Disclaimer: I don't own KOF, Fatal Fury or related characters. All are the property of SNK Playmore. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Sore ga Ai, Deshou?

Chapter Twenty: Mai Time

Jubei had intended to give his pupil a long lecture on refusing young, attractive women who turned up naked in his baths, but after overhearing Andy's little speech to her and seeing his reaction when she left, it was obvious to the old judo master that there was more going on than simple attraction and teenage awkwardness.

…

Koinosuke pulled his car up to the foot of the steps leading up to the Shiranui main house to drop Mai off. She thanked him for the ride and turned to go home. Her fiancé pulled away from the curb to go and find street parking.

"Tadaima!" The kunoichi called as she pulled off her shoes and laid them out neatly so that she could pull back on easily the next time she went out.

"Okairi." Kazutaka poked his head out of the kitchen to greet her. He held a semi-wet plate in one hand and a dishtowel in the other, apparently interrupted in the middle of washing dishes. "Is Koinosuke-kun coming in too?"

"I guess." Mai shrugged. She didn't much care what Koinosuke did or didn't do. He did not occupy her thoughts on a regular basis except for when she contemplated the impending misery her marriage to him would bring. Andy's words suddenly leapt to mind unbidden, 'If you don't want to marry him, then don't.'

Mai tossed her travel bag in her room and flopped down on her futon to brood. He made it sound so easy. Just don't marry him, feh. If it were really that easy she wouldn't be so bothered.

'Act like a real ninja, not some sniveling brat!'

Was she really sniveling and brat-ish? She supposed she was immature for someone in her position but Mai didn't think she was being a brat about it, nor did she think she was sniveling. Andy was just being melodramatic; he did have a tendency to the emotional and by extension to drama.

'Bear it with pride while still seeking alternative.'

Still, emotionally volatile and melodramatic as he was, Andy had managed to give some decent advice. She was the granddaughter of the clan's current leader, as the future co-leader she should act the part. No one would want to follow, or even listen to, a whiny brat who couldn't see past her own problems to recognize and meet the needs of her clan.

But following that train of thought perhaps she should marry Koi-tan. If it was for the benefit of the clan what did her feelings matter? But then that raised the question of whether or not Koinosuke would be a reliable leader. He was, after all, Nagare's grandson and Nagare was selfish and petty, a bad combination in one with ambitions. Knowing her uncle, Mai was sure he would try to control the clan through Koi and Koinosuke would most likely be nothing more than his grandfather's puppet.

But the clan would turn a blind eye to that, to Koinosuke being nothing but Nagare's doll, because Koi-tan had the right pedigree. Mai suddenly found that she was very angry. Angry at the clan for preferring Koinosuke over her to spite the fact that she knew she was better than him. Angry at her mother for not being a ninja or even Japanese, angry at her father for loving her mother, just angry.

'There's more to being a good ninja than bloodlines and heredity.'

Again, Andy's words invaded her thoughts.

"There's more to being the leader of a ninja clan than intelligence and capability." She informed her empty room.

The door to her room slid open and the kunoichi suppressed a frown as her betrothed entered unbidden.

"I thought I might find you here." He sat down next to her. "Who were you talking to just now?"

"Myself." She answered placidly. She really wished Koinosuke were as opposed to their union as she was. At least then she might have an ally or, if worst came to worst, they could at least bond over their mutual distaste over the whole thing. But sadly, the young ninja was actually pleased with the arrangement. He liked her and he wanted her for a wife.

"Did you have anything interesting to say?" He smiled as if what he'd just made a rather witty joke.

"No." She forced an amused smile on her face to humor him. "I was just contemplating what it was to be a ninja-princess."

Koinosuke caught a hint of her heavy mood underneath the mask of amusement she wore. He took one of her hands in his saying, "It means being smart…" he kissed her cheek, "… and funny…" he kissed the other cheek, "… and cute…" he kissed her forward and then held her face in his hands gazing deep into her eyes, "… and completely bat-shit crazy."

"Ugh." She pushed him away.

"No, really." He allowed himself to fall backwards and sprawl on the floor. "I mean have you seen some of the stuff we ninja do? Really, we're all bat-shit insane."

Mai did have to smile at little at that.

Koinosuke sat back up and leaned forward, resting his hands on his ankles. "Anyway, I asked Hanzo-sama if I could stay here until after your birthday. I mean, I'd be coming back after New Years anyway and this way we get to spend more time together."

More time with Koinosuke, great, that was just what Mai wanted.

Mai muttered something non-committal to acknowledge that she'd heard him but didn't comment. Her thoughts drifted back to that conversation she's had with Andy the night of her failed attempt to seduce him.

'Marriage is a partnership and I don't want a partner I have to drag…'

Koinosuke was a decent fighter but when it came to practical things like managing accounts and dealing with people he fell short. He also differed to others' advice when making decisions instead of keeping his own council, that in and of itself wasn't all that bad, but Koi did it to the point of not really having any opinions of his own. Mai would have to drag him as dead weight, extra baggage instead of a partner to help her lead the clan.

"Koi-tan," she said suddenly, "what are you gonna do when you become the new Clan Leader?"

"When we become the new Clan Leaders." He corrected her. "I'm not really sure, I hadn't thought about it much. I guess I'll just do what Ojisama tells me until I get the hang of it myself."

Mai frowned at his answer.

"Don't make that face." He said as if she were taking a light conversation to seriously. "A frown doesn't belong on a face as pretty as yours."

It was meant to be a complement but it only succeeded in irritating her further. Rather than having to sit and put up with more of Koinosuke's attentions she stood to leave. "I'm going to see if there's anything I can help 'Touchan with." She said. "I've also got to make a room up for you if you're gonna be staying here."

"I thought I'd just sleep with you." He said, shifting his position from sitting on the floor to laying on her futon.

Mai rolled her eyes in annoyance. "We'll see."

…

With the lights turned off and her eyes closed it was easy for Mai to pretend. She pretended that the long hair she stroked between her fingers was golden and not ebony. She pretended that the man's skin was alabaster, and not jasper, that his eyes were a pale icy-blue and not infinity black, that the face was a different face. She imagined a different man all together.

But that man was a man she couldn't have, it seemed. A man whom (barring an act of the gods) her clan would not allow her to marry, a man whom had rejected her when she's offered him her body and again when she's offered him her hand. A man who's steadfastness, commitment and drive made him so very desirable and at the same time so very unattainable.

As the man whom she was with pushed her to a climax she could not hold back. She lost her inhibitions and gasped his name aloud.

"Andy…"

"What?" Koinosuke paused in his ministrations. "What did you call me?"

The ninja prince pushed himself up and stood to turn on a light. He glared down at Mai, his arms crossed over his bare chest and he asked again, "What did you call me?"

Mai clutched the blankets around her. She had made a terrible blunder and she knew it. How many nights had she gone imagining Andy in the place of her current betrothed? How many nights had she done so without the slightest slip, the slightest hint of her true thoughts? Many. So, why did she let slip now? Now when she had finally resolved to free herself from this bondage of an engagement.

She avoided Koinosuke's glare and said nothing.

"You called me 'Andy'." He said. "You called me by the name of that hakujin foreigner. Is that what you were doing at the Yamada dojo then? Him?"

"No." Mai said in a firm and defining tone.

"But you want him." Koinosuke continued. "You must have been thinking of him in the place of me."

"Yes." Mai admitted.

Koi's tone changed suddenly, his voice becoming broken and melancholy. "You want him instead of me."

Mai remained silent. She knew that Koinosuke actually liked her, that he had actually been looking forward to their eminent marriage and that he had hoped that she marrying him would make her happy. Her admittance that she envisioned another man in his place must be a hard blow to his pride and heart.

"Is that how its going to be then?" He avoided her eyes, his ebony locks falling across his face, obscuring his features. "Will I always be a stand-in for someone else in your eyes?"

Again, she was silent.

"Jezz, Mai! You could have at lease chosen a better man. The hakujin! Really?" His melancholy had faded into a fresh wave of anger. "Why not give your affection to someone actually worthy of you? A ninja from the Kisaragi clan, maybe? But the hakujin! The hakujin! How can you prefer him over me?"

"He's as skilled a ninja as any member of the clan."

"He's a foreigner, not one of us. He's not a member of our clan."

Mai shook her head slowly. "He is a member of the clan. He has been raised in out clan since he was nine, he's been taught our style of ninjitsu, he knows our secrets… he is one of us."

"And he would be your choice…" Koinosuke shrugged his yukata over his shoulders and tied it shut with a sash. "If could marry whom ever you willed, you'd choose him over me?"

Now it was Mai's turn to avoid his eyes. "If he would have me."

"You know the family would never let you two marry." Koi reminded her acidly. "You'd both be kicked out of the clan, just like your father was. Only this time, you couldn't come crying back."

"I know."

"Knowing that, you'd still choose him?"

Mai paused for a half a moment longer then said, "Yes."

Koinosuke had heard enough. He stormed from the room.

…

Hanzo sat up when Mai entered his room carrying a tray laden with a pot of hot tea and two cups. The old ninja master had been feeling a little under the weather of late and the wet winter chill just seemed to intensify his symptoms and make what would normally have been a minor annoyance for him a possible health risk considering his age.

"Shitsure shimasu." The kunoichi muttered when she entered. She sat down next to her grandfather's futon and poured a cup of tea for each of them.

"Domo, Mai-chan." Hanzo said, accepting the cup she offered him. "This was most thoughtful of you." He sipped the steaming hot liquid and relished the felling as it slipped down his soar throat.

Mai sipped her tea daintily before welling-up the courage to say, "Actually, Ojisama, I have an ulterior motive, its not really all that thoughtful of me."

"Oh?"

Mai placed her half-full teacup back on the tray and took a deep breath before saying, "I'm not going to marry Koinosuke."

Hanzo regarded her for a long moment, taking note of the deadpan tone she had used, her rigid posture and expression of firm resolve. "I trust you have not come to this decision lightly? You've never wanted to marry Koinosuke. How can I trust this decision of yours?"

She took another sip of her tea to wet her suddenly dry mouth before pleading her case. "There's more to being a good ninja than bloodlines and heredity." She began, quoting Andy's words verbatim. "The family wants me to marry Koinosuke because that don't think I'd be a capable leader because of my mixed pedigree. Koi-tan, to them is the ideal 'prince' to succeed after you because he's got the right breeding. But they're wrong. Blood has nothing to do with being a good ninja, or a good leader or even a good person for that matter. My marriage to Koinosuke would not benefit the clan in any way and it would only succeed in making me utterly miserable."

Mai paused to see what kind of effect her words so far might have had on her grandfather.

"And is this all you have to say on the matter?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No." She replied without missing a beat. "That is merely my first point. Secondly, I'd like to remind you that marriage is a partnership entered into by two equal and consenting parties. The operative word here is 'equal'. Koinosuke and I are not equals. The family might think him superior to me but I can tell you that I would make a far better leader apart from him than I would with him. He would be dead weight that's I'd have to drag to the top with me. His opinions and decisions are molded by Uncle Nagare and he rarely thinks for himself. He cannot stand on his own two feet."

She paused again, having made her second point and waited for any comment from her grandfather. The old ninja motioned for her to continue and so she did.

"Finally, I feel the need to remind you –'you' meaning the clan, not you personally- that it is my own life and I should be free to live it my own way. If the clan doesn't want me to lead after you because of it then that's fine, I'll abdicate. But I will not marry Koinosuke. I refuse."

Having made her case, Mai relaxed a little bit and drained the last of her tea. She refilled her empty cup and toped off her grandfather's.

"Are you finished?" Hanzo smiled.

She gave a nod.

"Well, Mai-chan, you have made your case and I agree with you. But then again, I've never fully approved of the idea of you marrying Koinosuke in the first place. I'm afraid you'll find it much more difficult to convince the rest of the clan."

Mai already knew this.

"You say you'll abdicate if they refuse to accept you as the next Head of the Clan. Who would you choose to take over?" Hanzo examined her face, gauging her thoughts. "Who do you think is responsible enough and can remain impartial enough to be a fair yet strong leader?"

Mai was silent for a long while. She knew that the clans fist to choices would be either Koinosuke or his mother Shizune, but they were to easily manipulated and to self-centered (respectively) to make good clan heads. Her first choice was actually her father, after all, he was originally supposed to be Hanzo's heir. But Kazutaka had been officially disowned by the clan. He might live with Hanzo and attend clan functions, but they no longer considered him to be 'one of them'. Mai continued to run through the list in her head, 'To old… to young… to bias… to inexperienced…'

Finally, she reached the last possible candidate. "There is one person I think would be an excellent leader." She said. "But the clan is less likely to accept him than they are me, and… and he doesn't want it either."

A sardonic smile creped across Hazo's aged features. "There is that old saying, 'Power is best suited to those whom don't want it'."

…

Andy wanted power. That was an overly simplified summary of his wants and desires. 'Power' was an ambiguous term. He wanted the strength and the skills to avenge his father's murder. He wanted the power body, power of mind, power of will. He wanted the type of power that would give him the strength of character to kill.

That was the power Andy Bogard desired.

And to attain that power he trained. He trained his body with an intense physical regime, he trained his mind with deep meditation, and he trained his will with both. Andy put all of his time and effort, ney, all of his being into his single goal: to attain the power he desired, the power to avenge his father's murder.

And not once did any thought of Mai enter his mind. Not once, but…

…

(A/N: Yes, Mai and Koinosuke were having sex. I didn't want to go into much detail because I originally gave this fic a T rating and I'd like to keep said T rating. Besides, who wants to read OC smut anyway? Sorry if the description for that scene was a little vague.)

(A/N 2: Also, I must apologize. This fic is running a bit longer than I had anticipated. I knew it was going to be a long fic when I started, but I had planned to end it at chapter 20. As you can see, we're no where close to a satisfying conclusion…)