Judgement of Fire

Pairing: Mai x Athena

Genre: Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own King of Fighters or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Okay, this will be a good one. With my good friend, Rex-san, to discuss via PM, we talked about it a little and I think I got it down. I want this one to be a very good multi-chaptered one, so that's why I needed a bit of a assistance from him. However, the writing's all mine.

So please enjoy~!

Deep inside a dark building where no one except for 3 men are. A screen is in front of them, showing a girl with extraordinary power in front of them, fighting in the King of Fighter's tournament. They watch this girl's power and how it's used. From the look on their faces, they are amazed.

"Is she the one?" one man asks.

"That's what it looks like," another says.

"The boss will definitely be pleased," the third one replies. "I already know this girl's location. We have no time to loose boys. It's her power that the boss wants."

"Roger that!" the two men nod in agreement.

**Meanwhile**

"Athenaaaaa~!" Mai calls as she waves to her girlfriend in the mall. "Come on! The clothes don't sell themselves~!" She is wearing an orange tank top, short shorts and high heeled sandals.

Athena is wearing her usual attire. A red colored school uniform with black thigh high stockings and a red head-band on her head. She trots toward the kunoichi with a soft giggle.

"I can't keep up with you," she says. "You're so eager to try on new clothing, aren't you?"

"Duh! Who wouldn't~? And you, Athena, should do the same!"

"Ah, no, no, I'm fine." The violet haired girl shakes her head as she puts her hands up. "It was your idea to go shopping."

"Awww, but didn't I tell you before? You're a famous pop idol. Wearing such outfits can be absolutely amazing, even it is a little embarrassing~" Mai points out.

"Th-that's true but…" Athena taps her two index fingers together while blushing.

"Then, come on! Let's pick out some sexy clothing!"

"EEEEEHHHH!?"

Without any hesitation, Mai takes her hand and drags her inside the mall and toward the clothing store nearby. From there, they go through all sorts of outfits. From sundresses to skimpy swimsuits to a bit of nurse cosplaying. Sure it is a bit embarrassing for Athena, but like Mai said, she should try on outfits that are a little more on the sexy side. As long as she's with the kunoichi, it's all good. In fact, she can't help but smile at Mai's enthusiasm. They pick what they want, finally and keep at least 5 sexy outfits. Athena pays for it all and both of them carry their own clothing in large bags.

By that time, lunch arrives, and Mai and Athena decide to drop by at a burger place to sit down and order. While they wait, Athena turns toward her girlfriend with a smile.

"We sure picked some good outfits, huh?" she says.

"You bet~!" Mai replies excitedly. "I'm so glad you came, Athena! This makes my shopping more exciting~"

"So it's more like dragging me here than a date huh….?" Athena deadpans.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Mai waves her arms frantically. "It's SO like a date! Trust me! You're my girlfriend after all!" She quickly takes Athena's hands in hers. "So, please. Don't be mad just because I insisted on you coming here."

Athena smiles and kisses Mai's hands. "Silly. How could I be mad at you when you're this excited about it?"

"Ehehe~!"

Their order arrives and the two begin to eat and drink. But unaware that both of them are being watched by three mysterious men in black suits and sunglasses. They hide behind corners, unseen with walkie talkies.

"Should we make our move?" one asks.

"No, you fool! Not yet!" the other one says. "We need to make sure that girl is alone. Then we'll nab her. That was the plan, remember?"

"Right, right! Sorry!" the third one says.

The men remain hidden, keeping their eye on the idol and kunoichi, who continue eating their lunch. It might be a while, but they know that they will have to be patient.

The two of them finish their lunch within 15 minutes and they decide to sit there for a minute or two to rest up when Athena's phone rings. She picks it up to see that it's from her manager.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this call," she says with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, no worries," Mai says. "I'll take care of the check."

With a nod, Athena leaves and calls the manager while on her way toward the front entrance. Just as she promised, the kunoichi pays for the check and gives the waiter a tip as well. It only took about 10 minutes just to get situated, but waiting around for Athena, so she decides to search for her. The call may or may not take long, but she's already bored. Taking the two bags of clothing she exits the restaurant and starts searching.

**Meanwhile**

Athena is between the two entrance doors where people come in and out of the mall while she finishes her call with her manager. She's scheduling her next concert and she ran into a few problems, but the manager was able to solve them. She thanks him and hangs up with a soft sigh.

"It's for my fans after all…" she says to herself.

Not like she dislikes it, but sometimes, it can be a little overwhelming, especially now that she's dating Mai. However, since the kunoichi has been going to her concerts, including her biggest fan, Kula Diamond, she's happier than she could ever be. With their support, including all her fans, her popularity continues to grow.

However, she fails to notice three men who are hiding behind a corner, watching her.

"She's the girl!" the one man says. "The other one isn't with her, so now's our chance!"

"Alright, men!" the other one says, putting his hand up. "On my mark! And…go!"

They run toward the doors, the first one being ahead of them. Just as the automatic doors open, he goes to flip up Athena's skirt, causing her to look down and try to put it down while squeaking. While she's distracted, the man goes under her, grabbing her legs and the one behind her covers her mouth with blue cloth. Athena's eyes widen as she is being picked up by the two men and carried outside.

Meanwhile, Mai is looking everywhere for her girlfriend, but since this place is so big, it'll be forever until she finally finds her.

Back outside, Athena struggles hard until she can get one of her legs free. She delivers a hard kick to the man's face, making him stagger back and hold his cheek. Athena wiggles herself free, having the cloth out of her mouth and tries to run away, but the other man grabs her by the waist and tries pulling her. Athena waves her arms and legs around like mad.

"She won't budge!" the man grunts. "This girl's a tough one!"

"Stay away! Stay away!" Athena screams. She opens her palm, summoning purple ball of energy and thrusts it at the one man who is coming at her to restrain her.

Back at the mall, she's nearby the entrance where her highly trained ninja hearing can sense danger…and can hear Athena as well.

"There she is…" she says to herself.

She uses her ninja speed to go directly toward where the sound is. She bursts through the open entrance doors.

"Athena!" she calls. "Athena, are you alright!?" However, she is greeted by 3 knocked out men and a wild Athena throwing Psycho Balls everywhere, hoping to hit whatever she throws.

"No!" she cries. "Stay away from me!"

"Ummm….Athena?" Mai sweat drops. "It's alright now."

The violet haired girl gasps as soon as she opens her eyes and sees her girlfriend. Without hesitation, she jumps into Mai's arms, burying her face in her uber-sized chest.

"Oh, Mai!" she cries. "Thank goodness! I don't know what I would've done if you haven't come to save me!"

"Ummm…it looks like you did all the saving yourself," Mai laughs nervously. She embraces the poor idol, stroking her hair. "Although, you put some holes on walls, unfortunately. You went to full power, didn't you?"

"I had to!" Athena says, tears falling from her eyes and clutching Mai's shirt. "Those creeps picked me up and tried to kidnap me!"

The brunette looks up with a glare as one of the men manage to stand up. With a hug and a kiss on the forehead, Mai urges Athena to stay and walks over toward the man on the ground.

"Alright, talk," she demands, kneeling to his level. "Who do you work for? Why are you going after Athena?"

"Guh…all we need…is power…to complete our mission," he groans.

Mai glances at the violet haired girl and then back at the man. "After Athena's power, huh? Well, I won't let you." She stands up and whips out her fan. "I could burn you into a crisp right now. For trying to kidnap my girlfri-HYAAAAA!" Before she can finish, she feels something shock her from behind, sending electric current from head to toe, and then renders her unconscious. Two of the men catch her before she hits the ground and start to carry her toward a black car.

"Ah! Mai!" Athena cries. She starts to go after them, but trips and falls. She then realizes that one of the men grabbed her leg, but is still dizzy from the impact of her Psycho balls. She wiggles her leg free as soon as he faints again and runs after the men.

They already put the unconscious Mai inside the car and starts it up right away.

"NO! MAI!" Athena shouts as she puts a fist on her chest. "Don't take her away from me!"

She HAS to do something. She can't let those creeps dive away with her girlfriend. She thrusts her hands forward and a purple glow appears around the car, stopping it instantly.

"Huh!? What the hell is going on!?" the man who is driving says.

"Keep driving!" the second man demands.

"I…can't!"

Athena grits her teeth as she brings her hands forward. She's using her Psycho Power to stop the car and pull it backward. But the constant revving of the car and the tire squeaking and letting out a lot of dust makes it difficult for her. But she has to keep trying. She then gets an idea. She looks up at the sky and raises her arms, having the car levitate. She then flips it upside down, opening the window on top of the car. The idol quickly goes under it as soon as Mai comes out of the window while the other men are trying to hold on for dear life. She quickly catches her with one hand while still having her other hand up and backs away far from it until she's a good distance away from it.

"Good…riddance…" she says with gritted teeth. She slams the car down, making it crumble and the men are rendered seriously injured in the process.

With that, Athena carries the knocked out Mai to safety, toward her own home.

**Later**

Mai's eyes flutter open and finds herself on a soft bed with Athena at her bed side with her glowing hand going back and forth around her body.

"A-Athena…?" she says softly. She can tell from that glow that she's using her healing powers on her.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" Athena stops the glowing and embraces her girlfriend.

"You…saved me?"

"Yes! From those bad guys that tried to kidnap you! I don't know why they did that, but I took care of them, don't worry!" Athena says sniffling. "You're…you're safe now…" Her sniffling resorts to soft crying.

"Oh, Athena," Mai gives a gentle smile and returns the embrace, stroking her violet hair while the idol continues to cry her heart out.

Whoever those men were, they better have a very good reason why they wanted to kidnap Mai instead of Athena.

**Meanwhile**

Two women, one with long blonde hair tied in a pony-tail and the other with short red hair stand in front of the injured man and the wrecked car is behind them.

"L-Lady Mature…Lady Vice…" he groans.

"Haaaah…such worthless men," the blonde says.

"We can't give up now," the red-head says. "That Mai Shiranui is our only hope to grant us the power to defeat that Iori creep. He's much more powerful than that Kyo Kusanagi."

"You're right," Mature says. "Fortunately, we have more men, but we need a plan B."

"Right, but what about that Athena Asamiya girl? I heard she's psychic, so she'll predict our next move."

"Well then, why don't our men take care of Athena while we go after Mai. It should be a piece of cake right?"

"I sure hope so."

A/N: I surely hope I did this right. And I made up Athena lifting up the car and stuff. I was just thinking that psychics do that, so that's why I wrote it. And I thought of Mature and Vice as the main villains just because it came to my mind. I looked them up a little bit and it kinda makes sense, right? Forgive me if I messed them up.

A-anyways, this is the first chapter. Have a nice day!