The Hand That Rocks

Aurora was sitting down in a small cafe, even by Tokyo standards. There weren't any tables, just a bar that was up against the window giving a great view of the people as they walked by. She was wearing a black wool coat and matching scarf to battle the cold winter day. It hadn't been as cold as years passed, but it was still bitterly so for a San Diego native as herself. Her blonde hair was longer than she normally kept it. She wasn't as active nowadays as she once was, and even she believed it was clearly showing. Things had changed in many ways since she stopped wrestling.

Aurora continued stirring her coffee even though the cream and sugar were already dissolved. Her mind was far from the actual drink in front of her. She went over what she wanted to say to the man she was meeting over and over again. She picked up the mug and sipped it, though she was so distracted she wouldn't remember if it had tasted good or not. In her head the conversation, as important as it was, probably couldn't end badly. Probably. She liked to think she knew the man quite well. But she also thought she knew her sister well too. And one way or the other, someone was going to be mad.

Mamouru was surprised when he had gotten a phone call from Aurora out of the blue. The two had had a fairly brief but sordid history together. He was her manager and lover at one point. Beyond that, her sister, Talia Wilson was a deep thorn in his side both directly and indirectly.

In fact, her serious tone was exactly the reason why Mamouru thought that Talia was the reason for the meeting. He had stumbled into a match against Talia not too long ago and when he found out it was her, he had used the opportunity to mete out some long deserved retribution on the girl. Had she told Aurora? Was Aurora wanting to meet him face to face to scold him? Tell him to lay down arms? She had tried to get them to be peaceful before but it had not worked. That was the only thing he could think of as he entered the small cafe.

He looked around and saw Aurora. She stood out in more ways than one. She was quite American but her hair was longer. She looked ... different... in a way that Mamouru couldn't place. When he approached he bowed. "Aurora-chan, konnichiwa." He said and smiled at her. He slipped into the seat across from her. "I was surprised to hear from you. Is ... everything alright?" He asked, tilting his head as he looked her over.

Aurora saw Mamouru as he walked by the window and entered the cafe. She smiled as he said hello and responded with a simple "Hey." It had been awhile since the two last...saw each other. Too long in one way. Not quite long enough in another. She had always hoped Mamouru and her sister could get along but it wasn't meant to be. In the end, she had to sacrifice a possible relationship (whatever that may had been) to get along better with her sister. Originally she was bitter towards Talia about it, but over time she understood it was her choice, not her sisters. And Talia wasn't responsible for that much of it.

Aurora was nervous and didn't get up to greet him. Luckily he was quick enough to sit down near her anyways so it wasn't like the moment was awkward. "Yea, everything's fine," she said in response though there was neither a laugh nor a big smile to fully convince him that things were as she said. Everything was indeed fine, but perhaps not in the way he would have thought. "How have you been? It's been...it's been some time. I heard you're managing an old friend of mine."

Mamouru could see that her words held the truth. Fine things may have been in the grand scheme of the universe, as in, there seemed to be no immediate emergency but things seemed far from "fine."

"It has been." Mamouru said, looking away for a moment but still smiling. He blushed when Aurora suddenly brought up Alaina. He had forgotten that the two of them had known each other, but suddenly he was remembering and it made things seem a bit more awkward. "You mean Alaina-ch..." Mamouru paused. "Aliana-san? She's been doing good. She even won a Pay-Per-View match earlier in the year. She has a lot of work to do but she's quite strong and her natural talent and enthusiasm will help her fill in the gaps where she's lacking experience wise." He didn't really want to mention they were dating if Aurora didn't know. Even though he had no reason to keep it from Aurora.

"And what about you, Alaina-chan? I haven't seen you in the ring lately. Have you decided to try out something new? It would be a shame. You certainly had a bright future as a wrestler." He asked, genuinely curious.

Aurora nodded and sipped her coffee as Mamouru explained the situation with Alaina. She knew there was more to the two's relationship but she didn't want to press into it. It wasn't any of her business after all. Mamouru and her had their thing, but that was a long time ago now. She wasn't sure just how much there had been between them. At least, what Mamouru had thought of the two of them as a pair.

"Yea, I've been...staying busy doing things." It was in her nature to avoid that topic but she felt like there was no point in denying it now. At least not to Mamouru. "I was active about half a year ago. Wrestled a bit, nothing highlight worthy though." She put her elbow on the table and leaned against her fist as if imagining those times. "Anyways...that's kinda why I wanted to talk to you...about some of the wrestling matches you've been in."

Aurora was ambiguous but not in a way that made him question it. Really, she just seemed to be filling the empty space with conversation until she got to her point. He listened to her words and took them in, but he was still much more curious about her reasoning for calling him in. Even more when she wanted to talk about his wrestling career.

It wasn't a very distinguished one and was mostly hentai and tag matches. He was good at one but not the other. He wondered why but not too hard, really. Maybe his brother and he just didn't have the chemistry they thought they would when they joined. They were very different people from back then.

"What... about them?" He asked, curious. Now he REALLY wondered if she had found out about his match with Talia...

Aurora took another sip of coffee then cleared her throat. "Well...you know way back you had a match with those...what were they called...Anyways they wore animal masks and you were with your brother. Remember them?" She wanted to play it along just to see how well she had fooled him back then. Just jumping into the point didn't seem quite right.

"Well...the thing is...after my last match...I guess I had quite the urge to do something with my opponent." Aurora coughed, a slight blush filling her face. It may had been so long ago but she still remembered it very vividly. "So I sought him out and did some things. I don't regret them...but you know, these things happen I guess right?" One thing she had learned about Mamouru was his proficiency with that kind of thing. Hopefully he would catch on to her point. She offered a smile and raised her eyebrows for a second.

"Of course I remember. Gold Lioness and Jade Hawk." He said tersely, trying not to growl. Another group of assholes that wanted to threaten his family. He was going to ask her if she had gotten mixed up with them but she continued on.

She seemed to switch gears pretty quickly, speaking about her own efforts and how she had apparently conquered one of them. That seemed very odd to him, especially the fact that she would wrestle, and have sex with a man.

"Yes, it happens but..." Mamouru said almost casually. The way she was looking and her choice of subject matters made him clench his fist under the table. He had remembered that night after the rag match when he and Lioness ravaged each other. She had conquered him but not without a fight. The sex had been amazing even if it had been driven by hate. However, there HAD been something familiar about the body he'd been all over.

At the time he had dismissed it but thinking back there were the small curves, the hidden freckles and flaws that only he would know.

"You're Gold Lioness!?"

He stood up and peered at her, trying his hardest not to sound accusing. "Aurora-chan!" He said, "W-why? Why did you do that?! Why?" Didn't you tell me? He said in his mind.

Aurora leaned back in her chair away from Mamouru. She had imagined a reaction of this level in her head but she couldn't remember him ever being legitimately bitter with her. At least while knowing it was her. "I..." she stuttered, an unusual lapse of confidence for her. There were a handful of reasons that would have been honest. But none of them, at least at this point in her life seemed justifiable. "I...I was in a group at the time..." And we wanted to make a statement. In some ways they did but it fell in soon afterward due to her own withdrawal from them. "I regret doing that..." she said quietly in response. "I'm sorry...I was just trying to be apart of something...we didn't hurt anyone." At least not more than they would have gotten in a match anyways.

"But that's...well one of those things is why I wanted to talk to you." She cleared her throat quickly, fearing that he might walk out at any second. She wasn't sure if there was anything really keeping him there at that point. It's not like they had even talked normally at all in about a year. With another quick deep breath, she began to take off her coat. She had a longsleeved bright yellow hooded shirt on underneath. "Because...it's been about six months since that time we...wrestled...and well." She gently lowered her hands down to her abdomen which now that her coat was gone made it much easier to notice what was beneath.

"Bullshit!" Mamouru growled at Aurora. The black masked guy had hurt his brother and sister-in-law pretty badly. He was about to lay into her, maybe he would even tell Aurora about the match between him and Talia.

However, she got to her point and revealed her rather large belly. Mamouru's eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. His heart pounded at the implications.

" Y-You know for c-certain that I am...?"