This is Me

[Nhysa]

Li stood, but only Nhysa’s eyes followed him up. Her palms still rested on her knees. Her dark eyes were unreadable beneath the blunt line of hair hanging above them, but a smirk still sharpened the edges of her lips.

“I do not think you intended anything,” she said. “And as adorably chivalrous as you seem to be at times, I do not think that either. Besides the fact we both know I am hardly a girl.”

No warning preceded the shift of her weight, and the snap of one leg out to sweep against Li’s ankles. Nhysa was not there to soften his landing this time, though the flex of the dojo floor would, she was sure, be kind. He’d seen her fight in the underground club before, more than once, but knowledge of ruthless speed was quite different from the experience. She was on top before the surprise at his fall was likely to entirely register. Though he would not find the pin too difficult to escape, if he chose.

“However, it remains that your yield was entirely a cheat, even unintentionally."  Humour lit her expression, but darkness too; the sort that consumed. She was teasing, that much was clear, but he would do well not to forget that he played such games with a predator. "And it seems clear to me that cheaters are deserving of a forfeit, no?”