Ballad of a Brawler

Rika quickly started to rub her eyes clear once Akashi pulled away, not wanting to be seen crying. She couldn't beleive she just broke down like that. "Sorry," she muttered awkwardly, reffering to the wet spot she had caused to appear on Akashi's shirt. The moment of weakness didn't seem to bother Akashi, rather she seemed glad to have seen it. Talking about her problems wasn't something Rika did much of, but with the sumo, it might be alright.

"Yeah, sure," Rika agreed, a slow smile coming on her face. "That would be great." Allowing herself to be pulled along Rika followed after Akashi to the tea house.

Akashi smiled and lead them to a tea house that looked like it had been lost in time amongst the bustling city. she entered and everything was very nice looking, if not a bit outdated. The waitresses were dressed similarly to Akashi, wearing older style formal wear and they greeted her. "Tanikaze-san!" One said upon seeing her. She bowed deeply. "Please can we just have a seat and bring us some green tea." She said. She lifted her head up. "A booth in the back please."

The server nodded and lead them to a darkened booth in the back. Akashi nextled in and sighed. "I come here a lot. Not many people know about it, or choose not to come for whatever reason. This place is kind of struggling so I make a point to come often. It has a very familiar atmosphere." She smiled. The tea was served quickly and Akashi was glad.

"Rika-chan." She said once the waiter was gone. "I haven't seen you since the match and it's not from lack of trying. I can tell that you have a lot building up inside of you." She sighed. "I am still confused myself. About how my match ended. About you and about Sarah." She put her palm to her head. "I worry about you, you know. Despite the encounters we seem to keep having."

Rikahad never been into a tea house before. Hell, she had only been in Japan a couple of months, she had no clue about its customs or traditions. Once they were inside Akashi's outfit seemed to fit right in, and Rika was the outsider now.

When they were lead to their booth Rika took a seat opposite Akashi, sitting up straight as she was unable to relax. "It's very nice," she muttered, not knowing what else to say about the place.

The tea arrived fairly quickly to Rika's surprise, and was set down before them both. She din't drink it just yet, wondering if their was some kind of ritual to it. Rika bowed her head when Akashi mentioned that fateful match, knowing that the topic would come up eventually but still not wishing to talk about it very much. "Why?" she whispered almost inaudibly. "Why do you worry about me? I haven't exactly been nice to you."

Akashi sipped her tea after a few moments of letting it cool. "Because we're friends." She said with a cheerful smile. "The first time we met, the look in your eyes. That was the Rika I remember." She began. "I don't understand Rika." She said looking down. "Well.. I do but..." She looked up with eyes of conviction. "I don't believe for a second you were mean to me because you wanted to be!" Her tone grew sharp but it held a warm sincerity. She soon quieted down. "I know you were the way you were because you thought you had to be. I could see it in your eyes. You aren't like that. You're not the kind of person who wants to hurt other people for no good reason."

Rika smiled at the mention of the word friend. Akashi sure made it easy for people to like her. "That's not exactly true, Akashi," she confessed. "I mean, sure, I didn't want to hurt you. I only did it because Sarah asked me to. Because I thought she knew better." She bowed her head slightly. "Now I don't know what to think." She eyed her tea cautiously before picking it up and taking a sip. It actually wasn't that bad.

Akashi's smile never wavered. "Rika-chan." She said. "I know that you followed Sarah because you wanted to be stronger." She paused. "At least, that's what I think. Sarah-san IS strong so it's easy to see why you would look up to her. But no matter how much you follow someone, you will never be strong." She furrowed her brow at the words, knowing they could be misinterpreted. "What I mean to say is. If you want to know what to think look inside if you. Do what you believe is right. Standing in someone's shadow will always cover you up a little bit. You'll never be able to shine on your own. You could be as strong as Sarah or me, even stronger if youwanted to!" She meant the words. "But you should believe in yourself. I am your friend, I want to stand with you, not in front of you. That is what friendship means to me. Walking side by side with the people I care about."

She then heaved a sigh and sipped her tea. "Beating up everyone certainly won't accomplish that. Maybe you like the back alley brawls and mixing it up and getting gritty. If that's what you enjoy then I support you. But I can't imagine that you feel good about picking fights for no reason for beating on helpless people just because you can. That shows no strength, that shows weakness. I saw that look in your eye at the match. I know" She lowered her head. "I ... felt the same way you did." She admitted. "About Sarah-san. I admired her and looked up to her. I wanted to beat her because I thougth she was the best. Sure she was grumpy and maybe I should have fought her with revenge in my heart for everythign she did but that's not how a wrrior fights.

She then lowered her head. "Rika-chan..." She said with sad eyes. "How Sarah-san acted after the match was over, hurt me more than any punch she threw at me. I don't understand. Why? Why does she hold everythign in like that? Why is she so ... afraid?" Akashi wasn't sure if she was even saying the right things but it was what she fetl. She lowered her head to keep Rika from seeing a tear that escaped from eye. "I-I'm sorry..." She whispered. "It's just what I feel... You know her better than me, that's why I wanted to ask you."

Rika sat and listened quietly, every so often taking a sip of her tea. She was surprised to hear that Akashi admired Sarah as well. After all that had happened between the two of them the last thing she would have thought was that.

"I was fighting people of the street way before I met Sarah," she told the sumo. "At the time I actually did think I was the strongest. That is, until Sarah beat me up." She smiled a little as she recalled the memory. "Since that day I wanted to learn from so I could strive to be stronger than her. But....the more time I spent with her the more I started to like her. I don't know what it was, but she just so much fun to be around. She knew what she wanted and how she could get it, and didn't let anything stand in her way. That's what I admired about her the most. I guess at some point I just forgot about beating her, and just wanted to be with her...."

Rika had bad memories from that match to; she had never seen Sarah like that before, not that angry. She had no idea it affected Akashi in such a way either. "I don't really know that much about what makes Sarah tick," she muttered reluctantly. Clearly she knew something, but she wasn't sure if she should tell Akashi. "Tyler would know more about it than me..."

knowing Rika, Akashi wasn't surprised to hear the story but she was glad that she had been able to try and find a way to be with Sarah that wasn't just about proving who was tougher. It seemed at least a little bit that Sarah had formed a bond with Rika too and that also made her smile. "It's a nice story." She said. "That you could become friends, I mean."

She stopped when she heard a new name. He eyes widened in confusion. "Who is that?" She questioned.

Rika giggled a little. "It wasn't exactly easy to keep up with her," she informed. "And I'm not going to sugarcoat it, we were in a gang. But those were fun times. When everyone was together, we just haad a good time, and she was always at the heart of it all." She suddenly blinked. "Sorry, guess I'm kind of rambling."

Rika took another sip of her tea, and had already finished it by the time she set it down again. Suddenly she realized how nervous she was. "Tyler?" she repeated. "He's Sarah's-" She was about to answer, but suddenly stopped herself. "Actually I don't really know what he is to Sarah. All I know is he knew her since she was a baby."

Akashi waved her hand when Rika said she was rambling. "You must not have just heard me run on for very long. It's interesting to know more about you Rika." She said happily. She sipped her tea until it was empty as well and set it aside. "What you do is what you do. We have to find comradere somewhere, right?" She said. "I mean..." She turned head head a bit. "Beating up other girls is one thing, I hope you didn't go too much further." She sighed. "But we all do bad things when we're young I guess."

She turned her head as she attempted to explain who Tyler was. "Well... I guess I should at least meet him right?" She questioned unsure if it was the right step and not really knowing what the end result even was. "Rika-chan." She said suddenly. "You haven't seen Sarah-san since the fight either, have you?" She asked curiously.