Abroad

Hilde had made a great pasta dish with mushrooms that the boys 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed over. Hilde had cooked the meal down in the boy's kitchen and told them that they would have to clean up the mess, but Hilde was a bit of a neat freak so there wasn't much to clean. The four of them took their lunch upstairs to the second floor lounge so they could watch some television.

Hilde grabbed the remote control as they sat down and started flipping through the channels. There were several news shows, but they were too flashy. There were too many informative boards for the newscasters to point at with instruction sticks to seem like real news. There were game shows with over-excited guests and kid shows that taught children the names of animals. "All RIGHT!" Hilde tossed the remote down on the table and picked up her pasta watching the TV intently. "This is better than Sunday night football! We get Sunday afternoon Sumo!"

"Oh man, look at those two go! I bet you the one is the blue belt is going to- oh yeah he just tossed the other guy out of the ring," Duo commented.

They watched as another set of wrestlers took the ring. The two men were entering onto a raised platform. Taking up most of the ring what a large white circle that looked like a large think rope had been laid down to make the circle. The top of the platform looked like it was made from compacted dirt so the wrestlers wouldn't wreck their feet. On opposite sides of the ring, there were small areas off to the side where the wrestler would stand and prepare themselves for the match. Each wrestler would grab a handful of salt and throw in out into the ring and then step inside. In the center the ring there were two long white rectangular strips, about a foot apart from each other, where the wrestlers would come. They would raise up one leg to the side of their body and bring it back down to the ground. They would repeat the action with their other leg. Then the wrestler slowly would squat down in front of each other. The four Americans watched as one of the wrestlers placed one of his fists on the white line setting himself up to attack the other wrestler, but suddenly he pulled back into the squatting position. The other wrestler was swaying slightly forward looking as if he was going to put his hand on the line, but swayed back again into the squatting position. Again, the wrestler put one of his fists down onto the white line looking ready to attack put pulled back again. Then suddenly, both wrestlers stood up and walked back to their respective sides of the ring.

"What are they doing?" Hilde was slowly losing interest in her lunch and the plate rest in her lap.

"They are feeling each other out," Trowa said. "The referee isn't there to tell them when to begin. They just get into position and feel each other out until they attack at the same moment."

The wrestlers on the screen threw salt and entered the ring again. Lining themselves up and their respective white lines, they went into a squatting position again. This time both men started to put their fists down onto the line and just as quickly as the two men had put both their fists on the ground, the flew into a whirlwind of action. They both pushed off the ground and went towards each other like they were about to butt heads. There was pushing and pulling and the men latched onto each other's belts. Shoving their weight around each man tried to out maneuver the other pushing to get their opponent's back towards the edge of the ring. Shoving and pushing finally one of the wrestler out maneuvered the other man and shoved him out of the circle.

"Whoa! That was intense." Duo said sitting back in his seat and took another bite of his lunch. "Did you see the way the other guy was digging his feet into the ground trying to stay away from the edge?"

"I almost thought he could come back from that one when I saw his foot hit the edge of the ring. Thought that he might have been able to get enough momentum to push off the circle," Quatre said excitedly. Quatre always had a thing for the underdog and would root on the people who didn't have the favor of the crowd.

"Did you see when the guy in the red belt ripped the tassels off the other guy's belt," Hilde looked at the boys excitedly.

"The tassels are made to be removable because they often get pulled off," Trowa said after swallowing a bite of his lunch. Everyone got quite again as a new match began between two new people. By the third match, Hilde and Duo were really getting into it.

"Oh, go, go! Pull him that way!"

"Ohh! No he didn't!"

"Push him off!"

"There go the tassels!"

"Oh shit that guy fell right outta the ring! Spectators better look out!"

"Oh did you SEE THAT!?"

"Go green belt!"

"He didn't even wrestle him! He just stepped to the side! Guy fell right over!"

"There goes another one! Timber!"

The matches didn't last long, but there were many wrestlers. The plates had long since been empty and the four Americans hadn't moved since they had turned the television on. Finally the last round was announced and two men were on the platform.

"The one in the black belt is the champion, Asashoryu. He hasn't lost a match in 16 competitions so far," Trowa informed the group.

"Tro, how the hell do you know all this stuff?" Everyone looked to Trowa to answer Duo's question.

"I read the news," he said with a shrug. Everyone gave a little 'oh' and turned back to the television. The favorite, Asashoryu, was a compact man. He may have had a lot of bulk to him, but it looked all like muscle. It was easy to see why he would be the champion. He was compact and quick and knew the right moves to gain control of his challenger.

"He's kinda cute," Hilde said with a big smile as he took to the ring. "But, he..." she trailed off and looked at his image closer. "He's not Japanese, is he," she said turning to Trowa.

"No he isn't," Trowa said. "He's Mongolian."

They watched in suspense as Asashoryu made quick work of his challenger and was awarded the trophy.

"Guys," Hilde turned to the boys with fire in her eyes, "let's get tickets to a sumo match! They have tournaments all over the country, right," she looked at Trowa who nodded his head in agreement. "What do you say?"

"I'm in," the three boys said together. Their laughter followed them all the way back downstairs to clean up their lunch mess.