Ruthless Affection (Akemi)

A dislocated shoulder had been completely worth it for the fact that for the first time in this life Nibiru had been reunited with her princess.  Scorpius was awakened thanks to the sudden and mysterious appearance of their greatest nemesis, Ultimo Diablo.  Since that first fateful encounter the heel had yet to make an appearance but it could only be a matter of time before they met again.  Next time the tag team would be even more prepared for him!  There was a lingering issue which Chifuyu wanted to resolve now that they were both fully aware of their powerful nature.  Something that as Nibiru became even more intense and passionate do to its unresolved nature.  She knew she was in love with someone who had just fully returned from the shadows.  Someone whom she had sworn to protect from all threats up to and including Ultimo Diablo.  Just how to breech the subject had been a matter of temporary inconvenience.

The answer had been incredibly simple when you got right down to it!  Despite the fact that similar attempts had proven totally ineffective she was going to try it again.  A plot twist this juicy just couldn't be handled any other way.  Since it wasn't obscured pieces of memory that she was trying to illuminate it was likely to be more effective here.  So she was decked out in her singlet underneath the trenchcoat, cat ear headband tucked into her hair, gloves and boots showing her ready for a fight that wouldn't occur.  Around her waist was the DCW title belt she'd made by hand.  On her face was some black paint giving her whiskers, completing the look.  For the first time the Yule Cat was on the road, ready to pay a visit to her cousin's home.  All it would need now was a knock and the promo could begin!

With a grin she rapped on the door to the Aracellis', not noticing that Dwayne had come with her after all.  Chifuyu called out, "Amazing Akemi! I know you're in there!"

"So, in my past life, I was the Scorpius Constellation Champion?"

Akemi was busy quizzing her guardian and new pet lizard, Marius. Although the lizard did like being referred to as a pet. He also wasn't too fond of how she kept trying to equate the noble title of Princess to this ridiculous title she had made up for herself. It was getting rather exhausting, if he was being perfectly honest. Still, he shook his head and attempted one last time.

"No...you are the Princess. You are Alexandria, reincarnated! And now you must stand against your foes on the field of battle! Because I can sense that --"

"Ultimo Diablo! I knew he was up to no good!"

"Ah...no. Well, not entirely. I don't want to make of that one, to be honest. But, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have anything to do with what I'm sensing. Anyways, Princess, you must listen to me! It's vitally important that I tell you --"

Again, Marius was cut off. There was a knocking at the door, downstairs and that snagged Akemi's attention away from the lizard. A voice followed, hollering for the recently awakened Senshi. And it was in a very familiar tone. Marius sighed, as Akemi bolted down the stairs. This was going to take him so long...

---

"Of course I am! You're at the home of Champions!" Akemi yelled out her bedroom window before leaving Marius in her dust. When she got downstairs, Akemi ran for the front door and swung it open. Standing with her hands on her hips, she grinned at her cousin.

"So! You wanted the Amazing One, herself? Well, here she is! But, let me give you a little warning. If you want to go toe to toe with the Amazing Akemi! You better make sure you've said your prayers and eaten your vitamins...because Ake-Mania is gonna run WILD on you!" Akemi pointed at her costumed cousin.

Dwayne had a decidedly bad feeling about this latest endeavor his ward was undertaking. She had insisted that this was an important part of helping the princess to adjust to the revelations which had come about during the last fight. Something that would inevitably make Scorpius and Nibiru stronger as warriors of justice and might. For once Nibiru seemed as if she were taking something serious when it came to her duties as a senshi. Now that they were at the princess' abode it was perfectly clear that whatever the girl had in mind it was going to be both incredibly stupid and ineffective in actually strengthening their bonds. Worst of all it wouldn't even cause her to refer to him by his proper name! No matter how serious she became about the whole business it was likely that she'd never refer to him as anything besides 'Dwayne.' With another little doggie sigh he waited for the door to open so that at least he could head inside to speak to Marius, someone who might share in his frustration and melancholy.

Chifuyu meanwhile grinned when her beloved cousin threw herself fully into the role of the Amazing Akemi. A summons such as the one which had been issued could only be answered in a particular way, a way that she'd just employed expertly. She was so pretty, so confident as she threw the door open and retorted to the summons. Just like Princess Alexandria had been, only more. More beautiful, more confident and more special to the guardian's heart than ever before. Once lost and never to be lost again. So rather than keep her smile too long and break the magic of kayfabe, Chifu hit the play button on her MP3 player inside a bag that had rested at her side. From it came the Yule Cat's entrance theme, a selection from Beethoven's Ode to Joy. As it thundered through the entryway she slipped in past Akemi and held her hand up in a fist for the imagined audience. She flexed, posed and motioned to her title belt as she slipped her boots off and stepped into the house proper.

Once inside, Dwanye just trotted upstairs to avoid the ridiculous display that ensued. Chifu meanwhile looked with deathly intensity at her cousin, "Finally.. I said, FINALLY The Yule Cat has meandered... home. So you call yourself the Amazing One, the Yule Cat hears. Now it doesn't matter who your parents are, who you claim to be, because someone knows the truth. Ake-mania's run its course, everyone's already seen it. Now what you need to worry about is the arrival of the Beast of the Icelandic Alps.. the Yuletide Monster known to mankind only as.." she inhaled dramatically, "The YUUUUUUUULE CAAAAAT!"

"Now you might be amazing.. but this is the house of champions? The Yule Cat only sees one champion here and it darned sure isn't the Amazing One. The only person in this room with a title here is the undisputed D.C.W. Champion," she gave her belt a pat, then added, "So if you want to know what you really are, you're gonna have to get it from me.. if you SMEEEEEEEELLLL what the Yule Cat is baking for dessert!"

Marius did not venture downstairs. It simply was not worth the effort. If his princess' cousin and guardian was there, it only meant a continuation of a very silly thing. This, he did not feel he was adequately prepared to deal with today. He remained on Akemi's desk, a foreleg palming his face. Why was the universe so cruel!

Chifu's music played and the House that Adan Built was soon greeted by the DCW Champion. The enterance, as Akemi would have to mention later, was very well done. Especially in such an impromptu setting! Chifu entered and made her promo as Akemi stood and waited with her arms folded across her chest.

"It's not just my parents, sister!" Akemi countered, "The Araceli name has been the Gold Standard in Lucha Libre for generations! Now, I don't know just who you've had to go through to get that belt of yours, but I know one thing is for certain. You haven't stood toe to toe with the Amazing One! You haven't battled the Golden Ceaser...Or the Ceaser the Great...and as a wise man once said.."

Akemi stepped closer to Chifu and grinned, as she got within an inch of her face, hands on her hips.

"If you want to BE the man...You have to BEAT the man." she then stepped back and cupped her hands to her mouth as she tilted her head back and let out a "Woooooooooooooo!"

"After all, there is only ONE! Limousine ridin'...Jet flyin'...Kiss stealing! Wheelin', dealin', sunofa gun! Woooo! And that is the AMAZING One! Akemi Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrracelllllli! You think you've got what it takes, sister!? Well, there's only one way to find out!"

Like his companion in misery Dwayne was bound and determined not to sit through whatever ridiculous display the two girls were going to put on. Purely a waste of his time to attempt anything resembling convincing them to be serious about this after all. Living with Nibiru meant dealing with silliness bordering on insanity on a day to day basis. Given the opportunity to do so he was eager to escape that company for a short while. The dog bounded up the stairs, trotted over to the princess' room and nudged the door open enough to slip inside. At last he was free to talk with someone else who understood the gravity of it all!

"Marius, my friend, how in the world do you stay sane dealing with them?" he asked woefully.

The silliness was fully embraced by the DCW Champion however. She stood listening to her cousin's retorts with an unimpressed expression gracing her face. Behind the mask of indifference Chifu was actually quite impressed by the girl's enthusiasm and ability to improvise a scene. Such skills were quite ideal for their chosen profession and would no doubt make the Amazing Akemi a star! Compliments would have to wait because she was in a position to respond to the confident rebuttal which her cousin had let loose. Hands on her hips Chifu stepped forward to look her cousin dead in the eyes with all the confidence and determination a Yuletide Monster was bound to have. This wasn't something the reigning champion was going to just let slide without showing the opponent her place!

"Now slow down there, girl, you're getting carried away. Let The Yule Cat explain this to you in words that anyone here can understand. The Yule Cat thinks that all this talk about daddy this or grandpa that doesn't mean a darn thing when it comes to your own talent. You can hide behind their names all you want but that doesn't mean that you have any ability to keep pace with a true champion. Amazing or not, you haven't had to defeat the likes of The Queen of Hearts, the witch queen Maleficent, Flyin' Jane Porter or Aurora to win a belt. That's what separates The Yule Cat from all the rest," she explained proudly, patting her title belt, "Now you say you can go toe to toe with the best of them? The Yule Cat says this: The Yule Cat says prove it. Prove that you're not just all talk and daddy worship. Prove that you can go one.. on one... with the Great One!"

Then she stepped close enough that their noses touched, "You're kiss stealing, huh? Why don't you steal one right now?"

Although his time with the princess was brief...it felt like he had spent far too much time around her, already. Marius had to endure endless ramblings about the merits of pro wrestling. From it's history, to the storied careers of the Araceli lineage. And her parents! Her father was even worse. He couldn't tell which of them was louder. And that time when he made the mistake of wandering downstairs during one of their...

Best not to think about that. He was interrupted by the appearance of Dwayne. Who was probably the only one who could understand his plight. "I'm not sure how I have survived this far." he said, "How is it that THOSE two are the reincarnations we have been looking for?"

Chifu had played her part well. Akemi was rather impressed with the work she had put into her character and into the DCW title. Well, aside from it's makeshift appearance. The meaning behind it certainly gave it the value of any world title worth it's weight in gold. She closed the distance and tried to use her own words against her. Standing to face to face, Akemi's grin broadened.

"Oh, I'll do more than steal a kiss..." Akemi took a quick step back and threw a kick out. Not a serious move. She wasn't looking to actually hurt Chifu, just play the part of the challenger to that title her cousin was carrying around. Spinning on her heel, she grabbed at Chifu around the neck and dropped down.

Arminius had but one kindred spirit in his crazy existence as a guardian to a princess' guardian, only one other who could understand his frustration completely. That other was lamenting his assignment to the princess as much as the dog lamented Nibiru's total disregard for anything resembling common sense or concern. At least in each other's company they might be capable of getting all the mounting annoyances and frustrations off their chests from time to time. Climbing up onto the princess' bed he felt as if he probably had the worse end of their arrangements. Surely Scorpius wasn't quite as out there as Nibiru could get sometimes, talking about championships, something called kayfabe, swooning over someone whom she wouldn't name to him and being far too spontaneous for her own good. Worst of all out of these offenses was that she disregarded his true name because apparently 'Dwayne' felt much more appropriate to her.

"I have a feeling that it's only liable to get worse from here, my friend," Dwayne responded sadly, "Does her highness at least refer to you by Marius? That would be a step up from what I've had to go through with Nibiru."

Maybe it was inevitable, but Akemi completely ignored the subtle cues which had been sprinkled into her promo. Sure a lot of it'd just been buildup to keep her cousin's attention and partially Chifuyu just getting incredibly into character. Her passions were both before her and there was just no way that the brunette wasn't going to get incredibly excited as a result. Wrestling won out in the end even though she'd left the tag line of 'prove you can steal a kiss' and everything. That really hurt her feelings actually; here she'd gone and set this all up just to get in, finally telling the princess what she had always felt. A kiss was only the natural conclusion to their whirlwind history with one another after all. Instead she found herself reacting to the 'kick' before the sting of the setup not working caused her to just stand there after staggering a little bit in reaction to the move. A no-sell was usually not what the Yule Cat would do but this was a unique case. She stood there staring for a moment or two, then reminded herself that kayfabe couldn't be broken. So after a preposterously long delay she staggered, fell back and landed on the couch.

Then she covered her frustration by giggling, "Well done, Akemi-chan! We should show that to Uncle Adan when he's not busy.. so.. how're things?"

"I suppose that I am fortunate in that regard." replied the lizard, "Not that it's helped me get through to the princess. I have no idea how to actually accomplish that. Our work, Arminius, is truly cut out for us."

Somehow, the lizard sighed. Not something one expected to hear from a reptile, but the situation had warranted quite the sigh. The bright side was that the two guardians had managed to locate their senshi. How they would get them to focus on anything was another matter. Even getting Akemi to shift her focus off of that Ultimo Diablo person was getting him nowhere. The sooner they got that resolved, the better off they would be.

"That thing they were fighting..." Marius said, "Do you know anything about it? The most I can gather is that he slighted the princess' family in some way. But that still doesn't explain anything about him."

Pulling off a Stone Cold Stunner, Akemi was not given the ability to see Chifu's face. After all, she did have to do the move properly, otherwise that would just be insulting to the Texas Rattlesnake. And she would never dishonor a legend, like that! Which was why she was a bit puzzled by Chifu's delayed reaction. Perhaps she was going for some sort of effect? Well, if Chifu was selling a move, Akemi would trust her cousin's instincts.

"Dad would love it!" she grinned, not bothering to get off the floor, but rather swinging herself around getting into a cross-legged position to sit and look over to Chifu, on the couch.

"Things are good! Still haven't found any trace of Ultimo Diablo...but, I can worry about that, later! In the meantime, Marius has been trying to tell me about some of those weird monsters. What were they called? Youmans?"

"Unfortunately it seems that fate has conspired to throw us into this position. Trying to relate to young girls is difficult enough from what I'm led to believe. Attempting at all to understand what goes on in Nibiru's mind is next to impossible," the dog shook his head, then wagged his tail happily, "But.. you called me Arminius! It's been so long since anyone called me that. You've no idea how much of a relief that is."

Then he sighed again and related, "So far as I can tell this Diablo fellow is some sort of nemesis to the princess' family. Nibiru talks about him as if he's the greatest evil in the universe. Also about how defeating him would win her eternal praise from the princess. She's.. quite attached to Scorpius."

Sadly Akemi was proving much harder to get through to than the DCW Champion had anticipated. Sting though it might Chifuyu forced herself to move on and put up a brave face. You just had to work hard to prove yourself to the person in question. Sooner or later the princess was bound to notice her devotion and affection and reward her with that kiss she'd yearned after for so long. Meanwhile they had a positive thing to discuss which wouldn't make her heart ache. Plus she could always utilize a different gimmick to get her cousin's attention later! In fact she knew just the one to try next; it'd require the element of surprise and strong percussion support.

"We should do it for Uncle Adan then when he gets home! Maybe he could help me with selling the move a bit more," Chifu remarked, then smiled blissfully as she added, "Has anyone told you that you're beautiful in addition to talented, amazing and awesome? Because they really should have."

Admitting she thought this made her blush, but thankfully she had a distraction from her cousin's question. Thinking about it, she frowned before shrugging, "I always thought those weird monster things were called Youmays.. as long as they're not Yunas. Because Yuna could absolutely never be a monster of any kind."

"Of course!" replied the lizard, "We are both warriors on the side of justice! We should be treated with such diginity."

Marius nodded his head, taking on an oddly wise appearance. Especially for a lizard. It was bizarre to be trapped in such a situation. He could only hope that there weren't any other girls like Scorpius and Nibiru. One was a handful. Two were almost unmanageable. If there were any more, Marius feared for the safety of the universe.

"Yes, Scorpius has mentioned some slight this man has made against her family. Her reincarnation has certainly done little to take away from her sense of pride or family." he said, "I'm...still not sure if that's good or not. At the very least, we can count on Nibiru to defend the princess. Still! We must remain vigilant for all threats!"

---

"Haha, you won't find a better teacher!" she nodded her head. If anyone could give you a keener insight into the business that both Akemi and her cousin adored, it was surely Adan. Her father was a champion, after all! Which was why she had to avenge his honor. When she did find her old adversary, she wouldn't be holding back.

"Yuna? A monster?" Akemi had to laugh at such a ridiculous idea, "Of course not! Our Yuna is far too cute to be a monster."

Even trying to picture Yuna dressed up like a monster brought about imagery that could only be described as adorable. Their blonde friend (and surrogate sister) did have a menacing bone in her body. Sure, she could make a good manager...but, Yuna would just be unbelievable in the role of a heel.

Arminius hadn't been working with Nibiru's reincarnation all that long, but it was clear that she was probably a little nuts. He could take some solace that he had not been reborn into the body of a lizard, which many young people thought weird. As a dog he could easily accompany his charge anywhere and everywhere to offer her advice as things went down. Whether she listened to him or not was another thing. Something about not 'breaking kayfabe' whatever that meant. She was a tough warrior thankfully but maybe too tough for her own good. Not realizing when you had to retreat was bound only to be detrimental in the long run.

"We can rely on Nibiru to be unswervingly loyal to the princess, probably to the point of death. That much hasn't changed. I'm convinced that she would die for Scorpius if events were dire enough. That might get us into more trouble than it sounds," the dog recalled before breaking the news to his counterpart, "She has feelings that go beyond comradery. You see.. she has this.. scrapbook of Scorpius' reincarnation.."
---

Thinking of the tiny blonde who was as much a part of their family as either senshi always made Chifuyu smile. Imagining her dressed in some silly monster outfit while trying overly hard to look scary drove her to laughter. It was the least convincing attempt at intimidation since the appearance of a certain glitter-helmeted dojikko in their favorite manga. As a manager she would be excellent though. Probably dressed up in all sorts of cute costumes to coordinate with whatever gimmick her client was performing under. Cat ears and a tail for the Yule cat, an angel for Mother Superior, the list went on and on. More than that, though, she wanted to team up with her cousin rather than act out confrontations all the time. Some day she'd get a kiss as a reward for her hard work in the ring.. maybe after a few chair shots or something. A girl could dream, at least.

"Uncle and Auntie are gonna be a while, aren't they?" she asked, starting to get an idea, "How does a round of video gaming sound to you? I brought over the new GHS game, if you want a piece of me!"

"A scrapbook?" Marius tilted his head, "Why would she need such a peculiar collection?"

She was very dedicated to the protection of Scorpius. Which, he supposed, was a good thing. Even if it was a little overzealous. In their current situation, the two guardians would have to make the most of whatever hand they had been dealt. And if it was that the two reincarnations were...well...unbalanced? They would just have to make due.

"No matter. At the very least there is one thing we can count on Nibiru for. Now, we just need to get them to focus. Perhaps if we should concentrate on dealing with the Diablo situation. Once that distraction has been dealt with, perhaps then we can get the princess to focus on something else."

---

Akemi could just as easily picture Yuna in blazer decked out with harts as she marches down to the ring with bull horn. In some respects, the two cousins were on the same page. The Araceli girl certainly did want to team up with Chifu in the ring. They had certainly made a pledge to each other to always be in the other's corner. Although, whenever their impromptu training matches came up, the two always found themselves at odds with each other.

After all, it would be a bit pointless, if their tag team opponents were...well, no one. There was always Marius and Arminius, but how much of a challenge could a lizard and a dog pose to two masters of the squared circle? They needed proper opponents. Actually, now that she thought about it, those things that Marius had mentioned did seem like they would make for good adversaries.

"Hm?" Akemi looked up from her thought, "You got the new one! Nice! Let's boot it up! This is one where they added Sting-Chan, right?"