Spoiler
After completing his hundredth crunch, Kyo allowed himself to recline on the training mat, breathing hard, his naked chest perspiring a little as it rose and fell. It was late hours, and the gym-- one of the official ones attached to the LAW arena-- was less populated than usual. Which was fine, as Kyo preferred not to engage with people when he was training. It wasn't just a time of physical training for him: it was also a time of quietude, of introspection, of training himself mentally and spiritually as well as physically. Maybe it was all that meditative practice his mom had put him through during kendo lessons as a boy, or maybe he just liked to be away from the noise and chaos of LAW every once in a while.
He sat up. He was wearing only a simple pair of black gym shorts that clung to his frame, terminating at the uppermost part of his thighs and leaving the rest the rest of his well-chiseled form naked and exposed to the relative silence of the gym. He glanced at one of the adjoining mirrors and noted himself-- well his well-developed abdominal muscles, lean but tightly corded arms and legs, land dark hair. He didn't like to indulge in pride, but as of late, even he had to admit he looked good. Several of his opponents seemed to think so.
He allowed himself to recline back on the mat and regulate his breathing. It had been a while since his last...well...encounter, with Valerie, a tempest of raw passion that had erupted after their brutal iron man match. He had been thinking of her a lot since then, of wanting to see her again, of that one night in the infirmary.
He was also thinking, rather guiltily, of JJ. Of all of the things he had said to her, of their own fiery exchange of passions after they had first met in the ring. He grimaced, and buried his face under his arm. He had no idea what he was supposed to do next. He couldn't pretend he didn't care for them both. He also couldn't deny that everything that happened meant that he was inevitably going to hurt one at the expense of the other. He dreaded having to do that; he also knew, though, that he couldn't, wouldn't, lie to either of them.
How the hell did I let this happen...
He cursed, sat up, and immediately tried to quell the thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus on something else for the moment. Something like his training. He could think on how to resolve this drama later; for now, he needed to focus on himself, his fitness, and his health. More to the point, he couldn't wrestle if his attention was so easily diverted.
Grabbing his headphones, he cycled his phone over to his third exercising playlist (mostly anime tracks by Susumu Hirawasa and Yoko Kanno), grabbed his towel, and headed off towards the practice mats. Taking up an empty sack, he wrapped his arms around it and began to practice throws, suplexing and slamming it against the mat. And maybe, just maybe, he found himself taking some of his frustrations out on it...
