Sloppy Seconds?

Akashi had buried herself in her workouts lately. She was feeling restless, jittery. Things had been going bad for her. She still hadn't spoken to Taylor since their argument. She wanted to call her so badly and tell her that she was sorry for everything and that she was a big dumb jerk. Every time she picked up the phone, she couldn't pull the trigger. She still had her pride too! Taylor was a childish brat and her ego had cost them a match they had no business losing. She had the nerve to say all those things as well. To insult Mina!?

Akasho stepped back and reared her fist back and threw a palm strike into the heave bag as hard as she could. Today she was clad in tight lycra shorts and a gree sports bra. She wasn't feeling the mawashi. She reared back and did it again, grunting loudly with all her effort as the bag gave and wobbled away from her before sputtering back against her.

Mina-chan.

Akashi thought about it. She was still gone. She'd received phone calls here and there but they were always quick and seemed distant. Akashi sighed and leaned her head up against the heavy bag. She had a title match coming up soon too. She was supposed to be excited. Happy. These were supposed to be good time. She felt so drained.

Akashi clenched her fists. She backed up, crouched low tot he ground and launched herself forward, yelling as loud as she could as she tackled the heavy bag. She gripped her arms around it tightly and began to lift and tug and pull. With each strenuous action, she let out louder and louder grunts. Her teeth clenched bitterly and she began to struggle. After about 30 second, the weak link in the chain broke and another 10 and Akashi pulled the bag off its hanger. She then lifted it up and threw it at the practice ring and growled loudly, panting as she glared at all the other people who were working out, who had stopped to eye Akashi, mostly in fear. Akashi snorted through her nose. She was definitely itching for a spar right now but knew she wasn't going to get any takers.

Talia had been practicing her kicks on a punching bag near Akashi when the woman suddenly became furious and ripped the bag off the stand. She stated in awe, amazed by the woman's power and ferocity. She had specifically set up her own punching bag nearby the former Friction champion just so she could watch her workout. She had hoped to learn a few pointers simply through observation. The sheer strength of Akashi dwarfed her. Talia could never dream of becoming as strong as her.

It was still her first week at Friction. The girl had recently switched brands from Tension. It was simply too much for her there in Kyoto. The constant beatings, the lonely nights, and the crazy people all eventually had forced Talia to switch. It meant giving up on her want to match her brother, but at least it meant, at least she hoped, she'd be spared the usual injuries and humiliations that were now synonymous with Tension. Then again, from some of the matches she had seen already, Friction didn't seem so different.

After all, one of the big problems was the size difference between Talia and her male opponents. If many of her opponents in Friction were going to be as big as Akashi, then it really didn't seem to matter that much. Especially if they were all as vicious as she seemed to be. When she threw the punching bag at the ring, Talia couldn't help but take a step away from the woman. She was one of the most famous wrestlers in Japan, and she looked around like she was wanting to fight. Talia was unfortunate enough to be standing closest to her. "A-Akashi," she started to say. "Calm down..." Talia held her hands up with her palms toward Akashi.

Akashi had not noticed the lithe girl practiciing near her when she went off. She didn't notice her now as she scanned the room looking for a eason to fight. What she DID notice was the squeaky voice next to her telling her to calm down. Unfortunately, she hadn't heard WHAT Talia had said.

He head snapped to the side. She was used to uppity bitches starting shit and for once in her life, she was looking to shootfirst and ask questions later. She pushed forward and reached out to grab her by the sports bra and pull her forward. "What was that, Ebi-tan!?"Akashi growled out. She stared down into her with her green eyes.

But then suddenly she let go and stepped back. "Ah...uh..." Her cheeks redenned and she looked around nervously. She then bowed to Talia. "G-gomen nasai!" She said and then looked at Talia with a hopefuly, yet wry smile. "I... Just have a lot going on right now..."

Talia gasped in surprise when Akashi reached out and grabbed her. Her hands stayed in the same positions with her palms facing Akashi. "I-I'm sorry!" she pleaded, hoping her enthusiasm with learning from the pro wasn't about to become one she would remember for awhile. Fortunately, though, the woman released her before doing anything else. She seemed a little embarrassed for overreacting like she did, but Talia didn't notice. She was just thankful that she was spared a beating. "It's okay..." she reassured the woman. Already Akashi was better than most of the men she met in Tension.

"Akashi, right?" Talia asked after a moment with a bow of her own out of respect. "My name is Talia." The small girl reached out to shake the much larger woman's hand. It wasn't the ideal way to introduce herself, but it worked. One of her big goals in joining Friction was to make new acquaintances that wouldn't go out of their way to harm her. Ex-Friction champion Akashi had always seemed to be a good-natured woman from what she saw on television. But she was quite, well, above Talia.

But even the greatest had their problems, it seemed. "Is everything okay?" she asked with a concerned look on her face. After all, Talia was nearly harmed simply by being too close to the woman. It seemed only naturally to ask what was wrong.

Akashi raised an eyebrow at Talia's words. Especially when she asked her name. She definitely wasn't used to people asking her her named. "Y-yes..." She said and looked at Talia. The girl was obviosly a new wrestler. This was probably a rough experience as a rooke. Akashi felt pretty bad. She saw Talia bow and reach out to shake Akashi's hand. She reached out and clutched it tightly and shook it profusely, heavily and tigtly.

"Oh! Sorry!" She said when she realized what she was doing and pulled back, blushing. It was almost as if Talia was the vet with the way Akashi was acting.

But Talia's question threw her off guard. "Huh? What? Of course not! Why would you?" Akashi looked back at the bag. "Eheh.. Well... I guess I just got a little into my workout...." Akashi smiled. "So... How long haveu been in Friction, Talia-chan?"

Talia did her best to keep a straight face when Akashi hurt her hand by how rough she had shook her hand. It was pretty tough though, she had to lean to the right before Akashi released her once more. "It's okay..." she found herself saying once more to the woman. For a reputable and powerful wrestler, Akashi was certainly friendly and humble. It was refreshing to say the least. "It's an honor really, I've always wanted to meet you." It was a truthful statement, though it may have sounded a bit too humble. That is, a skeptical person may have thought she was lying. Regardless, Talia then offered a friendly smile.

"Well, technically I'm not quite in Friction. I fully intend to be part of it soon." Talia gestured to the gym around. Akashi may had been fuming at it not too long ago, but she still thought of it as the best thing ever. "I couldn't handle the way Tension was treating me...it was too much to handle." The girl put her hands on her hips and grinned. "I'm sure you could handle it, though." She wasn't sure to say after that, though. This was Akashi. And she was just...some girl from Tension.

"A-Anyways..." Talia started once more with a little stutter. "You're to be in a title bout soon, right?" She had heard of the upcoming match with Natalia. It was a Hentai match, not something Talia was particularly familiar with, but a title match nonetheless. "I guess training can get a little intense when there's so much on the line." Not that Talia would know. "I don't think I could ever get that intense though."

Akashi blushed at Talia's words. She never gotused to people gushing over her. She shook her head. What would she say? "Ah...Arigatou!" She said and bowed her head. Akashi fidgeted and was thankful when Talia changed the subject.

"Oh! Oh..." Akashi frowned. It seemed like what she was saying about Tension, about the men, that they needed to be dealt with. "I had one match, but it was pretty easy. I guess theydont have a Tension kawaii division so you will do much betterhere in Friction!" Akashi beamed. "Actually, you'll probably kicck a lot of butt!" Akashi had no clue Talia wasn't a kawaii.

"Uh... Yes!" She said, realizing that she would be fighting Natalia at the PPV. With all she had going on, it would be a welcome distraction. But she couldn't help but laug at Talia- words. "Im not exactly training for thatkind of match!"

Akashi grinned. "That was just me releasing some anger! Everyone gets frustrated sometimes. It would be bad if I took it out on an a person, right? Don't you ever feel like you just want to beat the crap out of someone? Especially when you had a bad day?"

Talia hesitated a bit. She really couldn't agree with Akashi about feeling the need to beat the crap out of someone. Well, she didn't believe she could agree. "I...umm..." But at the same time, Talia did not want to disagree with Akashi especially after they had just met. She needed things they had in common to be friends, not things that were uncommon. So she tried to diverge the topic. "I wouldn't know...I'm usually on the receiving side of those beatings." Talia smiled and giggled a little bit to show that she meant it as a joke. It was true, unfortunately, but one day she would be able to laugh about it for real.

"So how do you train for that kind of match?" Talia asked curiously. She really hadn't intended the question to be so...suggestive but it had always crossed her mind. After all, you can beat the snot out of a punching bag in preparation for a fight. How exactly did you prepare for a hentai match? "I mean...I can't imagine you can practice much, can you?"

Akashi furrowed her brow at Talia's words. "How terrible!" She said. "Look, it's rough in the ring." She began. "So you have to be tough to make it. I don't know what you do outside, but if anyone's giving you shit, come send them my way and I'll straighten them out!" She puffed out her chest proudly. She then patted Talia on the shoulder.

Akashi then blushed suddenly. "Wait you don't..." know? She didn't finish her sentence. "Ehehe. Well, there's quite a bit you can do. It comes pretty natural for someone like me. In fact, I would say that I practice for that sort of match more than most anyone around here..." A roundabout way of saying she was a huge slut. She furrowed her a brow. "Seriously?" She said. "A cute girl like you really... doesn't know...?" SHe said looking over Talia's subtle currves as discreetly as she could, which probably wasn't very. Damn! She'd already gotten off track! She couldn't think about that sort of thing with EVERYONE, now.... could she?

Talia did feel assured of Akashi when she offered to protect her. It may have been simply out of courtesy, but it still made her smile. But it was Akashi's answer to her question that had her confused. "You practice a lot?" she asked with an innocent look. "But how-" she began before noticing Akashi look at her features. It made the girl blush up, look down at herself, and cross her arms. She had seen guys look at her that way before, but never a woman. Akashi calling her cute before doing it didn't help her composure either. "Oh..." she muttered quietly.

"So...so do you find a lot of people to practice with?" Talia asked as she looked back up at Akashi to try and move on the conversation. She didn't want it to be awkward after all. It seemed odd that she could practice a lot. It didn't seem like a typical sparring match after all. "Do you think you have what it takes to beat The Dream?"