A possible aftermath to DOA5 following Jann and Lei.

Warnings: Violence, sexual themes (of the hetro kid), bad language sometimes, some spoilers for DOA5 (mostly at the beginning)

Call Me Spitfire

Part 1: Aftermath

Leifang had been kicked out of Dead or Alive 5, and that hurt. The bruises stung of course, and she had bust her lip on the hard stadium floor, but it was her pride was in tatters, ruined.

It was him again. Jann Lee. She had been distracted by something, but only when he came on. Before then, it was all about the tournament. What had gotten to her?

Oh yeah. She was remembering the subway crash. It was in New York and she had followed him onto a train. She was as sneaky as a ninja but he managed to spot her somehow. They were going to fight right there and then, but there was something on the track and the cart went flying. One moment she was in a perfect stance, standing before him proudly, and the next the wall had become the floor, she was frightfully dizzy, and she had a bouncer under her. Or was she upon the bouncer?

No matter. The point was that they were really close; staring eye to eye in shock and the heat between their bodies was unbearable. She felt awkwardness and something else she could not identify, but whatever it was she was not happy about it.

She tried to keep her cheerful nature up as the medics saw to her cuts, and while Zack gave her a post-fight interview. She was smiling and laughing and promising her fans that next time she was going to be much better and thanked them all, all the while filling up with self-loathing and sadness.

She joined the rest of the defeated at the bar, and nursed a rum and coke around her swollen mouth as they watched the rest of the rounds on the screens. In the end, the finals came down to Hitomi and Jann Lee. Brad tried to get bets rolling but no one wanted to pick a side. They all knew that this was going to be a close one.

Jann Lee did not humour Zack during his pre-final interview, and remained silent up to the point the MC got annoyed and left to find Hitomi.

"At least she is sociable!" Zack shouted through the doorway, "and she's nicer to look at!"

"Typical Jann" Kokoro sighed, and although Leifang didn't say anything she agreed fully.

Hitomi was far more camera friendly. She had jokes with Zack and was smiling all the time, and was cheeky enough to childishly taunt the losers through the len. Tina and Mila playfully throw peanuts at the TV screen.

The final round was nail-bitingly tense, and it was too brutal to watch at times. Hitomi was staggering about everywhere and was surely heading for a concussion. In the right light, it looked like Jann Lee's spit was laced with blood.

After an hour, Hitomi hit the ground and could not get up again. Jann Lee had won, and the crowd went wild. Leifang did not stay for the cheers. She just drained her tumbler and made her way to the harbour, leaving the screams behind. They were chanting his name endlessly, and will likely live off the buzz all night, but all she wanted to do was get to her cabin and sleep the ache away. The waves rolling against the sides of the ship helped to mask the noises created by the masses of people but she slept restlessly.

She awoke the next morning to find the Freedom Survivor already drifting along the waves and the dining room full of chattering fighters around little tables. She managed to grab Eliot by the buffet table.

"Didn't you hear? Jann Lee didn't return to the boat last night. He didn't even turn up to the winner's ceremony."

"How come?"

"No one knows. Zack was running about trying to find him but he was long gone. He wasn't on here; he wasn't on the oil rig. He took all his stuff so he must be making his own way back home."

Leifang just helped herself to toast and a sliced banana and found a table all alone on the far side of the room. She pondered about this strange event. All Jann Lee ever wanted was to prove he was better than anyone else, and he did it. So why not take the cash price and the title officially? Did the baying crowd put him off? Was he not satisfied with his win? It was a mystery all right.

She thought about it hard until Hitomi came in. She watched as her friend stopped at the different tables to receive congratulations with a smiling face, and made a quick journey around the food table before joining her on the empty side of the hall. Leifang could not miss how black and purple the left side of her face was, and how swollen the area around her eye socket was.

"The doctor said that I was lucky to walk away without a fractured skull" Hitomi said causally as she sandwiched bacon and syrup into her bagel. "Never knew my face could take that much kicking." She grinned across the table. "So what do you think? Second is not that bad, right?"

"Second is awesome" Leifang chirped. "I'm really happy for you." She tried to smile but the stretching made her split lip sting.

"I'll get first next time," Hitomi insisted. "I must have been just a bit too tired. I did have a practice session with Ei-" she caught herself, "Hayate before the final. Maybe that was my error."

"Hayate?" Leifang arched a brow. "You mean that quiet guy? He was here."

"Yeah. With his little sister. Remember Ayane?"

"Sure... How come they were here but not in the tournament? There little group always get such a big reaction out of the crowd."

"...I'm not sure," Hitomi shrugged. "I'm guess they had their reasons." She left it at that.

"You must be annoyed," Leifang signed, "to miss out on the big prize and your opponent did not even appear to take it from you."

"I guess, but I'm more worried."

"Worried? For that guy?"

"Yeah. For him to just take off like that was a little startlingly."

"I wouldn't waste energy fussing over Jann," Leifang said almost harshly, turning her attention to her banana, placing the pieces into a smiley face on her plate. "He is just doing this to be dramatic."

During breakfast, they talked about other things: their performances in the ring, how great the food was here, what they were going to do when they got home. A while ago, maybe during the year of the third tournament, Leifang realised that no matter what, the conversations the fighters had with each other always returned to DOA. It was such a large part of their lives now that it had become their lives. When not in a tournament, they were training for the following one. It was kinda pathetic in a way, perhaps creepy. They take the time to come together and beat the crap out of each other. They were all sadomasochists without any of the kinky subtext. Come on, what was sexy about getting a punch to the gut so hard you almost vomit over your opponent's shoes?

Leifang did not say any of this to Hitomi, not wanting to upset her or put her off her food, but she knew that Hitomi knew all of that already. They all did.

The girls were almost finished with breakfast when Zack burst in. For once, he was the best looking one in the room, free from any major bruises and dressed in a smart grey business suit which he likely received from Helena. She couldn't have her representatives running around in fancy dress.

"There you are!" He came strutting over to the girls, obviously disgruntled and made everything rock as he slammed his hands against the table top. "Where is his?"

"Who?" Leifang said in a teasing tone.

"You know who. Lover boy or whatever you call him."

"Don't insult me!" The girl barked, and then she hissed as she had pulled her mouth too wide and her lip started to bleed again. Hitomi fished out an ice cube from her orange juice, and Leifang only then realise how red and hot she got from Zack's comment, feeling the ice melt quickly against her face. "As if I would be dating Jann. He hates my guts and you know it."

"Hey, I didn't mean it, Lei-Lei" Zack frowned, rubbing the back of his neck, "and I don't think the guy hates you or anything. Maybe he is not good with headstrong girls."

"Not an excuse. DOA is full of them."

Again to the tournament, Leifang thought to herself.

"Look, let's cut to the chase here," Zack said at least. "Have you seen him or not? You are often shadowing or whatever you do, so I thought maybe...?"

"The last time I saw Jann Lee in person was in the ring," Leifang said slowly and calmly, as if explaining it to a child. "I haven't seen him since."

Zack's shoulders slumped. Obviously he was hoping that Leifang would give him something useful, but now he was left with nothing to lead on. Kind of desperately, he looked over to Hitomi, but the girl smiled weakly and shook her head.

"He knocked me out remember? I didn't come to until late after the winner's ceremony was cancelled. He was gone by then."

"Yeah, yeah." Zack nodded his head. "Should have known that." Before he turned tailed, he grabbed some banana off Leifang's plate, completely removing the left eye. "Just so you know, Hitomi. If Jann doesn't come and claim the prize money, you get it, babe!" He sound ecstatic for her and he waved goodbye.

"I don't think it's the money that Jann was after," Leifang mumbled. She looked out of the window as her friend finished her breakfast, watching the endless stretch of sea flow and crash against the horizon.

She knew that she wanted to talk to Jann, and even if it turned out to be a bad idea she had to do it. But where to begin? China was a big place where anyone could go and hide and never be found. At least not easily.

She spent the rest of the journey thinking about how she would go about this search for Jann Lee. She needed to kill time somehow. It was a long way back to Shanghai.