The Things You've been Missing

Life was pretty slow for Azami lately, to say the least. She reached the peak of her career around a year ago by winning the hentai championship from Marisa Evans, but the wheel of fate seemed to turn pretty quick from that point. Circumstances kinda forced her to abandon her wrestling life, and her hard fought title was gone just like that. On the flip side, though, she probably could argue that she was undefeated as a champion.

Things had gradually been better since then, but she still found it hard to make the decision of returning to the glorious ring of AFW once again. As much as she wanted to be there, tussling around with all the pretty girls the league had, she's also unsure whether her career would hit another wall again or not. She's been thinking about it today as well, as she's having a drink in a bar she occasionally visited. Weather was starting to get colder around this time of the year, so the Irish Coffee cocktail was one of her choices for today. Perhaps she could get herself some sake later on.

Azami dressed pretty simply, just a thin black, unzipped jacket on top of a white dress, black leggings, and a pair of black leather boots. She didn't wear a kimono as often these days, wanting a bit of change to her usual traditional looking image. After all it was also a remainder to her wrestling days, where she looked and acted like a princess even if she's anything but one. A faint smile appeared on her relatively plain face as she remembered about it for a bit.

For Marisa, life had been a hectic blur. Since her last AFW match, an attempt to regain the Hentai title, ended in a loss against Natasha Loclear, the modeling part of her life demanded her attention. In particular was the running of a modeling agency. The past few months had been a frantic dash from one fashion show to another as the designers of the fashion industry showcased their winter clothing lines. Finally though, things had calmed down enough so that her business partner and the staff could run the agency, letting Marisa return to Japan. The former Hentai champion had just flown in a day ago. Now she was looking forward to a drink at a bar she liked that was somewhat near the AFW training facility, as well as her apartment.

Coming in, she walked past Azami, the model not getting a good look at the other woman's face due to the bar's dim lighting, while also busy taking off her black jacket. Sitting at the bar a few seats down from Azami she smiled at the bartender. Clad in a white button up shirt that was unbuttoned enough to show a good amount of her generous cleavage and a red mini skirt that hugged her hips tightly, Marisa seemed to epitomize the saying ' mixing business and pleasure'.
"Rum and coke." Marisa said with a sigh, looking out the window at a gloomy and overcast day....

For a second, Azami thought that she heard a familiar voice. She brushed it off rather than trying to find out the source of the voice, though. After all this bar wasn't too far away from the AFW building, so there was a good chance for her to meet someone she knew from her wrestling life. Azami didn't particularly feel like socializing with any former colleague at the moment, as it probably would involve answering a couple of questions regarding her sudden absence from the business. Not something she'd like to talk too often about.

Somehow she did feel a little curious to just have a look at whoever it was that ordered the Rum and Coke. Just a glance to make sure that she did knew the person or not should be enough, and she decided to do just that, in a rather subtle manner.

Huh...? Isn't that... she said to herself, feeling like she recognized the figure a few seats away from her, turning her face away afterwards. It's not like she had to avoid people she knew, but it had somehow became a bit of a habit now. Uh... what am I doing...

Taking a sip of her drink as it was given to her, Marisa gave the bartender a nod of approval and thanked him before looking about the bar. There didn't seem to be too many people here, with it still being within the normal Japanese person's workday. That suited Marisa just fine, who was still a little tired from the long flight. Really the only person here was a Japanese woman who...

Wait a second, she thought as she studied the other woman's face. Is that....Azami? It is!?

Marisa was a woman who made part of her living on looking at faces and seeing the beauty in them. As such, the blonde always remembered a face.

Taking her drink, Marisa moved down to where the Asian was sitting, taking a seat next to her.
"Azami...sorry I didn't come over as soon as I came in." she said. "I almost didn't recognize you! You wear normal clothing just as well as you wear a kimono."

She leaned close with a teasing, yet sultry grin.

"Or nothing at all.." she whispered before sitting up straight again.

Azami wasn't looking at Marisa's direction anymore, but she could feel when the former title holder moved to the seat next to her. She turned her head to where Marisa was and acted as if she's a little surprised seeing the girl here.

"M-Marisa...? Eh, don't worry about it I'm just..." she replied, trying to come up with an excuse only to pause instantly as the other girl made her teasing comment. "Oh you..." she put a hand on her lips, slightly blushing. "Ehm, you look stunning as always yourself, Marisa-san..." the blue haired girl smiled rather shyly.

"Thank you. It's got to know I'm still considered attractive, especially by a girl as young and pretty as you." Marisa demurred with a playful wink.

"Seriously though, how have you been?" the model said. "I meant to catch up with you some time ago, offer my congratulations on taking the title from me, but then my other job sort of caught up with me."

"I''m good," Azami replied, still finding herself a little nervous in the presence of the beautiful Marisa. "The title... ah yes... I've been busy myself ever since then..." she gazed away for a bit. "If you haven't know already... I haven't been active in AFW for a while either," she said. "Personal issues and all," Azami quickly added.

"How are you doing, Marisa-san?" the blue haired girl then asked with a smile.

Marisa raised an eyebrow as Azami told her about her absence from the AFW.

"Well, everybody needs time off from the AFW from time to time." the platinum haired woman replied. "Otherwise, the strain of that place would just wear you down!"

With that she took a sip of her drink, sighing in pleasure at the taste.
"I'm fine, if not a little tired. It was long flight from LA to here. I got in...this morning, by Japanese time. I'm still a little jet lagged. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things here though. It's been so long...and the last thing I did was get beat by Natasha in that chocolate covered mess of a match. So I want to spend the winter getting back into the action, preparing for the sexy summer season in our league."

Marisa gave a wry grin, her enthusiasm apparent on her face.
"How about you, Azami? Ready to get back into the ring?"

Azami understood well what Marisa said about being worn out. That was also part of the reason of her sudden absence from the league after all. She nodded and took a sip of her own drink while listening to the girl's words, somehow feeling a little jealous that Marisa was excited about her prospect of returning to AFW. It's something she hadn't felt for a while now, even if there's a small part of her that did want to return to the ring again.

"I... I don't know..." she rolled her eyes. "I really don't know at the moment," Azami sighed.

Marisa looked over at Azami as the other woman spoke, ending her words with a heartfelt sigh. The American set down her drink and turned towards her companion, studying her face.

How did I miss this? Something's on her mind. she thought to herself.

"That was a heavy sigh for someone that's usually pretty lighthearted." Marisa said. "What's going on? You seem kinda different from the confident, assure woman who beat me not too long ago..."