Chapter 2

(Kane and Clara)

Sitting in a leather chair is a young man of the age of nineteen, or perhaps even twenty, reading a fairly large book. Like usual, he was in his office as he typically was during the day, whether he be writing or simply catching up on reading. In the corner of the room was his writing desk with a small stack of professional note books along with a few pens resting atop of them. He was fairly mature for his age, acting much older than he was.

The sound of the office door opening made him raise his eyes from his tome. A young woman in a dark blouse and matching short skirt entered with letters in her hand, approaching him with a smile on her furry face. Being an anthropomorphic Raichu with a fair bust, wide hips, and a notable rear, she was definitely a paradise for the eyes. Even so, the young man in the chair kept eye contact as she handed him the letters.

"Here you go Mr. Krimson." she told him chipper. The young man set the book in his lap, taking the small stack of letters from her with a faint smile.

"Thank you Clara." he told her. "You don't have to keep calling me that, you know."

She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything; she couldn't say anything. Whenever she got confused she tended to go speechless. Amused, the young man in the chair gave a soft laugh.

"Just call me Kane." he told her. At first, Clara wasn't sure if it were proper to refer to him so casually. He was her trainer after all. The longer Kane chuckled the more the idea of simply calling him by his first name didn't seem as intimidating.

"Okay, Kane." she told him with a squinted smile. By the tone of her voice, she sounded like she were already in a good mood. To be honest, Kane had to admit that he had not once seen her in any other mood. She was either happy or at least fairly light hearted. Without wasting any time he began opening up the first letter.

Clara looked around his office as he read the letters as if waiting for him to say something afterward. Her eyes scanned over the large bookcase the covered the entire wall on the opposite side of the room from where Kane was sitting in the chair. It was filled with books, with a section of which being his own writing. As young as he was, Kane had filled a plethora of volumes. Even with such an accomplishment, he never really liked to talk about how much he had written or his success. Kane was never liked to boast, or at least not often.

"Not much mail today." Kane commented as he stood up with the letters in one hand and the book he had been reading in the other. He set the letters on his desk and then proceeded to put the book away in it's designated spot in the bookshelf. Clara watched him with her hands by her sides.

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked him with a slight tone of worry in her voice. Kane turned to her with a smile, putting his hands in the pockets of his black slacks.

"Not really." he told her reassuringly. "You know what they say: no news is good news."

Clara gave a wide smile along with a slight nod over head. Kane however stared at her with a frown forming on his face. Seeing this, Clara's smile also evaporated into thin air with her looking worried.

"Is something the matter?" she asked him. Kane let out a sigh, shrugging.

"I suppose." He admitted. "It's a little hard to explain."

This fact didn't help Clara feel any better, only making her more curious about what was troubling his mind. Kane turned around once again, reaching for a tome that he hadn't taken out in some time. He pulled it out, brushing the dust of it off. Heading over to his chair once again and sitting down, he motioned for Clara to do the same in a chair that sat close to his.

Without complaining in the slightest, she did as she was told. Before sitting, she grabbed her jagged tail and positioned it so it wasn't crushed as she sat down. Kane's fingertips tapped on the cover of the book as he looked into Clara's eyes.

"I think it's about time I read you something." he told her. Surprisingly, Clara seemed to be excited, not taking it as seriously as Kane was.

"I would love to listen to you read something!" she told him with her cheeks turning red from happiness. Electrical sparks started spurting out time to time from her joy. Kane sighed, unable to hold back his smile.

"I'm glad to her it," he told her. "but before I start reading, I want you to know that this is a very long story. It also has some spelling errors and grammar issues that may make me fumble when a read out loud, so try to bear with it if you can."

"We've got plenty of time." Clara said with a smile. "Besides, your entire week seems to be free so it's not like there's any rush and I've never really minded grammatical errors. I sometimes even misspell my own name if I don't pay attention."

Once again, Kane met her smile with one of his own.

"This story may get a little violent as well." Kane added. "There's a lot of fighting and action that might be a little hard for you to take in."

"Nonsense." she laughed. "I like stuff like that anyway."

"One more thing," Kane told her. "there's a lot of dirty parts."

Clara blinked, unsure what he meant. Kane sighed, feeling as if he were about to start flossing with bared wire due to the awkwardness.

"What I mean is that there is a fair amount of sexual content." Kane elaborated. That made Clara's smile get even larger.

"I honestly don't mind at all." she admitted. "I like that stuff even more..."

Kane was a little taken back with her honestly, but had to respect her for it regardless. He opened the book and was about to start reading.

"What's the book called?" Clara interrupted. Kane stopped just before he spoke the first word of the story. He looked up from the book to meet eye contact with her.

"Flame of Life." he said. The title alone made Clara excited. Not wanting to keep her on the edge of her seat (which was literally how she was sitting), Kane began to read aloud.