Ballad of a Brawler

Rika's fist slammed into the other girl's cheek, and with a pained cry the girl fell at the feet of her stunned cronies. Rika was panting to keep back her rage, glaring the three girls before her. "Well?" she growled. "Get out of here! Before I do the same to you!" The other two were all too hasty to oblige, and helped their leader back to her feet so they could run off in the other direction down the alley.

Rika Smart let out a sigh, just now realising how tense she was, and relaxed her posture again. SHe touched her cheek where the other girl had managed to get a hit in, and winced at bruise that had begun to form there. Other than that she was fine. After fixing her clothes that had become dishelved during the fight Rika walked out of the alley and back out into the street. She had just been walking down the street before she entered the fight, now she did that again. Rika often took a walk down town when she needed to clear her mind.

Akashi was walking down the strteet fairly casually. She had the evening off and Mina had a match. She said she would be out and about and probably meet her after the match and watch a little bit of it but for now the day was hers to spent as she pleased. She was dressed in her 'off duty' attire which consisted of black hakama pants anda dark blue kimono that had cranes embroidered on it. She looked out of place but she didn't mind too much. Though she thought it might be nice to show up at Mina's match wearing some more 'modern clothes.

As she contemplated this, she noticed a commotion up ahead. Three grils seemed to be running through the street, hardly watching where they were going. Akashi sighed as the bumped into almost everyone, spitting obscenities to those they ran into and accusing them of not knowing how to walk. Akashi furrowed her brow and then grinned. She slid her foot back And stood her ground. The first girl came plowing towards her and hit Akashi hard. not expecting to be halted by the girl, she fell hard on her butt, the other two tripped up by the falling thug.

"You bitch!" She screamed. "I'll kill you for that!" She said and stood up and brushed herself off.

Akashi grinned. "It's not wise to try and beat a Sumo in a shoving match." She said coyly."

"Fat bitch! I'm in a bad mood!" She said as her friends helped her up.

Akashi furrowed her brow. "Looks like you already lost one fight today, no need to embarrass youself further." As she said it, Akashi's eyes widened. Street fight? Could it be... Sarah-San? As she wondered, her guard was off and before she could block, the girl managed to throw a punch right into Akashi's gut. The two other girl's snickered at the would be sucker punch but suddenly were shocked to see what happened next.

"Ahhh! Shit!" The girl said and stepped back. She was holding her wrist in her hand. Akashi was bent over with a look of pain on her face but managed a weak smile. "Not bad...." She muttered. "But this isn't just fat. This stomahc of mine is designed to withstand one of these!" And with that she pulled back her arm and threw an open handed slap right at the girl's face. It knocked her out cold and before the girls even knew what happened, Akashi was alrady passed them, dashing down the street.

"Sarah-San!" She called out as she started running down the street, making sure not to be as rude as the girls she just encountered. "Sarah-Saaaan!" She cried out again. Ever since their match, she had wanted to talk to Sarah again. It ended badly and she needed more. She hadn't seen Rika around either and that had been what troubled the Sumo the most. Even though the Sumo had come to believe that there was no hope for someone like Sarah, she still folishly desired to try. But she saw the look in Rika's eyes. She was sure that if she could jut talk to Rika, maybe something good would come of it. She began to pant as she jogged down the street. "What am I even doing..." She muttered to herself. She sighed as she slowed her pace. She had been running for what seemed forever. "It could have been anyone..." As she panted she looked up and saw someone that looked familiar. "I just want to see her. It could be anyone." She sighed and decided one last time to try. "Rikaaaa!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs. If it wasn't her, then she would just have to slink off somewhere and hide away until the embarrassment of making such a fool out of herself was over.

Rika didn't have a destination in, and just walked down the street casually with her hands in the pockets of her orange shorts. That's when she heard some kind of commotion down the street behind her. She didn't pay much attention to it, until she heard a certain name shouted amongst the crowd. "Sarah?" she whispered. Was Sarah here? Ever since the.....incident, she had not seen or spoken to Sarah. If she was here what would she say to her?

But when her own name was called that was when she turned around. It was not Sarah she saw running towards her. "Akashi," Rika whispered dreadfully. It was pretty easy to spot the woman with the odd outfit she was wearing. It wasn't Sarah, but it was still someone she didn't want to run into. Unfortunately when she turned around Rika caught gazes with Akashi so each would see each other clearly. Grimacing, the young brawler turned back down the path she was walking, pretending she didn't see her. She was too embaressed over what happened to talk to the sumo.

Akashi's eyes widened when she met Rika's gaze for a split second. She noticed how quickly Rika turned around and a look of surprise washed over her. Her face quickly changed from aurprise to frustration as she clenched her fists. "You're not getting away that easily..." She muttered to herself as she charged forward again. "Rikaaa!" She yelled out as she stomped towards the brawler. "Please!" Her tone was almost pleading. 'Don't turn away from me, Rika-chan!"

Rika walked at a faster pace than before, dodging people and occationally buumping into them as she tried to avoid the sumo hot on her tail. Of course she couldn't do anything about the embaressing shouts the woman was shouting at the top of her lungs. What the hell is she doing? she growled in her head a faint blush on her cheeks as a few people turned to look in her direction. Never the less she still pretended to avoid Akashi, starting to walk a little faster hoping that she might lose her.

Akashi furrowed her brow when Rika began to dismiss her and pick up the pace. "Dammit..." She muttered to herself. 'Rika-chaaaan!" She hollered out as she herself increased the pace. "Rika! Please stop!" She charged forward, becoming a bit more reckless with her movements as she tried to catch up. "Please, Rika-chan! I want to talk to you!" She had a pleading tone in her voicee. "I'm not mad!" She wasn't sure if that would help or not but she wanted to say anything that would get her to stop and talk. "Please Rika-chan!" She shouted in a huff. All the running earlier had worn her out, she wasn't fit for this kind of endurance and hoped Rika would listen to her pleas.

Rika was amazed at how upright and honest Akashi could be even in the middle of the street. Loud too. It reminded her of Sarah. Maybe it was that thought or the fact that Akashi said she wasn't mad anymore, but Rika finally came to a stop. Taking a breath, she turned around to face the sumo. "What do you want?" she muttered, not looking at Aashi and just glancing off to the side.

Akashi was so glad that Rika had stopped. She wasn't sure if she could keep running much more. She then panted and looked up. She grabbed her arm, just in case Rika might flee again. But it was a gentle touch. "Rika... chan...." She huffed. "Please..." She looked up. Her eyes were wide and held a look of caring in them. She then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Rika in a warm hug. "Please don't run from me anymore, Rika-chan." She whispered as she tried to hug the girl tightly.

If she was able to, she would hold onto Rika silently for a long moment as if letting go would mean her death. Then she would whisper, "Can we please just go somewhere and talk for a bit?"

Rika flinched from Akashi's touch, not knowing what to expect from her. After all their first two meetings had not been the best ones. What other reason than to get revenge would Akashi want to see her for? Then to her surprise Akashi suddenly pulled her into a close hug.

"W-What are yoou doing?!" Rika squeaked in the sumo's arms. At first she was afraid she was going to perform her bearhug finisher on her, the same one she had beaten Sarah with. But it never happened. She just held her softly and tenderly. It just felt so....nice. And when Rika heard Akashi whisper to her, it sounded so sincere that it brought tears to her eyes. Everything she had been holding in for the past few weeks came flooding out as she quietly cried into Akashi's shirt, slowly bringing her arms up to hug Akashi back. People were starting to stare as they walked by but she didn't care. "O-Okay," Rika whispered.

Akashi feltt he warmth of Rika's body as she held the other girl tightly. She was so afraid that she would pull away and begin her usual routine that she winced when she felt Rika move. but when the brawler's arsm moved around Akashi's bigger frame, she smiled and began to rub her hands up and down Rika's back comfortingly. She did not care about what people saw at the moment. Her eyes widened when she suddenly felt her shoulder get wet but she sighed and pulled Rika at arms length.

She weakly smiled at her, trying to give her a hopeful, comforting looke. "Everything's going to be alright." She said. She took Riuka's hand in hers, clutching it with both her hands. "I'm glad I found you Rika-chan." She said truly. "How about we have a talk over tea." She said. "I have a lot I want to get off my chest and maybe you do to?" She raised her eyebrow in a hopeful manner.

"Besides." She said with an air of finality to her next statement. "We're friends right? All this tiem we've never hung out once. There's a lot of catching up to do!" She spoke cheerfully and began to tug Rika towards the tea house.