All The Way Around 2
[PART 2: Back To Nature]
He denied himself.
Karma blinked, suddenly cold.
Unwittingly, she clung to his arms, trying to bring him closer. But he held her back, smiling sadly.
Why?
"Let's go outside," he said before she could ask.
The night air was the closest he could get to a cold shower right now.
"... outside? Is that like a fetish thing for you?"
"No. I told you... I... I have to make sure you don't get the wrong idea. You and I are still enemies."
Her tail wrapped around his waist, pulling him down. Their foreheads bumped lightly.
"We can fight after," she whispered.
His tail pried hers away, stopping it from getting inside his pants.
Yuusei's hand brushed under her chin.
"If you hadn't come at such a bad hour, I'd agree," he confessed.
He knew that if he took her offer, he wouldn't stop until they were exhausted. But he was already on second—no, third wind. Any battle after that would result in his loss. But he was too greedy for that. If he took her both ways—as a lover and an enemy—then he would also want to win.
She brought him back to reality with a hand squeezing his pec.
"So... we fight and then do it?"
"Do I look like a caveman to you?"
She clicked her tongue.
"Caveman implies you'd beat me up."
The warmth coursing through their bodies was simmering down. They no longer clung to each other in hunger, instead embracing on the floor and bickering, almost like a couple.
"Hmm... true. You'd run with your tail between your legs the moment I was about to win. As always."
Yet, it was never meant to last.
They were still enemies, after all.
So they briefly chuckled at his jab, and Karma tried to bite his face, resuming their quarrel.
The two rolled around on the floor, a mess of limbs, tails, and wings that broke apart as she dodged a kick of his with her own, pressing her feet on his stomach and springing away.
"I don't think I'll run this time," she decided, avoiding a punch that cracked the floor. "You deserve a good stabbing for what you did to me."
What he did?
"You're the one who kissed me while I was restraining you," he pointed out, taking the time to fix his costume so he wouldn't have to fight her half-naked.
Karma retrieved her fallen knife, brandishing it at the dragon as he closed the distance again.
"I was trying to poison you. I didn't think you'd be into it."
It was a pleasant surprise when he let her pour more venom into his mouth, but she didn't expect him to keep going for so long... especially after the choking.
He charged past the stab to his shoulder and grabbed her knife-wielding arm, slamming her against a wall.
"Anyway..." she spoke casually, even as he restrained her again. "You're supposed to be the hero here. Don't get me pent up and leave me hanging."
"Don't worry. Next time, I'll give you what you deserve."
She couldn't tell if he was threatening or propositioning her... and it was kind of a turn-on.
... Not that she'd ever admit it.
"Who says there'll be a next time?"
He squeezed her waist, pulling her closer to feel the wet heat between her legs.
"Just my intuition," he said, enjoying her flushed expression.
This guy... he was ignoring everything she said, huh?
She tried to knee his groin in response, but he twisted aside in time, slipping his hand under her thigh before bringing their bodies together again.
She looked up at him, face pressed against his muscular chest.
"Can you decide if we're gonna fight or fuck already?"
He did that already. But whenever they were alone like this, it was too easy to fall into this rhythm with her.
... Not that he'd ever admit it.
"Sorry." A truth.
"I was stalling to flush out the rest of the poison." A lie.
Her teeth came for him again, almost puncturing his lungs before his quirk protected him. With claws on her leg and wrists, he lifted her higher, spinning once and throwing her out the nearest window.
Karma bounced on the street once, then rolled to a stop.
"Ow..." she groaned, brushing off the glass shards sticking to her costume. "You... shouldn't have done that," she mumbled as Seiryu stepped outside. The rejection had already grated on her nerves. Now, he was begging to get carved up.
Having already apologized for his indecisiveness, he only nodded, accepting her murderous look and letting the stillness of night take over.
Since she'd decided to give him a few stab wounds before leaving, he didn't hesitate in taking this fight to an open space. Letting an angry villain rampage inside his house was a recipe for disaster.
He tried to take a deep breath, but his opponent was already upon him, slashing his stomach, darting below his fist, carving his wing, then hopping away to avoid a tail swipe. He met her halfway on her next assault, fist grazing her shoulder before she stabbed his thigh and retreated again.
Karma landed on his rooftop, then jumped to avoid a fly-by attack. Twisting elegantly through the air, she dodged his diving strikes and hit the ground running.
The lizard cut to an alleyway with the dragon hot on her heels.
Her tail snatched something round and heavy from a trashcan, then flung it through a window in a distant building.
Seiryu followed behind her, pausing his transformation to fit inside the opening.
As soon as he stepped inside the pitch-black office room, she ambushed him, scoring a gash on his cheek and a stab on his shoulder.
Snarling in pain, he struck out with a claw to her stomach, sending her stumbling into a cubicle.
Drip.
Drip.
While her previous strikes had only chipped his scales, she'd finally drawn blood this time. Rolling his shoulder once to test its movement, he stepped toward his recovering opponent—
Before his phone buzzed inside his pocket. Once, twice... it wasn't stopping.
"..."
Through the darkness, he could see Karma raising an eyebrow at him.
Who the hell was calling him at 2 AM?
But it wasn't a call... it was a notification sound...
Hero Network app. She likely triggered an alarm, and they were notifying him, the owner of the closest hero agency.
So...
"If I don't answer this, they'll send another hero for you."
And yet, he phrased it like he intended to prevent that.
"Sure you don't want the help?" she taunted, subtly stepping towards the side of his wounded shoulder.
He considered the notion for a second, then shook his head.
He didn't want to leave her to anyone else if he was still in condition to fight.
"You are my... responsibility."
What a strange way of saying he wanted her all to himself.
"Oh well. Don't let me stop you."
The hero reached for his phone, and she charged with knife in hand, fully meaning her words.
He blocked a kick while unlocking his screen, ignored her tail wrapping around his arm as he typed, and stepped back to avoid getting stabbed in the heart.
Finishing his response, he let go of his phone and caught it again with his tail, freeing his hands to block her next strike and counter with his own. She used his momentum against him, kicking his leg off-balance and sneaking behind him.
Sticking to his body with her quirk, she climbed on his back, poised to bite his throat and stab his liver.
He flapped his wings once, taking them off the ground and crashing her back against a wall.
Karma's head lurched forward, teeth missing their mark. At the same time, a sharp, cold pain burst beneath his ribs.
Acting on instinct, he threw her over his shoulder and checked how deep the wound was. How did she get past his quirk so easily—
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Blood flowed freely between his fingers as he felt the soft, very much human texture of his skin.
He didn't have a lot of time to ponder on it as the villain came for him again, but he didn't need it. It was easy to notice his body giving up on him after all the abuse and quirk over usage.
He couldn't keep up with her speed as she mauled his exhausted body from every angle, finishing with a turning kick to his gut. Something inside him folded from the impact—likely his ribs—and then his body was flung away.
Karma watched him slide across the floor and slump against a wall, lowering her leg once she saw the rise and fall of his chest.
Seiryu's quirk waned along with his consciousness. Scales receded. Wings and tail shrunk into nothing. All that remained of the dragon were his slit pupils, blearily tracking the lizard's movements in the dark.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Karma stalked forward, weapon making a trail with his blood. Although she was smiling, he could not read the look in her eyes. Was she coming to kill him? To taunt him? To toy with his life?
He hated it quite a lot. That little smirk on her face, as if she'd already won...
The bloodstained hero slammed his palm on the floor, pushing himself to his feet.
Like an ocean under the moon. Rising and falling to her whims.
"Aww, that's cute," she cooed at the deplorable image conjured by his dazed mind. "... and sad."
He glared at her, and she let out a sadistic chuckle before lunging forward, uncaring of his current state. He wasn't the type to keep fighting with a faulty quirk and no plan. And if he was... then that was just too bad.
She was proven right as her knife scratched through his costume and bounced off. Rather than armor covering him at all times, his power was a buckler used at the right moment to parry a killing blow.
She switched her approach, backing away and wielding her tail and tongue to pepper him with office supplies. Objects like scissors, paper cutters, and monitors—which posed no problem for him but would force him to use his quirk to avoid upsetting his wounds.
Seiryu stepped through the blades wedging inside his torso, throwing away his shield. She'd overestimated his survival instincts. Defending as he did was only worth it if she was willing to get close and personal. After she showed the slightest intention of dragging this out, he recklessly tackled her, transforming his entire body for a single second to maximize his impact.
Karma yelped as the giant blue spear rammed into her, crashing her through cubicle after cubicle and putting her back against the wall.
A stomp to her tail anchored her in place. Seiryu let his left hand block her flailing tongue and swung with the other, using his quirk at the moment of impact once more.
The dragon's fist smashed her head against the concrete, then through it, dropping her back to the streets alongside the rubble.
"..."
He didn't know how much time he spent there, fist clenched, forcing himself to keep standing and awaiting her next move.
His opponent's body twitched a few times. A pained moan reached his ears. However, she did not get up.
As victory sunk in, Seiryu let his hands hang at his side, taking one step beyond the hole in the wall.
He promptly fell on the cold pavement, gasping for breath. There was an attempt to summon his wings for a short glide, and that was the last straw.
His body refused to move, and no amount of smug smiles from Karma would change that.
A draw, then...
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Raindrops rolled down his face, dulling the smell of blood. The downpour continued relentlessly, soaking him within seconds.
He should call the police... and an ambulance... but even his hand wouldn't respond. For now, he'd have to hope someone in the neighborhood heard the battle and got startled enough to contact the authorities.
He looked away from his pocket to see Karma crawling closer, bleeding from her head and clutching her knife like a lifeline.
The weapon went flat under his chin, forcing him to keep his eyes on her.
"I win."
... How petty.
"What are you smiling for?" she asked, glaring at him through droopy eyelids. "I could slit your throat right now. Show some fear."
She could... but she wouldn't.
Seiryu blinked. Why was he so sure about that? Was he imagining a bond that wasn't there...
No... he knew from experience. "... You could have killed me back when we first met."
Her face scrunched in confusion. "Huh? I didn't think you were worth the trouble back then."
There'd be too much media coverage for a Shiketsu student's death. Coverage that Night Parade didn't want at the time. Besides, he was just some high schooler trying to take back what she stole. Hardly the most offensive encounter in her villain career. She needed more motivation to take a life.
"Anyway, you're more fun alive than as a corpse, so you get to live."
"Win when I'm not running on fumes, and I'll believe you."
She stuck out her tongue. "Sore loser."
Then, she leaned closer, speaking softly in his ear. "Besides... I know where you sleep now. You should be glad you even had a fighting chance."
His body tensed at the threat, and she laughed. "What's the matter? Starting to regret this little game of ours?"
He stood silent, probably stewing on that remorse—
"... No."
.... huh?
"I prefer it when you come after me. It's a lot easier than investigating where you'll strike next."
"... wait," she mumbled, eyes widening briefly. "... Is this some reverse psychology bit? Trying to turn me away by saying you want it? Because it only makes me wanna escalate..."
"Don't misunderstand. I don't want you sneaking into my place when I'm sleeping. I'm definitely investing in home security from now on."
"... Yeah, you're doing it on purpose," she decided, wondering what sorts of traps someone with his money could set up. "You know I like the challenge."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not doing anything. You're just determined to act like a stalker."
Besides, he doubted she had the attention span to follow up on her threats.
"Shut up... if anyone's the stalker, it's you... now it's my turn to torment you a bit..."
Yes, those were empty threats from an angry villain... he was used to it.
"You already torment me plenty—"
Suddenly, she slumped, burying her face in his chest.
His hand went to her shoulder, steadying her trembling body. "Cammy," he called her by name, frowning. "How bad are your wounds?"
"I'm fine..." she mumbled, "... it must be adrenaline leaving my system...
or a concussion... actually, it's probably both."
He leaned closer, examining the uneven pupils of her eyes. Definitely concussed.
But also...
"The cold is making you weak," he commented, looking at the darkened sky. She nodded quietly, holding him tighter. As if to mock her, the rain became fiercer, raindrops hitting her body like icy bullets.
The fleeting notion that she'd been dying in his arms left his body on high alert, allowing him to reach for his phone. Although he managed to pull it out, his fingers were too shaky to use it. The device slipped from his hand and fell on the wet ground.
"Hey... can you grab my phone and call an ambulance...? The blood loss is getting to me..."
She shook her head. "No way... they're gonna take me in..."
"I'm going to pass out in a few minutes," he said he said matter-of-factly. "Then die."
"You'll live... you always do..." the infuriating woman sighed, basking in his body heat. "I just need to warm up... regenerate... I'll drag you to my place if it looks like you'll bleed out.."
There was no way he'd go along with that. "Do you have any experience with first aid?"
She ignored the growing desperation in his voice, yawning, "Imma figure something out..."
"Karma."
"Your body's so hot..."
"Karma," he urged again, to no avail.
"..."
Sleepy breaths. Eyes closed. Body heavier, one leg on top of him.
She had fallen asleep.
"... fuck."
Ending 1
I could be the sun and you could be my moon But all you ever say is catch me if you can Feel like a butterfly, searching in the summer sky A perfect love's so hard to find