The King of Fighters Tournament

Settling Scores

The Kyos went on stage to perform, by of course starting with their theme Mutually Exclusive Dichotomy. The BOF couldn't help but be surprised at how well they could play.
"How are they so good?" K' asked in surprise as he stood watching them from behind the curtains.
Kyo smirked. "That's my DNA in them."
Iori avenged himself by returning that backhand Kyo gave him earlier. "You aren't the only musician here. Besides, they could've learnt it later."
"That hurt," Kyo frowned rubbing his arm. "Also, even if they learnt it later, it's still because of my DNA running in them."
"You could be right," Iori smirked as he turned back to the stage. "I just hope they aren't jerks like you too."
"Oi!" Kyo scowled. "Says the one that used to come at me for no rational reason."
Iori frowned. "It was the curse."
"Sure, blame your curse for everything," Kyo rolled his eyes.
"Hey, you weren't the one going through all of that," K' stepped up. "Iori had to handle a lot. Alone too."
"Thanks," Iori smirked. "It used to taunt me from the back of my mind. Once I even considered smashing my head with a boulder just to end it."
Kyo now felt bad for the redhead. "Oh, shoot. Yagami, why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Like anyone can relate," Iori sighed. He turned to look at where Aiko was and sighed in relief when he saw her far from earshot. "Also because there wasn't even anything anyone could do to help me then."
Zayn patted Iori's back as he walked up beside him. "You had it tough, dude. Wish we had been friends then."
"Aww," Iori chuckled. "You had it bad too, dude."

"You don't see that every day..." Shermie commented, holding her keyboard under one arm. She nudged Yashiro. "Yashiro, when did this happen?"
Yashiro shrugged. "Must've been during the time we were out of the picture."
"But they're good, though," Chris remarked. "I'm just surprised that the BOF didn't collaborate with them instead of us."
"Maybe they didn't know about this too," Shermie suggested. "Come on, let's go prepare. We need to set up the drum kit too."
"I sure hope they have two," Chris sighed.

Kyo watched as his clones played their own version of Tears. It was so full of emotion, the way they played it. The end of the song also marked the end of their performance as they all stepped into the centre to take a bow before going backstage again.
Kusanagi avoided Kyo as he made his way towards his guitar case. Kyo stood watching him, not sure of what he was feeling towards his reflection.
"Kyo, come on," Iori said, patting his shoulder to get his attention.
Kyo turned to see the rest of his band members making their way onto stage, waving at the roaring crowd of fans. He turned back to Kusanagi and noticed that he and his teammates were simply packing to leave. The CYS had arrived too, looking awkward since they weren't used to seeing four Kyos in the same room.
"Kyo, what are you waiting for?" Athena called, being the closest to him. She had a mic in her hand, her hair beautifully styled into half-up space buns with the rest of her hair hanging loose. "Come on!"
Kyo frowned as he made his decision. "There's something that I should do first."
Athena looked at him in surprise, just like the rest of the band, as Kyo went over to his clones.
"That was an amazing performance," Kyo complimented. "You guys did great."
Kusanagi looked at him in surprise, especially when Kyo gave them two thumbs up before running off to be onstage, happily waving at his fans before positioning his fingers over his guitar to play Esaka!.
Kyo-1 chuckled as he pressed Kusanagi's shoulder. "I wasn't expecting this kinda treatment."
"Neither was I," Kusanagi admitted. "This isn't how it was during the previous tournament."
"Indeed it wasn't," Kyo-2 agreed. "Things must've really changed after NESTS collapsed."
"And after Mukai did too," Kusanagi added. "I have to look for Kagura. I have some scores to settle with her."

Chizuru grinned to herself when the BOF started playing Fairy. It was a nice song, her song. She felt honoured that they played it.
Just then she felt a presence. It was very similar to Kyo's presence, but it clearly wasn't since he was happily playing onstage. Chizuru turned around to look at three copies of Kyo, two of which were synthetically created and one of which a mirrored reflection that she created.
"We meet again," Chizuru smiled as she bowed in greeting.
Kusanagi nodded back. "So much has happened during my— our absence."
"Indeed," Chizuru agreed. "I haven't asked, how have you been?"
Kusanagi shrugged. "Well, after you abandoned me, not very good." He sighed. "Why didn't you just send me back... to wherever you summoned me from?"
"Kusanagi..." Kyo-2 whispered, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
"No, I need to know," Kusanagi insisted. "Why, Kagura?"
"Because you didn't deserve that," Chizuru said. "You deserved a life, I didn't want to take that away once I had already given it."
"But did you once wonder what kind of a life I had?" Kusanagi asked, instantly taking the smile off her face. "You didn't even bother find out, did you?"
With that, he pulled his friends off to walk away from her. Chizuru was left to watch them leave in surprise.
"Let's go see if they have fish sticks," Kusanagi nonchalantly changed the subject as soon as they were out of earshot. "I could kill for some now."
"Dude, are you sure you're okay?" Kyo-2 asked. "Because you sure don't seem like it."
Kusanagi smirked. "Well, I wasn't before, but I definitely am now. Felt good to call her out like that."
"But why is it that you asked her why she didn't send you back?" Kyo-1 piped up. "Dude, we need you too. You're our buddy."
"I know I am, I'm not denying that," Kusanagi shrugged. "I just felt angry that she brought be here and didn't in the least take responsibility on my well-being. It's like a mother abandoning her child, with nothing when she left the child in the streets. And then wonder how he's been." He sighed. "I don't even blame Kyo, it wasn't his fault that... that we are all here now."
"Indeed, it wasn't his fault," Kyo-1 shrugged. "Speaking of unsettled scores, the two of us have to stay away from..." he frowned when he spotted Igniz with the Zeros. "...from those guys."
Kyo-2 groaned. "Come on, they're here too?"
"I think we should go say hi," Kusanagi said, running towards the Boss Team. "Come on!"
Kyo-1 groaned. "Kusanagi..."
"Yep, he's back," Kyo-2 chuckled, running after him.
Kyo-1 was left to run after them as well.