Symbiosis

I.

The salty sea breeze filled her nostrils as the woman burst into the empty shipyard. Her footsteps, the footsteps of another and the crashing of the waves against the port were all that welcomed them. It was dark and wet. As expected of the shipyard at the edge of Yokohama in the late hours of night

The woman was running in a pair of black boots. Under the moonlight, her most noticeable traits were her fair tawny hair and the navy blue overcoat flapping behind her. She shouted a taunt back at the shorter man pursuing her.

Almost immediately, a fiery red aura engulfed her and she was lifted off the ground. She flailed helplessly for a second before her body was slammed into the ground with the force of a train. Tremors shook the entire shipyard. In place of the ground where the woman stood was a sinkhole and in the centre stood a fair-headed figure in a blue coat.

The ground around the sinkhole trembled and shattered into pieces. The red aura around the woman glowed brighter and the tremors under the shipyard grew more vigorous. The man standing a few paces away laughed and approached the red figure, throwing out a few insults while smirking smugly.

In a single heartbeat, the figure shot into the air and disappeared. Simultaneously, the man was launched backwards into a sturdy metal beam. A few feet before him, the woman stood, no longer shrouded by the red glow.

She stepped closer to the man. With every step she took, the flawless concrete around her feet broke into cracks. The cracks continued to spread until the ground seemingly crumbled beneath her steps. The man hauled himself to his feet, the expression on his face none too friendly. Behind him, in the metal beam was a human-shaped dent.

"This is such a disrespectful thing to do to a woman," he remarked, an angry scowl etched on his face. He shrugged of his coat and advanced towards the woman with such incredible speed that he had been reduced to a blur of red hair and black.

A strangled cry slipped the woman's lips when she brought her arm up to guard against the man's all too powerful kick. The kick shook her to her bones as she slid back a couple of paces, yet her original stance had not change. The attack had shaken her but she was uninjured, and it was her turn to strike.

In half a second, she too had become a blur as she launched herself at him, a kick from her right foot connected with his waist. She heard a soft grunt from him but before anything else a spark of angry red invaded her line of sight and she leaned back instinctively to avoid a well-aimed swipe. Her palms met the ground and she sent a kick towards his jaw. When she landed back on her feet, the man was stumbling backwards. Her kick merely glanced off his chin.

Of course, she couldn't possibly get the better of him that easily. He was the most talented martial artist in the Port Mafia. Not to forget, he was also an executive. Whatever the woman did, she didn't incur the wrath of just any member of Port Mafia. This wrath belonged to Nakahara Chuuya.

The red-headed man regarded her attacks with a wide smirk. He massaged his jaw, his glinting eyes met hers, wordlessly accepting the challenge she had presented him with. A red aura enveloped him, flickering impatiently as he straightened up.

For a moment, he disappeared, racing towards the woman. The two clashed with a flurry of attacks, slowing down occasionally as one of them doubled back from a blow. Then a frequent flash of red would light up the shipyard and ground-shaking tremors would sway the massive cranes scattered around the empty space.

At the woman's skill level, she was just barely keeping up with her opponent's purposeful strikes but her speed surpassed even that of his and allowed her to defend then attack. With the power of her ability pulsing in her veins, she was able to throw up each block and deliver each hit confidently without taking on much damage. Currently, he had her on the defensive.

A familiar red illuminated her vision as she charged forward and nailed him in the stomach with every bit of her might that she had not displayed in the fight so far. He was blown back by the punch before he could properly land a hit on her with his ability. The impact had knocked all the wind from his lungs as he found himself embedded within another metal beam.

The woman faced him with her shoulders slouched, rising and sinking as she panted. She was feeling the physical backlash of utilising her ability in this manner. This had happened in her previous encounter with Nakahara Chuuya and he took advantage of her growing fatigue to beat her down. She should count her lucky stars that she escaped capture with a convenient flash grenade she had on her person that day.

Now, she had no flash grenades. No diversions. If she wanted to do something to turn the tables, it was then. She took a deep breath and charged him again before he could recover. She twisted her fists into the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the pavement.

Bam. Once. Bam. And twice.

At her third attempt to bury him into the ground, a red glare interrupted her. She was violently wrenched away from him and smashed into the wall of a warehouse a dozen feet away.

Nakahara uttered a painful grunt and rose to his feet. He strode over to the dented metal beam to retrieve his hat that had fallen off the moment he crashed into it.

His fingers brushed against the smooth fabric of his hat before he withdrew his hand instantaneously to steady himself as his vision began to swim. He raised his head to see the woman-Sata Ineko-walking languidly towards him. The edges of his lips curled downwards. She hadn't even touched him! Yet he was already losing...

The corners of his vision darkened. He felt himself stumble as he lashed out clumsily at her with his rapidly fading consciousness. An overwhelming sense of dread gripped him.

"You-" were all he was able to force out of his lips.

He lurched. There was a dull thud.

And the world fell to black.