There were only a handful of people at Furinkan that early morning to witness the start of this extra bit of theater to what was starting to become a tradition. One moment Kuno was standing less than a meter from Azusa, bokken drawn. The next Kuno had embedded his bokken into the ground and Azusa was sliding back away from him.

"What? Lil Azusa doesn't want to fight you!"

"Whether or not you desire so is immaterial!" Kuno shouted, "I will not allow one such as you to harass Akane Tendo!"

Azusa blinked. "Huh?"

"I know your schemes, your desires to take her for yourself!" Kuno shouted. "Before you even deign to approach her you shall have to go through me!"

Azusa took that in, before a bright, empty smile popped up on her face. "Ohhhh gotta beat you before I can fight her? OK!"

"Humph. As if some bubble brained girl could even begin to match me, the King of Hearts of- mugumph!" Kuno was interrupted by Azusa suddenly being right up in his face and kicking it. Her shoes were not normal, rather they had wheels hidden within them! A click of her heels and they were roller skates! "Gah!" He swung his bokken at her but she rolled away from the blow. Such speed! He thought.

Azusa blew a raspberry at him. "Too slow! Ugly boy too slow!"

"I was merely caught off guard by your footwear you ditzy deviant." Kuno explained, "Now that I know your speed I can adjust easily!" Adopting perfect Kendo form, he raised up his bokken. "I strike!" He swung it, but his target glided to the left away from the blow. Kuno didn't let this slow him down. "Strike!" He swung again, and again, and again! Soon the school gates and surrounding wall began to crumble from the sheer air pressure from his blows.

Yet Azusa somehow danced around every one, twirling and pirouetting as she did so. By this point several students, including the rest of the boys who attacked Akane in the mornings as well as Nabiki, were all gawking at the sight.

Then, suddenly, Azusa threw out a kick! And Kuno was blown back into the wall of the school. "You done yet?" She asked.

Nabiki's jaw was hanging down a bit like much of the rest of the gathered Furinkan students.

Nabiki had seen a few of Kuno's kendo matches, and knew the guy was good. Better than Akane even, in her estimation. Yet this random cutesy looking girl was dominating him.

"... is that Azusa Shiratori…"

"...yeah, what's she doing here?"

"Is the other half of the Golden Pair here?"

Nabiki took in these whispers she heard and filed them away for later. It looked like the fight was over. The grounds were torn up and Kuno wasn't moving.

Still, Azusa slowly skated over to him. "Hello? Ugly? You awake?" She approached Kuno, slowly getting closer.

Then, just when she was a mere meter away, Kuno suddenly shot up. "I fight on!" And swung his bokken.

Azusa, to her credit, had the danger sense to realize that she still needed to dodge. Yet, dodging the bokken swing was one thing… dodging the air pressure sent out by the swing was another.

Several boys gasped when her blouse was torn by the wave. Several of these boys wished they had a camera and better view.

Silence followed, for a moment.

"First blood is mine, it seems." Kuno said smugly, completely ignoring the wheel imprints in his face.

"You… ugly… killed… Jeanne…" Azusa muttered, looking down at her dress.

"Pardon?" Kuno said.

"You killed Jeanne!" She screamed, battle aura flaring up. She grasped her blouse, and flung the dress off.

Several boys cheered, even as the air became heavy. The cheers dampened, a little, when it was shown that she had been wearing a leotard with a skirt under her dress. Exactly like the one she wore in her matches. "You leave Azusa no choice… but to use the Dance of Death!"

Everyone familiar with the Golden Pair gasped.

"Come then!" Kuno shouted, "No dance shall defeat me!"

In response Azusa began to spin… and spin, and spin. Faster and faster, until she was almost like a tornado! The blur approached Kuno, he swung his sword… only for it to be snapped in two! "What-" But before he could say any more he was caught in the vortex. Azusa spiraling around him, unable to move or do anything, she rotated around him like gear. Kuno himself flailed around, yet he couldn't do anything!

Finally, the spiral of doom backed away from him, and Azusa stopped dancing. She faced away from Kuno, her eyes closed, tears forming, and a flower in her hands. One could almost see the spotlight on her.

Kuno did not say anything. Instead he slowly leaned back, and fell to the ground. Unconscious.

Nobody said anything. What could they say? Kuno had been the school's greatest fighter (and greatest pervert), yet he had been so thoroughly dominated by this interloper from another school.

Eyes opening, Azusa turned around. Her expression grim as she marched towards Kuno. "Ugly will pay for what he did to Jeanne." She said darkly.

Several people gasped. What did she mean? Was she going to inflict some terrible injury on her defeated foe?

Azusa reached the unconscious Kuno, and from somewhere withdrew her instrument of punishment. With the grim countenance of an executioner she began her task,.

"Pervert!"

"Ugly!"

"Jerk!"

Marker in hand, she doodled all over his body, writing insulting nicknames and scribbling black eyes and a fake mustache and goatee on his face.

All observing fell to the ground. That's her terrible punishment? They collectively thought.

With the smile of one having achieved vengeance, Azusa clipped the top back onto Adelene (her pen) and stuck out her tongue at the big, mean brute. Then she turned around back to the crowd. "Now then! Where's Akane Tendo?"

There was a long silence. Nobody seemed to be willing to answer that question. Were they all on this nasty ugly jerk's side? This stick carrying boy reminded her of her perverted partner, Mikado Sanzenin. He was also grabby with girls, very uncute behaviour.

Actually he might be even worse! To think that he'd insinuate something so vile and perverted. Suggesting that Azusa would want to date a girl, just because she wanted to challenge her to a fight? That did not make sense at all to li'l Azusa. No, no, no! Azusa was here to fight Akane, and she would absolutely not tolerate any insinuations to the -

"What in the world happened here?" asked a girl's voice behind Azusa. Aha! This must be her now! Azusa whirled around and took a deep breath, ready to yell out her challenge -

And beheld cuteness unlike any before. She was wearing the same blue uniform as the rest of the girls, yet she seemed to radiate huggability. Those big, clear eyes! The way she was cupping her arms in front of her! Oh! It was sooo cuuuuute!

Of course, Azusa could not have guessed that Akane seemed that cute because the martial arts form she was now practicing enhanced her natural cuteness to the point that the first action she took upon seeing Akane was to bite her fist, skip forwards and then spread her arms wide, wide open and yell "Charlene!" at the top of her lungs.

Now we must look into Akane's thought process since arriving at Furinkan: Great I'll have to deal with Kuno again, that boy does not know when to give up. Huh? He's been knocked out already? Hey, isn't that the girl who was jumping rope this morning? Wh-Why is she coming over here? Oh no! She must be using her own form of the Dojikko-Ken!

And so Akane's martial arts instincts kicked in, by making her suddenly trip over absolutely nothing even though she was standing completely still. "Oopsie!" she cried out while falling backwards. Her feet sailed upwards and hooked around Asuka's head, and then Akane continued falling backwards and performed a backwards roll that ended with Akane on her knees and Azusa tumbling over onto her butt.

"Whew, that was close," Akane sighed, picking herself up and dusting down her skirt. "Could someone please tell me -"

"Charlene!" Azusa glomped. Yes, that is the correct word. She glomped Akane from behind in a tight, vicelike grip and rubbed her cheek up against Akane's. "Oh, Charlene! I have the perfect dress for you to try out! I can't wait to get you out of that icky uniform and into something really cute!"

"Huh? What did you say?" Akane asked. She turned around hard with the one area of her body she could make any momentum come from in this position - her hips. And as many of the boys (and a few girls) at Furinkan high school would happily tell you, Akane's hips can go for days. She tossed the figure skater over her shoulder with ease, but her grip did not slacken in the least. Seeing this, Akane cried out a great big "Oh dear!" and slipped forward, making sure Azusa landed hard on her back while all of Akane's weight struck her right in the torso.

The concrete beneath her cracked. Then, to Akane's utter disbelief, Azusa's grip grew tighter still, threatening to squeeze the life out of her.

"Charlene! You're getting cuter by the moment!"

At which point Akane had no other option but to back away in mortal terror. What was this girl? No, she knew the answer: A true expert in the field of using cuteness to mask how powerful you were. Of course, she didn't yet see the true nature of this battle: Akane may be learning Dojikko-ken, but Azusa's personality had led her to accidentally develop a style that might be considered its perfect counter: The Kawai Moso-Ken, cuteness obsession fist. The cuter and more adorable their target, the tougher they became through sheer, unmitigated willpower.

The cuter Akane made herself, the more determined Azusa was to have her. No, not have her like... I mean add her to her collection. That is, Azusa's collection of cute things. Not cute girls. That's Mikado's collection. The point is that Akane's renewed cuteness regime had become a hindrance to her against this opponent, not a benefit.

"It's true then," she heard a student say. "That girl is smitten with Akane! Look at the way she's clinging to her?"

"And did you hear what she said about undressing her?" another asked. "No doubt about it."

"Hot," said a boy. "Really super hot. Two thumbs up."

Normally Akane would note to herself to glower menacingly at that particular boy later on, but right now she was trying to figure out a way from this struggle. To start with, this girl was scary strong and tough but also super light. Akane had no trouble at all lifting her off the ground, but one glance at the crack beneath where Azusa had been made her hope falter a little. If something like that couldn't make her let go, then what possibly could?

"Charlene," Azusa sighed and nuzzled up against her again.

Argh! This situation is ridiculous! Here she was, standing here, being hugged to death by a girl she carrying in her arms while that same girl was nestling up against her like a great big ba-

Which is when an idea struck her out of the blue. It was a stupid idea. It was a really stupid idea. It couldn't possibly work, it was absurd beyond belief. Yet at the same time it was the only thing she could think of. There's a reason that cornered animals will fight even bigger animals even if they have no chance to win. It's because there are no other options available to them, and right now Akane was completely out of other ideas!

Mariko was not the kind of girl who cackled. She tittered. She giggled. Nor was she the kind to rub her hands in manic glee. She much preferred to put her hands on her hips and smirk knowingly. Right now she was skipping along towards Furinkan. It had not been easy to set up her little morning off, but there it was. She'd done it! "Mariko, Mariko, if you tried, then you could surely touch the sky!" she cheered to herself while skipping along.

She couldn't help it. She was so excited to see that girl finally put in her place! Maybe if she got there on time she might even be able to lend a little cheering support to Azusa, motivate her into crushing that annoying Tendo girl into oblivion!

At last, she reached the school. Instead of entering through the front gate, Mariko leaped over the wall in a single graceful bound, arching her back and kicking her left leg up high enough that the back of her head very nearly touched her toe. She drew out her baton and had it twirling overhead before she'd even landed. Now Akane would learn the one that had led to her D-O-O-M was none other than M-A-R-I-K-

"Oh?"

The scene before her left Mariko completely mute. Still twirling her baton around from sheer habit, but otherwise totally still. Much the same could be said about the others watching from the windows up above. Not a single one of them could believe what was before their eyes.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little darling..." Akane crooned off-key. She was gently rocking Azusa back and forth in her arms, and Mariko's hired gun was simply resting there, gently sucking her thumb with her eyes closed. "Go to sleep, go to sleep, and I can't recall the words! So tralala, lalala, lalalalala-la la."

She gently set the sleeping gymnast down on the concrete, where Azusa curled up into a fetal position, sucking her thumb and whispering what sounded like "Charlene" to herself.

"Shush now everyone," Akane whispered. "I just got her down. Please be quiet, don't wake her up." Then off she frolicked inside the school, leaving Mariko standing there with naught to do but stare at Azusa's sleeping body. Stare, and smile in a way that very much looked like it wanted to be upside down.

Stadig by the door, a girl with a pageboy haircut coughed loudly into her hand and then raised her other hand into the air.

"All in favour of pretending none of this ever happened?" she called out.

"Aye!" came the unanimous response. Including from Mariko herself.

"Motion carries!"

"Charlene..." Azusa sighed in her sleep. Mariko's eye twitched, then she reflexively tossed her baton, grabbed it with her other hand and resumed twirling. Now she was really S-T-E-A-M-E-D! If Azusa could be beaten that quickly and neatly, then who on earth could last long enough to show her how that menace worked?

"I shall not let you date the fair Akane!" a hot boy suddenly proclaimed, and oh but Mariko wondered how she had missed him. So rugged and handsome. Oh! Just her type down to a tee! He looked down at Azusa's sleeping form and scoffed. "And so fall all who would dare oppose Tatewaki Kuno, the Rising Star of Furinkan High! Now I shall wait for Akane Tendo with no further obstacles!"