Showdown VI: Facesit War Match: Kozue Kaburagi vs Mariko Ishii

It had been years ago, but Kozue could still remember what it felt like the last time she was prepping up for a match with Mariko. Despite what people thought about her way of fighting, she didn’t blindly jump into every match she had. She did her research, put time into anticipating her foes, spent a great deal of effort when it came to anticipating the way they would come at her. She had a gameplay - it was a wild, crazy gameplan most of the time, but it counted.

But against Mariko, she had drawn blanks. She had tried to figure out the best way to deal with the woman, but nothing really clicked, no matter how many times she ran things through her head or the strategies she pursued. She was too good, too smart. She didn’t excel in any area, but she wasn’t deficient in anything, either, making an opponent that was so well-rounded she could handle any threat. Kozue’s only real choice was to go in and fight with her style as best she could, and hope that would be enough to overcome the Japanese beauty.

It wasn’t, not that day, but simply trying had led to the best match of her entire life.

And now she had the chance to do it all over again. Sometimes, life was fucking awesome.

The shadows grew across the arenas the lights faded and Kozue’s theme played, heralding the New Jersey NInja’s arrival. All around the audience lights flickered, bursts here and there, as a figure flitted through them. Some saw her pass by her side, running down the aisles. Others saw her dashing around the ring, circling it. Even others saw her fly overhead, moving a dazzling array of flips and somersaults.

When it all came together and the lights came back on, however, there was only one Kozue Kaburagi, sitting in the middle of the ring with her legs crossed and her eyes locked at the curtain. The crowd cheered, loving every second of it, but she didn’t pay them any mind.

This woman, this match. She’d been waiting so long for another chance with Mariko Ishii, and here it was.

Mariko Ishii wasn’t a woman who often boasted about herself. But there were a handful of matches she’d had that she was very, very proud of. Her first bout with Kozue remains at the top of that list. No one had expected that to be what it was. It had only even happened because some suit on the social media page had put up a poll asking who had the best ass among a few random AFW wrestlers, a poll in which Mariko and Kozue happened to finish first and second in respectively. If Mariko remembered correctly, Kozue hadn’t even been serious when calling her out to settle it, and Mariko had just been playing it up when issuing the actual match challenge…

And the match that came out of that had ended up being the best of either of their careers to that point. How often does something like that happen, especially with a smother match? Not often at all. So when Mariko found out Kozue wanted to do it again, accepting that challenge was a decision that didn’t need a single moment of hesitation.

Once Kozue’s music faded out, a long, drawn out silence followed. And then at last, familiar music blasted over the arena speakers, while purple and gold lasers flared to life and danced over the entranceway.

Mariko Ishii's music:

Mariko emerged on the stage and paused at the top of the ramp, a grin tugging at her lips while she rested a hand on her hip and looked around the arena at the thousands of cheering fans. Nodding in approval, she strode confidently down the aisle, hips swaying tantalizingly with each step until she ascended the steel steps and entered the ring through the ropes.

Mariko marched straight to the middle of the ring to stare Kozue down.

“Hope you’re ready.”

Kozue could feel her heart beating. Hell, if the audience wasn’t so loud, she was pretty sure she could’ve heard her heart beating, too.

Nervous? Yeah, maybe. She liked to keep things cool on the outside, but her body knew what was up, couldn't ignore everything that was weighing down on her. The last time she’d fought Mariko, it had been the biggest test of her career. A complete test, mental and physical, pushing her to the limits. She wasn’t just the sexiest woman Kozue had come across, she was one of the most skilled, strongest, fastest, and smartest opponents the league could throw at her. A well-rounded grappler with few weaknesses to speak of.

But Kozue had come close, tantalizingly close, to beating her back then. Since that time, she’d trained up. Improved. She was, on paper, a stronger wrestler today than she’d ever been. But paper didn’t mean shit if she couldn't make it real, and she couldn't think of a better way to do that than taking down the hottest wall she’d ever ran into.

Kozue had to beat Mariko Ishii. She wanted it. She craved it.

When the music started up, loud and raucous, Kozue swallowed her spit, took a deep breath, and put on her best face. Legs crossed, wearing her trademark smirk, she didn’t move a muscle until Mariko was in the middle of the ring to face her. Even though she’d already reunited with her lover and had their time together, this still felt like the first time they’d met in years. This wasn’t the same Mariko she’d dominated in some dinky doctor’s office. This was the shark. The predator. The woman who’d knocked her the fuck out, twice, and was probably going to do so a couple more times before they were done today. If Kozue gave her any slack, if she held back, if she didn’t give this match her 100%, Mariko would run her over. She’d enjoy every second of it, sure, but she wasn’t here for fun…not just for fun, anyway. She was here to win.

Was she ready?

She planted her feet and rose up, making sure to let chest slide up Mariko's body as she straightened. She kept going, up to her tip-toes, closed her eyes, leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Mariko’s for a warm, welcoming kiss, with the slightest hint of tongue. It didn’t last long, but it was hot enough to get their blood boiling. As the audience whooped and hollered, Kozue dropped back down, hopped a few steps back and dropped into her fighting stance, arms out and legs poised to strike. ”I’m ready.”

Mariko fully embraced the kiss, and though it may only have lasted a few brief moments, for her it felt like time stood still then. It had surprised her slightly, but in that way it was…the most “Kozue” response she could’ve possibly given to Mariko’s comment. No matter how well she thinks she knows her, this wild, sexy woman always had a way to surprise her. This was, literally, just a small taste of that unpredictable nature Mariko loved so much.

Regretting their kiss had ended, yet eager to start this match, the Japanese vixen only grinned at her lover before moving a few steps back toward her corner. She did a few quick, last moment stretches, not so much to limber up as to help ensure her focus was on the task at hand.

DING!

With the bell officially starting the match, Mariko put her hands up and began to cautiously circle Kozue for a moment, before lunging out toward her with both arms to try to initiate a lockup.

Kozue licked her lips, savoring Mariko’s taste. You’d think she would’ve had enough it from the extensive sexual encounters they had before, that it would be eternally etched into her brain. You would be right…and wrong. That was the crazy thing about Mariko Ishii - no matter how much you had of her,it was never enough.

But okay, she had her kiss. Sexy time was over...well, pure sexy time. Now came the fight.

In the scant seconds before the bell Kozue backed off and took some deep breaths, getting her heart rate under control. She’d been thinking about how to do this since before she made the rematch challenge, since their last fight. What was the best way to kick this off?

That was the thing, there really was no ‘best way’. Mariko wasn’t the strongest, wasn’t the fastest, wasn’t the best striker, wasn’t the most agile, wasn’t the most anything of a wrestler aside from the sexiest, but she was well-rounded enough in just about everything that she could adapt well. It was what made her so dangerous - no matter what Kozue came at her was, there’d be an answer for it. But that didn’t mean she should hang back, far from it. The last time they fought, taking the initiative was the only real thing that seemed to gain her ground.

Granted, that was over a year ago. Mariko might’ve plugged that hole in her defense up since then. She might be ready. Then again, she might not. One way to know.

Kozue did wait a little while, circling Mariko, eying her up from a distance and getting a little closer with each step. But the second Mariko went into motion, she came forward like an unloaded spring, closing the distance with a single, blazing step. Her opponent was looking for a lockup, and tempting as it was, the New Jersey Ninja had better ideas.

She ducked down at the second before they locked horns, letting the arms pass overhead, and swung her leg out wide with all her momentum behind, coming at Mariko’s ankles like a scythe. A quick, powerful sweep, aiming to take her to the floor early.

Mariko was having a similar discussion in her own head as she started across the ring at her rival and lover, albeit for slightly different reasons. Kozue’s primary skills were much easier to identify than her own. Her speed was the obvious one, but every bit as important was that unpredictability that Mariko had been so fond of. There was no doubt the shinobi was easily the quicker of the two women, it was just a question of how she would try to employ that.

Initiating a lockup had been an attempt to avoid overcommitting herself to anything that could immediately get her into trouble, while also limiting Kozue’s mobility. It had seemed like her foe was game for taking a similar approach as they both eased into things.

Not so, as it quickly became apparent.

Mariko’s eyes widened in surprise as she felt her feet suddenly being swept out from under her, causing her to fall to the canvas! Her attempt to begin with a conservative approach, ironically enough, had been the very thing that had gotten her into a trap right off the bat!

”Got you, Ishii!”

Yeah, yeah, it was more than a little dumb for Kozue to be celebrating just because she got a simple leg sweep on Mariko. This match was far from done, and she wouldn’t be winning it by making her opponent trip all night.

But getting the first hit in? It felt good. Really good. Especially since she kicked off their last match in similar fashion. A good sign that she was off on the right foot.

And why stop there? Strike while the iron is hot.

Without missing a beat, Kozue spun off from the sweep, turned her back to Mariko, and threw her body into a full backflip. She spun through the air in a full rotation, kept going through it to build momentum, tucked her legs in and came down hard of Mariko‘s back with a Standing Moonsault Kneedrop.

Everything Kozue was feeling right now, Mariko was currently feeling the opposite. Regardless of the fact that she had ultimately prevailed the first time around, this was the second time Kozue had gotten the jump on her right off the bat. Mariko supposed that wasn’t something worth getting too upset over, given the ninja’s incredible speed, but still. She cursed under her breath as she landed on her front, then tried to push herself back up.

…That is, until Kozue had something to say about it.

“GAHH!!” Mariko gasped out as a pair of knees crashed hard into her back, driving her right back down onto the mat! The moment Kozue was off of her, Mariko would quickly roll in the direction of the nearest ropes. She didn’t go all the way out of the ring, because she knew that area wasn’t any safer than inside. Mariko just wanted to make it easy to force Kozue to back off with a rope break if necessary, because she was barely 10 seconds into a 60-minute facesit war and was already having to catch her breath. As bad as that was, though, Mariko knew if she just stayed patient and kept her wits about her, an opportunity to redeem herself for this early mistake would eventually present itself.

Boom. Kozue might not have weighed all that much, but when you took what little weight she had, spun it around a couple of time, and had it all drop down on your back with her knees leading the charge? Oh, she could get some good damage out of that, and Mariko was feeling the effects.

Yeah, Kozue was feeling it, and she wasn’t even close to done.

Benikage’s training had stressed the importance of flow in her moveset, of going from one attack to the other in an unending chain. It was just move to move to move…it was all one move, with no let up. After the impact from the kneedrop, Kozue was back in motion straightaway, rolling forward off Mariko’s body, going to her shoulders, and doing a kip up from there to rise up to her feet in an instant. Her opponent made the smart move and went to the ropes, thinking they might be some sanctuary. The right play, sure…but it wasn’t going to work.

Kozue dashed straight ahead, bounced off the ropes, and came rushing towards her opponent from the opposite side of the ring. She waited until the last second, then dropped with her legs shooting outing, looking to kick Mariko clear under the ropes with a baseball slide.