Oh hello there again!
Yes, guess who has decided to emerge from underneath their rock lol? Not me, I'm too classy to live under a rock XD
Anyway, here is another chapter of Fate for all you SonyaXKano addicts out there :D Chock full with those little moments just for you my dear readers!
Oh, I hope you enjoy ;)
Fate
Chapter 9
As Kano smothered the still-smoking fire, he was well aware of Sonya glaring daggers at his back. He let out a sigh; she really didn't need to make this any harder than it had to be. But as he straightened and prepared to turn around, Sonya got up herself and stalked away. Kano blinked at her departure and after fixing his spare Butterfly Knife to his right leg, he turned and followed her.
Sonya had walked over to the giant Centaurian once again and seemed to be inspecting the fallen warrior with a look of irritation. No doubt she was unhappy that she hadn't been able to defeat her opponent herself... and that she had to rely on him. Yeah, that probably would have been the one.
Sonya turned her head slightly at Kano's approach, but other than that made no other sign of knowing he was there. She stood rigidly like a statue, with her arms crossed across her chest and let out a deep sigh. Kano cocked his head to look at her expectantly, and sure enough she began to speak.
"So, what happened then?"
Kano smirked at the slight resentment in her voice and was sure to answer in a very satisfied tone.
"Hmmm, why so curious darling?"
Sonya's shoulders tensed at his reply and Kano humorously thought that he better continue before he got her too ticked off.
"Well, if you are really desperate to know, I'll tell you then," started Kano before he cleared his throat dramatically. Sonya was still motionless but it was obvious that her temper was close to breaking again.
"Hmm, well I was I was just strolling throughout the forest looking for someone who was rude enough to punch me in the stomach when I heard this almighty shriek to my right. Feeling that any lead was better than none at all, I followed my gut. And sure enough, who do I see with a big whopping spear in their shoulder with this big ole brute on the other end. Oh, that's you by the way."
Sonya let out a stiff sigh and raised her chin, conscious of the fact that her shoulder injury had begun to itch. She was also aware that Kano had silently taken another step closer to her before he continued.
"Well, I thought to myself 'I can't just let that dear Sonya Blade bleed to death.' So being the dashing hero I am, I dove in and fought off against that Centaurian. Sure he took a few bits with me, but I got him in the end. Put my trusty dagger to good use and gave it a new home."
Sonya turned her head slightly again to stare back at Kano, who's eyes glinted back at her. She hadn't noticed before, but his left ear seemed to have been missing a big chunk. It looked like someone had carved a slice of flesh from the middle of his ear. Even though it probably was a childish thought, Sonya felt slightly smug at the fact that he had also emerged from the encounter with battle scars.
"And after I had finished him off, I turned back to you. It was quite annoying actually; the fact that the bugger had yanked the spear out with him made it that much harder to stop you bleeding. After I had patched you up, I looked after your other boo-boos."
Sonya scoffed accusingly and turned away from him, "Yeah, you tore my shirt."
Kano shrugged and spoke carelessly, "Well I wasn't going to tear my vest; quality leather right there. Anyway, at least I tore your shirt from the bottom, eh?"
Sonya was wordless at this response, which Kano took as a cue to continue.
"Anyway, my careful medical examination told me that your ribs were feeling a bit tender as well, but not much I could do to help there. But the dislocated elbow was something I could help you with. And that was pretty much it. Without further adieu, I decided that it would be best to set up camp. Because I doubt you would have been too thrilled to be carried around again. So, I fended off the big bad Centaurian, sorted you out and made you a fire; I think that you owe me one."
Sonya's eyes narrowed and she swung her fist around, aiming to hit Kano straight in the nose. How dare he have such cheek to say something like that? But her injured shoulder made her slow and clumsy, and Kano easily caught her wrist before it had even come close to him. The smirk on his face had grown; with the odds on his favour, she had expected him to be confident. Not to say it didn't get on her nerves.
"Sonya, Sonya, Sonya," Kano began in a taunting sing-song voice. "Just when I think you've stopped, you completely surprise me."
Sonya's eyes narrowed and she pulled back on his hold stubbornly. "Let me go."
Kano rolled his eyes lazily. "You seem to be saying that a lot lately."
Sonya's glare became fiercer and with one swift motion, she brought her boot crunching down on Kano's toes with little mercy. With a muffled yelp, Kano released Sonya and jumped back. Sonya took her chance and turned on her heel, unable to stop a smirk of her own coming to her face. But before she spoke, she adopted a harder expression.
"I am tired of standing around. I'm going that way."
She purposefully strode off in one direction with a determined expression on her face.
"Well, hate to break it to you, but you're going the wrong way." Kano wriggled his toes momentarily before walking over to where Sonya stood frozen at hearing his words. Kano's confidence returned and he walked to stand in front of her.
"Said who?" Sonya challenged fiercely.
Kano shook his head and chuckled, "Well the one who overheard the Tarkata discussing the location of the portal... not to mention that this certain somebody actually saw where said portal is and knows how to use it."
It was impossible for Sonya to miss the smugness in Kano's voice, but it forced her to stop and think. If Kano knew where the portal was and how to use it, that meant that she could get out of this realm. But...
"What's in it for you?"
At this Kano smiled again, his single eye sparkling with amusement. He stepped forward and closer, with Sonya needing a lot of self-control to not step back and raise her head instead.
"Well, I get to accompany you huh? That seems like a good deal in itself."
*ShadowForceSilver*
The silence between Kano and Sonya as they walked could only be described as awkward, or maybe a little forced on Sonya's part. She walked behind Kano in a stiff manner, suspiciously glaring at Kano's back; a complete idiot could tell that she was in no way happy with these arrangements. Kano however wasn't bothered by her icy attitude and made cheerful if not unanswered conversation.
"What's your favourite colour?" He asked randomly and absentmindedly.
He slowly pushed a low hanging branch forward as he walked past it, holding it back as Sonya approached. Sonya looked at him oddly before stubbornly walking around both Kano and the branch before continuing. Kano shrugged his shoulders before he released the branch, making it whip back into its position with a loud swiping noise.
"I thought we agreed not to talk," Sonya replied shortly.
Kano looked over his shoulder to see the impatient blonde leaning against a tree, regarding him with burning eagle eyes. And she seemed quite unwilling to continue on. He wondered why she was bothering to wait for him; did she really need him to hold her hand? Not that he would have minded.
"Well, that was a silent agreement then. It surely wouldn't hurt to answer a harmless little question, would it?"
Kano had sauntered over towards her before pausing momentarily, slightly confused when she still simply watched him pass. He sighed comically and turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"Well, you didn't like my first question, so here's another one; why do you refuse to walk in front? I honestly don't bite."
Sonya scoffed at Kano's tone; a fleet retort passed over her mind but she wasn't willing to give him any satisfaction. She instead crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why would I be stupid enough to walk somewhere with you in my blind spot?"
Kano shook his head at her tauntingly. "I thought we agreed we were working together. You are a very untrustworthy person you know."
Sonya ground her teeth and stepped forward, using all her self-control not to yell at him. "I agreed I would work with you solely for the purpose of getting out of here. That doesn't mean I trust you! And given the circumstances, I probably nev-"
"Shush."
It wasn't the order that halted Sonya halfway through her sentence; it was the unexpectedness of it. Moments ago, Kano was teasing and taunting. Now he sounded serious and alert. Sonya was about to demand what his problem was before she heard it too.
From the direction they came, some beast uttered a loud roar of rage. By some unseen signal, more roars, hisses and snarls arose from the same direction. Whatever beasts they were, they sounded angry; the kind of 'I'm looking for a fight' angry. Sonya half wished that whatever beasts they were, they weren't hungry.
But she knew that the sounds were familiar; not just some simple beast of Outworld. A creature a lot more advanced than a primary predator. But she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then it hit her. The cries for bloodlust were all too similar to the ones surrounding her on the night of her capture.
"Tarkata," she said tonelessly.
Kano nodded sharply in agreement. "Looks like our pale friend has been discovered. Let's go."
Without waiting for a response, Kano turned on his heel and walked briskly through the forest foliage. Sonya turned back behind her momentarily to gaze at the direction of the beastly shrieks. She sighed and reminded herself once again that her only other choice besides certain death was unfortunately Kano. Although it was sensible, it still took a lot of willpower to go along with it.
"Sonya," Kano called back in a low voice, his cyber eye glinting through the grassy green colours of the forest. "Let's get a move on, shall we?"
Kano was making it even harder by bossing her around or trying to annoy her.
"Quit telling me what to do!" Sonya hissed back furiously. She gave Kano a deathly glare before she too disappeared into the leafy walls of the Outworld woods.
*ShadowForceSilver*
"Damn it!" Sonya cursed herself quietly as the leather pouch fell from her hand and tumbled to the ground, gripping her shoulder painfully. Earlier, she had told Kano that she was more than capable of carrying one of the pouches without giving him much of a choice. But she had underestimated how unstable a stab wound caused by a huge spear could be. The moment she had swung the pouch over her injured shoulder, a fresh wave of pain struck her directly in the shoulder.
Kano stopped walking and turned around to regard Sonya curiously, who stared back with a mix of embarrassment and indifference. As he turned to walk towards her, Sonya dropped her gaze and bent down to pick up the pouch. She bit her tongue to prevent a cry coming out; looks like Kano was right about the cracked ribs. At least the pain let her know she was alive.
"Allow me."
Sonya looked up into the face of Kano, who had bent down to retrieve the pouch first. Sonya grimaced and let out an annoyed sigh; why was she being treated like a damsel in distress because of a stupid shoulder?
"I could have done that myself, you know," she objected quietly.
Kano grinned at her and got up, opening the pouch and sorting through its contents momentarily.
"I know, baby. But you do lack the ability to ask for help, you know," he answered mischievously.
He offered his hand to help her get up, but Sonya stubbornly pushed herself up from the ground. She rubbed her side softly while determinedly and smugly looking back at him. Similar to the branch incident earlier, Kano took no offence and simply shook his head in amusement.
"You just proved my point."
Sonya rolled her eyes at him and went to turn away, but was halted by Kano's firm grip on her other shoulder. As she lifted her other hand to slap away Kano's hand, he almost effortlessly lifted his own arm to deflect Sonya's defence. Sonya let out an annoyed growl and took a deep breath, glaring daggers at Kano's calm face.
"What?" She asked in a dangerous tone.
"You know Sonya, for a Special Forces Agent, you can be bloody stupid." Kano told her in a conversational tone.
"Hey!" Sonya's eyes narrowed; that was a bit uncalled for.
Kano tilted his head thoughtfully; true, he could have gone about that in a more delicate manner.
"Ok then, let me put it this way; would you storm on knowing you have an injury or two?"
Sonya looked at him like he had asked her something utterly stupid. Kano furrowed his brow and tried again.
"At least let me look at it. I'm not carrying you around if you pass out from blood poisoning."
Nice, simple and straight to the point. Sonya sighed and raised her free hand in angry submission.
"Fine then. The sooner we get this over with the better." She didn't want to set up camp when they still had at least half of the day left to get to the portal.
Kano smiled smugly and gestured over to his right where there was a large boulder under one of the darker leafed trees in the forest. Sonya let out another groan of irritation and dragged herself over to the boulder, sitting down heavily and crossing her arms. Kano looked around his surroundings before moving towards a few bushes across from the boulder where Sonya waited impatiently.
"What are you doing?" She asked in a slightly frantic voice.
Without looking at her, Kano leant down onto his knees and selected a few dry twigs that had snapped off from the bushes. They crumbled easily in his hand, making him sigh irritably.
"Calm down sweet-cheeks, I was just seeing if I could get a fire going... but the kindling around here is pretty crappy."
He shrugged his shoulders and got back onto his feet; it would have been a lot better if he could heat some water. But the fact that he had nothing to heat in it... that cooking pot was looking really good right now. Ah well, Kano had always learned to make the best of every situation. He could make do with water and bandages.
He strode back to Sonya's side and unsheathed his dagger, causing Sonya to shy away cautiously. Kano let out a sigh again and paused momentarily.
"You know baby, if we are going to be getting out of here together, you might have to be a bit more... trusting."
Sonya's look of caution turned to one of defiance; hadn't they been through this? She was in no way going to entrust her life to a back-stabbing, lying, distrustful, sneaky criminal.
Seeing Sonya's look, Kano lowered his blade and crossed his own arms.
"Well, let's consider this option; until we get out of here, I won't try and kill you and you won't try to kill me. Hmm?"
Sonya bit her lip and slowly uncrossed her arms, letting out a deep breath while shedding her vest, leaving her only in her tank top. Kano silently exhaled too; so she did have some reason buried under all that stubbornness. He raised the blade again and slowly slipped it under the bandage that covered Sonya's shoulder, causing her to shiver again.
"Don't get too excited," Kano said to her cheekily. Sonya's face went a little red and she let out an annoyed huff.
He sliced the bandage slowly and gently lifted it away, pausing when the bandage over the actual wound refused to give way. Frowning slightly, he reached into the pouch at his waist and retrieved one of the metal flasks. He gently unscrewed the lid and poured a steady theme of water over the bandage, being careful not to use too much.
"I hope we find a river or something soon, or we might get a tad thirsty."
While he waited for the water to work its magic, he washed his own hands before he cut out a small strip from the bundle of cloth he had and soaked it in the water from the now-empty canteen also. Sonya was unable to find any more patience and made a small sound towards Kano who looked up inquisitively. Without saying anything, he nodded and prepared to slowly tear away the bandage.
Once he had removed the bandage, he used the water soaked strip to gently dab at the wound on Sonya's shoulder, noting to himself that it didn't look as angry as it did last night. Granted, it still was looking pretty raw, much more open than he would have liked. But it at least it wasn't bleeding as bad as it was the night before.
Sonya edged her gaze over to watch Kano work over the wound despite the queasy feeling in her stomach; she was always able to handle wounds on her comrades but not so much on herself. She bit her lip and turned away as Kano's gaze briefly rose to her own before dropping back down to his work.
After he felt that the wound had had sufficient cleaning, he tossed away the bloodied cloth and retrieved the roll of the cleaner and whiter material in his pouch. Before cutting it however, he wrapped the material around Sonya's shoulder tightly to try and prevent more bleeding and hopefully help the wound to heal. Once he had wrapped the bandage around her shoulder a few more times, he cut the end off and tied it into the bandage neatly. Leaning back on his heels, Kano let out a satisfied sound to himself.
"We can go now, right?"
Sonya moved to rise, but Kano placed his hand on her arm once again.
"Wait a tick, will you?" Kano gestured to his own rib cage before pointing back to her. "How's your ribs going?"
Sonya bit her lip and curiously inched her shirt up a little bit, just enough to see the dark purple bruise spreading out across her stomach. It hurt to breathe in or out too deeply, and just jolting the area sent a sickening bout of pain through her. But she wasn't willing to admit that much.
"I'll live," Sonya answered simply before shakily getting to her feet.
Kano laughed silently as he stood up beside her, steadying her by the shoulder as she staggered for a moment.
"There's no stopping you is there?"
Sonya turned to look at him and pushed herself into a serious demeanour, placing her hands on her hips and adopting a strong tone.
"Look, I appreciate it. Really. But we can't afford to just stand around and waste time!"
Without waiting for a response, Sonya turned away from him and busied herself with packing the roll of cloth back into the leather pouch. As she rose again, she fixed the pouch to her belt and began stretching her uninjured shoulder slowly. Although it was true that she wanted to get back on track as soon as they possibly could, she knew the real reason why she wanted to change topics.
She had very rarely been close to the man that had betrayed her without one of them threatening the other, and felt the situation was undeniably awkward. But deep down, she knew that she was really afraid of what possibilities could arise. And that thought bewildered her more than anything.
Heh heh heh. You guys can draw your own conclusions from that (I'm keeping my eye on you Desi XD), but on another note... what did you think of the last scene. It just... felt a bit out of it for me lol... Ehh, could just be me... but let me know lol XD
Oh and I have a juicy juicy tidbit for you guys (sorry Desi, but I changed it XD); Sonya and Kano wanted a river, so one of my next moments will have to do with um... nah I'm evil remember XD
As always, read, rate and review XD
Til next time
Shadow :)
