A word of warning to the readers.
This chapter is also rated M for sexual scenes.
This is also a revised chapter.
Chapter 21: Let Me Help You Forget
She found herself falling deeper and deeper into a seemingly endless abyss when she opened her eyes. She couldn't move her body and as she looked around, Blake saw what seemed like a flashback of the recent events at the abandoned oil rig turned based of ShadowLabs. Bright flashes of white segregated the various memories in a chronological manner. She watched everything from when she first breached the oil rig and killed more than fifteen men, her eventual capture by Hunter Redfern, the first beating she received by Hunter and the remaining guards and her short reunion with Shizuma.
Shizuma… the name came out of her lips without any sound as she continued to plummet into the darkness. Another flash, but this time the color of crimson red blinded Blake shortly before showing her the last string of events that happened in the oil rig. A piercing scream echoed from within the unconscious mind of Blake as she watched the platinum-haired beauty be assaulted by two of the guards. For a while, Blake struggled with her paralyzed body just as her own self in the memory struggled against the restraints. Contrary to what really happened, somehow the memory became distorted as Shizuma continued to scream and disappear under the bodies of an increased number of men who threw punches and kicks at their victim. No! Shizuma…SHIZUMA!
"Shizuma!" Blake shouted, bolting up on the bed she was lying on in a cold sweat. The raven-haired woman held her head with trembling hands as she forced herself to breathe deeply. "A dream… it was just a dream. At least part of it was." She flinched as a sharp pain shot through her chest and grabbed at her aching side to feel fabric wrapped around her chest. "Damn…" Blake cursed, struggling to fill her lungs and at the same time ignore the flashes of intense pain each time she took a breath. Looking at her surroundings, she noticed that she was in a small, furnished room with a few windows and a glass door that opened to the beach. It was already late afternoon as far as could tell just by looking at the skies outside. "Where am I?"
"You're at my home," A woman's voice replied as the door to the room opened and admitted the visitor. She was a woman who looked to be in her late forties or early fifties and had long ebony brown hair and burgundy colored eyes. "I spotted you and your friend coming onto the shore from my house. You might recall seeing me or at least part of me while I was walking towards you."
Blake nodded her head and looked carefully at her savior. "Did you do this too?" she indicated the bandages around the inflicted area of her ribs and the other parts of her body. She could not help but be wary of this stranger after what she had gone through.
The woman nodded and perched herself on the edge of Blake's bed. "I'm a doctor or at least I was until last week," she explained, silently asking her patient's permission to conduct an examination. "I turned my clinic over to one of my interns, but I have a small clinic here in my house which has proven to be quite useful during the summer season." She gently prodded Blake's rib cage then tilted her patient's head to the side to get a better look at the healing gash situated in that area. "You've got a fractured rib, a sprained right wrist, this gash on the side of your head, and bruises that I lost count of all over your body," the retired doctor enumerated. "I also checked if you had any internal injuries, but nothing came out from my tests."
"What about Shizuma?" Blake asked, throwing off her blankets and gently moving her legs to the side of the bed. She was in pain, but she needed to see her lover.
The doctor placed a hand on Blake's shoulder and kept her from getting up. "You shouldn't strain yourself at least until tomorrow morning," she informed the gray-eyed woman firmly. "Your friend isn't injured. Her body was a bit chilled from your swim, but she isn't physically harmed."
"But?"
"She has a mild case of trauma. She hasn't spoken a word since I brought the two of you into my home nor she has eaten or moved from her bed," the doctor replied with a sad smile. "Whatever it is the two of you went through prior to picking you up on the beach must have been too much for her to handle." She got to her feet and pushed Blake onto her back. "I'll see what I can do with her, but for now I want you to rest. I have asked my intern to come over tomorrow morning to assist me in finishing your treatment," she told Blake, tucking the blanket around her form. Before she left, she smoothed Blake's tussled hair and rested her hand on her forehead. "Just holler if you need anything." The door silently closed behind her, leaving Blake to contemplate alone.
Blake frowned and began to rub her tired eyes. She wasn't concerned at all about her well-being but she was more worried about Shizuma. It wasn't surprising that she was acting this way after being sexually assaulted by two men in front of her and the Redferns. There was a heavy feeling inside of her as she thought back on how she wasn't quick enough to prevent it from happening. "Fucking Redfern!" Blake cursed to the ceiling. "He's a freaking maniac for suggesting to have Shizuma beaten so that I could give them the results they were expecting." But then again, she could not help but feel that she was ultimately the person who was at fault. I have to go to her as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning. I have to… apologize and do something. She slowly turned on her side and closed her eyes. One thing is for sure. I'm going to do everything in my power to kill those bastards and I'll make sure that every remnant of that blasted organization goes to hell.
The next morning, Blake awoke to the sound of crashing waves and the distant squawks of seagulls. She gingerly sat up and got to her feet, checking if there was any pain from moving her body. Seeing that she was all right, the raven-haired woman spotted folded clothes on a nearby chair with a note on top of it from the doctor. The note stated that she was lending Blake some of her own clothes and that she could use the bathroom down the hall while she was out attending to some business. Blake collected the clothes, got out of the room and padded down the hallway and into the bathroom. It took her a while to shower because whenever she'd raise her arms, her injured rib would give her pain. Once she was dressed in the simple white t-shirt and loose black cloth pants lent to her, Blake made her way to the room beside hers. Stopping before the closed door, she took a deep breath before pushing it open. The mere sight of the sleeping woman made Blake's heart wrench painfully.
Shizuma was curled up in a tight ball on the bed, her arms tight against her chest and her undone hair splaying around her. Blake could hear her taking in ragged breaths and noticed the labored rising and falling of her chest. The thing that made Blake's heart wrench even more painfully were the tracks of dried tears on the sleeping platinum-haired woman's face. She also noted the slightly bruised cheek and neck of Shizuma, which she got from the men's beating the other day.
Blake padded softly across the room, pulled up a chair and sat at Shizuma's side. With a gentle finger, she traced one dried track of tears on her lover's cheek. Her eyes caught the dampness of Shizuma's pillow, making Blake close her eyes and grit her teeth. "I'm so sorry… Shizuma," she whispered, caressing the sleeping woman's cheek. "It's all my fault. This would have never happened if it were not for me." Blake gripped her wild emotions before getting to her feet and leaving the room. If she stayed any longer, she wasn't sure if she could keep herself from breaking down because of her guilt.
Stepping into the main room of the cozy beach house, Blake scanned the quaint furniture and decorations around her. She knew now that there were three bedrooms in the house, a bathroom, living room and kitchen. The house and the location spoke for itself that the doctor must have earned a great deal to be able to purchase such a place. She walked over to the couch and was about to sit when she spotted a bunch of pictures frames set on a nearby table. Curiosity got the better of her and she went over to look at the pictures. She easily recognized the doctor in the first few picture frames. The doctor she saw in those pictures was much younger. In one picture, the young doctor was dressed in scrubs and posing with balding children. Another picture showed the doctor with other scrubs-dressed people posing what looked liked to be the lobby of a hospital. A few other pictures showed a casually dressed doctor with people Blake assumed to be either her friends or family. As she got to the end of the table, one dusty picture frame caught her eye. Frowning, Blake picked it up and with her hand scrubbed the dust away only to stare at person who held the doctor in his arms in the picture. She was absolutely shocked. If the man had narrower shoulders, a woman's chest and a clean-shaven face, Blake could have mistaken the man as her own self. Looking more closely at the picture, she became even more shocked to see that man not only had the same sable-black hair as she had, but he also had Blake's storm-gray eyes.
"I was shocked myself when I saved you on the beach. You looked exactly like him."
Blake glanced over her shoulder and saw the doctor standing at the front door with two paper bags filled with groceries. She had not heard the older woman come in at all. "Forgive me," she told the doctor, setting the picture frame down on the table. "It was rude of me."
The doctor walked to the kitchen table and set her burden on it. "It's alright. I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" She grabbed two mugs and filled them with coffee from a steaming pot set on the tiled kitchen counter. "I'm Raine Skylar. You are?" She put the one filled mug on the table and sat on its other side.
"I'm Blake Saberhart," Blake introduced herself as she sat on the table and grasped the steaming mug of coffee.
"You had a surprised look on your face," Raine pointed out. "Is there something familiar with my name?" she asked the raven-haired woman who sat adjacent to her.
Skylar's notes are accurate! He should be right! Beat her more thoroughly! Get those two to help you out
Blake's eyes widened when she finally realized why the name sounded familiar. "Skylar… it's a name I heard of prior to ending up here in your care. From what I can guess, the man who mentioned his name could have meant that this Skylar was a scientist at-"
"ShadowLabs," Raine finished softly, gripping her mug of coffee tightly.
The raven-haired woman gaped at the retired doctor before her. "You know who they are?" she demanded. She could not believe it. Here she was sitting in front of a woman who could very well be an associate of those ShadowLabs scum.
"I should know them very well. The Skylar you mentioned was indeed a scientist at that organization," she replied, sadness filling her burgundy colored eyes. "But even before he became a part of that organization, he became my husband first." She eyed the picture of her and man named Skylar on the other side of the room. "How are you related to that illegal organization?"
Blake hesitated to tell the truth, but she changed her mind. She wanted to glean information from this woman. The information might become useful when she decides to carry out her revenge on the Redferns and the rest of ShadowLabs. "They were the ones who caused me to be like this."
Raine's eyes widened in shock. "ShadowLabs still exists? I thought that it was disbanded and eliminated ten years ago!"
Blake could tell the woman was being truthful just by the way she spoke and looked at her. She sighed inwardly, relieved that this woman was associated to ShadowLabs not because she supported their heinous cause. "They were disbanded ten years ago thanks to the efforts of the Lionheart Organization, but they reappeared five years later then made another reappearance just recently," she explained.
"Why are they interested in you? You are but a mere young woman."
"They wouldn't have abducted Shizuma and used her to get me to come to them on that oil rig if I was just an ordinary person," Blake replied bitterly. She looked at the doctor with utmost seriousness. "I was one of their test subjects in their first facility until I was rescued."
Raine covered her mouth, which was open due to her surprise. "So you were one of them," she whispered. "Sorry, I just remembered how Alex, my husband would call home and rant about how the organization was treating their human test subjects. He was killed when the founders realized that he was planning to resign and break the test subjects out."
"I'm sorry. I'm not sure if Redfern was referring to your husband, but he said that there was a scientist who was able to develop the serum that would trigger the killer and weapon DNA code of the test subjects. Before ShadowLabs could get a hold of it, the scientist hid everything, proclaimed that he was against their cause, and thought that he brought the knowledge of the serum to the grave with him. Redfern found it though and he was able to use it on me."
"Would you like to see the photos, Alex sent to me from the facility he was stationed in?" Raine asked, but didn't bother to wait for Blake to say yes. She got up and grabbed a book from a nearby bookshelf. It wasn't a photo album but when she opened it, there were several pictures pinned within the pages of the book. "Here," she handed them to Blake. "Does that place look familiar?"
Blake nodded as she continued to scan through the pictures. The places captured were indeed those that she grew up in. "It's the same facility. I don't recall seeing your husband though while I was still a prisoner there."
"You probably wouldn't remember him. He was killed by the organization almost twenty years ago. Not a day has gone by without me wanting to exact revenge on that blasted ShadowLabs," Raine told her companion, anger thick in her voice.
"Because they killed your husband?" Blake inquired as she set the pictures back into the book.
"That was part of it," Raine replied. "They did something worse."
The raven-haired woman eyed the doctor with interest and intrigue. She was curious to see that this woman was also somewhat a victim of ShadowLabs illegal operations. "What else did they do to you?"
"They took my child." She got up and went to a nearby window. "I was pregnant at that time and was due to give birth. When I finally gave birth and woke up the next morning, I heard Alex shouting in the hallway and I knew that something was wrong," she recounted with a grim look on her face. "ShadowLabs had crept into the nursery wing of the hospital and took my child. They told Alex that since he's part of the organization, he should willingly give them what they wanted or else he would be exterminated."
"Did you even get to see your child?" Blake asked, clearly feeling sorry for the doctor.
Raine shook her head and leaned against the windowsill. "Not even a glimpse. Alex and I don't even know if our child was a girl or boy." She went back to sit on the table to continue her story. "Alex went back to the organization to convince the founders to let him have our child, but they wouldn't give in. They did strike a deal with Alex though," she added. "They said that if he was able to develop the serum that would trigger their test subjects' DNA code to evolve, then they would give our child back."
Blake shook her head, knowing that ShadowLabs was never an organization of integrity. "But things didn't go as planned and now your husband is dead and your child is either still in the claws of ShadowLabs or even dead."
Raine nodded her head. "Before my husband died, he sent me an email message saying that he already found out who our child was, but he couldn't give me the details for fear of our family's safety," she explained. "He told me that he was able to find out that the organization had already used our child as a test subject and that he secretly hacked into their files and got the identification number." She paused and twisted the mug around and around in her hands. "I never believed him though. He may have gotten the identification number, but he never saw our child prior to finding out that information."
"Would you happen to remember what the identification number is? There were a handful of us back then and I might have known your child." Blake watched the doctor's eyebrows furrow as she thought deeply.
When the lines on her forehead smoothed out, Raine let out a sigh and folded her hands on the table. "If my memory serves me right, Alex mentioned that the identification code on the cell door of our supposed child is 22,018." She looked at Blake hopefully when she saw the raven-haired woman react. "Did you know this person while you were still in the facility?"
"Twenty-two hundred eighteen," Blake murmured.
"So you did know this person!" Raine cried out in excitement.
Blake felt like her world was spinning way too fast and it was making her confused and dizzy. She had always thought that she was an artificially made human being and had firmly believed that she had no blood relatives. Now that she heard her own identification code from this doctor who was the wife of a ShadowLabs scientist, she wasn't at all sure anymore. "How could this be possible?"
"What do you mean?" Raine asked, the excitement on her face turning to worry. "Are you saying that the person who had the number 22,018 didn't exist or you never saw him or her?"
Instead of replying, Blake stretched out her arm onto the surface of the table. She had always kept the mark on the inside of her forearm a secret and no one except for Kairos knew about it. A decade and a few years more had made the mark fade, but if one looked closely at it, they could make out the small tattooed identification code on her arm. Looking at the confused look on Raine's face, Blake pointed at the fading identification code on the inside of her arm and watched as realization bloomed on her mother's face. "I'm not so surprised now that things turned out this way and after seeing that your husband looks exactly like me," she told her mother, who was beginning to shed tears.
Raine roughly pushed her chair away not bothering that it clattered to the floor and wrapped her long lost daughter in a fierce hug. "Oh sweetling," she cooed through her sobs. She couldn't say anything else because her sobbing completely took her over. After almost five minutes of holding each other, Raine's continuous sobbing into her daughter's chest and Blake's assurances that everything was all right, the mother and daughter pair settled themselves on the couch to talk.
"What was…" Blake paused. "What was dad like?" she asked her mother, holding onto her hand tightly.
Raine rubbed her daughter's hand and smiled. "Your father was a braniac and somewhat like a nerd. He was obsessed with the sciences particularly physics and chemistry and other branches of science related to those two." She chuckled along with Blake. "Despite being a nerd, he was actually a physically fit man. He was part of his university's swim team and was even the vice captain. When I got to know him, I thought he just some happy-go-lucky guy with no priorities pretending that he was interested in the sciences." She gazed out of the window and watched the gentle slapping of the waves against the beach. "I was wrong," she said. "He was a very principled person and became serious whenever he was trying to achieve something. We got married during my last year as an intern. It was during that same year that he got an invitation to join this organization who worked for the benefit of humanity as a scientist and he jumped at the chance."
"He didn't know that it was just a front set up by ShadowLabs," Blake guessed.
The retired doctor nodded her head. "He absolutely had no idea and when the organization took you from us he almost went crazy. He was bent on trying to save you, but he couldn't because the organization would not allow it. When he did try, he was killed." Raine furiously swiped at the rush of tears that fell from her eyes once again.
Blake embraced her mother once more and held onto her as she continued to cry. "It's all right mom. Dad may not be here anymore, but at least his efforts were not in vain." She pulled away from her mother and wiped her tears away with an assuring smile. "I'm still alive and I was able to find you again."
Raine nodded her head and blew her nose on some tissue. "You're right. The past is past and today we're reunited. Come on," she ordered her daughter and got to her feet. "Help me make lunch. You could help me get your friend to eat."
The happiness inside of Blake went down the drain upon her mother's mention of her lover's name. "Shizuma," she breathed out, resting her head in her hands.
"What's wrong?" Her mom asked. "I told you that I would do my best to help her. My former intern should be coming in a while and she'll also help out with Shizuma." She sat back down beside the depressed Blake. "What happened? I'd like to find out what Shizuma went through when you were both captured by ShadowLabs to have caused her trauma."
Blake kept her head in her hands as she explained. "I told you that the Redferns found dad's serum and they injected it into me. They even found dad's notes about it and it said that the serum would trigger my manipulated DNA code through provoking." She knew that she sounded distressed as she recounted what happened in the oil rig. "They first tried provoking me directly by beating and insulting me, but nothing happened. Then that bastard Hunter suggested that they use indirect provoking and he ordered two of his guards to beat Shizuma. She tried to fight back of course but he was slapped by one guard while the other guard grabbed her around the neck and slammed her against the wall. He insinuated that he wanted to keep Shizuma and made a move to touch her chest." She stared at the floor and clenched her teeth while her mother rubbed her back comfortingly. "That did it. Beating Shizuma and attempting to molest her triggered me to change into a-a monster," she almost shouted. "I didn't know what came over me, but I was able to break through my restraints and I killed the two guards before I was tranquilized by Hunter."
"Don't you ever call yourself a monster, Blake!"
"How can I not be a monster?" Blake demanded, looking up to her mother. "I just snapped and went on a killing rampage! I killed two people and enjoyed it even if I was disgusted with myself after killing fifteen men before I got captured! I killed them mom and I killed them so violently! My hands will forever be stained by my sin of enjoying brutally killing those men." She closed her eyes and whispered in a low voice, "How can I not be a monster when I couldn't even save Shizuma from that kind experience?"
"Why are you so affected by what happened to Shizuma? You were able to save her before she got beaten more and molested. Isn't she still alive?" Raine asked.
"I'm acting this way because Shizuma's my lov-" she clamped her lips shut and turned away, knowing that she had just given herself away. She didn't want to look at her mother's face thinking that if she did, she would see disgust.
"So that's how things are," Raine murmured, reaching out with her hand and resting it against her daughter's face. "Look at me Blake," she ordered with kindness in her voice. "If Shizuma is your lover, then you shouldn't be ashamed. I would understand why you fell for her," she told her daughter. "She is quite a stunning and exotic looking woman."
"Mom!" Blake cried out in shock.
Raine grinned and got to her feet. "Just give her some time, Blake. I'm sure that with time she'll be back to her usual self." She took the book with the pictures and put it back on the bookshelf. "Now about lunch," she beckoned Blake to come to the kitchen with her when they heard a car grind to a halt outside the house. "Oh what good timing! I could cook lunch while my former intern takes a look at you and Shizuma." To Blake she ordered, "Go be a dear and welcome her in."
"Yes mom," Blake complied and got to her feet.
"Doc Raine!" A young woman's voice shouted from outside. "I'm here already!"
Another woman's voice sounded outside but this time it was much softer. "Ara! You shouldn't just shout your entrance! It might have not been such a good idea for me to agree to drive you here to Doctor Skylar's place." Her voice got louder as they got closer to the house.
A woman with blonde hair and light brown eyes walked into the door with a woman with long brown hair and dark brown eyes trailing behind her. "Stop teasing! You agreed right away when I asked you to accompany me because you like talking to the Doc!"
The woman with long brown hair stopped in her tracks, tilted her head to the side and stared at an equally surprised Blake. "Ara! Blake-san? Is that you?" Chikaru walked over to Blake, stood on her tiptoes and looked at the other woman's face closely. "You're the Blake-san from five years ago all right!" she exclaimed and signaled Shion Tomori to come closer.
"Chikaru-san and Shion-san," Blake greeted with a wide grin. She was happy to see her two old friends again. "It seems like I was bound to bump into you guys again." She bent down slightly to return the hug of Chikaru and the hug of Shion.
"Where have you been?" Shion demanded, slapping Blake's back hard. "You just disappeared five years ago without a word!" When Raine appeared from the kitchen, she asked, "Hey doc! How do you know Blake and why is she here?"
"She and her friend were the two women I found injured on the beach last night," Raine explained to her former intern. "Blake is also my daughter."
Chikaru and Shion looked at each other then stared at Blake. "Daughter?" they both chorused.
"Blake's your daughter? You said you didn't have any children when I was still interning at your clinic!" Shion exclaimed, looking back at forth at Blake and Raine as if she was trying to see the family resemblance between the two of them.
Raine sighed and clucked her tongue at her sometimes overly energetic successor. "I believed that I didn't have any children because the one I birthed years ago was taken away. It was just this morning when I found out that Blake is in fact my biological daughter."
"Now that you mention it, Blake does look a lot like your deceased husband." Shion pushed Chikaru away and looked closely at Blake's face.
"Shion," Blake started, staring at her friend's face, which was just a handful of inches away. "You're making me uncomfortable."
Chikaru sighed loudly, grabbed her friend and pulled her away from Blake. "Sorry about that. Shion is still as impulsive as ever." Shion opened her mouth to argue, but clamped it shut again when Raine appeared and gave her a scolding look.
"Shion I asked you to come here to take a look at Blake and Shizuma. Blake's the one who has most of the serious injuries, but I would like you to do what you can with Shizuma. She's suffering from trauma after what she and Blake went through at that oil rig they escaped from last night."
Chikaru looked at Blake and noticed the distressed look on her face. "What happened?"
"You could explain while I check you out," Shion suggested, grabbing the hem of Blake's shirt and pulling it up. As she did a thorough examination of Blake's body, both she and Chikaru listened attentively as Blake explained everything that happened in the two days that have gone by. They also asked other questions pertaining to what Blake had been doing after she left Japan and how she had met Shizuma again. "Well, you're all right. You should keep using that bruise balm that the Doc used on you and you shouldn't do any strenuous activities for a month or two depending on how fast you heal," the former Spica student council president informed. She watched Blake put her shirt back on then looked towards the bedroom. "Let's have a look at Shizuma-san then," she suggested. "Lead the way Blake."
The three women waved at Raine inside the kitchen then stepped into the bedroom occupied by Shizuma. Chikaru and Shion immediately walked to Shizuma's bedside and gazed at her while Blake chose to stand against the wall nearest the door. The platinum-haired woman's eyes were open, but were half-lidded. Her face had newer tearstains and she stared sullenly at the ceiling above her.
"This is bad," Shion let out, sitting on the bed and taking Shizuma's face into her hands. "Shizuma-san, this is not healthy for you," she told the former Etoile who remained in her trance. She gazed into tired amber eyes before relinquishing her hold on the platinum-haired woman's face. "She's still in emotional shock. It happens," she told them, letting Chikaru take her seat on the bed. "Has she eaten anything?"
Blake shook her head. "Mom said that she tried to get her to eat yesterday while I was still out cold, but she didn't even eat a bite."
Shion frowned then turned her gaze back at the traumatized woman on the bed. "Shizuma-san, you must eat or else you won't last any longer. Put your mind at ease," she told the woman gently. "You're safe and alive despite being assaulted-"
"Shut up," the former Etoile whispered, her eyes tearing up.
"Shizuma-san," Shion tried, but was shocked into silence when the platinum-haired woman began to wail and scream at them.
"Leave me!" Shizuma screamed, turning her body away from Chikaru and Shion, but found herself looking at Blake. "Get out!" she shouted, her eyes hardening at Blake who flinched at her tone of voice. The tears came down harder now when Blake took a step forward to try to comfort the distraught woman. "Don't come any closer!" She had fear in her eyes as she stared at Blake as if she was a monster. "Please… just leave me alone," she whispered, pulling the blankets tighter around her body and averting her gaze from the three women in the room.
"Ara! Come on Blake!' Chikaru exclaimed cheerfully, walking to Blake's side and hooking their arms together. "Accompany for a walk on the beach while Shion continues her examination." She gave Shion a look of worry before dragging Blake out of the room and outside onto the beach. It was only when the two women were several yards away from the beach house when Chikaru started their conversation.
"You are blaming yourself," she said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone of voice. "Are you seriously taking all the blame for what happened to Shizuma-san? You did what you could to save her and she's alive because of your efforts!" Chikaru turned her head and looked sidelong at her companion.
"It's my fault," Blake said softly, her storm gray eyes darkening. "None of this would have happened if it weren't for me and my affiliation to ShadowLabs." She stopped, bent down and grabbed a handful of sand. She let Chikaru walk a few feet ahead of her as she let the sand slowly slip out of her hand. "I should have never…" she began, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I should have never gotten this close to Shizuma. They took advantage of my feelings for her and they used her to unleash the monster inside of me. It should have never gotten to this."
Chikaru stopped walking and looked up at the cloudy skies above. "You're regretting falling in love with Shizuma-san?" she inquired, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear.
"What if I am?" Blake demanded in a shout. "She must be regretting it too! You could tell just by the way she looked and addressed me a while ago! She sees me as a monster after what I did two nights ago! Didn't you hear me explain to you a while ago?" she demanded. "I killed those two men using such brutal means! I lost all control and respect for their lives as I disposed of them! Don't tell me you don't see me as a monster after hearing that and knowing that I enjoyed the kill!"
"Do you think I'd see you that way? I am shocked with what you did to those men, but what could have you done? At least you did something to save yourself and Shizuma," she told Blake. "Do you honestly believe that Shizuma really feels that way about you?" Chikaru twirled around to face Blake. "I will never believe that Shizuma regrets falling in love with you. She waited for five years to find you again. Do you think that kind of devotion is meaningless?" She crossed her arms over her chest and gazed at the raven-haired woman. "Don't give up on her, Blake." The dark-haired woman ambled back to Blake and gently touched Blake's damp cheek with her index finger. "Let it out," she ordered the crying Blake with a smile.
Blake put a hand on her cheek and became shocked when she felt the unfamiliar wetness on her cheeks. "I'm… crying?" she asked aloud. She began to laugh even as the tears came down harder. "I can't be crying," she said in disdain. "I-I can't be-" she choked, covering her quivering mouth with her hand. Frustrated at her sudden show of emotion, Blake fell to her knees, bracing her hands against the sand and finally allowing herself to cry herself out. "I feel so angry!" she blubbered, trying not to look at Chikaru. "I'm angry at myself and I feel guilty! How could I continue to love her if she'll just be in danger if she chooses to stay at my side? How could she choose to love a monster like me?" Her eyes were starting to hurt and her throat clenched tightly each time she forced herself to say something between her sobs.
Chikaru got to her knees and eased Blake's head into her lap. "You shouldn't deny yourself of your love for Shizuma," she told Blake, one hand resting on Blake's arm and the other was soothingly patting Blake's head.
"I don't want to!" Blake shouted into Chikaru's lap. "But I have no choice! I don't want her to go through that kind of thing again!" She wrapped her arms around Chikaru's waist and buried her head deeper into the other woman's lap. "I'm scared… I'm scared that I won't be able to protect her the next time around. I'm scared of losing myself to my anger and letting her see me turn into the monstrosity she saw!" She must have been making a scene with the way she was lying face down on the sand with her head buried in Chikaru's lap and her arms wrapped around the woman's waist.
The former Saint Lulim president smiled sadly and leaned down to hug Blake's lying form. "It's understandable that you feel that way, but you must know something Blake," she told the raven-haired woman softly.
"What's that?" Blake asked in a gravelly voice.
"It's you whom Shizuma needs the most now," Chikaru replied. "The only thing or person that could snap her out of her current state is you."
Blake pushed herself back to her knees and gazed at Chikaru with her reddened eyes. "But what can I do to help her?" she inquired, rubbing her eyes with her forearm.
"Help her forget," Chikaru told Blake in a very rare serious tone. "Help her forget what she experienced in that oil rig two nights ago." She immediately broke out in a smile and got to her feet. "I'll leave it to you to decide how to go about it, but I'm sure you know what I'm implying," she added, helping Blake get to her feet and giving her a tight hug. "It was both a treat and a tad bit depressing for me to see you cry like that."
"Don't rub it in," Blake muttered, sounding so much calmer than she was a few moments ago. "I have a headache now. I haven't cried like that for a few years now." She and Chikaru walked back to the beach house and by the time they stepped into the house, Blake looked like she didn't even come from crying. The first thing she asked for was a glass of water and some aspirin from her mother.
It was past supper when Chikaru and Shion excused themselves and bid their goodbyes and goodnights to Raine and Blake. Shion looked quizzically at Chikaru who was giving Blake strange looks. "Chikaru, what are you doing?"
Chikaru smiled and grabbed onto Shion's hand. "I'm just reminding Blake about something we talked about on our walk to the beach a few hours ago," she told the blonde-haired woman. To Blake, she gave her a suggestive wink and said, "You have to help her forget, all right Blake?" With that, she and Shion walked out of the door drove off into the night.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that Blake," Raine told her daughter with a smile. "I'll be sleeping early tonight so do whatever it is you're going to do to help Shizuma out."
"Mom," Blake groaned, waving her mom away to her room. "Just go to sleep," she told her mom and kissed her on the cheek. As soon as her mother disappeared into her own bedroom, Blake walked to Shizuma's bedroom door, pushed it open and slipped inside. Shizuma was still lying down on her bed, her body facing the large set of windows that gave her a view of the ocean. She quietly walked to the bed and sat on it, gazing so gently at the upturned face that looked up at her now. "Crying doesn't suit you," she told the woman gently.
Shizuma's amber orbs hardened despite the tears that continued to trail down her face. "What do you know?" she asked in a whisper. "You weren't the one who was beaten and almost molested," she added in a low growl. "You don't know how it feels to have your dignity broken and to witness someone they thought to be so gentle and kind transform into a violent killer." She turned her face away from the guilty look Blake gave her. "Just leave. Leave me alone, Blake."
"I can't leave you, Shizuma. Not when you're in this state," Blake told the platinum-haired woman. She reached out and laid her hand softly on the blanketed form of Shizuma. "Please forgive me," she begged her lover in a soft voice. "I should have… done something sooner to prevent you from getting assaulted like that. I tried to save you and was able to stop them, but I could not control my anger when I killed those two men."
"You think it's that easy?" Shizuma shouted as she bolted up in her bed and glared at Blake with tearful eyes. "While they were beating me, I prayed and hoped that you would come and save me," she told the raven-haired woman. "I was wrong to have done so… to have hoped so easily!" She wrapped her arms around herself and held back a sob.
"Hit me then, Shizuma."
"What?" The platinum-haired woman looked at Blake questioningly.
"Hit me," Blake repeated with a serious look on her face. "If it will make you feel better, I'll let you release your anger on me. It is reasonable because I was too late to save you and I hold myself liable to what happened." She swung her legs up on the bed and sat Indian-style. "If that isn't enough then you could leave me and say that we never had any romantic relationship or whatsoever. I can assure you that if we do separate from each other then you'll be safe from ShadowLabs. I'll sacrifice even our love just to keep you safe." She gazed at Shizuma then closed her eyes in submission. "So go ahead do what you want." She braced herself for the impact. Seconds then a full minute went by when Blake opened her eyes. "Shizuma, why-" Her head snapped to the side as a hard slap connected to her face.
Shizuma looked despondently at Blake. "Why are you like that?" she demanded. "How can you give up everything even our love just to protect me after treating badly and calling you a monster?" She turned her body away from Blake but remained upright on the bed. "Why must you be so kind?"
Blake touched her stinging cheek. "It's because I love you and I will continue to love you even if it meant distancing myself and disappearing just to protect you. You'll forget about me eventually if that happens and you'll move on."
Still facing away from Blake, Shizuma's shoulders shook as she started to sob. "How could I forget you so easily?" she asked in an almost too soft voice. "After everything we went through together and how you helped me find love after giving up on it. How can you tell me that I'll forget you and move on so easily?" Her sobs became louder and her body trembled even harder. "I can't… I just can't, but I wish I could forget about what those men did to me." She gazed at Blake tearfully. "I just can't forget how you stained the floors and your hands with the blood of those men you killed so brutally."
"Then let me help you forget," Blake whispered huskily, moving forward and capturing Shizuma in the circle of her arms. She pulled Shizuma closer to her until the point that her chest was pressed against Shizuma's back. Her hands rested against the taut stomach of Shizuma and she gently placed a kiss on a sensitive spot on her neck. "Let me help you… forget," she whispered hotly into the platinum-haired beauty's ear before reaching up with her hand and leading Shizuma into a heated kiss. She softly kissed those trembling lips and pulled back to gaze at Shizuma with half lidded eyes. Her eyes travelled from gazing at those glazed amber orbs down the bridge of her nose and finally those parted lips. With a gentle hand, Blake wiped the tears off of Shizuma's face feeling something similar to a surge of electricity rush through the fingers, up her arm and down her spine that made contact with the smooth skin. Closing her eyes, she bent her head down and gave her lover another kiss. This time Blake was not as gentle and demanded more from the woman in her arms. She could not help but feel ecstatic when Shizuma tilted her head up more to receive the kiss and kiss back better. Feeling Shizuma's mouth opening slightly, Blake followed suit and let their tongues meet and glide ever so slowly and sensually over one another.
"Blake," Shizuma breathed out in between their kisses. "Please…" she arched her back and let the raven-haired woman behind her pull her shirt over her head. "Please," she repeated this time in a low moan as her lover gently cupped her breasts in her long and slender hands, kneading them lightly. She could not contain the overwhelming feelings she had and began to push down her underwear. She had been wearing only a shirt and the panties since she arrived at the doctor's house.
Breaking the kiss, Blake moved her lips to Shizuma's neck and began to lavish it. She first trailed kisses from Shizuma's jawbone down to the junction of her neck and shoulder. She made her way back up again but this time Blake lavished the previously kissed spots with a tender lick and then suckling on them. Blake lips curled in a smile as she continued to lavish her woman's neck when Shizuma let out a low whimper. She continued her ministrations on the former Etoile's breasts, fondling them gently at first then gradually increasing the pressure.
"Please," Shizuma whispered into Blake's mouth. "I need…" she finished her sentence with a moan as Blake's fingers traced a lazy trail down the trembling muscles of her stomach. She bit on her lip, her eyes darkening with desire when she felt those same fingers tangle themselves for a few moments on the trimmed thatch of hair at the junction of her thighs.
"Tell me where," Blake whispered hotly into Shizuma's ear before nibbling on the sensitive lobe. "Show me where you want me to be," she laved the inner ear of Shizuma with her tongue as she continued to tease the squirming woman in her arms. "Show me where, Shizuma." Looking down with interest as her partner rested a trembling hand on top of her wandering hand and guided it down past the thatch of hair and into the sweet moistness of her core. "Show me what you want me to do to you."
Shizuma nodded her head and pressed Blake's fingers onto the sensitive nub, gasping out in raw pleasure. She continued to lead Blake's inquiring fingers to touch her for a bit longer before letting her hand drop onto the bed and grip the sheets. She threw her head back against Blake's shoulder and breathed in heavily as she let herself get lost in the amalgam of sensation she was feeling. She felt the heat develop and increase from her core, up her chest and up to her face, which was red from the Blake's attention. "Blake," she panted, her cheeks flushed. "I'm close…"
The raven-haired responded to the Shizuma and quickened her strokes, occasional pressing and circling using her fingertips. As Shizuma's breathing became quicker and quicker, Blake let her fingers circle once around the sensitive nub, before travelling further down and positioning them for entry. As she continued fondling Shizuma's breast, Blake lowered her lips onto Shizuma's once more and pressed her fingers into Shizuma's core. Blake held onto her lover as she arched her back, screaming into Blake's kiss, which was effectively muffled. When Shizuma ceased her trembling, Blake carefully laid her down on the bed and craved to feel her lover's skin against hers. She quickly stripped out of her clothing, leaving herself only in the bandages that were wrapped around her midriff. Taking care to mind her weight, Blake eased herself on top of Shizuma's lightly sweating body and lowered herself until their bodies were touching.
This time Shizuma reached up, tangled her fingers in Blake's sable-black hair and pulled her down roughly for a kiss. Their lips slanted over and over again against each other as they battled for dominance until Blake broke away and began to kiss a trail down her neck, onto her collarbone and finally the tops of her generous bosom. With the tip of her tongue, Blake travelled down to one pert peak, circled it then encompassed it with her warm and moist mouth. That mere action made the woman below her squirm and pant heavily. Blake switched her attention on the unattended peak and continued her ministrations until she felt Shizuma gently push her head downward.
"Where do you want me to go?" Blake asked, gently nipping on the creamy skin of Shizuma's stomach. She alternated kissing, licking and biting the taut skin before letting her inquiring tongue dip briefly into Shizuma's navel, which resulted to her lover's hips suddenly bucking upward. "Down?"
"Nghhh…" Shizuma moaned out her reply, one hand gripping the bed sheets while the other was fisted in Blake's hair. She threw her back against her pillow and urged Blake on, clamping onto her fingers with her lips to stifle her cries of pleasure. Her thighs trembled upon feeling the first contact of Blake's tongue on her nether regions. Her bucking hips were held fast by strong hands as she let each wave of pleasure wash through her body. The pleasure amplified when her lover's fingers sought her opening and slid themselves inside of her. Shizuma was becoming shameless in her pleasure as she ground her hips against Blake's intimate touch in the form of her moving fingers and tongue. The feel of Blake's ministrations and the sheer sight of her pleasuring her in such an intimate way brought her to another orgasm. Shizuma's body shuddered as wave after wave of pleasure flowed through her body.
Blake carefully withdrew her fingers when Shizuma's inner walls stopped pulsating around her and tiredly smiled up at her lover from her position. She only made her way up when Shizuma's hand reached down and gripped her chin, gently pulling her up her exhausted body. Blake locked lips with Shizuma as soon as she was face-to-face with her then pulled back to look searchingly at her lover. "Was I successful in helping you forget?"
"For now…" Shizuma answered with a small smile, then flipped Blake onto her back. "Perhaps a few more rounds will do the trick." She pressed her lips against Blake's and felt the gray-eyed woman wrap her arms around her. "You'll protect me always?"
Blake gasped in pleasure. "I always will, Shizuma."
"Don't ever leave my side."