Kouta climbed off of Shohei as Jamie sauntered over towards him. The Australian delinquent had his hands wrapped. He had come prepared to fight.

“Didn’t take you too long to get back on your feet!” Kouta said. “I see my boys didn’t lay it in hard enough”.

Jamie laughed. “Please! Those weak hits? They barely even tickled! Nah, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that if you want to put me down!”.

Kouta stepped away from Shohei who was slowly starting to get back to his feet after being blindsided.

Jamie reached his hand down to him. “You alright man?”.

Shohei hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the Aussie’s hand, allowing him to help him get to his feet.

“Don’t worry man, I’ve got you on this one!” Jamie said to the blonde haired delinquent. Shohei nodded, not saying a word as he walked back to the rest of the Hitokiri crew.

Kouta cracked his knuckles and his neck, whilst Jamie retied his topknot, making sure it wouldn’t get in the way. Neither of them assumed a stance, they just stared each other down for a few moments. The park was dead silent, as every one waited with bated breath for the fight to start. In a moment so perfect it seemed cinematic, a gust of wind blew through the park, breaking the silence. This was the cue that Jamie and Kouta needed. Both boys broke into a sprint, running full pelt at each other.

Jamie leapt into the air, cokcing back his fist and landing a jumping punch square on Kouta’s nose. Blood droplets flung into the air as the mo-hawked delinquent’s head flung back. He followed that up with a side kick, just like the one he hit Mura with, that crashed into Kouta’s ribs. Kouta however, was more durable than his cousin, and was able to stay standing after this one-two combo. Jamie went for another punch, but Kouta weaved out of the way, hitting Jamie right in the face with a punch of his own.

The two rivals began to exchange blows, each seemingly hitting the other back twice as hard as they themselves were hit. Jamie dodged another of Kouta’s punches. He closed the distance, grabbed a hold of Kouta and swept his legs out from under him, throwing him over his hip and sending him crashing down to the ground. They rolled around, each boy trying to jockey for position. Neither could seemingly get the upper hand, and they broke away, each of them taking a knee and allowing a few moments to recover.

“What do you reckon? You think he’s got this? He’s taken some pretty heavy hits!” Hiroshi said to Ken as they watched on from the sidelines.

“Yeah, he’s got this, take a look at both of them properly” Ken replied. Hiroshi looked over at the two combatants. It took him a few moments until he realised what Ken was talking about. Whilst both Kouta and Jamie had taken some decent hits and were bleeding, Kouta was really sucking in air, breathing short shallow breaths. In comparison, Jamie’s breathing was relaxed; the Aussie taking longer, deep breaths.

“Oh I see what you mean” Hiroshi said. “Kouta’s already breathing pretty heavily whereas Jamie’s looking way more relaxed”.

“Exactly!” said Ken. “He’s got a lot more left in the tank”.

Jamie and Kouta both wiped away blood that was running from their noses and mouths. “I gotta hand it to ya, ya mo-hawked prick. You throw a better punch than I thought you would” Jamie said with a grin.

Kouta sucked in some more air as he desperately tried to catch his breath. “No talking Gaijin! let’s finish this!”.

Kouta charged back in, swinging wildly at Jamie with everything he had. Something seemed to have slightly changed in the Australian, it was almost as though the fight up until now had just been a warm up for him. He easily dodged and blocked Kouta’s punches as if he wasn’t even trying. The head of Iruma High was frustrated, and the more frustrated he got, the more his guard slipped. Jamie punished him for it, slamming his fists into his face with incredible force. Kouta fell to the floor after he took a perfectly aimed punch in the jaw. He quickly got back to one knee, staring up at Jamie.

“How is this possible?!” He screamed. “How are you getting more energetic with each punch?”.

Jamie shot Kouta a smug grin. “You’ve fought well, I’ll give you that!, but it’s over Kouta! I’ve won!”.

Kouta let out a primal scream as he sprung off his knee and ran at Jamie. He was acting out of pure anger. Jamie could tell, and he took advantage of this, waiting patiently for Kouta to get closer. When he did, he pivoted on his front leg, snapped his back foot out, and kicked the Iruma High delinquent right in the side of the head.

The kick knocked Kouta out cold on the spot and he collapsed face first to the ground. Every one in the park was silent. No one could muster up the words to describe the amazing fight that they had just witnessed.

Jamie looked towards the group of Iruma High delinquents. “Anyone else wanna step up and face me?!” He said to them, remaining completely calm, not even raising his voice. They all remained silent. “Well, I guess Hitokiri wins this one then!”.

“Fucking hell! He’s something else aint he Ken!” Taka said.

Ken nodded, impressed by Jamie’s performance. “He sure is. Him and his brother may not be Japanese, but the Hitokiri spirit lives in them!’.

Jamie turned to walk over to the Hitokiri guys. As he did something caught his eye. He could have sworn that he caught a glimpse of pastel purple. He turned, scanning the crowd quickly. Sure enough, his suspicion had been right as he laid his eyes on Kaoru. She stared back at him, their eyes meeting. Jamie couldn’t explain why, but upon looking into her eyes he felt an uncomfortable feeling that he didn’t feel too often. Shame. He wasn’t really sure what to do. Should he say something to her? In the end, he settled on giving her a nod, before he turned his attention back to the Hitokiri guys who were waiting for him.

“Fuck that! Ken! You and I, round 2, right now!”. Everyone in the park turned back to the Iruma High delinquents to see Suzuki standing at the front of them, his face snarling.

Shinsuke, who had recovered from his fight with Taka and was up on his feet again grabbed Suzuki by the shoulders.

“Dude, leave it! Kouta lost! We’ve lost. Let’s just take this defeat like men and get out of here!”.

Suzuki slapped Shinsuke’s hands away. “Fuck off, I’ll do what I want!”.

Ken stepped forward. “I don’t think you wanna do this!” he said.

“Don’t tell me what I do or don’t want to do!” Suzuki snapped back.

He charged at Ken, dropping low, aiming for a takedown. CRUNCH! Ken slammed his knee into Suzuki’s head as he got close. The knee strike dazed the bulldog like delinquent and he stumbled around for a bit before collapsing to the floor. Ken stepped over him, showing him absolutely no respect as he walked out into the middle of the park.

“While I have everyone’s attention. Allow me to introduce myself!” Ken said, in a loud, commanding voice. “My name is Ken Fukujima, and in case you are unaware of what this emblem on my back is, I am the president of the Eighth generation of Hitokiri.

One kid in the crowd stared around awkwardly before he slowly put his hands together, attempting to start a slow clap. Everyone’s eyes fixed on him as they all shot him a death glare, this was clearly not the time. He stopped and muttered a quiet “sorry”.

Ken pointed at Kouta, who was still lying on the floor. “let tonight be a lesson to every one of you. If you fuck with us, this is what happens to you. He then pointed at Suzuki, who was also still lying on the ground. “And also” he continued. “Most of us, myself included go to Makoshi High. If any one thinks they can come waltzing into my school, throwing my name around like this shit stain did, then this is what will happen to them. Got it?!”.

He paused for a second, even though the question had been mainly rhetorical. “We run Makoshi High, and pretty soon we’ll run all of Ueno too. You may have thought that Hitokiri died with the seventh generation, but I can assure you, we are well and truly alive, and under my leadership, the eighth generation will be the best yet!”.

“That was a bit over dramatic and theatrical don’t you think?” Jamie whispered to Louis as Ken began to walk back over towards them and the rest of the Hitokiri boys".

Jamie, that was a hell of a fight man. You have that fighting spirit inside you, that’s for damn sure”, Ken said as he reached them.

“Yeah, that kick was wild topknot!” said Ginji.

Jamie smacked Ginji on the back of the head. “How maany times do I have to tell you not to call me that?” He yelled.

Ken laughed, “Come on everyone, dinner’s on me!”.

“Yes!” yelled Riku, pumping his fist. “I’ve been craving Tendon all day!”.

As the Hitokiri gang walked back to their vehicles, a new pair of eyes was fixated on them from the crowd. The eyes belonged to a boy, dressed in dark colours. Despite his baby face and his bright blonde hair, which made him look much younger than his years, he was in fact a high schooler, a second year just like most of the guys in Hitokiri.

“So pres, what do you think of the eighth gen?” a guy standing next to him said. This guy was taller, and actually did look the part of a high schooler. He wore his long, black hair in two braided pigtails. The blonde haired boy pulled his prescription glasses from his face, cleaning them on his shirt.

“They may only be a small crew, but they can all go for sure. There’s no doubt about it!”, he replied.

“So when do we make our move?” The black haired boy asked.

“Not yet”, replied the blonde haired boy. “I’ll know when the time is right. First we need to properly establish ourselves. I want the next showdown between Hitokiri and The Flying Tengu to be one for the ages!”.

The blonde haired boy put his glasses back on and the two of them vanished into the crowd as they headed for one of the park exits.

By the time Monday rolled around, word of Hitokiri’s reappearance had spread at Makoshi High. People talked about it up and down the hallways and in the courtyards.

“I knew that Ken Fukijima was a tough guy, but I had no idea that the pressident of the eighth gen”, “Apparently those two twins from Australia are in with them?”, “A friend of mine who was at the fight said that they made Imura High look like a joke” were just some of the things people were saying.

Mura walked down the hallway with confidence, trying his best to brush off his cousin’s crushing defeat.

“Oh look, it’s Mura. Man I hear that Jamie kid absolutely wrecked his cousin”, said a guy standing by a locker in the hallway. Mura stopped in his tracks. He walked over to the guy and got right up in his face.

“What the fuck did you just say?” He screamed at the guy. Despite the fact that by now everyone knew about Mura getting his ass handed to him by Jamie, his large stature still made him an intimidating presence.

“Uh, I just was telling my friend about how your cosuin lost to Jamie on Friday night” the guy said, shaking.

“were you fucking there?” Mura barked.

“No” the guy replied.

“Then how dare you go spreading second hand information that you can’t even confirm as being true” Mura screamed. He slammed his fist into the locker, mere centimetres from the guy’s face, causing him to jump, then turned to walk away.

As he turned, he found himself face to face with Louis.

“You and I have some business to take care of!”, Louis said to him in a commanding voice. “You think you can just sick your cousin and his boys on my brother and get away with it?”. Mura was taken aback, he didn’t really know what to do, but still he tried to keep up his bravado.

“Your brother got lucky. I just had an off day, and lost my footing, that’s it. If I fought him again I’d fu…...”.

WHACK! Mura’s face flung back as Louis hit him with a lightning quick punch. The Australian followed up with an equally fast roundhouse kick that sent the large Japanese boy flying backwards, hitting the ground with a thud.

Louis stood over Mura, who looked up at him embarassed, blood running from his nose.

“Was that just luck too?” Louis asked. Mura sheepishly shook his head. “I’d suggest you find a new school, because if I even see you again, I’ll do worse than this, you understand?”. Mura nodded his head. “Good!” said Louis. “Now run away like the bitch you are and get out of my sight!’.

Mura almost tripped over himself as he fled down the hallway. Louis turned and headed off in the other direction.

“I think you made the right decision bro” he though to himself, thinking about how Jamie had decided to go and meet with the Hitokiri guys in the first place. “This is gonna be fun”.

Joshimitsu

Gaijin has officially reached the double digit mark in chapter count! Thank you to every one who has read so far! :)