The bar was more empty than usual. Akito surveyed the faces in the crowd. He knew most of the customers. Tonight, though, there was one table that drew his interest. There were two customers tonight that he didn't know. By their figures, he could see that both people were female, but their cloaks covered most of their faces. The one on the left was quite busty, Akito thought to himself. This wasn't the best place for these two women to be alone. Akito wished his bar was a safe place for women, but even he had to admit that it wasn't. With his very eyes he had, on more than one occasion, seen a woman surrounded and dragged out by a group of men.
"Hey honey, why are you hiding that pretty face of yours?" A drunken customer attempted to pull the cloak away from her face. Without moving anything else, her hand wrapped around his wrist and twisted his hand around his back, pushing him to the floor. Her eyes never left her companion she was talking to. It seemed the ordeal had not interrupted them the slightest bit. The drunk found his way to his feet and wobbled away confused.
Akito chuckled to himself. Maybe she could hold her own. He noticed that though the women continued their conversation, all eyes in the bar had turned to them.
The men swarmed around their table. Romi, the leader of the pack and the most dangerous by far, stepped behind the busty woman on the left. "Hey there, sweetheart. Where are you from?" He drawled with the voice of someone who had already been drinking for some time. The woman did not reply. She paid no attention to their sudden company.
Romi became louder and more menacing, towering behind her chair. "Hey winch, did you hear me?!"
Her expression did not change. "I have no time for barhounds." Her words were sharp, unafraid. If the ravenous swarm of men scared her at all, she didn't show it.
"What did you say to me?!" The crowd drew closer to the women. It was obvious to Akito that they were ready to pounce. He couldn't let that happen. He threw his towel and jumped over the counter.
"Don't do it Akito," a man by the bar pushed him down onto a barstool. "If you interfere, we'll burn this place to the ground... with you in it." Akito slumped back against the bar. He knew it wasn't a bluff, but he couldn't just sit and watch the two women be dragged out.
The woman on the left seemed calm, but the one on the right was glancing around shakily, showing her vulnerability. Unfortunately, Akito was not the only one to notice. A man behind her grabbed her hood, ripping the cloak off of her. "Come on baby, we want to see your face." Her hair fell to her shoulders and Akito was somewhat taken aback. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Not as busty as her companion, but her face was just astounding. The men crowded closer to her, all of them drooling and pushing to get close to her, but none had the nerve to reach out and grab her.
"I want to see more than her face," one of the men hollered.
"Let's grab them and go," another chimed in.
"Ooo, look at the rack on her," they were working themselves into a frenzy. It would only be moments before the women would be overtaken and dragged out of the bar. The only thing holding them back was that they all seemed a little intimidated by the steady woman. After all, she had thrown a guy to the ground using only her hand, and with so little effort.
Astonished by her cloak's removal, the girl on the right stood, trying to retrieve it. The man behind grabbed her, grabbing a knife from his pocket and pressing the blade to her throat. "Now come with us like a good girl, and we won't have to kill your little friend," Romi sneered at the woman on the left.
Suddenly the knife hit the ground and the man who had been holding it crumpled. The gun was barely peeking over the edge of the table, the woman on the left sighed and stood up. "I hate barhounds," she said through clenched teeth. She caressed her gun tenderly and got ready to fire again. Upon realization of what had happened, some of the men started to draw their weapons. The chaos that followed was something that Akito would never forget. She was so calm and yet man after man who pulled a weapon fell to the ground. Most of them were not morally wounded either, just enough to no longer be a threat.
Romi reached back and grabbed a gun from a guy's holster. "Ukato!" the girl on the right yelped. The woman on the left spun around, cracking the handle of her gun hard against the back of his head. Romi fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Any more?" she looked around the bar. Every man left standing quickly retreated as far away from her as they could. She tucked her gun back somewhere in the darkness of her cloak. "Come on Korana. I've had more barhound than I ever wanted." The girl on the right fiddled with her retrieved cloak and the women walked towards Akito.
"I've caused you trouble again Ukato," the smaller woman said in a quiet, sincere voice. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault." The girl fumbled with her words like she did her cloak.
"Don't be absurd Ana," the bigger woman said kindly, "Barhounds are the same no matter what you do... Is this your bar?"
Akito realized that the question was directed to him. "Y-y-yes," he responded. She was his height, maybe a little bit taller. From this close, he could get a glimpse of her face. She was beautiful. She was strong, yet her figure was feminine. She was very busty also, but what astounded Akito was her hair. Wisps of her purple hair were visible protruding from the front of the hood. More of her hair was visible, parted into two long locks that were bound by leather straps. Akito imagined how much they would hurt if she swung them and hit someone.
Her companion was very different. Her pink hair was not quite to her shoulders. Her face was more beautiful up close than it had been from a distance. She was petite and looked very vulnerable. The two were such opposites it made Akito wonder why they were together, and why they were in his bar. They were obviously travelers, but Akito wondered if this was their destination, or if they were headed somewhere else.
"Sorry about the mess," Ukato said. She put money into his hand. "That should cover repair costs."
"Oh no, I couldn't," he pushed the money back towards her.
She laughed, "Don't worry about it. I got it off of them anyways." She waved her hand, gesturing towards all the crumpled men on the floor. "Just take it as repayment for all the hell they've put you through."
"Thank you," Akito mumbled as the pair left. Akito would never forget that night, his first encounter with Ukato and Korana. |
