Too Cold At Home

9:08 p.m. - Kyoto, Japan

"I made my girl cry last night. I made her feel so bad last night she wanted me out of the house just so I could leave her alone... I've haven't hated myself so much in a long a long time."

"I feel like shit right now for what I've done. But I can't stand the thought of anyone but me holding her, touching her, loving her... I didn't use to love anybody but My Mother and my Sister. That was all I ever needed back in the day no matter how empty I felt or how much I thought drinkin' myself to death was a good way to fade out and get out of this miserable world. Then I met Heather and... I discovered love what love felt like. Never been so happy in life. Never been so excited about each new day before. But this place where we work... This job we have... And the way she gets when others touch her like I do... I hate it."

"Her friend says I'm better off goin' home to her instead of startin' shit like I always do... Even though she's better off not with me... That was hours ago and it's still hurtin' like hell because part of me feels she's right..."

These were the thoughts of Tension's notorious blonde haired brawler from Texas, Clyde Gastin who sat alone within the murky looking, dimly lit bar. His head lying down across the bar as he looked on into the open distance of the bar with an almost blank looking, depressed gaze, his cowboy hat and cell phone placed right beside him, hoping the latter would ring with a call from his lover. He had gone home earlier in the day, sleeping through most of the afternoon, waking up sometime around 6 p.m., Heather still wasn't home.

He texted her phone, saying "I'm Sorry. Please Come Home." Getting no answer over the course of the next three hours. Clyde believed he may have damaged their relationship quite a bit now, to the point where Heather didn't even want to come home to him. But who honestly would go home to a person who had berated her and made her feel so bad the previous night? He feared that perhaps he may have ruined the best thing in his life now.

To say he felt like shit and wanted to die was an understatement. Nevertheless, Clyde was at the bar but was not drinking, he promised Heather his vices were behind him but he felt he really needed a drink, but was afraid that doing so would only further put a strain on his relationship with Heather if he came home at 3 in the morning blasted out of his mind, stumbling through the door. So he sat there at the bar, taking in the faint aroma of alcohol and cigarettes while [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3800PSW4vQ:2eazewcr]"Too Cold at Home"[/url:2eazewcr] played in the jukebox.

Walking out into the streets of Kyoto, the streets gave her a nostalgic reminder of the times she went on class trip to Kyoto to check out the shrines and go sight seeing. Setsuna stuck out her tongue as she giggled to herself remembering this was the city, she lost her virginity in. She was actually on her way to visit an old friend of hers named Tsukiko but, it just so happened her old friend wasn't in town for the next few days. Thererefore, she was going to be stuck in Kyoto for 3 days in a hotel, which she didn't really mind. She could go sightseeing or, got to the popular hot springs to unwind. Setsuna didn't mind a little relaxation time in the city at all. After all the non stop training she had been doing for nearly 2 years has made her deserve a break. However, she would have like to enjoy it with other people not just by herself.

Passing by a quiet bar, she suddenly stopped.

Perhaps, she deserved a drink after all that time as well and entering a more popular bar would be troublesome after a long ass flight with screaming babies, an old man who kept snoring and taking her armrest. A quiet drink sounded like a good thing. Opening the door, Setsuna walked in she was wearing skin tight blue jeans and a pair of Nike running shoes with a blue hoodie that came up to her stomach. Pulling off her Hoodie a shse walked in, she revealed her grey eyes and shorter black hair. She sat down two seats away from Clyde, not really taking notice to the song playing at the Jukebox.

"I'd like A draft of some Sapporo please!" Setsuna said as the bartender nodded as the bar tender go right to her order setting the tall glass on the coaster before sliding it over towards her. Setsuna pulled out a bill from her pocket and smiled, "Keep the Change..."

Setsuna smiled looking at the golden like liquid that resonated the glass as drips of water began to condensate down the glass. As it was topped off by a white foam as she gently pulled the glass towards her. The girl blinked, smiling at the first beer she hadn't drank in a long time, as her expression began to soften as out of the corner of her eye, she turned to Clyde who was 2 seats away from her.

"Clyde?" Setsuna said tilting her head.

As he rested his head against the bar, Clyde remained lost within a sea of his own thoughts. Constantly contemplating what he had done during his one-sided argument with Heather that may have driven her to completely ignore and avoid him. He had been a fool. In a fit a frustration and paranoia he began to doubt the love Heather had for him, doubting their trust, their future and if Heather was lying to him or keeping a few things hidden from him. Even if she was doing those things, the way Clyde practically interrogated her about them was no excuse.

Then Clyde heard a voice that snapped him out of his depressed stupor, a voice that was familiar and could recognize but prior to hearing it just now, was long forgotten.
"Who wants ta' know...?" Clyde would snark back as he raised up his head and slowly picked himself up off the bar to sit up in his stool, turning towards the voice to discover a very beautiful young woman with a face that Clyde would instantly recognize. His eyes would widen at the site, gasping slightly under his breath as his heart practically skipped a beat at the sight of the woman before him that Clyde would recognize as a girl from the past, an old lover from his early days in AFW's Sex Wars division whom Clyde had been with briefly before taking off without a word.

"S....S-Set.... Setsuna...." Clyde let out, barely knowing what to say as he looked at the girl, noticing that her once long flowing hair had now been cut quite a bit. She was still just as beautiful as Clyde remembered her though and was almost glad to see her. Almost. He honestly wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone or deal with anything regarding his love life whether it be past or present. In addition to this, he wasn't even sure if Setsuna was happy to see him or if she was going to be pissed about how their brief fling ended without a word. On top of all that. He was engaged now. At least he hoped he still he was.

Setsuna folded her arms as she gave Clyde an angry fury began to rise within her as her voice began to rise. "No call? No Mail? Not even a stinking E-mail! You really are the worst!"

Setsuna turned back to her beverage a she suddenly moved a seat closer to clyde as they were right next too each other. She turned backto Clyde with another pleasant smile laughing a little too herself. She wasn't really that mad, its been a while since they've seen each other and she was at fault too, she didn't call, or write, or send an E-mail. She shook her head, life happened both of them moved forward, Setsuna couldn't get upset about that. How could she?

"I'm just kidding... I know what happened... and I understand..." Setsuna said with a patient smile, "It's nice to see you again Clyde, though..."

Setsuna's smile faded at how depressed Clyde looked just a moment ago, it was difficult for her to recognize him. The Clyde she knew was so happy go lucky this was so sullen, so drained and beaten down by the world.

"You okay..." Setsuna said placing her hand on Clyde's shoulder and offering a half smile.

As expected, Setsuna was getting pissed and was starting to get loud. "Aww Hell..." Clyde thought, emitting a wincing like expression as Setsuna began to yell at him, declaring he was the worst. That really tore open an old wound left by Megumi. It turned out however, that Setsuna was only joking and Clyde would ease back into his chair and frown a bit, slightly relieved and slightly upset since that was the worst joke for him to endure right now. Still he was glad that there was no hard feelings between him and Setsuna.

"Nice to see you too, Set..." Clyde would say. Truly happy to see her but not exactly happy enough emotionally to really show it, let alone experience the feeling of seeing an old friend again. He didn't want Setsuna to know he was upset or even notice how troubled he was, but when she placed her hand on his shoulder and asked him if he was okay, Clyde would frown a bit and turn away from Setsuna a bit, knowing that she was able to tell that he was troubled.

"Y-Yeah... I-I'm fine... Always fine..." Said Clyde as he tried to dismiss his troubles and avoid talking about them. "Like your hair, Set... It's a... It's a real nice look for ya." He'd say, trying to compliment her and change the subject.

"Ohh uhh... Yeah, my hair... thanks... it just got too long to manage. That's why I cut it but, I'm glad that you like it." Setsuna said as she took a sip of her drink.

Call it woman's intuition but, she had a feeling that Clyde was trying to change the subject. Setsuna didn't want to pry so, she decided to bring up a happier subject as she crossed her legs.

"So Clyde! It must be pretty awesome to became a champion while I was gone. I saw the whole match on PPV, it was an exciting match up. I still quite can't believe you beat Catelyn Cormac." Setsuna said in an excited tone.

Looking at Clyde, she realized that the champ had nothing in front of him. Gently tapping him with her knuckles, she smiled, "Can I buy the champ a drink?"

Seeing that Setsuna took his compliment rather pleasantly, Clyde gave Setsuna the biggest smile he could force himself to make, which wasn't a very good one at all. But he would relax a bit more now that it seemed like the conversation was going to switch to something else rather than his mood.

But hearing Setsuna bring up his title win only seemed to make more things run through Clyde's head. He won that title the very night after he and Heather professed their love for one another. That same night she fought him all around the arena, both of them fighting a rough street wrestling session, but the two had made up anyway despite their argument, despite Clyde trying to resist any feelings of attachment towards Heather. The woman that fought so hard for him, to save him, to earn his love, he of all people had no right to act the way he did towards Heather. That was the way he felt. Even if he was trying to save their love, he only destroying it faster with his actions.

Lost in a train of thought, Clyde didn't speak until he heard Setsuna offer him a drink. Out of reflex, Clyde was going to accept, but it didn't take long for him to remember a promise he made to Heather not too long ago. "I... I don't drink no more..." He'd admit, feeling almost shameful about it. Alcohol is what a man drank in Clyde's mind, it was something he liked to consume and once used to get by his old troubles. But not anymore.

"...I only came here 'cause... I like the smell... And... I used to come by places like these when I was down... Even If I ain't drinkin' right now, it's just my kinda place..." Said Clyde. Already starting to reveal too much without really thinking about it.

"Oh, I-I see..." Setsuna studied Clyde's expression intensely as he spoke. It was clear to see that something is wrong and Clyde could make up an entire story but, she wasn'yt going to convince her that he enjoyed being at this dump rather than being with his fiance unless, they had an argument. Setsuna grasped the situation totally as she slapped him on the bat before turning to the bar tender.

"Could we get something to munch on and uhm... get this guy some Coke if you got any on tab." Setsuna said as she looked to Clyde.

"Listen you can sit here at this bar as long as you like but, you aren't going to just sit here... alone... not do anything but, thinking. People go crazy like that Clyde." Setsuna said, "Clyde... you have friends that are there for you. I'm here for you now and I'm your friend... confide in me... or at least let me help you unwind a little."

As he sat the bar in his unmoving state of contemplation, Clyde would listen to everything Setsuna had to say, but kept his eyes locked forward rather than towards her but still taking in all her words she spoke to him, trying to help him. Asking for him to confide in her. But that was a hard thing for Clyde to do in his current state, still her words were welcoming and very comforting.

"Unwind...?" Clyde would ask he finally turned to Setsuna and spoke, sounding like he barely knew the meaning of the word.

"Yeah.... Clyde...unwind!" Setsuna said sipping her beverage before crossing her legs. "What's the point in training and fighting every single day if you can't enjoy some me time later? Besides Clyde, you're getting married aren't you? Trust me, you should unwind now while you have the chance being a father and a husband is a full time job in it's self. For tonight how about you just lift some weight off your shoulders..."

The bar tender would place a basket of nachos and a glass of a soft drink in front of Clyde before wandering back to the kitchen. Setsuna place a hand on Clyde's shoulder wanting him to look her in the eye as she had been patiently talking to him as he looked a head at the bar not even bothering to shift his gaze.

"Clyde... a man can only take so much weight on his own shoulders before he breaks down and gets crushed by the weight of the world." Setsuna said in a slower tone, "I don't want to see you get crushed...."