Chapter 16 : Guild wars (2)

"I don't know just seeing him gets me riled up." Said Reema to Anika as they were out again on their girlfriend moment. Anika knew Reema would generally avoid a conflict if she could, she wanted to get strong but not to get revenge but just make her father proud.

"What did he do to you father? you talk a lot but you never say a word about what happened to your father."

Reema took a deep breath as she did not like to talk much about the incident because it made her angry, seeing as her blood was already boiling from anger she thought it would be good to talk it out, "Clover Guild is made up of 4 different guilds as you know, generally they won't interact with each other but after the Mumbai incident they knew that getting together will be better for survival. My father was a respected man among all the four as many of their underlings had studied under him. So he decided to mediate the talks. Abhimanyu was his partner and his best student. They had some kind of dispute and Abhimanyu decided to do it by force, when he awakened his affinity his rank came out to be S5, he became the strongest active hero. He took on all the four leaders of the old guilds together and defeated them with ease. Even if anyone had a problem with him nobody spoke out of fear."

"But you said he put your father into a position where he can't start any opposing classes, what was that about?"

"Because my father stood up, he let go of the fact that the merger was done in a way he did not approve but Abhimanyu was monopolizing too. He started going after smaller guilds in the region and closed them down, not just that he also closed down every training centre out there. My father stood up for them, He challenged my father to a martial arts only fight without using aura but unfortunately my father lost not just that he broke his back paralysing him from the waist down."

"That bastard...Who were those four in the entrance exams then?"

"They were from a local training centre of clover, they operate a lot of them outside their region, helps him in recruiting more people."

_____

"Maanveer singh, Vishal Rajgor and Abhinav Mehta, The top dogs of Strykers, what brings you to me." Said president Sardar welcoming his guests. He knew the reason for their arrival and he wanted to steer clear of any favouritism so he had decided to watch from the sidelines but denying a request from such people to meet would not be a good idea either.

The Strykers had a system of long coats which had their designated positions on them but The leaders had distinct Black ones with nothing but 1 written on their shoulders in Roman numbers. Vishal who sat in the middle crossed his legs and said,"You know why we are here, we are ready to donate a substantial amount to this institution, enough to get it in the top 5 of the world."

"I assume there are some strings attached with it? it isn't exactly a donation if you expect a favour and I don't decide for any of my students, it's a part of our education to let them make their own decisions"

"Obviously nothing comes for free and nor are we asking for exclusivity rights, we just want you to put a ban on Abhimanyu Rao."

President was a bit surprised by the proposition, it was a well known fact that Abhimanyu had been spreading his roots very fast but there had been no open opposition from any party till now.

"And on what grounds am I supposed to ban him?"

Abhinav produced a file from his coat and kept it on the table. President Sardar took a look at the contents of the file and his expression told the rest of the story.

Vishal leaned back a bit knowing that the intended reaction had been achieved,"As you can see Abhimanyu has been taking over the support from affiliate board members and has already taken about 4% share in RUA via small shell companies. He is planning on a hostile take over soon and controlling RUA gives him too much power. Students come here from every region and this take over would mean trouble even for us. with our support you can hold him off and it also helps the college, we do not want any administrative rights either for the donations."

President Sardar took time to look over every detail to see if he was not being tricked but it would seem the leaders of Strykers here were speaking the truth.

"But I still can't ban him for no apparent reason and banning him would only mean he can't enter RUA, it does not preclude that he can't meet the students outside of the university premises."

"I does give us an advantage over him which is enough for now and it seems like you have not been keeping a keen eye over things happening in your own campus, he openly attacked a female student from the special class, I believe her name is Reema Ahuja. This should be enough of a cause for you to ban him."

"I see, This situation sure is a difficult one, you could have handled this without coming here, If I ban him now after you three have come to personally meet me, he would clearly see what is happening."

Vishal and the other two leaders stood up from their seats. Vishal adjusted his coat, "It's ok president, we want him to know." And walked out of the office.

_____

The next day the news was filled with Abhimanyu's attack on Reema and how Yash bakshi saved her and that had led to Abhimanyu Rao's ban in RUA. There were news debates that had been discussing Abhimanyu's past endeavours in the south and how the new power struggle in western quadrant was gonna pan out.

Rusjeet singh had been stumped in all this mess trying his best to keep things in order. He knew it was clearly the work of Strykers, you pay media enough and they can create a conversation that could change the public opinion a lot. Populism can be a fall of many things, countries like Argentina had fallen from grace because of that and Clover was just a small guild in comparison. That would be the initial thought but not everything works like that, non the less it was a big blow on Clover. This was also going to be a big blow for Rusjeet who had to keep things at bay and the Strykers guild had technically just declared war on the Clover guild.

_____

Reema was walking to her class tired and sad as now she was a celebrity of sorts. It became harder for her to get to college but RUA had taken care of that for the most part by having an envoy for her that would pick her up from the home and drop her at university. It was still troublesome because she could not go out much like before.

"Get used to this, it will only get harder from here." Said Nandini as she caught up to Reema who had barely noticed her coming.

"How did you deal with such stuff?"

"I don't know really, I just got used to it I suppose."

Reema tried to shake herself off from the topic as in university she was mostly out of the limelight of media, though the prying eyes of other students had increased.

"What are you doing here by the way?" Said Reema as she gave a faint smile,"Here to meet Krishna?"

"Well...Yeah I will surely meet him but I have something else too." Said Nandini as she walked into the classroom with Reema, "I will be your teacher from today."

Reema took her seat as she noticed with everyone the beautiful attire of Nandini as a teacher, it certainly exposed her voluptuous figure and top notch physique. Her Hair bun actually enhanced her looks and even left Reema with an open jaw. Anika jolted Reema out of her state of awe, Reema looked at anika and whispered, "You have some serious competition."

Anika gave a discontent look as she saw Nandini too and knew she was not even in the league if it just came to the features a man would like in a woman, especially when pitched against Nandini. That also explained Nandini's massive male following.

Nandini kept a few books on the table and said, "As you know I have already revealed my name publicly when I announced my leaving of Lions, so I would prefer you all call me by my real name now."

Rajdeep who also seemed happy to be able to brag about having such a famous woman as a teacher asked, "Are you going to replace Krishna sir."

"No she will be replacing Rusjeet singh for now." Said Krishna as he entered the class. "As you may have noticed he is quite busy with some work so until then Nandini will be substituting for him."

Nandini saw Krishna and a smile was etched across her face. As Krishna stood beside her. While looking at the class she grabbed his arm and said, "Today me and your Krishna sir will be taking your class together so I can learn more about how things work around here."

Krishna's cheeks turned red due to this sudden surprise. But he was not alone on this, everyone is the class was surprised as well, it became clear to them that Krishna sir had probably know Butterfly or now known as Nandini from before. Certainly there was no doubt in their mind about looks of Krishna sir, his black dense hair and well toned body could attract anyone and as for the skills these students had the first hand experience of Krishna's prowess.

Anika's look was a mixture of surprise, sadness and irritation, Reema jolted her out of her state and said, "She is fast."

'Sure she is.' thought Anika, who knew that a woman who went out of her way to hide her name in public could be so forthcoming when it came to this topic. She had clearly taken a lead from the day one when she hugged Krishna on the island and she wasn't backing down now, it was a clear declaration of war for Anika who clenched her fist accepting it. Krishna on the other hand, who was very much oblivious of this as he rubbed the back of his head and said, "Let's go then padawans and start training."

_____

Anika was clearly grinding her teeth from anger and that worried Reema, she did not want her friend to do something rash and maybe start a war in literal sense. Though she also understood the cause of her anger. Nandini had been holding on to Krishna's hand all through their way to the training room. The whole college had probably noticed this and it irritated Anika even more.

Krishna had an awkward blush all over his face as he sensed there was a really murderous aura oozing out from behind him. When they got to their destination Krishna had to remove his hand from Nandini's grip to bring out his chair. He sat on the chair and said, "alright let's get started."

It was a total washout, Nandini saw where these kids got their skills from as they all attacked Krishna without even holding back a cent. Even so they were being bested upon as Krishna moved the chair and tossed it around defending it. 'It's like kids playing games, he is teaching them nothing. These kids figured out everything by themselves.' Thought Nandini as she looked at what looked like a very violent circus that somehow worked.

When it ended Anika walked to Nandini a little breathless from their class, "So, what do you think?"

Nandini's face was down from what she saw and said, "What was...THAT?"

"That's his class, everyday he does this and then leaves."

Nandini looked with eyes wide open in shock, "Are you serious?"

Rajdeep who had pushed himself to his best stood up catching his breath and said, "That was amazing, I learned so much today."

Rishi nodded his head in agreement, "It was so clear I need to work more on my finer control of water while maintaining force."

Anirudh also agreed and said, "Yeh and my reverse round houses were so imprecise, he showed me all my flaws."

Jia who was smiling huffing on the ground said, "The way he threw the chair around, It showed my crappy knife throwing skills need so much improvement."

Reema who knew about Krishna's way also somehow agreed because there was so much precision and technique in his moves that it was teaching even her honed skills how to improve.

Anika and Nandini in the meanwhile stood at the sides agreeing on the point that Krishna's teaching was disastrous at best.

Yet Nandini could not believe what she saw. Though it may not be teaching it was clearly a show of power to her. She had only one comparison in her mind that showed such dominance over the battlefield, her former boss the Lion Yash Bakshi.

_____

Anika had embraced a challenge but she had no idea what she was going to do. She was standing in front of the mirror looking at her overall attire. Hair were cut till her shoulder unlike the long hair of Nandini. She wore a T-shirt which was not even close to the tight tops which Nandini wore. Her old Jeans were loose and elastic, to not restrict her movements which was a far cry from what women wore in general. Overall she hung her head in disappointment as she figured out everything she wore was more like a men's casual wear collection.

She decided she needs to call her go to girl Reema for help but she had nothing much in the house that would work so she went to Reema's home.

As she stood outside her home she realised she had never gone inside. They always met outside at some place and mostly a cafe they had already been to and they would sit there as Reema talked for 90% of the time.

Reema had a home in one of the posh sides of Ahmedabad and having a separate house instead of an apartment surely said she was loaded in comparison to Anika herself but that had never crossed her mind until today as Anika was about to enter the house.

Her house was fairly modern when it comes to accessories and decorations. I was also quite spacious compared to her own cramped apartment. She waited in the hall as Reema went up saying she needed to clean her room because she was shy showing it off when it was dirty. She obviously heard her fall once but she wasn't worried, it was probably her daily thing. The sofa was way too comfy than what was at her place, she thought it was even better than her bed if she were to compare thinking how did Krishna manage to sleep on the sofa till now. He would now sleep on the mattress where Ganesh once slept but it could not be compared to the bed. She even felt a little ashamed of the fact that she was making him sleep down even though he was the one paying all bills now.

An old man in a wheelchair came in the living room, he was Reema's father Amit Ahuja but he looked fairly younger than what she had thought of him to look like. He had a kind smile on his somber face as he said, "You must be Anika, Reema talks about all the time."

Anika knew how talkative Reema was and she had grown comfortable to her presence but it was her first time seeing her father, it made her feel slightly awkward. "She talks about you too and how good of a teacher you are."

Amit chuckled and said, "Isn't she a talkative one, I do my best to pass on what I can as a father but with my condition she I can't spar with her to refine her skills, she has been doing so by herself. She is a good student and a great daughter."

"I am sure she is, she wants to make you feel proud of her."

"That I already am and I can't be more so. Yet somehow she manages to make me feel even prouder." He sighed thinking about what his daughter had been through to keep making him prouder, "I am thankful to you for staying with my daughter."

Anika smiled awkwardly and said, "No, I am not responsible for anything. In fact, she was the one that found me."

"Still it has been a good change for me to see her smiling and be happy. For the longest time she has been alone because of her time management. After Abhimanyu whom she considered a bother since childhood beat me in put me in this condition she had never missed a chance to train herself, she lost touch with everyone of her old friends. She would sneak out at times to fight with some low class demons and take part in competitions. I have seen her hide her injuries to not make me worry. I would keep hearing from the people I know in my martial arts community about how many times she had lost. It took her a 1000 losses to win 1 fight but she kept going. I sometimes thought of not teaching her, that might stop her from fighting but then I dreaded, if she was to sneak out and not come back one day just because I was too stubborn to teach her. She is a dying gift from my wife and I wish I could protect her better but it looks like she is the one who would be protecting me now. With the recent Abhimanyu incident I was worried she might go into her old self but I guess that was just a father worrying too much. She has a friend like you who can be by her side now."

Anika had always respected Reema's dedication but his father made her respect even more, "I didn't do anything sir, I was just there. On the contrary, she has been more helpful to me both in my training and in my life."

Reema's father smiled again in the same manner as he did when he entered and there was something peaceful about it Anika thought.

"Sometimes you just have to be there for someone and it is more than enough."

Reema came down running and fell on the last step. She picked herself up, barged into the hall and said, "It's ready, now let me be your fairy grandmother." She dragged Anika up to her room even though she was cooperating as her father sat there smiling.

_____

Krishna was on the bus to RUA alone as Anika had decided to spend the night at Reema's house. It was the first time in what felt like a long time that he had truly been alone. Even before when Anika went for her internship there was Ganesh with him. He didn't know what it was but it felt just, not right from the inside, even though it wasn't much different for what he did daily.

He remembered when he will get to college Nandini would do as she always did and hold his arm. Back in his teenage days he remembered his stupid thoughts when her chest would touch his arm but even though he had grown up the sensation still shook him a bit. He did feel bad though as he knew it had been 7 years for Nandini and she had been waiting for him but it had been 7000 years for him. There was no doubt that he cherished their moments together and remembered them but there was still someone his heart was not ready to forget and nor did his mind knew how to. After he came back, he had felt a single thought driving him, to live is to suffer. The pain was what made him feel alive. Lately there were many things mixing up in that pain and it was not that bad anymore. Sometimes the pain would go away, it would only take a split second to remember all that caused the suffering but for that split second things were different, but what was it.

The bus stopped at one of its regular stops around a big business area and a lot of the passengers got off. Krishna got a seat and he sat near the window, a preferred seat for anyone be it a child or an adult. The bus moved on as he stared at the city. many things had changed after all those waves. Things were a lot different when he used to study in the medical college but a lot of those places had been destroyed in one of the waves in the past and had been rebuilt as per new standards, but he had gotten used to the view after traveling the same route for some time.

He felt the most gentle push on his shoulder but he ignored it. Then the push got harder but he still ignored.He was used to being pushed in a full bus it was nothing compared to that. The next push was unnaturally hard to be ignored as his other shoulder hit the window.

"What is up with you…" said Krishna stopping in his words. It was Anika but a not exactly as he knew her. She was wearing a sleeveless grey turtleneck exposing her beautiful shoulders and black skinny jeans with high heels. Her hair looked silky and straight, parted asymmetrical but the fringes kept falling off on her forehead as she adjust them timely. It was giving her a 90s look which really suited her shy expression. With very well done eye makeup which came to focus as she tried looking away every time he looked at her was only accentuating the already stunning beauty. It reminded him of that embarrassing moment when she walked into the living room in her undergarments and how her curves were so perfect but somehow the dress even topped that.

"Stop staring, it's embarrassing." said Anika in the most softest voice he had ever heard. 'Was her voice always so sweet.' he wondered. She gently nudged him again expressing her embarrassment, Krishna immediately looked away into the window, "Sorry."

"Don't just look away like that."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Just...look straight, I want to be able to see you."

Krishna did so as his breathing became conscious, he could not remember the rhythm which he had left till now to his subconscious.

Ankia held on to Krishna's arm and leaned into him.

"What are you doing?" Said Krishna trying not to look as her fragrance hit him like a boulder.

"Didn't she hold you like this? I am just trying to feel what it's like."

The way to RUA was in no way short but it seemed like it had been cut too short as time flew, his heartbeat never slowed down for a moment till it was time to get out.

He had no idea what to say but Anika held on to him till they had reached the gate and Krishna stopped there,

"You...you should let go now."

"Why?" said Anika softly.

"I am your teacher, people will say things."

"Then let them say."

"I will lose my job."

Anika held on for a minute as they stood there. She let go of the arm and Krishna could see her red cheeks and ears as she adjusted those slippery fringes again.

As they walked to the college building through the campus Krishna had to suppress his urge to keep looking her way but he felt good for the long walk to the building for the first time. Anika had never walked in heels before and Reema had much smaller feet than her, she struggled through halfway but finally the heel on one of the shoes gave off. She took off the heels and walked a few steps on the hot asphalt only to be stopped by Krishna. She had spare shoes in her locker so he carried her on his back to the college buildings. She embraced him tightly from the back and said, "hopefully you don't get fired for this."

"It's ok, I can't let you walk on this hot road without any shoes."

When they reached the building Nandini was waiting for them at the gate. She had been tapping her feet waiting for Krishna's arrival. As soon as she saw him, she held his hand and dragged him in the building, he put Anika down gently and was dragged out of her view. She was content with the events and walked to her locker to get her spare shoes.

Krishna was being dragged to his office. Nandini closed the office and sighed with her head down. Krishna stayed silent for a few moments as he saw Nandini's back and said, "Why did you drag me here? If it's about what you saw..."

Nandini turned around with her head down and said, "it's not about that." She raised her head with a tense expression, "it's about Reema."

Krishna's expression deepened, "what about her?"

"Her envoy was attacked, everyone there died and she is missing."