The Doll Vs. The Oni

"It never goes smooth, does it?" Ketsueki sighed as she heard the shouts from both in front and back of the shop. "So, feel like telling me who's coming, or do you still think you can win this?" She glared angrily at the owner, who merely whimpered under her gaze. "Fine... You two hold him, I'll deal with it." Ketsueki directed the last to her thugs. While sending out waves of your men to slow down and tire the enemy was a decent tactic, it relied on the men being expendable. Which her thugs were not; they were family.

She gripped the Kanbo in her off hand, pulling it free of it's slight indentation in the floor with a splintering noise, and stepping quickly to the hole where the front door had previously sat. A large crowd had gathered, and she made a mental note to yell at whichever of her men had decided to start selling tickets. Good initiative, she had to admit, but that meant that the bribe to the city guard this month was going to have to be increased by thirty five percent of the take. Plus since it was a public fight with... she glanced about the natural circle that had started to gather. Funny thing about these things, Crowd always seemed to make a natural ring.

Where was... ah crap, magic user looks like. Well, it fit. Naturally Mr. Inconspicuous in there was a front. As expected, lean on the low level people, and any decent boss will immediately come to their defense. Bad and good sign actually, Ketsueki thought to herself as she sized up the woman who was... wow... really attractive. Memories of sweet little moments with Bonnie before she and Wardell had married ran through her head, before she dragged her attention back to the business at hand.

She pulled her Kanbo in front of herself, and allowed the small bumps on it to slip back and forth along her palm. Patting it lightly on her palm, she took several steps away from the shop, before stopping. She smiled with the full **** of her power, nothing major, just a smile, complete with flashing eyes, reddened skin, and fully activated tattoos, which moved subtly as the light played across them.

It was then that Xitlaly took notice of the Oni Girl stepping out from the store, weapon in hand. Her eyes widened, and she casually blasted the last thug far away to unconsciousness. Littered around the streets were several of her men dressed in black having a good nap to rest in. Only a few were left unsure of how to approach the Witch, and they took notice of their bosses appearance. The two girls locked eyes, The Doll and the Oni.

'So this is the big cheese.' Xitlaly thought to herself.

"So... we can do this the easy..." Ketsueki dropped backwards onto her thigh, easily dodging the first projectile that had come her way. Totally had expected it. Nobody ever lets the villain give their speech any more. She rolled easily backwards over her shoulder, pulling her feet under her with a practiced grace. "Back off boys, this is gonna be FUN."

Ketsueki noted that her motion had brought her back to the front door of the shop, and it took merely two steps, one backward and one to the side, for her to be inside and fully covered from the next couple magical projectiles that came her way. Whoever this gal was, she was no fool. Neither was Kets, of course, because charging, while the standard Oni tactic, would have been across a fully open square. Plenty of time for any magic user to cut her to pieces. This meant getting creative.

Well, she was in a flower shop, after all.

Ketsueki grabbed at two nearby pots of flowers, deliberately selecting ones that had the most petals. She hooked her fingers into the ceramic, easily hefting the two heavy pots in one hand. She paused, waiting. Yep, the Witch was chanting again... probably was about to...

Another bolt of magical energy flew through the open door, and Kets took it as her cue to step out. With a grin, she lunged forward, and smiled as the expected spell began to form on the lips of her opponent. With a feral snarl, she whipped both of the flower pots at her opponent. It was a simple and easy reaction for the witch to blast both of them out of the way, but that resulted in a rain of petals which cascaded through the small square.

Xitlaly concentrated before taking up aim, making finger guns with her hand and pointing at both flower pots flying towards her. Bam! A direct hit, followed by a close second moments before hitting her. Bam! Come to think of it, Xitlaly wondered why they were aimed much higher then her current position. These weren't meant to hit her...

"Damn!" She covered her eyes momentarily as a shower of soil and petals rained down on her. Luckily her hat helped cover her face from any fallout, but that didn't matter. Those weren't for attacking, they were for distracting! "Can't let her take the front." She muttered as she took aim for the Oni.

For a moment, there was only the sound of Kets' steps, and her hand found the collar and belt at Xitlaly's shoulder. With a practiced step, she slammed her right hip directly into the doll's midsection. "Why don't we take this INSIDE?" She snarled as she yanked the doll onto her toes. Another subtle one handed motion, and the magic user was sailing across the square, directly into the flower shop, where she landed with a thud.

CRASH!

"Aagh!" Xitlaly fell upon her back, landing and breaking a display table left with plenty of broken pottery and soil, staining her beautiful cloak. Her hat had slipped from the throw, and she sat up quickly to see two more men holding a man in a cloak, seemingly in his late middle age. All three stared with wide eyes as the woman got up on her feet before noticing a plate of dried clay stuck to her forearm, stabbed into it. With casual annoyance, she pulled it away and tossed it aside, leaving no trace of blood at all and chipping away a piece of her 'flesh' landing in front of the three, with the stranger taking interest.

Tossing her robe aside, Xitlaly stepped forward towards a grinning Oni Girl waving her Kanbo playfully. Her mischievous glare and cocky smirk annoyed the doll greatly, as if that weren't enough she began to gloat.

"Gotta say, I'm not your average little pesk of sunshine. My strength is much greater than a peasant or a man wielding swordplay, but I don't think even a beauty like you should feel like throwing a feather into the wind. What's your secret, cutie? A new diet? Or is there a bit of magic involved? I'm only guessing of course, honestly it-"

CRACK!

Through a sharp toss of her hand, Xitlaly summoned another blast straight toward the Oni, forcing her to jump back. Brushing her hair aside, she let out a whistle upon seeing this witch's attitude. No more games here.