What Doesn't Kill You

Sure, there was subterfuge, but Sin would’ve been lying if she said there weren’t some genuine feelings brewing here, if she said the attraction was purely one-sided. She tended towards taller men and women for one thing - not a hard rule, but it was a point in Zoey’s favor, one that made her body all the more desirable. As they neared, she could take in her new friend’s scent, inhaled it, savored it, craved for more.

So, when she saw those signs of hesitation pop along Zoey’s sweet face, she couldn’t help harboring some worries. Zoey was thinking. Sin did not want Zoey thinking too much about this. This was, after all, a silly thing for her to agree to do. They were strangers, knowing each other for less than five minutes, and now they were about to have a spar in a private room, one with a heavy implication of sexuality. The sort of behavior you’d expect from a soon-to-be-dead woman in a slasher movie, not a sensible person.

But sensible wasn’t a good word for Zoey, was it? No. She was young and she was impulsive and Sin was chewing her lips as she looked up at her fellow Korean, their bodies so close to touching, raw heat mingling between them, that expectant, hungry, wanting look in her eyes.

Be bold, Zoey. Go for it, Zoey.

And so the bait was taken. Sin sighed, just audible enough for Zoey to hear, and let her shoulders slacken, showing the hesitation wasn’t one-sided. In truth, she was just glad the honey approach worked. She was fairly sure that, if all else failed, she could just goad Zoey into accepting a spar on the spot, but she liked this avenue better. More opportunities. Plus, the sensual edge appealed.

She was about to open her mouth and voice her approval, when Zoey took more initiative than even she was expecting. The boasts were cute. Sin strongly suspected the thing about the infirmary was horseshit, but she didn’t call Zoey out on it - that could come later, once they had the chance to be truly honest with each other. What truly surprised Sin was when Zoey moved in close and whispered in her ear. The shiver that came after was no act, and she wasn’t playing when she responded by running her tongue along Zoey’s cheek, lightly tracing a trail all the way.

[“I’ll try not to disappoint you, Jae Oh-ssi.”] Sin gave her earlobe a nibble, worrying it between her canines, before she abruptly pulled away. She stood on  her tiptoes, just high enough to match Zoey’s eye level, then took a playful hop away. She turned as she spoke, with a twirl of the hair and a sway of the hips. ”There’s a room down the hall I think we can reserve. Go down, take a right, should be the first door you see. Give me, say, ten minutes? I’ll get us setup.”

Sin talked as she walked out, showing her legs off with each step. Not enough to seem unnatural, only enough to let Zoey know she was making the right choice.

And she was. Just not for the reasons she might’ve thought.[/color]

Yeah. That's right, Sin. You can't resist the whisper. Nobody can resist the whisper.

There were a lot of things, as Zoey had to find out, that didn’t transfer well from overseas. A lot of her daily habits and attitudes she had to unlearn when she first moved to Japan had a nasty habit of creeping back up on her when she wasn’t looking. Picking her nose, walking on the wrong side of the subway tunnel, wearing her shoes inside. It was a different world over here. It was one that she liked, but it was also one that came with its own set of rules.

But where something was different, there was always a few similarities. A few neat little tricks that still worked their magic even on the other side of the world. There was just something about the ear that was so sensitive. Something that made the whole body tick and draws itself closer to the enveloping warmth.

Sin’s reaction only proved her theory. Zoey couldn’t resist growing a cocky little grin at seeing her shiver like that. In the way her body writhed up and down. It didn’t last long, of course, as Sin returned the favor with a light lick up her cheek that near made her jaw drop. A restrained breath left from between Zoey’s lips, a clear warmth overtaking her face as her blood boiled. It was enough to make her burst, and it only got better when her lovely new friend added some spice to her words.

Jae Oh-ssi. She could get used to that. By the time she worked her way out of her spellbound state, Sin was already walking away, and Zoey was sorely missing her absence. Ten minutes never seemed so far away, but damned if the TKD chick was going to show it. “It’s a date.”

Zoey leaned back against the gym bag, crossing her arms and letting out a little whistle as she watched the Korean native traipse away. Showing off those amazing legs, hardly even trying. Moving to Japan was the best thing that ever happened to her. “Still got it.” She whispered not nearly quietly enough, mentally pumping her fist. Her gaze shifted to the side, noticing a couple of gym goes looking her way, exchanging the occasional glance with one another.

“The fuck are you looking at?” She made sure to shout that out, too. It got them to fuck off, as they turned around and went back to lifting their weights with a renewed vigor, but it also put some more attention back on her for a second. Yeah, time to go.

Grabbing her bag and swinging it over her shoulder, Zoey walked out of the double doors and headed to the hopefully reserved room, per Sin’s directions. She opened the door and threw her bag in, but didn’t enter the room just yet. Instead, she hurried down the hall to the nearest bathroom just around the corner, hurrying inside and brushing past someone who was just leaving. She walked up to the long mirror, leaning into it and giving her face a quick look over as she turned her head this way and that.

She spotted only a couple other bother spots. A stray hair here and there, a bang that didn’t quite match the other. Nothing she couldn’t deal with. She turned the sink on and leaned in to take a couple gulps, getting the lips nice and moist. Really show off that pink color.

With one last two-second inspection, she was satisfied. Zoey hurried out and back to her room with a brisk jog. When she reached the door, however, she poked her head in, making sure Sin wasn’t there just quite yet. The place looked empty, she was good. She walked in, leaving the door open a crack behind her for her partner before she made her way into the ring. The spare time she filled with getting nice and limber for their little bout, crouching down and stretching her left leg out before moving on to the next one. The mutual attraction aside, Sin looked like a serious competitor. Someone who wasn’t into being soft sold. No matter how things went, Zoey intended to make sure that the newcomer got more than she could handle. And then some.

Sin hadn’t walked far enough to escape the sounds of the gym, so she heard Zoey’s screeching clear enough - she probably could’ve heard it from anywhere in the building, being frank. It drew a rare, genuine laugh out of her, and only served to whet her appetite even further. Zoey had energy. Feisty, fierce, ferocious. Good indicators. At bare minimum, it meant she wouldn’t be giving up easily, even if/when the ruse fell apart. And maybe, just maybe, she could work something interesting.

Ten minutes. Six-hundred seconds.

There was no need to get the room reserved, because Sin had already taken care of that - in fact, she’d taken care of it yesterday, and she doubted she could’ve reserved it as soon as she’d told Zoey. A wrinkle in her plan, but as she’d hoped, Zoey wasn’t the type to think of such details. Not in this sort of situation. Being fair,

Sin spent her time in the locker room. Not getting ready physically, since she had already done plenty of that beforehand and while she was showing off to Zoey. She had a light sweat, but there was no need to freshen up. In fact, in her experience, she found that a little perspiration - not too much - could spice things up in the right way.

As the time neared, she made a couple of quick, little preparations - light lip gloss to give her some shine, water in the face to keep fresh, a comb through her hair to keep everything loose. After a stop by the mirror, she was off.

Sin stepped into the reserved room with nary a sound, opening the door just enough to slip in and not saying a word to announce herself, closing the door behind her and locking it. What more needed to be said at this point? She didn’t even look Zoey’s way, not for the moment thought the devious smirk on her face showed she hadn’t forgotten about the woman in the ring.

Sin hummed as she took dainty steps about the ring, filling the room with note from some childhood lullaby that she had the scarcest memories of. Instead of going for the ring, she moved along the side until she came to a stereo system, one built into the wall. She took a few moments to pair it with her phone, and soon the room was filled with the first song from a playlist she’d made for the occasion. Jazz with hiphop beats on the undertone, cool but upbeat, just the right way to start things off.

Sin set the phone down and made her way to the ring, taking the time to move up the steps and onto the apron. One leg went through the middle and top rope, her body followed, and the other leg came in after it. Casual as could be, she made her way over to the center of the ring, and then and only then did she let her full gaze take in Zoey. Another short inspection of that eager body, as if to make sure she hadn’t grown less sexy in the interim. She hadn’t.

Sin smacked her lips, clear approval, then took a step back as her eyes met with Zoey, right before she did something she hadn’t done before a fight in years: she bowed. A short one, but a little sign of respect. Keep things friendly. Play the role.

She stood straight right after and threw her hair back with a swift twist of the neck, then took on a classic stance, one that would’ve fit into any textbook. Front leg out, the other back, bent, arms up and at the ready.

[“Come.”]

Zoey had a couple more minutes to spare by her estimations. Couldn’t have been much longer before Sin decided to show up. Or was it Moon? She didn’t actually get a preference. Sin? Did that sound right? She got used to reversing names when she heard them nowadays, but AFW kind of made that confusing with its mixed clientele. Actually, we’re they passed the stranger-to-stranger basis? Should she just say the full name just to be safe? That’d make the flirting pretty fuckin’ hard…

This was the problem with spending your time doing absolutely nothing. The doubts from earlier were starting to take shape in her head again, bubbling up inch by inch from the parts of her mind she’d wished time and time again would just stay quiet. The parts that were just too hard to ignore. Maybe she was coming on too strong. Maybe she rushed too quickly into this. Maybe she should have set this spar with a different atmosphere. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But then Sin trapped into the room, not even throwing a glance toward Zoey, walking around the place like she owned it with that sexy strut of hers, working the hips way too well to be considered even remotely close to an accident, and all those worries disappeared into a puff of smoke. Her eyes just quietly followed Sin as she got through the rest of her stretches as quickly as humanly possible.

She pushed herself up from her knees and stood straight as Sin set the mood with some music. Zoey nodded her head, watching as her fellow kicker entered the ring. They were good tunes. Sounded like the lo-fi stuff she liked to relax to on her days off. Not something she usually practiced to, but hey, she’d find that flow soon enough. She was halfway there already, half-smiling as the woman looked her over, clearly liking what she saw. The feeling was mutual.

The bow caught her off guard a bit, though. She blinked once, then did the obvious and bowed back, albeit little too stiffly if she was being honest with herself. In a subtle way, though it reminded Zoey that she wasn’t just up against some tough chick. Sin was a trained aficionado. She had skills, expertise. Nothing Zoey was sure she couldn’t handle, but at least something promising. There was something to learn, if she watched closely enough.

Besides, even if she was dead wrong about all this...Sin was still hot. Zoey eased into her stance right after, a sure grin on her face.

Sin didn’t even have to ask her twice. The second after that word left her mouth, Zoey was on her. She kicked things off with a quick step forward, throwing a quick roundhouse shot to Sin’s knee, then brought it higher with another towards her shoulder. A basic one-two combo, but with some nice ‘oomph’ behind it. Only the best for her new pal.

How to approach this?

In the brief time she’d been getting ready for this, Sin had been mulling that question, chewing on it, trying to land on a solid answer. She still wasn’t wholly sure what the best approach was. She could beat Zoey, crush her, rip her apart, demolish her - and she would do all of that. That wasn’t a question, that was certainty the moment she closed the door to this room. Zoey was her toy.

But toys broke, and Sin wanted to get some longtime use out of this one. She could just go heavy from the start and bring her to the brink right away, and there was some appeal - but she had little else to do today. Why shove down her meal so quickly?

No, no, no. She would start slow. Let Zoey get some confidence. When she was confident, when she was smiling, when she was so sure she was on top of the situation and that she had Sin wrapped around her finger…

Reality. Wait until she’s on the top floor to push her off, not when she’s still on the second floor.

So, when Zoey came her way, taking the initiative, she didn’t move back like she could’ve done, leaping out of her range and then jutting to the side to give Zoey a stiff kick in her exposed ribs. She didn’t duck under the high kick and counter with a hook kick on the side of Zoey’s face. She didn’t duck and take Zoey off her feet with a sweep, one that would’ve been followed up with a few stomps to keep her down.

No. Instead, she raised her leg, and turned it to the side, letting the low kick hit the side of her shin instead of the intended target. She met the higher kicked with raised arms, and took a stumbling step to the side - a real one, since Zoey wasn’t lacking for lower body power.

”Aggressive.” There was a thrill in her voice, a tacit approval, and she followed it up with action. Up came her own leg, going for Zoey’s head with a mirror image of the kick she’d taken a second ago. Hers was a bit swifter, had a tighter arc, and she had to split her legs more to make uo for the height, but it wasn’t wanting for impact, either. Whether it connected or not, she’d pull it a half-moment later, chambering it, only to shot it out in a side kick to Zoey’s stomach. Make her move back a step or two. Give some distance.

Oh yeah. Feel that, Sin? That’s what we here in Friction call power.

The one-two combination was a basic opener, but it was a good one, especially if she was looking to impress. It was something that could show off her speed, strength, and million-dollar legs, all with a bit of finesse on top. Zoey’s aim was to please, and from the one-word approval she got, it seemed like she managed. Her mouth curled into a small grin. Glad she noticed.

When her foot came back down to the canvas, Zoey was already revving back up for another roundhouse until she noticed Sin had beat her to the punch. Her kick came slicing through the air like a knife, way too fast to dodge. The Korean-American brought her hands up just in time to put up a barely sufficient guard. Her arms absorbed most of the shock, but there was still enough force to clap her head. She almost stumbled, but kept her stance wide enough to keep her balance and fire back with a counter kick of her own.

Until she saw Sin winding up for another strike.

“Fu-” Zoey didn’t even see the foot until it was already buried inside of her stomach. Her body moved without her, stumbling back a few steps and nearly falling if it weren’t for her back foot. Her hands ran down to her abdomen, feeling out what seemed like a small crater in her gut. Her eyes trailed up from the floor to Sin, throwing a small, shaky smile her way.

“Quick.” She couldn’t really hide the excitement in her voice, either. Couldn’t hide much of anything really, including the lack of breath in her voice. Sin was as powerful as she was fast, she could tell that much from the sample she just received. All the hype for this match was paying off.

She wanted the distance? She fucking got it. Zoey moved her arms away from her stomach and quickly brought them into a guard, biding her time for now and letting the air get back into her lungs. She watched Sin from behind her guard, looking for any danger signals.

There was a problem, here, and it was one that Sin hadn’t anticipated from the start. Fooling Zoey was one thing. Not that the woman was dumber than the AFW Frictioner straight out of the gate, but she was horny and hot and probably wasn’t lighting up the dating scene. As happy as she was for this all to be working out so well, it wasn’t as if she’d pulled off the caper of the century. Even she wasn’t that vain.

Exercising restraint in the lead up was fine. And she was doing okay when the match started, not laying into Zoey, keeping her fires in check, not drowning her in the deep end just yet.

But when that first kick was blocked, just barely, and she felt that impact? A good sample.

And when the second kick sunk deep into Zoey’s stomach and sent her reeling? Delicious.

That was one of the main reasons she loved to fight barefoot. Whenever a kick like that went landed, she could feel ever tactile sensation, taking in the complete structure giving way under her power. It was quick, a hot rush, a sweet drug that only last for half a second and left you wanting so much more. Her mind was already thinking about all the possibility, picturing the way Zoey’s face would look like under her heel, the screams she’d make with a well-timed kick to the side of her knee, how much pressure she could squeeze out of the neck before she saw stars…

Sin moaned. Couldn’t help it. It was a dark, heavy purr, and she doubted Zoey would see it as anything but a come-on, but it was sign that she needed to reign this in, all the same. Keep that blood in check.

Zoey was blocking, now, putting the onus on Sin to attack, and it was an invitation she eagerly accepted. She flicked her tongue out, a quick lick of the lips, then closed in and swung her leg high and wide with a roundhouse kick - but one that would miss. Just barely. It would come a few inches short of hitting Zoey’s guard, a total whiff.

But, of course, it wasn’t really meant to make contact. Instead, it was a feint, a way to throw Zoey off when the real kick came a second later. With the same motion still intact, Sin dipped down, spun about on her heel, and swung that same leg out low with a hard sweep, seeing how her little student could keep her focus from top to bottom.

...did she just moan?

Zoey could be forgiven for thinking that was just her mind playing tricks with her. She’d just eaten a strong kick to the gut and her body was waking up to the danger. Adrenaline was starting to pump, her mind was getting into the zone. There were a lot of things that could have been messing with her senses for that one moment in time that she stepped back and made some distance. Could have easily been her mind playing tricks on her, seeing shit that wasn’t there.

But nope. Safely from behind her guard, peering out at the sexy striker just a few feet away from her in all her glory, Zoey could absolutely not unsee the fact that Sin was totally turned on. Oh, she reeled it back quick. Was ready to spar as soon as it came, but Zoey caught it. Even for a flash.

Had to admit. That was a first.

Her sex life wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary before coming to Japan. Still wasn’t that out of the ordinary when she got here. She had a couple boyfriends from the Taekwondo club that were into the whole “getting squeezed between a pair of strong, smooth legs” thing in private, but beyond that? Pretty vanilla.

AFW was a different environment. Way different. It really shouldn’t have stood out to her all that much, coming from a girl that had gone through a hentai match of all things. Or maybe that was exactly why it stood out to her. People responded so differently here. All of Zoey’s cues were backward. In an instant, though, that surprise gave way to a tinge of excitement, a bit of anticipation that reflected in her eyes. It was all just further proof that she couldn’t afford to disappoint now, not with the mood set so high. Whatever came at her next, she would be ready for it.

Fate had other ideas.

She stepped back from the roundhouse kick that came her way, snickering as she dropped her guard and raised her leg to retaliate with a roundhouse of her own. “Close, but no ciga-shit.” It was already too late by the time she noticed what Sin was doing. Her leg was taken out from under her, leaving her to fall ungracefully to the side. Her arms flapped like a panicked bird as she was swiftly cut down, made horizontal in an instant before landing with a hard crash. She rolled onto her back and grabbed her hip with a hiss. “N-nice one…”

Down Zoey went. One simple move, just like that, and she was on the floor. Not that Sin was too surprised by that - she’d hit her fellow Korean with one of the better combinations she had to offer, one that had put more experienced opponents on the floor. It was just another area they would have to work on. This was a learning experience after all.

She had to remind herself of that, too, as she spun about on her heel after the sweep did its job. She came to a rest on the balls of her feet, crouched there, poised to pounce on her prey. Zoey was just laying there, stunned and vulnerable, open and practically asking for her body to be broken. Sin chewed on her lip, gnawed at it, her eyes widening and mouth watering.

No. No. Not yet.

Instead, she stood up and sauntered along Zoey’s side, taking a long step to pass her by. She raised her foot, just enough for her toes to slide along her fallen foe’s thigh, getting a good feel of the muscle, the defintion, the latent strength. All good. ”Keep your eyes open.” Sin gave Zoey’s aching hip a quick slap with the top of her foot, prodding her. ”It’s not like we’re taking turns - don’t just look out for one attack. Be ready for the followup. Watch me. See how I’m moving. Wait for the right moment, just the right moment, and then…”

She let that sentence complete itself, as her path ended up right above Zoey’s head, letting her look down on the girl’s face from above. She smiled, a thin, wry grin, as the room’s dim light casted her shadow below. Hands on hips, her long legs in perfect view. ”Try again?”

It was a question, a demand, and a challenge. Whichever one Zoey wanted it to be.

Ouch. Ouchie ouchie ouch. Hip pain. Not fun.

The hiss that slipped past her lips wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t enough that the sweep was solid, she landed her hip right on the exposed bit. Felt like it was on fire for a moment. Part of her mind was focused on that, the other part was on how she’d ended up like this. Zoey had been swept off her feet so smoothly she’d almost forgotten to be embarrassed about the whole thing. This lady wasn’t a joke, message received.

And she thought things would be left like that. She’d get up, dust off, and take Sin down twice as hard. No biggie.

That was until the lady herself came back along and consoled her. Well…“distracted” her, more like. That’s at least what that foot had managed to do as it slid over her thigh. In any other situation, it probably would have weirded her out a bit. Now, though, all she could focus on was how good it felt as it roved her skin, the way her soles teased and electrified her nerves right beneath the skin. She had such control, such care. Zoey wasn’t much of a foot person, but if she was forced to choose a pair...

The smack to her hip was what roused her awake. She blinked and shook her head before her eyes snapped up at Sin, finally picking up on what the woman was putting down. She made good points. Sin wasn’t the easiest person to read, but that didn’t say the same for everyone else in the league. Zoey couldn’t tell how many times she’d rewound some of her matches and slapped herself in the face when she missed a potential counter or left herself wide open. Whether she liked it or not, she had to be more attentive. More aware of what was going on.

As if she’d been reading her mind, Sin tapped her right on the head as soon as she came to that epiphany. What better time to practice that than now? Rather than answer straight away, she curled her body back and kicked up two feet. She turned on the spot to face her opponent. Fists raised, legs bent, one forward. “Gotta ask?”