BAREFACED

Chapter 16

You're not much of a fighter when it comes to strength. You usually fight people by hitting them in their vulnerable spots. Like the temple; on their head, the groin; by their pelvic bone, and their neck; in the center or the side. There are more places but those are the places you mainly target. Sometimes you go for the back or side of the knees to knock an opponent down.  

Baji pins you down to the ground, hovering over you. Usually there are a few ways to get someone off you, but you have already given up. Baji sighs loudly. "Why are you going easy on me... Just fight me..." He groans. You slightly squint at him, diming your eyes in exhaustion.

"Why do you want me to fight you so badly?" You ask. Baji stays quiet before sitting up and rubbing his head. 

"I thought Eli made all that shit up... A girl beating up guys twice the size of her... It all sounds like bullshit. But now I don't know..." Baji sighs.

"..." You stay still, lying flat on the ground. Baji sighs again, his eyes twitching from irritation by staring at you. 

"So... prove me wrong... fight me." He huffs. You stay quiet, staring at the sky. Baji gets irritated. He sits on top of you, grabbing your hoodie and pulling your face closer to his. "I don't care if you're a girl... Fight me." He says in a stern voice. You glare at him.

"You say that like you beat on woman..." You quietly comment. Baji glares at you, letting go of your hoodie and groans loudly while getting up. 

"Don't say that... I don't beat on woman... So don't ever say that shit again." He grabs his jacket from off the ground and puts it back on. He pulls his hair out of the ponytail, making his hair flow through the breeze. He combs his fingers through his hair and sighs. "I can't even tell if you know how to fight... you kick like Mikey, but you have no power in your kick. It's like you have the technique but not the strength." Baji sighs. 

"I wasn't really taught to fight like that... I was only taught to defend myself." You reply, still laying on the ground. 

"So, you're saying you are weak..." Baji questions. You sit up and stare blankly at him. He laughs in a way where he sounds irritated. "And Mikey finds you interesting... tsk... how-" He comments. You narrow your eyes and stand up. 

"You want to fight... right? Is that what you want? Then fight back... You throw the first punch, and I will fight back..." You coaxed. Baji turns and glares at you.

"tch..." He tilts his head forward, with a bored look in his eyes. "No... because then I'll hurt you. I don't hold back- not even for a bitch. So no... I'm not going to fight you." He adds. You narrow your eyes. You want him to try and fight you back. But he won't give in... I need to provoke him You thought to yourself.

"You don't trust me, right? You think Eli made up that whole thing as a decoy, right? You think he lied about me fighting Moebius... right?" You ask glaring at Baji. Baji glares back at you. "Maybe I'm a spy... maybe not... You'll never know until you fight me... So, fight me." You dared. Baji rolls his eyes and turns around walking back towards the direction his motorcycle was in. You scrunch your face, annoyed by the fact he's walking away. "PUSSY-" You yell out, causing him to stop and turn around. 

"What?" Baji glares at you. You stand still glaring back at him.

"You heard me..." You reply.

"Say it again..." He says slowly walking towards you.

"Pussy." You repeat. Baji clenches his fist.

"Pussy? So, I'm a pussy for not hitting a bitch?" He scoffs. "You testing a guy like that is exactly why guys beat on girls like you." Baji adds. You squint your eyes and clench your fist. "I'm not going to fight a little girl..." He continues. He shakes his head and starts to walk away again.

"Says the little boy..." You gibed. Baji stops walking. "Only little boys play pretend gang."

"Pretend gang?" He questions. You stretched the last part... You felt kind of bad for saying that. At this point you have no clue what it is that you're doing but for some reason you're really irritated. "You think this is some sort of game?" He asks.

"Yes..." You reply. He slowly nods and quietly laughs to himself. Then he slowly looks at you.

"You got that from your mom? The rudeness and shit talking?" He asks glaring at you. "That's probably why she got beaten to death-" He adds. Your eyes widen and you suddenly felt a mixture of anger and sadness. "Keep talking like that and the same will happen to you." He adds. You grab a rock from off the ground and hit Baji in the head with it. He stumbles and touches the spot where the rock hit him. Blood starts to drip from his hands. You charge at him, kicking his hand that he's covering the wound with, making him fall to the ground. You try to kick him again, but Baji grabs you and slams you down to the ground making a huge thud sound. "FUCK-! YUKI!" He shouts. 

After a bit you and him are by a water fountain near his motorcycle. Baji is using the fountain to wash the blood off his face. You sit down on the ground, leaning against a wall quietly.

Meow~ 

Your eyes widen. You turn to the direction of where the noise came from. It's a cat. A white cat with a ginger tail. It has a few ginger spots on its face and a few ginger patches on its back.

"Hi kitty" You softly bubble. The cat rubs against you. You smile and rub its head. Baji looks at you and the cat. He stands still, hovering over the fountain while blood mixed with water is dripping from his face. "You're so pretty... why are you outside alone? Where's your owner?" You sooth, rubbing the cat's head. The cat seems fond of you. Petting it makes you happy, so happy that you had forgotten why you were upset. 

"He's a stray-" Baji replies. "That's why he's outside alone." He continues. Your eyes dim and you quietly sigh. Now you remember why you were upset.

"Washing your face in a dirty fountain will only give you an infection." You comment, still petting the cat.

"No shit- But I can't drive with blood pouring out my head." Baji fumes.

"Pouring? I didn't even hit you that hard." You reply.

"You did... You hit me on my temple too- I'm lucky you didn't hit me any harder." He sighs. "The fuck were you trying to do? Kill me?" He asks in an irritated tone.

"No- I-" You hesitate. "I'm sorry... it's just when you brought up my mom it bothered me..." You quietly respond. Baji stays quiet for a bit, staring down at the blood and water going down the drain.

"I would have done the same." Baji sighs, lifting his face and patting the side of his head with his jacket sleeve. "Let's go- I'm taking you back home." Baji says, sluggishly walking towards his bike. 

"You don't look like you're in good shape to drive..." You comment.

"Shut up and let's go!" He demands. You sigh and stand up walking towards his bike. You look at the cat who's staring at you. You wave at the cat.

"Bye bye kitty" You say getting on the back of Baji's motorcycle. Baji turns on the engine, causing the cat to jump and run away. He slowly rides off before speeding up.

Within 10 to 15 minutes you arrive at your grandma's bakery. Baji stops and turns off his bike. He looks tired and the blood is still dripping from his head. The front part of his jacket is covered in blood. You feel bad. He doesn't look well. He slowly looks at you. "Are you going in or not?" He asks.

"Yeah... Are you okay?" You ask.

"Don't worry about me." He looks down at his motorcycle turning it on.

"Baji." You say. Baji slowly turns to look at you again.

"Let me clean and patch your wound." You insist.

"Nah, I'm good." He replies looking straight and lifting up his foot, preparing to pull off.

"It wasn't a question. Let me clean the wound." You quaver a bit. Baji dims his eyes and sighs slowly looking back at you. You stand still staring into his eyes. He closes his eyes and groans.

"Fine..." He sighs, turning off his bike.