Shego groaned as her eyes were starting to realize that there was sunlight invading the room. She reached for something, anything to cover her face with. The first thing that she grabbed was Kim’s arm; it was very close by. She covered her eyes with Kim’s limb. It worked until the petite samurai moved. Shego groaned again.
The pale woman began reaching for something else to cover her face, something that would preferably stay in place once she used it to save her from having to wake up. She was still tired and she did have a minor headache. She guessed that Kim was right; she was drunk last night. Ah well, at least she did not have anything to do and she could just sleep off the hangover if she wanted to. But, first, she had to block out the accursed sun and go back to sleep.
She eventually got her hands on a blanket that Kim was mostly using and she tossed it over her head, yanking it from her companion without a care. Kim eep-ed as the morning air hit her nude form and she woke up immediately. She covered herself with her hands as she sat up to figure out what happened to her sheet. She turned to see that her companion was using it as a shield for her eyes.
Kim, who was not ready to be wake yet either, snatched the blanket back. She settled back down on the bed and covered herself. Shego growled in a low tone when she felt the sunlight bothering her eyes again. She reached for the blanket again and stole it back, only for Kim to yank it again. Shego frowned and took the cover back, but it was stolen again.
“Will you just give it to me,” Shego demanded, or maybe whined. It was hard to tell with her being tired, annoyed, hungover, and speaking to Kim. Her hangover was not too bad; there was a slight pounding in her head, but not much. It was just enough to make her want to sleep the morning away, though.
“I had it first,” Kim replied, her eyes still closed as she was still attempting to go back to sleep. She had a good grip on the cover too, just in case her companion had it in her head to tug it away again.
“So?” was the brilliant retort.
“It’s mine.”
“So?”
“So, you can’t have it,” the redhead stated as if that was most logical answer of all and in her opinion, it was.
“Selfish,” Shego hissed.
“If you wanted one so badly, you shouldn’t have thrown yours across the room,” Kim reminded the green-skinned woman like an annoying little-miss-know-it-all in the older warrior’s opinion.
“I was hot,” Shego complained, as if that was relevant to the argument. She had taken her blanket and thrown it on the far side of the room some time last night. She never slept with a cover, even if it was snowing outside. She never seemed to get too cold, but she easily got hot.
“Well, you shouldn’t have thrown it to the other side of the room. You should’ve just put it to the side,” the redhead reasoned.
“What are you, my fucking mother talking like this? Just give me the fucking blanket,” the pale woman ordered.
“You will have to pry this blanket from my cold, dead hands.”
“Don’t tempt me, kitsune. Just give me the damn blanket.”
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
“If I just said no all the other times, why the hell would you keep asking? Do you think I’m going to change my answer? Get up and go get yours,” Kim proposed.
“That’s too far. Just give me yours. You’re not using it,” Shego argued.
“Yeah, I’m not using it to cover my eyes, but I am using it to keep warm.”
“What the hell do you think I’m here for?” Shego remarked and she pulled Kim close to her. “Better?”
Kim nodded because she certainly was not cold anymore. But, she still was not in the mood to just lie naked out in the open, especially since they had already had people burst into their room once before. So, she did not give up the blanket.
“You’re being really annoying, you know that?” Shego huffed.
“It’s mine,” Kim replied.
The fire-starter grumbled and started patting above her head. There had to be some article of clothing nearby, she thought. She felt something and grabbed it. Perfect, she thought as she saw what she had. She had gotten her hands on her obi. She put that over her eyes and settled down to get some more sleep and hopefully to get rid of her tiny headache.
Since Shego was no longer acting up, Kim was able to go back to sleep too. They both noted in the back of their minds that they had never really been big on sleeping in, but they did not mind it at the moment considering who they were sleeping next to. One of them hoped that they would be able to do it more often while the other wished for the same thing.
They tried not to think about things like that, though. They preferred living in the moment more than anything else while they had the chance. There was no tomorrow to them until it was today. They just did not want to think about the future because the possibilities actually frightened them. The idea of being apart scared them, so they found not thinking about that to be better than considering that it was a part of their future. They tried their best to just focus on the now rather than the later.
When they woke up the next time, they decided to get up for something to eat. Shego still had a bit of a headache and it seemed like everything going on outside was too loud for her, causing her head to throb when she heard just about anything. She guessed that whatever that drink was last night did not help hangovers as much as the inn keeper thought, or perhaps, she was getting a fraction of what she would have gotten if she had not drank that mess. She actually had almost not taken the concoction because of the disturbance last night, but Kim had gotten her a second cup of it.
The duo got dressed, one tying her hat around her neck while the other put her fox mask on backwards again, and then they went outside. They hardly walked ten feet before seeing someone that they never wanted to see again. It was not a good way to start the day that much was certain.
“Hey, Aka-chan,” Motor Ed greeted Kim with a proud smile. He was standing in front of them with a couple of his inventions behind him; the self-moving carts. One held his sidekick while the other one just had two of his other crew members.
“I don’t need this today,” Shego said while messaging her temples. Her headache was getting worse just from the sight of the blonde monkey. As bad as it might sound, she wished that he was dead, really. It would just make the world a better place in her opinion if he was not living anymore.
“Take it easy. I’ll handle this one,” Kim informed her companion since she knew that her lover had a headache. She sounded rather confident about that, which eased Shego’s nerves a bit.
“You’ve got an appointment with a prince, Aka-chan, seriously,” Motor Ed told them as he cracked his knuckles.
“Maybe you can handle this while I go crush a certain prince’s big head,” Shego stated while cracking her own knuckles. She knew from the past that Kim could handle Motor Ed and much more than three of his goons, so she felt safe with leaving the redhead with that idiotic group.
“Oh, no, you shouldn’t leave, Midori-san (1). After all, you’ve got an appointment with us,” Motor Ed commented with a smirk.
“I’m not following this at all. Is it because I’m hungover or because he just doesn’t make any sense?” Shego asked Kim.
“I think it’s that he doesn’t make any sense. But, I’m guessing he’s giving me to Wally-sama, but plans to keep you for himself,” the redhead explained. She did not know what other prince might want her and that was why she guessed that he was planning to give her to Wally.
“Seriously, because Midori-san is, like, totally hot,” Motor Ed commented, confirming Kim’s theory. Well, Kim did agree that Shego was totally hot, but there was no way in hell that she was going to let him have the pale woman.
“This is gross on so many levels I don’t even know where to start objecting to the plan,” Shego stated while shaking her head a bit.
“Don’t even bother. Let me handle it,” Kim said again, just as confident as before. She was actually more determined than before since Motor Ed seemed to think that she was just going to let him take Shego from her. Four bad guys was really nothing in her opinion, especially since she knew that they could not fight all that well. All she had to do was watch them in those self-moving carts.
“Yeah, you handle this,” the pale woman agreed with that while glancing away to her right. She figured that it was all right to trust Kim with what she considered light work, even if the morons had kidnapped Kim once, but they had no element of surprise right now. She was sure that a warrior like Kim would be able to handle it. Her redheaded companion stepped forward.
“Aka-chan, you can’t handle this on your own. There are more of us then you’re seeing, seriously,” Motor Ed informed the redhead and then suddenly a dozen or so men came out of nowhere.
Kim ducked several attacks and went into fight mode. Kim struck with a quickness, sharpness, and gracefulness that would make a cat’s jaw drop in disbelief. Motor Ed could hardly believe his eyes. His crew was being beaten by one small female. She knew that she would be able to take them considering the fact that she had already done it once before.
The redheaded warrior dropped her opponents as quickly as she could, tearing into them with the fastest, strongest palm strikes that they had ever felt. But, while she was cutting into them and dropping them with great ease, a vehicle came at her and nearly mowed her down. She leaped out of the way and looked at the self-propelled wagon, more of which were coming out from alleyways.
It would seem that Motor Ed and his people had modified their vehicles. On the front there were still spikes, but there was also what looked like a plow. It was triangular cut and went from the bottom of the vehicle to just high enough for the driver to see over it. It had metal spikes coming out of it too, so even if they hit Kim at a low speed, she was still going to have some heavy injuries.
Also, to make sure that she could not jump over the vehicles and kick them in the heads again, their vehicles now had coverings. It was simple tarp over the self-propelled cart, but it was enough. The covering could keep her kicks from being as on the mark as before if she did try it and since the tarp was tied over the vehicles, they hoped that it would keep her leg from reaching the drivers.
“You guys just want me to pull my sword, don’t you?” Kim remarked with a smile. She was still sure that she could handle the group, but it was probably going to take more time than she thought considering how many of them there were. There was also the fact that she was in a town now and not an open area like she had been before. She was going to have be more careful because there were bystanders somewhere around.
“Get her!” the blonde man commanded his gang.
The still standing men attempted to put a fist or foot on Kim, but she worked them out again. She then had to dodge a vehicle again. Someone pulled a gun and aimed it at her, but she was out of sight before he could fire a shot. Next thing he knew, his gun barrel was hitting the dirt and his target was standing next to him, sheathing her sword. He gasped.
“I don’t really like guns, you know? Any idiot can fire a gun,” Kim commented with a serious look on her face.
The man gasped, as he knew that he was about to feel the wrath of Hell against his body and he was just about right. Kim gave him quite the hurting from a series of kicks, all directed at his lower ribs. She only stopped when he fell to the ground in dire agony. She really did hate guns, especially when they were used so easily around a town where just about anyone could be hit.
Kim then had to move out of the way as one of the other men tried to hit her from behind. She grabbed him and flung him over her shoulder. She held him down and worked his chest with punches as quickly as she could before having to turn her attention to more opponents and also having to get out of the way of a few vehicles.
“Come on, seriously! Get her!” Motor Ed barked.
“We’re trying, aniki!” the few men still standing replied.
A couple of other vehicles joined in the effort, but trying to hit Kim with anything was like trying to hit a fly with a boulder. They did notice that she had not problem hitting them, even if they were in their vehicles. What no one noticed was that Shego was gone; she had been gone since the chaotic battle began.
Shego was humming softly to herself as she calmly jogged down the street. She had dashed away when all the confusing fighting started with Kim and Motor Ed’s gang. Once again, she did trust that Kim would be able to handle the combat, especially since she had already taken care of the gang once before, which was why she felt all right with stepping away. It was good that Kim was such a great warrior, Shego thought. She had something else that she wanted to take care of since Kim was being all cute and defending her honor and she was certain that Kim could handle herself while she was gone. The action made her like Kim all the more.
Shego felt special. When was the last time someone defended her honor? She was not sure if there was a time. Maybe when her father was alive, he had done it, but she could not recall such a time at the moment; she did not see why he would have to do that as she thought about it. So, right now, Kim was the only person in existence to ever defend her and it was a precious feeling.
It was odd. She thought that she would be angry if someone ever tried to stand up for her. It was as if the person would be saying that she was weak, but since it never happened, she never found out. While it was happening now, she liked it, but she considered that it was only because it was Kim. If some arrogant prick of a guy tried it, she probably would beat his head in. She suspected that Kim was the same and she was right on the money with that guess. Another thing that they had in common seemed to be that they were both possessive of each other, which she had guessed long before Kim stepped up to Motor Ed for her.
The best that she could do in her opinion was return the favor, which was what she was planning to do now. She disliked that someone thought that he could just steal Kim from her and that would make Kim his. What kind of mindset was that anyway? She did not get what made someone think that they could just snatch another person and keep that person. Maybe it worked, she considered, but she would never know because she never tried it and was not looking to try it.
She was not looking to find out if it worked with her kitsune either, so she was going to nip a certain problem in the bud as soon as she could. She was calm with what she was about to do, even though many people might consider it a suicide mission or at the least a fool’s errand. She thought that it was the best thing that she could do for a certain big headed prince in order to save his life. After all, if he kept acting stupid, she was going to have to do something very painful to him, something that he just would not like.
She arrived at the castle minutes after she started out for the place. She had to handle some hardheaded guards that did not seem to understand that she was trying to save Wally’s life. She also had to use some smarter guards to find out where the idiot prince was hiding himself. They were easy to deal with, even though she was suffering from a slight headache. Having clawed hands that could be set ablaze came in handy, Shego noted a long time ago.
Once she found out where to find Wally, she made her way there in a flash. She surprised him by a pond in the inner workings of the castle. He was feeding some fish and she approached him as if it was going to be that easy, which she was aware that it would not be. Guards came out of nowhere to engage her in combat.
Wally turned when he heard the sound of battle. He was shocked to see what was going on. Shego was surrounded by five guards, who were dressed as gardeners as disguises. He did not seem too worried, which was why he did not run away with an intruder in his area. After all, his guards were the best in his opinion.
“Only an idiot would do something so brazen as to come here with the guards that we have,” Wally commented to himself.
Shego was not in the mood to dance around with the guards, especially when that arrogant prince standing only a couple of yards away from her. She let them taste her claws for them to get the idea that they were no match for her, cutting through any weapons that they had with them. They did not seem to take the hint.
Shego rapidly sliced up one guard until he had literally lost his shirt to her and was bleeding rather badly from his chest. She lifted a guard up that was coming up behind her and she flung him into the pond that Wally was feeding fish. She then had to dodge a man with a sickle. She moved out of the way of the blade and cut through the handle of the weapon. The guard looked incredulously as his weapon was dismantled.
“You could run if you want,” Shego teased him before hitting him with her best punch. He collapsed instantly.
There were still two guards, but Shego noticed that Wally was now trying to make a getaway. She acted quickly and dashed toward him. She grabbed him by the back of the neck while the guards were dumbstruck that she could move so rapidly. Shego had Wally in her grips while his guards were still over six feet away from them. She put her nails to Wally’s throat and the protectors stopped before they had even started.
“What are you two doing? Come save me,” Wally ordered them.
“They’re not going to move, oji-sama,” Shego commented smugly. The guards had observed what her bare hands could do and they had just seen how fast she was. They knew that she could decapitate Wally before they even got a foot closer.
“It’s you, isn’t it? The ronin,” Wally said, which did not make any sense to him. The way the ronin had been acting when he met the vagabond, he had been certain that the ronin was a man and Kim’s lover.
“It might be.”
“You’re a fool for coming here,” the prince proclaimed arrogantly.
“So says the fool who is at my mercy,” Shego remarked and she pressed her nails into his neck, cutting into his flesh slightly for him to understand just who was in charge. Tiny drips of blood oozed from his pierced skin.
“What do you want? Money? I can give you plenty,” Wally stated, obviously all too aware of his precarious situation.
“I’ll bet you could, but I don’t want money. I might not look it, but I’ve got more than I know what to do with. I’ve noticed that you’re very fond of my kitsune,” Shego replied.
“You’re kitsune?” he echoed in a tremble of a voice. He wondered how it was possible for her to have such claws. Was she a demon of some kind?
“Kim. She’s my little fox. I don’t like that you’re trying to take her from me. So, I tell you what, you forget that you ever met her and I’ll make sure we never see each other again,” the green-skinned female informed him.
“What?” Wally asked as if he was outraged by that very sweet deal in Shego’s opinion. After all, she could always just tear his windpipe out of his neck and move on with her life.
“Look, I don’t need you acting like an idiot. I’ve got a fucking headache and discovered I’ve got a really short temper, shorter than usual, when it comes to people trying to pick up my kitsune. Now, you forget about her or this is going to get fucking messy,” Shego growled as she dug her claws into his neck a little bit more.
Wally whimpered a bit and in that moment, his guards spring into action. They began throwing shuriken at Shego. She threw Wally to the ground and ignited her hands. She was able to deflect the weapons with the plasma protecting her hands. She then threw her own projectiles.
“These work better,” Shego remarked as she let the plasma spheres fly and they connected with the guards. Both men fell back and Shego turned her attention back to Wally, who was quivering on the ground.
“What are you?” Wally inquired through chattering teeth.
“Never mind that. Are you going to forget about my princess or am I going to have to make you forget?” she asked with a snarl, her hands still blazing grass green.
Wally whimpered instead of responding and then she noticed a big wet spot in front of his hakama. She frowned in disgust; to think that such a cowering worm could even try to have her girl. What would he do with Kim? What made him think that he was worthy of her?
“I’m going to take the piss stain as my answer. Don’t think about Kim anymore. She’s not some whore that you can just pick up or buy or something like that, dickhead,” Shego stated firmly and she left. Wally breathed a sigh of relief.
Kim dropped the last of Motor Ed’s men, sending the blonde into a fury. She hated that it had taken so long, but she had to make sure that the least amount of damage happened to the town or the people there. The blonde leader snarled and turned to his vehicle, which was being watched by his short sidekick. He grabbed the small fellow and flung him out of his invention. Motor Ed then aimed his vehicle at Kim, who was a few yards away.
“How about a game of chicken, Aka-chan, seriously!” Motor Ed practically sang. She had already taken his other vehicles by having his men crash into various large items.
“I don’t think this is a very fair game, seriously,” Kim mocked him as she put her hand on the hilt of her katana. She had not really had to use the blade, just out maneuvering her opponents and attacking them with her fists or feet when it was necessary.
“It’s designed for me to win,” he declared with a maniacal laugh.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Motor Ed’s creation powered forward and Kim did the same. The blonde male began to laugh more as they drew closer and closer. The samurai pulled her sword in the blink of an eye and metal met metal.
The laughter stopped along with the vehicle. Kim was standing behind it, sheathing her weapon. Motor Ed’s expression was incredulous and then his vehicle broke down, split completely in half. He hit the ground, landing on his rump.
“I told you the game wasn’t very fair,” Kim commented rather haughtily as she turned to look at Motor Ed.
“You cut through my whole ride, seriously,” he muttered in disbelief.
“You’ll be next if you ever think about taking Shego from me. She’s not some prize you can claim, not some toy you can steal. So, leave her alone because if you thought this sword went through your tinker toy with ease, just imagine what it’s like going through human flesh,” Kim stated in an almost menacing tone.
Motor Ed did not respond. He just passed out. He could not take the fact that she had sliced through his invention with such ease. She had gone through his baby pretty much and it was just too much for him.
“You got a pretty good sword there,” Shego said as she walked up to Kim, coming from the wrong direction in Kim’s opinion because she was coming from behind the samurai. The green-skinned woman was glad to see that she had not made a mistake in leaving Kim on her own. She was a fantastic little samurai, Shego silently noted.
“It was made by the best swordsmith in the land,” the redhead replied. Her swords had actually been gifts from her grandmother when she became an adult; it was weird for a woman that swore she needed to act more like a noblewoman to offer her the very weapons that made her a samurai.
“You know, you sounded almost sinister threatening his life like that. I almost believed you would do it,” the pale woman said with a teasing smile on her face.
“Maybe I would,” Kim argued as she walked over to meet Shego and they started walking the direction that Shego seemed to be coming from.
“I doubt it. You’re too good. You don’t even draw your sword until the last minute. Let’s get some breakfast and then get out of here,” Shego suggested. She had noted that in that game of chicken, the redhead had not pulled her sword until the last possible moment.
Kim nodded in agreement with that. The duo had their meal, got some food to go just in case they had to spend a day or two in the woods, and they made their way out of town back onto the road. They quickly found a side path to take, with the hope of avoiding any other inspection posts. Shego put her arm around Kim and they strolled on.
They walked on at a leisure pace as they had done through out their whole journey. They knew that they were delaying the inevitable, but they did not care. They just wanted some time alone and some time together. There was no tomorrow, they kept telling themselves. There was only today. Today was all that mattered.
They ended up camping out in the woods, which bothered Shego slightly. Kim was used to better things, but she was not so opposed to sleeping on the ground that she would complain. Shego seemed to like to complain just for the hell of it and she was grumpy about sleeping on ground until Kim curled up next to her, snuggling into her chest. Okay, maybe it was not so bad, she silently conceded.
(New day)
Kim and Shego could see a village in the distance of the path that they were on. They wondered if it would be a good place for them to get some food. They had finished off their reserves for breakfast and they would not mind having lunch if it was possible.
As they got closer to the village, they saw people working in the fields, which they expected. What they did not expect was the few large, fully armored and armed huge samurai. They looked around at the odd sight.
“Wow, maybe if Senior-sama had a few hundred men that size, he probably wouldn’t have even needed Drakken,” Shego commented.
“I doubt there are a hundred men that size,” Kim remarked.
Shego was about to say something, but both of their attentions were turned to a horrible sight. They watched one of the samurai push an obviously pregnant woman down and he seemed to be about to draw his sword on her. Shego knew what was going to happen before it even happened.
“Let it go, Princess,” Shego said. “It’s none of your business,” she pointed out.
Kim did not listen. She sprang into action. She dashed forward with her hand on her sword hilt and she pulled the weapon. She used her blade to block the weapon of the other samurai as he was about to bring his sword down on the pregnant woman. Kim grunted as the force came down on her and actually pushed her deep into the mud. She strained to take control of the situation and pushed the samurai back. Kim then got into guarded stance, standing in front of the woman to protect her.
The gigantic samurai snarled and he moved forward to attack Kim. Shego came out nowhere, leading in devastating punch. The samurai made a strange noise as the blow landed and fell to the dirt. His helmet rolled off of his head.
“Damn it, Princess. Why do you have to go helping people and crap?” Shego complained.
“Are you all right?” Kim inquired, speaking to the fallen woman. She also leaned down and offered a hand to help the woman up.
“Yes, thank you. You shouldn’t have interfered, though. It will only put you in danger,” the woman informed Kim, who smiled.
“Don’t worry, danger is something I’m very familiar with,” the redhead remarked, still smiling in a very friendly manner.
Shego rolled her eyes and decided to go check on the unconscious samurai. She nearly fell back when she saw his face. She did not even know what she was looking at.
“Um…Princess, I don’t think this is something you’re familiar with,” Shego commented.
“What do you mean? You seen one jerk, you’ve seen them all,” Kim replied as she walked over to look for herself. She almost jumped when she saw the guy. “What the hell is that?” the redhead inquired.
“Told you you’re not familiar with it,” Shego remarked.
1: Midori: green.
Next time: so, what does the samurai look like? And watch as Kim and Shego help out some more villagers in distress.