The Night Before the Fight
Co-authored by Kuronohime and Morvern Callar
Hajime no Ippo franchise and characters © George Morikawa, Kodansha and other respectful owners. We make no monetary profit by writing this story.
Ippo's fist sank into the bag and it gave away from the sheer force of his punch. It was a clean hit, it felt good. Ippo raised his glove to his face and inspected the wear on the leather. These were the gloves that had brought down the Featherweight Champion of Japan. These were the gloves he had worn when he, the current JFC, had defended the title three times. They had served him well. He began walking to his training bag and unfastened the ties of his gloves. Now he was about to take on the world and it was time to get a new pair of gloves.
Ippo was packing his gloves away when he received a powerful smack on his back. "Ippo-kun! Calling it a day already?" Ippo turned around and was greeted by grinning Kimura.
"Ah, Kimura-san! I was just about to move to the mitts", Ippo looked around. "Where's Takamura-san and Aoki-san?" Kimura fastened his own gloves and shrugged. "I don't know. I thought they were doing their roadwork."
Ippo frowned and gazed out the gym window. "They haven't been in all day."
Kimura smirked. "Probably chasing some skirt." Just as Kimura finished his sentence, the gym door slammer open. A tall, muscular man walked in and on his tail was a shorter, slightly younger man.
"Yuzz!" Takamura loudly hollered when his eyes caught Ippo and Kimura.
"Where've you been?", Ippo asked. "We haven't seen you all day."
"We were doing our roadwork when we had a slight… distraction", Takamura said. He had a look on his face that said more than enough to Ippo.
"You were chasing some girls again weren't you", Ippo asked in a disapproving tone.
Takamura and Aoki burst out laughing. "Damn right we were", Takamura said. "Or at least I was. Dunno what you could call the thing Aoki was after."
"You shut up! Eri-chan was a true beauty! I won't hear a bad word said about her", Aoki yelled angrily and tried to hit Takamura, who held him at arms length. "Yeeeaah… Well, anyway", Takamura rolled his eyes and pushed Aoki to the ground. "You shoulda seen this girl I had my eye on. She had a body like…" Takamura was lost for words. "Like a… Like a… Like a snowman."
Kimura's and Ippo's faces managed to find an expression that expressed a whole range of feelings. Not least of which was an utter amazement. "Like a snowman?" They asked simultaneously.
"Yes! Like a snowman! You know, a big top part and a big down part, if you know what I mean", Takamura winked.
"She had a big... head? And feet?" Ippo asked. Now it was time for Takamura's face to express some truly original emotions. "No, you idiot!" he yelled. "She had breasts like two melons and a behind like… two melons also." Takamura flung his hand over Ippo's shoulder. "See, Ippo, I will now teach you some important facts of life. You know what's the most important thing in the world?"
"Boxing, of course", Ippo said with a proud smile. "No, Ippo", Ippo's smile died. "It's girls. Boxing is only temporary, but girls… Girls are forever. That's why, and listen closely now, you should spend as much time as you can with girls. Girls, girls, girls!"
"W-well, I do have a date with Kumi-chan later today", Ippo dared to flash his proud smile again.
"Not enough, Ippo!" Ippo's smile died once again. "You should have ten dates with ten different girls for tonight alone! Just like me and Aoki. We will show a really good time to two pretty creatures tonight."
Aoki was just about to attack Takamura once again, when a voice said behind them: "Could you please repeat what you were going to do later tonight?" Takamura and Aoki turned around very slowly. A cane flew through the air and struck them both to the ground. The coach stood over them, fuming. For such an old geezer, he could assume a surprisingly scary presence.
"Did I hear correctly? Are you two taking out some girls tonight and, what was the word, showing them a good time?" He drawled out the last two words.
"Sorry, coach!" Aoki snivelled. "We didn't mean to…"
"You didn't mean to let me know! And on a night before you both have big matches! You aren't supposed to even see any girls, let alone show them "a good time". Haven't I taught you two pigs anything?"
"We are sorry, coach!" Takamura and Aoki yelled. "We won't see anyone tonight!"
"That you can be sure of", the coach said. "And aren't you in a relationship, Aoki? What the hell are you doing fooling around with other women?"
"Well, it's nice to feel wanted by other women. You know, to know that I have… options", Aoki mumbled. "It's not like I was gonna DO anything with her."
"Tonight you won't be doing anything with anyone", the coach said and turned around. "Now you two go back home and get ready for your fight tomorrow. And no dirty business!" With that the coach left them be.
"Geez, coach was awfully moody", Kimura said. "Although serves you two right for even thinking about fooling with girls tonight."
"What was that whole thing about?" Ippo asked. "Why did the coach get so angry about your girls?" The three men turned to look at Ippo.
"Are you honestly saying you don't know what he was talking about?"
"Well I'm assuming he was talking about you having… Uh… Well, you know… The thing with… Women… But why did he get so angry?"
"So it's another round of facts of life for you then", Takamura said and once again flung his hand over Ippo's shoulders. "You see, we boxers aren't supposed to screw before a fight."
"Why not?"
"Don't you know the frustrated feeling you get when you haven't gotten any in few days? That you would like nothing more than to hit someone's head off?"
"No", Ippo said with all the innocence in the world. Takamura froze for a moment.
"Well… Anyway, in a fight, that feeling is your friend. But if you have been knocking the heavenly gates the previous night, you are no good. You are like a sack of cotton. Completely useless. The easiest opponent in the world." Ippo pondered this for a moment.
"Well why did you arrange a date for yourself for tonight, if it's bad for you?" He asked.
"I might be the strongest man in the world when in the ring, but when it comes to women, I'm the weakest", Takamura paused. "I mean, I'm not weak with women. Far from it. I'm the strongest man in the world in the bed too. But my flesh is weak… No, what I meant is… Is… Uh, anyway, I shouldn't have done it and neither should have Aoki. And neither should you."
Kimura was lost deep in thought. "Does Ippo being completely oblivious to the whole 'no women before a fight'-thing mean, that he has slept with women before a fight… and won?" he finally asked. The three men thought this for a while. And then burst out laughing.
"Ippo with a girl! I can't think of anything more ridiculous!" Takamura roared. Ippo was very, very quiet. "You haven't been with a girl have you", Aoki asked him. "Well obviously not. I mean everyone knows there's more to Ippo and Miyata than either is letting to be known", Takamura said. It was starting to become impossible for Ippo's face to turn any redder.
"It's nothing like that… We are just good friends…" he said, not daring to look anyone in the eye.
"But you haven't been with a woman, have you?" Kimura asked. And just then, Ippo's face did manage to turn redder. "No…" he said almost inaudibly. The three men laughed very audibly.
"But, wait a minute", Takamura stopped laughing. "Didn't you say you have a date with Kumi-chan tonight?"
"Y-yes…?"
"Well, it's ten days before your next match. Tonight you will get some and after you've had your first taste, you are ready to destroy your opponent."
"I don't know if Kumi-chan…"
"I said: TONIGHT YOU WILL HAVE SOME! I mean, knowing what you have down there, it's a damn shame to let it go to waste", Takamura slapped Ippo in the back and laughed once again. The whole situation would have been a lot less embarrassing for Ippo, if he hadn't felt the whole time that he was the butt of some very elaborate joke.
"Well… Okay… I will see what I can… Do", Ippo said trying to disappear from the face of the earth. "That's my boy", Takamura slapped him once again. "Now come on, let's do some more roadwork. Except you, Ippo. You need to get ready for tonight."
"Yes…" The three men started to leave "And if you don't have any protection, you can have some of mine", Takamura yelled just before he stepped out.
Ippo flushed at the thought and headed for the showers.
A/N: This is my first co-authored fanfic and I'd like you all to warmly welcome my dear friend and fellow-Ippo-enthusiast, Morvern Callar, to our site! Go check out his profile fanfiction .net/~morverncallar and be sure to tune in once in a while for his writings! He's truly a gifted writer. And funny as hell, not to mention handsome and well equ-
*KnH walks in*
"What- MC! Get the F*** OFF MY COMPUTER AND PROFILE!"