The Colour Purple Chapter 8: Girl :y8irl (r1), a king of fighters fanfic

The Colour Purple... The King of Fighters '95

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This (chapter) fanfiction was originally written circa: [XX.96] (Thank you)

"Which Character are you?"

Note to self: Legacy chapter numbering (32- - -), does not match. [Original chapter written 2013]

RE-WRITTEN CHAPTER.

Editorial: Welcome again to the PURPLE REMIX…

What are you trying to prove? What are you trying to accomplish?

These are simple questions

-08.28.04

Even if 10 years do pass, many things still hold true, for boys and, especially - for girls.

-09.19.14

Chapter 8: Girl (y8irl:) (rev1)

So many years ago, I was not so petty to simply "fall in love with you", just like any man who was obligated to fall in love with a woman. Instead, through the pain we shared, you had captivated my heart and my mind. Instead, "I had fallen deeply in love with your [fighting]", and the rest, followed, naturally.

…

Father walked away with a heavy heart, in so doing, he heaved a laboured breath past his lips, and I knelt on my knees, which laid in a 'V' shape with my kneecaps touching. I wiped off the tears and with my hands gripping these small thighs, I forced this battered, trembling body to get up slowly, all bruised and now once again broken up, yet it was still full of desire and spirit.

I am just a simple girl. A girl just like any other. Nothing more special, and nothing less tragic. To say – that I am powerless – and I could just justify all this pain, because I am powerless. However, one day… One day without my knowing, something… Something. Someone. Something came between ME and this pain. This [something], that gave me power, this was – insanity.

A burning, raging – colour purple. That lingered deep inside to this day.

…

"One… One more round, papa!" She called in defiance... "Challenge me one more time, I'll learn it this time!" She said wholeheartedly with her gloved hands clenched in fists. Come on, I can take it, it's okay.

It's okay. It's okay, if we continue to live this way:y().

She lied, and at the edge of her bodily functions, she could do no more.

Her father, a ragged, scarred, and battered man of war, merely turned around and sighed a breath of disappointment. He turned around and put his fingers on his temples, looking rather angrily or somewhat annoyed at his one and only daughter...

It's okay. It's okay, if we continue to live this way. Live through a selfish, silent, suffering. The little girl, so small and weak to everyone's eyes. She looked far and beyond – and amidst the hazy world around her, she could see a small boy that stood behind her father. On that boy's face was a wicked grin that penetrated though the cloudy muck, his hands crossed in each other.

A boy only she could see… Desperation may have overcome the girl, but she blinked once, then twice – to convince herself that the small blonde haired boy wasn't just simply a mere figment of her desperate imagination.

"What's wrong with you...?" Her father called out forcefully. "Will you just give it up!" He extended his index finger downwards condescendingly at his daughter. "What are you trying to PROVE?!"

Did 'they' forget?

The little lady looked up teary eyed as pools bubbled from the edges of her face, not from the bruises on her body nor from the painful blows she suffered from her father, but what hurt the most were his words, words that hurt a hundred times more than his kicks or punches. She buried her face in her hands to try and hide her tears from him. She clawed her knees to somehow let the pain overcome her grief, to let no sign of weakness show, but it was in vain as the streams of tears trickled through her fingers and down her cheeks and neck. Even as she valiantly hid, her emotion erupted freely.

Did 'THEY' forget? The time when they too, and no matter how HARD they tried… as children, they were punished because they couldn't do it right.

{I DON'T WANT TO CONTINUE LIVING THIS WAY.}

"Ah, you're pathetic!" Her father, unshaven and now given not a damn called out, cross armed as he threw his head into the air. "Go play with your DOLLS and leave me alone..." No matter how HARD she tried…

The girl's shoulders shook from her sobs and she quickly lowered her hands from the workspace in front of her, steadily sniffing up the tears and runs that were dripping from her nose. With a loud scream, like a cry of inner desire, more than of sobs, she got up and rushed for the small blade that hung on the gym wall by her side.

A small knife, borne and unsheathed – hungry and vicious.

Did 'they' forget? We were once one and the same. Tell me… if you were so ready to face this arrogance, this vanity you place upon yourselves. Are we so very ready to KILL each other? So why…

So. Why did you give me life? And why…

{Why, must I exist?} Even so young, it was an unreasonable burden.

She returned to her earlier position and knelt down, clutching the blade with her tense little hands. From the trembling knocks between her knees, the so young baby girl couldn't help and could not control the tip of that knife in her hand that she knew full well what it could do… if she was willing.

Did 'they' forget?

This world is FILLED with suffering. As so, when tears streamed down my face, yet then you, my father could not see it. Why do I even exist?

"What are you going to do? Kill yourself?" Her father continued to mock. "What can you hope to accomplish with your weak body?"

Why do I even exist – if this world is filled with sadness?

The man gazed over the girl who only wiped her tears with her white sleeves. He looked in awe at his daughter. Part of him was laughing at her pathetic display, but part of him felt some sort of concern, for he couldn't fully gauge her determination. She held the dagger with her right hand and let her hand move freely, sending it a distance from her chest, in a reverse stabbing grip.

"An offering…" the cold, pale boy that stood behind her father said to her. …and only to her, and her alone, as no one else could hear and couldn't be the wiser. The boy said – "If you want this power… UNYIELDING, savage, remorseless power… then…" he continued, "Then offer me your life – and give up [this] ignorant existence that could be yours – if you only turned away…"

A contract.

"If you decide," the phantom boy said, "If you decided to GIVE UP now, then you can live a life like any other :y8irl out there. TO play with dolls, and find a loathsome life worrying about petty romance. BUT. If you…"

She clutched the back of her long blonde hair with her other hand and in one swipe, golden streams cluttered the floor. She threw the dagger onto the side and stood up in defiant anger. Her long golden hair, that fell over her shoulders, that flowed in the wind and made her the envy of her classmates was now a piece of shit of nothing but uneven cuts that hardly reached her ears.

"Ohhhh…" the boy cooed. "So this, offering…"

Her father looked in awe at her sudden actions, but after only a little while began to laugh... Laugh insanely that made the girl more and more furious. She ran towards her father and leapt forward, her fist leading the way.

"FINE. I will give you this power. A girl's surrender – is so sweet."

Her father used his hand to parry the blows, blocking and throwing her attacks aside. With her short arms, she was definitely at a disadvantage and despite her best, despite her physical capabilities put to the limit just to keep up with [my] father... She would strike furiously but none of her blows would connect, and occasionally she would accept slaps from her father mocking her sloppy defense. Her blood boiled with every blow that hurled her face each way. Her father lunged down to a half crouch to drop down to her level, and with a valiant yell, she dodged one of his slaps aimed for her left cheek as she pulled her head, her entire body mass backwards. The y8irl: flipped backwards, used her hands as a brace to send her feet up in a reverse somersault kick!

"Very well," the boy replied with a smile and sneering grin. "Very well, this offering, we make a contract." He, a spirit that nobody else saw but her, "As you desire, I will stay with you… UNTIL THE VERY MOTHERFUCKING END!"

I will NEVER forget. What you did to me… one day, you too will PAY.

I WILL be your sword. AND. I will SLAY all your MONSTERS!

One day, will you recall this day – and one day, will you think that this day was unlike any other? The young girl, with clawed hands tore as best she could, into the concrete floor beneath her. Perhaps this was the first time…

When a young boy – an evil boy whom, no one else could see, with his shark fanged teeth interlocked with each other, snarled at me. Then, HE said…"This world is no longer about your petty qualms, little :y8irl."

This may have been the first time "HE" took my hand, and, with great determination, made plans, to DESTROY the entire world around us FOREVER.

Her left foot led the way in a rising arc and broke her father's defense, then her right foot came and hit him squarely in the jaw, making spittle fly to the side. Erupting – his daughter's one cry – for everyone to see, just this once – her kick threw his face out wide…

…

She got up and when she realized what she had done out of anger, she cautiously, with easy steps approached her father. Her father clutched his cheek in shame more than in pain, and stared through his daughter. Before she could say anything, he sent a punch that felt like a jackhammer to her midsection then swept her of her feet before her brain could tell her the punch even connected. Before she hit the ground, her father grabbed her in midair by the back of her shirt and threw her hard into the wall. With a loud thud she skidded down the gym wall and rolled down the floor, clutching her belly with her arms. She curled up in a ball keeping her knees close to her midsection.

"Gaughh… Augh.." she gasped and gurgled as her eyes dared to pop out of her head. Her legs pitifully bicycled over each other, turning in mid air.

She was burning inside, and she tried to keep herself from crying out, to keep the warm feeling stuff inside her from dripping down her lips.

Is this the life that lay in wait for me? Is it?

Her father only looked in disgust and proceeded to walk away.

"W...wa... wait..." She gasped painfully, "I can... don't leav..."

Her father didn't even look around to his now broken daughter. "Why did I have to be cursed with a daughter... I only wanted a son." Without another word, her father turned around, and only his broad, hardened shoulders blocked it all out, as he walked out the door – with a click of the switch, it was over – and he turned out the lights, leaving her alone to her own devices in the darkness.

There – was a darkness. In a room that was… a room that was meant only for one was now, left with two. "The insanity in your cup runneth over." The young boy was the only one. She imagined her friend reach out an open hand.

She sobbed silently… and he, squatted down. He folded his legs into itself and grinned downwards at the body that put her cheeks flat into a pool of spent blood and saliva. Into the cool, rough floor beneath… He smiled. It is okay.

Don't think less of me… if… If I.. I h..hate you. If I HATE you.

"I… I [hate] you. SO much." She sobbed.

The only thing she wanted was love from her father, but she had to settle for bruises and wounds, for the bitter impulses and uncontrollable stream of tears felt like sweet sensations to her, it was the only thing she would get from her father, the only way she would be noticed. It was the only sensation that told her she was alive. Truly…

…truly, this, was, the start… of IT.

...

"It's ok. I won't die. The pain will go away… I won't cry anymore."

I will simply… forget. Forget… all of this. All that will be left, for you – for you and me here in this DARK ROOM – will be our contract, and a promise.

…

y8irl: an agony that passed a decadent decade...

…

It was around 4:00 PM now; a petite bodied high schooler jogged briskly to her part time job just as the bell rang. She wore a neat looking western style girls' uniform, unlike the sailor suits more popular with high schools. Her name was Yuri, Yuri Sakazaki and she let out a little smile when she looked up and read the tarnished bronze sign on the antiqued brick wall of the club she worked waitress at... La Bijoux.

She came through the door and marveled at the great establishment she worked in. It looked so small from the outside, but when you went in, you could only marvel at its elegant surroundings. There were tables all around, a small stage for the jazz band; the high ceiling was spectacular, and a mile long bar that lined the far wall. She smiled again. Yuri seemed always cheerful and was proud to work in a neat place, not like a seedy tavern, but more a place to sit and relax in a peaceful atmosphere. She looked around for her boss... "KING!"

…

"KING! KING-san!" Yuri yelled with her hands as next to her mouth. "Where are you! KIIINGG!" Her calls echoed throughout the place, but no answer came. Yuri decided there and then that her boss was still taking a nap upstairs and made her way to change for work.

Yuri went over to the den and took off her jacket and shirt. The uniform was simple, a brown skirt, ruffled long sleeved blouse and a matching jacket. She unbuttoned her skirt and upon hitting the floor, a cold hand touched her shoulder.

"Hello…" came a man's voice from behind, droopy half asleep eyes floated from behind Yuri's shoulders.

Yuri's entire head blushed a hot shade of red and she quickly pulled her blouse up and in front of her in a valiant effort to cover the front of her body. Realizing that it was indeed useless since she was already wearing nothing - but underwear. She quickly swung around and in doing so instinctively threw her palm out in rapid flight.

SLAP! The penetrating echo resonated off the den's walls as the surprised man flew back into the sofa. The sofa, in due turn, skidded backwards at the sudden impact before toppling, almost comedically over. Robert Garcia held his head in his hands, wailing helplessly. "Aiyaaaa, that hurt," he said as he massaged his cheek and his head that hit the floor.

"You pervert!" Yuri shouted as she quickly hid behind the large side dresser and draped her uniform over her head. "That's what men like you deserve, pervert pervert asshole creep!"

Robert placed both palms over his knees and heaved himself up from the floor. He brushed both arms back and forth over the knees of his pants, and without even thinking, slid both palms to straighten his slick back hair.

[ROBERT GARCIA]

Flash!

[THE ART OF FIGHTING]

The large typeset font flashed across the screen in satirical fashion to introduce the new hero. His profile came to view. As if nothing had happened, he gave a sly wink to the invisible audience.

Robert pulled his ponytail back tight before tying it down. He proceeded to pat his long white pants, and straightened his maroon shirt and brown leather vest. "Come on, I was born this way, Yuri-san, never able to resist beautiful women." Robert purred.

In any other situation, an innocent girl would be rendered speechless, and even if the twisted, bitter look covered it all up, her meek grin would betray her. However, for Yuri, the silence was not one marked by a weakening of the knees. Yuri's speechless demeanour was immediately punctuated with the midpoint of her eyebrows twisted in a knot and her mouth open. Her face transformed and was now overcome with a sour look from top to bottom. The look on her face perfectly reflected the absolute disbelief that a grown man could say something so contrived, cheesy and quite simply, ridiculous.

When Yuri finished straightening her blouse, she put her arms neatly by her side and like a toy soldier, marched directly to Robert, who, for lack of better sense was still immersing himself in his own romantic world.

WHACK! Robert stumbled to the ground, butt first yet again. "Why don't you grow up!?" Yuri called out, her right fist was still cocked out straight on front of her. "If you weren't Onii-sama's (big brother's) best friend, I would've pushed you into traffic looong ago! Women aren't playthings you know, you can't just pick them up left and right."

"Why?" Robert asked with a grin "Do you feel jealous when I do?"

Yuri just sighed, realizing that she was arguing with a wall once again, and left Robert alone in [the room]. Yuri wandered off, babbling away to herself, pinching the flesh at the top crux of her nose and between her eyebrows. Reciting a tragic poem to herself. Again.

"I was here first, TRYING to get some sleep…" Robert said. "Hey…!"

...

It was much too painful for her brain to dwell about school, about Robert, and just about anything else about the day past. Yuri walked over and while on auto-pilot, set the chairs that were once put away neatly over their respective tables onto the ground, occasionally calling out her employer's name. After a few hearty calls of "PLEASE GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED!" she finally heard a muffled reply as a slow moving body drudged down the stairs still half asleep.

King dug her fingers in her short yellow hair and let out a long yawn. Yuri's eyes glared wide when she looked at the half conscious lady leaning on the railings. King was still half naked in her sleepwear. She had a white, long sleeved blouse, which was wide open at the front and the wrist cuffs unbuttoned. It wasn't helping any bit to cover the black sports bra and the dark neoprene that wrapped across her lower section that stuck out conspicuously from under the white top.

"Nnngghh," King mumbled, "Is it time to open already?" King continued her slow seemingly drunk pace down the stairs.

"ARARARA! King-san, don't come down!" Yuri pleaded as she came over to her. "Wait! Please!" Yuri waved her open palms frantically.

"I'm okay, I'm not drunk..." King said, digging away the last of the crystallized grime from the cracks between her eyelids.

"NONONO!" Yuri exclaimed, "Robert…,"

In mid sentence, Yuri felt a slight breeze pass her cheek, then, a silhouette of a man who ran fearlessly amidst the time frozen stillness. Before she could comprehend what was transpiring before her – trapped in slow motion – this man zoomed past Yuri in a fleeting instant. In his wake, a chaotic breeze deshelved the girl's once neat hair. His fingers were stretched straight with both palms kept tight like a "karate chop", and in a stiff, robot-like sprinting motion, his arms bent in an L, swung with feverish determination of a world class Olympic athlete.

"Kiiiinnnnggg-saaaannnn!" Robert cooed as he blew past Yuri Sakazaki.

"ABUNAI! Look out!" Yuri called, "King-san!"

Robert raced up the stairs, teeth gnashing with hungry rage and threw himself at King. His left foot, then finally his right propelled his body in the air, his lecherous fingers leading the way, heading right for her mid section. {a little more.. little more...} Robert said in flight, each twitching finger stretching outwards, as each knee leapt above its brother, one past the other side rushed up in desperate fervour – but he felt nothing thereafter, except the cold clammy feet that met his face solidly in mid-flight. King, still not fully awake, had her leg up straight, cocked out at Robert's face. Not even breaking from her dazed stance, she was still leaning on the railings with her one arm. Robert's face skidded down her foot and with a barrage of thumps, the human slinky toy slid down the ripple of stairs to be met at the bottom with Yuri's curses of "creep" and "Hentai" (pervert) as she stomped on him furiously until the man was a putrid, bloody mess.

"Well, carry on..." King yawned at Yuri, covering her mouth with her open palm, "I'll go change… and meet you in a few minutes." King yawned one last time and stretched her arms up before walking back up the stairs to her room.

Robert pitifully trembled on the stairs on his arms and knees, and without paying him any more heed, Yuri continued to set up the tables. Within their kingdom.. "Itt'tte'te'teeeee! (ouuuuuch)" Robert said rubbing his nose, cheek and head at the same time. "I thought it would be today. Today."

"ZAMMA MIRO! Serves you right!" Yuri said coldly.

"Sigh, I don't understand her, she's so cold and unfeeling all the time." Robert complained, now in a cross legged Indian sit. "How can someone so attractive like her be so, so, unfeminine."

"Goes to show what you know..." Yuri said, now dusting the tables and wiping them down with the damp rag in her right hand.

"Eh?" Robert said with a confused visage. "Is it me? Does she hate me? Waaaaagghhh!" Robert exclaimed clawing his temples in as if his brain was about to explode, Hokuto no Ken style. "Have I become ugly all of a sudden!?" Robert quickly looked up at the mirror and flexed his muscles vainly, thumb and index finger supporting his square chin.

Yuri calmly and wordlessly walked over behind Robert and bonked him square on the top of his head with all ten fingers of her fists to bring him back to Earth. She tip toed up and whispered in his ear with her palms over her mouth so noone else could hear "Don't you know, King hates it when guys hit on her? You should know this much. Her dad raised her as a boy... Don't you wonder why she always acts so tough?!"

"ReAlLy!" Robert called in twisted amazement. "Awww, she's no fun. But no worry," Robert said in reassurance as he sent his fist to his muscular chest. "I, Robert Garcia, ThE WoRlD's GREATEST LoVeR, will awaken the woman in her!" Robert beamed out wide.

"Cut it with the Don Juan deMarcio act okay! I've seen the movie and you're no loverboy!" Yuri sneered and cut his cheesy display. Still does anyone really even talk like that?

Robert paid no attention to Yuri's insults and just looked longingly at the staircase up to King's room. {King...-san} Robert whispered to himself, but more to the closed door that was the only thing that ever listened to him.

…and, [that room]. The room that people walked into, just for that moment.

What… have we become? When 'so long' came between us?

…

YOUKOZO! LA BIJOUX e-!

WELCOME! TO LA BIJOUX!

…If you believe, if you want to be together, if you want to live forever, then you can accomplish it, if only just for a night.

...

By 8:00 PM, the customers would fill La Bijoux with their chatter; whispers and laughter, a great atmosphere that made it seem so homey, somewhat easy going. A great place to be In New England, one of the many grand towns in the country of New Hong Kong, the place that brought different people together, if only just for one night...

Robert had already lost count. He had forgotten how many nights how many years he had stood obediently by this door as bouncer for La Bijoux. It was a noble and simple chore, and the only thing an ignorant old man like him could do. He stayed outside to greet acquaintances and frequent customers, always flashing a hypocrite smile to keep them happy. He also had the pleasant chore of keeping ruffians and undesirables away, usually 'referring' them to other local bars they could freely cause trouble if they wanted. Two figures came in, the usual customers, Todo and the technicoloured Duck King. Duck was all smiles, patting Robert on the back and sometimes offering him tips or a bottle of whiskey to get on his good side. On the other hand, Todo, an old acquaintance from a different life never even bothered to greet Robert. Robert, not wanting to displease King, simply smiled and greeted him even if Todo continued to ignore him.

Yuri led the customers to their tables and made sure the jazz band did their job in usual splendor. It was as if they could implant emotions into their customers, the flowing rhythms would make the crowd sad, angry and happy all at the same time, and the customers just loved the sweet melodies they'd play.

As she always did, King stood behind the bar and continuously wiped a glass in her hand. She turned it round in one hand and rubbed that cloth so vigorously it almost felt as if she was about to wear a hole right through. Every so often she would raise the glass up against the light and with one eye closed scrutinize its every detail. If the light caught it the right way it would sparkle and illuminate the dimly lit club boldly. However she would take it in hand and continue polishing it if left to her own devices, because it still failed to illuminate the darkness.

A call would come from the far end of the bar, and King would make a mental note while Yuri piled order slips on the long spike next to the cash register. In blinding speed, King would mix foul smelling liquids as if she was merely playing. Once she finished, she put a paper coaster on top, threw it across her body and it would slide down the high polish, mile long bar to it's customer. On occasion she engage in a little chit-chat with customers as she continued to make drinks with her autonomous hands. There is an invaluable rule in this business, you have to always be happy, almost hypocrite to your customers, and you can never go against that. This is why they come to you. For those who were once lost, they simply – they simply wanted to be found. They want to escape from the stress of their real life jobs, wanting a change from the rough and hectic office place. They turn to you to create a whole new world, an environment where they can escape from their worries and troubles.

…and this was my duty as a bartender, because this was something even God could not provide for his ailing children.

King balanced the lip of two glass bottles between the fingers of her one hand easily. Despite the weight of both the orange juice and vodka she was able to tip the vodka bottle one way to stop the flow while she continued to pour the orange juice into the glass. With her off hand she reached for another order slip from the spike. With no mercy, Yuri walked over with another order slip. "Busy night, huh?" Yuri said as she wiped her brow. "Maybe we can have a drink with Robert tonight, but nothing strong for me okay, I have a quiz tomorrow." Yuri smiled mischievously from ear to ear.

"Sure, sure, just don't tell anyone I corrupt the youth. Besides, I need your help to drag me to my bed when I get plastered after." King laughed. "I sure as hell can't trust that Mr. Garcia!"

"You know, King-san," Yuri said, hoping to get some chitchat as a little break from waiting tables. "Robert, he really likes you. Have you ever thought of wearing, you know… like a skirt?" Yuri slowly and apprehensively remarked as she looked up and down at King's attire. It was hardly feminine, She had a collared white blouse, maroon top almost like a tail-less tuxedo, and corduroy pants held up with suspenders, all tied up on top with a bowtie. "The pants you're wearing hardly suits you." Yuri continued on. She looked up from her downward gaze, only to find King's stern face facing her flatly with a dark scowl. "No no, I mean…" Yuri stammered in defense with both palms up. "What I mean is, you have a great body, shouldn't let it go to waste." Yuri said while trying not to sound too forceful as to upset her.

King threw the two screwdrivers as she called out her customers' names to prepare them, and her sweet tone of "Shinjuni-san, Kurosawa-san, screwdrivers rolling…" became cold and harsh as King placed her hand to the bar. "I refuse."

Yuri just smiled apologetically and put her tray up to cover her chest with crossed arms. "Gomen gomen.. (sorry sorry)" Yuri apologized, "I didn't mean it like that I was just saying..." King walked down the bar and prepared a zombie (something else green) as she poured a shot of Connemara Single-malt Whisky in a short glass for herself. Yuri feeling guilty, only shuffled away, hoping that King would forget about the incident later when clean up time came.

Without warning, a loud shriek suddenly echoed from the far side of the club by the door and it was soon followed with a loud crash. Two towering brutes with large potbellies dressed in leather and jean biker gear, chains and spikes and all, trotted into the room, belligerently bumping into and toppling chairs over. One of them walked by a hapless waitress that stood in their way.

She put her tray over her chest and despite her trembling voice called out. "Sir. Ww… we… welcome to La..." The gruff biker approached her and flipped up her skirt, making her drop her stance and sit on the floor trying to cover her thighs. "Heeeek," she shrieked.

"Move it, asshole." Before they could get away, the two bikers pushed two customers off their barstools and leaned over to King. A rally of murmurs slowly emanated across the club and a few wiser ones stood from their tables and made their way slowly to the door.

These people came to you, in search for refuge, and if you cannot even provide that simple thing, then what good are you now?

"This place sucks, bro." One of the men turned to his friend. "Just'a bunch'a yuppies with their fucking FUCKIN' fancy drinks."

"Ah fuck it!" The fatter one, Jack Turner leaned over the bar and put his face inches from King's face in intimidating fashion. King didn't even bother to look up from her chore as she focused on the glass she painstakingly polished in her hands. "What you got here that isn't orange?! I wanna bee…"

"That will be eight dollars." King cut him off sternly, slamming down a tall mug of her worst, sour, warm beer on the bar in front of her, astoundingly without even spilling a drop onto the counter despite her hard slam.

"Eight dollars? Are you FUCKING kidding me?!" Jack spat back. "And… it's fucking not even cold you bitc…"

As Jack looked up with his twisted smirk, he fixed gazes with the face of a woman he never expected. Jack's face, once curled in a vicious, sour demeanour weakened a bit when he locked eyes with that one bartender. His mind suddenly stopped, and his body immediately tensed.

…

"Yuri!" Mousse begged her friend from across the room. The waitress gripped her skirt nervously in her hands "Poor Miss King doesn't stand a chance! Your father owns the dojo in Southtown right?" She desperately pleaded. "Don't you know karate or something?! You have to help King."

"Right." Yuri answered as she puffed her cheeks bravely. "Right… but…" Yuri looked at the tall biker, Jack, from head to toe. {That dude…} she thought. {That dude is like, 6 feet tall and probably 300 pounds. You've got to be kidding me!} No way! Yuri stopped in her tracks after her first step. No way no way, Jose! She couldn't turn back now. It was true. There was no way King, a meek demeanoured woman in her 30s, an old woman by [their] merciless standards, could stand up to an ugly monster like that!

The code of Kyokugen Karate. This she remembered. It was her duty to fight. Yet, yet… Yet her mind and body wouldn't follow her wishes. While her cold body didn't show it, her heart trembled. {Where are you, Robert?} Please. {Where are you, you useless piece of shit!?} Yuri begged silently. Are you… Are you even a MAN!?

{Women are not built for fighting, you have to understand that.} Those were the words that suddenly resonated in Yuri's mind. It was her father's voice, Takuma Sakazaki, of Kyokugen Karate.

"Bull…" Yuri found a refreshed courage in her step. "BULL… SHIT… old man," she said. However, when she rolled up her sleeves and took a second step, Yuri, the young girl stopped dead in her tracks. Her body weakened a bit when he locked eyes with that one bartender. Her mind suddenly stopped, and her body froze in concrete.

However, it wasn't the fear of that towering biker that cut the impulses from Yuri's brain to her body. Instead…

…

"You bitch!" Jack roared. With his left hand, he swung his left arm in an arc overhead into King's wrist that still held the warm mug and pinned it into the bar in front of them. "Don't you fuck with m…" Jack raised his right fist up.

Fighting. Fighting is a form of 'communication'.

…

It wasn't the fear of that towering biker that cut the impulses from Yuri's brain to her body. Instead… Looking from behind Jack Turner, his face, now painted a different colour. Jack's stunned face reflected in her eyeballs, Yuri's point of view ran down Jack's shoulders, down his arm and to his hand.

Despite all sense of reason, and with a wave of disbelief enveloping Yuri's body, King's hand… King's hand was now in a place it shouldn't have been. Her right hand wrapped around Jack's own in a vice grip, her fist clutched, trapping his ring finger, the weakest finger in a human hand, slamming it downwards, rendering it immobile, trembling on the polished bar in front of them. Now, it was King's hand that instead locked Jack's limb into the bar.

Jack's back twisted slightly to the side, exposing King's body bit by bit. Running her vision up Kings arm – what welcomed Yuri was the dark shadow that draped across King's face. The warm, bubbly, perhaps even ignorant woman she grew to know and love since her days as a baby girl, King's face reflected another vision. On King's face was a different picture now, and now, it was of a venomous, rancid shade of rancor.

Yuri stepped back towards Mousse. Despite her pleas, and her desire to hold her body in check, to prevent her heart from jumping out her chest, despite all that, Yuri felt her shoulders move instinctively up. Her shoulders rolled up as an animal instinct to protect her neck. Her spine interlocked and froze in place.

An animal instinct. Yuri felt a twisting, disgusting feeling in her stomach. She felt like she wanted to vomit. Yet, despite her cold feeling of weakness, she immediately realized that all five senses in her body awoke at the same time.

{This feeling.} Yuri stuttered in her mind. King's face. The innocent, beautiful, generous, and soft-spoken King. {Is this, the feeling I feel, the crippling feeling – when PREY comes face to face with a PREDATOR?}

…

Jack couldn't pull back. When he did, the tension and pain resonated with a shock up his arm. The bartender refused to let go. Even if Jack was indeed 6 feet tall and weighed in the excess of 300 pounds, if King's entire 120 pound Englishwoman body locked that ring finger in place, he would be imprisoned.

Even though he didn't want to acknowledge it, {Is this, the feeling – the feeling when prey comes face to face with a predator?} Jack thought deep inside. {No…} He broke through the synapses that burned a hole in his stomach. Despite his better judgment, Jack cocked his right fist back and threw it at the woman in front of him. {No… This…}

I will protect you, all of my children. King. The King amongst all those around her. If you come to me for sweet refuge. If you do, then I will protect you. Sweetly, silently, at this expense, because GOD would NOT shelter you!

NO MERCY, King tilted forward with the ENTIRE weight of her small body and met Jack's menacing glare head on, snapping his finger mercilessly at its knuckle and making its tip touch the back of his hairy wrist.

WELCOME, to my kingdom! To La Bijoux… You ASSHOLE!

The bottom of his spine winched and wanted to jump out from his back. No. That glare. A fanged grin, one that a predator like Jack never saw, was laid bare and plain to see. That [door], of that [room] slowly creaked open, revealing a sinister white pinpoint eyeball amidst the darkness.

Yuri could only understand only so far. {This.} Jack thought. {This… is the feeling…} He accepted. {This is a more FEARSOME feeling, when a PREDATOR one day, trapped in his world where he once thought himself invincible, comes face to face, and realizes, that through his belligerent arrogance, has come face to face with A SUPERIOR, SAVAGE BEAST.}

…

"Now?" A young boy's voice whispered from the cracks of darkness in that room. "Will I now be free?" He sneered with a vicious, wide grin.

Will the air smell as fresh and so so sweet as it did back then?

Back then, when I first met you – and trapped myself in ignorance and bliss. A bliss that could not be measured by human contraptions?

…

{KEH! What a useless, sorry ass excuse of a bouncer,} King thought, {I wonder what his explanation will be this time?}

…

"Now?" The boy marched up to the looming, towering door – slowly – leaving his world behind. Left and right foot that imprisoned him in [that] room for so long. "Will you be the one to set me free? …and destroy the world underfoot?!"

A static shock, like the snow on the empty TV screen at 2 AM.

A seething, murderous fury… Overwhelms me. [He] smiled a wide toothed grin, spanning ear to ear.

No.

…

"No, not yet… my friend." [He] said, gently, softly, and apologetically.

[He].

From the darkness that loomed behind the tall biker, Jack turner, a white, size 10 lace up wingtip shoe embedded itself deep into Jack's shoulder as if it belonged there, making itself part of his enemy's body.

I have no understanding of why you are this way. I have no understanding why MEN like you exist here… yet, if you dare open that door…

"You…" Jack turned his head round almost 180 degrees over his shoulder and back in impossible fashion.

[JACK TURNER]

Flash!

[THE OGRE OF 4TH AVENUE SOUTHTOWN]

The large typeset font flashed across the screen in satirical fashion because in every story, there had to be, a villain.

"You…" Jack turned his head round almost 180 degrees over his shoulder and back in impossible fashion. "You're that… brat, that kid... I know you! That BRAT… that fought me…?"

In Southtown. SO many years ago.

In only mere moments Jack's brain would disconnect itself from his lower body from that sledgehammer that wanted to RIP his head from his shoulders.

"Robert…" the old man, now 29 years old said. "My name is ROBERT GARCIA. I told you…" he said. "I told you once to never forget me."

Don't think bad of me. Waruku omou n da yo. If you stabbed me in the back 10 minutes ago, I… I will return the favour, in kind.

If you dare open that door, and release, that trapped BEAST within its dark walls in that room. Then, I will NOT forgive you!

Maybe a decade ago, a young boy conditioned his body. His legs. Amidst his injury, a mortifying ordeal – made his LEGS top class among men.

THAT kick, that embedded itself into Jack shoulders – as if it belonged there. Jack's knees failed him when his mind shut off. In the next instant, the 300 pound some ought body hunched over Robert's back. Robert put his right hand over his same shoulder and grabbed ahold of his enemy's collar. With one forceful heave, he sent his hips up and launched the body up with his single right hand.

"Just his one hand… and his weak right hand?" Yuri remembered… [that time]. When everything was simple and carefree. She could not believe that Robert was about to throw Jack Turner over his body with the strength of his one, his broken, right arm.

"Wait!" Mousse said. "His left leg." In one swift motion Robert's opposite leg kicked back and embedded itself deep into the biker's crotch and continued in its way to launch the 300 pound body over his shoulder.

"If he uses his legs." The legs, even if Robert's arms could not compete with the monstrous strength of her elder brother's, Ryo's biceps. Robert once told me, in arrogant fashion, that even his one leg could press 320 pounds!

320 POUNDS, and now, he was ready to prove it!

WHAM! Echoing through that dark bar. A thundering roar.

Wham! WHAM! WHAM! In three-peat Jack's heavily laden body slammed into the floor.

…in a planet, where God refused to comfort you, in your despicable sadness.

…

"Ga… Garcia..." King uttered in surprise... looking relieved at his appearance, then suddenly shifting to a firm gaze, "You…"

King slammed her hand down at the immaculate, polished bar.

[KING]

Flash!

[The DEUX EX MACHINA]

The large typeset font flashed across the screen in satirical fashion because in every story, for heroes and villains to exist, there had to be, a MASTER SWORD.

"You screwed up, you jerk!"

"Ahh... Sorry, I'm late." Robert cocked his spine back in a near impossible arc. "Sorry." Robert thrust his right index finger forward with no chance of resolution. "Even this HEAVEN…" he… "Does not welcome you."

"Ga… Garcia..." King uttered in surprise... looking relieved at his appearance, then suddenly shifting to a firm gaze, "You screwed up, asshole!"

"Sorry," Robert said apologetically with surprisingly warm eyes and a sincere face which startled King, who was too used to his lecherous grin. "Don't worry, don't forget…" Robert smiled, eyes closed.

What I said a long decade ago. "For as long as I am alive… you, will…"

You will never have to [fight] again.

…

By the time it was 3:00 am, Yuri had put all the chairs on the tables, and swept the floor. While Yuri stood by the sink, doing the dishes and cleaning out glasses, King sat on a far off barstool with a bottle of Cognac and a short, wide mouth glass in her hand. Robert walked into the hall, his palm covering his yawning mouth. He stood next to King and stretched out his arm. He reached for a shot glass behind the bar, and nonchalantly helped himself to a drink.

"Are you okay?" Robert said, tactfully hiding an apologetic tone.

"I could've handled it!" King mumbled between heavy breaths to recover from her last sip. "I can take care of myself." King said flatly, not even facing Robert. To further add insult to injury, King stood up and made her way to the staircase that led up to her room just as Robert placed his bottom on the stool next to King. "What good is a bodyguard who runs away."

Upon reaching the foot of the stairwell, King balanced her body and short glass with one hand propped onto the wall. With her other hand she carefully pulled off her one shoe by tucking her index finger by her heel. King let her one foot down and bent her other leg by her back to reach her other shoe. Despite being sufficiently inebriated, she still took utmost care to remove her shoes and laid them neatly by the side, toes outward - perfectly straight and proper.

Robert slouched forward and stared blankly at the small shot glass in front of him. The lukewarm and foul smelling caramel fluid looked back at the man, then, to the woman - yet neither one wanted to make the first move. Robert stood silent with his elbows barely keeping his body upright. However, he didn't hear the tell tale sounds of footsteps of King walking up the staircase. The dark world around them – the place called La Bijoux was as lonely and quiet as Robert had recalled painfully, and yet, so nostalgically. He didn't need to look up to realize that King remained standing in her socks, by the bottom of the staircase, simply standing still.

"Do you remember the promise I made to you? King." Robert broke the uncomfortable silence. "Even after all these years…"

Even after all these years, this promise, glimmered brightly as a star among hundreds and millions in the night sky.

…

Yuri walked out of the kitchen with both hands behind her back to untie her apron and folded it neatly in her hands before laying it neatly on the first far barstool. "King-san! I am going home!" Yuri called, "You want me to bring you to your roo…?"

Yuri's jaw dropped - she immediately fell silent and stared in awe at Robert who had both palms on the wall by either side of King's head. Even when backed against a wall, King's stoic face was a cold slate, staring upwards at Robert's face that seemed to be floating carefully but surely towards King's lips.

Yuri was utterly speechless and at a loss of what to do – to hide or scream, she wasn't sure – so she rubbed her eyes frantically in disbelief. When she opened her eyes once again and looked up, King had diverted her attention from Robert and was now looking to the side and met Yuri's gaze head on.

"Ah…" Yuri stammered embarrassed. Her shoulders locked up. She wanted to run away, but she too was caught in a trance by the silent world that wanted to suck her in too.

However, it all seemed like an illusion when Yuri watched both King's arms dart out, her elbows made contact with the insides of Robert's arms to match his embrace and put her fingers on the back of Robert's head.

A loud thud and Robert's groan was the sound that came next as he clutched his groin upon crumpling onto the floor, curled up in a ball.

"It's okay I'm going to sleep." King said. She finished her glass of Cognac with one last heave and went up to her room.

{Sigh, Yuri puffed, you NEVER learn do you...} Yuri slung her bag over her shoulder and proceeded out the door.

Yuri flicked off the lights and before she closed the front door behind her she waved absentmindedly and bade the man good night with a grin. Robert was still curled up on the floor, clutching himself, now, in that once again completely dark place, a completely wonderful world he was no stranger to anymore. He sighed, but his frown slowly turned into a peaceful smile as he closed his eyes, and tried to numb the pain with a warm memory. Because tonight was another peaceful night, that we built ourselves to last a lifetime - when once upon a time, our hearts were filled with chaos.

…

"Tonight, tonight, tonight. I let out a sigh… as many stars as there are in the sky. Because I hope, I know, that you feel it too."

This may have been the first time "HE" took my hand, and, with great determination, made plans, to DESTROY the entire world around us FOREVER.

…