Inolvidable

A doctor’s office. Carmen had been here before, hadn't she? Many times. Dozens. More than she could count. There was rarely a match of hers, boxing or wrestling, that didn’t warrant a quick checkup to the doctor afterward, even for the smallest thing. She would give the AFW credit for not skimping on their aftercare, hiring the finest doctors to take care of their people and keep them fighting trim. Times like this, she really needed it.

It was a simple reason, too - she had just come off a fight with Lorenza Saldano, if you could even call it that. The two of them had taken on each other in the past, more times than she could count off the top of  her head, but this one felt different, somehow. This mix of lust and violence that she was having trouble putting into words. Molding passion and energy and aggression together in one tight ball. She’d sweated, she’d bled, she’d cum. Her body was drained, aching all over, so much that even the slightest movement brought with it pain from somewhere.

And yet, all she could think about was Lorenza. Getting to her. Seeing her again.

”Carmen, are you listening?”

Carmen snapped back to reality and looked around, taking in the doctor’s office. While the Momentum arena was still a work in progress, its infirmary was u  p and running, and this one seemed well stocked, with a full staff. Dr. Yaguchi had been the one to see her, giving her a few quick scans and making a diagnosis, one that she had been struggling to give her full attention, without much success. Her mind kept wandering, as if it was still trying to catch up and managed the deluge of emotions that surrounded her match. Not with much success, it seemed. ”Yes.” She ran a hand over her scalp. ”Sorry, sorry. I just keep-”

”Drifting. I know.” He laid his clipboard to the side and turned to her, leaning against the table and looking at her with a calm, focused expression. It was refreshing, really, dealing with such a professional. ”The good news is that you don’t seem to have any permanent damage. This fatigue, this dizziness, it should all pass. Still…” His voice trailed off for a moment, cycling through thoughts, then came. ”Are you set for a match anytime soon?”

Carmen opened her mouth, then closed it, taking a few seconds to seriously process that answer. Was she? It was so hard to keep track of things, these days. With her gym in full swing, her training schedule, signings, contracts...things got lost in the shuffle. She couldn’t give him an honest answer without opening up her schedule.

[b]”Look.” He spoke again before she had the chance for a proper answer. ”It’s your decision. But, if I were you?” Mr. Yaguchi shook his head. ”Whatever you have planned, cancel it. You need downtime. Serious downtime. Maybe get out of the city, out of the country, even. You’re in good shape, now, but your body needs time to heal and recoup. You can’t keep burning at both ends.”

Carmen sat back on her hands, legs dangling off the chair as she pondered his words. She’d been considering a vacation for some time now, a thought that had been spinning in her head, but she hadn’t had the time to really sit down and plan it, ironically enough. Now that the issue was being forced on her, though, and she had a good reason for time off, it seemed more palatable.                                                                                                                  

There was a little wrap up, some talk about her options, and a recommendation that she take some pain medicine, but after that, Carmen was good to go. Most would’ve gone straight home now, and most would’ve thought that was Carmen’s goal, too. She had everything she needed - decked out in her black, baggy jeans, her tanktop, her gymbag, her sunglasses. Ready to leave.

Except she wasn’t. There was something she had to do. Someone she had to see.

With the gym bag clutched tight, she made her way to Lorenza’s locker room.

Lorenza, for her part, did not like visits to the doctor's office. She hadn't trusted them as a child, and a bad experience that she and Carmen had in a quiet hospital wing many years ago had only solidified her taste for them. Thankfully, as the winner of the match, Lorenza had some leeway in terms of accepting medical attention. She had remained conscious, after all, and able to descend from the ring and limp out of the arena under her own power. She told herself that the feeling of intense, overwhelming, leg-buckling exhaustion that hit her as soon as she had gotten backstage was a consequence of the hentai rounds she and Carmen had contested—sexual combat was something she could never get used to.

She told the doctor who came to visit her in her locker room the same thing, but the dark-haired, tired-eyed woman had insisting on giving her at least a basic physical. Lorenza acquiesced, and got a laundry list of recommendations, short-term and long-term, to maintain her health. She would follow most of them. She hadn't become a world champion by ignoring the advice of physicians. But her promises were primarily meant to usher the doctor out of her locker room and leave Lorenza alone in there for the time being.

She had been hoping for a visit to her locker room by someone else, and she wanted that audience to be one on one.

She had removed the skimpy attire she had worn in the ring, drenched in sweat and much, much more, and stuffed it along with her gloves and mouthguard into the proper pockets on her big green duffel bag. She had washed herself down with some cool water, but avoided taking a full shower—if she did get another visitor, she wanted to be in a position to answer the door. She got through her whole post-fight routine, then found herself sitting quietly on a bench, just listening to her own breathing. Alone with her thoughts.

All her thoughts right now were for Carmen. Carmen's swollen, knocked out face, the plumpness of her lips, the velvety sensation of running hands over Carmen's buzz-cut hair...

Lorenza felt a touch of adrenaline, and a twinge of concern for her lover's health. A little sweat formed on her brow again as those thoughts and feelings caused a renewed buildup of heat in her body. If she didn't hear that knock on the door soon, she was going to be going through something like a mild case of withdrawal...

But she never worried. And when she heard that knock, she wasted little time in opening up the door and letting the object of her desire in. "Hola," Lorenza said simply.

Carmen opened the door, stepped, and paused. She had to.

It wasn’t the first time she had seen Lorenza naked. Ignoring all the years where she was so familiar with the woman that she could’ve imagined it with ease, the two of them had shared the bed so often, and Carmen was all about keeping the lights on and pillowtalk and walking around in the buff afterwards. She could even recall one particular morning, where the two of them had woken up and spent the better part of the morning hanging around with nothing more than socks on. Relaxing, fixing Lorenza some lunch, chatting about boxing matches and their home countries. A fun day.

But this was different. This was Lorenza after a match, their match, and her naked body told the story. She could see the bruises. The deformed skin. She could map out the damage in places that even she had forgotten about, and simply seeing it was enough to reignite the memories. It was like living the day all over again.

She didn’t bother hiding the look on her face, didn’t bother being coy about where her gaze went. There were no secrets, here.

It took an act of supreme will for Carmen not to rush over to Lorenza and take her immediately, but somehow she held back and resisted the mighty urge. Instead, she reached over to the light switches and flicked one off, leaving the room in a lowlight, letting the shadows dance along Lorenza’s skin, turning her bronze.

Carmen stepped forward, awe still etched into her features, as she reached up and ran a hand through Lorenza’s hair. It was the only part of her that touched her lover, but that would change soon enough. ”Did I-” Her voice was scratchy, dry, and she coughed to clear it up. ”Did I ever tell you about the fantasy I had? What I wanted to do after the first match we had?”

Lorenza had been an athlete for long enough that being naked around others did not really bother her. With Carmen, of course, she was always aware that she was naked, and frequently enjoyed flaunting her nudity for her lover. Tonight, right now, of course, it was different. In the aftermath of their match, she wasn't exposing herself for show or for sexual gratification. It was simply the most natural, most comfortable state of being right now. It was casual, and not in the same purposefully casual way that being naked after sex was.

Lorenza noticed the look on Carmen's face. Carmen was enjoying the view, and Lorenza smirked and made no effort to hide herself. There weren't any secrets between them.

Lorenza remained standing as Carmen entered, shut the door, and turned down the lights. Her legs, like the rest of her body, were tired, aching to sit back down, but Carmen obviously had something on her mind, and Lorenza would not interrupt. A little discomfort was nothing compared to the joy of delving into Carmen's innermost thoughts and deepest desires. The hand running through her hair sent a ripple of relaxation down her spine, and she sighed happily, her eyelids dropping, though she was alert and paying full attention to what Carmen had to say. She put one hand on Carmen's shoulder, then opened her eyes again with a small smile on her lips.

"I don't think so," Lorenza said, after thinking about the question for a moment. "After our first match, you said? I think you would want to kill me after that one." She laughed. It didn't embarrass her to talk about it with Carmen, but Lorenza was still often upset with her own younger self—for many reasons, not the least of which being that she had Carmen within her grasp a full two years before she ever actually thought to do anything about it.

Carmen wished Lorenza remembered the last time she’d told her this anecdote, but she supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that it slipped down the rabbit hole. After all, the last time she’d spoken of this, it was right before their heated night years ago, the first truly intimate sexual experience between them. That had been a wild, heated night, a blur of passion and ecstasy, and it was hard for her to pick apart certain details from it, too.

She was tired, they both were, and Carmen could see the weariness in her lover’s eyes. She took a moment to rub the hand at shoulder, giving it a short and loving caress, before she moved over to the nearest bench and took a seat. She patted the spot beside her, giving Lorenza ample room to share the space.

”Not quite kill you, no. I-” She hesitated for a moment, thinking about the best way to say this and not come off far creepier than she wanted. She gave in soon enough and just rolled with it, damn the worries. [color=#800000]”I was mad after that match, sure, but I was...hot, too. I don’t want to say horny, that’s not the right word, but I know I wanted you, even back then. I wanted to just barge into that locker room and pin you in the shower and just…”[color]

She had a shuddering sigh at the thought of it, a fantasy that popped up into her head a thousand times since that day and never grew old. ”You were so beautiful in that match. I hadn’t seen anyone move like that, fight like that. So fierce and wild and just...free.”

Carmen let her shoulders sag and leaned forward, planting her forehead on her rival’s shoulder and resting there. ”Thanks for tonight. Being in that ring with you, it’s amazing. Thanks for giving it to me again.”