Dust in the Wind

[Dawnika Snow]

The fiery blonde ran quickly through the crowded sidewalk to put some distance between her and her mark from earlier who was assuredly chasing her down with malicious intent. She could hear his voice through the busy traffic of people and vehicles. The fugitive turned the corner of the next block, shoving people out of the way, even though her tiny stature wouldn’t allow that normally, the running start aided her favor. With a quick jolting turn, she bolts down an alleyway and takes shelter behind a giant dumpster. The disgusting can and wall she was pressed between smelled of dead rats and ruined leftovers. If she didn’t know any better, this garbage hadn’t been emptied in years. Her shoes stuck to the ground from disgusting drink that had been spilled ages ago on the cracked pavement.

“Ew.” This was disgusting even by her standards - living in a run down building on a rain-soiled bed. Her and Jun really need to work on getting something to cover their damn beds.

After a the moment passed and it seemed no one was present, she stepped out from behind the dumpster cautiously surveying the alleyway of darkness. No one. When she turned around to walk away, she bumped into someone’s chest. They grabbed her wrist before she even had a moment to resist, lifting her up on her toes to strain her muscles.

“You really think you could get away from you little filth? Give me back my ring.” He says as the helpless little girl struggles to break her frail appendage from his grasp. His hands invasively intruded her jacket pockets, only to find nothing more than lint and a piece of plastic wrap from her recent lunch. The girl grins at him, like she had gotten the better of him. Her smug demeanor is met with a backhand to the cheek. He doesn’t let her free, but raises his tone. “Where is it!”

The girls spirits are hardly crushed with a simple slap. “You’re gonna have to dig way deeper if you want that ring back.” She says, arm now going numb from this position.

“I don’t have a problem with that, you little brat.” With that, he reached to remove her clothing with the natural retaliation. Just as he grabs her shirt though, he is struck by a heavy fist across his jaw. Along with his fall came the front half of the teenage girls shirt. She zipped up her jacket quickly to hide her underwear and looked at the idiot in front of her.

“What the heck you dummy, you were supposed to be just ahead of me.” Her angered tone was ill-proportionate to her physical stature. You know what they say: The smaller the girl, the more the rage. Wait, do they say that? “Why did take you so long to intervene?”

“I was sneaking up on him. Jeez, it was easier to take him out with a single strike if he was too distracted to notice me.” The girl let out an exasperated sigh and nodded in agreement. She couldn’t argue with Jun’s logic. Besides he was always there when she needed him most so she could hardly fault her brother.

“Right, let’s just get out of here before someone sees us.” The two trudge off, after taking his watch and leaving the unconscious man in a puddle of sticky disgusting substance that was unidentifiable. Possibly some kind of soda or alcohol. Yuki was upset that she had just lost one of her only two shirts, but her attention returns to the ring hidden in her briefs for safety. Lest she wanted to look like a perverted fool, she would wait til they found a bathroom to pull that free of her unmentionables. Searing pain reverberated through her cheek. It was only know that she realized just how much that man’s hand really hurt. Her hand relaxed against her cheek, trying to rub the pain out with some massaging technique, yet ultimately failing. “Damn he got a good hit on me.” She muttered to herself, Jun obviously heard, thinking he was the one spoken to.

“You alright?” He asked with a slight tone of concern for his sis’. The two maneuvered through the crowd more common-like, as if they hadn’t just mugged a man for his watch and ring.

“Of course,” The blonde retorted snidely and pridefully as always. “You know I’ve been hit harder. I’m no frail flower, but a thorny barb.” After expressing his concern, Jun decided not to pursue the endeavor of showing how much he cared. She had heard it enough by now.

The found themselves in the center district of town, where most of the shops within the 4th tier resided because of the F-Zero attraction. The young lady found herself a bathroom to relieve her underwear of the metallic jewelry. She drizzled some water on it and wiped it off before returning to Jun, who was waiting outside for her. Across the road was their destination: The Pawn Shop. They would create a faux story to fence the ring and walk away rich scoundrels of the poverty war.

It went well, the ‘grandpa’s inheritance’ story never fails. They were able to scrape about 2500 units, more than enough to feed them and get Yuki the clothes she desperately needed now that she was down to a single outfit. It’s time to go shopping plebes!