My first story

Baiken suddenly felt naked "I need a sword, I need my katana!"

"Me and you are going off grid for a few" he said taking out his phone and breaking it, then threw it out the window "We don't know who took your katana, but they'll figure it out, as for now, no contact, we'll go to Edinburgh, it's a while out and book into a hotel there"

"And a katana?"

"Baiken!"

"I don't care for my own katana right now, I just need something to protect myself!"

Zander grunted "When we arrive in Edinburgh we'll go to some local antique shop and see if they have something"

She sat back accepting it for now, but kept glancing at his face, then saw him glance back.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be, it's part of my lifestyle" he said producing a broad smile "Welcome"

She forced a half smile "That's not funny"

"I know"

She looked around then scanned the dashboard of the car "Why does Diana drive such a nice car and you drive this tiny one?"

"Hey I like this car, it's inconspicuous and low profile, it attracts less attention"

"Is it as fast as hers?"

"Never"

"Then?"

"I can drive don't worry, if I need to get away usually I just find a very tight space and squeeze this little buddy through, the bigger cars can never follow me"

"Oh, a strategic escape then?"

"Exactly"

She nodded thinking of more to say, ever since that time in the cab with Diana she realised she can't really make normal conversation, but one thing came to her.

"I wanted to thank you still"

"For?"

"Saving me there in the bathroom"

"Oh, no sweat, I know you'll do the same for me right?"

She smiled but he gave a snorting chuckle "Its kinda amazing to know you're the one girl that can save my ass"

"Save your ass?"

"Forget it, just know I'll trust you when we get into a fight ok? I back you up, you back me up, we fight as a team, that sorta thing"

"We fight as a team..."

"Yes, I would never have guessed you to be this kind of person, I saw you earlier in Japan... Uh–" he looked at her.

She folded her arms but her face went red, angered.

"Ok, sorry about that, but I can't deny it, you're..." He shrugged "Sexy"

Diana told her what that meant, he found her... Sexy? Attractive, beautiful...

"I've, been called beautiful before, by a man, but he betrayed me"

"Tachibana?"

"Yes"

"Oh, well I'm going to tell you straight I don't really like the pickup line 'You're sexy' its kind of slang, I'd call a girl sexy if she's my girl, you know?"

"Not really?"

"Its slang, but, in sort of a good way, girls want to hear it, but is it really that nice to say to them? Almost like the word Countach, its a dirty word to compliment the beauty of a woman"

"Countash?"

Zander smiled "Its also a car"

"People give interesting names to cars" she said returning the smile.

"I know right?"

"So? Why don't you like calling girls sexy?"

"As I said, its too personal, I'd rather call you beautiful"

"What's beautiful about me?"

He looked at her, Zander couldn't figure out by her expression if she was serious or bluffing.

"Everything?" He blew the answer into the wind.

"No, is it like I am now? Or is it as you said when you saw me naked?"

He brushed his hair "Yes, I know I said that, and I didn't lie"

Baiken looked to her lap "I was always told I look beautiful when I'm naked, even sometimes by Yamamoto"

"Aahhdadada! I don't want to talk about that now"

"Ok, then"

"It's shit memories right?"

"Yes"

He realised she remained quiet, her expression searching "Sorry to cut you off like that"

"Its ok, I need to learn to leave that behind" she looked at him "Please tell me a bit about yourself? I don't know anyone personally, I only know my mother and Yamamoto, even Diana is still just a friend with no background to me"

Zander leaned on his steering wheel and sighed "Ok then, but this is between me and you ok?"

"Yes" she said with a returning smile.

"No one deserves to go through what you went, but I had, not that similar, but something of it in the past"

Baiken felt her heart kick.

"I was ten, when an old man named Johannes, his surname was Burg, took me in, I didn't know my parents, they dropped me at an orphanage as a baby"

"Johannes Burg, that's and odd name"

"I know right, he showed me how to survive, how to run, hide, fend for my self since a young age, but he wasn't kind I tell you, not as bad as Yamamoto, but still an asshole"

Baiken watched him sit back "Sometimes he took from me, sometimes he gave back, I ended up in a hospital so many times but escaped as soon as I can, knowing they'll just take me back to that orphanage"

"How did you end up in the hospital?"

"I got beaten to a pulp for not shutting my mouth... Challenging Johannes, doing the wrong thing, it was only when I turned sixteen that my life took a little twist, Johannes showed me an underground cage fighting arena"

"What's cage fighting?"

"Two men enter a cage, lock it, and fight until one is left standing, dead or alive"

She gasped "And you?"

"I ended up in the hospital over and over again, the guys I fought against where big, strong, trained men, me, I was just the orphan boy who came in swinging his fists"

"Why did you go fight there?"

"To make money, I decided to go stuff an old punching bag with rubbish and trained myself, I lifted bricks, ran to get fit, I did everything I could to better myself, then that one faithful day I won my first fight, but I accidentally killed the bloke"

"You said its dead or alive right?"

"Yes, but that earned me some new enemies, they didn't like me killing their buddy, so every fight after that became a fight for survival, I knew they were out to kill me so I was forced to fight harder every time"

Baiken could feel a resemblance, though she was trained in a pool of blood, he had to fight for his life in one.

"When I turned eighteen I won my last cage fight, but the brute I knocked down was one of the champions, I could have killed him, but to spite him I left him to gurgle his own blood..." Zander brushed a hand over his hair "I got good at that, hurting people so bad they never recover the way they were before, sometimes even killing them after I've knocked him down, I was a monster"

"What happened then?" She asked, her first real story someone tells, she wanted to hear so much more.

"The girl that champion was with, she was a female cage fighter, Antoinette was her name, I'll never forget it, she came to me all smiles and said since Dean was a pussy she wants to be with the new champion, of course I accepted her, again to spite Dean, but she had alterior motives, the loyal bitch had me in bed but I saw the knife glint in the moonlight just in time"

Zander drew his left shoulder open to expose the long cut running from his shoulder down his back "She tried to kill me"

"She took you to bed, then tried to kill you?"

"First time I ever went to bed with a woman and she tries to shank me!" Zander said laughing loudly "And because of that, also my last, its hard to trust, you know?"

"I don't want to hear that, not all women are the same" she said.

"I know, can you imagine it was you? Then I'd really be dead now" he said still laughing but Baiken was clearly angry making him brush his laughter off.

"I would never! At that moment? How dishonorable! Disrespectful! What did you do to stop her?"

Baiken lost count on how many times Zander dragged his fingers through his hair, the topic of now was clearly one he didn't want to talk about "She managed to wound me three times with that knife when I had enough... I broke her arm, kicked her knee in..." He swallowed "She was submitted, unable to continue, but I saw red when I saw my blood, and with that very knife she used, still dripping with my own blood I cut her throat"

"Good! The blasted bitch!" She yelled.

"No! She was begging for mercy, and yet..." He looked out the window not saying more.

Mercy... Baiken showed no mercy to Naka, she knew the feeling, it felt good, someone who betrayed you, someone who tries to kill you! "Can't ask"

He looked at her.

"She attempted at your life, yet she had the mouse like cowardice to ask for mercy!? The hell with her!" She said also looking out her window.