Good Morning Beautiful

"She's not the one I'm worried about, Squirt."

**********

Akashi's nose twitched as she smell3ed something delicious coming from the kitchen. She was still too tired to open her eyes. The light from the morning and the throbbing headache was also a reason she tried to remain still. But as she slowly started to come to, she felt herself nestled against something soft. "eh..." She murmurerd as she felt her arm clearly draped around something.

Opening one eye, she saw the back of a blonde head Her hand wandered until it rested upon a soft mound. "Heeeee." Akashi grinned. She lifted herself up enough to see Taylor. She beamed brightly. Then her headache reappeared and she groaned. She looked around. Johnny wasn't around and it looked like he hadn't been around all evening. She frowned but looked at Taylor.

"Hey, Imouto-chan, wake up." She said honking the girl's breast before giggling and scurrying away from Taylor. She was conflicted between joy and hangover but she sat up and sucked in a deep breath. She felt good. Or at least, the good feeling she had was something she wouldn't let get ruined by a hangover. Last night was probably the best night ever for both them. For different reasons and Akashi especially even though when she stood up and looked down at herself she was still dressed in her party outfit. Her kimono flopped open and her hakama pants were askew and threatening to come undone but that was to be expected.

She scratched her head and shuffled through to the kitchen where the wonderful aromas were coming from. She looked around and Johnny was cooking up something. Cassie probably helped show him where the stuff was.

"Ohayo gozaimasu." She said through a big yawn as she scratched her mostly exposed chest. Like a zombie she walked to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of sake. She poured two shots. She turned her head and looked back to where she came from.

"IMOUTO-CHAN! DO YOU WANT HAIR OF THE DOG?!" She yelled to the hopefully awake girl. She then downed her shot of sake and grinned pleasantly as her cheeks reddened.

"Uhhh.... " Johnny said as he watched the scene trying to avert his eyes from Akashi who clearly did not know or care she was exposing herself. "Yo. I'm makin breakfast for everyone. Hope it's cool and junk."

"Ugh..." Taylor groaned sleepily. She didn't move a muscle until Akashi tweaked her boob, and she jerked an arm across to knock her hand away. She rolled groggily onto her stomach.

"Fuck you," she said, her voice muffled by the bed. She could not imagine how Akashi had as much energy as she did, but then she was much more experienced with hangovers. Taylor felt like she was about to die, but now that she was awake being in the bed only made it worse.

She'd slept in her party clothes, red plaid miniskirt, tight t-shirt and pink fishnet tights. She quickly peeled them off and went to Akashi's closet to find something to wear, but realized that she didn't own any clothes from this side of the 19th century. She walked down the hall to Cassie's room, and helped herself to a pair of fuzzy white lounge shorts and a pink t-shirt with a yellow duck on the front.

"I don't even know what that is, but no," she replied to Akashi from the stairway.

Cassie sat quietly at the dining table watching Johnny cook. She had a lot to think about from the night before. She had a lot to worry about in the near future. She was scared to fight Aurora, not because she thought she'd get hurt but more because she wasn't sure what the girl would do. Would she be able to fight clean? Would she try to get back at Cassie, even if it meant throwing the match?

Taylor arrived in the kitchen, bleary eyed and wild-haired. She looked like she'd been recently hit by a bus. She felt about the same. She shuffled over to a chair at the table and plunked herself down. Cassie got up, unprompted, to get her a glass of water.

"Morning, babe," She croaked. "Johnny, what the hell happened last night?"

Akashi set down the sake shot in front of Taylor. "Hair of the dog that bit you." She said. "The best way to get rid of a hangover is to have a drink. Not much, just a shot. You'll feel better!" Akashi chirped. She ten inhaled deeply. "Ooooh, smells good! I'm going to shower first before I eat though. Anyone else need a scrub?" She said, grinning widely at Taylor. Although she loved Taylor and Cassie, she hated the fact that they were so Western. They just thought she was a creepy perv. And she was, to an extent, but if she asked anyone who was actually born here, they wouldn't blink twice at the thought. Akashi didn't wait around for an answer as she walked towards the bathroom.

Johnny swooped in after Akashi left and set down a breakfast plate. He leaned in going for a kiss on the lips but paused at the last moment and pressed his face into her cheek. "Mornin' babe." He replied back and straightened up.

"Uhhh... You had a really good time." He said, glad that she hadn't remembered what happened. Or at least didn't seem to right now. He turned to flash a look at Cassie. The fact that she didn't remember made things a lot easier for the two of them. Or, maybe, was a way to stick it to Talia in their own way. For whatever she TRIED to do, Taylor didn't even remember it. She'd go on perfectly oblivious. And certainly Talia didn't want THAT.

"You two were so wasted that we just carried you to the guest room. By the time I was ready to go to bed, I didn't feel like hauling Akashi up to her room, so I just slept on the couch. It's no big deal, man." He said, flashing her a smile.

"Oh... cool." Taylor said. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. Cassie offered her the glass of water, and she took it, and drank the entire thing at once. "Ugh... Never again. At least not for a long time... now that I'm training full time again, I have a good excuse not to. How did our little dancing queen do?"

"I danced a little..." Cassie said quietly. Taylor nodded.

"Well... good. We should go out soon, Bear, just me and you. We can go to, like, Koenji. Or Ginza. That'd be fun, right?" Cassie smiled a little, and Taylor turned to Johnny. "Oh, by the way, I told your mom I'd go visit her today. I'll probably go after I eat. And shower."

Taylor and Cassie became quiet while they ate. Taylor wasn't sure if it was normal to have such an appetite the morning after drinking, but she felt like she hadn't eaten anything in weeks.

Johnny sat down on next to Taylor and began to eat as well. He looked at Taylor when she spoke about his mom and grinned. "Great!" he said. He was so glad they seemed to be getting a long now. It was totally cool. But he paused. "Uh... I take it that you want to fly solo?" He asked.

"It's cool man." He said and wolfed down most of his breakfast pretty quickly. "I can have Shorty spot my while I lift weights." He grinned like he meant all day long. He very well might of if his body would allow it. "Maybe I can get up to 350 with encouragement." He said nodding.

He then looked at Taylor. "Is it a secret why you're goin to see Ma? Or did you just feel like hangin out with her while she pesters ya about grandkids and junk."

"Oh, ya, it's totally a secret," Taylor smiled, and pulled her phone out of her pocket to see if she missed anything. "But I'll tell you later. Oh, hey... Talia texted."

The message on her phone read "i had a gr8 tim hit my up next time u go out", from Talia. She thumbed out a quick reply, and Cassie glanced uneasily at Johnny.

"ya def crazy night right??" Was her reply.


After a long, hot shower, Taylor dressed and was out the door. She started her car and the CD player [url=http://youtu.be/U4XLMN4PL5I:1dd24ba7]picked up where it left off.[/url:1dd24ba7] She kept the volume up a little higher than was comfortable because she just couldn't bear turning it down, and sang along softly despite how her head throbbed. "Esther used to be the kind of lover you would never leave..." She nodded her head along to it until she pulled up to her mother in law's house.

She walked up to the door and rang the bell, and then took a moment to try to make herself look more presentable. She wore a black zippered hoodie she had in the back seat of her car, with the words "READY, READY, SET, SET, GO! GO! GO!" written across the front. She wore her pleated red plaid miniskirt from the night before, but pulled it down to make it as modest as possible, and she'd borrowed a pair of black tights from Cassie for her legs. Her red Converse were only laced up halfway. She fussed over her bangs and fixed her ponytail before the door opened.

Junko had just finished up a morning exercise and was hopping out of the shower when Taylor rung the doorbell. She threw on a magenta blouse and some tight fitting jeans, snagged her glasses and hummed and skipped her way tot he door. She couldn't believe her daughter-in-law had contacted her and wanted to come over.

She opened the door and grinned at Taylor. "Taylor-chan!" She chirped and went in for a tight, affectionate hug as she brought her into the house. "I'm sooo glad you came~" She said and her graceful steps left a trail for Taylor to follow as she ushered her into the house proper. "So, Taylor-chaaan, what brings you here, hm?" She asked, turning and flashing a coy grin to Taylor. "If you're here to tell me that you're finally pregnant, then I'm glad you told me first. I have some great names picked out, fufufufu." She winked at Taylor and offered her a spot on the couch.

Taylor hugged Junko back with a warm smile. "Sorry, I can't kick your ass today. I'm suuuuper hung over." She said, more quietly than usual. She had Junko pegged for the sort of person that would have some top-secret hangover cure. But maybe not.

She fell back onto the couch and lounged against the armrest. "So I have a couple questions for you," she began. "Like, we need to talk about our trip, right? Like where we're going and stuff. I was thinking that maybe we could just take some time and kinda tour Japan or whatever, sort of like a bike across Europe sort of a thing. If you want me to get to know Japan, then that'd probably be a good way to do it, right? What do you think?"

That was question number one. She didn't really even care where they went, that was sort of secondary. She just needed something to talk about to buffer the conversation for question number two, so as not to be too abrupt. She didn't think Junko would decline, but she didn't know for sure...

Junko raised an eyebrow at Taylor's words. "Were you out corrupting my baby boy, Taylor-chan?" She siad, wagging a finger at Taylor before grinning. "Well." She said. "I'm all out of kudzu but..." She said as she shuffled off to the kitchen beckoning Taylor to follow her. She put a tea kettle on her stove and began fishing things out of places while Taylor spoke to her.

"Ooooh... A trip like that does sound nice." She said with a bit of a swoon in her tone. "Ichiro and I used to love to drive all over Japan. Of course that was back when I was really getting into the wrestling business. We had to do a lot of traveling at our own expense so we decided to make it something fun, rather than work." Junko sighed and then frowned. "Back when he wasn't so stiff." She said and then grinned. "Well... there was ONE place he was quite stiff back then, ohohoho." Junko cackled.

"If you can stand that long together with me then I say let's do it. It will be quite thrilling and I'll start looking up a nice route for us. You just tell me how long you'll have for it, ok?" She tilted her head. "I mean... isn't this going to interfere with...." She paused and looked Taylor up and down. "You know..."

Taylor nodded blankly. "Yes."

She assumed that asking what she meant would only get her more talk about grandkids, so she didn't bother. She moved on. "Well, that's cool. I'm not sure exactly how long I'll have, or when, because, ya know, I'm back in wrestling." She couldn't remember if Junko knew that. "But that's sort of the other thing I wanted to ask you."

She sat up straight and turned to look for Junko. She was hesitant, and she waited for Junko to come back before continuing. She felt like she was asking someone out on a date.

"So, like, I decided that if I was going to do it, I'd do it right," she said. "I don't want things to go like last time. I want to be the best. I know I've got talent, and I know I work hard, and I'm not afraid to fight anyone, but... I'm sort of an idiot with all the business stuff. Even with the t-shirt stuff, I've got a guy who manages all the business stuff. I pretty much just play with crayons."

She paused. She didn't know why this took as much courage as it did, but it was best to just hurry up and spit it out. "I was wondering if you'd want to manage me?"