Beach Day

Chapter 4: Lee Hates Broken Fingernails

***

Hwoarang stepped forward, up to the volleyball net, and gave Anna a contemptuous sneer. “So what will you have us do, play ‘scissors paper rock’ like a group of schoolchildren?”

Anna frowned in reply, and folded her arms under her bikini top. “Actually, I am. Just like adults…not like children.” Hwo-chan rolled his dark eyes as she finished, and threw his arms up in defeat, wandering back to his place. Jin watched him, and silently agreed with Hwoarang’s frame of mind. It might be a good idea to drop out right there and then.

The crowd began to get louder and louder, discussing the strange turn of events. Kazuya, still unrecognised by everyone except his team-mates, crossed his side of the court over to Nina, whispering harshly in her ear. She growled at him in reply, but he responded once more.

“Fine, fine,” she sneered, stalking up to the net, “I’ll play the stupid game with my stupid little sister!”

Smirking, the disguised Mishima returned to his position on the bottom right, and picked up the ball.

***

From the other side of the court, Lee couldn’t help but wonder exactly who it was Nina had chosen. He recognised everyone except this raven-haired beauty…the youthful creature was enough to make him buzz all over. In fact, he wanted to see him without the shorts on.

Ugh no, bad thoughts, Lee scolded himself, What if he’s not like that?

He wasn’t sure whether he could safely even approach the young man around here, but since he had such good looks, he was almost certain, if put in the right place, he could seduce the young man.

Then again, he’d never seduced a man before.

But this guy was different. He reminded him of someone…someone from long ago, he’d practically forgotten about. He couldn’t even remember who it was, in fact.

At any rate, he wanted to meet him, and possibly run his hands over him.

His thoughts were interrupted by Michelle.

“Lee…have you got a hard…?!”

***

Scissors, Rock

Scissors, Paper.

Scissors, Rock.

“Anna, would you stop using those stupid scissors?!”

Anna rolled her eyes sarcastically, as if it was plainly obvious why she was using scissors. “No, because scissors can’t lose!”

Nina resisted the urge to set Hwoarang or Eddy on her. “Let’s test that theory.”

Scissors, Rock.

“Damn…”

Scissors, Rock.

“Aye…”

Scissors, Rock.

“Nina, stop it damn it…”

Paper, Scissors.

“Nina!”

Rock, Paper.

“Nina! Stop it!”

“Okay, that settles it. My team goes first.”

***

Kazuya took a short step backward, let the ball sail elegantly from his left hand into the air, and gracefully but swiftly swung his right hand below the ball as it came down again, sending it in an arc over the net. It was a slow, graceful serve, just to get the game going, and to test the other team’s reactions.

The ball came plummeting down toward Lee. With a small yip, Lee stepped back and watched on as it landed in the ground, leaving a small crater, and rolled off down the court.

Nina arched a sharp brow. “What was that, Chaolan?”

Lee blinked a couple of times, and shrugged. “I didn’t want it to hit me.”

The men on the opposing team tried not to kill themselves laughing. Xiaoyu scooped up the ball as it rolled toward her, and swung it underarm beneath the net, back to the mystery man…in doing so, she flicked one foot up behind her with a little jump and let out a little squeak. It was so good to be alive!

Kazuya caught the ball in his left hand and tossed it into the air. This time, however, he leaped up into the air with it, and brought his hand down, overarm, and hit the ball firmly with the ball of his hand. It sailed over the net like a meteorite, headed straight for Anna. She, however, was slightly more ready this time, and already had her hands linked together, palms up, with her arms outstretched. She swung them at the ball, letting it bounce off her forearms. The result was quite painful, considering the force in which the ball headed toward her and rebounded, and her pale flesh took on a ball-shaped red stain; she yowled with the pain, and rubbed her smarting lower arms.

The ball was high in the air. A moment later, it reversed course and headed downward between Michelle and Lee. Once again, Lee jumped aside, so Michelle had to angle herself so she could set the ball; spring it up with the extended fingers of both hands. She managed this, but ended up falling over in the process, landing in an ungraceful heap on the sand.

From there, the ball sailed slowly backward, toward Xiaoyu. She panicked, and madly swung her arms about, jumping up and down at the same time, and by sheer coincidence, the ball hit, and soared back over the net, spinning around like a washing machine out of control.

Jin had his hands together, ready, since the ball was headed for him in an obscure fashion. It bounced firmly off his muscular forearms, and high into the air. Unlike Anna, he held his arms perfectly taut and straight, so the flesh wasn’t assaulted with the associated smarting of a rock-hard volleyball flying at you at great speed. The ball, now on a slightly straighter path, flew toward Nina, who quickly sprung it back up with her fingers. Unfortunately, she lost her balance from stepping back to meet it, and toppled over into the sand.

After being flicked backward again, the ball headed toward Kazuya. He’d never played volleyball before, but he’d always had an ornate talent for being able to imitate a physical skill with reasonable accuracy on his first try. He also knew how to spike a ball. This usually involves leaping up and striking it firmly with the ball of your palm, sending it flying toward the enemy team, preferably fast, in an area they’d be less able to react in. That’s exactly what he did, in a mildly awkward manner; limbs in all directions, and a feeble effort to remain standing afterward. The volleyball plummeted down once again toward Lee, who made a pathetic attempt to hit it with his arm, missed, and fell over onto his side, after which the ball had the absolute gall to bounce off his head to add salt to the wound. The crowd found the whole incident rather amusing.

Once again, the ball was rolled under the net, and Kazuya caught it. “When are we changing positions?” He dusted the sand off the ball as he asked.

Nina shrugged. “After the first to five is achieved, I suppose…clockwise rotation. Any disagreements?”

Did anyone dare disagree? Disagree with a professional assassin?

Once again, Kazuya served the ball over the net with excess force. Julia, who happened to have her eyes locked on Hwoarang’s abdominal muscles, didn’t realise it was headed for her, and it rebounded off her head and soared onward into the crowd. She wavered, and shook the sand out of her hair.

“Hey you big lug, do that again and I’ll deck ya!”

Kazuya didn’t move much in reply, just shrugged. He bit back all the sarcastic, smartassed comments he was tempted to unleash.

And so the score was four nil to Nina’s team. Kazuya caught the ball once again, sighed with the repetition, and launched it into the air again.

On the other side of the net, Christie decided she wanted to do something useful. She couldn’t understand why everyone made it look so difficult; instead of letting the ball hit her, she leaped up, and neatly caught it in her hands, swung her arms back as she landed back on the ground, and threw the ball over the net again. The other team was so dumbstruck that they let it hit the ground and roll aside.

Lee gave her a dismayed look. “What was that?! You’re not allowed to throw the ball! You’re not allowed to catch it either! Have you never played volleyball?!”

Christie shrugged. “I’ve played air hockey at the arcade…”

Anna slapped her forehead, until something caught her eye. Lee was staring off deep into the bounds of the other team…at one of the team members presumably…but below his eyes was a sight to behold. Well, actually, it was nothing fantastic really.

“Lee…have you got a hard AGAIN?!”

What was that boy thinking?! He couldn’t possibly have the idiocy to be thinking about the enemy woman at a time like this, oh no! But there were only men otherwise.

He blushed. “No, I haven’t. You just think I do.”

Julia sighed and kicked at the sand with her toes. “I’ll betcha he’s thinking about jacking to a picture of Eddy or something in the nude…either that or his ugly brother…wherever he might be.”

Lee had no time to respond. Michelle interrupted him just as he opened his mouth. “Now now Julia, you know that insulting people isn’t lady-like…”

Julia frowned. “But he’s a Mishima! And he IS ugly! Did you even SEE him at the last tournament?!”

Lee growled. “He’s not ugly! He’s just not what your average person would consider movie star material…goddamn, you people are so biased…”

Anna was about to add to it all, but she noticed the other team changing positions. Great, it looked to her like they meant business. Pity her jokers didn’t. Then again, maybe Lee’s little problem would help scare them into submission. Or something.