Luna stared at Rakaia wide eyed. She was clearly thrown off by the comment Rakaia made, let alone to her face. She saw how his gaze avoided hers, how his brown eyes remained glued to the floor as if he was ashamed to look at her. "What…What did you just say?" She wanted him to repeat it, not just for him; but to be sure that she was correct in what she heard.
"I…I" Rakaia stuttered a bit. "I need you to train me." He finally repeated, getting out the words that were laced with mixed emotions.
Luna's eyes narrowed with a slight glare as Rakaia finally brought his eyes up to meet hers. "I clearly underestimated Saitou…" He began as he tore his eyes away from Luna again. "And that…. That got Noah hurt and…. I need to make sure Saitou doesn't get away with this…" He sounded unsure of his own words as Luna's eyes remained bored into him.
"I need to make sure I'm ready for this match, so when I get him fair and square, I can pound him into the ground and make sure that…"
"No…" Luna cut Rakaia off.
Rakaia blinked for a moment, bewildered by her response. "Wha…What?" She could tell that he was confused at her answer.
"I said no." Her voice is strong and firm. "I'm not going to train you." She added to her answer.
"Huh? Come on!" Rakaia let out." I need you to train me so I can be ready to beat Saitou in the upcoming match in a few days!" Rakaia tried to make his point. "I can't do it without you." Rakaia added as Luna's right eye arched up a bit as she crossed her arms.
"Oh really?" Luna replied. "Then correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say you didn't need someone like me to teach you how to fight?" Luna questioned him.
Rakaia was taken back by his own words used again him. "That was…Well, I…."
"How you didn't need someone like me, who gave up on their last match to tell you about how to view your opponents." Rakaia kept his mouth shut as Luna took a step forward. "How you didn't need someone like me to teach you how to quit?" Her last statement made Rakaia cringe a bit as every word he threw at Luna came back to haunt him in the end.
Cana quickly took a step forward, getting in between the two. "Luna come on; think about it for a second." Cana tried to talk some sense into her. "Saitou just attacked an innocent student, just to get to Kaia, and although Kaia can be a jerk at times…" She quickly turned around to cast a quick glare at him before turning back to face the pro fighter. "He really needs this to put Saitou in his place, if he doesn't do it then who will?" Cana's question only made Luna turn her head in disgust as her sworn expression remained on her face.
"I'm sorry Cana, but that isn't my problem," Luna stated as she turned her glare back towards Rakaia. "I wouldn't have anything to do with this had I just minded my own business." She took a few steps
towards Rakaia, getting close to him as she stopped in front of him, her face mere inches away from his. "I stepped in to save you when you were getting beat up the first time and the second time when Saitou decided that you weren't anything but useless garbage and decided to throw you away." She gritted her teeth a bit as she made sure every word that came out of her mouth hit Rakaia in his core. "Not only that. When Cana was attacked, I made sure to back her up because you weren't there to do it." Rakaia turned his eyes away from Luna as she continued to tear him down.
"I see a lot of guys like you every day, you talk tough and for a moment, it actually sounds good; but in reality, you're nothing but hollow fighters that break easy." She turned her back towards Rakaia only to come face to face with a glare from Cana as Rakaia's head hung low from the verbal onslaught from Luna. "What?" Luna asked her.
Cana's glare didn't falter, nor did she wavier at the glare returned by the pro fighter herself. Instead, she stood her ground, toe to toe with the former XMA fighter who just broke Rakaia's spirit with words alone. "Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" Cana asked her. "Kaia may have been a lot of things, but he's not hollow." Cana stood up for her best friend.
"Not hollow huh?" Luna turned her head back to glance at Rakaia. She saw him, depressed, his eyes low to the ground as all the spirit that he once held left him the moment Luna told him "Check again" She kept her eyes locked on him for a few more seconds. "He looks pretty empty to me." She replied as she turned her back towards Cana. "He's going to lose his match and he has no one to blame but himself, maybe then he'll realize how big the gap is between him and experienced fighters." Luna ended as she walked past Cana without another word, leaving her glaring at her back as Luna walked out of the room, leaving Cana alone with Rakaia.
Rakaia stood there, motionless; letting Luna's words sink in. His heart ached as he knew her words held truth to them, he was arrogant not to accept her help early on and he knew that he did nothing but bash her the moment she showed up at the school, even when she did save him.
Cana walked up to Rakaia, seeing the strained expression that he harbored on his face. "Who would have thought that the famous XMA fighter Luna Kazahaya would act like that?" She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Come on Kaia; let's go we got to get you ready for your fight." She gave him gentle smile, but Rakaia wasn't paying her any attention. "Hey, come on, it's alright; she's wrong about you, you know." Cana tried to cheer him up. "You're not some hollow fighter, sure you can be a bit headstrong, but you're not hollow." Cana continued on, but Rakaia just gently removed her hand from his shoulder and walked past her, heading towards the door.
"Kaia," Cana called out his name, but Rakaia didn't answer as he simply opened the door and left the training room, leaving Cana standing.
-Meanwhile, Street Alleyway-
Kaitou growled as he kicked a trashcan over, cursing while he released his frustration. "What the hell man?" Kaitou grunted. "Expelled!" Kaitou groaned, "What the hell are we going to tell mom and dad?" Kaitou whined a bit.
"Don't worry about it." Saitou simply answered. "It's not a big deal." He replied. "We don't need that school anyway; we're fine just where we are." He added as Kaitou gave him a perplexed look.
"Saitou, I don't think that…" Maitou was trying to step in, but Kaitou stole the conversation from him.
"What do you mean we're fine just where we are?" Kaitou asked him. "We…"
"Kaitou!" Saitou yelled his name, shutting his younger brother up for a second. "Everything is fine," Saitou reassured him. "That stupid principal isn't going to do a damn thing to us," He quickly glanced back at him. "She's just all talk, I still got my match with that runt and I'm going to make sure I beat him down in front of everybody, humiliation at its finest." He ended as both Kaitou and Maitou slowly turned their heads toward each other, giving each other an unsure look before returning their gaze back towards Saitou.
"So… what are you going to do about the fight coming up Saitou?" Maitou asked his older brother. "You still have a few days, and I'm sure after what we did to his little friend; that runt is going to train or something." Maitou brought up.
"Let him train," Saitou responded. "It won't matter how much he trains." He added. "Because at the end of the day, he knows that he's no match for me, let him go ahead and try to avenge his little friend," Saitou growled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, kicking a small can over in frustration. "Then after I beat that little runt into the ground, that stupid principal will know that that good-for-nothing school needs us." Saitou finished as he stormed off with his brothers looking back at each other once again, unsure about what to do but follow him.
-Back at School/Sunset-
Rakaia sat on the school steps in front of the main door of the school. Cana stood in front of him. "Come on Kaia, you only have a few days left." She pointed out to him. "You got to start training for your match with Saitou." She told him.
"What's the point?" Rakaia mopped a bit.
"Huh? What do you mean, "What's the point?" Cana responded to him. "So, you can bash that jerk into the ground and get him back for what he did to Noah." She told him. "We can't let him get away with that." She added.
"Cana...It's no use." Rakaia replied, saddened and deep in thought. "It's just…it won't be good enough." He lowered his gaze again.
"What?" Cana gave him a bewildered look for a moment. "Are you serious?" She bellowed. "Are you saying that paying that jerk back for what he did to Noah is pointless? Rakaia, we've fought this guy before, he's not that good; you can take him!" She shouted. "You can…"
"Cana! I can't!" Rakaia yelled back at her, cutting her off in mid-sentence." He wasn't fighting seriously when we fought him and even then, I still couldn't touch him." Rakaia's eyes were deterred from Cana's gaze. "When he attacked us in the training room, he showed me how good of a fighter he really is…." Rakaia's eyes remained glued to the floor as he gritted his teeth at the realization that he was facing. "He's not a regular fighter, Cana..." Rakaia's voice trailed off a bit as Cana just stood there and looked at her best friend.
"You're afraid…aren't you?" Cana sadly spoke to him.
Rakaia didn't answer her, his eyes refusing to make contact with her. "You've always stood up to anybody that stood in front of you." Cana began to explain to him. "And now, someone came and showed you a few tricks you didn't know about and now you're scared." Cana sighed a bit.
"It's not that simple…" Rakaia tried to defend himself, but his voice betrayed him.
"It's not…" Cana lifted her head up a bit, lightly glaring at Rakaia for a bit. "Then tell me, Kaia, what are you doing right now?" She questioned him. "The Kaia, I know would have gone back to that training room and beat the hell out of that punching bag, not sit here and tell me that he can't kick somebody's ass!" Cana took a step towards him.
"Cana, I told you it's not that simple!" Rakaia stood up. "It's going to take more than just me hitting a damn bag over and over, his technique is better, and his follow-through...Everything out classes me!"
"Well go ask Luna to train you again?" Cana shouted back at him.
"Did you not hear her?" Rakaia screamed back. "She said she's not going to train me!" Rakaia battled back.
"Then get her to train you!" Cana replied louder.
"How!" Rakaia got in her face. "After everything I said and how I treated her, what in your right mind makes you think that she's going to train someone like me?" He pointed at himself, stopping Cana from gaining any more-lead way in the argument. "She was right about everything she said." Rakaia continued. "Right about what I said and how I didn't want someone like her to train me, because of what happened with her career…." Rakaia sulked." And now…I need her." He gritted his teeth in frustration as Cana remained silent for a moment.
"So, you're just going to give up, just like that…. Even after you told Ms. Imuran that you wanted this fight?" Cana asked him. "All because Luna won't train you. "She pressed as Rakaia just stood there, tearing his eyes away from her.
Cana sighed heavily as she made sure she eyed Rakaia as he looked away from her. "I don't know what you plan on doing, but the Kaia I know wouldn't back down from someone just because they can fight better.
"Cana, this isn't something I can do on my own; I can't beat him by myself." Rakaia told her sadly as Cana wore the same expression on her face.
"Yea…I guess you can't…" She added a bit as she turned her back towards him, running off; leaving Rakaia standing there in his own worries as he sat back down frustrated, releasing a deep breath of his own.
"Dammit!" Rakaia screamed to himself, placing both hands on his head as he shuttered a bit. "What the hell is wrong with me?" Rakaia questioned himself as he took his hands off his head and saw that his hands were shaking a bit. He looked at his hands eying them with shock. "Am I really afraid?" He asked himself as he thought back to the encounter he had with Saitou.
-Quick Flashback-
Saitou moved in, quickly contorting his body in a few ways to catch Rakaia completely off guard as he appeared to bring his body up to perform a simple front kick, which Rakaia was ready to catch and deflect, but at the last second Saitou's movements changed. Rakaia's eyes shot up in shock as he went to catch Saitou's foot, but it wasn't there. Instead, Saitou quickly brought his food back and one fluid motion, performed a roundhouse kick, stopping his foot just before it touched Rakaia's neck.
-End of Flashback-
"There's no way…." Rakaia's body continued to shake. "How can someone move like that?" He asked himself as another memory of recent events popped back up in his mind.
-2nd Flashback-
Rakaia's mind couldn't grasp what he saw. "What…What…. What the hell did he just do?" He spoke mentally as Saitou remained in his stance with one foot close to Rakaia's neck and the other planted solidly on the ground. "Ho…How! There's no way someone's body can move like that." Rakaia gritted his teeth, as he was about to back away with Noah right behind him.
"Oh, you can't get away." Saitou slithered his way up to Rakaia once more, but this time Rakaia wasn't about to let Saitou get the best of him. Rakaia tried to outmaneuver Saitou and catch another attempted blow. Saitou quickly held his hand out flat, palm down with his fingers closed as he jabs at Rakaia, quickly stopping his hand mere inches in front of his face, before pulling it back. Rakaia was once again stunned.
"What's wrong runt?" Saitou asked him. "You're not scared of a little snake bite, are you?" He continued to snicker as Rakaia couldn't do anything but literally stare in shock at how outclassed he was against Saitou. All this time, Saitou has been using Rakaia's typical street fight style, something Rakaia knew very well, but now; the snake style, was something completely foreign to Rakaia. Saitou slithered back to his previous point and just stared at Rakaia's shocked expression before he turned his look to his brothers.
-End of 2nd Flashback-
Rakaia's hands continued to tremble. "There's just no way…I can't beat someone like that." He lowered his hands depressingly, letting out another sigh.
"Sounds like something is bothering one of my favorite students." He heard a female voice speak from behind him, catching him off guard as he turned his head to see Mariko coming down the stairs to sit next to him. "Tell me Rakaia, why is one of my students, sitting on the staircase at school when they should be off getting ready for their matchup?" She asked him
Rakaia didn't even want to look at Mariko in the face as he kept his eyes glued to the ground. "Having second thoughts?" She questioned him as Rakaia didn't answer her question verbally, but his silence spoke volumes. "Did something happen?" She asked him, giving him a puzzled look, but Rakaia just simply shook his head.
Mariko just stared at him for a second before Rakaia decided to speak up again. "How's Noah?" Rakaia slightly turned his head towards her.
Mariko gave him a soft smile in return. "He's resting right now, his injuries aren't serious, and nothing is broken; just a couple of bruises and minor scratches, he might have a mild concussion, but so far nothing to really be concerned about." Mariko continued to smile at him. "If you're worried about him, I assure you; he's fine and will make a full recovery."
Rakaia nodded a bit. "Everything just happened so fast." Rakaia began. "Noah and I were just talking about the fight that was coming up and then…" Rakaia was keeping his composure, but his mentality towards the situation showed. "He warned me how dangerous Saitou is…and I wouldn't listen." Rakaia gritted his teeth once more as Mariko continued to look at him.
"You blame yourself for what happened to Noah?" She asked him as Rakaia couldn't help but nod his head to answer her question. Mariko couldn't help but take a deep breath before she leaned back a bit. "Sorry to say this Rakaia, but that's what happens in these types of environments." She spoke to him. "The more you move up, the harder things get. People are going to try and throw you off balance, which clearly; Saitou's already done it." She pointed out.
"The thing is to not give up though," Mariko told him as she turned her head towards him, making sure to lock eyes with him. "When you told me not to cancel the match, I could see how determined you were earlier. You wanted to pay Saitou back for every bruise that Noah received; I don't know what happened after I left, but for some reason, a different Rakaia is sitting next to me right now, a scared one." Mariko poked at him.
"I'm…I'm not…" Rakaia tried to fight back.
"Are you sure?" Mariko asked him. He accepted defeat as Mariko poked him again. "You seem pretty terrified to me." She stated as Rakaia found himself wordless.
She sat a bit. "It's ok to admit that you're afraid, we're not fearless creatures you know." She turned her head away from him. "It's ok to lean on somebody else for help, especially if you need it Rakaia." Mariko turned her gaze towards him again and gave him another pleasant smile. "Sometimes to reach the next level, we have to depend on someone; who's already been there for help, even if you don't want to." She added as he just looked at her, slightly taken back by the talk that his principal was giving him.
"Oh, come on now, I can say some encouraging words, can't I?" Mariko stated as she stood up. "Look, I gave you what you wanted and that's to settle things once and for all with Saitou. I want to see that Rakaia with the determination in his eyes when he asked me for this favor. Got it." Mariko told him as Rakaia could only nod his head as Mariko wore a satisfying smirk on his face. "Good," She placed her hands on her hips. "I want a good fight, but I also want you to teach everyone that no one bullies at South high and gets away with it, anybody can and will be beaten." She emphasized the last words of her statement. "Rakaia, do what you must do to get stronger, but don't forget our deal…. Don't just get stronger, get better." She ended as Rakaia could only stare at his good-for-nothing principal, as she was about to walk off from the scene but stopped shortly after a few steps.
"Oh, by the way, if you're; by any chance looking for Luna, you might want to check the training grounds behind the school," Mariko said, throwing the information out there for Rakaia to catch. "Although, I'd be careful if I were you; she seemed pretty upset about something." Mariko gave him a slight wink before walking off, leaving Rakaia to his thoughts.
Nightfall soon came as Rakaia took out his phone, thinking about the words that he had just received from not only his principal whom he addresses on a first-name basis but his best friend Cana as well. He scrolled through the screen until his mother's contact name "Mom" was highlighted.
He pressed a few buttons and placed the red cell phone to his ear. Letting it ring for a bit, the other end was answered with a cheery "Hello". Rakaia paused for a second before speaking. "Mom," Rakaia spoke clearly.
"Rakaia?" His mom responded with surprise in her tone. "Rakaia, you don't ever call, is everything alright?" She asked for the other end. "Is something wrong, do I need to come to get you?" She bombarded her son with questions, allowing Rakaia to form a small smile on his face.
He shook his head, unseen by his mother. "No mom... I'm fine," He spoke back to her. "I'm… I'm just going to be home late; I have some work to do before the fight comes up." He told her as a brief pause was heard on the other end of the phone.
"Thank you for letting me know, work hard honey; I'll have something waiting for you when you get home." She responded.
"Thanks… mom," Rakaia answered back as he hung up the phone with his mom, his eyes directed towards the direction he was about to head in.
-Rakaia's house-
Rakaia's mother sat there with the phone in her hands, smiling to herself; happy that her son decided to call her and let her know what he was doing, instead of having her worry about him coming on with bruises and battle scars.
She stood up and marched towards the kitchen. "I guess have some work to do." She told herself. "My little boy is going be one starving lion when he comes home and I got to make sure I cook up something special." She spoke to herself as she tackled the kitchen and began to cook up something hot for Rakaia when he got home.
-Back at School, Nightfall –
The bright lights lit up, shining down brightly on the grassy field. The field was outlined in chalk, but different from that of a football field. The lines resembled something like a practice ring, but for outside sports. Equipment lay around the area for those who wanted to take their practice outside, rather than in the training room.
On the field, Luna Kazahaya trained to release her frustrations. "Who the hell does that guy think he is?" She growled under her breath as she gave a hard kick to a large punching bag, nearly knocking it off the chain. "Out of all the times I tried to help him, and he threw it back in my face!" She kicked it again, harder than the first time. "And now; all of a sudden, he wants me to help!" She performed a jumping spin kick, nearly knocking the equipment over in one move, but it repositioned itself in front of her before she landed on her feet.
"Hmph, like hell I would help that guy." She told herself as she walked over to the side of the field, grabbing a bottle of water; taking a few gulps before placing the cap back on top of it. "He can get his ass handed to him for all I care." She spoke out loud.
"Well, I don't know about all that," Rakaia spoke up from behind her, causing Luna to quickly turn around, glaring at him as Rakaia stood across from her with his hands in his pockets. "I don't think I'll do half bad actually." He said to her with a cocky smile on his face.
"Then what are you doing here?" Luna asked him, her glare darkening at the sight of Rakaia. "If you're so confident, then shouldn't you be getting ready for the fight you have coming up?" She growled lightly.
"I can't get ready?" Rakaia told her, slightly confusing Luna in the process. "I need you to train me," Rakaia told her once again. "No…" Rakaia stopped for a second. "That's not right," Rakaia said. "Would you please train me?" Rakaia asked her as Luna's confused expression remained plastered on her face.
"Are you serious?" Luna asked him. "Did you not hear what I told you? I said I'm not training you?" Luna shot at him.
"But I need someone as experienced as you, if you don't help me; then I'm definitely going to get embarrassed," Rakaia responded as Luna crossed her arms in front of him.
"You say that like I care," Luna replied. "I've already told you my answer and that's no, there's no way in hell I'm training you." She told him as she turned her back towards him, walking over to her belongings.
Rakaia's eyes narrowed at her stubbornness, but he wasn't going to back down now. "What if I beat you?" Rakaia blurted out, stopping Luna in her tracks as she slightly glanced behind her to catch him in her field of vision.
"What? What did you just say?" Luna asked him.
"One on one…if I beat you, you have to train me," Rakaia stated his cocky grin still on his face. "Deal?" Rakaia asked her as Luna turned her around to fully Rakaia.
"You can't be serious?" Luna replied. "Do you think you can actually beat me in a one-on-one fight?" Her words were clear-cut as she sent her question his way.
"I won't know unless I try." Rakaia shrugged his shoulders as he began to take off his school jacket.
"And what if I win?" Luna tilted her head a bit, curious at what he would say next.
"Then I won't bother you anymore, I'll go to the match and take my beating like a man and accept everything." He told her as Luna just stood there for a moment, thinking about the offer Rakaia put on the table.
"Do we have a deal?" Rakaia's question found its way to Luna, who answered the question by slowly revealing a smirk of her own, cracking her knuckles as she did.
"Deal." She said loud and clear for Rakaia to hear as they both got into their respective fighting stances, ready to take each other on and their one-on-one skirmish.