Chapter 45 : Unruly 

A/N: Ummm ummmm something different in this chap hehe, it had been a while... I won't spoil so just gimme those stones already huehuehue!

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"Today is the day!" Ryuko shouted in front of her mirror.

She had one fist raised in a 'heroic' manner and the other on her hip, but she quickly blushed out of embarrassment.

She even asked herself, 'Why did I do it?'

"Let's forget that and get ready!" As quickly as she blushed the first time, she forgot about it.

Ryuko was so enthusiastic about this spar, it was another way for her to compare herself to her father.

And it was by winning against someone who had beaten the 'insurmountable' wall that he represented.

Although her father didn't use his quirk, she intended to finally show her quirk to Kurai.

Firstly, because she wanted to be as honest as possible with one of her only friends.

Secondly, she knew that she couldn't stand a chance against him without her dragon form.

'And even with it... I still don't know.'

*Clap*

She was now in front of her sink in the bathroom, and she lightly slapped her cheeks.

"You can't be a defeatist, even more so without trying Ryuko!" She told herself.

She then went back to her main room and opened the closet. 'Let's bring out the big gun!'

The blond took out a black qipao with golden linings.

"Yosh!" Now that she had worn it, the small dragon was all hyped up.

These clothes were prepared by her father. He told her that a local artisan prepared it especially for her liability.

In fact, it was the same family who always made clothes for the shrine's dragons.

From her father and his father, and his father's father... Every generation had their qipaos.

Mainly because it represented perfectly their noblesse and virtue. But also because the artisan could imbue the clothes with a special characteristic.

The clothes were able to expand like a rubber band!

So now the dragons weren't worried of transforming and being naked when they got their human forms back.

Thinking back to all this, Ryuko dusted off her costume as she was walking down the aisle toward the sparring grounds.

She told Kurai to wait for her there in the first hour of the morning, before everyone else woke up. 'I hope it's not too early for him...'

It was the only place for her that could welcome a fight of this magnitude.

When she arrived at the place, it was still empty.

The sparring ground was a plain zone devoid of any vegetation. Though it was surrounded by trees to hide what was happening from prying eyes.

The ground was damaged by the previous fights too, it was actually so damaged that it looked dry with small cracks here and there.

There was no grass, flowers or anything else.

*Sigh*

'As I expected... It's too early... Why did I tell him to come and meet me at 6am??!' She grounded herself.

"Are you tired, Ryuko-san? Why the sigh?" From behind a certain purple head voice reached her ears.

"Ah! Kurai! You came!" Her initial surprise at getting caught off guard soon transformed into joy when she saw him.

"Of course I came, how could I miss this?" He lightly bopped her nose.

"Kya! Stop it! I just thought it was too early! That's all!" She tried to defend herself.

The hit didn't hurt her, but she still rubbed her nose with both hands, that way she could hide the small blush and the smile that was forming on her face.

Kurai then looked around him, "Don't worry, I generally wake up this soon to workout, this place on the other hand..."

He paused to let his words sink in.

And he resumed his talk under the admirative gaze of the blond, "I like it!"

He grinned, "I could easily go all out without fearing any spy, heh."

Ryuko nodded, "Yes, I especially chose this place for that exact reason."

"Did you take spies into account too?"

She tilted her head on the side, not understanding where he wanted to go, "What spies? Our shrine doesn't have that type of thing..."

"Yeah, not your shrine for sure, they would probably be more discreet, isn't it Ms. Spy?" Kurai turned his head a bit, looking behind Ryuko.

The latter followed his gaze but she could only see bushes and trees.

"Is there something wron—?"

Kurai interrupted her, and shouted at the person hiding, "Oi! Come out, if you wanna say something, it's your last chance!"

Immediately, both kids heard the rustling, and incredulously, the person who came out was someone they both knew very much.

"Rumi-san?" Well, Ryuko was the only one shocked, Kurai was now used to Rumi following him after her first failed attempt.

"Why are you here?" She continued to question the naughty bunny.

The said bunny had an unreadable expression, though it looked for sure that she was at her breaking point.

"What do you mean, why am I here? I should ask you this question!"

Yesterday's trio was back together again, the only difference was in the mood.

"We scheduled this spar long ago!" Ryuko didn't know why but she found herself shouting at Rumi for the first time.

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?! Who told you that you could match Kurai?"

The man in question was spectating the argument in front of him. Waiting for the right moment to intervene.

"That's not something that concerns you, for all I know he isn't your mate or anything!" Ryuko continued to spit truths to the bunny, she even looked elsewhere, trying to imitate Rumi.

The bunny started to get flustered, but she wasn't one to back down easily.

'I guess it's enough, right?' Kurai asked himself in the middle of all this.

"Girls." His voice sounded clear and distinctive amidst their argument.

When they looked back at him, Kurai could definitely see the rising tension in their irises.

"Why don't you settle this once and for all with a fight?"

His proposal left them gobsmacked, but quickly a flame was lit in their eyes.

"Instead of fighting me, try to fight Rumi, and if she isn't enough for you, I'd be there. Alright?" This time, he turned to Ryuko, showing his fangs.

'That should do the trick.' Kurai mentally patted himself, proud of having found a solution.

"Oh don't worry, I'll show this arrogant girl how strong I am!" Rumi's eyes were bloodshot, it was as if this moment was all she wanted.

"Alright, if I have your word Kurai, then I'll calm this savage rabbit, please wait a bit." Ryuko nodded at him, and took her place further away.

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Back to Rumi, the infuriated rabbit was keeping an eye and an ear on their last words.

It was true that she felt jealous of Ryuko. Jealous of how close she seemed to Kurai after not even a week of bonding.

But more than anything she feared losing him to someone like her, not even that strong.

'And so kind…' She thought. She couldn't understand how someone might be so kind and strong at the same time. So she just assumed that all her strength was a lie in the first place.

Then again, she might have had the same reaction without that drug she had taken years back.

And even if she knew that it was because of a drug, she couldn't be sure if the drug didn't only amplify her true feelings.

During this trip, the nightmares had become frightening to say the least. She had trouble getting a rest, and it didn't help that she was tired, hence all the badmouthing and the mood swings.

It might even be qualified as anger issues at this point.

Everything was mixed up, and even this jealousy, she didn't know if it was excessif possession, love, friendship, or something else.

'Ryuko…' But one thing she was sure of was that the dragon had a role to play in all this.

And by defeating her maybe she could make Kurai look at her, and only her.

Finally as she saw Ryuko take her place further away, Rumi started doing little jumps where she was standing.

Her gaze was always set on Ryuko, never leaving the dragon.

Suddenly, as she noticed her move, Rumi sprung forward with all her might.

Her speed surprised Ryuko so much that she had to give her all to dodge, a hair breath away was all the distance she could create before re-positioning herself.

"You're fast." The bunny heard Ryuko, and her grin became more savage as she was slowly getting carried away by her battlelust.

The fight then resumed again, Rumi was assaulting Ryuko non-stop.

At first it was mainly fists being thrown, but then the rabbit was throwing kicks too.

Ryuko was on the defensive side, she gave the upperhand to Rumi and tried to tire her the most, at least that's what she expected but it seemed that Rumi's strength was increasing the more she was fighting.

Her smile was becoming wilder and wilder, just like her moves.

'What kind of stamina is this?' The dragon was flabbergasted.

'It looks like I need to up my game.'

Just as Rumi's left jab missed her head, the rabbit let her body rotated and threw her right elbow straight at Ryuko's nose.

This time though, Ryuko used her two hands to block the hit.

Unfortunately, it was way stronger than what she expected. Her body was sent one meter back, and even her feet rooted deep into the ground couldn't stop her fast enough.

'What's this strength?!' Ryuko could feel the pain on the palm of her hands.

"Is that everything you have?" Rumi's blood red irises eyed Ryuko's.

"And you wanted to fight Kurai?" The last comment made Ryuko grit her teeth in anger, the bunny's provocations were successfully reaching their goal.

"Stop talking, you uneducated girl!" After wording her most sinful swear words Ryuko was the one attacking.

Although her maitrise of Kung-Fu was impressive for an eleven years old kid, Rumi was trained in multiple arts by Kurai himself.

The man was looking at the fight from further away, and as of now he was clearly not impressed.

By either of them, still he noticed that weirdly Rumi was behaving more erratically than usual. Her hits were relying on Krav' Maga, one of the deadliest martial arts.

It was a move set clearly not belonging in a spar, so he was struggling whether he should stop it or not.

Coincidentally, Ryuko's palm strike aimed at Rumi's plexus was deflected by the latter using her knee.

Using this opportunity Rumi grabbed the flying hand and as she was pulling the upper body toward herself, she sent a heel kick on her ribs, stopping Ryuko in her tracks.

"Kuh!" The hit made Ryuko spit a lump of blood.

Thankfully nothing seemed to be broken, although it might leave a nasty bruise later.

Rumi then swatted her hand away before resuming.

Most of her fists and kicks were hitting the target, even though the dragon was trying to defend, she was still receiving the blunt impact.

Her hands and forearms were becoming sore, it truly had been a long time since she had taken a beating like this.

'Looks like I underestimated her, I thought that only my father, and now Kurai, were strong enough to get me serious…'

Most of the hits were aimed at her vital areas, such as her neck, head or heart.

Ryuko was prioritizing such areas in her defense and letting all the other hits touch her.

She was sure to have bruises tomorrow, on her arms, legs or sides.

Meanwhile, Rumi wasn't slowing down, and the beatdown really became one. So much that Kurai was about to intervene and stop the butchery.

*Paf*

A strong palm strike hit Ryuko directly into her solar plexus, sending her flying a few meters back.

The shock was so strong that it made her stop breathing for a while.

'That's too aggressive!' Even Kurai decided to step up.

'I didn't teach you those moves so you could use them on random kids, idiot!' But just as he was about to stop the spar he made eye contact with Ryuko.

He could definitely read the plea in them.

'Don't stop the fight?' He was not sure about her desire to continue, until he remembered what her family was.

"Is that all you have, weakling?" Rumi, on the other hand, continued her taunting.

'Welp, I guess that muscle head deserves a beating too.'

After catching her breath Ryuko spat blood on the side, and raised her head to look at the bunny.

"You're very strong, I admit it."

"Heh, of cours—!" Rumi wasn't able to finish her sentence when she felt a foreboding feeling.

The aura around Ryuko was increasing rapidly, so much that it was starting to become suffocating.

Even Kurai was feeling the pressure, 'I guess you've asked for it, Rumi-chan~!'

Under the astonished gaze of the small bunny, Ryuko's frame became bigger and bigger until it towered over her.

The naughty bunny had her mouth agape,

"You're a dragon…?"

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The real fight between the savage bunny and the mighty dragon only started...