Just so we're clear, this IS a ChronaxMaka pairing story. Don't let my hinting at other pairings fool you.
...
Questioning authority was something that Chrona learned at a very young age to never ever do. Although he might not understand something, Medusa-sama always knew best. He eventually got the point where he didn't even wonder why anymore. He just obeyed, blindly. He didn't need to know, as long a mother did.
When he first met Maka, and she told him that the hunting of human souls was forbidden, he didn't think much of it. She obviously was not under the same authority as him. Maybe her higher ups forbid her from doing it, but he didn't answer to them. He answered to Medusa-sama, and Medusa-sama said it was okay. Medusa-sama told him to do it. And he listened, unquestioning. He wasn't even a loyal son. He was a puppet.
And really, it wasn't even him. It was Ragnarok. Ragnarok was the one eating the souls. Ragnarok was the one Medusa wanted to get stronger. Chrona's only purpose was to wield him, and also to make it easier for Medusa to control him. Medusa melted down Ragnarok and fused him into Chrona so that she would have power over him. Ragnarok was the one she wanted to make stronger, not Chrona. Granted, Ragnarok's strength was Chrona's strength, but that was just a casualty in her eyes. The focus was Ragnarok. The power was for Ragnarok. Chrona was just the puppet.
He wasn't daft, he knew what was happening. Ragnarok's soul was getting stronger. It was overpowering his own. Eventually, it would've shallowed him. Chrona's soul would've become just another one of the hundreds that Ragnarok had eaten. Chrona always thought that maybe that's what Medusa intended. She wanted Ragnarok to get stronger. She spent years building him up. They spent years devouring souls. With each new soul, Ragnarok got alittle bit stronger. Each new soul eaten was another step closer to Chrona's soul being lost as well. And there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. Ragnarok was the one with all the power. He was the one getting stronger.
What Maka had done was amazing. With one touch, she took all that power away from Ragnarok. Just one touch. Years of soul hunting, gone. With one hug. One hug had saved Chrona's life. Suddenly, he was in control again. He wasn't being overpowered anymore. He wasn't at the mercy of his own blood anymore. He wasn't doomed to swallowed up by his weapon. With one touch.
He may have not have consciously realized it then, but it was at that moment that Maka became his angel.
...
Maka wandered through the streets of Death City. It wasn't late, but it was getting dark. There were clouds in the sky, threatening to storm. She would not ordinarily be out at this time, in these conditions, but she was on a mission.
She couldn't find either of her parents. She had come home to an empty house. She knew her parents were busy people, they were both higher ups at the academy, Papa being a Death Scythe and Mama a three-star meister. But she never didn't know where they were. If they were ever not going to be home, they would tell her before hand, or at least leave a note. There was nothing. Just an empty, quiet house. She'd tried to call both of them, only to find both of their cell phones were in the house. She called Shinigami-sama via mirror to ask if they had gone on an emergency mission, which was known to happen from time to time. Not often, but not unheard of. When Shinigami said no, she got scared.
She knew both her parents were perfectly capable of handling themselves, but not knowing what was going on, or where they were put knots in her stomach. She didn't know what else to do, so she left to look for them.
She checked the grocery store, the coffee shop, the book store, every place she could think of that her parents could've possibly passed through. She didn't understand, how could they both have just disappeared? Where could they have gone? Without telling her? What should she do? Should she just go home and wait? What else could she do?
The longer she roamed around Death City, the more anxious she got. She was scared and she didn't know what to do. Maybe she should just go home. She didn't really have any other options. It had started raining, and she was cold. She felt like crying.
With no other ideas, she started home again. Maybe Mama and Papa would be there waiting for her. Maybe they'd scold her for making them worry. Lecture her about how she shouldn't go out alone like that without telling anyone because you never know what kind of creeps you might run into. Honestly, she'd take a lecture and scolding gladly in that moment. She just wanted her parents to be home.
They would definitely scold her if they knew she was going through the sleazy part of town, but it was the fastest way home and she was anxious to get there. She hugged herself and quickened her pace, her nose wrinkling up as the air became tainted with the smell of booze and cigarettes. There was trash on the ground and nearly naked women standing outside buildings that looked questionable. Some people shot her glances, but no one bothered her. She was only twelve, not much to look at.
She was so busy looking around, she didn't notice the bump on the sidewalk until she had tripped over it. The wet stone walkway added to her slip and, in a moment of panic, she found herself rushing towards a face plant, with no way to stop her fall. She let out a yelp. She was going to fall and break her face on the sidewalk.
She didn't. Someone had shot out of no where and caught her before she hit the ground. Maka looked up and saw a woman she didn't recognize.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" The woman asked. Maka nodded numbly. She was still somewhat stunned from her near accident. She looked the woman over. She had a sweet voice, but her body portrayed anything but sweet. Her clothes were near gone, and what little clothing she did have were a size to small, making her huge breast spill out of her top. Her face could've been pretty, if she chiseled off a few layers of make up. She had long blonde hair that clearly needed a deep conditioning.
"Thank you." Maka said. The woman was eyeing her strangely. It made her alittle uncomfortable.
"Your welcome, hon." She said back. "What are you doing out here at this time, in this weather?" Her face then lit up like she realized something. She pointed a red polished finger towards her. "Oh, you're Spirit's daughter, aren't you?"
Maka perked up instantly. How did this woman know her? How did she know her Papa? She nodded vigorously.
The woman smiled. "I thought so! He keeps a picture of you in his wallet. I've seen it a few times when he gets his money out."
What.
Maka felt her throat close up ever so slightly. "H-h-how do you know my Papa?"
"Oh, he's a regular here." The woman gestured to the building behind her. It looked like some kind of bar/lounge/club/whatever. All Maka could figure from it was, if she were grown and married, this would be the last place she would want her husband to be. It looked shady. What business would he have in a place like this that he needed to be here 'regularly'? Well, she'd worry about that later.
"Have you seen him recently?" She asked. She could feel the lump in her throat rising up. "I've been looking for him all night and I can't f-find him." Her voice cracked at the last part.
The woman's eyes grew wide, her brows knit together. "Oh, sweetheart." She said, her voice concerned. "He's here now."
What.
What.
What?
That's all Maka could think, but her voice came up with nothing. She could feel her face get hot, her throat closing just alittle bit more. Her expression must've portrayed her feelings, because the woman's face grew ever more sympathetic. "He's been here for... I think the past couple of hours."
Maka finally could manage one word. "What?"
"C'mon, I'll take you to him." The woman took Maka's hand and led her into the building. The lights were dim, the air was smokey, and the music was deafening. People flooded this place, from wall to wall. There were near naked women flirting and touching all sorts of drunk men. Maka gripped the woman's hand tightly, not wanted to get separated from her. She felt this woman was nice, but she had no idea what kind of people these others were. This was absolutely the last place her Papa should be, and that fact made her throat tighten even more.
The woman led her through the main club room to a back room. This room had more of a lounge feeling to it. The lights were still dim, but the music was easier, and it wasn't as crowded. It took Maka only seconds to find her father's red hair sticking out among the other people. He sat in the back corner of the room, red in the face, laughing, and covered in women. There was a woman on his lap, one leaning against his shoulder, and one sitting on the table in front of him, her legs crossed flirtatiously. Next the that woman were many empty beer bottles.
"Spirit!" The woman holding Maka's hand called out to him. All the women he was surrounded by looked up before he did. They seemed surprised by her presents.
"Romy, what are you doing?" One woman said. "You can't bring a minor in here!"
The woman, Romy, apparently, ignored her. "Spirit, I think you've upset your daughter." Her words were firm, scolding almost. Maka liked Romy.
"Daughter?" Another woman said. They all waited for Spirit's drunken mind to catch up and say something.
"Daughter?" Spirit repeated. His eyes landed on Maka, took in how she looked, her wide, scared eyes, her dripping wet hair and clothes, her trembling lip, and the tears the had begun to brim, and he sobered up almost immediately. "Maka?!" He practically pushed the women off of him and jumped up, stumbling greatly due to his buzz. "W-whateryou doing here?!" His speech was slurred. It made Maka sick.
"What are YOU doing here?" Maka said back. She would've yelled, but she didn't for two reasons. The first, she didn't want to draw anymore attention than she already had, and two, she had to keep her voice in check, less she break down and the tears flow freely. She knew her father was a flirtatious man, she knew that his flirting was the cause of most of her parents' problems, she knew he was always very quick to pay attention to other women, she had always regarded his actions with disapproving annoyance, but this...
This was too much.
Romy seemed to sense how upset Maka was, so she spoke instead. "Your little girl has been walking the streets, in the rain, looking for you, Spirit."
Upon hearing this, the other women seemed shocked and looked at Spirit with disapproving expressions. Spirit was about to say something, defend himself, but Maka didn't give him the chance.
"Why are you in a place like this? You're married. Does Mama know you're here?" Her voice came out in short gasps. She felt a jerking in her chest that didn't allow her to speak clearly. The sound made the scantily clad women look at her with eyes full of sympathy. "I came home and you weren't there, I called the academy and no one knew where you were, I thought something happened to you, I was scared!"
"Oh, honey..."
"Spirit, how could do that to her?"
"Just look how scared she is, poor little thing..."
Spirit ignored the women's comments. His face displayed nothing but guilt, but Maka seriously questioned whether he could even process what she was saying. His eyes were blood shot, his cheeks red, his stance slumped. No, no, she was not about to stand here and give a damned drunk the chance to defend himself. There was only one true answer he could give anyway. And that was that he didn't give a damn about her or Mama.
Without another thought, Maka turned and ran. She ran out the door to this back room and found herself, once again, in the crowded, smoky, flashing main room of this club. She had no idea were the front door was, much less anyway to get through this crowd. She felt like a damned fool. Here she had been seriously worrying about her father, and he had been shit faced, covered in women the whole time. And she still didn't know where Mama was. The tears had already started flowing down her cheeks, she feared she looked as pathetic as she felt.
She felt an arm go around her shoulders. She tensed, thinking it her father, but it wasn't. It was the same woman, Romy. "Come on, honey." She led her through the crowd again, pushing aside drunk men and near naked women so that Maka could get through, and exited out the same door they had come in. By the time they reached outside, Maka had begun sobbing. She strained to stay as quiet as possible, to prevent anymore attention drawn to herself, but her choking sounds couldn't be held back.
Romy rubbed Maka's back comfortingly. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Here, on your way home, stop and get yourself something to eat." She put the money in Maka's coat pocket before she had a chance to decline the offer.
Maka's body shook with each sob. It took her a moment, but she forced herself to calm down enough so that she could speak. "Th-th-thank you." She stuttered, shivering from both the cold, and her emotional state. "Th-thank you for... h-helping me."
"Oh, anytime, honey." Romy pulled her close to her and kissed the top of her head. "Now go on home. Your Mama is probably there now, waiting for you." Unable to speak anymore, Maka just nodded. As she turned and walked down the street, it hit her.
A prostitute had just shown more concern for her in ten minutes than her father had in the past couple of years.
...
Maka woke up, once again, at an ungodly hour of the morning. Her face was wet with tears from the dream she had had. Because it wasn't a dream. It was a memory.
Spirit had always been a flirtatious man, Maka's whole life had been spent watching him schmooze other women, but that night at that club was the first time in Maka's life that she had actually been forced to acknowledge something that she had dared not think about up until then. And that was that her father could, and probably had, cheated on her mother.
One of the things she hated most about the sting left in her chest by her parents split was that she couldn't really talk to anyone about it. Well, she could, of course, but she didn't. She wanted to, but she knew if she did, she'd have to hold back was she really thought because everyone would say the same thing. She actually felt like her parents' split was her fault, and she knew everyone would try and tell her that wasn't true. She knew they'd say that, so why bother?
Truth was, Maka didn't think her parents were ever meant to be together, no matter how bad she wanted them to. She really did believe that they loved each other, but sometimes, love just wasn't enough. She felt that the only reason her parents got married was because they conceived her by accident as teenagers. They were young and stupid and screwed around and got pregnant by mistake. Maka knew she was a mistake, anyone who tried to disagree with her was just fucking stupid. Her mother was 17 and her father was 18. People would always mistake Maka and her mother for sisters, because Kami was too young to have a daughter Maka's age. But here she was.
All men in there late teenage years like to flirt and screw around, Spirit was no exception. Tying the knot with his pregnant girlfriend wasn't about to stop him from being a typical man who wasn't ready to settle down yet. In fact, he probably only did it to shut her up. Marriage didn't change anything except Kami's last name.
Sometimes, Maka wondered if her parents' relationship would've worked out if she hadn't come along. By being there, she forced them together. And just like any other thing you try to force together, it made them want to break apart. They didn't want to be together because they had to. Maka wondered if maybe they could've come together on their own and made it work had she not come along.
She remembered her mother telling her stories about when she was born. Obviously, being first time parents at such a young age had sufficiently scared the living daylights out of both of them, especially Spirit. Mama had told Maka that, scared as she was, she could feel the little soul inside of her and she knew that it would be okay. She said that, even though they hadn't met yet, she could feel little Maka growing inside her, and she knew that she loved her. She said she never ever thought she could love something so much as she did Maka.
Spirit never told her stories like that. But Mama had also said that she knew he wasn't as okay with their teen pregnancy as she was, simply because he didn't have the privilege of feeling the baby grow and bonding with it before it even took it's first breath. Mama had told her that the first time she saw him truly become a father, was when he held her for the first time. She said that was the first time she ever saw Spirit shed tears, with a big smile on his face and a baby girl in his arms.
Maybe that was all fine and good back then, but Maka could give two shits about that now. The fact of the matter was that Spirit fucked up. She wouldn't let sweet baby stories or 'young and naive' excuses cloud her better judgement. There was no forgiving what he did to her mother, and in turn, what he did to their family.
Maka rolled onto her back and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, and then realized she was actually wearing a sleeve. She never wore sleeves to bed, what was this?
Oh, right. She had come straight home from the hospital. This was Chrona's sweater.
Oh God, what a day. She didn't want to think about it. She would just start crying again. Nothing was going her way. It started off bad and just got worse. This wasn't what she wanted her return to be like. She wondered if it even possible at this point to repair the damage that had been done.
Ugh, don't think about it. The tightening feeling in her chest was a cue to stop, lest she really start crying. She had just woken up and already was so upset. How pathetic. She threw her arms over her face, trying to focus on something else and force her heartbeat back to normal.
The sleeves smelled like flowers. Like Chrona. She brought the bend of her elbow to her face and inhaled. It smelled just like him. She rolled onto her side and wrapped her arms around herself. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could pretend Chrona was holding her. That's what she needed, was some cuddles. She wished he were here to actually hold her. Chrona was the only one she really felt safe with. Not safe like, safe from danger exactly, but... She felt like he was the only one she didn't have to worry about being judged by. She could be herself with him, because she knew he would never look down on her, like the others did. Of course, they would never admit to thinking she was weak, but they didn't have to. She could tell. She could feel the pity in their wavelengths when they looked at her. It made her sick. She didn't need their damn pity.
Chrona never looked at her with pity. When he looked at her, she felt him fill up with admiration, and that made her so happy. He was worried for her, just like everyone else, but it was different. She knew that he knew that she was better than this. Even after being gone for so long, he still felt like she was his protector, just like before she left. Even after all this nonsense with her scars and tattoo, he still looked at her like everywhere she stepped was scared ground. She could feel it.
She may not have learned what she wanted to on her trip, but she did learn alot. Her Mama was the best teacher she'd ever had, and there was very little she didn't know about souls. She taught Maka alot, and not to be big headed, but Maka considered herself pretty knowledgable herself now. Souls could tell you anything, if you focused hard enough and knew what to look for. There was little Maka couldn't tell from a person's soul. She could read their emotions, their fears, their desires, she could practically read their thoughts. It was a hard skill to learn, but once she mastered it, it felt so natural.
She had alot taught her alot about soul vibrations, which was how high or low a person's wavelength was. It was surprisingly simply to adjust your vibrations, it was all based on emotions and one's disposition. Things like joy, love, excitement, contentment, laughter, things that made you feel good, they raised one's vibration higher, making the wavelength stronger. Things like anger, jealousy, hatred, sadness, fear, things that made you feel bad, they had the opposite affect. They lowered the vibrations, making the wavelength weaker. The weaker the wavelength, the harder resonation was to achieve.
Maka sighed. She certainly was not vibrating very high after all that had happened recently.
Maybe she had been going about this the wrong way. Maybe she just needed to take some time to rise her vibration back up. Her vibration had been crazy high before her accident, and raising it was as easy as doing things that made you happy. She knew she was strong, and had gotten stronger, she just hadn't had a chance to prove it yet.
A sound soul dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body. Her body definitely was not sound, but maybe she could at least get her mind to be.
She smelled her sleeve again. Chrona. Chrona made her happy. Maybe she should spend some time with Chrona.
She wanted to be with him tonight. She wondered briefly if it would be inappropriate to ask him if she could spend the night. She glanced at her bedside clock. 4:32 AM flashed back at her. Well, there goes that.
She just wanted to cuddle with him. She wanted him to hold her. She had never really imagined every wanting to sleep in the same bed as him before, but it didn't feel strange to be thinking it. It felt normal. It was innocent, after all. She just wanted to cuddle.
Well, great. Now she was sad AND lonely.
The pressure built up in her chest again as she sluggishly crawled out of bed and rose to her feet. She shuffled out of her bedroom and down the hall until she reached a door. As silently as possible, she opened it and peered in. It was pitch black dark, save for a small glow provided by the moonlight shining in through the window. It wasn't enough to see by, but it gave the contents of the room a slight outline, so at least she didn't trip on anything as she tip toed across the floor.
When her knee hit the side of the bed, she stopped and slowly lowered herself onto her knees. She reached out blindly until her hand brushed soft hair. She traced her fingers down until her palm was against a warm cheek. "Soul?"
She heard him give a small sigh. She dragged her hand lower, resting now on his shoulder, and she gave it a small nudge. "Soul."
He shifted, stirring from his sleep. He made some incoherent noises before she heard him say, "Maka?" His voice was quiet, the tiredness weighing heavily on each word. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry I woke you." Dammit. It was happening already. Her words were quiet, but the choking sound could be heard anyway. "Can I sleep in here?"
He didn't answer verbally, but slowly scooted backward and pulled the covers back. She was already shaking from silent tears as she crawled in bed with him. Soul wasted no time, even in his drowsy state, in pulling her to his chest. As she buried her face in his neck, she felt guilty for waking him with this God awful display, but she couldn't stand to be alone anymore. He kissed her forehead and lazily stroked her hair comfortingly. She could feel that she was getting the front of his shirt wet. She didn't even know why she was crying. It's not like she didn't have plenty of reason to, but she didn't have anything particular in mind. She was just... crying.
It felt good though. It felt like she was releasing all the pressure that had built up inside her. Maybe she had been right. She was looking at her situation the wrong way. She needed to stop focusing on the bad stuff and focus on the good stuff. It would be okay. She would be okay.
She wrapped her arms around Soul's waist and squeezed as she continued to cry on him. She really did love Soul, and was so happy she had him. He really felt like a twin brother to her. She knew she could count on him for anything. He had been the one to save her from her father earlier that day.
Honestly, she'd rather be in someone else's arms, but she'd take what she could get. She loved Soul, but he still had that air about him that lead Maka to believe that he thought she was weak. Not a 'haha, you weak pathetic little weak thing' kind of weak, but more of a 'you poor weak little thing, you need to be taken care of because you're weak' kind of weak. Chrona was still the only one who didn't think she was weak, not in the slightest.
She had never really thought much of it, but she liked Chrona. She liked Chrona alot.
...
The harsh buzzing sound of Soul's alarm that early in the morning was quite possibly the most God awful thing Maka had ever heard. She physically jerked when the loud sound violently forced her out of her sleep. Soul's fist shot out automatically and smashed down on the snooze button, silencing the God awful thing.
Maka sunk back down into the surface she was laying on. Was it morning already? Ugh, she didn't want to get up yet. She still had to mentally prepare herself for the up coming day. She had decided last night that she would be better, just concentrate on good things, but that was easier said than done. She was still exhausted from the previous day and her muscles were sore. She just wanted alittle bit more time. Well, she had about an hour. She might as well put her best foot forward and start the day off right. She could get up, take a shower, eat something...
Wait a minute.
She was in Soul's room. That was Soul's alarm. He didn't wake up as early as she did. Maka opened her eyes.
Class started in twenty minutes. Goddammit Soul. So much for putting your best foot forward.
She went to look at him and was a bit taken back to find that she was actually laying on top of him. He was still asleep, drool trailing down his chin. Apparently turning off his alarm was just a reflex he had developed. He had one arm above his head, and the other was resting on her lower back. She could hear him snoring ever so slightly. Her hands were already resting on his shoulders, so she nudged them. "Soul, wake up."
Just as he had the previous night, he gave a small sigh as a response. But unlike the previous night, Maka wasn't concerned with waking him gently. She nudge his shoulder again with more force. "Soul!"
He grunted and pulled the pillow over his face, but Maka would have none of that. She sat up, basically straddling him, pulled the pillow from his face and shook him again. "Soul, wake up!" As soon as the sunlight hit his face, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly and grunted again. Slowly, after rubbing his eyes for a bit, he opened them. He stared at her for a bit, but it was clear he couldn't actually see her, his vision had yet to adjust to the bright morning light. He squeezed his eyes shut again and then opened them. He blinked a few more times before he finally realized Maka was on top of him. She watched him turn a deep shade of red for some reason. It's not like physical contact was something they were strangers to, why would he blush like that?
"Morning, Sunshine. We gotta get up, class starts soon." She said. She shifted to get off of him, but stopped. She felt something. What was that? Was that a... bone... or something? If felt like a bone. It was hard, like a bone. But why was it sticking out like that? She shifted over it, trying to get an idea of what it was. As she did this, Soul's face got redder.
Oh.
Ohhhhhh.
As realization dawned on her, she looked him in the eye, her mouth going into a tight line.
"What?! It's the morning!" He said, defensively, his face darkening even more.
Maka continued to stare at him, and she could almost see his self-consciousness rising under her gaze. His wavelength screamed with insecurity. She knew that it probably shouldn't, but it was alittle comforting to know that she wasn't the only one with self doubts.
And, for some reason, this brought out her inner bitch.
She smiled. This seemed to confuse him. "You're so cute." She said, and leaned in to kiss the top of his head, effectively positioning her breasts right in his face. She was sure to do so in a way that led him to believe that she was unaware of her actions. Six months ago, this would not have done anything. She was glad she had matured physically. She felt a spike of shock on his wavelength immediately. She reached up to run her fingers through his hair and nuzzled her cheek on his forehead.
"You don't have to be shyyyy." The teasing tone of her voice was obvious, she felt. One would have to be a fool to miss it. But still, his soul read as shocked, confused, embarrassed, and alittle ashamed. Ashamed because he thought that her actions were innocent and that she had no idea what she was really doing. Also, ever so slightly aroused, but conflicted, because he didn't want to be aroused.
This was kind of fun. Now she knew why Blair did it.
"M-Maka..." She could feel that he didn't know what to do. He didn't know whether he wanted her to stop or not, and he did not like being unsure about something like that. She could still feel the bulge in his pants pressed up against her thigh, and she realized that this was probably really mean of her. But the look on his face was priceless. She sat up again and gave him a mischievous smile, the sweater she wore falling off one of her shoulders. She knew the position was compromising. Soul's face was a deep scarlet now, and she could feel him getting all hot and bothered. Maybe she was just a bitch, but this was horribly amusing to her. It reinforced that sense of ownership she had over him. She leaned down again, pressing her body up against his, her face dangerously close to his. He gasped, and she could feel his breath on her lips.
Before he had time to realize what had happened, she was up and standing next to the bed, sweater back in place on her shoulder. "Seriously though, Soul, get up. Don't want to be late now."
Oh, the look he gave her, it made her so happy.
It was something of an angry look, but he wasn't angry exactly. He was confused and frustrated and hot and bothered. He glared at her. He was pouting. He was really pouting.
Good job, Maka.
Yes, she definitely was just a bitch, but she couldn't help it. She pretended not to notice his pout and turned to leave his room. "I don't think I'm going to go to morning lessons." She continued innocently. "I'm really sore from yesterday and I want to take a shower. I'll come in around lunch time."
The mention of the previous day wiped the pout off his face in an instant. "Oh, hey, so what happened yesterday?" He asked. "You really... went off on your dad. Why?"
Maka's face dropped into a scowl as she stopped in the doorway. "Because he's the devil and I didn't want him near me."
The look on Soul's face told her that he didn't really understand, but he wasn't about to argue over it.
"And as for what happened..." She continued. "Apparently, my scars never healed properly, because of my tattoo. It's a long, weird story why, but Kim fixed me up." She reached over her shoulder to touch her back. Her muscles there were sore. "Hurts like the dickens today though."
She turned to leave, but her inner bitch resurfaced for just a moment, and a twisted idea came to mind. She stopped just outside the door and turned to face him. "By the way." She looked from his face, to his crotch, and back to his face, and winked. "Not bad."
The glare/pout was back on his face in an instant.