Welcome to another chapter of my story. I sincerely hope you are all still enjoying it. I'm really enjoying myself writing it and my beta enjoys their job editing it too. Next up we have the match where Minori is taking on the mysterious Kou. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own any of the characters that were created in the games. I only own the plot and a few Ocs… Kinda... my beta stole one mid-editing.

Warning: Same, some mild language, violence and a bit of bondage!? Wait huh? :0

Chapter 21: Minori vs. Kou

It was finally time for Minori's match, but the girl was still out cold on the waiting room couch. Her match was minutes from happening and we still could not get her to wake up. It looked like she might have to forfeit her match. Just then, Minori sat up out of the blue.

I jumped out of my skin from the surprise, "M-Minori!? You're awake!"

Minori massaged her temples, looking absolutely wiped out, "Yeah... what happened while I was out?"

I sat next to Minori and I rubbed her back to help soothe the ache, "Two matches have concluded, both Murasaki and Yomi are gonna advance. There is just your match now."

Minori quickly looked at me, "Renka, have I lost!?" Tears forming in her eyes and I could feel her heart, which began to pound from stress.

I shook my head, "No, not yet. Your match will begin in a few minutes."

A look of relief washed over Minori, as she sank back into her seat, "Thank goodness. They haven't forfeited me yet..."

Kat stood in front of Minori and smiled, "We thought you were gonna sleep through your match for a minute." Kat's face pinched up for a moment, "But are you able to compete? In your condition..." The rest was best left unsaid, instead, Kat motioned to Minori's general figure.

All Minori did was let out a sigh, "I don't know Kat. I feel exhausted, but I don't want to lose my match either. When my dad heard I entered in the tournament, he looked so proud. I… I don't want to disappoint him."

A wave of sympathy washed over me for Minori. This girl was trapped in this situation because of the decisions made by everyone around her. It's like she had no control over her own life.

We sat there quietly for a minute when a new voice chimed in, "Don't do it for him, do it for yourself, Minori. Otherwise, what's the point in doing this?"

I looked up and saw Lieutenant Iguchi standing not even 10 feet away from us, arms crossed with a grin on her face. Kat let out a surprised gasp, "Whoa, Lieutenant Iguchi!? When did you get here?"

The pinkette let out an amused, but friendly snort, the floral symbol in her eyes looking straight at us, "Just Hibari is fine, we are all kunoichi here so there is no need to be so formal. But as I said, don't do it just because your family tells you to. Do it because you want to prove to yourself that you are just as strong as everyone else."

Minori looks up and her eyes glaze over in thought, "To prove I am as strong as everyone else?"

Hibari nods, practically beaming, "You and I are a lot alike, Minori. Even someone like me was once in your shoes."

Minori tilted her head in interest, "Did you even doubt your skills as a shinobi too, Hibari?"

Hibari nodded, and gave Minori a pat on the back, "I did. Let me tell you my story, Minori. I come from a long-standing noble ninja family that has spanned generations. Even my immediate family is pretty large, and I have a huge amount of siblings, I won't give the exact numbers but it was definitely more than any of you have in relatives combined.."

My jaw dropped, how could anyone endure having a lot of siblings when I can only handle two!?

Hibari's eyes got distant, "And despite all of my brothers and sisters having far more skill and promise as shinobi, I was still chosen as my family's heir. This was all because I was the only one to develop my family's signature power: Kagan."

I stiffened when she mentioned her family's signature power, it sounded like Murasaki's powers. 'Does Hibari go on a nutso rampage too?'

Hibari chuckled dryly, "I never wanted to become a shinobi in the first place. What I really wanted…" She let out a dreamy sigh, "was to open a sweets shop and sell my creations. I wanted to watch small children and elderly alike smile and their faces glow at whatever delicious goods I could make with these hands. I even showed questionable potential as a shinobi, messing up quite often. But my family was always positive and supportive of me. Especially after I inherited Kagan, but when all of my siblings were proud and encouraging of me, I got confused. Why weren't they filled with resentment and jealousy? I knew how important it was to all of them, to inherit our family's power and become heir, but here comes their youngest sister, who had no interest in becoming a Shinobi, taking all of their hopes and dreams away from them. Why didn't they hate me? I knew I would hate me if it was me, but they didn't which was odd, and even a little discouraging. A different change happened in them. They started to teach me how to be a better shinobi. It was then that I saw that all their hopes and dreams were being tied to me, which in turn weighed me down even more."

Minori leaned forward staring at Hibari intensely, "But how did you get through it, Hibari?"

Hibari smiled and looked past us, I got pretty curious and looked behind us and saw Ikaruga-Sensei standing there. The woman spoke with a calm smile, "It was because of her friends, that's why she found the courage to persevere."

Hibari chuckled, dipping her head in a nod-bow, "Yes, friends like you, Ikaruga, and Asuka."

Kat chimed in, "Wait, you don't mean "the" Asuka Hanzō, do you? The Grand Councilwoman?" Her voice was laced with shock as her head turned between the two women.

Both Hibari and Ikaruga nodded, and Ikaruga got closer, "But she wasn't always that great. For a long time, Asuka had a fear of her own summon animal."

I chuckled, "Wait, she was scared of her own guardian?"

Hibari nodded, "Yeah, it was funny to watch her shriek in terror when one jumped down her shirt." Hibari soon stood, "But it was because of those moments that I was able to find my path. They kept telling me the same thing over and over."

Ikaruga adjusted her glasses, "'Don't do it for all those siblings you have Hibari. Do it for you and those you choose to protect.' I believe is what we use to say to her."

Minori looked to the both of them starstruck, "So… I shouldn't do it for my father? Do it for myself and those I choose to protect?"

Ikaruga nodded, "Yes, only you can choose what your path is, Minori."

Minori took a deep breath, then exhaled with focused eyes, "Okay. I am ready for my match."

I threw my arm over her shoulder to give her an encouraging half hug, I could tell she was ready to give it her all. I heard Commissioner Goto's voice booming over the stadium, "Alright, let's get this next match underway! Will Minori Igarashi and Kou Asakura both come out here?"

I give Minori a friendly shake which seemed to pump her with energy, "You got what it takes, now go out there and kick his butt!"

Minori nodded and ran off at a speed I've never seen that girl run before., I looked to Hibari with a raised eyebrow, "What kind of power is Kagan, by the way?"

Hibari offered a smile, "Our family ability is Kagan. No one is born with this ability, and we can only unlock it once a member of the family hits puberty. Those with this ability have the power to control people's minds with the power of the mystic eye, and Kagan takes the form of flower shapes in the eyes."

Hibari smiled patiently while I looked at her eyes closely. I always thought she was born with that in her eyes. Kat coughed to get my attention, "Let's go watch Minori's match."

I nodded, "Right. Thank you for picking up Minori, Hibari."

Hibari gave a nod, "No problem, Renka."

Both Kat and myself went outside and saw the match was just beginning. We quickly found our spots so we could watch the fight clearly. This is my first time actually paying attention to this Kou person. His black hair was pulled back with a hair bandanna, dark make-up around his eyes and his clothing looked like he left that punk store in the shopping district… what's it called again? Cool Subject? I don't shop there but I see enough ads. He totally shops there. Tight black pants and a ripped white shirt with thin black horizontal stripes, he really does not look like a shinobi at first glance. The only giveaway is his posture, like a predator waiting for prey to come to him.

Mirai looked to Minori, "Minori Igarashi, are you ready?"

Minori nodded, "Yes."

Mirai then looked to Kou, "Kou Asakura, are you ready?"

Kou took off his hair bandana and let down his long, black hair- is this even a guy? His hair is prettier than mine! "Yes."

Mirai raised her hand, "Well, match four, the final match for today. Minori Igarashi vs. Kou Asakura. Ready, begin!"

Mirai vanished with an air chop with her hand and Kou looked to Minori, "You should withdraw now. I have no wish to harm a kid like you." Dramatic much?

Minori huffed, "I'm sixteen you know! I'm not a kid anymore, I even grew my own boobies and everything!"

Kou literally facepalmed and ran his hand down his face, "Good lord, you really do have a childlike mind. No actual girl above the age of 10 would ever announce that she 'grew her own boobies.' That made me feel dirty just saying that out loud."

Minori put her arms up halfway, "Shows what you would know! You don't know girls at all! Are we gonna fight or what!? I'm not giving up!"

Kou sighed, "I have sisters younger than you with more maturity. But… very well… Suffer for your ignorance then!" Like something out of a horror movie Kou's hair flowed out and grabbed Minori, lifting her off the ground completely bounded.

Minori cried out in pain when she moved, "Why is your hair so sticky? It's pulling the hair off my skin!"

Kou smirked and flicked his uh… shorter hair out of his face, "That's because my hair is like a spider's web."

Minori cried out as the hair gripped her body, "A sp-spider's web!? But Minori hates spiders!"

Kou lifted Minori higher, "Well, you aren't gonna like me at all then. Also, did you really refer to yourself in the third person?"

I can see Kou's hair tighten around Minori's body, and she cried out in pain once more, "I-It's gripping places it shouldn't be!"

Kou rolled his eyes, "Are you ready to give up yet?" The hair tightened around her body as Minori cried out in pain. Kou chuckled, "You know this is your own fault for not giving up, I did warn you. Well, giving up?"

Minori only glared at Kou, "No way, you stupid head!"

Kou recoiled and his face turned sour, "Stupid head? That's the best insult you can come up with? I live with an eight-year-old who says worse things. I left the house being called Jack Skellington's rejected cousin by said child." Kou used his hair to throw Minori straight to the ground with enough force to crack the dry earth. He quickly retracted his hair and he brushed the dust off the locks, "Mustn't dirty our hair over losers."

I quickly shot up out of my seat, "Minori!"

Kou looked to Mirai, "Oh, Ref. I believe you should call the match."

Mirai, however, gave a hearty chuckle, "I hate it when kids tell me what to do."

Kou scoffed, "What?"

Mirai puts her hands on her hips, "Instead of running your mouth off, I'd check on my opponent if I were you."

Kou turned to look at Minori but a bit too late, however. Minori had already closed the gap and connected a kick into his stomach. Kou fell to his knees clutching his stomach while hacking out saliva that was slowly turning red, "D-Damn it! Y-You ignorant, naive loser!"

Minori tried to kick him again, but Kou dodged back. He smirked in a way that made my blood run cold and unleashed his hair on her. She didn't have any time to react as the hair gripped onto her and squeezed. All I could hear was Minori's wailing.

Kou's hair kept squeezing harder all the while Minori kept screaming, kept crying out. Blood began to come out of her mouth as her vocal cords were ripping themselves apart trying to release their feeling of pain.

Kou smirked while getting to his feet, brushing off imaginary dust, "I'm going to explain this to you carefully. You are going to be thrown into a wall, it will hurt a little… okay, a lot. You are going to pass out, and I will win this match. If you are still on your feet, I will wrap my hair around your neck, and hang you until you stop breathing either by fainting or dying. Please do not make me have to resort to that."

Kou then threw Minori...hard. The force combined with the fact that the sticky in his hair didn't completely separate from her body, and the audible sound of clothes ripping as her body was slammed into the wall echoed into the air. Kou took what was left of her yukata off his hair and carelessly tossed it away.

I could hear Kat sigh in what could only be described as relief, "Thank goodness it wasn't her uniform, or she would never live down the shame."

I just swallowed harshly, "Yeah, I know..."

Kou waited a few seconds before turning to Mirai again, "Now it's over Ref."

Mirai looked over, "Yeah, looks like you're about right this time."

Suddenly Mirai face lit up in surprise, then she smiled. Kou swung around quickly, seeing Minori up on her feet. Blood flowed from her head, several cuts, her eyes, and even her nose.

Minori shuddered from standing there in her unmentionables, but quickly smirked, "Minori isn't finished yet!" The sheer determination in her eyes was evident. The crowd cheered her on.

Kou let out a groan "It seems like you haven't had enough yet."

He launched his hair straight at her. Minori quickly dodged and started sprinting towards Kou, taking out her frying pan in the process.

Kou snorted and began to twirl some of his hair around a finger, "A frying pan? How last century, it's not even cast iron either."

Kou launched his hair several more times at Minori, but she kept dodging every single attack. Something wasn't right… for someone who could grab Minori so easily he was having a hard time aiming. Kou puffed out his cheeks and spat out senbon at Minori and when she dodged them, Kou's locks were waiting to ambush her at the landing point. He was leading her to that spot!

I quickly cried out to my friend, "Minori! Watch out!"

Kou laughed. He closed his eyes to let out a sadist laugh that should never come out of the mouth of someone who's trying to become one of us good guys.

Minori stopped in her tracks and threw her bucket in the air. It flipped around and increased in size with a cartoony sound, It came down around her in time to quickly shield her as the hair got to her. Kou's hair was sliced off because of how fast it came down. His hair flew everywhere with the wind, and Kou cried out in agony, "Nooooo! My beautiful hair! What have you done to my beautiful hair! Do you realize how long it took me to grow this out you idiotic brat?!"

Minori let out a gargled giggle and took out pancake mix, pouring it into a bowl -wait where did the bowl come from?- and added some water from a bottle. She quickly mixed it up and put the mix into a frying pan. The delicious smell reached my nose and drool slowly came out of my mouth. Using the power of her light ki, she began cooking her concoction.

After flipping them over, Kou stared her down, "That's it! I've had enough of this fight!"

Kou spat out more senbon, this time aiming for her vitals. Minori quickly angled her body so that the senbon would hit her body non lethally and cried out when they pierced her skin. She didn't pull them out, but I faintly remember that if she did, it would be worse than leaving them be.

Minori's ki filled the air, indicating she was ready to use her Ninja Art. She threw her pancakes high into the air. Kou raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "Honestly if this is all your Ninja Art is capable of doing you might as well quick this school and work at a restaurant or something."

Minori smirked and lifted her hand high into the air, screaming out gleefully, "Now... Bam Bam Pancakes!"

Just then Minori's pancakes grew to an enormous size with another cartoony sound and Kou fell back from shock, "Wh-What the hell!?"

As the giant pancakes fell, Kou let out an unmanly scream in fear as they crushed him like a bug. Mirai stared at the scene that just unraveled before her, a bit unbelieving of what had just happened.

Minori fell to her knees but stayed there waiting for her opponent to make a move. A few minutes passed and Kou hadn't moved from under her pancakes, which were already a golden brown and still looked scrumptious. Mirai smirked and let out a full belly laugh, "The winner is Minori Igarashi!"

The crowd went into an uproar at the little girl's victory. I jumped out of the crowd and ran to Minori. As she pulled out the last of the senbon from her body, I threw my arms around the girl, practically shedding tears, "Don't you ever scare me like that again, young lady! Got it?"

Minori hadn't heard me, however, as her body slumped against mine in my arms. I chuckled in amusement and gently patted her head, "Sleep, my angel. Sleep."

After picking up Minori, Kat and I took her inside. Placing her back on the waiting couch, Kat grinned, "Man who would've thought even Minori has the passion for battling inside her. I am kind of impressed."

I just nodded, "Yeah, Minori is really strong in her own right."

A chanting noise made us both look to the entrance from the stadium. Kou was being escorted on a stretcher by a nurse, eyes bugged out and his hair a syrupy mess. Bounding along with the nurse were three little girls, ranging from an estimated 6 to 13 years old. The youngest wearing a light pink dress with bunnies on it, the middle in a boy's cutesy sailor uniform and the eldest looking like she really wants to mimic Kou's style and all 3 with the same silky black hair. When they got close enough I could finally hear the chanting that sounded very much like a silly little tune.

"Brother got pancaked~! Brother got pancaked~!"

Kat and I slowly blinked as we tried to figure out how Mr. Doom and Gloom had three cinnamon rolls for sisters... But apparently, he does. The world is a mysterious place.

We both heard a voice shout, "Heeeeeeyyyyyy!" From one side of the room.

We both look at the Tv to see both Mr. K and Miss R on screen. Mr. K brought the microphone to his lips, "And with that, the first set, of matches for Round One have been decided!"

Then Miss R brought her own microphone to her own lips, "With the winners for today being Renka Mikagura, Murasaki Yahagi, Yomi Kayano And Minori Igarashi!"

Then a tournament tree appeared near Mr. K with a pop, "That just leaves tomorrow's second half, Katsuragi Kobayashi vs. Ayame Sasamoto, Yagyu Mizuhashi vs. Daisuke Narukami, Naraku Kaida vs. Pepper Spice, and Paprika Spice vs. Shiki Yamamoto!"

Miss R then jumped in front of Mr. K, "Who will be the winner of those matches tomorrow? Tune in when we broadcast it live from Newtube!"

Mr. K brought down his mic, "Hey, Miss R. You're kind of stealing my limelight!"

Miss R smirked and brought down her own mic, "Deal with it, Mr. K!"

As soon as the broadcast was cut Kat sighed, "So my match with Ayame is up first tomorrow huh?"

I look away from Kat, "Yeah, it is."

Silence fell between us before I finally looked at Kat in the eyes, "Be careful out there tomorrow, alright?"

Kat chuckled and gave me a dismissive hand wave, "My my, when did you start worrying for me?" After Kat giggles a bit more she looked me in the eyes, "Don't worry, I promise that I'll be fine."

Kat gave me one of her best smiles and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled upon seeing it, feeling all of my worries vanish without a trace. 'Kat wouldn't ever lose, not to anyone.'

Feeling the last of my worries vanish, I look to Kat, "Well, let's take Minori to her home and let's go home ourselves."

I could even feel the biggest smile crossing my face. The look on Kat's face was terrifying as she was imagining something with a pervy look on her face. I yelled out, "Kat!"

Kat snapped out of her thoughts, "What?"

I stared her down, "Just what were you thinking about, huh?"

Kat rubbed the back of her head, "Ummmm, nothing Renka-Honey." I stared at her in disbelief, and Kat looked away, "C-Come on, Renka-Honey. Don't stare at me so much."

I sighed, "Anyway, come on. Let's take Minori home."

Kat nodded with a wink, "Yes, let's."

As both Kat and I leave the arena, many thoughts were heading through my mind. With Kat's match up next, it had me worried, which was funny in a way. I didn't know how that pervert got me to like her and I like her a lot too. At the time, I thought it was just because she was the one I spent the most time with, but I would soon find out that I was dead wrong.

Chapter End

Well that's the end of that. Really great match, I had fun writing it, and my beta has way too much fun stealing my OCs. Don't know where they come up with half this stuff. Well till next time, Ayame out.