Chapter Eight
Akira was taken back to his room. Sakura, in the meantime, had told Riku, Kazuya, Kurama, and Alex about the chain of events that led to Akira losing.
Meanwhile, in Akira's room, the unconscious kendo master was laid out on his futon. Kenzo, Sasuke, and Kenta were watching over him, still in shock over what had happened moments earlier.
Kenta's eyes were wide open. "I'd never thought I'd see the day that Akira would lose."
"Me neither," Sasuke said.
From his place by the door, Kenzo noted, "He's not going to take this lightly, you know. First, he loses to Tifa, then his sword is destroyed when he tries to attack Tifa from behind."
Sasuke turned to the older man. "Kenzo, how can you allow this?! Tifa nearly killed Akira out there!!"
Kenzo shrugged his shoulders. "It's out of my hands," he replied in his monotone voice. "Sakura won't do anything about it. It's her decision," he said before leaving the room. As he stopped at the doorway, he added, "Akira should have known better. His ego and his misogynist attitude were the reason why he lost today."
He then left the scene. After a few moments, Sasuke stood up and walked to the door. "Where are you going?"
"I need answers," Sasuke replied.
Kenta followed Sasuke out of Akira's room. After a brief search, they found Denzel in the lobby, taking notes for his classes. In the back of Sasuke's mind, he was considering attacking Denzel, but seeing that Denzel himself was Tifa's student in martial arts, that would have been a bad move on his part.
Denzel looked up from his notebook. "I tried to warn Akira about Tifa, you know," he said as he placed his pencil down. "What you saw was only a fraction of what she's capable of."
Both Sasuke and Kenta sat down. "Tifa said something about the Shinden Tsushima-ryu Battojutsu being the opposite of Akira's style," Sasuke said. "What did she mean by that?"
"She only told me about it several times," Denzel replied. "Back during the Edo Era, there were two main styles of fighting: the Matsushiro Samurai School and the Kyokugenryu School. As you know, the Kyokugenryu translates to either Extreme or Empty Fist. The hand-to-hand combat style incorporates elements of Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, and Kenpo. However, it wasn't enough to deal with the paranormal, so a sword-fighting style was created, combining the code of Bushido with that of the secretive arts of Ninjutsu. As a result, the Shinden Tsushima-ryu Battojutsu was born."
"Like the Matsushiro style," Denzel continued, "The Shinden Tsushima-ryu School dealt with the paranormal, demons, and such. Masters Zangan and Amir deal with the supernatural. In fact, Amir's current look is the end result of an exorcism gone wrong, since the evil ghost had given him his spooky appearance. When Tifa said that her style is the opposite of Akira's, she meant it." He leaned in closer. "While Akira's style utilizes positive ki energy, the Shinden Tsushima and the Kyokugenryu utilize both positive and negative ki energy when it comes to exercising demons." He then imitated Tifa's voice, "'It's not the blade, but one's past sins that will destroy a demon.' Tifa told me that when I asked her about it."
"So why haven't we heard about the Kyokugenryu style then?" Sasuke asked.
"Because during the Second World War, the Kyokugenryu School rebelled against the militant Japanese government," Denzel replied. "Several members of the school were Chinese and Korean. The school was founded on the ideas of equality and fairness towards all who trained. They were nearly wiped out by the Japanese military, with the exception of two members: Mas Oyama, the grandmaster at the time, and his pupil Takuma Sakazaki. Later on, Takuma trained his son, Ryo, and daughter Yuri and even trained Zangan and Amir, Tifa's masters. Zangan retired from fighting to live in the mountains while Amir became the Shinden Tsushima master. Once Tifa won the match, Amir awarded her the title of Shihan, as well as that sword she uses."
Denzel paused for a moment. "Look, I know you got issues with Tifa and her husband. But they are good people and I look up to them very much."
Sasuke snorted. "Like I haven't heard that before."
"I'm serious," Denzel said. "You may think they're being hard on you, but all they're trying to do is instill some responsibility into all of you and to show you how Sakura feels when you and Akira send her into low-Earth orbit."
"So does Tifa deal with the paranormal?" Kenta asked.
Denzel nodded. "I remember a friend of mine being possessed by a demon at one time. Tifa was there to exercise the demon out of him. So yeah, she dabbles in it quite a bit, but not too much. That sword she uses is a heirloom that has been passed down for generations. You have to have great discipline to wield it. Legend has it that it holds the powers of great warriors from the past."
Denzel looked at the two Pekara House tenants. "I'm only going to say this once: stay on their good sides. You won't like them when they are mad. What you saw outside was a mere fraction of what she is capable of." The tone in his voice showed that he was serious. "There's more to the story."
"Like what?" Sasuke asked.
"After the sword-fighting style was created, the Kyokugenryu School branched out into two sects. One which uses positive, or light ki energy, while the other uses negative, or dark ki energy. Tifa can use both, as you have seen outside. Tifa was trained by both Masters Zangan and Amir, which makes her even more dangerous, as Akira had witnessed first-hand. Promise me that you won't make her or Cloud mad."
Several days had passed since the battle outside the annex. Tifa was outside, sitting on the stairs while Cloud had exited the dorm, fresh from his bath and dressed in casual attire: which consisted of a high collar sleeveless indigo shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. With a shoulder pauldron and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing the Norse wolf god Fenrir. Tifa was clad in a black tank top with a gold eagle logo, a pink bra, blue jeans, and gray sneakers. Her headband was still around her head.
From the tree that had fallen, Tifa had carved and fashioned two wooden bokken swords. She was smoothing out the last one when she noticed two people - a teenage boy around Denzel's age and a slightly slim American woman. The boy was also American, with blonde hair. The white buttoned dress shirt that has a checkered blue necktie, blue blazer, and black slacks was a dead giveaway.
Tifa frowned immediately as both she and Cloud recognized the newcomers as they both reached the summit. "I don't think you came to rent a room, Brad."
Brad Bryant, along with his retainer, Ursula, scoffed. "Like I would be caught living in such a decadent place," he replied. "You know what I want."
"Denzel left earlier," Tifa replied flatly. "He is not here."
Neither person noticed Ursula sneak into the Pekara House.
Once Ursula was inside the dorm, she set about to find Denzel and bring him outside on Brad's orders. She looked around the lobby. No one was there. The boys were in the hot springs, while Ino was working at Kenzo's cafe, and Mina and Hinata were hanging with Sakura for the day.
Approaching the hot springs changing room door, Ursula discovered the sign hanging outside, which read in English and Japanese: Bath Occupied - Please do not disturb.
Unfortunately, Ursula chose to ignore the sign as she entered the changing room.
Outside, Tifa and Cloud still had their hands full with the annoying Brad.
"I already told you, Brad," Tifa insisted, with her irritation with the Bryant heir rising. "Denzel left earlier with several of his friends."
Brad smirked. "Is that so? Maybe your student is a coward to face me."
Tifa puffed at that. Sure her apprentice whined and complained about certain things, but cowardice wasn't one of his strong points. "If memory calls, you fought Denzel three times in the past and you lost three times," she replied coolly. "You even challenged him on his graduation and you lost then."
That remark made Brad extremely angry. It was at that moment that Cloud felt something was wrong. "Where's that maid of yours?" he asked.
Brad humped. "I sent her inside. I know you two are covering for Denzel."
Both Tifa and Cloud exchanged worried glances. They turned to the dorm just as…
"YOU PERVERT!!!"
[KA-POW!]
All three fighters saw the screaming body of Ursula being propelled into the air before falling back into the hot springs, which was followed by…
"DAMN YOU, YOU VILE FEMALE! HIKEN ZAKUUSEN!!!"
[WHAM!]
What had happened was the fact that Ursula hadn't found Denzel in the baths upon entering the hot springs. Instead, she found the four oldest boys of the Pekara House bathing, Sasuke Uchiha, Kazuya Watanabe, Akira Yukinori, and Kenta "Kitsune" Amano.
And the reactions on the two of the temperamental boys' faces were instant. There was a man in a hot spring full of naked men, which was perfect for venting out their much pent-up rage as they imagined the hapless Bryant maid as their landlord.
Both Sasuke and Akira, ignoring the fact that they were both naked, charged at Ursula, Sasuke with his fists at the ready while Akira had a shinken in both hands.
"YOU PERVERT!!!" Sasuke screamed, knocking Ursula straight into the air with a Super Uchiha-Punch. Ursula screamed on the way down, right at Akira.
"DAMN YOU, YOU VILE FEMALE!!!" Akira shouted. "HIKEN ZANKUUSEN!"
This time, Akira's ki blast had sent Ursula through the changing room doors, where she bounced off the wall and through the other changing room doors which led to the Pekara House's corridors.
Brad was alarmed. "What the hell is going on here?" he yelled as he started to take off for the dorm, but was held fast by Tifa. "Let go of me!!"
"Trust me," Tifa replied. "You don't want to go in there just yet."
Ursula was being chased through the corridors of the Pekara House by Sasuke and Akira, both now wearing nothing but bathrobes and towels. The Bryant maid managed to give them the slip, but as she rounded the corner, she ran right into one of Kurama's most infamous greeting dropkicks, which connected right in her face.
"Cool!!" Kurama shouted. "I got a new playmate!!" He was holding a remote control in her hands. "And just in time too! I had Mecha-Saru patrolling the hall for boxer-snatchers and I found one!!"
As soon as Kurama pressed the button, a mechanical monkey appeared, the same size and length as Saru himself. Before Ursula could do anything, Mecha-Saru fired off an energy blast, which knocked Ursula through a wall (which Sakura had boarded up after Sasuke had knocked her through shortly before hiring Tifa and Cloud).
Ursula shook the cobwebs out of her head as she heard Sasuke and Akira's voices nearby.
"Where is she?!"
"She's in here! The female is in here!!"
'These men are insane!' Ursula thought as she scrambled to her feet and out the door. 'If I don't get back to Master Brad soon, they are going to kill me!'
That distraction cost her, since Kurama had Mecha-Saru fire another energy blast at the hapless maid, knocking her into Sasuke and Akira. With the clumsiness reminding them of Sakura, Ursula found one hand on Sasuke's chest, and the other hand on Akira's thigh.
If the boys were mad now, they were literally seeing red as they both attacked at the same time; Sasuke with a Power Uchiha Punch, while Akira broke his shinken blade, beating Ursula into a bloody pulp.
It was the second Uchiha-Punch that sent Ursula through the open door and back outside. Whimpering, Ursula scrambled behind the safety of Brad as Sasuke and Akira came running out.
In an instant. Brad stood at the ready to defend his battered retainer. But before the fight began, Cloud put a stop to it. "Hold it!"
Akira and Sasuke stopped in their tracks. Sasuke's fists were sore while Akira had produced a new shinken blade.
Brade looked at his injured maid, then back at Sasuke and Akira. "You did this to Ursula?" he asked.
"That pervert peeked at us in the hot springs!" Sasuke shouted.
Akira held his shinken blade in a combat stance. "She will face justice."
"You two have attacked my retainer," Brad said, "a retainer of the Bryant family! You will pay for this offense."
"Looking for me?" Denzel asked from the stairs.
Brad froze slightly as he turned around. Denzel was standing there, having returned from visiting friends in Okayama.
"Do you think I'm lying now?" Tifa asked Brad crossley. "The way I see it, you have two choices, Brad. You can leave here and see after your woman, or I call Kurama and tell him that he has a new playmate, and Sasuke and Akira have a new punching bag."
Almost immediately, Ursula grabbed Brad's legs in a vice grip. "Don't leave me here, Master Brad! Not with these boys!!"
Brad smacked her on the back of her head. "Let go, you fool!" Once Ursula released Brad's leg, he marched to the stairs. Before descending the stairway, he stopped and turned to Denzel. "This isn't over, Denzel. Next time, your sensei won't be there to save you."
"It is never over for you," Denzel said. "When you come, I'll be ready."
Brad left the dorm, with Ursula limping after him. Sasuke and Akira glared at the retreating figure until Cloud cleared his throat.
"Would you two care to explain why you are wearing nothing but a towel and bathrobe?" Cloud asked.
After Sasuke and Akira explained everything that happened, Tifa nodded. She turned to Cloud. "It's your call," she said before walking back to the dorm, with Denzel following her.
Cloud thought about it for a reason. "Since Ursula didn't listen to reason and she did come into the hot springs, this one is on the house. You two had a perfectly good reason for attacking her."
Both Sasuke and Akira were shocked. Cloud Strife had actually supported them in this case.
"And put some clothes on," Cloud said, "otherwise you will catch a cold."
