Haru Fujiwara vs. Carmen Rodriguez - Fool's Gold

Carmen had toyed with the idea of going bald now that she was a wrestler. As a boxer, hair was never that big of a deal, so long as it didn't run some insane length. It only ever became a problem if it got in the way of your view, and then it was nothing a hairbow couldn't fix. But in wrestling it was often a liability. She couldn't even think of one match she'd seen where hair pulling didn't happen, and the referees seemed so used to it that they never protested. It had never cost her a match, but the idea of having one less vulnerability did appeal. It paid to be prepared.

That idea came roaring back when Haru grabbed on to her hair and started to yank, pulling hard right at the roots. It hurt, but she didn't have the time or strength to resist - her leg hurt too much, her mind was too clouded with pain, and by the time she realized what Haru was doing, her body was already falling towards the canvas in a powerbomb filled with hate.

Carmen hit so hard that the impact made her bounce away, flopping her over to her back while she furiously rubbed it in pure agony. Her legs kicked out on pure reflex, like they were running on some invisible bicycle.

Haru had slammed her so hard she'd bounced, bounced! He'd never seen anything so satisfying in his life. The way her body writhed in agony was wonderful payback, but he was just getting started. Normally right about now he'd come up with something teasing to say to rile them up, but he had learned better than to waste time on Carmen, she was too damn stubborn to go down for long.

Normally when you wanted to make someone hurt, you'd put them in a variety of submission holds. Luckily for Carmen, Haru hadn't bothered to train in any of them, preferring the bigger, flashier power moves. Of course those still hurt a whole lot, but it was easier to target specific areas for torment with sub holds. Maybe he'd have to look into a few, see if anything matched his style. If he'd learned anything from this match, it was that he needed to expand his bag of painful tricks.

Haru came towards Carmen once more, grabbing her arm and hauling the beaten woman to her feet. He snickered as his arms went around her waist, he could feel how much she had learned to hate him when she was doing her best to choke the life out of him, so this close contact with him was going to drive her nuts. Haru grunted with a bit of effort as he began to squeeze his arms and lift Carmen's feet off the mat in a crushing bearhug.

Every once in  a while, one of Carmen's fans would ask her how it felt for her to be touching a man and rubbing up against them in matches. It sounded like a weird question on its face, but she knew where it came from: people assumed that, since she was gay, she had some sort of aversion to the male body. She didn't. She couldn't, really. Carmen had grown up in a boxing gym, so the male form was something she had extensive experience with.

That being said, she didn't exactly relish being rubbed against it, either, especially not with a guy like Haru, who was probably getting his rocks off in all sorts of ways. She tried to fight the bearhug as he pulled it in, but at this range, his strength was too much to deal with. He reeled her in and closed the trap, holding her tight in the bearhug.

Carmen snapped her teeth shut and ground them hard as he constricted her at the sides, making sure there was as little space between them as possible. It wasn't some random choice, either. He'd gone for this move to humiliate her, make her helpless by taking away her two best weapons. Unfortunately for him, though, she did stil have an option. A painful option, but it would have to do.

Carmen reared back as far as she could, let out a yell, and jerked forward to slam their heads together with the hardest headbutt she could manage.

Haru shook Carmen right and left as he pressed her against him as hard as he could manage. That ought to turn the disgust up a few levels, not to mention the pain. Without the use of her arms, Haru figured there wasn't much she could do but endure the torment. Which meant it was time for his favorite thing: more trash talk.

He had opened his mouth to tear her down more, but she decided to go kamikaze and bash her skull against his. His brain rattled around in his skull, his teeth mashed together and his grip slackened as his mind tried to piece together reality again. The familiar taste of metal in his mouth let him know she'd taken a good sliver of his lip from him as well.

Haru released Carmen by throwing her aside, his hand reaching up to touch the inside of his lip. It stung like he'd been clocked pretty well, not bad for a lucky headbutt. A light pounding in his head alerted him to the onset of a headache, add that to the growing list of knee, back, and chest. The length of the list was really a testament to how far she had pushed him, though he would never in a million years admit it.

The cut to his lip had sparked an idea though, it gave him the perfect way to take the victory from her and make it hurt more than just emotionally. But she needed to get up first, on her own.

Carmen would be regretting the headbutt in the morning, and the morning after that, and likely even the one after that, but for now, with the way she hit Haru right as he was about to open his stinking mouth for another taunt, she was loving it. Her head felt a little wet, probably bleeding at the forehead, but she would wear that scar like a badge of pride if shutting him up was the prize.

When Haru let her go, Carmen fell like the sack of potatoes her body felt like. That squeezing had just done wonders for her broken rib - now it was a seering pain, burning away at her insides. Her spin was hurting, and even the simple act of sitting up seemed to send a chord of pain down every bone in her back.

But Carmen had to rise. She had to. "Come on..."

She grabbed the ropes and hauled her way up, staggering until she was back on her feet and ready to take the fight back to him. Carmen moved back into her stance and came in low as she neared with unsteady feet, popping up at the last moment to throw an overhead right and drop it right on his head.

Haru's pain started to bleed away when he saw Carmen hauling herself back up. They were both ready to go another round, except that it looked like a strong wind was going to be enough to make Carmen fall over. Haru matched her stance by bringing up his guard and readying himself.

Her gait was unsteady, which made her both vulnerable and a tad bit unpredictable. Still she came in low and Haru hunkered down to protect himself. She popped up at the last second and very nearly caught his temple with her right, but he had managed to deflect her fist with his forearm. He retaliated with an uppercut of his own, throwing all the strength he could muster in that microfraction of time.

Swing and a miss. Carmen cursed as her overhand right missed its mark and got deflected - or she tried to. She opened her mouth for it, but Haru closed it with an uppercut that slammed hard in her jaw, knocking her head back with a snapping jerk.

She started to fall back, looking like she'd topple from the blow, and if it wasn't for the rope she might have fell down altogether. Carmen grabbed hold of the top rope and clung on like it was her lifeline, because it really was. She could barely stand on her own power anymore, the support was vital.

Had Carmen not been so exhausted she probably would have dodged his sloppy form, but after socking Carmen with a lucky uppercut, she'd all but been blown away into the ropes. While he wasn't breathing as hard as she was, Haru could tell his tank was soon to be running on empty and that he ought to wrap things up.

Haru stumbled over to her, dragging her off the ropes and holding her up as he got behind her. With one arm supporting her upright, he bent down and aligned his shoulders with her back. He then pulled down on her shoulders and stood up, securing her lower half by grabbing her leg and her upper half by her neck as he stood up. Supporting her weight in the torture rack was killing his knee, his legs were already beginning to shake. Haru really couldn't sustain the move for too long before his knee gave out, so it better work like magic.

"Fiesta time" Haru taunted, readjusting his grip to make sure she was secure and in as much pain as possible. He began to pivot on his good foot, spinning them around to add a level of nausea and dizziness to the mix. While it wasn't common knowledge yet, this was the first half of what he was going to make his signature finisher; the Tower of Terror.

Next came the fun part. With a loud grunt of effort and pain, Haru bent his knees and then popped up, causing Carmen to lift off of his shoulders. With her in mid-air Haru transitioned into a chokeslam by using the hand he already had on her neck. They both slammed into the canvas with a huge noise, shaking the entire ring with the force.

Haru pulled himself up to cover her, resting his back over her chest and his elbow on her face, just to make the pin that much more annoying.

"ONE..."

Carmen tried to put up a fight. She struggled. She fought. She rocked and raved while he spun her around in what she guessed was the set up for his coup de grace. But, in the end, she would have had more success trying to stop the tide from meeting the shore. She was going down and she was going down hard.

His chokeslam dropped her hard into the mat, drilling her with more force than any move she'd ever experience, more power than she'd ever taken from any opponent in any ring. Her body reflexively sat up from the impact, but Haru's weight was on her in the next moment, holding her down with an annoying elbow digging into her face. The referee moved in for the count and the audience began  call out with her.

"2...!"

Carmen knew where she'd gone wrong from the start. She'd gotten complacent with this fight and underestimated Haru. He wasn't some rusty boxer and he wasn't some punk fresh off the streets - he was good. It pained her to admit it, but he had a rough sort of skill that put him beyond many of the ranked fighters she'd met in her life. If she had another chance to fight him, she could pull out a win. She could take him down as long as she stayed smart and safe.

But that would have to be another time. This fight was over.

"3...!"

"3...!"

He had done it! He'd kicked that feisty boxer girl's ass! She'd gotten her fair share of digs in too, but that didn't matter when the announcer was calling your name and your music was blaring over the speakers.

Haru shoved off of Carmen a bit roughly, hauling himself to his tired feet and throwing his arms up for the crowd. Unless his ears were lying to him, instead of synonymous chorus of boos there were a few cheers mixed in there; he'd definitely won a few fans from that fight.

After soaking up the attention for a few seconds, Haru decided he'd had enough. He started to head towards the ramp now, stepping over Carmen and letting his foot unceremoniously ram into her side as an "accident".

"Tough luck getting matched with me. Never had a chance, foreigner" he laughed behind him.

He headed up the ramp and out of the arena, grinning the entire way.

Haru Fujiwara wins by pinfall