The Starguild Presents:
A Tale of Kings and Rabbits...

By a New Star's Light
A KOF '97/Sailor Moon Story

KOF series Created By: SNK

Sailor Moon Created By: Naoko Takeuchi

Story Written By: Berk' Watkins

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	"DEMON ROAST!!!" a young man shouted, launching himself into the air for a
flying arm slam.  "unfinished..." he muttered as he came back down.  Once
again, Shingo Yabuki had botched one of Magatama's key attacks.  No matter
how hard he tried, he just couldn't call forth his inner fire...  He sighed
heavily and slumped down under an old shade tree on the grounds of the
massive Kusanagi Estate.  He pulled off his headband and let his long,
brown hair slump down, almost to his eyes.  Annoyed by the sight of his
hair, he tried to blow it out of his field of view, failing miserably. 
Shingo chuckled at the irony, Kyo Kusanagi's First Disciple was completely
unable to properly do anything he set out to do...
	Shingo sat in the shade a long time, trying to figure out his place in the
world.  Kyo was still in mourning after that fiasco at the King of Fighters
Tournament..  Yuki was doing her best to comfort him, but it was hard to
break through that much grief.  Benimaru was no-where to be found and Goro
was off on a world-wide Judo exhibition tour.  He growfed and stood up,
tieing his hair back again.  Kyo, Yuki and he had moved to the Kusanagi
Summer Estate near Tokyo, and he had a new school to visit.
	"DAMNITALL!" he suddenly roared, spinning around and venting his rage on
the innocent tree.  The wood of the trunk splintered under his considerable
strength, actually leaving a *dent.*  He turned and left quickly, failing
to notice the fact that the trunk had been singed where his fist had
struck...

	"WAAH!  I *hate* school!" Usagi bawled, looking through the gate of her
soon-to-reopen high school.
	"There are *worse* things," Makoto pointed out, gripping her emotional
friend by the shoulders and turning her away.  "galaxia could still be
around," she hissed.
	Usagi clammed up instantly.
	A rather nondescript young man came up to the gate as they left and peered
in.  "So, this is Juuban High, huh?  Looks like a nice place.." Shingo
remarked absently.  He shrugged and headed off in the same direction as the
two girls.
	Makoto paused for a moment.
	"what's up, mako-chan, he look like your old boyfriend?" Usagi chided.
	"My old boyfriend didn't look quite as.. geeky.. as him.  But he *does*
look familiar.." Makoto remarked.  "I haven't seen you around here before,
you new this year?" she asked of the young man.
	Shingo grinned broadly, pointing at his face with his index finger.  "I am
Shingo Yabuki, student of the esteemed Kyo Kusanagi," he said proudly. 
"I'll be starting Third Year here this year."
	"I'm Usagi Tsukino, and this is my friend, Matoko Kino," Usagi said
cheerfully.
	"Kyo Kusanagi.. that guy on the news?  The rich guy who won that big
tournament?" Makoto asked.
	Shingo nodded, the semi-goofy grin still plastered on his face.
	"I hear he's good..."
	"The best!" Shingo reassured.  His glanced at his watch, his cheerful
expression collapsing.  "OH NO!" he shouted, slapping his forehead.  "I
gotta go!" he took of at high speed, headed for the nearest train station. 
"Aw Hell, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!!" he mourned, ducking onto the
train just before the door closed.
	"Well, that was strange..." Usagi remarked drily.

	Kyo Kusanagi looked at his disciple, frowning slightly.  "You are five
minutes late, Shingo..." he scolded softly.
	"I am sorry, Sensei.  It will not happen again," Shigo apologised, bowing
deeply.
	Both were dressed in the practice uniforms of the Kusanagi School.  A
sleeveless, black tunic and black pants with a red belt.  Kyo wore black
vambraces with solar eclipses on the backs of each and another on the back
of his gi.  Shingo's vambraces and tunic had no such devices, due to his
considerably lower skill level.
	"Full contact," Yuki declaired from one side, "no Acts of Despiration."
	Both nodded.
	"Ready!" Yuki shouted, bringing the flag in each hand up over her head. 
"FIGHT!" she shouted, bringing both down.
	Kyo rushed forward in a blur, grabbing Shingo by the front of the tunic
and launched his pupil into the air with a shout and a flash of fire.
Shingo used his limited control over his chi to soften the blast and land
on his feet.  The First Disciple started hopping towards his teacher,
lashing out with a kick and a shout at the peak of each hop.
	Kyo tried to roll out of the way, but got hit by the last one.
	Shingo, not one to pass up a chance, launched himself into the air
shouting, "SHINGO KICK!"  Kyo caught his student's leg and tossed him
through the air like a sack of potatos.
	Shingo hit the mat with a yelp, taking several moments to get up.  He
hopped back a step and then charged forward like a bull.  He reared back at
the end of his charge and offered a punch with all the grace and power of a
kicking mule.
	Kyo accepted and took it in his chest.  The the air in the Magatama
master's lungs rushed out as he staggered back, stars dancing before his
eyes.  Where had Shingo gotten that kind of strength all of a sudden?!? 
"End!" he gasped, feeling at his chest with his left hand.
	Shingo instantly rushed up to help Kyo over to the side.  "Are you
alright, Sensei?!" he asked despirately.
	Kyo looked at his student through an unruly mop of hair.  "I'm fine,
Shingo.  I just wasn't ready to get hit in the chest by a cinderblock is
all."  He allowed a lop-sided grin to form.  "You may not be able to flame
yet, but you have the strength training perfected..." he praised.
	Shingo beamed like a kid with a piece of candy, and then turned mournful
again.  "But I should not have done that to you, Sensei.  I *hurt* you!"
	"We train with full contact.  It is a fact all Magatama users *must*
accept."  He shrugged, the pain beginning to fade.  "You did exactly what
you should have done.  Just don't do that very *often,* alright?" he asked
with an exasperated expression.
	Shingo nodded.  "I understand, Sensei."

*****

	Shingo pulled a thermos out of his backpack and opened it, downing the
cold tea inside in five gulps.  He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand
and let out a breath.  He'd just finished his morning classes and had just
finished off his lunch.  He conveyed the impression of a well-fed cat, just
after a meal.  All he had to do was survive the academic part of his life
and he'd be fine.  That couldn't be too hard though, Kyo was going to Tokyo
University and he'd studied Magatama his whole life!  He was about to take
a nap in the shade of the tree he was sitting under when a tall girl came
up and sat next to him.  What was her name?  Ah yes, Makoto.
	"I hope you were on time for whatever it was that made you rush off like
that," Mako said with a grin.
	"Sensei was a little annoyed, but he wasn't very angry...  I won our
sparring match after that."
	Makoto's eyes went wide.
	"He forgot that while I can't uses the Flames of Magatama yet, I have the
strength," he said with just a hint of embarassment.  "I kinda forgot too..
 I bruised his ribs."
	Makoto was taking a sip from a thermos at that moment and very nearly
choked.  "You go a punch in on the King of Fighters himself?"  She shook
her head in disbelief.
	"The Kusanagi School of Magatama does not focus on pure defense.  The
Kusanagi School is an art of pure offensive power."  To demonstrate, he
picked up a rock from the ground and clutched it in his hand.  "We train
our minds to accept that our bodies have no limits..."  Cracking sounds
came from his hand.  "Thus, we cannot be stopped."  He opened his hand to
reveal the stone hand been broken into several smaller pieces.
	Makoto was positivly speechless.

[more here]

_/ "Still Green (Shingo's Theme)" KOF `97 AST \_

	Sailor Jupiter was shocked when Shingo staggered back to his feet, and
expression on his face she'd never seen before.  He seemed to simmer for a
moment in anger and then it all exploded outwards, with Flame.
	The fighter bounded over a low wall with a forward flip and bull rushed
the monster with near-suicidal abandon.  "DEMON ROAST!" he roared, igniting
his hands in the Flames and bashing the lobster-like monster with his hands
in a jumping spin-uppercut.
	The Flames lept out like fire on oil, spreading to the monster briefly, to
burn its entire body.  Shingo landed on his feet and rolled away.  "And
now, for some fun.." he said with a smile.  The adrenaline and endorphins
had gone straight to his head...
	He bull rushed the monster again and proceeded to pound on it with every
numbered pounch attack in the Magatama dogma.  104 Wild Bite, 128 Nine
Wounds and 125 Seven chance.
	Understandibly, the creature was in considerable pain, because every time
a punch landed still more, ever-hungry, Flame would spread over it.
	Then, Shingo started up again...  104 Wild Bite, 127 Seven Chance and
Outsider Stone-Breaker.  He finished the combination of attacks off with a
101 Indistinct Wheel triple-split kick that finally worked the way it
should've, sending the monster briefly into the air, and then down, flat on
its back.
	Shingo rolled away again and smiled, still visibly angry.  "This ends
now!" he declaired.  He rushed at the monster and launched into the air,
Chi energy crackling around his hands and then erupting into Flames.  108
Reverse: Mowing Serpent flashed the creature's shadow into the asphalt
beneath it as it cooked away in the Flames of Magatama.
	Shingo landed in a rolling crouch on the other side, pulling off his
headband as he stood.  "My victory!" he shouted, putting one hand in his
pocket and raising the other overhead, incinerating the headband clutched
therein.
	His eyes then rolled back and he passed out, the strain had gotten to him
at last.

	Shingo woke several hours later, a pounding headache making itself known. 
He groaned in pain and rolled over, falling off the couch and onto the
floor in the process.  He drug himself, painfully, into a sitting position
and spent the next few moments using the coffee table as a convient prop to
pull himself up with.  Much to his irritation, his lucky jacket and
armbands were no-where to be seen.  He grunted in frustration and got up to
leave, his headache making him feel irritable.

[Gee.. what goes here, a new jacket and gloves perhaps? ^_^]

[unfinished...]

Shingo's Supers
(old attack)
Burning Shingo             -> 3-2-1 WHOMP!!! (oddly enough, not a flame 
                                              attack, but instead a barrage

                                              of *super-heavy* punches)
(revised attack)
Blasting Phoenix Charge    -> flaming punch barrage
(new attack)
Mowing Serpent             -> Plasma Flare of Whomping +5

-Berk' Watkins,
 A Member of Team SME,
 A Fragment of the Final Angel,
 -and-
 A Rabid Kyo Kusanagi Fan...