SIXTEEN

The New Year's dance was coming up in about two weeks and Scarlet Sapphira already knew which of the two bozos she was going to go out with...

That weekend, she was flown across the border with Lee to reach a parking lot where several people were gathered around those who engaged in battle...

Lee took her to a place where she saw Amane, just as he told her...

She looked at him with tearing eyes, despite the muscles bulging around his body, the same artwork was tattered with scars of all sizes and he didn't seem to see the two as a man most definitely twice his size and age walked into the circled area as he bounced on the balls of his feet...

The match began and the moment Amane was going to dodge the first blow, Scarlet Sapphira yelled his name in fear then he got distracted, and hit, hard...

***

The man landed a solid punch to the side of Amane's face and he fell to the side as the man kept ramming his fists into the young man she knew so little's body, which could easily also be called little when compared to his opponent's.

The man kneed Amane in the nose then rammed his face into the concrete floor and Scarlet Sapphira got scared and sought solace in Lee's embrace, but it was the fear in Lee's face that got to Amane...

The man tried to grab Amane when he received a clean elbow to the centre of the face, before Amane gave him a spinning hook kick to the ribs, making a slight crack as he hit the man, hard, in the midsection and threw him backwards onto the floor.

He breathed heavily as he looked at the two of them, wiped the blood from his nose, and continued as if nothing happened.

At the end of the day...or night, Amane won and kept his seventy six strong match winning streak, and looking for the two of them, he realised they were gone, but then got called back...he had another challenger...

Scarlet Sapphira ran to cry beside the Tesla that brought them and Lee apologized, but she then asked,"And how do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know you're not also doing the same?!"

He hesitated for second, then spoke,"I wouldn't lie to you Scarlet Sapphira..."

"Why? Why did you show me this?"

"Because..."

"Because what?!"She yelled.

"Because I like you okay, ever since the day we met, I've just been too scared to say it, and I'm sorry if I hurt you."

She looked at him, knowing he told the truth, he was pathetic, but she then ran away.

He called to her, but the tears didn't stop flowing, the tears of amusement that is...

That evening, Lee was in a bar then took a whiskey just to drown his sorrows and got a hand on his shoulder from behind.

He turned back to see Amane, who sat beside him then said,"I hope you're happy now, she hates both of us."

"Hey, I am not the one who took her across the border to see me fight, that was all you."

Lee banged his fist on the table and said,"I just wish that I had more time."

Amane placed a hand on his shoulder then said,"You do bro, let's make it simpler, whomever she takes to the Spring Dance will win the bet, then things could go back the way the were."

Lee took another gulp before Amane removed the glass from his grip and shook his head, only to get punched in the nose and attacked by Lee...

Amane woke up the next morning beside Lee then chuckled then whispered in his ear,"Did you enjoy it?"

Lee groaned then said,"Shut up."

Throwing the pillow on Amane's face, Amane chuckled as he sat up then Amane said,"One more try, if you win, I'll be your personal assistant."

"And if you win, I'll..."

"Just take the shame, all I need to know is that you're the only one for me, no one else."

Amane kissed him then got up to change.

***

The next few days at schools, Scarlet Sapphira ignored the both of them, no matter what they tried, and none of their leads were working, but their popularity among the students had exploded in size, especially that of Amane, turns out, people liked a good fighter...

It was Amane's turn with Scarlet Sapphira and he tried as usual, to follow her.

This time, she didn't go to her aunt's house, or any house, she went into the woods...and trained.

He was shocked by her technique alone and the fact that she could punch right through basically any tree in her way.

She rammed her shin into a tree stump, toppling it over, when she heard someone say,"You never told me you could do Muay Thai."

Without looking, she said,"This isn't Muai Thai..."

"I'm pretty sure it is."

"Does this look like Muay Thai?"She asked after doing an overhead handstand front kick, landing and doing a leg sweep.

"Maybe..."He said.

"What about this..."

She did a spinning, b aerial kick and her foot sliced through four medium sized branches like the axe the kick was named after.

He shrugged with a slight wincing, then she asked,"What about..."

"...this..."He completed.

He was really close to her, then she pushed him back and said,"Leave me alone."

"Why don't you make me?"He asked.

She turned back to leave, but he held her hand till she tried doing a spinning back fist which he blocked, only for her to give him an inside elbow to the chest with the arm he was holding and punch him right in the nose with the other.

On the floor, he tapped his nose and smirked at the red liquid, then said,"Nice, really nice..."

He did a flair to get back to his feet and they circled each other for a few seconds, then she attacked...

Scarlet Sapphira rammed Amane's body into a nearby tree, then kicked his knee and elbowed him in the side of the head, then he looked at her and said,"My turn..."

Despite saying this, he didn't make any effort to hurt her, he only held her hand and spun her round so her back was on his chest, slowly swaying with her as he bent down and was about to kiss her on the cheek when she frowned and hit him in the face with the back of her fist, then elbowed him in the rock hard belly and gave him a spinning back kick to the face when he was down.

He back flipped and landed a superhero landing then darted forward and dodged all her feigned punches till she landed a solid one to his cheek, which actually took him down, then she wrapped around him and held him in a crossarm bar, but he somehow slipped out of it, yet remained over her, then held her chin between his thumb and index finger.

She breathed heavily, then got angry because he made her feel that way, she was supposed to be manipulating him, she had to end this...

She wrapped her legs around his neck and bashed his head against a rock, while pulling his arm, but he grinned, then slowly pulled his body off the ground, till she let go and planted a hard kick into his jaw from the floor, and this, took down the giant, he didn't get back up for a while...

She groaned on the floor for a few seconds as she asked,"Do you give up?"

He muttered,"No..."

He slowly began to get up to his feet and the moment he did, she landed a superkick to the side of his head and he fell on his back, dazed.

She slightly smiled, looking down on him, he was charming, but not that charming.

After dumping the guy in his apartment, she dressed his few wounds and poured alcohol over his clothes and into his mouth, he had a lot of it.

She then left, without a trace and when he woke up, he tasted ethanol, he must have been drunk...