Little Drop of Peace?

It's been no more than a day since Heather Sunderland teamed up with her friend Cecilia and beat the team of KamiKaze made up of Taylor and Akashi. All should be good in Heather's mind, having done what she wanted to do, but something just wasn't sitting well with her. The little interaction after the match ended and the fact that Taylor more than likely still thought of her in the same way as before they began the match has been eating her up inside. She was making too many enemies, and when it came down to it, Heather wanted to clear her own name, at least as much as she could.

In search for the one that berated her for one she did way back in her match against Natalia, Heather had found Akashi backstage, making it clear she wanted a peaceful talk with Taylor, seeing if Akashi knew where she could be. After talking through about it, she was directed to a nearby park that Taylor seemed to frequent alot. Heather would head over there as soon as she could, wearing her casual wear, her loose black dress pants as well as her long black and red coat over her double breasted suit-like top, a white ruffled dress shirt underneath that, the black choker around her neck.

The day getting to the later hours, the sky was beginning to grow dark as she arrived at the park that Akashi told her about. Searching around for Taylor, Heather was about to give up before she would see someone sitting on a bench, their hood up, seemingly listening to music. The image reminded her of the first conversation she had with the girl, one of where she had first brought to her attention her feelings about her from her deeds in that handcuff match. Heather would take a deep breath, walking over towards the girl.

As she got closer, she would make sure that it was indeed Taylor before sitting down on the bench next to her, crossing her legs. "This isn't too bad of a spot. Can't blame you for liking it here." Heather would say, raising her voice as she did in an attempt to make sure she was heard by the girl.

It was the first full day since the match, and it had dragged by. Taylor hardly knew what to do with herself. She couldn't train. Her whole life was centered around training, conditioning her body, sharpening her skills, watching video and absorbing what she could so she could get better at what she did, but since she couldn't go to the gym, she had no motivation to keep her mind on wrestling.

She knew Akashi loved her, and she knew she loved Akashi, the kanji "imouto" tattoo on her neck was proof enough of that. She knew Akashi didn't blame her for the loss, but just the thought of having the match slip through her fingers the way it did, losing not just for herself but for Akashi as well, was agony. She couldn't stand it. She couldn't bear to think about it. Between the loss and the constant reminder of it, her three fractured ribs, she had to take her mind off of wrestling.

By the evening, she found herself in the park. Johnny was great, and Akashi, but she needed time to be alone. She sat on the same bench she always did, in a gray-blue zippered hoodie with the hood pulled over her head so that only her blue hair spilled out. She kept her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, one clasped around her mp3 player. She wore the earphones, but her playlist had already run out and she hadn't found the motivation to find something else to listen to, so she just sat in silence, not looking at anything in particular.

At least the air was nice. She shivered as the waning daylight brought a chill in the air. It was a small thing, but the cold breeze against her face made her feel separate from Friction in a way that she so badly needed, even if the cold bit through her sweatshirt a little, enough to make her body tense and make her ribs hurt more.

Someone sat down next to her. She looked up, and her heart immediately sank. Why was it that the last person in the world that she wanted to see at a given moment always seemed to find her? She closed her eyes and turned her head away for a moment.

"Yeah. I like it because no AFW losers bother me here. What do you want." She said quietly, her voice raspy from not having used it in a while.

"..." Heather would sit back a bit as she heard Taylor's words. When it came down to it, Heather honestly wasn't expecting a positive reaction from the girl seeing her there, especially how she was acting towards her at the end of the match, but in the back of her head she was hoping that somehow this would be easier than she thought it was going to be. She would cross her arms a bit, tapping her finger on her arm as she honestly was trying to think of how she could start the conversation.

"Look...I'm sorry if my being here bothers you. I guess...it kind of makes sense if you were trying to be alone..but I just wanted to talk is all.." Heather would let out, still fishing around for the right words to use as to not stir up any hostilities between the two, but also as to get her point across to the girl. It was quite a bit easier said than done.

"Well uh..Listen....that match...you gave me one hell of a fight. Honestly before the match, I didn't know much about you, but your execution of your moves..I like it." Heather would say, thinking it was a good way to open up the conversation as she would let out a little sigh, looking down. "But..you know..we....got off on the wrong foot..never really had a chance to actually NOT hate eachother...not that I hate you or anything, I honestly have nothing against you anymore." Heather would add, still having quite a bit of trouble trying to get out the right words.

Heather's compliments stung. Given their positions, and the result of the match, they only felt patronizing and condescending to Taylor, and she grimaced and shook her head.

"Aw thanks." She said flatly. "And whoever said I hated you? I don't hate you just like I don't hate Gatt anymore. What's the use in hating people like you? You'll never change. Nobody ever does." She said, almost absently. "Look, as much as I love hearing how I'm so awesome at losing matches and breaking ribs, I'm real busy here. The real trick of that match was that I managed to hit you with everything, and not even leave a goddamn mark. I feel so fucking great about that, I-" As she started to get riled up, she felt a stabbing pain from her ribs and forced herself to calm back down. She took a few shallow breaths.

"Why don't you just admit that you came here to rub it in my face and get the fuck out of here. We're not friends." She looked down so as to make her hood cover her face as much as possible, and conceal the redness in her cheeks.

Hearing Taylor's response to her words, Heather would bite her lip a bit, especially when she said that she would 'never change'. That really got to Heather in quite the big way as she kept her gaze looking away. "...I just don't get why you think of me like that.." Heather would say in quite a quiet voice, almost a whisper before Taylor would go on.

She would hear the rest of her words, turning her head towards the girl as she suddenly stopped what she was saying to take a couple breaths. Heather would keep her eyes on her, watching to try to catch her expression as it was mostly covered by her hood before she would hear the rest of the girl's words.

"..because that ISN'T what I came here to do. Like hell I'd do something like that." Heather would respond, thinking back to the match as she could tell how horrible Taylor felt for losing it. "Look I...don't really know what else to say other than..sorry..I guess." Heather would let out, looking back up at the sky as she leaned herself back.

"Sorry for..causing you so much trouble..It seems like it was one thing after the other...I..still don't think I was wrong about the thing with Natalia but..sorry..it caused you trouble..I..can't apologize for winning but..Sorry that you got hurt so bad..wasn't my intention. I don't enjoy making people's night suck, regardless of what you might believe that I do."

Taylor snorted, and then winced and brought a hand up to her ribs. Heather was really laying it on thick.

"What makes me different? From Natalia. Why are you trying to be all saintly with me? Does it make you feel good? Is this your good deed for the day? Lemme tell ya something, Grape Ape, when someone's down, you help them up. When you're in a fight, you fight, but when it's over it's over. Get it? What you take when there's no one around to stop you says everything about you. Just like Gatt."

She pulled down her hood and freed her long blue hair. She didn't look well, like she hadn't slept, and she had a giant bruise covering most of one side of her face. She looked Heather directly in the eye. "And you can't hurt me." She said quietly but forcefully.

"...There's a big difference." Heather would say, turning back to Taylor as she said her little speech. "No, I'm not doing this just to make myself feel good. I just would rather not have unnecessary enemies..It's like I make one every fucking match I have. You think that makes me happy? I hate it. I'm competitive..but it gives off the wrong vibe all the goddamn time." Heather would continue, getting fed up with the situation from hearing her own words.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's no reason for us to act like this towards eachother. This all started from a misunderstanding and I want to correct that. Just let me--" Heather would stop her words as Taylor removed her hood, seeing the condition she was in. She could feel a little sting in her chest at how Taylor looked and it just made her feel worse.

"...I know..what you're saying...about after a fight..It's not like I don't feel bad for what I did. It's not like I don't feel manipulated that she was able to get me to do something like that..but you have to understand it from my point of view Taylor. I..didn't go into that match expecting those kinds of moves...it was a regular match, they shouldn't have been done. She..humiliated me the whole match I..I had to do something." Heather would say, turning her head down as she bit her lip. Her eyes would water up a bit as the weight of Taylor's judgement on what she did was coming down on her. She felt almost helpless.

"Yeah, you had to do something. Kick her ass. Pin her, send her home. She tried her head games on me in our match. I put a stop to it, and then... she choked me out. But the point is that she still said some shit to me and I didn't flip out. Well, I kinda did, but... All I did was beat her up and make her quit. Twice."

Taylor glanced over at Heather, and she realized something. The moment she looked at her face, she got a feeling in the pit of her stomach, an angry feeling, like she immediately wanted to fight her. In that moment, she hated her, and she knew it had nothing to do with what sort of person she was. She hated her because of how easily she won after such a hard match, how stupid she felt for blowing the whole thing, and how utterly humiliating it was to lose to badly. It was so cheap. Heather didn't deserve that win and she knew it, but now she was trying to act all high and mighty. Screw that, Taylor didn't need any of it.

She scowled. "A'right, so you feel bad about Natalia, but you don't think you were wrong with Natalia, blah blah blah blah blah. Whatever, I don't even care. And now you're mad that I didn't pat you on the back after you broke my fucking face. You people." She spat. "How about this, if you ever actually beat me for real, I'll throw you a goddamn parade. Now get the fuck off my bench before we go for round two right here." She gave Heather a glare that told her that she was fully willing to fight, cracked ribs and all. She could never back down, she just couldn't.

"You don't seem to understand at all do you?..Taylor if she had just played mind games with me and just SAID things, obviously I wouldn't have done what I did. That wouldn't make any sense. Sh..She didn't just SAY things she DID things did you....did you even see the whole match? I..forget it...there's no point talking with you about this..I apologized already..and I really am sorry. That's not me."

Next though, something odd happened. She would see Taylor turn to her and would look back at her, trying to study her expression. What she saw would cause her to look on, confused. Hearing Taylor's next words though, Heather knew the girl was dead set on what she thought, and it seemed like making peace wasn't all that possible.

"That's not...you aren't getting me. I'm not Mad alright? I'm..worried. I came here trying to make peace because there's no reason for this ridiculous shit. I don't LIKE that I hurt you so badly. I don't LIKE that you think that I do what I did to Natalia to everyone. I'm not looking for a congratulations or for your admitting you lost or any shit like that, I don't give a damn about all that. The match is done and through, it's in the past. What worries me is now. You look like hell and...I just want to fucking help that's it!" Heather would let out, clenching her fists as she would stand up.

"Whatever. You won't even listen to a word I say." Heather would let out, turning to walk away from the girl afterwards.

Taylor clenched her jaw and fumed. She didn't know what was worse, Heather telling her how bad she looked, or the fact that it was true. "Would you be doing this," she growled. "If I was this beat up, but we won?"

Heather's parting words made Taylor's ribs hurt. She tried to stay relaxed enough, keep her voice low enough, to not piss them off too much. "Well, gosh, Plain Vanilla, I'm real sorry that I don't think you're all that. If you wanted to help so bad, maybe you could've thought 'would Taylor want to see me right now?' Jesus, man, you came here to convince yourself that you're a perfect little angel, taking pity on the poor little freak. I don't need your help, you dick."

As Heather was getting farther away, Taylor got to her feet and yelled after her. "You should've brought 'Celia with you, I know how much she wants a piece of me. This would've been a perfect fucking opportunity!" She yelled, and the piercing pain in her side was enough to drop her to her knees. She groaned softly, held her side, and quickly yanked her hood up over her head as she began to cry bitter, stifled tears.