Author's note:
This is a short piece I am composing just to try to give me some ideas for a 
longer fanfic.   Regardless this fanfic should be understandable to some degree 
without familiarity with the manga.  First revision, fixing some minor grammar
errors and plot quirks.

Introduction:
For the benefit of those who have not read Grappler Baki, I will give an 
introduction to the manga's important characters.

Hanma Yuujiro - 
	Probably the world's best martial artist, and even more likely the 
world's most sick and twisted sadist.  Can disassemble most anyone with 
incredible ease.  The martial arts in this manga, except for very rare 
cases, aren't "mystical" in nature.  They do some techniques which might 
not be quite possible in real life, but no "Shoryuken" or "Burn Knuckle!" 
or "Hiryuu Shoten Ha" type stuff.  
	
Hanma Baki - 
	The main character.  Son of the world's best martial artist, I forgot 
his mom's name.  Has been trained by his father, and some of the other world's 
best martial artists, since he was about old enough to walk.  Aside from being 
sorta psychopathic during a fight he is actually remarkably well mentally 
adjusted.  His life is fighting, and he could probably eat Ranma for breakfast. 
Not necessarily because of technique, but he is tougher than a Sherman Tank.  
His motivation is not "living for the fight" however... it is something a bit 
more scary.  He wants to be stronger than his father so he can defeat (and quite 
likely kill) him, because his father a) is a really really mean guy and b) did 
something to Baki's mother that I won't spoil for you.  As far as I know he has 
never killed anyone, I just get the impression he wants to kill his dad.
I might cosplay Baki at AX98, assuming I can develop muscles from hell and find 
some neat fake scar makeup =).  

Kozue - 
	Baki lives with a woman and her daughter.  The woman is the widow of a 
martial artist.  Baki lives in their guest house, and has a large training area 
there.  The daughter, Kozue, does not know that Baki is actually champion of this
big underground fighting circuit, as well as incredibly rich (due to his dad).  She
thinks he does arbeit (part time work) to cover his expenses.  Kozue is around 
Baki's age (17), and there has SLOWLY been building a sort of bond between her 
and Baki.    

So, enough gibbering.  On with the fic.  Anyone reading?  I hope so =).

"Scars", a Grappler Baki short-fic.

	"ninety-seven."
	"ninety...eight."  He was slowing down a little, but only two more left.
	"ninety...nine."  
	"one HUNDRED!"
	Hanma Baki dropped to the floor from the bar suspended from the ceiling. 
Picking up an already sweaty towel he wiped a small amount of blood from the 
inside of his index and middle fingers.  He had conditioned his palms and 
fingers for thirteen years, but a hundred pull-ups on two fingers would still 
open up a small blister.  Not that he felt it, but the blood might loosen his 
grip.
	Moving over to the bench press, he paused to glance at the photographs 
on the wall.  The tournament was in one week.  Photographs of a number of the 
people he would be competing against were already crossed out with black marker. 
To be expected, as he had been champion for nearly two years now, and had spent 
much time travelling looking for new opponents.  But there were new fighters too, 
representing Shinshinkai karate, jujutsu, kenpo, kung fu, vale tudo, capoeira, 
muay thai, and any number of other martial arts from Japan and around the globe. 
Competing for the title of "Strongest Man in the World".  
	Strong.  He remembered his mother's words.  
	"Grow strong.  Grow stronger than your father."
	Mother.  Maybe she was happier now?  He had hated her, for a time.  
Almost as much as he hated his father.
	His father would be there.  Not to compete, but to watch.  He wondered 
if he could ever be strong enough to defeat him.  But thinking wouldn't make him 
stronger.  He racked 120 kilograms onto the bar.  A warm-up, thirty reps.	
	A knock came at the trapdoor, and a shadow descended into the room via 
the ladder.  Kozue-chan.  He didn't really want to be distracted during training.  
But it was her, so it didn't bother him much.  He was a guest in her home, after
all.  
	"I brought you some juice and rice balls."
	She knew as well as he did that if he had wanted food or drink he would 
of prepared it himself.  But he smiled nonetheless, accepting the snack 
gratefully.
	"Thanks, Kozue-chan."  She smiled back at him warmly, but her expression
changed to one of surprise.
	"Baki-kun!"  She was staring at his forearms.  The blisters on his 
fingers had opened up again, as had a few cuts on his knuckles and palms from 
earlier workouts.  Small trickles of blood were running down his hands, dripping 
onto the floor. He hadn't noticed it.  One of the cuts was a actually quite a bit 
deeper than he had expected.  From the iron body training early in his practice.
	He wanted to tell her that he would be fine, that it would heal on it's 
own.  That he didn't get bothered by that sort of thing.  But she had already 
moved towards a small first aid kit, pulling out bandages and medicines.  He 
grimaced a little, entirely for her benefit, as she sprayed on some antiseptic.
	It was a little ironic, he thought.  His father had always taught him 
how to desensitize himself.  Pain didn't bother him... it was as if he never 
felt anything.  He realized a strike if the trauma made him unable to breathe, 
or disabled the nerves in his arm.  But pain wasn't really something that he 
really _felt_ any more.
	And yet he felt the feather-light touches of Kozue's fingertips, along 
his forearm as she bandaged his wounds.  And after she finished she sat behind 
him, running her palms along his back.  Muscles that had been tensed like steel 
slowly relaxed.  
	He opened his mouth to thank her again as she traced out the 
slightly raised ridges of the scars that lined his back.  Before he could speak,
however, she interrupted him.
	"Baki-kun, do you want to take a break?  You have been working for three 
hours."  Kozue spoke in a careful tone.
	He turned around, meeting her gaze.  She was... blushing?  Maybe a 
little bit.
	He loved fighting.  The thrill of completely defeating someone, and the 
secondary thrill of everyone sharing that victory with him.  But maybe, just 
maybe, he felt a little unsatisfied with it.  Sometimes.
	Kozue was pretty, he realized.  And she always took care of him.
	But pretty wouldn't make him stronger.  He stood up abruptly, knocking
her arms off his back.
	"I better get back to work, Kozue-chan.  I will talk with you later."
	He could tell by her expression, as she got up to leave, that she was 
hurt.  He hadn't meant to be cold.  But there were things about him that she 
couldn't understand.  
	Trying to banish thoughts of her from his mind, he attempted to continue 
his training.
---	  		

	She knew Baki had a good heart, but he seemed so withdrawn most of the 
times.  If only he would talk to her more, so she could get to know him.
	Kozue sat under one of the trees in her yard, absently counting stars as 
she tried to gather her thoughts.
	He was handsome, although his boyish features didn't seem to match  
with his rugged frame.  Was that why she was starting to feel drawn towards him?
	Something more, perhaps.
	She missed her father, and it was difficult for her to make friends.  
Things were getting a little better though.
	A few months before, she had been having trouble with "ijime".  Her 
classmates had decided she was not in their "group", and that she was an easy 
target for ridicule.  First she had just been ostracized, but eating lunch alone 
wasn't that much of a problem.  Then they had requested that she help them cheat 
on tests, which she had refused to do.  After that came tacks in her shoes, or 
small articles from her desk being stolen. 	
	It had become worse, after a time.  The girls began crowding her after 
school, making intimidating comments just to entertain themselves.  One day they 
had brought along some of their guy friends, juniors and a sophomore.  But Baki 
was coming back from training that day, and had seen them.
	She got the feeling that Baki could of really hurt them instead of merely
 throwing them into a drainage ditch.  But that feeling didn't bother her, as 
he had been protecting her.  After that she  never had problems at school, even if
she still didn't quite fit in.
	"I get lonely, sometimes." she whispered to herself softly.  A 
few insects answered her with chirps, but nothing more.
	She remembered the feel of his scars beneath her fingertips.  They were 
rough, but in a way she found them beautiful.  Sort of like Baki himself.
	"We all have scars, Baki-kun."
	Suddenly she felt a strong arm around her waist, lifting her into the air.  A 
small blanket fell from behind and above her, dropping to the grass below her.  
As quickly as she had been lifted she found herself gently lowered again, onto 
the blanket.
	Baki sat himself down beside her, sharing blanket space.  He spoke in a 
gentle tone.
	"I decided I've trained enough for today."
	"I... um..." He placed a finger against her lips, cutting her words off.	
	"It's a pretty night, Kozue-chan.  Enjoy it."
	She leaned her head against his shoulder, watching the stars and 
listening to the insects sing amonst themselves.
	Baki drew a hand over his new bandages as he let himself enjoy the scent 
of her hair and the warmth of her body against him.
	One less scar.

---

C&C this fic and win a 1986 Ferrari! 
Just kidding.  But C&C it anyway, okay?  Thanks...

Like I said, barely revised.  Do what you like with it =).

Well, I ended up writing this in less than two hours.  It needs revision, but it 
pretty much stands by itself.  If you want to know anything about the 
characters, I can try and tell you.  Basically Baki is obsessed with defeating 
and probably killing his father, who really really deserves it.  And Kozue is 
starting to fall in love with him, although he is stuck between returning her 
feelings and worrying about the grand ultra sooper dooper tournament.

I made up the bit about Kozue being harassed and ijime-d.  But I could see it 
happening, as she is a little "different."  We don't see that much of her
character outside of interactions with Baki, but I could definitely see her being
"benkyou otaku".  And if Baki did see her getting harassed, he would probably pummel
whoever was doing it.  Since she was there he  probably didn't want to scare her, 
but he might go back later to REALLY hurt them if he found out that they were being
very mean.

Ben Williamson