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ok so I uploaded this earlier in the week but I decided to go back and delete it because it didn't have the preview thing that makes it so easy to read on the web instead of having to download it, unfortunately i have a new desktop at home which uses word 2010 which put it down in .docx format or whatever which IB doesn't support, so I uploaded it earlier in the week from my google drive but like i said no preview, so now that i'm on my old laptop i put it back up here. ", "writing": "The door outside the room had said conference room 5. Kisara was always nervous when they did these meetings, the entire Kazumi Dojo stable didn’t like this sort of thing, this was when they announced all the press events they would be doing, special appearances and such. Kisara was always frustrated with these meetings because the stiff ass bureaucrats could never understand what it was like for a fighter to parade around for the rest of the world like some sort of pop idol.\n\nUsually when the door opened up it was to a boardroom full of sweaty old men trying to find a way to squeeze every drop of money out of the fighters they could. This time it was different, instead of a cavalcade of number crunchers and bean counters there was only one man standing in front of the window looking down at the plaza below. The boardroom table to his right was filled with a full spread for the negotiations, usually by the time the fighters showed up it was half devoured, but today since there was only one network negotiator it was full. He was well dressed in an expensive suit, but he didn’t strike her as a 3-piece suit kind of person. She didn’t get a good look at him, but she knew this meeting was going to be different.\n\n“Perrin, it’s been too long,” the weasel said as he turned around and strode across the room. Just looking at him he was built as a fighter, but not impressively, but as she watched him walk across the room Kisara understood it, his stride was 100% efficient, if somebody had attacked him in the middle of a step he would have reacted without thought.\n\n“Indeed, three years already,” her uncle answered jovially.\n\nWhen Daisuke walked in and the two caught sight of each other, his eyes turned feral. They grinned savagely like two great bulls locking horns. Kisara had always known Daisuke was fast, but this other matched his speed with fluid steps, even in the suit he was unfettered in his movements. Daisuke met him halfway his right leg snapping up to the left side of the strangers head, Kisara didn’t know who he was, but any confrontation that would have happened was over, except the two of them stopped at the last second. Daisuke’s kick had missed it’s mark, the stranger had shifted onto his right a bit, his fist had come up under Daisuke’s chin, but at the last second he’d stopped. They glared at each other for a second before their faces turned soft, Daisuke dropped his leg and he and this stranger embraced each other in a hug.\n\n“You haven’t lost a step, why aren’t you fighting any more?” he asked.\n\n“Times have changed a bit,” the other answered cryptically.\n\nThen Hitomi filed in and he walked up to her silently, the two looked at each other for a second before they began pushing hands, at least that was what she’d thought until she realized it was a school-girl’s game of pat-a-cake. Hitomi rarely smiled but now she was smirking. “Jaxon,” she said anxiously after a moment.\n\n“Hitomi,” he answered her with a nod.\n\nNow that she had a clear view of him Kisara was a bit starstruck. Jaxon Davenport was one of the fighters in the history of the Battle Network that was arguably the best ever.\n\n“You- you’re... Jaxon... Davenport,” Renka said in an equally starstruck voice. He laughed as he reached one hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously.\n\n“So I am, and you two must be the stars of the hour, Renka and Kisara?” he answered them. “It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten this response out of anybody, most of the time the suit gives off the understand that I’m pretty much a washout. The last time I saw you two you only stood as tall as my knee, but you were always so full of energy,” Jaxon told them with a laugh.\n\n“Girls, you’re being rude... introduce yourselves,” Perrin prompted them.\n\n“I’m Renka Kazumi pleased to meet you,” her sister told him after a moment.\n\n“I’m Kisara,” she added after a second.\n\n“You’re both staring,” Perrin told them to get their focus. Kisara could hear the click of teeth as both she and her sister shut their mouths simultaneously.\n\n“What’s this? I’d heard rumors that you had a third student starting this year, I’d hoped he’d be with you today. From what I hear he’s a local here in Basin City, and word also has it that my name and his might come up quite often together?” Jaxon asked Perrin after a moment.\n\n“Ah yes, we do have a new student, however he returned to his classes today, since we assumed that this meeting wouldn’t involve him much. I assume you know then that he’s a boxer as well... not to mention that other thing you have in common,” their uncle told his old friend.\n\n“So it’s true... he’s half ferret? Well it’s a shame that he didn’t come with you, but I must admit that I’m as excited to meet your nieces as they seem to be about meeting me. I’ve had my eye on you girls for some time now, the whole world has really... I’ve tried to make sure that eye captures you in the best light available during my years as fight coverage coordinator,” he told them politely. “Shall we get started?” he asked them.\n\n“I suppose if we don’t we’ll be stuck here all day, besides perhaps you and I could talk personally after all this business is concluded?” Perrin asked him. So far the elder had all but monopolized the conversation. They all took seats at the table and the talks began.\n\n“Fair enough,” Jaxon answered him with a nod. “As I’m sure you’re all aware the Kazumi Dojo is one of the most sought after stables, with each of you being high grossing brands. What the Network wants me to do today is solidify your status without being off-putting about it. To put it bluntly, we want to make you as happy as we can without minimizing our profits. Believe me when I say that I understand you don’t like to make grand public appearances, but the fact remains that you are all VERY marketable brands and we’d like to make the best use of that,” he began.\n\n“Jaxon... please... stop with all this formal and financial talk, I understand you’re trying to make an impression on your bosses, but you most of all hated it when the executives referred to us as ‘brands’,” Perrin told him. The other just laughed for a moment.\n\n“Thank God! I was told not to sound personal when it got down to business unless one of you requested it,” Jaxon said as he noticeably relaxed. “Daisuke, Hitomi, they want you two to do a special exhibition match before the master season kicks off next month. They’re going to hype it up as a grudge match the gold and silver medals from last year going at it before regulation. It’s not a sticking point, but they think it could really help draw attention to the season opening,” he continued calmly as he checked their looks.\n\n“How ‘bout instead of her, you climb in the ring with me?” Daisuke offered in counter.\n\n“They were rather adamant that the gold medalist compete this year, however if Hitomi objects to any sort of exhibition match I’ll make the recommendation, though I doubt they want a wash out like me ruining their grand affair,” Jaxon laughed. “Besides, I’m retired from fighting... remember?” he added on.\n\n“I have... no objections to... fighting... but... I too would like... you to fight again,” Hitomi told him after a moment.\n\n“I’m honored, I really am, but as I said... I’m retired, so... Daisuke, what do you say?” Jaxon answered after a second.\n\n“I suppose I can fight with her, I have to clear the air about that last match being a fluke,” he answered.\n\n“As I recall... I beat you... at your own game,” Hitomi answered as she ate at a bagel on the table.\n\n“I still can’t believe she made you tapout,” Jaxon laughed.\n\n“I knocked her out two years ago,” Daisuke countered as his face turned red.\n\n“I remember that, Domawashi, I was surprised you pulled that off when you did, it looked like she was going to push you into a corner,” the weasel nodded after a moment. “So we’ve got the first point nailed down,” Jaxon tried to steer the conversation back on track. “Now there was a rather heated argument a few minutes ago around here about the opening challenge being taken before the sisters could get their grudge match in. My boss was kicking up a fuss until he heard that one of the fighters was your new kid, he says that we’ll use this chance to get a good look at what he’s capable of, however he still wants to show you girls at your best. He’s even thinking of asking to have the bracketing redrawn this year so you won’t meet ‘til the end... if you can make it that far that is,” he told them.\n\n“I don’t think you have to go so far for our girls, the current system works just fine,” Perrin tried to placate him.\n\n“Well the problem is that for the last two years he hasn’t had a main event and he’s getting a little heated about that, he’s ready to see a FIGHT in the final round,” Jaxon tried to explain to him.\n\n“The girls still have to qualify before they can think about redrawing the bracket, however if he’s that adamant about it I’m sure we can work something out if they do manage to make it again this year,” Perrin finally conceded.\n\n“Alright enough of this talk, we’ll save it for later in the year. Before the season starts he wants to do another day in the life series for all five of the Kazumi Dojo,” Jaxon pressed forward.\n\n“I can’t imagine anybody wants to watch a day in the life of an old man like me,” Perrin responded.\n\n“Oh I don’t know about that, but in this case I meant the new kid too,” he responded. Kisara was confused by the number of times Kit was coming up in these talks. Perrin gave the weasel a look that said he wasn’t amused. “Look, Perrin, you had to know when you took that kid on that he’d become a hot topic fast. I don’t like it either, but being as he comes from one of the best stables in the business there isn’t a lot of choice. I’m serious when I say my boss expects a lot out of him, he’s expecting a hot new brand to emerge this year,” Jaxon tried to explain it to him.\n\n“Does he know that he’s been in training for all of 2 days? By giving him all this attention he’ll be throwing him to the wolves, all the other fighters are going to flock to him and try to make a name for themselves by taking him down,” Perrin tried to reason with him.\n\n“Honestly... I don’t like it either, I think it’s too much for a fighter that was completely unheard of, but he promised that if we do the day in the life segment and a few interviews that he’ll try to keep the focus on his relationship with the girls and masters, basically we’ll try to keep the focus off of his own fighting abilities and get his view more as, forgive me for putting this in my bosses words, ‘a mortal walking among the gods’,” Jaxon told him earnestly.\n\n“I don’t even like putting the girls through that sort of thing, they hate it, and they’re already used to that kind of attention,” Perrin responded.\n\n“He’s right, it’s awkward walking around the school with a camera crew following me around, everybody either stops and stares or they try to walk up to us to get their faces on camera,” Renka chimed in.\n\n“That and they never give you a moment to yourself, you walk around they ask you irritating questions, some of which have nothing to do with anything,” Kisara added after her sister spoke up.\n\n“I understand, honestly I do, personally the pageantry of it all is one thing I don’t miss about those days. If you all don’t want to do it you don’t have to... I’ll try to coax my boss out of it, but you’re putting me in a tight spot here, or rather they are. They put me in here hoping I could talk all friendly with you and milk you for everything I could, if I come back without this segment it’s my ass,” Jaxon told him.\n\nPerrin sighed in frustration. “They sent you in here because you can make that statement and it’ll mean more than if some corporate mascot said it to me. I don’t want to put you in a bind Jaxon, but I also don’t want to make my young student a target for others to build a name with. Tell them that the other four will do the segment,” he suggested.\n\n“It’s no good, Perrin. They want him bad now... this was the cost of him taking over the opening challenge, they can’t market their opening challenge like they could if it was the girls fighting. They’re saying that if he doesn’t do the segment that they’ll pull his registration for the season,” Jaxon explained to them.\n\n“Then you should relay to them that if they do that they might as well pull the other registrations with the Kazumi Dojo as well, I won’t have them holding that above the heads of those in my care,” her uncle bit back irritably, he had crossed a line now.\n\n“I know, Perrin, trust me I do, but they’re also going to point out that since you’re not his guardian they technically don’t have to have your approval, they’re prepared to go to the boy’s father and if they do you know he’ll have no choice... they’re doing this as a courtesy,” the weasel said in a defeated tone, he didn’t want to play this card, but it was the last one he had, and it had been a forgone conclusion that Kit would be doing this segment.\n\nKisara watched as her uncle scowled at his old friend, he didn’t like how this had turned out one bit. “Fine... I’ll talk to him about it,” Perrin finally conceded in a frustrated tone.\n\n“Thank you, and for what it’s worth I’ll try to convince them to do the filming but not to air it, I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us Perrin, and I really hate that I had to say that. That being said, any deals they may make with me will be most-likely be void if your people don’t keep up their end of the deal, I’m talking to Kisara on this one. My bosses weren’t very impressed when you lost your camera crew last year,” Jaxon offered to them, the last part he explained while looking directly at Kisara.\n\n“Sorry... they were just asking me a lot of embarrassing questions, things that didn’t have anything to do with anything... I won’t ditch ‘em this year,” Kisara told him.\n\n“Like I said, I’ll do what I can to try and keep him out of the limelight, at least for things that don’t have much to do with him, if it turns out he has some promise then I obviously can’t keep the cameras off him, but if he turns out to be just another fighter, then I’ll try to keep the focus on the girls and masters,” Jaxon offered.\n\n“I understand Jaxon... it might be your lips that move, but it’s the voice of the company that comes out, and I’m sure you hate applying pressure in that manner, you’ve always been a good friend to me,” Perrin told him after a few moments. “I was wondering what part you’ll play in all these segments, will you be present at one of the filmings?” her uncle asked him.\n\n“No no, all I do around here is advise them as to the best angles to use to show the action in a fight, nothing more,” the other admitted to them. “Shall we move onto public appearance events?” he suggested. For the next hour or so they discussed when, where, and how many public appearances they would make.\n\n“I think we have enough as far as public events now,” Daisuke sighed a little after an hour later.\n\n“Sure enough. Now I’m supposed to broach the subject of charity events, as you all know the Battle Network prides itself in how visibly they participate in the charity circuit. I have to admit that in the past the Kazumi Dojo has been VERY generous regarding this part of your contract. As I recall, the last years all three of you masters offered training sessions, signed memorabilia, and even one-on-one dates at the Battle Network charity auction, would you like to do the same this year?” Jaxon asked them.\n\n“If I do that one-on-one date this year it’ll be with the restriction of women only... NATURAL women only,” Daisuke put in first.\n\n“Ah yes... I heard that you met one of your less glamorous fans last year for dinner,” he began to snicker.\n\n“Shut up! ‘SHE’ had a deeper voice than I did, and a freakin’ Adam’s apple, and she kept trying to get close to me the whole time, and the year before that it was a 35 year old guy who looked like he hadn’t left his recliner for ten years. Meanwhile Hitomi’s going out every year with guys who have chiseled jaws, perfect smiles, and washboard abs,” Daisuke ranted for a few moments.\n\n“It’s always... so boring... they all look... so strong... but then... they always turn out... so weak,” Hitomi commented quietly.\n\n“Yeah, about that Hitomi, they aren’t paying to fight with you, they want to spend time with you doing things like going to the movies or shopping or... ya know... more... intimate things,” the weasel tried to explain to her.\n\n“Why would... they want to... do that... sort of thing... with me? I’m a fighter... not an actress... or a model. What do... they gain... by taking me... to a movie? At least... when we spar... they can... take something... out of it. Besides... nothing is... more intimate than... giving it your all... while sparring,” Hitomi answered him simply.\n\n“Sometimes I forget that you were raised in the badlands. They’re hoping to COURT you Hitomi,” Jaxon pointed it out bluntly.\n\n“Then they should... be sparring with... my father,” she answered him. “If they can’t... beat me... they wouldn’t... last long... against him... they’d probably... die,” she continued.\n\n“I like that practice. RENKA, KISARA, if any boy wants to date you, then they have to beat ME first,” Perrin declared excitedly.\n\n“Poor Kit,” Renka sighed softly.\n\n“What?” Perrin asked her, he was a little ways down the table from them so he hadn’t heard.\n\n“NOTHING! SHE DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING!” Kisara shouted back as she put her hands over her sister’s mouth. She could feel her face growing red.\n\n“Anyway, all we were trying to get is whether or not you’d be participating in the charity auction, along with maybe a few other charity events we do this year? We can nail down exactly what you offer or what the stipulations will be at a later date,” Jaxon told Perrin, and with that focus returned to the topic at hand.\n\nWhat Renka had said brought Kisara’s thoughts back to what Kit had said before leaving, and more importantly what he could possibly want to discuss with her. She’d gone back to it a few times during the schedule of public appearances, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it. She realized she’d lost track of what was happening when Renka’s chair creaked as she reached for a muffin on the table.\n\n“I guess that just leaves marketing and image consulting. You guys have a photoshoot next week, we’ll take a few group images to promote the stable as a whole, and then of course the individuals. My bosses wanted me to mention to you that they’ve noticed a slight shift in the girl’s market segment in the last year. Whereas in the beginning due to their youth they were popular with a younger generation, particularly girls, we’ve seen that these last few years their popularity among teenaged boys has been on the rise. They’d like to take advantage of that if at all possible, so this year they were hoping to gear the girls’ campaigns more toward that audience,” Jaxon said nervously.\n\nThere was a noticeable shift in their uncles mood then. “What do they want?” he asked on edge now. “How do they want to change their image exactly?” he pressed Jaxon.\n\n“They want to go with something a little... edgier,” he explained after a short pause to consider his words carefully.\n\n“Sexier?” Perrin asked through clenched teeth, a vein in his forehead began to bulge, and his eyes were now glaring at Jaxon across the table.\n\n“NO!” Jaxon shouted in a defensive tone almost immediately. “No,” this time trying to calm down. “No,” he said with something of a chuckle.\n\n“Why are you laughing? Do you think they CAN’T do it? They CAN, but they won’t!” Perrin told him irritably after a second.\n\n“We just want to market your nieces to boys more, you know, maybe show them less girl-next-door-ish and more to their respective types. We’ll display Renka as the cute girly girl she so obviously is, and Kisara, while equally cute, will be portrayed more as one of the boys. Instead of posing with puppies and such they might have a few shots of them winking or blowing kisses or something like that. Nobody wants to them to take the sexy route,” he clarified, he shook his head a moment later.\n\n“What’re you thinking?” Perrin asked him.\n\n“That it’s hard to have teenage girls... you have to worry if boys like them, but then you also have to be worried if boys DON’T like them, it sounds exhausting,” he commented.\n\n“I must admit that sometimes the implications make it hard for me to sleep at night,” Perrin laughed after a moment.\n\nJaxon laughed for a moment but cleared his throat after a second to return to business. “Now of course Daisuke’s image is going to be the same as it’s always been, for some reason the people seem to love his loudmouth jackass persona, so I’m told to keep that as it’s always been,” he said as he rolled his eyes.\n\n“I can’t help it if I’m awesome and everybody knows it,” Daisuke sounded off.\n\n“You’d be a lot more awesome right now if you hadn’t cried like a baby when Hitomi made you tapout,” Jaxon taunted him.\n\n“What was that? You’re lucky you’re retired, I’d knock some sense into you hard,” Daisuke threatened him playfully.\n\n“If memory serves every time we fought I sat you on your ass something good,” Jaxon fired back.\n\n“Yeah be we haven’t met since the disciple division,” Daisuke answered him.\n\n“It’s not my fault you couldn’t make it as far in the master bracket,” Jaxon shrugged.\n\n“How many master bracket gold medals do you have again? I have three. Last I checked you had... what... none? Yeah that’s what I thought,” Daisuke answered irritably.\n\n“That just shows that the league’s gone downhill since I left, I mean if somebody like you can take a gold medal,” Jaxon fired back.\n\n“Jaxon, Daisuke, and I going to have to separate you two until you can play nicely?” Perrin interrupted them. Kisara heard Renka giggle a little bit.\n\n“They sound just like us sometimes,” her sister whispered to her.\n\n“Tell me about it, and they’re supposed to be adults,” Kisara chortled after a moment.\n\n“Finally we come to Hitomi. Like I’m sure you hear every year, the Network wants you to turn your image more toward sexy if you can,” Davenport suggested as he turned toward her.\n\n“There’s nothing sexier... than a look... that says... ‘I’ll kill you’... at least... that’s what... my father says,” Hitomi told him.\n\n“That’s what they’re saying the problem is, no matter how they pose you they say that your eyes are terrifying. They say the only lust they can see there is bloodlust. Honestly I told them they could work with that, I suggested that they take advantage of that personally. They want you to keep your face passive, posed properly with you passive face you can be more charming than most of the others that can give the googly eyes,” Jaxon explained to her.\n\n“My eyes... aren’t... sexy?” Hitomi asked him, but as she said it she took a seductive pose, however her face was as passive as ever, and her eyes were somewhat chilling.\n\n“Not with the poses they use,” Jaxon clarified. “Oh, I guess I forgot the other one. How exactly should we market this new kid? Any suggestions?” Jaxon asked.\n\n“I was thinking maybe we could try marketing him like you, you know since they’re going to make the comparison anyway, at least if he’s any good,” Perrin answered him.\n\n“You want to push him as the type that follows his dreams? The type that pedals faith and belief? I have to admit that my own particular marketing scheme probably wouldn’t work very well any more. There aren’t many kids these days that could really pull it off,” he told Perrin.\n\n“There aren’t many today that actually believe it, but I can tell you that this kid does. Sometimes during his training I find myself flashing back to when I used to train you two, the similarities are so strong,” Perrin told him as he pointed to Daisuke and Jaxon.\n\n“Oh I hope not, for his sake, I was a knucklehead as a disciple,” Jaxon laughed.\n\n“You and Daisuke both, but you were good kids, and so is this one, sometimes I wonder if only boys are obstinate as disciples, then I remember just how much trouble the girls give me and I that goes down the drain... Hitomi’s the only one that ever listened to what I was saying,” he shook his head.\n\n“Hey! I listen,” Kisara interjected.\n\n“As I recall half the trouble we got in was Daisuke’s fault, always getting so arrogant at the wrong time,” Jaxon accused.\n\n“It’s not arrogance if I really am better than everybody,” he boasted.\n\n“You’re... not better... than me,” Hitomi reminded him.\n\n“I’m two and one,” he replied.\n\n“Yeah but... it was... the last one,” she answered. Daisuke was getting a little frustrated at constantly being reminded of his loss to Hitomi.\n\n“Alright well it’s a shame I couldn’t meet him today, I need you to be sure you explain everything to him as best you can, as far as all the other stuff is concerned I’ll have them send over all the paperwork to flesh out what we worked on today and I’ll let you know how things go,” Jaxon said as he stood up at last.\n\n“It was good to see you man, feel free to drop by the dojo anytime now that we’re in town again,” Daisuke told him he stood up to leave.\n\n“I might have to take you up on that, and of course if there’s anything I can do for you guys just let me know and I’ll see what I can do,” he told them.\n\n“Daisuke, will you and Hitomi see to it that the girls get to class, I have some things I’d like to discuss with Jaxon as an official of the Battle Network,” Perrin instructed them.\n\n“Sure thing... let’s go girls,” Hitomi said as Renka and Kisara stood up.\n\n“What’s this about?” Jaxon asked Perrin.\n\n“I just have some concerns about the contact info for our latest recruit, just a little clerical things I want the Network to be aware of, nothing major but you know how the bureaucrats can get if their paperwork isn’t filled out properly, so I wanted to explain the situation to you before it caused some headaches down the line,” Perrin answered him, as he spoke they headed out into the hallway, after that Kisara couldn’t hear because Davenport had held the door open for them but shut it after she left.\n\n“I still can’t believe they got Davenport wearing a suit these days, he was a hell of a fighter back in the day,” Daisuke said with a shake of his head.\n\n“So have you thought of what Kit might want to talk to you about?” Renka asked Kisara.\n\n“I suppose I’ll find out soon enough,” Kisara answered nervously, she had a bad feeling about something but she wasn’t sure what.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "The door outside the room had said conference room 5. Kisara was always nervous when they did these meetings, the entire Kazumi Dojo stable didn’t like this sort of thing, this was when they announced all the press events they would be doing, special appearances and such. Kisara was always frustrated with these meetings because the stiff ass bureaucrats could never understand what it was like for a fighter to parade around for the rest of the world like some sort of pop idol.

Usually when the door opened up it was to a boardroom full of sweaty old men trying to find a way to squeeze every drop of money out of the fighters they could. This time it was different, instead of a cavalcade of number crunchers and bean counters there was only one man standing in front of the window looking down at the plaza below. The boardroom table to his right was filled with a full spread for the negotiations, usually by the time the fighters showed up it was half devoured, but today since there was only one network negotiator it was full. He was well dressed in an expensive suit, but he didn’t strike her as a 3-piece suit kind of person. She didn’t get a good look at him, but she knew this meeting was going to be different.

“Perrin, it’s been too long,” the weasel said as he turned around and strode across the room. Just looking at him he was built as a fighter, but not impressively, but as she watched him walk across the room Kisara understood it, his stride was 100% efficient, if somebody had attacked him in the middle of a step he would have reacted without thought.

“Indeed, three years already,” her uncle answered jovially.

When Daisuke walked in and the two caught sight of each other, his eyes turned feral. They grinned savagely like two great bulls locking horns. Kisara had always known Daisuke was fast, but this other matched his speed with fluid steps, even in the suit he was unfettered in his movements. Daisuke met him halfway his right leg snapping up to the left side of the strangers head, Kisara didn’t know who he was, but any confrontation that would have happened was over, except the two of them stopped at the last second. Daisuke’s kick had missed it’s mark, the stranger had shifted onto his right a bit, his fist had come up under Daisuke’s chin, but at the last second he’d stopped. They glared at each other for a second before their faces turned soft, Daisuke dropped his leg and he and this stranger embraced each other in a hug.

“You haven’t lost a step, why aren’t you fighting any more?” he asked.

“Times have changed a bit,” the other answered cryptically.

Then Hitomi filed in and he walked up to her silently, the two looked at each other for a second before they began pushing hands, at least that was what she’d thought until she realized it was a school-girl’s game of pat-a-cake. Hitomi rarely smiled but now she was smirking. “Jaxon,” she said anxiously after a moment.

“Hitomi,” he answered her with a nod.

Now that she had a clear view of him Kisara was a bit starstruck. Jaxon Davenport was one of the fighters in the history of the Battle Network that was arguably the best ever.

“You- you’re... Jaxon... Davenport,” Renka said in an equally starstruck voice. He laughed as he reached one hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously.

“So I am, and you two must be the stars of the hour, Renka and Kisara?” he answered them. “It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten this response out of anybody, most of the time the suit gives off the understand that I’m pretty much a washout. The last time I saw you two you only stood as tall as my knee, but you were always so full of energy,” Jaxon told them with a laugh.

“Girls, you’re being rude... introduce yourselves,” Perrin prompted them.

“I’m Renka Kazumi pleased to meet you,” her sister told him after a moment.

“I’m Kisara,” she added after a second.

“You’re both staring,” Perrin told them to get their focus. Kisara could hear the click of teeth as both she and her sister shut their mouths simultaneously.

“What’s this? I’d heard rumors that you had a third student starting this year, I’d hoped he’d be with you today. From what I hear he’s a local here in Basin City, and word also has it that my name and his might come up quite often together?” Jaxon asked Perrin after a moment.

“Ah yes, we do have a new student, however he returned to his classes today, since we assumed that this meeting wouldn’t involve him much. I assume you know then that he’s a boxer as well... not to mention that other thing you have in common,” their uncle told his old friend.

“So it’s true... he’s half ferret? Well it’s a shame that he didn’t come with you, but I must admit that I’m as excited to meet your nieces as they seem to be about meeting me. I’ve had my eye on you girls for some time now, the whole world has really... I’ve tried to make sure that eye captures you in the best light available during my years as fight coverage coordinator,” he told them politely. “Shall we get started?” he asked them.

“I suppose if we don’t we’ll be stuck here all day, besides perhaps you and I could talk personally after all this business is concluded?” Perrin asked him. So far the elder had all but monopolized the conversation. They all took seats at the table and the talks began.

“Fair enough,” Jaxon answered him with a nod. “As I’m sure you’re all aware the Kazumi Dojo is one of the most sought after stables, with each of you being high grossing brands. What the Network wants me to do today is solidify your status without being off-putting about it. To put it bluntly, we want to make you as happy as we can without minimizing our profits. Believe me when I say that I understand you don’t like to make grand public appearances, but the fact remains that you are all VERY marketable brands and we’d like to make the best use of that,” he began.

“Jaxon... please... stop with all this formal and financial talk, I understand you’re trying to make an impression on your bosses, but you most of all hated it when the executives referred to us as ‘brands’,” Perrin told him. The other just laughed for a moment.

“Thank God! I was told not to sound personal when it got down to business unless one of you requested it,” Jaxon said as he noticeably relaxed. “Daisuke, Hitomi, they want you two to do a special exhibition match before the master season kicks off next month. They’re going to hype it up as a grudge match the gold and silver medals from last year going at it before regulation. It’s not a sticking point, but they think it could really help draw attention to the season opening,” he continued calmly as he checked their looks.

“How ‘bout instead of her, you climb in the ring with me?” Daisuke offered in counter.

“They were rather adamant that the gold medalist compete this year, however if Hitomi objects to any sort of exhibition match I’ll make the recommendation, though I doubt they want a wash out like me ruining their grand affair,” Jaxon laughed. “Besides, I’m retired from fighting... remember?” he added on.

“I have... no objections to... fighting... but... I too would like... you to fight again,” Hitomi told him after a moment.

“I’m honored, I really am, but as I said... I’m retired, so... Daisuke, what do you say?” Jaxon answered after a second.

“I suppose I can fight with her, I have to clear the air about that last match being a fluke,” he answered.

“As I recall... I beat you... at your own game,” Hitomi answered as she ate at a bagel on the table.

“I still can’t believe she made you tapout,” Jaxon laughed.

“I knocked her out two years ago,” Daisuke countered as his face turned red.

“I remember that, Domawashi, I was surprised you pulled that off when you did, it looked like she was going to push you into a corner,” the weasel nodded after a moment. “So we’ve got the first point nailed down,” Jaxon tried to steer the conversation back on track. “Now there was a rather heated argument a few minutes ago around here about the opening challenge being taken before the sisters could get their grudge match in. My boss was kicking up a fuss until he heard that one of the fighters was your new kid, he says that we’ll use this chance to get a good look at what he’s capable of, however he still wants to show you girls at your best. He’s even thinking of asking to have the bracketing redrawn this year so you won’t meet ‘til the end... if you can make it that far that is,” he told them.

“I don’t think you have to go so far for our girls, the current system works just fine,” Perrin tried to placate him.

“Well the problem is that for the last two years he hasn’t had a main event and he’s getting a little heated about that, he’s ready to see a FIGHT in the final round,” Jaxon tried to explain to him.

“The girls still have to qualify before they can think about redrawing the bracket, however if he’s that adamant about it I’m sure we can work something out if they do manage to make it again this year,” Perrin finally conceded.

“Alright enough of this talk, we’ll save it for later in the year. Before the season starts he wants to do another day in the life series for all five of the Kazumi Dojo,” Jaxon pressed forward.

“I can’t imagine anybody wants to watch a day in the life of an old man like me,” Perrin responded.

“Oh I don’t know about that, but in this case I meant the new kid too,” he responded. Kisara was confused by the number of times Kit was coming up in these talks. Perrin gave the weasel a look that said he wasn’t amused. “Look, Perrin, you had to know when you took that kid on that he’d become a hot topic fast. I don’t like it either, but being as he comes from one of the best stables in the business there isn’t a lot of choice. I’m serious when I say my boss expects a lot out of him, he’s expecting a hot new brand to emerge this year,” Jaxon tried to explain it to him.

“Does he know that he’s been in training for all of 2 days? By giving him all this attention he’ll be throwing him to the wolves, all the other fighters are going to flock to him and try to make a name for themselves by taking him down,” Perrin tried to reason with him.

“Honestly... I don’t like it either, I think it’s too much for a fighter that was completely unheard of, but he promised that if we do the day in the life segment and a few interviews that he’ll try to keep the focus on his relationship with the girls and masters, basically we’ll try to keep the focus off of his own fighting abilities and get his view more as, forgive me for putting this in my bosses words, ‘a mortal walking among the gods’,” Jaxon told him earnestly.

“I don’t even like putting the girls through that sort of thing, they hate it, and they’re already used to that kind of attention,” Perrin responded.

“He’s right, it’s awkward walking around the school with a camera crew following me around, everybody either stops and stares or they try to walk up to us to get their faces on camera,” Renka chimed in.

“That and they never give you a moment to yourself, you walk around they ask you irritating questions, some of which have nothing to do with anything,” Kisara added after her sister spoke up.

“I understand, honestly I do, personally the pageantry of it all is one thing I don’t miss about those days. If you all don’t want to do it you don’t have to... I’ll try to coax my boss out of it, but you’re putting me in a tight spot here, or rather they are. They put me in here hoping I could talk all friendly with you and milk you for everything I could, if I come back without this segment it’s my ass,” Jaxon told him.

Perrin sighed in frustration. “They sent you in here because you can make that statement and it’ll mean more than if some corporate mascot said it to me. I don’t want to put you in a bind Jaxon, but I also don’t want to make my young student a target for others to build a name with. Tell them that the other four will do the segment,” he suggested.

“It’s no good, Perrin. They want him bad now... this was the cost of him taking over the opening challenge, they can’t market their opening challenge like they could if it was the girls fighting. They’re saying that if he doesn’t do the segment that they’ll pull his registration for the season,” Jaxon explained to them.

“Then you should relay to them that if they do that they might as well pull the other registrations with the Kazumi Dojo as well, I won’t have them holding that above the heads of those in my care,” her uncle bit back irritably, he had crossed a line now.

“I know, Perrin, trust me I do, but they’re also going to point out that since you’re not his guardian they technically don’t have to have your approval, they’re prepared to go to the boy’s father and if they do you know he’ll have no choice... they’re doing this as a courtesy,” the weasel said in a defeated tone, he didn’t want to play this card, but it was the last one he had, and it had been a forgone conclusion that Kit would be doing this segment.

Kisara watched as her uncle scowled at his old friend, he didn’t like how this had turned out one bit. “Fine... I’ll talk to him about it,” Perrin finally conceded in a frustrated tone.

“Thank you, and for what it’s worth I’ll try to convince them to do the filming but not to air it, I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us Perrin, and I really hate that I had to say that. That being said, any deals they may make with me will be most-likely be void if your people don’t keep up their end of the deal, I’m talking to Kisara on this one. My bosses weren’t very impressed when you lost your camera crew last year,” Jaxon offered to them, the last part he explained while looking directly at Kisara.

“Sorry... they were just asking me a lot of embarrassing questions, things that didn’t have anything to do with anything... I won’t ditch ‘em this year,” Kisara told him.

“Like I said, I’ll do what I can to try and keep him out of the limelight, at least for things that don’t have much to do with him, if it turns out he has some promise then I obviously can’t keep the cameras off him, but if he turns out to be just another fighter, then I’ll try to keep the focus on the girls and masters,” Jaxon offered.

“I understand Jaxon... it might be your lips that move, but it’s the voice of the company that comes out, and I’m sure you hate applying pressure in that manner, you’ve always been a good friend to me,” Perrin told him after a few moments. “I was wondering what part you’ll play in all these segments, will you be present at one of the filmings?” her uncle asked him.

“No no, all I do around here is advise them as to the best angles to use to show the action in a fight, nothing more,” the other admitted to them. “Shall we move onto public appearance events?” he suggested. For the next hour or so they discussed when, where, and how many public appearances they would make.

“I think we have enough as far as public events now,” Daisuke sighed a little after an hour later.

“Sure enough. Now I’m supposed to broach the subject of charity events, as you all know the Battle Network prides itself in how visibly they participate in the charity circuit. I have to admit that in the past the Kazumi Dojo has been VERY generous regarding this part of your contract. As I recall, the last years all three of you masters offered training sessions, signed memorabilia, and even one-on-one dates at the Battle Network charity auction, would you like to do the same this year?” Jaxon asked them.

“If I do that one-on-one date this year it’ll be with the restriction of women only... NATURAL women only,” Daisuke put in first.

“Ah yes... I heard that you met one of your less glamorous fans last year for dinner,” he began to snicker.

“Shut up! ‘SHE’ had a deeper voice than I did, and a freakin’ Adam’s apple, and she kept trying to get close to me the whole time, and the year before that it was a 35 year old guy who looked like he hadn’t left his recliner for ten years. Meanwhile Hitomi’s going out every year with guys who have chiseled jaws, perfect smiles, and washboard abs,” Daisuke ranted for a few moments.

“It’s always... so boring... they all look... so strong... but then... they always turn out... so weak,” Hitomi commented quietly.

“Yeah, about that Hitomi, they aren’t paying to fight with you, they want to spend time with you doing things like going to the movies or shopping or... ya know... more... intimate things,” the weasel tried to explain to her.

“Why would... they want to... do that... sort of thing... with me? I’m a fighter... not an actress... or a model. What do... they gain... by taking me... to a movie? At least... when we spar... they can... take something... out of it. Besides... nothing is... more intimate than... giving it your all... while sparring,” Hitomi answered him simply.

“Sometimes I forget that you were raised in the badlands. They’re hoping to COURT you Hitomi,” Jaxon pointed it out bluntly.

“Then they should... be sparring with... my father,” she answered him. “If they can’t... beat me... they wouldn’t... last long... against him... they’d probably... die,” she continued.

“I like that practice. RENKA, KISARA, if any boy wants to date you, then they have to beat ME first,” Perrin declared excitedly.

“Poor Kit,” Renka sighed softly.

“What?” Perrin asked her, he was a little ways down the table from them so he hadn’t heard.

“NOTHING! SHE DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING!” Kisara shouted back as she put her hands over her sister’s mouth. She could feel her face growing red.

“Anyway, all we were trying to get is whether or not you’d be participating in the charity auction, along with maybe a few other charity events we do this year? We can nail down exactly what you offer or what the stipulations will be at a later date,” Jaxon told Perrin, and with that focus returned to the topic at hand.

What Renka had said brought Kisara’s thoughts back to what Kit had said before leaving, and more importantly what he could possibly want to discuss with her. She’d gone back to it a few times during the schedule of public appearances, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it. She realized she’d lost track of what was happening when Renka’s chair creaked as she reached for a muffin on the table.

“I guess that just leaves marketing and image consulting. You guys have a photoshoot next week, we’ll take a few group images to promote the stable as a whole, and then of course the individuals. My bosses wanted me to mention to you that they’ve noticed a slight shift in the girl’s market segment in the last year. Whereas in the beginning due to their youth they were popular with a younger generation, particularly girls, we’ve seen that these last few years their popularity among teenaged boys has been on the rise. They’d like to take advantage of that if at all possible, so this year they were hoping to gear the girls’ campaigns more toward that audience,” Jaxon said nervously.

There was a noticeable shift in their uncles mood then. “What do they want?” he asked on edge now. “How do they want to change their image exactly?” he pressed Jaxon.

“They want to go with something a little... edgier,” he explained after a short pause to consider his words carefully.

“Sexier?” Perrin asked through clenched teeth, a vein in his forehead began to bulge, and his eyes were now glaring at Jaxon across the table.

“NO!” Jaxon shouted in a defensive tone almost immediately. “No,” this time trying to calm down. “No,” he said with something of a chuckle.

“Why are you laughing? Do you think they CAN’T do it? They CAN, but they won’t!” Perrin told him irritably after a second.

“We just want to market your nieces to boys more, you know, maybe show them less girl-next-door-ish and more to their respective types. We’ll display Renka as the cute girly girl she so obviously is, and Kisara, while equally cute, will be portrayed more as one of the boys. Instead of posing with puppies and such they might have a few shots of them winking or blowing kisses or something like that. Nobody wants to them to take the sexy route,” he clarified, he shook his head a moment later.

“What’re you thinking?” Perrin asked him.

“That it’s hard to have teenage girls... you have to worry if boys like them, but then you also have to be worried if boys DON’T like them, it sounds exhausting,” he commented.

“I must admit that sometimes the implications make it hard for me to sleep at night,” Perrin laughed after a moment.

Jaxon laughed for a moment but cleared his throat after a second to return to business. “Now of course Daisuke’s image is going to be the same as it’s always been, for some reason the people seem to love his loudmouth jackass persona, so I’m told to keep that as it’s always been,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

“I can’t help it if I’m awesome and everybody knows it,” Daisuke sounded off.

“You’d be a lot more awesome right now if you hadn’t cried like a baby when Hitomi made you tapout,” Jaxon taunted him.

“What was that? You’re lucky you’re retired, I’d knock some sense into you hard,” Daisuke threatened him playfully.

“If memory serves every time we fought I sat you on your ass something good,” Jaxon fired back.

“Yeah be we haven’t met since the disciple division,” Daisuke answered him.

“It’s not my fault you couldn’t make it as far in the master bracket,” Jaxon shrugged.

“How many master bracket gold medals do you have again? I have three. Last I checked you had... what... none? Yeah that’s what I thought,” Daisuke answered irritably.

“That just shows that the league’s gone downhill since I left, I mean if somebody like you can take a gold medal,” Jaxon fired back.

“Jaxon, Daisuke, and I going to have to separate you two until you can play nicely?” Perrin interrupted them. Kisara heard Renka giggle a little bit.

“They sound just like us sometimes,” her sister whispered to her.

“Tell me about it, and they’re supposed to be adults,” Kisara chortled after a moment.

“Finally we come to Hitomi. Like I’m sure you hear every year, the Network wants you to turn your image more toward sexy if you can,” Davenport suggested as he turned toward her.

“There’s nothing sexier... than a look... that says... ‘I’ll kill you’... at least... that’s what... my father says,” Hitomi told him.

“That’s what they’re saying the problem is, no matter how they pose you they say that your eyes are terrifying. They say the only lust they can see there is bloodlust. Honestly I told them they could work with that, I suggested that they take advantage of that personally. They want you to keep your face passive, posed properly with you passive face you can be more charming than most of the others that can give the googly eyes,” Jaxon explained to her.

“My eyes... aren’t... sexy?” Hitomi asked him, but as she said it she took a seductive pose, however her face was as passive as ever, and her eyes were somewhat chilling.

“Not with the poses they use,” Jaxon clarified. “Oh, I guess I forgot the other one. How exactly should we market this new kid? Any suggestions?” Jaxon asked.

“I was thinking maybe we could try marketing him like you, you know since they’re going to make the comparison anyway, at least if he’s any good,” Perrin answered him.

“You want to push him as the type that follows his dreams? The type that pedals faith and belief? I have to admit that my own particular marketing scheme probably wouldn’t work very well any more. There aren’t many kids these days that could really pull it off,” he told Perrin.

“There aren’t many today that actually believe it, but I can tell you that this kid does. Sometimes during his training I find myself flashing back to when I used to train you two, the similarities are so strong,” Perrin told him as he pointed to Daisuke and Jaxon.

“Oh I hope not, for his sake, I was a knucklehead as a disciple,” Jaxon laughed.

“You and Daisuke both, but you were good kids, and so is this one, sometimes I wonder if only boys are obstinate as disciples, then I remember just how much trouble the girls give me and I that goes down the drain... Hitomi’s the only one that ever listened to what I was saying,” he shook his head.

“Hey! I listen,” Kisara interjected.

“As I recall half the trouble we got in was Daisuke’s fault, always getting so arrogant at the wrong time,” Jaxon accused.

“It’s not arrogance if I really am better than everybody,” he boasted.

“You’re... not better... than me,” Hitomi reminded him.

“I’m two and one,” he replied.

“Yeah but... it was... the last one,” she answered. Daisuke was getting a little frustrated at constantly being reminded of his loss to Hitomi.

“Alright well it’s a shame I couldn’t meet him today, I need you to be sure you explain everything to him as best you can, as far as all the other stuff is concerned I’ll have them send over all the paperwork to flesh out what we worked on today and I’ll let you know how things go,” Jaxon said as he stood up at last.

“It was good to see you man, feel free to drop by the dojo anytime now that we’re in town again,” Daisuke told him he stood up to leave.

“I might have to take you up on that, and of course if there’s anything I can do for you guys just let me know and I’ll see what I can do,” he told them.

“Daisuke, will you and Hitomi see to it that the girls get to class, I have some things I’d like to discuss with Jaxon as an official of the Battle Network,” Perrin instructed them.

“Sure thing... let’s go girls,” Hitomi said as Renka and Kisara stood up.

“What’s this about?” Jaxon asked Perrin.

“I just have some concerns about the contact info for our latest recruit, just a little clerical things I want the Network to be aware of, nothing major but you know how the bureaucrats can get if their paperwork isn’t filled out properly, so I wanted to explain the situation to you before it caused some headaches down the line,” Perrin answered him, as he spoke they headed out into the hallway, after that Kisara couldn’t hear because Davenport had held the door open for them but shut it after she left.

“I still can’t believe they got Davenport wearing a suit these days, he was a hell of a fighter back in the day,” Daisuke said with a shake of his head.

“So have you thought of what Kit might want to talk to you about?” Renka asked Kisara.

“I suppose I’ll find out soon enough,” Kisara answered nervously, she had a bad feeling about something but she wasn’t sure what.

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