Shego decided on writing Kim some emails, having gotten the address from Kim’s website. She had gone with that because it was easier than trying to go talk to Kim, who would probably just assume that she had shown up for a fight, even though she had saved Kim’s life not too long ago. Kim had freaked when she woke up after that snow incident, but she calmed down eventually and they left the cabin on their usual terms.
She was also pretty certain that Kim opened all of her emails in case it was an emergency of some kind; with Kim being as active as she was, an emergency could be just about anything anywhere. So, she felt it was safe to send the emails. She just had to hope that Kim did not delete any later ones once she figured out who it was that contacting her.
The green-skinned woman was incredulous to what she was doing at first, but every time she had that feeling, she remembered pulling Kim’s almost blue body out of the snow and spooning the girl to warm her up. She had never felt such emotion in her life, except for when she and her brothers had been hit by that comet; she had been the first one to regain consciousness when that happened and she swore that her brothers had died. Yeah, they annoyed her, but they were still her brothers and to think that they were dead for the longest minute in her life was the worst feeling that she had ever had.
She felt some confidence in her cause as she wrote things to the hero because she figured that Kim would talk things out with Trin. With luck, Trin would at least endorse her while, of course, making sure Kim knew better than to take any b.s from her. Even though she had broken off whatever they had together, she was pretty sure that Trin would inform Kim that it was safe to give her a chance.
“I guess meeting that crazy blonde might actually work out in my favor,” Shego muttered. It was hard to believe that too, but she did.
Tatsu could not believe the breakfast that Trin prepared, but it seemed like Shin expected no less. He was actually complaining about the food and Trin was threatening him with all kinds of things. Tatsu sat quietly, watching the two go back and forth and she almost could not believe they were not a couple.
“Shin, do you want me to give you some unnecessary surgery?” Trin inquired while holding up a carving knife.
“I dunno, do you want to find your glasses unnecessary?” he countered, holding up a pair of needle shuriken, implying that he would use those to blind her and she would no longer require glasses.
It was those interactions that allowed Tatsu to see that the pair really were more like extremely insane siblings. She finished the breakfast that had been laid out before her, which had been light, fluffy pancakes, scrambled eggs with cheese (Shin’s favorite way to have eggs), sausage, and a small bowl of assorted fruits on the side. She wished that she could eat like that every morning.
“Um…thanks for everything,” Tatsu said as she got up from the table and was about to leave.
“No problem,” Trin replied.
The mechanic was very grateful for everything, but really did not have the vocabulary at the moment to express that. She had a feeling that it was not really necessary, even though she would have liked to express it. She just quietly left the apartment with Trin showing her to the door. Trin went to finish her food and eyed Shin curiously.
“What do you want, beast-girl?” Shin inquired since he could tell that there was something on her mind. He did focus mostly on his meal rather than on her, though; he was on his third helping of everything.
“Would it bother you at all if I were to ask Tatsu out?” Trin asked.
Shin dropped his fork; he was clearly surprised by that question. It was just that Trin did not typically ask girls out. She led them on and waited for them to make that leap, just like she waited for them to break up with her. She was weird in that regard as far as he was concerned.
He started to consider the possibilities of her going out with Tatsu and he doubted that it would work out. His evil twin and Tatsu did not have anything in common, not anything whatsoever in his opinion. He decided against saying something like that and just went with pointing out the obvious.
“Tatsu’s straight as far as I know,” Shin answered.
“As far as you knew, you were straight less than forty-eight hours ago,” the blonde remarked.
“Hey, it was more than forty-eight hours, okay,” he defended himself.
“I don’t care if it was forty-eight seconds ago. Would it bother you if I asked her out?” Trin asked again.
“I think she’s in a relationship,” Shin commented.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He knew it did not answer her question, but he always had a good time being evasive, especially with her. He did think on her question. It actually would not bother him at all if she went out with Tatsu, if that were possible anyway. Trin was a good girlfriend, after all, except for her dislike for touching. He supposed that he would not care since Tatsu would have a caring mate for a while and then she would undoubtedly eventually break up with Trin for the same reason that all girls did. And then, he and Trin’s lives would go on as usual.
“It wouldn’t bother me anymore than on those rare occasions that you have a girlfriend, which reminds me, don’t you have a girlfriend?” the half-Japanese male inquired.
“She broke up with me,” Trin reported in a dull voice. Her pride was still smarting over the fact that Shego had broken things off with her as far as their inside play went, but she supposed that she was happy for her sister. She had gotten to know Shego fairly well over the months that they had come spend time with each other.
Shego was not the type to pour her heart out over something, so it was big for her to just admit that she probably loved Kim. She was also a person that liked what she liked and she did what she liked, which included pestering Trin with physical attention. For her to suggest that they stop before she even knew how Kim was going to respond to her affections was tremendous because it was something that could blow up in her face and she would not have anything to fall back on. As far as her personal life went, Shego did not like working without a net, but she was doing that now.
“Hey, why do you want to go out with Tatsu anyway?” Shin inquired curiously.
“Well, we had a really nice talk last night,” Trin answered. She had enjoyed Tatsu’s company and that was a strange thing for her. She would like to see if it meant something or if it was just a hiccup in life.
“You do know she’s a mechanic right? Not up to your usual standards. She dresses like that all time, she doesn’t know any chemicals, and doesn’t act all intellectual and whatnot,” he pointed out.
“If you don’t want me to ask her, I won’t.”
“I didn’t say that. I just don’t think she’s your type, but hey, go for it,” the young man declared, not knowing what he might be starting obviously.
Trin nodded; she was going to go for it. They had the last of their finals in a couple of days and then they were going to go home for the summer. She was going to get to see Kim graduate high school in a couple of months too, which would be great. And maybe, she would have a girlfriend for a little while; she never expected to have a girlfriend for more than a couple of months and often, she doubted that she would want one for longer than that.
Tatsu got home and guessed that it was time to release Kim too. She was going to miss the spirited redhead, but she had to do what she had to do. She hoped that things went as well with Kim as they did with Shin, although she doubted it. After all, Kim was already gay, so that one was not going to come up.
She sighed and she called Kim to see if she could come over. Kim was the only person that she ever called for recreational purposes; everyone else got calls in regards to their cars or things like that. She guessed that it was going to be her last phone call that did not involve business. It was actually saddening.
Kim arrived, smiling bright as the sun as usual. She gave Tatsu an enthusiastic hug and a peck on the mouth as a greeting. Tatsu felt like such an ass as she accepted those things. How could she hurt someone that cared so much about her? The mechanic felt beyond awful and it was visible on her face, which was rare.
“Hey, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Kim asked because of the downtrodden look in Tatsu’s entrancing ice blue eyes.
“I have to tell you something,” Tatsu muttered while putting her head down and rubbing her forehead with the heel of her palm as if it would help her feel better, but it was not doing such a thing.
“What? What’s wrong?” Kim asked again, placing her hand on Tatsu’s shoulder for support.
“Kim, you’re just about the only person I ever met in life that I like being around for a long time. I wish I did this right and that way I wouldn’t feel so screwed up…”
“What? What did you do?” the redhead inquired in a gentle tone.
“All the time we’ve been going out, I had a boyfriend…” Tatsu admitted.
“What?” Kim gasped and backed away just a bit because of the shock.
“He didn’t come around often. He lives in another city. We broke up last night. I wish that could be it. I wish it was so easy…” the mechanic mumbled more so than usual, but the hero understood her words.
“What do you mean?”
“I need to let you go too, Kim. It’s only right. You deserve someone so much better than me. I wasn’t honest with you or anything about this, so this has to be it.”
“You make it sound so simple…” Kim whispered, looking absolutely destroyed in her olive eyes, which crushed Tatsu.
The mechanic nervously played with her hands. She felt like such a worthless wretch, unworthy of any company that she might enjoy. She then suddenly began hitting herself in the head with her palm; it was an old habit from childhood when she did something so obviously stupid that even she recognized it for what it was.
“It’s my fault. I’m sorry. I’m so stupid…” Tatsu mumbled so badly that Kim did not understand her at all.
“Stop it,” Kim begged. She wanted the mechanic to stop hitting herself so hard, but Tatsu just continued on.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” the raven-haired female muttered. Everyone was right about her. She was just so stupid. That was why she could not make it through high school, that was why her parents had never paid her much mind, and that was why she was going to lose Kim.
“Tatsu,” Kim said, grabbing Tatsu’s hand to get her to stop. She held the offensive hand to make sure that Tatsu did not abuse herself anymore.
“I’m so sorry I did this to us,” Tatsu apologized, sounding almost like she was going to cry.
“It’s okay. We could work through it,” Kim offered. She probably said that more for how distressed the older female was than the fact that she believed that they could survive as a couple after Tatsu confessed to two-timing, but she was not totally sure.
“No, we can’t. You shouldn’t trust me anymore. If I could do something like this to someone I like, what kind of person does that make me? I want you to be with someone better than me,” Tatsu replied.
“Tatsu…” Kim was not sure what to say. She liked to think that they could work through it all, but maybe Tatsu had a point. After all, Tatsu had been cheating on her and even though she seemed all choked up and sincere now, she might go out and do it again. Maybe they did need to just call it quits now, but she would hate to leave Tatsu feeling so horrible.
The now ex-couple took a few minutes trying to make each other feel better. It was awkward for both of them. Tatsu did not think that she was worth the time for Kim to even try to cheer her up. Kim would like to leave as soon as she could because she was hurt by the breakup.
Once Kim left, Tatsu just went to work. She just figured that she would do the only thing that brought her joy now, fixing vehicles. It would be able to keep her out of trouble and keep her from hurting anyone else, which was fine by her.
(New day)
Kim was eager for the day to end. Her sister was coming home and she had a lot of things that she needed to talk about, most of those things having to do with emails that she kept getting from a certain green-skinned villainess. She did not know what to do, especially since having her heart broken recently. She hoped that Trin had some answers for her. But, she was going to have to wait until the blonde showed up.
Trin had made a detour when she got into Middleton. She had come alone; Shin wanted to do some end-of-school partying with some new associates, so he was going to come along in a week or so…or so he claimed. She went to visit Tatsu, finding the mechanic elbow deep in the hood of a car.
“Excuse me,” Trin called in while knocking on the side door that was open to let some air in.
Tatsu turned to see who was there. “You…” she said in a surprised tone when she caught sight of the blonde female.
“Hello again. Quite the space you have here,” Trin commented as she looked around. There were three cars parked in the garage area with a work bench up against a wall.
Tatsu did not respond, thinking that Trin was making fun of her, which she really did not need at the moment. She still felt terrible from her breakup with Kim. She did not want company of any kind, especially if that company was going to try to belittle her.
Trin took note of the cold shoulder that she was receiving, but pressed on. She really would like to go out with Tatsu and continue to be in her presence. They had gotten along quite well for the short time that they had been together. She would like to see if that was just a fluke.
“I was wondering if you’re not busy tonight, perhaps you’d like to join me for dinner? I know quite the nice restaurant,” the blonde commented. She knew a good restaurant that she thought the mechanic would like since she had enjoyed the dinner that they had in the apartment. It was also a place that she would not be stared at or bothered by local Middleton assholes.
“So?” Tatsu replied, practically biting Trin’s head off with that one word.
“I thought you would enjoy it,” the farsighted female continued.
“I wouldn’t,” Tatsu replied.
“Are you sure?”
“Could you just leave?” the mechanic huffed.
Trin frowned at being ordered around, but she did not have time to screw around. She planned to pick up Kim from school, so she turned and left. But, things were not done by far in her opinion. Minutes after she left, Tatsu’s phone went off and she answered without looking at it.
“What?” Tatsu snorted the question out.
“Man, you sound pissy. Did the harpy make it to you yet?” Shin inquired.
“Harpy?”
“Trin,” he clarified. He was calling because he had to know what happened and he knew that Trin would not tell him without him being able to pester her in person, which he would only be able to do in about a week.
“Oh…yeah.”
“Cool. So, did you accept her offer or did you bust her little pink bubble by telling her you’re straight and with a dude?”
“Huh?”
“She asked you out, right?” he asked.
“Oh…yeah.”
“Did you accept or what?” he inquired.
“No…” she answered.
“Why not? Because of the other boyfriend?”
“I’m single now,” she found herself telling him. “I didn’t accept.”
“What? And you’re single? Is it because you’re straight then?”
“No…” she answered.
“Well, then why?”
“I just don’t want to be bothered now,” Tatsu informed him.
“Look, Tatsu, I don’t know what happened with you and not wanting to be bothered, but if you’re single and not against going out with women, you really should take the harpy up on her offer. Trust me, she doesn’t usually offer, but when she does, you really need to take her up on it. She likes you and you’d like her company, plus she pays for everything,” he remarked.
“I don’t know…” she replied hesitantly.
“Trust me, if you two got along while you were here, you’ll like going out with her. So, you really should give it a try. I bet it’ll clear up your pissy attitude. Just think about it for a while and then call her up and tell her you changed your mind. With luck, the offer is still out there,” he quipped, which was not making her feel much better.
“I don’t have her number,” she pointed out.
“I’ll give it to you,” he declared proudly. He felt like he was helping and that made him feel good; well, helping when it came to people he was close to. He was not a fan of helping in general. He thought that if nothing else, going out with Trin would get Tatsu out of whatever funk she was in and Trin would have a girlfriend to shower her odd affections on for the summer. Come fall term, everything would go back to normal, though; well, that was what he thought anyway.
Kim was glad to see Trin and she was ready to confess something rather heavy to her older sister. She was so confused that she needed to tell someone and so, she told Trin because they told each other everything. She explained as quickly as possible that her arch-foe’s sidekick was trying to woo her through the internet it seemed and the weird thing was that she thought it was working. Trin sighed as she read the emails; Shego was obviously no romantic, but at least she was getting her point across. The tone of the messages did convey that Shego felt deeply for Kim.
“Well, Mini-me, it would seem the ball is in your court. Now, are you or are you not interested in exploring her feelings with her?” Trin inquired.
“I don’t know…” Kim replied in an unsure tone. She had been thinking about Shego a lot thanks to the emails and she had also been thinking about how Shego saved her life. It meant a lot to her, she realized.
“Well, until you know, this is going to be quite the dull conversation,” Trin pointed out.
“Do you think I should?”
“Don’t you like taking chances?” the blonde countered.
“But, she’s a criminal.”
“She’s conveyed willingness to change for you, so that’s not the best argument. If she’s willing to try, shouldn’t you have faith?” Trin asked.
“What if she’s lying?” Kim countered.
“Well, she’s invested a lot of time and effort into this lie. Even if it might be, you’ve expressed an interest. Are you going to let that go?”
“But, if it’s a trick, she could go around saying…things about me,” Kim said.
“People say things all the time, whether they’re true or not.”
“Trin…would you care if I was…um….a…” Kim could not get the question out. It was one of the things that kept her from moving forward with the decision on her current situation. What would her sister say about her now that she had shown her so much?
“Mini-me, between the two of us, I understand exactly where you’re coming from,” the elder female replied.
Kim could hardly believe those implications. “You’re a…”
“I am. And in my professional opinion, I think that you should give this a try. If it is a trick, you know that Shin and I have your back and we would all make her pay dearly for such a thing,” Trin remarked.
“I don’t like you hurting people,” Kim reminded Trin.
“Well, I don’t like people hurting you,” Trin riposted.
The redhead sighed. “So, you think I should try?”
“I do. While there is a chance that it is a trick, there’s also a chance that she’s being sincere. What if she’s being sincere?”
Kim nodded to show that she understood. Trin left Kim to think of what they talked about. As soon as the blonde got into her bedroom, her phone went off. She checked to see how was calling and did not recognize the phone number. She answered anyway and it turned out to be Tatsu. It would seem the mechanic had changed her mind, which Trin accepted, even though she had been upset with being brushed off before.
Tatsu did take the time to explain that she had been having a bad few days and she did not mean to take it out on Trin. The college student accepted that and then explained that she might have a situation of her own soon, so she would like to move their date to next week. Tatsu accepted that because it would give her time to get her head together.
Trin was right to postpone her date because once Kim decided that she would like to see Shego was being serious, she had to start plotting for that to be possible. She called Shin and they came up with an idea to “rescue” Shego from not only Drakken’s madness, but from the arms of any systems of justice that might be looking to take her down. Trin and Shin sighed; the things they did for Kim.
(New day)
After a trying time of getting Global Justice to plea bargain away any time in jail that Shego would have had to serve by getting Shego to tell a few secrets of Drakken’s, everyone got a chance to take a breather. The so-called bargain for Shego to end up with probation for a few years was actually stacked in GJ’s favor as far as Trin was concerned because come her next break from school, she was going to have to work for the bloody organization doing computer work and maybe even a few missions. She was irked, but she was fine with doing it because so far Kim seemed very happy with Shego. In fact, they were living together in the apartment down the hall. Kim was going to the same school as Trin and Shin.
Trin herself was now blissfully dating Tatsu and making a better effort than Shin ever did to maintain the long distance relationship between the two of them, which Tatsu seemed to truly appreciate. Tatsu was definitely glad that Shin talked her into taking that date with Trin a few months ago because Trin certainly did make her happy.
Shin was making up for lost time, as Trin suspected he would, when it came to his sexuality. He was wilder than ever now that he found out he was gay. A couple of times, she had walked in on him with a random male, much to her disgust; that never happened when he was going out with girls. She hated that he would do such things on her good furniture and her polished floors, but he seemed to love every second that he was able to get on her nerves and have a good time.
The one thing that Shin was starting to notice was that his harpy seemed to be falling away from him. Slowly but surely, things with her were drifting more toward Tatsu. It was a bit upsetting for him since he was used to Trin being his and he sometimes threw fits about it, but she did not care. Eventually, he figured it out; his nutty shrew had fallen in love.
“Oh, great,” Shin muttered to himself one day while watching Trin preparing for her six-month anniversary with Tatsu, making it by far the longest relationship that she had ever been in. “I just pretty much gave her away,” he said to himself. He had pretty much put Tatsu into Trin’s lap, which bothered him at the moment. She was supposed to be his evil twin, his.
He was quarantined in his room that night for Tatsu’s first visit to the apartment since she and Trin had become a couple. Trin would have liked for him to just go out, but he wanted some of the hot, delicious chicken dinner that she was making. So, they struck the deal that he could have some, as long as he stayed in his room for the entire night once Tatsu showed up. The morning was a different matter altogether, even though Tatsu was still there that morning.
“Hey, can we get some breakfast?” Shego shouted as she and Kim entered the apartment in the morning.
“Shego, if you picked that lock to get in, you know the harpy is going to eat you alive like the bird demon she is,” Shin remarked from the dining room table.
“Damn right I am,” Trin concurred from the kitchen.
Shego rolled her eyes. She and Trin got along pretty well when they interacted outside of sparring; much like Trin and Shin got along, though. They exchanged insults and smart remarks. Trin nagged Shego on perceived bad habits, like she did with Shin, and Shego shot back with snide comments. It was just like they used to be actually, without kissing and groping of the past.
“I used my key, sis,” Kim said to quell any fight that might arise because Trin seriously hated when Shego picked the door lock for the hell of it.
Trin did not respond and Kim and Shego walked over to the dining area. Kim looked into the kitchen and saw something decidedly weird, Tatsu. Tatsu was in the kitchen with Trin, just hovering around the blonde. She noticed Kim and they both just started at each other. The world could not be that small, they considered.
Kim’s reaction and Tatsu’s reaction to seeing each other did not go unnoticed. They were asked about it by their significant others in private. Both Kim and Tatsu explained what happened; Tatsu having to include that she had been having an affair with Kim because she had been with Shin at the time. Kim had little fear while Tatsu was scared out of her mind that Trin was going to leave her.
Trin took in the information, keeping her usual calm demeanor about her, which did not make her girlfriend feel at ease. Tatsu had been in a relationship with her sister? It was not as big a deal as Tatsu really thought. After knowing that Tatsu was in a relationship with Shin, who was like a brother to her, so her being with a sibling was not so odd. There were other implications, though.
“You’re not with me because I remind you of Kim, are you?” Trin asked curiously, her heart in her throat while waiting for an answer. She was actually scared. She was frightened to know that she might have fallen in love with a woman that just wanted her because she could not have Kim.
“No!” Tatsu objected with surprising force. “No, nothing like that. Hell, I didn’t even know she was your sister until today. When I told you I love you last night, I meant it. I do love you. I liked being with Kim because she was the first person that tried to understand me and be nice to me, but I love you.”
Trin did not respond or move, but Tatsu did. The mechanic grabbed Trin into a tight hug and held onto her. Oh, god, she did not want to lose Trin. She honest and truly loved the blonde.
“Please,” Tatsu whispered. “Believe me like you did last night,” she begged with sorrow in her voice.
Trin could only nod. She did believe Tatsu because of how desperate the embrace felt and because of the conviction in her voice. So, she returned the hug, even though she still had a problem with hugging, which made the embrace even more special because Tatsu was aware of how Trin felt about hugging.
“Just to let you know though, if you cheat on me…” Trin did not even finish the thought.
“Don’t worry, I’d never do something like that again, especially not to you. I love you and I never want to lose you,” Tatsu replied and she pushed herself up to kiss Trin on the lips; the blonde was taller than Tatsu. Trin returned the show of affection; she believed that Tatsu would remain faithful to her. Life was about taking chances anyway, she told herself.
Shego was going through something similar. She had felt the need to be honest after Kim confessed that she had a relationship with Tatsu. Shego had actually came out and said that she had “a thing” with Trin. She hesitated in calling it a relationship because she and Trin had not really considered it such. In all honesty, she had no clue what to consider what she had with Trin aside for “a thing.”
“Whoa, are you with me because I remind you of Trin then?” Kim inquired.
“First of all, Princess, you don’t remind me of Trin at all, aside for the nagging anyway. You guys are like apples and oranges to me. I stopped the thing that me and Trin had because I figured out that I love you. I do love you and that’s that,” Shego stated soundly.
“That’s that?” Kim echoed in a bemused tone. Some of the things that the former villainess let leave her mouth baffled her. That just did not sound like the proper way to end the discussion that they were having.
“Yeah, that’s that. I love you and I’m going to stick it out with you, so stop arguing with me and stop trying to pick a fight,” the pale woman replied.
“I’m not trying to pick a fight,” Kim argued.
“Then just take my word on it that I love you, just like I’m going to take your word on it that you’re not doing anything with Tatsu. She’s with Trin and you’re with me and that’s the end,” Shego declared.
Kim decided to just trust Shego because the former thief did have a point. Tatsu was with Trin and according to Shin, the two were so in love that it made him want to disembowel himself to not have to see it anymore. She and Shego were together, also in love. And Shin was, well, himself. So, that was the end.
The end.