Shego stared at her bandaged wrist and wondered what it was she had gotten herself into. That Trin was a hell cat if never there was one, but she enjoyed being around her, for a reason that was beyond her. It was almost like being around Kim without all of the self-righteous rigmarole and all of the “goody-goodiness.” The fighting was a bit more intense too since Trin did not seem to know the difference between sparring and regular fighting. So, it was good to be around Trin and she accepted it as that, knowing that she might have to put up with a little pain to go with her pleasure.
Damn Trin and her quirks, she silently cursed. Shego had plans to work past them because a woman like Trin did not need to live her life frightened or disgusted with being touched, especially by her. She knew that the blonde liked the attention, but she had to get the nineteen-year-old to stop resisting out of habit as she knew the college student was doing. She knew that she had a job ahead of her, but she was going to work through it.
Tatsu stared at the ceiling while lying in her bed, which was little more than a cot. She did not need or want much in regards to comfort or luxury, which was evident from the fact that she lived in a shack behind her garage. She could not sleep, which was nothing new. She tended to stay awake most nights, unable to sleep for various reasons. She supposed that it was a good thing that she made her own hours for work or she would have been fired from her job a long time ago due to her sleeping habits. The thing keeping her awake now was the fact that she had agreed to date Kim.
She was not sure why she had done that. She did not regret the decision, only the fact that she made it while she was in a relationship with Shin. It was just that she felt like she was more in a relationship with Kim than with Shin. She guessed that if that was the case, she should tell Kim about Shin, but she was pretty sure that news like that would not be taken well. She liked having Kim around, so she did not want to do anything that might keep Kim from coming to visit her or not want to do things with her.
“Stupid,” Tatsu berated herself. She knew that she had already screwed things up. Nothing ever went her way for long, she reminded herself. That was just life. Her life.
Kim tossed and turned in her bed, trying to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. She was a bit troubled about her decision to date Tatsu. She liked Tatsu very much, but she wondered if she was just using Tatsu to discover her sexual preferences. If that was the case, would that be right? How else would she know what she was, though if she did not experiment?
She was happy that Tatsu agreed to date her, but she was already starting to consider that she did not feel that way about Tatsu. Maybe that was why she was feeling guilty. She liked Tatsu, but maybe she liked her as a friend and nothing more. Or maybe she was just nervous that she might actually be…that way. What would people think? What would her parents think? What would her big sister think? Questions like that built anxiety in her.
Trin was brushing her teeth for the third time. She had gotten a visit from Shego again that night, which involved a lot of struggling on her end while making out. It was not the first time and she doubted that it would be the last time. She hated to think that Shego was winning the battle. After all, the first time it had happened, she had almost broken Shego’s wrist to get her to stop and she had brushed her teeth almost a dozen times that night. Now, she was down to three and she doubted that Shego’s wrist was even bruised from that session.
Worst yet, Trin was starting to believe that she was only brushing her teeth to out of force of habit. That would mean that she was actually getting pleasure from Shego’s assaults on her. It was an odd thing for some reason that was beyond her, but getting pleasure from Shego seemed just as outrageous as her getting pleasure from, say, Shin. She could not figure out why that was.
Shin was hanging off of his bed sideways, his ebony hair almost touching his carpeted floor. He had called Tatsu earlier and she had not even bothered to answer the phone. It was a first. Even if she did not want to talk, she would acknowledge his call by answering and just inform him that she was working or something like that. He wondered why she would not answer.
He considered that she might be upset with him. He was not the best boyfriend that she could ask for. He did not do special things for her, take her out, or even buy her nice things unless his evil twin told him that he needed to get off of his lazy ass and do something for her. But, even though he never did things like that and Tatsu still answered his calls. He could not figure it out; something was probably wrong.
(New day)
Kim stood to face Shego as Ron ran off to figure out away to stop Drakken’s latest doom’s day device, or doom’s day disaster as Ron was starting to look at the machines. The redhead stared at Shego, who stared back. And then the hero spied something weird; Shego’s hand was wrapped in a bandage. Who in the world was strong enough to injure Shego? No, that had to be an accident or something like that.
“Shego, what happened to your hand?” Kim asked curiously because she really wanted to know how the villainess had gotten hurt. She just needed to be sure that it was an accident or something.
The pale woman laughed a bit. She hated to think what Trin might do to her if she told Kim, “nothing, your freaky anti-touch sister just didn’t like where I was putting my hand.” Once Trin heard about that, they were both going to need a lot of bandages, Shego figured. She was not in the mood to go through that.
“Something that was worth it,” the thief opted to respond with devilish and amused smirk.
“Like what?” the redhead inquired because she really wanted to know.
Shego decided to stop the question-and-answer session by going at Kim. She was not looking to share how she enjoyed her time off. Besides, she doubted that Kim really wanted to know, even if the teen thought that she did.
The pair got into their usual tussle. While moving with Kim, Shego noted the differences between the hero and her older sister. Trin was much more deliberate in her movements and devilishly calculating. Kim was smoother when she moved and much more defensive than her sister could ever imagine being; she was almost like water while Trin was a well wielded blade. Kim was not looking to hurt someone too much when she fought while Trin was looking to make her opponent think really hard on coming at her a second time. Shego found herself thinking that she preferred Kim’s style to her sister’s; there was something about the fluid motion that got to her.
Kim noticed a change in Shego too, beyond the bandaged hand. The green-skinned woman’s seemed even more aware of her movements than usual. Now, she understood that they had been fighting for a while now, but it seemed too much for the infrequency with which they saw each other. Shego was fighting her now almost as if they battled each other every day; the truth of the matter would be that Shego fought with Trin almost every day.
They went at each other for a few minutes until they heard Ron and Drakken yelling, which was followed by an explosion. They stopped as more explosions followed at an alarming rate. Ron came running toward them.
“K. P, let’s get out here! Drakken’s thingy is blowing itself up!” Ron explained in his usual excited tone while running off. He had not even touched anything for once. The machine just suddenly started going off on its own. Something had to be wrong with Drakken, the blonde concluded because of the faulty work.
Shego sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. Leave to Drakken’s incompetence to spoil her fun. She had been enjoying working up a sweat with the redhead. Now, she had to go make sure Drakken got out of the place all right and she had to make sure that she got out all right. She would have kept an eye on Team Possible too, but she knew that they would be able to take care of themselves, or so she hoped. She doubted that Trin would want to ever see her again if Kimmie died while fighting against her.
“Later, Princess,” Shego sneered as she ran off to find Drakken and give Kim the chance to run off with Ron.
“That seemed a little weird,” Ron commented while watching Shego bolt off with an arched eyebrow. Usually, she would have stuck around to try to get them trapped in the lair or she would have had one last trick up her sleeve. She never just ran off.
“Yeah,” Kim agreed. The two heroes dashed off as another explosion sounded through the lair. Kim did glance back; she was not sure why.
(New day)
“Shin, don’t you think you should go see your girlfriend since we have today off?” Trin suggested. She had plans once she got him out of the apartment to hopefully curl up on the sofa and get some reading in before Shego showed up; the pale woman had called and said that she was coming over. It was up to Trin to get Shin out of the house or explain to him that she was going to have company. She was going with the easier one.
“You think?” Shin asked as he was about to sit down in an armchair and started playing some video games on the living room television instead of using the set in his room.
“When was the last time you saw her?” the blonde inquired. If she had such an indifferent girlfriend…no, she would not care, actually. She would just let the girl continue being indifferent until she figured out that it was time to call it quits. Maybe Shin’s girlfriend was the same, she thought.
“Hmm…” Shin contemplated that question for more seconds than most mates should.
“Yeah, when you have to think like that, it’s time to go see your girl,” Trin pointed out quite seriously. “Without killing the car,” she added because he had to be told things like that or she would have to put up with stories later on that started with “you won’t believe what happened…”
Shin sighed and put his game controller down. He went to go put on some clothes that would not get him stopped at the door by his evil twin and then he was on his way. He did not bother with calling Tatsu since she seemed to be flipping a coin on if she was going to answer or not. If she did not want to be bothered with him when he showed up, he could always go see his parents and Trin’s parents. He could also check up on Trin’s younger redheaded clone, so it would not be a wasted trip.
Trin was glad that Shin left. She wanted Shego to show up, even though she planned to struggle with the pale woman as always. She guessed that she liked the company, but then again, she liked Shin’s company too. Hell, she even liked Shin’s kisses; they had made out once in junior high in a failed attempt to have sex with each other. The thought of having sex with Shin was close to vomit inducing, but then again, the idea of sex point blank turned her stomach and that did not change if she considered sex with Shego.
The blonde decided not think about that. She grabbed the book that she wanted to read and got to that, knowing that it would be impossible to do such a thing when the villainess arrived. She made it through a good deal of the piece of literature before she heard a very small noise. She turned around from her seat on the sofa, facing her room.
“You should be in your room,” Shego commented almost as if she was scolding the blonde while stalking toward the couch.
“I’ll be wherever I choose,” Trin replied nonchalantly and then she noticed a mark on Shego’s face. “What happened to your lip?” she asked, almost sounding curious, but she caught herself and sounded as she usually did.
“What? Oh, this?” Shego then licked the bruise as the corner of her mouth. “Your damn sister kicked the hell out of me,” she explained as if it was nothing.
“That’s my Mini-me,” Trin remarked proudly, nodding to further express pride in her little sister.
“Yeah, she got me good,” Shego muttered in agreement. She had not thought that the little hero had it in her to whack her a good one, but it would seem she was wrong. She was silently impressed. “And I’m going to take it out on you,” she decided.
“Come over here and I’ll finish what my little sister started,” Trin declared confidently.
Shego only smirked as she stood before Trin and then she lowered herself onto the sofa. Trin retreated from the advance somewhat, as far as the back of the couch would allow her anyway. Shego continued coming and attacked the blonde in her usual fashion when they were in the house, she kissed Trin. As expected, Trin resisted, but not too much.
Shin arrived at Tatsu’s place surprisingly intact. She was surprised to see him when she answered the door. They stood there looking awkwardly at each other, almost as if they did not know what they should do. And then, Tatsu recalled that Kim said she would be back; she had run off earlier due to a mission. It would not be in her best interest for Shin to be there when Kim finally did return.
“What are you doing here?” the mechanic inquired almost rudely.
“Want to go to a race?” he countered, not paying much mind to her curt question. He did not even think to kiss or hug her as a greeting.
“I have work,” Tatsu answered.
Shin shrugged; he tried. “Okay, well, I’m going to go hit the races. I’ll come back by you before I leave to go home,” he said.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she assured him.
Shin shrugged again. Tatsu made it so easy to be her boyfriend, he thought. She was not nearly as demanding as the other girls that he dated. He needed to stay with her, he thought; while he was lazy anyway. There was always a chance that someone new would wander by him and distract him and he would happily be distracted by that person.
“So, bye,” Tatsu bid him farewell rather hastily.
Before Shin could react to that, Tatsu shut the door on his face. Now, that he thought was weird. It was like she did not want him around. He knew that she was like that with most other people, but she typically tolerated his presence. She had never slammed a door in his face before.
He walked off, lacking a better thing to do. He went to the races like he wanted to and experienced something that happened often at the races. A few of the male drivers gave him looks, come-hither stares. He smirked to himself; he swore that it was just because he loved the attention. Once he was done, having fun placing bets and drinking, he ended up going to party with a bunch of the drivers afterwards.
Kim showed up at Tatsu’s place minutes after Shin left. Tatsu greeted her with a small peck on the mouth, which caused Kim to smile. Kim thought it was a bit funny that Tatsu was so considerate and knew the right things to do in a relationship for the most part, yet almost everyone around town thought that the blue-eyed woman was some kind of monster. She knew for a fact that people’s perceptions of someone was not always even close to accurate; after all, the whole freaking town hated her big sister and Trin was extraordinary in her opinion.
“How was your mission thing?” Tatsu inquired while looking Kim over and noticing a few band-aids on her arms.
“It went pretty good,” Kim answered and then she saw the mechanic looking at her injuries. “Don’t mind these. They’re not deep,” she assured the older teen.
“What happened?”
“Oh, well, Shego, that’s the sidekick to the mad scientist I’m always going after, came at me to fight like we usually do. We fought like usual, but then she just suddenly slashed me. In return, I kicked her pretty hard in the face. For some weird reason, she apologized to me and said that she scratched me before for a quick second she forgot who I was,” Kim explained.
The hero had actually done a move that reminded Shego of Trin while they were fighting and she reacted like she would with Trin, realizing too late that she was battling the little sister. It was a good thing that she would not hurt Trin up too badly or she might have cut Kim alarmingly deep, but the wounds were no worse than if Kim had cut herself on a pushpin. Kim had kicked her so hard in the face more on instinct than anything else.
“Well, did you get the bad guy?” Tatsu asked curiously.
“No, I didn’t. I stopped his plot and everything, but he got away again as his lair started blowing up on its own again,” the redhead answered with a bit of a disappointed expression. Drakken was going to be the death of her and Ron one day, she thought with the way his machines were now spontaneously combusting.
Tatsu put her arm around Kim’s shoulders to lift the younger girl’s spirits. “You did your best and you saved the world anyway. You’ll get the bad guy next time, I’ll bet,” the mechanic said in her usual mumbled tone.
The redhead smiled a bit. “You’re too smooth for your own good, you know,” she commented.
“Not smooth,” Tatsu objected. She just liked making Kim feel wanted and good about herself because the redhead was trying to do the same for her. She thought that it was the least that she could do.
“Very smooth. So, are you going to take me out for saving the world or are do you have work?” Kim inquired.
“I could take you out,” Tatsu replied. She did not like the idea much since Shin was wandering around the neighborhood, but it was big town and she was certain that she could avoid the places that he haunted when he was around. She would rather that than waiting around in the garage when Shin might just show up again.
Kim smiled again and they went out. When they were outside, they behaved like friends. Tatsu was not a fan of public displays it seemed, which was good because Kim was not looking to be openly homosexual around anyone. She had not even told anyone that she was, not Ron, not her sister, and those were her closest confidants. She never thought that she would keep secrets from them until now.
Next time: Shin and Trin discuss their relationships. Tatsu thinks over her relationships and more things blow up thanks to Drakken to the point he could be the death of Kim and Ron.