Anyone At All

Taylor had hardly left her apartment in the last two weeks. She didn't have any reason to go to the gym, and she didn't feel like being in public. When her cabinets were empty, she began ordering take-out, but she never had much of an appetite. Being so completely physically inert after being extremely active, she'd have thought that she'd start gaining weight, but she hadn't. You had to eat to gain weight, something Taylor was only doing minimally, and so she'd lost a couple pounds.

She only took her pain medication when she absolutely needed to. She didn't want to rely on pills, she wanted to be tough, but over time she felt like the pain was just wearing her down, and instead of getting gradually better the same things just seemed to hurt more and more. To pass the time she scribbled in notebooks, journaling, writing sappy song lyrics, drawing little pictures of cats and things that all eventually started to become parts of a wrestling ring or boots and knee pads. She'd curb-stomped her TV to death, so it couldn't keep her company. She hated computers, and there was no one to talk to on the other end, so she left it off. She turned up her stereo late at night and shook the building until someone called the cops on her. Bitches.

In her bathroom one day, she brought in a pile of clothes. She'd only been wearing minimal, loose fitting clothes, and she decided maybe she should get dressed like a normal person. Getting her jeans on was no problem, but after she gathered her t-shirt over her arms she hesitated. She knew what came next. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and reached up to pull it over her head, and predictably caught sharp, stabbing pain in her ribs. She gasped and sat down on the floor and couldn't help it, she broke down in tears. She was so sick of everything hurting and so sick of not being able to do anything. If she couldn't put a stupid shirt on without falling apart, what good was she? She felt so sorry for herself it made her sick. She just wanted to talk to Akashi. She wanted Johnny to hold her.

She reached over and grabbed her phone, and began scrolling idly through the contacts. She hesitated over Akashi... she wanted to call her so badly, but a larger part of her needed her pride, needed to protect herself, reminded her of Akashi's betrayal, told her that Akashi was never truly her friend in the first place.

She clenched her jaw as she passed by Johnny, and then Mamouru. She couldn't talk to them. She just wasn't confident in her decision to do what she did, to throw Johnny away, but... She couldn't go back on it. Not yet.

Eventually, she paused over a name toward the bottom of her list. She stared at it for a long time, her thumb hovering over the call button. It felt risky, but... it was worth a shot. What else could she possibly have to lose, anyway?

She pressed the button, and the phone started ringing.

"Moshi moshi..." Natalia's answered the phone quite cheerful, she was in a good mood and loved getting calls; it meant people remembered her and wanted to talk to her. She was doing her toe nails and was sitting in a chair in her kitchen with her cute foot over the dinning table. Since she had her hands a bit busy, she had answered the phone without checking who it was, and pressed it against her ear with her shoulder to get back to finishing that nail before the polish dried... but nobody answered.

"Aló? Hello?" Natalia said as she hurried to finish that nail frowning a bit at the silence. She put her foot down and picked the phone with her hand again to check who was calling. "Taylor?" she asked to the speaker very confused.

When Natalia answered, Taylor choked. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, and she was just going to hang up, but Natalia must've recognized the number. It was too late now. She took a deep breath.

"Hey, Natalia."

"Hi, Taylor.... how are you?"

"I'm... fine, ya know. I'm just... I just thought I'd give you a call. Um... are you busy?"

"Euhm... no. Not really. Why?"

"Oh, uh... I dunno. Heh. I guess this is kinda weird, huh?"

"Is everything ok, Taylor-chan? You sound... weird."

"Y-yeah, everything's cool, I'm just, um... sitting on my bathroom floor, ya know, just chillin' and stuff. Heh. What's... How are you?"

"Err... I am good, Taylor. Thanks for asking. Just doing my toenails.... ... .... did you needed anything?"

"Do I need anything? No. Well... no, I mean, I just... Ya know, I didn't have anyone else to call..." Taylor couldn't keep her voice from wavering.

"Oh...ok. Did you wanted to tell me something?"

"No, not really... Nothing, like, in particular. Um... I just cried from putting on a t-shirt. It put up a fight, but I won, heh. I'm sorry, this is weird, I don't want to weird you out, but I'm just... I'm not doing so great. I don't think I've ever been this alone before, I mean Johnny and Akashi are... ya know, somewhere else, Cassie's in Canada. I don't really have any other friends."

"I...I see..uhm... want to, like, meet or something? We could go out somewhere. I just need to wait a few minutes for the polish to dry..."

"No! No, uh, no, that's okay, sorry. Thanks. I'm not really ready to go out. And my bathroom's floor is just so comfortable. Um... how's your toes, and stuff?"

"They are pretty good... why are you in your bathroom floor? Taylor...are you hurt? Need me to call an ambulance?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just my ribs, they're still pretty bad, like, I don't know, stuff feels all busted up in there. Not just the ribs. I've got two broken and one cracked. It's a mess. It just... wears you down. The time, and just... it hurts, and there's nothing else to even do but sit around and let it. Have you ever been injured like this?"

"I...I guess so. I...I had broken ribs before...not many... the cool tiles of the bathroom floor soothe the pain?"

"No. My ass is fine. I'm not like face down on the floor, that'd be... gross. I feel gross, though. I haven't gone out in a while, so I haven't been bothering to put myself together, and every time I look in the mirror it's just these rabbit teeth and my freckles are out and I just look... bad. I look really fucking bad. It's not helping, maybe I should... I dunno. Go out."

"Yes. Maybe you should... can you move? Or it hurts too much? Are you taking painkillers?"

"No, I'm fine, it doesn't even hurt that much it's just all the time, ya know. I don't like not being able to move, man, moving is like... what I do. I have meds, but... I don't like them. I shouldn't have to take them. I'm tougher than this, I have to be. But... I just don't know what to do with myself. Like I've just sat around in my apartment and ordered take out for... what day is it?"

"It is Friday, Taylor-chan...."

"Oh. Oh, wow. Yeah, like, two weeks now, since the match...... Man, fuck Lukretia. That fucking bitch, fuck her and fuck Brittany. That stupid bitch. And fuck Akashi, too, at least Brittany was a bitch from the start. She... Have you, um, have you seen Akashi around or anything?"

"Eh..uhm... no. I haven't seen Akashi in a while. Are you...are you and Akashi not getting along...anymore?"

Taylor sighed. There was a long pause. "You could say that." She said quietly. "Hey, look, I've gotta go, um... I've got to clean up. Thanks for... Just thanks, I guess."

"Wait... do you want...to... like go out? I could go pick you up like in an hour or so. I'll take my car so you don't have to ride the bike..."

"No, it's cool, I've just gotta go. I'm just gonna sleep, I think, I'm pretty tired. Thanks, though, okay? Bye, Natalia."

"Taylor! Wait. You sure you don't want to talk? I can go pay you a visit?"

"No, really, I can't, I just... can't. Okay? S-sorry, I just gotta go, man. Bye."

Taylor quickly ended the call. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her phone began ringing, it was Natalia calling her back. Her thumb hesitated before pressing a button to silence the ringer and she put the phone down next to her, then picked it back up. Then she put it down again. Finally, she grabbed it and turned it off and threw it out the door. She rubbed her face with both hands and blinked several times, like she was just waking up, and then stood up to look in the mirror again.

The mess she was wasn't going to get any better without getting enough sleep. She felt like maybe she could get some good sleep, she felt even a little bit at ease. She lumbered off to her bed and hardly noticed the light squeezing around the edges of her blinds as she fell asleep. She had no idea what time it was, but it didn't matter. She was quickly asleep.

Mamouru Higurshi had been spending a lot of time going back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto lately. Hehad been quite busy with all the various things he had to take care of. Nd even though one of his clients was now gone, he was doing his best for his newest one. However, tings had dipped lately when one day he had come ome to Kyoto to find Johnny naked, unwashed, drunk and trying to kill himself with a ridiculous amount of free weights. He didn't sy a word, to him. He didn't bring up anyting afterwards and politely went about his business.

He spent the next two weeks doing a bit of research, Johnny, ever the one to try and maintain his good cheer, continued to work out and pound en-o-shakes like he was going go accurately cosplay the Incredible Hulk at some anime convention. It was a pathetic sight and he knew exactly who was responsible. But he gave it some tie and finally, when he could stand no more, he made his way back to Tokyo.

Now he stood facing an apartment door that was familiae too him. He took a deep breath. He was certain he was in for a rough time, but maybe he'd be lucky. This was something he HAD to do. He steeled his gaze and ten banged on the door loudly.

Taylor was in bed. She spent a lot of time in bed these days, nursing her wounds while avoiding the outside world and everyone in it. She snapped awake at the pounding on the door, but still took a minute to work up the energy to go see who it was.

Not that she cared. Nothing good could come of this. The worst possible thing would be if it was Johnny, because she just... couldn't face him. Not yet. She padded over to the door on bare feet, dressed in a white clingy tank top and blue-and-orange boxers, her newly dyed black hair hanging messily around her face.

She opened the door, and found herself face to face with the one person who she might've wanted to see even less than Johnny. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow and stayed silent, and then turned to talk back into her apartment, leaving the door open as an invitation to Mamouru.

Mamouru waited, silently after he finished knocking. He sort of figured she was either hiding or ignoring. He thought he might wait a while and try again but he was thankful when he didn't have to. When the door was swung open and the realization that Taylor was looking at Mamouru hit her, he had fully expected an outburst. Instead, she gave him a glare and walked off. Mamouru smiled politely, stepped in and closed the door behind him. He mde his way towards the kitechen, eager to fish out a drink for himself. A rude gesture, but at the momenthe had not come to be polite.

"You look like shit, Taylor-chan." He called out. "I mean, I expected as much but... I like the hair color. You're far too much of a woman to keep painting your hair childish colors!" Mamour grabbed a drink for himself and one for Taylor and walked back to where she ended up. "Still, I think I would prefer blonde over the others." He said with a small smirk.

He then opened his drink and took a sip before glaring at Taylor. "But, I've come here to discuss a serious matter wit you, Taylor-chan. I'm afraid I have no time for pleasantries." Mamoru took a deep breath and fixed his gaze at Taylor. "You will reconcile with Johnny." He spoke in a serious tone. His voice asserted itself and his words were spoken not as a suggestion, but as an absolute.

Taylor lacked the energy to verbally fight back, and instead she laid back down on her bed and pulled the blankets up over her head. She didn't want to be looked at by anyone, let alone Mamouru. His comments didn't help, and she felt the urge to say something equally cutting back to him, but instead she just sighed.

"You will shut the fuck up." She said from under her blankets. "Me and Johnny is none of your business, okay? How about you worry about reconciling with Cassie and leave me alone, I don't need your shit right now."

Mamouru looked at the blankets coldly. Bringing up Cassie was her best attempt at a low blow. He brushed it off. "Johnn-kun's business is my business." He stated plainly. "I told you. Don't you dare brek that kid's heart. You disregarded my words completely, you selfish bitch!" he growled the last two words angily before calming himself down with a sip from his drink.

"What you're going through would be a lot easier with him than without him and you had no right to cast him aside! Looking at him the way he is now, it makes me sick. You're the one solely responsible. He was all in with you, Taylor-chan. You had better make things right."

Taylor said nothing. She felt helpless, not being able to muster up the will to fire back at Mamouru while Mamouru was so cold and so deliberate with the things he said. All she could do was lay there and absorb whatever verbal punishment he had for her.

She did her very best to remain still and keep quiet as she began to cry. She couldn't have felt any more pathetic. She closed her eyes and tried to steady each shaky breath.

"You have no idea what I'm going through." She whispered.

"Yuki Akimura." Mamouru responded to Taylor's words. "Look her up one day. Well... Try to, you won't find anyting on her. See, she was just a jobber for a couple of years before she retired in obscurity. What you could do is look up The Ogress Tanaka. She was one of joshi puroresu's rising stars. She even managed to get a middle weight title shot. Beautiful woman, fit as could be." Mamouru paused. "She could have been big time. Yuki and Tanaka...they're the same person. In her title match, her opponent was too rough. Not anything that Tanaka couldn't handle, but a botched move broke one of Tanaka's ribs. She could have won that fight, maybe even with the injury but... She never recovered. She spent the next three months locked away in her room. Our room. My mother was her manager. My mother did everything she could, including almost throwing away a marriage to try and get Yuki out of her funk because she knew that Yuki was a special girl and she didn't want to watch the girl throw her life away. It didn't reaally work. Yuki barely ate and by the time My mother convinced her to come out, she was broken. Used up. She did go back to wrestling, using her real name. She barely was able to get back in shape, she lost most of her matches. Who knows where she is now."

Mamouru furrowed her brow at Taylor. "I've seen every wrestling injury there is Physical and mental. I've seen it first hand. You want to get better, Reconcile with Johnny. As his brother, I am demanding you take responsibility."

He then let a sigh escape his mouth and he leaned in and touched Taylor's shoulder. "But as someone who knows... And... As your friend... I'm saying that it's good advice for you as well..."