Ballad of a Brawler

"I don't know, you came to me, remember?" Tyler replied as they climbed the stairs. They would eventually got off at the third floor. I"m gonna ask some questions, and you're just gonna answer them. Is that clear? Okay, I'm glad its clear."

Soon enought they came to Tyler's door, and he opened it cause it wasn't locked. Inside was a rather average sized appartment; two bedrooms, one bathroom and a small kitchen. There was a couch facing a flatscreen TV for the living room. The place was rather nice for a person of Tyler's profession. "Make yourself at home, ladies," Tyler said walking in.

Akashi looked around as they entered the apartment. It looked alright, maybe a little bigger than her own but for the location it wasn't so bad. Not as bad as she thought it was going to be. Akashi took her shoes off and walked over tot he couch and sat on it. "Well, what are these questions you have?" She said as she boredly stared at her rubber chickens and tried to think of creative ways to get 30$ worth of laughs out of it.

Rika jumped onto the couch next to Akashi, smiling at her once she did. Tyler had gone into his kitchen, not bothering to take off his trenchcoat. He opened his fridge, which was not very well stocked, but it seemed to satisfy his desires. "Let's start with the simple one," he said inbetween searching. "What is it you know about our dear Sarah Gatt? Rika, I know you know but its miss Sugar Tits I want to know about." Tyler's frequent nicknames for Akashi was because she did not actually know her name yet.

Akashi had been so caught up in the situation that she hadn't even realized there had been no proper introductions. With all the other shenanigan's she had barely even noticed the nicknames. She looked surprised at the question but furrowed her brow. "Sugartits..." She said. It wasn't exactly a bad nickname. She was quite proud of her bust and for him to concentrate on that feature was flattering. "Err..." She blinked. "Here I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off and I completely forgot!" She said standing up quickly and bowing to Tyler.


"I am Tanikaze Akashi." She said giving her last name first. "Please, just call me Akashi."

She then slumped back into the couch. "What do i know about Sarah?" She said. She never thougth much about it. "I think she used to, or stil iss, part of a gang. I know she likes to mug people for the fun of it..." She said that last part with a bit of a grumble. "And I'm pretty sure that she hides all of the problems she has behind fighting..." She sighed and slinked into the couch. "I don't know. Maybe I am prying into someone's business more than I should be. but while I don't doubt Sarah's strength, I feel like there is a lot of pain hidden inside her as well." She lowered her eyes and looked at Rika. "Am I just a fool?" She whispered.

"Akashi, eh?" Tyler muttered, testing it out on his own lips. He frowned uncertainly. "Sounds like the name of a candy bar to me," he muttered to himself. removing a bottle of beer from the fridge.

"Oh, get me one of those!" Rika called from the couch.

"Get it yourself. What am I, your waiter?" Rika pouted prematurely, got off the couch and walked over to the fridge, shoving Tyler out of the way. "That's an impressive observation," he said complimenting Akashi. "Can't remember the last time someone wanted to know so much about Sarah." He briefly glanced off at Rika after he said this. "And what exactly do you hope achieve with Sarah, Akashi?"

Akashi narrowed her eyes at Tyler's words and with an annoyed grin she replied. "That's because I'm sweet as sugar, got it?" She muttered and then leaned back into the couch. She thought about asking for a beer as well but knew that it might not be good to get alcohol in her. Though she could nearly outdrink anyone, even a little bit of alcohol made her drunk.

"I..." She said stopping to think about it. "I want to be Sarah's friend." She said. "And if that's not possible I'd atleast like to be able to talk to her like a normalperson without getting into a fight every time I run into her. I don't think that is too much to ask.' She sighed. "Plus, Rika-chan is my friend and I'm also worried about her. I just want to make things right between everyone." She admitted.

Rika smiled when Akashi mentioned her as a friend again. She admired how Akashi could speak her mind so easily about such things. She grabbed two beer bottles from Tyler's fridge, one for her and the other for Akashi. "You're a bit of a nosy nelly, aren't you?" Tyler asked blutly, taking another swig of his drink.

"Look, I'm not condemning you for trying to get to know her. But beating her in a fight? Probably not the best way to go. That's like asking her 'please, rip me limb from limb'." Rika returned with the drinks having alreasdy opened hers, and handed Akashi her bottle before sitting back on the couch. "I didn't think it would hit her this hard though. Then again it has been a long time coming."

"The problem concerns me." She said simply. "So not entirely." She then paused and smiled as she was offered the beer and thanked Rika before opening it and chugging a third of it right away. "ahhhh." She said with a smile.

Akashi wrinkled her brow at Tyler's comment. "No!" She said standing up. "That's not right!" She said. "In Sumo, every fight is tough. It's very rare to go undefeated in a tournament. To go undefeated for any warrior is nearly impossible. The very very few do it!" This really got to her. "I respected Sarah-san as a warrior, as a fellow kindred spirit! Someone who wanted to be the best. Sure, she's rough around the edges and maybe she doesn't have the best attitude, but that's alright. Great warriors come in all shapes and sizes.

She sat back down and glugged down most of the rest of the beer. Her tone becoming more quiet then before. "I.. I lost a lot of respect for her once the match was over. A real warrior doesn't run from defeat. A real warrior would take what they have learned and become stronger! And the next time she fought me, she would be that much tougher and she would have even more reason to beat me again!"

She then glanced at Rika and gave a determined look, like she was saying something she didn't want to but felt she had to. "I'm sorry Rika... but, there's nothing strong about running away from defeat. It's childish!" She said turning away." She slunk back into the couch and finished off her beer a very faint blush coming over her cheeks even after a single beer.

"If we never feel the sting of defeat, even if it's once in a while we become cocky, we get overconfident and our skills dull. For a warrior a defeat is a motivation." She closed her eyes. "Of course no one wants to loose! If I could go undefeated my whole life. I would... but I also know that the more time that passes between a defeat the harder it is when it comes. It's obvious it's been a while for Sarah. She should think she is the best, she has that right because she certainly is strong. But she also needs to realize that a loss isn't the end of the word and ... not to stroke my own ego but certainly not when it's an opponent of my calibur. She looked sheepishly at Rika. "I hope you're not offended by my words, but it needs to be said. Especially to Sarah but I think it's best for you to hear. Rika-chan... I want you to be strong! I would like you to even win the title someday if you really would like to, I know you can do it. But I wouldn't want you to make a display like Sarah did after my match with her. It... lacked honor." She lowered her head.

Tyler raised an impressed eyebrow as Akashi chugged back her beer in no time at all. Rika also watched in amazement, wondering if she should get her another one.

"Geez, you're old fashioned," Tyler sighed. "I thought that outfit was just for show. A warrior? Sarah? Are you kidding me? She's not a samurai looking to regain his lost honor. She's not a bonafied defender of the innocent either. She's a kid who likes to hit things. And over the years, she has become very, very good at it!" Tyler took a long drink of his beer. It seemed he didn't want to be outdone by Akashi.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you're picturing Sarah as this high in the sky pillar of hope! And what if she's not? What if underneath all that crunchy hard tough shell she was is not what you had hoped for? You're right, she is childish. That's because she's still in many ways a child. A child who thinks she can take on the world!"

Tyler slammed his empty beer bottle on the coffee table before them, and he sighed contently. "I ought to know. I raised the kid."

"Maybe... I am a fool!" She said loudly to counter Tyler's words. "Yeah, I don't know much about Sarah-san. And it's true, I'm idealist. Maybe she's just a little shit with a bad attitude but... that is certainly not an excuse!" She said. "Not all warrior's are good guys." She said. "Some fight just to fight, some fight for the wrong things."

She looked hard into Tyler's eyes when he said he raised Sarah. "I don't care what it takes! I draw the line at abandoning my friends and those I care for but I am willing to risk nearly everything for Sarah. Someone i don't know and someone <i>should</i> hate. I have to at least try! I have to be able to say I did everything I could to help her!" She sat back down and crossed her arms. "I should be the one who is the least upset about all this here..." She muttered. "All she ever was to me was an opponent, not a friend or daughter." She looked down. "Regardless... my blood boils at the thought of an opponent falling so far. Even if she has no honor. Even if she fights for no good reason, we look after our own so our pride and honor as a group is not soiled."

She looked at Rika. She wasn't sure what to say though. She turned away suddenly. "May I please have another beer?" She asked. "I need to calm my nerves."