Meeting Saeko

Walking down the stairs, I had a nice spring in my step, feeling good with myself.

I exited the stairs on the second floor and took a right turn before walking to the end of the hallway, with a big smile spread across my face the entire way.

The closer I got to the end of the hall, the more I could hear the sound of shinai hitting shinai. I could hear a kind and caring voice giving out instructions and advice and I couldn't help but smile even more:

This was the voice of the person I wanted to meet today. Someone like me.

Getting to the door, I politely knocked on it. I stood there as I heard the shinai stop clashing and calm steps to the door in front of me before it slowly opened revealing a teen.

He wasn't very tall, in fact, he was pretty short at around 168cm but his physique was quite athletic. Probably from Kendo exercises.

He looked up at me and saw my ice blue eyes and seemed to actually seem some semblance of the real me. He was slightly startled but he didn't flinch, no, I guess that he'd already seen this in a specific someone before.

The boy's clear black eyes looked up at me before he stammered out, "W-what do you want?" his voice was shaky but I had to give it to him; he wasn't a pussy.

Not to toot my own horn - I'm gonna toot my own horn - but I'm a pretty intimidating-looking guy. Tall, muscular, sharp face, and my predatory ice blue eyes which seem to bore holes into people. All of which makes me seem more like a Bandit King than Prince Charming.

So, I'll give this guy some props. He might even survive what's to come.

But right now I didn't need to be too intimidating. Being a delinquent isn't advantageous to my goal of building friendships and relations with the cast - well, at least not yet, anyway.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt your practice," I put on an 'embarrassed' smile as I scratched the back of my head, "I'm a transfer student and I was told to find a club. The Kendo Club seemed interesting so I thought I'd come to have a look," with this my intimidating air practically disappeared and I seemed more like a normal person than a predatory animal. Probably to do with the virus and Kagune inside of me.

Oh well, not that it matters much.

The boy in front of me instantly changed his attitude and apologetically smiled at me, "Sorry about my rudeness, you just seemed like you were here to cause trouble...But if you're here to check out the club, come in! I'll take you over to our Captain," he backed away and motioned for me to come in, so I obliged.

I looked around the room as I entered and as I expected, the place looked a lot like a Dojo and despite what I thought the room was quite big. Much bigger than the other classrooms.

As if knowing my thoughts, the boy who let me in spoke up, "You're thinking that it's pretty big for a classroom, right?" seeing me nod he let out a small laugh, "Yeah, most people think that when they enter. This was originally gonna be a library/storeroom for books for the subjects at the school but the actual Library had more than enough space to hold the books so this room was just collecting dust until Busujima-senpai came in a sorted out the Kendo Club when she entered the school...Haah~ She's a really hard-working and caring girl..." looking at the dream-like expression on his face, I realized he must like Saeko.

That's got to change.

"Hmm...this senpai of ours seems quite...wonderful. Can you take me to her so I can ask her about the club?" my smile wasn't really a smile but I still tried my best to keep my intimidation down. The poor guy was oblivious to my annoyance to him and simply nodded and walked to the back of the room where there were a bunch of people standing around two people in Kendo gear.

By now they'd re-started their match and I could instantly tell who one of them was.

Lithe, fast and graceful movements, fitted with the deadly precision of her shinai and I could clearly say I'd found a real warrior in this world. Sadly, she seemed to be holding back. I'd have to help change that.

The teen next to me continued talking but I ignored him for now, I was too busy watching the fight. Like seriously, shut up Side Character-kun.

As you might have guessed, the person I was looking at was Saeko Busujima.

I watched as she deflected the shinai coming at her with an almost bored ease, and when she wasn't blocking or deflecting she was simply stepping out of the way.

Her unlucky opponent was completely outmatched as he tried his best to keep up with her. But determination was nothing in front of skill, talent and real power.

*THWACK!*

Saeko's shinai hit the teen on his chest with a thrust of her bamboo sword. Despite his armor, I could tell he definitely felt the brunt of that attack as he stepped back with a 'Gurghh!' before he dropped his shinai and clutched at his chest and went down to one knee.

He took his Kendo helmet off and I could see his sweat covered face as he gasped for air. He was decently handsome with black hair and blue eyes, fit with a pretty boy face he seemed like the type of boy girls swoon over because he's prince charming incarnate.

I might seem too critical on him because he's fighting Saeko when I'm on the sidelines not being able to but still...Shut up.

Saeko took her on helmet off and I swear on Kazu-jiisan, my heart skipped a beat.

Long, straight and purple hair shiny from the sweat of her fight along with a triangular fringe at the front that barely touches the ridge of her nose, blue eyes, and a sharp and serious face. Her lips were a lovely pink color and had a natural shininess to them that made my throat dry in my need to kiss them.

But overall it was what was in her eyes that caught my breath:

Battle lust, battle mania...brutality and overall, boredom at the lackluster fight in front of her.

She's like me...Hahahahaha! She's like me!

I'd seen other battle junkies like me before, so what's my problem? They were all dudes! And rare chance I did see a woman with that specific demeanor, she was some kind of muscular gorilla (bit harsh, I know. But still, this is something I'm passionate about!) who looked more masculine than most men.

But right in front of me was an outstanding beauty who still held such likeness to me, that I was simply smitten with her as soon as I saw her.

Thank God for anime~!

Her voice sounded out like the voice of a holy angel as I was busy gawking at her, "Takahata-kun, you need to not overextend, it leaves you wide open to counterattacks, now--!" her voice came to an abrupt stop as we met eyes.

As I looked into her deep blue eyes, she looked into my own ice blue ones. It may have been my imagination but something just seemed to click into place with each other as we saw what the other was truly like.

I slowly walked forward and dropped my bag, slowly flexing and warming up my muscles. Saeko got into a stance and pointed her shinai straight at my neck.

People tried to stop me from walking toward their senpai but with a simple push, they were sent to the floor and rolled away groaning in pain.

Weaklings didn't get to come between two warriors.

When I was a meter or two away from Saeko, I flexed my legs and shot toward her with blinding speed.

Due to my exertion, my shoes and socks seemed to explode off of my feet and the tatami mats below me crumpled downward from the force of my push.

When in front of her I sent a simple punch but this punch would put a grown man in the hospital eating through a tube. But if you respect a warrior, you won't care about such meaningless things. Even then, I didn't need to worry about Saeko disappointing me.

My punch hit nothing, only air and some of Saeko's hair which had flowed upwards after she ducked downward in a sudden squat.

Seeing her dodge, I smiled in a near-manic way, "Excellent!" my voice was full of joy as I tilted my head backward letting the shinai thrust at me harmlessly pass by.

Using the momentum from my dodge, I spun around and aimed my heel at Saeko's body. Again, however, she used her masterful movement skills and jumped over my kick before slamming her shinai down toward my head.

Looking up, to my joy, I saw an equally psychotic smile stretching across her face but there was still some pesky hesitation.

Lifting my arm up, I let the shinai hit my arm, to the shock of both Saeko and the other club members. But Saeko felt even more shock when she felt like she'd just struck a metal training dummy made to withstand the hardest of strikes.

Her feet dropped to the ground and we entered a sort of 'stalemate' I let out a joyful laugh before looking into her beautiful blue eyes and the battle mania that only made them more amazing to look at.

"You know, Busujima-senpai...you don't need to hold back with me~" my words shocked her, making her body jolt before freezing solid like a statue, "I'll take anything you throw at me...just don't show such pesky hesitation when we fight...we're warriors and hesitation has no need on the battlefield. So fight me with everything, Busujima-senpai," I smiled at her. Not with manic glee like before but with a gentleness that seemed to thaw her frozen figure.

But with this, I was done talking.

I sent a stronger and faster punch than before at her body. I knew she'd withstand it, so I didn't worry about hurting her.

And as if to not disappoint me, she brought her shinai in front of her body and the resilient bamboo absorbed a lot of my punch due to its durability but also because of her outstanding technique. Still, she was blasted backward a few feet.

It's true that I completely outmatch her when it comes to physical prowess; I didn't even know my limits yet, but I knew they were definitely past what a human could compete with. But...her technique vastly outstripped my own and it was due to one advantage:

Her human weakness.

Think about it. Humans are weak creatures. The number of weak points on the human body is so numerable you could write a decently sized book about them, even if you spoke about two weak points per page.

What was the answer Humans came up with to get past these limitations? Martial Arts.

Humans who practice martial arts, and I mean really practice martial arts, transcend past these natural physical limitations and can put out enough power to kill animals which normal humans would have to group up on and still, the normal humans would have casualties despite their weapons and superior numbers.

What I'm trying to get at is, Humanities physical limitations allowed them to go down a different route to me and most other animals on Earth. While I could easily rely on brute strength to crush my foes, Saeko used technique, skill, and her innate battle instincts.

So, despite me not going 100% against Saeko, it still wasn't easy for me to fight her: Her skill could somewhat bridge the gap between our vast physical differences.

Anyway, back to the fight.

Saeko was breathing deeply. Not because she was worn out, but purely because of her excitement.

She shot back at me with furious abandon, "I'll do what you say then, my mysterious kouhai!" after saying this, she was in front of me and what came could only be called beautifully deadly.

Slashes, thrusts, sweeps. Everything. With more power, speed, and precision than I'd seen any other human do.

And it was fucking glorious.

Ducking under a slash at my neck, I had a crazed smile as I laughed, "That's it Busujima-senpai!" I dropped to the ground and swept her legs from underneath her causing her to fall to the ground.

Using what skill I did have I threw myself onto her and lifted my fist backward before throwing it down at her terrifyingly beautiful face. She didn't seem fazed by this situation and it only excited me more.

She moved her head to the side letting my hit the tatami mat with a resounding bang which shook the floor a little.

Whoops, I may have gotten a little carried away...~

But again, this didn't faze Saeko as she slammed the tip of her shinai into my chest before putting the bottom of her feet against my stomach and pushing with all of her strength.

I was sent over her and onto the ground. Chuckling like an idiot, I quickly rolled to the side and hurt the 'thwack' of her shinai hitting the floor. I spun myself around and into a crouched position, looking over at Saeko who was in a position like she was ready to charge at me.

"Haah~ One last charge, huh, Busujima-senpai? Let's put an end to this for now..." hearing me, she gave a nod and a smile of her own before getting into position.

I put my hands to the floor, slowly entering a sprinter's start position.

For what seemed like an eternity we just looked into one another's eyes, seeing the other's excitement. But this didn't last for long as we both shot off at one another with furious speed.

Obviously, I was quicker but we had the same intentions and that's all that mattered in my book.

Within less than a second our attacks had been thrown and stopped just before our opponent's skin with a whoosh of air making Saeko's lovely purple hair fly about around her head, while my hair was too short to really flow around like hers, it was still moved by the air current from our attacks.

Saeko's shinai was pointed straight at my throat, or more specifically my jugular vein. While my punch was an uppercut pointed straight under her nose which if it hit would kill her instantly by pushing the cartilage and bone into her brain.

Both attacks aimed to kill the other but neither participant was annoyed, no, in fact, they were exhilarated; they'd found someone like themselves.

"Haaa...haa...it seems I've gained a rather wonderful kouhai fufufu~" Saeko, though slightly breathless, still let out a wonderfully beautiful smile and a rather playful laugh, "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Hearing her words, I chuckled before bringing my fist away from her nose.

"Oh, of course, anything for you Busujima-senpai," I winked at her before carrying on, "My name's Ryu Hattori, a transfer student who just recently moved to this school," hearing what I said, Saeko went a little red from embarrassment but she didn't seem to mind what I'd said.

She too took her shinai away from my neck before her smile got even more resplendent.

"You see to know me, but I'll introduce myself regardless; My names Saeko Busujima, Captain of the Kendo Club, it nice to meet you Hattori-kun," she did a small bow, allowing me to see her wonderful cleavage and her now slightly jiggling tits.

Returning her bow, I walked backward until I returned to where I dropped my bag. I looked over at Saeko before smiling.

"I've done what I came here to do, Busujima-senpai, so I'll be going. But I assure you that you'll see plenty of me if that's okay with you?"

"Oh? Do you wish to join the Kendo Club? I thought the Karate Club would suit you better?" Saeko cutely tilted her head a little as she asked her question.

...Goddamn, she's way too cute despite having such a serious atmosphere...no, instead, the serious atmosphere makes her cuter!

Breaking myself out of these thoughts, I shook my head at Saeko, "Sadly I won't be joining, senpai, but I would like to come and spar with you occasionally...if that's fine with you? I don't get the chance to spar with such a fine warrior, often--" before I could speak any further, Saeko had appeared in front of me and held her hands to her chest, squeezing her bountiful chest and making it stand out even more.

She looked up at me with hopeful eyes as she spoke, "I'd like that, Hattori-kun...fighting with you was truly enjoyable!"

Hearing her, I beamed a dazzling smile which seemed to daze both Saeko and the other girls in the club.

"That's good, no, brilliant! I'll be seeing you a lot from now on then, Busujima-senpai!" with this I turned around and walked to the door of the room.

Before I exited fully, I turned to Saeko and did a bow to her, showing how thankful I was for the fight she just gave me.

While it wasn't truly taxing, it was enjoyable for me to fight against such a beautiful fighter who shared my views.

With that done, I left and went on my way home a bit quicker than before as I wanted to go home to do some tests with my powers and also a little bit of training once I knew their limits.

Little did I know that Saeko had to go and change after our fight with a red face after she'd realized how terrifically wet she was due to both her excitement and because of me. Which is lucky, because if I did know, I would've found a way to take her then and there.

(A/N - Obviously he could beat Saeko if he went 100% killer mode on her, but why would he do that in a spar-ish fight with her? He told her to go all out because he could handle it and because it'd help her with her trauma of not accepting her more brutal side that enjoys fighting.)