The Hardest Thing To Do

Taylor put her palm to her forehead and buried her fingers in her hair. A low hissing noise escaped her throat like her brain had to make an emergency stop. "That asshole in the mask," she affirmed. "He told me that he wrecked your shit, with a car door. He... yeah, he's a problem. I haven't seen him lately."

She folded her arms over her chest again and tilted her head at Ninjette. "So, what. You just want me to train every chick in Tension to fight some asshole? I'm kind of a busy girl, I've got better things to do then teach you shit while you roll your eyes at every fucking thing I say."

Kozue let out an exasperated groan. "No, come on. Zombie Jesus, just listen, for like, three mintes. Listen and understand."

She unfolded her arms and started to pace, reworking the story through her mind. Getting her skull implanted into the grill of a van hadn't done wonders for her short term memory. "There's more to it than that. I didn't just happen to run into Dragon, he was down there, for me, specifically, to recruit me. He was under the impression that I had beef with Johnny and you. That I'd want to team with him and come after you guys. Just for that shit with the kiss."

She threw her hands up and gave her gym bag a quick kick, helping to ease her blood pressure a bit. Had to be reaching dangerous levels. "So he threatens me, hits me with the whole 'with me or against me' line. In case you haven't noticed, I don't respond well to threats. At all. So I politely told him to go fuck himself. Fight broke out, and that's where your man comes in like a Japanese Dudley Do Right."

Kozue sighed as all the talk calmed her nerves. It was good to vent some of this stuff, voice her worries. Even to Taylor. She looked up at Taylor with the most honest, sincere look she could muster. "He's recruiting people to beat your husband up. If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will." She shrugged. "It scares the hell out of me." She looked off to the side, scratching her hair. "Winning personality like yours, I'm pretty sure you could name a few people that'd love to get at you through Johnny. He came to me just over that stupid crap I did in the match. What if he comes to King? What if they both team up on him?"

A cool breeze flowed between them, sweeping in from the side and blowing their hair about. Kozue had to pull a few strands from her face, but she kept her gaze steady on Taylor. "So, no, I'm not asking you to train every girl in Tension. Dragon doesn't care about every girl in Tension, he cares about Johnny. That's it. I don't know why, but talking to him and seeing him fight? I got the distinct impression that he really hates him. Like beating Johnny to a pulp was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. You and me, we both know that guys like that do not just go away. He is going to be back, and he is going to come at Johnny with everything he has."

She opened up her hands. "You don't like me? Fine. I'm crying on the inside, really. But, truth is, I'm pretty much all Johnny has here at Tension. And, despite what you think, the 'typical Tension chick' can fight. This ain't like Friction. There's no Kawaii league here, and people barely do hentai these days. It's getting competitive. We got the royal coming up, me and Johnny are both in that. Johnny could use help, and I want to help him. If you don't believe anything else I ever say, believe that. But..." She closed her eyes for a moment, summoned up some courage, and let it rip. "I'm not strong enough. I don't want him to get hurt or worse just because I can't take two or three shots without getting laid out. I need to be better, and...you're the best wrestler I know. Out of the five or so wrestlers I do know, so take that how you like, but still."

She stepped back and presented herself, all 116 pounds of her. "I don't quit. Period. And I refuse to let you break me. So you can hit me with whatever you got, and I'll keep on coming. Swallow all the pride I got. I will do what it takes to get this done. All I'm asking you is to show me the way. When I said it was about Johnny, I meant it. Help me help him." She looked down, relieved to have all that off her shoulders. "Please."

And that was her case. Whatever happened, she tried.

Taylor did her best to keep her face neutral as the story washed over her, but concealing her emotions had never been easy. She had taught herself over the last few years how to take deep, controlled breaths to stay something close to calm.

By the time Ninjette was finished, her jaw was clenched but her face was no different than it had been, except for the redness creeping into her eyes. She shook her head and looked off down the street, half expecting to see Johnny approaching. Or King. Or Dragon.

"You're so full of shit," she said, finally bringing her indigo eyes to bear on the Jersey girl. "Dragon isn't even here. I talked to that asshole on the train once. He did a really good job at summing up my clusterfuck of a career. Then he tried to recruit me, too. For what, I don't know, but it obviously wasn't all about Johnny."

She was silent for a second, and then she added with resolved calm. "But if King and Alex both tried to come after Johnny, I'd kill both of them." That was all she needed to say about it.

She shook her head.

"I'm still not convinced you're not just trying to bang Johnny. And you're right, you're not strong enough. What are you, like, a hundred ten pounds? What do you do to train, Zumba? Shit. Tension's serious business, but the best fighter you know is from Friction. Imagine that. Well, thanks for the compliments, but..."

Her voice ran out of steam, and she stopped again. She was obviously conflicted, racked with the agony of indecision. Ninjette was probably just a drama queen who was after Johnny, like every other psycho Tension chick. But if it was Johnny's safety at stake... could she take that risk?

"Fuck you." She pulled out her wallet and grabbed her last business card out of it and slapped it against Ninjette's chest. "You're still just Ninjette." She was not calling her Kozue. "First time you give me any shit, we're done. I don't need this. No matter what you think, you are not all Johnny has, even in Tension."

It was true. Half the girls loved Johnny. The other half loved to try to kill him.

Puppies. Kozue thought about puppies. Talking puppies she'd watched in some movie when she was five or so years old. Crap her old man had put on to make her shut up while he did business. She'd loved the hell out of that movie. Cute. Talking. Puppies. About as close to a happy place as she could get without a game controller.

It helped her get through Taylor's reply without losing her shit. Somewhat.

At the part about the Zumba, she had to bite her tongue, literally - that one particularly stuck in her craw, for some reason. But the puppies were enough to get her through the rest of it with only a strained expression, taking measured breaths. She snatched the card out of the air before it could fall off the flat terrain that was her chest and looked it over. "Thank you." By some miracle, she managed to keep the heat out of her voice. "I call this to set up a time, I guess?"

Taylor arched an eyebrow at Ninjette.

"Yeah. Morg'll set up a time and stuff." She sighed. "Anything else? Something you wanna say?" She said with an exasperated wave of her hands, since Ninjette was obviously just itching to rip into her.

She opened up her mouth, looked like she was about to say something big, then just...stopped. She did have something to say. Many somethings. But she had a good memory, they would keep.

"Nope, I'm good." Kozue replied to Taylor like they'd just had the most mundane conversation ever conceived. She stuffed the card in her pocket picked up her gym bag, slinging it back across her chest. "Tell Johnny to take it easy. See you when I see you."

She threw up the peace sign and strolled off without another word.

Taylor didn't bother saying anything else to the wannabe ninja girl. This was not going to go well. There was no way. With any luck, she'd quit on the first day. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see where Johnny was.

Then she read his message and she suddenly remembered. She had left him waiting out front of the Tension building!

She groaned, and took off down the sidewalk, streaking past Ninjette at full tilt on her way back to the arena. The speed she could reach on foot was impressive, but even moreso was the way she nimbly weaved through the sidewalk foot-traffic without having to slow down even a little. She didn't let up until she was back, and she skidded to a stop in front of Johnny.

"Hey," she said, hands on her hips. She stood upright and filled her lungs with a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm an idiot. I got distracted with Bree. I wanted to get her away from King as fast as possible, and... yeah." She shook her head and lifted a hand up before letting it drop helplessly back to her side. "And the best part is that apparently I'm training Ninjette now. I really am an idiot. There's no way she goes five seconds without being a total cuntbag about everything I say or do. Right? You okay?"

Johnny stared blankly for a moment as Taylor skidded to a stop in front of him She unleashed everything she had just been doing upon him quickly and he blinked as he stared at her. "Just hop in, dude." He said and smiled at Taylor, nodding his head tot he other side of the car.

"It's cool babe." He said. "If I hadn't've been fucked up myself, I guess I woulda made sure that he didn't go after her and junk." He said, taking a moment to think about everything Taylor said. He drove off when Taylor got in but kept talking. They had a long ride back and he didn't really feel like driving but maybe just chilling with his wife while they cruised down the highway would be the perfect way to relax after such a grueling match.

"What, really? Why the heck would you agree to train Kozue?" Johnny liked the ninja girl but he knew that whenever they were in the same room together that they were always one wrong word away from coming to blows. He certainly didn't blame Taylor for the way she felt about Ninjette but he wondered why Ninjette seemed antagonistic towards Taylor. He tried not to think about it too much though.

"Yeah, babe. I'm cool. With you around, I'm always cool." He added finally, flashing a weak grin at Taylor.

Taylor let a moment of charged silence wash away Johnny's attempt at easing the tension.

"Because I'm an idiot," she said, finally answering his question. "But it's okay, because so are you." It came out just about as angry as she intended. "You're so stupid sometimes, Johnny. After tonight I'm not sure if you have any balls or brains left. So I'm mad at you."

She folded her arms over her chest and looked out the window while they approached the expressway. It was going to be a long ride home if she gave him the silent treatment. It would be just as bad for her as it was for him. But dammit, she had to try.

Johnny cringed as Taylor scolded him. He wouldn't have been able to look Taylor in the eyes even if he hadn't been driving. "I... I dunno, babe. I honestly have no clue what the fuck I was thinkin. Like, I was fuckin retarded and shit. I guess I just thought after a victory like that maybe he would thought that wrestlin' wasn't about just bein a total piece a shit."

Johnny sighed. "I dunno why I can't learn my lesson babe. I can't help but hope that everyone else is as chill as I am. I'm sorry babe. It ain't really fair to you and junk." Johnny said contritely.