever, I thought with a frown. I shouldn't worry about this shit so early in the morning. Besides, I've got to apologize to her for snapping. She didn't deserve it, and Kurai is in the bedroom anyways. It was my own damn fault for making a joke in the first place. I sighed and slid down the wall outside the room. I had really messed things up, even though my brain kept telling me it wouldn't be that bad.
"Bah!" I exhaled in a harrumph of weariness and anger at myself. "Enough moping, bastard. Get up and walk through the door already." Regardless, it took another good five minutes to muster the courage to stand and put my hand on the doorknob to the bedroom. I took a deep breath, then another, and my hand shook as I turned the obtrusion of wall to swing it open.
I walked through the opening as a man would to the gallows, trying desperately not to look anywhere but the floor in my fear and anxiety. "I'm sorry," I mumbled at the ground, standing in the center of the room awkwardly. The carpet made such a nice pattern after all. "I shouldn't have snapped, and I don't really know why I did. It was just teasing, and I guess you hit a chord that I didn't know I had. So sorry, you didn't deserve that."
The silence in the room deafened me, and I started to fidget as it compressed me further into the abyss. I dared not look up or around, and I hardly breathed. Suddenly, I felt arms wrap around me from behind. Stiffening, I was tense at the unexpected movement. "I'm sorry too, Rou. I shouldn't have said what I did, even if it was a joke." The rest of my girlfriend followed her arms, and I slowly relaxed as she pressed herself into my back, laying her head along my shoulder blade.
Neither of us were in any hurry to move, so I settled into position with my hand on her entwined arms. Eventually, though, we had to move, and I pried her off of me reluctantly. "I guess we'll just have to be more careful from now on. Past that, we could always simply ignore it and keep in mind there are some things we shouldn't say to each other, even in jest. Sound good?" I felt rather than saw her nod, and spun to lay a kiss on the top of her head. "Good. Now I've to get dressed. Wanna watch, or are you gonna step out for a bit?"
Ryuko blushed and mumbled that she'd like to stay; grinning, I pecked her on the nose and skipped my way over to a hanging Kurai. He was rolling his eyes at the drama that had undoubtedly unfolded in front of him, and I wondered how he had managed to keep his mouth shut through it all. My Kamui snorted as I slipped him on, and once he was settled he constricted slightly unpleasantly around my middle.
"Oof!" I exhaled rather sharply. "What the hell's that for, man?" I asked him, indignant at the pain he had caused.
"You had a girl as beautiful as that practically throwing herself at you, and you just made her angry instead! Come on Rou, the least you could do is give me some action to watch! I get lonely too, you know!" His voice was as muted as he could dare without my having to strain to hear, and I threw a glance over my shoulder to see a beet red Ryuko in the doorway. Unable to determine if she was just embarrassed at having watched me or if she had overheard my long-time perverted friend, I simply shrugged and wiggled my crotch into place.
I harrumphed on the way back over to my girlfriend, chuckling as Kurai's pleas for me to give in to my 'baser, human primality' became more and more desperate. Eventually, as I drew too close for him to continue speaking safely, he stopped and simmered lightly, heating up in uncomfortable places and causing me to blush from the sudden change in temperature of certain… anatomical areas… of my body.
"To school?" I offered my arm, trying valiantly to ignore both my worked-up Kamui and the way Ryuko's own set of clothing was adjusting itself to accentuate her more… feminine… parts. Unfortunately, it seemed the world itself was against me as my girlfriend not only grabbed my arm with both of hers, but crushed her rather ample chest to my side, blinking up at me with an adorably innocent smile we both knew was a front.
This time, I couldn't restrain my groan of tense self-control. "You're really testing me here, babe," I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?" she inquired with a higher-than-normal tone, wriggling against my side as we exited the building and causing me to look towards the sky with a withering glare, cursing anyone and everyone that could be watching and laughing at my torment. My girlfriend giggled and leaned even further against me, causing me to adjust myself uncomfortably and involuntarily glance towards her.
Her eyes were wide with an innocent gleam, and she had a smile a mile wide. In her commotions, her Kamui had shifted a bit, and Sen had apparently acquiesced to her motion, riding himself up so I caught a tantalizing view of most of my girlfriend's breasts. Making a gurgling noise deep in my throat, I turned to her face to relieve my hormones, but I was distracted quite firmly by the way she ran her tongue along her lips, the gleam in her eyes softening to a smouldering glower that forced me into a keening sigh as I looked anywhere but next to me.
Kurai sensed my agitation as well, adding his own two cents by tightening along my crotch and chest. "Urgh," I grunted at the sudden restricting force, and a light brush told me Ryuko had noticed my arousal through my now-taut clothing. Once again cursing just about everything that lived, had lived, and will ever have lived on this rock, I finally gave in to my 'baser, human primality', having lasted a whole 60 seconds since leaving the house.
I suppose I should have been proud of that, but I was distracted by the burning passion of my girlfriend's lips on mine, her legs wrapping about my waist and grinding against the bulge in my pants with a moan in my mouth. I moaned right on back, pushing her (and by extension myself) into the nearest alleyway and occupying myself with the sensation of closeness between our bodies. I guess we're going to be late to school today… My thoughts trailed off into nothingness when clothes started flying.
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Disheveled, my girlfriend and I walked through the gate of our dictatorial place of education with springs in our step and hands entwined at our sides. Looking up at me with a shit-eating grin, Ryuko pulled up my fly and kissed the corner of my mouth. "Is it still rape now, pretty boy?" She whispered into my ear, tone playful and promising at the same time. I groaned throatily at the sound, pulling her in for one last steamy kiss in the middle of the courtyard.
"I think not, princess," I whispered back, my own voice deep and breathy, my eyes wide with suppressed anticipation. Ryuko shuddered and slapped my arm half-heartedly for the embrace, and it was then we realized the rounded enclave we had wandered into was dead silent, though perhaps it was the tumbleweed blowing into me that alerted us to the present situation.
Warily, we separated, each of us blushing red as a tomato as the wolf whistles started. On all sides, we were surrounded by a roaring crowd, and I was eerily reminded of a Roman-style coliseum, especially when I saw Miss Kiryuin reclining on a cushioned stone slab, a crown of laurels on her regal head with some random peons fanning her with palm leaves.
Nudging Ryuko, I gestured to our esteemed Student Council president and we sweat-dropped in unison, our grins still in place, strangely enough. Just as we made to demand what was going on, however, a massive shockwave knocked us over, and we stood to the startling sight of a decked-out Mako. She was wearing her very own Two-Star uniform, and I grimaced at the arrogance on her face. The crowd, now loud and boisterous, fell silent at the upraised hand of their fearless leader as she stood, somehow managing to look imperious and formal in the seemingly normal action.
"Welcome, Ryuko Matoi and Rou Isa. Welcome to the last battle of your little Fight Club. Today, I have offered your… friend… Mankanshoku the privilege of a Three-Star Goku uniform in exchange for beating you in single combat. Isa, you're included only as a stand-in for your dearest girlfriend over there in case she gets too rattled to continue."
With that, Satsuki sank right back down into her seat, causing me to snort and turn towards Ryuko, who was staring sadly at Mako. "Hey," I murmured, distracting her from the admittedly pitiful sight in front of her. "We talked about this. You know what to do." She nudged my shoulder in gratitude, and I squeezed her hand before dropping it and stepping back into the shadows of the stands. Spotting the rest of the Mankanshokus in the audience, I hardened my gaze and made my way over to them in silence.
"Sir, ma'am. Runt," I growled, laying a hand on their shoulders as they looked up at me fearfully. "You had better not interfere in this… game…" I hissed the last part, my grip on the father tightening painfully. "You won't like what happens then, I guarantee that much…" The family nodded quickly, their sense of preservation strong despite their greed in the situation they had made for themselves.
Once I was certain they weren't going to make a bigger mess of things, I departed from their presence, passing through the shadows around the bleachers to stand next to Nonon and Inumuta, both of whom looked rather bored with the proceedings. "Afternoon," I greeted, leaning against the wall in between them with a smirk. "It's a good thing I planned for this eventuality, isn't it?"
The twos' heads snapped to mine, and I sensed victory a moment before it came. "How could you have possibly seen this coming?" Nonon inquired, astounded moreso at my statement than my presence. Inumuta simply nodded, and I had a feeling it was just for the acknowledgment that I was at least on par with his formidable intelligence. I shrugged in response to my two frenemies.
"Power corrupts, especially when given in such a massive quantity to ones as poor as the Mankanshokus. To make matters worse, they don't know how to handle it, and the freedom fills their minds to the point they lose what little free thought they already had. It makes for an ugly sight, and thankfully I've discussed this with Ryuko. I just wished that it could have waited until a bit later past my… encounter… with her." My face adopted a light blush against my will as my mind brought up memories of the alley rendezvous I had had with my girlfriend.
I was brought back to reality rather forcefully by a fiercely placed slap on my chest, causing the air to whoosh out of me rather impressively. Unable to respond properly, I keeled over as Inumuta snickered. Glaring at Nonon for her actions, I was caught off guard by the remorse she showed for having hit me, and I would have groaned had I been able to do much else than gasp for air.
Regaining some measure of oxygenation in my lungs, I straightened to eye level with the rather short girl, glaring all the while. "Was that really necessary?" I panted with a fair quantity of sarcasm. She rolled her eyes but still managed to look repentant, and I was able to groan at last, letting loose a throaty sound of exasperation.
"Yours is the last sex life I want to hear about, let alone see displayed on your face for all to see!" she retorted, and it was my turn to roll my eyes with a snort.
"Well, if you're going to get so bent out of shape about it, why don't you ask her for a threesome?" I fired back, causing her to blush beet red as Inumuta choked on his spit on my other side, I presumed because of the ridiculousness of the statement itself.
"Maybe I will!" her stuttered riposte took me a moment to decipher, and once I did I simply raised an eyebrow and half-smiled in her direction at my victory in the small battle with the Elite Two. Well, really, I was only engaged in my verbal sparring with one of them, but my comments made the other lose his impressive composure, so I considered that a victory in and of itself.
"Well, you get right on that then. In the meantime, much as I'm loathe to admit it, we have to watch Ryuko get the snot beaten out of her by her first and closest friend ('outside of myself,' I muttered under my breath, 'not that that means much outside of the… risqué… activity'). Hopefully I won't need to intervene, but this should work, in theory."
Ignoring the two from here on out, I turned my full attention to the field just in time to see a massive fist slam into Ryuko. I winced as she went flying, unable to tear my eyes away as she smiled in the face of her pain and then stood to receive another punch. Though we had indeed discussed this strategy together, it was one thing to ponder out loud and quite another to put into action. It was quite painful in my chest cavity to lay eyes upon my now bruised and battered girlfriend.
Eventually (it seemed an eternity, but in reality was only likely around ten minutes of brutally one-sided destruction), Mako slowed her assault, the hits losing a modicum of their power as Ryuko's serene smile among the blood and dirt marring her face began to take its toll upon the young girl. Even the staunchest supporters of this charade could plainly see things were not going to turn out well for the Kiryuin girl in her endeavor, and I knew then I would not be required to perform out there as well.
Regardless, when Mako collapsed into Ryuko's arms, tears staining her eyes and cheeks, I adopted a powerfully confident gait and strode out to the two of them, hesitating only a moment before pulling them both into my own embrace. The girls stiffened until they saw my own soft and comforting posturing of facial muscle, relaxing. After a minute of silent sobs, Mako detached from my girlfriend and tackled me to the ground with another hug, this one direct and rather surprising.
Helpless, I directed a silent inquiry to Ryuko, who simply shrugged. Groaning internally, I awkwardly patted the girl's back before letting go and gently pushing her off me. "Oi, Mako, we've still got shite to do and hopes to crush. We can have a happier and lengthier reunion later, but for now, please focus on the task at hand." My words brought the despondency out of our hyper friend, and she brightened visibly, throwing off her Goku uniform in order to stand defiantly before the Elite Four and denounce the Fight Club itself.
Once again ignoring the fireworks, I spun and approached my girlfriend, worry evident on my features to anyone who bothered to look at me. "Hey," I whispered. "Even though we both knew it was coming, I really regret having to see that. It hurt me as much as it did you to take so many blows like that." Gingerly, I brushed some hair out of her eyes.
"Shut up, you," she replied, a pink but noticeable tint in her stained cheeks. "If my face didn't hurt so much, I'd tell you to kiss me, but I suppose we could just do that later. In the meantime, how was your chat with your dear Nonon and her friend?" I blushed my own way at the subtle reminder to our activities earlier that morning.
"We jabbed at each other. She might ask you to join in on our next session of alley exploring, but I trust you'll deny her properly. I'm not sharing you with anybody, no matter her intention!" That was twisting things a little bit, but I succeeded in getting a wry grin out of my girlfriend before she moaned in pain from the action. Wincing again, I just pulled her into me and turned back to a now-nearly-naked Mako as she threw her old uniform in the air.
"Should I do the honors or will you?" I asked, pointing to the still-rising uniform. Ryuko shrugged, and I took that as encouragement to transform as she followed me close behind. I guess we'd both be doing the honors. Spiraling upwards, the two of us pulled our respective blades up and through the offending garment in a respectable show of power and grace before using each other as a springboard to flip over and land, our Kamuis laughing loudly as we descended, fireworks lighting the sky.
"Well, that's one thing taken care of," I snorted, reverting to my mostly-clothed form as my girlfriend did the same. Each of us took one of Mako's arms, and I lent her Kurai's coat since Ryuko didn't exactly have any spare fabric. "What's next?"