Kyouko 'Blade' Uehara vs. Misaki 'Maiden' Sakurazaki - A Painful Reunion

At this very moment, the backstage area was, as usual, a hotbed of energy, one that operations coordinator, Usagi Hojo, excelled at controlling. Over the years, she’d come to learn the routine and had it down to a science, knowing exactly who was supposed to be coming out, when they should, accounting for the commercial breaks, avoiding any schedule conflicts, getting everything done with precision and perfect timing.

So it was no surprise that her watchful eyes didn’t fail to notice when a taller, slender woman dressed in white began to make her way through the backstage arena, stepping with powerful strides and paying little mind to anyone around her. ”Hey!” Usagi called out as she followed after the figure. ”Hey, you can’t be back here!”

Back in the ring, there was already more than enough drama without involving mysterious figures and shady intentions. As satisfying as it was to bash Blade about and give her the punishment she so justly deserved, Maiden would not let herself get too swept away in the moment - this match had rules, had a goal, and as her opponent stood stunned, she saw her chance.

Reaching forward, she seized Blade’s left hand, pulled it her way, and attempted to clamp a cuff on it, achieving a major milestone in defeating her wily foe.

Rattled senses and a lingering headache were already making it difficult enough to focus and formulate a counter plan of attack for the fallen highflyer, but when she had that haughty blonde's voice in her head it was a nigh impossibility to concentrate. It shouldn't come as any big surprise that Blade was inundated with thoughts of Ichigaya considering that both Maiden and Beauty seemed to be just as pretentious and have equally long sticks up their ass. Though she did notice a sudden shiver going up Blade's spine for some reason just than, a familiar dread she hadn't felt in years.

Blade snarled into her gloved hand and did her best to keep what was left of her cool, knowing full well that Maiden was not the careless type to offer her an opening and that her boiling temper needed to be kept in check until the momentum of this match was back in her favor. Though Blade would go into a sudden panic once overheard the familiar clicks of a handcuff opening up, her rambunctious teenage years making her well acquainted with that dreaded sound.

Blade than acting on self-preservation and instinct as she tugged and scrambled away from Misaki like a fussy child refusing to be put to bed. The Aerial Artist demonstrating her penchant for being an irritating, exasperating, and scrappy handful as she attempted to duck under the ring apron and scurry under the ring should she get her wriggling arm free.

Close now. Almost there. One little click, a snap, and it would all be done, so simple…

Maiden moved surely and swiftly to secure Blade’s arm, yanking it back and hoping to take the hotheaded harridan by surprise. A good move, in theory, and one that might have worked with most wrestlers. But no - Blade Uehara was nothing if not irritatingly difficult.

”No, no-” Maiden hissed as Blade scurried free and tried to duck under the room, moving in every way like the unruly children she had to deal with far more than she would’ve liked in her profession. But, just like those children, she knew how to handle such a problem - it required a firm resolve, a sure hand, and patience. Three things she had in abundance.

”Come back here, Uehara!” With a huff, Maiden dropped the handcuffs and grabbed hold of Blade’s nearest ankle, attempting to put an end to her escape attempt and drag her out kicking and screaming, if need be. If this punk thought it was that easy to evade her grasp, she was about to proven wrong in short order. ”You started this, now have the dignity to finish it.”

Scampering and fidgeting wildly to make space between herself and the frilly handmaiden may not have been the most flattering imagery Blade could have thought of for herself, but someone of her diminutive size and stature learned early on that beading a hasty retreat was sometimes the smartest thing she could do. Whether it was to exhaust the opponent into desperately trying to catch-up with her...or whether she was on the cusp of getting handcuffed and losing the whole friggin match.

However, there was more at work here than Blade just swallowing her pride and seemingly scampering away like a coward with her tail between her legs. Blade having been in enough hardcore matches back in her day to know the underground layout of your typical wrestling ring, her flailing arms reaching around in the dark before she sudden felt the tugging sensation on her ankle. Misaki getting just what she wanted, gradually pulling the Aerial artist out from under the curtain...

...to then be looking down the business end of a prepped and prepared red fire extinguisher. Blade's left hand positioning the nozzle mere inches away from the prim maiden's face, with her right hand firmly grasping the metallic handle. Blade puckering her lips and offering Misaki a cute air kiss before her world would explode in a gaseous explosion of billowing white and freezing cold carbon dioxide.

God, why was this woman so stubborn?

Maiden huffed and groaned as she struggled to pull Blade free from underneath the ring, growing more and more tired with her escape attempt by the second. What did she even hope to accomplish with this, anyway? Maiden was on the offense, yes, but it wasn’t like she was dominating the match.  For all her myriad faults, she’d never known the bushy-browed brat to be a coward. ”Enough, Blade! Come out here, before-”

With a final tug, Maiden pulled Blade out from under the ring, and promptly found herself staring down the nozzle of a fire extinguisher with wide, surprised eyes.

”Oh.” She blinked. ”I hate you, Blade.”

It was like getting punched in the face with a big, icy fist.  That was the best way Maiden could really describe. Like any wrestler with sufficient time between the ropes, it was hardly the first time she’d been hit with a fire extinguisher, but it was something one never got used to, not truly. It was always a thoroughly unpleasant experience, and it sent Maiden into a conniption fit. Shrieking, she spun about with her arms flailing, furiously pawing at her face while she spouted all manner of unintelligible obscenities, both in Japan and English, with a smattering of the French she’d been learning recently mixed in.

It really was fascinating what you could stumble across beneath your prototypical Japanese wrestling ring. Blade remembering times she's discovered items ranging from mundane steel girders, to the significantly more questionable ones. Like a human-sized fluffy teddy bear suit...but nothing quite beat having a helping hand from those ever-so reliable fire safety regulators~...

*FWOOM*

Blade's insidious machinations all coming to light in a billowing stream of white smoke directed squarely in the direction of Misaki's deadpan face. Booming cheers exploding from the audience with almost the exact same level of combustibility as the bursting exhaust from the fire extinguisher, Blade gleefully standing back up to continue the disorienting assault by any means necessary. Misaki given no reprieve to her spastic coughing and, admittedly, kind of hilarious attempt at cussing as Blade followed her around and practically unloaded the entire canister on her. At one point even having a little more immature fun at her expense by positioning the nozzle up Misaki's frilly skirt from behind for a decidedly freezing blast of carbon dioxide to the prim and proper backside of hers.

Regrettably that upskirt blast would empty the cannister. A disappointed look on Blade's face as she pressed the handle to get nothing out of it. She then shrugged and began to approach Misaki from behind, a devious smirk on her face the entire time.

"Hey cupcake!!...Watch...your..." Blade taunted from behind while taking a reaffirming grasp of the metal extinguisher before attempting to plow it right into the prissy face of the reeling handmaiden once she turned around.

"LANGUAGE!!!"

”-frigginくそくらえmerdedangitこのやろう-

Maiden was  a ball of confusion as she danced around, flailing wildly, screaming at the top of her lungs. She didn’t know left from right. She didn’t know how close the rail was or where she was in relation to the ring. She didn’t know how much of the stuff was in her eyes or if she’d be able to see or how long it would take to get this vile taste of her mouth.

But she did know one thing: she hated Blade Uehara. Hate, hate, hate.

It would’ve been bad enough if she’d just blasted Maiden in the face, but no, in typical Blade fashion, she had to go overboard with everything she did, had to go the extra mile of mean. The extinguisher’s blast shot up her skirt and made Maiden shriek at a octave she hadn’t even though capable of.

”Hateyouhateyouhatehatehate-”

Maiden’s raving came to a sudden end when she felt something hard and blunt and metal hit her skull dead on, knocking the sense clean out of her. She fell back and flopped to the floor, with her arms spread out and her fixed to the sky.

”...hate...you…”

Clocking Maiden upside her head now had an added benefit besides just waylaying this pretentious slob back down to the floor. Now Blade wouldn't have to suffer through her incessant yapping and making her hatred for the Aerial Artist well known to not only Blade but everyone within shouting distance.

"Yeah Yeah Yeah...*pant*...ya sound like a broken record..." Blade casually uttered while chucking the now emptied and slightly dented canister off and to the side. All of that fire extinguishing also happened to thankfully give Blade time to recoup from her own beating she had taken so far in this match. Her pace a tad quicker as a result as she turned to her side and began clearing the nearby announcer's table of water bottles, fluttering documents, and that plastic shielding thing at the front end of the table.

"Can't say I'm all that surprised. Considering...ya know..." Blade than paused while getting a handle on the two monitors and flinging them to the side with reckless abandon. "You just got done calling me fucking trash..." Blade bitterly stated while reaching down for two tugging handfuls of Misaki's purple locks to haul the prim handmaiden back to her feet and bring her face to snarling face with Blade.

"And that just breaks my heart...Cuz right now, I'm just loving our time together..." Blade not having to glare into Misaki's eyes much longer before she would slam the maid's face into the emptied announcer's table. Immediately afterward shoving Maiden to lay back first onto the table, Blade offered one final forearm shot to the side of Misaki's face for good measure as she began ushering herself back towards the ring in preparation of something the audience was already getting hyped to see...

Maiden’s head was swimming as she laid on the floor, pondering all sorts of important questions. Where was Blade? What was she about to do? Would the flame retardant stain her outfit, and if so, would it come out in the wash?

She received the answer to that question forthwith, as she heard Blade’s irritatingly satisfied voice nearby. She opened her eyes enough to see a pair of blurry hands reaching out to her from above, right before they grabbed hold of her hair and forced her to stand on wobbly feet.

Mumbling and muttering, still too dazed for much of a fight, she was helpless as the vagrant hurled her on top of a nearby desk, no doubt sending papers flying all about. That was where Maiden stayed for the moment, too, shaking her head from side to side, still reeling.

She was hurt, but not so out of it that she didn’t have a good idea what was coming. She needed to summon her strength, needed to move, needed to do anything but be a target for what was surely about to happen…

The sight of Blade clearing the announcer's table of any random debris already began to generate an underlying buzz in the jam-packed stadium. Blade feeding off of those honed instincts of hers that were compelling her to seek redemption for that early botched aerial finisher the only way she knew how. She rolled under the bottom ropes and began to steadily approach the turnbuckle closest to the maid who was still reeling and hopefully still right where Blade had left her. Each step ascending up the corner ringpost gradually brought the surrounding audience members out of their seats as well.

Blade felt that spike of adrenaline once more coursing through her veins...but unlike last time, Blade would give herself time to appreciate the view. She scanned the cheering masses and took a deep breath to soak in what she had been missing for all those years out of action.

"Let's fucking do this!!!"

Though all of that nostalgic revelry would be promptly shattered with one bellowing scream from the Aerial Artist before than stepping on to the top rope beside the ringpost. Blade's balancing tightrope act continuing with coordinated footsteps until she was as close to Misaki as she could be before suddenly propelling herself forward. Her nimble frame miraculously clearing the six feet of space between the ring and the announcer's table in one leap for an attempted flying elbow drop directed straight towards the rattled maid, who Blade prayed wouldn't be waking up anytime soon!!