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Outside the dojo, it's raining.
"Hajime!"
He goes from the back-to-back position into full attack mode instantly, whipping around like a snake and tensing his shoulders.
Telegraphed.
Ha!
I yank him forward into my lap by the thick collar of his gi.
He grabs a pressure point on the inside of my knee and squeezes, then cracks his head upwards to connect with my chin.
I ride it out, but I've lost my grip his collar.
We size each other up again, breathing slowly.
Something about the motion of his eyes catches my attention, a tightening of the edges when he blinked, as if the movement pained him.
Ah, so his head wasn't as hard as he thought, was it?
I can use that.
Dropping to into a crouch and pivoting on the ball of my right foot, I sweep his legs out from under him.
He goes down with a thump, but something about that thump didn't sound right, and a moment later I discover why.
He landed all right, but he picked up the force of his landing on the curve of his right arm and transferred it across his shoulders to the left, where he uses it for a springboard.
...Which brings him around to face me again, though we are now on our knees.
I wait for an opening, and he takes one.
He doesn't bother to get me off balance, he just pile-drives me backwards into the mat.
I can work with this.
I turn my shin diagonally as he lands on me and kick outwards, flipping him over my head.
I meant for him to land on his back, but he twists in mid-air, and lands on his forearms and stomach.
We lock together upside-down, arms tangled and shoulders straining.
Suddenly I yank him down and push off with my foot, pinning him as we overbalance and roll to the side.
And then he does the same thing.
On my back again, I feel him smiling against my stomach.
Oh no, you DON'T...
I curl my lower body up over his lock and reach for his waist with my legs.
Uh.
I can't reach that far, but I've trapped his face against the knot of my belt, and that has GOT to hurt.
He twists out of this predicament by turning his head sideways, then attempts to bench-press my arms down through the mat.
Bad move.
That brings his head up too far, and I lock my knees around his neck.
'Huff'.
Quick exhalation, then quick inhalation, and back to work.
That's what he does when he realizes he's going to give up some ground before his position gets any better.
I'm straightening my legs, choking him off of me.
He grabs my belt with both hands and shoves me upwards and away from him.
That brings my knees up closer to his shoulders and loosens my hold for an instant, -during which he squeezes out of the lock.
Which puts my feet two inches away from his chest, knees halfway bent.
I catch a fleeting look of registering surprise as I kick him, and the force of the my blow skids me several feet across the mat on my back.
I scramble to my feet, and see Ken just beginning to stir at the far end of the mats.
He's down, he's dazed, I pounce.
-If I wait for him to get up, I'll never hear the end of it.
He turns turtle to recover, but I grasp his arm and the edge of his pants-leg, and yank him back over.
And land on him.
The impact knocks the wind out of him, and I establish my across-body hold as tight as I can while he gets it back.
Preferably -preventing- him from getting it back, but I'm not expecting miracles.
I don't receive one.
I am attempting to subdue a mad tiger.
He thrashes all over the place.
He tries to insinuate one of his arms between my body and his, but fails.
Next he buries his nose in the angle of my neck and shoulder, and this almost works, because I am ticklish there.
But I hold him down.
He tries to escape by twisting his hips and hooking one of his legs under mine, but I turn us around like a wheel every time he tries to reach for me.
Hm.
We're both breathing hard, and I can feel the sweat-damp heat that rises off of his gi against my cheek.
He seems to have quieted.
"Give up?" I hiss in his ear.
He reacts the way I hoped he would, by struggling more.
As the one on the bottom, he's burning up a lot more energy than me by doing so.
He realizes this.
I brace myself, because this is where he usually gets clever.
Instead, he turns away from me, and snaps his body like a whip, tipping his head back and trying to slip out under my arm.
I tuck my head down firmly against his shoulder, and grab a handful of the front of his gi around the back of his neck with my left hand for good measure.
Wait a minute, wasn't there a counter to th-?
Uh-oh. I let my hips get up too high, and now he's going to-
As if to confirm my thoughts, I feel a hand take hold of the knot on my belt, and another affix to the side of my gi.
My prisoner boosts me over his head with a triumphant yell.
We race for the standing position, tie, and back off.
On opposite sides of the mat again, we circle each other.
"That was really sloppy." he grins.
"It would have to be, if YOU got out of it." I shoot back.
"Wake up, Ryu! What do ya need, a cup of coffee or something?"
"Shut up and fight."
Back and forth, the lightening builds between us.
He attacks first this time, and starts with an uppercut.
I block with my left arm, and punch him in the stomach with my right.
He tenses up before my blow lands, so it doesn't do much beyond forcing a short 'kss!' of air out from between his teeth.
He back-fists the side of my head, and I see that this fight will be more of a challenge than our 'cuddle' earlier.
I jump kick, catching him high on the shoulder and spinning him around.
We keep going like that until we can't tell whose sweat is whose, until the throb of each impact point is lost against all the others like one more voice in a crowd, until-
-One of us slips.
It must have been him, because I'm not seeing stars, and I know that was where his fist was headed when I dodged it.
He's overshot the mark, and I'm inside his guard, just to right of him.
But he shoves me backwards with his shoulder, and we both go down.
He lands on me, but I have the better position because I'm in back of him.
I scramble for a solid hold, and he yanks us into a sideways roll as I'm trying to do so.
And then I have it, with his arms over mine, and my hands clasped firmly behind his neck.
I place my knee on the center of his back to emphasize the point that I've won.
"Your... match..." he concedes.
And just like that, it's over.
We breathe.
I relax my joint-lock from his neck, and slide my knee the rest of the way across his back until I am lying on him.
My left arm is still under his, and he rests his chin in my hand.
With my right hand I reach over and push the heavy gold sweep of his hair away from the back of his neck.
-I place a kiss at his nape.
Victory.
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-end-