TEAM AWESOME UNITE!

Akashi giggled at Taylor's attempt to sound intimidating while drunk. She slung her arm around the girl's shoulder and stumbled down the road with her., with a loopy grin on her face. "Haha!" She said at Taylor's words. "I'd wrestle a leopard." She then giggled. "Heh, I AM a leopard!" She blurted out. "My ring name means leopard, Hikyuu, eheh... Why don't I ever use that?" She asked herself. "Ahhh... that's weird.

She looked at Taylor. "I dunno about people who like to kill for fun but aren't murderers but uh..." She paused and thought as they stumbled onward. "You mentioned the war earlier. Do you know why they had to drop The Bombs on us? Because you yanks were afraid to assault the mainland. We're nothing if not stubborn and you guys knew we would fight til the last man woman and child to protect our land. Hell, we ALMOST didn't surrender until after the first two and like 30 years later there were some guys that had got cut off from contact that still believed we were at war. That's craaaazy!" She said. "But We'd die for what we believe in. Look at those Kamikaze guys that attacked your navy base. Before they even got into their planes they had funeral arrangements made. They only put enough fuel for a one way trip in their planes. There was no coming back. That's..." Akashi turned her head and got a little misty eyed. "That's amazing." She whispered.

"I wish I could fight like that! Spitting death in the face and going out with a big bang!" She then stopped. "No, I DO fight like that!" She exclaimed. "I am like a Modern day Kamikaze!" She said with a bright grin. She then poked Taylor in the boob with her free hand. "You kind of are too, I guess." She said beaming brightly.

Taylor slapped Akashi's hand away. "Those guys? They suuck! They couldn't actually hang with the Americans and fight, so they just kick their own asses. How friggin' cheap! Buncha cowards. It's like calling someone on the phone and insulting them and hanging up right away. I mean..." Taylor paused her rant to remind herself that she was talking to her Japanese friend in Japan surrounded by Japanese people. "Nothing against you guys, but seriously. Dub-tee-eff?"

Taylor thought about it. Thinking about the US dropping giant bombs on Japan and killing lots and lots and lots and lots of people seemed like nothing much in social studies class, safely away in New York.

But here in Japan, being able to look around and see the people whose grandparents or great grandparents or whatever got blown up, it started to make her sick. People did a lot of crazy, horrible things, whether it was killing quadrillions of people with a bomb or abusing weaker girls for the thrill of being sadistic. It was all here. Taylor didn't like it. She hated it. She hated it so much that the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach grew until her hands started to shake like they did when she was in danger of getting in a fight.

She looked back at Akashi. She didn't know what to say.

Akashi heard Taylor's rant. Her fist clenched tightly and by the end of it, she seriously considered punching the girl int he face as hard as she could. But she held back. How could Taylor know or understand? What happened, happened over half a century ago. The American's went on, shortly afterward as if barely anything what happened but it had ruined and devastated Japan and left a proud people broken and humiliated. It helped shaped her nations way of thinking for decades. It wasn't something that could be glossed over and even if the US and Japan were now allies, there was always that thought lingering int he back of a Japan else person's head.

But Taylor didn't know any better. She was just as brash in her patriotism as she was in her own life, at least Akashi thought so. She was American and American's kicked the Japanese butts a long time ago so they were just better. Akashi let out a sigh and put her arm back around Taylor, hoping to forcibly keep it there if Taylor tried to remove it.

She could see that suddenly all that hung with Akashi her whole life seemed to come flooding into Taylor's mind. "G-gomen." Akashi muttered weakly. "It's ok, Taylor-chan." She said and turned her head, smiling weakly at the girl. "Old news, right? Like.. We're here now and we're going to just kick a whole bunch of ass together!" She said as she held out her hand once more with hopeful eyes.

Maybe it was just that she was all filled up with Japanese liquor, but Taylor found herself starting to lose it. Thoughts began to converge in her head, about people and the things they do to people, and it was overwhelming. She reached out for Akashi's hand. Their fingers touched.

"Akashi..." She started, pulling her hand back a little, trying her very best to iron out that pesky quaver that her voice always got. "It's not right. What people do. Like, to other people. The way people hurt people. I don't like it. I don't... like it." She blinked several times and looked down at the sidewalk.

"Akashi..." She started again. There was still something to be said, but she was having a hard time putting it into words. She paused for what seemed like forever while she got her head together. "Fighting's all I do right. And... I want to fight people that... like Sarah, that do that stuff. Bad stuff. With people and... stuff."

Being mostly drunk definitely wasn't helping her train of thought. "I wanna fight 'em, but there are so many people like that, and there's so much bad stuff, and... Dammit, I sound like an idiot. What I mean is... shit. I mean that, like, there are people that need to be fought. Because otherwise they turn into complete dickwads and hurt lots of people and feel like they can get away with it. But... you can't fight all of them, ya know? You can't because eventually it'll end up killing you, but that doesn't mean that you don't try.

"I... think that that's what I wanna do. I don't know... how, or anything. But I know those people when I see them. Ya know? And if it kills me, whatever, it's worth it. I think. What else am I gonna do? This is all I'm good for." She dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve.

"So... I guess, in a way, when you jump into a fight that you can win yourself, but maybe you can leave it better than you found it, that's like one of those pussy plane-flier people... the Japanese ones... right?" She looked at Akashi again, completely vulnerable.

Akashi's eyes widened at Taylor's words. It was unusual for the spunky girl to open up in such a way but she appreciated it. And the more Taylor spoke, the more Akashi just wanted to hug her tightly and tell her how spot on she was. "Ah..' She said and turned her head. "Taylor-chan..." She whispered, glancing down at the subtle contact. She smiled weakly again and let her hand fall to her side. It was enough.

"Yeah..." Akashi said, nodding softly at Taylor. "People... people aren't really nice when they get to run around and do as they please." She then turned her head. "What you're saying... I understand it. I feel the same way. Even though people are asses, I think that most are good deep down." She then grinned, "People like that, just need to be punched enough until they get it through their thick heads what a bunch of douches they are being."

Akashi sombered up a bit though. "But... yeah... Fighting... that's all I know too, Taylor-chan. It's strange. I think..." She said and paused. "That I could fight them until I died and that I would be happy doing it. Someone has to. Someone's gotta fight, right? And is that such a bad way to go? To go out fighting?" She turned her head and blushed. "Not to keep bringing it up... but... The Samurai sought death on the battlefield it was considered the most honorable way to die. I know there's some western cultures that felt that way too though." She said to try and include Taylor.
Akashi then sighed. "Taylor-chan..." She looked over the punk. "You're good for plenty." She grinned hoping to relieve the girl's anxiety a bit. "But maybe you're the best suited for fighting like me. We... really are a lot alike, huh/" She said grinning.

"Um... yes.." She said and turned her head. "Like those pussy... plane fighters..." She sighed and lifted her arm off of Taylor and pulled it back and swung it forward to slap it hard against Taylor's shoulder. "Kamikaze, bitch." She said with a bright grin. "There's another meaning behind it too you know. It means Divine Wind in English. Along time ago the mongols were going to invade Japan and while they were sailing across the sea, they were blown away by a powerful and unexpected wind. Japan was saved from being ravaged by the gods." She was excited now. "Isn't that like us?" She wondered. "We'll fight anyone who thinks they can just invade or ravage or mess with someone. With someone who thinks they can do whatever without any sort of ramifications. Haha!" Akashi laughed. "But... we're hardly innocent. It's mostly wishful thinking, isn't it, Taylor-chan?"

For a moment Taylor was afraid that she had said something wrong and offended Akashi. But the cuff to her shoulder was followed by a grin that melted all of that tension away, and Taylor returned it, if a little nervously.

She squinted and tried to focus on what Akashi was saying. Really there was nothing in her own culture that she could relate a "divine wind" to, so it took her a minute before she pieced together what it all meant. Her eyes widened. "Wow, that's perfect! I don't... know how kicking ass for the tag title is going to do any of that... But that's what we need to do! That's what we are. Wow."


It seemed like everything was coming together. It was almost too much to take. There were still closed off, fearful parts of Taylor's mind that could only think that so much good fortune had to be a ruse or something. That it was all a trap and she needed to ruin it to set things right. She didn't listen to those parts, though, not while sake kept them quiet.

"So... When do we start?" Taylor asked with barely contained excitement.

Akashi grinned at Taylor's new found enthusiasm. "Yosh!" She said as she pumped her fist. "We'll make sure that only the toughest or meanest bitches are the ones we fight. Only the best and only the baddest. We'll make sure." She repeated. Akashi then winked at Taylor. "Oh, Taylor-chan! She said. "We started yesterday when we beat the crud out of those stupid boys." She then laughed and put her arm around Taylor's shoulder and began walking. "Soooo!" She asked. "You want to hit a bar, or go make out?" She added hopefully stealthily despite the fact that she blurted it out.

"Ooh, let's go makeout." Wait a minute... "Oh, not with each other! Er... with boys. With a boy. I would like to kiss a boy. Heh..." Maybe being drunk around Akashi was more dangerous than she thought.

She moved on. "It's your city, and country, and stuff. I'm just the gringo... or... gay...something. Whatever your word is for white girl. I'll go where you go. That's what we do now, right?" Taylor gave Akashi an inscrutable look.

She didn't know how long this would last, and when it ended she was sure she'd be heartbroken. But for that moment, she didn't care. She'd just live as much as possible in the time that she had.

"Yosh!"