The After-After-Party Is Where The Real Fun Begins

Taylor kept a hold on Johnny's wrist so they wouldn't get separated as they wove through the crowd of provocatively dressed club-goers. Once outside on the sidewalk, the music faded to a dull rumble and the dim, ambient lights of the club were replaced by the streetlights and neon signs and brightly lit storefronts of downtown Kyoto. It was a lot less gaudy than Tokyo, Taylor noticed, like it wasn't trying quite as hard to be... whatever Tokyo was. Weird. Tokyo was like the near future, Kyoto was more classic. At least that's how it seemed to her.

She tossed her shining blond hair back over her shoulder and raked her long bangs to the side while she gave Johnny an enthusiastically warm smile. Her silvery-gray dress fit perfectly, and it's dramatically asymmetrical hemline fell just below the back of her right knee and just at her left hip. It barely descended enough on the left in time to cover her butt while leaving her entire thigh bare from hip to knee. Below that her black leather boots, laced up the front to her knees. Multiple bracelets hung around each of her wrists, and a silver necklace drew attention to the neckline of the halter-dress, where she'd made full use of her modest breasts, pushing them up until they caught the eye.

"I don't know Kyoto, man." She said absently to Johnny. "I don't know what's around or anything, but I don't feel like walking. Maybe if you live too far we could find somewhere else to hang out." She led Johnny down the sidewalk a short distance and then pounced on him and pushed him just out of sight into a narrow alleyway.

She was all smiles, her face inches from her, her warm, supple body pressed against his. "I have a confession to make, though. About the giant Viking goddess in there. I... Think that I gave her so much shit in there because I was in the arena before, and I was really... really..." She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Jealous." Suddenly she felt a twinge of vulnerability and looked at him with big, round blue eyes.

She shivered. It wasn't quite so warm these days, and she didn't bring a coat or anything. "Brr. It's chilly, man. Good thing I've got such a hot young wrestler to help warm me up." Without wasting anymore time, she kissed him, deeply, pressed her hips against his, one hand against his chest and the other behind his head. Her fingers curled into his hair.

A playful nibble on his bottom lip and she separated. "Mm, do I make you as hot as you make me?" She mused out loud. "Do you... maybe, I was thinking if you wanted, do you want to get a room somewhere?" She asked, trying to keep her voice sounding sexy and self assured but her apprehension still showed through.

Johnny eagerly kept a tight grip on Taylor's wrist as she lead them out of the club. He was eager just to get away from the atmosphere and enjoy some time alone with Taylor. Who was looking quite good today and who Johnny was shamefully ogling the backside of. He felt that if anyone was allowed to stare, it was him and even thinking that, made him puff out his chest proudly a little. If things worked out, and Johnny was increasingly hoping they would, He had definitely found someone worth keeping in Taylor and hoped that she felt the same about him.

As they stepped outside, Johnny grinned at Taylor, looking down at her and enjoyed the subdued thumping of the bass from outside the club. He brought up his hand and scratched the back of his head as she smiled at him. "I like your hair." He said quickly. He ten looked down. "Me either, dude." Johnny said and chuckled at how 'bro' they were speaking to each other. "I kinda just got here. The apartment ain't too far away but..." Johnny said. "But... I dunno if I'd call it walking distance either. It's close to the arena but we kinda went the opposite way to get to the club."

But then Taylor led him off and pushed him down an Alley. Getting pulled down the Alley surprised him but the pouncing almost caused him to stumble back and completely fall. "Gahh!" Johnny held tightly onto Taylor, his hands pushing against the small of her back as he looked into her eyes, feeling her body against his own.

Her words caught Johnny off guard. Taylor was jealous. He could understand but still. He winced a little. "Babe..." He whispered. "She caught me off guard... Sorry and junk... Believe me..." Johnny said with a wide grin. "I was DEFINITELY thinking about you that whole match."

Johnny smiled warmly as Taylor shivered and ran his hands up and down her arms quickly, laughing at her words and blushing. He couldn't get any words in before his mouth was preoccupied with something much sweeter. His mouth opened and he took Taylor in, letting out a soft, pleasant noise and maneuvered with Taylor to return the kiss with fervor.

One hand slid down Taylor's body and cupped her ass, pushing against it to push their hips together. His other hand slid up Taylor's back and around her neck, up to her cheek.

By the time Taylor pulled away, Johnny's cheeks were rosy red and e was panting softly. "Fuck yes!" He said and hugged Taylor tightly. "Dammit..." He said with a wide grin. "I'm so hot for you, babe." He then laughed, slightly nervously and nodded again. "Yeah... As cool as makin out in this alley is, why don't we get at least a little comfortable, right?"

Johnny turned his bod, keeping his arm around Taylor, sliding it down around her waist to lead her out of the alley. "Guess... we should find some place though..." Johnny said thinking aloud as he looked around once they were back on te main street.

"Yeah..." Even as someone who made no effort to learn the local culture, Taylor knew surprisingly little about the way things worked in Japan. Did hotels and stuff even work the same way here? The apartment situation was pretty different.

"That's all you, Jun-Bug, I'm sorta out of my element here. Ya know, because I can't read Japanese, or speak it or anything. Even if I could look some place up in the phone book, I wouldn't know how to get there because I don't even know where I am let alone where anything else is..."

Man. It was like really having to go pee in a club when the line for the bathroom was twenty miles long. She just wanted to find a quick place to crash, where she could get all snuggly with Johnny and, if she was completely honest, sex his brains out for a day and a half.

She didn't even know exactly why it was that she wanted Johnny so badly. Maybe she was just desperate. He was super cute, sure, but there were lots of cute guys. It was some combination of him being something like a Japanese punk, something like it, his attitude, his youthful inexperience, his being a brand-new wrestler just learning the ropes... Or maybe it was none of those things, but Taylor knew that when she was with Johnny, for whatever reason, things just seemed to click. She felt at ease. She felt like she could be herself. And she felt really, really turned on.

She gave Johnny an inscrutable smile. "So, I've got cash and everything, how much would I have to pay someone to get them to tell me where the nearest hotel is, in English?" She pulled herself closer to him and wrapped her arms around his midsection. "Find one fast, Johnny-boy, it's an emergency. If we don't get one soon, we'll wake up tomorrow in jail with a public indecency charge."

Johnny listened to what Taylor said. It was pretty obvious what Taylor was saying before but for her to speak so plainly was almost too much for his little Japanese ears to hear.Well, if he werent a bad ass punk. He grinned and nodded to Taylor.

"Gotcha." He said smoothly and then looked around. He targeted random passerby and marched up to them. He rattled off a quick conversation in Japanese, his Tokyo accent coming out. The fast paced speed compared to the slower Kyoto dialect.

The man seemed confused but mostly because Johnny was fairly aggressive and close to being nonsensical. But eventually he he got what he was looking for. He left the man and grabbed Taylor by the arm and began running off.

"Sweet, there's a place just up the block!" He said and looked back, winking at Taylor. "You haven't found a place to stay here yet? Shit!" Johnny stopped for a moment. "Uh... How long are you staying anyway?" He said with a slightly nervous tone. He hoped it would be a while. "um..." Johnny shook his thoughts away and then continued until they were at a small looking motel.

This motel looked very "discreet" looking and Johnny blushed and looked at Taylor. "Ahh... I.. uh... guess this is what you're looking for?" Johnny's face was beet red. He knew what this place was but was he off the mark with what Taylor was looking for? Well, he had heard that sometimes business travelers doubled up in these things so it wasn't like he was TOTALLY being suggestive. At least, that's what he told himself.

"I dunno, but I'm not going back to Tokyo tonight, that's for sure." Taylor said, and hurried off after Johnny.

She arrived at the weird, mostly windowless building and looked quizzically up at it. Nothing seemed to ever resemble anything from the States, unless it was built to. The buildings always looked either weirdly futuristic or totally ancient. She saw the sign filled with a bunch of illegible Japanese and the word 'HOTEL'. She began to put two and two together... the discreet entrances, the lack of windows...

"Ohhhhhh... weird." She said under her breath, and then turned on Johnny and glared at him. "Johnny! What kind of girl do you think I am? Do you really think... did you... Is that all I am to you? Just some kind of slut that you can hit and quit and-" She couldn't keep it up any longer. "Okay, just messing with you. Hah!" She laughed and gave him a devilish grin "C'mon! Don't worry about the red, you're only going to get redder."

It was so cute when Johnny got all uneasy Japanese-y, all shy and bashful and uncomfortable with her American lack of class or tact or anything valued by the average Japanese dude. She giggled as the doors to the love hotel slid open, and marched up to an older woman who sat behind a counter reading a book.

"We'd like a room, please!" She announced loudly. "Uh, I mean, watashi... arigato... arrabia...ta... Dammit, Johnny, help me."

The woman behind the counter was a bit taken aback by Taylor's flamboyance, and she stood up and made her way to the end of the counter where a touch-screen displayed available rooms. There weren't any. "Sorry, no rooms, sorry."

Taylor was stunned. "What the... no rooms at all? God damn, is everyone in Kyoto out on a mission right now? This is a little creepy, actually. There may be hundreds of naked old dudes screwing hookers right above our heads at this very moment. I bet if you listen real close you could... What do you mean no rooms! Are you sure?"

The woman took her seat again and resumed reading her book. Taylor looked helplessly at Johnny and threw her arms out to the sides. "But Johnnnnyyyyyy..." She whined. "I wanted to doooo youuuu, maaaaan!" She whined some more and stomped her foot playfully. She was mostly kidding, at least with the presentation. It was fun to see how uncomfortable she could make uptight Japanese people. Not that Johnny was uptight, he was just... cute.

A high, cheery 'bing!' sounded, accompanied by the sound of the front doors sliding open and immediately the atmosphere changed. The woman behind the counter was suddenly smiling warmly and began to make her way around the counter. "May I help?" She said in her halting English.

"Oh, no thank you, thanks, I'm okay." Said a small, young, girlish, distinctly Canadian voice. Taylor, with the new threat of happy, well adjusted people, reverted to her more antisocial ways. She stole a glance back at the newcomer and her jaw dropped. She knew that girl, but not from here. Not even from Tokyo. From New York.

God, maybe she wouldn't recognize her like this. Please don't let her recognize me, Taylor thought. The spritely girl clutched a stuffed-full backpack against her chest and marched cheerfully back towards a door at the back of the room. She took one step past Taylor, saw her out of the corner of her eye and stopped.

"Taylor?" She asked excitedly.

"Oh, god."

"Taylor!"

"Hi Pip... Cassie." Taylor was used to calling the girl pipsqueak. They had gone to the same pro wrestling gym in New York City, and were the only two girls there. Like it or not, they developed a sort of... relationship. It wasn't exactly mutual.

"Ohmigosh TAYLOR!" Cassie dropped her backpack on the floor and rushed into Taylor, wrapping her arms around her midsection in a big hug. "Wow! It's so awesome to see you! I can't believe it, wow!" She was so delighted she was practically bouncing up and down. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is, uh... uh..." She was drawing a blank.

Johnny smiled at Taylor. He was really close to calling up Mamouru and telling him and Cecelia to take a hike for the next day or two. He grinned at the thought of him and Taylor fighting Mamouru and Cecelia for use of the apartment. But then Taylor seemed to figure out just what kind of "Motel" this was.

"Uhh... well I.. uh... businessmen and stuff..." But then Taylor broke out laughing and after a sigh of relief, he chuckled too. "Eheh... Not cool, man.." He said and then poked her shoulder teasingly.

Johnny then furrowed his brow and looked at the lady. "Dude, seriously, what the fuck? I know that you get a lot of business but fucking seriously? It's not even THAT late yet!" It was kinda late.

Johnny heard Taylor's fake whine and slapped his hand on the desk. "Fuckin, eh! You hear that,man?! How can you not have any rooms!"

Before he could complain further, he was seeing the lady practically ignore him and talk to Cassie. He turned around and looked at the spunky red head. She was cute. Too cute. Like maybe she should sit on the edge of some little girl's bed and be snuggled at night. It was weird. He stared. Thankfully. she was distracted by Taylor who seemed to know her. That was even more weird.

Cassie was her name apparently and when she turned her attention to Johnny, the guy grinned. "Yo, Squirt." He said.He flashed her a V and then looked at Taylor. "If you're cool with Taylor then I guess you're cool with me." Johnny then scratched the back of her head. "But... you kinda look like someone who would piss Taylor off... no offense. Also kinda weird to see two Yankees who know each other find meet up randomly in some Kyoto.."

Johnny blushed. "Shit, who are you getting lucky with anyway?" Johnny asked. Maybe she brought some Tension dude here to shag too. It seemed like she was too cute for that sort of thing and the obvious answer to the riddle of Taylor and Cassie's friendship was wrestling. Taylor herself had said she didn't know much else in Japan beyond that.

Maybe Cassie had found some weird, tiny cute guy to bed down with or maybe some other girl. Johnny grinned at the thought but shook his head.

"I'm Johnny, yo." He said introducing himself.

Cassie put a hand over her mouth and giggled, a little embarrassed. "Oh, no, no, my goodness! This place is real close to the Tension building and I wanted to visit them while I'm here and I... didn't know... what this place was used for before I got here." She turned her head and blushed hotly.

She looked back up with a smile. "Nice to meet you Johnny!" She announced and stuck out her hand for him to shake, but then a look of recognition spread across her face. "Nooo, you're Junichi Higurashi! I saw your match! Ohmigosh, you were great!" She gave him a big hug. Taylor groaned inwardly.

"Just turn into 'er next time, eh?" She said, clasping her hands together and applying a guillotine hold to an imaginary opponent. "Wow!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "This is so great!"

"Yaay..." Taylor said, minus Cassie's enthusiasm.

"So you guys are looking for a place to stay after the show, huh? Awesome! Awesome, awesome, awesome, you can both stay with me! I'll sleep on the floor and... we'll... we'll make room." Cassie seemed not quite totally oblivious to the reason behind Johnny and Taylor's visit.

Taylor leaned into Johnny. "She's... Canadian." She said in a low voice, by way of explanation.

"How have you been? Wow! I bet... I bet you two are daaaaaaating, right? Are you in love? You look like you're in love." Cassie said, giving them a sly look as if she was in on something secret.

"I'm... good, man, we're good, just hangin' out and stuff. I'm in Friction now and stuff."

"Oh, I know, I've seen all of your matches! Both of you, actually, I can't believe how great you are, Taylor! So awesome!" When Cassie couldn't be at the event for one of Taylor's matches she had to find a TV in a bar or somewhere given her lack of a TV of her own. She made quite a scene, jumping up and down and cheering at the TV, and when Taylor had taken her beatings at the hands of people like Karina and Sarah Gatt, she was actually in tears, heartbroken. "Oh, Taylor, I'm so proud of you!"

Taylor flinched just a little. She hadn't expected the words to mean as much to her as they did. That was Cassie's power. She could make you feel good about yourself regardless of how much you didn't want to. "Thanks..." She said.

"So c'mon, guys! Slumber party! This is the best day ever, do you have any stuff? Can I help you... somehow? C'mon, you'll stay with me, right?" Cassie was so overjoyed, and so completely naive, that it would have been positively heartbreaking to say no to her.

"Uh, we... uh... Johnny?" Taylor looked to him for help.

Johnny grinned and gave Cassie a teasing elbow. "Hey man, it's never too late to get things going ya know? A cutie like you can probably find some kinda spazzoid guy to shack up with!" Well, Johnny was TRYING to help the girl out and hoped she didn't take offense to his words. Though he somehow doubted that she could take offense to ANYTHING. It was weird and adorable. but the kind of adorable that made him want to go see a doctor and make sure he didn't have diabetes.

Johnny grabbed Cassie's hand and gave it a firm shake. He was surprised that she recognized him. That definitely placed where she was friends with Taylor but he scratched the back of his head, blushing. When Cassie hugged him, Johnny stiffened up and lifted up his hands.He smiled nervously and softly and stiffly patted the top of Cassie's head.

"I wouldn't exactly call it great, I kinda lost, ya know."

Man, this girl was REALLY accommodating... It was kind of strange. When Taylor leaned in and whispered Cassie's terrible secret, Johnny lifted his eyes and let out a soft "ahhhh..." As though it all made sense. He had heard that Americans were brash, fat slobs that had no manners and while Taylor had not exactly done American's any favors with how she acted, Johnny was such a punk that he actually LIKED that about her. He had also heard that Canadians were creepily nice and way to eager to please. Cassie as well seemed to not be helping to dissuade that stereotype.

Unfortunately, Johnny didn't particularly care for Cassie's Canadian-ness. Well, she wasn't a bitch at least. "Uh..." Cassie didn't seem to have an off button and kept going talking about love and dating and stuff. Johnny was just blushing deeply now. He was flustered until Taylor threw him a quick look, asking for help.

Johnny reached out and ruffled Cassie's hair and smiled nervously. "Hey, Squirt. Uh... Ya know, you're totally tubular and all but Taylor and I were kinda hopin to spend a little bit of time alone, ya know? She just came down from Tokyo and I kinda haven't been able to get any time with just her. Ya know... if ya catch my drift... and shit..."

Johnny threw a glance back to Taylor. He wasn't sure if that would work or not.

Cassie gave Johnny a look like he was the silliest boy in the world.

"I catch your drift, silly, but you're staying with me and that's final. I've got all the necessary supplies and everything. I'm very well connected in the... secret... community. Anyway, you're not going to go do it in an alley, and you're not going to find another room so nearby and awesome, now come on." Her voice took on a warm but stern almost motherly quality, as if she expected no resistance from either of them.

Taylor didn't know what to do. She wanted Johnny. Badly. But Cassie could be very difficult to say no to. If she was perfectly honest, it was good to see a familiar face... The two of them had been something like friends back in NY. Maybe it was just because Cassie was the only one around at the time that she could talk to, not that she ever talked to her that much, but as much as Cassie had a way of installing herself as everyone's little sister, Taylor had come to feel like something of a big sister to her. An older, cooler sister, who couldn't be bothered to hang out with her too much.

"You... what?" Taylor didn't quite follow all of that. "What the hell have you been up to? Are you still doing wrestling and stuff?" She asked, despite knowing perfectly well that Cassie was in Friction. She knew where her matches were on her DVR. She hadn't really watched them, not like she watched all the others, maybe just to keep Cassie at the distance she was at when Taylor came to Japan and left all that behind.

"Um... you... we..." Taylor was folding. She looked to Johnny for help again, paralyzed by Cassie's unflinching accommodation, except this time her eyes and her timid smile asked him if he'd mind too terribly if they just humored her. It was only one night, they'd have more. If Cassie didn't somehow ruin the whole thing.

if she caught their drift, obviously she wouldn't be suggesting they stay with her. Johnny couldn't help but snicker at Cassie's comment though. "Heh... we almost did do it in an alley." Johnny said and flashed a wink at Taylor. She then looked at Cassie and shook his head. Taylor was beginning to crumble. Cassie was sweet but as a man who was with a hot chick, he had to stand against this potential cock block. At least that's what he told himself.

"I mean... I DO have a place... it's not like we're homeless bums or anything..." Johnny ran his fingers through his hair.

"You're not like... mental or anything right?" Johnny looked at Taylor and shrugged, confused.

"Isn't it kinda creepy?" Johnny said to Taylor. "That... she'd be so... um... cool with something like that... um... and junk..." Johnny really didn't know how else to respond. He then looked back to Cassie.

"It'd be weird for me." He added.