Kino vs Everyone

LILLY QUITELY STEPS back into the condo — gently closing the sliding glass door behind her — trying not to wake the others.

 Before she can turn around she's slammed against the sliding door. Her left arm is pinned behind her, a hand presses her head against the door. She doesn't resist.

 "Who the fuck are you and what is your mission?" I hissed.

 "KK, unless you're wearing a strap-on and plan on taking me from behind, could you let me go? My nipples are so cold and erect, I could probably cut the glass they're pressed against."

 "That's your fault for going outside naked. Now talk! Who the fuck are you? And what is your mission?"

 "Your brother was right. This is not the real world. I came here to bring you back. That's my mission."

 "Do you honestly think I believe that shit you're spewing?"

 "It's the truth." Said Dawn turning on the lights.

 "So you're in on it as well. Who else are you guys working with?"

 "I don't know who else there is," Lilly said, "it's complicated. Let me go and I'll tell you what I know."

 Kino briefly thinks it over. Feeling the hand leave her head Lilly is relieved that Kino's willing to listen and smiles.

 With it being dark outside, and the lighted room made the glass door into a mirror. Kino sees the smile,

 smiles herself, then grabs a fist full of Lilly's hair — pulls her head back and smashes it into the glass door, once, twice, thrice. The last blow cracks the glass, staining it with blood. Lilly collapses to the ground. Unconscious. Bleeding. Alive?

 Dawn rushes her. Kino uses a Judo shoulder throw — dropping her next to her girlfriend — knocking the wind out of her. Before Dawn can recover Kino grabs her stuff and leaves her condo. Destination unknown.

****

 𝑇𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝 "Hey Kiyo."

 "...Mmm…"

 "Kiyo!" 𝑇𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝

 Kiyo opens his eyes.

 𝑇𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑝

 Sitting up, he looks over at his window to find Rien/Rebecca staring at him.

 "Open the window."

 He lets out a groan and lays back down, pulling the blanket over his head.

 "Your sister is missing!" Now she has his attention.

 "Tell me what happened." I demanded, opening my window.

 Rien/Rebecca perches on the window sill like a bird while saying, "I don't know all the details. Just that Kino fled after finding out why we're all here."

 "Okay, meet me in the dojo."

 A few minutes later Kiyo steps into the dojo. Rien/Rebecca is there along with Lilly her head bandaged, and Dawn.

 "You're the chick from the hospital that was with my sister. What are you doing here?"

 "Trying to save your dumbasses from this dreamworld you're stuck in, you ungrateful shit."

 "Wait. What!?" Kiyo stands there flummoxed.

 "We're here at Princess Abaddon's request," said Rien/Rebecca, "Oh sorry I mean Abby's request."

 "How did you guys get here? Who is she? And what happened to my sister?"

 "Abby's sister Lilith is a succubus. She brought us here, and you should know Abby paid a heavy price for enlisting Lilith help."

 "How much did she charge her own sister?"

 "Lilith doesn't ask for any monetary gain when it comes to Abby. It's… something else."

 "Do I even want to know?"

 "You'll have to ask her." Replied Rien/Rebecca.

 "And you are?"

 "I'm Dawn. I knew your sister from the Assassin School, she helped train me."

 "Dawn. As in the same Dawn who was brutally raped and murdered. That Dawn?"

 "Yes."

 "How are you even here?"

 "That would be my doing," said Lilly, "I had Lilith create her from my memories. I did it so I could apologize to her for not being there like I should have been."

 "Did you two snuff out the originals of this dreamworld, or did you simply take their place?"

 "We merged with this world's version of us," replied Lilly, "at least that's Lilith explained it."

 "I see. So what happened with my sister?"

 "She overheard me talking with Lilith. I was going to explain things to her, but she rendered me unconscious. By the time I came to, she had already fled her condo."

 "What about you, Dawn? Did you try stopping her?"

 Dawn meekly nods her head. "She's just as strong as I remember. Threw my ass around like a doll."

 "So why not have Lilith track her down?" I asked them. "This is a dreamworld after all."

 "We've lost contact with her." Said Rien/Rebecca.

 "Seriously?! Any idea how that happened?"

 "No clue. Best guess, something's keeping her from us."

 "Setting that aside for now. Any idea where Kino would go now in this world?"

 "Nope. She mostly stayed at my place, her place, the school club room, or out on the track. I already checked at my place on the off chance she went there; before coming here at Rien/Rebecca's request."

 "Good thinking, Lilly. Now that my sister sees you as her enemy, you wouldn't suspect she'd hide out at your house, so you'd automatically rule it out from the start."

 "I checked the school. Found no signs she was there."

 After listening to the girls, Kiyo falls silent, getting lost in thought for a while. No one speaks. Finally Kiyo smiles. "I think I might know where my sister is."

 "Lilly, Dawn, go with him. I'm gonna try contacting Lilith again."

 "Okay. Let's get going."

****

 "Thank you, come again."

 𝐷𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔

 Kino exited a convenience store.

 "Now what?" Kino takes a sip of her drink, "this is all that stupid Kiyo's fault."

 "Did you just say Kiyo's name?"

 Kino looks over to see a trio moving towards her. Their leader Eno speaks again.

 "Did you just say Kiyo's name?"

 "What's it to you?"

 "I owe him a beating, and we're looking for anyone connected to him."

 "Just because I said the name Kiyo doesn't necessarily mean it's the same person you're looking for."

 "True, however, I know you go to his school, you're the same age, and probably have some of the same classes."

 Kino smirks, "what proof do you have that we go to the same school? I'm not wearing anything to indicate what school I belong to."

 "Stop playing coy Kino. You made the news when you broke your school's track record — the very same school that Kiyo represented two years ago at the National Kendo Tournament."

 "That's nice, don't care."

 "Listen, hear cunt, you will tell me where Kiyo is, or I'll curb-stomp your ass — then we'll drag you behind the store and gang rape your ass."

 Kino drops her backpack. "You three think you can take me on?"

 "Count again bitch."

 Kino had been caught unawares. Seven armed individuals had snuck up behind her while her attention was on Eno and his two friends.

 Kino readies herself to fight. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟? 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐼 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 — 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 — 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝑁𝑜, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒. 𝑊ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡? 𝑊ℎ𝑜?

 "You're mine!" Shouts one of the thugs, stepping towards her — bat raised.

 If the bat wielding thug hadn't shouted like he did he would've caught Kino completely off guard.

 Kino doesn't hesitate, she moves in quickly, punching the thug in his nose, the sound of cartilage breaking is heard, blood flies as his head snaps back. He's out cold before his body hits the ground.

 Another thug with brass-knuckles throws a haymaker. Kino takes a half-step backwards right as he throws, and immediately steps in with a one two combo, dropping the thug where he stood.

 Two more thugs grab Kino's arms, while a third comes at her with a pipe. She jumps up, kicks the thug with the pipe in his chest and flips backwards, breaking free of the two that held her.

 As soon as her feet touched the ground Kino's airbourne again hitting both thugs that held her with a front split kick.

 Getting back on his feet after being kicked in the chest the thug manages to grab Kino in a double collar tie clinch, his fingers locked behind her neck.

 Kino gets her right hand under his chin, pushing his head back.

 "You won't break my grip little girl. I'm on the wrestling team, and in close quarters like this you can't do shit. I'll hold you here and let someone else beat on you."

 "You have a long ways to go." With her left hand Kino strikes her right elbow, enabling her to upper-cut the guy, breaking his grip.

 She then gut-punches him, and when he doubles over, Kino knees him in the face, knocking him out.

 Kino continues to systematically fuck up the remaining thugs. Once done she grabs her backpack and leaves the convenience store parking lot.

****

 "Is the tea not to your liking?" Morpheus asked.

 "Huh?" Lilith looks at her hand. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠? She shakes off the thought and sets her cup down.

 "Now then, Lilith, will you stop interfering with our work?"

 "Sorry I cannot do as you ask. Because it was my precious little sister that asked for my help and not even a God, Dreamweaver, or whomever else is involved with this will stop me."

 "Very well. This is the price you must pay for defying a God." Morpheus snaps his fingers and Lilith is back in the corridor amongst her art, or what's left of it.

 Every which way she looks she sees everything has been destroyed. Oil paintings slashed, sculptures broken, windows busted out. Lilith's vision turns red with rage.

 "Um Lilith, are you okay?"

 Lilith lashes out at the speaker, beating them to death with her own hands, until a pair of dark red arms with white markings wrap around her, pulling her off the body, restraining her.

 "Let go of me Beelzebub, that's an order!" Shouts Lilith.

 "Beelzebub is following my orders."

 "Mother?! What is going on? Why did you order my art to be destroyed?"

 "I gave no such order. This is all you're doing. You destroyed your own artwork. Just like you…" The Queen loses her composure. She begins crying as she kneels next to the body that Lilith had been pounding on.

 This takes Lilith by surprise. Not once has she seen her mother cry. When Lilith looks at the body her mother is crying over, it takes a moment for her to realize who it is.

 "N-No, no, no, no it's not her. It's not her. It's not her. Beelzebub, tell me that's not Abaddon! Tell me I didn't kill my little sister!" Tears well in her eyes. Beelzebub doesn't respond, then the dam breaks as Lilith screams a gut-wrenching, high-pitched shrill.

 Beelzebub loosens his grip guiding Lilith to the ground, her body trembling, tears stream down her cheeks, she continues muttering "it's not her, it's not her, it's not her."

 "How many iterations is that now?"

 "Four hundred and twenty. My Lord."

 "She's a stubborn one."

 "My Lord, if I may. Why not let her help?"

 "Not my choice. This comes from Zeus. 'Matters pertaining to the gods will be handled by the gods.' Or so he says."

****

 "And here they come down the home stretch. With Kino Kurosaki leading the pact."

 "Oh, but Lilly Nova is gaining on her."

 𝐻𝑒𝑦 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑜.

 "And it's Kino Kurosaki for the win! Kino Kurosaki has won her third event, making her eligible for Nationals. What an amazing performance all around by these athletes."

 "Say Jo, who do you think will take Nationals this year?"

 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑜.

 "Well Brittany, I'd say it'll come down between Kino Kurosaki and Lilly Nova. Both girls have dominated the competition thus far."

 "I wholeheartedly agree with you there. This will be the first time these girls have competed against one another. It's sure to be an exciting race."

 𝐾𝐼𝑁𝑂!

 Kino snaps out of reverie. She looks down at Kiyo standing at the bottom of the bleachers.

 "So you were here after all. I'm glad I double checked. It's nice to see some things never change."

 "What do you mean?"

 "This is where you always come when you're feeling stressed, nervous, unsure of what to do. It's where you not only qualified for Nationals, but set two records: one for the fastest time and one for being the youngest to make it to Nationals."

 "So you're stalking me now."

 "Not at all. I just know you."

 "Like a stalker knows its victims."

 "You? A victim? Now that's funny."

 "You think being a victim of a stalker is funny." Kino asked me, making her way down the bleachers.

 "Not at all." I said, putting my hands up — palms facing out in deference. "But I do know you can protect yourself if need be."

 "You're right. I can protect myself."

 Kino jumps from the second set of bleachers, executing a beautiful flying kick, connecting with Kiyo's chest.

 "Shouldn't we help him?" Asked Dawn.

 "Nope."

 "But…"

 "This is how he wants it. All we can do is watch it play out." Replied Lilly.

 Seeing the worry on Dawn's face Lilly puts an arm around and pulls her in close knowing once this ends her time will be up. A fugitive tear runs down her check.

 Kiyo groans, tries to sit up, and immediately falls back to the ground, narrowly avoiding being kicked in the head.

 He rolls to his right quickly getting to his feet, his guard up, ready for a follow-up attack that doesn't come.

 The siblings stare at one another, both in a fighting stance.