Ron’s House- 1AM.
Ron walked backwards and forwards in his room, staring at the picture of a young Japanese woman sitting on his desk. In the photo, the Yamanouchi school lay in the background, while Yori smiled, her arm clasped companionably around Ron.
We need her help… Kim needs her help! If this Blood Jade thing really is a Japanese crime syndicate, Sensei may know something about them, and if he does… then Yori will.
Besides, Ron had been intending to call Yori about his slowly growing control and use of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. Now, with Shego missing and Kim becoming more and more frantic as she tried to find her, Ron decided they both needed Yori’s help more than ever.
Having come to a decision, Ron sat down at his desk, opened a drawer and began to rummage. He did it quietly, knowing that his parents were fast asleep, and were unlikely to be happy that their son was about to make a very, very long distance call.
One of the things he had been able to make Yori take with her back to Yamanouchi the last time they had seen each other, had been a mobile phone. The young ninja had been amused at his stare when she said she did not have one. Still, in a secret Ninja school, with no electricity, he supposed a phone would be little use. So, Wade had happily equipped the one Ron had bought with a similar battery to the Kimmunicator as well as a solar charging panel and a satlink.
Sighing with relief at his forward thinking, Ron pulled a piece of paper from his desk and nodded at the number carefully written on it. He glanced at Rufus.
“Well, buddy. Think she can help?”
Rufus shrugged, but he grinned. “Maybe… call!”
Ron smiled and picked up his phone, dialling the number. To his surprise, his hands shook slightly as he did so. Why, he had no idea. The phone chimed softly in his ear as it dialled and then there was a gentle click. Ron swallowed.
He heard the soft whistle of wind at first, birds gently calling into the distance. Then her breath, short energetic puffs of it. He smiled. That was Yori, always training. Finally, he heard a rustle and a soft female voice. “Hello?”
“Yori? That you… cause if not, this is a wrong number that’s costing me a bomb!”
“Stoppable San!” Yori’s voice laughed, rich with pleasure. “It has been too long since I had the pleasure of speaking with you.”
“Yeah, same here.” Ron grinned at Rufus, and the Molerat winked. “How’ve you been?”
“I am well. My training continues ‘always’ as I am sure you have already thought.” Ron grinned at her laugh. “And you?”
Ron’s smile faded. “Actually, I’ve got a few problems and I need your help. That’s why I’m calling you.”
In Japan, Yori tilted her head and the single arm that held her entire bodyweight off the ground bent gently, lowering her towards the grass. Upside down, legs pointing smoothly towards the afternoon sky, Yori frowned. She usually enjoyed these moments when her very vision allowed her to view the world in a different way. Now, Ron had worried her.
“Stoppable San, how may I help you?”
“For a start, how many times? It’s Ron.”
Yori smiled and blushed ever so slightly. “Ron San then, how may I help?”
“Well… lets get something out the way first. Did you… um… happen to notice the Lotus blade vanished for a little-“
“Ah, so it wasyou.” Yori pushed again and breathed slowly. “Sensei was most impressed, Ron.”
“He knew? Ah, of course he knew.” Ron blinked and a look of worry slid over his face. “Is he… mad?”
“What? No!” Yori pushed herself back up, adjusting her legs slightly so that they remained together. “I said he was impressed, Ron. As was I. To call the blade to you, from across the planet, is most impressive.”
Ron felt a blush slide over his face. “Thanks. But, um, listen… I’ve started to use my skills without thinking. It’s worrying me.”
“In what way ‘without thinking’? Have you used them for violence? Without thinking about the consequences?”
“No… no.” Ron waved that thought away and lay back on his bed. “I’m… well. I’m trying to learn how to be a chef, if you want to know and, well, I seem to be very good at chopping and arranging the food… almost superhumanly good. I can cut vegetables to exactly the same size. I can do the tricky cuts without thinking about it… I go on a mission with Kim to stop Shego… and while she’s fighting her, I almost broke Drakken’s arm! The only reason I didn’t was because Shego accidentally shot a ball of plasma in my direction, and it blew me into a box! Then, I call the Lotus blade to me when someone I care about was in trouble.” Ron broke off for a second, and then sighed. “Do you think something’s trying to tell me where my real destiny lies?”
Yori flipped upright and slid onto a smooth tree trunk. Her leg extended out and her breathing slowed. She angled the phone slightly. “Ron. Your skills were gifted to you by a power not many can understand. But it is your skill and your power now. You use it as you see fit and for you, that could be both for saving the world with Kim San and also using it for your other passions. I would only be worried if you told me you would have enjoyed, even relished, breaking Drakken’s arm.” She smiled at the slight sound of repulsion that came down the phone. “So, Really a chef?”
Ron coughed, almost thankful for her skilled change of subject. “Well, I’ve been pretty good at cooking for a while and I thought that it was a good idea. But I’m starting to have second thoughts.”
“Why?” Yori balanced carefully. “Ron, if it makes you happy to be a chef, then be one. Nobody ever said that you had to be a ninja, like me. You have had the training, that is true, but it is your choice to use the gift you have been given in that way…”
“Yori I…” Ron slumped onto his bed. “It’s getting… stronger. Not just the fighting, like I told you about Drakken. Not even that I’ve started to use it at the culinary school. It’s… well.”
“Well what?” the ninja asked, cart wheeling backwards along the trunk.
The feeling that something’s coming… I have nightmares.” Ron broke off at her gasp of surprise. “Well… maybe not nightmares. I feel awake when I’m dreaming them… I’m there and I can see myself, my body. What’s going on is, well, separate from me if you can understand that. But, there are people I don’t know in them. There’s pain and fighting… and cruel laughter. KP is there, but her expression is… dead. It’s worrying me! ”
The young woman frowned, and then shook her head in amazement. “What you are dreaming could be a premonition. It sounds like one. Monkey power has many uses, both conscious and unconscious. When coupled with a powerful mind, it is very, very strong.”
“I’m not strong minded.” Ron rolled his eyes. “I’m a klutz.” He blurted the words and blinked. He had never said that to anyone, even to Kim.
“You are not a Klutz.” Yori sat up, her voice smooth and calming. “Ron, you are clumsy because you doubt yourself. When you do not doubt, when Kim Possible San is in danger… when I have been in danger, you have been a great warrior. Do not put yourself down, Ron. I am proud to know you, proud to be your friend! Possible San should be proud to have you so close!” Yori broke off, flushing. Her voice had risen slowly and she coughed.
Ron blushed. “Um, thanks… but could we get back to my dreams? You have to be kidding, right? I can’t be having visions of stuff that could happen…”
“I think it is very likely, considering what you have told me. Excuse me for a second.” Yori breathed deeply, crossing her legs on the soft grass of the school’s main grounds. She sighed, centering her chi. “I apologise. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Ron, you have already shown to me how deeply the energy you have is focused. I would be surprised if this wasan ordinary nightmare.”
Ron groaned. “Did you have to say that? With what’s been going on recently, what you’ve just said is freaking me out even more!”
“Why? What has happened?” Yori listened to the silence on the phone for a few seconds, concern rippling across her young face. “Ron San?”
“Shego is missing. Kidnapped.” Ron muttered quietly, suddenly lost in thought. “You remember her, Yori. I showed you the file Wade has.”
The young ninja nodded. “She is the green lady with the odd taste in clothing. How she can be stealthy or as excellent a thief as she is in that… suit is beyond me. But she is a powerful young woman, gifted with power like yours. Once a hero… much like yourself and Kim. Twisted by something in her past and now a thief. Yes, I remember her.”
Ron smiled, despite himself. “Yeah, that’s her. Well, she came to Kim for help and-“
Ron filled Yori in about the past couple of days and then sighed. “So, now KP is acting depressed, I mean reallydepressed and moody. She’s become desperate to find Shego. She’s upset, quiet and was acting really… odd when we were hunting for clues at the wrecked jet. This means more to her than Shego being taken and her blaming herself, even I can see that. I have an idea why.” Ron admitted. “But I’m not going to confront her with it until-“
Ron realised that for the past five minutes, Yori’s voice had gone silent. He blinked. “Yori? Yori?” He pulled his phone away from his ear and checked the charge before placing it back. “Hello? Have we been cut off?”
“The Blood Jade…” Yori blurted the name suddenly, and Ron blinked at the anger and loathing in her voice. “You said the Blood Jade!”
“Yeah. Shego said a woman called… um… Fang I think, was the one who wanted to kidna-“
“Kara Fang is in the United States?” Yori stood up, her composure cracked. Around her, the students at the school all turned at Fang’s name. Five or six of the ones the same age as Yori glared, their expressions filled with anger and rage. “You are certain? Kara Fang, of the Blood Jade?”
“Yeah.” Ron whispered, swallowing at the heat in her voice. “Look, Yori I called because-“
“Ron San, listen to me very carefully.” Yori moved away from the training complex and headed for Sensei’s room. “Stay away from Kara Fang. Do notconfront her. Do not let Kim San confront her. Stay away and keep away until I am there! Do you understand?”
“Not really.” Ron admitted, blinking. “Yori…”
“The Blood Jade are evil, Ron! Worse than Lord Monkey fist! Opium, drugs, white slavery, transportation, hacking, assassinations and kidnapping. That is just the tip of what they are capable of. They are always in the shadows however, untouchable and evil. Almost all the law enforcement agencies around the world believe them to be a myth!”
Yori broke off and swallowed.
“The only reason we know they exist at Yamanouchi is because, even here, we have felt their dark touch. One of our students was taken, taken so that she could be ransomed to her parents. She was… rich. When we intercepted the squad that took her, they all committed suicide before talking. However, their clothing bore the mark of the Jade…”
“And Fang?” Ron whispered.
“The mark of the Blood Jade was the only thing left on them… except one. He had her mark on him! One of her personal body guards. The student’s parents made enquires… enquires that led to little, other than finding out Fang had indeed been accepted into the Blood Jade. Other than that, she does not ‘exist’.” Yori stopped and her hand clenched. “But I know she exists! We at Yamanouchi know she exists. She is dangerous, Ron San!”
Ron slid to his feet and paced his room, worried. “So, what do we do?”
“I must ask Sensei to-“
“I was sort of hoping you might come to the USA again.” Ron whispered. “I need your help Yori… both with what’s been happening to Kim and with what’s been happening to me…”
Yori stopped dead in the corridor and felt a blush creep over her face. She had been so shocked by Ron’s mention of Kara Fang, that she had forgotten his worry over his Tai Shing Pek Kwar.
“Ron San, of course I will come. You are very… important to me.” She flushed again. “And to Sensei! Yes, to Sensei also!”
“Um, thanks.” Ron managed, shifting the phone slightly. “So, you’ll come to Middleton?”
“Yes. I will explain the situation to Sensei and will leave as soon as I can. When I arrive, I will stay for as long as you need me, I promise. I would enjoy spending time helping you find your centre.”
Now it was Ron’s turn to blush and he smiled. “Thanks, Yori. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
“As am I, Ron San. But remember, stay away from Kara Fang and keep Kim San away as well. Maybe once I am there, the three of us will be enough to find Shego and capture Fang.”
“Okay. Well, I got to go.” Ron coughed slightly and licked his lips. “I’ll um, see you soon.”
“Yes, goodbye Ron, and be careful!”
As the phone clicked off, Ron threw it gently onto his desk and then jumped gently onto his bed, Rufus swarming down his body to chuck himself onto the pillow next to his face.
“Well, she’s on her way.” Ron yawned. “Better get some sleep before tomorrow. So, goodnight buddy.”
“Night!” Rufus mumbled, yawning.
As Ron clicked off the light, he relaxed into the soft sheets and shut his eyes. It was only after a few minutes, that they slammed open again, full of sudden wonder.
She called me Ron… and said I was a… warrior.
Beuno Nacho 2PM
Kim sat quietly in her and Ron’s usual booth and stared at the salad order lying in front of her. Even though her stomach growled at the sight of food, Kim herself felt mildly sick at the sight of it. She wasn’t hungry.
For the entire morning, she had paced her room, the kimmunicator sitting on her desk, linked to her personal computer. The faint green of the Satnav search had sat on the screen, faces flashing by as the computer checked each for the correct parameters, and then moving on.
Her mother had wordlessly come into her room at eleven, handed her a cup of camomile tea and had stroked her hair gently before walking out. Kim knew she was worried about her, and she wanted to tell her mother she was all right. But, she knew she wasn’t and she couldn’t bring herself to fake a smile for her parents.
The tea had sat on her desk, growing cold, and she had continued to pace, listening to the flat chime as the search passed each face without finding the one she wanted. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, she had left early for the lunch date with Ron and Monique.
Now, she sat in the cubicle that she and Ron always shared, staring at unwanted food, while her hands repeatedly wrung under the table.
If I tell Ron and he never wants to see me again, what am I going to do?Kim thought, forcing down panic.I can’t go on missions without him.Her hands convulsed slightly. I… maybe I should lie. Tell him that I’m just worried for Shego… worried because I…I … oh who am I kidding?
Ron was one of two people who could read her like a book. The other was her mother… and she was already growing concerned, just like Ron. Kim could tell. NO, she had to tell him the truth and… and deal with the consequences afterwards.
I can do anything… that’s my stupid quote on the website. Now I get to see if I really can… by telling a man I once dated and kissed that I… I… I think I’m falling for our most dangerous enemy! That I… I like, come on you can say it, I think I may like women, for more than just… friendship! There!Kim felt her heart jerk.If I can do that, if I can admit that! If I can keep our relationship as friends whole, then maybe, just maybe, Ican do anything!
“Hey, Girl.” Moniques cheerful voice shook her out of her musings and Kim looked up. “Am I late?”
“No… early, like me.” Kim scooted sideways and let Monique share her seat. “Why did you come early?”
“Me? Came to check up on the new CB lines. Our clothes for clubbing.” Monique grinned. “Got a flame red dress that would make you into a man killer, Kim. Has neon yellow ribbons that glow in the dark. Cut a little lower than it should be, pushes up things that usually wouldn’t be. It is ’Come get me’ clothing!” Mon finished, grinning slyly.
Kim sighed. “I don’t think I’m cut to be a man killer…” she paused and laughed helplessly. “Nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how hard I’ve tried.”
Monique stared at Kim and shook her head slightly. That odd depression of hers was back… and she could be dammed if she could figure out why Kim was feeling that way. She tried a different track.
“Any news on ego with the capital SH-“
If you mean Shego, then no!” Kim muttered sharply, making Monique blink. “And less on the ego jokes. She may have an ego… but then she’s got the stuff to back it up.”
“Um, okay.” Monique slid to her feet. “I’m going to go and order… you all right with that?” She pointed at Kim’s wilting salad and watched the young redhead nod slightly. “Okay… I’ll be back in a minute.”
As Monique walked off to the counter, Kim sighed and sipped her soft drink slightly. Placing it back on the table, she picked at her salad, until a familiar shadow slid over the table. She paused and looked up. Ron, Rufus sitting primly on his shoulder, grinned at her.
“Am I late? I’m usually not late for a Naco party…
“No… no. I came early. Couldn’t settle in my room.” Kim shrugged and picked at her salad again. “Mon asked the same question.”
“Oh, fine. So, can I get my starving body some naco fuel before we hear the full story?” His tone was playful, but Kim heard the careful way he stepped between any verbal landmine. She was thankful.
“Sure… it may be the best idea.” Kim held out some money. Because, this might be the last time I pay for a naco… when I tell you. She blinked when Ron gently pushed it back towards her. “Ron, I said I’d pay and-“
“Kim, shush.” Ron winked at her and walked across to the counter, leaving Kim feeling helpless and clutching her money tightly.
I can’t! I can’t do this! She thought, suddenly terrified. Cold ran through her and Kim decided to leave. I can laugh it off tomorrow… or say something came up… or… or.
“Hey girl, scoot up would ya?” Monique sat next to her and bumped her with her side as she pushed her tray onto the table. “I’m not sitting with Ron, have you seen that man’s elbows when he gets going?”
“Yes…” Kim whispered, the cold clutching her heart. “Mon I…”
“You know,” Ron announced, sliding into the seat opposite the two women. “Working here once, does have its advantages. Like the fact they know what I love on the menu! Speedy delivery!”
Trapped, Kim forced her hands under the table to hide the way they shook. She was sure her enemies, Bonnie and Drakken certainly, would love this. The great Kim Possible, hero and cheerleader, shaking in her chair as her friends tucked into their food around her, chatting amicably.
“So, any sign of Shego?” Ron asked, his mouth half full of Naco.
“No.” Kim shook her head. No… and its killing me!
“We’ll find her.” Ron reassured her, winking. “It’s hard to keep a green skinned, plasma throwing woman away from the spotlight.”
“Maybe. I hope so.” Because I made her go…
“Can we talk about something other than work?” Mon asked, grinning. “Like… how about you come with me to CB Ron? You need some styling, considering what you’re wearing.”
“Hey, this is style! It’s smooth and stylish. Perfect for the Ronster to catch the eye of any lady!” He grinned. “You can’t buy style like this!”
“No… that’s cause nobody wants to go bust in the fashion business, Ron.” Monique smiled slyly, laughing as Rufus popped over the top of his master’s Naco and waved his hand angrily at her. “I should do a range of Molerat clothes too…”
Rufus blinked and then shook his head, diving out of view and even Kim had to smile at that as the others laughed.
“Rufus… I meant clothes for molerats!” Monique managed, only to blurt out with laughter again as Ron’s pocket sniffed audibly.
Eventually, her friends finished their meals. Ron leaned back with a sigh, while Mon gently wiped at her mouth. After a few more seconds of quiet, both sets of eyes turned to Kim. The redheaded hero felt herself cringe slightly, her pulse hammering under her skin, at the querying gaze of her friends.
Monique broke in first. “Well? Come on, girl. We both want to know what the big secret is!”
Ron smiled. “I think that’s Mon’s polite way of asking what you wanted us to hear?”
Kim shivered and glanced down. I think… I think I’m gay or… something. How hard is it to say?She looked up, into Ron’s curious gaze and felt her heart lurch. Too hard!
“Nothing… I… I think I’ve changed my mind. It’s nothing you two need to know and I-“
“KP…” Ron interrupted softly. “You’ve been anxious, worried and not acting like yourself for the past couple of days. Please… tell me… tell us.” His worried gaze bore into her reluctant eyes and she flushed. “I know it started when Shego and you went off alone. What’s going on?”
Kim found herself staring at Ron and then at Rufus as he popped up on his shoulder.
“Worried!” Uh huh. Uh huh!”
She blinked as Mon’s hand gently slid into hers.
“Kim, you can tell us. Come on,” Monique whispered. “Come on, be strong!”
Struggling with herself. Kim bit her lip and took a deep breath. She nodded, brushing her red hair out of her eyes and her fingers gripped Monique’s hand so tightly the young woman winced.
“All right. I… I… thanks.” She looked up. “Ron, you’re right. I’ve been, preoccupied, since I… I went and helped Shego.”
“I knew it… she sprang a trap on you didn’t she! Where is it? The moodulator or mind chip!” Ron moved to stand. “Was it a beam, or a rare flower extract or something? Is that what’s been making you act so weird lately.”
“Ron no!” Kim glanced round and yanked him down. She lowered her voice to a hiss. “She didn’tspring a trap! There was nothing there… no one. It was totallyempty.”
Monique frowned. “So, girl… what did happ-“
“Nobody was there. I thought it was a trap, well anyone would. So, Shego’s looking around, totally shocked and confused and I… I decided she was lying.” Sighing, Kim sipped her soda again. “So, I decide ‘to hell with her’ and I go to leave. It’s my birthday after all. I go to leave and Shego… she grabs me… and we argue and suddenly, I snapped.” Kim looked away her mouth suddenly dry again, even with the soda. She sipped it again for a second before looking at her friends. “I snapped at her, Ron. I told her every damn feeling I poured out to you after… after…”
“The BN incident.” Ron whispered, understanding in his voice, while Monique blinked, surprised that Kim had sworn. “Well, she did deserve it. What she did then was totally-“
“I told her how I felt, as I pounded her again and again… The betrayal, the fact she’d gone too far, that I loved that… that… and how much I wanted to hateher for it!”
Monique stared at her in shock, flinched at the bitter tone in her friends voice. She had never realised how much it had affected Kim.
Ron had, and he knew exactly how she felt. Despite the fact that Shego had, partly, helped cause how Kim had felt, he felt a slight pity stir. Kim missed the look her friends gave each other.
“So, suddenly we’re fighting again. Shego and myself back to what we alwaysend up doing. I remember lunging at her, Ron. Nothing fancy, just pure rage and… and my blows, they connected! Well, more than I expected.” Kim swallowed, her mouth dry once more. “She blocked plenty of them, but… I was so angry! You remember how I felt Ron? What I said to her before part of me tried to kill her. When I… I… kicked her into the tower?”
Ron nodded. “I remember. I never thought I’d hear you say that you hated someone. Even Shego looked… shocked. But Kim, you didn’t try to kill her… it was an accident!”
“I…” Kim closed her eyes, and the memory of Shego’s horrified and then terrified expression as she hit the tower made her snap them open again. “I think it was an accident… Well, anyway, I told her why I hated her all those months ago. I told her how I felt about her as we threw punch after punch and kick after kick at each other in that abandoned lair… and then,” Kim looked down, biting her lip. “Then she told me how shehad felt back then.”
“How she felt?” Monique frowned. “Like that matters.”
“But it does!” Kim whispered. “It didn’t to me at first, but it does now… it really does.” Suddenly, to the shock of her friends, Kim buried her face in her hands. “What she told me, in the lair… about that day, about… about… us. It’s changed everything!”
“Well, what did she… um,” Ron swallowed. “Say?”
“Ron… she,” Kim looked up. “She felt ashamedabout what happened to me. It’s always been down to her and me! Our fights, testing ourselves against each other to see who’s better!” Kim leaned forwards. “She told me she felt ashamed,Ron! Ashamed that our battle was ended by that… that bastarddrone interfering!”
“I see… and-“
“Then she told me that she knew how angry I’d been! That she’d been trying to sneak away from me because she knew how angry I was!” Kim’s eyes had lost focus. The green gaze distant, staring at something only she could see. “I stared at her when she told me how it felt to be electrocuted. I never meant to kick her that hard… I didn’t I. But my anger, I was soangry about what she did… I was in a rage! Oh, Ron!” Kim looked up and her face twisted in apprehension. “I did try to kill her!”
“Kim-“
“I almost killed her, Ron! Thank god she had that meteorite hit her. Her body absorbed the charge… it would have killed anyone else but her.” Kim gripped the cup of soda. “But… but… Shego, she wasn’t angry about it! I wanted to hate her, Ron. I did! But she told me how she felt… the shame about our battle and the drone and I felt it slipping away!”
“Well, that’s surprising.” Monique frowned. “But Kim, what’s the prob? So, Shego wanted to say sorry, right?”
“You don’t understand!” Kim’s voice was bitter. “I wanted to keep it! I blamed her for what happened that night. I have done for so long! So, when I stared at her, those damn emerald eyes of hers not scathing or taunting but honest, I could feel all my anger towards her slipping away, like water through my hands. It made me so desperate to keep it I… I…”
Ron watched her quietly, exchanging the occasional glance with Monique. This was a side to Kim that the redhead kept hidden from almost everyone. The side with her doubts, fears and everything she did not wish anyone to see.
Monique gripped her hand. “Girl?”
“I jumped at her… screamed that she couldn’t be sorry! I think I tried to hit her again… to make her angry so she’d hit me or something.” Kim ran a hand over her eyes. “So, I’m ranting at her, trying to hit her… to struggle even as she pins me. Then she uses what happened two nights ago to try and make me stop.”
“What?” Ron frowned. “What’d you mean? We didn’t catch Shego or Drakken… I was doing my usual useless routine,” Ron was oblivious to the faint annoyance in his tone about himself. “You managed to hook the girder and were rappelling up to catch Shego. I don’t under-“
“I never got hold of the girder, Ron. I snagged the bar under the platform Shego was on.” Kim leaned back in her seat. “The grapple slid off the bar, when I was… oh, high enough to break every bone in my body.”
“You… it broke off?” Ron’s eyes widened in horror as Kim nodded, a weak smile appearing on her lips. “But… how did you-“
“I’m getting to that. So… you know how people say that time seems to slow when you know you’re going to die? Well, that’s how it felt to me. I’m watching Shego watching me. I’m expecting her to gloat or maybe I expect to see a gleam of triumph in those emerald eyes of hers. I know I’m going to fall, and I know I could die… so I stare at her.” Kim ran a hand through her hair and looked at each of her friends intently. “It came as quite a shock, when I see… need in Shego’s eyes… Suddenly, there she is, over the edge of the platform as fast as lightning. She reached over, Ron, and grabbed the grapple. It almost pulled her over the edge! So, now, I’m staring at her… and she winks, smiles at me, and snaps the grapple onto a girder as Drakken lifts her up. She saved my life.”
Ron stared and Monique shook her head. “No way! You two are enemies! Shego couldn’t have done that! She wants to kill you Kim.”
“Well, she did.” Kim glanced out of the window, and her voice was filled with pained regret. “And so, on my birthday, while she and I scrabbled about on the floor? I found out why she did what she did… and… and my life’s changing because of it. I think I am too.”
“Kim-“ Ron began, only for his friend to shake her head and sigh.
Kim stared at him quietly, then her gaze flicked to Monique who sat tense in the seat next to her. Licking her lips, Kim’s green eyes were nervous. Anyway, here we go… god help me. I hope my friends understand.
“The reason she saved me, is the reason I asked you to come here… so I can… I can tell you. You both deserve to know… what I’m struggling to cope with. My life… has, is, going to change.”
Ron stared at her and felt his world shift slightly. Ron… you might be right and if so… this is gonna come as a blow. But look at her, she’s scared stiff, no matter how much KP can hide it. Damn, this is going to be the hardest thing ever… but I need to be supportive. No, Iwill be supportive!
“Shego asked me if I really wanted to know why she saved my life…” Kim whispered, making Ron blink. “I’d yelled at her to tell me, snarled is more accurate. So, she’s staring at me with those emerald eyes of hers, just staring at me… and then she asks me that.”
“You really want to know Kimmie? Why I saved your life?” The emerald gaze boring into her light green eyes. A flinch, something punching her in the gut, as Shego’s stare softens and becomes liquid.
“She asks me if I want to know… and I tell her I do. And she asks me again, and her voice is soft, guys. I mean, really, really soft.” Kim’s eyes slid shut, lost in recall. “So soft I can barely hear it.”
A brush of a gloved hand across her body. Not threatening… soft, so damn soft. But she’s too preoccupied struggling to feel the way it gently traces her shoulder, slides across her waist… a murmur. “You really want to know?”
“I nod my head… sharp and angry. I’m snapping at her too… demanding her to tell me why she saved my life. I’m so angry that I can’t budge her damn weight from me. She’s all muscle, Ron. She weighs a ton!” Ron nodded, preoccupied with her soft confession. “So, Shego leans towards me and I can feel her breath on my face. It’s so distracting! But I think she’s going to attack me, and I start to get worried…”
Breath so sweet, spicy almost. She feels it on her face, soft… alive. Shego’s so close now that she feels her soft hair brushing her face. Dark strands that obscure Shego’s features, but she can see the smile, not sly or scathing… amused.
“But before I can do anything… she’s running her lips along my jaw. I can feel them… so soft and insistent.” Monique stared in shock at her friend. “They’re moving towards my own lips and I ask her what she thinks she’s doing but…” Kim shuddered in the booth. “It’s too late… I’m too late to stop her.”
“Stop her from… from…” Monique’s face paled. “Kim, girl… she didn’t! She couldn’t!”
“Oh she did.” Kim whispered. “And now I think that… that maybe a part of me wanted to let her do it. So, I did.”
She can barely breathe now… Shego’s body, crushing hers with its weight. But she doesn’t care. All she can see is the emerald stare, so liquid… all she can feel is the pulse of Shego’s heart against her skin.
Kim Possible is helpless, totally helpless… as the green woman above her slips darkly black lips over her slack red ones. She can feel them, so soft against hers… like velvet or silk. She can feel Shego’s breath slip into her… it’s so warm and intoxicating.
Her struggles slacken and she can only… feel!
“Shego kissed me, guys. She kissed me and I could feel her heart hammering under her skin. I’ve never felt anything like it. It was so… so… alive!” Kim shook her head. “My whole body… it was like… sparks or fire or… or… energy! You know?”
Her lips are on fire… but it feels so good that she doesn’t want Shego to stop. She moans, desperate to breathe, but even as she fights her, Shego swallows her breath and then gently returns it.
She feels it slide into her, warm and spicy… seductive. It punches something deep inside her, making her heart lurch. A sensation of electricity… sparks… something! It ripples through her body. It trails from Shego’s lips and hands, like her plasma, but as she feels it skitter across her skin, it doesn’t hurt! But it does reach into her core… she can feel it making her body thrum to something. It’s primal and basic! What she’s feeling is so primal and basic and she realises that she, Kim Possible, has never felt this before! Suddenly, all she can think about is how much she wants to keep hold of it!
Unbidden, her arms convulse around Shego, gripping her tightly.
“I’m holding her, she’s kissing me, and it feels so… so right! I don’t know how… but it feels right!” Kim’s eyes slid open, reluctantly. But the gaze remained unfocused, distant. “And then… then the fear set in. I panicked and I pushed her away… I pushed her away!”
Something shakes her suddenly. She has no idea what, but she realises just who is kissing her. Shego, her archenemy… Shego… a woman! Shego! Panic grips her heart and squeezes tightly, making her gasp. This is wrong! She’s kissing Shego and it’s wrong! Even as she feels the young green woman’s tongue gently tease her lips, she balks inside. Her breath is burning, her body is shaking and the fear is permeating her every pore. She has to get away, has to! She can’t kiss her! Can’t let Shego kiss her!
Her muscles slap helplessly against the strong woman lying on top of her, pinning her and her green eyes jerk into focus as adrenaline rips into her body. Muscle fibre hardens like steel and suddenly, she pushes. Shego gasps in dismay and horror as she slides along the floor of the abandoned lair.
As Shego slides to her feet, all Kim can do is stare at her. All she can do is sweat and back away from the woman who, mere seconds ago made her feel so amazing. Shego stares back, but her expression is not one of anger, it’s one of pain and it makes her feel… broken.
“So, I pushed her away and Shego got angry about it.” Kim gazed at her friend’s faces for the first time since her story started. “In fact, not angry… she was upset, I could tell. And why not?” Kim laughed, the sound bitter and scornful. “She’d given me that gift, she’d been brave enough to show the ‘girl who can do anything’ that she was falling in love with her. And how did I respond? I pushed her away and scrambled backwards from her like she had a killer illness!”
All she can do is stare at her. All she can do is feel panic. The only thought running through her mind is that she, Kim Possible, kissed a woman who once hated her.
“She left then, left and when I tried to stop her. When I realised what I’d done… she turned and looked at me. I… I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
The emerald gaze pierces her heart and she winces. Betrayal, anger… oh yes, they are there. But the main emotion in Shego’s gaze is one of sadness, and it’s stripping her to the bone. She watches as the woman who kissed her walks into the gloom, hands snuffing the green glow that shines for a few seconds. She knows then. She’s broken whatever Shego wanted to give her. Regret replaces panic… and she knows. She knows that something has changed forever in her.
Monique’s mouth worked soundlessly as Kim sighed.
With the burden of the past few days off her shoulder, Kim felt better, much better. But, the silence of her friends made her heart lurch and skip a beat. She looked around.
“I… guys I…”
“You can’t be! You’re not!” Monique stuttered, hands jerking. “Kim, you’re not gay!”
“I don’t know…” Kim turned to her, moved to hold her hand, only to have it jerked from her grasp. She sighed as the move pained her terribly. “Mon, I don’t know what I am. I like men. I’ve dated guys! I enjoy their company and yeah, I’ve swooned with the best of the cheerleading team. But… but Shego made me feel so alive! She made me feel so… different when she kissed me!”
“Compared to when you and I kissed.” Ron muttered. Oh, so unfair Ronster! Get a grip! Ron coughed and flushed at Kim’s pained expression. “Sorry, that was uncalled for.”
“I think it was perfectly called for-“ Kim began, only for Ron to shake his head.
“No, no that was uncalled for!” Ron coughed and felt Rufus pat his hand reassuringly. “You and I broke up months ago. It wasn’t working out, we both know that!” Ron watched as Kim lowered her gaze, sighed as he saw her lip tremble. “But maybe it wasn’t anything you or I did. Maybe you were waiting for… something else.”
“I tried so hard to make it work!” Kim looked up and a single tear ran down her cheek. “Ron, I tried and I kept wondering afterwards if I did something to screw it up!”
Her closest friend since childhood, blinked and laughed lightly. “You thought you screwed up? I thought it had been something I’d done… or not done to lose you.” Ron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “But it wasn’t, was it? You never knew why it didn’t work and nor did I. You weren’t to blame for our attempt at a relationship failing. Nor was I.” Ron smiled weakly and waved a hand. “The world wanted Kim to date someone else… to feel that spark with another person.”
“I wish it hadn’t. If I could have changed that then… maybe you and I-” Kim whispered softly. Ron nodded. His hand slid gently across to her and she jumped slightly as it gripped the left one.
“It’ll be okay, Kim.” Ron squeezed her hand and to his genuine surprise, he realised he meant it. Their romance had been over long ago, their friendship was stronger than it had ever been and now, now he wanted to reassure his friend. A friend who was suffering as everything she believed about herself was shaken. “No matter what, I’m here for you. No matter what you find out about yourself. It doesn’t change the woman who’s been my pal for life!”
Well, it does. But damn it… I’m not going to abandon KP! She’d never do that to me, so same goes! So, she might be gay, who cares… she’s still KP, my friend!
Tearful, Kim could only grip Ron’s hand tightly and she brushed at her wet eyes with the other, trying to ignore the way it trembled.
Ron shook her gently and forced a smile. “So, Shego kissed you and you found out that you… well.”
“That I’m… I…” Kim sighed. “That I’m very confused. I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“Well, it’s not like this is something you have to solve in a few hours.” Ron watched her shrug slightly. “Look, KP. I want you to know that nothings changed between us. We’re still best buddies, okay? You need someone to help you sort this all out, I’m there for you and-”
“I can’t believe this…” Monique’s soft voice made Ron and Kim turn to stare at her. Monique sat quietly next to Kim, a look of shock on her face. “My… Kim you think you might be… It can’t be true! It can’t!”
“Mon, just breathe!” Kim told her, worried at the sight of her friends glazed expression. “I’m still me, I’m the same Kim I’ve always been.”
She reached out to touch Moniques hand, only for her friend to jerk and slid away from her. As she did so, Kim felt a pained jerk of her heart. “Mon…”
“I… I can’t do this, Kim.” Monique pushed herself away from the table. “I have to go.”
“Mon, wait” Kim reached out, but Monique staggered backwards. “Mon.”
“No! I… I need to think!” Monique yelled suddenly, blinking as heads around the restaurant turned towards her and the two figures in the booth. Pale, she glanced at her red headed friend and managed to stammer. “Kim… I… sorry!”
With that, Monique ran from Beuno Nacho, leaving Ron and a distraught Kim sitting alone.
Kim flinched, her eyes glazed with pain and upset and Ron watched as his friend’s head slowly sank into her hands. After a few moments, her shoulders began to shake. Without a single word, Ron slid from the booth and walked round to Kim’s side, slid next to her and gently hugged her.
Kim’s face rose, streaked with tears. “I knew this would happen… I knew I’d lose one of you as a friend! Who wants to hang with a… a….” Kim broke off and pushed herself into Ron’s tender grip. “ I… I thought I’d lose you! Because of what we… what we had.”
Ron sighed. “Maybe that’s why I’m still here, KP. I knowyou. I know how hard that was for you… to tell us that you’re… um… gay.”
“That’s it though, Ron. I wish I knew for sure! I’m so confused! If I ama… a” Kim broke off, flushing.
“KP, it’s not a dirty word.” Ron shook her slightly and sighed. “I’m not going to be offended if you say the word.”
“If I am…” She took a deep breath. “If I am a… a lesbian, then why have I been so interested in guys for so long? And why did I feel something change inside me with… with… Shego. What does it mean? If I am…gay, how am I going to tell my parents? How am I-“
Ron placed a single finger on her lips. “KP, this isn’t the place to discuss this or try to work it out. Come on, I’ll help you get home. You’re in no state to walk back alone.”
“But… what about Monique?” Kim muttered, glancing towards the door. “I should go and-“
“KP, I think it might be best if you left her alone for a bit.” Ron slid from the booth and glancing at Rufus, whistled quietly. The Mole rat nodded and sprang into his pocket. “She’s still your friend. But this has come as quite a blow… hell, I should know.” He sighed as Kim flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry. Just… give her time to work things through. Mon’s clever, smart and she is one of your closest pals. She’ll come round.”
“I hope so.” Kim whispered. “I don’t want to lose her any more than I wanted to lose you.” She smiled weakly and Ron grinned. “Thanks for just listening to me go on and, well… understanding. You really are wonderful.” She slid a hand gently round his waist and hugged tightly. “I know how you must really feel, deep down. So, I promise, I’ll give you as much time as you need too.”
“Come on,” Ron managed, trying to hide his own flush of embarrassment. “Lets get you home. I think you’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”
As Ron walked with her, Kim felt part of her unfreeze. Despite her worry over Monique’s reaction, she could only feel relief. Nobody had screamed at her, nobody had, pointed, slapped or hit her, or did any of the other things her overactive imagination had plagued her with that morning.
No, Ron had been… cool about it. Whether it was forced, or if he was hiding his true feelings, she had no idea. But, right now, she was greatful that he was there. Just… there for her.
Maybe I should change the slogan on the site. ‘Anything’s possible for Kim Possible and with her closest friend, team Possible is un-Stoppable.'
Sighing, she let Ron’s chatter about college and food drift over her as they walked home.
Maybe I can put in a few hours of searching. I can take Mara and go hunting for a while. Kim thought quietly while Ron’s voice soothed and helped her think. I can’t just leave her out there… alone and helpless. I have to do something, anything. Who knows? I might get lucky.