The girl sneered at the older boy in front of her. "Try it and you die." She told him. She spoke in the Mistryl Battle Language. He didn't respond. Whether this was because he didn't understand her or not the girl didn't know. She didn't care. Her black hair blew in her face as the wind blew, but she ignored it. The boy moved closer to her. "You brain dead. Get lost or I'll kill you." She said, this time in English. This time the boy grinned at her. He then moved so close that he could have grabbed her if he wanted to. She didn't flinch. Can't say I didn't warn you. She thought. She struck then, the knife she had produced burying deep into his chest. She quickly recoiled the way she'd been taught. He didn't move, just stared at the bleeding whole in his chest. Then he looked up at her and grinned. She was surprised. He should have fallen over dead and he was grinning at her! He then grabbed her throat and —.

"Would you fucking wake up?!" A voice from the great beyond shouted at her. It was Kristi.

Shada's first thought was how the hell did she get in, then she saw Crusher sulking in the corner. "Would you —."

"I'm awake." Shada growled, cutting her off and sitting up. "Why the hell did you let her in my room?" She asked Crusher in Old Corellian. The droid whistled forlornly. [She was yelling at you to get up and I felt it was wise to let her in. Shada closed her eyes and sighed. "You felt it was WISE?" She asked. He whistled again. [Yes, you weren't sleeping well. He was silent. [Moaning. He finished. Shada growled again. "Get out." She told Kristi through clenched teeth. "I'm awake and not going back to sleep anytime soon."

"You realize you slept in?" Kristi asked her. "You should have been up hours ago."

"I just got back from your goddamn mission and you can't let me sleep in why?" Shada asked ignoring her initial question.

"Because I need you to do some work."

"Fine." Shada said, rolling to the edge of the bed. "But, I'm not going off planet 'til the day after tomorrow."

"Whatever. Just get up and get something to eat." With that Kristi left, letting the door slide closed behind her. Shada thought about trying to go back to sleep and decided against it. She didn't want Crusher letting Kristi in her room again.

"I don't want you letting her in again." She told Crusher as she got dressed. "Got it?" He whistled an affirmative at her. [Never again. "Good. Stay here with Fang." She left, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Xander greeted her as she entered the kitchen. "Hey Shada, I was getting worried about you, you never sleep in."

"There's a first time for everything." She replied, grabbing something to eat from the fridge.

"You know, I think the only reason Kristi woke you up was that she was worried too."

"That would be surprising. Not to mention unlikely. The only one Kristi cares about is herself . . . maybe you." She sneered at Xander. "Even that's pushing it. She definitely doesn't give a rat's ass about me unless she's got me working."

"That's not entirely true, Shada." Kristi said from the doorway. "You're my daughter, and since I haven't killed you yet I must care about you just a little." She raised her eyebrow, daring Shada to come up with a response. Unfortunately for her Shada had already covered this line of thought tons of times. And Sky had once told her that she could outargue her mother any day of the year.

"You keep me alive because you need me. That's the only reason and you know it." Shada replied.

"You are good, aren't you?" Her mother replied, sarcastically. She didn't respond though. She couldn't respond. Shada was right and she had used the same cruel logic Kristi was skilled at using on Xander with the knowledge that Kristi had been at the door. It wasn't the fact that she had used the logic on Xander that agitated Kristi either. It was the fact that her daughter had actually known that Kristi had every intention of killing Shada once she was finished with the eighteen-year-old. She also knew that Shada was using her for something and once she was done with Kristi that she would kill her as well. Unfortunately, Kristi didn't know what Shada was planning or when it would be finished, but she had vowed to herself that she would be ready for the girl when she came to kill her.

"Emberlene to Kristi." Shada called. She was sneering at her. "You home in there? Or did you leave finally?"

"Shut up." Kristi noted that Shada hadn't switched languages yet. "Come on you have work to do."

Shada glanced over at Xander. "See." She said and followed Kristi out the door.

A/N: Review!!!!