Fanfiction

[tallulahgs]

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love (evidently keen to encourage lesbian tendencies) gave to me

nine kick-ass ladies

Written for and posted to 12dayschristmas.

[Title] Realism
[Fandom] Battle Royale (manga)
[Rating] PG-13 for language and mention of death
[Kick-ass lady] Hirono Shimizu
[Notes/Summary] Hirono considers her options in a tricky situation.



The Program. We're going to be on the fucking Program.

For a moment Hirono actually felt her lips curve into a smile at the sheer disaster of it all. We are so screwed. Some class trip, guys, huh? Don't reckon we'll be able to take home any souvenirs, anyway...

And then she started to remember. She'd gone through a real phase of Program-watching, when she was, ooh, eleven, twelve or so? 'Bout that. Pissed off with everything, and seeing random kids a few years older than her get shot to shit had made her laugh. Never got all otaku about it - never made charts or worked out odds or obsessively looked up contestant profiles on what passed for the Internet in the Greater East Asian Republic - but she'd made the occasional bet and recorded the highlights to watch again and dragged the TV into her bedroom - no one else at home had been in a state to give a fuck about that at this point in her life - and sat curled up with her back to the wall, drinking Coke or eating popcorn (she'd buy it specially, pretended she was in a movie theatre, God she'd been sad when she was young) and watched students dying.

She'd gone off it when she'd met Mitsuko. With Mitsuko as your friend you didn't need the violence beamed into your home. You could go out and look for it and then come home and shut the door against it all and then you didn't need the Program any more.

She sure didn't need the Program now.

And as the asshole at the front continued to talk she saw, behind her eyes, all the deaths she thought she'd forgotten and she thought again we are so screwed but this time it wasn't funny and for the first time in a long while (since she was ooh, eleven, twelve or so, probably) she was scared.

Only for a few minutes. After that she grabbed her feelings with both hands and hissed at them shape up or get the hell out and they listened, cos she'd got 'em well-trained, and she stopped getting scared and started to think properly. Not the old who can I trust chestnut, cos she wasn't gonna trust anyone. Most people in the class would shoot her as soon as look at her, simply cos she scared the shit out of them, and of those that she didn't, well -

She would always owe Mitsuko a hell of a lot but she wasn't gonna go near her now.

And Yoshimi?

She gave Yoshimi a little more thought, but only a little. Yoshimi was last girl out. Waiting for her would only mean getting killed in front of the school. You're on your own, she thought at the other girl, and for a moment she almost felt guilty. But only for a moment. She'd never really had time for that emotion, and she sure didn't have time for it now. Kill or be killed? You didn't have to be a Program geek to work out what the smart choice was. I can do this. Isn't like it'll require any major personality changes. And if she felt a little regretful that this was sealing her fate as a psychotic bitch with no morals, well, regret wasn't something she had time for either.



[Title] Kindnesses
[Fandom] Akira (manga)
[Rating] PG-13 for violence
[Kick-ass lady] Kaori
[Notes/Summary] Tetsuo swears to save the life of the only person he cares for.



Kaori's lying on the ground, eyes wide open, hand splayed on the dusty concrete. And then a line of blood oozing down, almost like handprints.

Tetsuo doesn't know what to feel. People dying isn't a surprise any more, and he thought he'd got bored of seeing it, but this is different. Kaori is different.

She hadn't laughed at him, even when she'd seen Akira throw him back like he was nothing. And when he'd brought her a blanket and some hot soup, she'd been grateful. She'd never asked him for anything and when he'd had clothes found for her she'd been pleased and even smiled at him.

Everyone else in the city was fighting and killing and stealing and they stank and they'd slobber worship and praise all over him and Akira just so they could get a few ladlefuls of soup. And she'd run back to try and save his life and she'd wanted to stay when she'd seen him screaming and seen what his body was doing to him. She'd wanted to stay when he himself wanted to run as far away from his own skin as possible.

She hadn't acted like a - a dumb girl, squealing and crying, when he'd told her to inject him with the drugs. And when they'd first met she hadn't let him do it, she'd pushed him away, and he doesn't know why that last one is a good thing but somehow it is, no one else has been stopping him doing anything and it feels just like the first time he rode a bike down a slope and forgot how to use the brakes.

He's about to say something to her, tell her how much he thinks of her, tell her it'll be okay because if he can kill so easily surely bringing people back is just as simple. But then his aide and the remains of the Great Tokyo Empire soldiers are running towards him, and he never gets the chance.



[Title] Best
[Fandom] Akira (manga)
[Rating] PG for violence
[Kick-ass lady] Kei
[Notes/Summary] Set during Kei's fight with Tetsuo in Book 6.



Kei's arm doesn't hurt, which is good. All she can feel is the blood running down the skin, and that's more annoying than anything else. It itches. And the rocky ground of the stadium is hard under her thin shoes and the sun roars down and in her head Lady Miyako is screaming for her not to fight; but Kaneda is sprawled on the ground, gritting his teeth, and as Kei looks at him she seems to fall back, just for a moment, into a place where nothing is going to hurt her, where this isn't a real fight but just a - a dance, a play, and the blood starting to tickle her palm is only imaginary -

Then Tetsuo appears right in front of her, and she's scared again. And when she opens her eyes she's landed on the grubby black-and-white tiles and her palms are crusted with blood and dirt. She's forgotten the last time she had clean fingernails. And in her ears there's roaring, and now her arm is starting to hurt.

And Tetsuo's voice flicks out from behind her.

But even as she almost screams with the terror, part of her smiles, because now he's left Kaneda alone, and when Kaneda's all right, things can never be truly hopeless.



[Title] Resistance
[Fandom] Harry Potter/Malory Towers
[Rating] PG for implied violence
[Kick-ass lady] Alicia Johns (and Ginny Weasley's kind of awesome too)
[Notes/Summary] Alicia is lucky enough to be attending Hogwarts during Deathly Hallows. Ginny finds her difficult to work with. Gift for sabethea.



"For goodness sake -" Ginny was humming with fury, her hair seeming to glow even more brightly in the faint moonlight from the window behind them, "I know you think anyone who isn't perfect is useless, but would it kill you to cut the rest of us some slack?"

Alicia sighed. "Do calm down -"

"Oh, be quiet!" Ginny shouted. "I'm sick of you being calm! You never say, you just hint with your little smiles and your smug remarks and - just because you're not scared doesn't mean no one else should be!"

"If you don't keep it down," Alicia said, "we'll both be in detention and then I don't think it'll matter who's saying and who's hinting, do you?" She swallowed, tried to keep her voice light. "When you're screaming, it's all the same."

Ginny went pale; her freckles stood out on her skin like ink blots.

"And for your information," Alicia said, turning now to stare out at the moon, which was filling the Hogwarts grounds with dull, pale light, "I am scared. I don't think I've ever been this scared before in my life."

"Then why - why do you always act as if anyone who cries or talks about how scared they are is pathetic?" Ginny hissed.

Alicia half-wanted to make some remark that would irritate Ginny enough that she'd let the subject drop. Painting pro-Dumbledore's-Army-graffiti on the walls wasn't something that required much discussion, after all, and wasn't an irritated silence better than this?

And when did I become someone who can't admit her faults?

"Fault of my family," she said, shrugging. "I can't help it, Ginny. All of us are scared. What's the good in looking for sympathy? I didn't..." She let her gaze wander onto the window. Moonlight wasn't really pretty at all - it was a dead light, it made the corridor look abandoned. "I didn't quite realise it was annoying you this much, though."

"Huh. Well." Ginny was silent, then, as Alicia looked back at her, she smiled and said, "I didn't realise you were actually bothered by any of this."

"If I pretend I'm not," Alicia said, "then maybe I can convince myself I'm going to make it through the entire year without getting caught. And that lets me sleep at night." She smiled back at Ginny. "Come on. Let's go."



[Title] Walking Away 1
[Fandom] Jet Set Radio
[Rating] G
[Kick-ass lady] Gum
[Notes/Summary] The first of four linked fics about the GG girls leaving other gangs.



"You're leavin'?"

"I've only said it four times," Gum sneered.

The Poison Jammer frowned, stared at his fingers as if he felt he should've kept count. "But... you're the leader."

"Bullshit. I'm just the only one who can think up plans, is all." Gum folded her arms across the grimy, oil-smeared T-shirt she was wearing. "You lot'll be fine."

"But you beat Shackler in a fight to get into the gang an' all. He broke your nose and you nearly bit his ear off. An' you said you didn't wanna go to any other gangs cos at least we, we..." He frowned. "At least we was obvious about... our... sex-ist per-kep-tion of, of chicks'n'stuff."

"Yeah, well..." Gum stared round the concrete-walled room, at the piles of pirated horror movie and porn DVDs, the shop mannequins in various states of desecration, the stale slices of anchovy pizza lying underfoot. The stuffy air smelt faintly of mould and sewers, and even the sunshine oozing through a thin gap at the top of one wall had a grimy, sticky look. "Maybe I'm sick of the ultra-violence and farting competitions, y'know?"

"Uh... no."

"Never mind." She held up her Poison Jam mask in one hand, then let it drop. It spiralled to the floor, half-covering another piece of pizza. "I am a girl, after all."

She pushed past him and marched over to the door.

"Hey," he called after her as she vanished. "You said we was s'posed to pretend you weren't! You said!"

The last thing he heard her say, trickling back down the concrete corridor towards him, was, "So sue me. I changed my mind."



[Title] Walking Away 2
[Rating] PG for cursing
[Kick-ass lady] Piranha



"I dunno why you wanna go."

Piranha leant forward over the sink, her wet hair hanging over her face. Through it, the Love Shocker heard her say, "Yeah, well... sometimes the time's just right, y'know?"

"Uh-huh, but... you're the one who's always talking about respect."

"Has all the dye gone?"

"I think so. From where I'm lookin', anyway. And I s'pose the spikes'll grow out pretty soon."

"Hand me a towel, then."

Piranha wrapped it round her hair, stood up, grinned at the two of them in the broken mirror on the bathroom wall. "Thanks."

"Seriously," the other girl said. "That jerk guy of yours fucked you over. You know what they're like, men I mean, and you wanna go pal up with some? Figure they'll save your ass when the cops are out? Figure they'll trust you to save their ass? Figure they'll even let you in?"

"You don't think it's possible?"

"Hell no. I think they'll let you in once they see how big your tits are, then start waiting for you to let 'em into your panties in return for 'em being so nice to you. In the meantime they'll assume you can't skate for shit and give you all the boring parts of town to tag. And when they find out you ain't interested in them, they'll either ditch you, jump you anyway, or try'n pull rank on you. You know you can come back to us, but I'm thinking why waste the time leaving?"

Piranha walked over to the window, the sill of which was lined with dust-encrusted shampoo and make-up containers, and stared out at the sunny street opposite. "Cos I think it is possible, and I wanna see it."

"Huh."

"Give me a break." Piranha looked round at her, smiled suddenly. "I know guys are meant to be scum, but I figure if we offer 'em the chance not to be, some of 'em might take it. 'Sides, it'd be nice not to cry any more."



[Title] Walking Away 3
[Rating] G
[Kick-ass lady] Mew
[Notes] An IM/chatfic *blush*



SweeterThanSugar: hey

TechnoFreak101: I'm two foot away from you, Mew. You don't need to IM me

TechnoFreak101: I know we're the geeks of Tokyo-to, but even so

SweeterThanSugar: lol

TechnoFreak101: Use a cooler acronym for once :p

SweeterThanSugar: yeah well

SweeterThanSugar: tbh

SweeterThanSugar: I got somethng 2 tell u

SweeterThanSugar: and when Im nervous my typing skillz go out da window :)

TechnoFreak101: Are you quitting?

SweeterThanSugar: ...

SweeterThanSugar: how u kno???

TechnoFreak101: Saw it coming, I suppose

TechnoFreak101: You haven't been out with us for days

TechnoFreak101: Plus I saw you trying on a cute dress and stockings earlier, which didn't seem very Noise Tank to me

SweeterThanSugar: lol

SweeterThanSugar: yeah

SweeterThanSugar: I am

SweeterThanSugar: planning 2 go 2morrow

TechnoFreak101: Where to?

SweeterThanSugar: dont kno

SweeterThanSugar: mayb renegade

SweeterThanSugar: mayb find a new gang

SweeterThanSugar: mayb start my own gang!! :) lol

TechnoFreak101: How come? If you don't mind me asking

TechnoFreak101: Thought you were happy tagging and skating and blacking out chunks of the city

SweeterThanSugar: yeah i was once

SweeterThanSugar: just

TechnoFreak101: Carry on. Just what?

SweeterThanSugar: dunno

SweeterThanSugar: want smthng else

SweeterThanSugar: kinda feels like wr nothng bt Noise Tanks

SweeterThanSugar: like wr not ppl

SweeterThanSugar: ... ok that sounds lame lol

TechnoFreak101: I know what you mean.

TechnoFreak101: But that's why I *am* a Noise Tank. Because that's more 'me' than anything else

TechnoFreak101: ... okay, clearly IM has a bad effect on us

SweeterThanSugar: :D

SweeterThanSugar: used 2b I felt like that 2, like it was more me 2

SweeterThanSugar: now it isnt

SweeterThanSugar: want 2b pretty lol

SweeterThanSugar: and be in a gang where ppl dont just make jokes abt l33tspeak

SweeterThanSugar: no offence :o

TechnoFreak101: None taken

TechnoFreak101: We're computer geeks, that's the point, but I guess you might need more.

TechnoFreak101: I guess.

TechnoFreak101: Good luck.

TechnoFreak101: :)

SweeterThanSugar: thanx :) :)

SweeterThanSugar: g2g need 2 pack lol

TechnoFreak101: I can see you going out of the room too.

SweeterThanSugar: :p

['SweeterThanSugar' is offline]



[Title] Walking Away 4
[Rating] G
[Kick-ass lady] Cube



Cube walked off after they heard the news. Combo decided to leave her for a bit, but he wasn't cold-hearted enough to stick to it for more'n fifteen minutes, and soon he found himself clambering out onto the Garage roof, where she sat cross-legged, staring at the summer sky.

"Hey."

She looked round. Her face was blank, set, but he knew her well enough to know that meant she was pretty damn upset.

Eventually her mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile.

"I can go away if you want," Combo said at last. "Just... hell, I'm s'posed to be your friend, right?"

She shook her head, and put out a hand to him. He took it - it felt so small and bony in his own palm - and came to sit next to her.

"We can't go back now," she said.

"We could. Beat said, he'd see if the GG paint fund could spring to a couple'a cheap plane tickets -"

"No."

He followed her gaze. In front of them Shibuya was drowning in golden sunlight that made everything look real sad and quiet. Over to their right he could just make out Kogane through the smog, the light glowing on the orange tower blocks and the dirty river. And off to the left was Benten-cho, already glittering even though it wasn't dark yet.

"I don't know about you," she said, "but I think it feels pretty damn creepy going back to Bantam Street and callin' ourselves Triple-C and making like nothing happened."

"We couldn't call ourselves Triple-C," Combo said, and then wanted to kick himself. But Cube smiled properly this time - perhaps she was glad he was spitting it out - and said, "Well, exactly, and Double-C sounds like we're talking about bras. Which is just lame."

Combo snorted. "Right."

"I don't wanna pretend it didn't affect me," Cube said. "I'm thinkin', hell, let's uproot, make it all different, dive into a new gang. Rub it in." She bit her lip. "'Cept I've just realised I kind of didn't consult you. Well, grief makes you selfish, or so I'm reliably informed."

"I don't care where we are. Just as long as I can stick around and watch your back. Not that you need it, but hell, I'd like that to stay the same at least."

"It's a deal," Cube said, and lifted their joined hands. "Glad we had this little conversation." And then she turned to stare at the city again.



[Title] Snowflake
[Fandom] Ghost in the Shell
[Rating] PG
[Kick-ass lady] Major Motoko Kusanagi
[Notes/Summary] Batou is shadowing a suspect on Christmas Eve. Hints of Batou/Motoko if you squint.



The alleyway was completely dark, but the specks of snow were scribbling so many white lines over Batou's vision he might have well as been standing under strobe lights. He cursed the weather for the hundredth time, and took another step forward. The ground was already getting slippery.

Ahead of him, his target pushed through the snow, ambling almost, as if he wasn't carrying a weapon capable of wiping out an entire city, as if he was just your average joe out for a walk at midnight on Christmas Eve. But Batou figured that meant he didn't know he was being followed, which had to be good.

He glanced round the alley again. Still no sign of the Major. Sure, she'd be cloaked, but he was pretty sure he'd notice her. The snow had a way of falling on invisible figures; you had to know what you were looking for, but he did. Nothing yet. The flakes were dancing and spiralling round him like gnats. She'd said she'd get here as fast as she could, but that had only been ten minutes ago, and -

The guy had stopped.

Batou ducked back against the wall, hoping the dumpsters and outcrops of concrete and steps would be enough to keep him hidden. Just keep walking, you know you want to -

He was turning round, walking back the way he'd come.

Not good. Definitely not good. And the snow was getting thicker and Batou could almost kid himself it was just a trick of the weather that the guy was getting closer except that he knew damn well it wasn't and even as he reached for his gun he thought the bastard uses it here and I won't even have a chance to pull the trigger -

And then there was a grunt and, three feet from him his quarry fell face forward onto the snow-spotted ground.

A shimmer of light, and the Major was standing there, snow pattering onto her jacket and hair.

"You..." Batou closed his mouth once he started tasting snowflakes. "I could've sworn you weren't -"

She shrugged. "I felt it was better to take extra precautions. You seemed like you were handling it fine -"

"Right up until the point where he was gonna turn my neurons into jam."

"Exactly."

The snow was blue in the night; she was even paler than it was. There were a whole lot of things Batou wanted to say, but in the end he settled for "Thanks."