Silver (Girls of the Wild's fanfic)

1: Silver Tiger

Three Days Later...

       "Yo, mom!" The door slammed shut. "I'm home!"

       "Eun-Seung!" She cheered from the living room.

       The girl noticed papers on the coffee table as she threw her school bag in her room.

       "Come check this out!"

       Eun-Seung stepped out of her sandals and walked in, jolt of wariness running through her and churning her stomach. She cautiously walked towards her mother, trying not to eye the beer bottle in her hand.

       "Look!" She grinned excitedly, eyes lit on fire by the booze. "Look! Look! Look!" She waved a paper around like a flag. Eun-Seung steadied her wrist and took it gently from her grip, finally looking at the bottle gripped tightly in her mother's other hand.

       "How much have you been drinking?" Eun-Seung asked steadily, gray eyes meeting her mother's reddish-brown. Her dark brown hair was frizzy, contrasting with Eun-Seung's straight black hair with the knotted up silver hair under her beanie. She remembered it and took off her beanie, untieing her hair.

       Her mother tsked and took another swig. "Don't worry about it darling," she chided. "Its just a celebratory drink. I'm not drunk. Now sit your ass down and read."

       Eun-Seung swallowed a sigh and obeyed. Sitting cross legged, she read–

       "Eviction?!!" Eyes wide as her open mouth, fear and disbelief flooded through the fifteen year old girl as a million more feelings and thoughts flooded through her.

       "Mm?" Her mother leaned over and squinted, then plucked it from her grasp with a laugh. "Ah, not that one. This one-"

       "But didn't the landlord get the money?! I specifically set aside money from my winning two days ago–"

        "Honey!" Her mother sighed exsasperatedly. "Hush! Just read this!"

       "Mom!" The girl almost yelled, flames of disbelief bursting from her eyes. "This is our home! How can you be so nonchalant–"

       "You got excepted into Gura High," she said loudly over her daughter's worries.

       Eun-Seung paused, furrowing her brows, mouth still open from her outburst. Then she groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Where?"

       Her mother deadpanned. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that like you don't know where I went to high school. Gura High, Eun-Seung! Gura-freaking-high!  This is so exciting!!!"

       A feeling of numbness washed over Eun-Seung, and her first thought was, 'What about the fights?' It was their main source of income, after all.

       "What's with the glum face? We gotta celebrate! Grab a bottle, hun. Its fitting that its your first time drinking, since-"

       "What about my current school? My work? Your work, for that matter?!"

       Her mother waved a airy hand, dismissing her worries from becoming her own. "Its Gura High, hun. Ditch the Lily-Star Academy thing. And about my work, you don't need to worry about it. Your uncle's got our back, you know. My older bro's giving me a job as a personal trainer to a member in his gym, and he's letting us stay at his place until we get back on our feet."

       Eun-Seung groaned and flopped backwards so her back hit the makeshift bed of thick blankets and pillows galore.

       "What now, my daughter filled with so much negativity?" Her mom sighed, finally setting down the beer bottle. Could've been because it was empty though.

       "I don't wanna leave," she mumbled, voice muffled by her toned arm on her face. "I wanna stay here with friends."

       "What friends?" Her mom snorted. "The ones in the ring?"

       "They were good friends," she mumbled, eyes closed. "They lost. Their losses paid the rent." She uncovered her face once more, frowning at her mother. "Used to, anyways."

       But her mother was right. She didn't have any friends. All her schoolmates kept their distance and spread rumors about why she was so cold and quiet to everyone. They didn't want to bother with the truth. It was probably too much of a hassle; so Eunseung never shared it with them.

       Her mother crawled over and sat by her daughter's head, stroking the silver dyed hair that she was so well known for. Silver Tiger, the fighters called her. Her mom chuckled bitterly. It was Eunseung's childhood name. What right did the crowds have to cheer it when they called for blood?

       "Don't you wanna see Moon-Young?" She asked gently. "She was the Golden Tiger, right? The gold to your silver?"

       "We haven't seen each other in seven years..." she mused. "I guess it would be good to catch up..."

       "That's the spirit! Twin Tigers, reunited again!" her mother grinned, thumping her shoulder.

       Eun-Seung winced, and her mother remembered her discolated shoulder from the fight. It was one of the only wounds she got, miraculously. Eun-Seung had never gotten anything more than a broken bone or two, and even those were recieved earlier in her underground fighting experience. She had never gotten anything broken after that.

       "Best of all," her mom coninued,  rubbing her wound gently. "you don't have to fight for money anymore. You don't have to worry me."

        Eun-Seung finally uncovered her face, grey eyes with the frost like design making her mother's breath catch. It was so much like her late husband's, she had to look away.

       "You never needed to worry in the first place, ma," she smiled softly, gripping her mother's softer hands. They used to be callused; tough and worn with extreme use. The description was now passed down to her.

       "Its my job to do so," her mom retorted, still not meeting her eyes, wrapping her other arm to hug Eun-Seung. "Let me do that at least."

~|•|~

      
       Eun-Seung sighed, leaning with her forearms on the old desk as she packed up the last box in her room. There were only three. Closing her gray eyes, she allowed herself a moment to take it all in.

       She was actually going to move out.

       No more Shining-Star Academy, no more Fervo fights, no more crowds cheering her name, reeking of alcohol and sweat and betting money. No more Silver Tiger, with her lightning fists and white streaks of hair and the euphorian feeling of beating up middle-aged men to the point of paralyzation–unless the ref could intervene fast enough.

       She opened her eyes again, staring at the white, silver, and black mix of makeup, and the white hair dye sitting in front of her in a little black makeup bag. The stripes she painted, the mask she wore with eyeliner and mascara and eyeshadow every fight was how they knew her. The Silver Tiger, claws out and ready to kill. It was no more.

       But does it have to be…?

       The thought whispered in her mind,  and she started, blinking at the bag, ideas already forming. With the amount of money she already had saved up, she could certainly catch a train or two and make up the money by more than a tenthfold. And of course, she could always find one at the city if she was desperate enough...

       Eun-Seung's thoughts raced back to her mother's previous words, and she winced slightly. However-

       "Hey, Eun-Seung! You done yet? We have a few hours yet to sleep—I wanna hit the road first thing in the morning! I got the rental car already…"

       Eun-Seung shook her thoughts away,  replying to her mother before returning to her thoughts. She grabbed the bag and stuffed into the box, taping it all up securely. Her mother didn't need to know that the Silver Tiger was coming with them—claws and fangs and all.

~1272 Words~