Chapter 9

The two girls looked in the direction that Viktor pointed to. There, in one of the seats in the far right corner of the café sat a young man of roughly the same age as Viktor, reading a book with a neutral expression on his face that had a slight resemblance with a grumpy monkey's if not for the straight nose and slightly long chin.

His long brown hair was combed back with no hair out of place and a tuft of hair was sprouting from his chin as if he was trying to grow a goatee.

"Great, I don't think I can stand this guy today."

"Hey, let's go over and greet him!" Hitomi exclaimed, ignoring Viktor's statement just now and started to walk over to him. Viktor just shook his head, muttering something but walked over nevertheless. Leifang hesitated for a second, but followed the two of them.

"Sven!" the brunette exclaimed, telling him they were coming over. He turned his attention from his book over to Hitomi, one corner of his mouth lifting.

"Buchfink." He greeted her and then turned his gaze to Viktor. "Hager."

Then he looked straight at Leifang. 'And this is?' he asked in German.

Hitomi smiled and held her hand towards the Chinese. 'Sven, meet Gāo Leifang.' she moved her hand to point towards the man and switched to English. "Leifang this is Sven Degener"

"Nice to meet you, Sven" Leifang said pleasantly and smiled.

"Gāo" he nodded at her, he knew enough English to at least greet Leifang, though it was heavily accented, so she would probably take a little backseat on this one. The guy was supposed to be weird too. He closed his book and motioned for them to sit. "Why don't you sit down?" he asked.

With a sigh of resignation Viktor sat down besides Sven, while Hitomi and Leifang sat down on the opposite side. 'How are things?'

'Good good.' Sven took a sip of his coffee, before snapping his fingers like he remembered something. 'Riedel asks if you are going to make it on Saturday.'

'Yeah. When do I ever miss a session?' A waitress approached the table, asking the three if they wanted to order something. They all ordered coffee, Hitomi translating for Leifang since the waitress wasn't good at English and while she did that ordered herself a piece of apple pie.

'And what brings you all here?' Sven asked. 'I for one am on my break from work.'

"My old neighbor from downstairs wants to compare her baking with mine." Hitomi explained, still speaking in English as to not alienate her friend, pointing to the bags they had set aside under the table. She would answer the challenge with her very own version of Black Forest cake, which she explained in detail while waiting for their order.

'I'm going out for a smoke.' Viktor stood up, fingering his pack of cigarettes.

'You really should quit that habit,' the other man said. 'Don't you know that smoking causes your lungs to-'

'Oh no no no no!' the black haired man cut him off, wagging his finger at him. 'You will not berate me like you are some doctor. You're a masseur not an internist. That little bit of medicine you learned doesn't fly with me on this. Now if you ladies will excuse me, I think I'll go destroy my lungs or something.' The last part was said in English so that Leifang would understand.

And with that he left the three people sitting at the table. Sven turned towards the two ladies. 'Something wrong with him?'

'Heh, you could say that.' Hitomi said and shared a look with Leifang, snickering. Yeah it seemed that today was one of these days where he couldn't be around the other guy.

'So...what are you reading there?' she asked for lack of better topic.

'Oh this?' he lifted the book with its leathery cover. 'The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche. Pretty interesting stuff. Did you know that god is dead?'

'Uuuuuh nope. But thanks for the enlightenment. I'll be sure to write it down.' She said and laughed nervously. The waitress came over and brought them their order. Saying her thanks she quickly dug in on her pie. Beside her Leifang propped her head on one hand and looked at Sven who was thumbing through his book, probably trying to find a sentence or two to quote.

"So you are a masseur?"

"Yes."

"What kind of massages?"

"Mostly the medical kind, like acupressure massages. But I do the ones mostly aimed at relaxation as well, for lack of better words. I do house calls as well."

Leifang gave him a mischievous smile and glanced towards her friend who was busy enjoying the pie and putting some additional milk in her coffee. "That includes foot massages. Hmm yeah that explains something."

"I think I'm missing something here...," he took a look at his watch and put his book inside his shoulder bag. Rising from his seat he said. "Gotta go back to work. See you Buchfink. Was nice meeting you Gāo"

He was about to leave when he stopped and closed his eyes, trying to remember something. He always looked like he was in pain when he did that, Hitomi always noted, like it was hurting him something fierce.

"Oh yeah, can you tell your father that his next appointment is going to be delayed and that I'll be by an hour later?"

"Sure I tell him the next time I see him."

"Thanks."

They watched him go to the counter, pay up and go outside, where he talked with Viktor for a few more minutes before leaving.

"He didn't seem that weird to me." The Chinese told her friend.

"Well Viktor knows him better; I don't hang out with him all too often. We're more acquaintances than friends." Hitomi shrugged and took a sip of her coffee, smacking her lips and nodding now that the taste was more to her liking. "I think most of it is Vik just exaggerating. They are actually good friends, but I think living together wasn't a good idea for them."

They drank their coffee in silence until Viktor came back to them, sitting down in the place Sven occupied just moments ago, pulling his cup his way. "Did I miss anything?" when the girls shook their heads he took a sip of his coffee.

"So Hit-girl. How are things in the dojo?"

"It has become rather busy. We're getting more and more students." she told him.

"In no small part of you being the runner up of the Dead or Alive Tournament, I'm sure." Leifang said smiling, she had stopped being mad at not making it further than she did a while ago and could be happy for her friend, without it being overshadowed by Jann Lee, even though thinking of the man was still confusing to her.

"Hehe, thanks!" She grinned at her friend.

"That's good. It was tough two years ago with your father sick and the dojo on the brink of closing down. Good thing you had the prize money from the tournament back then too. That sure helped." He took another sip from his cup, and then smiled to lighten up the mood. "Good work Hit-girl, have a cigar."

"I don't smoke." She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Don't I know that." He chuckled. "So did you think about the offer from the football team?"

"Football?" Leifang raised her eyebrows and looked at her friend, smiling. "I never knew you played football."

"Well I actually don't." She grinned embarrassed and pulled a few of her light brown locks behind her ear. "But I thought it might be fun, and the extra exercise is always good."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll be the female Beckenbauer in no time."

"Laugh it up all you want, Vik." The three shared a light hearted laugh.

By the time Hitomi and Leifang returned home it was already evening, though the sun would still be up for another few hours at this time of the year.

"Sorry for making you go shopping with me even though you probably wanted us to do something else." The German apologized to her friend who gave her a smile and shook her head.

"No it was fun." she lifted the bag she was holding. "Besides, I think we're going to have fun with this tomorrow."

They discarded their shoes and brought the bag into the kitchen, storing the ingredients. After finishing that up Hitomi decided to make the two of them something to eat, since they didn't have anything decent the whole day, and one couldn't get by on snacks and cake alone now couldn't they.

Since Leifang wouldn't be of much help for that she set out to dress in something more comfortable and pulled out the bed from the sofa and lied down on it, turning the TV on, deciding to kill some time watching some shows even if she didn't understand anything.

Hitomi walked out of the kitchen, deciding to take the time while the food didn't need her immediate attention to change out of her clothes, seeing how her friend was already way ahead of her in that regard. As she returned from her bedroom she looked at what her friend was currently watching.

"The contestant has to beat the other guy in various outlandish disciplines to win the jackpot money." She explained to Leifang, who turned to look over her shoulder. "Since they didn't beat him 3 times now it should be about 2 million Euros."

"I think it's pretty interesting, some of these things look pretty hard for a person that isn't trained." Leifang turned her gaze to the TV.

"When I'm finished we can watch one or two of my DVDs on English settings." Hitomi said and returned back into the kitchen.

About 20 minutes later she came back out with two plates full of noodles with tomato sauce and the forks stuck simply into them.

"Here, nothing fancy but it'll do. I'll make sure to have something more special ready some other time this week." She said smiling as she handed her friend the plate, setting hers safely down on the sofa turned bed so that she could go and fetch her DVDs. Two of her favorites; she returned and started them up.

"I'm really excited that you're going to visit me." Leifang told her as they ate while the previews were being shown.

"Yeah me too, I've never been to Hong Kong, so I hope you can show me around."

"Sure, but only if you show me around next time I'm here." She winked.

"Deal!" They both turned their attention back to the TV as the DVD menu was finally shown. "I really don't get why some have previews and some don't" she shook her head and started the movie with English audio.

They watched in silence, simply eating their dinner, until something else came to mind. "You know what? I will teach you some German and some cultural things when we have time. Could help you understand some things on TV."

"I'd love to learn from you, if it's not a bother."

"Hey it's my idea, so it would hardly bother me."

"Then I'll try to be a behaving student."

"Good. Then I won't have to slap your fingers."

Both girl laughed at the mental image and continued watching the movie. It was a simple yet entertaining movie, though not really outstanding in the Chinese's opinion.

The second one was more to her liking, since it was a martial arts movie that was always relevant for both women. Hitomi told her that it featured one of her favorite movie actresses, Pai Chan, and was one of those rather over the top Chinese epic movies that always managed to draw her in.

They had long since finished their dinner and had set aside the plates on the floor; the brunette would take care of them in the morning. As the movie credits ended it had gotten dark outside. The German stood up from her lying position and went over to the balcony door, opening it and going outside to catch some fresh air before calling it a day.

She was rather tired after today, though more mentally than physically. The even breeze made her feel even drowsier. Soft footsteps told her that Leifang had joined her on the balcony.

Hitomi turned around and leaned against the railing, looking at her friend, who looked back, her hands behind her back and a small smile on her face. She looked around. "This is where you danced 'butt naked'?"

Hitomi groaned. "Oh not you too. I told you I was excited that day, and I wasn't completely naked. I wore my panties. Ok it was a thong but still."

The Chinese lifted a hand to her face to hide her grin, chuckling and making the young Karateka glare at her. "I wasn't judging you, really. Though I'd like to know what got you so excited that you completely forget about that."

Letting out a sigh the brunette crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah I suppose I can tell you, might make a for a nice good night story."

Leifang leaned against the entry wall, looking at her patiently.

"Remember when I told you that my father was sick?" the Chinese nodded in confirmation. "Well that wasn't the whole story; I never told you how sick my father actually was. It was really bad; he had to stay at the hospital all the time and the dojo suffered from it, no work meant no money and no money meant no bills being paid. And since I couldn't help my father getting better I had to do something about the dojo and entered the 4th Dead or Alive tournament to meet an old friend of mine and convince him to help out attracting students."

Hitomi turned her head, looking at the streets where people were still walking by. "But he couldn't...he changed. So I did the only other thing I could do. I fought, harder than usual. And I managed to rank third place. With the price money I could keep the dojo afloat and also bought this place. Things were as good as could be at the moment."

She looked back at her friend, smiling brightly. "Then one day I got a call from the hospital, that my father was getting better and would make a full recovery. I was so happy the next few days,"

"That you forgot to dress up properly."

"Yeah. Though I wouldn't have realized it until Viktor ringed my doorbell and told me that I gave people a show. I couldn't look the other residents straight in the eye for one week." She had to laugh at the memory. "It was silly, but I was happy. I'm still happy."

Sky blue eyes met brown ones and lingered for a few moments.

"I...have to return home soon, by the end of the week." Leifang averted her gaze first, though not out of embarrassment. "I will have to tell my parents that I will receive a guest." She huffed. "Living at my own place, but still reporting to my parents."

"That's a pity. I was hoping we could spend a bit more time together."

"It's not like it will be for long, and after that I can come visit you again."

"I'd like that. I can show you around town then. I won't be busy with my lessons all the time."

"Then let's make that a promise!" Leifang held out her pinky.

Giggling Hitomi did the same, hooking it with her friend's. "Promise."

The week passed faster than each of them wanted to, and they found themselves at the Freiburg airport. This time they didn't have time for a quick match like they did in New York, so they made the most of it by other means.

They stopped for a quick drink at the airport café, though Hitomi choose to drink orange juice rather than coffee this time, saying something about not wanting to drink too much.

As Leifang's flight was called out Hitomi accompanied her friend like she had done in New York.

"Have a safe trip, we're gonna see each other in 4 weeks. I'll send you a mail when I leave."

"Good, I will pick you up then."

They hugged each other, saying their goodbyes and, as Leifang was about to let go, Hitomi planted a kiss on her friend's cheek. The Chinese took a step back, looking at her friend in shock, her hand flying up to where her lips had touched skin. "What are you doing!?"

Hitomi blinked and realized what the matter was. "Oh yeah, they don't do that over there. Well," she grinned and gave her friend a thumbs-up. "First lesson of German behavior: 'Friends kiss each other on the cheek to either greet or saying goodbye to a friend'"

"Oh..." Leifang looked dumbfounded for a moment; her heart had stopped for a second there. It was just a simple gesture of goodbye and here she thought...Yeah, well that was impossible. "Uh, you could've warned me, you know."

"Sorry, I was kinda,"

"Excited" they said in unison then burst into laughter.

"Well, take care." The Chinese said walked over to the gangway.

"Mhm!" Hitomi nodded and smiled, watching her friend go. As she left her line of sight the brunette felt something tug inside her chest, as she left the airport she realized it was sadness that tugged at her heart.

Ohohohoho. How lewd of you Hitomi!

Now for those of you readers that are of european descent the kissing on the cheek is no big deal, but for someone asian that's actually a big no-no. It really surprised me as well.

As for the guy at the start of the chapter...I figured Hitomi would know at least one weird guy in a way, and here it's through her dear neighbor.

I'm really excited about the things that will come next. So see you next week. :)