Four in the morning was not a normal time for most people in the world, but Hanabi was not a normal person, something Ai Li was realizing more and more.

A phone call this early in the day had her worried something had happened, but the invitation to some training had left her annoyed, mystified… and ultimately curious, as she’d slipped on some training clothes and took the subway to the pier.

Thin arms thrust through the cold, early-morning air, trying to strike Hanabi’s well-muscled stomach as Hanabi back-pedaled away.

“C’mon Ai-chan, get in.” Hanabi encouraged, using her longer arms to press Ai Li’s head back, blinding her and keeping her just out of reach.

“Nng!” Ai Li threw herself forward, but Hanabi was constantly shuffling back and away, not allowing herself to get cornered.

The smaller girl dodged a couple of quick punches and scooted in close, but Hanabi was already wheeling around her, playing a defensive game that left Ai Li chasing after with increasing aggression, but also more mistakes.

“Don’t get angry.”

Ai Li wasn’t listening as she lunged like a harpoon, her fingertips aiming for Hanabi’s belly.

“Don’t get frustrated!”

Little hands swung furiously at Hanabi, whatever was in reach, but the larger girl was always moving just beyond reach.

“Don’t get hit by this?!”

The little fighter spun, trying to cut through the air towards Hanabi’s throat, but Hanabi had already moved in, cutting her momentum at the elbow, and slapping the back of Ai Li’s shoulders hard enough to draw a small shriek.

Ai Li stumbled away, turning with a growl, but before she could confront Hanabi, Hanabi’s knuckle stopped just short of buckling the smaller girl’s nose into a crater.

“Chill, Ai-chan.” Hanabi told her.

Ai Li shivered a bit; not at the order, but the realization she hadn’t even noticed the fist until it was kissing the tip of her nose.

“Ugh…” Ai Li sighed, and the two girls parted a few steps, the salty breeze off of the ocean helping cool them off. Ai Li leaned against a metal shipping container, while Hanabi stretched in place. “I’m sorry, it’s still early. I don’t think my head’s in the right place.”

“A perfect time to practice fighting then, right?” Hanabi asked with a smile, walking over with a thermos full of coffee. Ai Li drank greedily from it, eyes closed as she let the sweetened French brew wash down her throat, the heat spreading from her belly to the tips of her fingers and toes.

“I guess…” Ai Li pursed her little lips. “Okay, I don’t know why?”

“If you learn to fight well at your worst, then you can’t get caught off guard. My dad used to make me train while I had, like, colds and stuff.” She explained, stretching to the left, then the right, her arms extending from her body.

Ai Li fixed Hanabi with a worried look. “That sounds abusive.”

“He’s a good dad, I promise he is.” Hanabi stretched her arms behind her head. “But he always emphasized being ready for a fight. Something about the Hanaya clan having a lot of enemies.”

“Why’s that?” Ai Li tilted her head. “Not that the Li clan hasn’t made enemies before, but it never convinced dad, grandpa, or mom to train me that hard.”

Hanabi paused, thinking for a moment, sauntering over to Ai Li to take her thermos back and drink from it as well

“We can talk about it later. Right now, let’s work on getting you in my reach.”

Ai Li slapped her cheeks and squared up across from Hanabi. Then, she flew back in, trying to get past Hanabi’s longer arms.

Hanabi’s entire focus was on defense, goading and evading; it helped that they weren’t using ki, so she could fend off taps to her arms without the overwhelming numbness.

They sweat themselves until the sun was up, and the work crews were rolling in to get the workday started. Ai Li found herself feeling both shy and amused as the workers greeted Hanabi and watched their sparring whenever they walked by, the two girls relocated on top of a shipping crate to keep out of their way.

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“Hah…” Ai Li leaned over the countertop, wiping the sweat off of her face with a borrowed towel, and unbinding the long ponytail she was wearing to release some of the tension on her scalp. “I’ve never woken up that early to train before…”

“Start early and you still have the rest of the day!” Hanabi said perkily, setting a bowl by Ai Li.

The smaller girl sniffed the bowl, blinking as her stomach growled its desire. “What’s this?” She asked, pushing away a spoon to take a pair of chopsticks, pulling some thick, spongy white noodles out of a creamy, fragrant broth.

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“Curry Udon!” Hanabi smiled in delight as Ai Li blew over it to cool it down. “Light spice, for you!”

“Thankshf…” Ai Li slurped on the noodles, and rewarded Hanabi with a coo of delight. “Oooh~! It’s kinda heavy for breakfast, but it’s perfect after exercise!”

“Eat away, I have plenty left over!” Hanabi smiled as she ate from her own steaming bowl, from which the nostril-curling scent of blazing hot spice flowed. “Mmph! Sho, when’sh your nexsht match?”

“Tomorrow.” Ai Li answered, savoring the heavy taste in her mouth, reaching for a cup of water to swallow it down. “Against somebody named Edi Kenzie.”

“What’s her deal?”

“Dunno.” Ai Li shrugged.

“Heh, I kinda took you as the sort to research her opponent before a fight.” Hanabi smiled, taking another bite.

“I guess I should; Jaquan’s been showing me some of the top winners in the tournament, getting me prepared for them. Have you heard of Mortimer Graves?”

Hanabi shook her head. “Nope.”

“He’s got the most fights, the most wins, and the fewest losses right now; two fights a day, eighteen wins, zero losses.”

“Holy shit.” Hanabi’s eyebrows rose, Ai Li giving a quick nod.

“The man’s crazy strong. Barely has to lift a finger for most of his matches.”

“Maybe I should watch some of his stuff then.”

“I thought you didn’t care about fighting?” Ai Li glanced up from her bowl.

Hanabi could only shrug. “Half my life is fighting, I can appreciate it! I just think it’s more of a chore than anything, but if you told me there’s a video of a dishwasher fully seasoning a cast iron skillet in under an hour, I’d watch it.”

The smaller girl stared up at Hanabi with a blank expression on her face, then shrugged. “I guess.”

Customers began to trickle in at that point, and Ai Li found herself in a pleasant conversation with two burly dockworkers about her grades at school, and Hanabi served food with an upbeat gusto almost unheard of this early.

Ai Li quietly admired how blatant Hanabi was with fishing for tips; if she had a body like that, she bet she’d have a lot of repeat customers at the healing center…

She sat there and sighed, her thoughts quietly morphing from how she’d look built like a Greek goddess and what it would be like to be the customer under her hand… she bet Hanabi could give a fantastic deep tissue massage…

“Hey.”

Ai Li squeaked as she found Hanabi’s eyes filling hers, and she reared back like a surprised snake.

“You wanna use my shower?” Hanabi asked.

“H-huh…? Oh!” Ai Li quickly sniffed under her arms and winced. “Yes please.”

“Cool! Head into the back, it’ll be upstairs through the door on your left. Try and be quiet while downstairs, the boss is extra cranky in the mornings.”

Ai Li nodded and slid out of her seat. Slipping through the curtain into the back, she had to blink a few times to get her ki-enhanced dark vision to kick in, and slunk up the creaky wooden steps.

At the top, she flipped the lightswitch on and stared around at the rather bare room. She had half a mind to storm downstairs and ask Hanabi: ‘bitch, you live like this?!’ But that felt inappropriate considering she’d only been here less than a week.

Still… just a futon, a table, a few sitting cushions, and a dresser. Not even, like, a laptop or a TV… or a phone. She was going to have to convince Hanabi to change that.

Staring at Hanabi’s dresser, she was half-tempted to peek a look in and see what sort of unmentionables the girl wore, but shook her head of the thought; she was a guest, not a pervert!

The bathroom was just as sparse and unimpressive as the bedroom, but at least bathrooms weren’t meant to be super decorated. Standing under the hot water was invigorating, especially getting all that sweat off, and reaching for the bottles of soap and shampoo…

‘Demon’s Breath Hot Wash!’, ‘Fireball Phoenix Hair Care for Women!’, ‘Summer Spice Conditioner!’

Yeah, that tracked.

She put on a spare set of clothes from her gym bag, combed her hair, and put her hair up in a set of double buns that gave her an adorably mousey appearance. A little makeup, and she was good to go anywhere short of a formal dinner for the day!

Hoisting her bag over her shoulder, she opened the door and stared, blinking at the raised, wrinkled fist of a particularly annoyed looking old man.

His eyes slid down to hers, and the both of them opened their mouths to scream.

“INTRUUUDEEEERR!”

“PERVERRRT!”

Hanabi sprinted upstairs to stare at Goro, laying on the floor, contorted, eyes rolling upwards, half a scream escaping his open mouth.

“Itudeerrr… itudeeerrrr…”

“Boss, are you alright?” Hanabi asked, pressing her hand to his chest. Still breathing, heart beating… she turned to knock on the bathroom door, hearing a teeny squeak from the other side. “Ai Li?”

“Hanabi?!”

“Are you okay?”

“A creepy old guy was trying to spy on me!”

“Ai-chan, that’s my boss. The guy taking care of me?” She lightly kicked his leg away as he numbly tried to get her attention.

“Why’s he trying to spy on me?!”

“Boss, why were you trying to spy on Ai-chan?”

“Itudeeeerrrrr…”

Hanabi considered him for a moment, then turned back towards the door. “I think he thought you were me.”

“And he was trying to spy on you?!”

“No!” Hanabi huffed. “At least I hope not. Dad wouldn’t put me in the care of some hentai!” She glanced back at the floor. “Boss, were you trying to talk to me?”

“Cusssstomeeerrrsss… in… front…”

“Oh. Ai-chan, c’mon out, it was just a misunderstanding!”

Ai Li obeyed, but not without a few suspicious glances at the old man…