Sukeban

“That was the wrong answer, Ogawa.”

That simple sentence was all Tomomi had heard after she had rejected Hana’s offer. The brunette had slipped to the ground, her legs having given out beneath her. She could feel the tears come back to her, welling in her eyes and threatening to spill. Her eyes stayed trained on the ground, refusing to look at any of the five girls who surrounded her.

“Stand up!” Hana shouted. Tomomi could feel Hana wrap her fingers around the front of her shirt collar, lifting her body off the ground. She slammed Tomomi make into the wall, forcing the girl to wince from the pain.

Tomomi groaned softly, forcing herself to look at the very angry Hana now standing directly in front of her. Hana’s hands continued to grip her shirt tightly as she glared menacingly at the younger brunette. Tomomi began to squirm in a desperate attempt to make Hana let go of her but her actions her quickly stopped when Hana let one hand go from her shirt, slapping her hard.

“Stop moving,” Hana growled. In one swift movement, Tomomi felt herself be thrown to the ground, the force of the impact sending a shock wave of pain through her.

Tomomi tried to lift her body off the ground but she didn’t get very far before she found herself knocked back down by Hana, the senior girl having given her a hard kick in the ribs. Tomomi groaned, bringing an arm to wrap itself around her stomach.

She let out a shriek when she felt Hana grab her hair, yanking her head back. As much as Tomomi wanted to control the tears, she found herself unable to. They fell freely as the pain swarmed her body, and Tomomi knew Hana was only just beginning.

“I’m going to make you regret ever having said no to me,” Hana growled out to the younger girl. Tomomi didn’t respond, instead trying to crawl away from Hana. The senior girl was having none of Tomomi’s feeble attempts. She grabbed the back of Tomomi’s shirt, yanking her back and forcing her to scramble onto her knees.

Tomomi’s hands shot up, grabbing at Hana’s wrist as she could feel the uniform shirt she wore beginning to slowly press against her neck. She could feel her breathing becoming more and more stuck in her throat as Hana gripped the back of her shirt tighter.

“If you want to play gangster with the big kids then we’ll let you play,” Hana told her with a small laugh. Tomomi whimpered softly, her crying becoming harder. She never wanted this. She never expected to find herself in this spot when she joined Haruna.

Tomomi felt herself be thrown to the side again, her head connecting with the wall Hana had thrown her into. She wasn’t given more than a few seconds of relief before she felt Hana’s fingers curl around her chin, forcing her head up so the two girls were looking at each other.

“I don’t know why you joined Haruna and frankly, I don’t care. But just tell me one thing, was it worth it? Was the reason you joined worth so much pain? Was it worth ruining your perfect little life over?” Hana asked her in a mocking tone.

Tomomi sniffled softly, shutting her eyes and doing her best to refuse to look at Hana. The senior girl glared more menacingly at her, raising her other hand and bringing it down hard across her face.

“Look at me when I talk to you!” Hana ordered her. Hana scoffed, making a clicking sound with her tongue as she let Tomomi’s head go, pushing herself up and stepping away from the already battered girl.

Tomomi’s body slumped to the side, the brunette bringing up a hand to hide her face as her body shook with the sobs. Her entire body throbbed with pain; Tomomi didn’t think there was a single part of her that wasn’t hurting at this point.

“You’re so pathetic,” Hana said with a soft sigh. “You’re not fighting back and you’re not even begging. At least Rina gives me the satisfaction of seeing her beg like the pathetic weakling she is. But you, all you do is cry, don’t you? How sad.”

“Oh come on, Hana,” Tomomi heard someone pipe up. She could instantly recognize it as Yoko. Tomomi was beginning to see that Yoko was to Hana like Mami was to Haruna, a second in command of sorts. “I think it’s fun to see her cry, don’t you? After all, she certainly does deserve it for siding with that wench.”

“You make such a good point, Yoko,” Hana agreed with her. Tomomi felt sickened by all of this. These girls were so much worse than Haruna and the others could be. Perhaps they would hurt you, but they didn’t do all of this. They didn’t try to tear apart your mental state piece by piece as these girls did.

“Do you think she’s had enough?” Tomomi heard an unfamiliar voice ask with a laugh.

“I don’t know, why don’t we ask her that?” Hana asked, her voice sounding amused. “Have you had enough, Tomomi?” Hana asked shortly after.

Tomomi didn’t respond. She didn’t know if it was because she didn’t want to or if it was because she was simply crying too hard and couldn’t respond. The younger brunette continued to lay where Hana had left her, refusing to respond or look at Hana. She could hear Hana make a sound of annoyance.

“Answer me!” Hana shouted at her. Hana gave Tomomi another kick in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her. Tomomi coughed, her arms wrapping themselves around her stomach again. “You stupid little--”

Hana never got to finish her sentence. Instead, her sentence had been ended by a shrill shriek. Tomomi wanted to look at what might have caused the shriek from Hana but she was too scared to. She didn’t move a muscle, simply laying and shivering from fear. It wasn’t until she felt a small hand lay itself on her back did she open her eyes. She looked over, her eyes widening when she saw the brunette beside her.

It was Rina.

Rina was kneeled beside Tomomi, rubbing her back in a gentle motion and giving her a soft smile. Tomomi looked to the front and through her blurry vision; she could see Yukako and Haruna standing in front of her, both of the girls with terrifying stances that clearly showed how angry they were. Tomomi’s tears only become heavier when she saw the three girls surrounding her. Tomomi wasn’t crying from fear any longer, she was crying from relief.

“Well what do you know, Yukako? We took a break and found some rats while we were at it,” Haruna cracked off. Tomomi could only assume the senior girl was smirking as she had said those words.

Tomomi could hear Hana growl and for the first time, she noticed that the senior girl had been knocked to the ground. She hadn’t even bothered to think of what Haruna had done to Hana until now. Her mind was too busy trying to make sense of the situation.

Hana pushed herself up off the ground, holding her nose in one hand as she glared menacingly at Haruna. The senior girl was instantly surrounded by her friends, all of them ready to protect her from the two menacing girls standing in front of them.

“Don’t get so cocky, Haruna. Have you forgotten how outnumbered you little shrimps are right now?” Hana fought back. Haruna let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head at the senior girl’s feeble threat.

“Really now, Hana, don’t be so naïve. Yukako and I are stronger than the five of you combined. We may be small but we’ve got more strength in us than any of you do; we would have no problem handling all of you and you know it,” Haruna countered her. Tomomi didn’t hear Hana respond right away, instead just hearing a low growl.

Tomomi blinked hard to try and get her vision to clear but it was all in vain, the tears that continued to come just continued to blur her vision. The battered brunette could feel the liquid trailing down her chin and she knew that Hana had hurt her pretty badly. Through all the pain, Tomomi could see Haruna take a few steps forward though, making her way closer to Hana. Just the way Haruna approached the senior girl was enough to terrify Tomomi. She wasn’t just angry right now, she was livid.

“You know, Hana,” Haruna began as she approached her, “I am so tired of you being a coward and coming after my girls. You have a problem with me so why don’t you settle this with me, or are you too scared to face me still?”

“Scared of you? As if. That’s quite the ego you’ve got there, Haruna. Your girls are fair game, you know. They’re involved with you, your problems become theirs.”

“Does that mean your problems become their problems?” Haruna asked, motioning to the group of girls behind Hana. The girls visibly tensed, clearly scared of Haruna’s unspoken threat. The eldest girl smirked at this. “Looks like they disagree with you.”

“Leave them out of this,” Hana warned her lowly. Haruna laughed at her threat, taking a few steps even closer to Hana. She was holding herself back from attacking Hana right then and there.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be telling me something like that. Let’s see, if you’re not scared of me then hit me, Hana. Come on, I’m standing right here.” Neither girl spoke after Haruna had said her words, only a tense silence continuing.

The silence was ended by a dark chuckle from Haruna, the boss finally stepping away from Hana. She turned her back to Hana, waving her hand dismissively at the senior girl behind her.

“You really are so sad, Hana. You’re all talk and no action. Why don’t you just run away with your tail between your legs? Seems like the only thing you dogs are good at,” Haruna said in a cruel and harsh tone. She could hear the angered sound from behind her, she knew she was pushing Hana’s buttons but she also knew nothing would happen. Hana wasn’t brave enough to face her in a physical fight; she would always make some excuse to avoid it.

“Haruna, you really should learn to not be so cocky all the time. You should never turn your back on your opponent. Or have you forgotten that?” As the boss heard Hana’s words, she could feel a chill go through her body. She had the sinking feeling that this time, for the first time ever, Hana was really going to fight her. Her feeling only got worse when she heard Rina’s shout hit her.

“Senpai, look out!” Rina shouted at her.

Haruna didn’t have time to react before she felt someone grab a handful of her hair, slamming their knee into her back. Haruna yelled out in pain, her knees beginning to give out. Her captor took advantage of her moment of weakness, using all the strength they had to slam Haruna’s head towards the ground.

Haruna groaned as she heard the cruel cackling from her attacker. She knew right away it was Hana; none of her little minions would ever have the guts to touch Haruna like that. Haruna pushed her body up into a half sitting and half laying position, her arms buckling underneath her weight.

“You went down so easy, Haruna. You really are losing your touch. I guess taking pity on all these weaklings has affected you,” Hana taunted her. “How sad the great Haruna is going nice.” Haruna let out another groan of pain as she felt Hana step down harshly onto her arm, right on the bandaged burn.

Haruna’s breathing got heavy as the anger and pain surged through her body. A sharp pain pounded in her head and she could feel the blood slowly dripping down her forehead. Her vision was blurry but she knew she could still see well enough to fight. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Yukako making quick movements towards Hana.

“Stop, Yukako!” Haruna shouted. All at once, Yukako’s movements stopped. She looked down at Haruna, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

“Haruna,” Yukako said simply. Haruna coughed weakly, moving to look over at Rina and Haruna. She could see Rina pressing herself against the wall, a hand still on Tomomi and the other held up against her chest. Tomomi continued to lie where they had found her, the blood trickling off her chin and splashing onto the concrete beneath her.

“I’m sorry you two have to see this,” Haruna said lowly so they could hear. She chuckled softly, shutting her eyes tightly before letting them snap open again. She did her best to block out the searing pain in her head as she exhaled slowly. “But I’ve had enough!”

As soon as the shout had left Haruna’s lips, she let the anger take over her body. She hit Hana roughly on the leg, forcing the girl to stumble backwards. Haruna shoved herself off the ground, throwing a punch at Hana’s face. The two girls tumbled to the ground, Hana’s arms flailing in a desperate attempt to stop the hits that flew at her. Haruna grabbed one of Hana’s wrists, pinning it to the concrete. She wasn’t quick enough to stop the senior’s other hand as it flew down to hit her, Hana’s nails scratching Haruna’s face deeply.

Haruna growled, throwing another punch at Hana and hitting her square in the nose. The senior girl let out a yelp of pain but Haruna wasn’t letting her have a break, throwing another punch at her. From beside the struggling duo, Yukako watched with wide eyes. She hadn’t been expecting Haruna to just attack like that out of nowhere, it wasn’t Haruna’s style to do that.

Yukako could see Yoko make a movement towards the struggling girls and she reacted quickly. She grabbed the orange haired girl’s arm, yanking her back and twisting her arm behind her back. She smiled sweetly at the growling girl in her arms.

“Ah, ah, ah. Let’s let the girls play, Haruna’s been itching to pay Hana back,” Yukako teased her. She gave Yoko a rough shove, forcing her to crash into one of the other girls. As she went to turn her attention back to the duo, she felt someone grab onto one of her signature pigtails, yanking her back and shoving her up against the wall.

“If we can’t play with Haruna, then why don’t we just play with you?” the girl asked her. Yukako groaned from the impact she’d just been given before she felt her body be flipped around, her back pinned against the wall.

“It’s four against one now. You’re stupid, Yukako. Should have just let your boss deal with us,” Yoko taunted her. Yukako tried to throw a punch at Yoko but she felt the brunette standing beside her grab onto her wrist, stopping her before she could strike Yoko. The orange haired teenager smirked at Yukako as her arm began to get twisted slowly, a cry of pain being released from her.

Yukako could feel someone knee her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her as she doubled over in pain, gasping for air. The pain continued to shoot through her arm as it remained in its twisted spot. She knew if it was kept like that for much longer, it would at least be sprained. And that was the last thing she needed.

“You know, we really should pay you back for all the times you did this to us. Breaking your arm would be so easy right now,” the female said, twisting Yukako’s arm even further. Yukako growled lowly. There wasn’t much she could do. She could easily take on two people, but four? There wasn’t any way that anyone could take on that many people at once, she was too outnumbered.

Haruna looked up from where she had been focusing on Hana, noticing right away Yukako surrounded by the four girls. She hit Hana once more before pushing herself off of her, attempting to get over to Yukako. She could feel a hand grab onto her ankle though, pulling her leg out from under her and forcing her body to crash back to the ground.

“We’re not finished here,” Hana growled to her. Haruna kicked her free leg back, trying to get a shot at Hana but she could feel herself miss. Hana hit Haruna in the back of the knee, a searing pain shooting up her leg. Hana looked up at her girls, giving them a knowing look. “Break it.”

“Why you little…” Haruna growled out. She tried to pull her ankle free of Hana’s grasp but the senior girl held on tightly, pulling her leg back roughly. Haruna let out a pained grunt; she could swear she almost felt Hana dislocate her leg from that pull.

“Break her arm. Now! Show Haruna just what happens when she breaks her deals.” The girls surrounding looked at each other but nodded nonetheless. Hana was the leader after all. The female holding Yukako gave her a rough pull, causing her to crash to the ground. Keeping her arm twisted, her captor pulled her arm back before slamming it down onto the side of the building that concealed the group of girls. Everyone in the area could hear the crack that was followed by Yukako’s cry.

“Let go of me!” Haruna shouted, kicking her free leg back again. Hana dodged the kick with ease; Haruna had become too predictable now in her fit of rage. The senior girl hit Haruna in the back of the knee again, enjoying the way she was forced to cry out in pain a second time.

“This is your fault, Haruna. They’re all getting hurt because of you.” Haruna could feel something flow through her at the taunts. No; not everything was her fault. This wasn’t her fault… It couldn’t be. Hana brought her hand back for another hit but was stopped by a sudden shout.

“What is going on out here?!”

The girls tormenting Yukako stopped immediately, stepping away from the brunette. Her arm was finally dropped and Yukako sank to the ground, cradling her now badly injured arm against her chest. Her breathing was heavy as she squeezed her eyes shut.

From where she still laid, Haruna kicked her leg back, this time managing to knock a now distracted Hana in the jaw. The teenager doubled back in pain, finally releasing Haruna. The boss quickly scrambled to her feet but doubled over in pain herself when she found her right leg unable to stand because of Hana’s hits. She knelt on the ground, groaning in pain as she looked over in the area the shout had come from.

She could see two teachers hurrying over to them. A look of horror crossed both of their faces as they saw the injured students and the blood that painted the cement red. The teachers’ eyes flew in between the group of girls, all of them now stationary as they stared at the teachers.

“All of you come with me to the principal’s office,” the male teacher said harshly. The female that accompanied him said nothing, only continuing to stare at the scene in front of her. She was rather new at the school and this was her first time seeing a fight that had gotten this bad.

Yukako pushed herself off of the ground as her four attackers cleared away from her, two of them going to help Hana off the ground. Yukako stumbled over to Haruna, the boss still unable to stand on her own. She looked over at Rina for a moment, the two brunette’s connecting eyes.

“Help her, I can handle Tomomi,” Rina said, knowing exactly what Yukako was going to ask. The pigtailed brunette nodded her head, moving over to Haruna’s other side so she could lift her with her still good arm.

“Up you go,” Yukako murmured to her once she had a decent grip on Haruna’s body. She gave a small grunt, using all her strength to get Haruna off the ground. She could hear Haruna groan in pain as the older girl forced her leg to stand. Yukako had no troubles getting Haruna off the ground and supporting her height and weight, the two girls weren’t much different in height from each other.

She glanced over, noticing that Rina also seemed to have no trouble getting Tomomi off the ground. She could see Tomomi’s body continuing to shake with the sobs that escaped her. Yukako couldn’t blame Tomomi, she had to be in so much pain right now and she had to be so terrified. Anyone would cry when they were put into this sort of situation for the first time.

“Let’s get going, girls,” the teacher barked harshly at them. Yukako sighed softly, shaking her head and taking the first steps, dragging Haruna along and continuing to support her.

They were all in massive trouble now.