You need to relax! [Lari]

Chloe of course heard that low insult from Akino and after the waitress had left she would swipe her hand out. As quick and agile like a cat, swiping it up and grabbing a handful of blue hair. Looking to yank Akino up towards her so that they were both leaning over the table, eye to eye and nearly forehead to forehead. 

" What was that ?! You wanna repeat what you just said?" Chloe let out in a challenging manner as she tried to stare Akino down, the eyes in the restaurant turned towards the two women as they were quite confused as to what was going on. Of course Chloe had two agendas with this, one was to control Akino, who was currently hers...the other was to try and light a fire in that belly of the one eyed maiden....which she was planning to do on way or another.

Akino yelped and winced as her hair was suddenly yanked, and suddenly everything went silent, and time itself seemed to come to a stop. All eyes were on Akino and Chloe. Jaws had dropped, and people were starting to wonder if there was a need to interfere before something got out of hand. Akino could feel every single their gazes, and their immensely unwanted pity for her.

She knew being forced to endure Chloe’s company was going to torturous. But it had less than a minute after arriving at this restaurant before her worst expectations were not just realized, but exceeded.

The blue haired girl glared at the Brazilian. Yes, there was anger in her face. But it was far outweighed by overwhelming sadness. Tears started to well up and her lips quivered, despite Akino’s best attempts to prevent it. She was fighting so hard to keep her emotions contained that her body began to shake. If Chloe’s intent was to light a fire, her efforts so far were akin to throwing a lit match into a bucket of water.

“Let go of me…” Akino said, managing to grunt the words out through grit teeth.

Chloe would click her tongue in annoyance as she looked on at Akino...shoving the woman back into her seat as she would seat herself down and turn her gaze away from Akino and out at the crowd. Seeing them all staring at them. " What the hell are you looking at ?!" She roared out loudly, clearly frustrated. The gazes of most of the patrons of the place turned away from them and back towards their food...

Where Chloe would turn her attention back to Akino and let out a deep sigh. She moved up to her feet and shook her head, moving up to Akino, she would grab Akino by her collar and try and pull her rival up to her feet. Looking to start to guide Akino off towards the bathroom so they could get some privacy.

She didn't exactly drag...more like tried to guide Akino. Once they were inside, Chloe would move herself and Akino so they were face to face. Door closed....She'd send Akino a hard slap! Right to her cheek.

Before attempting to quickly embrace Akino, looking to try and wrap her arms tightly around the blue haired maiden, hugging her close, hugging those arms to Akino's sides as her head leaned over Akino's shoulder and against the woman's head. White and blue hair meshing a little bit.

Akino was practically frozen in place after Chloe shoved her back and admonished the unwanted spectators. Then the next thing she knew she was being yanked right out of her seat and guided through the restaurant, legs following along involuntarily, until the two were in the bathroom. The confused girl didn’t even have time to ask Chloe just what in the hell she was doing before…

SLAP!

The hand smacked Akino right in the cheek and whipped her head to the side, completely stunning her. Then she was surprised once again, this time by a hug. Another few seconds went by and Akino just stood there, still registering everything that was going on. Finally her brain caught up, and finally she started letting everything out.

Akino buried her face in Chloe’s shoulder and the tears began to flow. Crying was something Akino had rarely done in her life. She’d always been a tough girl. Her temper wasn’t always the best, but it took a lot to genuinely get under her skin. But as of late Akino had hit an emotional rock bottom so hard that there was just no toughing it out. Here she was, crying a river of tears into the shoulder of someone she’d considered a rival, the mere thought of which she no doubt once would’ve considered embarrassing and pathetic. But here she was, pouring all her grief and sorrow out in the safety of Chloe’s embrace.

Chloe hugged Akino tightly, pressing the side of her head against Akino's as she wrapped her arms for as tight of an embrace she could around her rival. She gently rubbed her head against Akino's as her left hand rubbed against Akino's back. Her right hand moving up to the back of the blue haired maiden's head. Keeping her tightly in the hug with her head past her shoulders.

She heard and felt those tears flow, the shaking of Akino's body against hers. She wasn't about to let Akino go, Akino needed a shoulder to cry on, if things had bothered her this much then Chloe was going to be that shoulder she could cry on. Cause as brash and rude that the Brazilian seem, she did like Akino quite a lot...she didn't just love their rivalry, she really liked Akino as well.

Of course, Chloe had been fairly pissed at the one-eyed maiden for losing twice...and moping the way she did. The fact that her rival had broken down had caused the tan-skinned beauty to want to punch her right in the nose....but what she cared more about was Akino's feelings. Seeing that her...friend, hadn't just been moping around but was genuinely sad had given Chloe a sickening feeling...and made her resolve to be a rock for Akino to lean against in these tough times for her rival.

She didn't say anything, she simply kept up the embrace, letting those tears run. Letting Akino know, without a single word that her rival...her friend, Chloe was there for her.

Akino never would’ve thought she’d find herself being embraced by a rival in the midst of her darkest hour. She felt pathetic for it, but that was nothing new to her, particularly as of late. But she also felt safe. Free to let out all the pain brought on by her recent heartache and humiliation. The feeling of Chloe’s hand gently rubbing her back eased Akino’s shaking body to a more calm state, though it took quite a while to get there.

Eventually her crying came down to a heavy sobbing. She didn’t know how long it would be before the tears would stop altogether. But at least it was enough now that she was able to speak. It took a few moments, and her voice was still week but finally words began to slip through her lips.

“I’ve never felt so low. So weak.. So...worthless…” She’d thought about it constantly for some time now. But this was the first time Akino was truly confessing just how horrible everything that had happened lately had made her feel. From Carmen’s tactics in their match to the way and the breakup that followed to Samiya taking advantage of both Akino’s handicap and her rage to humiliate her on two separate occasions.

“I can’t do anything about my eye. I’ve never been ashamed of that. But I used to believe that wasn’t the only thing that defined me...as a person...or as a wrestler. Now…” Her voice started to break again as she pushed the words out. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I’m so lost…”

Chloe held tightly onto her rival, embracing her in a close hug as she wouldn't let her go. She wanted Akino to know that that it was safe, that Chloe's arms would hold onto her rival tightly...the might be rivals, but Chloe also thought of them as being friends sort of.

Akino had been her first opponent in AFW, a tough one at that. One that gave her one hell of a fight and who challenged her in every way the Brazilian could imagine. They'd formed a bond throughout the match and at the end of the match and what came to follow in their relationship only solidified their friendship and intense rivalry.

The white haired woman soon started to hear Akino speak out, sobbing and letting out those words that only caused Chloe to bring one hand up to the back of Akino's head, her fingers tightening around that blue hair as she held her tightly. " Never say that. You're not worthless and your eye for damn sure doesn't define you! You managed to beat me even though I tried to take advantage of that. You're better than to let something like that slow you down." Chloe spoke out as she would hold Akino even tighter.

" So you don't get to think that it's a handicap or something that hinders you! Not after the way we've fought..." Chloe let out, she was frankly feeling a bit annoyed that Chloe was saying such words. As it kinda insulted her as a wrestler, but ultimately she did try to help Akino as much as she could.

These were all things Akino had desperately needed to hear for sometime now, though she never would’ve imagined that Chloe would be the one to say them. Starting with her 24/7 title match that now seemed like it had been an eternity ago, just about everything that had happened to Akino inside of a ring had only supported the idea that idea that her handicap made her less of a wrestler, and even less of a person among her peers. Was it true? No, but in her broken state Akino hadn’t been able to convince herself of that alone.

Now that she was finally hearing it from a voice that carried some weight, it was a massive relief. That wasn’t to say Akino was suddenly feeling entirely back to her old self with a few magic words. The full journey to regaining her confidence and pride wouldn’t be easy, but hearing those words was the first step in the right direction. Next step: to stop these pathetic tears.

It took a little while, but Akino finally settled down. The tears eventually stopped flowing, and her body’s shaking gradually subsided. She felt like she should say something, but whatever it was, she was having trouble finding the words. Chloe didn’t have to be there for her like this, and Akino hadn’t even asked for it, yet here she was. She needed to show just how much she appreciated it, but was that even possible? In the end, she just decided to keep it simple and find a way to repay Chloe another day.

“Thank you, Chloe… I’m sorry you had to see me like this,” she said, now feeling somewhat foolish and embarrassed by her emotional outburst. Even still, she couldn’t be more grateful for Chloe’s reassuring words and comforting embrace.

Chloe would keep that tight hug going between the two of them, not wanting to let go of Akino just yet, until she knew that Akino knew that it was okay. That everything was okay. Soon it seemed to become more clear to her, as the blue haired girl stopped crying and her body subsided it's shaking.

When she heard Akino speak out though, the white haired girl would roll shrug her shoulders. The Brazilian would slowly unwrap her arms from Akino and take a step back, She'd place her hands up on Akino's shoulders and look on at Akino's face.

" Don't worry about it. Also....better I did than anyone else." Chloe spoke out as she would give Akino a wink of her eye and then finally release Akino. " After all, I know what kind of badass you really are." Chloe spoke out with a bright wide grin appearing on her face.

Chloe’s words drew a small chuckle from Akino’s lips. It wasn’t a full laugh, but it was the closest Akino had come to one in quite a while. It felt nice to laugh and smile again, to know there was at least one person who believed she belonged in the ring. And Chloe was right. If anyone would know about that, it’d be her.

Akino raised her wrist and used it to wipe the tears away as much as she could. For a moment she tried to think of what to say, tough nothing came to mind. Then a loud growl rumbled in her belly, making the one-eyed girl blush a bit. For all her stubbornness and attempts to get out of coming to this restaurant, she hadn’t been eating much lately. And it seemed she was a lot hungrier than she’d been willing to admit earlier.

“I, uh… I think our food’s probably getting cold by now. We should probably be getting back to our table…”