I'm Not Who You Think

Akashi growled audibly at Taylor's words. "I haven't slept with anyone in this house right now." She said indignantly as she crossed her arms and turned her head, pouting her lips out. After a moment, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I know that Cassie's going through a lot. It's not just her though... it's..." Akashi shook her head. "I mean... does she think we don't know what it's like to be in her position? Or even Dark Angel's? If there's anyone she could talk to about it, it's us."

Akashi lowered her head at Taylor's words. "They probably took her to Tokyo Midtown. It's a hospital for international visitors and residents. I'm pretty sure that's where they would take anyone who wasn't specifically Japanese and/or requested to be somewhere else." Akashi lifted her head. "Why?" She asked, staring at Taylor, her head tilting curiously.

Taylor shook her head. "No reason."

She set her stew down and leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. "Man," she said. "This is crazy. This is like the first time I'm actually the sane one, and you two are the crazy ones." She laughed. "Well, my life is pretty great right now. Thanks for asking."

She gave Akashi a mischievous smile and went back to her stew. She was still hungry, but after another couple minutes she couldn't wait anymore. "I guess I should go see her now, right?"

Akashi stared dryly at Taylor, raising a curious eyebrow at the girl. "Hm." She grunted."And I'm sane, dammit!" Akashi added with a playful growl.

Akashi then pulled up her bowl and slurped some of the soup. She took Taylor's bowl and hers and tossed them into the sink. She came back and smiled at Taylor. "You know I'm happy to see you, Imouto-chan. I would have just moped around all night if you hadn't shown up."

Akashi leaned forward and squeezed Taylor's shoulders. "Go get her. I'll be up there in few minutes after I clean up dinner."

"Yeah," Taylor said, and turned to easily climb the stairs two at a time.

Cassie had heard her come in, and unlocked her door. Taylor didn't bother knocking, and the door opened when she tried it. She walked in and shut the door behind her.

On top of Cassie's bed was a sizable mound of blankets, and somewhere cocooned inside was Cassie. Taylor paused by the doorway for a moment, and then stepped toward the bed and reached out to give the lump a poke with her toe.

"Nn." Cassie grunted. Then silence. Then a brief rustling before Cassie pulled down a section of blanket enough to lift her head and look at Taylor. Then she let her head drop back onto the bed, but left it uncovered. Taylor pushed the mountain over enough that she could sit on the end of the bed, her back against the wall and her knees pulled up.

"Hey Pants," she said. After a while, when Cassie didn't say anything, Taylor kept going. "So... you hit a pretty sweet throw on that chick. On the table. Out of nowhere, Cassie Elliot style."

"Nn."

"I don't know what you're so upset about. Aside from that throw, you didn't really do anything. And you can't be all mad thinking you suck, because you won. That's that."

That worked. Cassie pulled the blankets down again to look Taylor in the eye. "Taylor. The girl is in the hospital," she said in a hushed voice like someone might overhear. "And I put her there. I can't stop thinking about-"

"No you didn't."

Cassie blinked. "Wha- Okay, smart guy, then why is she there?" She was annoyed.

"She's in there because she's a fucking retard. You didn't do that. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time after she fucked herself over."

Cassie scowled and shook her head, but she couldn't immediately think of anything to say. "You're so dumb," was what came out. She was hoping to shut Taylor up.

"I'm dumb? Oh, okay." Taylor said with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah. How can you say that? It's not like she came out to the ring and beat herself up or jumped off a building or something. You saw what she did, she was trying to... to..."

"Man," Taylor shook her head. "Fuck your life. Your life must suck. To have that kind of power? Where you can just accidentally end someone like that? Are you Superman, and you don't know your own strength? Do you need me to be Uncle Ben right now? Damn, Pants, I knew you were scary, but you're fuckin' terrifying. Don't ever unleash the fury on me, okay?"

Cassie's rage smoldered underneath the blankets. "Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not." She was. "I'm just saying that the stupid chick in the mask pretty much did jump off a building, and you, as a normal, living human being, put something in the way to protect yourself. You didn't skillfully strike her down or some shit, you just didn't make an effort to let her get away with being that stupid. I mean, you kicked her in the gut once, which, that kick was the shit, but she was a punching bag at that point, and then you fucked up your gogoplata. Nothing you did mattered, and she would've got hurt like that if she was fighting a blow up doll, so how about you fucking get over yourself and cut this shit out, so we can talk about it and figure this shit out, because now you're somebody. You're the girl that ended Dark Angel, and people are going to want a piece, ya know?"

Cassie was quiet. She wanted to choke Taylor. She wanted to beat her up and show her her gogoplata at full force. She settled, instead, for kicking her in the butt.

"Ow."

"Go away."

"I'm staying here tonight, and I sure as shit am not sleeping in Akashi's room. Couch isn't that comfortable. I'm sleeping riiiiiight here. Well, on the floor, but whatever."

Cassie made a low noise like an irritated cat. She knew that Taylor was too stubborn, and she'd never get rid of her. She'd just be wasting her energy trying, and she didn't want to, anyway.

"Well..." She said. "Then bring me dinner. And then go away and bug Akashi, and tell her how stupid she is."

"Okay."

Taylor went back downstairs to find Akashi, and gave her a love-tap of a roundhouse kick to the gut. "Cassie wants food now."

Akashi was just about finished putting away the food when Taylor came down only to have Taylor come down and tell her that Cassie needed food. Akashi wrinkled her nose. "Cassie-san sucks." She said again and pulled the food out from the fridge. Cassie was lucky that dinner existed entirely in a giant pot.

"I should make her come get it for how she's acting.' Akashi shook her head. "Neither of US ever acted like that when WE broke some bitch's face!" Akashi poured some of the food into the bowl and heated it for a few seconds int he microwave so it wuld be steaming hot. Then, as she talked, she scooped some rice into it and pulled out some chopsticks.

"If she was going to have such an issue about it, why didn't she at least try and NOT be in an ambulance match!? She could have done a KO match or a table's match or just a straight up no DQ match if she was just looking to punish the girl. I don't know. It seems like Dark Angel really bamboozled Cassie-san with that match type but what if it HADN'T backfired?"

Akashi passed off the bowl to Taylor. "I'm coming up there too." She said and frowned. "I have to LIVE with her, so .. we can't just be going back and forth like this forever." She said, frowning. She didn't like this one bit but what else could she do but keep trying?

"Dude, I seem to remember breaking your face over something," Taylor pointed out. "Maybe I hit you so hard you forgot about it. I knocked out all the memories. Want me to bring 'em back?" She grinned, and cocked a fist.

"But really, when was the last time your match ended with a girl unconscious and puking up blood? Never? Prrrrrrretty sure that's never happened. For either of us. And you've got to realize, Cassie's not like us. She's not an asshole. Assholes like us don't care." She opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, then put it back and picked up a beer instead. It was more appropriate to the situation.

"I know how she feels, but like, not because I've been there myself. I can't care about people like she does. I don't have it in me. But... I just know. I dunno why." Taylor grabbed the bowl of hot soup and carried it up the stairs. "So just cut her some slack. This might be her big break or something. Kinda."

She nudged the door open with her butt. "Okay, I brought you dinner and Akashi. Don't bite her or anything. Don't unleash the fury, okay?"

Cassie sat upright on her bed and pulled a blanket around her. She was silent, and watched Akashi before hesitantly taking the bowl. She wished it was just Taylor. She couldn't deal with Akashi, and she just wanted to sleep.

"Move over." Taylor said, and pushed Cassie toward one end of the bed to give her space to lay down next to the wall. She was pretty worn out. Watching Cassie's match had taken more out of her than if she was in it herself. Just ask Johnny.

"I CARE about people! And I'm NOT an asshole!" Akashi said. "Maybe you broke my face, but you didn't get all... angry afterwards! You cried. Like a baby." Akashi said and stuck out her tongue at Taylor's back.

When they were in Cassie's room, Akashi sat on the floor and crossed her arms under her chest. She stared at the floor and flared her nostrils. She pouted her lips and remained silent.

After a while, Akashi fidgeted and then looked up. "Cassie-san. Why in the world did you let Dark Angel rope you into an Ambulance match in the first place? I might be able to understand No DQ, but... What if... SHE had won?" Akashi said as she lifted up her head and stared with sad eyes at Cassie.

Cassie wished she could sink into the bed and disappear. Akashi's question was one she definitely did not want to answer.

But the truth would probably come out anyway, and Cassie was a terrible liar. "It was my idea," she said, barely above a whisper. "I don't think she knew about it until the match. But... she wasn't going to win."

Taylor stared at Cassie in disbelief. That was too much. Had she actually gone crazy? Did Dark Angel actually mess up her brain that much? "Cassie!" She said, almost like she was scolding her. Cassie only turned a bright shade of red while tears again welled up around her eyes.

Akashi's eyes widened when Cassie said that the match had been her idea. Taylor's outburst beat her own by a few seconds but that time gave her a chance to hold it in. She saw the red faced girl and the tears beginning to bubble up and the sumo's own features softened.

"Cassie-san." She said in a tender and cautious tone, just above a whisper. "Why did you say you wanted to get hurt like Dark Angel? To feel what she was feeling?" Akashi tilted her head and looked at Cassie. Obviously the girl was struggling with something but the contradictory nature of her decisions and words made Akashi pause and wonder.

"I wish I did," Cassie said sulkily. She pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged and put her face in her hands. "I dunno... I... I just wanted her to stop! She was... hurting people. And me. And I just wanted to stop her from being able to do that, but I never thought it would go like this. I just thought I'd hurt her leg and she'd be laid up for a little while. That's what I do, but I always stop when people tap and I don't ever actually hurt people. I thought maybe I could actually use it for real to... help."

She said the words, and she meant them, but they didn't feel totally true. She knew that she also wanted to hurt her, vengefully, to pay her back for the misery she had caused her.

"I wish I got hurt because the whole idea was to stop people from getting hurt!" She wailed. "And... and... I wanted to hurt her. So... I deserve it." And she knew that if it came to it, she would do it again. She didn't know if it was right, but she knew that people had to learn to behave themselves, and she wasn't going to let everyone get hurt by not standing up to bad people.

Taylor kept her mouth shut and didn't look at Cassie, but she glanced up at Akashi.