|
|
|
Fandom: NJPW
Personaggi: Taichi, Zack, Taka, Lance, Saeko, Fale, Elp
Wordcount: 4182
Saeko was waiting in Gorilla, together with her Suzuki-gun's stablemates and she was feeling totally nervous. It was the first day of G1 and her brother Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, Taka and Lance Archer were scheduled to be up against Bullet Club's Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, Juice Robinson and Kenta. In fact, she felt nervous each time any of her stablemates had a match against any member of Bullet Club... yes, wrestling was always prescripted, so all that happened was always tried many times before the actual matches, but a botched bout could happen any time.
"Onee-chan, look at me." Taichi said in a soft voice, having her looking directly at him. "Nothing will happen to us, okay? Soften a bit. Plus you'll be at ringside, but pay attention when we'll be fighting around there. Please." He didn't want her to get involved or worse: injured.
"Please take care, all of you and should something be the matter, motion towards me and I'll check on any of you right away. This counts for everyone of course."
She was dead serious and all, apart from Lance, knew how she could be, if she wouldn't be taken seriously. All four men nodded and there was no yime to speak anymore, as Lance's music hit. After him it was Taka who went out, followed shortly after by Taichi and Zack, who were being introduced with their tag team name, Dangerous Tekkers. Saeko walked behind her big brother, the phoenix mask covering her nose and eyes as always, the hair pulled together in a complicated bun. While the others entered the ring, she stopped on the ring apron, while taking a deep breath. It wasn't her work anymore, sinvr she wasn't a young lion anymore, but she still took Taka's t-shirt, her brother's coat and mask, Zack's t-shirt at last, stepping down from the apron to leave them folded on a chair near the commentators. She always loved to do such things for her stable, she felt like she was the most suitable person for that job, since she knew all of them quite well.
As soon as she approached the ringside, the match was about to start, with Lance screaming at Bullet Club to do their "too sweet" sign and get out of his ring. Ah, she loved how much Lance was teasing Bad Luck Fale, even by only telling him to shut up... even though that guy was representing their stable in AEW, Saeko always felt good whenever she saw him, even though Lance was way bigger and could be scary at times. It didn't take much tume before she had to step away, as both Lance and Fale hit their opponents down from the apron and a ruckus started at the same time. She watched it unveal before her eyes while biting her lower lip, keeping a close eye on what was happening exactly. She gasped as her big brother was sent against the barricades, but couldn't get near him, after all she had done a promise.
"Zack..."
She started circling around said barricades and saw directly her brother's boyfriend getting sent against the turnbuckle, before being sent against the barricades by Kenta. Damn, she didn't like the situation at all, but luckily Bullet Club got back in the ring, leaving the English wrestler alone and finally she could approach him, a worried look on her face. She felt relieved as she received a thumbs up from him, signalling that he was feeling good. She quickly transitioned over to the other side, where Juice had just sent Taka flying, his ribs hitting over the barricades, taking out his breath. Juice be damned, they were both on the same block and he didn't know what was coming to him... Whatever he would do to her teammates, he would receive it back ten times harder.
"Are you okay, Taka-san?" Saeko kneeled down next to her senpai, as soon as the Bullet Club members left him alone and in agony.
"It hurts, but I'll be okay! Get out of here before it's too late, Saeko." Taka smiled at her concerned face, while he was clenching his rib cage.
"I'll check later on you."
Quickly backing behind the barricades, she saw Taichi another time in the ring, just seconds before he made a tag to Zack Sabre JR, while Chase Owens made one to Kenta. That match was slowly becoming too much to bare at that point. When the tag to Taka and Juice Robinson was made, she looked very closely, as the American put her senpai out with an elbow to the neck. She felt nervous as she was completely sure the match didn't have to end like that: she had seen and taken part in their practices and yes, Bullet Club would have the win, but simply not like that. It was clear to everyone too, as Juice tried to continue, but gave up and went for the cover, noticing that Taka was completely out. As the cameras focused on Zack and Kenta arguing before their match the following day, she slided on the ring, checking on her senpai, as he slowly regained consciousness.
"You are really out here making me worry, Taka-san?" Saeko giggled as she helped him get out of the ring. "We better let the others quarrel with their opponents right now."
"Shouldn't you do it too?" Taka asked, glad of the help to his feet.
"Nakashima, help him back! Slowly please." Said young lion took her place, while she shifted her attention to El Phantasmo, who was set to have a match against her the following day, in her hometown. "None of your sheanigans will work on me, El Phantasmo. Extremely Long Phallus? I bet yours it extremely short, or you wouldn't need to talk about it so much. Sleep tight." She grinned, looking at his furious expression: those words about his cock surely had an impact on him, which was exactly what she wanted.
"I'll make you regret what you just said, I would suggest you keep your eyes open, who knows what could happen." Riley tried to shout back, clenching a hand in a fist, touched way too much by those words.
"Don't mind her, come on." Fale had reached them, at the same time as Lance approached Saeko, trying to get his teammate out of there.
"Well said and done, Saeko." He put a hand over her shoulder, receiving a simple nod from her, who was now focused on getting backstage to check on her senpai.
"I'll go check on Taka, you all go to the interview room without me, I'll join you there."
Those words were directed both to Lance and to Taichi, who was quarreling with Chase Owens, who gave her a nod back. She picked the gears up while heading backstage, finally leaving them in the locker room, on the same bench where Taka was lying. She had a special bond with him, that guy had trained her in his dojo before and while she was a young lion. If she was where she was at that moment, it was even because of him, and not only because she was Taichi's little sister and she could never forget that.
Even without being the official doctor there at NJPW, Saeko had studied medicine, specializing on physiotherapy, ending her master with full points, so she knew what to do and if someone needed urgent care, to do massages or give consultations.
"How are you doing, Taka-san? You can talk freely to me, even though I'm not the official doctor." To be a wrestler and a university student at the same time hadn't been always easy, but there she was. If only she would have decided to leave wrestling, she could easily get a job there.
"Thank you for your concern and help, Saeko." He smiled at her, motioning at his neck area. "The neck feels a bit stiff, the side hurts too, but it's slowly fading away." He explained, looking at the door.
"The stiffness comes from the hit Juice gave you, it was too hard and really knocked you out cold. I'll give you a massage afterwards though, so it'll get better." She transitioned to the side which hurt him, noticing that a small bruise was forming there. "A bruise is forming there, I'll touch it to see if there could be something broken. Tell me if it hurts." She asked him some questions, before starting to slowly touch the interested part.
"Ouch..." Taka grimaced at the pain, closing his eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Taka-san!" She stopped touching his side, nodding for a moment. "Can you take a deep breath, please?"
"Don't feel sorry, Saeko. Yes." Luckily he did as told without a single problem, nor pain.
"Okay, no rib is broken, nor strained. Put an ice bag over the hurting part for 20 minutes, 4 times a day and all should be good in 3 days." She felt relieved that it was all okay.
"What about tomorrow? Can I still have the match with Lance? Or should I better rest?" He finally asked, concerned.
"You can take part in it, but no being body slammed, it could worsen the pain." She had to speak with Lance too about that, it was really important that he wouldn't do it at any cost. "I'll talk with Lance about this too, don't worry." While speaking, she felt a hug from her senpai and smiled.
"Okay, don't worry! You should go now though, Bullet Club is probably almost done with the backstage interview by now. Don't stay here with an old man like me." He laughed, which she did too, before standing up and reaching the door.
"Rest, okay? I'll have a young lion bring you an ice pack." Before she could open the door, someone knocked on it. "Hey onii-chan, I'm coming1" She screamed, but the knocking didn't stop. "Uh... Come on in, I guess?" She didn't even know why she thought it would be her brother, that was their - Suzuki-gun's - locker room, so he could have gone in without having to knock.
"Before you do the interview, we would like to talk with you, Saeko-san." It was Obhari and the producer and that was so confusing and strange.
"Sure... Is something the matter?" She was beginning to feel frightened, what had she done now?
"We actually need to make some changes to the blocks... we wanted to know if it would be okay for you to switch to the C block." It was very rare for something like that to happen, especially while the tournament had already started, but it was like it was important. "The other option would be for you to switch to the A block, but we would like to keep you against Okada in the finals.
"..." She didn't like that situation at all, but... How would they change her match the next day? "Who would take my place in the D block? and who am I going to replace in the C block?" Were those two really okay with it? It didn't make any sense, it was all too confusing.
"Yano would take your place, EVIL would go to the A block, while you take EVIL's spot. They noticed Saeko wasn't convinced or happy with that and it made totally sense, to tell the truth.
"Have you already spoken to them? Are they okay with it? It could work for me... EVIL will then replace me tomorrow against El Phantasmo and I won't have any group matches in my hometown?" That was quite disappointing, to tell the truth.
"You can go up against Yoshi-Hashi and Fale will team with Finlay, we understand that having a group match in your hometown is really important for you and we don't want to take it away." They didn't have much time to practice it, they would probably have to improvise, as long as Saeko was the winner in the end. "We just need to speak with Yoshi-Hashi about it, but we wanted to do it after your agreement." That was going to be so complicated, but they couldn't do anything about it right now.
"Well... I guess it's okay, as long as Yoshi-Hashi-san will be happy about it. Please talk to him as soon as possible, so we can already start to train for the match." She didn't like to give orders, but couldn't avoid it.
"We'll right now. You can go to the interview room and already speak about these changes. We'll announce it while you speak."
Saeko nodded simply and slowly left the locker room, going to the interview room: it was really impossible that something like that was really happening, she still couldn't believe it... She sighed heavily, many thoughts were going through her mind, but if the outcome would somehow be the same, then it would be okay. The whole situation felt strange, but if they wanted to do so, then okay. She was eagerly waiting to be able to test herself against Zack though, in a real one-on-one match andwas happy about it. As she reached the interview area, the members of Bullet Club had just finished speaking. She stayed the whole time near her big brother, while the others spoke and, in the end, she spat everything out.
"This G1 Climax has just started, today is the first day, and there is a change. Block C...! She enphasized the block letter, while speaking, facing the camera directly, phasing down the interview area. "C block, you all better prepare yourself, because if before you thought you were safe until the semifinals, now you aren't anymore!" She stopped in front of the camera, looking at Zack for a brief moment. "Kenta, Goto, Tanahashi, Naito, Henare, Kimie and you too Zack Sabre Jr, tremble, as the Feniks has come to your kingdom and won't leave in ashes, she just layed her nest in your block. I'll look forward to my new match-ups, thank you very much!"
A quick glance at Lance, Zack and her brother told her that they weren't expecting that, but she wanted to explain it away from there. Saeko was the first to leave that area, marching towards their locker room, the eyes of her stablemates on her back. She was still quite baffled about the whole situation, how could she explain it rationally? As she entered the room and sat on the bench, she looked over at the three men standing not far away from her. Taka was still sitting where she left him, but her focus was entirely on the other men there.
"Let me try to explain... It's complicated and I can't still believe it, but yeah, I'll switch to the C block. I was here checking on Taka-san, when Obhari-sama and the producer came and told me they had to do some changes to the blocks. I still don't know why exactly, but I was given the option ti either go there, or the A block and come on... We all know perfectly that the C block is more suitable to me." She tried to explain. bringing the hands to cup her face, breathing deeply.
"That was totally unexpected, has something happened?" Asked Zack, confused.
"I'm not sure, fact is that Yano-san will take my place in the D block, while EVIL will replace him in the A block and I take his place." She shrugged, closing her eyes for a moment. "Look at the bright side of all of this, Zack: we can have a single competition... and trust me when I say that I look so much forward to it." She smiled at him, standing up to hug him.
"I can't wait until that day." He chuckled and hugged her back.
"But first tomorrow you are up against Kenta. I'll be in your corner as always! You go and win, mh?" She laughed a bit, looking up at him.
"I feel offended that you even think he could stand a chance and beat me." Zack pouted, something he never did on television. He did have some times where he would lose his shit, but no pouting at all.
"You better come to our match at full points. Who knows who they'll book to win."
She was serious and Taichi liked how she was handling the whole situation. He was sure though, that she didn't take that news very well. Who would have wanted something like that to happen? He knew his little sister so much, that he was 100% sure that inside she was panicking. That cheerful demeanour was just a facade, to not have them worry about her, She had always been like that and he didn't really like it. She needed to say things out loud some times, not keep always everything for herself. She wasn't even able to properly prepare for her hometown match the next day, while it wouldn't be a problem for the next matches.
To say that he was feeling proud, was an understatement: that was her fourth G1 Climax and she was gonna ace it, winning all the way until the finals against Kazuchika Okada. Such a sudden change and, most of all, after the start of the tournament was quite strange though, and Taichi himself wouldn't have liked it either. Saeko looked over at Taka, she hadn't had the time to massage his neck, but that wasn't the right place to do it.
"Do I need to check you three out too? Especially you Zack, after the hit against the turnbuckle and the barricades..." She asked, loudly enough to be heard by everyone in that room.
"I'm good, it's appreciated though." Said Lance, nodding for a moment. "I'll see you all tomorrow!" And with that, Lance left them alone.
"Well? Onii-chan, are you okay?" She asked, a bit concerned, but he nodded.
"I am good. Take care of Zack." He smiled at her, leaving a kiss on her forehead.
"Okay, here surely isn't the right place to check a back, even less an ideal place to massage a neck. You two could come at our house and then Taka-san you could go back to your hotel."
All three of them were okay with that option, so they went out of the locker room afer taking everything with them, heading to the exit of the building, but Saeko stopped in her steps as soon as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She could tell it was of a man's, it wasn't Kimie's, her felt way different and not so strong. She slowly turned around, not really afraid, but she was eager to know who it was and actually... she probably knew why she was stopped. The first thing that she noticed was the stock that the wrestler had in the free hand, then his blue ring gear, up to his face: Hirooki Goto. She smiled: it was good to see him, she had always looked up to him, if she had to be honest and in the past they already had some pretty good matches against each other. So he was the designated person to have the match against her the next day, instead of Juice? Well, she couldn't ask for more, to be honest.
"Goto-san, so you are my opponent tomorrow? Damn, I'm starting off high, mh?" It was more than a pleasure for her, he shouldn't take it as a bad sign, but still...
"Well yes, I'll be your opponent... I was thinking, since you should live near here, should we practice here? Or do you have a ring at home that we could use as much as we can? We always pay the most attention, but it's still important to go over all the details, each spot and everything." Goto had a point, Saeko wasn't even tired, since she hadn't had a match that night, so they could have used a couple of hours for that.
"I was planning on going back home, to tend to Zack and Taka-san, we do have a ring in the basement, so we can definitely use that. You could eat dinner with us too if you wish. Training is very important for tomorrow, given that we weren't even meant to face each other in this tournament." She smiled and walked past him, motioning him to follow her. "You can come with us and I'll bring you back to your hotel when we are done with training and with eating."
She didn't wait for him to answer, she just lead him out, all the way to her car, where her brother, Zack and Taka were waiting. She had that car since her young lion's days, it had seen so many places among them and it still worked perfectly fine. It could easily fit 9 people and as they were all in, Saeko drove for about ten minutes at most, while they all spoke about different topics. As soon as they got home they all greeted the parents, going to the basement. Down there, Saeko had a room built for physiotherapy session, there was a huge gym and in behind another door there was the room with the wrestling in it. That ring had seen so much of her practices since she started wrestling with her brother at a young age, even though they had renovated it due to it's use. Before heading to it, she excused herself, letting her brother guide Goto and Taka to the ring, while she got in the physiotherapy room with Zack. Saeko had him lay on the bed, starting to gently massage his stiff back, until she could feel that everything was fine. He was gonna ace the match the next day, she was sure about that and now that he wasn't stiff anymore, it was even better. It was only when she was done, that Zack sat up and looked at her, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"How do you feel? You seem so calm, but there is no way you really are, right?" Zack liked her, she was simply the thoughest girl she had ever seen up until that moment in his life and there she was, perfectly okay with all what happened, about to have a damn hard match the next day, without any proper preparation prior to that. He would have freaked out, if it happened to him, but she seemed so cool with it, for some unknown reasons to him. He highly doubted that she asked that, who knew why it had been like that.
"I'm not sure... It was unexpected, it's the first time since G1 is on, that something like this was decided, surely in the past there were changes due to injuries, but not something like this. I'm glad they gave me the option to either go in Lance's block or your and yeah, this one is far better for me, but I can't help being a little overwhelmed. I have a match against Goto-san tomorrow and not much time to prepare it together. They should have thought about something like this, but at the same time I'm still glad I get to have an important match in my hometown. SO... Like you can understand, from a point, I am overwhelmed by the news, in the other side I'm still happy. Am I freaking out internally? Totally yes, but I'm sure it'll all go smoothly. Me and Goto are really cautious wrestlers after all."
She stood up, letting that Zack did the same, before heading out of the room, to call Taka, after having set up the bed in a comfortable way, so that the rib cage wouldn't hurt. She took enough time to ease the stiffness in his neck, careful not to worsen the pain and finally let him free at least 20 minutes afterwards. She remembered him to put ice on the ribs. Now she was feeling the weight of all of that: she was tired, hungry, but it was better if she trained before eating, if she didn't want to throw up the food.
Her and Goto trained for at least two hours, under the constant watch of her stablemates, before calling it a night. They both agreed to train more in the morning, while eating dinner all together. After that, she brought Taka and Goto to their hotels, going back home afterwards.
"Sleep tight onii-chan, Zack you too!"
|
|
.
