The King of Fighters Tournament

The Sacred Treasures team

It was a warm spring day when the blooming cherry blossoms rained over everything beneath them. Everyone went about with their day, with some rushing to work, and some attending Sakura Viewing parties.
A woman, with long black hair flowing in the wind from the bottom of her helmet, rode on her bike. She stopped in front of her favourite cafe and took her helmet off as she dismounted the bike. She smiled and entered her favourite cafe.
"I'd like a hot foamy hazelnut cappuccino, please," the woman politely told the waiter.
She sat down and waited for her order, looking at her phone. She adjusted the ends of her hairband and arranged a few strands of hair over her forehead.
"Miss?"
The woman looked up at the waiter and smiled as he put her drink down in front of her.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Miss Kagura, someone asked me to give you this," the waiter said, putting a sealed envelope on the table. "Left in a hurry too."
Chizuru Kagura nodded and examined the envelope. She knew what it was, but not who it was from.
'Who's hosting it now?' She wondered.
The envelope was sealed with red wax, stamped with a cursive R.
'Bernstein...' Chizuru smirked.
She opened the envelope and read the invitation inside it.

We'd like you, Chizuru Kagura, to join the KING OF FIGHTERS tournament in a team of three.

That was enough for Chizuru to take out her phone and call the two people she deemed worthy of joining her team.
"Yagami, Kyo, we need to talk."

The red-haired bassist called the rest of his teammates and practiced for the upcoming Funky Jazz party that they were called for.
"What is this...?" Iori Yagami asked, frowning at the scores his fellow guitarist handed to him. "Kusanagi, this is a Funky Jazz party. Why are you giving me the scores for your Esaka?"
"Look closely, Yagami," Kyo Kusanagi smirked, pointing at the title of the music sheet.
He had written the word Funky in front of Esaka.
"Kyo, I don't think your song would sound nice in Funky Jazz arrangement," Iori shook his head.
"Just play it," Kyo insisted. He then turned to the blond percussionist. "Terry, you have the bongos, right?"
"Yeah..." Terry Bogard nodded. "Right here."
"Great!" Kyo said excitedly. "Aiko, ace the saxophone."
"There's a sax in this song?" Iori asked in surprise.
"A whole solo," his sister, Aiko Yagami, chuckled at the sheet music in front of her.
Iori shrugged and started playing the song with the others.
It started with the bongo drums, which Terry played, then Aiko and the keyboardist, Nakoruru, took over. Iori was surprised at how funky the song was, complete with the saxophone. He had fun with the bass parts of the song too, even when his fingers slightly ached from brushing against the metallic strings.
The song was somewhat familiar to him too, and he remembered hearing it back in the '95 tournament.
"Now for the Yagami solo!" Kyo exclaimed, finishing the riff that came right before the rest symbol.
Aiko played the saxophone in a distorted manner, accompanied by her brother, as mentioned in the sheet music, and couldn't stop herself from laughing when she was done. Iori then had a solo, which he thoroughly enjoyed playing with Kyo's chords and Terry's drums in the background.
Aiko started playing the saxophone again, with Nakoruru playing in the background.
"Are you sure this is your theme?" Iori asked Kyo when they were done. "You didn't steal one of my themes, did you?"
"Nope," Kyo smirked. "It's from KOF '95. Look it up. Funky Esaka."
Iori just shrugged. He flipped the sheet for the next song when his phone started vibrating in his pocket.
"One second, guys," Iori said, walking away a little. "It's Kagura. Might be important."
He walked a little way and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Yagami, is Kusanagi with you?" Chizuru asked.
"Yeah, he is," Iori glanced at Kyo, who was checking if his guitar was in tune. "Why?"
"Call him over and put the phone on speaker," Chizuru said, much to his surprise.
"What... okay then," Iori said, confused. He turned to Kyo and called him over. "Yo Kyo! Kagura is calling."
Kyo put his guitar down on the stand and came over. Iori put his phone on speaker.
"What is it, Kagura?" Kyo asked.
"Yagami, Kyo, we need to talk," Chizuru said, much to their surprise.
"What is it?" Iori asked, thinking it might be because of Orochi.
"Any Orochi stuff going on?" Kyo asked, voicing the other man's thoughts.
Chizuru chuckled. "Nah, nothing like that. I wanted to ask you guys, did you get your invitations?"
"Invitations?" Iori asked, confused. "Invitations for what?"
"KOF!" Chizuru announced. "You guys wanna join my team?"
The two men exchanged glances, then exchanged grins.
"Sure, why not?" Kyo smirked. "My invitation's due any minute now. So is Yagami's. We'll be in."
"Yeah, just gotta check my mail," Iori added with a grin. "I'll go check it right now."
"Great!" Chizuru grinned over the phone. "Meet me later, okay? We need to confirm our registration."
They hung up and looked at each other.
"Are we even invited?" Kyo asked, a little doubtful.
Iori smirked. "Well, not sure about you, but I definitely am. After all, fans always favoured me over you."
"But I'm the protagonist!" Kyo pointed out.
"Says you," Iori smirked at him, opening the garage door. "Anyway, I'm gonna go check my mail."
He went out and checked his postbox. To his surprise, it was as good as empty. All there was inside it was his electricity bill, earning him a scowl. He knew this was gonna come, considering the number of amplifiers that were used to practice.
Iori sighed and returned to the garage.
"Bad news, I didn't get the invitation," Iori announced, holding up his bill instead. "All I got is this, and it's high thanks to the amps."
Kyo started laughing in his face. K' frowned and smacked the back of his head.
"Ouch!" Kyo exclaimed, holding his head. He turned around and saw K' standing behind him. "What was the point of that?!"
K' innocently held up his hand, revealing a dead wasp. "There was a wasp on your head. I just killed it for you."
Kyo looked surprised but didn't say anything. K' was surprised that he actually fell for it.
What he actually did was glue a dead wasp to his palm, waiting for an opportunity to smack him.
"We just need to be patient," Terry chimed in. "After all, the organisers have a knack for inviting us when we least expect it."
The others agreed and continued practicing. Their performance was tomorrow night.

***

"Oh my gosh, that felt amazing!" Athena Asamiya squealed excitedly when they left the party. "Haven't performed like this in so long!"
"I know right!" Nakoruru agreed. "I'm so glad that I actually found that portal here!"
"Yes, this era is fun!" Her little sister, Rimururu, nodded cheerfully, stuffing an entire higashi into her mouth.
They parted ways to their homes and hotels. The Yagamis started going towards their red Subaru Legacy, holding their instruments and scores.
"Phew, it's such a long day!" Aiko sighed, putting her saxophone in the backseat. She watched her brother painstakingly stuff his bass into the boot of the sedan. "Niisan, are you sure it can even fit?"
"I brought it here, and now I'm bringing it back," Iori said, finally fitting it inside the boot. He shut the boot and smirked, dusting his fingers in triumph. "See?"
Aiko chuckled. "Come on."
They both made their way towards the back alleyway to see if there were any stray cats about. To their surprise, they found a queen cat who had just given birth to almost a dozen kittens. They were all feeding on their mother's milk.
"Aww! How cute!" Aiko said adoringly. She went towards them and crouched, taking out her portable milk bowl. She turned and called to her brother. "Niisan! Come look! They're so cute!"
Iori did and noticed how the mother was still a little weak from giving birth.
"She still looks deprived, don't you think?" Iori said, petting the queen. "We need to take care of her before she gets too stressed."
Aiko nodded in agreement. She took out the low-lactose milk she got earlier and started pouring it into the bowl. The kittens rushed towards the bowl before their mother could.
"It's okay, there's still some for you," Aiko smiled at the dismayed queen, taking out another carton of low-lactose milk. She handed it to her brother. "Niisan, can you pour some for her?"
Iori instantly did and pushed the bowl towards the queen. "Here, drink up."
The cat gave him a thankful look and started drinking from the bowl.
They both sat down and watched the cats with a smile as they hungrily drank the milk.
"Should we also get some food for them?" Aiko asked. "I feel like we should take them home. I'm scared that something might happen to them."
Iori shook his head. "I do too, but Rio and Yua would throw a fit if they see these kittens..."
Aiko snorted. "That's true too. "Let's just feed them here."
She got up and turned to go to the nearby shop to buy kitten food. But to her surprise, two men suddenly blocked the way. She gasped, making her brother look up from the cats.
"Niisan, who are they?" Aiko asked fearfully. "What are they planning to do?"
"It's not like we can't deal with them," Iori muttered, getting up.
Aiko nodded. "You're right."
"What do you want?!" Iori spat. "Get out of our way, or we'll turn you into a pile of mush!"
The two of them, both dressed as ninjas, beckoned to them. The Yagamis looked at each other and nodded.
"Alright, then," Aiko smirked, getting into her stance. "I've always wanted to do this."
It was a miracle the two men even survived. In the end, they collapsed, holding up surrender flags.
"We're sorry, you guys really are worthy," one of them said, getting up.
"What did you think?!" Iori smirked, crossing his arms. "We are the Yasakani. Sacred clan that protects this world from Orochi's evil alongside the Kusanagi and Yata."
To their surprise, the ninja suddenly whipped out two envelopes and handed one to each of them.
And then they disappeared in a smoke bomb.
"I should've known where this was going," Iori sighed, looking at the envelope with a frown. Then he grinned at his sister. "Anyway, now we can rub this in Kyo's face!"
Aiko was staring at her invitation in surprise.
"Oi Aiko!" Iori exclaimed, waving a hand in front of her, still grinning. "Come on! Let's go buy kitten food."
Aiko nodded and followed him out of the alleyway to a shop. They bought some kitten food before going back to the queen and her kittens. They fed them generously before going home.