Disclaimer: Don't own it, just borrowing.
Review Responses:
Dragojin: (This really should have been at the end of ch. Five, but I was pressed for time when I uploaded it.) As far as Jeff's death went, in the Fatal Fury OVA he is stabbed out in the open in a park before Geese then beats him to death. In Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition they have a fairly decent fight before Jeff is killed. Both look place out in the open and both were in browed daylight. I have never heard of him being lured in to an abandoned building before and the SNK Wiki makes no mention of it. Whether or not it was originally a part of the cannon and was retconned out, the open street in browed daylight death is the one that fans are more familiar with. But thank you very much for your input. It is greatly appreciated. (-smily-)
sokkergurl: Terry won't be showing up for another few years at the earliest. Remember the Bogard brothers didn't see each other at all during these 10 years. The best I can do for you is a flashback. I'll see where I can fit one in for you. It may not be for another few chapters.
Sore ga Ai, Deshou?
Chapter Six: "I'm Very Disappointed in You, Number Six"
Hagi, as far as Andy could tell, was one large training camp for the entire Shiranui family. Everything, it seemed, was meant to be some sort of obstacle, puzzle or test; something that would hone a ninja's skills, like the nightingale floor for stealth and the Course for survival. But there was also breakfast, yes; breakfast became a form of training, speed training to be exact. Saichi was specifically ordered not to make enough food to go around and so it was first come first served and the last person to show up for the meal didn't get anything until lunch.
The days were hot and humid; everyone seemed to prefer practicing their katas in the water, while the light ocean waves lapped at their shins. Mai did not join them to practice in the water. She said she was afraid of getter her fans wet that they wouldn't be effective weapons if the paper were weakened by water. But Andy had a sneaking suspicion that she just didn't want to practice so close to her prospective fiancé.
Instead she would stand beside him and practice her forms as they had at the Shiranui dojo so many times. Andy didn't train in the water with the others because he got the distinct impression that none of them liked him. They never said anything out loud, probably out of respect for Hanzo-sensei but still… the feeling was there. He assumed it was because he was American and the older members of the family were from the generation that lived through the second World War and weren't to happy with the way America had ended it; that hatred seemed to lessen in subsequent generations, but it was still present.
When Mai came over to train with him instead of them it just earned him more dirty looks.
"I'm thinking of reinstating your hundred and fifty centimeters rule." He told her after this continued longer than he felt comfortable with. The Shiranui family didn't have to like him, but if he was going to live with them for the next ten years he would like them to at least not hate him.
"Why?" The girl asked in utter confusion. She was, apparently, oblivious to the general opinion of him within the family.
"Because I don't want your future fiancé to get the wrong idea, just like you didn't want your classmates to get the wrong idea." It was sorta true. He didn't care one way or another how Koinosuke specifically thought about him, but rather the whole of the Shiranui family of which he was a part of.
"Oh." She looked suddenly downcast. "Him."
She moved a few paces away and continued practicing her katas. They worked like that for a while in relative silence. Andy didn't quite know why she was so attached to him; he hadn't even been living with her for a whole year yet! She had no reason and not enough time to form an attachment and he wasn't sure yet if he could tackle the roll of older brother to her. He'd been the younger brother his whole life and wasn't sure if he was equipped to be her big brother.
He wondered if Terry had had to figure out how to be a big brother or if he had just fallen into the role naturally. They hadn't really been together very much while in foster care. It was only after they had run away that they were really able to live together, after they had run away and after Jeff had adopted them. Granted, his and Terry's situation hadn't exactly been normal, maybe playing the roll of big brother to Mai would be easier for him that it had been for Terry because of the relative stability of the Shiranui's living situation.
"Hey, Mai-san." He asked suddenly. "Why don't you call me 'Niisan'? Since you seem to cling to me like a little sister."
She looked momentarily thrown by the suddenness and apparent randomness of his question. "Well, maybe I don't want to."
He thought about that for a moment. "Niisan" was a term of endearment that could be applied to any male that was slightly older than yourself that you had a certain affection for or looked up to. So if she didn't look up to him in any way and had no affections for him, then why was she so very very clingy?
"Why don't you call me 'sempai'?" She asked.
"Wha? I'm older than you!"
"I've been studying ninjitsu longer."
"I am not calling you 'sempai'."
"Fine."
They turned their attentions away from each other and returned to their respective katas. When Andy had first come to the Shiranui dojo, Hnazo-sensei had told him that he was to practice until everything was second nature to him, well he'd be doing the kappou-ken katas for so long now he felt confident that he could now do them in his sleep. He wondered when Hanzo-sensei was finally going to let him spar. He wanted to test the new skills he'd been learning over the past year. He made plans to ask his master if he could.
…
"No." Hanzo said flatly.
"But why?" Andy knew that he shouldn't talk back, that had been a lesson he'd learned back in South Town. Giving lip got you nowhere. But he'd been training so hard and practicing so much, he wanted to prove to himself that he was making progress.
"You're not ready." Another flat reply. "You don't even have a full year of training under your belt and every single ninja here could rip you to shreds."
"What about just a teaching match?" The boy pressed. "I'm sure there's someone here that can hold back depending on their opponents relative skill level. I just wanna put what I've learned into practice."
"Oh, let the brat have a match, Ani-ue." Nagare said, coming up behind his brother and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I wanna see what your little pet hakujin can do."
Andy didn't like being referred to as Hanzo-sensei's "pet" but if it got him what he wanted he didn't mind putting up with a verbal abuse. Verbal abuse wasn't so bad.
"Nagare, may I remind you that he's none of your concern and I thank you to keep your abnormally large nose out of my business." Hanzo-sensei shrugged off his brother's hand and took a step away from him.
"As a concerned member of this family, your business is my business, Ani-ue."
"Andy has nothing to do with this family. As you said: he's just a 'pet-project', a promise I made to an old friend."
"That Chink you met Manchuria." Nagare snorted. "What was his name Tung Rung Fu? I don't see how you can associate with deplorable rubbish, Chinks and Dough Boys."
"Tung Fu Rue." Hanzo corrected. "And who I choose to associate with is also none of your concern. Also, I would appreciate it if you refrain from insulting my pupil's former tutor or his countrymen in front of him. I don't give a damn what you may say behind closed doors but don't go bothering people who have nothing to do with you."
"T'ch." Nagare scoffed before stomping off imperiously.
"Thank you." Andy muttered.
"Don't be. He just really pisses me off sometimes." Hanzo sighed and looked sideways at Andy. "You got a brother too, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me something, puppy. After these ten years are over you and your brother are gonna be very different people and you may not always agree on allot of things." He paused and waited for Andy to nod his understanding. "But whatever you do, just please don't start hateing your brother for seeing differently than you or having different priorities, whatever."
"Okay." That seemed easy enough. He could never imagine himself ever hating Terry anyway, he was the only person that had almost always been there. Even when they lived in separate homes, he knew Terry was there for him; all he had to do was ask.
Hanzo sighed. "I'll see about that spar."
"Thank you, Sensei." Andy bowed respectfully.
…
Andy was not happy with his master's choice of sparring partner for him. Not happy at all. His face flushed when Mai smiled at him from the other side of the ring. Jeff had always told him not to hit girls, but how was he supposed to spar with a girl if he couldn't hit a girl? He had felt terrible after pushing her that one time, how was he going to feel after a match with her? What would Jeff think?
"It will be a three hit match." Hanzo-sensei was explaining. "The first combatant to land three hits on their opponent is the winner."
Mai raised her hand politely. "Three hits in a row or just three hits?"
"Just three hits." Hanzo-sensei clarified. "There will be a twenty minuet time limit, if your time runs out and neither of you have landed three hits then the one in the worst shape is the loser, if you fall or are knocked out of the ring then you lose, if you are knocked unconscious you lose, if you die then you are dead and shouldn't care that you lost. Any questions?"
Andy raised his hand slowly as if in school. "I have a problem." He said, his face turning hot with embarrassment as the rest of the Shiranui family looked on, waiting to see their princess kick the ass of the American interloper. "My dad told me not to hit girls."
Everyone erupted into laughter. Andy felt his embarrassment deepen.
"Then I suggest you try not to get hit for the next twenty minuets." Hanzo-sensei said. "Begin!"
Andy hadn't expected the match to begin so suddenly. He barely had enough time to register that he was endanger before one of Mai's fan's came spinning towards him at ninety miles an hour. He jumped over her "Ka cho sen" and then had to block one of her kicks. He wondered momentarily if a blocked hit counted as a hit or not but didn't want to distract himself long enough to ask.
She pulled another fan from the folds of her gi and swung it at him in an attempt to break through his defenses. Andy tired backing up, away from his opponent to give himself a moment to breath and think on his next move.
"Oh ho ho ho." Mai laughed from behind her fan in a vain attempt to goad Andy into an ill-conceived attack. He refused to give into the tease.
What was he going to do? He didn't want to hit a girl but if he didn't then he would lose the match. Twenty minuets was a long time to keep an attacker at bay, his best bet was to knock Mai out of the chalk circle that served as their ring. But how was he going to accomplish that without hitting her?
He spent too much time thinking and his guard slipped. Mai caught him hard in the chest with her elbow, sending him staggering backwards.
"One!" Hanzo-sensei announced.
Andy glared at Mai and struggled to regain his balance. So a hit didn't count if it was guarded against. That was good to know, but it still didn't help him. He was down by one and still wasn't willing to hit Mai because she was a girl and Jeff had always told him it was wrong to hit girls.
Mai dropped into a crouch and swiped at Andy's ankles with the decorative tail of her costume. The blond ninja-in-training was once again thrown off balance and fell backwards onto his back. "Kuso!"
"Two!" Hanzo announced. "And watch your language, puppy."
Andy grumbled something in English that may or may not have been some choice swears picked up on the streets of South Town. This was his last chance, his last opportunity to knock Mai out of the ring before she landed her third and final hit on him, if he could just get her there.
Mai struck out with her fan again but Andy jumped and somersaulted over her, landing gracefully with own back to hers. She came around with a kick just as the back of his hand swung out at her. The two connected at the same time, Mai's kicked impacting on Andy's hip and his hand smacking her hard enough that she staggered out of the ring. In the end he had had to hit her, Jeff would be disappointed.
"Three! And one." Hanzo-sensei announced. "With a ring-out. What is it you two have with ties?"
The two seemed to ignore him.
"Not bad, Andy." Mai was saying. "You actually managed to touch me." She laughed behind her fan again.
"Whatever. You're still out of the ring and I'm not." The boy shot back. "You were unfortunate to have to fight me."
"Children!" Hanzo shouted so as to be heard over their banter. The two instantly silenced themselves and demurred. "Go clean up and reflect on your mutual defeats."
"Hai, Ojisama."
"Hai, Sensei."
They bowed.
…
That evening a number of ninja returned to the villa from their run through the Course. Everyone's name along with the time of their arrival was recorded on a sort of score sheet that was displayed on one of the pillars that bordered the training field. Among the top three was a woman named Shizune, whom was Nagare's daughter, Koinosuke's mother.
Andy watched as the woman smiled arrogantly at her high ranking on the score sheet. It was only after she had confirmed her success that she went to hug her son. Then Mai was pushed forward. She bowed politely to her apparent future mother-in-law and congratulated the woman on her success.
"A woman must strive to be the best in all her endeavors." Shizune replied imperiously to Mai's polite but hollow complements.
"I shall keep your words in mind." Mai replied with that same hollow tone of forlorn hopelessness.
Mai sat out on the back porch for a long while after that, watching the tree line for any sign of her father. The absence of her only real advocate's presents while surrounded by all these shallow adults with fake smiles and empty words was probably starting to weigh on her heavily. Andy could sympathize with her, he knew all about shallow adults with fake smiles and empty promises, he sat beside her in silent company.
She glanced at him momentarily when he sat down but made no comment. Andy found that a little odd, usually whenever she was around him he couldn't get her to shut-up. But he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth or however that saying went. If Mai didn't feel like talking then that was more then all right by him.
They listened to the wind stirring the leaves of the trees, a cicada buzzing off in the distance, the squeak and chirp of someone tip-toeing over the nightingale floor on their way to the bathroom. It was actually a very peaceful summer evening. Andy lay back on the wood of the porch and watch the thin summer clouds drift across the moon.
The moon was white here, in South Town it had always been yellow or brown, but never white, never clean. Even with the conniving members of the Shiranui family and their plastic smiles this place was far cleaner than South Town had ever been and Andy once again found himself thinking, 'I could live here. I could make this work.' He knew he wouldn't. He knew that he could never really get attached to a place like he had been attached to the small two-bedroom apartment he'd had with Jeff, but it was still nice to dream.
"I don't like Tea Ceremony." Mai's arbitrary statement knocked him out of his reverie.
"What?"
"Now that Shizune-sama is back I'm going to have to start my lessons in tea ceremony again." She explained. "I hate tea ceremony."
"I'm… sorry?"
"I wish 'Touchan were back. I was hoping he'd be back before Shizune-sama or at least with her." She turned her gaze toward him and her eyes seemed to shine with reflected moonlight. "You know, you're the reason Ojisama sent 'Touchan into the Course. He knew that the rest of the family wouldn't approve of him taking an American as an apprentice and they already disapproved of him accepting 'Touchan back into the family. He wanted to look like he was at least trying to respect their traditions."
"I'm sorry." That was allot for someone to take in all at once. Why did she always have to give him so much all at once, hadn't she ever heard of pacing herself? "Wait. What do you mean by, accepting Kazutaka-sama back into the family? I thought his was Hanzo-sensei's son."
"'Touchan was kicked out." She answered.
Andy swallowed the derogatory remark of "Obviously" and instead asked, "But why?"
Mai just shrugged. "The family wasn't going to let him marry my Okasama so he left and Uncle Nagare made Ojisama disown him. When Okasama died Ojisama dragged 'Touchan back and the family's been against him ever since."
"Against Kazutaka-sama or against Hanzo-sensei?"
"Both, I guess."
Andy supposed that made since. Kazutaka's leaving the family for a woman would have been seen as a betrayal and Hanzo's accepting him back could be interpreted as weakness for the plight of his only son.
"What was so bad about your mom that they wouldn't let your dad marry her?"
Another shrug. "He met her at school in Boston."
So, she had been American then, like him. Andy glanced sideways at Mai. He couldn't see her clearly in the dark but he could picture her long hair, more reddish-brown ten a proper Asian black, her big almond shaped eyes, her heart shaped face; her features were ever so slightly mixed. He wondered why he'd never quite noticed it before.
"Shizune-sama was supposed to become the next heir after 'Touchan but Ojisama refused." Mai continued, steering the conversation away from her late mother. "When 'Touchan came back with me Ojisama advocated me as his heir so now Uncle Nagare and Shizune-sama want me to marry Koinosuke because they think they could control me through him."
Andy was a bit surprised by Mai's display of understanding and intelligence. He'd had her pegged as a thoughtless ditz but now he was beginning to believe that that was just an act she put on the keep the rest of the Shiranui at bay. The real Mai (if that was what he was seeing right now) was as shrewd and "street smart" as he was. Andy was beginning to feel bad for calling her a sheltered little princess.
"Why doesn't Hanzo-sensei just tell them to take a hike?" He asked. "He's head of the family and you're his heir. Why is he entertaining this idea of you and Koinosuke-kun?"
"My bad blood." She answered bitterly.
"Huh?"
"Because Okasama was so undesirable to the family and because I'm her daughter, I have her blood, Ojisama is afraid the rest of the family won't accept my as the next Clan Head. But if I marry Koinosuke…" She trailed off. "I don't like Koinosuke."
"I'm sorry."
Her head turned back to the woods, giving the tree line one final forlorn inspection before standing. "Its late." She said. "'Touchan wont be back tonight. I'm going to bed."
Andy listened until her steps on the nightingale floor fell silent. He then, after giving the white moon one final glance, he too went inside to bed.
…
The next day, as predicted, Mai was called out of forms practice to study tea ceremony under the guidance of Shizune-sama. She was locked indoors for the entire morning and most of the afternoon, emerging from the garden-side tearoom only once during lunch. Andy couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she sat demurely in her pink cotton yukata and ate silently under the watchful eye of Shizune. The moment she had finished the woman spirited back into the house and Andy had to wonder if it was really so difficult to learn how to pour a cup of tea.
After his tie with Mai yesterday, Hanzo-sensei seemed much more willing to let Andy spar with other members of the family. The blond ninja-in-training couldn't have been happier about this, especially when one considers the fact that the majority of Shiranui ninja were male and Andy had no qualms about beating other boys mercilessly into the dirt.
All and all, his day went remarkably well.
…
It was latter that evening when everyone was sitting down to dinner that Kazutaka finally returned, much to Mai's elation. She dashed from the dinning room when she heard his steps on the nightingale floor hiking up her yukata to her knees as she ran and almost knock her father over when she launched herself into his arms.
"Whoa there, kitten!" He said. "Where's the fire?"
"I'm glad you're back." She said into his chest.
Kazu set his daughter back on her feet and, crossing his arms over his chest, peered down at her and asked. "That bad, huh?"
Mai just nodded.
"Kazu." Hanzo had followed his granddaughter at a more leisurely pace and only just now arrived to greet his son. "You're late."
"I am sorry for disappointing you, Chichi-ue." Kazutaka replied, bowing respectfully. Mai hated these little verbal-dances the grown-ups in her family did. Hanzo wasn't disappointed that Kazu had finished the Course late, he was upset that doing so made them both look weak in the eyes of the family. Kazu wasn't apologizing for disappointing his father, he was apologizing for weakening Hanzo's powerbase. Rulers, whether they be kings or just heads of households, governed by popular opinion.
Hnazo scrutinized his son's appearance. From his matted and dirty hair to his torn and sullied shirt, the stained blue jeans, finally settling on the foot missing a shoe with his big toe sticking out from a hole in his sock. "You're a mess."
"Sorry, I didn't have time to stop at the spa." Kazu shot back with a hint of rebellious sarcasm.
"Where's the wakasashi I gave you?"
"The blade, the guard, the hilt or the sheath, Chichi-ue?"
"Nevermind." Hanzo groaned in exasperation. "Go and get cleaned up. If you're lucky you might still be able to get some food before your uncle starts pushing for more negotiations."
"Still?" Kazu glanced sideways at Mai. The girl's eyes fell to the floor, now that her father was back Uncle Nagare would launch back into talks for her marriage to Koinosuke. Kazutaka knelt in front of her and placed a comforting hand on her head. "Don't worry, kitten. I won't let my little princess marry any evil prince."
Mai nodded, knowing that there really wasn't anything her father could do. He had no power within the family, no pull and no supporters. His views and opinions were as insignificant as a drop of rain in the sea.
…
Dinner had been disturbingly awkward after Kazu arrived freshly bathed and wearing a clean Yukata. Andy was only glad that he had arrived late, just as everyone was finishing up and so didn't have to suffer through the tense atmosphere for very long. After he had at least one bowl of rice in his stomach, Kazutaka was dragged into the garden-side tea room to discuss the proposed marriage contract between Mai and Koinosuke.
Andy couldn't understand why they were forcing what he considered to be an adult issue on a pair of children, but then, there were still allot of things he didn't understand. He was curious but reminded himself that it didn't concern him and in a little less than ten years he would be gone his knowing or not wouldn't have mattered. The boy decided to retire to his room, which he would now be sharing with Kazutaka-sama now that he had returned.
The room was more than large enough to fit two grown men, especially when compared to the cramped two-bedroom apartment Jeff had had. He and Terry had had to share a room back then, but after living in separate foster homes for so long, the brothers were more than willing to share the same room. His own room at the Shiranui dojo had always felt less like 'his room' and more like 'the place where he slept'. Andy assumed that he had become acclimated to falling asleep listening to Terry's breathing associated the sound with 'home'.
Now, with the prospect of sharing a room with Kazutaka-sama, Andy was starting to miss Terry just a little more than he previously had been. His brother had always been his best source of comfort and now it seemed he had to look to himself for comfort and security. He couldn't live clinging to big brother's vest forever. Andy wondered if Mai ever had introspective moments like this where she contemplated having to do without the comfort and safety of her father or grandfather…
And then he did a complete double take. How had he jumped from terry to Mai in one flash of neurons? There was really no link-up between them. Cool older brother on one side, mercurial annoying girl with cooties on the other side. He decided it must be all the time he'd been spending with her lately and left it at that. There was no since in getting worked up over a girl that he wasn't ever going to see again nine years from now.
'Don't get attached, don't get hurt.'
Saichi brought up an extra futon and Andy helped the old woman lay it out for Kazutaka before he himself went to sleep. Tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of Obon, a three daylong celebration for the dead and he didn't want to show disrespect by oversleeping. That, and he planned to ask for Jeff's forgiveness for hitting Mai during their spar the other day. He had a feeling he was going to be breaking Jeff's rule much more in the future and he wanted his father to understand.
…
It was much, much later when Kazutaka finally returned from the meeting. He woke Andy when he flopped down on his futon, completely exhausted and sighed as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders.
"Kazutaka-sama?" The boy muttered into the darkness.
"Sorry, did I wake you? Go back to sleep."
Andy rolled over and tried to do as he was told but now that he was already awake he couldn't just fall back at the drop of a hat. He heard Kazu muttering softly as he tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position and the boy hoped he wasn't the type that talked in his sleep.
"Kazutaka-sama?" Andy ventured.
"Mm-hm?"
"When you were a kid, did Hanzo-sensei ever tell you not to hit girls?"
"Nope." The man muttered, nestling his head down on the pillow. "He told me gender didn't matter one damn bit, in Manchuria women fought just as hard as the men when their children or chastity was threatened. 'An opponent is an opponent', he used to say."
"Oh." Andy thought about that for a moment. Jeff had told him that women were delicate and deserved his respect. Here it seemed women, or at least the female members of the family (trophy-wives excluded), were treated as a different kind of men. "My dad taught me not to hit girls."
"Well, then Mai-chan will be wiping the floors with you for the next nine years." Kazu replied.
"If I explained to my dad during Obon that I have to hit girls, do you think he'd understand?"
"If he was as open-minded as I've heard, then he already does."
"Oh."
"Go to sleep, puppy."
…
(A/N: Okay, I've taken a big liberty here, with Mai's parentage. I more than understand if you flam, so go right on ahead. I would like to point out however that I (the narrator) didn't flat out say "Mai's mother was American", it was a conclusion Andy drew from the information given. I did it like that to cover my own ass. If you guys are really pissed by what I did I can just retcon it by saying "her parents met in Boston, but her mom was just another Japanese foreign study student". Whatever you want in this case. KOF and FF are such small fandom's that I'd really like to not piss-off my readers. So go ahead and put in your two cents: give me a review (or a flame if you wish).
Also, chapter title has nothing to do with the fiction. Its an allusion to an old show called "The Prisoner" which also takes place on an island and the main character's name is "Number Six". I couldn't think of a relevant chapter title so (since it's the sixth chapter) I figured a small Prisoner reference would be alright.