Hello Everyone! I put my ass in gear and pumped out this chapter. I know its been awhile(as usual) but I haven't abandoned any of my projects. I currently have a rather extensive oneshot in the works that I'm about halfway through, so look out for that in the coming week or so. Fantasia has hit a bit of a roadblock, but I'll try to squeeze something out in the near future. Thank you everyone for your positive feedback and your patience!

So without further ado, enjoy!


Chapter 2

Chase's head was ringing as his ravaged brain attempted to process the banshee level screeching that was hurdling out of Kimiko's mouth. He stared at her through glaring, squinted eyes. Her rather beautiful (he would admit) blue eyes were clamped shut so tightly, her thin eyebrows appeared to be making an attempt to craw under her eyelids. Her cherry red lips were parted widely, the sound belting from them unrelenting in its onslaught. Chase was debating whether or not to shove his fist into her mouth when she stopped abruptly, clamping her lips shut and snapping her eyes open, staring at him in wide-eyed horror. Kimiko was breathing hard, more like wheezing actually, her shoulders heaving. She looked absolutely terrified and honestly, he couldn't blame her.

Deciding that the nice approach would benefit both parties, Chase softly reached out to her, keeping the straightest, most calm face he could muster.

"Hey-" He was interrupted as she slapped his hand away with enough force to dislocate a normal person's shoulder.

"Villain!" She screeched, tumbling backwards and taking the comforter with her as she vanished over the edge of the bed, the balcony doors shuttering as she slammed against them. He could ear the frantic rustling of her body against the prison that the comforter had become. Accompanying this epic struggle were choked, frustrated mewls. Chase stifled a laugh, trying to be a gentleman, but nonetheless a pinched smile managed to escape. The rustling stopped suddenly and Chase raised an eyebrow. Deciding that the young woman had finally come to her senses, he crawled across the bed and peered over the edge

A blossom of pain bloomed across his temple as he was smacked in the face with an ice bucket. The blow was hard enough to stagger him and his vision grew splotchy for a moment.

"What the fuck woman!" He roared, as the woman in question took advantage of his disorientation to dash for the balcony doors, wrenching them open and waddling out into the warm summer air, the comforter billowing around her in a train of puff. Now irritated beyond belief, Chase pushed his hand into his temple, his fingers sticky with the blood from his injury. He heard her curse as she realized the doors did not lead to the exit, but before she could turn around to dash back into the room he bolted form the bed and slammed doors in her face as she sprinted towards him. She was unable to stop in time, the door heaving against his hands as she crashed into it.

"OW!" She screeched. He felt her violently jiggle the doorknob in an attempt to open the door but he would have none of it. The knob refused to budge under his iron grip.

"Let me in asshole!" She yelled, her voiced slightly muffled through the door.

"Are you going to settle yourself?" He replied, deciding to be calm so as not to exacerbate the situation.

"You broke my nose!" She roared.

"And you gave me a concussion so I do believe that makes us even."

He heard her growl and sighed tiredly, his head throbbing against his hand.

"I think this situation would be much more amenable if we just sat town and talked." He tried, hoping to put some sense into the woman. It was quiet for a moment before he felt Kimiko let go of the doorknob.

"Fine." She replied quietly and Chase cautiously cracked the door open and stuck is head out enough to see Kimiko's face. She was glaring at him, her hand covering her nose, form which a stream of blood was slowly trickling. It slid down the length of her forearm, droplets of blood plopping onto the marble floor of the balcony.

"Can I come in now?" She huffed impatiently. Chase shrugged.

"Are you going to assault me again?"

"Yeah I'll just choke you with this comforter." She bit back. Chase relented and put his hand up, stepping back as he opened the door all the way. She continued to glare at him over her hand and made to storm past him into the suite but stopped abruptly before even half a step was made. Chase cocked his head to the side as she stood frozen, the glare now replaced with a set of wide eyes assessing the length of his body, an angry red blush creeping across her face.

"Um…you…ah…" She stammered, confusing him with her sudden change in attitude. Her gaze trailed from his face, going a bit lower for a split second before she squeaked and clamped her eyes shut, clenching the fabric of the comforter closer to her chest. She rushed past him so fast he barely had time to dodge, and could only watch as she made a beeline for the bathroom door on the opposite side of the room. Once inside she slammed the door shut with enough force to rattle the end table. Chase was left standing there completely bewildered before it dawned on him. He looked down at himself.

Oh, right. He forgot to take the sheet with him. Chase scratched the back of his head and looked sheepishly at the bathroom door.

"Whoops."


As she sagged against the bathroom door, her chest heaving and nose aching, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation she now found herself in. The fact that she had absolutely no idea how she wound up this way wasn't helping matters. The last thing she remembered was her papa persuading her to attend the convention he was throwing.

"You've been moping around the house for two weeks now" he had said, "You should get out for at least one night."

It was true; she had been sulking for the duration of her stay at home. She couldn't help it, considering what had happened back at the temple. Her eyes darkened and she deliberately drove away the memory that was tickling at the edge of her thoughts. Now was not the time, she needed to sort this mess out first.

She remembered entering the party, bringing her favorite white gown and a stubbornly optimistic attitude along with it. The rest was completely gone, except for a fuzzy recollection of having a drink put in her hands and a whisper in her ear, accompanied by the faint scent of jasmine and musk. She sighed into her hand and yelped as it put too much pressure on her injured nose. She huffed, storming to the bathroom sink and removing her hand to examine her injury in the mirror. Lucky for that bastard, it didn't appear to be broken. Although if it had, Kimiko thought sourly, there wasn't much she'd be able to do by way of retribution. She has enough modesty in her to admit that Chase far outmatched her, all of the monks actually. At the thought of her teammates, the memory bean to test at the barriers of her will and again she had to forcefully shove it from her mind.

One problem at a time.

Her poor nose came first at the moment and she scowled at the sight of blood dripping into the sink. It was horribly bruised and bleeding gallons, but otherwise fine. Grabbing some tissues out of the golden tin next to the sink, she ripped the sheets and stuffed them into her nostrils. Satisfied with the results she decided to address the clothing problem. She scanned the expansive bathroom, past the marble sink and shining toilet before finding what she was looking for hanging delicately next to the glass shower. With a victorious smile she plucked the bathrobe from its perch, before dropping the comforter and slipping the fluffy garment on. She made her way to the bathroom door but frowned when she passed by the expansive bathtub. It was one of those exorbitantly oversized circles of a thing but its ornateness was not what caught her attention. She frowned.

What exactly was a pair of black dress pants doing there?

They lay in the tub in a crumpled heap, obviously thrown in by their owner. She wished they hadn't been. Maybe then Chase would have remembered to put them on before opening the door. Her face bloomed anew as he remembered the recent incident. She had hit him over the head with an ice bucket! Granted, she had panicked in the moment. One didn't take to kindly to waking up completely disoriented and finding your greatest enemy in bed with you. And then she had run out the door like some kind of hobbling marshmallow only to find herself outside in the unusually chilly Tokyo air. She couldn't blame Chase, honestly, for slamming the door in her face. She probably would have done the same.

That fact did not make the situation any less embarrassing. God, she had gotten a complete eyeful of him when he opened the door. She couldn't help it obviously, as there was no other direction for her eyes to go when he stood inches form her face but it was still no less mortifying. She didn't know what was worse, the fact that she had seen her greatest enemy completely exposed or the fact that she had liked what she saw. That admission was particularly mortifying. Chase was handsome, devastatingly so. One would have to be a fool not to admit it. But a pretty face covered from head to toe in armor was one thing. Seeing everything else underneath the apparel was quite another thing entirely. He almost looked like one of those Greek statues, the epitome of male perfection, at least that was her impression in the brief moment she saw his body before her panicked exit. And then of course there had been THAT. Kimiko huffed determinedly. She was NOT doing to think about THAT. It was ridiculously inappropriate despite the eyeful she had gotten only moments before. She just wasn't going to go there. Besides she had probably already went there quite enough last night and…

Kimiko slapped her hand to the side of her face with a squeak, hoping to physically derail the thought that was bubbling in her brain as she was forced to finally acknowledge the reality that hadn't quite dawned on her yet.

She had slept with Chase Young.

A sudden icy wave of absolute panic washed over her. What if the temple found out? They already thought badly of her after Raimundo. This certainly would not help in the deliberations they were currently having. This would only confirm their accusations, not to mention completely disgrace her in front of everyone she held dear. She could almost see their faces. Omi would look at her with the saddest sense of betrayal. Clay would turn away from her in shame. Master Fung would simply shake his head in scathing disapproval. And Raimundo… Raimundo was the last person she needed to think about right now.

Her fate was looking bleak indeed.

Kimiko clamped her eyes shut and hugged herself. She took a long shaky breath but refused to cry. She would not crumple into a defeated heap; she had too much pride in herself to do such a thing. She released her breath, which came out as more of an extended burst of air, and battled relentlessly against the dark fear that was beginning to consume her.

"You know the less time you sit in there moping, the more time we can use to fix this." Chase's voice rang through the door and Kimiko was quite suddenly pulled out of her dark thoughts. She unwound her arms and looked at the door as she wiped the beginnings of a meltdown from the corner of her eyes.

She had completely forgotten Chase's input in all of this. Surely he would be just as eager as her to avoid any sort of exposure on this incident. She wasn't alone. He needed a solution too and they could work to together to find one. Yes, it was Chase Young of all people.

But she wouldn't be alone.

Kimiko ruthlessly stamped the traitorous possibility of him completely abandoning her, or worse, using this for blackmail. She would stay optimistic and trust in Chase's sense of honor that he held above all else.

She walked determinedly to the door and gripped the handle resolutely, her destiny waiting on the other side.


Like it? Hate it? Want to slap me in the face with a rubber chicken for taking so long? Leave me a review and let me know!

AN