"YOU DID A SPIT TAKE ON ME! WHY WOULDN'T I BE ANGRY?" I yelled in his face, causing him to take a step back. I continued to walk towards him as I yelled and he kept walking back. "YOU BROKE MY TASER, RAN OFF WHEN I DEMANDED YOU GET ME A NEW ONE, AND HAVE BEEN RUDE TO ME EVER SINCE I MET YOU! YOU ARE A COMPLETE JERK! I HATE YOU!" Eventually he reached the edge of the hallway and wound up falling backwards onto the ground, letting go of his beer which spilt on him. He looked back up at me, his eyes blinking several times out of shock.

"But, but I saved you from being jumped by those guys twice today," he muttered. "Aren't you at least a little thankful?" I was on the road to calming down but he just reignited my angry fire.

"For the first time yes, but IT WAS YOUR FAULT THAT I COULDN'T DEFEND MYSELF THE SECOND TIME! IF YOU HADN'T BROKEN MY TASER THEN I MIGHT HAVE AT LEAST BEEN ABLE TO GET AWAY ON MY OWN! I'M NOT COMPLETELY USELESS YOU KNOW! THEN YOU HAD THE NERVE TO KIDNAP ME AND BRING ME HERE OUT OF MY OWN WILL! TO A PLACE WHERE I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM!" I yelled at him. By now he looked really scared. That was about the same look people usually had when Ashley was really angry with them. Except, she doesn't yell. No, her being scary is just being silent and having a look that pretty much says 'if you dare to ask me what's wrong, I will hurt you so badly you'll feel the pain until next week!'.

"Um, hey, does anyone know her name?" I heard Akisame ask the people behind me.

"That scary girl is named Haley," Apachai answered, sounding really scared. Soon a hand rested on my shoulder and I glared at whoever dared to interrupt me yelling at the jerk.

"What?" I asked. He didn't flinch.

"Shio told me that you had gotten injured during the times you were jumped. He was concerned so much that he asked me to look you over. Don't worry, I am a doctor," he said. He smiled at the end and somehow turned my angry feeling into one of being scared of him. What kind of being was he?

"Um, you really don't have to. I mean, I'm perfectly fine. I get more injured than this at home," I said. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me concerningly.

"Really? Then I am sorry about that. Why don't we treat these wounds for now and, if you want, we can straighten out your situation at home," he said. I thought about it, but then shivered at the thought of Ashley's scary face glaring at me. That, or her just laughing it off and punching out her anger later on one of the punching posts. Same went for Allie, except she would have a look of sadness and just go into an emo corner or something and not talk to me for a while.

"Uh, there's no need for that! I mean, the situation is perfectly fine! It's my fault I get hurt half the time anyway! Seriously, I deserve it!" I said, laughing at all the times I irritated the masters or Ashley and Allie enough to have them use me as a training dummy.

"No one deserves to be hurt when they can't defend themselves!" Apachai said.

"Apachai has a point. You yourself said that you don't practice martial arts," Elder said. I waved my hands in front of me as I turned to face the rest of them and turn my back on Sakaki.

"Really, you guys are seriously misunderstanding the situation! And I did have a way of defending myself! It's just that the jerk behind me broke it and won't get me a new Taser!" I said. "And I'm positive that they wouldn't have used me as a training dummy had I not had my Taser!"

"Wait, training dummy?" Akisame asked.

"Uh, yeah. I live at a dojo with two other girls named Ashley and Allie. They are the terror cousins I mentioned. Also, Allie adopted me into their family a long time ago so they are also my family. We live with about 5 martial arts masters. Sometimes I do something to get on one of their bad sides so they use me as a training dummy as payback. They never seriously try to hurt me," I explained. The three that I could see said, "Oh."

"Then I guess it isn't as serious as I thought it was. Oh well, let's go get these bruises checked out to make sure that they're not too serious. Come along, Haley," Akisame said. He grabbed my arm and dragged me to his clinic.

"Hey! I just said you didn't have to! HEY!" I yelled. He didn't listen to me and Elder and Apachai went on their merry way. Sakaki just stared after me with the look of shock and slight fear still there in his face.

Ashley

Ashley ran by house after house, thinking about the time wasted running on the ground instead of on the rooftops. After a while, she stopped out of nowhere and cursed in frustration.

"Damn it! Getting into town again wasted a good 2 hours of my time already! And now it's taking me forever to find this stupid place! Where could it be?" she muttered angrily. Ashley glared all around her, hoping that the suburban buildings would give her a clue. Suddenly she heard laughing behind her and she hid behind a bush on someone's lawn.

"Man! That test in math was hard!" a boy complained.

"Really? I thought it was kind of easy," a girl answered. Ashley didn't dare move from her spot. She couldn't tell whether these two were normal school kids or martial artists like herself.

"Seriously, Kenichi. You're so stupid. That test was so easy I could have taken it in my sleep," another guy said. Just the sound of his voice made Ashley want to hit him. He sounded like he was holding his nose while talking. The three of them stopped walking and unfortunately stopped right in front of where Ashley was hiding.

"Oh shut up Nijima! Not all of us can be wicked smart like you and Miu!" the kid Ashley presumed was Kenichi said.

"Kenichi's right, you alien! I took that test too, and it was really hard! And I had to take it last year too! It was hard then too!" Another voice backed up Kenichi.

Kenichi…Kenichi…Why does that name sound familiar? Like I heard it a long time ago? Ashley thought to herself. The boy called Kenichi laughed nervously.

"You know, Takeda-sempai. You're not really helping," Kenichi complained.

"Hey, I'm just calling it like it is. Kenichi, people like you and me were just meant to become strong, not smart," Takeda said.

"I can't tell if you're insulting me or trying to praise me," Kenichi mumbled.

"Oh, I would never insult one of my friends!" Takeda said. Then he laughed which made Kenichi mumbled something Ashley didn't catch.

"Why don't we all continue on to the dojo? I'm sure we all have homework that needs to be done," Miu said, trying to divert the subject. This piqued Ashley's interest.

Dojo? I wonder if it's the same dojo I'm looking for? The one with the clinic in it? Ashley thought.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Takeda, why did you follow us? You too Nijima?" Kenichi asked.

"Well, doc Koestuji had set up an appointment for me today for my arm. It's almost healed you know!" Takeda said.

"Really? That's great Takeda!" Kenichi said, sounding very enthusiastic. Ashley smirked.

Bingo. If I just follow these people, I should be able to get to the dojo I am looking for. Ashley thought, silently chuckling. The fools were leading her right to where she wanted to go. All she had to do was wait for them to shut up and start walking again. It took them a good 10 minutes to do so until they finally started to walk again. Even when walking, the seemingly carefree teenagers talked on.