He took a deep, exaggerated breath in, feeling his chest expand. He held it in as long as he could before letting it out nice and slow.

He was nervous. More nervous than he had been previously. He could feel it prickling his skin.

It had been a long time since he had sparred Muy Thai.

Rolling with Lee wasn't the same. Naruto was bigger and stronger and that mattered a hell of a lot more in boxing than it did in Jiu Jitsu.

He was bigger now. He'd never fought anyone at this weight.

Tsunade had said he had something special though. Correction; she said Jiraiya thought he had something special. That was one of his only hopes headed into this fight.

Hwas coming in cold. With no coach.

Maybe he would've felt better about if he didn't feel guilty about fighting right before the wedding.

It wasn't Hinata's fault. She hasn't said anything to dissuade him. Had only ever been supportive.

The wedding was almost there, though. Their appointment at city hall in less than a month. Their little get together to celebrate that same evening.

He had already derailed all their traditional wedding plans. The least he could do was not show up with a black eye and a broken nose for their one and only big day.

Yahiko had beat him up pretty bad when they fought. He felt and looked like a ran over him for days after. He couldn't even walk without hanging onto Hinata and he had leaned against the wall, unable to fully sit up at dinner.

He had recovered pretty quickly, but that didn't mean he always would. Or that he wouldn't sustain greater injury in this fight.

No matter his worries, he couldn't just cancel it. The venue was already booked out. Tickets bought. Bets were already set. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets, betting, food and drinks would be lost if he backed out, leaving them to scramble for a replacement or having to cancel entirely. He didn't have enough repore or a good enough relationship with the place on his own to do anything like that.

He had to do the fight.

He looked down at his already gloved hands. They were wrapped and signed and ready to go. He took another "calming" breath. He had his neon orange shorts. This time he had wrapped his shins. He'd been a little more focused on his wedding than his kicking lately and he didn't want to hurt them too bad. The rest of his skin was glistening with oil, his face covered in vaseline, in the hopes that those combos would glide over his skin instead of cut and tear.

Hinata is standing near him. She can't touch him because the oil could ruin her clothes. So instead, she's hovering. That particular action actually doesn't make him more nervous because he's very used to that particular trait of hers. It's probably the only comforting thing in the room.

Konohamaru was babbling a steady, constant stream of nonsense since they arrived. Which for once, wasn't as annoying as normal and at least it didn't make the locker room as terribly silent as it would be otherwise. He's a little grateful that he isn't the one that has to fill the silence for once.

What was adding to the nerves was the camera equipment Konohamaru was touting. As his new "social media manager", he was going to be putting his entire fight on whatever platform he was using. Naruto hadn't even seen it yet. He wasn't that tech savvy. Though Ino had promised him that it looked good on 'IG' or whatever the fuck that was.

Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Temari, Choji, Mei and Mr. Umino were all seated together this time. It was his first fight with Hinata actually being together and she had the intellect and foresight to remind him to ask for tickets for his friends, coordinated and seated them all together. For some reason, that did also make him more nervous. Having them all together like that. All of them would collectively be disappointed if he lost.

He shook his head. He couldn't think like that.

"Do you know if Ayame is coming?" Naruto asked, trying to keep his head from getting away from him.

The only person missing from his motley family crew.

"I haven't heard otherwise." Hinata shrugged.

He nodded.

"Nervous?" She asked, looking down at his gloves, the mitts replicating the same nervous tapping motions his free hands do.

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah right."

There were three quick bangs on the door. "Time to go."

Naruto stood up, trying to take one more breath. Before stepping away from her, Hinata grabbed him by the back of the head, the only part of him that was not greased, and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I'll see you after." She promised.

He wasn't expecting it, but he smiled, nodding. Yes, whatever happened, he'd see her after.

"Good luck." She smiled, waving at him as they went through the door.

She headed the opposite way, going to find her place in the seats. Naruto and Konohamaru followed the guy who had knocked on the door, out to the ring. Not only would Konohamaru be videoing, but he was technically labeled his "coach" for the evening, so he could enter the ring between rounds.

"You ready to go, boss?" Konohamaru smacked his arm a couple times, hyping him up.

Naruto nodded. "I'm ready to kick some ass." And hopefully not get his own ass kicked in front of all of his friends.

"Alright let's go!" He screamed, the sounds of the music and the overall demeanor of the crowd, drowning out their voices.

As always, Naruto was the rookie, having to go onto the ring first and wait. There was a lot of music, and girls in bikini's holding signs and all around a lot of other things going on to take away from the fact that he was just standing there pacing.

He couldn't find Hinata. There were too many people, too much going on. But Konohamaru was right on the corner, on the ground floor, camera ready. Which didn't do anything to help the nerves.

All that was left to do was wait for Kimimaro's much cooler walk out, and not feel cold or flat while doing it.

Which didn't take long. The music changed, the lights switch positioning, and there he was.

Kimimaro. He had startling platinum white-blonde hair and light eyes and skin about as white as Hinata's maybe even lighter.

He walked like a trained fighter. Slid into the ring with all the grace of a ballet dancer. The referee gave them the run down, the same song and dance as always. They touched gloves, the ref backed away and the ring was their dance floor.

As most Muy Thai fights go, they started moving around the space, getting a feel for each other's movements, exchanging the occasional quick kick to the legs. None with enough power to do too much damage, it was just part of the dance.

In Naruto's last Muy Thai fight, he had taken a lot of damage, without much worry about his own well being. He was a little more hesitant in this fight. Not just because his wedding day was almost upon them, with photos that would surely be hung up in his house for the rest of his life, but because he was now at a higher weight class. There was a touch more meat on the bones of the limbs swinging at him now. More power.

The last thing he wanted was to get knocked out. Sure, he'd only had two fights, but he was proud to say that he had not been checked out cold yet. In fact, he was very proud of his 0-2 record and aimed to make it a nice 0-3 that evening.

Those hopes were almost dashed mere seconds after that thought.

Kimimaro took a step in, and Naruto was expecting a jab, braced himself for it and readied to counter. He did get a jab, but following immediately after was an elbow so sharp Naruto thought there had to be a knife in his bones. In one swift motion, he felt his cheek split open, as his body turned sharply with the flow and fell straight into the ropes.

The boxing ring was not like a cage. He couldn't use it steady himself, to push back on. He might've liked Muy Thai kicks a thousand more than anything that MMA had to really offer him, but the cage was far superior in terms of strategic use. The rings proved their uselessness as Naruto's body flopped to the floor. Along with the view of the canvas, he saw his own blood splattering in rich red dots.

Too dazed to be embarrassed, he sat there for a moment, blinking himself back into reality. Not the best strategy for a fight but he had just got his clock cleaner so he'd give himself a pass. At least for now.

He wasn't out yet though and stood up quickly before the ref could even start the count. Or maybe he had been too jarred to notice.

But that hit had changed things.

The fight was changed after that. No more fucking around. Naruto kept his hands up tight near his face, the distance between them farther and didn't waste any of his kicks one those little pussy calf shots. This was not a fight that he could mess around in, one wrong move would send him sleeping on the ground.

Even with the change in strategy and demeanor, he was getting royally fucked.

His ear was cut, he could feel the blood dripping down his neck, hotter than the sweat. His lip was also pretty busted, if the feel against his teeth was anything to by. He wasn't sure he had even been cut this much in his life (at least by someone else). He had weathered the first round by barely surviving and took a huge body shot to the ribs.

He sat, hunched over in the chair as Konohamaru sprayed him down with his water bottle.

"Boss, you gotta stop bleeding. I can't believe that they haven't called the fight yet." Konohamaru grabbed the side of his face that was bleeding the most, looking mildly horrified.

This place was a little more seedy than the usual reputable establishments that one would find watching UFC or even Bellator. If Naruto could stand, they'd keep the fight going.

"Did you crack a rib?" Konohamaru asked almost gingerly, like he was making conversation.

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged through struggled gasps. "But I'm fucked."

"No, you're not. Kimimaro's strength is in the elbow. I've seen him cut guys up way more than this. If that didn't take you out, then you're not going out. You got this fight." He squirted Naruto again on the face. "Now don't be a bitch, go knock out this fool, and then we can go get some dinner, yeah?"

Naruto shoved his mouth guard back in, glaring. "I'm going to fire you."

"Sure." He clapped his shoulder, grabbing the chair and climbing out of the ring.

Maybe Konohamaru was right. It wasn't like Naruto to give up, to concede so easily like that. He was fucking Naruto Uzumaki. He fought three guys at once, survived a beating with a lead pipe, and knocked a guy out from the clench. And that was just this last year. He'd survived worse beatings than an elbow to the face.

Instead of messing around this time, Naruto started off round two by kicking Kimimaro straight in the chest, (hopefully) crushing the air from his chest. Naruto watched his opponent's eyes narrow, and he knew he woke a beat. One that wanted the fight as much as he did

When Kimimaro stepped in, Naruto didn't step back. He stayed tight in the pocket - hitting distance. He ate another elbow so sharp into his nose, in the instant on impact, he knew it was broken. But if there's one thing that Naruto always excelled at, it was taking a hit. His head snapped back so fast his neck was going to feel it the next morning. But he didn't step back.

Instead, he starts it off with landing the right hook. It's an incredibly complicated, nine move combo that Naruto literally thought Jiraiya was insane for teaching him. It's a move that he used to do for hours at a time, alone in his own apartment. He remembers telling Konohamaru that he did it because he was lonely.

A half truth. He wasn't just lonely. There's millions of lonely people in the city and they weren't all sitting alone in their rented rooms practicing Muy Thai movies.

He also had an obsessively fucked up personality.

That paired with loneliness had led to the practice. The almost mastery.

He's not lonely anymore though. He got Hinata back, but he didn't lose out on skill. At least not yet. (There's always that danger.) He finishes, stepping back and knocking Kimimaro's face with a roundhouse kick. His foot connects with the side of his head as he's already heading down into the ground. He feels guilty about it, only for a second, because he can feel the blood pouring down his face and he know the last kick isn't anything worse than Kimomaro has already done to him.

Konohamaru vaults all three of the ropes at once, screaming, holding his camera. "Holy fuck! He's out cold!"

"Why you gotta sound so surprised?" Naruto tries to joke, wincing under his smile.

"Here, let's get out of here." Konohamaru grabbed his shoulder, steering him out of the ring. "I got the sickest fucking footage."

Besides how the sting is coming from several parts of his face, Naruto was actually pretty stoked. He just got another grand, high off a win and ready to party with his friends.

"I could eat like fifteen tacos right now." He announced. "Or like a bathtub of ramen."

Konohamaru wrinkled his nose. "That sounds unsanitary."

"I wouldn't put the ramen in the bathtub, you square." Naruto rolled his eyes. "I just want a bathtub sized amount."

"Yeah, but bathtub isn't like a good unit of measure-"

"You're fired."

"Wait, wait. Do you want to check out some of the footage I got?" Konohamaru sat on the bench next to him.

Naruto, just now noticing that he was dripping blood onto his chest, grabbed one of the towels from his locker and dabbed it gently on the side of his face that he really didn't want to move. Then he just flung it over that shoulder so it didn't dribble all over him.

Konohamaru had the camera part off the tripod, making it look a lot less big and intimidating. He was rewinding on the little view screen, and Naruto watched himself lay the knockout kick in reverse, it looked like he was reviving him with a kick or something hilarious

The door slammed open, and in the all metal, small locker room, it was a big echo. Naruto almost jumped before he saw it was Hinata.

"Why are you not dressed yet?" She gasped.

"Hey!" He stood, happy to see her. "Sorry, I'll hurry up. I'm fucking starving."

"Food?" Her pretty grey eyes bulged a little. "We're going to the hospital."

"What?" Naruto huffed, slumping back onto the bench.

It had been a good, long time since he had felt like Hinata was the rain on the parade.

He wanted tacos!

"Naruto!" She gestured, her bracelet shifting on his outstretched wrist, finger pointing accusingly at the towel.

Stained with blood.

Konohamaru patted his back once before getting up. "Bathtub of ramen next time champ?"

Hinata, who had immediately turned to his locker to collect his belongings herself, paused a moment to glance back at the two men.

"You're fired."