Brave Heart ((TENYA IIDA X OC))

Chapter 16

"Start!"

Hattori wasted little time in closing the already small distance between us, and when her foot pushed off the ground, I mimicked her movements and dove straight for her. As far as I was concerned, we were the only two people there. No one was watching us. No one was cheering for one of us to win. There wasn't a voice in my head telling me to kill her or Iida or anyone else. It was just the two of us, ready to settle this unspoken rivalry between us. To settle the odds of what we had done to each other. This fight would be opening the enclosed gateway to the future of our relationship. The outcome meant everything, and there was no way in hell I was going to lose.

I witnessed Hattori slicing down her arm with her nail as she barreled toward me, allowing her to crystallize her blood around the entirety of her forearm and fist. She aimed her new hardened, makeshift weapon for my face, and I was quick to fade into a shadow as her fist connected to my now non physical state. I pivoted my way behind her before hardening again, in which gave me enough time to channel Dream Walker around one of my fists as my sister turned around quickly to face me.

As we proceeded in hand-to-hand combat, I pondered on what her reasoning could be for not freezing me at the beginning of the fight. It would have been a lot easier for her to beat me if that was the path she took, but something told me she knew that. Maybe it was the desperate look to prove herself in her eyes, or maybe it was the force her punches created against the air that indicated that she was just as serious as I was.

"Fight for real!" Hattori demanded suddenly, shoving her hand against my chest to put distance between us. I slid against the pavement, and to avoid getting any closer to the boundary line, stopped by freezing my feet to the floor. "You're going easy on me, Yuki! I can tell!"

I breathed out heavily at her accusation, and thought back to USJ. She saw me kill our mother. She felt my force when I really meant it. Of course she of all people would know when I was fighting for real or not.

"You owe me this." She growled, eyes narrowing into a look that I've never seen on her before.

She was determined, desperate. She'd persevere until I gave her my absolute all. She wanted to beat me so badly, and it was now clearly written across her face.

I let out another steady breath before straightening myself out and closing my eyes. "You want my all?"

I opened my eyes again, allowing the heat to blossom all throughout my body and out of the soles of my feet. The warm daylight around us began to fade as a cold gust of wind brought along dark grey clouds to the arena. It didn't take long for the snow to start falling and the wind to increase in speed.

"Fine. It's yours."

I crouched forward and burst my way out of the ice that had sealed me to the ground, and in turn prompted a huge wall of ice to form behind me as I launched toward Hattori. I just barely missed the punch I had aimed for her jaw, and she was quick to counter with shooting hardened shards of her own blood at me. I was cut as a result, but nothing I wasn't able to handle.

I grunted inwardly and swung my leg up and nailed her right in the gut, prompting an airy gasp to leave her lips as she was propelled forward. Though, luckily for her, she rolled along the floor and skidded to a stop just before reaching out of bounds. I watched blankly as she forced herself up again, and as if nothing happened, she proceeded in sprinting toward me again with her hands held palm up at her sides. Blood began to rip out of her fingertips like claws, and she used them to slash and stab at me. I dodged momentarily before smacking our palms together and interlocking our fingers. I pushed forward and froze up to her elbow on one of her arms. She bared her teeth and winced before landing a sucker punch to my cheek, prompting me to let go and take a few steps back to regain myself.