Identity Crisis

Shiki winced at the sound of her name. Her real name. No one called her that--except one very specific and deplorable person in Shiki's life.

She forced herself to dismiss the thought, it was easy considering she was actually in good company.

"Now you're just messing with me," Shiki craned her head with the full intention of assailing Hilde with a flat, pouty, expression. However, she could hardly muster the effort required to be frustrated with the overly polite blonde while she was putting her magic fingers to work.

However, Shiki and Hilde's undeniable buzz found itself abruptly killed. Surprisingly, no red carpet was rolled out for Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt as she made her entrance; even if her expression could lead one to believe otherwise. 

Shiki watched the exchange in silence, felt Hilde sullenly retract herself, and eagerly felt her blood beginning to boil beneath her skin. In that moment, the raven-haired punkette decided she didn't particularly care for the General Manager of the Friction. She didn't appreciate the woman's holier-than-thou expression, nor the obvious air of authority that surrounded her. Lukretia's thick, yet refined, accent also went on to Shiki's large--and quickly growing--list of reasons why she wanted to break a chair over the haughty woman's pretty head.

But, most of all, Shiki did not like the way Lukretia had spoken to Hilde--even if she didn't know what the hell zuhälter meant. Judging by the disdain in Lukretia's voice, the rockstar figured she could make a fairly educated guess.

The punkette rose from her seat and set her hips into motion. She nonchalantly took her time stepping up to Friction's almighty GM. Inevitably, she came face to face with Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt and set her green eyes on intently on the woman; right along with the dangerous flicker that gleamed within them.

"So, you're Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt," she partially butchered the pronunciation of the woman's name, but Shiki's smug expression was a glaring indicator that she gave exactly zero fucks, "Well, I've certainly heard stories about you, but I don't think they do you any justice. I can already tell that you're a much bigger bitch in person."

Shiki's treasonous smirk grew bolder by the second, "Am I right?"

Hilde was going to respond to Shiki's words but as long as Lukretia was in the room, she had the floor. It was her floor, even if Shiki wanted to trample all over it. Hilde didn't say a word. She knew better. Shiki might not know better if she got to replay this scene a thousand times so there was no point in intervening.

Lukretia, meanwhile, watched as sashayed her way towards her. She kept her cool blue eyes fixated on Shiki as the girl grinned and murdered her name. Her name, her German heritage, her accent. Those were the usual targets. Lukretia hard learned a very long time ago that words really couldn't hurt you. She let Shiki say her peace and when she was done, the German domme smiled.

Lukretia stepped forward and tilted her head, looking at Shiki as if regarding a pleasant friend. "My, my, fraulein. Now who vould spread zese terrible rumors about me? I assure you zat I only vish ze best for mein girls." Lukretia looked past Shiki at Hilde.

"Isn't zat right, Frau von Creuzfeldt?"

Hilde lowered her eyes and spoke softly. "Jawohl, Mätress."

"That's cute," her response was dry and bitter. Shiki kept her malicious gaze locked on Lukretia, but it was obvious the power Lukretia displayed over her sister had irked the rockstar. Lukretia was an easy target, Shiki had already compiled numerous shallow excuses to start a fight with the General Manager. That was certainly no surprise. What was perhaps a surprise was the fact Shiki had been driven--most of all--to stand up not for herself, but instead for Hilde. The woman's willingness to be subjugated by Lukretia's influence despite Shiki's genuine, if misguided, effort came off as nothing short of betrayal.

Why am I even trying to stand up for this sniveling coward? It was a brash and frustrating thought; hardly anything atypical when it came to Shiki.

"Anyway, I've got places to be," she pushed forward, driving her shoulder rudely into Lukretia's, before strolling for the exit with an agitated gait in her step. For a brief moment, it seemed the punkette would leave without offering the slightest hint of a farewell to Hilde. However, something at the back of her mind--guilt, perhaps--stubbornly forced the punkette to speak, "Stop by the gym later if you want to chat some more, Hilde. Or, you know, if you get tired of being this slut's lapdog."

Shiki's contempt was unmistakable, however, something in the young woman's tone seemed to aim the brunt of the insult squarely at Lukretia's doorstep.

Lukretia didn't flinch when Shiki nudged her shoulder. She'd been so used to that, that she almost found it amusing. People sure liked to use that as their last ditch effort to try and show something to the German domme. Lukretia merely watched Shiki leave and chuckled when the brat was gone.

<Oh, you are allowed to stick up for yourself around your girlfriends, Ms. Von Creuzfeldt.> Lukretia said simply. <I find it rather amusing... the choices in suitors you make.> Lukretia shook her head.

"S-Stop it... " Hilde said, turning my head. "S-She's not... It's not like that at all.." She muttered and lowered her head.

Lukretia merely laughed and slipped out of the door.

**********

Hilde had finished her work at AFW and then finished her work dealing with her own enterprises over the course of dinner. After that, she returned to the AFW facilities and made her way to a locker she kept hidden away in the vast expanses of the AFW facility.

She took her time slipping into her tight fitting latex outfit, complete with hat, contacts, mask and even a lovely strawberry perfume that enticed those she was close to even more. She didn't know why she dressed up as Yasha when Shiki specifically told her. She began to think of reasons in her head and when she finally came up with a good excuse, she slipped off towards the gym.

She had no idea what she was doing but the pounding in her chest drew her closer and closer towards another fateful encounter with the woman she had become quite smitten with.

... 8, 9, 10, ...

Shiki paused momentarily as the barbell touched her sternum. She then once again thrust 110 pounds of weight firmly out in front of her chest. Laying across the workout bench, the punkette's sleek and athletic form tensed while she continued her bench pressing with smooth repetitions. Her mind threatened to drift to many different places tonight, but for the time being she was content in admiring her own growing physical prowess.

11, 12, 13, ...

Ever since her abrupt change in careers, she had diligently started a new fitness regiment. As a critically acclaimed performance artist, Shiki had always taken great pride in maintaining and showing off her attractively lithe and lean figure. Wrestling certainly did not change those aspirations; if anything, it had enhanced them. The punkette had made the most progress so far in her upper body strength. The increase in mass wasn't anything ungainly, but her hardened biceps teetered precariously on becoming unfeminine. However, she found her growing guns to be positively alluring. Even muscles were fabulous on Shiki.

14, 15, 16, ...

A thin sheen of sweat glistened from her fair skin and caused her workout clothes--a black sports bra and matching athletic boyshorts--to cling damply to her straining body. The burn in her arms was becoming very real, but Shiki dug deep and pushed even harder. Lukretia's smug face flashed across the young rockstar's mind's eye. The General Manager of Friction had rankled the punkette thoroughly. Shiki's frustration went beyond the woman's mere words and actions, however...

17, 18, 19, ...

Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt face slowly morphed and took on a new shape; it was the face of Aelia Carson, Shiki's older sister. As much as Shiki tried to deny her assumptions, she found it difficult to push aside the similarities between Hilde's poor relationship with Lukretia and Shiki's own miserable relationship with her condescending sister, Aelia. Her frustration continued to grow and the intense burning in her arms soon became less than an afterthought.

A low and agitated growl left Shiki's lips.

20, 21, 22, ...

Yasha slipped into the nearly empty gym, believing to be well hidden from Shiki even in her flamboyantly pink garb. The girl was working hard pumping iron and Hilde felt her heart begin to beat quite rapidly. Watching her muscles tense and her petite breasts heave up and down.

She wasn't going to waste any time and strode purposefully towards Shiki. She stopped suddenly, right in front of her, leaning over so Shiki's first sight was of Yasha's voluptuous chest, threatening to spill out of her latex suit.

She slipped her gloved hands and held them under the barbell in case Shiki was startled. She didn't want her dropping it, that was for sure.

"It's dangerous to work out alone." Yasha said with a silky smooth voice. "I could spot for you." She said, sticking her rump out in the air as her breasts hung pendulous and ever so near Shiki's face.

"W-What the hell?"

Shiki's confusion was evident, yet it would not last long. After their most recent match, the rockstar possessed an unwillingly intimate relationship with the bountiful bust that threatened to eclipse her now, but even before the masked heroine spoke, it was the distinct strawberry scent that actually gave Yasha Love away.

"Y-You!" She hissed her flustered and equally venomous acknowledgement. The punkette gave the barbell what little thrust she could manage and quickly shot frantically into a roll; the urgency of her action clearly showed she was unsure Yasha Love would actually catch the weight. Her landing was spectacularly awkward--her arms were numb after driving herself so hard on the weight bench. She smacked the ground with a grunt and settled in heap along her back.

Shiki's green eye's were wide as she regarded the Demon of Love warily. She scooted clumsily with her useless arms and turned ever so slowly, as if expecting any small gesture to provoke her nemesis. With consideration to the events that transpired after their latest match, it likely wasn't much of a stretch to expect the Demon of Love to pounce. Unfortunately, Shiki wasn't entirely sure she could do a thing about it, one way or another...

Yasha's smile never broke, even as her hands gripped the bar when Shiki released and rolled away. She made sure it was in its proper place before she began to slither towards the punkette with a sultry grin dancing across her lips.

"Lifting and thrusting with all your might?" She cooed as a finger traced the line of her cleavage, stalking towards Shiki, her green eyes sparkling. "It's dangerous to pump iron alone..." She said and turned her head, looking back at the bench. "Whenever you pump, make sure you have a spotter. Although, aren't there other things that should be pumping?" Yasha pushed her gloved fingers into her breast, just over her heart, making her breast wobble in time.

When Yasha was close, she threw herself at Shiki and pushed her hands against the punkette's shoulders, pinning them against the mirrored wall as one knee split open Shiki's legs and rested comfortably between the girl's legs.

She pushed her face close, keeping her smile as she stared into the girl's eyes. "You're working very late and very hard. Are you training for a big match?" Yasha let one hand slip so her gloved finger rested on the point of Shiki's perky breast.

"I will help you get stronger... My Love extends well beyond the squared circle and you're always free to take a dip in the River of Love."

Shiki winced, finding herself firmly shoved and pinned against the mirrored surface of the wall. The Demon of Love had cornered her...

Of course, the precarious position would not be without the masked woman's deviant flourish as Yasha Love brought her knee to invade Shiki's thighs. The assertive gesture brought a startled breath from the punkette's lips, she tensed visibly and, despite her stubborn efforts, a red hue flashed across her fair features.

She was overwhelmed and her surprise was evident, but the encounter wasn't playing out quite as she had expected. Shiki met Yasha Love's alluring gaze with suspicion and her usual passionate scorn; her eyes seemed to always carry that dangerous flicker. However, the punkette's volatile nature remained notably subdued in the Demon of Love's clutches. Instead, a conflicted expression settled on the raven-haired girl's pouty visage.

"... Help? You expect me to believe you came here to help me?" Shiki swatted away the hand at her breast and quickly brought both of her hands to seize the Demon of Love's collar--her arms still felt unnatural, but the sensation was readily fading. Desperate to exert some of level of control over the situation, she roughly pulled the masked heroine even closer, "Cut the bullshit. Do you think I'm scared of you? I'll take you on. Any time, any place."

Literally face to face with her adversary, her voice unmistakably cracked and came in a hushed tone. It was all quite contrary to her actual intentions.

Shiki helplessly felt her heart begin to thump within her chest.

As Shiki began to protest, shoving Yasha's arm away but bringing them closer, the Demon of Love inched her latex covered knee deeper into the vee of Shiki's legs, as if she was slowly trying to coax herself into an even more intimate position with Shiki's most forbidden temple without the girl's knowledge.

"Fear?" Yasha purred as she was grabbed and pulled close. "That is not something that exits when two hearts beat as one." She teased. "Once you've taken a dip in the River of Love, you will find the notion of being afraid to be utterly silly."

Yasha brought her finger that had been brushed away from Shiki's breast and curled it between the arms that held her collar, along the underside of the girl's jaw until it rested upon the point of Shiki's chin. She lifted up the girl's head and guided it until their lips almost touched. Their noses brushed together and Yasha's lusty breath tickled Shiki's lips as she continued to try and hypnotize the punkette.

"What does... Shiki mean...?" Yasha asked. "Death?" She answered her own question. "Love and Death... two things that can never be together and yet the only two things that drive the human spirit. Two things that are inexorably entwined. It's as impossible to deny Fate as it is to deny Love... We must ride these gushing rapids to the bitter end. These words should tell you with absolute certain that I am here to help you. Undeniably."

"Un.Deniable."

Yasha pushed herself forward and pressed her lips hard into Shiki's, letting her hand fall back down to the girl's perky breast as she flattened it with her palm, cupped it and used it to keep Shiki pinned against the wall while she kissed her.