I felt his presence behind me. There was always a familiar smell with him that I couldn’t quite decipher. I suppose he came to take his revenge. I turned back and faced him.
‘’Why do you wanna get killed by a woman?’’
‘’So you’re the Messiah of sweet death. Well I just want a friendly dual with you.’’
‘’Friendly?’’ My laughs were magnetic. I came near him and ran a finger down his rough cheek.
‘’Don’t you know, my darling, that nothing is friendly with me?’’
‘’I wanna take the chance.’’
A determined glint flashed in his golden eyes. His arm went around my waist and he whispered into my ear: ‘’There’s something in you that attracts me but I don’t know what. So I wanna find out.’’
I moved faster than him and caught his arm behind his back.
‘’Don’t ever get that near to me, got it?’’
The next thing he did caught me by surprise. He laughed and said: ‘’Because I’m the very first one who dared to do it, eh? I noticed that you’re also attracted to me.’’
‘’Let’s get on with the fight, shall we? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’’
‘’You better be prepared Alex because I won’t die so soon.’’
Again he surprised me by calling me by my nickname which nobody uses anymore. That definitely angered me; I took out my katana and made a quick move towards his left shoulder. He skipped it so swiftly that I was shocked. He chuckled and removed his own katana. His was a beautifully carved one; I heard that he did it himself in his times of pain and suffering while mine was forged with the blood of so many people.
Soon the fight started but we were skipping each others' moves. We were quickly exhausted but carried on with the fight stubbornly. I plunged for his leg and scratched his knee. He looked at my katana which was smeared with his blood. He hadn’t afflicted me any blow as I was much stronger than him but he was extremely good at avoiding most of my moves.
I removed my hira-shuriken and threw them in his direction. He bounced back and was successful into avoiding most of them. However one scratched his shoulder and tore his hakama. I stopped right away when I saw the dragon-heart tattoo on his left shoulder. It was as if time had stopped and I was having a flashback to when I was still young.
''We're going to have the same tattoo and then we'll be together forever, right Aliza?''
''Of course Yakir. We'll never part. I promise you that.''
He took that opportunity to plunge his katana deep into my heart. That completely took me off-guard and I fell down.
''Yakir is that you?'' I whispered.
He stopped dead on his track and murmured feebly:
''How come you know that name? Oh no! Aliza, is that you?''
As a confirmation, I tore my own hakama and showed him my dragon-heart tattoo. He was totally aghast. He slowly removed his katana as tears started falling down his cheeks. He hugged me and held me close.
''Oh no! Aliza why? What have I done? I've just found you after so many years and I took your life! I lived through all these years just for you. All my breaths were yours.''
''That's alright Yakir. I'm happy to be dying in your hands. Forgive me but I had to kill your sensei as I was assigned to do so. I had to go away from you and my family because of that. That's my job, to kill bad people. You finally freed me. Thank you Yakir. Always know that I've loved you and will always do. Remember that this is not a goodbye. We'll surely meet again''
I smiled and kissed him. He was crying softly as I closed my eyes slowly.
''Yes Alex and this time, you'd be taking your revenge.''
