"Thinking"

"Talking"

"Impactful word"

Location: SSV Normandy SR-1 - First Deck

Akane was led by the Commander through the advanced spacecraft. She was mesmerized by the breathtaking map of the galaxy which shone like a star against the dark contrast of the interior. She nearly stumbled over her own feet as she briefly passed by, ignoring the human crew members around, then headed down by one of the two stairwells located on either side of the map.

The second deck was crowded and she already recognized two familiar faces; that of Sir Alenko and Chief Williams sitting at a table of the mess hall. They already shouted their congratulations across the deck at the bypassing Commander, who told Akane to wait here while she disappeared in one of the rooms on this deck. A small part of herself wanted to sneak a peek at the woman's whereabouts, but she respected the privacy of others not to pry with her Byakugan, the Uchiha would never degrade herself to such unethical behaviour.

By the time it took the Commander to rejoin them (which wasn't long), Sir Alenko had gone to Akane to properly thank her for saving his life at Eden Prime since hadn't really gotten the opportunity as of late. The Commander seemed to have rid herself of her armour and slipped into a casual military attire before they took the nearby elevator to descend a deck lower, ordering the humans to follow.

Akane was quick to look around, analysing what was probably going to be the place where the duel would be held. Most of the Commander's crew, except the quarian, were present in the large room with Sir Alenko and Chief Williams following shortly after.

"What's this about Commander?" Chief Williams asked.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Sir Alenko added shortly after, obviously confused about their little gathering here in the storage sections of the Normandy.

"The kid wants to join the crew." The krogan's gruff voice responded as he leant back against the Mako next to Garrus, chuckling to himself at the simple idea. Some had joined him and found amusement while some remained silent, though Akane cared for neither of their opinions. They were insignificant if compared to the Commander's - she had the final say in the end. Therefore, she waited.

"Akane, could you please put your weapons on that table over there, next to the lockers?" Commander Shepard pointed her in the direction on the opposite of the sneering krogan. Akane stiffened at the Commander's request, piercing green eyes staring into the void of white. Realizing that her hesitation might be misinterpreted, she obliged nonetheless and placed her two chokutō and a few leftover kunai from her weapon pouches on the side table on which several other guns were laid out.

In the meantime, Commander Shepard briefed the group about the deal.

"So Akane, you really want to do this? This is your last chance to back out." Shepard knew that the girl wouldn't back down anyway, though she better ask now before she would regret it.

"No, I will see this through."

This was her chance, so she would try not to blow it. However, she still needed to remain cautious when using her chakra-based abilities. The more she showed, the more suspicion it would raise among the crew members which might result in trouble later on.

The thing was, she found herself being in a worse situation than that time she had been declared as a nukenin.

She was practically no one, had no one, owned nothing and was trained in nothing else but the art of killing. Certainly 'useful' in a modern society reigned by peace. Hah, Peace!

A long-forgotten almost foreign concept to her mindset. But this was probably the only option she could take without reaching out to a path of crime. No matter how inviting and easier taking this path might be; it wouldn't be what Shirone wished for her. It wouldn't be the reason she had died for her.

"Williams, get your ass over here! You're going first." Shepard yelled at the woman in a playful tone. Akane hadn't seen the Commander so relaxed before. As soon as she got near, the Commander explained the rules of this duel.

"A normal hand-to-hand sparring match. No weapons allowed. Whoever gets knocked out or yields loses, understood?" They both nodded.

"Just so you know, even if you're just a kid, I won't go easy on you," mocked Williams as she got into her boxing stance. Akane did the same and got into her position to perform the Jūken. The first telltale signs being the distinctive veins around her Byakugan. The muttering around ceased and a strained silence took over. Both of them didn't move a muscle, waiting for the Commander's signal.

As Shepard took her place right next to Garrus by the Mako, the duel began, "Fight!"

Williams charged at the smaller woman in front of her with great confidence, wanting to end this with one powerful strike to the head which Akane casually deflected with her palm, though wasn't allowed to launch a counter-attack because Williams was quick to follow with a barrage of straight punches, forcing Akane into defence.

"This kid's got good moves," Wrex commented, his gaze fixed at Akane as she redirected a punch from Williams with the inside of her palm.

"And reflexes," Garrus added, to which the krogan nodded.

Akane's muscles hurt a bit from all the blocking, but it was nothing new to her since experiencing pain was part of being a shinobi. This charade continued for the next minute until Akane eventually read through Williams' attack pattern and caught one of the woman's strikes with such ease that it caught the older woman off guard.

"Shit!"

Akane held William's clenched fist in a firm grip as she launched a strike at Williams elbow joint. Much to the surprise of her opponent including the audience, Akane didn't strike with a punch but a strong tap of her fingers. Unbeknown to the rest, Akane injected a small amount of chakra into Williams' nervous system before the Chief broke out of the grip with enough force and fell back; catching her breath to initiate another assault.

"What's the matter, kid?! This was your first chance to land a solid hit on me." Williams spoke in a breathy voice. Partly confused why the kid didn't take the chance, partly glad she didn't.

The young shinobi was aware of that, though little did she know what Akane had planned for her. It was Akane's turn to be on the offence, but Williams wasn't the type to be cornered that easy, so it turned out into an all-out brawl between the two.

Akane took the most damage out of the two in every exchange as the first bruises appeared on the Uchiha's face, while the Chief seemed to receive only minimal external damage. Or so Akane made it look like. Her preparations were finished once she surgically injected tiny bits of chakra all across Williams nervous network and waited for the right opportunity to win this fight.

The opportunity came when Williams changed tactics and grabbed Akane by the front of her black cloak, and hooked one of her legs behind Akane's in order to throw her off balance when she pushed forward. Akane saw early enough through her move and dragged the Chief with her, only to use the ground as leverage to kick Williams so hard in her stomach that she groaned in pain, then Akane expertly rolled backwards and pushed Williams away with all her strength into the lockers.

The Uchiha got swiftly back on her feet and ran over to the chief to finalize her plan as Williams pulled out one last strike to prevent Akane's approach which the young Uchiha minutely dodged. As she finally hit Williams forehead with her palm, which was coated in lightning enhanced chakra, it triggered a response from all the small chakra bits Akane infused into Williams to shut down her nervous system. Williams landed on the ground with a grunt.

Akane took a deep breath and all the muttering that broke out over her rather unexpected victory got lost behind a round of applause.

"The victory goes to Akane!" Shepard announced as she walked towards where the unmoving Chief lay.

Shepard POV

Jane wasn't all that shocked, which couldn't be said about the others though. She knew the girl was strong, though defeating an experienced alliance soldier with only her palms was even for the Hero of the Blitz a cause for bewilderment. By careful observation, she had assumed that Akane was using some type of martial arts; presumably, a Chinese martial art judging from the circular movements. There were also other factors to consider, but that was later up for speculation.

Still, it was by no means short of prodigious how Akane fought for her age. She might— no was —even better than Shepard was at her age. Back when she had enlisted into the Alliance straight as a street kid.

The issue was, who she should be sent next to battle her? She was tempted to do the job herself, after considering her options. Kaidan wouldn't be able to fight her since he owed her his life and sending Wrex at her was not a good idea for various reasons.

The last thing she needed was to get the Normandy fixed when they had a legendary Spectre to hunt down.

"Garrus, you're up next." Shepard looked over at the turian leaning against the Mako. He nonchalantly nodded, though chose not to disobey the Commander's orders. Jane's eyes glanced back at Akane, whose gaze rested at the incoming turian.

"Have you fought a turian before?"

"No," Akane replied off the bat, seeing little use to claim the opposite.

"This will be fun to watch," Wrex commented.

Jane expected as much when she had noted the analysing look in the girl's white eyes, though she made approval of how the veins stood out so much on the skin around her strange eyes. Jane trusted that the C-Sec Officer was as good in hand-to-hand as he was with the gun, proving to be a harder opponent to beat than the Chief was for Akane.

It was obvious that Akane held back in the previous fight, so Jane intended to draw out everything from the girl by sending a stronger opponent who would force her to step out of her comfort zone. As the Commander of the ship, she had to know the full extent of her crew's abilities to correctly evaluate who to take on a mission.

And even if she didn't intend for Akane to join the crew, hence the condition, she knew she would pass her trial either way, because of how powerful she was. It was a gut feeling. For a brief moment, she wondered if this was the feeling Anderson had gotten when he forwarded her for the N7 course after Elysium.

"You know the rules." Jane went back to her usual spot, signalling off the fight after she had ordered Kaidan to carry Williams to the med-bay.

The voices of the onlookers quieted down to mere murmurs as the second round began, she guessed the Commander didn't mind their presence.

The young Uchiha hadn't had the chance to fight an alien; on closer inspection, she had, if she considered humans as alien which they were, in theory. Her assumption about human physiology was almost correct; they were weaker than an average shinobi. In strength such as in every other physical aspect. Chief Williams' attacks were strong, albeit by human standards but still not powerful enough to cause any serious damage to her.

The turians were another story, she anticipated. From what she had gathered about the turians, they seemed far more dangerous in comparison to humans; to what a scale was about to be tested in this fight.

For future reference, there was a pinch of curiosity involved whether their talons or teeth were sharp enough to permeate her teeth or just how resilient their metallic carapace was. Well, either way, she swept her eyes up and down Garrus as he assumed a fighting position, pointing out some possible lethal points on his body.

He remained patient as he began circling Akane's small figure. Waiting for an opening in the shinobi's defence he would not find. His talons were secured by the clothes of his armour and he didn't seem to use them as a weapon any time soon.

"You can remove your gloves if you want," Akane called out, bringing him to a halt.

"I rather not, we wouldn't want – how do you humans say it? – to harm a hair on your head?" His mandibles flared up, making an expression equivalent to a smirk.

He was trying to provoke her into action. Nice try, though that wasn't gonna happen if she didn't gain anything from it. She wondered if he had gotten the tip from the krogan, but was prevented to do so as Garrus swiftly closed the distance.

She had tried her Jūken on him, alas it didn't have the same effect as on Williams; logical since the being she was fighting had a completely different body structure. His rougher skin and plating prevented most of the chakra from being injected into the body, thus negating the main impact of the Gentle Fist through physical contact.

Akane admitted that he was quicker on his feet than she initially gave his race credit for. His movement was controlled, not giving her enough time to do a counter, but still enough space to act.

He had observed her well, or rather her fighting style. He had her at a disadvantage, though that had never truly stopped her before.

She had a premonition that Garrus wouldn't be the last opponent she would have to face today, so the Commander must have sent him from one out of two reasons; either the Commander wanted desperately for Akane to lose (yet still appear fair, since she could have picked the krogan) or get a glimpse of her abilities.

She shouldn't get too distracted by her own presumptions in the middle of a fight; a solid hit to her stomach was more than a sweet reminder to stop that line of thought and concentrate her efforts on the more pressing matter.

Haruko had once pointed out that she had the tendency to overthink things during their sparring sessions; in other words: a weakness. Instead of receiving the damage, she let herself be blown backwards in order to put a considerable distance between them by backflipping into a safe distance. It bought her some time to put up her defence and regroup.

Garrus continued with his line of punches, though it was evident that they weren't meant to hurt. She would make him regret that.

The Uchiha ducked as the turian threw a large swing from his left, then followed with a quick straight punch to her chest which she easily deflected. She was going to end it in some other fashion; since her Jūken was rendered useless, for now.

Akane followed Garrus' outstretched arm to lift herself up in order to trap the turian's head between her legs. She used her body weight as a propelling force to be able to throw his larger body with a rotational movement on the ground. Akane's legs were small enough to be able to fit in between his mandibles and carapace, so she could resume her pressure on his windpipe.

Akane was taken back by his full strength as he tried to break her hold on his throat. He almost succeeded wouldn't it be for Akane's enhanced strength.

"I... give... up," he croaked out in a strained voice, forcing air back into his lungs as Akane released him.

"I have never seen a turian laying on the floor in such a short time, though it was quite a sight." The krogan laughed as well as others from the staff who joined him as Garrus managed to get back on his feet.

"What ridiculous strength." He stared dumbfounded, not believing to be knocked down by a human in a blink of an eye. Shepard sagely nodded.

"Such fights got my krogan blood pumping and my skin itching for a fight! Tell me I can fight her!"

"Not today, pal." Jane dismissed his proposal.

"Come on! Why not?" His tone wasn't threatening, yet a hint of a challenge was there.

"Because I will be her last opponent." The Commander declared, her eyes of steel leaving no room for further objections.

Words dictionary:

Jūken 柔拳 / Gentle Fist - Is a form of hand-to-hand combat used by members of the Hyūga clan. It inflicts internal damage by attacking the body's Chakra Pathway System, subsequently injuring organs that are closely intertwined with the area of the network which has been struck. To do this, the user surgically injects a certain amount of their own chakra into the opponent's chakra pathway system, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the chakra circulatory system. Even the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage, hence the name "gentle" fist.

Author's notes: So I thought really hard about a possible partner for Shepard and came with the idea of putting her and Admiral Hackett together at some point in the story (you gotta admit, he's badass), though you will have to forgive me if it's poorly written cause it will be my first try at romance and, to be honest, I sadly haven't gotten any experience from my personal life I could rely on. So, wish me luck. Oh, and I am very grateful for the positive feedback you've been giving me ever since the story began.