Down Time

Akashi had regretted throwing the punch as soon as it connected. She couldn't understand what brought her to do such a thing but she knew she shouldn't have. She was about to apologize when Lia stood up and seemed to be ready to go into fight mode. Tensions were high and Now nothing seemed to be able to be done to avoid possibly beating Taylor down in front of a bar full of people. Akashi knew that wasn't right. She shook her head and grabbed Lia's shoulder and stepped between her and Taylor. "J-just hold on a sec.' She said.

She then furrowed her brow and looked at Taylor as though she were angry and still going to pursue her. "Taylor-san!" She yelled. "I don't understand why you insist on being so antagonistic! I'm sorry..." She lowered her head and bowed it slightly. "I shouldn't have hit you but..." She looked up at Taylor again with hardened eyes once more. "You're... You're acting just like Sarah-san would! The only thing she responds to is violence and she does whatever she wants knowing that either way a fight is probably going to break out." She let out a soft sigh. "I.. I respect you as a fighter and I love to fight and test my strength but there's a time and a place for it! Can you honestly tell me... you're like that person?" She said still referring to Sarah. "I... don't believe it!" She said and nodded her head as she looked at Taylor with conviction.

"But... go ahead... go down that road... Bunny and I will be happy to kick your ass." She gave a glance to Lia. "At least... I will." She then softened her look as she tried to appeal to Taylor. "But... We're your friends." She gripped Lia's arm tightly so that Lia would understand that Akashi was bringing her into this whether she wanted to or not. "We aren't here to fight. We're here ... to enjoy ourselves and be stupid and all that other dumb stuff I can't really think of right now." She grinned at Taylor and held out her hand, giving a hopeful look.

"And if we can't shake on that, I'll just have to show you how stubborn I can be and kick your ass until you get tired of me hounding you to be my friend."

Taylor was never as sure that there was something wrong with her than she was at that moment. What was her problem? Thinking back, she couldn't come up with anything that would have justified her... behavior. Sure Lia had been running her mouth, but that's no big deal, Taylor did that all the time and that's no reason to... do whatever it was that she was doing. She felt like a total ass.

She looked at the floor. She didn't know if there was anything she could say or do that would help her save face... really she just wanted to run back to her apartment. Slowly she slipped her arms through the sleeves of her sweatshirt. She looked up at Akashi and Lia for a moment, turned redder, and looked away again.

"I... uh...you're...um." Forget it. She was done humiliating herself. She was probably just going to get beat up eventually anyway, she didn't know why she tried. Without another word, she pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt and turned for the door.

Akashi remained hopeful as she held out herhand, giving Taylor a cheerful smile. She saw the nervous look on Taylor's face and raised her eyebrows, hoping to encourage the girl. But then Taylor flipped up her hood and turned away. Akshi was shocked and clenched her fists tigtly. Her brow furrowed and she ever so slightly shook her head. "I don't think so." She muttered and full on charged at Taylor, trying to wrap her arms around the girl and tackle her t the ground.

If she could get her there, she'd try and keep her weight on top of her. "So this is somehow less embarrassing than doing things face to face? Taylor-san! What are you so afraid of?" There would be genuine concern in Akashi's voice.

Taylor had decided to stop by the gym on her way home and beat the hell out of a heavy bag for a while. That way nothing in her apartment would get broken. At that moment, though, the only thing she wanted was to put distance between her and this damn bar.

Her ears pricked up when Akashi spoke. She heard Akashi break into a run and spun around just in time to be wrapped up and bowled over. She hit the floor on her back with a heavy thud that took the wind out of her. She gasped.

"Ahh! Get OFF!" She screamed, taken completely by surprise. "Fuck! What the hell are you talking about? Right now I'M AFRAID OF BEING SUFFOCATED BY TWO-HUNDRED POUND BREASTS! Let me GO so I can beat the shit out of you YOU SMELL LIKE JAPANESE BEER!"

Taylor's screaming drew laughs from the other bar patrons. That was okay, they could laugh. One thing at a time.

"No!" She shouted back. "I'm not going to let you go until you tell me why you're so afraid to be friends with us!" She shouted back. "I don't think you know anything else other than fighting and being a brat." She said the last bit softly. "I'l let you up if you agree to come back to the booth and be nice." She then looked down at Taylor and grinned. "Otherwise Lia-San and I will just drag you out to the back alley and beat the hell out of you." Her grin grew darker. "And we won't just leave you there. We'll tie you up and drag you off and then do all those terrible terrible things you think we're after." Akashi turned her head for a moment. "Lia-San, better cover the entrance. I think we got a fighter here!" She then turned and looked back at Tatlor. "How does that sound?" She gave one last look at Taylor before softening her face and smiling hopefully again. "Please, Taylor-San? I don't understand what's so terrible about having friends?"

Taylor scowled, defeated. She didn't know anything beyond fighting and being a brat. That wasn't true, was it? An hour ago Akashi didn't even know her name, what the hell was she even talking for anyway? Ridiculous.

Her face hardened when Akashi started talking trash. Screw them. What's so terrible about having friends?

"Me." Taylor said flatly. "Or maybe you two bitches, I don't know which is worse. Let me up, I'm back in the mood to drink. God dammit."

Akashi's grin grew widely as Taylor conceded. "That wasn't so terrible now was it?" She said as she stood up and offered her hand. "I'm glad that we didn't have to go any further." She said. If Taylor took the hand, Akashi would pull her into a big hug. "I'm glad we could be friends, Taylor-san." She'd say before letting her go. Otherwise, she'd carefully watch to see if Taylor was just going to ditch it again.

Taylor blinked. She wondered for a moment if Akashi's english had let her down or something. She just told her... whatever.

She took Akashi's hand and got to her feet. When Akashi hugged her, she drew a breath to yell about it and push her off, but ran out of steam before she could. She took an uneven breath and uneasily settled down into the hug before shoving Akashi off. She blinked several times to clear the tears that she knew were forming in her eyes.

She plunked back down in her seat at the booth and gathered up all of the mostly full bottles that were hers. She put them all in a line and grabbed the first one, raising it up to Akashi and Lia.

"To scraping the bottom of the barrel. To the last resort." The she lifted the bottle to her lips and drained the entire thing at once before slamming it down and picking up the next one.

Akashi grinned and let Taylor go to the bar. As she walked past Lia and reached in, leaning against her shoulder. She coyly reached her hand out and grabbed Lia's ass and gave it a squeeze. "Don't try anything funny or I'll beat the crap out of you, got it Bunny? This is a delicate operation and don't tell me you don't want to be her friend either." She would then slide her hand up Lia's back and try and guide her back tot he booth. All the adrenaline had sobered her up a bit but she wasn't ready to stop. "Keep em coming!" She said as she walked back to the booth.

When she got there, she fell back in and grabbed a beer. She raised her glass to Taylor. "To always finding the hardest nuts to crack!" She winked at Taylor. "And to friendship!" She said as she pushed herself forward to clink Taylor's bottle and Lia's if she raised one as well before tipping her own back and taking a deep swig.

The second bottle took Taylor two tries to finish, but she did it. After slamming the bottle down next to the first she put one hand on her stomach. That was a whole lot of liquid in not a lot of time... and she was never a big drinker.

There was probably a long queue in her stomach of alcohol waiting to take a crack at her liver. Still, she was feeling pretty funny already. Sort of... unbalanced. Woo. She looked directly at Lia with a somewhat mischievous, vaguely pleased, and unsettlingly sinister expression.

"Hey..." She swallowed. It was like her tongue was falling asleep. "You think you want to kick my ass NOW..? Just wait till I... get going." Suddenly, her hand darted across the booth and snagged Lia by the hair. She dragged her over the table roughly and leaned in to meet her, putting her other hand under Lia's chin. She planted a kiss on Lia's mouth like she was auditioning for something. When she let go, her expression was only a little more sinister.

"Hey...guys... since we're totally frieennnnnds now and everything you guys want to have some fun? Know what friends do? Friends go back to the gym with their friends and start looking for someone to have fun with... if you guys aren't the fun ones. Like maybe threesome. We could find her and be frieeeeeeennnnnnnds... with her too."

She stopped like she was thinking hard about something. "What do people do for fun in Japan? Ja-pon? Do you have any spray paint on you?"