Just the Maid

Chapter Eleven- Silva Zoldyck

I awoke to a knocking on my door.

"Hrgnerghergh?" I groan, sleepily.

"I'm coming in..." Canary quietly walks in and approaches me. I look at her with heavy eyelids.

"It's time for your fight with Master Silva."

"Oooh... How could I forget?" I roll over, facing away from her and try to go back to sleep.

"Don't be like that. We've welcomed you here so you could fight well with Master Silva and be well rested. Don't let it all go to waste. Come, let us go." I hear her move away from the bed.

"What a pain..." Reluctantly, I roll out of bed and head to the bathroom to fix myself up. Once I look presentable, Canary leads me to Silva, who is waiting for me in a huge hall. It's in a place near the back of the mansion, somewhere I haven't been before.

"This is our grand hall!" booms Silva.
"We hold all of our fights and balls here. Pretty ironic, isn't it? To have fighting and merriment held in the same place. But I like it. What do you think of it, Katara?"

I lazily look around, still half asleep. "It's... big. And pretty. I like the paintings and the decor." I stretch my arms up. "Too bad your blood will mar it before too long." I'm a trash talker. I know I'm bad at it, but I like to see my opponents get riled up. That way, they will make more mistakes and I can strike them down when they do. It's just what I do, I guess.

"I see..." He stares at me solemnly. "When you are ready, we can start," he says. He stands facing towards me, arms crossed on his chest, and closes his eyes in waiting.

Since I was given some time, I stretch out my muscles so I can fight for a longer time, just in case things don't go according to plan. When I'm done stretching, I jump up and down a few times.

"Alright, let's go!" Wanting to make the first move a surprise attack, I dash quick and low towards him, then bring my right fist up for a powerful upper cut. I see his eyes widen just the slightest bit before my punch hits him square in the jaw. He stumbles back, holding his jaw.

"How was that!?" I grin, triumphantly.

"Not bad, but not good either. You could work on your strength a little." He smiles and he stands up straight. "This means I don't have to go so easy on you." With that, he disappeared. My mouth dropped open.

'What the-! Where'd he go!?' I scanned the room. Suddenly, I felt a huge hand on my back and I was shot forward to the opposite wall like a bullet. I fell to the floor.

"Oh, I didn't push you too hard, did I?" Silva was standing above me, grinning. I just glared at him. Then grinned myself.

"Nope!" I flipped over, then dove underneath his legs so I was behind him. He turned to face me.

"That can't be all, can it?" I smirk.

"Well, if you want more..." He disappeared again. But I wouldn't let him have the upper hand this time. I stood still, relaxed my stance, and closed my eyes, listening. I used my sixth sense to see where he was.

'There!' This time, he was on my right. He was going to push my side so I would go flying again. 'Not this time!' I grabbed his hand and used his weight against him to throw him into the wall instead. I opened my eyes to see him crash into the wall, making a huge dent. Not wanting to waste this chance, I ran to his back, jumped, and kicked his back with tremendous force with my heel, as to have him make a bigger dent. The force from my kick sent me back a bit. I watched him get up.

"Not bad for your age..." He groaned a little.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," I say.

"Are you done warming up?"

I threw off my cloak.

"I'm just getting started."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After about an hour of going back and forth, I had bruises and cuts on my face, hands, and legs. My head was bleeding somewhere too, but I couldn't feel it. The adrenaline rush was too real! I hadn't fought with an opponent that was this tough in a long while. I looked at my opponent with eager eyes. He had only a couple cuts and maybe one bruise, but he seemed fine otherwise.

"You're an interesting one, I'll give you that. But, I must end this now," he says as he raises his hands. I watch him carefully. I can't see anything, but I feel the air around us swirl around his hands.

"You're usin' your tricks? But I haven't shown you mine! No fair!" I laugh.

"Good bye, little miss," he says as he throws his hands toward me.

'Time to use my special skills then, I suppose... If I want to live anyway,' I think and I punch my left fist into my right palm.

"Sky Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Impenetrable Barrier..." I say quietly. The two forces connect and a sonic boom is made that can be heard for miles. A huge cloud of dust is made from the collision and I can't see anything. I keep my barrier around me just in case.

Finally, the dust clears and I see Silva holding his ears and staring at me. I bring down my barrier.

"I told you I still had some tricks up my sleeve," I say. He just stares. "Are you going to stare, or are you going to fight!?" I make a wind ball in my left hand and throw it as hard as I can at him. He's thrown, spinning, at a dent- filled wall when it hits his stomach. He just sits there. Dazed, maybe? I walk over.

"Yoohoo... You still alive, or what?" I wave my hand over his face. He suddenly stands up. I jump back, surprised.

"You can't kill me that easily. You should know that, if you did your research." He cracked his neck. Blood ran down the left side of his face.

"Let's go then!" I yelled with excitement. I jumped away and made ten wind balls surrounding me. As he advanced, I threw my wind balls at him. He dodged them, running at me as I was running away. Then, he disappeared.

'Crapola! With me using my wind balls, I can't sense him!' Suddenly, I felt a hand around my throat.

"It's time to end you." Silva was right in front of me, holding me up by the neck. My wind dissipated as I grabbed at his hand, which was only squeezing harder. I closed my eyes. It wasn't going to end like this. No way! I had to see them again...!

"Sky... Dragon..." His eyes were colorless, like ice. Then, a fleck of...

Fear.

"... ROAAAAAAAR!!!" A whirlwind came from my belly, out of my mouth, and blasted Silva right in the face, forcing him to let go and fly into the wall behind him. I fell to the ground and gasped. I looked over at him. He was hunched over against the wall.

"You... You got any... more?" I coughed. Then, I heard a sigh.

"I haven't been this tired since the last time I fought that Phantom dude." He stood up, slowly, resting his hand on the wall for support. "What is it that you're using? It can't be Nen..."

"Well, it's definitely not Nen, because I don't know what Nen is," I say, as I slide back to the wall behind me. "I'll tell you about it if you say that I have bested you." I grin, knowing he'll say no.

"Yes."

I whip my head at him. "What!? You will!?"

"Yes. I can see you are very skilled and that you have won this fight. But you do still have much to learn, young lady," he says as he glides over to me. He then squats down and smiles at me.

"I have a proposition for you."