Fistfight

Eien Akagawa

The man with the topknot grinned and strode forward. “You can still walk away. You're not who we're here for.”

Instead of answering I ran forward. His eyes widened as he put his arms up to block my incoming fist. So I pulled my fist back at the last moment and kneed him in the stomach. He bent forward and I grabbed his head and slammed it into my knee. He fell to the ground with blood and a broken nose.

The rest of his men sprang into action. There were five more of them and two of them were on me in seconds. I stepped back as they stepped forward together, throwing punches that I had to block.

“Woooo!” Norihisa screamed as he flew past in a dropkick. He slammed into the man on the left and they both crashed into a man coming up from behind.

My opponent had turned his head to watch. I took the opportunity and drew my fist back for a haymaker. He looked back to me too late. My fist flew and connected with his chin, laying him flat on his back. Four left.

Two of the men began to pull Norihisa off their comrades. I tried to step forward to help him but the last man got in my way. His mouth opened in a gap toothed smile and he grabbed at me. In a split second decision I stepped into his grab and slammed my head against his. The arms that were about to wrap around me slackened. With a shout I pushed him into one of the men who was punching Norihisa in the stomach.

Gap tooth slammed into the man and they fell against Norihisa. The other two men separated and came at me from two sides. One was bald and the other had a tattoo curling around his neck.

“Eien!” A sharp shout came from behind and I glanced back as topknot slammed into me. I cursed as he held onto me in a tight grip, pinning my arms against my sides. The two men who had separated stood in front of me to my right and left. They cracked their fists and grinned.

They came at me at the same time and swung their fists into my face and stomach. I grunted in pain as their fists connected. I couldn’t take a breath as they beat me. I could also see the other men laying into Norihisa with their fists. He was grinning as they continued to beat him with even more fervor. His grin only spurred them on.

“Aaggghhhhh!” Kizuna screamed and I felt her hoofbeats in the stone beneath me. She wildly swung a fist at the man with the tattoo. He tried to slap her fist aside but her strength must have powered through since her punch hit his face. He spun and fell to the floor unconscious. Only four left again.

Then Kizuna staggered and fell to the stones, her hat flying off. Her breathing quickened and her face was deathly pale. Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.

“Kizuna!” I roared in fury. I pushed myself up against Topknot and used his body as leverage to kick out at Baldy who was about to advance towards Kizuna’s prone form. The force of my kick knocked him away and put topknot off balance.

Topknot staggered back and I used my weight against him as he fell backwards. We fell in a heap, his arms loosening around me. I slammed an elbow into his ribs and he gasped out in pain. I twisted around in his loosened grip and grabbed his head in my hands. I slammed it into the ground and I barely held back from doing it only once as his body sagged. Three left.

A shout of rage came from behind and I turned to find that Norihisa had thrown up on one of his attackers. He slammed his head into the man holding him from behind and broke his nose. The man's hands went to his face and Norihisa was free. He spat out blood into the eyes of the man who had been beating him.

“Eien!” He pushed aside the man who he spat on and came to help me with Baldy. “It’s just like old times!” We came at Baldy from two different directions. “Both of us getting the crap kicked out of us!”

I distracted Baldy from the front and didn’t give him room to breathe. While Norihisa came from behind and brought both his fists down on the back of Baldy’s head. He dropped like a stone and hit the ground hard.

“Iroha! See to Kizuna!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as Norihisa and I advanced to the two recovered goons.

Already beside her.

“You take the one you threw up on,” I said as I advanced on the other.

“With pleasure.” I couldn’t be sure but I thought that I saw his bruises healing. Something for later.

The goon who had been spat on came at me with a fist aimed at my torso. I blocked it with my arms and grunted from the force. Norihisa knocked his opponents fists away and kicked at his leg.

We stepped in time with one other and our fists flew into the goons' bodies. Mine threw a wild punch and I ducked under it. I sprang forward and slammed my fist into his kidney and he screamed in agony. Norihisa pulled on his goons’ arm and spun him around, slamming him into my goon. They flew to the stones and we both stepped forward and slammed our fists into their stomachs. They wheezed and lay on the ground groaning in pain.

Norihisa let out a chuckle and held his fist up to the side. I tapped it with mine before turning to rush back to Kizuna. Iroha sat with Kizuna’s head on her lap. Kizuna was still pale and I got onto my knees to feel her pulse.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She did something she shouldn’t have,” Iroha said while looking serious. “I really should have said something earlier but I didn’t realize that she’d jump into a fight.”

“What do you mean?” I knew that the kirin hated violence but this was more than that.

“She can’t fight. She literally can’t.” She rubbed at Kizuna’s horn nub. “She’s a kirin. They’re holy creatures that abhor violence. It hurts them inside to even be near it. Can you imagine what she’s feeling now that she directly inflicted that upon another?”

I looked down at Kizuna’s face. She had rushed out to save me. This was my fault. I let her down. “Damn it.”