Bet

Pov. Zhao Zheng

As I follow the old man I look around the village. It was like time stopped at this village. It looked like a village from one of those period dramas. From the looks of it, they tried to be as self-sufficient as possible.

After a short walk, he brought me to a house larger than the rest. He brought me to a room where a blond kid was waiting for him before sitting down.

"So why do you want to learn my Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu style?" Ased Hanzo Shiranui.

"No real reason, I just want to learn it," I said.

"Gahahaha, well, aren't you an honest one."

"Grandpa, are you really thinking of teaching someone as disrespectful as him, Shiranui-ryuu?" Asked Mai as she raised her voice.

Looking at Mai, she was beautiful, and she was already maturing in all the right places. But that's it, I had much more beautiful women waiting for me back home. Though I know she will get even more beautiful as she grows, she still wouldn't be able to match someone like Shiranui or Rinko.

"Did you just think something rude of me?" Asked Mai.

"Yes," I answered with a straight face, which left her dumbfounded.

"Gahahaha, you really are honest to a fault. Anyways, about your request to learn my fighting style, I would like to hear what you would do with it before I give you my answer," said Hanzo.

'Hmmm, how should I answer this? If that blond kid is who I think it is, then he just found out about what Geese did to Jeff. So it's understandable why he would ask that question. But if I lie, I'm pretty sure a master like him would be able to see through it.'

"Well, to fight?" I answered.

"Why is your answer to my question a question? ... Sigh, you don't seem like a bad kid, but you also aren't normal, I can tell that much. But due to certain events that have happened, I can't in good faith teach someone with this uncertainty. So no, I would not teach you," said Hanzo.

"Looks like you're going to have to find a different fighting style to learn," said Lucy while sitting on my shoulder.

As I was thinking of what other fighting styles there were in King of Fighters, I looked around only to spot Mai sticking her tongue out at me.

'That could work'

"Then let me train with her," I said, looking at Mai, surprised her.

"Hmmm, can you tell me why you would want to do that?" Asked Hanzo.

"So I can steal your style," I answered without missing a beat.

"Hahahaha, I like the way you think, kid, but those words aren't the kind you say unless you're ready for a fight."

As soon as he said that, the atmosphere in the room became heavy. Even Mai had trouble staying seated straight, and Andy used his hands to hold himself up.

"I don't mind fighting you. It would be easier and faster to steal the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu from a master. I only offered to train with your granddaughter as an exchange for stealing your style," I said, not being affected by the pressure.

"Oh, and how exactly will my granddaughter benefit from training with you," he said with some killing intent in his voice while the pressure increased.

At this point, Andy was lying flat on the floor while Mai was struggling to keep herself up with her hands.

"Training with the same person for a long period of time can lead to harmful habits. Especially if the person they're training with uses the same style she does. If she was just training to defend herself, there wouldn't be much of a problem. But I doubt that's why you're training her, and like you said, I'm not normal, so she would benefit from training with someone on my level."

"Gahahahaha, you really are one interesting kid. Fine, I allow it, train with my granddaughter, and try to steal my style from her if you can."

After laughing, the pressure in the room vanished like it was just an illusion.

"Grandpa, are you really going to allow him to steal your Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu!" Shouted Mai as soon as she got up.

"The Shiranui-ryuu isn't that easily copied. But if you feel that training with him isn't enough of a payment for the opportunity to steal the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu, then why don't you try to steal his fighting style. Now, with that out of the way, come with me Andy it's time to start your training. As for you two, you can start training whenever you like," After saying that, Hanzo got up and walked out of the room with Andy following behind him.

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Pov. Mai

"The Shiranui-ryuu isn't that easily copied. But if you feel that training with him isn't enough of a payment for the opportunity to steal the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu, then why don't you try to steal his fighting style. Now, with that out of the way, come with me Andy it's time to start your training. As for you two, you can start training whenever you like," said my grandfather as he walked out with that boring kid that had just arrived.

'I can't believe grandfather is even allowing him to even try and steal the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu style.'

"He's right, you know," said the other idiot that had just arrived.

"Right, in what way?" I asked.

"You're free to try and steal my fighting style if you can," he said.

"And what makes you think I want your fighting style?"

"I'm sure if you're able to steal it, you can make use of at least five out of six of my special techniques."

"What do you mean if I can steal them, and I'll have you know I would be able to use all of your techniques if I wanted to."

"Yeah, sure, well maybe, probably? Well, it won't be easy, that's for sure. Since my style was made to kill a demon god," he said as he made a face like he was thinking about my probability of stealing his techniques.

"Oh, do you think I wouldn't be able to learn your technique because I'm a woman?" I asked with some anger in my voice.

"No, like I said, it was a style made to kill a demon god. That in itself should tell you how hard it is to master," he said lazily.

"Okay, then prove it, follow me," I said, standing up.

"Lead the way," he said.

So I took him to the courtyard where we could spare.

"Since you're so confident in your techniques, why don't we make a bet?" I said.

"What kind of bet?" He asked.

"What, are you scared now? I thought your style was made to kill gods?" I said, trying to goad him into accepting.

"Not really, but I would be a fool to accept a bet that I have no idea of the conditions to win. You also haven't told me what we are wagering, so I have no idea if it would even be worth it to make a bet with you," he said.

"Okay then, how about this? If I win, you will have to leave this village and never come back, and if you win, I will give you a kiss."

"Do you have anything else to offer me if I win," he said without missing a beat.

That surprised me. Most guys would do anything for a kiss from me. And he just rejected me without flinching or getting nervous. Is he one of those muscle heads that only thinks about training and getting stronger.

"Oh, would you prefer something more intimate," I said with a suggestive tone.

"Hmmm, tempting but no. I was thinking something of more worth. At least it has to be on the level of never being able to learn the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu style," he said.

"Are you saying a kiss from me is worth less than some fighting style," I said as I walked up to him and put his arm between my breasts.

I've been trained in the ways of the kunoichi, so it will be easy to make him do as I like. After all, men turn into fool's when you give them a bit of service.

"Yes."

"…..…."

His reaction left me speechless. From our conversation, he doesn't seem to be someone who only thinks about training. But he also isn't one of those fool's that can't think with their heads if a beautiful woman gives them a bit of skinship.

"Fine, then what do you want," I said as let go of his arm.

"If you really want to kick me out, then how about this, for every time I win a sparre against you, you would owe me one date. And if you win one time against me, then I will leave this village, and all the dates you owe me will be null and void. But if I'm able to steal the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu style from you before you win even once, then you will owe me all those dates from all those sparring matches," he said with a bored tone.

"Fine! Don't regret it afterward," I said with a smirk.

Even though the bet sounds unfavorable to me, all I have to do is beat him once, and I win. And there's no way he will be able to win against me, so there's no problem. But I better not get too serious. I don't want to hurt him after all.

"Okay, then we will start as soon as this rock hits the ground," he said as he picked up a rock and threw it up in the air.

As it hit the ground, I sprinted up to him and went for a low kick. But he jumped up into the air to dodge it, so I quickly used my hands to support my body to do a handstand. As I went for a axel kick, I decided to show him the full strength of the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu as flames engulfed my leg.

'If you want the Shiranui-ryuu so badly, then you can have a taste of it.'

Due to him being in the air, I was sure my kick would connect, and it would be over. But to my surprise he also sent a kick to my leg, but that's all it was, a surprise because he was in the air he could put much force into the kick so I wasn't worried. The flames may burn him, but I could just treat his wounds before I make him leave the village. But when it connected, I didn't feel any strength in the kick. Instead, I felt a pushback as I saw him use my leg to launch himself higher and out of my reach.

Getting back on my feet, I didn't have a lot of time as I saw him bring his feet down for a full body axe kick. I didn't have much time, so I crossed my hands to try to block, but the weight was too much, and I tried to squat down to try to soften the blow. But even that didn't work, and I ended up on the ground with numb arms at my side.

"That's one date," he said as he squatted down to my eye level.

"I haven't lost yet," I said.

"Yeah, but with the time we spent talking, I could have placed a well aimed kick to the head making you pass out," he said.

I just tightened my fist trying to cure the numbness since I knew what he said was true, but I don't want to admit it.

"I haven't lost yet!" I screamed as I looked at him only to see a fist heading towards me as everything went dark.

Pov. Zhao Zheng

"Well, it looks like you lost now," I said as I looked at Mai, knocked out after I placed a well aimed punch to her chin.

"Are you not afraid I will chase you out of the village after what you did to my granddaughter?" Asked Hanzo as he came out of his hiding.

"Not really. If you coddle her that much, she won't make much of a successor. Plus, this would make a good lesson for her," I said.

"Oh, and what lesson would that be?" He asked.

"For one, being too stubborn would backfire in certain situations. It will also show her that there are people out there who couldn't care less of her title or that she's a woman and they won't hold back."

"You think we take it easy on her here?"

"Well, the fact that she wasn't taking the match seriously from the beginning tells me a lot about how she was treated."

"Sigh, you're right. Other than me, everyone else takes it easy on here during training due to her being my granddaughter as well as being a woman."

"So where do you want me to put her down?" I asked as I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder like a potato sack.

"Not the most delicate type, are you boy."

"Like I said, she should get used to people not treating her like she's special," I said.

"Fine, take her to the living room and let her rest there until she wakes up," he said.

As I was taking her to rest, I was thinking about the attack she just did and how different it was from Kurei's flames. With Kurei, it's like he creates flames out of nothing. No type of energy is used. But from what I remember from the anime, Recca had times when he couldn't use his flames. But most of those times were when he was beaten and exhausted. So does that mean that as long as you remain uninjured and rested, then Recca and Kurei can use their flames as long as they want.

As for Mai, her flames did use some type of energy both from outside and inside the body at the same time. But what kind of energy she uses is unknown to me. In fact, due to the kind of world this is, I don't doubt there are multiple types of energy systems.

After tossing her in the living room, I went out to see if other people were training. Maybe I would be able to get some clue of the type of energy they use or at least how they use it.

"So you want to date her," said Lucy with a teasing tone as she appeared on my shoulder.

'Not really. I just thought she would take the fight more seriously if I asked for something she would view as important. But apparently, I was wrong. Hopefully, getting knocked out will make her more serious.'

"Really, I thought she was taking it seriously."

'Only a fool would rush an unknown opponent while knowing he has some knowledge of your fighting style.'

"Maybe she was trying to blitz you and catch you off guard."

'Kind hard to catch your opponent off guard when he's looking right at you. There was also the fact that we both knew when we would start the match, so we would be ready for many scenarios. She most likely thought the quicker she finished me off the faster she could kick me out. The thought of the possibility of her losing probably never crossed her mind, so she just charged at me without a plan.'

"Aren't you just overthinking it?"

'Maybe'

It's true she may have taken the match seriously, but her attitude told me the opposite. I also don't know enough of her character at this time period to make an accurate judgment since when they introduced her in the game, she was already obsessed over Andy. Then again, her character in this world can be totally different due to it being a different one. But that doesn't matter at this point, I'll know if she was serious or not in our next fight.

While I was talking to Lucy, I reached the village's training area.

Pov. Mai

"Augh, what happened?"

As I get up, I feel the room spinning. The last thing I remember was sparring and then nothing.

"Good, you're awake," I heard my grandfather say from behind me.

"Grandpa, what happened?" I asked.

"Well, you lost your first sparring match with the kid."

"That's … no that's not right he must have cheated," I said, not wanting to believe I lost to him.

"Is that really what you think?" Asked my grandpa.

"How else could he win? No one in the village around my age can win a match against me. Even the adults have a tough time fighting me."

"Haaa, it seems it was worse than I thought."

"That's right, Grandpa, he's awful. we should kick him out right away."

"I was talking about you."

"What?"

I was confused about what my grandpa was saying.

"You lost, and you blame it on him cheating instead of accepting the loss and improving from it. The fact that you underestimated him was something that could cost you your life in our line of work."

"But grandpa"

"No buts, in fact, the main reason you lost was because you overestimated your own abilities. But then again, that can also be partly my fault as well. Due to you being my granddaughter, all the villagers have taken it easy on you during training, and I have failed to stop them," he said with a troubled face.

"What do you mean by they were taking it easy on me?"

"The fact that you haven't noticed when you've seen everyone's skills as they train and spar proves you've overestimated your own skills," he said with a fed-up expression.

What my grandpa said shocked me before thinking back on it. Really thinking over everyone's strength, I started to see what my grandpa was talking about. But I still won sparring matches again. Most of them think my strength was superior, then there's. But does that mean I was weak and everyone has just let me win? No, that doesn't seem right.

"By that look you have on your face I'm sure you're starting to wonder how strong you really are, since with your skills I'm sure you started realizing some of them were taking it easy on you during your spars. But don't overthink it. You're strong and talented, but you just have to get over your inflated ego. If you can do that, then you'll drastically improve your skills," said my grandfather with a serious expression.

"How long did you know they were taking it easy on me?" I asked.

"I think I found out last year when you started to challenge the adults to spar with you. After learning of it I looked into your spars with the other children and found out they weren't giving it their all when sparring with you," he said as he rubbed his beard in his thinking pose.

"Why did you let it continue?"

"Because I was worried, someone who faces challenges throughout their life will never give up due to one more challenge before they reach the top. On the contrary, someone that has faced no challenges throughout their life will give up as soon as one shows up right when they're about to reach the top," he said as he looked at something that wasn't there.

"And you thought I would be one of those that gave up?"

"I had no idea whether you would give up or not. But I wouldn't have been surprised. After all, I've met many types of people through my long life and learned you never truly know what decisions someone will make until they make it. I've been worried about how to approach this problem for a while. That's when Zhao showed up and decided to let him deal with it. If you won, he would make you work for it, and it may wake you up from your arrogance. But if you lose, then I'll deal with the aftermath," he said with a proud look on his face like he thought of the perfect plan.