Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Lions hunting Wolves. Enjoy the 3400-word chapter. I don't own Ben-TO, Asaura and a few others do.
Raion held the piece of paper in his hand. He sighed to himself as he looked to himself. There were pains still running across his skin. Still? His interest was suited in making sense of all this crap. He patted his crimson shirt and jeans which covered a pair of green swim trunks over black sandals.
"I cannot believe that I'm attending this woman's party after a street fight." Raion said before rubbing at his temples as he did so. "This is so damn ridiculous. I think if I stop to do something? My brain will fall out of my blasted head from all the insanity going on at the moment." Raion added to himself before he pushed the gate open.
"Nice place, Raion muttered as he took in his surroundings. I'd honestly enjoy it if there wasn't an insane lady here. I hope I can get some answers without getting kicked upside the head, is that too much to ask for?" Raion asked before he looked around.
"Because it seems like it is in my book that it's all I'm in for at the moment," Raion muttered to himself and shook his head. "Oh, today is going to be more annoying than it feels, isn't it?" Raion asked himself before he pushed open the front door.
He slowly opened the oak door. He was surprised by how big this place was. It was nice and elaborate for someone who didn't exactly strike him as the rich type. Raion leaned on the wall for a moment, curious as to this entire game she seemed to be playing with him.
"Hey, crazy lady?" Raion asked before he hung his head. "I cannot believe this is where you live. If you lived here? Nothing is stopping you from doing something crazy… Like just buying the bento instead of trying to steal it from me." Raion added to himself more than this insane woman.
"And where would the fun in that be? Huh?" Raion heard as he mentally sighed. "You are new to this type of thing, aren't you? There are rules to the bento thing we try and follow at the moment." Raion also heard as he shook his head.
Ayame slowly started to emerge as the woman looked down at her rival. She wore a blue shirt and crimson shorts with purple sandals and a robe over this. Raion was able to notice a small strip of white under this shirt which made him raise an eyebrow as she set her hands on the railing.
"Do you ever get tired of doing this sort of thing?" Raion asked as he turned to the staircase. "Because it gets real annoying hunting you down across town with this and that…. I'm starting to think you are not familiar with them at the moment or all. Are you? I'm going to guess I hit the nail on the head at the moment? Am I right or wrong at this day and age or is it a, no?" Ayame stated while she looked to herself as she did so.
She was willing to make sure that the person who had messed with her before. She slowly started to think of what happened next. Ayame was silent as she looked at the person who watched her as she did so. There was plenty of it at the moment while she nodded to herself.
Still? She was silent while she nodded to the person while she shook her head and looked at the friend while she smirked to herself. Raion mentally rolled his eyes, more annoyed than damaged or scared at the moment. She started to think about what happened next.
There was still a look of sheer amusement on Raion's face. He knew that there was plenty of work to be done before today was over at the moment. She clicked her fingers together. She was rather enjoyable to him.
"You're a rather insane woman when it comes down to it." Raion said while he chuckled to herself. "I keep up with you. I do know what happened, though. You wanted me to find you. It's why the paper was left with me. I still can't believe you wanted me to stab me with a knife." Raion added to which his friend smirked towards him.
"Do you expect things to go according to plan?" Raion asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because right now? I know that you are rather insane. Why are you messing with me like this?" Raion questioned while he shook his head.
"Because this is fun," Ayame added to which she crossed her arms. "You constantly want a sort of fight. I know that you chase me even if you don't approve of me." Ayame added and watched her friend shake his head.
"Maybe, but I don't like how crazy this little food war is going," Ayame added while he clicked his fingers together. "Are we going to mess with each other like this?" Ayame asked while he started to lean on the wall while he did so.
There was a silence between both as they sized each other up. They knew what happened. The amount of history between them was memorable enough. They didn't want to do what came next.
"If someone was going to get hurt? I'd have stopped this myself before it crossed a line. We still have rules when it comes to these sorts of things." Ayame said, watching as Raion seemed to roll his eyes to himself.
"This thing existed before anything like this happened, didn't it?" Raion asked while rubbing his chin as he did so. "You know I have plenty of questions. This insane adventure is fun if you ignore some details, but it's been going on for a while. It had to be if you had rules set up like this. Isn't it?" Raion asked the blonde-haired bombshell.
He was well aware that she had something on her mind. This woman didn't do something this simple when it came down to it. She was a smart warrior, an insane one… But a smart one when he thought on it.
'She's plotting something. I'll play around with it when it came down to it. There's simply no other way to think about it.' Raion added to himself while he started to sigh as he slowly started to walk onto the stairs while he started to shake his head.
"What are you up to?" Raion asked while he crossed his arms. "There's always a plan with you... Show me." Raion said before the woman started to tap the nose while she started to hum to herself.
Still? Ayame smirked to herself while she raised an eyebrow. She was entirely hopeful that he felt aware of what her plan had been. She was also well aware of the fact that Raion was smart and he was also cunning in combat for someone who was commonly seen as a warrior who was new to this.
"It's not always a plan." Raion heard from the woman to which he simply rolled his eyes.
"Ayame? The only things I know about you are your name at the moment…. And the fact that you're almost entirely planning something for every single time we meet. There is always some sort of plan with you." Raion stated while he cleared his throat.
"Am I that predictable when it comes to combat plans?" Ayame asked to which her enemy nodded. "How many enemies have you made by this time?" Ayame asked while she started to sigh.
"Not the best planner considering the fact I was ready the last time we battled." Raion stated while he followed her into the house. "There's also the fact it's ALWAYS bento that we fight over. You do realize it's kinda easy to deal with that sort of thing strategy-wise, right? I simply wait for you to come after the food… The food that we constantly battle over?" Raion said before he sighed.
He remembered there was indeed a code that both sides abided by at the end of the day. His side still wanted to know what the hell was going on, but they still kept to a code that didn't break so much as it bent.
Ayame knew this and held her side to a similar standard that Raion respected. He was aware they wouldn't end up fighting. Not here when they both didn't have any bento worth battling over anyway.
Ayame wondered if he had found the battles to be fun, or this was simply another way of blowing off steam. Neither of them wanted to be here, but they were here all the same. It was a mystery to both of them when it came down to it. There was a weird bond between them at the moment.
Both crossed their arms as she slowly started to lead him towards her plan. She was amused more to herself at the fact that he had shown up to her plan.
She cleared her throat as she waited for him to follow which he did. Ayame had wondered what happened if their war happened to escalate at the moment. This plan had started with a fight… And if it got worse at the moment? She didn't want to point out someone could be killed.
"Are you ok?" Raion asked as he closed his eyes. "There's been a lot of bad blood between your army and mine which doesn't seem all that bad… It's still crazy, but at the least? It's less so." Raion stated while he cleared his throat.
She said nothing at the moment as she realized that he was trying to be open. Ayame knew their game was often weird considering both were unfamiliar with the other and their people. It was annoying at the moment neither was as familiar with the other's tricks as they felt like they could be.
Part of her wanted to ask how this ended. Their dance only had so many steps, and both wanted nothing more than dance to the end of it.
She rolled her eyes as she leaned on the wall and slowly pushed the door open as she did so. There was a pause as he slowly walked up towards her a moment later. Both gang leaders seemed to share a look.
"Why did you start a damn war over bento?" Raion asked as he lowered his head into one of his hands. "I'm well aware of the truces when we meet up. I didn't bring weapons, as we agreed." Raion added while he waited for the woman to respond.
He cleared his throat with a smirk on his face. Part of him found the woman to be a distraction and an insane one at that… The other part? It simply wondered who she was and if they were enemies.
'Part of this crap feels like bad cosplay or something….' Raion added as he rolled his eyes.
"It's a long story that I'll tell another time," Ayame responded which made him raise an eyebrow. "And also? This deal still stands at the end of the day if you're fine with it." Ayame stated while she cleared her mind of any distractions they had in their way.
Both were all but ready for this. Ayame almost wondered if part of her wanted to do this considering that part of her wanted this. Still? Neither backed down as they looked out the door.
Before the duo laid a pool of water. One which sparkled in the sunlight as they shared a look of interest. Raion said nothing and simply glanced at his frenemy who seemed more interested while she waited for a response from her. She raised an eyebrow with interest as she cleared her throat and tapped a finger on her glasses as she did so.
"Well? I can expect an answer today, yes?" Ayame asked with a teasing smile as she did so.
"A pool party is why you asked me to come?" Raion asked with a raised eyebrow as he did so. "That's why you asked me to come here? Where is everyone else at the moment?" Raion asked as he raised an eyebrow of his own.
He leaned on the wall next to him and seemed to wait for Ayame. She tapped her fingers on her arms while she smirked.
"Please don't tell me the leader of the lions is scared of being in the water with a semi undressed woman?" Ayame asked while she raised an eyebrow towards her friend.
There was no real answer for this at the moment. There was no real issue with this sort of thing. He frowned at her and started to think of what to do at the moment. Still? He didn't want to show any weakness to his enemy.
"Only if you are scared of the same." Raion stated while he frowned to himself. "Why? Did you invite me here to throw me off at the idea of being in the pool with someone similar to you?" Raion asked with a raised eyebrow before he cleared his throat.
There was a pointed look at the duo that seemed to size up the other at the second. Both were well aware of what happened if there was any display of weakness at the time. It didn't help that neither were rather concerned with this at the moment. Then again? They had done this dance plenty of times at the moment and none of them seemed to want to budge from their stances.
It was rather amusing in their books that a simple pool party had thrown both off. It was her idea yet it also bothered her for a rather weird reason when it came down to it. Neither wanted to make the first move as it gave the other a chance to fight back and turn this around on them.
"I'm sure today will be rather interesting," Ayame said while Raion raised an eyebrow. "There's no battles today. No chances to strike the other and destroy them. It is simply a meeting between two leaders who had nothing better to do today." Ayame stated with a frown.
"Interesting is a nice word." Raion stated to himself as he rolled his eyes. "Don't think I'll hold back because we're sort of friends at the end of the day," Raion added as he frowned to himself before he started to pull his shirt off.
He heard the sounds of Ayame's robe being dropped to the ground as he did so. He almost wondered if she took some sort of pleasure in these games, she played with him… Besides what she seemed to projects outwards and into the next sort of hero when it came down to it. She was well aware of what to do next.
'Maybe she's simply scared of 'losing' I suppose. It doesn't make a damn lick of sense to me. She's somewhat weird when it came down to it and it hurts to think that. my brain hurts, in general, this week thigh.' Raion thought before he rolled his eyes as he frowned to himself before shaking his head to himself.
"Scared of losing?" Raion asked with a raised eyebrow as he did so. "There's no real fear in admitting it. We both know your broth me here to catch me off guard when it comes down to it. there's no other reason I'd be here besides fear and embarrassment." Raion stated while he rolled his eyes to himself.
She said nothing but there was a small smirk on her face as she seemed to consider the next words. She gazed at her friend before she flung her robe to the side with reckless abandon. It was a final gesture that seemed to all but confirm she was not even considering the idea of backing down from the battle or her friend and enemy.
"I fear nothing and nobody," Ayame said before she kicked off her sandals and seemed to gaze at Raion with a raised eyebrow.
He nodded and did the same as both began to walk up the stairs. There was unspoken respect between the duo as well as some amusement as they prepared for their next move before this ended.
"Don't tell me you are as scared as I am," Ayame stated as she slowly pulled her glasses from her face. "There's so much to do today before it comes to an end at any time of the day. We still need to do something to end this when it comes down to it."
"I don't think I want the game to end anytime soon. It's rather fun to fight someone who isn't holding back." Raion said while he slowly started to gaze at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh. I see someone DOES have the fangs I expected of a leader of similarly-minded soldiers." Ayame said before she folded her arms across her chest. "Secondly? I don't enjoy the tricks you seem to think I do. It isn't the same when it comes to facing someone" Ayame said while he frowned to himself.
"That sounds so weird when it comes to things like this." Raion said while he crossed his arms across his chest with annoyance.
She frowned to himself before she weighed her tactics. If she pressed too hard on the wrong spot? She ran the risk of making the fun born into nothing from the constant annoyances. There was way too much on her mind to simply care about these details.
This party was all that seemed to matter to her at the end of the day and it filled her with new energy. She wanted so badly to win when it came to it. Still? There was some part of her that seemed to be annoyed at this pestering distraction to her plans.
It was a rather interesting way to view her life if she was honest and it became rather apparent, she was confused by her views.
"This is going to be a wild day, isn't it?" Ayame heard her friend ask as he raised his arms in a weird gesture.
Ayame simply smirked as she realized both had been placed in a position where neither was able to retreat. He was in the fire as much as she was. She said nothing for a moment before she slowly started to speak.
"Are you too cowardly to act on this?" Ayame asked with a raised eyebrow as she slowly started to walk around the edge of the pool.
Raion simply rolled his eyes and prepared for a dip into the pool. He was aware that neither had given into their more carnal desires at the end of the day. Still? She was milking this for all it was worth. It was something in her mind and that meant he wasn't allowed to back down. He felt similar to a crocodile as he prepared for whatever came next. He also wasn't a fool when it came to plans.
He said nothing and simply stood by the other end of the pool. The amount of work she had placed into this trap that she had sprung. It made him smirk as he glanced at the woman who was trying too hard to bait him into this.
"How many traps did you plan for today, Ayame?" Raion asked while he rolled his eyes as he started to think. "Because I'll be 100% honest. This is probably the most fun I think we've had in one of these types of confrontations. It's certainly an interesting change of pace from when it comes to things like this." Raion stated while he raised his eyebrow towards her.
The amount of interest that he showed had matched what she had expected more than anything. It was the confident smirk that also told her that he was well aware of her attempt to knock him off balance. It was written as clear as day across his face that it hadn't exactly
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out that the next chapter will be a bit delayed at the moment. The next chapter will be 900-6500 words and will show the Pool party and such. The next chapter is in 2-10 months as well, until then? Lighting Wolf out!
