Jade slid her fingers, trained fighter's hands, over my thigh. An act of comfort, not desire. I could feel the strength in those fingers, the power when her grip suddenly tightened. She must have felt me tense. What the hell did she think I was going to do? Leap to my feet and rip my bitch-sister's throat out with my teeth? Of course not. We'd never get the blood out the carpet.

"Anyway," Kitana tapped her fan against her perfect teeth, "You must be good for her, Jade. Mileena's looking better. More...human."

I ran my tongue over my fangs, comforted by their sharp edge. Sure, they might have changed but they were still there, my thorns to Jade's rose. They were as much a part of me as ever. Concealed weapons but still weapons none the less.

I threw Kitana a cold smile, letting the light catch my incisors and she stumbled over her words and then fell silent. All the light died in her eyes – once again, she was Lady Kitana, princess of Edenia, the ice queen, the favorite. Everything I'd never be. In one fluid movement, she was on her feet, hands brushing down her body, as if trying to dust off all traces of the visit.

"I should go. I have things to do. Worlds to save. You know how it is," she spoke to Jade, not me. I was just the bad dog Jade kept on a short leash, not a person. Princesses don't talk to animals. "I hope you know what you've got yourself into, Jade. We don't want to have to pick up your pieces if it all goes wrong."

If Kitana's eyes were ice, Jade's were the drowning depths of the green sea, the fathomless ocean that swallowed ice bergs.

"Go back to your fairytale life, Princess. Where there are heroes and monsters and no gray areas. What Mil and I have here is a real life, right Mil?"

Bringing me into the conversation. I wasn't the animal, the outsider, the failed experiment. I was her partner in building a real life. Ignoring my sister, I stood onto tiptoe and slid my arms around Jade's neck, her familiar warmth and weight, the smell of her perfume, subtle and with a hint of citrus, comforting as a promise. Her lips, pressed tight, then yielding as she understood, opening to let my tongue slip inside.

Jade didn't like public displays of affection. If I didn't know what we got up to in the bedroom, I'd call her a prude. But she understood what this was. It was more than a kiss – it was a statement. We were partners, we were a couple and together we faced every threat life threw at us, from the Tarkatan to my sister's disapproval.

I heard Kitana's tch of disgust, her retreating footsteps and the click as she closed the door behind her. I wondered how much control it had taken her not to slam it.

Jade broke away from me to glance at the door.

"Well, I guess we won't be seeing her for another visit," she said ruefully, shaking her head. "Families."

I pressed my head to her chest, listening to her heartbeat. Her substantial breasts trembled slightly with her breath.

"I don't have family," I whispered, dipping my hand into the neckline of her shirt. "Just you."

"You'll always have me." She kissed the top of my head, "You're stuck with me. It'll take more than your bitch sister to drive me away."

"You're mine," I hissed, pinching her nipple almost cruelly. She gasped. "Just remember that."

She caught my hand in her own, raised it to her lips, biting my knuckles gently.

"None of that, Mil. Play nice."

"As long as you know." With my free hand, I cupped her left breast, squeezing it.

"Oh, I know," she smirked down at me, her voice husky.

"Know what?"

"That I'm yours," she breathed.

"Show me," I said, starting to unbutton her shirt.

The End