Hard-Knock Love

>Korone request from the last thread

Your arms felt like lead weights. They were bruised and battered, inflamed and lacerated up and down their length. Your blood stained t-shirt was ripped up and shredded. Your vision was shaky and blurry against the blinding light above you. Your face felt numb to the touch but you could tell that your cheeks were swollen and hot. You shivered as the cold air of the room seemed to torment your already abused body.

The boxing ring you were standing in was small and had the word ‘DOOG’ printed in the middle in large bold print. It was a smaller segment of a much larger gym as you noted the various exercise equipment around the large room. Much of them you’ve been put through so many times that you knew them by heart. The bicycle. The treadmill. The weights. The overhang bar. The running track that surrounded the entire underground gym. Your mind spun as more oppressive memories of those machines filled your mind as you pressed your back against the ropes that surrounded the ring.

“Come on, you’ve done so well already, you can’t quit now!”

You barely had enough time to register the voice before you were grabbed and thrown to the ground. As you were slammed against the hard floor of the ring you managed to get a glimpse of your attacker. It was Korone. The girl you loved. Or, supposedly loved. It was hard to tell these days. She had the hard kind of love. The kind that ended with you being sprawled out on the floor and bleeding all over.

“It’s time to start again!”

As she said this she sent out a flurry of punches as you were still down on the ground. You were able to block a good bunch of them, due to your previous ‘training’ sessions, but just as many of them broke through your defense and slammed into your abdomen. You steeled yourself as each punch felt like a truck slamming into your gut. You were no boxer. Hell, before you met this dog girl you barely could even lift weights. But Korone, she was on a completely different level. It was like pitting a kid who just joined their after school boxing club against a major league fighter. The night and day difference you could feel with each blow.

“Good job! Let’s try something new!”

Korone pulled you up and shoved you against the outer ring. You feebly held your hands out to block her attacks. She was like a blurry haze as she moved in and out of your defense, with quick jabs striking to daze you then sending heavy uppercuts afterwards that would do the real damage. With each strike you mind pondered about how you got here as you just barely dodged one of her punches. You’d just met at a local coffee shop, found that you clicked and had been dating ever since. But as the relationship went on, the more forceful side of her would come out, as a way to show her love for you. A stinging slap on the back after you cooked her a nice meal. A bearhug that would make you wheeze after you got her a large container of protein for her birthday. It all seemed small back then.

But then it escalated from there.

The slaps then turned into punches and the hugs would then turn into nearly spine snapping strength. As Korone saw your apparent weakness, she suggested that you train with her so you could become strong like her. Thinking it would be light exercise and a nice way to spend more intimate time with her, you foolishly agreed.

But then the hell started.

You would spend hour after hour lifting weights that were far above your class, running triathlon amounts of distance on the running track or taking ice-cold showers that froze you to your core. But this was only the beginning. Then the sparring began. At first you would be already keeled over on the ground in pain after the first punch. When you asked her about it afterwards, however, you were horrified to learn that she was ‘holding back’. At that time you were lucky, however, as Korone would leave the sparring to just the ring in the gym only. But then she would initiate a sparring match almost anywhere and at any time. Be it in the bed right after waking up together in the morning, just after eating dinner or even during sex, she would start. And the only way to get her to stop would be to satisfy her until she was fully satiated.

“Annnnnnnd…… KNOCKOUT!”

The dog girl then sent out her last attack. The haymaker swing that smashed into your face with an unimaginable amount of force and power. It was enough to send you flying out of the ring and crashing onto the concrete floor nearby. You felt that your nose was broken. Again. The third time this week. There was a faint trail of blood flowing down your nostrils and all over your face. Your head was wobbling back and forth and you moaned as you felt you were on the border of unconsciousness. But then you felt your head move and be placed on something warmer and softer than the concrete. Korone's face filled your vision as her ears drooped down while she tilted her head down towards you.

“I'm sorry dear… I just got a little carried away. You're doing good though! I’m almost using all my strength against you! I'm so proud of you…” spoke Korone as she patted your head, stroking her fingers through your hair. It was in these gentle moments that you remembered why you loved her in the first place. Even though the stinging pain of earlier was still present, it felt like nothing compared to the warmth and comfort that she was exhibiting right now.

“I love you, my dear…”

Those were the last words you heard her say as you drifted to sleep in her lap and your mind went into an unconscious state. Maybe one of these days you will learn to love her physical love. Maybe one of these days she will change.

But you would still always love her regardless, no matter the pain.

>Korone Part 2

You laid there in the hospital bed while looking up at the white ceiling with shame plastered across your face. Your whole body was covered in bandages and there was an I.V needle in your arm. There was no pain however, due to the drugs circulating in your veins right now. It was both a calm and uneasy feeling. It was like both floating on a cloud and drowning in an ocean at the same time. The freedom of not feeling the pain you felt so long, but its absence pulling you back down into being uncomfortable.

It had happened again. Another sparring match with your girlfriend, Inugami Korone. However, it wasn’t like any you’d had before. This time, instead of her normal teacher-like and loving attitude, she was like a hound from hell with her attacks. You knew something was off from the minute she had returned from her off-collab with Okayu this morning. Usually she would relax for a while after her hololive work before she would want to do a training session or sparring match. But this time, she practically dragged you to the underground gym and forced you into your workout clothes.

Before you could even realize what was going on she was pounding on your body with more force than you’d ever experienced. You knew during your usual practice, Korone had gone easy on you. She never even really utilized her full boxing prowess, even if she lied and said that she was. But today, you saw her pull out moves you had only ever seen in video games, movies or anime. Instead of light jabs she would go straight into sending sucker punches that instantly powered through your defenses and smashed into your chest. You could even remember how your ribs cracked under the immense pressure. But that was only the beginning. It was if you were nothing more than a human training dummy. Korone then switched to sending hooks that slammed into both sides of your heads. All while she was doing this, the normal soft expression on her face was replaced with a fierce look of determination, anger and desperation mixed into one baggage

These punches themselves would already put you at your daily limits for pain tolerance.

But then it happened.
Still reeling from her attacks earlier, you stood in a bewildered dazed state as Korone stopped her assault on your body. You could see that she was breathing in heavily, way more than she usually would. But through that frustrated face of hers, through those eyes burning with hate and rage…

You could see the sheer desperation in her eyes.

As you were about to ask what had happened earlier, she clenched her fist and pulled it back. You knew what was about to happen. With a massive roar and the speed of a bullet she drove her signature haymaker towards you. Just as the final punch was about to land, however, you could see the realization dawn on her face as it went completely blank then changed to a shocked state. But it was too late. The full force of her strength collided with the center of your face and you instantly blacked out.

Then you woke up in the hospital room. As the doctor talked to you about your injuries, you noticed his look of shock as he read down the list of broken bones, crushed ribs, internal bleeding and damaged organs. But even as he asked you as to how you received your injuries, you shook your head and refused to answer. The Korone earlier today wasn’t the Korone you knew. You knew that she showed her love in a more physical way. Today was a different story. What happened earlier… no… she must’ve had a bad day. That was it. You tried to reason it in your brain.

As the possibilities raced through your mind you heard the door open. You looked over and saw her. Korone’s was looking down at the ground but you could still see the pained expression on her face. Leftover moist tear streaks ran down her cheeks. Her ears were shrunk and her usually wagging tail was tucked between her legs. The sight of her like that made all the pain you’d felt up to that point feel like nothing.

“K...Korone…” you weakly spoke out to her. As you said this her head stood up immediately and her eyes darted to you. You saw the immense guilt and pain in those beautiful brown eyes of hers. She slowly walked up to you and grasped your free hand in her own and held it up her face. She sat down in a nearby chair and you could feel fresh tears dribble down your arm.

“Dear… I’m.... No, I can’t even…”

She couldn't even speak properly as she began crying. The sobs filled the room as she took her other hand and pressed it against your face.

“What I did… you didn’t deserve that. It was my fault. I'm such an idiot for letting out my anger on you… you didn’t do anything wrong…. I’m so sorry….”

You asked if what had happened during her off-collab made her act the way she did and she gave a weak nod.
“Me and Okayu... had a fight. But that still doesn’t excuse it though… god, I can’t even take care of my boyfriend properly… I’m so pathetic…”

As she cried again you used what strength you had to wrap your arms around her and pulled her close. The dog-girl seemed surprised at first but reciprocated the hug. The two of you held each other for a long while as you told her that she did nothing wrong and that you still loved her. Even though you knew that her beating you would be inexcusable in most relationships, hell, maybe you just had Stockholm syndrome and you couldn't fight against it?

But it didn’t matter. Korone would always love you. And you would love her. Through all the pain she might give you, the love she would return would outweigh it all.