Ayame - Operation - Not Without Hope

Description: Objective: No good hijinks at Justice High. Obstacle: An ailing heroine. Alias: Ariana. Summary: Ayame just wants to be left alone to pursue whatever mischief she has in mind for the afternoon, but in the process comes across a girl she's wronged before. Willing to risk injury to keep the vicious girl from potentially harming her friends, Kiyoko takes on the weapons fighter a second time. While the environment does limit some of Ayame's options, it ends up turning against the Tai Chi artist just as harshly and Kiyoko ends up taking one hit too many.



While the dormitories of Justice High don't have the majesty of the rest of the school, they have something else that easily makes up for it and more: Privacy. In a country where the inhabitants are packed together like sardines because there's just not enough space to hold the population having your own room is an amazing thing, let alone having a bathroom all to yourself. It's definitely not something that's lost on the students, and aside from the education provided might be the largest perk of getting to go to school at Justice.

For the most part the classes Kiyoko is taking have recently finished up with major testing for the quarter. Her and her friends have cut back on studying as much because of this, a relaxing break from the hectic days before the tests, so the study group has broken up a couple hours sooner than they had been. The rest of the girls break off and head into their dorms, but Kiyoko stays behind for a bit to clean up- it's her turn. Luckily they're not slobs, so it's just a matter of wiping up crumbs from the inevitable snacks and making sure pencil shavings and bits of paper aren't present.

It's quickly finished up, and she soon pops out of the study hall with a book under her arm, undecided on whether she should go into her room and take a nap or find something fun to do around the city.

Able to pass as a student when it matters, the High Schools are prime hunting grounds for one predatory young menace. But some schools are trickier than others. She has a hard time at Taiyo ever since their star soccer player posted pictures of her all over the campus with an advisory to be on the look out for her. And last time she braved Pacific, one of the teachers came just shy of clobbering the heck out of her, forcing her to resort to her usual dirty tricks just to slip away in the end.

The problem with Justice is the uniforms. She can't blend in without one. It's easier at Pacific where the dress code is practically never respected in any significant way. Here, though, there's no getting around the need for a uniform if she's going to be working the student crowd any. And so of course she's at the one place where she's bound to find them - the Girl's dorms.

She's been skulking around the halls for a while now, watching to see which doors girls are coming and going from, and occasionally knocking on doors before darting around corners to see if anyone answers. With nigh impeccable memory, she managed to figure out an empty room belonging to a girl similar in stature to herself. Picking the lock during an opportune moment took seconds, and then she was inside.

Thus it is that Ayame is now stepping into the hall out of the room, dressed in the orange and black uniform of the Justice High girls. An expensive, snakeskin bag over her shoulder contains her change of clothing as well as some odds and ends she took from the room that looked valuable enough to bother, and of course, the various unfriendly nicknacks Ayame would never be somewhere without. Since it is the cooler months, she has on the orange jacket that goes with the uniform, though she leaves it unbuttoned, having used some of the pockets on the inside of it to stash her tools.

Pulling the door closed behind her with a click, Ayame inhales a deep breath before stretching her arms and glancing up and down the length of the hallway. This should be a good day, she tells herself.

Southtown is big and interesting, but there's no point walking around aimlessly if you don't know what you want to do. Kiyoko decides it's best to just go back and lay down for a bit and maybe listen to the radio. If she wants to go do something there's no reason she can't go later, and maybe she could drag some friends along as well. Things are always more fun if you're going with someone else, right? Maybe a good movie is coming out; who knows.

Her mind is on this as she walks down the hallway, not paying too much attention to what's going on around her. Her book still held in one arm she comes up behind Ayame and passes her while quietly contemplating. She doesn't recognize the strawberry blonde, but she doesn't know everyone in the dorm so it doesn't strike her as anything out of the ordinary. After a moment, though, she realizes she was probably being rude by not addressing a schoolmate, and she could always have some more friends anyway, so she stops and turns around, hand lifting to make friendly wave. "Gom-" She stops. A few moments pass as she looks over Ayame, and then in a simple gesture she places her hands on her hips and tilts her head, an eyebrow cocked. No words, just an 'Oh, come on' look on her face.

Ayame is already figuring out her itinerary for the remainder of the afternoon. Robbing a few more rooms is probably the most lucrative thing to do, but it's risky. If a student comes back while she's in their own dorm she'll have to knock them out to get out and that could make noise and that might just end up blowing the whole gig.

It's easy to steal bracelets, watches, and rings from most students though, so she might just stick to the lower risk stuff for a while then see how she feels about that. A girl is passing her in the hall but Ayame pays her no mind. The chances of there being any random student that knows absolutely every other student seems unlikely to her.

But then the other girl stops and turns around and the non-student takes a moment to face her directly, wondering what sort of song and dance she'll have to put on to brush the student off. But then she notices just who it is she's bumped into by the worst of luck and unfortunate coincidences. And Ayame's reaction? She smiles back, recognizing the girl immediately but not indicating that she does. Maybe she'll go away? Maybe she'll think she's made a mistake?

"Sorry, didn't mean to get in the way," the girl mumbles, bowing her head repeatedly as she backs up toward the door she just came out of. Leaning her head to the side after the bows, she merely offers the most benign smile one could ever expect to see on a pretty Japanese girl.

Kiyoko is left a little unsure of where to proceed from here. In truth she was sort of expecting Ayame to fly into some kind of shock and exclaim something like 'It's you!' and give herself away immediately. That's... not what happens. No, she's far craftier than that. Come to think of it, she acted like she was going to befriend her before she decided to rob her, didn't she? So sneaky- definitely sneaky. Hmm, if she managed to steal Justice clothes then maybe she got an ID too, which would- wait, how can Kiyoko even be sure she isn't a student in the first place? Darn. This isn't as clear cut as she thought!

"Oh, you weren't in the way at all." Kiyoko smiles a semi-sweet smile to Ayame, "I was just thinking of how rude it was that I didn't greet a fellow schoolmate as I passed- after all, I might make a new friend." Sometimes being honest makes it so you don't have to think quite as quickly on your feet. The purple haired girl decides that even if she can't be sure that Ayame is up to no good, she can at least make sure she doesn't go and rob one of her friends- namely by sticking to her like glue. The fact it could just get her robbed again doesn't register.

The exchange seems to be going smoothly. But that's what happens when people try to catch Ayame off guard when she's certain she's got the upper hand anyway. Dealing with people that have bested her before is an entirely different prospect. But the Justice student standing before her? She's sure she can handle the purple haired one.

"Oh," she seems comfortable with the threat of a new friend. She might feel differently if she knew she had a new partner that was going to follow her wherever she went though. "Pleased to meet you," she bows her head again, some of her hair falling in front of her shoulder, "Are you new here? My name is Ariana. You should give me your room number and perhaps after I get back from a sociology lecture I can drop by."

She leans comfortably back against the door she just stepped out of, one hand reaching behind her back to lightly grip the handle out of sight from Kiyoko.

Though Kiyoko isn't sure if 'Ariana' is a student here or not, she does know two things. That she's inherently full of crap, and that there's no lecture that's going to be given. However, rather than calling her on it outright, she 'plays along'. "Pleased to meet you too, Ariana, I'm Kiyoko." She bows her head in equal depth. "Sociology lecture? How convenient- I have to go there too." She gives her a poorly acted smile, not realizing the significance of her having one hand behind her back.

She's pretty sure she just wants to get rid of her though, whether Kiyoko herself just walks away or she just leaves herself. And since she decided to stick to Ayame like glue, that's just not something she can allow! "I suppose it wouldn't be very good to show up late, though, would it?"

What the- Of all the annoying coincidences...! Only, Ayame is picking up that it probably isn't anything of the sort. That this Kiyoko girl recognizes her was evident in the way she looked at her at first glance. That she doesn't want to be brushed off suggests she's trying to make a nuisance of herself. 'Ariana' hates nuisances!

"No, of course it wouldn't," Ayame smiles, her brown eyes showing no hint of malice or ill intent as she starts to consider her options. As in, where can she stuff Kiyoko? The room behind her seems convenient enough. "That's a good point, Kiyoko," the girl remarks, though her tone has shifted now. The legitimate student might remember a similar shift when Ayame was seconds away from lunging at her back on the beach.

And it's in that moment that her left hand clicks the door back open, not having locked it on her way out. It's not like SHE cares if someone goes into a room she finished robbing without permission. Her right hand snaps forward, seeking a grip on the front of Kiyoko's uniform, trying to twist her fingers into the cloth near the collar, where the fabric is more likely to hold strong. And tries to pull her forward, off her feet while turning around, so she can /shove/ the girl through the now opened door, trying to stuff her into the dorm room before anyone enters the hallway.

COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.

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Ayame            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko has joined the fight here.

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Ayame            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko interrupts Quick Throw from Ayame with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Ha ha, Kiyoko thinks, get yourself out of that one! She figures she has Ayame 'trapped', even if it is a rather loose kind of trap, but it doesn't come to her mind that 'Ariana' might escalate the situation. "Why don't we go together-" Wait, why does she suddenly look a whole lot different from the innocent act she's been putting on? "then?" Oh, right. Uh oh!

The door is suddenly flung open, and Kiyoko is thinking Ayame is going to run. Not because she thinks she's afraid, but because she's caught, and 'backup' might be called. However, that's not her intent at all. Instead the strawberry blonde reaches forward to grab the front of her uniform and turns her around, beginning to shove her into the dorm room. It is at this point when Kiyoko's face suddenly turns red and her right hand flies up, slapping her sharply across the cheek- with enough shock to turn the shove into only a light push. "Ariana," she exclaims, "I'm not that kind of girl!"

Yeah, she'll just pull Kiyoko into the room, knock her out somehow (method to be determined!), and then take off. By the time the room's occupant comes back to find an unconscious girl in her dorm, no one will have any idea how to explain what happened. And by the time Kiyoko is able to sound the alarm, Ayame should already be well on her way with a nice little haul.

That's how it played out in her head. But her vision of events as they were supposed to unfold gets shattered the moment Kiyoko's hand smacks across her cheek hard enough to completely stun the girl into inaction, brown eyes widened as she stares back at Kiyoko, her cheek reddening from the slap.

For a good couple of seconds she just stares, clearly having been derailed so thoroughly that she isn't even sure what to do next. Just run? Try again? Play along anyway even though it's pretty clear the gig is up? The teen looks thoroughly confused for a long time. Finally she falls back to Plan A. Get rid of Kiyoko as fast as possible and move on.

"Oh, hah. Don't play coy with me. You're the one that was trying to get close to me," Ariana replies, both hands coming up to try and land a hold on Kiyoko's shoulders for the express purpose of holding her in place for the knee to her stomach that comes up swiftly, trying to crumple the girl over so that she can finish shoving her into the dorm room. "... you should've just kept walking."

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko dodges Ayame's Light Kick.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Still red of cheek and in a bit of a huff, Kiyoko has to fight to keep from crossing her arms over her chest. Of course now that she has a moment to calm down she can understand that the intention was to get rid of her, but her own accusation keeps her good and embarrassed. The moments of shock that Ariana goes though is enough to give the young woman hope that maybe this won't end up turning out quite as badly as it was heading, but a moment later the accusation is turned around.

"W-what! I was just trying to be friendly, you're the one that /grabbed me/!" Play coy? How dare she! And there she goes again, reaching out to grab at her! Not this time, though- she won't let her even lay a finger on, this time. When Ayame reaches out for her, Kiyoko jumps backwards immediately, landing a good few feet inside the room. "See! You keep trying to touch me!"

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko takes no action.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Her fingers don't manage to connect with Kiyoko's shoulders like she intended, but she still gets what she was looking for from the start, so... Ayame can work with that!

A step forward is taken, left hand reaching out to snag a hold of the knob as she steps in, followed by her swinging the door closed behind her, effectively putting her between Kiyoko and the only way out of the small room. A position she clearly intends to lord over the younger girl.

"That you didn't turn around and walk away the second you recognized me means maybe I didn't hurt you enough last time," the long haired blonde snaps. "Now you've turned yourself into another problem for me to solve, and that's unfortunate for you."

Both her hands slip into the outside pockets of her orange, open hanging jacket, each coming out with closed butterfly knives that she flicks open quickly enough. "Now it's better for you and me if you just let me tie you up and be on my way. If you're going to be difficult though... well, I was more generous last time than I will be this time." That she isn't a student here is pretty clear, or else she wouldn't have tried such a cover-ending card.

COMBATSYS: Ayame takes no action.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Whoops. Okay, so maybe jumping into a room instead of finding another way wasn't the smartest move she could have made. It doesn't look like Ayame was just looking for a clean getaway after all! She glares a little when the older girl speaks up. "What, you thought I'd just let you go so you can go rob all my friends? I'm no vigilante, but I'm not going to let you do that!"

The knives that are suddenly pulled do make her worry, though, and it shows on her face. But... well, she /does/ know how to defend herself... but Ayame did beat her up pretty badly last time, even if she was able to keep away at first. "I'm not going to let you tie me up, so you know what, why don't you just leave? If you just get out of Justice I won't stop you. You can even keep that uniform and whatever else you took- I just don't want you hurting any of my friends." She then tries to play the power position, "Besides, if you do hurt me you're going to draw way more attention to yourself. Someone might even call the principal. And you -don't- want to be here if Principal Raizo finds out you hurt one of his students."

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko focuses on her next action.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


"Che," the girl grunts, sounding annoyed that her little obstacle isn't going to just play ball. She does have a point. While Ayame was able to handle her last time, she hardly walked away unharmed. And if this turns into a violent scuffle, there's a chance attention will be drawn. Hn... Reaching behind her, the girl clicks the lock on the knob then reaches up to slide the bolt shut as well. No one without a key will be interferring for a bit, at least. And if it comes down to that, she'll have to come up with something else on the spot!

"Sounds like you're gunning to be the heroine... or maybe just the martyr." The girl's expression is unpleasant, a certain look that suggests she isn't kidding about being willing to take any means necessary to get this stubborn skinny girl to not be a thorn in her side.

That might not entirely be backed up by the way she attacks though, lunging forward, right hand lashing out with that knife in hand... only to release her hold of the butterfly knife while her hand is enroute toward Kiyoko's torso. If she thought Ayame was going to strike her, she'll find out real quickly that isn't the case as the now empty hand attempts to grip a hold of her arm and pull her closer to Ayame.

The intent becomes clear then as she tries to pull the taller girl over her knee to slam her to the floor in a seated position with her back toward Ayame. If successful, she'll drop down behind her and hook her right arm around her neck, bringing her left hand up with the knife to hold it against the younger girl's cheek.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko blocks Ayame's Medium Throw.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Well, there goes any chance she had to try and rush past her, open the door and escape. Heck, if she'd done that she could have gotten someone better equipped to handle the situation herself rather than just saying someone stronger might show up. Still, it would have been nice if she'd have been able to talk her way out of the situation, but then Ayame has already gotten violent with her, so maybe the odds of that happening weren't very good in the first place.

"Didn't I just tell you I'm not trying to be? I just want you to leave me and my friends alone. It's not /my/ fault you keep trying to rob me or people around me, is it?" There's a bit of annoyance in her own voice, but that's likely far less troubling to Ayame than it is to her when the situation is reversed. The blonde, after all, is the one with the knives, and not afraid to use them, either. The stab turned grab catches her off guard, and she's yanked towards Ayame. The plunge to the ground doesn't go as planned, though, as she manages to break the hold before she hits, pulling her legs in just a little to let her roll forward and dampen the force of the impact while rolling right back up to her feet.

This time she isn't just going to stand back and let Ayame take shots at her though, whirling back around to face her, with one hand balled up into a crude fist. It's definitely not her style, but maybe giving her crack to the side of her head will knock some sense into the older girl!

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko successfully hits Ayame with Strong Punch.

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Ayame            0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0           Kiyoko


Jeez, this girl is playing tough to hold down, Ayame mentally grumbles, definitely interested in getting this over with as quickly as possible. That isn't to be the case though as Kiyoko belts out at her with a smack to the side of her head, knocking Ayame hard enough to tip the girl over from her crouched position where she intended to lock her hold on the Justice student.

Landing on her side with a wince, she props herself up with one hand, shaking her head to clear her vision. That kind've hurt! She doesn't take the time to rise to her feet first, however, as she hisses, taking in her breath as she tries to put aside the pain for the moment. And then she lunges up from her fallen position, left hand swinging in from the left to stick Kiyoko in the side while her right hand comes in as a balled fist, aiming to sock her in her cheek with a solid blow. It seems the initial attempts at a less bloody mess have been abandoned!

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko interrupts Medium Strike from Ayame with Summer Blossom.

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Ayame            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Kiyoko


Kiyoko shakes her hand out, the punch stinging her knuckles a bit more than she expected. They're not as toughened since she doesn't really punch that often... but that was actually rather effective, wasn't it? Maybe she should try it more often. The fact that Ayame doesn't even try to get up before attacking comes as a bit of a surprise, but even that surprise is beaten by another one: the knife in her left hand, swinging right for her side. That is something she simply cannot allow, and her body springs into motion. Her own left hand strikes out in a circular motion, a greatly quickened Tai Chi movement to be precise, and chops the wrist hard before the knife can be plunged into her, instead causing it to tear her clothing and skin.

The punch to the head hits solidly, causing a gasp from her as her vision flashes white, but long exercises have at least toughened her enough that it doesn't knock her off rhythm, and after that first left handed attack a right handed one comes up from below to strike Ayame across the chin, the left one swinging back with the help of a twisting body motion to chop the older girls right elbow before one final movement aims again at the left wrist, trying to knock the knife right out of Ayame's hand. That thing's dangerous!

By the time the girl realizes she's not going to land the hits she wanted to, it's too late to pull back to defend. Her left hand is smacked aside even as her right aims to smack the other girl in the face... which she remembers connecting with. But then came the crack to the chin, then knocking her right arm back, and finally the third blow that sends the knife flying across the room where it imbeds into the wall, its handle falling loosely on its hinge to swing idly while it hangs there.

The faux student crumples from the assault though, dropping to her knees, looking a lot more dazed than before. This isn't turning out at all how she planned. Her close quarters skills leave something to be desired, she muses, when she can't fall back on some of her techniques that require a lot more room to operate.

She doesn't budge from the kneeling position but now shy both of her knives she falls back on something else, her hand reaching down to the second belt that rests lazily at her hip to unclasp it. Kiyoko will remember the girl using it as a weapon before, so it probably comes as no surprise that in the process of shoving herself back up to her feet she's lashing out with the whip from a low to high swing, ripping it through the air at an upward angle.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko dodges Ayame's Medium Strike.

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Ayame            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Kiyoko


Kiyoko lets out a quick breath when the knife is knocked away and her continued attacks find their marks. That was a dangerous situation- not that it isn't anymore, but the knife definitely made her nervous. In the back of her mind a little bit of cocky attitude begins to form, but after a moment she quickly extinguishes it. The last time Ayame jumped her she started off well only to be beat down severely in a startlingly small amount of time, and so far the shorter girl hasn't even relied once on that red energy of hers. Heck, she might actually be /toying/ with her. It'd be an odd way to go about it, though.

Ayame springs back into action with another one of her weapons, giving her little time to continue pondering that thought, and Kiyoko responds exactly as she did when the second attempt to grab her was made- by jumping backwards out of range. While it does keep her unharmed, it has the unfortunate consequence of backing her up to the wall- literally. She actually runs into the wall right as she lands, a hanging knife right next to her head. Being backed against a wall is not good at all, so she does the first thing she can think of, bringing her left arm up and then slashing downward at an angle with it, green chi flaring to life along the crescent path it moves and rushing forward towards Ayame.

COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Kiyoko's Spring Blossom.

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Ayame            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Kiyoko


The upward lash cracks in the air as Ayame yanks it back down at the apex of it's motion. Though the weapon failed to connect with the agile fighter, Ayame isn't laying off, lunging forward, handing the whip off to her left hand, getting ready to lash out from the other side this time. But that's before she realizes that the backed up girl isn't just sitting there like a trapped dove, seeking to strike back at her with that green chi of hers instead.

In the narrow space of the room there isn't a lot of flexibility in options. Darting to one side would get her to trip over the bed, while darting to the other side would have her stuck against the wall. So the girl is forced to drop down low into a slide instead, just barely making it under the crescent energy manifestation in time.

It's then that Ayame takes a moment to glance around the room, eyes taking in the dimensions, evaluating her options. Her left foot slides backward, hooking the knife she had dropped from her right hand several moments before, dragging it closer, putting it in range to pick up should she decide to. Her eyes fix on the window for a second. Is she considering making a run for it? Of course, the window IS closed, it being late fall and all...

Whatever Ayame is thinking she doesn't move from her crouched position, chosing instead to simply stay in place for the moment. She's still between Kiyoko and the door out, after all, so maybe she figures there's no reason to be hasty now?

COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.

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Ayame            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Kiyoko


Darn. Well, that's the risk you take when you fire off shots like that to keep someone away- they'll just get out of the way and that's that. Unfortunately that move is rather draining, and it's got Kiyoko a bit tired now, a bit of sweat forming on her forehead. She forces her breathing to stay even, though. Kiyoko catches the quick look to the window, as well as the knife slowly being dragged towards Ayame again.

Trying to think of her options, Kiyoko remembers the neck chop she tried that resulted in getting smacked with a metal pole. She doesn't want to fall into a trap, especially when Ayame is clearly going over her own options rather carefully. Maybe... it's time to try words instead of fists, again. "My offer still stands," She starts out simply. "I'm not stupid enough to think I have you on the ropes or anything, but if you want to just walk away from this, fine. If you're going to force me to defend myself and my friends then I will, but I'm probably more trouble than it's worth. I don't even have money on me, this time." And while she talks she'll just take it nice and easy.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko gains composure.

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Ayame            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0           Kiyoko


"You ARE more hassle than you're worth," the girl replies this time, her tone cold, but not seeming to disagree with the sentiment. "It seems like I really need to teach you a lesson to stay out of my way, whether or not it means I have to abandon what I had planned for this place afterward."

As she speaks, she slowly wraps the whip around her waist, clicking the clasp closed once it's snug, letting it hang over her Justice High uniform skirt once again. "I wonder how many cuts it'll take for you to not forget a little lesson like that, hm?"

It seems she intends to find out as her foot kicks the knife on the floor up for her to catch in her right hand just before she lunges for Kiyoko again. It might be hard to believe that she would be playing around with Kiyoko with the way she comes at her now, swinging he right hand with a slash at mid-torso level, likely ruin that blouse for school purposes going forward if she connects. Her left hand slams out, pulling the knife out of the wall before stabbing at Kiyoko again from the left side.

Her right knee comes up at the same time, aiming to plant hard in the poor girl's stomach, trying to knock the fight out of her completely with the horrible combination of strikes. The dimensions of the room don't lend themselves to the type of weapons Ayame would prefer to use in dealing with Kiyoko... which means she's sticking to the small stuff, and that would be the twin butterfly knives for the most part. Unfortunately.

COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Kiyoko with Assault and Battery.
- Power hit! -

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Ayame            1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0           Kiyoko


She agrees that it's more trouble than it's worth... but she's still going to keep attacking. Such is the mind of a criminal, Kiyoko decides. "How many cuts?" Wow. That's not mean, that's /vicious/. Definitely not the sort of situation she'd try and put herself in, but in this case she doesn't feel like she's been given much of a choice. Try and stop Ayame, or potentially let her friends get robbed, and possibly mugged.

With the older girl picking her knife back up, Kiyoko does her best to try and get out of the way... but the very fact that there's little room to maneuver ends up biting her big time. Sure, it makes it so Ayame has to use knifes instead of her big ol' pole, but Kiyoko, who definitely tends towards more evasive maneuvers, doesn't have much room to get away. In this case the direction she tries to go in ends up getting blocked by a dresser, with nasty results.

Unable to escape, Ayame is slashed in ribs, her blouse tearing open and revealing a fresh line of red, quickly followed by a vicious stab to the side which seems to hit just right to slide between her ribs. ...good thing the knife's not just a little bit longer. "Aaaaahhghk-" A high pitched scream is cut off at the source as the knee comes up and smashes into her, knocking the wind out of her and crumpling her to the floor.

Bleeding, battered, bruised, and out of breath, Kiyoko attempts to literally crawl away from Ayame, letting out a paltry heel kick towards her knee to try and slow down any pursuit before she tries to scramble to her feet before more damage can be done.

COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Light Kick from Kiyoko with Grand Theft Your Heart.

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Ayame            0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1           Kiyoko


The slash, stab, and knee bash completed, Ayame takes a step backward, flicking her left knife out at her side, causing a little of the excess blood coating its blade to splatter onto the bed sheets. "Hn," the girl muses as Kiyoko crumples to the floor. Both knives are flipped closed and slipped back into her Justice High uniform jacket pockets.

"I think you've had just about enough to get the message," she continues, one hand reaching up behind her head, pulling out the black ribbon tied into a large bow behind her head. The ribbon, reinforced with very flexible wires, will do the trick for restraining the girl, she decides. Making no effort to avoid the heel kick toward her knee, Ayame simply shifts her leg a little so that Kiyoko strikes her shin instead, knocking her foot back a little.

But the nudge is irrelevent, as Ayame is already dropping down on that knee anyway, hooking the ribbon around the Tai Chi artist's ankle, gripping it tight with her right hand. Her other foot comes down on top of Kiyoko's other ankle, before Ayame drops to the side, pulling on the ribbon to drag one of the girl's legs along with her into a painful leg stretch hold.

Lying on the floor alongside the other girl, her left hand reaches up to her neckline, fingers slipping beneath her blouse to pull out a thin metal object from another hidden sheath. A sharp traditional War Fan with bladed edges is flicked open by her left hand, and it is that weapon that she begins to slash out at Kiyoko again, aiming for more surface level gashes and cuts on her nearest side and arm, definitely dooming the future for that blouse.

Finishing the slices, the girl releases both of Kiyoko's legs and rolls up to a kneeling position at her side, right hand pressing down near her collarbone, her left hand holding the fan toward Kiyoko's neck from about a foot out, disturbingly calm, brown eyes daring her to try and make another move after all that.

The kick is intended to help keep Ayame away, but instead it only proves to give Ayame the perfect opening. A pained yell is let out when her leg is yanked on, but it's only the beginning of the pain as the bladed fan is suddenly pulled out, slashing up Kiyoko's arms, side, and most certainly her blouse. If it didn't hurt so much she'd probably be making comments on that! Her legs are luckily released after that, though it's little comfort, as it doesn't let the pain from the fresh gashes in her skin let up any.

She's also left in a pretty crappy position, one hand holding her down and that weapon still held to her throat. It's that time when part of her is telling her to 'just lay down and shut up'. There's another part to her, though. One that's saying that giving up now is intolerable. Sure, she could get hurt worse... but she really doesn't think Ayame has it in her to -kill- her, despite the viciousness she's willing to show. Still... it really is a pretty stupid move to keep fighting at this point, but the fake Justice Student has already turned down two offers to just let this go and walk, so why should she?

She squirms a little bit with Ayame holding her down, and then suddenly twists while trying to curl up like a ball, bringing her right foot up to try and kick the older girl hard in the chest- hopefully enough so to knock her arms back. If it works she'll curl up again and then whip her body forward like she's hopping to her feet, only rather than that launching her legs to try and wrap them around the strawberry blonde's neck before flipping backwards to try and lift her up and over to slam her back down to the ground. If that's done she'll hold on and use the force of the impact to bounce back into the air, twist, and then slam her back down face first, and repeating this several times- probably hitting her legs against the ceiling due to the height. A desperate attempt for sure!

COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Kiyoko's Winter's End.

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Ayame            0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


It probably goes without saying that Ayame really wasn't expecting any more fight from the girl after that. Sure, Kiyoko had put up a really good struggle, but the long haired blonde was certain that by now she had provided enough gashes, slashes, stabs, bashes, and general owwies to get her to pipe down at last. As the two stare at each other for a moment, during Kiyoko's moment of decision, the weapon weilding girl's eyes narrow just a little, "Just give up if you don't want to end up dead. I don't care either way, but you might have a vested interest in the outcome..."

Serious? Or a bluff? Those who have had run-ins with the girl before might be hard pressed to answer definitively one way or the other. But then Kiyoko decides to try her luck with how far Ayame is willing to go. Or maybe even take the older girl down with a valiant last ditch effort. The initial hard kick that would have doomed Ayame's defenses is intercepted by the fan, as the girl doesn't go for a lethal strike at Kiyoko's neck but rather defends herself instead. Even though the flat side of the fan gets driven against her chest, it's better than the clean hit.

So surprised, though, she's wide open for the purple haired girl's legs to wrap around her neck, "Grk." And she got on my case for being fresh, Ayame muses in that split second of time where she tries to defend herself. Dropping the fan, Ayame's hands come up to grab hold of Kiyoko's thighs, trying to ground herself to no avail. Twisted off her feet, she gets her back slammed against the floor of the room, gasping as the wind is knocked out of her. But before the real student can put the momentum to use for further damage, Ayame attempts to reverse the situation.

Hands once again prying at the hold on her neck, she slips her neck free in mid-air before she would have found herself driven face first to the ground for what would have likely been a fight ending combination of impacts. But she isn't simply just prying herself away but rather trying to grasp a hold of Kiyoko's body before they both drop back down and try to slam the Tai Chi fighter to the floor beneath her with a falling body slam.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko auto-guards Ayame's Medium Throw!

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Ayame            0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Sometimes surprising your opponent is all it takes to get a situation back under control, but in this case it serves a different purpose- keeping her throat from being cut. She can definitely tell her foot hit something other then flesh, but that isn't enough to stop her from continuing her assault. And that part seems to be going just fine. That is, until it's not. Her legs slip loose from Ayame's neck, and she's suddenly left in a rather odd predicament herself. Grabbed while still moving through the air, Kiyoko twists around, somehow finding the presence of mind to counteract the attempt, reaching out and knocking the arms away, hands glowing with green energy to aid in the attempt.

A moment later she twists again, hitting the ground on the back of her neck, but doing so in a controlled fashion- enough so that rather than harming her the momentum sends her rolling away. Scary, perhaps, how easy she made it all look. Never mind that it was, essentially, a fluke! Perhaps the worst part for Ayame, however, is that she isn't even done yet, because as she rolls to her feet and turns to face the older teenager her left hand is -still- glowing with power, slashing through the air from bottom to top, creating a predictable crescent of energy that's quickly racing towards her. "Spring Blossom!"

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko successfully hits Ayame with Spring Blossom.

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Ayame            0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0           Kiyoko


Hands knocked aside, Ayame is forced to give up her attempt to get a grip on the other girl and focus on just landing cleanly instead. Unlike Kiyoko, her own landing isn't quite as smooth, ankle twisting a little as she touches down, provoking a sharp yelp. She was certain she had the other girl under control a moment ago, but right now she's getting nothing but constant grief!

Sensing the incoming attack, Ayame tries to stagger out of the way but the energy crescent crashes right into her, driving the girl back hard against the door where she slumps down to a seated position, looking rather dazed now. The calm, malicious expression from before has been replaced by a somewhat startled, uncertain look. But it doesn't last long as Ayame slowly pushes herself back up, using the door for support, hand reaching behind her back to undo the latch... Maybe she's finally giving real thoughts to running!

But if Kiyoko lets her guard down from that, she'll be in for a surprise as Ayame suddenly charges for her again. "I'm done giving you chances, this is over!" Far more wreckless this time, she scoops up her ribbon from off the floor enroute, gritting her teeth as she lunges for the other girl with a vicious combination. Starting with a knee for her stomach, she tries to get a grip on Kiyoko's hair to pull her down, leaving her open to a second knee to her side. Her right hand releases the other girl's hair as she begins to wind that black ribbon around Kiyoko's wrists, first one, followed by a yank of her arm to get it in behind her, then her other arm, to bind them tight behind her back with a quick knot. If she sinks the bind, the girl will finish with a powerful elbow toward Kiyoko's upper back, intending to drive her down to the ground one last time.

COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Kiyoko with Savage Combo.
- Power hit! -

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Ayame            0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0           Kiyoko


Kiyoko feels a bit of vindication as the energy slams into Ayame, knocking her backwards. Thinking that she's finally managed to regain the upper hand, she breathes slowly to try and keep her bearings straight. With Ayame getting back up it doesn't look like she's out of the woods yet. Maybe since she's reaching for the door... damn! Doesn't look like it. She grits her teeth as she's suddenly charged, and begins trying to think of what to do. She's coming so strong and hard that it'd probably be /really/ easy to just smack her and knock her down… but it'd also be pretty easy to just sidestep and maybe let her run into a wall. It's a pretty transparent attempt, really! It -should- be entirely too easy for Kiyoko to deal with, except for one small thing. There's so many ways to deal with it, she takes too long to decide!

Eventually trying to sidestep, she instead gets slammed in the stomach with the knee, all the breath in her immediately leaving her in a dry, retching sound. Another breath is quickly sucked in and Kiyoko begins to resist, but then Ayame goes to knee her again, this time in the side. That breath immediately emits from her as a tremendously loud and pained scream, and suddenly all resistance ends. In fact, the binding might seem completely unnecessary as her hair is let go of, the girl completely limp from pain. The final elbow smashes into her back, and her body is flung forward to the ground, resulting in a deadened thud against the floor. Not so much as a gasp of pain comes from the last hit, and Kiyoko is left helpless on the floor, quivering.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko takes no action.

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Ayame            0/-------/-======|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko can no longer fight.

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Ayame            0/-------/-======|


The elbow drops the student to the floor but Ayame was able to tell she was already far behind fighting before that. Exhausted, dropping to her knees, the girl stares at Kiyoko for a moment. Her breath comes in gasps as she fights to get it back under control again. Too tired and hurt to really go through with what she had in mind this afternoon, all she can do now is skip out on the school all together and try it again in another month or so.

But she should make sure she can get far enough away before Kiyoko starts telling anyone. Nothing a little binding and gagging can't ensure though. Crawling over, her hands extend to secure the ribbon, though even as she starts to pull it tighter, her brow furrows slightly. Something seems really off to her about the violet haired girl's reaction. "Oi," she nudges Kiyoko against the back with her hand.

She's knocked plenty of people out in her nefarious career, but the trembling doesn't make sense. Either the girl should be out cold or at least close enough to quit fighting back at last. "Cut that out," she states, nudging her again, sounding annoyed now. This isn't supposed to happen. The ribbon gets untied and withdrawn, allowing Kiyoko's arms to drop back against her side. She'll make sure that Kiyoko's head is turned to the side so that her face isn't smashed into the carpet before lowering her own head to look at the girl's face curiously. The blonde almost looks like a flustered child who's just broken her toy and isn't sure what to do with it now.

Maybe it's blood loss? No... a lot of surface scrapes and cuts, but the room isn't looking like a set for some horror movie quite yet. Yet another nudge, this time against Kiyoko's shoulder, "You won, you know. You're too much trouble. I'm going home. Guess you're a heroine after all." She bends down to get another look at the girl's face. "Hey, snap out of it!"

Nothing changes very much while Ayame begins tying the ribbon, and even as she decides to untie it so that her arms flop to the sides. The nudge brings response, but probably not the kind she was hoping for, a solitary little whimper of pain. That will at least show that Kiyoko wasn't knocked out by the blows laid upon her, which may or may not be good news to Ayame. The second nudge draws yet another whimper as well as a little movement, though not terribly much.

When her face is finally turned so that it can be seen it's a mask of pain, eyes squeezed tightly shut. As Ayame begins talking to her more they open slowly, conflicted emotions showing in them. A little more movement now, as Kiyoko slowly reaches her hand over to her side and holds gently on her side where she was kneed. Another little wince of pain as she prods the area, and she turns her eyes to Ayame. "Thanks for... stopping."

She bites at her lip a little, conflicted whether she should just wait for Ayame to leave and try to fend for herself or not. In the end she decides she needs all the help she can get- even if it's from the person who put her in this position. "Um..." she begins, speaking slowly through the pain, "It's my kidneys... can you call an ambulance?" A moment later she adds with a hint of desperation, "Please?" She swallows lightly and says much more quietly, and mostly to herself, "I don't want to die, just yet..."

Hmn. A spinal injury, maybe? That's possible. Ayame is sure that could create the excruciating pain Kiyoko's face manifests. But no, the girl was out before the elbow to the back, and that strike alone wouldn't have been enough to damage anything seriously, Ayame is rather certain.

Finally Kiyoko makes a noise besides the pained whimpering, thanking Ayame for stopping. "Nn," the strawberry-blonde replies, "You're the one that stopped it. Was all you had to do from the beginning." She shrugs from her kneeling position, still sounding indifferent for the most part.

But them comes the plea and Ayame pauses, studying the girl's face as if trying to spot any sign of deception. Suspicious of everyone as everyone /should/ be of her, her first thought is that the girl is trying to fool her. Ayame has certainly pulled the crying game card out from time to time, herself. But it sinks in gradually that this is no feint, the kid really is in some serious trouble here.

Gritting her teeth, Ayame's first reaction is annoyance. "What? You have some kind of problem with your kidneys? The hell you doing fighting if that's the case?!" she snaps, hand clenched tightly "Jeez. This isn't /my/ fault." Good ol' denial. But the clenched hand is lowered gradually, some of the ire bleeding off as seconds pass with Ayame looking at Kiyoko's desperate face.

"All right." she finally agrees, rising to her feet. "Under the condition that as far as anyone else needs to know, you don't remember what I look like when the questions start coming. Clear?" Ah, she was going to bail on her plans for Justice anyway, but now the callus girl seems to think she might as well do what she can to keep posters from going up with an artist's depiction of her based on Kiyoko's description. She doesn't really wait for a response as she gets to her feet. Either she figures the girl has no choice, or she wasn't really that serious about holding the promise over the head of someone who might not be around for too long to honor it if she doesn't hurry up and call.

The dorm room phone is used to call emergency services, then Ayame makes a lap of the room to collect all of her things. Stopping at the window to slide it open, she pauses there, glancing over her shoulder toward Kiyoko before exhaling with a huff. Rather than simply taking off immediately, she ends up sticking around, leaning against the wall near the window, arms folded over her chest. "I'll admit, all things considered, you're not too bad with your Tai Chi style." But the second she hears anyone coming to the door, she'll be gone through that window, leaving Kiyoko alone for the medics to find.

COMBATSYS: Ayame has ended the fight here.

Log created on 17:33:47 11/23/2007 by Ayame, and last modified on 15:16:20 11/29/2007.