Hello everyone... I know, I know... it really took me some time to write this chapter but without any further ado: the great confrontation between Lau and his little kitten. ^^
Hope you have fun reading and comments are candy ;)
Chapter X
Wounded Alley Cat
The twigs and leaves of the cedars surrounding the shabby little courtyard rustled faintly in the chilly autumn wind, slightly rumpled up a pair of come undone braids and yanked at the decorative tresses that were adorning the dark blue clubs. The few loose strands of midnight black hair were for a short moment reflecting the dull, shimmering light of a yellow, ill-looking moon watching us from miles and miles above our heads.
It felt like I had bitten off my tongue and swallowed it deep down into the depths of my dry larynx while I was under the cruel, dismissive supervision of those cold eyes which were missing even the slightest sympathy or compassion. In the dark of the night they weren't even gold anymore, the warm autumn sun had turned into a vicious thunderstorm, dark clouds of anger were darkening her usually golden irises until there was nothing left of them but pitch-black pupils. Staring at me like I was some kind of nasty vermin she wanted to eradicate as soon as possible.
The rasping sound of tightly gritted teeth reached my ears together with the anguished wailing of the wind. I couldn't tell which sound scared me more.
"Do I have to repeat myself?" she finally broke the smothering silence between us and lowered her hypnotizing gaze. There was that dangerously low voice again that sounded almost like the hissing of a cat. Her long fingers played impatiently with the handle of the heavy tool to her feet - they were itching to move that goddamn thing again.
"What on earth are you doing here?" she inquired, raising one of her thin black eyebrows in silent disapproval.
"Answer me!"
Her scream echoed from the wet brick work surrounding us like the walls of a prison.
Within split seconds she effortlessly lifted the massive club up in the air again, holding it right into my field of vision. Suddenly I could feel the cold, wooden wall behind my back more solid than ever - like a death row inmate would feel the wall which he was supposed to be shot against more intense like anything else he had ever experienced in his entire life.
"I… I…was searching and-" my swallowed tongue was desperately trying to work its way back into my mouth again but was failing miserably.
"Searching for what?" she interrupted me, her stare still pinning me against the wall with that interrogating gaze that would force even the bravest of soldiers to his knees. The club was still swaying in the air right in front of my face without even the slightest quiver or timber. As if it was weighting nothing more but one of her hairpins.
"Yao," my twisted tongue and sandpaper-dry mouth croaked huskily.
"Yao isn't here at this time of night."
It was more than obvious that she didn't believe a word that I had just said. Her eyebrows knitted, her constrained facial features were suddenly tensing up even more. Giving the massive weapon a violent jerk she came one step closer.
"Say, were you following me?" she snarled, her voice getting lower and lower with every further step that approached me.
"N-no…" I whispered feebly and I could feel how my legs were about to give in any second.
It was the only word that my constrained facial muscles and missing tongue were able to utter anymore. Every fiber of my body seemed to vibrate in excess and was tense like a bowstring at the same time. My racing mind could already imagine the picture of my brain and skull splattered all over the ramshackle stairs, making my blood pump through my veins like a raging stream of boiling crimson.
But instead of the deathly impact and the deafening bang I had expected I could only hear a small, malicious chuckle. My body cringed. That particular sound was worse than my brain splattered on the floor!
She sounded almost like her father when he was amused by something… no… just like her father when he had tried to choke me!
A soft sigh escaped her lips and to my immense surprise she eventually lowered her arm and placed it gently onto the pavement again.
"Fine."
The faint smile she was displaying became vicious. It was more than obvious that nothing was fine.
"Since you won't meet Yao tonight I'm afraid you have to put up with my company instead."
A short giggle took hold over her lean body and made it tremble.
"And as a good sister you know that I'm supposed to be your teacher."
The overemphasized, malicious whispering of the word sister made my flesh creep and sent icy shivers down my spine. I almost tripped when I involuntarily tried to get more space between me and that dangerous, heavy thing to her feet which she had been hurling around through the air like it was nothing.
"So make your choice," she continued in exactly the same monotonous voice she had been using, when she was pouring tea at dinner. With a short nod her chin pointed towards a dreadfully impressive arsenal of weapons which she had carefully assembled right next to the shady stairs I was standing upon.
What on earth is that dainty girl doing here in the middle of the night with all those weapons?
Completely taken of guard I didn't move a single muscle and simply kept on standing there like a frightened pillar of salt. It annoyed her to no end.
"Pick whatever weapon you like," she ordered in a voice that would tolerate no dissident. Her fingernails were scraping over the wooden handle of her club at a steadily quickening pace.
"I… but I…"
"Do it already or I make you choose one!"
The threat behind the order was unmistakable. As quickly as my quivering body allowed I got down on my haunches and took a short, disgusted look at the different weapons displayed to me feet.
The closest thing to a weapon I had ever possessed was that blunt bread knife which was in a way responsible for this hell of a situation I was up to my throat into right now. Hectically my eyes scanned over the daggers, swords and spears until my fingers clung fervently around the handle of a broad, long sabre which turned out to be surprisingly light when I lifted it up into the air. It was a strange feeling to hold something that deadly in my grasp. But what was even more terrifying was the purpose why I was holding it.
"You want me to fight you then…" I mumbled completely lost in thoughts and I turned around reluctantly, the knuckles of my fingers already white and rigid. How the hell was supposed to wield this thing? And how was I supposed to fight a small girl?
"Isn't that obvious?" her answer didn't even sound like a question anymore.
She accompanied her words with a short, lackadaisical shrug of her small shoulders. Even in the pale light of the decreasing moon I could see how muscular her upper arms were, sinews tensed under her porcelain skin when she slightly shifted the weight of her arms. No... this small girl was anything but weak.
"But why?"
It felt so terribly, terribly wrong. The saber in my hand, the clubs in hers, that emotionless expression on her face that seemed to be stripped off any feelings…
"Why? You really ask me why?"
It took my brain several seconds to cope with this bizarre situation. Like a berserk who had been suddenly freed from his chains she had been leaping at me without any prior warning and was assaulting me like an assassin, hurling her clubs through the air with versed movements and brute force. The metal was clinking and quaking under the massive impact of her blow when her clubs hit the thin blade of my sabre. Sparks were sent up into the darkened sky and the creaking sound of metal against metal became deafening. The sabre was jarring as if it was about to break in half any second when I fervently tried my best to keep her weapon at bay, placing my other hand on the blade to support my only defence and to prevent it from breaking into pieces.
Out of my eyes corner I could only get a glimpse of that deadpan face of the girl that was doing its best to slain me then and there. A wicked smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"You really want to know why?" she repeated and effortlessly intensified the pressure of her club on my thin piece of metal.
"It's because I hate people like you!"
One last burtal inpact made me loose my footing and I stumbled backwards, frantically fighting for balance.
Taking two elegant, quick jumps backwards as well, she positions herself again for another fatal blow which almost immediately descended upon me. I escaped the deadly blow only at hairsbreadth when I dashed aside and fell hard onto my already throbbing elbow. Instantaneously a wave of hot and searing pain rushed through my arm and upper body, made me gasp for breath and for the blink of an eye my vision became all white and hazy. Swallowing the pain as good as I could, I tried my best to get onto my feet again, her words still echoing in my ears like an infinite loop.
"People like me?" I panted entirely perplexed, constantly interrupted by sharp, heavy breaths that were scorching my lungs. The cracking sound of shattering pavement right next to my head made my body move against my will and without even noticing I was already standing on my feet again, lifting that saber in front of my chest to counter her attacks, ready and waiting for everything that was about to come. And even though that girl had set her mind to the insane idea of killing me, I couldn't simply withstand the urge to admirer her appearance.
She was good and it was definitely not the first time she was wielding her weapons of choice. Not even a single drop of sweat could be seen on her face, her breath was low and steady as if she wasn't fighting but sitting at a table making conversation. The icy wind freed another of her black strands and made her look more than ever like an avenging angel.
"Yes, people like you."
Every single word was acid. Her voice was nothing more but a toneless whisper, just barely distinguishable from the wind and the rustling leaves. Nonetheless, it felt like her words had morphed into burning daggers that were sinking into my flesh deep and deeper with every further elapsed second.
"Then tell me, what have I done to you that you hate me so much?" I cried helplessly, lowering the saber in defeat, tears of anger and exhausting running down my cheeks.
"What did I do to you?"
Ran-Mao's features had long ago ceased to be stoic and emotionless. All kind of bad feelings were written all over her face and fighting for superiority. The result of that inner turmoil was that horribly distorted grimace that had taken over the remains of what once had been her pretty doll-like face.
"I hate them… all of them. People who try to obtain my father's trust by fraud. Like those women my father brings home every day, every night. To the meetings with his clients, to our dinners, to his bedroom… sullying the remembrance of my mother…" she yelled, her voice was cracking. For a moment it looked like she was about to burst into tears until her eyes narrowed again.
"People like you who come from the gutter and insinuate themselves into my weak father's confidence."
The yellow eyes of a wounded alley cat. She yanked the massive clubs above her head again, ready for one final, devastating blow and swooped down on me in an unleashed fury.
"HOW COULD YOU NOT HATE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"
"Ran-Mao, please stop this lunacy!" I squealed in blind panic, manically tightening the already firm grip around the sabers handle even more while I tried my best to dodge her countless strikes and blows that suddenly seemed to come from every possible direction at once. It was only a matter of time until one of them would finally hit me. The blow in my stomach hit me with such vigor that it took my breath away and made me stagger backwards. I fell onto the dirt covered ground with such severity that I was unable to breath for several seconds. A piercing pain rankled through my aching lungs while all remaining air was pressed out of them at one single blow. Everything suddenly sounded way too far away, brassy and hollow as if her voice was speaking to me out of some kind of metallic tube. I couldn't distinguish separate words anymore, they faded into one ongoing roaring train of sounds.
Don't faint! Oh please don't faint! I pleaded silently and suddenly the memory of praying exactly the same words when her father had almost killed me flooded back into my opting out mind with all their might. A startled, desperate gasp for sufficient air was all I was still capable off, closing me eyes, wanting nothing more but to block out that dark world while lying there petrified. I could still feel the adrenalin pulsing frantically through my veins, awaiting the last, final impact that would end everything. Waiting for it to end...
A single little butterfly. A scarlet field of poppies in full bloom. The sweet scent of flowers and the world lost all contours. Even the poppies faded to gray. Only a few more kicks and everything would be over. Only a little more pain and it finally would be over...
But the end never came.
Eyes still closed I listened into the night and a strange sound slowly crept into my mind.
A weakly suppressed sobbing.
When I opened my eyes and looked into the night the avenging angel was gone and had nothing left behind but a small girl, whose whole body was shaken by the sobs she was trying to gulp back. Thin arms were wrapped tightly around her bent knees while she was weeping bitterly, rocking back and forth, back and forth again and again and again.
Thank you for reading^^ The little kitten finally shows its claws. Meow =^.^=