Dire Straits

[color=ff00ff]”Join you?”

It seemed like the two wolves - geez, that’d take some getting used to - thought that Kaede would be resistant to the idea. And, truth told, she had some apprehension about the idea for understandable reasons, and that could be seen as her face shriveled up.

But the more they talked, the more she pondered, and the more she more she pondered, the more she seriously considered what was being offered here. She’d honestly kind of wanted to join a faction, anyway. It seemed like a good way to get ahead in the AFW, always having someone to watch your back, give you a little assistance every now and then, maybe swing matches you way on occasion.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the whole thing with Manami beating her to a pulp, she would’ve jumped on the idea. But that was sort of a sticking point. Joining might’ve meant she wouldn’t be on Manami’s bad side anymore, but she wasn’t sure what being on her good side meant. The idea of being around her for long periods of time was unsettling…

...but not as unsettling as the idea of her striking at some random time in the future and fucking Kaede’s shit up. A fact that was made all the more clear as Fumika got in her face, drilling in every word. This wasn’t just the best choice, it was the only choice.

After a moment more of thought, Kaede looked from Fumika to Yuki and then back again, before she gave a solemn nod. ”I don’t know what a weighted dip is, but okay, sure.” She took a deep breath and sat up, only taking a brief moment to wince at the pain in her chest as she did. ”I’ll take the test, I guess. What is it, though? Exactly?”

Fumika smiled warmly at the confirmation and stood up along with Kaede, folding her hands in front of her. Yuki merely gave a half-hearted shrug, neither thrilled nor interested in the girl’s slight eagerness. So she found a way out of the rock and a hard place. Good for her. Doesn't mean she wasn’t going to get hit.

“It’s actually two tests. You and I are going to do a bit of working out. Push-ups, lifts, shoulder presses, curls, jogs-in-place. The works. Maybe even a spar, if you’re unlucky. Manage to impress me, and you get a pass.” She then raised a finger, pointing towards Fumika from her folded arms. “Then she’s gonna fuck you.”

The blue-eyed woman’s face remained as still as ever. Her smile didn’t twitch in the slightest as her eyes remained settled on their fresh recruit. Yuki was more or less correct and, again, there wasn’t much time to butt heads with her for the moment.

“It's true. My test centers around sensual endurance. Hold out for as long as you can, and if you impress me, then I’ll give you my approval. Post-coitus that is.” She gave a wink with those final words.

A tease was always the best way to kick things off for something considered a bit..embarrassing. No need for that though. If she really wants to be one of them, then that means making yourself insurmountable. Kaede was hardy and unbreakable, but she’s yet to win in the ring. Fumika pondered that it was from a lack of any formal training. The girl seemed to be taking a more lonesome approach to her career. She doubted she even had a manager. If she wanted to be a well-rounded fighter, she’d assist her every step of the way. Even more so, if it meant making her look good for Manami.

“Quit teasing her. Go change. I’ll get her sorted out.”

“Okay, then.” She started to turn around until she realized just how much they were throwing at once at Kaede. Turning around, she met her with one last look of concern. “Any other questions, Kaede? If not, we’d better get started. It’d be better to finish this before Manami gets back.”

Kaede was still nodding along with Yuki, as she explained what the test would be, and at first she didn’t have much reason to fret. Okay, the idea of sparring this woman didn’t sound all that fun, especially given the hellacious beatdown she’d put her through just a few minutes ago, but aside from that it was all mundane. Kaede was not in bad shape by any real definition - sure, she wasn’t a bodybuilder like Yuki and she didn’t have Fumika’s thundrous thighs, but she was still in better shape than the average woman. Maybe that wasn’t saying too much considering the shape of the average woman, but whatever.

So she was good and willing and ready...right up until Yuki threw that last curveball her way. If she’d still bent drinking the tea, she’d probably have spat it out. ”Wait, what?”

Okay, she really didn’t see this coming when she woke up this morning.

She stared at Fumika for a moment, wide-eyed and not really knowing what to say, if she should be aroused  or horrified or some combination of both. Fumika was hot. Unbelievably hot. Insanely hot. Kaede would jump at the chance to fuck her or be fucked. But holding out, against that? At least with Yuki, she was in her wheelhouse. She was used to taking punishment. Pleasure was a whole different kind of deal, and she wasn’t sure-

Those doubts flew away when Fumika mentioned Manami again. Yeah, it would be better if this was done before the psycho got back and possibly put the kibosh to it. ”No, no questions. I mean, I can ask as we go along, I think.” She was quick to shake her head, then turned to look up at Yuki.

”So, uh, sorry about…” She held up her cast and mimed hitting Yuki in the face. Awkward. ”What are we doing first?”

Yuki heard Kaede’s apology and question, but kept looking at Fumika until she left around the corner. She waited and waited. Just a few more seconds until she disappeared around the corner. And once she was finally out of sight...

“First? Well, for starters.” She’d then grab Kaede’s hoodie by the collar, giving her a firm headbutt before firmly pressing their foreheads together. Yuki glared daggers into her as she intended to make her message clear. “That’s a taste of what’s to come, you punk. Remember, I didn’t make any promise. As far as I’m concerned, you’re still the enemy. I destroy all of the Mother’s enemies. Once you pass, then my tune might change. Until then, if you try anything, anything, I’ll break your fucking jaw.“ With that, she’d push her back against her collar, before nodding her head down the hallway. “Now let's get this started.”

Turning around, she led Kaede down the hallway and past the room Fumika had disappeared into. Throwing open the adjacent door, she opened the door a flashed the lights on. A few discarded dumbbells and a set bench press were in the corner. An open window was letting a couple raindrops in. There was also a bar set close to the ceiling for pull ups. A little bench, a treadmill, even a shoulder press. This was quite the expense for an apartment shared by seemingly a few people.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess. I was rudely interrupted before I could finish.”

Yuki gave her shoulder a good roll before turning back around towards Kaede, eyeing her up and down. Hm, she already looked dressed to go, but that cast was a problem. The shoulder press might work, but..dammit that was putting a serious dent in the routine. Ah, well. We’ll focus on the lower body. Her strength might lie there anyway.

“We’ll start easy. Hop on the treadmill. We’ll go for a quick 10k to limber you up. Don’t forget to stretch first.”

The muscular blonde folded her arms as she waited for Kaede to get started. She cocked her head to the side, sizing her up a little further. There might be potential, but for now, it was pretty dim.

There was a second there, a brief moment, where Kaede was under the impression that she was in kind of a safe zone. Sure, she was in Manami’s apartment, and she didn’t like the idea that the psychopath could step in at any moment and start tearing her shit up, but aside from that things were relatively calm. Fumika had done a good job of putting her at ease. Making her think she could come through this relatively unscathed.

And then Yuki had to go and mess it up by headbutting. Yeah, yeah, Kaede could say she liked Fumika a lot more, at this point. Confident statement.

”Ah, goddamn it!” She cried out as her skulls came into contact with Yuki’s equally hard one, as the two of them got far closer than she would’ve liked.  Threats came as Yuki showed fangs, holding her close and saying what she’d do if Kaede didn’t tow the line. The pinkette believed her, all the way. She wasn’t quite as insanely vicious as Manami, but she could still see shades of that psycho-lust in her. She’d felt it when she was being battered against the wall with punches that could crack bones. This was not a woman who held back.

She went along, stumbling every few steps and wishing she was in that room with Fumika, until they came to the end of their little trip - a surprisingly well setup workout room. It was no substitute for a real gym or anything, but for something in an apartment? Nice. Too nice. Made her wonder where they’d gotten the money for it all.

Kaede started to ask. Even opened her mouth for it. Then she remembered who she was talking to,  and decided to save it.

She was a little startled by the order - she could do a 10K, sure, but it wasn’t exactly something she limbered up with. Still, she knew complaining wouldn’t get her anywhere, and the faster they got through this, the quicker she could get to Fumika. That was as good a motivation as any.

So, off came her hoodie. Underneath, she was wearing her typical getup, with the sarashi that covered up her chest and kept her breasts bundled up, nice and tight. After some stretches, she hopped on the treadmill, started it up, and off she went, hurtling at a decent pace of 10 KPH. She maintained it with a good job, and while it wasn’t the fastest she could go, she made up for with her stamina. That was one thing Kaede always had going for her with this sort of thing. The other girls could outrun her in the shortrun, but she would always pass them eventually, making her body go longer than they could manage.

Hopefully, that little quirk would serve her well today.

“Oh?”

That was a pleasant surprise. She expected her to just work it in the hoodie, even if it was a little warm in here. But no, off came the top and she was getting psyched. You didn’t see many girls walking around with a sarashi. Seems at least tried to look the part of a fighter. Those scars helped too. And she could see the red indentations from her fist, where she knocked the wind out of her. Her lungs must still be hurting. Huh, maybe starting her out with a 10k wasn’t the best idea. Nah, she was doing fine so far. Only...

What the fuck is she doing? It was a nice steady jog, sure. For a fucking retiree going around the public park. She knew this girl wasn’t serious about shit. Well, it was time for her to get serious and learn just who she was dealing with.

“Are you messing with me? This a test, not a Sunday stroll.” With one finger, she’d press down on the dial for a couple seconds, letting the machine rev up and send the belt flying. “Keep at this pace for a good 20 or 30 minutes and you should be done. Any longer than that, and I’ll kick your feet out from under you.”

She set her watch, making occasional glances at it as she watched Kaede continue with the workout. It was a good sign seeing the sweat build on her skin as the minutes went by. She was putting an effort in it seemed. As much as she was pushing her, the progress she was making was decent. She knew how to pacer herself and not keep enough energy in the tank for the final push. That was a mistake she’d seen plenty of people make. Wonder why she didn’t take a similar approach in the ring.

“Your posture isn’t bad. You do track in high school? 5 minutes, by the way.”

A little faster, a little harder, a little more. Kaede hit the track running like a nosebleed, going along at a steady pace. She was doing good to start up, and for a moment she expected some smooth sailing. Just had to keep up this pace for a while, get warmed up, then-

BEEP!

Yeah, should’ve known better, really. ‘Steady’ wasn’t enough for Yuki. She wanted to push hard, and Kaede had to oblige her. She stumbled at first, but after a minute she was able to keep up, plowing headlong through this. It was a good thing she’d gotten all the water she needed for today, too, because she needed it, as the droplets continued to stream down her skin, pooling off to the side of the machine.

”Track?” She breathed out the words in between huffs and puffs. ”Uh, no. Mostly karate training.”

It had been a while, but yeah, that was the base for a lot of her stamina. Even if she’d never advanced beyond a white belt, she’d spent a lot of time working out during the training, improving her body so she could get the most of the moves. It had never really left her.

Steady as ever, she kept going until the five minutes experienced. When it was over, she was covered in a thick sheen of sweat, breathing hard and heavy...but alive and kicking, more or less.

Karate, huh?

That explains the leg sweep from earlier. This girl wasn’t just a street brawler. She was a street brawler with expertise. She wondered just how far her training had taken her, what kind of moves she took on. She was no black belt, obviously, but Yuki couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of hidden talent she had stored away down there. Well, she’d tease out some of it here and now.

Yuki was honestly somewhat surprised when she finished that run without faltering. Even taking into account that her chest and lungs couldn't be feeling the best at the moment. It seems like she was dealing with the pain rather well. This girl’s endurance was something to take notice of. Something to build around. And from what little Manami had told of their private session, her body could take quite an amount of punishment. Combine that with some of her karate expertise, maybe improve her leg strength a little. She could already see it. This girl could make a fine addition to the pack.

“Alright, now we got your muscles moving. Take a second to catch your breath. Then get set to do 100 squats. Then we’re turning it up.and gonna do some leg lifts. After that, we’ll see how you handle the shoulder press. And then we’ll follow it up with some bicycle kicks, leg curls, maybe some step-ups if I can find some boxes while you're busy. We could round things off with some deadlifts too. How much do you weigh? Oh wait, the cast, right. Damn it, why did you have to go and break your arm?”

Yuki would continue to rattle off exercise after exercise in her mind until she had it all ordered neatly in her mind. She turned back around and stared at the sweating karate girl. Maybe she could administer a bit of an endurance test within the endurance test by throwing in a spar. Even the odds a bit by letting her use the cast. Yeah, that could work. She wasn't shy about using it before, either.

Alright, that was more than enough of a break. Time to get this shit started.


“Let’s go. 100 squats. One after the other. No breaks.”

Good god, this woman was hardcore. Kaede hoped this sort of training wasn’t an everyday pack thing, because she wasn’t totally sure she could keep up.

For now, though, she was surviving well enough. While Kaede didn’t have as much time as she would’ve liked to recover and catch her breath, she figured that was probably the point - if it was easy, it wouldn’t be much of a test, right? So she could endure. She’d have to. All she had to do was think of Fumika and the sex that was waiting for her if she got past this. If that didn’t work, all she had to do was think of Yuki and the beatdown that was waiting for her if she didn’t get past this.

Squats it was, then.  Kaede didn’t have the best legs for them, but she started along and got a good rhythm going. Drop. Push up, nice and slow. Straighten out. Repeat. The proper posture helped, and before long she was on a good track for all 100. Once again, her karate training came back to help her out.

”I dunno, I’m like… Drop. Push up. Straighten out. ”135, 140, maybe. Drop. Push up, Straighten out. ”And I didn’t break my arm. Manami did.”

There was some bitterness in that last one, but she couldn’t much help it - it was hard to talk about having her arm snapped without letting some bitterness seep in. The memory did nothing to warm the mood. ”Where did you even meet Manami, anyway? And this Right Claw, Left Claw thing, where’s all that come from?”

She also couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have to take up a name, too. Wolf’s tail? Wolf’s fang? There wasn’t much dignified left.

Now it seemed like Kaede was getting inquisitive, asking a fair share of questions. She wanted to know where she and Manami met. Alright, Yuki wasn’t too keen on just letting insight like that slip. It was natural for her to be curious. Didn’t mean it was appreciated. Breaking the ice was fine, as tense as things were between them, but she had to earn information like that. Especially from someone who was looking to wreak her stuff just a while ago.

“An underground racket. She was a real terror back in those days. Most of the stuff you see around here is surplus from her winnings, just to give you an idea. That was the first time we met. That's all you're getting though.”

She was the first to admit that the Left Claw and Right Claw deal sounded strange from an outsider's perspective. To anyone else, she might have forgone the idea entirely. But it was her admiration for Manami Kuroda alone that made her beat her title with pride. Even if it meant going alone, she would stay by her side until the very end.

“Those are only for us, cub. We were handpicked by her and she trusts us. And I couldn’t be prouder personally. She’s a woman with the potential to change the entire federation. And Fumika and I will be by her side every step of the way. That’s just how things will be.” She let her eyes rise up from her squatting posture and focus on the karate girl’s eyes. Yuki wanted to be heard. “If you ever want to turn tail and run, that’s fine. But do that, you’re an enemy. To us, and everyone who holds a grudge against the Pack. Remember that.”

Her eyes narrowed and burned holes into Kaede. She meant every word of that. Not that she she cared for her well being, but because she had to understand just exactly what she was getting into. This was more than a group. It was a brotherhood. Their loyalty to one another and, more importantly, their leader was all they had. She had to realize that in time. Assuming she made it through this, anyway.

“Now hurry and finish up. You’re falling behind. Shit, might have to speed this up.”