Hello! No, you are not seeing things. I am back...for those of you who were reading this fic. Though there may not be any of you left. However, to all of you new readers. Welcome. I know it has been years since I updated and I wanted to have the fiction written in it's entirety before I started updated again. That way there won't be any long waits in between. Thank you all for reading and for your sympathy as well as sticking with me. I hope you all enjoy. As always please review and let me know what you think.
Viper observed his little mate staring out of the window as the many gas balls flew past. She'd been quiet since boarding the ship a few hours ago. Not even Rou'e and Ca'tor seemed to be able to pull a smile from her. He was more than sure it was due to the fact that she was leaving her family behind on the ship. Colby had informed him that they hadn't been separated in over an ooman year.
He had watched this morning as she'd clung to the younger male, tears running down her face. It was apparent that she didn't want to release him and Viper wanted to tell her to stay, but he knew she wouldn't, knew she wanted to make as many Kainde Amehde pay. So, instead he had remained quiet. When it was time for them to leave, it had pained him to have to separate the three of them. The old man had even had tears in his eyes.
Viper truly wished there was something he could give her to take her pain away. He'd thought about giving her a sedative, but knew she would never forgive him. Having come up with nothing else, he rose from where he was sitting and made his way to her. Viper gathered her small frame in his arms and she didn't protest.
He walked down the corridor of the large ship. His sire had allowed them to take his to accommodate everyone comfortably. Once inside of the sleeping quarters she'd chosen for them, Viper sat her on the bed and went about undressing her. Once he had her down to her last ooman coverings he pulled the furs back and motioned for her to get under them. He then lay down beside her, pulling her into his arms.
"You should rest. You did not get much last sleep cycle." He stated. She pushed herself closer to him and exhaled lightly as he began to purr.
It wasn't long until she was sleeping. Viper held her for a little longer before slowly sliding out of the bed. He didn't want to leave her, but he needed to speak to his brothers about the nest they were going to cleanse. It would be no different from their chiva. All of them working together again.
Viper made his way into the dining quarters and found C'bra and Xile sitting at the table.
"How is your mate?" Xile questioned, his eyes still on the task of cleaning his weapons.
"She misses the other oomans. She wants to be with them, be she wants to be here as well." Viper informed him. "We have other things we need to speak of at the moment."
"Agreed." C'bra stated, rising from his seat and going in search of his other clan brothers.
He was back a minute later and they all sat around the table. They were going to Earth and it would take them about six cycles to get there. His sire had sent another group to exterminate the hive that they were originally going to, since he had pushed their departure date back so that Kenzie could celebrate her brother's birthday with him before leaving.
They sat and discussed tactics. They weren't sure how many hard meats there would be in the area they were to eradicate. He was positive that there would be no oomans left when they got their. However, he had thought that when he had come upon Kenzie and her family. So, he didn't rule out the possibly. He also needed to speak to his mate.
Her being ooman may impair her judgment when it came to others of her species. However, Viper knew that in the face of certain death and disaster, an ooman's instinct to survived kicked in and they would not hesitate to turn on their own kind. Most were dishonorable that why. Therefore, he needed to have a talk with her so she knew to be careful and wary of anyone that didn't come on the trip with her.
Viper also made a mental note to test her hand to hand combat. He knew that she was advanced in the weaponry she wielded. Upon asking her about it, she told him that both of her parent's had been in Earths military regiments. Both of them being high in rank. They had trained both of their children from a young age. Kenzie herself had been among the army ranks and had been home for a visit when everything fell apart. Her brother was even signed up to begin his training after he was of age, but apparently never got the chance to officially go.
Viper wasn't sure that ooman wars ever came down to frequent close combat, but yautjas were skilled in much more than just weaponry and he needed her to be able to defend herself without them, or at least see if she cloud.
It was several hours later when the clan brothers finished talking. Xile, who had been the only one in the group to have actually visited this particular area they were going to, recounted all that he knew of it, better helping to prepare the others.
When they were finished, Viper made his way back to his sleeping quarters to check on his mate. When the door slid open, he didn't find her inside. Walking through the room, he made it to the private lavatory the room housed. It was the main reason his little mate had chosen the quarters. Stating that she didn't need anyone accidentally walking in on her. He didn't find her in there either.
Pulling up his wrist computer he checked to see where on the ship she was. Discovering that she was in the kehrite he headed that way. When he walked in, he found her doing that activity she seemed so fond of. He had asked her what it was called and she stated it was jumping rope.
Viper leaned against the wall and watched her as she jumped. Her pace steady. He had been standing there for several moments and her pace hadn't falter any. He knew his little mate had good stamina. He figured that perhaps this was one of the ways she strengthened it, pushed it.
It was several more moments before she stopped jumping and Viper approached her. She turned to look at him and gave him a small smile.
"I wish to talk to you." He informed her. He watched the small smile on her face fade away.
"About what?"
"As you know, we are going to Earth and there may be ooman's still alive where we are going."
"That's a good thing, right?" Kenzie questioned him. "It would mean the Glass Mouth's haven't completely taken over and killed everyone."
"Perhaps, but I need for you to be careful. Their intentions may not be good. When ooman's tend to be put in life or death situations, they often turn on each other in order to survive instead of working together. They are dishonorable that way."
Kenzie glared at him for a moment. "My family and I didn't turn on anyone to survive."
Viper had upset her and that hadn't been his intentions. He reached out and ran the back of one of his fingers down her cheek to quickly soothe her. "That is because you are honorable." She nodded at him and he continued. "Until we land we will work on your hand to hand combat. It may prove useful in the event that you have to partake in close combat." Again, he watched her nod.
Viper took her rope from her and threw it to the side. He trained the children on the mother ship, so he had no doubt that he could train his little mate and improve her skills in the next six days. He took a few steps back from her and before she could blink he shot his fist out at her.
He stopped himself before he actually hit her, but he watched as Kenzie scrambled backwards hitting floor. When she looked up at him, her eyes were wide.
"A little warning that we were starting would have been nice." She told him from her fallen positions.
"Enemy's will not warn you." Was Viper's reply to her before lifting his foot and bringing it down where she was.
Again he stopped himself short as his little mate rolled out of the way and quickly scrambled to her feet. Viper turned to face her and threw another punch, stopping short as she ducked this one and dodged to the side. This repeated for a few moments, before he realized that she had figured out that he was not actually going to hit her and was now just lazily moving out of the way.
Though she was his mate, and he didn't want to hurt her, he also knew that he couldn't allow her to be lazy in this training. He was taking it easy on her because he cared for her, but an enemy would have no trouble inflicting pain on her.
Throwing a punch at her stomach, he watched as she lazily dodged, however, at the last second Viper shifted his body and made contact anyway. He hadn't hit her hard, but the blow was enough to send her stumbling backwards.
"Hey!" Kenzie exclaimed, her arm wrapping around her stomach. "You hit me."
"This is not a game. You need to take this seriously. Just because I do not wish to hit you does not mean anyone else will feel the same way." Viper told her before clicking his mandibles in irritation at her.
He had trained with Kenzie for about an ooman hour before calling it quits. He was frustrated. More so with himself than he was with her. He had trained several children and adolescents, but perhaps that was his problem. He was treating her like a child and she was not.
"How did training your ooman go?" Ma'iss questioned.
"It...went." Viper responded.
That earned a snort from Ma'iss. "You will not be able to train her." He then stated causing Viper to growl at him.
"You doubt my skill?" He questioned threw clenched teeth, ready to take the other male to the kehrite and teach him a lesson.
"No. However, she is your mate and you care far too much about hurting her. In holding back, you will not push her."
Viper didn't want to agree, but he knew his clan brother was right. He had known that as soon as he realized she wasn't trying her hardest to counter him, however, she also seemed to scared of hurting him too, because her attacks had been half attempted as well.
"I will ask C'bra to train her."
"That will not work either." Ma'iss stated. "He will be to focused on trying not to hurt her as well." He paused for a moment. "I will train her for you."
Viper was skeptical. He knew that his mate was not a big fan of Ma'iss. She hadn't been ever since he growled at her pet and her dislike for him had heightened since the day they were in the kehrite. However, he realized that he was the exact person that needed to train Kenzie. Neither of them would hold back, but he was sure his clan brother would never intentionally, severely hurt his mate.
"Very well. Though she will not be pleased about this."
Ma'iss nodded. "Yes, and that is why it will help her more." With that he rose from his seat and headed off to his quarters.
The next day found Kenzie standing in the kehrite waiting on Viper. He had told her to meet him there. Kenzie knew that he was disappointed in her lack of commitment yesterday, but it had felt wrong fighting him. She knew that he was just trying to look out for her, so today, she had committed to doing better and working hard.
A few moments later, Viper walked through the door, followed by Ma'iss and Xile. They all walked over to her and she eyed the three tall men.
"Ma'iss will be conducting your training today." Viper informed her.
Kenzie's eyes widened before she glared between Viper and Ma'iss. There was no way in hell she was going to participate in anything with him. He got on her nerves. She was both angry and hurt that Viper would do this to her. Angry because he knew how she felt about this particular clan brother and hurt because it seemed as if he had given up on her already and didn't want to train her.
Before she got to say anything though, Ma'iss lashed out at her, throwing a right her way. Kenzie jumped backwards. She barely had time to steady her feet before he was coming at her again. This time with a left hook. Kenzie threw up her right arm to block it. The action was successful, but the force of the blow still caused her to move off balance to the left a bit.
He sent his right fist towards her stomach and Kenzie was just barely able to use both of her hands to block it and force his fist down. However, she was too slow to block the backhand he gave her left check and it sent her stumbling. Ma'iss took advantage of her off kilter footing and his right fist contacted with her chest, sending her flying back onto the mat.
Kenzie brought her left hand up to her chest has she propped herself up on her right arm. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, the action causing a bit of pain as she glared at him. He said nothing as he walked towards her menacingly and she began to scoot back. It was a bad idea, she realized, when she hit the wall and had nowhere to go. Instead of attacking her again, however, he squatted down to her level.
"If you are constantly on defense, your adversary will always have the upper hand."
Standing up, he walked away from her, back to the middle of the kehrite and Kenzie wondered if it would have killed him to help her up. Using the wall for support she got to her feet. She had just made it back to where he stood, when he attacked her again.
Kenzie was able to block the first couple of attacks, but the next three got through her defensive. One blow landing to the right of her face, the other two in her chest in rapid succession sending her back down to the mat.
"You must anticipate his attacks." Xile called to her from where he was standing and the second that Kenzie spared to glance over to him almost cost her.
She heard Ma'iss coming towards her and rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid his foot. It connected to the mat with a hard thud exactly where her stomach had been.
"There are many distractions when fighting. However, you can not give in to them." Ma'iss stated as Kenzie pushed herself to her feet.
She didn't say anything to him, just simply tried to breath as the ache in her chest throbbed. Ma'iss charged her and she scrambled to get out of his way. However, his arm shot out and he grabbed her around the throat lifting her.
Kenzie's hands instinctively went to his wrist as she was trying to claw at his hand to release her. However, it seemed it was having no affect on him. Holding onto his wrist tightly, Kenzie brought her feet up and used both of them to kick him in the chest.
The action caused him to let her go, but his claws bit into the skin of her neck as his hand slipped from it and Kenzie found herself hitting the mat hard. She tried to get to her feet, but Ma'iss picked her up and threw her into one of padded walls like a rag doll.
Kenzie cried out at the impact as she crumbled to the floor. Her chest was killing her and now her side was in pain. She was sure that he had fractured a few of her ribs. Even though the wall was padded, the force he used to throw her had been far from gentle.
Kenzie felt someone approaching her. When she looked up, she expected to see Ma'iss there ready to finish her off. Instead, it was Viper. He reached down to pick her up, but she moved away from him. She didn't want him to touch her. He had let this happen to her and he hadn't once tried to intervene.
Getting to her feet slowly, Kenzie moved around him and made her way from the kehrite. When she made it out into the hall she bumped into Ca'tor.
"Are you okay, Kecil?" He questioned.
He and his brother both called her that. They had informed her it meant tiny. She had not minded. She was aware that she was very small compared to them.
"Will you take me to the medical room?" She questioned him. Ca'tor nodded at her and led the way.
Kenzie had just finished up putting the rest of the healing salves on her wounds. When Ca'tor had brought her to the medical room, he had gotten everything she would need for her, and told her what would work best for what. After that she had thanked him, but told him she would be fine by herself now. She was about to hop off of the table, but Viper walking into the room made her freeze. His green eyes on her as he made his way over.
He attempted to help her off of the table, but she pushed him away, still not wanting him near her. She slid off of the table and began to walk away from him, but he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
"Let go of me." She spit threw gritted teeth, trying to yank her wrist from him, but he would not release her. "Let go of me. I don't want you touching me."
He released her, but when he did, he began to purr at her and Kenzie was not about to give in to him. So, she turned on her heels and headed to her sleeping quarters. To her dismay, he followed her.
"Why are you upset, Mate?" He questioned once the door had slid shut and Kenzie whirled on him.
"You have got to be fucking with me right now! First, you give up on me entirely and pass me off to your sadistic clan brother to be trained and then you stood by and watched as he beat me black and blue!" She spat at him.
"That is not what happened." He stated as if she was being over dramatic.
"I had three fractured ribs when I walked into the medical room. He could have seriously hurt me."
"He did not. Nor would he have."
Kenzie shook her head at him. "What if one of my ribs had of snapped and punctured my lungs. Would you have intervened then? Or would you have waited until I was bleeding to death first?"
"That did not happen."
Kenzie held back tears at his indifferent tone. "You don't even care." She whispered.
She heard him trill in surprise as if her words caught him off guard and then began to growl lowly at her as if she had offended him.
"Just get out." She told him, turning her back to him.
"You will not banish me from our quarters." He informed her.
Kenzie spun around and it took her getting up on her tip toes, but her right hand connected with his face. Immediately, she began to back away. She had never seen the look in his eyes that he was giving her. She watched as he reached out and grabbed the front of her shirt before throwing her on the bed on top of the furs. He was hovering over her in an instant.
"You cannot hit me when I try to train you, but you can lay hands on me in anger." He stated. "That is one of the reason I am not training you. The other is the fact that I am afraid I will hurt you."
"So you allow someone else to do it instead." Kenzie countered, turning her head away from him.
Viper gripped her chin, however, and forced her to look back at him. He locked his mandibles against her cheeks and slowly licked both of her lips. She did not want his affection, his kisses; but she knew that if she were to move, his mandibles could slice through her cheeks. He released her face and placed his forehead against hers.
"If I had thought he would hurt you beyond what salves were instantly able to cure, then I would have stepped in. However, I trust him to be as hard as he needs to be without seriously injuring you. I need you to be prepared for whatever we may encounter. It was negligence on my part to think of this so late, but you need the training. You may not like him, but he would never do anything that would endanger your life, because he knows I would kill him for it."
Kenzie gasped at the fact that Viper would even admit the fact that he would kill his clan brother were he to endanger her life during their trainings. She could see the seriousness in his eyes. Then she felt his brow furrow against her forehead.
"I do not know whether it is my fault or yours, that you have not realized that I cherish you." Viper told her as he removed himself from her.
He only stood there a moment more before he left the room and Kenzie got the sinking feeling that though it seemed the fight between them was over. It actually wasn't. However, she didn't dwell on it long. He had told her he cherished her. She could only wonder if that was the yautja equivalent to love.