"Today we'll be learning basic defense combat," Mrs. Muzaki said, her low voice ringing over the chatter of the students. This won't go well. Mrs. Muzaki had a sadistic streak too, even though she wasn't a vampire, and preferred to see the class well bruised by the time we were done. That didn't really matter to me, I was used to that sort of treatment, but it sure made my vampire housemates' bites more painful than usual. "Everyone partner up."
Defense combat...
"At the end of class we'll have a competition!"
I can so do this.
"Oi, Miyako," Ayato called across the gymnasium.
"That uniform looks good on you today," Laito muttered from somewhere behind me. "The t-shirt is too tight on your breasts; I've noticed that you've stopped wearing sports bras."
"Yeah, they've somehow disappeared from my drawers."
My eyes rolled as my hands criss-crossed my chest self-consciously.
"Miyako!" another voice called that I was less than enthusiastic to hear. Rae and Heehae were watching me greet the two Sakamakis from across the gymnasium. "Come pair up with us!"
"She's ours!" Ayato growled at Heehae, grabbing my upper arm and toting me to one side of the gym.
Laito followed in a more relaxed fashion, staring over his shoulder at the two.
"That one isn't bad looking," Laito commented, his eyes upon Heehae.
My jaw gritted at that irritably. There wasn't any way to escape those two, was there? All the irritation and confusion that had built up within me over the course of the day broke. I executed a roundhouse kick and caught Laito squarely in the jaw.
"Be on your guard," I instructed, him as he rubbed his face and growled at me, looking more ferocious than I'd ever seen him. "First rule of self defense."
Kicking him was a ballsy move. That much I knew. It certainly was a test of how much this vamp would allow me to act out. Out of all of them, Laito and Shuu would probably react the least... Thankfully, he didn't take the kick to heart.
"No fair..." Laito muttered, his eyebrows furrowing more deeply as he shot another glance over at them.
"I would say the first rule is 'don't make Cupcake jealous,'" Ayato teased and I swiveled on the spot to land a palm upon his chest with only enough umph to send him stumbling backward a few steps.
"Ah, sorry Little Beauty," Laito chuckled, getting set up with his fists near his face. Even so, his body swayed left and right in that tantalizing way with which he always held himself. "There's no one who compares to you, you know."
I smiled spitefully, "Prove it to me."
I leaned forward into a fighting stance, keeping tabs on Ayato's footsteps behind me. A whooshing sound signaled Ayato's fist coming toward me from behind and I ducked in accordance. I stepped so that my back was to neither of them, but the moment I saw Ayato's exposed side, I shifted my weight into my left foot and brought my knee into his stomach.
"Ouch! Don't be so rough!"
"It didn't sound like you were going easy on me either," I chuckled, keeping my fists near my face.
"Miyako!" Laito cried suddenly, his eyes fixated on something behind me.
I heard the shuffling of feet and threw myself out of the way, rolling on the floor. My knees were severely skinned in the process, but at least I got out of the way of the pair that had ended up tussling too close to us.
"Oops, sorry Miyako," Rae said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Oi, don't mess with her or I'll beat the living shit out of you," Ayato growled at Rae who, alarmed, took a few steps back.
"Don't look at me, she's the one playing you," Rae stuttered, pointing an accusatory finger at me, but Heehae came to her rescue.
"That girl's a whore, she's already got Reiji and Subaru wrapped around her finger. You too it looks like. Whipped much?"
Laito immediately broke into a fit of laughter, "You think she's leading the lot of us on? That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. If you weren't so bitch-brained, you'd know that we all live with Miyako under the same roof. Of course she knows us well, nfu~."
He gave Heehae a wink. The top-off to his sentence.
"That didn't necessarily help, Laito," I muttered quietly, knowing that both he and Ayato could hear me.
"What does it matter, Cupcake? You're ours."
"Agreed," Laito said, crossing his arms.
"Just you wait, Miyako," Rae warned in deathly tones.
"Whatever," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"Fuck off," Ayato yelled so loud that the teacher glared in our direction.
As Heehae and Rae retreated to the far side of the gym, I stood clenching and unclenching my fists as I fumed on the spot.
"I need to work off some steam," I growled.
"Okay, hit my hands," Ayato offered, putting his palms up in front of his chest casually. Clearly he didn't expect me to pack much of a punch.
Immediately I fell into stance, as if the pose fit me like a glove.
"You have abnormally good form," Laito commented as I flashed out my fists to hit Ayato's hands thickly.
"My father taught me how to fight," I growled, as I punched Ayato so hard that he was trying to subdue his flinching. "He also happened to teach me a few knife skills as well. I'm well-trained, but I haven't practiced since heart surgery."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't supposed to exert myself," I spat out in answer, executing a jump roundhouse kick and landing my heel into Ayato's hand. "The doc said I should be doing monitored exercise, but I don't have the money to pay for that expensive shit so I've just been doing whatever I feel is right."
"Oi, Laito, your turn," Ayato said, rubbing his hands and stepping away from me.
"Sure."
It took an entire half hour for my rage to dissipate but even then I felt wired.
"Students! Come to the middle; take the best fighter out of your pairs and we'll pit you against each other."
"I think that's you, Miyako," Laito prompted, swatting at my bum.
"Well, if I had really tried, that would've been me," Ayato said loftily, looking down his nose at me.
"Seeing as we have an unfair advantage, brother, it's still best for Miyako to go."
"I suppose."
It looked like Heehae was the one to step up between her and Rae; I wanted to get this fight over with first, but she avoided me as we were asked to pair up.
"Perfect," I growled as I was pitted against a scrawny boy that looked more like a half-dead sapling than he did a person.
"Please don't hurt me," he pleaded.
"I won't."
It only took a matter of seconds to put him in a headlock; then again he hadn't put up much of a fight to begin with. He trotted over to his buddies and sat out with relief on the sidelines. Once again, I tried to seek out Heehae, but once again she avoided me. This time I was put against a burly girl twice my size. She cracked her stone knuckles and grinned a set of rock-like teeth at me. At the sound of the whistle she was the first to lunge. I darted sideways and got behind her to kick her hard in the back of the knee. That leg collapsed and I shoved her to the side to push her to the ground.
"Miyako versus Momoko; round over!" the teacher called and Momoko spat her displeasure at this.
"Two pairs left..." I muttered, glancing over to see that Heehae was still in the running. Of course she was. The boys were too timid to deal her a good punch and she did have a decent grasp of self-defense as a result of her money-fat father. "She'll go down after..."
The boy I faced off looked me up and down warily; his knuckles stuck out a bleached white from his skin and his arms were burly like barrels.
"Sorry," he muttered fleetingly as the round started. "It's personal, but not my business."
"What do you mean?" I asked, but in the next moment his fist was flying at me.
It connected with my jaw and I staggered backward. Certainly that would bruise and make it difficult to eat, but at least it didn't crack. Head-shots were definitely not allowed.
I ducked his next blow and bounced backward to get out of range and recollect myself.
"The fuck? Are you paid off or something?" I asked, circling with my fists in the air. I winced at the agonizing throb in my jaw. "What do you think you are? A hitman? This is high school, dipshit."
"Money is money," he shrugged, his pale blue eyes appraising my footing.
His eyes focused on my shoulder, his stance became more crouched like a cat about to spring. Then he did. I ducked under his oncoming fist and twisted as I breezed beneath his armpit. I tangled my foot into the ankle he held most of his weight on to unbalance him, then punched him in the thigh to completely wipe the leg out from under him. He fell face-first to the ground. A heavy thud rang around the gymnasium as he caught himself with one hand. With a low groan he rolled on his side and rubbed his wrists with a grimace on his face.
"Miyako versus Satoshi, round over. Damn, that looks like a broken wrist... can't be sure."
"Looks like it's us," I muttered, rolling my shoulders and narrowing my eyes at Heehae. "How much did you pay your partner to back down? Since apparently this is important enough to be throwing money around for. You take yourself too seriously."
"Don't flatter yourself, Miyako," Heehae laughed a hand on her hip. Her oil-black pony tail hung limply from the back of her head and her coal eyes glittered malevolently.
"Don't fight until I'm back," the teacher instructed, taking my previous partner by the elbow and leading him away. "The health room is a minute away - I'll hear you!"
Even though I was quite certain no snap had been heard, Mrs. Muzaki was escorting my moaning partner from the premises. It was only a moment until she was out of the gym. They didn't waste any time closing in on me.
"So," Heehae whispered and Rae stood to flank her. "This worked out pretty good."
"Well. It worked out pretty well - is proper grammar."
"Shut the hell up."
"If you both plan on fighting Miyako," Laito said charismatically in his usual unconcerned tone. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ayato beginning to bristle beside his more casual brother, but even Laito looked a tad uneasy about the proceedings. His smirk was wiped clean from his features. "Then I would say that it's only fair if Ayato and myself were to join on Miyako's behalf."
"I appreciate the gesture, Laito, but I can take them. Besides, you two are too strong not to really hurt them."
"The teacher said not to!" one of the other more timid classmates called, her voice shrill.
"Nobody gives a damn!" Rae answered in a bored tone, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and then refocusing on me.
"Let's do this then," I said, cracking my knuckles.
Rae and Heehae moved to flank me as I stood with hands down in the center. Rae's movement was bulky, like a bear, and sure while Heehae's was lithe, like a weasel, and sneaky. Each had personal instructor - as I knew from when I had been friends with them. While Rae had been taught to take her heavy boned body as an advantage of strength, Heehae had been instructed the opposite.
Something... something felt familiar about this. Both Rae and Heehae fighting me at once-
"You have no need for friends Miyako! They're holding you back from your training!"
"But Father!"
"No excuses!"
I squeezed my eyes shut for a nanosecond then reopened them just as quickly.
My guess was that Heehae would strike first to distract me and Rae would follow up with her strength. I turned my eyes to Rae; the giggle that Heehae let out was almost inaudible. Turning my back on Heehae would give her a clear shot, so I stepped toward Rae with my back toward the other. As I heard the weasel's feet move quickly, I stepped out of her way and swung a fist in the general placement of her head as she passed. It struck with a thick thud and Heehae went sprawling. Rae circled around Heehae and attacked me from the side, her bear-like footfalls heavy on the hardwood floor. If I backed down, I'd find myself tripping over Heehae so I turned and jumped over the limp girl. A firm fist closed around my ankle and I fell flat to the floor, my breasts squishing against the ground. Air whooshed out of my lungs and I wheezed to regain it.
"Why are you ignoring us, Miyako!" Rae called as I walked home. I knew they'd follow me and I knew what father would want me to do.
"It's none of your business," I said warningly, feeling tears in the back of my throat.
These girls were hot-blooded, pampered, whiny, and flawed, but they'd been loyal to me and had shown me how to have fun. But the time for that was over....
"Miyako!" Heehae grabbed my arm and I reacted instantaneously with my fist.
Her nose bloodied like a well spouting water. It poured from her face. She didn't stand for it, she was never the type to; she returned the gesture. In the deep sunlight of twilight, the three of us circled each other. But the outcome was inevitable; they were novices. I was well-learned.
"Oi! That's dirty!"
"Ayato, she said she could handle it," Laito cautioned, but I could tell by his strained tone that he was growing worried.
Rae tangled her fingers into my hair and pulled me off the ground so that I dangled in the air. My jaws clamped down against the urge to scream.
Why would Father make me turn on my own friends?
"Bitch," Heehae hissed, standing and twisting something silvery on each of her ring fingers. Her eyes glittered malevolently as she growled. "There was no reason to be such a brat you know; you never had anything. Now you'll know how it feels to get pummeled."
Two things hit simultaneously; Heehae's fist and a barrage of memories.
Father, tying me up in the basement when I acted out of turn. Father, beating me mercilessly when I failed to win against him in combat. Father, locking me inside of a coffin so that I could feel how my enemy, how vampires, thought.
Each hit of Heehae's fist pierced the skin of my stomach somehow. The pain woke me up just like it always did. You can't fail! You're not allowed to fail! Don't lose!
I brought my knee up to ram into her forearm, throwing off her aim; that's when I got a good glimpse of the ring. It was a spike studded thing meant to open flesh on impact.
Red flashed before my eyes and Heehae was suddenly thrown across the room. She landed with a sickening thud and rolled over to let out a scream of pain. Rae unceremoniously dropped me, letting out a shriek of surprise.
"One of these days, we'll teach you," she growled angrily, but a swift hit from Laito silenced her.
"Ayato!" I called shakily, seeing that he was attempting to pursue Heehae. "That's enough!"
"Like shit it is!" Ayato argued, his hair practically bristling with anger. "She fought filthy!"
"She's in enough pain," I muttered as Laito grabbed my upper arm to hoist me up. "Leave her alone. Let's just leave."
Laito swept me up into his arms despite my protests and left the room in swift strides.
"That was sneaky," he muttered, baring his teeth angrily. "We'll gather your things from the locker room and leave. Your blood is not theirs to shed."
"Okay," I whispered meekly, surprised by the forcefulness of their emotion.
"Sneaky is an understatement!" Ayato snarled, his poison eyes narrowed in fury. "That was a shitty thing to do."
"They dislike me because I ignored them," I explained. "When we were younger."
"Ignored? Ha! They don't have a clue how bad things can get-"
"And when they came onto me about it I fended them off with violence."
"You wouldn't do that," Laito said, his eyes narrowed as Ayato threw my things into my bag from the lockers.
"It happened," I shrugged, keeping my eyes straight ahead.
Oh god did it happen. All of it.