Ninjas Do It Stealthily

Kozue Kaburagi walked down a bustling sidewalk in Japan, hands in her jacket pocket, a skip in her step and a whistle on her lips. Her ponytail bounced from side to side with every step, like the tics of a clock. Every little breath bought a huff from her mouth, freezing in the cold, but she didn’t let it dampen her spirits. She was about as happy as she could get, really. In fact, considering she just lost a match, she was downright chipper.

The reason for that had to do with her destination - her opponent, Asami, had invited her on a little date of sorts, and it was clear in the ring they had some chemistry going on. Considering the last person she’d been intimate with decided to pack her shit and leave for absolutely no reason whatsoever, this was more than welcome. And doing it with a fellow wrestling ninja? Well, that was a rare treat she couldn’t pass up.

Not to mention, they were meeting a bar. Any excuse to get a good drink in was a good excuse in Kozue’s head.

She made her way out of the throngs and strolled into the bar right on time, more than glad to get out of the cold. As she hung up her jacket and dusted off the red Nintendo shirt underneath, she did a quick scan across the bar, seeing if she could find where Asami had planted that fine rump of hers...

Asami sat at a table in the corner of the bar, her tight black t-shirt bearing the image of Shiek from the Legend of Zelda games. Still in high spirits from her match with Kozue, she grinned as she looked up and saw the American making her way through the bar.

Raising her hand, Asami beckoned to Kozue.

"Hey, over here!" she called over the noise and din of the bar. "You've got some catching up to do, I'm already one beer in."

A smile crossed her face as she winked at Kozue...

Kozue lit up when she spotted Asami, then lit up even more when she saw the shirt she was wearing. Definitely something that, by all rights, should’ve belonged in her collection. She would have to fix that, sometime. Chests aside, they were about the same size, so maybe they could work out a trade later on…

”Fuck, I’ll have to fix that quick.” She sauntered her way over, sliding past a particularly round and drunk dude with ease, and hopped over on the seat opposite to Asami. She took a moment to study the bar behind them, letting her eyes scan over them racks with quick strokes, before she made a selection and waved a waitress over their way.

”I’ll have to double up and even the score. No problem.” Kozue reached behind her head and adjust it a bit, trying to pull the knot up a few inches. ”So, Asami-chan. Surprised it took so long for them to put us in the ring together. Where you been hiding?”

"Heh, you'd better, I don't like being the only one drunk!" Asami replied as Kozue sat down. "Nice shirt by the way." she added.

When the waitress came, Asami decided to go ahead and order her next drink. She decided to go with a glass of umeshu fruit wine, the Tokyo native deciding to go with something a little sweeter...and stronger...than beer on this drink.

As they waited on their drinks, Kozue asked about Asami's whereabouts.
"Well, I don't usually wrestle in Tension. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind fighting guys...you know, just fighting guys. But, back in the day, you had to be ready to do....stuff with guys. And I don't do that kind of stuff with them. And I know it's changed, and maybe I'll check it out now that I've had it out with a Tension girl."

She grinned at Kozue before going on.

"I've also been away....took almost a year off. Had some issues to work through, ya know?"

She hoped that gloss over would deter any further questioning about what she had been doing in the past year. Asami really didn't want to throw in a 'Oh by the way, I was a street fighting vigilante for a year. Had a name and everything. Kunoichi.' Yeah...that would go over really well, right before Kozue took off and filed a restraining order.

"What about you? Talent like yours doesn't just stroll into the AFW, does it?"

For Kozue’s part, she chose De la Senne Black, always staying true to her beer-loving ways. A tad expensive, yeah, but she was in a splurging mood tonight. It would do well for all the pains over her body, too, and she could use something with a heavy taste.

”Nice choice.” She caught a quick glance as the waitress’ hindquarters while she walked away, then refocused on Asami. ”Little fru-fru for my tastes, but nice. And...stuff?” Kozue looked confused, then leaned forward with a little whisper. ”What, like...anal? Handjobs? Stuff like that? Nah.” She fished into the bowl of nuts and picked out a particularly large one. ”I can safely confirm that Tension is about 80% less about ‘stuff’ than it used to be. Haven’t touched a guy’s schnitzelf and taters with anything but my foot, and that was for a kick.”

When the topic drifted to her, she flicked the nut up, let it fly in an arch, until it came down into her waiting, open mouth. ”Yum.” She chomped away on it, then looked back down to Asami. ”Eh, I don’t know about strolling. Don’t do much ‘strolling’ anywhere. But I was walking the Earth like Caine for the longest time. Went here, went there, tried a bunch of stuff, finally found this place and everything just sort of…” Kozue snapped her fingers. ”...clicked.”

"Hey, I happen to like the fru fru drinks!" Asami protested. "As a woman, I reserve the right to drink my fru fru drinks!"

With that, she took a drink of her wine, listening to Kozue talk about how things were in Tension. It bore some consideration. While Asami was strictly sapphic when it came to her sexual wants, she did like to fight, and getting into the ring with guys would add a new twist to a good old adrenaline rush. The threatof finding herself in a hentai setting with a man was the main deterrent that kept her from looking into adding her name to the roster. But first....she had to return to action in her home division, Friction.

These thoughts however, were for a more sober Asami. For now, she considered the woman in front of her as she wagged her finger.

"Alright you can be coy about your joining the AFW, but you owe me the story of how a New Jersey girl learned ninjutsu." Asami said, leaning forward. The front of her shirt dropped, revealing a good amount her cleavage. Of course, Asami knew what was happening there. It was a not so subtle advertisement to a girl who had already expressed interest in that area...

Kozue, not being blind, couldn’t help but notice the lovely pair in front of her face, practically being offered her way. She’d made her intentions clear during the fight, but Asami really did have one of the nicer pairs she’d come across since joining up, and she could admire the way she wasn’t afraid to put them on display. How she kept them wrapped up in that outfit of hers was another question for another time, but still…

”Well, that’s a little racist, don’t you think?” Kozue flicked another beer nut, getting some good height on this one before she gobbled it up. Despite the words, the tone stayed playful. ”I mean, you can learn all sorts of martial arts in New Jersey. Kung fu, tae kwon do, karate - it’s not all that weird, is it?”

Kozue shrugged, content to keep up the coy for a little longer. She looked over to the side as the waitress started to come over with their liquid courage. ”But yeah, I get what you mean. It’s...kind of a weird story. Just gotta think of the best way to get into it.” She rubbed her neck, then leaned forward, too, though she had much less to show off under her shirt than Asami. ”How about this - what do you think of when you think of New Jersey? What comes to mind? If anything.”

"Racist?" Asami echoed. "Aren't you a walking symbol of cultural appropriation?"

The retort was delivered in teasing voice before turning serious after Kozue asked her about what she knew of New Jersey.

"To be honest, nothing aside from things you see on TV shows and movies. Aside from a trip to Hawaii for a Summer Splash, I've never been to America. Me and my family never really had the money to travel." she confessed. "Um....it's like a little Italy, maybe? I don't think it can be as dirty as TV makes it out to be."

She shrugged.

"So yeah...not much. It's just....ninjutsu, real ninjutsu, isn't as abundantly taught and centralized as other martial arts. Even here in Japan I had to look hard to find someone who taught an authentic form of it, and even then, he withheld quite a bit. So I had to fill in the gaps with other martial arts. So....I'm curious and...a little jealous, I guess, about how a girl from so far away came to know a Japanese art that I had trouble finding a teacher for in my home country."

”Very few things in the world as a dirty as they make it look on TV.”

The drinks finally came and Kozue was all too eager to take her mug, bringing it down and giving it a good look through the glass. It had a nice, dark color to it, with a thick head of foam on top, and a smell that probably carried at least two booths down. Strong. Stout. Just what she needed.

”There we go, there we go.” She took a few gulps of it and cherished the flavor, before setting it back down. ”Being real, I sort of picked it up from my Dad. He was - is, I guess, haven’t seen him in a long damn time. But he’s kind of a Japanophile, I think’s the right word. Really my whole family - my great grandfather mixed in a lot of Japanese stuff with the mafia back in the day, and it’s something we’ve sort of stuck to for a long time.”

She took another sip, knowing how weird this would all sound. She’d gotten used to it, but she was always aware about the way others took it.

Asami sat, listening through Kozue's explanation about her family. She took a sip of her wine, while taking some of the beer nuts from a bowl. Popping one in her mouth she considered the strangeness of it all.

Chuckling, Asami shook her head.

"Really? My dad picked it up?" she said. "You're right, that is pretty weird. But....probably mot the weirdest thing in the world these days."

After taking another drink Asami took a beer nut and deftly lobbed it at Kozue's mouth, so she could snap it out of the air....