The moon was still out as Rakaia, Luna, and Cana walked the streets. The previous events still fresh in their minds as Rakaia held out the card that Namaki had given him.
"Surprised the old man gave me his card," Rakaia spoke first.
"He knows we know something." Luna slightly turned her head towards him. "He probably thinks that we'll come around and go to the police eventually." She ended.
"After what just happened back there," Rakaia looked up at her. "I think that's the last thing we're going to do," Rakaia stated as he looked back down at the card.
"The nerve of those guys barging in like that," Cana growled as she gritted her teeth in frustration as groaned in annoyance. "I mean and what the hell was that guy's problem handcuffing you?" Another growl escaped her lips.
"Tell me about it." Rakaia sighed as he continued to look over the card that he held in his hand.
Luna looked over at him for a second, her eyes narrowing as she continued to stare at him. "You didn't have to antagonize them you know, it doesn't help when someone mouths off to the police," Luna told him as Rakaia quickly turned his attention towards her. "If the chief wasn't with them, they would have locked you away for sure," Luna added.
"Yea Kaia, what was that all about?" Cana asked him as Rakaia turned his head to the shorter friend in the group. "And what's with them saying that they've seen you before?" She bombarded him with another question. "How much trouble have you been getting into exactly?" Cana questioned him.
Rakaia gave them both a stunned look as he quickly turned his head away from the stares that both Luna and Cana were giving him. "It was just an accident alright, I just having a bad day that's all," Rakaia replied. "And besides its …its how they came at us." Rakaia defended himself. "Plus Luna, you were hurt and that guy was a jerk, I wasn't going to let him get away with that. " Rakaia told them as both Luna and Cana looked at each other and then back at Rakaia.
"So you did it for Luna huh?" Cana gave him a sly smirk as both him and Luna cheeks hit a tint of red, but Rakaia was turning redder as Cana pressed on. "So if he had said something like that to me you would you have acted the same way?" She questioned him playfully.
"Cut it out Cana!" Rakaia shouted at her. "I did it because he was being a jerk, that's all. I would have done the same thing if it was you lying there." Rakaia told her as he turned his back towards them. "It's just the way he said it, I didn't like how he came off." Rakaia ended as he turned his head back towards Luna. "Are you sure you're ok?" Rakaia asked her.
Luna nodded her head in response. "It's nothing I can't handle, really." She replied as she slightly turned her head to the side, slightly embarrassed. "…Thanks…" She whispered to herself, her appreciation succeeding in going unnoticed by both teens.
Cana sighed, stepping into the conversation again. "Now what are we going to do?" She asked as both Luna and Rakaia looked at her with a confused expression on their faces.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked her.
"Now that they're after Saitou and his brothers, what is going to happen to Kaia's match?" Cana turned her attention back to her best friend. "If anything they can catch them and stop the match from even happening." She finished as both Rakaia and Luna quickly began to think about Cana's statement.
"I don't think they'll come up to the school," Luna stated. "At least not now anyway." She added.
"Why do you say that?" Rakaia blinked as Luna turned her eyes towards him.
"Because, the chief said that they already looked at their school records, but they don't have any leads on where they live," Luna replied. "If anything, they would have grabbed them when they were at the school. Think about it, why wait all this time when they already had the perfect opportunity to take them off campus and locked them up that way." Luna told him. "Not only do not have a real address, but I'm pretty sure they've already been back to school but probably couldn't find them and sense Saitou and his brothers were kicked out…"Luna pointed out.
"Hmmm…" Rakaia placed his right hand under his chin. "Ok, I see your point." Rakaia thought a bit more about Luna's words. "And since they're not at school, then there's no point of going there to find them." Rakaia pointed out as Luna nodded her head.
"Exactly, so I don't think we would have too much to worry about, at least for now." She returned as the gang continued to walk down the street, stopping on the street that leads to Luna's studio apartment. "What you really need to focus on Rakaia, is the fact that you have one day left before you fight Saitou. So that means we got enough time to get another training session in." She told him.
"What? You don't think I'm ready?" Rakaia asked her as she crossed her arms as she looked at him, slightly rolling her eyes.
"Not even close." She gave him a soft smile, "But, maybe we can close the gap a bit before it's time for your fight." Luna ended.
"Yea, I'll help out too," Cana stated as Rakaia turned his attention towards her with a quizzical expression on his face. "Hey, we can't have you go out there and lose to some jerk in a gang, can we? What would your mother think?" She asked him as Rakaia gave her a straight-faced expression as she finished her statement.
"That my son did the best that he could and I still love him no matter what?" Rakaia replied half-heartedly.
"What? No!" Cana exclaimed. "She would cry herself into eternal shame because not only did her son lose to a jerk, but everyone saw firsthand on how you got beat down and they laughed you out of the arena." Cana overexaggerated earning weird looks from both Rakaia and Luna as she continued on as the image of Rakaia getting booed and laughed at appeared in her head as she pictured the crowd throwing their snack remains and drinks at him and chanting a variety of hurtful words and phrases at him. "You suck!", "Who the hell taught you how to fight!", "Get out of here rookie!" The make-believe chants continued as Luna could be seen in the picture as well, trying to hide her face as Cana was right beside her on her knees crying madly at the outcome.
"You would be shunned from the fighting world and your mother won't even welcome you back in the house and...OW!" Cana screeched as Rakaia bopped her on the top of the head.
"That's enough out of you," Rakaia told her as he brought her back to the real world. "Come back down to reality, because none of that is going to happen." He calmly declared.
"You didn't have to hit me though!" Cana barked.
"And you didn't have to make me seem like a loser..."Rakaia grunted back.
"I second that, you sounded pretty pathetic for a second," Luna added as she turned her attention towards Rakaia again. "She is right about one thing though." She caught Rakaia's eye. "You will have the attention of a lot of people on you during your fight, the people that aren't normally interested." She explained to him.
"That's right," Cana spoke up. "Since Saitou is or, was an upperclassman, words gotten out that he's fighting you, an underclassman; I'm sure that the students above us are going to be there." Cana brought up as Rakaia placed a hand under his chin and thought about the subject.
"You're right," Rakaia uttered as he thought about the situation that he was in.
"That's why we're going to make sure that you're at least ready to defend yourself properly tomorrow," Luna stated as she turned her head to Cana as well. "And don't think Rakaia is getting all the training either, you're getting trained to." She assured her.
"Huh! What! Me!" Cana pointed at herself as Luna nodded her head in response. "You didn't think Rakaia would be the only one learning here, did you?" Luna asked her with a smile. "Besides, this is what you wanted." She ended as Rakaia stepped towards her.
"But Luna?" Rakaia gave her a bit of a concerned look. "Are you sure about training me tomorrow, don't you want to..."
"I'm fine Rakaia, trust me. " Luna assured him. "It's going to take more than a couple of hits to keep me down." She finished as she turned her back towards the two and walked off down the street towards her studio apartment but stopped after she took a couple of steps. "Don't be late ok, We have a full day tomorrow. Let's try and get as much done as we can." She told him as both Rakaia and Cana nodded as Luna sent them a smile. "Alright then, see you guys tomorrow." She waved at them as she resumed her stride down the road, leaving both Rakaia and Cana to turn and go their way as well.
-Meanwhile-
Saitou growled lightly as he walked through the high grass surrounding the poisonous snake's hideout. The old park clearly unkept made it difficult for one who wasn't used to the environment to struggle as they walked through the tall grass as if it was a marsh.
He walked towards an old playground that sat some ways away from him and his brothers shed, sighing as he approached it, but his eyes narrowed a bit as he saw Visha swinging on the old swings like a little girl at the park.
"Hey there Saitou!" She waved at him causing Saitou to take another deep breath before he made his way over towards her. "Come over here and take a seat." She told him as she tilted her head towards the empty swing next to her.
Saitou didn't utter a word as he made his way towards the empty swing, taking his spot as Visha continued to sway back and forth in the swing that she occupied. "Why the long face Saitou, everything went off like it's supposed to; you should be wearing a smile right now." She told him.
"What do you want Visha?" Saitou sent a slight glare her way, but the act only made her smile as she continued to swing back and forth, her feet lightly pushing against the dirt clad ground as she continued to maintain minimum momentum going back and forth.
"You don't have to be like that you know, I just wanted to tell you that you did good work back there and Basilisk is happy, and if Basilisk is happy, then everyone is happy." She replied.
"Yea, so you say." Saitou returned half-heartedly.
Rolling her eyes, "Anyway, since you did your part I put in a good word for you;" She added causing Saitou to slightly raise his eye at her. "In fact, I built you up so much; I even got Basilisk to attend your little bout you're going to have in a few days." She snickered at him.
"You what!" Saitou quickly leaped out of the swing with a scared expression on his face, His eyes as large as dinner plates as his vision remained on a smirking Visha, who continued to calmly swing back and forth as if nothing had transpired. "What would you do that for!" Saitou shouted at her.
"What do you mean?" Visha still wore her trademark smirk on her face. "I did something good for you; don't you want Basilisk to see you trash someone in public?" She questioned him.
Saitou gave her a stern look in return. "I know full well that's not the reason you told Basilisk about this." He growled at her. "What's your deal Visha," He continued on. "Just what are you playing at?" He added on as Visha slowly brought her feet together to stop herself from swinging as she placed them firmly onto the ground.
"I don't like the type of tone that you're taking with me Saitou," Visha stated looking up at the taller male but showing no hint of fear. "To think I would do something for my own benefit." She retaliated.
"You're not fooling anyone Visha, you got something up your sleeve," Saitou responded. "You didn't have any interests with that school until you found that I had...A...Match." Saitou slowly started to piece everything together.
"Bingo..."Visha lightly licked her lips. "But let's be serious, it's not the match that I care about." Visha stood up from the swing and started walking around him. "It's the person you're fighting." She told him. "And it's not just him, it's the girl that's with him as well. "She added as Saitou followed her with his eyes. "You know, I don't know why, but I feel like it's a lot more to those kids than we know and I really want to sink my teeth into them and find out." She stated as she stopped in front of Saitou, thinking a bit before she locked eyes with him again. "In fact, I want you to prove something for me." She told him.
"Prove something?' Saitou repeated questionably. "What do you mean?" Saitou asked her as Visha's smirk only widen at the question.
"Come on now Saitou, don't be dense." She responded. "I want you to show me if that kid can really fight or not." She instructed him.
"Excuse me?" Saitou responded back.
"You heard me." Visha placed her hands in her jacket pocket and walked up to Saitou, invading his personal space. "I want you to show me if the kid can really, and I mean really fight. I mean, he looked promising, but I wasn't too sure, so I think this matchup you two have is a great way to see what kind of skills he has." She ended as Saitou gave her a look that displayed that he had mixed signals about her request.
"Oh don't look so confused, I just wanted to know since we are kind of running short on members and..."
"Wait, you seriously don't mean." Saitou cut her off, earning another slick grin from his higher up.
"Exactly, I don't think it's a bad idea, and Basilisk might be thrilled about it," Visha told him as she looked at him.
"But, why would...."
"Hey, you want out right?" Visha broke the ice, giving him a cold but sadistic stare.
Saitou couldn't help but freeze up upon hearing those words. "How did you...."
"I overheard the little speech you had with your little brothers a few days ago, quite touching actually," Visha told him as she turned her head back towards him again. "You wanted to do that last job so you could break away from the Poisonous Snakes and become your own little gang," She gave him a light smile before a small giggle escaped her lips. "How utterly stupid." She continued to giggle until it turned into a harsh laughter.
Saitou couldn't help but grit his teeth at Visha's comment, growling under his breath as Visha continued to look at him. "So what about it?" Saitou asked her. "What part of that is stupid to you? The fact that we want to do something better with our lives or the concept of leaving this precious gang of yours doesn't sit right with you?" He grunted back at her as Visha remained smirking at him.
"Oh don't get me wrong Saitou, I don't have a problem with you dreaming big. In fact," She moved her face closer to his so that they were only mere inches apart. "Dream bigger than that, shoot for whatever you can, but always understand that your dreams and wishes always come with a consequence." She pulled away from him.
"Huh?" Was the only word that Saitou could utter.
"You see, I don't think you or your brothers understand how this works," She began to explain to him as she turned her back and took a couple of steps away from him. "When you join a gang and pass the initiation, you are sworn in and therefore are shown secrets and knowledge that you can't just walk out with." She told him. "So here is what we're going to do." Visha stopped in her tracks, her back still facing him. "If you want to get out and leave us for good, then we'll make it really easy for you, you only have to do one thing." A smirk appeared on her face.
"One thing?" Saitou repeated. "Just one thing?" He asked again.
Visha slowly nodded her head. "Yea, just one simple thing, and the good thing is, you were going to do it anyway, but we're here to make sure you don't fall short of your little goal," Visha added on. "All you have to do is win your little fight in a few days, win and you can walk free with no strings attached. "She turned to face him with a smile on her face.
"Win, is that all?" Saitou exclaimed. "I was planning on pounding that runt into the dirt anyway, there's no way that little brat is beating me." He responded to her with a breath of fresh air and a sense of relief washing over his body.
"Let's hope so because if you don't." Visha stopped his cheerful mood in an instant. "Not only is he's going to replace you, but; we can't necessarily have you walk away without punishment now can we?" Visha's smirk reappeared again.
Saitou's eyes shot up instantly as if he had just seen a ghost. "What...What do you..."
"You remember how you and brothers got in right? Who you replaced?" She asked him as Saitou couldn't shake the fear from his eyes as he remembered exactly who she was talking about.
"I see that you do, but just in case you can't put two and two together I'll spell it out for you, and don't worry I know you're failing math. I've seen your grades, terrible I might add." She taunted him as she relished in the fear that washed over his body. "But if you don't win your little bout, you and your brothers can mark tomorrow off your calendar," She ended, but not without putting the icing on the cake. "Because you'll die. First them." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And then you." She ended her statement with a stunned Saitou staring at her in complete disbelief and a loss for words as he took in her cold sick grin as her eyes bore into his soul.
-Back to Rakaia and Cana-
The two made it to Rakaia's house with Cana's only a few houses down. Rakaia was first to stretch and let out a loud yawn, which Cana followed suit.
"You know yawns can be contagious right?' She looked over at him as he rubbed his eyes a bit. "I hope you don't act like that tomorrow when we're training you." Cana placed her hand's on her hips as she looked up at her sleepy friend.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be up bright and early, ready to..."Yawn" Rakaia yawned again. "Just so I can be able to beat Saitou." He stretched again.
"You're really amped up about this fight aren't you?" Cana asked him as Rakaia turned his head to face her a bit before he diverted his attention towards the sky.
"It's not that, it's just...." Rakaia paused for a second. "I want to pay him back for what he did to Noah a few days ago," Rakaia admitted. "I mean, yea at first I wanted to just fight him to settle the score, but when he attacked Noah. "Rakaia's mind flashbacked to the incident when Noah and himself were caught completely off guard.
-Flashback-
Saitou just turned to Rakaia, giving him a sick smirk in response. "What's the matter, runt? Can't help your little friend here?" Rakaia was growling immensely now as he tried once again, to break free from the two opposing brothers; but to no avail. Saitou made his way over to Noah, stomping down hard on his back, causing him to scream in pain. "Better hurry up and rescue the little guy, or who knows what might happen." Saitou kept his eyes locked on Rakaia, who continued to struggle.
-Flashback ended-
Rakaia brought his gaze downward. "It became more than that, now I'm doing this for Noah's sake." Rakaia turned his head towards Cana. "Yours to Cana, I can't let him get away with what he did to you either." He told her as Cana allowed a light blush to reveal themselves on her cheek.
"You're...You're..." Cana quickly turned her head away from the taller teen, trying to calm down her fully blushed cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she turned back around to face him. "Just focus on winning your match alright Kaia," She placed her hands on her hips once again. "You got all the attention on you now, so you need to make sure you keep your mind on beating Saitou." She told him as Rakaia just looked at her and gave her a light smile in return.
"Just don't get beside yourself ok?" She added as she turned her back, getting ready to walk off from him, but stopped before and turned her head back towards him. "And Kaia," She called his name. "Thanks," She ended as she caught one more look at Rakaia. "You've always been like that." She thought to herself before she took off towards her house, leaving Rakaia to stand outside for a few more seconds before he decided to enter his own home.
Unknown to him, a silhouette was standing behind a few trees, out of the two teens eyesight. He watched as Rakaia entered his house and closed the door behind him, oblivious to the stranger that watched him as he approached.
-Meanwhile, back at the poisonous snake's hideout-
Saitou stepped up to the shack that he and his brothers occupied, with a dreadful sigh he pushed open the door to reveal his brothers playing video games and arguing with one another and trash talking.
"Oh come on Maitou, that's cheating!" Kaitou yelled at the middle oldest.
"You just got to learn how to play the game," Maitou exclaimed as he pushed a couple more buttons causing his brother's face to falter into a hilarious angry expression as he seemingly lost another match.
Saitou couldn't help but smile as his brothers argued with one another with Kaitou complaining that Maitou had cheated him out of the win.
Without saying a word, he stepped back outside without being noticed and sat on the steps in front of the door as he looked up at the night sky, thinking about the past events that recently occurred and his interaction with Visha.
"So it's all or nothing huh?" He spoke to himself as he thought about what Visha had told him.
"Mini Flashback-
"All you have to do is win your little fight in a few days, win and you can walk free with no strings attached. "She turned to face him with a smile on her face.
-End of Mini Flashback -
He took another deep breath as the words were imprinted in his mind. "No strings attached," He repeated. "Yea that sounds good." He stated as he thought about the last statement that Visha gave to him.
"Mini Flashback 2"
"But if you don't win your little bout, you and your brothers can mark tomorrow off your calendar," She ended, but not without putting the icing on the cake. "Because you'll die. First them." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And then you."
"End of Mini Flashback 2"
He exhaled once again before he stood up, his eyes still locked on to the stars above him. "What are you trying to pull Visha?" His words slipped out of his mouth, almost like a whisper as he continued to gaze at the stars.
The Next Day
"Come you, you have to be able to avoid attacks like that." Luna coached as Rakaia wiped his chin as he looked up at Luna. "You can't be stagnate when you fight Rakaia, You have to learn to move as you go. You can't just stand in one spot" She stated as she reached her hand out for him to grab as she helped him to his feet. "Your opponents aren't going to stand there and be your punching bag, their going to move and strike with every opportunity you get." She ended as she reached over and grabbed him a bottle of water to give him.
"Easy for you to say Luna, you've trained for years to be able to do that." He answered back as he opened the bottle of water and began drinking it.
"What can I say, practice makes perfect." A smile formed on her face as he saw him it the bottle of water back on the table. "Ready to go again before Cana gets back."
Rakaia couldn't help but take a deep breath as he nodded his head. "Yeah, let's go." Getting ready to say with Luna once once more. The two got ready to go one more round until the doors of the gym burst opened, catching the attention of both Rakaia and Luna as they quickly turned their heads towards the source.
Gritting his teeth as Rakaia's eyes fell upon the figure that intruded on their sparring session, he lightly growled. "Saitou…"
And there he stood Rakaia's opponent for the upcoming fight stood in the door way, glaring back at him with a serious expression on his face.
"Yo, we need to talk."