Chapter 4

"I'm what!" Yui yipped at me. I rubbed the ridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger. I was getting the first stirrings of a headache. Yui had been a pain in the ass to find. I'd finally chased him down at the dining hall and told him about the fight. He looked a little freaked out actually. That was interesting.

"You're not deaf, don't make me repeat myself."

"But she's injured…and a woman…I can't fight her."

"Don't underestimate her just 'cause she's a woman."

"That's not what I meant and you know it Zagi! Damn it! You know we need to protect the women, not fight them!" Yui raged at me. He had a point, but he was starting to draw stares in our direction from his little outburst.

"Regardless, she needs to prove herself as the warrior that she has proclaimed herself to be. You'll be her test, not her death." I sighed out an aggravated hiss of breath. "Jeez, what do you take me and Thor for, monsters? We won't lead the woman to her death. She stands a fair shot."

Yui looked bewildered. I clapped him on the shoulder for support.

"Cheer up. It will be a fun test. I can almost guarantee it." I chuckled to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yui glared at me and removed my hand.

"Nothing….Nothing." I laughed waving to him as I was walking away. I had other preparations to make for the hunts that would be taking place shortly. We needed to bolster our stores as much as possible before the nights started.

XXXXX

Day of the fight…

I tied off my chest and shoulder wrapping and was pulling my shirt over my head when I heard the door to my room open. I turned to find Tiz leaning against my door. I let out a breath that I hadn't even realized I'd been holding. When had I started to suspect that everyone that came through that door meant me some sort of harm? 'Heh. Probably about the time Zagi declared that a test of skills by sword would be in order…' I thought to myself as I smiled to the timid little girl wringing her hands in her tunic.

"Hey Tiz. What's the matter?"

"Nothing…Just…ummm…I wanted to tell you to be careful. Yui is really good at fighting." She stuttered and then rushed. It was really cute. I walked over to the little form that wouldn't look up from the ground. I bent down so that I could look her in her eyes.

"Hey no worries kiddo." I lightly tipped her chin up to make her look at me. "I'm not going to die. Trust me. Kay?" I smiled to her. This little girl was so full of emotions it was heartwarming to watch all those emotions cross such a tiny face. Fear, anger, sadness, hope and finally a small smile tipped her face. Then suddenly, I was knocked on to my butt from the force of her hug. Her little arms were vices as they were wrapped around my neck so tight. I consoled her gently and got her over the fear as much as I could.

"Now, can you show me the way to that arena Tiz?"

"Mmmm." She nodded as she wiped her face of her tears and started to lead me by the hand to the arena. This place was a maze. All the stone walk ways seem to blend. If I hadn't had Tiz to guide me I was sure I would have been wondering for hours and hours. She finally stopped in front of one of the last walkways on the corridor and pointed.

"Down there huh? Humm, ok then. So, why don't you go meet up with Thor, ok? I'll be okay from here on. Promise." I told her with a grin and a thumbs up. That earned me a smile and another hug, this time around my waist. I watched Tiz till she was out of sight and then started toward the fight.

"Here goes nothing."

XXXXXXX

I was standing in the arena waiting for the women that I had helped save from the forest to come through the other tunnel. Thor had sent Tiz to show Rem the way to the arena. I heaved a heavy sigh. I didn't want to do this. Women were to be protected, not thrown into an arena to fight men. Even if this was just a test…Rem was injured wasn't she? Wouldn't this just hurt her further? What could Thor and Zagi be thinking?

On the heels of that thought, Rem walked in to the far side of the arena. She was pretty standing just under my height, with long red hair and golden eyes. She was like a living doll that you would want to place on a shelf and stare at; not join in hand to hand combat with.

"Damn them…" I muttered to myself. Not that anyone could have heard me over the jeers that were being screamed in to the ring from the on lookers. There were cat calls from the men and jeers from the women from what I could distinguish. Just what the new comer needed a bulls eye on her back. After this fight, the men would want her, and the women would want to kill her. What the hell was Zagi thinking? This was going to be a fun test of skills my ass!

During the chaos of my thoughts Rem had walked to where I was standing the small man that was going to be judging the fight. He read out the rules to us; which honestly weren't much and at the end Rem startled both me and the ref. She smiled at us both and put her hands on her hips.

"Ready, Fight!" the ref had said and stepped back. Way back.

"Shall we get started then?"she said. I blinked a few times, and probably looked like an idiot for a second with my mouth hanging open like it was; but I was shocked at her nonchalance of the whole matter that was before her. I stepped back a few steps and unsheathed my sword.

"Umm..yeah ok." I said and she giggled to my amazement.

"No need to be nervous, Yui. It was Yui right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Ok then, Let's have a good fight, Kay Yui?" She said smiling and hoping from one foot to another like a championship fighter.

Zagi had told me not to underestimate her and from the look I could see on her face; I now understood completely what he meant.

"Yeah. Let's" No sooner did the words leave my mouth she was on me. Damn she was so fast. I dodged to the right and swung out with my sword. She dodged with a flip, which landed her far enough away so that she had time to counter whatever attack I launched. Damn, Damn, Damn.

We dodged and parried each other for what seemed like forever. We were both out of breath and she was sporting a few more nicks on her skin from my sword, whereas, I was sure that my ribs were going to be purple tomorrow. Damn this match was taking too long. If I let it go on much longer she'd win by stamina alone. I couldn't believe the amount of energy that she had left still. I was barely standing now.

Man, how was I going to finish this without hurting her severely?

XXXXXX

"Ha! What did I tell you? She's going to wipe the floor with him." Zagi said laughingly to me as we watched the trial. He was right. She was going to corner Yui soon. I couldn't believe the fight I was seeing. She still had a sore shoulder and a bruised side, but the maneuvers that she was pulling off were incredible.

"She still has to get his weapon you know." I countered him. It wasn't that I didn't agree with him, it's just I wanted him to worry a little at the situation that he had put this woman in.

"She will." He was utterly confident in her. Why? Was it because of where she was from? Genesis was a well known warrior colony, that's true but; where did all his confidence come from? I stared on down at the ring as the two engaged again. Yui attacked and Rem dodged and made body blows while inside of his range. Unfortunately for Yui she was just a shade quicker than he was with his sword.

XXXXXX

"Shit!" I wheezed as I missed and she connected with my rib cage again. She was again out of my reach by the time my sword swung around, but this time as she was crouched she was clutching her ribs too. I had one last ditch effort that I really didn't want to do because I knew I would seriously injure her again. But I really had no choice now. I had no more energy, if I was going to win this 'test of skills' as Zagi had called it, like I was supposed to, I had to do it.

I flung my sword at her. Just, chucked it straight at her and ran head long right after it. I was going to catch her off guard and end this. Her eyes widened and she dodged the sword. I slid and swept her feet out from under her taking her to the ground.

"Fuck!" she yelped as she landed on top of me. I knew it wasn't fair but a win is a win. I wrapped my arms around her middle and squeezed. She screamed in agony. She may have been down but I'll be damned if she was out. Her head flew back and I had to quickly move my chin otherwise my jaw and nose would have been causalities of this fight as well. Instead my collar bone took the beating. I squeezed again and she let out another gut wrenching scream. This time I felt a warm slickness underneath my forearm. She was bleeding heavily now.

"Please give in. You're bleeding to death. GIVE IN." I said as she screamed at me.

"NO!" and with that her legs rose up and slammed into my knee caps. In pain and shock from the surprise of the attack I released her and rolled over thinking she would crawl away to lick her wounds.

I was quickly shown how wrong I was by the swift kick I received to my ribs; the very same ones that had taken a beating the entire fight. She didn't let up on them either. All I could do was curl up and hope for her to stop kicking me long enough for me to hit back.

Damn she kicked hard. Talk about a sledge hammer to the ribs.

I was right she did stop, but she didn't stay close so I could take her by surprise. She had backed off and was clutching her side wheezing air into her battered lungs. I tried getting to my knees only to collapse several times. I was huffing and wheezing from the exertion of trying to hold her down. Damn it was over. I lost. I couldn't even bring myself up off the ground now.

"Well, Shit!" I said with feeling.

"Yeah I know what you mean… I can't move either… You worked me over good." She wheezed back at me.

The referee looked at both of us with something like awe; it was like someone had taken a hammer and smacked him in between his eyes. You know that dumb, mouth hanging open moment; that was him. Rem and I looked to him then back at each other and started laughing uncontrollably; which was followed by groans of pain from our seemingly broken ribs.

"We're done now." Rem told him. The poor guy looked truly confused. He couldn't make a clear decision as to who had won the fight. I made the decision for him.

"We are tied. I can't win. And she can't hit anymore. Therefore I call a draw." I stated to him. He nodded at both of us and then repeated aloud what I had told him to the arena. There were jeers all around us and a few objects thrown in the ring to boot. They obviously wanted blood and a lot of it.

"Talk about your tough crowds." Rem smirked at me as she sat on the ground in a cross-legged position. I couldn't help the smile that crept on to my face as I looked back over to her. We sat there exhausted from our efforts, smiling at our unhappy jeering fans, waiting for someone to help pick us up off the ground.

A/N: I was on a roll and continued to type. Let me know what you think.