CHAPTER 25

Sub-zero stared out the window of her room. She had only been at the base for a day and she already felt like leaving. She had not wanted to leave her clan in the first place. Johnny and Kenshi were just convincing. She allowed herself to smile a little as she saw Sareena with Hanzo. The boy had gotten close to her in merely a day. They seemed to be having a good time, watching the stars and looking for constellations.

"I hope they end up together." She said to herself. When she was a guy, Sub-zero remembered that he was attracted to Sareena and Kitana.

She shook her head. It didn't matter to her if she would be single all her life, as long as she becomes a 'he' again. She also thought that once she turns back to a man, her feelings for Scorpion would disappear, like when her feelings for Kitana and Sareena disappeared when she transformed into a woman.

She stood up and quietly made her way across the room and opened the door. Li Mei was still asleep. She was, once again, her roommate.

Sub-zero made her way down the stairs and out the front door. She needed some fresh air. As she stepped out of the house, a cool breeze blew past her. It was nighttime, bringing her thoughts back to Li Mei. Why in the world was she asleep so early? It was only half-past seven.

Sub-zero strolled to the place where she stayed the previous night. It was dark, but she was still able to see. She surveyed her surroundings and her eyes spotted a person standing alone a few meters away.

It was, yet again, Scorpion.

She stared at him, bathed in moonlight. He had his mask off, just like old times. She grimaced.

He did look like Hanzo, a little. She was still in denial.

Just when she was about to leave, another figure approached Scorpion. She concealed herself behind a tree. It wasn't usual for her to eavesdrop, but she wanted to know what the person was going to say to him, especially when she recognized the figure to be Kenshi.

"What do you want?" Scorpion hissed at the blind swordsman. He looked like he wanted to be left alone.

"I wanted to talk to you." Kenshi replied.

"I do not have time to talk to loathsome creatures such as yourself." He said dismissively.

"Look, I don't want to talk to you either."

"Then why do so?" Scorpion turned around and glared at Kenshi.

I thought he just said he wanted to do so? Sub-zero thought to herself.

"I wanted to talk to you…about Sub-zero."

As Kenshi said this, Sub-zero felt as if she was going to faint. This could not be happening to her. Was Kenshi going to start a fight for her sake? She didn't want him to do that. She never wanted him to do that for her.

"What about, Sub-zero?" he said her name in such a contemptuous manner that Sub-zero flinched slightly, causing Kenshi to look towards her direction. He shrugged then looked at him again.

"You can't pretend that she doesn't exist."

"Oh?" he challenged. "Watch me." He was about to leave when Kenshi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I will not watch you hurt her."

"Why would pretending she didn't exist, affect her in any way?" he raised an eyebrow at him.

"You aren't an idiot, are you?"

"I am not." Scorpion glared at him.

"She hates the 'silent treatment' more than anything else. Even if she appears to be all right with it, she never is."

"So what? We've always ignored each other. Always. We despised each other."

"'Despised', right? Past tense…it means you don't despise each other anymore." He pointed out. "Don't tell me all your experiences with her back in the Outworld base meant nothing to you."

"They didn't mean anything to me." He said coldly.

Sub-zero felt her heart break into a little million pieces. She couldn't breathe.

"Right. You can say whatever you want, but I know…" Kenshi shook his head.

"You know what?" Scorpion spat.

"You love her." He stated simply, and shrugged.

It took Scorpion a few seconds to comprehend what Kenshi said, at least that's what it looked like to Sub-zero. She couldn't believe she was hearing this from Kenshi.

"I-I do not love her!" he said angrily. Even in the dark, it was easy to see Scorpion's blush.

"You do. You love her. You have been considerate of her feelings until you found out that she was Sub-zero. You cared for her when she was sick; you wanted to be by her side, always."

"She lied to me." Scorpion frowned. "She lied about everything. And everything I told her was the truth. I had trusted her."

"Scorpion, if you turned into a woman, would you broadcast it to the whole world? I don't think you would. I mean, I wouldn't."

"But she could at least have told me instead of finding out because I accidentally eavesdropped on your conversation."

"So you're mad not because she is Sub-zero but because she did not confide in you?" Kenshi raised one eyebrow at him.

"I'm angry because of both." He looked away. It looked as if he didn't want to say more.

"You love her." Kenshi repeated.

"I don't. I…can't."

"Why not?"

"Because she's a Lin Kuei…The Grandmaster to be more precise." Scorpion reasoned.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. You can't just…well…not love her just because of that." Kenshi cocked his head to the side.

"We're sworn enemies. I hate her and she hates me."

"I thought we've gone through this. You don't despise each other anymore, right?"

"She lied about everything."

"Everybody makes mistakes, that doesn't mean she can't be forgiven just because of that." Kenshi folded his arms.

"She was once a man…"

"She isn't one any more right? She didn't want to become a woman anyway. It wouldn't make you gay…if that's what you're afraid of."

All of Scorpion's excuses were thwarted by Kenshi.

"See, you don't have any excuse." Kenshi said smugly.

"I will think of one." Scorpion looked deep in thought.

"Why not just accept it?"

"As if I could!" And with that, he sprinted away. Kenshi shook his head and looked towards Sub-zero's direction.

"Who's there? Have you been eavesdropping on our whole conversation?" Kenshi almost drew his sword until Sub-zero walked towards him.

"Sub-zero? How long have you been there?" his mouth formed the letter 'O' yet again.

"Since 'I want to talk to you'?" Sub-zero offered a small smile. Then, to Kenshi's surprise, she hugged him. He could feel the warm droplets on his chest and hugged her even closer. She pulled back and wiped her tears away.

"I'm sorry. Here I am again, being sentimental." She wiped her tears away. "I was never like this when I was a guy."

"Don't worry about. It's a part of your being a woman now." He laughed slightly.

"Thanks. You really didn't have to do that for me." She smiled at him.

"But I wanted to." He grinned. "Come on, let's go back to the house."

OoooooooO

When the two of them returned all of them were surrounding Shujinko who had fainted. As soon as he woke up, a barrage of questions was sent his way. He raised his hand to stop them from speaking.

"I have foreseen something." He started ominously. "Tomorrow…the battle will begin." Everybody was silent.

"The battle…between the forces of good and evil?" Hanzo questioned.

"That sounds too cliché…" Jax commented.

"What about Raiden?" Cyrax asked.

"What about him?" Kitana answered him with another question.

"Which side will he be on?"

"Well…I suppose he'll be on the side of whoever wants to save Earthrealm." Sub-zero answered.

All nodded at her response.

"We had better get ready." Sareena said seriously.

"Indeed." Jade looked at Kung Lao and he gave her a small smile. She smiled back too. However, she looked very troubled, at least that's how it looked like to Sub-zero.

"Everybody, eat heartily, for tomorrow, we dine in hell!" Johnny announced.

"You got that from 300!" Sonya jabbed him in the ribs.

"I know, it just sounded cool!"

Sub-zero and Kenshi laughed at him. It was just like Johnny to try and lighten up everybody's mood.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Yeah! I updated! :P Sorry it's a bit short though. Haha. I'm in a good mood today, I already passed in one of the colleges I applied to! YEY! I am so happy. There's something wrong with ffnet though, I wanted to see how many hits the latest chapter had and it still said "0". I don't know why. :P Anyway, please leave a review! :) Thanks to all who will be reviewing! THANKS FOR 100 REVIEWS! :) The 101st and 102nd person who reviews can ask me to make a oneshot of any pairing she/he wants! :) [Except FrostSub-zero and any Yaoi couple. Sorry. :P]