Behind her, the doors slid open again. K.J. let out a soft hiss that copied the sound of their operation. She sensed someone walk up behind her without opening her eyes or turning around. She had been taught from an early age to always be aware of her surroundings and to be able to absorb every minute detail about what was happening around her in an instant.
"Hello, Love. I hope I'm not disturbing you."
She turned around, a conniving smile on her face. She looked dangerous, and all the more worthy of the position and occupation her family held.
"Gene," She said. Gene was the adopted son of the Mandarin, the one formidable power her family did not control. His mother, like hers, had died when he was young. He was of Asian descent and it showed, think black hair, almond shaped eyes that tilted up at the corners, a tall, slim body with slimmer fingers; artisan fingers, meant to pick locks, or hold a brush, or play an instrument. He was all sharp angles, high slanted cheekbones, and a lean frame. He was beautifully delicate, like a shard of glass, but just as dangerous, if not more so, and just as likely to cut quickly and cut deep. K.J.'s father had arranged a marriage between the two of them with Gene's adopted father. Both men saw it as an increase and status for their respective children. For Gene, a chance to seize control of their world, for K.J., a chance to increase the power her family already held over it. They were both under orders to manipulate the other into submission, and thus far, those orders had been ignored.
K.J. glided towards him soundlessly, looping her hand through his proffered arm. Strange that no matter how modern their world grew, their more archaic traditions remained. Arranged marriages, and public courting that was strict and unbending. Its rules were akin to those that had existed in the eighteenth century. They may all be criminals, but they were criminals who acted like gentry with a strict honor code and ideals of respectability of their own.
Together, they reentered the building, Gene's arm warm and smooth under her lightly placed fingers, his black cotton t-shirt soft against her arm.
"My father is appointing positions today. We've all come of age, there's no need to delay the selection any farther."
"Do you think he will favor you over Tievel?" Even his voice held a slight mandarin accent in it.
She smiled and it was sharp and cold, reminiscent of a piece of ice. "Teivel is a whiny brat hungry for his own gain. My father knows that I am quieter and wiser, that I command a presence of power and respect when I enter a room that none of my brothers have. I will be better for the position and my father knows this; Teivel acts brashly and lets emotion cloud his judgment while I am patient and reserved. I am the ideal, and my father is no fool."
Gene looked at her with a sad, curious expression, she did not return his gaze, just continued to stare ahead. She was always doing that. She wasn't easily distracted, she was always looking towards her goal, and nothing ever seemed to be able to move her gaze.
"I'm glad for you if it will make you happy."
She stopped, pulling away and turning, for once, to look at him. There was the strangest look on her face, not one that Gene had ever seen there.
"Come with me a moment," She said, her voice clipped. She grabbed his arm and he followed her, startled, into her lab.
"Don't you have to go to the meeting?" He asked. He was confused. K.J. was usually so…detached from her feelings. They were dating, they were engaged after all, but she had never really shown that she loved him or cared what happened to him. She treated him just about the same as she treated everyone else.
She dashed the question away with her hand. "Not for a while and I can afford to be late."
He jumped onto one of the counters; she leaned against another opposite to his own. The room was covered in half completed prototypes on counters like these. In the corner were a couch and a love seat that faced a wide screen TV, the only homey area in the entire area. Huge computer screens were on each of the walls all frozen on home pages that hid what she was actually working on.
She studied him for a moment and he looked at her, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?"
She sighed, turning her sharp gaze away from him. "I don't agree with what's been happening here. I want to change things, but my father has made our people too greedy. They long for power and grab too much. Dark cannot overcome and destroy the light just as light cannot blaze through the shadowy confines of the dark. There must be balance, Gene. My father once understood this, but since Agace died, he has hungered without thought of what is right. I do not want this, but know that I must take control if we are to have any hope." She turned her eyes back to him. "Do you understand?"
He slid off the counter and reached her in a step. Her hands were crossed against her chest; he slid his hands over her shoulders and down, feeling the lithe muscles even through the heavy fabric of her jacket. She looked up at him, her expression unreadable as he untwined her arms and his hands trailed down to her own.
"Yes," he said, "I think I do." Gently, he pressed his lips to hers. She broke it off after a heartbeat and laid her head on his chest, wrapping her skinny arms around him.
"I love him and I hate him. I love this life and I hate it. Emotions are so…complicated."
He laughed softly. K.J. was usually such and uncaring person, hearing her talk about anything like this was strange and unexpected. The very idea of it in his head was peculiar, but he knew that this whole concept was different for her as well. He brushed his lips against the top of her head.
"I know. So what are you going to do?"
She pulled away, and there was something in her eyes, a weight and a toughness that spoke of her determination and dedication to whatever new task she had set before herself.
"I'm going to fight. I must."
