“Okay, baby, open your eyes,” Shego said. She was holding Kyoko around her shoulders because she had to lead her girlfriend to a surprise.
Kyoko had not said anything, but “surprises” where starting to become almost a daily thing with Shego and they tended to be material items. Before a surprise from Shego meant that she showed up unannounced and was going to take her out to the movies, but ever since their great first anniversary, which had been a few months ago, the surprises had been becoming more and more frequently. They were not big things, but the things that Shego really should not have been able to afford, but the pale teen was spending money like she had more than enough. Kyoko could not help wondering where her lover was suddenly getting so much spending money.
Kyoko did as she was instructed to; she had been told to close her eyes before because Shego had a surprise for her. She gasped when she saw what the surprise seemed to be. They were standing in a very elegant apartment. She turned to her lover with a stunned look on her face.
“What is this?” Kyoko inquired.
“This is our new condo,” Shego answered proudly. She had saved up some money, even though she had trying to spoil Kyoko rotten, but she felt like a new place to live was a priority. Now, she could live with Kyoko again and everything would be right in the world as far as she was concerned. She would be able to treat her girl like a princess, just like Kyoko deserved.
“New condo?” Kyoko echoed. “Shego, love, tell me you’re not into drugs,” she pled. Something like that would explain why her girlfriend seemed to have so much money lately. She doubted that it would be hard to get into drugs with the neighborhood that Shego lived in, well, used to live in.
Shego laughed. “Drugs?” she asked. She supposed that it could have been worse. Her girlfriend could have asked if she was a prostitute, but she doubted that a prostitute would be slinging around the dollars like she was.
“Where are you getting all of this money? Is it drugs?” Kyoko pled to know because she hoped that it was not drugs. She really hoped that Shego was not doing anything unsavory at all, but she supposed that was the only way to explain how Shego was getting so much money.
“No, it’s not drugs,” Shego assured her beloved with a smile and a hug. “Now, let’s break this puppy in and make love in every freaking room.”
Kyoko laughed and did not argue with Shego because it sounded like a grand idea. She did wonder how Shego could afford to buy a condo. The little gifts, which had been gradually getting bigger, were also alarming. She was curious and she really wanted to know, so she had to ask. Well, she asked when they were done.
“Shego, where have you been getting money for all of this stuff?” Kyoko inquired.
The couple was lying in their bedroom in their bed, which was a king-sized bed polished a shiny black. The spread on the bed was black too, even the pillowcases. The room itself was white, though. The walls begged to be painted and Shego had been planning on a green, but she wanted to wait for Kyoko’s input; after all, the Japanese teen was going to be living there too and she knew from experience that it was no fun to live some place that she did not give input in. There was a black dresser because they were going to need some place to their clothing, but other than that that and the bed, the room was quite bare.
Shego felt so good to have been able to provide such things for her girl that she could not even describe it. It felt good for her to be able to supply something point blank. She was standing on her own and holding up Kyoko. It felt so freaking great and she was going to treasure it while making sure that it lasted for as long as it could.
“I got a new job,” Shego answered in regards to where she had been getting her money. It was not a lie, at least.
“A new job? Doing what?” Kyoko asked curiously. She was glad that her girlfriend had found a new job. So, maybe it was nothing illegal and she had been worried for nothing. She scolded herself for not having more faith in her pale lover.
The emerald-eyed young woman glanced at lover. The look in her eye told Kyoko that she did not want to tell and she would prefer not to be asked. Kyoko sighed because of the secrecy and cuddled closer to Shego, which made the green-skinned teen smile. She just hoped that Shego was not doing something wrong or dangerous.
“I’m going to take care of you, baby. I promise,” Shego said and she leaned down to kiss Kyoko’s forehead.
“You won’t have to for too long,” Kyoko replied. After all, once she graduated, she planned to get a job of her own. She wanted to get into business and she hoped that she would be able to return all of the wonderful gifts that Shego showered her with by showering Shego with some when she was employed.
“I want to for as long as possible because I love you. So, I’m going to take care of you,” Shego insisted while hugging her girl close to her and caressing Kyoko’s shoulder.
“Just…don’t get hurt doing it,” Kyoko said. She was not sure what else to say, especially since she had a feeling that her girlfriend was doing something, well, not right.
“I won’t get hurt. I’m going to give you the comfortable life you deserve,” the green-skinned teen declared.
“I’m pretty happy with life as it is,” Kyoko replied quite honestly. Everything seemed to be going really smoothly right now as far as she was concerned. Time could stand still and she would die happy where she lay.
Shego only laughed, even though she had no doubt that Kyoko was happy with life as it was, but she was going to make sure that it got better since she could. She was going to make sure her girl did not have to worry about anything at all ever again and her new “job” was going to make that possible, which only made her love “working” more so than she already did. Kyoko just gave her a reason to go out and work even harder, though.
Shego brought Kyoko all the latest clothes since Kyoko was sorely in need of a new wardrobe, only her grandparents could not afford to send her much money to get new things. Well, Shego handled that. Anything that it seemed like Kyoko needed, she had money for now. And if Kyoko wanted something, hell, she could probably buy five of them for her girl after a while.
Shego also made it a point to send money to Kyoko’s grandparents, so the Japanese girl did not have to worry about them financially speaking. She did not want her lover to have to worry about anything at all. She even pointed out that Kyoko did not have to feel so much pressure from school anymore because if she lost her scholarship, she could pay the tuition. Kyoko thought that was sweet and not bother pointing out that if she lost her scholarship, she would probably be kicked out of the country since she was there on a student visa. She did not say that because Shego seemed so proud that she could pay for tuition now, but she did suggest that Shego join her in school next semester, making use of the stated tuition money, which Shego agreed to with a smile.
It felt really great to not have to worry about money, Shego thought. She could make her girl happy and she had actually found something that she enjoyed doing, not even remembering that she had planned to never do it again the first time that she had gone through with it. Now, she wished that she gotten into her new career earlier in life since it was getting her everything that she wanted, but she supposed that it never would have occurred to her before. She had always been sarcastic and maybe a little cranky, but she had never been one to do anything really wrong or illegal. Now, things had changed and she had no problem pulling a job almost once a week. It was a rush; every single time she did, it was such a rush.
The more Shego stole, the more she wanted to do it. She just thought of it as a way to shower her girl with more and more gifts, which she did do. She loved the way Kyoko’s face lit up when she gave the Japanese girl something. The expression itself was motivation to go out and just keep doing her thing; the fun factor helped, but she tried not to think about that. She did love her job, though.
She tried not to think of how fun it was because openly admitting that she liked being a thief seemed wrong to her. She was not supposed to be a criminal; her parents were probably rolling over in their graves over it. So, she kept telling herself that she did it for the one that she loved. She did it to survive. She did not do it because it was fun. If she could support herself and Kyoko in some other way, she would, she tried to tell herself. She was a walking contradiction most of the time because of the thoughts that she refused to acknowledge. After all, sometimes she was telling herself that she had wished that she had started stealing sooner in life while other times she was telling herself that she would never do it again if only she could make a decent living doing something else.
Eventually, Shego had to find better fences because she was stealing bigger and better things. Little jewelry stores were nothing; they were not even a challenge to get into and she did not even bother with them because of that. She moved on to fine art from museums, which she knew could fetch some good money if done properly. It did involve having to get connections in the underworld, which she had some times to since she had been in the burglary game for a while now. She surprised a lot of people that she dealt with in the underworld by knowing the basic value of the paintings that she was swiping for them; hey, she was no idiot and she knew that art theft would fetch a good chunk of change as long as she had a buyer lined up before hand because it would be virtually impossible to sell a hot painting to just any old person on the street. She got buyers through her connections in the criminal world, where her reputation was steadily growing. Her ability to get good art, led to people hiring her to grab other things for them and people even started recommending her.
By the time the next semester of school started, Shego had enrolled and Kyoko had a new car, which was a gift from Shego. The pale woman had purchased her lover the car because she would rather Kyoko drive to school in style than to have to take the bus anywhere in Go City. Life was going mighty swell, Shego thought. Everything was going to be all right in her opinion.
After all, she had a high paying occupation and could easily provide for her girlfriend. Kyoko had never seemed happier. They had a strong relationship still. She was independent and had no plans to ever go back to her brothers; she did not even see why she should even think about them again after they way they treated her. Everything just seemed to be going smoothly and she did not see why that should continue.
The money was actually starting to worry Kyoko a little. She was wondering if Shego ever planned to stop; it certainly did not seem like she did. It seemed like the more money that Shego brought in, the more that she felt they needed. Money was not that important and she hoped that Shego understood that, especially since however Shego was getting the money could be hazardous. She hoped that everything went well for her beloved and that nothing happened to her.
(New day)
“Damn it,” Shego silently cursed as she entered the condo. The place was dark, which she expected. She had left Kyoko sleeping to go out and get some work done. She was starting to sneak out more often, trying to wait for Kyoko was in a deep sleep before going to put some work in, even though she was never strapped for cash anymore and she might have just pulled a job days ago, which had been the case that night. She had gotten things done, but things had not totally gone according to plan because the damned security system kicked in with something new, lasers. She had missed that and paid the price on her way out by getting burned across her arm before she could escape with her plunder.
The pale thief made her way to the bathroom, lightly treading on their polished, light hard wood floors. She was hoping to take care of her wound before sneaking back into bed with Kyoko being none the wiser in regards to her absence. She entered their bathroom, which had a tiled mosaic of hummingbirds in a garden around the room on the walls. There was a shower in the far corner of the room with three showerheads. The bathtub was black, large, and circular with two steps leading up it. It was a jacuzzi-style tub. The sink, which was Shego’s destination since the medicine cabinet was above it, had golden goose-neck style facet. The handles were designed to look like resting birds; they were also golden.
Shego unzipped her green and black cat suit to take care of the burn; she used her Team Go uniform for reasons that were beyond her. Maybe she looked at as getting back at her brothers by using the team uniform while she was doing something that she knew they would be totally against, but she never tried to really rationalize it to herself. She was surprised when the door opened and she saw that Kyoko was not sleeping anymore.
“Love, are you all right?” Kyoko asked and then she caught sight of the burn, marring her lover’s toned arm. “What happened to your arm?”
“Nothing. Work-related injury,” Shego joked. Well, it was not really a joke, but she made it sound that way with the hope that her girlfriend would not fuss over her. She did not questions to come up from her little mishap.
“Let me take care of that for you,” the Japanese teen volunteered.
Shego did not argue because she knew that would not work and Kyoko went to fixing up the burn. She pulled out the necessary items from their medicine cabinet, which was flanked by a row of lights on both sides. She pulled what she needed down on the sink and inspected the wound as she bandaged it. Shego noticed the examination and hoped that questions were not going to follow.
“This looks pretty bad. I hope someone didn’t do this to you,” Kyoko commented in her usual tone to avoid sounding as concerned as she was. She knew that if she expressed too much concern when Shego thought that she was fine, then she would only irk her pale lover.
“No, no one did it to me,” Shego assured her beloved with the hope that it would keep Kyoko from pressing the issue or getting worried over nothing in her opinion anyway.
“This work…it seems dangerous,” Kyoko said in a smaller voice, but she was not whispering. She just was not sure if she wanted to bring the subject up or not and thought that doing it in a gentle voice would make it more acceptable to approach.
“Well, everything has it dangers,” the green-skinned girl remarked and added a shrug to downplay the situation. God, she really did not want to talk about it, especially not with Kyoko.
“Perhaps…” Kyoko muttered. She had noted that her lover slipped out every few nights, and how it got more frequent as time passed. She wondered what “work” was for Shego. It was not drugs, she believed that, but it was apparently dangerous for her to get such a burn. She supposed that it was a good thing that Shego healed better than others or she would insist that they go to the hospital.
“Perhaps what?” Shego inquired in an almost suspicious tone.
“You should take a few days off,” Kyoko commented. It would be nice to have her lover in bed for the whole night for a change. She would not have to worry about what Shego was out doing at such insane hours.
“Perhaps,” Shego agreed. She had already sold the item that she had lifted and she did not have another job lined up. She could take some days off, even though she really wanted to just get another job to make sure that she had money. She had to take care of her very thoughtful girl, after all.
(New day)
Kyoko glanced to the empty seat next to her. Shego usually sat there; it was a required course that they had decided to take together. It was a morning class and Shego had decided to sleep in instead of going into class. It would seem that she had a tough night at “work.”
It was starting to become a habit with Shego. She was missing class more often and she was starting to come in late every night. “Work” seemed to have became more and more important to Shego, which made it more and more of a curiosity to Kyoko. She tried her best not to think about it; all too aware that she did not wish to know, but she could not ignore it anymore. She could not willingly be blind to what her beloved was doing anymore.
She did not care about how much money Shego brought in. The “job” was screwing with Shego’s priorities in her opinion. Shego needed to be coming to class and she needed to graduate college to fulfill her dream of becoming an engineer. That was what was important, not all of the money that she was bringing in, especially when they really did not need anymore money. They had everything that they needed, so now all she wanted was Shego back.
She wanted back the Shego that always went on about being an engineer once they hit campus. She wanted the Shego back that knew taking her out to the movies once in a while was better than showering her with material gifts almost every day. She wanted back the Shego that knew automatically that all she needed to be happy was for Shego to be there without thousands of dollars having to be involved. She wanted back her Shego and she could not stand idly by while “work” consumed her beloved. She needed to do something to get Shego to stop whatever work it was that she was doing.
That night, she decided that she was going to try to stop her love and she went through with it. As Shego was set to rise from their bed, as she did almost every night now, Kyoko stopped her. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Shego. The super-powered female went rigid, shocked that her beloved was awake. Little did she know, but most of the time that she sneaked out Kyoko was awake. The Japanese young woman was also usually awake when she came back in.
Shego was not sure what she was going to do now that she had been caught getting up. She told herself to lie, make up some excuse if Kyoko asked her where she was going. No, she silently objected to that. She could not lie to her perfect angel like that. She had some conscience left. Then what was she going to do, her mind asked. She knew that she was itching to go out and do her thing. She needed to go out. So, how was she going to get by Kyoko without lying?
“Stay with me tonight,” Kyoko requested in a small, but clear voice. She sounded strong, even though her voice was low. She knew what she wanted and she seemed resolute in getting it. She did not want to be alone that night in bed again. She did not want Shego to go out and something happen to her. She did not want Shego to miss another class and ruin her chances at being an engineer.
“Kyoko…” Shego muttered. She actually sounded a bit shaken, like she was not sure what she should do.
“Don’t go out. Stay with me,” the Japanese female stated again, sounding even stronger than before.
“I…can’t,” the pale female replied, almost as if she was ashamed of that. She had buyers waiting, ones that would not be too happy with her if she did not show up. Besides, there was that itch underneath it all that she refused to acknowledge. She needed to go out.
“Why can’t you?” Kyoko asked in a gentle tone, hoping that it would get her girlfriend to reconsider. She wanted Shego to stay with her, not just at that moment, but always. She did not want Shego sneaking off anymore.
“Don’t ask questions that you don’t want answers to.”
“I want you to stay with me,” Kyoko said again. She still sounded unyielding in her statement, but it was not working on her beloved.
“Not tonight,” Shego answered. She was not sure if she wanted to be upset with Kyoko asking the impossible of her (as she saw it anyway) or if she wanted to be ashamed for not being able to give her girl what she wanted at that very moment.
“Please, tonight,” Kyoko begged, her voice wavering now. She feared that she was going to be left alone yet again and that her wants really did not matter to her green-skinned lover. That fear made her voice quiver, which settled things for Shego; she felt ashamed of herself.
“Baby, I’ve got to go out. It’s what I do. It’s how I keep us afloat,” Shego pointed out, talking in her own low and tender tone with the hope that it would make things better. She did need to go out; it was what she did and it was how they remained as well off as they were. Surely her love would understand that, she told herself. “So, let me go and go back to sleep,” she added, still sounding gentle, but also curt in an odd way. Her tone had an underlying sharpness to it brought on by the edge that she was feeling in being delayed. She wanted to be out there already.
“I don’t want to. I don’t want you to leave,” Kyoko replied in a near desperate tone now since it did not seem that she was getting through to Shego. She wanted Shego to stay with her and follow her dream, not travel down the dark road she seemed intent on walking.
“Go back to sleep. I have to leave. If I don’t, certain people wouldn’t like it,” the pale woman stated. She was more offering up an excuse than a reason as to why she had to leave. She knew that she could take care of anyone that had a problem with her, but she really wanted to get out there and do her thing.
“Certain people?” Kyoko echoed in a puzzled tone. She did not like the sound of that one bit and it was only more of a reason for Shego to follow her dream and get out of the mess that she was in before it was too late.
“Yes, so go back to sleep. Besides, I’m doing this for us. I want us to be able to live comfortably together,” the green-skinned female explained.
Kyoko released Shego, partially because of the implications that something bad would happen if she did not let Shego leave and the fact that she wanted to believe that Shego was doing it for them. The pale woman took her chance and left. Kyoko sighed; she was really starting to really worry and now she felt a bit guilty that she had not put up more of a fight. That was going to change.
Shego could not believe that Kyoko had been awake that time around. Maybe she was getting sloppy, she considered. She did not see how she was getting sloppy at sneaking out of her own home when she was getting better with every job at breaking and entering places. She was going to have to be more careful around Kyoko. She did not want to cause the Japanese female any stress or worry. After all, there was nothing to worry about. She was going to handle everything and be able to take care of the both of them no matter what; that was one of the great things about her new career.
Shego took a semester off from school and Kyoko had a feeling that she was never going to go back. Shego had lost all interest in school before the semester even ended and her girlfriend was very aware that. Her focus was mostly sleeping during the day and “work” now. The Japanese female was sleeping alone more often, which she knew meant that Shego was working more often; it was almost every single night now. She knew that the more that she remained silent, the deeper her loved would dig herself in whatever underworld she had worked herself into. She had to do something or she might lose her beloved.
“Shego,” Kyoko said. They were in their bedroom and she was sitting behind Shego, brushing her hair. It had been something that they used to do all the time, take turns brushing their long ebony manes, but most of the time now, Shego did not even want to be bothered with the activity. Kyoko was glad that had changed that night at least. It showed her that her Shego was still in there somewhere underneath the new creature that only wanted to work.
“Yeah?” Shego replied.
“I want you to stop doing what you’re doing,” Kyoko stated, speaking firmly, but making sure not to sound like she was giving a command or ultimatum. As far as she was concerned, that was the only way to save her love. Shego needed to stop. They did not need money so badly anymore, so she did not have to put herself in danger anymore. There was no need for it. They could live happily and comfortable off of everything that the former hero had already gained.
“Baby, I’m doing this for us,” the pale female replied. It was almost her automatic answer when the subject of her work was brought up. She was doing it for them, she told herself while little voices in her head told her that she was doing it because it was fun and she just liked having money. She was doing it to make sure that itch that was scratching underneath her skin even now ceased.
“How are you doing this for us? We don’t need anything anymore. You’ve gotten us everything, so I want you to stop before something happens to you,” the Japanese woman replied, speaking in her usual soft tone, but sounding urgent too. It was not a command coming from her, but a plea.
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” the former hero insisted, going so far as waving the very idea off with a flick of her hand. She was powerful and she was smart. Nothing was going to happen at all.
“Something could. You could end up in jail or worse,” Kyoko argued. She did not even want to voice the “worse” part of that, but it frightened her very much about what could happen with her beloved.
“I won’t, so just let it go,” Shego said, just a little annoyed now. Nothing was going to happen and that should be the end of the discussion as far as she was concerned.
“You could. Anything could happen. Not just to you, but to me. What if you make someone ‘unhappy’ and they come after me to get back at you?” Kyoko pointed out. The idea did worry her quite a bit. It was not wholly impossible for her to be used as bait or payback for something that her beloved did and she was not sure if her girlfriend was taking either of their safety into consideration.
“Is that what you think?” Shego turned sharply and stood up quickly. “Do you think I would ever let someone hurt you?” she demanded to know, her anger evident in her voice. As if she would allow anyone to hurt her girl! Whatever happened to all of that trust that Kyoko had in her to keep her safe and unharmed? What the hell was going on for her to dare suggest such a thing?
“There’s little you could do about it if they showed up while you’re gone, which you often are,” Kyoko stated while climbing to her feet too and starting to sound upset herself. “You’re always gone when I get home from school and you’re typically just coming in when I wake up, so you just go to bed. We hardly see each other at all anymore,” she added heatedly. It was like she was not even worth her lover’s time anymore, like she was superfluous to Shego’s life.
“Is that it? Are you lonely?” Shego asked because that seemed to be what her girl was implying. She calmed down just a bit because of the insinuations that her girlfriend was just lonely and that was probably why she was getting so worked up.
“Well, there is that,” Kyoko admitted. She had been lonely for some months now. She missed her green lover and often found herself curling up with Shego’s pillow since Shego was not there. The aroma lingering on the pillow was a poor substitute for the woman it belonged to.
“Well, I’m sorry about that,” Shego apologized, thinking that would be the end of the argument. She even moved like she was going to embrace her girlfriend.
“That’s not it, so don’t think you can come over here and hug me to make everything all better. It’s not just that I’m lonely, but I want you to stop doing this and I’m tired of you saying that you’re doing this for us,” Kyoko stated in a frustrated tone.
“I am!” Shego insisted, bothered now by the whole conversation.
“No, you’re not, so stop saying that. You’re doing this to do it and now you need to stop before something happens. I don’t want you to get arrested and I damn sure don’t want you to get killed!” Kyoko practically hollered as she spoke, showing that she had picked up something from being with Shego for three years at that point.
“I won’t!” Shego huffed indignantly. “I’m not some idiot or weakling that doesn’t know what I’m doing! Everything’s going to be fine, okay? I’m going to be able to provide for you forever with this, okay! So, just shut up about it!” she barked.
Kyoko was unmoved and unfazed by those words and the tone. “Shego, darling, you’ve given me all I need and more, so just walk away from it while you still can,” she replied in a calm tone, hoping to get through to her aggravated lover.
“I won’t. There’s still more to be gained. There’s still more to get,” Shego pointed out in with determined growl. She wanted it all and she could get it all. She wanted everything and then she would give it all to her girl and she bet that would shut Kyoko the hell up.
“So, you’re really in it for the money, not for us,” Kyoko said almost as if the realization physically pained her.
“I’m in it for us,” the pale woman stated in a dangerously low tone, as if she would attack Kyoko if she contradicted her again, although it would never cross her mind to harm Kyoko, especially not on purpose.
“If you are, you’ll walk away because we have all we need. So, just walk away from it. Come back to school. Get your engineering degree like you wanted—” Kyoko said in a reasonable tone, but she was cut off.
“I don’t need that anymore! I don’t want to be an engineer,” Shego declared as if she meant it. She probably did, but neither of them were totally sure on that. She had wanted to be an engineer from when she was a kid and her stupid older brother told her that girls were not good at science and math. She would show him, she had silently vowed back then. It did not seem so important anymore and she had forgotten the promise that she made to herself as a child.
“I thought that was your dream,” Kyoko pointed out. She remembered that was all her girl talked about wherever they hit the school’s campus, just how great an engineer she was going to be. She wanted to see that happen. She wanted her lover to achieve that dream because she knew that would bring Shego true happiness, not all of the material garbage that she kept collecting.
“My dream is to be able to give you everything you want and deserve,” the pale female said forcefully, as if that would get the Japanese woman to understand.
“You have, so let it go,” Kyoko replied in a calm, but forceful tone of her own. That was a command.
“There’s still more,” Shego stated with a growl. There was still so much more and she silently admitted that she was doing something that she loved. And, as long as she kept doing it, she could give her love the world and more.
“Shego, there isn’t anymore, so walk away. Stay with me,” Kyoko implored her beloved with an aching expression in her eyes. She deeply and desperately desired that her love stay.
“What are you trying to say?” Shego inquired in a suspicious voice with a look to match in her emerald eyes because it did seem like her girl was implying something.
“Darling, please, just stay with me. You walk away from this or I’m going to walk away because you’re not doing this for us anymore. You’re doing this for either the love of money or just the thrill. I don’t want to be here when this catches up with you. I don’t want be here when you’re arrested or if the people you do business with come to collect,” Kyoko explained.
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Shego insisted. She would not let anyone harm her beloved and there was a time when Kyoko believed that, but that was in the past. Shego could not protect her if she was not around most of the time.
“You need to leave this life you’ve made for yourself before it’s too late,” Kyoko stated, her eyes pleading with Shego just listen to her and stay while her voice was ordering that Shego stay.
“You know, you didn’t care about this when I was taking you out to all of the best restaurants. You didn’t care when I was buying all the best clothes and jewelry. You didn’t care when I brought you the car. You weren’t so scared then and don’t try to pretend like you didn’t know what the hell I was doing at the time,” Shego countered, sounding more pissed off with every word that she spoke. All of sudden she was wrong for wanting the best for them? Like hell! She was not going to accept that when everything was fine before.
“It was nice,” Kyoko admitted easily because that was the truth of the matter. “But, I would take you over all of those things. You don’t need to impress me, darling. I would’ve stayed with you through your other job. I would’ve stayed with you in that rat infested apartment—” she tried to explain, but she was cut off.
“I didn’t want you to! You deserved better than that! We deserved better than that. All that time I spent busting my ass for this city and I never got a damn thing for it! I deserve this!” Shego hollered.
Kyoko nodded slowly, as if she finally understood it all. “That’s at the heart of the matter, isn’t it? It’s really what you want,” she said, looking rather disappointed. It was never about them or her, but it was all about Shego.
“Why can’t have what I want?” Shego demanded to know. “I’ve put in hard hours and got nothing in return, but kicked out of my damn home for loving a woman that suddenly wants to get on a high horse after I’ve given her everything a person could!” she declared heatedly.
“So, now it’s my fault that you got kicked out too?” Kyoko asked in a calm, but small voice. Now she was hurt. It would seem that her beloved blamed her for what happened between her brothers and now Shego thought she was being ungrateful. She supposed that she could not feel any worse at the moment than if Shego did slap her.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Shego said quickly as she realized what she could end up talking herself into, or out of, namely her relationship. “Look, let’s just drop it, okay? This is what I do. It’s what got us where we are. It’s got us everything we want,” she defended her actions in a calm tone. She was trying to compose herself to avoid saying something she might end up regretting.
“And that’s why you should leave now. I don’t know how deep you’re in, but you shouldn’t go any deeper than what you have, so walk away. I wouldn’t know what to do if you were in jail or worse,” Kyoko informed her girlfriend, her eyes pleading with Shego like a starving child to understand her point and just agree with her.
“I can’t just walk away,” Shego argued while glancing away. She did not want to see the expression in Kyoko’s beautiful eyes anymore.
“Is it that you can’t or don’t want to?” Kyoko inquired. Shego was silent. The Japanese woman nodded. “What’s more important to you, Shego?” she asked in a stronger voice than she was feeling at the moment. Part of her was afraid that the job was more important to Shego.
“You, of course,” Shego answered. Doy! Of course her girl was more important to her than a job, even if that was job was a career to her now and she had been doing excellent work that she loved. Still, she loved Kyoko way more than anything else on the planet.
“Then leave it,” Kyoko said firmly one more time.
That time, Shego nodded, as if she agreed and with that the argument was over just like that. The pale woman did stay in with Kyoko, not just that night, but all the time now, which the Japanese female adored. She showered Shego with attention and homemade meals, mostly Japanese foods because that was what Kyoko was accustomed to making for herself. Shego did not complain, but she was starting to seem distant, zoning off sometime, even at crucial times. Her mind just easily wandered now while she tried to ignore that underlying itch, which was becoming more and more bothersome and demanding.
“Shego,” Kyoko said in a just a little bit of an offended tone.
“Hmm?” Shego replied, not really looking at her girlfriend as much as she was looking through her.
“Are you going to make love to me or continue to daydream?” Kyoko inquired with a bit of a teasing smile, although her self-esteem was stinging just a bit. She was on top of Shego and topless to make matters worse because Shego was not paying her any mind at all.
“Oh,” Shego muttered as if she was surprised with what was going on. She could not believe that she had drifted mentally with her girl right on top of her. She turned her attention to Kyoko, even though at the back of her mind, she was thinking about how much she wanted to go out and break into some place with a complex security system. She liked the challenge and the rush when she finally made it into some place; it would get rid of the damned itch that she was experiencing every freaking day of her life.
Kyoko hated to think where Shego’s mind was. She often detested thinking about where Shego’s thoughts were. She did not want to think that she was losing her beloved to illegal activities. Shego had chosen her, she told herself. Shego would stay with her, she told herself. Shego would not go out and put them both at risk. Shego was not like that, but then what was making her mind wander like that?
“Darling,” Kyoko said in a whispered tone while trying to catch her breath. She was resting on top of Shego still, but she was now spent for the night.
“Yes?” Shego replied while her hand caressing the small of her girl’s back.
“I’m the only one for you, right?” Kyoko asked curiously.
“Of course. Why would you ask?”
“Well…just because you zoned out on me right before we were about to make love. It seems a bit…odd,” Kyoko pointed out. She did not want to come right out and say that she was now fearful that Shego might be cheating on her, as it would explain why Shego did not seem interested in being intimate with her.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to do that and you’re always going to be the only one for me. No other human being could take your place,” the pale female answered sincerely.
Kyoko smiled; that was good to know. But, it did not explain why her beloved’s mind was not in the same room as they were more often than not, especially while they were supposed to be having sex. If Shego was not thinking of another person, then what was she thinking about?
Next time: the end.