**
Rosa was used to being followed by men.
But most of the time they would give up after she got them lost in the alleys, or after they saw her knives, or at least the one she wanted to show them.
But this one, he didn't give up, not after lead him to one of the most dangerous places of the city, not after she showed him all her knives.
He didn't even give up after days.
But what confused her the most, was not the fact that he didn't give up, it was the reason he was following her.
Every men that followed her had two intentions, either to pour her liquid on the floor, or to fill his liquid inside her.
And you could sense this desire from a distance, as if it was a smell, and they stank.
But not this one.
After the third day of him following her, losing her, and finding her again, she made a mistake.
She went to the wrong place, at the wrong time.
"Oi Johnny, check out this pretty lady, what are you doing here all alone, pretty flower ?"
The man that was talking stank, both literally and metaphorically.
He was also extremely big, and his face looked horrible.
Both because of the smirk he was wearing, and the scar that went from his right eye all the way to his left cheek, cutting through his nose and mouth.
But this was no problem.
Rosa smiled at him, and kicked him as hard as she could in the balls.
This was always effective to bring down big guys.
The man fell on his knees, both hands on his crotch, his mouth wide open.
But no sound came for it, Rosa had already crushed his trachea with her fist.
That was very effective against big guys, but the problem was that he wasn't alone.
As the first one fell to the ground, a pair of hands appeared from behind her and grabbed her from the shoulders, lifting her as if she was a baby.
She wanted to turn around, move her arms, but the grasp was simply too strong.
As she looked in front of her, a fist appeared, hitting her in the face so hard, her vision became blurry for a moment.
And in a moment, a lot of things can happen.
When her vision came back to normal, she was standing on her own feet, she hadn't even realized the person let go of her.
And the two men were on the floor,screaming in agony, the one that held her had both arms broken, and the one that hit her had his fist and nose broken.
And there he was, the man that had been following her, standing over them, with his massive figure.
"Hi, I'm Scaf", he said.
**
"Okey Scaf, you stay here, Grou, with me".
Tonight is the night, thought Scaf, we're finally gonna get over with this bullshit.
Scaf saw Mister Butterbury and Grou walk toward the center of this small field in the forest, and as soon as they reached it, a dark figure appeared on the edge.
The figure started walking toward them in a strange way, as if floating over the grass.
"Alright Rosa, you can take off your hood now", as he said that, the figure, Grou and Scaf straightened.
And then the figure took off her hood, showing the long dark hair and yellow eyes.
And then she laughed, hole heartedly, as if it was a joke and she got found out.
"I should've known you would guess, but since when did you know ?"
"Oh since the first day, I also know about Scaf over there, and that little girl, but I couldn't really find anything about her"
Grou's hand went to his hilt, but before he could reach it, Scaf charged him, and hit him as hard as he could to the stomach.
Grou was fast enough to guard with his hand, but he still flew several feets away, and when he landed, Scaf was already on him, pushing him into the forest.
"Well it seems like we are all alone", said Mister Butterbury while casually taking off his glasses, putting them in the pocket of jacket and taking her off before throwing her on the floor..
"Shall we start, master Butterbury ?", said Rosa while taking a basic stance, her left foot in front, slightly raised, her right food pushed backward, and both her hands in front of her, open.
"So you heard about me, Master Emery", he said as he also took a stance, but quite different.
He was in a squared position, but with his knees slightly bent, as if he was going to jump, and his right hand over his head and his left hand at his knees, both open.
"How could I not hear of master Butterbury, the foreigner that mastered all the forms of Ukuma", she took one step forward.
"And how could I not hear of master Emery, the foreigner woman who mastered all the forms of Ukuma", he took one step forward.
"But you know the rule there can only be one grand master", she took another step forward, he was now one step away from her range.
"So it shall be decided here,in this forest, in the middle of nowhere", he took half a step forward.
As soon as he moved, she closed the gap between them and struck with a quick jab to the chin, but as the blow entered his range, he lowered his right hand with amazing speed, catching her jab, and at the same time he struck with the palm of his left hand toward her chin.
She dodged the blow by pushing her head back, and she grabbed his wrist, she then took a step forward and launched her knee toward his stomach, but as soon as her leg left the floor, he spinned around, trapping her left leg with his right knee, and pushing her.
She let go of his left hand and hit him to the ear-drum while she fell, making him lose his balance as well, just for an instant.
And an instant is all she need, as he slightly let go of her left hand, she free it and spin on herself, attempting to hit him with an uppercut to the chin, but fails as he had already got his senses back and dodge her blow, and then she takes a step back.
"As I see, your skills in grappling are as good as what they say", Said Rosa, getting herself back in the same stance.
"And so are yours", Francis says as he takes a stance again, but this time it's the same as Rosa, except his right leg is in front and his left leg is back.
"So now we're gonna try striking huh ?", said Rosa, closing her hands to form a fist.
"Indeed, after testing our skills in grappling, it's time for striking", and this time, he attacks first, launching upon her a flurry of blows,each one as fast and precise as the one before him.
But Rosa parry, dodge and evade each strike.
As he goes for a quick jab followed by a direct from the left, she dodge them both, and counterattack with a right hook, he blocks it, and she follows with a left hook, he evade under it and hits her with a left hook.
And this one land.
As her head swing to the left, he follows it up with a direct from the left, she gets her guard up, blocking the blow, and he then hit her with another left hook, but this time to the body.
The timing was perfect, too perfect.
And he realized too late.
The body shot landed on her elbow, and as he brought his hand back, she raised her knee and it landed right in his nose, throwing his head back, blood exploding from his nose.
She then followed with two jabs, one toward his throat and the other toward his chin.
Both landed.
He took a quick step back, put his thumb on his nose, and placed it back into the right position.
***
As Scaf was pushing Grou further and further into the forest, he was thinking about how to keep him off that fight.
Sure, he could simply kill him, but Scaf found that Grou was too good to be killed by him.
He was too filthy, and he was too pure.
And then Scaf missed.
Or so he thought.
But Grou simply dodged, and Scaf kept going because of his momentum.
And then he turned around as fast as he could, thinking he wouldn't find Grou, that he would have to chase him.
But there he was, standing, calm, honorable.
His hand on his hilt, he drew his sword," take your sword out Scaf, we're gonna settle this here", his voice was cold, neutral, but you could sense that he was forcing himself to keep this tone, you could sense the anger being shut down, along with every other emotion.
Scaf drew the sword Grou gave him, looked at it, and then he went to put it back in it's sheath, but Grou had already jumped on him, he blocked the blow at the last second.
If he had been just a lil bit slower, his insides would be on the floor.
"Once you get a sword out of its sheath, the fight have started", as he said that, he span around at 90 degrees to the right, freeing his sword, he went for a thrust to the stomach, but Scaf quickly stepped back, just enough so that the tip of Grou's sword barely touched his clothes, but Grou wasn't done.
He then turned his sword so that the cutting edge would face upward, and slashed in that direction, Scaf blocked the sword before it reached his torso, he pushed his right leg to the back, giving up his squared stance, and facing Grou with his profile.
And then he attacked.
His sword was shorter, but his size made it even in term of range, and so he started by slashing downward, toward his collar bone, Grou dodged it swiftly with a step to the side, Scaf then put his left hand's palm on the base of his sword and pushed it toward Grou's solar plexus, but it was too slow, too light.
Grou skillfully parried the blow, and thrusted his sword towards Scaf's throat.
Scaf wouldn't have the time to dodge, or block or parry, but he didn't need too.
Grou stopped as soon as the tip of his sword reached Scaf's throat.
"What", said Scaf with a tired smile on his face," I'm not worthy enough of your sword ? I mean, my blood do be filthy, after all I'm only but a scum.."
"Sharap", said Grou in a firm tone, which surprised Scaf twice, he never heard him swear before,"you are an amazing fighter, therefore you are more than worthy to let my blade taste your blood, but I can't kill someone who don't have the intent to kill me, and we both know one of us have to die, so stop FUCKING AROUND AND FUCKING FIGHT SERIOUSLY", Grou's face changed totally, his eyes were blazing with rage, his jaw was like vices, tightened so hard his teeth could break.
He stepped backward, putting his sword back into its sheath, and taking the same low position he had before fighting Clara.
And Scaf knew what this meant.
So he sighed, deeply, and then for the first time, he took a real stance.
His left leg in front and his right leg in the back, perfectly aligned, the sword in his left hand, facing toward Grou, his right hand in his back.
Now, they meant business.
***
Rosa and Francis were bloody, full of bruises.
Both of their faces were unrecognizable, their hands were dripping with blood, both theirs and their opponent's.
"Well, I guess we are even on his form too", said Francis, his mouth full of blood.
"I guess we will have to relate on the last one", she said as she spat blood from her mouth, along with maybe a teeth, she didn't know if it was hers tho.
And in a flicker of her fingers, a blade appeared.
And Francis reached for his back, and a blade appeared in his hand as well.
They both had the exact same blade, it was midway between a dagger and a short sword, with a curved blade, the hilt was made with wood, a red crimson ribbon was around it.
The only difference in their blades was the carved signs in the hilt and on the blade.