Tension in Ueno: 24/7 Championship Match- Carmen Rodriguez (c) vs Akino Sanada

Backstage, Akino took several deep breaths and paced back and forth while fidgeting with her gloves. Clad in her usual blue maid outfit, complete with matching boots and gloves and white stockings, she was set for a match against Carmen Rodriguez. But even beyond that, this was a championship match, something Akino quite frankly wasn’t sure she’d ever see herself competing in. But at the same time, the situation was like a double edged sword, the other side being that her opponent, the defending champion, was also a recent lover of hers. This was going to be the first time in her career Akino was going to have to fight against someone she genuinely cared for, yet she knew she couldn’t let her feelings get in the way of things. Carmen was an elite fighter, one of the top female boxers in the world. Holding back would be tantamount to asking to get knocked out cold, something she obviously hoped very much to avoid.

“Come on. Get your head in the game. You’ve got this...” she muttered to herself. Though soon the sound of her music playing grabbed her attention. It was showtime. One final breath was taken, then the one-eyed maid stepped through the curtain and was greeted by a mix of cheers and boos from the audience, which was noticeably smaller than that of an average Tension show. A recent match of hers in Tension had not only made her initially vow to avoid anymore competition there like the plague (though that was thrown right out the window once the opportunity to compete with Carmen arose), but also had seemed to make the fans in Kyoto despise her with a burning passion. Fortunately, this wasn’t Kyoto, which meant she could compete with a clean slate, relatively speaking.

Akino strode confidently down to the ring and slid under the bottom rope, then got back up and walked into one of the far corners. As usual, there was no pandering to the fans. The bluenette simply turned and stared down at the entranceway, now awaiting Carmen’s arrival.

The Tension crowd wouldn’t have to wait long after Akino made her entrance. After all, Carmen had been wanting this match for months, ever since she and Akino met and the blue-haired spitfire dominated her. She wasn’t going to waste a second here that she didn’t have to.

Fists went in the air and cheers rang out as Buster Voodoo came out over the loudspeakers, heralding the arrival of the 24/7 Champion. The second guitar had just started to kick in when Carmen emerged from the back, dressed in her black robe, looking like a walking shadow as she emerged from the curtains.

The gold in her hand prevented that illusion, though, as it shined in the glittering. The 24/7 Belt. Her title. Her championship.

Carmen raised the belt high as the crowd roared, and her robe came off a moment later. She was dressed in her fight gear, the same outfit she’d worn against Clyde in her first defense. Black workout pants, the red A-shirt, the MMA gloves. Perfect for movement, good for the outdoors, the exact thing a street fighting champion needed to wear. She would need all the advantages she could get today, too. This fight would start in the ring, but it wasn’t likely to stay there very long. 24/7 matches had a habit of moving all over the place, she’d noticed.

Carmen slid under the ropes and popped to her feet, already bouncing on her toes and getting into the groove. Focused. Honed. Energetic. She handed the belt off to the referee, then turned her attention - every bit of it - to her opponent.

Akino Sanada. Carmen had known quite a few women since she came to Japan, in every sense of the word. She’d had flings. Casual affairs. Nothing too serious, nothing too heavy. But Akino was a different sort of thing. Carmen didn’t just find the blue-haired maiden attractive, didn’t just think she was amazingly sexy from head to toe, but she’d come to respect her over the past few months. She was fun to be around, good company, and one of the most gifted wrestlers Carmen knew personally. While she doubted it would ever get to the next level between them, she certainly wouldn’t object if it did.

So this wasn’t just about winning a match. It was about impressing a fine woman. About testing herself against someone she truly cared about. A rare challenge, but an irressitable one.

Carmen’s gaze was solid steel, a hard determined face that only changed course for a brief moment when the referee ushered them towards the center of the ring. There was a slight smirk on her face as she approached, a subtle twitch of the lips. But only slight.

Akino’s gaze remained firmly fixed toward the entranceway when Carmen’s music hit. And when the 24/7 Champion finally stepped through the curtain, it was almost impossible to see her in the darkness because of her black robe. But Akino’s eye could clearly detect that gold belt. How appropriate: the sight of the championship both identified Carmen’s presence, and put Akino’s objective at the forefront of her focus.

Then her foe’s robe was cast aside to reveal the champion, and the maid’s eye followed Carmen and her title all the way down the aisle and into the ring. She could see just how ready the boxer was. Both combatants were clearly focused as could be, though Akino was remaining much more still than her lover. For a moment she took in the sight of Carmen, dressed for a fight. Quite different from the way she’d looked in either of their previous encounters, yet every bit as beautiful.

But Akino quickly brought her mind back to the business at hand. They hadn’t come to Ueno for another night of passionate lovemaking, though Akino hadn’t exactly ruled that out for later if they were up for it then. This was a match. A championship match. Akino’s first championship match. As much as she respected Carmen, the maid was ready to put everything she had into this battle.

When Carmen moved out to the center of the ring, Akino did the same. The smaller woman moved to stand toe to toe with the champion and looked up to meet her gaze. One of her gloved hands came up, offering a pre-match handshake to Carmen.

“May the best woman win.”

Carmen kept her face resolute, her eyes focused, her muscles taut as she approached Akino in the ring. She had to have a clear mind.

She couldn’t think about how gorgeous Akino was, but how it was a subtle beauty. She couldn’t think about her innocent, demure look made her unspeakably sexy, since Carmen knew there was a deadly woman hiding under that maid outfit. She couldn’t think about how soft her skin was to the touch, or how great her hair felt running through your fingers, or the way she made the sweetest little moans right before she reached her peak.

No, those thoughts could wait until later. For now, there was work to do.

”The best woman.” Carmen took Akino’s hand and placed a peck of a kiss on the top of her glove. It got the predictable response from the audience, but it was more meant for her lover. A little pleasure before the business.

Carmen stepped away, raised her fists up, and started to bounced on her heels, taking up her orthodox stance as the referee called for the bell. No more games, no more flirting, no more soft play. Until that bell rang again, playtime was officially over.

Akino did expect the display of sportsmanship to be returned. So it didn’t surprise her when Carmen took her hand. But she was slightly taken off guard when the boxer brought the hand to her lips for a quick kiss. A small grin tugged at the lips of the maid, who cared as little for the crowd’s reaction to it as Carmen likely did herself.

But the time to be ladylike, cute or romantic came to a very quick halt right then and there. As Carmen moved back into her corner, Akino did the same and refocused her mind on the task at hand. The bell rang, and it was time to get this show started.

“Lets do this.” Akino said as she crouched down a bit while spreading her legs into a well-balanced stance while holding her arms up, hands wide open. Their two stances alone reflected the profound differences in the styles that were about to clash. But that wasn’t anything new to Akino, who moved quickly yet cautiously as she approached the center of the ring, where she expected Carmen would meet her momentarily.

One good hit from Carmen’s deadly fists in the right spot could mean lights out for Akino. Understanding the very basic fact that she needed to avoid getting punched as much as humanly possible, she constantly shifted her torso and head to keep Carmen from having a still target, while also taking feinting steps in only to immediately shift back again. She wanted to test how trigger-happy her foe was, but that would only last a brief moment before the maid finally dropped to a knee and attempted to slide by Carmen’s side in hopes of being able to grab her in a waistlock from behind. It’s pretty hard to get punched while standing behind your opponent. But admittedly the positioning was bound to be pleasant too if she managed to get there.

When Carmen was on, Carmen was on, and right now her mind was working overtime. With Akino, she had to be. Even though they’d only wrestled once - and never seriously - she knew that her lover’s style revolved around submissions. And submissions. And even more submissions on top of that. Those would be dangerous enough in a normal match. But in a 24/7 match, where there were no rope breaks, no easy ways out? Deadly.

Akino had to know that, too. That was the scary thing.

So as Carmen moved in, she was cautious. Careful. Collected. She threw out a couple of quick jabs, just trying to find the range on Akino and put a little fear in that warm heart of hers.

She was just getting ready to commit to something bigger when Akino rushed in and beat her to the punch, sliding around behind her with one, deft move. Carmen didn’t have enough time to turn around before the waistlock was applied, which meant she was wide open for whatever Akino was going for.

Carmen could do chain wrestling, but it wasn’t her forte by any stretch, and she wasn’t about to test it out with Akino. She opted for brute force instead, as she pushed back with her feet and tried to sandwich Akino between her back and the turnbuckle.

Akino cautiously danced around the light jabs Carmen threw her way. Alone those shots may not’ve been all too threatening, but they served a few purposes. They established the boxer’s range, and silently warned the maid not to venture lightly into that area. Akino had no such plans, though that wasn’t going to make her any less weary of those fists. With Carmen, those fists were weapons that were as deadly as just about anything Akino could find under the ring. Fortunately, her first step put her out of range of those lethal punches.

Behind Carmen with her arms clasped around the boxer’s waist, Akino pressed her front and the side of her face right up against the taller woman. Avoiding punches was a nice first step, but she didn’t want to keep herself vulnerable to a flurry of elbow strikes either. Still, despite her precautions against Carmen’s strikes, her foe still had a strength advantage she could make use of.

Suddenly Akino found herself involuntarily backpedaling into the corner with a thud, sandwiched between the turnbuckles and Carmen’s body...something the bluenette wouldn’t have minded at all under less competitive circumstances. “Ngh!” she grunted at the impact, which made her grip loosen. But she wasn’t about to be shaken off so easily.

Still holding onto Carmen, Akino moved a hand up to one of her foe’s shoulders and used it to push herself up a bit, so she could attempt to wrap her legs around Carmen’s waist. From there she could try to get her arms around the boxer’s neck to apply a sleeper! Her foe had threatened the danger of her punches, now Akino was looking to do the same with her holds.

Carmen was relieved for a moment, when Akino’s grip loosened and it seemed like she’d gotten the world’s sexiest monkey off her back. Having a submission expert attached to her back was just about the worst thing she could have happen, especially at this stage of the match, but she felt the threat was effectively neutralized.

Should’ve known better. Really should have.

Akino was moving up her body, grabbing hold, and the next thing Carmen knew, the situation had exponentially worsened. Having a pair of slim and steely thighs around her waist was bad enough, but the well-applied choke around her neck made for a lethal combination. Akino was light, soft, but that didn’t make her sleeperhold any less dangerous. It was expertly done, just like everything Akino put her mind to.

Carmen shut her eyes hard and stepped out of the corner, carrying Akino along with her. She pulled at the iron grip around her throat with both hand, managed to steel a few half-breaths, but that wouldn’t hold her off for long. Not when those thighs were grinding away at her ribs, not when Akino’s grip was so implacable, not when hot breath was flowing over her neck.

She would need a way out, or else she’d start fading, making this the shortest championship match in AFW history

Akino wasn’t entirely sure whether it was more luck or skill that had let her lock in the chokehold this early in the match. Regardless, she’d managed to lock her arms and legs tightly and perfectly around Carmen, and immediately began squeezing with all her might as her foe carried her a few steps out of the corner.

“I assume you won’t want to be submitting so soon. That’s fine. You’re more than welcome to take a nap instead if you prefer.” Akino said with a grin, while using one hand to brush over Carmen’s hair. The crowd was already abuzz at what seemed to be a clear possibility that this bout might not only be over extremely quickly, but could crown a new champion at the same time!