XXXVII

“You fucking bitch!” He screamed at me, slapping me across the face. I tasted blood in my mouth and my consciousness once again wavered, my sight blurring. I brought my hands up to try to defend myself but he tore them away and slapped me harder still. My legs wavered for a moment and then gave way as I tumbled to the ground. My vision swam as I hit and rolled quickly into as defensive a position as I could manage. Suddenly I heard Sachi’s voice as she trained in her living room, me sitting on the sofa watching.

“You should learn self-defense, you know, Akarin,” she said, spinning in a tightly controlled arc and kicking her leg out sharply before bringing it far over her head. She held the position somehow and spun on her heel to face me, the leg in the air held nearly perpendicular to the ground.

“Why?” I smiled. “You’ll be there to protect me!”

“Don’t make me get the ice cubes!” She warned with a scowl.

“I might like the ice cubes,” I replied as seductively as I could manage.

“Don’t tease the old lady,” Sachi said with a grin. “It’s bad for my heart. I might not always be there, you know.”

“Why not?” I asked, pouting. “Don’t you love me?”

“I love you more than you will ever know, Akarin,” Sachi sighed at me, shaking her head. “But what if I have a nail appointment or am busy accepting the Nobel Prize for the best use of the word Hippopotamus in a scientific research paper?”

“Hippopotamus? What?” I asked, confused. Sachi grinned at me and shook her head, finally lowering her leg.

“It doesn’t matter, the point is I may not always be with you,” she replied, holding out her hand to me. “Now, come here, I’ll show you a couple things.”

“Geez, grandma!” I pouted, grabbing her hand and letting her pull me reluctantly to my feet. “It’s so hot! Can’t we just go to the pool and float for awhile?”

“Later! Now, stand like this,” She said, rolling her eyes and taking a stance, feet apart, body turned. I tried to imitate her but couldn’t seem to get it right. “I’ll show you.” She reached down and ran her hands over my hips, turning them slightly, then moving my chest slightly until I was in the position she wanted. Each time her hands brushed against me I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through me like I’d touched a hot wire. If she were to check my panties right now I would be hard-pressed to explain, I thought with a salacious grin.

“Now, first go for the groin,” She said, kicking out viciously, leg extending with a snap. I tried to imitate her poorly and ended up looking very foolish. “That was terrible!”

“Hey!” I protested. “I’m trying here!”

“That was weak!” Sachi teased. “Here, I’ll play the attacker.” She moved in front of me and took up a position a couple feet away. “Now, I’m going to pretend to attack you. What do you do?” She took a step forward, drawing herself up to try to look more menacing.

“Oh! Mighty and powerful Sacchan!” I squealed in mock terror, throwing myself onto her and clinging to her piteously. “Please don’t ravage me! Or, in your case, please ravage me!” Sachi burst into laughter and held me close for a moment. I prayed she couldn’t feel how hard my heart was beating.

“Ok, ok, that would work on me,” Sachi laughed, hugging me close for a moment longer before letting me go. “But pretend I’m not me this time and remember what I said. I don’t want to have a heart attack. Old lady, here.”

“Pfft,” I chuckled. “You’re old so I’d just throw some tapioca pudding on the ground and watch as you fell and broke your hip trying to grab it. It’s proven old people are irresistibly drawn to tapioca pudding.”

“Don’t mock my dinner,” Sachi giggled. “But this is serious. I don’t want you to ever get hurt. What do you do?”

“Play dead?” I asked.

“That’s for mother bears,” Sachi replied, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I don’t remember,” I sighed, exasperated.

“You go for the groin! Jeez, I just told you! If you can, make sure you have enough distance between you and your attacker to snap your leg out. The more extension you get the more damage you’ll do.” Sachi lectured me.

“Like this?” I asked, kicking my leg out toward her. “Hieeeya!”

“Bruce Lee you are not,” Sachi sighed, shaking her beautiful head. “But that was ok. Try again.” I kicked out again, nearly hitting her. “Better. Again!”

“Fuck you!” I screamed at Nobuo surprising even myself. I kicked my leg up and snapped it out like Sachi had taught me, catching him solidly in the groin. His eyes bulged in surprise and I drew my leg back and kicked out again, using all of the strength I had gained from years of dancing to put as much power into the kick as possible. My foot caught him solidly in the face and I felt a satisfying crunch as his nose shattered.

“Once you’ve kicked him in the groin and briefly incapacitated him then what do you do?” Sachi asked me.

“Go to the pool and float?” I asked impatiently.

“Akari…” Sachi warned, flicking me gently on the forehead.

“Ow! I don’t know!” I pouted in exasperation, grabbing my forehead in mock agony and shaking my head. If I was honest, I just wanted to go to the pool with Sachi and get some skinship, not stand in the living room in way too many clothes.

“You run, Akari!” Sachi sighed at me.

I rolled to my feet and ran as fast as I could back toward the house, my head felt like it was going to explode with every step and blood had run from my mouth and nose and was rapidly soaking through the breezy summer dress I wore but I pushed everything to the back of my mind except for my need to escape and the knowledge that, even though she wasn’t with me, Sachi had still managed to save me.