AN: No writing done whatsoever, but there's been much cleaning, thank god for Tanya. I hadta go get her from Longview last week, and hopefully she'll be here a bit longer, but that means with company here I'm not writing like... at all. Still stalled, so if anyone has any ideas, go ahead and message me or something, I could use something to possibly jog my brain. If anyone wansta help, message me and I'll bring them up to speed for where I am currently in the chapters, and where I ultimately plan to go, but sometimes it's the getting there that's the issue.

XXX

Wake Up 12

XXX

Circling in the Volvo, Raizo waited until Mika was far enough away from the hotel before pulling up to a curb. Leaning over, opening the door with a shove, watching passerby with practiced suspicion, only staying idled until Mika was settled. Taking off he joined the flow of traffic, meandering until the tank held a quarter petrol before dropping Mika at their residence for the evening.

"Room thirty-five," handing her the key. "I will be back shortly."

"Shower?"

He should have told her to do it at the other hotel, but he had not been thinking clearly. Setting his jaw, "Yes."

Before he could add 'no soap', "No soap, I remember."

With that she was gone, striding away strongly, which Raizo had to admire. The nervousness was still there, in the little twitch in her lips, the way her eyes had stayed wide as the reality hit her. Mika handed over her belief in him, and it was a sacred object, that he was abusing. Tucking his apprehension away, Raizo parked the car back where he originally obtained it. When the owner would find it, probably having already filed a police report, tank almost empty, alarm armed, no signs of break in – no one would think it had really been stolen. Any police officer worth his or her salt would simply discard the report as false, fine the owner and no one would think to dust for fingerprints.

Moving quickly Raizo entered the hotel, last suitcase in hand, and the last pieces of a plan settling into place. They had a day, two at most, before Maslow would report Mika as missing. Then again, the agent may not report it at all, correctly assuming that Raizo had whisked her away. If Maslow was smart, he would do nothing to alert the powers that be, and subsequently the clans, that Mika was not where she was supposed to be. Raizo wouldn't bet on it, and he wouldn't bet on Mika's life that Maslow was that intelligent. So, they had to leave Berlin, and Germany as fast as they could. Another car would need to be stolen after Mika rested for another hour or three, then they would go to his apartment, pick up his remaining weapons, the large stash of unmarked cash and prepaid credit cards, and he would call one of his contacts in the underworld for a new car. One with false plates, and a supply of passports.

From there, Raizo would take Mika to Eastern Europe, and hide her there, allowing her to do what she did best – dig out information from one of the best criminal syndicate databases that Euro-pol would probably do much to obtain access to. The Czech Republic, a place that held the patina of Western suave, established culture, was still in upheaval, giving footholds for his kind of work. And it was a place that life was still cheap, labor cheaper, and crime brutal. Bringing Mika there, into the den of the world Raizo moved in frequently to get the funds necessary for his feud with Ozunu, was not Raizo's first choice. It was now his only one if he wished to remain by her side to watch over her, rather than maintaining a working distance.

Picking the out of fashion lock to their hotel room, Raizo let it close behind him with a soft click. Mika in a damp towel, relatively dry surprisingly, was huffing on a cigarette, coughing and choking on the smoke that she blew onto the opened suitcase that held her things. Along with that a cheap, stinking antiseptic body spray was being spritzed all over. Raizo would almost consider that overkill, but it was effective overkill.

"I don't know if that is the best thing Mika," holding out his hand for the cigarette, "your left lung was collapsed not that long ago."

Rubbing her chest, "Trust me, I remember. Kinda hard to forget."

Stubbing the cigarette out, "Get some rest Mika, I will wake you in a few hours. Then we will leave."

"Where are we going?" a pair of pink shorts, matching shirt with monkeys and bananas on them were picked out.

Turning his back, "When Maslow reports you as missing, the borders will be watched closely. We have a little time before this happens." Wet thwump of towel hitting floor, "They will monitor your mother's home in Illinois, both for calls, and for your arrival. We will not be going there, and you will not be contacting her either." Behind him, Mika was staring, her eyes boring into his back, "There is a place I can take you Mika. But, you have to trust me."

"I trust you," hands touched his shoulders, a request for him to look at her, "I think, I think you're the only person I can trust fully anymore Raizo." Palms slid over his shoulders and chest, "You shouldn't even bother questioning it. It's just a fact. I trust you."

Unable to maintain her steady gaze, "Rest now."

"What about you? You didn't sleep last night, you only slept a little the night before that, come lay down too," it was neither a demand nor a request, but somewhere betwixt the two. "I could stay on the other side of the bed if you like? You, you don't have to worry about me molesting you."

As though that was the problem. Actually, part of it was. The loss of control earlier, the way Raizo wanted to devour Mika suddenly came back in a rush. There had even been a moment when Raizo thought about biting Mika, about wanting nothing more than to have her be a part of him, to have Mika so far deep inside him she could never leave. And to be inside her, dug in to some space that he never had to leave, could never be forced from.

"Rest now Mika," seating himself on the chair.

It was easier to just tell Mika what to do, to not have to explain anything, Raizo had done enough of it the last few days to last him a lifetime. If he wasn't careful, he would say something foolish, unwise, and damage the tenuous thing that was between them. Mika probably didn't agree, but there were more enemies than just from outside to deal with, there were weak ones that were within striking distance. Like himself.

"Raizo, if you change your mind, you know where the bed is," she analyzed him a moment, then shook out her baby blanket, draping it over him. "You get some rest now too. Even if it's in this crummy chair." She hovered a moment, giving Raizo a clear view down the inside of her shirt, her breasts creating a shadowed valley, as she nipped a quick kiss, "Good night Raizo."

Mika was asleep before Raizo whispered, "Good night Mika," tugging her 'silky' blanket up to his nose and inhaling the perfume that no amount of smoke and inexpensive rubbing alcohol based spray could ever mask.

XXX

An hour later, Raizo was sitting on the edge of the bed, Mika having rolled towards him, and curled instinctively forward. Disheveled, one hand was tucked under her chin in a fist, the other hanging half off the bed. There was something strangely fascinating to her. Raizo had never seen a black woman until he traveled the world, there had been an older black male trainee, several years ahead of him at the Ozunu compound, but no females. Many of the women Raizo had come across had hair like Mika's, others had much closer cropped styles, haloing their heads in tight curls, while still others wore it braided tight to their skulls and some wore them in thick ropes, while others had hair that stood some distance from their skulls. He wasn't sure why that was so, or how they got their hair like that in the first place, his hair was always the same, it never changed other than length. Curiously, Raizo stroked one of the sculpted spirals, soft with a chemical smell that she should have washed out, that had slipped out from the scarf she wore on her head, a few of them framing her face. When Mika didn't stir from the light touch, Raizo was emboldened to explore further. Pressing the tips of his fingers over the area close to her scalp, he was surprised by the springy softness.

It was a good way to describe Mika herself, not just her hair. For a long while, Raizo sat there, quietly touching Mika, hoping she wouldn't awaken. Her skin was smooth, satiny compared to the taut stiffness of his, which had more to do with her being female he surmised than anything else. Skin was simply that – skin. How or why Raizo thought there could be a possibility that it was something else, he wasn't sure, only that the way Mika's flesh felt beneath his hand was far silkier than the blanket that shared the same description.

Midnight came and went, and still Raizo stared. Mika had done the same thing to him when he drowsed listening to her heartbeat, which for whatever reason had made him relax more at the time. But Mika didn't have his awareness, couldn't know he was right there, watching her like this. At least, Raizo hoped not. What she would make of it, what she made of anything, Raizo was uncertain. Her facial expressions were hard to read, yet obvious. Raizo simply didn't have a reference for most of them, perhaps he should look into the study of facial muscles that some thought was quackery, and others akin to mind reading. It may prove useful to have such knowledge on his side when dealing with Mika. As for dealing with others, Raizo knew all he needed – threatening, tense, uncertain, and fear were the most easily identified through watching the hands and listening to their hearts.

When Mika turned onto her back, Raizo's hand was on her neck, but the motion re-situated it on one of her breasts. Filling his palm, the same thing that had been poking his cheek now touched his palm. Without thought Raizo squeezed the mound, surprised by this too. This was not like the muscle of his chest, in fact, Raizo could identify nothing to compare it to. It was simply soft. That was the only word for Mika that came to mind repeatedly, soft. But Raizo well knew that there was a ribbon of steel, more than a ribbon, that ran the length of Mika.

"Mmm, you keep touchin' me like that," sleep-slurred, Mika's hand flailed for his thigh, giving it a squeeze, "and I may ask you to touch me more than that."

Where she was rhythmically squeezing was precariously close to his manhood which twitched in response, "It is time to go," removing his hand from her chest, then hers from his thigh.

Sleepily Mika blinked up at him, "You're the boss."

She stretched languidly, then rolled around on the bed, stretching even more, sheets slithering down her back and hips. Raizo hadn't moved, letting Mika take her time. Planting her face into a pillow, bottom in the air, on her knees she grumbled, before snuffling and throwing him a look.

Hands in his lap while she pushed a curl to the side, "God, I'm tired. You have got to be exhausted."

"I'll sleep when I must," shrugging. "You may sleep during the drive."

"Mph, no, I get carsick that way," arching her back as she sat up, "Did you pack any of my hair stuff?"

In her bathroom there had been an incomprehensible clutter of bottle after bottle, all of it bearing heavy signature scent marks, "Some. The stuff that smells like vanilla, and the stuff that smells like chocolate wax."

"Chocolate wax?" Mika's nose wrinkled, "You mean my cocoa butter? Well at least I've got that. What about my flat iron?"
"You don't need it," not understanding Mika's obsession with goop and tools.

Plunking down, legs crossed, "Actually yes, I do. How do you think I keep my hair like this?" pointing to her head. "Heat, relaxers, god, Raizo if you knew the hell I go through to have hair like this, you'd shit a brick." A yawn broke through her amendment, "Or maybe not, but you'd question my sanity. And I'm lucky, mine's more manageable than some. I knew this girl back at Georgetown, she spent almost a thousand dollars on her hair a month."

Making a face, Raizo was incredulous, "No one spends that much on something so simple."

"Oh yes they do," leaning until she was on her hands and knees, treating Raizo to an even clearer view of cleavage than she had earlier in the night, "Mom does, and millions of other women do too. So if we're going anywhere and you don't want to see me go crazy trying to control my hair, I need a flat iron. A good one. Either that or I may just wind up looking like Don King and Kramer had a freakish Frankenstein love child." She tapped him between the eyes with her knuckles, "And since you so conveniently forgot to pack my flat iron, let alone my hair stuff - "

"We will purchase anything you need on the road Mika," Raizo could have pointed out that she should have packed her own bag in advance, the way he had warned her to, or not had the break down, leaving him to do it for her. But he didn't, because this was a small thing, "Make a list and it will be taken care of."

She rocked forward until her face was near his, "I really only need the flat iron for now. The cocoa butter can double as a conditioner for as long as it has to."

Raizo thought that now would be a good time to be better at reading Mika, "You should get dressed."

"So, did you have fun?" not moving, Mika was seeing straight through him.

Looking away, Raizo didn't answer directly, "You seemed to sleep well."

"Hmmhmm I did, but I woke up to a hand on my boob, and there was this strange man beside me," teasing, that's what that emotion was, "maybe that's why I slept so good. But I wonder, did that mysterious man like what he was doing?"

"Mika," warning when her chin came to rest on his shoulder, her breath hot near his neck.

"Well, I sure hoped he had fun, because I liked waking up like that," finally she pulled away, scooting off the bed, kicking the covers to the floor before finding something to wear. "I just hope next time he does more than mess up my hair and give me a little one handed squeeze. And," she got dressed quickly out of his line of sight, "I hope that there is a next time, and that he knows that if he wants anything, back rubs, hugs – whatever, that he can have them."