Ballad of a Brawler

Almost as fast as he had torn open his coat the man batted away Akashi's punch. "You know, you're the second beuatiful woman to tell me that," he informed offhandedly. "Except she had an eyepatch. It was nifty." He closed up his coat again. "Okay, I get it! You don't want a watch. I've plenty of other items!" He threw open the other flap of his coat, this time revealing an array of jewlery hanging from his pockets. "Shiny, ain't they? You know what would look good on you? A necklace! It's long, it's gold, it's you! Actually, I think you'd look better in a bracelet. I got a nice one just for you. Real diamond, it is. It looks like glass, but that's just to ward off thieves. And hey! Who said it has to be for you? Maybe you could get it for that special someone?" It seemed at first glace the man knew just which way Akashi swung.

He closed his coat again. "Or if vanity isn't your thing, how bout a bit of entertainment?" And then from two his pockets he pulled out a library of DVDs. They were all bootlegged copies, some of which weren't even in the theatre's yet. "Just putting it out there, but I do take cheques."

Akashi was puzzled by this man as he continued to pull strange things out of stranger places. Her eyelides fell halfway as she watched the scene in awe. "eh....." She said in confusion. She furrowed her brow. "Listen buddy!" She said finally. "I don't want any of your crap!" She slid her hand up across the top of her kimono that hung open, revealing a bounty of her large chest. "Does it look like I can keep a check book in this thing?!"

"Unless you're pulling a Masamune katana out of that coat of yours, I ain't interested and I swear if you reach into your trousers and tell me there's a katana in there I won't be able to resist I'll put your lights out."

"Hi Tyler."

The man suddenly paused in his tirade when Rika called him by name. He seemed to notice her for the first time, being too absorbed to make a sale to Akashi. "Rika?" he asked. He then pulled away his hood, revealing the face of a middle-aged black man. He scrutinezed Rika with a frown. "Sorry, didn't see you there. I was too distracted by the much more attractive woman." Rika scowled bitterly at him. "What are you doing here? Can't you see I'm working? Unless you're buying a watch, get out of here. I don't have time to play."

"But we came here to see you!" Rika blurted out.

Tyler's face spilt into a big grin. "So you are buying something! Excellent! Cause I just got a new shipment of televisions. They're in the back of my car! Don't tell anyone."

Akashi's eyes fell into a humorless glare at Tyler once Rika said his name. Akashi growled. Not in anger but annoyance at Tyler's inability to set aside his love of the deal for two seconds. "Listen!" She barked. "We're not buying any of your crap!" She said. "We just want to know where Sarah-san is!" She said, unperturbed by Tyler's flattery.

Tyler recoiled in horror when Akashi actually had the nerve to call his merchandise crap. "Sarahsan?" he repeated incorrectly. "Sarahsan Octavio? The creepy guy that talks to pigeons? You can probably find him in the park. I hear he's talking to ducks now. He's really moving up in the world."

"Sarah-san! As in Sarah!" Rika groaned slapping her forehead. "Geez, Tyler, you've lived here for two years now and you don't know anything about Japan!" Tyler's eyes widened.

"Sarah?" he asked. "What about Sarah?"

Akashi wondered how Sarah could be so close to a guy like this and was about to tell him off when she saw Rika get to it first. She sighed and calmed herself and spoke in a more polite manner. "We are looking for her." She said. "We need to talk to her and Rika-chan said you would be the best person to help us find her." She said bowing her head in respect. "Please, Tyler-san. Could you help us find her?"

Tyler blinked at the two girl's before him. Both looked at him so pleadingly. He cleared his throat. "So to be to clear," he began carefully. It looked like he was being really serious here.

"You two aren't going to buy anything?"

Rika slapped her face in exasperation. "No..."

"See ya!" Tyler immediately replied, and turned his back on both of them, walking down the opposite direction.

"Oh come on, Tyler!" Rika cried and ran after him to catch up. "You have to know something! You raised her, didn't you?"

Akashi's eyes narrowed in anger when he boldy asked if they were still interested in buying something. This was getting ridiculous and she was about ti find out the information by just beating it out of him. Her eyes then widened and she halted in mid charge at what Rika said. She then growled to herself.

"Fine!" She yelled. "I'll buy something from you if it will get us to Sarah-san faster. I don't have time to msess about." She reached into the valley between her cleavage and fished around. "What's the cheapest thing you have, I don't keep much on me."

Tyler stopped abruptly in his tracks, causing Rika to walk into his back with an 'oomph!'. The man spun and faced Akashi with a grin that spread from ear to ear. "I knew you would come around," he said with a knowing tone. "What can I say? I'm a sly devil."

Tyler dug through his pockets as Akashi looked through her impressive breasts. "Cheapest thing, eh? Let's see, that would be....." And he pulled out a rubber chicken. "This! Yes! This....thing. Thirty bucks."

Akashi's eyes narrowed in annoyance as Tyler pulled a rubber chicken out of his coat. "I should pay 30 bucks for somethign I could go down to the store and pay 2 dollars for... I don't even want the damn thing..." She muttered to herself. She pulled out a wad of money and rummaged through it and took most of it and offered it to Tyler. She stuffed the rest back into her boobs and yanked the chicken from Tyler's hands. "You're lucky meeting Sarah-san means so much to me." She growled. She then wagged the chicken at him in a threatening manner. "But if I don't get at least one laugh out of this thing, I'm going to find you and get my money back anyway I have to!"