Akino Sanada vs Samiya Kusanagi

Standard Match
Victory Condition: Pinfall, Submission or KO

Spoiler:

It had been quite a while since Akino Sanada had stepped into a ring. The last time had been at the Tension pay-per-view event, where she’d challenged Carmen Rodriguez for the Kyoto brand’s 24/7 Championship. Akino may have lost her opportunity to become a champion that day, but Carmen had lost Akino in the process. The blue haired maiden’s heart had been broken. And for weeks very few people saw or heard anything from her. For a little while even her regular training regiment had come to a stop.

But finally, after moping for far longer than she’d needed to, Akino decided it was time to try to push on. It wasn’t going to be an easy or a simple path. But she’d picked her training back up again, and readied herself to get back in the ring again. Tonight was going to be her first match since her loss to Carmen, and it was against a woman who had only recently shown up in the league. Excellent. She knew next to nothing about the girl, but Akino figured an opponent with almost no experience that she knew of should be a good way to help her get her feet wet again. She wasn’t out to make a bid for any championships, but she intended to remind the world she was still there and needed to be taken seriously.

When her music played, Akino stepped through the curtain and walked down the aisle. Dressed in her blue maid’s dress as always, the half blind beauty climbed up onto the apron and stepped through the ropes to enter the ring. No effort was made to pander to the fans, nor were any extravagant poses struck. Akino simply moved right into her corner and adjusted her gloves while waiting for the rookie to join her in the ring.

Samiya probably shouldn’t have been amused by the fact that, having gone to the ring first for her debut match, she was heading to the ring second for her second match in Friction.

Was her third match going to be a triple-threat where she went to the ring third?

Probably not and she put the thought aside after a quick smile. This time, she was up against a woman who was on paper a far more serious threat than poor, rusty Blossom Fields. Akino Sanada was a submission specialist with plenty of wins under her best, a fighter who’d challenged for the 24/7 title only recently and come pretty close to taking it.

Except that loss had been particularly devastating. Except Akino Sanada hadn’t been in the ring since, nor in a match either so far as Samiya could find out. Except that her digging had told her that Akino had taken either the loss or something about the loss particularly badly. A little money slipped to one of the nurses had told her that Akino and Carmen had an argument over Carmen’s tactics in the aftermath. So it seemed likely that Akino was going to be considerably off her game regardless of what Samiya did or did not do.

And this time, Samiya most certainly had a point to make. She’d been tempted to cut a promo, make her agenda known but… No. In a contest between ideology and tactics, tactics won every single time.

For all that, her entrance was exactly the same as before, Rise by Skillet blaring out of the speakers before Samiya stepped out onto the stage. She wore the same black leotard, tights and gear under her long coat, her long dyed hair flowing out behind her as she made her way to the ring. As she went, she slapped those hands offered, though her eyes didn’t leave the ring or the figure of Akino waiting for her.

Rolling into the ring, up into the crouch… Her motions were easy, practised as she discarded her coat and rolled her shoulders out. If there was one edge she thought she might have over Akino, besides the obvious, Samiya was guessing she had an edge in pure strength.

On the other hand, even if she’d been put up against someone who seemed like they’d fall for it, there was no way she’d try the handshake trick again.

Instead, the Schoolgirl Assassin just prowled to the centre of the ring to offer a saccharine-sweet smile to the woman in the maid dress. Otherwise, she bided her time, waiting for the bell to ring so they could get things started.

The moment Samiya arrived on the stage, Akino’s eye locked onto the girl and never locked away for a moment. She followed the girl’s movement all the way down to the ring, then looked her over more closely once she’d entered the ring and gotten rid of her coat.

The first thing Akino noticed was that Samiya was absolutely beautiful. AFW was filled to the brim with gorgeous women, but this one had looks that could hold up with the best of them. But something else quickly came to her attention: She couldn’t get a read on this girl at all. One moment Samiya seemed extremely focused, and the next she was smiling at Akino like they were good friends or something. Was she always this casual about going into a fight?

Well, whatever. In any case, Akino was more than happy to do whatever was necessary to wipe that smile right off Samiya’s pretty face. And once the bell rang, the one-eyed maiden wasted no time in lunging straight out toward the rookie, aiming to sling an arm around her neck to secure a headlock right off the bat.

Samiya was watching Akino too. Her lips might be smiling but her eyes were cold. Dead, dark and focused. She wasn’t sure how the other wrestler would be starting things off. Sometimes, she waited. Sometimes, she rushed in. But what had given the dark beauty a clue had been Akino’s behaviour after her other sabbatical – there she’d rushed straight in.

Would it be the same here? She thought so and made sure to keep on watch, looking for any hint that might tell her what she was about to be faced with. There weren’t any though, at least not until Akino came rushing at her almost as the bell was still ringing.

Maybe it was her. Maybe it was because Akino thought she’d be easy prey. Maybe it was frustration from her loss or whatever exactly went down with her and Carmen.

Whatever. Didn’t matter. What mattered was that most people would have found that arm around their necks because they weren’t expecting it and weren’t waiting for it.

Except Samiya was waiting and punishing people who rushed in was one of her favourite tricks.

As the veteran came in, the Schoolgirl Assassin went to grab the attacking arm with both hands, simultaneously leaping up to hoist both legs over Akino’s shoulders. Then she threw her weight back, going to take the one-eyed woman down to the mat and roll her into an armbar with blurring speed.

Far too early in the match for a submission, of course. But the watching fans would recognise the hallmark of Samiya’s style in the move and there was another message there for Akino herself. Underestimate me at your peril.

Often times lesser experienced opponents tended to have slower reactions. It took their minds longer to process situations and figure out the appropriate response. That had been part of Akino’s thinking: get the jump on the inexperienced rookie and take it to her before she knew what was happening. Though, there was certainly some pent up...lets just call it “stuff” that had either resulted or lingered from her less than pleasing experience that fateful day in Ueno.

Regardless which reason had influenced Akino’s move more, there was one serious problem with it: Samiya Kusanagi was no run-of-the-mill rookie. No she hadn’t been around long. But when Akino came for her, she was clearly more than ready for it.

Akino grabbed for Samiya, but instead got a brief glimpse of the girl leaping into the air, before the world seemed to spin all around her. More accurately, the one-eyed maiden was being flipped over and quickly found herself down on her back with Samiya’s legs draped across her chest! For the briefest of seconds Akino couldn’t help but admire the limbs pinning her down. She’d been in too foul a mood to even notice initially, but Samiya really did have quite a nice pair of legs....

No, no time for thoughts like that. Akino reached her free hand up to try to grab onto the hand of her trapped arm, hopefully before Samiya could completely extend it out. And at the same time her legs frantically kicked out in search of the nearest rope, just in case she needed it.

Whether she was able to quickly get out of this predicament or not, Akino was no doubt going to be frustrated with herself. She had often employed similar techniques in her other matches. To be caught by something like that right off the bat was borderline embarrassing. Obviously she was going to have to be much more careful with this one...

Akino rushed in and paid the price for it. Samiya was able to bring her down to the mat with ease, but locking in the armbar proved a little more challenging. Caught offguard she might have been, but the bluenette clearly wasn’t about to fall for something so obvious.

She clasped her hands together and hung on for dear life, refusing to let the Schoolgirl Assassin hyperextend that arm.

Well, that countered that plan.

She could try to just pull Akino’s grip apart – Samiya’s upper body strength was deceptive and pretty immense – but even if it did work she’d be on the losing end of the trade. She wanted to tire Akino out, not let the maid tire her out instead. So she could try that or…

Keeping her grip on the arm, Samiya went to spin around behind the bluenette. Keeping one leg under the trapped limb, she tried to throw her other between her opponent’s neck and arm, going to turn the failed armbar into a triangle choke. It wouldn’t be ideal positioning but she knew Akino liked choking her opponents out.

Well, Samiya’s triangles were more than capable of putting the maid to sleep too. There’d be a rope break in the near future, of course, but she still thought the choke worth it. Woozy, angry opponents rarely thought straight in her experience and she saw no reason why that wouldn’t apply to Akino as well.

Unbeknownst to the Schoolgirl Assassin, it’d also give Akino another chance to admire those tights-encased thighs, the translucent material showing off every dangerous curve.

The good news, Akino managed to avoid having her arm hyperextended and potentially broken. The bad news, Samiya had an answer ready for that that wasn’t any more appealing than the armbar.

Samiya quickly shuffled around the floored maid, and with some quick and precise legwork, Akino now found herself trapped in a triangle choke! “Ngh!” she grunted as Samiya’s legs constricted against her. And if it had been tempting to admire the girl’s legs before, having them coiled around and pressing against her like this wasn’t helping matters.

Closing her eye in an attempt to block out the distraction, Akino focused her mind on finding the rope. Fortunately her efforts after almost being trapped in an armbar had brought her fairly close to the nearest set. She kicked out with her legs, stretched them as far as they could go, grunting through the strain with each attempt. Until finally....

“Break! Let her go, Kusanagi!” the ref called out as the toe of Akino’s boot found the bottom rope. And of course if Samiya didn’t immediately release her hold, the ref was ready and willing to start the warning count.

Samiya’s triangle holds were something she prided herself on. They took skill more than strength, they could be applied from a wide range of positions and angles and, in the hands of a skilled practitioner like herself, could have an opponent reeling fast. The pain might not be that great by comparison but, as she was sure Akino knew, the blood choke was actually more likely to end a match and fast. Pain tolerance could keep someone going through even the most agonising of submission holds.

Nothing could keep them going through having no blood going to their brain. Blackouts were inevitable, and it was their own body defeating them just to add a little sadistic irony to it all. Their own shoulder cutting the arteries to their brain.

Plus, while Samiya’s legs weren’t that long, they were plenty strong.

Of course, she wasn’t going to win here and now, nor did she want that. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.

With calculating eyes, she watched the bluenette struggle towards the ropes. They were quite close but not so close that it was easy, particularly not with her own weight counterbalancing any attempts Akino might be making to drag herself nearer.

Still, her foot was nearly there… Her toe brushed the rope-

And she had it. Samiya shrugged and kept her hold locked down firmly. She had four and a half seconds to use and, if Akino was honest, the maid would have done the exact same thing in her position.

She kept the pressure on until the last moment, when she finally undid the prison of her legs and rolled away from Akino. Rising to her feet in the centre of the ring, Samiya raised her arms and basked in the jeering of the fans.

While keeping an eye on the other wrestler, of course. This was not one to turn her back on, particularly not having just embarrassed her. Akino would be angry and likely was about to try something spectacular in an attempt to settle the scores.

But she relished the energy the fans provided her, feeding on it even.

After an intense struggle that had taken a lot of effort, Akino had managed to get to the ropes, relieved to know she’d be free from the triangle choke.... Though, that didn’t happen quite as soon as she’d expected.

“Ngh!” Akino grunted while cringing in pain as Samiya kept the choke locked in regardless of the rope break! “Why you...!” Her free hand balled into a fist and she immediately began punching at Samiya’s thigh repeatedly, while her leg continued to stretch out to touch the rope.

The last thing she needed was to accidentally lose that connection to the ropes after fighting so hard to get there.

And meanwhile, of course, the ref was right there to start the warning count for Samiya.

“One! Two! Three! Four!” she called out, and Akino began to gasp for air as the choke was finally released. The crowd may have been behind the one-eyed maiden here, as shown by their jeers directed toward her foe, but that didn’t matter one bit to Akino. Their sympathy wasn’t going to pin Samiya, or make her submit. Nor was it going to help Akino deal with any of her holds.

Essentially, it was a useless asset.

Grunting in clear frustration, Akino slammed the bottom of her fist down on the mat and rolled to her feet. And, though perhaps not the wisest of strategies, she dashed right toward Samiya again and attempted to plow her shoulder into the girl’s stomach, intending to drive her back into one of the corners.

Samiya tolerated the thumping against her thigh with lips pressed together, knowing that’d be a lot easier to deal with than Akino’s neck would be feeling. Either way, neither woman would have to tolerate it for long – after the ref hit four, they separated.

The purple-haired rookie knew she’d got the better of that exchange. And she knew Akino knew it too, going from the growl of frustration and the pounding of a fist against the mat.

Then her opponent was coming right at her.

Under normal circumstances, Akino might well have caught Samiya out. But, there were two big things working against her that really weren’t going to help. The first, pretty obviously, was that she’d just had her brain starved of oxygen for a good few seconds. Maybe she wasn’t as fast as she usually was. But the real killer was that Samiya had been waiting for her all along. While she might have dug in and tried to match the veteran power against power, the Schoolgirl Assassin instead ducked away into the blind spot offered by Akino’s dead eye.

Dropping to the floor, she went to execute a simple drop-toe hold, looking to faceplant Akino right onto the canvas. If it worked, Samiya would rub her success in by not even following up – unusual for her. Instead, she’d back off, arms spread wide in an invitation for the blue-haired girl to come at her with her most infuriating smirk.

Because clearly it had worked so well last time. But if she kept pushing those buttons, Akino would probably rush right back in.