Peas In A Pod

The logistics behind what just happened may have befuddled nigh anyone else, but living within the same domicile as Chizuru these past few months has made Blade all too accustomed with the whirlwind of misfortune her roommate tends to be the epicenter of. In a way her unlucky streak perfectly complimented Blade's rather slovenly abode since it can become practically indeterminable where Chizuru's calamitous mishaps ended and where Blade's typically disordered lifestyle started. The Okinawan piecing together the truth of the matter and sleuthed the pratfall as being just another unfortunate accident without any intentional malice directed at her soon to be junked television. Guess she'd have to look up the game's results in tomorrow's paper, and find time to swing by Akihabara to purchase a new T.V. For now though she just was more concerned with making sure her roomie was alright, chatting up a storm with few quips to try and alleviate the tens-

Instinctively withdrawing as if a feral beast were showcasing its fangs, Blade backpedaled as if to give wide berth for the malicious aura encapsulating whoever this stranger was. Wrath incarnate made manifest that wiped the atmosphere clean of any levity in place of sheer hostility.

The endless patchwork of time ceased being sewn at this precise moment as dawning revelations illuminated the unabashed truth of the matter. Synapses being rewired within Blade's thought processes with a newfound appreciation for silence. Deafening moreso than the enraged yet purely justified screams of her roommate and remained unbroken on the Okinawans end. Whatever warmth in Blade's countenance rendered as chilled as the frigid temperatures outside with the look in her eyes becoming undefined considering her attention became fixated on the floorboards below. "...You sh-...*ahem*...You should clean your hair. Don't worry about the mess. I'll take care of it." Dispassionate vocals uttered as Blade started making headway in disposing of whatever scattered food packaging lingered. Stone cold shoulders offered towards her roommate whenever in her vicinity as she shoved the litter down the trashbin, than assigning her passionless attention towards doing the dishes.

Chizuru felt like throwing up. She'd never been so sick to her stomach because of anything without an expiration date.

She didn't know what came over her. She didn't know why she said those things or where those thoughts came from. She didn't know why it all felt so good to say in the brief moment it lasted. Even now, she was afraid to say anything else because she didn't know what could slip out next. It was only slightly better than the heavy silence that had suddenly fallen over the apartment.

That was why she wanted Blade to say something. Anything.

What little she did only made the German girl feel worse.

"Blade…" Chizuru said quietly, barely a whisper in the air as her roommate shuffled past her into the kitchen. Blade kept her face hidden behind her back. The water ran as her roommate tended to the dishes. Chizuru’s hands finally fell away from her mouth as she watched, struggling to find the words to say to remedy what had just happened. She wanted to take it all back. She should never have done it. The regrets replayed in her mind again and again until finally she rushed over to her friend's side and-

"Stop.” She said suddenly. The despondent German girl reached into the sink and took a plate from Blade’s hands. Her eyes focused on the sink, burying her hands into the warm vapors and suds as she cleaned each of the dishes. “Don't. I'll…I'll do that. I'll take care of all of this. I can call someone tomorrow about the television too. You can use the one in my room. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled. I'm just tired. I didn't mean any of it, okay? I just-"

Chizuru forced herself to breathe. It didn't do anything for the trembling in her voice, even as her hands finally came to a stop. "Just please…please don't do that."

Blad-...Kyouko, offered nothing else to Chizuru aside from arctic shoulders and barren listlessness in her voice. Splashing faucet water from the sink and the occasional clanking of dishes being sorted into the dish dryer being the only respite from the cavernous silence of the apartment. Devoid of its naturally vibrant life and overtaken with a pall of unyielding somberness. Kyouko's eyes remaining unreadable considering her viewpoint was assigned to the task at hand and somewhat veiled behind her hair, although registering with an averted gaze Chizuru coming with unwanted assistance from the the side. "...Chizu...stop..." Kyouko initially muttered underneath her breath in an attempt to interrupt her roommate's long-winded insistence on making things right between them. "...Chiz, I mean it...stop...It's not. It's not about..." Becoming more stringent in tone and escalating in virulent impatience until...

"Chiz...I need you to...It's not about...IT'S NOT ABOUT THE GODDAMNED DISHES!!!!!" Whatever dish Chizuru had in her hand would be snatched from her soap-drenched hands and smashed into pieces inside of the sink. A seething Okinawan walking across the kitchen and firmly slamming her hands against the counter. Distancing herself from Chizuru as was her intention in the first place with doing the dishes...but she huffed out in admittance that they can't continue on like this. Kyouku swiveled around to face Chizuru, gathering the strength to raise her head and give her best friend full eye contact. "Chizuru...you're not happy. You're not happy living here...with me. My dad was always a slob, and I guess I got it from him, ya know? I've gone through other roommates. Enough to know that I'll sure as shitfire never change. I just. I just wanted this to work so badly that I guess I put up blinders..."

Directing her sight downward towards the kitchen floor, Kyouko continued onward knowing full well what may be the ultimate result of her following words. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who should be pleading for forgiveness. And I am. I'm sorry about all of this. Everything. Seeing you that pissed off...and knowing I was the cause of it...this was all just a stupid idea from the start. I don't want you to be beholden to this arrangement because you think it'll hurt my feelings or sumthin. Or fighting to make this work if you're just stamping your emotions down from just how miserable you really are. I just want you...to be happy. Wherever that could be. And if it's not here...then I, uhm...I'm willin' to...uhm...yeah."

She struggled to find the right words to say. Was there anything that would have been right? Could she even offer that? Her experiences with living with other people were relegated to her parents and her best friends. Despite how long they’d known each other, Blade was as far outside of her comfort zone as she’d known. Chizuru had to face at that moment how little she knew. About herself and about the woman named Kyouko.

Outside of professional wrestling, what did they share? Hobbies? Sports? Favorite lunches? That maybe this would never work out and she was better off moving back-

What?

In that silence, she felt the fog start to lift. Suddenly, the German girl didn’t care about cleaning the dishes. She did not concern herself with the state of their lodgings or even if she would still be the Okinawan’s roommate come the morning. She would happily give all of that up. In exchange, she would never see this sadness in Blade’s eyes again.

Chizuru reached up and grasped her roommate’s shoulder tightly. Her voice was firm and relaxed with echoes of her native accent. “You’re wrong.”

Her presence suddenly dominated the small space between them, an inhuman strength making itself known as she controlled Blade firmly on the spot with just the palm of her hand. However, the focus in her eyes and the stern expression etched upon her sizable brows didn’t quite match the unavoidable sadness in her voice. “Blade, it’s not that I’m not happy here. I like being around you. I just…I can’t live like you. I can’t deal with dirty rooms, or unflushed toilets, or leaving jars of mayonnaise out all night because ‘they taste better at room temperature’ as if nothing bad could ever happen from eating a-”

Chizuru involuntarily twitched once her voice started to strain. She had to relax. Her eyes shut as she shook her head left and right. Only then did her hands reach down and find Blade’s in front of her. She raised them close as they spoke face-to-face. “I want to make this work. And I know you do too. You wouldn’t have wanted me to move in with you otherwise. Right? Well then I’m willing to try if you are.”

It was just a matter of time she reckoned. Backstage in the Wrestle Angels locker-rooms, Kyouko's infamy pertained just as much towards her revolving door of failed roommates as her aerial acrobatics within the ring. Former tag-partners of hers having metaphorically tapped out of this living arrangement far quicker than Chizuru has, so there was that at least. It was a strange predicament whenever someone who yearns for companionship and thrives in social situations invariably ends up driving people away in some form or fashion. Whether it's due to her own slovenly lifestyle, being a stubborn ox, or in this particular situation where it's apparently a combination of both. Kyo opting to offer Chizuru the pathway towards liberating herself of this arrangement since she figured Chizu was far too polite and caring to break of these shackles herself. Hoping beyond hope that whatever she felt for Chizu would make this work was a stupid idea in the first-


Blade balked out of her melancholic malaise and confronted the steadfast resolve in her friend's eyes, sensing a newfound source of resolute confidence she'd never seen in Chizuru before. Those unwavering words touching her somewhere profound...well, aside from the mayonnaise jab...and Blade contests that her bathroom etiquette only wavers when it comes to not cleaning up thoroughly after shaving-...the Okinawan shook her head in unison with Chizu to reattain her own focus on the present moment. Acknowledging her partner's message, feeling the tender softness of her partner's hands, and noticing the uptick in her fluttering heart pattern. Her downtrodden aura alleviating as she raised her free hand to wipe something out of the corner of her eye..."...*sniff*...Ah, man. Here I am thinking I was gonna be the adult in this relationship..."...before resting her hand atop Chizuru's  as well, her radiant smile thought lost now illuminating her visage once again.

"Alright, I understand. I'll start cleaning up my act, make some changes, and promise to start being way more attentive to your needs. Provided you maybe let your hair down a tad. Lemme take you to a ballgame or whatever." Blade chuckled, the space between the pair's facials shrinking by the second. "You're right. Something like this takes real effort to make work, but in the end it's all worth it...for y-"


A spark of electricity from the shattered television screen spooking Blade into noticing the absolute wreck their apartment was. From charred laundry, broken/dirty dishes, mounting garbage, and a television that still had the remote sticking out of the screen with nothing more than a lugging down to the trash bins in its future.