The Hinomoto Rebellion (18 page)

When the quartet entered the bar, seven men looked up. One was the bartender whom Andrea recognized as Hisao, the other six were big, bulky muscular men, all of which were at least as tall as Kanjou and definitely larger across. Andrea smirked and sauntered over to the bar, placing her right elbow and forearm down on it and leaning over. The bartender had been staring at her with a wide-eyed expression, as though he was shocked to see her. Now he looked down, avoiding her eyes.

“Good morning, Hisao,” she purred.

Hisao didn’t even look at her as he picked up a mug and wiped it down. “I don’t want any trouble today, Tiger.” He was short, only coming up to about Andrea’s forehead. He wore a long sleeved baby blue shirt with a collar and three buttons down the front of it, and a pair of khaki colored pants. He was well built, with strong looking arms, but his face had eyes that seemed too small and a nose that was too large. His ears stuck out a little further than they should have, and his hair was a mousy brownish gray color.

“ Well, it’s a good thing I’m not looking for trouble then, isn’t it? I’m just here to make a little deal with you and keep your six customers here sharp.” She waved her left hand to indicate the musclebound behemoths scattered throughout the place.

Hisao raised his eyebrow at her, then looked over at Kanjou, D, and Aki. His eyes seemed to linger a little longer on Aki than they did anyone else. D thought he saw her nod slightly to him, but couldn’t be entirely sure. Finally, Hisao looked back at Andrea. “What kind of deal?”

“ More like a wager really, I suppose,” she spoke a little louder than she had initially. “Six against one, simultaneously, and only one rule,” she paused for dramatic effect, “If you hit the floor, you’re out.”

“And what’s the prize?” inquired Hisao as the six men started to get up, their interest piqued.

“ What else? Cold, hard cash.” She emphasized the last three words as though she were describing a savory steak or trying to seduce a lover. D couldn’t take his eyes away from her face as he watched her get more and more excited about the possibility of a fight. “If I win, I get all the money that is in the register. If they win, I give them all the money that we have, and they get to brag that they beat the Tiger.”

Aki opened her mouth to say something, but Kanjou put up a hand to stop her. Andrea wasn’t precisely being dishonest, she just wasn’t being overly truthful. Hisao looked at them for a second, decided they were of no real interest, and turned his attention back to Andrea. The six other patrons of the bar had begun to get up from their seats, seemingly eager for the right to brag that they had taken out the silver-haired girl.

I knew this would work,
mused Andrea as she grinned,
Once again, my reputation gets me in to trouble- but at least this time I went looking for it
. She looked at Hisao, who nodded at her, then she turned and marched out into the open area in the middle of the floor. The six men followed and surrounded her, some of them chuckling and cracking their knuckles. Her standing in the middle of them only seemed to emphasize just how large they really were, and made her look tiny in comparison. While she was lean and toned, they were ripped and buff, with muscles on top of muscles and heavy cores that made their heads look small.

Despite her show of confidence, Andrea was a little worried as she looked at the six men circling her. It had been awhile since she’d been in a group fight, especially one where it was everyone else on her. The tournaments were rarely group battles, so Andrea hadn’t had any practice with it lately.

Over by the bar, Kanjou, D, and Aki watched, their faces anxious. Hisao picked up another glass and wiped it with his rag as he eyed the competition that was about to start. He tried to seem disinterested, and if any of the Aka Ryuu had been paying attention, they would have noticed his hand linger a little underneath the bar. He gave a little smile as he watched Andrea stand calmly in the middle of his place of business with her eyes hidden in shadows.

Andrea suddenly moved her legs into a fighting stance, putting her fists up in front of her. “Come on,” she muttered.

The bald brute of a man facing Andrea’s back put his hand on a table behind him and snatched a long, heavy chain off of it. As he started to swing the weapon over his head, he raced toward her with a sharp yell.

Andrea’s right foot shot up as he charged her, slamming directly in to his throat. He gagged and choked as the chain he wielded fell to the floor, followed by the rest of him. He thudded hard on the floorboards as Andrea snapped her leg back and turned to her left just as another of her challengers was running at her. A small gleam in his hand made her step backwards as a switchblade slashed the air just inches from her nose.

Pay attention, Tiger!

A second assailant came at Andrea from the side. She seized his wrist just in time before a set of brass knuckles could connect with the side of her face. The man with the blade was moving in for another attack, so Andrea tightened her grip on the arm she held and twisted her body. She came up off the floor, both of her legs snapping across her attacker’s face before she landed lightly back on her feet As he staggered backwards, she kept her momentum going and slipped behind the man whose arm she was holding on to. She bent his wrist behind him and he let out a yelp. In response, Andrea wrenched harder, pressing his wrist to his shoulder blade. His knees buckled and he crumpled to the floor, passed out.

The man with the knife recovered from the blow she had dealt him and was rushing at her again.
Is this guy going to learn to not charge straight at me or what?
Andrea thought as she launched herself into the air again, deflecting the weapon with a chop to his forearm and smashing her knee into his face. His nose and lip exploded in blood as he collapsed.

Three down, three to go,
Andrea licked her bottom lip and tried to keep an eye on the remaining half of her assailants. She beat a memory back into the deep reaches of her mind.
Not now,
she scolded herself,
Don’t think about that now! Just think about winning this!
A phantom pain shot through her neck and forehead, causing her to cringe a little. Blood was pounding in her ears as she broke into a cold sweat.

Both the man in front of Andrea and the one behind her rushed forward at the same time, their feet pounding on the floorboards. Andrea stared down the brute in front of her as he came toward her, paying attention to the vibrations in the floor to judge how close the other attacker was. At the very last second she twisted out of the way, performing a cartwheel without using her hands. The two men crashed in to one another headfirst, sending one of them to the floor with a bloody face. The other remained on his feet, but staggered and shook his head, trying to shake off the stun from the collision.

The silver-haired woman turned to face the other man just in time to narrowly dodge a punch. As his fist grazed her ear she grabbed his elbow with her left hand and brought her right arm up quickly. There was a sickening crunching noise as the force from Andrea’s blow bent his elbow in the wrong direction, and he fell to the ground screaming in pain.

Oops... playing too rough, Tiger,
Andrea scolded herself. She hadn’t meant to do any permanent damage during this fight, just enough to knock them out.
Don’t feel bad about it. You’re one goon away from eating.

As Andrea turned to face her remaining opponent, something struck her in the face. Andrea staggered backwards and felt herself starting to fall.
No!
She quickly struggled to regain her footing, backing away from where the blow had come from. Finally she was steady again, and as she glared at her final opponent blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth. She put a hand up and touched the crimson fluid, staring down at it. Then, she smirked and looked back at the man.

“ Alright. Very good,” she purred. The phantom pain shot through her neck and forehead again, practically blinding her. She tried to calm her racing heart and silence the blood pounding in her ears.

Andrea struggled to keep a hold of her blood lust, trying to suppress the urge to leap across the bar and pound the remaining man until his head was nothing but a bloody smear on the floorboards. Images of her fists covered in blood flashed through her mind, causing her forehead and neck to burn. She tried to clear the images before she acted on her urge to kill. She took a deep breath and suddenly remembered one of the mantras Kanjou had been teaching her. She muttered it under her breath and felt her rage calming almost instantly.

So, it does have some use after all,
she mused as she stared down the last opponent. So far he’d attacked her unarmed, but Andrea knew that didn’t mean he wasn’t carrying a weapon on him somewhere. She had to be vigilant if she was going to win this. A drop of blood fell from her chin just as she rushed forward, stretching back her arm to strike the final blow.

“Sir, we’re getting an alarm from The Shark’s Den.” Yasakuto raised an eyebrow and continued to straighten his tie. “And?” he said, unconcerned.

“ Bear and Foxfire mentioned that the Tiger would most likely go to the Shark’s Den if she needed to obtain some fast money. Hisao wouldn’t have hit an alarm if it wasn’t her. We did warn them all this morning, after all,” reasoned Ryoku.

The Daimyo turned his chair around so he was facing the window. “Take some police with you and take care of it.” Ryoku bowed. “Sir!” He turned on his heel and walked swiftly out of the room.

 

Andrea’s punch missed as her final opponent deftly dodged the blow. She twisted to avoid a palm strike to her ribs, attempting to bring her elbow down on to the neck of her assailant.

Kanjou had been glancing at Hisao, who was no longer cleaning anything, but instead was nervously wringing his dirty rag. The tall brunet decided to keep an eye on him.
I don’t think he can be trusted...

D and Aki watched Andrea and her last opponent twisting about in the middle of the bar, each trying to land a blow on the other and end this match. The five other men lay on the floor or were pulling themselves away and staggering to their feet. The remaining man and Andrea were still duking it out in the center of the bar, evenly matched in skill.

The Tiger swung a fist at the man’s face just as he ducked. Andrea let out a little gasp as his elbow struck her in the solar plexus, sending a flash of pain through her whole body. She felt her body falling and heard the three members of the Aka Ryuu standing on the sidelines let out shouts.

Andrea threw herself backwards as she fell, landing with her back on a table. She rolled, landing on her feet on the other side of the table. Her opponent blinked at her in shock, which gave Andrea just enough time to leap back up on the table top and fling herself at him, her leg outstretched in front of her.

Andrea’s foot connected squarely with the stunned man’s face, sending him to the floor in Andrea’s wake. She landed on the floor as he smashed down like a bag of rocks behind her. Andrea looked up at Hisao and grinned as she brushed off her pants. “Well, looks like I win,” she said as she strutted over to the bar like a peacock displaying its feathers. She leaned in with her elbow on the bar, her face close to Hisao’s.

“ Now, empty the register. We had a deal.” Her voice held all the warmth of a glacier, her tone saying
I’ll kill you if you try to back out of this.

Hisao backed up a step and headed to the register, opening the drawer with a small key.
Hm, he’s being really cooperative today. I was expecting to get at least a little bit of an argument out of him.
Andrea watched him start putting money into a deposit bag, then she turned with a shrug and smirked at D, Aki, and Kanjou.

“Told you I had this covered,” she purred.

 

“You okay? That last punch looked nasty,” D said, taking a step toward her.

 

Andrea guffawed. “Please,” she rolled her eyes, “That guy hit like a girl.”

Finally the register was empty and Andrea snatched the bag from Hisao’s hands. “Pleasure doing business with you,” she cooed, turning and heading toward the door.