Soft Knuckles


The strange thing about the five senses is that there is always that one thing that's angelic to certain people. One might love the sight of their presents on Christmas morning, or just enjoy the beautiful orange sunset falling over the horizon. Some may enjoy the smell of breakfast in the morning, or simply enjoy the scent of a lit stick of incense. Others might love the feeling of freshly washed blankets after having been dried so that they may have a good night's rest. And of course there's the taste of one's favorite meal, prepared for a special occasion. Combined, these senses create our being, our entire existence. For one woman, however, sound was the most pleasurable thing.

Leather mitts smacked against a similar material bag, in a rhythm that could be considered poetic. A woman named Jasper danced around the bag hanging from the ceiling of the gym she attended, striking in different areas. Sweat coated her tanned body as she hit the bag with quick jabs, powerful hooks, and sweeping uppercuts. Basically anything she could think of that would harm her imaginary opponent, she did, including wrapping her arms around the bag and jamming her knee repeatedly into it, a dull thud ringing throughout the gym.

Her clothing left nothing to the imagination. Of course she wore dark clothing so that her skin wouldn't be seen passed her sweaty clothes, but she absolutely refused to wear an uncomfortable bra while she worked out. Jasper had to wear a crop top under her tank top so as to stay decent during her exercising. Her shorts were of a decent length, but they were definitely tight against her lower thighs, but that's how she liked it. They allowed for easy movement. Her dirty blonde, butt length hair was tied back into a bun and ponytail combination. Because of the sheer thickness of her hair, it was difficult to contain such length, but she also refused to cut it.

Despite being a woman, Jasper had a rather large build. Even some of the men who frequented the gym were of a smaller stature. And even the occasional buff that would walk through the door didn't dare to spar with Jasper when she requested it. It wasn't because they wanted to be gentlemanly, or because they simply thought hitting a woman was wrong. No, they didn't want to fight Jasper because they genuinely feared for their lives. She had quite the local reputation.

"Yo Jasper!"

Jasper stopped thrusting her knee up into the bag to look at her second, someone who stays at the corner of a boxing ring to help the boxer during the one minute intervals. This woman was quite a bit shorter than Jasper was. Honestly, just two feet shorter and Amethyst could be considered a dwarf. Her brunette hair was just as long as Jasper's, but she kept it loose until she needed to train someone herself, then she tied it into a ponytail made from itself. She wore a dark gray hoodie and jeans, completely casual in this room of sweaty men and women who are trying to better themselves. Jasper smirked and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "What's up, sis?" Oh, Jasper and Amethyst are sisters.

Amethyst stood beside Jasper's punching bag and inspected the indents the taller woman's knee left in the leather. "You're a boxer, is what's up. No legs, remember?"

"I know." Jasper admitted, claiming her guilt with a raised hand as she leaned on the bag. "I got a little carried away. You know I don't break those rules in the ring, right?"

"Hey, I don't care what you do in here, but if Smiley sees you pull this crap, it'll be my ass. Grab me a pair of gloves, would you?"

"Oh, getting a little antsy?" Jasper asked, and Amethyst nodded. Even if Amethyst wasn't a professional, she still enjoyed hitting the bag and doing the general exercises. Jasper grabbed a pair of gloves hanging from the rack that Amethyst hilariously couldn't reach and tossed them to her. As her sister slipped on the gloves, Jasper took a look around the gym.

The place wasn't big, by any means. What was mentioned before about there being the occasional visitor should be taken quite literally. Really, the only regulars were Jasper, Amethyst, the coach Harold Smiley, and a couple of annoyances that refused to leave. An Asian girl with bleached hair named Peridot sat on a bench at one of the gym's walls. She wore a light green tank top, skinny jeans, and sipped from a can of Coke through a straw while she read her book. Why she chose the gym to be her sanctuary, Jasper would never know.

Beside Peridot was a black haired girl named Lapis. She wore a blue long sleeve shirt and jeans to match Peridot's. She had earbuds in her ears, playing with something on her phone, maybe listening to music. It was hard to really tell what race Lapis was. Her skin was dark enough to be considered Hispanic, but it could just as well be a tan. Jasper didn't want to ask. Amethyst and herself had a bit of Hispanic in them as well, but Jasper didn't dare risk sounding the least bit racist.

The rest of the gym was fairly barren aside from the boxing ring in the middle of the floor and the few pieces of equipment. A speed bag here and there, several jump ropes, just two heavy punching bags that Jasper and Amethyst stood beside, and the wall were so faded that the original white color fell into a yellow stain. It was an eyesore, but Jasper didn't care. It felt like home.

"I still can't believe you actually like being here." Jasper commented, turning back to Amethyst. The shorter girl was just finishing with her glove straps and testing their tightness. "You're usually so lazy."

Amethyst smirked, smacking the bag with her left fist. "Hey, being lazy doesn't mean shit if no one's there to complain about me being lazy."

"Dude, that's the ultimate kind of lazy."

"You came out of mom fighting the doctors. I came out ready to suck on her tits for food. You can't fight fate, sis."

"Don't make me imagine mom like that." Jasper pleaded as Amethyst took more hits at the bag. "Especially not since she died."

Amethyst couldn't helped herself. She laughed and leaned against the punching bag, already winded just after half a minute of punching. "Oh god. I'm so sorry, but I just imagined our decayed mom being like "How dare you tell me not to breastfeed my child in public! It's completely natural!" Then one of her tits falls off and- "

"Nope! No, nuh-uh." Jasper loudly interrupted, throwing a wide hooked punch into the bag Amethyst rested against, forcing the smaller woman to fall on her ass. "You are not putting that image in my head!"

"It's already there and you know it!" Amethyst said from the ground as she massaged her elbow, laughing.

Jasper shook her head and began taking off her gloves. "You are so lucky you're my sister."

Amethyst brought herself back to her feet, dusting off imaginary dirt from her pants with her gloved hands. "Not like you have the balls to kick my ass anyway. So you done with the bag for the day?"

"Nah, just gonna do a bit of road work and come back to it." Jasper answered. She left the white wrappings on her hand because she planned to put the gloves back on as soon as she got back to the gym. "If Smiley comes in before I get back, tell him I went running and he can help me work the mitts when I get back."

"You got it, babe." Amethyst nodded, and Jasper was out the door.

Jasper and her sister lived in a rather small town. Really, it could hardly be called a town at all. It was more like a village in terms of size, but at least it was next to a beach. Running in the sand was perfect for working the legs.

Jasper jogged to the beach, passing just a couple of people on her way. A girl Jasper never really spoke to, but knew her name as Jenny, appeared to be on a delivery for her family's pizza business. Jenny had a sister named Kiki, who sometimes accompanied Jasper whenever she was on her run. They conversed about small stuff, usually, like the weather and current events, but nothing really happened in this town. This day, though, Kiki didn't show up.

When Jasper reached the edge of the beach, she stopped to take a look at the scenery and just... breathe. It was still early in the morning. Not so early that the sun was still rising over the horizon, but early enough to just know that it was morning. The pure sand, completely free of pollution complemented the sparkling blue ocean well. If Jasper was to be honest with herself, she would love to take a selfie of her at the beach. She felt the scenery would go perfectly with her amber colored eyes.

Enough staring. Jasper kicked off her shoes, removed her socks, and stretched before making a full on dash down the hill of sand. Up and down the beach she went, pumping her legs, keeping her breath steady with her stride. She only planned to do this for a few minutes, at most. Being a heavyweight, she didn't want to lose to much weight through cardio. Just running enough to keep her weight stable was good enough for her.

Really though, she didn't have to worry about her weight dropping. Her height of six feet and four inches tall and her wide build kept her weight in check. It would take a lot of sweating and heart pumping to lose enough weight to be kicked out of the heavyweight class. That was personally her worst fear. No one in the light heavyweight or middleweight classes could possibly give her a challenge. Though even the heavyweight women she had fought or sparred with were nothing to Jasper. She had requested from Coach Smiley to give her a male fighter, but he refused because it simply "wasn't right."

That ideology just pissed her off. As Jasper slowed to a halt, finally finished with her sprints in the sand, she thought about how if she wanted to fight a man, she should be able to. Of course she had male sparring partners from time to time, but she wanted a fight where there would be no holding back. No headgear, eight ounce gloves, and nothing but fists against skin. Jasper smiled at the thought of not holding back for once. She walked back to the sidewalk that was beside the beach, dusted off her feet, put on her socks and shoes, and made her way back to the gym.

The walk back was just as uneventful as the jog to the beach. Jenny's delivery car was already back at the pizza place. Jasper couldn't have been running for more than ten minutes. That just goes to show one how small this town actually was concerning activity. A single person was on the street. Jasper thought her name was Pearl. They passed each other without a single word, aside from a wink from Jasper. Pearl ignored it, however, turning her nose up and continuing on her way. As Jasper came to the door of the gym, her thought was that Pearl definitely needed to release some tension, whether it be through a massage or some other means.

Of course those thoughts were practically blown away when Jasper heard noise of gloves against mitts as she walked through the doors of the gym.

A quick look around the room told Jasper everything she needed to know about the differences from when she left to when she came back. Amethyst was conversing with Peridot and Lapis, probably flirting. Coach Smiley was back as well, holding boxing mitts for someone as they trained. But the person training was what caught Jasper's interest.

A tall black woman punched the mitts that the equally as dark skinned Smiley held. The woman wore short black sports shorts that hugged her thighs nicely, and a red crop top. Her hair was black and curly, pulled back into a messy ponytail. Jasper assumed that her hair would be a little poofier when freed from the hair tie.

Jasper went to stad beside her sister on the bench, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She watched, a half smirk on her face while she watched this new woman give Coach Smiley a run for his money. He was practically sweating enough to fill buckets, yelling out orders to his partner. Jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts, etc. The woman's swings were wide, but made up for it with how quick they were. Anyone who saw her punches coming would have only half a second to react. Not to mention the muscles she showed off!

Her back was rippling with strength. Her biceps were just slender enough to be quick but definitely large enough to pack a punch. Her legs were well toned, most likely from hours of running and possible weight training. Jasper found herself licking her lips in excitement.

"Hey." Jasper said, interrupting Amethyst's conversation with Peridot and Lapis with an elbow to the back to the head. "Who's the black chick?"

Amethyst looked at Jasper, rubbing the back of her head. "Racist much?"

"It's a legitimate term!" Jasper argued. "Just tell me who she is."

"No clue." Amethyst shrugged. "She came in, asked who the coach was, and wouldn't say anything else after I told her he wasn't here yet. Smiley walked in, I told her that was him, she thanked me, and that was that. She talked to him and they started doing this. Didn't give a name."

"A little rude, not giving her name, don't you think?" Lapis asked with a deadpanned voice.

"She's the strong, silent type." Peridot rationalized, picking up her book that she had put down to talk to Amethyst. "Small talker, big fighter. Classic cliché."

"Well she's not gonna be stronger than me." Jasper left the bench and walked back to the punching bag she was training on earlier, grabbing her gloves from the rack beside it. She slipped one of them on, tightening the strings while walking toward the ring, the other glove in her mouth. Once she finished with the one glove, she grabbed the top rope of the ring and jumped, pulling herself onto the mat. Her weight shook the ring slightly, causing the new woman to halt her assault on Coach Smiley. They both looked at Jasper, Smiley looking relieved, and the woman looking... well, just looking.

Jasper's first impression of the woman, just based off looks alone, was a good one. She looked absolutely stunning. Her chest rose and fell as she caught the breath she lost, but there was barely any sweat on her. The most notable feature were her eyes, however. Jasper had heard of Heterochromia, but had never witnessed it until now. This woman's right eye was a dark reddish brown, and her left was a clear, sparkling blue. Both, in Jasper's opinion, were absolutely gorgeous.

"Nice eyes." Jasper commented, tightening her second glove on her hand, pulling at the string with her teeth. "Name's Jasper." She said through her teeth. She then held her gloves out to her coach. "Mind tying these up at the end for me?"

"Uhh... Hey Jasper." Coach Smiley greeted nervously, his smile ever wide. He started taking the mitts from his hands. "Sure, but uh, what are you- "

"I wanna test the new girl. Isn't it obvious?"

"Well lemme tell you, she's a hard hitter." It was obvious Smiley didn't really approve of Jasper's actions, but he wasn't about to say no to her either. He held his mitts under his arms while he tied of Jasper's gloves. All the while, Jasper and this other woman had a bit of a stare down.

"What's your name, anyway?" Jasper, asked.

"Garnet."

The woman's, or now Garnet's, voice was amazing. Low, stable, calm, surprisingly British. Jasper wanted to ask when she came to America, but she decided against it. Right now, she just wanted to focus on getting into a fight.

"Cool name." Jasper knocked her gloves together after Smiley had finished tying them. "Care for a little spar?"

Garnet didn't answer at first. She just stared, silent. Jasper felt like she was being sized up. After a few seconds of no reaction, Garnet shrugged. "Sure."

"Need any headgear?" Jasper asked. Garnet shook her head. This was going to be fun.

Smiley looked back and forth between the two women, obviously quite worried for their safety. Of course, he didn't dare say anything aside from the usual. "So, uh... you ladies know the rules. No cheap shots, no elbows, blows to the back of the head, all that stuff. This is just a spar, so there's only gonna one three minute round. The time will start from the first punch thrown and stop when I ring the gong. So I'll, uh, get out of your hair." With those words, Smiley left to stand ringside beside Amethyst, who decided to act as her sister's second. Peridot and Lapis feigned uninterest, but it was clear they wanted to see how the match would turn out. Peridot peeked over the book she was reading and Lapis chewed gum while listening to her music, seemingly staring off into space.

Now it was just Jasper and Garnet in the ring. They didn't have their own corners. They didn't have anyone to throw the towel in for them. As far as Jasper was concerned, this was just an all out brawl. She took her stance, raising her fists to guard her face, left foot in front of her right in the usual orthodox boxing pose. Garnet mirrored Jasper's stance, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Of course, despite Jasper's excitement, she couldn't help but have low expectations for this woman. Just by sight, Garnet couldn't have been more than a middleweight. That was two weight classes below Jasper. With the advantage in weight, she believed she had a guaranteed victory, not to mention she was faster than she looked. She decided to test the waters first.

Jasper stepped forward with her left foot, throwing out her left fist in a jab. The forward body movement was to give her an extra reach. A simple move would surprise anyone who wasn't trained properly, or just not paying attention. Jasper wasn't surprised when Garnet weaved her head to dodge the blow. What was surprising, however, was when Garnet went on the offensive.

Jasper barely had enough time to pull her fist back to guard herself from the left-right combination Garnet attacked with. She stared at Garnet past her guard, her expectations slowly rising. Those punches were heavy.

The next few minutes consisted of quick, precise punches. Not once did Garnet swing as widely as Jasper had seen her do to the coach. Every time Garnet moved, it was compact, as if each blow was meant to be the killing strike. It sure as hell felt like it.

Jasper felt a numbness growing in her arms that she had only felt once before, when she had fought another woman of her own weight class. Called herself Barb. Even so, the numbness didn't start until well into the fifth round. This woman, Garnet, was tiring Jasper out after just a minute and a half of sparring. Jasper tried to fight back, but each of her punches were dodged by a hair, only to be countered.

This infuriated Jasper. She was practically getting her ass handed to her by some mystery woman. Why did she swing so widely against Smiley? Was it to drop the gym's guard? Is Garnet a scout for a contending gym? No, no, none of those reasons made any sense! Jasper was the local star, the big kahuna of this smaller than average town. Even being popular, she was practically off the radar, so no one could know about where she was and come for a challenge. How did Garnet even find this gym?

The worst part about all of this wasn't that Jasper was being played like a violin. It wasn't that Garnet had seemingly found this gym just to toy with it. No, the worst part was the look in Garnet's eyes. Reddish brown and sparkling blue, they looked at Jasper with something that just pissed her off: pride.

Was Garnet proud of herself for being able to fight on par with Jasper? Proud to be overpowering her? Proud to know that her fists were able to wound someone two weight classes higher? Jasper didn't care. All she knew was that this bitch was stepping in the wrong ring.


Author's Note:

This is the first chapter to my new Jaspnet story, Soft Knuckles. I hope you guys enjoy it. The next chapter to come out will be from my story Dirty Ambitions.

If you guys have any questions or just wanna message me, feel free to do so.

As always, so long for now.