"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAI!"
As the battle cry left her lips, she managed to flip the last of the gangsters onto their back. He joined his fellow troublemakers, lying on the floor in a bruised heap. Asuka Kazama let out a satisfied sigh at the sight and smiled widely.
"I hope y'all learned your lesson from that!" she yelled at the groaning criminals, wiping her hands off of each other. "Next time, maybe just take the peaceful option, yeah?"
The police arrived soon after to take the gangsters away, though not without scolding Asuka again on her vigilantism.
"Leave it to us, kid," they would tell her every time, and she'd roll her eyes and scoff. If she waited on them, they'd have to deal with a lot more trouble.
Oh well, this was the life she'd decided for herself. She'd stand up for the peace of her city, regardless if she was appreciated for it or not.
"Thief! Someone help! Thief!"
Ears catching the cry, Asuka jumped in place and bounded over to the source.
A thief! Great excuse for some cardio!
"Ah, Kazama-kun!" exclaimed the shopkeeper who had yelled for assistance. Asuka skidded to a halt, and he wasted no time in elaborating. "A thief stole one of my antiques! They ran that way!"
Her head whipped in the direction he pointed in, catching sight of a bushel of hair disappearing behind a corner store. Rushing forward while yelling "I got them!", she manoeuvred around the pedestrians while keeping up her pace, something she had perfected over years of vigilantism. She swivelled around the corner to find the alley completely empty.
She didn't have to think about it for long before the sound of groaning metal pulled her attention upwards, catching sight of the thief scaling the walls of the alley. Asuka noticed that the hair that she had spotted earlier was in fact a bushy black fox tail. The thief turned to look at Asuka over their shoulder for a second, revealing a painted face mask covering half their face. Asuka didn't have any time to even react to their odd appearance before they promptly continued their climb.
"Hold it!" Asuka yelled after them, getting running start before bounding after them, using furniture and debris to climb after them. Thank God the buildings around here weren't tall.
When Asuka managed to get both feet on the roof, she took a second to spot the thief running ahead of her to the other end of the building. Asuka charged after them, leaping over pipes and trash. "Stop right there!"
Surprisingly, they finally did. The thief turned on their heel, fox tails and long hair swishing gently in the wind, and faced Asuka properly.
Well, as proper as they could with that weird mask on their face.
Asuka thought she finally caught them, but of course it wasn't that easy. In the blink of an eye, the thief summoned a cloud of purple smoke that covered her from head to toe. Asuka rushed forward, swatting at the smoke to clear her vision.
When the smoke cleared, Asuka saw the thief again.
Except she was on the other building's roof now, and the distance between them was too much for Asuka to jump between.
"Damn it!" she swore, gritting her teeth in frustration. As if in response, the thief leaned forward with their hand extended and tapped the air between them with their index finger. And if that wasn't enough, Asuka could swear she could hear their laughter carry over to her in the wind.
A laughter very much like water trickling down a rocky stream.
The thief turned around and began to walk away at a leisurely pace, and that was the last straw for Asuka.
"I'm not finished with you yet!" she yelled across to them. She needed a way to get across, and fast.
A desperate search of the roof with her eyes gave her the solution.
Albeit a risky solution.
But she'd be damned if she let this thief get away after they taunted her!
Asuka ran to the other end of the roof, turned around and considered her path carefully. With a deep breath, she ran forward. Using the trash and furniture scattered across the roof, she jumped from one surface to a higher one.
Cardboard box to sofa to trash can to refrigerator and then, finally onto the bulkhead of the roof. At a much higher altitude now, she kept running forward with her built up momentum and waited until her foot touched the edge before taking a great leap.
Time felt like it was slowing down around her as she soared through the air, but her focus remained on the edge of the other building, trying to reach for it with her outstretched fingers.
But they could only scratch at the edge rather than hold on and Asuka was now falling.
Shit!
Thinking fast, she grabbed onto one of the window ledges to break her fall, causing her shoulders to scream in agony. Gritting through the pain, she hauled one foot onto the tiny ledge and, after spotting an edge to climb to, pushed off the ledge with her foot to jump up. She did this a few more times before she finally got to the edge of the rooftop and pulled herself up.
"Holy CRAP!" she exclaimed, breathlessly. She was incredibly glad to not be dead.
She quickly remembered why she attempted that jump in the first place and whipped her head up to try to catch sight of the thief.
To Asuka's surprise however, the thief was still on the roof. They stood still, fixing their eye-less gaze on Asuka.
"Why aren't you running?" Asuka called out to them between ragged breathing. The thief turned their head to the side, as if mulling over their answer. And as they did this, Asuka was finally able to take in their appearance.
A bulletproof jacket covered an otherwise entire purple shirt and bodysuit, the curves on their body decidedly feminine. She couldn't be that much taller than her.
The mask only covered the upper half of her face, leaving a small mole and pink, glossy lips on display.
Asuka shook her head.
"You've caused trouble in my turf! You're new so I'll make it simple," she declared, bumping her fists together and extending them forward. "No one causes trouble in my turf and gets away with it."
The thief turned her masked face to Asuka again, her expression unreadable.
That is until those glossy lips curled into a smile and she let out the same, tinkling laughter from before.
"I'm surprised you didn't die, trying to make it to me," she finally spoke, her voice not unlike her laughter. Soft and light enough to drift through the wind. Before Asuka could retort, she pulled out a dagger from behind her while simultaneously tucking the stolen sword into her belt.
"You impressed me, little bird," the thief said to her, manoeuvring her glinting knife in a variety of forms. "I'll let you face me in combat."
Asuka wasn't intimidated in the slightest. She had men twice her height and weight pulling knives and daggers on her on a daily basis. She knew how to avoid getting stabbed.
"You might just regret this, little fox," Asuka snapped at her, easing into her fighting stance. The thief laughed like trickling water again.
"On my mother's name, you may take the sword if you beat me," the thief declared. And before Asuka could get another word in, the thief rushed in with a speed rivalling the wind. She swung her blade at Asuka in a horizontal arc and Asuka only barely managed to dodge the blade by leaning backwards.
"You're fast," the thief muttered, spinning away when Asuka tried to swing a punch at her.
"So are you!" Asuka couldn't help but admit. "But you won't scare me into backing down."
Asuka let out a battle cry and rushed to the thief, raising her leg to kick her opponent. The thief, however, disappeared again in a cloud of purple smoke, landing a few steps away from Asuka.
"You're a tenacious bird, but I won't be going easy on you," she replied, pointing her dagger at Asuka. "I need this blade to achieve my goals."
Game on, fox.
The thief rushed at her again, this time sliding on the floor to land a kick on Asuka's ankles that she couldn't block in time. Asuka fell to her knees as the thief went for a somersault that Asuka blocked with her forearms. Before the thief could recover, Asuka struck her with an elbow to her midriff before spinning her other elbow into her face. The thief went flying across the roof, skidding to a halt just short of the edge.
Asuka's heart jumped into her throat from the sight, remembering the stage they were fighting in.
She didn't want to gravely injure the thief, or have her fall off the roof.
"What's so special about that sword that you'd risk all this?!" Asuka yelled at her. The thief rose to her feet with a nimbleness Asuka hadn't seen before and brought her dagger up again in a defensive stance.
Then suddenly, the thief appeared right in front of Asuka, bringing her dagger down on her. Taken by surprise, Asuka could only raise her arm in defence. Their forearms clashed in time, the dagger ending up only inches away from Asuka's nose.
"It allegedly belonged to a deceased ronin," the thief whispered to her, surprising Asuka again that she could talk so casually while trying to stab her. "When I was young, my mother told me that he used this very blade to slay his treacherous master."
Asuka gathered her strength to shove the thief off her. The thief stumbled back a few steps and Asuka immediately raised her arms again. If she could teleport, Asuka couldn't afford to ever let her guard down.
"Pretty confident about that, aren't we?" Asuka inquired, trying to hide her panic from almost losing an eye. "Looks like any other antique to me."
The thief laughed again, and it was starting to annoy Asuka as much as it mesmerised her.
"What would a little bird know of artistry?" the thief asked in return, her smile big enough that her pearly teeth were on display. "You only parrot the songs of others."
"Says the Mommy's girl!" Asuka yelled back, jumping and whipping her foot across the thief's face. "I'd hardly call you original."
The blow landed and the thief fell onto her knees. Her mask looked like it was about to fall but she quickly fastened it in place. When she looked up at Asuka, her mouth was curled into a grimace.
"I'm not an imitation. I'm a legend in the making."
"Legend or copy, you'll end up on the ground either way!" Asuka shouted, spinning her knee into the thief's face. The thief fell onto her back to avoid the blow and then delivered a rising kick to hit Asuka.
It sent Asuka flying back to the edge of the roof, the exposed skin of her legs burning from skidding across rough concrete.
"Shhhhhhit," Asuka hissed from the pain. The thief teleported on top of Asuka again, dagger once again slashing down on her. Asuka quickly rolled out of the way, but not without getting sliced on her shoulder.
"Careful what sounds you make around a fox, little bird," the thief warned her in a sing-song tone when Asuka got back to her feet. "They know how to make you bleed."
Asuka glanced at her shoulder long enough to be able to tell that the wound was deep enough to bleed. Her heart pounded a bit, but she refused to let it show. She instead fixed a hard glare on her opponent.
The thief gave Asuka a toothy grin. "What a scary look."
Instead of getting riled up at the taunt, Asuka took some steady breaths and began to think.
The thief knew her way around a blade, and had some weird magic on her side. If Asuka wanted to win this, she had to find her own advantage.
But what?
Asuka looked around her surroundings again, and it hit her.
"Thinking about flying away?" the thief jeered, walking towards Asuka as a brilliant red flame began to travel across her blade. "Too late for that I'm afraid."
The lights from the flames danced across the thief's mask, and Asuka felt their heat all the way from where she was.
It was now or never.
"Time to clip your wings."
The thief moved to slash at Asuka with the flaming blade, but Asuka was ready.
Here's to hoping she didn't die this time either.
Before the thief could close the distance, Asuka threw herself back. The momentum of course made her begin to fall off the building. Asuka only caught the thief's reaction for a split second, smiling at the sight of her dropped jaw.
Asuka immediately adjusted her legs so that her foot would catch on the window ledge she originally caught early. Then, with the last of her strength, she kicked herself off it to launch herself back to the roof and grab the ledge.
"Wha-!"
Asuka used her arms to support her body weight and swung her legs around in the air.
"Clip THIS!" Asuka yelled, kicked at the thief with all her strength. The thief was knocked off her feet and landed in a pile of cardboard boxes.
Asuka smiled at the sight, only to let out a "WOAH!" as the momentum from the kick almost made her fall off the building again. She managed to fall on the roof instead, the move not at all graceful.
"Well, it's not a perfect score but…" Asuka mumbled as she clumsily rose to her feet. Her gaze locked onto the thief, still lying among the broken boxes, and she swiftly made her way over.
"I'll be taking that back," Asuka announced as she reached down and swiftly picked up the sheathed blade from the thief's belt. Her eyes wandered up and she realised that the thief's mask was misplaced.
Before Asuka could get a good look however, the thief swept at Asuka's feet with her legs and caused her to fall to the concrete again.
"Ahh!" she yelled from the impact. She made to sit up, making sure to have a firm grip on the sword, only to be met with the black gaze of the fox mask.
"You're insane," the thief muttered, venomously. "Absolutely, erratically insane. How can such a senseless little bird like you… defeat me?!"
Asuka did the one thing she wanted to do since the thief taunted her across the gap between the buildings.
She smirked.
"You may be a fox, but this is MY home turf," Asuka rebutted. "And that last place you try to attack a bird-"
Asuka spun away from the thief as she reached for the blade, swatting at her arm with the sheathed blade. "-is in their home turf!"
The thief let out a growl as she stared at the sword in Asuka's hand, before she took a breath and lifted face.
"On my mother's name, you have bested me," she professed, her mask's snout high in the air. "But I will return for that blade. This won't be the last you see of the great Kunimitsu."
Asuka pointed at her with the stolen blade. "And when you return, I'll be there to stop you!"
For the last time, the fox laughed like a babbling brook.
"I expect nothing less."
And then she disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke again, but Asuka couldn't see her anywhere this time. She let out a sigh of relief which quickly turned into a grunt of pain as the wound on her shoulder screamed for her attention.
She should probably do something about that, but she had work to be done first.
The sun was close to setting when Asuka managed to return the stolen blade to the shopkeeper, who thanked Asuka profusely until he saw the wound on her shoulder.
"Kazama-kun! You're hurt!" he exclaimed, rushing behind his counter to pull out a first aid kit. "Agh, if only I knew how to actually use this!"
"It's alright, Oyaji," Asuka reassured him. "I can handle this at home too. But you need to keep an eye on that one. The thief said she'd come for it again."
The shopkeeper pursed his lips in disapproval. "No good thieves…"
"Don't worry, I've decided to help you out!" Asuka declared, raising a clenched fist. "I'll be there if she starts trouble again!"
The shopkeeper stared at the blade in his hands, before staring at Asuka.
"I cannot ask that of you, Kazama-kun," he said, shaking his head. "I think I know of a better solution."
He presented the blade to Asuka, who took a step back in surprise. "Oyaji?"
"A reward for your hard work," he insisted. "If the thief only wants this, it would be safer in your hands than in my shop. Should spare me any future visits as well."
Asuka tried to refuse it, but the shopkeeper proved to be quite insistent.
Eventually, Asuka found herself walking home with a bandaged wound and a new antique sword to undoubtedly gather dust in her room.
It was certainly a memorable day.
But she had a feeling that she'd be seeing that thief again. And Asuka found herself smiling to herself at the thought.
This soaring bird would be ready for the cunning fox.
Well, tada! first new fic I've done in centuries.
Thankfully it's not a long-fic or I'd be turbo screwed lol.
This fic, and the other fics that I will be writing for this series (yes it's a series of one-shots) is dedicated to Mr Smashvillain, the person you have to thank for pulling me out of my 5+ year hiatus and back into fanfic.
This one-shot is more of a setup, the future fics will be WAY more shippy, hence why I haven't listed the ship as AsuKuni for this one.
But don't worry, you'll have some cute stuff to look forward to.
As another little tribute to Smashvillain, all the fics will be inspired by a song by The Midnight, a band we both share love for. This fic was more or less inspired by Collateral by The Midnight.
That's it from me for now, RWO chapter 15 will be up soon too!
May Peace Be Upon You.