Chapter Four: The Kiss Heard Around The World

The Ryouga & Ukyou Chronicles, Volume One

Disclaimer:
Ryouga Hibiki and Ukyou Kuonji are not my creation and are both copyright of Rumiko Takahashi. I’d like to thank Takahashi-sensei for her great series. I once again claim no credit for their creation, however, some of the characters are my creations (aka Migi & Hidari, Ryu, Prince Ito, Ukuji, Kangeio, Shogu) and I do claim them, so there!

I

Ryouga charged Hidari, trying his best to block the screams of the onlookers out. The roar of the crowd was painfully deafening. He sifted his way through the rain of confetti and colored ribbons, assured in that at least Ukyou was behind him. It was a good change. He liked knowing there was someone there to back you up. He dashed forward, and saw Hidari coming at him like a rabid bullet train. Ryouga braced himself as they collided, Hidari suddenly ducking low and slamming into Ryouga’s stomach in a flying tackle. The two burly youths went flying across the arena, and Ryouga felt himself wince in pain as his back smashed into the hard ground with Hidari’s full weight pressing on him, forcing the air from his lungs. Grimacing, he grasped Hidari’s jade uniform and flipped him over with all his might. Feeling the weight lift from him, he pressed his feet up and flipped into the air, still holding the stunned Hidari. Then he uprighted himself in midair and slammed Hidari face first into the earth. The audience went wild, screaming so loud Ryouga’s head swelled and throbbed with pain. He considered part of that pain may have been from Hidari’s attack, though it didn’t really matter where it came from. It was there. He watched Hidari struggle and stand on two feet, his face dirty yet apparently unharmed. He snarled and charged forward again. Ryouga braced himself and countercharged, shouting as loud as he could.

Ukyou had leapt over the two boys when they went flying, and Migi had leapt up to meet her, the Naginata spinning in a deadly vortex of sharpened metal. Ukyou swung upward, and Migi spun the polearm up just in time to deflect the blow, then followed with a blunt end strike that caught Ukyou in the stomach. The two girls landed and spun quickly to face each other. Migi smiled politely, still spinning the Naginata in one hand. Ukyou winced against the pain in her stomach and cautiously approached, clutching the spatula in both hands. Migi suddenly hurled the Naginata towards her, and Ukyou leapt just high enough to avoid the spinning, deadly blade. She landed and began to advance on the girl in pink, but a strange buzzing sound behind her caught her attention.

Sharpened metal, her instincts told her, cutting through air.

She wheeled around and dove out of the way as the spinning blade soared past her again, and she cried out as it slashed a small wound into her leg. Migi caught the blade and smirked, then turned to bow to the crowd, who cheered even louder. Ukyou stood, slightly favoring her leg, and noted that the blood flowed freely. Thankfully, it was a superficial wound. One second less and Ukyou’d be short one leg right now.

Damn, she thought absently, now I have to buy new clothes, too.

She gripped her spatula firmly and charged as Migi resumed her fighting position.

Ryouga dodged Hidari’s strike easily; it was wild and undisciplined. He quickly followed up with a few strikes of his own to his opponent’s exposed chest. They thumped off harmlessly. Sucking a deep breath, Hidari bellowed down at him with awful laughter.

"Stupid boy!" he shouted, pointing his Tonfa at Ryouga, "We are the Grand Champions of Couples martial arts! Did you really think you stood a chance?"

"Well," Ryouga said, breathing heavily, "I had hoped so."

Enraged, Hidari swung wildly with a Tonfa. Ryouga leapt out of the way, wincing slightly as a second strike clipped his shoulder. A third struck him squarely in the stomach, and he staggered a little. Hidari followed up with a strike across the face. White flashes danced in Ryouga’s eyes as he felt the Tonfa connect solidly with his jaw. His mouth filled with the bitter, metallic taste of blood. He looked up, vaguely aware of the two Tonfas that were now rushing at his head. He snapped back just in time, shooting his hands up towards the Tonfas, and caught them.

The audience fell deathly silent.

Hidari stared at the two weapons he and Ryouga now both held in their hands, then down at the Lost boy with what was a mixture of anger, hatred, and utter terror.

"Release my weapons!" he shouted, heaving up with all his might. Ryouga felt an odd sensation of weightlessness as he was lifted from his kneeling position and flung out into the crowd. Screaming and shouting, the onlookers parted like water as the bandannaed boy crashed into the soft grass. Ryouga barely had time to regain his footing before he saw Hidari’s blurred image smash into him, and he was lifted up and thrown further away from the arena.

"NO! NO! NO!" the referee shouted frantically, chasing after the two boys, waving his red flags uselessly. "You have to fight in the ARENA! Not downtown! Come back!"

Ukyou swung low with her spatula, hoping to knock Migi’s feet from under her, but the tall, slim girl leapt up, easily avoiding the strike, and at the same time bringing her Naginata down towards her opponent. Ukyou saw it and barely managed to bring the spatula up to block the strike inches before it would have struck her head. Sweating, Ukyou shoved the blade off with all of her might and swung, smashing into Migi’s side with a loud thud. To Ukyou’s shock, Migi smiled in a Kasumi-like manner and giggled.

"Oh my." She said with mock innocence, "Was that meant to hurt me?"

Ukyou grimaced. This was going to be a lot harder than she’d thought. Her thoughts were cut short as a Naginata blade swished by her, inches from her shoulder. Ukyou leapt back, deciding to regroup with Ryouga. However, glancing about, she didn’t see him in the arena.

In fact, the judge was gone too. So were a good number of the onlookers. Distantly, she heard the sounds of battle outside of the pit, in the direction of the downtown district. She looked back at Migi, who had apparently noticed the same things.

"Oh, my!" she said again with an almost sickening air of concern, "Wherever did the boys go?"

Suddenly Ryu ran over to the edge of the pit, waving at Ukyou frantically. Behind him was Hiroshi, wearing the look he always wore when he watched a fight.

"You, hurry miss! Boyfriend fighting Hidari downtown! Match continue there!" Ryu shouted, then turned and ran off towards the fighting sounds, his hands in knife-like form, slicing through the air. Ukyou looked from Migi to Hiroshi, who was on his hands and knees looking over the side of the pit.

"That’s okay, Ukyou!" he said cheerfully, but with that sneaky, somewhat devious undertone that bothered her. "You don’t have to go. You can stay here. I’m sure Ryouga will be able to handle this on his own..."

Suddenly, Ryu ran back and smashed Hiroshi over the top of the head with his katana, still in its scabbard. Hiroshi yelped in pain and tenderly massaged his bruised cranium. "Hey you crazy samurai freak!" he shouted, annoyed. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Ryu looked at him with the same emotionless face he always wore. Then, he grasped the light-haired boy’s collar and began to drag him off.

"Come!" Ryu said sternly. "Is no time for you to sabotage match for money! Shut up talking!"

Hiroshi scowled but did nothing. He’d had rudimentary martial arts training, but he wasn’t nearly as good as anyone else here, and he didn’t feel like proving that to himself. He folded his arms in anger and he was dragged down the street towards the downtown battlefield.

Ukyou glanced back at Migi one last time. The tall girl was holding her hands over her chest, looking very concerned.

"Hold on, Hidari-kun!" she shouted, grasping her Naginata firmly and leaping out of the pit. "I’ll protect you from that mean little boy!"

The majority of the onlookers, mostly male, chased after Migi, leaving Ukyou in a relatively deserted battlefield. Shrugging, she sighed and leapt after them, only slightly noticing the pain in her injured leg.

II

Ryouga felt sharp pain as he was slammed against the side of a building, and dully noted how the concrete behind him caved and cracked with the force. He looked up and barely moved his head left in time to avoid Hidari’s Tonfa as it crashed into the building, burying itself and his arm deep inside it. Ryouga, seeing his chance, grasped Hidari’s free arm and kicked the champion in the chest with all his might. His arm wrenched free by the force, Hidari stumbled backwards. Ryouga followed up by delivering several more blows to the chest and face, all connecting solidly. Finally, he ended the blinding flurry of punches by leaping into the air and delivering a spinning kick across Hidari’s face. Ryouga smiled inwardly as he felt his foot connect with the jaw, delivering enough force to shatter a 10 foot thick concrete wall. But, to his astonishment, Hidari’s hand reached up and caught the foot in midair. The Tonfa wielder grinned evilly. He was dirty, sweaty, but completely uninjured. Heaving up with all his might, he lifted Ryouga up and smashed him into the ground, sending a blazing white hot flare of pain into the lost boy’s head. He looked up at the grinning champion through a muddle of pain. Hidari chuckled. The gathered crowd held its breath.

"Fool!" Hidari sneered, bringing his foot back and kicking the kneeling Ryouga in the ribs. "There is no way to beat me!"

Ryouga opened his mouth to say something, but found he had no breath. Hidari answered him with another crushing blow across the face with his Tonfa. Ryouga reeled back, noticing how he came ever closer to the brink of unconsciousness.

"I am Hidari!" Hidari shouted, delivering another Tonfa strike to Ryouga’s face. His vision blurred even more. Desperately, he sought his beaten mind for what their weakness could be. He looked up in time to see another Tonfa soaring down towards him. Focusing, he caught the wooden weapon and, in a fit of rage and desperation, twisted it. It snapped dryly. The audience gasped. Ryouga dimly noticed Hidari’s face twist into an unrecognizable emotion.

"My Tonfa! For this...you die!" he wailed, then immediately swung the other around to catch Ryouga in the exposed jaw. A death blow. Noting the impending blow, Ryouga snapped his foot out, deflecting the strike and pinning the oaken weapon to the ground, still in Hidari’s hand. Hidari looked at him with a new emotion shining in his savage eyes. Pure, unrelenting terror. Then, it clicked. Ryouga smiled sinisterly.

"So," he said, spittle and blood shooting from his clenched teeth. "That’s it. Your weakness is your weapons, isn’t it? Without them, you’re nothing."

Hidari watched, horrified, as Ryouga pressed his foot down with all his might. The remaining Tonfa snapped in half with a sickening sound.

"NOOO!!!!" Hidari shouted, actual fear now in the voice that had been so full of anger moments ago.

"Yes." Ryouga said, delivering a kick to the chest of the kneeling champion, the blow connecting solidly. Ryouga followed with a circle kick, smashing into Hidari’s jaw and lifting him off of the ground. Immediately, he followed with a knife hand strike to the shoulder, then a knee to the stomach, then finally, he grasped the champion and looked him dead into the eye.

"You lose." He said, and smashed his head into Hidari’s, closing his eyes against his own pain as he felt the teen’s body jerk in his hands. He opened his eyes, slightly dazed, and saw Hidari’s smashed and bloody face. He released the boy, who stumbled back, blood seeping from his nose and mouth. He grimaced, snarled, and raised a shaky fist at the equally beaten Ryouga.

"I...am...Hidari...!" He said weakly, but seething with anger. "I will not...be...beaten..."

Ryouga closed his eyes and focused, feeling the warmth come over his body that accompanied this move. He felt it there, deep within him. The pure, unfocused rage, boiling and churning, waiting to be tapped into. Drawing this raw power into his hands, he slowly reopened his eyes and shot both his hands forward. Hidari’s eyes widened in shock. The audience watched, on the edge of their seats.

"SHISHI HOKOUDAN!" Ryouga shouted as the burning white hot energy of pure, raw chi blasted from his hands, swallowing Hidari and pushing him off of his feet into the side of 'Master Ryu’s Samurai Haircuts'. The front of the building buckled and shattered as the blast of energy tore into it. Then, with that final explosion, the battlefield was silent. Ryouga smiled weakly and turned to see Migi leap into the smoldering building, screaming "Hidari-kun!" Ukyou followed close behind, a look of shock crisscrossing her lovely features when she saw his state. She ran over to him, and he did his best to stay standing. Warriors did not show weakness.

"Oh my god, Ryouga..." she said silently as she looked him over. He was in horrible shape. To tell the truth, she had no idea how he could be alive, let alone standing. She wanted to reach out to him, to hold him and comfort him, to take some of his pain away. She had no idea why, but she did. Desperately. She cautiously reached out, afraid that she’d hurt him if she touched him anywhere. He smiled a bloody smile at her.

"The things...I do...for women..." he managed to say, before collapsing to the ground, exhausted. The injuries, coupled with the drain on his chi from the Shishi Hokoudan, were enough to finally knock him out. Ukyou held him as he slumped to the ground, gently lowering him. Ryu suddenly peeked over her shoulder at him.

"Hmmm." He said, looking the battered boy over. "He look pretty bad, yes?"

Ukyou glared up at him with a slight sense of hatred. He didn’t seem to notice.

"Okay, then, I sorry for this. I did not mean for miss’s boyfriend to be injured badly." He said, and Ukyou detected a slight emotion in his voice. It was very unusual. And not entirely unwelcome.

"He’s not my-" Ukyou began, but sighed and looked down at his unconscious form, his head resting in her lap. She decided she’d never be able to get it through Ryu’s head.

"Yeah, well, it was partially my fault." She said, sniffing. "If I hadn’t been so eager for him to get his stupid haircut, then...And I don’t even know why I wanted that so badly?! It’s such a trivial, stupid thing..."

Ryu nodded slowly. "Indeed." He said sternly. "Is stupid. And is your fault. I agree on this, yes."

Ukyou frowned and glared at him. He looked back at her as if he’d done nothing wrong. She sighed and cradled Ryouga’s head in her hands.

"I’m sorry, Ryouga." She said. All around, the crowd watched in silence. A few had taken out handkerchiefs and were dabbing their watering eyes. Hiroshi saw his money slipping away with each tear of sympathy.

"My god...." A man with glasses said as he watched. "What have we become?"

"What kind of people are we, to watch these things?" A woman beside him said, crying.

"To cheer them on, no less!" Another man shouted sorrowfully. Hiroshi desperately searched his mind.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Migi’s still conscious! The fight isn’t over!" All the crowd looked at one another.

"He’s right!" the man with the glasses said sternly.

"The match must continue!" the girl next to him shouted.

"Blood!" another man shouted. "More blood must be shed before the sun sets!"

The crowd began to cheer wildly. Looking around at them, Hiroshi smiled to himself. There was no way that chef’d win one on one against Migi. No way. Migi and Hidari would win as long as one of them were conscious. Red-eyed from tears, Migi crawled from the wreckage of the building, tossing the 'Master Ryu’s Samurai Haircuts' sign aside with distaste. Ryu saw it and his brow creased with concern.

"Hmmm." He said emotionlessly. "My shop is been destroyed. Is a unseen problem..."

Ignoring him, Migi raised her Naginata at Ukyou, who was still cradling Ryouga’s head.

"Your stupid boyfriend hurt my Hidari-kun!" she said angrily.

"He’s not my boyfriend!" Ukyou shouted angrily.

"He’s not?" Migi said, taken aback.

"He’s not?" the referee said, poking his head through the crowd.

"He’s not?" Daisuke said, suddenly standing over Ukyou with devious hope in his eyes. "Great!"

Ukyou punched him in the face. He yelped in pain and retreated to the crowd.

"You realize that you two can only be in this tournament if you’re a couple, right?" the referee said sternly. "Otherwise, your victories are illegal and they win by default." He pointed to Migi and the debris where Hidari was buried as he said this.

"Yes!" Hiroshi said under his breath. "I’m going to be rich..."

Ukyou looked at the referee, trying to see his eyes behind his black veil. She looked at Migi, who watched her with stern silence. She looked at Ryu, whose emotionless face bore deep into her own. She even looked at Hiroshi, silently calculating all the money he’d have when it was discovered that she and Ryouga were just ...friends.

She looked down at Ryouga. He was so injured. He’d fought so hard, as hard as Ranma had when he and Saffron battled at that mountain what seemed to be so long ago. Could she just let his struggling, his determination, and his fight mean nothing? She resolved that she couldn’t. She gently patted his cheek.

"Ryouga, wake up." She said lightly. He shifted, but didn’t wake up. Frowning, she patted his cheek a litter harder.

"Ryouga." She said, louder. No response. Frowning, she hauled back and slapped him.

"Ryouga, wake up you big idiot!" she shouted. His eyes flew open and he began looking wildly from side to side.

"Who? Wha?" he said, then coughed. Ukyou smiled down at him. He saw her smile and matched it with dim confusion.

"Oh, hey Ukyou," he said, as if it were normal conversation. "Uh, what’s...going on?"

"We’re in the middle of a martial arts tournament, moron." She said with slight annoyance. Then again, the numerous injuries to his head could probably account for his forgetfulness, she surmised.

"Oh, right..." Ryouga said dimly, still in a semi-conscious haze. "Well, did we win yet?"

"Um, not yet." she said nervously. She glanced around and realized everyone was watching them.

"Then what..." he began, but she put a finger on his lips and he fell silent. Leaning over, she whispered into his ear, "Look, we’re not supposed to be in this tournament unless we’re...a couple. A real couple. Like boyfriend/girlfriend. So, if anyone asks, that’s what we are, Okay?"

"But..." he began to protest.

"Shhh!" She cut him off. "Just follow my lead."

"Your...uh...huh?" He said. It was obvious he was still pretty out of it. Ukyou scowled.

"Just be quiet and don't say anything stup...er, anything at all, okay?" she said quietly. She could feel the crowd's eyes burrowing into them as they whispered to one another. Ryouga looked up at her and nodded, wide-eyed. Ukyou smiled and turned to the judge.

"Um, I mean, of course he’s my boyfriend." She said sweetly. Ryouga strained and propped himself up on his elbows, ignoring the raging fire of his injuries.

"That’s right..." he said weakly. "It's...uh...definantly not a lie or anything like that."
"Hah! That's my Ryo-chan. What a kidder!" Ukyou said, putting her best Kasumi-esque look on as she placed her hand on Ryouga's face and pushed him back onto the ground firmly. The referee looked at each of them, considering.

Hiroshi frowned, realizing that they were going to try to scam their way out of this. Well, not on his time. No one had ever outscammed Hiroshi Kakeru. Well, no one but a particular brown-haired Tendo girl. He pushed that memory from his mind and his eyes lit up. He slipped on a fedora and a pair of dark glasses from out of nowhere and donned them, chuckling deviously.

"Prove it!" he shouted suddenly, trying his best to blend into the crowd and disguise his voice. "Kiss her!"

If memory served him right (and why wouldn’t it), this weirdo was the guy that shot a geyser of blood from his nose whenever a cute girl so much as smiled at him. In the center of the ring, Ukyou frowned. Ryouga teetered to and fro, on the brink of fainting. The referee was silent, as was Ryu. The crowd murmured their agreement. Hiroshi beamed inwardly.

Hah, he thought inwardly, easy money.

Ukyou turned and looked down at Ryouga, who she still cradled in her lap. He looked up at her, and they could both see the fear in each other’s eyes.

"Ukyou...you don’t...I mean...we don’t have to...it, it wouldn’t..." he stammered nervously, his face turning bright crimson with embarrassment. But, in his voice, as meek and shy as it was, she heard something. It was very faint, but it was there. Excitement. Desire. He wanted to kiss her, deep inside, she told herself. And, deeply, she wanted to kiss him too. But not like this. She didn’t want her first kiss to be forced. But it had to be. She smiled and gently wiped his mouth of dirt and blood, as clean as she could.

"Shut up, you big idiot." She teased. "Just do it and let’s get this over with. I want to be out of this town so much right now."

"But...I never...I mean, I.." he stammered, in a whisper. Ukyou smiled.

"So, your first kiss, too?" she said. He looked around, blushing.

"Well, yeah, I guess it'd be my first real one..." he said.

"Good." she said cheerfully, looking into his beautiful eyes. "We'll learn together. What are friends for, right?"

He opened his mouth to protest, and she saw her chance. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she drew him into a deep kiss, like the kind she saw on movies. It was sloppy, inexperienced, and probably one of the least passionate kisses in history. However, none of that really seemed to matter to either of them. To them, it was...electric. The feeling of their lips pressing together, tongues dancing and intertwining, albeit clumsily, sent shockwaves through her nerves. She could tell he was having similar feelings, as he gently put a hand on her head to press her closer. After a few more seconds, they broke apart, and for them both the sensation ended. The crowd exhaled. Hiroshi teetered and fainted. Ryu seemed as emotionless as always. The referee nodded.

"Ucchan..." Ryouga said under his breath, his eyes staring into hers. "I..." Ukyou put a finger on his lips and shushed him.

"Rest." She said softly. "You aren’t going to be much of a traveling companion if I have to carry you everywhere. Now, let me finish this fight."

"Be careful." He said. "You won’t be much of a traveling companion if you’re in a coma."

She smiled and smacked his shoulder playfully. He winced against the pain inwardly, but his smile didn’t falter.

"Hey, you big idiot!" she said teasingly. "She’s the weaker one, remember? I can handle it."

"Their weapons." Ryouga said lowly, so Migi couldn’t hear. "Break their weapons and they can’t fight."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow at him. "No, really? I'm not stupid." Ryouga shook his head.

"No, no, that's not what I mean..." he grumbled. "I mean you can't hurt them unless you destroy those weapons of theirs."

"Are you sure?" Ukyou said, now whispering conspiratorily with him. Ryouga grimaced against the pain and nodded.

"Yeah, pretty sure." he coughed.

Ukyou nodded and gently helped him to his feet. He took a shaky step forward, then another. Ryu strode over and slung the bandannaed boy’s arm over his shoulder, supporting him and walking him to the crowd. He nodded at Ukyou. She returned it, and spun to face Hidari.

Hmm, she thought, Maybe that Ryu guy’s not so bad, after all.

The judge walked over to her.

"You know," he whispered to her, "I believed he was your boyfriend. You didn’t need to give us all such an...effective floorshow."

Ukyou turned bright red as she realized that all the crowd were looking at her when they’d kissed.

"The match continues!" The referee said, taking up a place between the women. "Hajime!"

In a rage, Migi charged, her Naginata spinning wildly. Ukyou raised her spatula and readied herself. Migi swung wildly in a wide arc, and Ukyou knelt under it easily, swinging her own spatula up to connect solidly with the wooden stock of the polearm. There was the sound of wood and metal colliding, and the Naginata cracked and strained, but didn’t break. Migi, horrified, drew the polearm back protectively. Ukyou smiled evily.

"What’s wrong?" she sneered at the now very scared looking Migi. "No hard feelings, right? We can still be friends after I kick your ass, right?"

Migi’s face twisted into one of unfocused rage, and she raised the polearm up above her like an axe and charged, screaming. Ukyou knelt, steadied herself, and then rolled at the last moment, as Migi brought the Naginata down with all her might. Ukyou breezed by, and the polearm connected with the street, the force and strain finally snapping it.

Migi opened her mouth to say something, but Ukyou stood up behind her and swung, connecting into Migi’s back with the flat of the spatula and sending her careening into the ruins of Ryu’s store, which teetered and collapsed. The crowd looked from the two unconscious champions to the spatula wielding girl and the badly beaten boy. Then, they exploded in cheers. Colored ribbons and confetti rained down like a mighty flood. Someone shouted in idiotic glee as he was thrown off of a nearby building. A car blew up down the street as onlookers cheered. Ukyou turned away from the sight and walked over to Ryouga, kneeling down beside him.

"Hey, sugar, we did it." She said. He smiled weakly.

"Was there ever any doubt?" he responded. They looked at each other for a long moment, lost in their own mutual silence while the world cheered around them. She lifted him up and put his arm over her shoulder, while Ryu did the same with Ryouga’s other arm. Together, the three of them began to slowly walk down the street.

"Um, Ryu," Ukyou said softly. "Where are we going?"

"Come!" he said, sounding slightly happy. "I know where is good doctor, fix you up good. Oh, and haircuts is on the house." Ukyou and Ryouga both scowled at him hatefully.

"What!?" Ukyou shouted. "After all that, you’re not charging us!?"

"Oh, no, most definantly not. After you is done paying for repairs on my store, I doubt you have much money left anyway." Ryu said thoughtfully. "After all, you is ones who destroyed it. Plus, since it is costing much more than 10,000, I must to travel with you until you get money to pay it all, okay?"

Ryouga rolled his eyes. Ukyou scowled and redistributed Ryouga’s weight on her shoulders. He certainly was heavy.

"Fine." Ryouga grumbled to the gaudy samurai. "We’d be honored." Ryu smiled with self satisfaction.

"Yes." He said as they strolled along. "Yes, you would be. I agree."

The three of them limped by a nearby intact building. Awake, Hiroshi was now clutching a stone pillar and slamming his head into it time and time again, screaming.

"No! No! No!" he wailed between thuds. "I bet everything! They were supposed to LOSE! I’m a failure! A failure, do you hear me!? A broke, broke, BROKE failure!!"

Sobbing, he sank to his knees and leaned against the pillar. He looked up to see two shady men in trenchcoats standing before him.

"Hello Hiroshi." One said. "Who’d’ve thought those two newbies’d beat the champs. Tough luck."

"For you, anyway." The other added. All Hiroshi could do was smile weakly and reach into his wallet for the money. Distantly, he thought he heard Daisuke get slapped. Hard. He shrugged it off. He handed them the wallet and stood to his feet, noticing the three walk by. He frowned, knowing those two would probably be back for the rest of their money. Smiling, he ran up to the three and began to walk beside them.

"Hey guys." He said cheerfully, patting Ryouga on the back. Ryouga winced at the pain and snarled. Hiroshi ignored it. "Great fight. You two really surprised me."

"The point." Ukyou said to him suddenly. "Get to it."

He put his hands up defensively. "Hey, I was just thinking, you know, maybe we could all hang out for a while. Travel together. See the world. So, whadda you think?"

Ryouga looked at Ukyou. She shrugged. Obviously she thought this was something he could handle himself.

"Hiroshi, you’re a weasel and a coward." Ryouga said sullenly. "But I guess that could be useful. Somewhere. Welcome aboard."

Hiroshi beamed. He’d just bought himself some top-rate protection. "Great!" he said. "We’ll be great friends! You’ll see!" Suddenly, Daisuke popped up beside him.

"Right!" he chimed in, and Ukyou noticed a red mark in the shape of a hand on his cheek. She shrugged it off. "The five of us will be unstoppable!"

Ryu grunted. Hiroshi smiled slyly, congratulating himself. Daisuke ran into a lamppost watching two girls walk by. Ryouga looked at Ukyou, concerned. She giggled.

"Geez, my parents’ll have a few more guests than I thought." She said to him. He chuckled, then winced. She held him a little tighter, and the five figures walked slowly down the street towards the last rays of the setting sun.

End of Chapter Four.