“Come on.” Shego smirked. Kim's staff whirled forward with deadly precision, but Shego blocked it carefully, knocking Kim's staff aside and retaliated by stabbing forward with her staff. Kim barely managed to knock the deadly attack aside and stepped back cautiously. Almost all of her fingers and parts of her hands and wrists were bandaged with strips of cloth, having felt the ‘love taps’ Shego gave her. Not to say Shego wasn't without injuries. Kim had gotten a lot of good hits in all over the villainess’ body. Kim breathed heavily, blinking snowflakes out of their eyes. Their battlegrounds was in front of the snow-covered courtyard outside of the walled dwellings of Xaio Qing's household. The snow muted all sound with their soft heaviness; the only thing heard was the sounds the combatants made. Whether it was the crunch of snow underneath their boots, their breathing or their fighting.
“Good.” Shego complimented. Kim was forced back as Shego advanced forward, each blow making the redhead take a step back and sending waves of pain shooting up her arms.
“Cheap shots!” Kim grunted, nearly dropping her staff as Shego tapped her left pinkie. Kim was surprised her hands and all her fingers weren't broken.
Shego grinned. “In a real life situation, do you think your enemy would actually NOT use cheap moves?”
Kim suddenly found an opening in Shego's attack and lunged forward, pulling her hit a bit so it wouldn't hurt Shego as much. Kim felt satisfaction when Shego winced as her staff made contact with Shego's shoulder but immediately felt worried when Shego crumbled down on one knee.
“Are you alright?” Kim lowered her guard for just a second, and quickly, Shego swept Kim's feet from under her and was on top of Kim before she could get up. Snow feel gently around them and clumps of it stuck in Shego's hair, wild from the fight. Kim growled and try to throw Shego off, but the other woman pressed down with her body's weight, grinning.
“If this was real life,” Shego held Kim's wrists down, her face was so close to Kim their noses were touching. “You'd be dead.” Closing the distance for a kiss, Kim lay there submissively. That submissive compliance was just an act though, as Kim suddenly bucked upwards once again managing to unbalance Shego. In this struggle to be on top, Kim's eyes were still closed and she was still kissing Shego as she held the green-eyed villainess’ shoulder down.
“If this was real,” Kim finally came up for air from the kiss. “I wouldn't be letting you win.”
“Letting me?” Shego raised an eyebrow at the short-haired woman. “Please. Look at your hands.” Shego freed herself to grasp Kim's left hand. The redhead gasped in pain at the touch, and Shego smiled wryly, kissing the bandaged appendage softly. “Did I hurt you?”
“About as much as I hurt you.” Kim kissed Shego's bruised cheek, an injury that Kim had dealt the brunette early in the exercise. That hit to the shoulder Kim gave before should be welting up to a nice bruise at this point. And Kim was certain Shego would be limping from the taps to her shins Kim had given the dark-haired woman in retaliation for the annoyance of bruised fingers.
“Ohhhh…” Shego moaned dramatically and her face scrunched up in mock-pain.
“Shego, Shego are you alright?” Kim played along, trying to keep a serious look on her face but failing miserably as she burst into light giggles.
“Oh, so my fast approaching death is funny?” Shego glared at Kim.
“Oh, sorry.” Kim forced a serious expression on her face again. “Shego are you alright?”
“Kimmie, Kimmie, I-I can see the… light…” Shego swooned.
“The light?” Kim scrunched up her nose cutely. “As if! You should be really be feeling the heat if you were dying--Ow.” Kim rubbed her head and glared at Shego, who continued groaning after a quick break to smack Kim upside the head.
“Quick, Kimmie!” Shego continued her swooning. “Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!”
Kimmie smirked. “Oh, of course! Right away!”
Even though it was cold as hell, they lay in the snow, kissing slowly. Kissing was an art that required constant practise. And both found it an enjoyable endeavor to perfect this HIGHLY difficult art.
“Highly difficult?” Kim had asked one time in bed while she kissed that spot behind Shego's ear that she knew would send the pale-skinned woman squirming and sighing.
“Well,” Shego pushed Kim back gently. “Not THAT difficult. Because I--” Shego broke off to nip at Kim's neck lightly, eliciting a crying gasp from Kim. “--must be doing SOMETHING right if I can make you make sounds like that so easily…”
Their kissing deepened and their breath quickened. The cold was quickly forgotten, but remembered again as Shego pushed up Kim's coat and slipped her cold hands underneath Kim's shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think I'm doing?” Shego replied huskily. She pushed Kim backwards slowly, until their positions had changed once again. Shego on top, Kim on the bottom. The feel of snow against her lower back made the redhead squeal and arch up, presenting her bare stomach perfectly for Shego to rain wet kisses on. Kim tangled her fingers in Shego's hair, trying to hold in any sound she was making. But of course, she was helpless to Shego's onslaught.
Kim sneezed for the thousandth time as they made their way down the mountain.
“Caught a cold?” Shego asked innocently. Kim shot her girlfriend a dirty look but couldn't keep it up for long.
‘Girlfriend,’ Kim smiled to herself. It was… nice. To be able to say it to herself, ‘Shego's my girlfriend.’
Kim sneezed again. Shego stopped and sighed almost impatiently.
“I *told* you you should've worn a coat.” Shego approached, quickly zipping Kim's jacket all the way up. “Why didn't you listen?”
“Hey, I got this cold NOT because I didn't wear enough. Its because SOMEONE,” Shego forced herself to appear clueless, “decided that sex in the snow was such a smart idea.”
“Hey, I wasn't the one who took off all her clothes,” Shego pointed out.
“YOU took off my clothes!”
“Well, wasn't it fun?” Shego asked sweetly. The brunette took her scarf off and wrapped it around Kim's neck. When she was finished, she pecked a kiss on Kim's nose and grinned lopsidedly at Kim. “Anyways, I didn't hear you complain much when we were doing it.”
“That's because--” Kim blushed, remembering exactly what she was doing with her mouth at that time.
“Yeah, that's right.” Shego took Kim's hands, rubbing them vigorously between her own and breathing hot moist air on them. “Your hands are freezing.”
“I forgot my gloves.”
“Put this hand,” Shego grabbed Kim's left hand and tucked it into Kim's pocket. “Here. And your other hand,” Shego linked arms with Kim, took her right hand and tucked it into the pocket of her own coat. “You put in my pocket.”
One thing Kim learned about Shego was that the brunette could be unbelievably sweet when she wanted to. They walked down the steps of Er Mei in silence, relishing each other's company. Because when they went to She Cun, they would have to seperate. Shego had made it clear to Kim that no-one was to know about their relationship.
“I'm not ashamed.” Shego had assured Kim. “I'm not afraid if people find out. Its just… well, I'll be in trouble if they found out I'm being unprofessional.”
“Unprofessional?”
“They would be afraid that with you around, I'd be distracted from my duty to Xaio Qing.”
“Duty?” Kim remembered vaguely the conversation she had with Cheung when she had first arrived at She Cun… vaguely… her brow furrowed as Nam Ho's words came to her mind again. And it was as if recalling the monk wiped some of that fog away from her mind again. Duty. That word was important. Xaio Qing was dangerous. What was going on?
“Keeping house. Just, you have to do this for me, okay?”
Kim hadn't been able to resist Shego's request. Even if she thought it would have been great to be able to tell someone.
‘Hi, I'm Kim. Oh, and this is my girlfriend, Shego.’
Her daydreams were rudely interrupted when Shego withdrew Kim's hand from her pocket and started walking a few steps in front of Kim.
“Shego--” Kim was about to ask why she had withdrawn, but someone calling Shego's name reached her ears.
“Shego!” Cheung was at the bottom of the steps, bundled up against the cold. The two walked towards each other, and what had started out as a handshake had turned into a tight embrace. When they finally let go, Kim could see tears of happiness squeezing out of the corners of Cheung's eyes. “Good to see you, Shego. Its been a long while.”
“Not that long, right?” Shego smirked, but looked equally happy to see Cheung. She turned to Kim and motioned her forward. “You remember Kim Possible?”
“Hey, Cheung.” Kim held out her hand. Cheung grabbed it and pulled the surprised Kim into a hug. She got over her astonishment and hugged him in return, feeling grateful for his friendship. Since the beginning, Cheung had been nothing but accomodating and supportive of her. Kim had missed Cheung, and though she loved holing up with Shego, she was really glad to see other people.
“Come on, lets go back home. Everybody's waiting to see the both of you!” Cheung grabbed the protesting Kim's bags, hefting them on to his shoulders. “Especially Ting Ting… and ah Fong.”
Kim was sure, when Cheung had said Fong's name, the tone of Cheung's voice had changed. Kim tilted her head, catching Cheung's eye. He glanced at her and quickly looked away. Yes. Something was afoot. Cheung was definitely hiding something. And Shego was completely oblivious, of course.
“It'll be nice to see them again.” Shego's teeth showed white in the sun. Kim tried to catch Shego's eyes, but the brunette was engrossed in her conversation with Cheung. Kim immediately noted the distance Shego put in between them, and even though Shego had warned her ahead of time, it still hurt a little. When they got to the SUV, Shego rode shotgun, and Kim sat in the back. The ride back was uneventful, and like the last few times they had gone back to She Cun, the village was out to greet them. Everybody was there, it seemed, except for Fong. Which Shego noticed immediately.
“Where's Michelle?” Shego, who was carrying Ting Ting, asked the little girl.
“At home with the baby!” Ting Ting replied.
Shego perked up at that. “Baby?”
Cheung, who had remained quiet reached out to put a steadying hand on Shego's forearm. “Baby, Shego.” Suddenly, Shego looked short of breath, and she stared at Cheung as if he had just grown a horn. Her look of bewilderment prompted Cheung to answer her unspoken question. Cheung sighed, readily supplying it to her. “Mine and Fong's baby. Our son. You're just in time for his first month--”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?” Shego demanded, eyes flashing angrily. She handed Ting Ting over to Cheung. “Is she at home?”
“She is but…” Cheung sighed as Shego ran off before he could finish what he was going to say. “…she needs rest.”
“Hey, congratulations.” Kim said brightly. The redhead felt almost deliriously gleeful. When Shego had mentioned Fong, she hadn't realized she was feeling jealous until Shego had run off. The brunette was obviously distressed, and Kim felt guilty for being so happy… but she couldn't help it.
“She didn't want to talk to Shego or see her alone.” Cheung tsked. “Now Fong's gonna give me hell.”
“Fong!” The doors clattered open as Shego jumped over the high threshold of the house.
The bellow brought Fong racing from her bedroom out to Shego. Storming over to Shego, she jabbed a finger into Shego's chest, punctuating each word with a vicious poke. “Shut up! You wake him up and I'll kill you!” Furiously, she motioned for Shego to be quiet and follow her back to the bedroom. In the center of the bed, with pillows stacked up around the baby, just incase he rolled around; Fong's son slept peacefully. He stirred restlessly once, but didn't wake up as Shego regarded the child with a mixture of pain and hurt.
“What do you want?” Fong crossed her arms self-consciously as Shego's green eyes pierced her.
“When did this happen?” Shego sat down next to the baby, studying his features. Torturing herself by comparing his features to that of Cheung's and Fong's.
“He's a month old, do the math.” Fong replied sarcastically, knowing she was hurting Shego. Knowing but not caring. She was just so angry! How dare Shego barge in like this! “Do you want to know details? When was he conceived? Where? What we did? Did I like it? Was he better than you?”
Each word had the desired effect, Fong could see Shego visibly trying to get a grip on her emotions. Seeing the hurt on Shego's face made Fong almost… she couldn't stay angry at the woman who was looking between her and the newborn helplessly.
“I loved you, Shego.” Michelle sat opposite Shego and took the brunette's hands in her own. “You know that.”
“Loved?” Shego asked hoarsely.
And against her better judgement, Fong corrected herself. “Still. I still do to some degree. But I was under the impression that I shouldn't wait around, Shego. And I didn't. Would you blame me?”
They fell silent.
“I,” Fong licked her lips. “We really, REALLY shouldn't see each other like this anymore. We shouldn't be talking like this. Shouldn't--”
“--be doing a lot of things.” Shego looked down at their twined hands helplessly. She did love Fong. Just… differently now. But she was so used to having Fong all to herself. To selfishly know that she was the first, the last, the only. She felt guilty for wanting this, for needing this. For selfishly wanting to have what they did. But just… not anymore. Shego looked at the baby and cracked a smile. “I'm glad you've moved on.”
“Cheung's good to me.” Fong said softly and Shego smiled at her ex. “So… in a way I have something. I have someone who loves me more than I love him. You, Shego, love yourself more than anything else,” Fong squeezed Shego's hands to stop the green-eyed woman from protesting. “Don't lie. You know that I know its the truth.”
Shego closed her mouth obediently and swallowed her protest. She brought Fong's hands to her lips and kissed them. They both jumped away from each other and looked up when they heard the door creak open. On being discovered, Kim gave the two women a wavering smile.
“Hey, Fong. Congratulations on the baby.” Kim steadfastly refused to meet Shego's eyes.
“Thank you, Kim.” Fong tilted her head to one side, looking at Kim thoughtfully. “I really like your haircut.”
“Thanks. Shego cut it for me.” Kim patted her hair self-consciously. “Well, I'll leave you two alone.”
“Kimmie, wait--” Shego cursed under her breath as Kim left. Fong watched the proceedings, then gave Shego a strained smile.
“Seems to me like you've been kind of hypocritical, Shego. What's up with you and Kim?”
Shego flushed red, and cursed herself in her mind when she heard herself stammering. “N-Nothing! N-n-nothing's going on!”
“Right,” Fong pushed Shego playfully. “Try pulling the other. Go after her before she gets too mad at you.”
Shego got up immediately, but sat back down just as quickly. “This isn't what you think!”
“Maybe its you, maybe its her, maybe its the both of you,” Fong shrugged. “Doesn't concern me.”
“We'll talk about this later,” Shego promised as she made for the door. Before she exited, she ran back to Fong, hands placed on the bed on either side of the woman. “Nothing is happening between us!”
“Right.” Fong kept up a smile until Shego left that quickly turned into a pained grimace. Shego would always be a sore point in her life. The first person she had ever really loved so completely.
Shego had ran out of the house in search of Kim, who was already long gone and lost in the maze of passageways that was She Cun. But she would be able to find her wherever she was, now that Xaio Qing had gifted her… she turned slowly, facing each of the directions Kim might've headed off to. One had Kim's signature slowly drifting through it, and Shego could sense it, wafting towards her on the air currents. Heading off in that direction, it wasn't too long before she spotted the redhead, wandering through the village.
“Hey,” Shego called out in English. Kim looked over her shoulder back at Shego, not stopping in her quest to get away from Shego. “Kimmie, hear me out--”
“I *knew* you still liked her.” Kim said in English, as if to herself. “I knew it.”
“We didn't do anything,” Shego tried again, quickening her steps to keep up with Kim, still carrying on their conversation in English so none of the villagers would understand. “I just went to talk to her.”
“I saw you kiss her hand, don't even try to deny that.” Kim spun around, throwing that accusation at Shego.
‘She's jealous,’ Shego felt slightly miffed at that, but hugely flattered at Kim's misconception about Fong and herself.
“I kissed her hand, yes. But she's my friend. It was just… you know, issues from the past that will resurface now and again. She's a close friend, always will be. Nothing more. Ever.” Shego ran in front of Kim and blocked her way, grinning. “You're jealous.”
“Yeah?” Kim sniffed. “So?”
“That's cute.” Shego smirked. “I swear, there's nothing between Fong and I now. I like you.”
Kim's resolve to stay angry was fast melting in proportion to her urge to grin like an idiot. Steadying herself, Kim tried to ask Shego nonchalently, “Really?”
“Really.” Shego chuckled. “Really, really.”
Kim just couldn't help a small smile blossoming on her face. “You suck.”
“So much.” Shego agreed readily. “Let me make it up to you tonight.”
Kim also couldn't help the blush that coloured her cheeks. But she managed to cross her arms and pull a scowl onto her face. “Oh, but I thought we're supposed to keep everything on the down low.”
“We'll be in my house. We'll have privacy.”
“Oh, but what if someone finds out? You're totally sleeping alone tonight.” Kim switched back to Chinese, the language feeling much more familiar to her than English now. “Don't think I can't stay mad at you Shego. Don't test me.”
Shego gaped as Kim brushed past her, then scowled at the faces that peeked out of their hiding places to watch her wide-eyed. The children. The machinations of She Cun's rumour mill. “Get out of here you little monsters! This is private! Private!”
The children ran away laughing hysterically at what they had heard. Sure, they had missed everything that was spoken in English. But they had totally understood what had been said in Chinese!
By night-time, everyone had heard how Kim had told off Shego and how they were fighting and still not getting along. All this was okay by Shego, who'd rather people think that they weren't getting along then that they were getting along too well. But the fact that there was a little bit of truth in the rumours and Kim *was* ignoring her was making her anxious.
“Oh, she's mad at you,” Lo po-po teased Shego. Shego glared at the old woman. Kim engaged herself in animated conversation with whoever addressed her. But when Shego tried to talk to her, Kim was monosyllabic.
“What the hell…” Shego muttered under her breath.
Fong watched the proceedings with amusement and a little bit of confusion. Maybe she had read the situation wrong…? But she was sure Shego definitely had feelings for Kim. The dark-haired villainess was way too agitated not to be emotionally invested in the pretty redhead.
Fong sat with her young son, splitting the attention between Shego, Kim and Cheung. From her seat at the feast, she could see Cheung, head tilted, asking her silently if she was alright. He knew the effect Shego had on her, and she returned a genuine warm smile to him.
‘I'm alright,’ Fong mouthed the words. Cheung had been nothing but kind, considerate, loving and understanding. She was happy with him. Cheung grinned then turned back to accept the well-wishes of people on the one-month mark of the life of his son. Fong turned her attention to look at Shego, who was currently accepting a toast from some young men, tossing it back easily. Fong could easily see the covert glances Shego kept throwing at a certain redhead.
The young Chinese woman sighed as jealousy gnawed at her insides. Shego was not someone one could easily forget. A cry drew her attention to the babe in her arms, and the frown that she didn't know that had marred her brow smoothed out as she delighted in the tiny yawn her son was endulging in.
“Hello,” Fong grinned down at those big brown eyes that regarded her curiously and cooed at her child.
Shego paced her room, looking at the plain white wall that seperated her room from Kim's. Kim had made good on her promise and refused to let Shego come anywhere near her. Which infuriated her to no end. The neighbors must have heard their fighting. Shego was furious. Kim seemed to be enjoying making a fool out of her!
‘Who does she think she is?!’ Shego railed in her mind as she paced the length of her room. ‘How can she bar me from a room in my own house?!’
Shego paused to press her hand against the seperating wall and hissed in frustration.
The redhead that was the source of all of Shego's problems lay in bed, tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in while listening smugly to Shego's irritated movements. Kim had gotten so used to her bed at Er Mei that it felt impossible to sleep anywhere else! The mattress here was hard and lumpy and the room was foreign to her. And it was so cold… the braziers in her room would be kept burning in Er Mei, but not here. Here, she had to content herself with heavy blankets.
‘Maybe I should've taken up Shego's offer,’ Kim thought miserably, noting that Shego provided a lot of the warmth at night, pressed up against her and holding her close in a relaxed embrace. The heroine meant to teach the fiery woman a lesson, but unfortuantely, Kim was suffering for her stubborness.
‘Dumb, dumb, dumb…’ Just as Kim was about to throw in the towel and run over to Shego's room, the sound of her door opening made her pause and quickly feign sleep. The soft sound of breathing tipped her off that there was someone in her room… Kim held her breath as the door clicked shut. There was quiet for a while. Then Kim almost jumped as a voice croaked out her name softly.
“Kim?” Shego asked. She watched the redhead sleeping, breathing even. The redhead looked as if being apart from her was nothing to her, while Shego had stayed awake, cold and entrenched in that feeling of… lacking when she tried to sleep. Shego tried again. “Kim.”
Kim rolled over, ignoring the green-eyed villainess, feeling outraged.
‘That spoiled brat!’ Kim thought in disbelief. ‘She's actually trying to wake me up even though she thinks I'm sleeping!’
The annoyance faded when she was suddenly chilled as the blankets were lifted. Kim curled in on herself and let out an involuntary shiver at the cold, but quickly warmed when Shego's body pressed into her back and arms pulled her as close as possible.
“Shego?” Kim faked a sleepy voice. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping.” Shego grunted noncommittally. Burrowing into the blankets, Shego dropped a kiss on the back of Kim's neck, her voice softening. “Go back to sleep.”
“Shego,” Kim turned to face Shego and hugged Shego close, feeling those black lips touching her forehead, her earlobe, her lips. Dropping tiny affections all over Kim's face until she felt as warm as if a hundred braziers were burning in the sparse room.
“Go to sleep, Kimmie. I got you.” Shego's voice was wispy, as if on the cusp of sleep.
“Mmm…” Kim made a sound of contentment and sighed. Hands snaked up the back of Shego's pajama top, the feel of smooth skin underneath Kim's hand was soothing and oh so good. Breathing in Shego's scent, Kim sighed once more before sleep claimed her as quickly as it had claimed Shego.
Outside the house, a dog snuffled at the door excitedly. Biting back his urge to make some sound to express his happiness, he scratched at the door experimentally, wondering if they would let him in. But there were no sounds of movement within the house. He knew what to do, though. He had been trained spectacularly well. He had just come back from his master, but this was important. His master would PRAISE him for leading him to what he seeked! And maybe, just maybe, he'd get a milkbone for this!
At that thought, Tigger wagged his tail furiously and his trotting pace broke into a run.
Okay, as most of you might've suspected… yes, I was totally lazy this chapter and didn't want to think too much. So meaningless fluff is great. :D Dun worry guys, this'll all be over soon.