Her waist-length coal black hair had been gathered into a bun and her sleek, almond eyes hid behind a pair of red visor sunglasses. She smiled inwardly at her choice. Had she, subconsciously, picked them out in imitation of him Tyrone...? She also realized then that she liked the notion of wearing something that matched with him. Well, was it such a big deal? It wasn't as if the leather jacket she was wearing had his image emblazoned on its back.

For so long, she'd seen him as an inexorable force in her life. Something that would not go away, but would continue, like a juggernaut, to impress itself upon her fate.

Martial arts, jiu jitsu...all of that had been thrust upon her. She'd had no choice but to be a fighter. The ethos of her clan wasn't anything system of ethics she'd studied and come to an adult decision about following. It was her inheritance and to turn her back on it meant turning away from her family.

And so she'd been a part of the Rodrigo school of jiu jitsu...and of course, also part of their underground Koga school of Brazilian ninjitsu. Just as the Narukigami had long ago hosted the Kage school of assassins underneath the public auspices of a school for samurai, so too had Rodrigo jiu jitsu enjoyed two faces, one for the world to see, the obscured by shadows and secrecy.

What she'd really wanted was an escape from all of it. She'd wanted a normal life...and a normal lover. She wanted to be taken out to dinner, to go dancing (the closest she and Tyrone came to dancing was fighting each other), to be surprised by gifts and to ultimately be married. Even before he knew anything about her father, when she was just another kid growing up in Sparta's university housing, Tyrone had sensed that she was different. Even though she'd avoided sports, he'd noticed her athleticism. He was always calling her tough and strong back then and it drove her insane. She'd wanted to be called beautiful.

Still, in a town that was wrestling crazy, she'd actually liked the fact that he'd been timid and seemingly more inclined to scholarship than sport. In contrast to his father and all his brothers, he'd been gentle and kind. And yet, he'd also been unrelenting in his determination to fashion himself into a wrestler. The world she'd been forced into, he'd forced his way into.

He was everything she didn't want, at least in theory. What was it with theories...? So often, they seemed to fail in their practical application.

As she came to the ticket window, she saw a poster above it, displaying the figures of Davids and KnightMask, with Satellite in the midst of them, the belt draped over his shoulder.

One-armed, slight of build...and yet, something about him reminded her of an old master, resonate with power that belied his physique. Only in his case, it didn't seem to come from knowledge and skill...but elsewhere. It was hard to put her finger on it, in fact, it was actually dizzying to attempt to do so...as if she was taking on the task of comprehending something far beyond her kin.

Beyond her kin. Like trying to understand her and Tyrone. Or why exactly she was here, of all places.

She didn't even like to watch jiu jitsu, let alone submission-wrestling. Professional wrestling...? It wasn't enough to make her wretch, but the fact is that she'd just didn't enjoy combat. Not participating in it, not watching it. But...she knew how much the belt meant to Tyrone...and...

A hand came onto her shoulder, firm and controlling.

"Natalia, I wasn't informed you had a role in this mission."

Unable to turn, she nonetheless recognized her cousin's voice, even though he was speaking in a whisper low enough to be unheard by any untrained ears.

"Antonio...?"

"What, are you my back-up or something...? They don't trust me to take him out by myself? He only handled Jorge because your dad insisted on facing him man to man...and lets face, it he was old besides."

Her mind spun. Antonio...and how many others of her clan as well...had come to carry out an assassination on KnightMask...? Why hadn't she been informed...? Did someone know the truth...? But how? It had only been professed within her own heart...even now, she hadn't fully acknowledge the choice she'd made... Certainly, someone might have glimpsed them together, but why would they reason that it was anything but a tactic to capitalize on their past history together in order to catch him unawares....?

Whatever the means, someone knew. Somebody understood that she had cast aside her vow to assassinate KnightMask...and had taken it upon themselves to finish the task that she had abandoned. But then, that would mean that she too, must surely be a target.

"Antonio, you go too far, speaking thus of my father. But come, don't be silly. We should carry this out as a team. KnightMask is ever aided by that partner of his besides and of all our clan, I have the most intimate knowledge of their tactics."

Natalia came to the front of the line to the ticket window, but before she could draw out money to purchase a ticket, pair was handed to both her and Antonio, specially marked out with backstage privileges.

"Natalia...?" the cashier said, as though she already knew the answer. "We were told to set aside these two tickets for you and your date, courtesy of the XWF staff."

Natalia turned to Antonio, but he shrugged his shoulders.

Perhaps the clan hadn't suspect her of treason...which would give her the advantage of being able to work herself inside of their plot...and perhaps disrupting it from within...unless she could somehow break away from Antonio before then...to warn KnightMask and Crimson Cobra...

Her thoughts became suddenly hazy. Maybe it was all just too much think about at once. She had to slow down, to sit somewhere. Antonio took her arm and gently guided her towards a bench. As if he was speaking from miles away, he heard him say to an XWF security member something about having gone drinking before the show...she was a lightweight he said...and....

Curse her for a fool! She'd been poisoned...somehow...poisoned...but she had to...warn....

"Sorry cuz," was the last thing she heard, whispered gently in her ear, before the world went black.