Blast from the past 2: Inoue meets Karasu

It showed that Inoue was an active boxer, she had the eye of the tiger when time was running out in a given round. Anja hadn't boxed for ages against someone who could really be called a boxer. While she was stumbling to her corner to get the sponge and put it on her head, she once again had her cocky smile on the face.

Someone who got some change money for sparring would probably give in at this time, but Anja couldn't, wouldn't give in. To no one. A decade of mental conditioning had shaped her into an unforgiving human fortress. Inoue was right, to defeat her, she would have to tear down every wall, every stone and pour salt over the burning remains.
*You're a Controller. Superior. You're inhuman, better than everyone around you.*
Her stepmother had usually reminded her when she had failed to endure and had reached her limits, unable to go on or secure a victory for her stable. But she was free now, free to go where ever she wanted, and there were no more draconic sufferings and lectures for loosing.
"You're way to good for this dump, Inoue-chan. Keep up the hard work and you will soon be a better boxer than I am. Too bad women's boxing is probably the worst paid sports ever."
The German replied truthfully while she made good use of her sponge, dunking it again into the bucket to get rid of the sweat and fill it with more fresh water to let it slowly dribble into her mouth, too much water wasn't good when boxing if she remembered well. She was no full time boxer and could give away praise more freely than Inoue.
"I seriously hope that you are as good as a wrestler as a boxer."
Anja hungrily eyed her opponent at the prospect of them wrestling together. Right now they danced in the hall of Inoue, at least for the next two+ minutes. And then she would get herself a reward for challenging Inoue to her limits.

Inoue's eyes had stayed fixated on Karasu. There was more there than the appeal she saw on the outside. There was another appeal too, Karasu came off quite defiant. Perhaps it was her resistance to being taken down that had so thoroughly impressed Inoue. Inoue's grin didn't diminish at Karasu's words. "Perhaps you're not paying attention, but so far, it already seems that I'm too good for you." Inoue remarked, happily recalling that she'd landed many more solid shots on Karasu than she had taken from her. Still, they were in about the same condition, worn down somewhat. It wasn't as shameful to Inoue now though, she could tell they were closely matched. What Inoue was doing, wasn't quite boxing by the book, but essentially it worked the same, and her footwork had shown her skill.

"I hope your ready Karasu-san... Tell me what the canvas feels like when you get there." Inoue didn't even manage a laugh this time, she was dead serious as she slyly eyed the beauty across the ring. She was intent on owning this round. Their small, 30 second increment was already wearing down, and in would come the two minutes that Inoue wholeheartedly desired. She'd felt a euphoria spread up her, resonating from between her legs. The thought of this last round alone was practically overwhelming her to the point where she almost wanted to skip it and just lay with Karasu. She snapped out of it not long after however, that long awaited sound of a bell had woken the predator in her to completion. This was her chance to fully show what she was capable of, she wasn't going to just beat Karasu though, she was going to prove herself a better boxer.

The minute the bell sounded, Karasu would jump out, crowding her opponent with a readied guard, her full lips were stuck in a knowing grin. The minute Karasu through a punch, she'd try what she did in the very beginning, slapping her opponents fist down and coming in with a hurdling right hand. She had hoped she wouldn't be caught using the same strategy again, as she was only going to repeat it so that this round she could throw Karasu off completely.

"So? You're too good for me? Concluding that you have boxed against active boxers the whole time since you were in this club while I tried to make some halfway acceptable boxers out of your colleagues, I would rather call it the way that you are in full training and I am not. Let's see how you fare when we enter my domain later on."
Anja had put on her defiant smile again while entering the ring, eyeing the blazing desire in the eyes of her opponent. The fight would be really on now, that seemed clear to everyone involved.

She stepped into the middle of the ring to meet Inoue, who once again went for the shove tactics she used in round one. Anja was not as hard as she had been in the first round, but now she had the will to not just duck and cover like a sparring partner would do, now she would slug it out with Inoue. As her arms went down she fired a series of short blows to the ribs of her opponent until she got hit hard in the face and stumbled back from their initial clash.

Inoue had tried to get her strategy to work once again, but her opponent came on strong. She could nearly tell that Karasu wanted to get close and just trade blows. Inoue knew she'd be at the disadvantage there, but she wanted the challenge. That was until the painful thud of her gloves began slamming into her body. Inoue cringed for the first time, the hits traveled a short distance and ripped into her rib cage until she swung her hook. Luckily the big punch landed flush and gave her the much needed opportunity to back off a bit. She wanted to figure out a way to beat Karasu, that meant avoiding a brawl. Still, she wanted to live up to the challenge, prove superior to completion. Her ego would see to this, Inoue moved right back in on Karasu, throwing a hard left at Karasu's corresponding eye, then two rough right hands to Karasu's ribs to return the favor.

Things got better and better for her. Inoue had obviously decided that she was woman enough to come to an in fight with the crow, and Anja was very eager to follow up with that, grinning and nearly manically howling like a wolf with excitement as she took steps to come close to her opponent and exchange vicious blows with her on the ribs, eagerly taking the blow to the eye but trying to shift a little bit to the side to prevent it from completely swelling. When they had just been fighting and called it a day after the boxing, she would have given a shit about a swollen eye and just let it heal while traveling. But in this case, it would be harder to wrestle with Inoue when she lacked a side with a good looking, or they would have to wait until the swollen part was back to at least halfway acceptable.

Inoue already knew closing in on Karasu would be beneficial, her face was beaten enough to tell that she'd have to be somewhat sensitive there. Still, Inoue's body and head both hurt mildly, and her opponent was able to withstand much more punishment it seemed. All Inoue could do, was throw the hardest punches in her repertoire, trying to knock Karasu down before Karasu knocked her out. She wasn't used to taking so many hits, and naturally, her thin body could only take so much. Still, she began swinging for the fences, fighting through the stomach shots with a hard straight left, a right uppercut and then a left hook. She was beginning to see the damage she'd done, and she wanted to do more. Her punches were a product of her best effort, all fast and hard. She hoped it'd at least daze Karasu, then she could close in without fear and end this.

She was still attacking the somewhat frail appearing body of Inoue as the straight hit her slightly swinging face again and crashed into a cheek, causing a red mist to rise which began to override her consciousness and erased any thinking of neat technical boxing. as the uppercut hit her face, she retaliated with a wildly swinging but uncoordinated cross at the face of her opponent before getting hit by the hook and stumbling back into the ropes, where her fighter's spirit instead of her brain decided to make kind of a last stand.

"COME ON! GIVE ME MORE!!!"
she bellowed loudly at her opponent, working on a subconscious level like a long distance runner whose feet just didn't stop. It was kind of a cleansing ritual for her to do this battle, it was for her, only for her own sake and for no mistress or trainer or whoever had taken advantage of her all the years. She wouldn't even bother herself with a defense when Inoue came in to battle on, instead use a defense of swinging her body out of harm's way, but her main goal was hitting hard or going down doing it.

Inoue was surprised by the sudden exchange. She'd begun punching sloppily, perhaps out of desperation. Her face exploded with pain, but she was still going, firing the end of her combination and for the first time, she could see that Karasu was fighting to stay up. Inoue charged directly in, her head still in a haze, but her desire to put Karasu on the canvas had overridden any concern of pain. Inoue tossed a hard left cross in Karasu's direction to lead in with it, then went for an unrelenting combo of two stiff jabs and a right handed uppercut. This was it, she figured she had about a minute to tear Karasu apart, and wouldn't back down until she succeeded in the conquest.

Time was on her side, but Karasu gave a damn about ducking out. She swung her head aside from the sloppy cross her opponent threw at her and sent her best available hook to the midsection of Inoue while jab one crashed into her and caused stones to fall large chunks of stone from the fortress and rocked her and threw her a little bit aside, sparing her from jab two but the uppercut hit her chin and toppled the walls of the Karasu castle, causing her to stumble back into the ropes and then forward, either into a clinch with her opponent or on her knees if Inoue moved quickly aside.

Inoue grunted with each heavy stomach punch. If she hadn't managed to wear her down over the course of the fight, this close of a proximity would have been deadly. Karasu was dangerous, Inoue knew that much, but didn't care at this rate. An onlooker would have thought they were late into a fight, though they'd actually just managed to brutalize eachother this badly in merely their third round. Inoue was throwing her hands on instinct, she nearly caved from the pain in her ribs now, she was worn down, and her body was definitely bruised.
Through gritted teeth, Inoue felt the hard punch rock her opponent back, then forward. It seemed she was trying to clinch, to maintain an upright position. Inoue darted back quickly, then back in to her defenseless opponent.

She didn't want Karasu to realize that she was paying her some mercy, hitting her with a left hook, in place of what usually would have been her much feared right hook. She wanted Karasu awake now, she actually developed the utmost respect for her, but still would hide it behind her wall of hostility and overconfidence. Assuming she'd finally done it, she'd quickly go to her corner and prop up on it to peel her tanktop from sweat soaked skin and observe the deep, black and purple bruising that her ribs held.