Ten
The door to the hot springs slides shut silently and Kiyone's slim figure turns to the steaming springs wrapped in a towel. She takes in a deep breath and smiles a bit, "Ah, this will be perfect. Even Galaxy Police detectives need a little relaxation time." she says to herself and slowly walks to the steaming water. She dips her foot in and feels the warm water. She smiles a bit more and steps in up to her knees. She looks around to see if anybody else is in the springs but hears nothing. She reluctantly starts to loosen her towel and keeps looking around. "They are all eating so I will have a little time to relax." she says and removes her towel from her body.
"Well, now that's something I didn't expect to see when I came here." a quiet voice says from in the steam. Kiyone freezes and blinks, looking through the steam. A slight wind blows some steam away and none other than Jaaku is sitting in the springs across from her, a light smirk on his face.
"Jaaku?" she asks. Suddenly she reaches down and picks up her pistol she brought out. She raises it up at him and narrows her eyes, "I have you now. You will finally be arrested, Jaaku." she says triumphantly.
Jaaku raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of some sake he has, "Yes, it seems that way. Just one question, are you going to put in your report that you arrested me with nothing on other than that headband?" he asks calmly. She blinks and remembers that she doesn't have her towel on any longer. She shrieks and drops the gun into the water then grabs her towel in a panic. She throws on around herself and looks at him with a beet red face. He looks up from his sake and tilts his head a little bit, "Well, now you don't have a gun so what are you going to do?" he asks.
She looks into the water and winces slightly, "Dammit, where did it go?" she asks and dips her hand into the water looking for it.
He watches her and sets his sake down on a rock, "Looking for this?" he asks and raises his hand out of the water. In it is her dripping pistol and he smirks, "Now you are truly in a pickle." He says.
She looks at him and stands straight, "Return that to me, it's Galaxy Police property." she demands.
He laughs and wraps his hand around it, "You are really something. I guess they teach being persistent in Special Ops, ne?" he asks. She growls at him but is unable to do anything about it right now. "You are far too involved with your work, officer. Little girls like you should take some time to relax and remove the sticks from where they are shoved up so tight." He says and tosses it to her.
She catches it and glares at him, "Little girl? You are one big jerk. I came here to relax also and what do I find? Criminal scum floating in the water." she says and lowers the gun down. He returns the glare and stands up so the water is around his thin waist.
She is distracted by his dripping body but regains her composure as he talks, "Be careful, officer. I may not be as nice I as I usually am. Your little gun is nothing to me. I could destroy you right now if I wanted to." He says and his eyes glow slightly.
She doesn't flinch and grips her gun tightly, "Then why don't you?" she says flatly.
He is surprised by her question and blinks, "I didn't expect that one. Oh well, stay or leave. I don't care just don't bug me." He says and sits back down in the water. She glares at him more and plays with the pistol in her hand. He grabs his sake and turns from her, drinking it heavily. She sighs lightly and sets the pistol down on a rock, then dips into the water. She keeps her eye on him but moves to the other side of the springs. He turns his head and looks at her, then back away. She reluctantly closes her eyes and sits down deep in the water, sighing in contentment. A long silence follows except for the occasional pouring of sake into a bowl from Jaaku.
After a while of it, she opens her eyes and looks at his silhouette in the steam, "Drinking quite a lot of that, aren't you?" she says sternly.
"What's it to you?" his voice floats back.
She holds the top of her arm with her other hand and sighs, "Nothing, nevermind."
There is another silence but this time Jaaku interrupts it, "Why do you all pursue me so? All I want to be is left alone." He says. She tilts her head slightly and sees his orange eyes locked on her through the steam.
"You want to know why the Galaxy police are after you? You one of the most wanted criminals in the universe! You killed millions of people! You've destroyed whole galaxies! You are the reason the Special Ops section of the GP was created! You think you can go around doing those kind of things and then just get away with it? You will be arrested and punished for your crimes." she says getting a little angry.
"I will not deny I have done all those things you have just said, but I will tell you this, I was under Dargon's control when that happened. I will not be taken in until I have destroyed Dargon, not by you, Mihoshi or any Galaxy Police officer. If you try and stop me I will not hesitate to kill you. I am not proud of what I did but I am going to make sure it could never happen again. Dargon has to be destroyed." Jaaku says coldly, his usual smile gone. She calms down a bit and digests what he said and he looks away from her, "All I want is for you Galaxy Police agents to stay out of my way until I stop Dargon." He says.
"And after that?" she asks and turns to him.
His orange eyes move to the side and look at her, "After that.....whatever happens, happens. I will worry about it when the time comes." She looks at him with a look of confusion and slides her headband off her head, letting her long green hair fall into the water a bit.
"You are so very complex. Your file suggests that you would be some kind of ruthless killer that loved destroying life." she says and sets the headband next to her gun.
He turns his head to her and pours more sake, "Not what you expected? Figures, you Galaxy Police are all alike. Do you know how many officers have tried to kill me without ever saying one word? They just try with their pathetic pistols to make a name for themselves. 'The Officer that brought in Jaaku', yes it would be quite an honor. I wish you all would just leave me alone." He says and takes a deep drink. She still just looks at him, trying to figure him out. "It seems I will live my life constantly butting heads with you people. It would make both our lives easier if you just entered Jaaku as being killed before apprehension." He says.
"I...can't do that. You have to serve your sentence given to you by a Judicial Judge. You have to pay for what you did." she says.
"Yeah, I figured you would say something like that. Nobody can stop me until I find Dargon. Take my advice and stay out of my way until I do." He says and disappears in the steam once again. He leans back on a rock and sips the liquid in his bowl. After setting the empty bowl down next to a half-filled jug of sake, he closes his eyes and sighs lightly. He hears some water being disturbed and figures it's about time that she left him alone. Suddenly a figure emerges from the steam in front of him and he opens one eye to see Kiyone looking at him. "I thought I said to leave me alone." He says quietly and shuts the eye once again. She has her hands clasped out in front of her and just looks at him. He opens his eye after hearing no sound and looks at her, "What? Am I breaking another law or something by sitting on a rock in a 'no rock sitting' zone?" he says sarcastically. Then she does something that take him by surprise and smiles, even laughs a bit. He blinks and stares at her, "Okay, what's the deal? Is this some tactic to try and arrest me again?" he asks. She just looks at him with a slight smile and shakes her head. "Then what? Is there something particularly interesting about me that you are investigating?" he asks.
She goes a bit red and rubs her hands together nervously, "Well, you could say that. I am just shocked that you are not anything like your profile at the GP headquarters." she says.
"Yeah well, your information agents never could seem to get much right. First off I am a demon, not a devil. Although I do enjoy the name ShiboNoAkuma, it's very me." He says and smiles a bit.
She stops smiling and dims a bit, "Do you know what kind of fear that name instills on the name of cadets? They have a whole course about the criminal Jaaku when you are promoted into the Special Ops. You are the one criminal that no Galaxy Police officer wants to be assigned to alone." she says.
"Well, you aren't alone. You have Mihoshi to try and help you arrest me. Didn't fare to well last time, did you?" he says and grins.
She narrows her eyes at him and sets her hand on her hip, "Yeah well, next time you'll be the one who gets restrained. I won't go as easy on you." she says.
He smirks and shakes his head, "You are the most unusual officer that has ever pursued me. Even knowing I could destroy you in an instant, you still try and try. It's very.......annoying." he says and crosses his arms.
"Maybe I don't believe you couldn't destroy me in an instant. I will bring you in, Jaaku. It's only a matter of time." she says.
"We'll see, in the mean time...why did you come over here?" he asks and raises an eyebrow. Her face goes red once again and she looks at the water. "Oh, I see. Isn't their some kind of rule against officers finding their criminals attractive? Although Mihoshi doesn't seem to care." He says blandly.
She looks at him and goes even more red, "I don't......I...I...you are just so arrogant." She almost yells at him.
He closes his eyes and nods, "Perhaps, but if it wasn't true you wouldn't have come over here, hmm?" He leans back against the rock again and takes a deep breath. "Maybe that sweatband is cutting air off to you brain. It wouldn't be the smartest career move to get involved with a high level criminal." He says. There is no answer and he opens one eye, "What, are you still here? I thought I told you to go away. Go arrest a jay walker or something." He says but the look on her face makes him open his other eye. Her face is red and she looks like she is going to explode in anger. "Uhm, just kidding?" he says and his pupils shrink. She grabs the top of his head and dunks him under the water. Then she lets go, crosses her arms and looks away with a huff. He slowly comes back out of the water and his green hair is draped all over his face. He stands up and turns to her, pointing his finger angrily, "What the hell was that for!?" he roars.
"Arrogant jerk. Serves you right." She quips and keeps her head turned.
"Jerk!?! Wha....nobody has ever dared!"
"Hmph, somebody should have done it a long time ago. Someone needed to knock your ego down a few levels anyway." She says blandly. He starts to get red in the face and glares at the back of her head.
"Who do you think you are?! Let me tell you one thing, if you weren't so drop dead beautiful, I would be drowning you in this water right now!" He yells and breathes heavily as he glares at her. She turns around to yell back but finally clicks on what he just said.
"Beautiful?"
He huffs a bit and looks at her oddly, "What?" He really didn't know he said it either and was peering at her like she was crazy.
"You think I am....beautiful?" She tilts her head a bit and looks at his just as confused expression.
"Beautiful? How about annoying, aggravating or absolutely a pain in my neck instead?" He smirks and looks away.
She gets mad again and raises her finger at him, "Listen here, Jaaku, I don't care if you are the most handsome guy I have
ever seen! You are just a stupid criminal that needs to spend some time in prison! You are arrogant, egotistical and just flat out rude!" The two glare at each other growling and the steam from the water begins to surround them both.
"Kiyone?"
Mihoshi walks along the edge of the spring and looks through the steam. "Kiyoooooone. Where are you? I am going to go get ready to sit in the springs. Are you in here?" Mihoshi sticks her hands on the pockets of her jacket and stops. Through the steam, she hears some whispering coming from behind a rock and blinks. Then a high giggle and Kiyone's voice whispering to someone. "Kiyone?"
"Shhhh! I hear Mihoshi." Kiyone's voice whispers in the steam and then her figure appears from behind the rock. "Uhm, what is it, Mihoshi?"
Mihoshi smiles at her, "There you are? I have been looking for you. Why....is your face all red?"
Kiyone's face goes even more red and she rubs her head sheepishly. "Oh, it must be the steam."
"Okay. I am going to go change to get in, all right?" Kiyone nods still with the odd look on her face and Mihoshi skips off towards the house. Kiyone watches her and lets out a sigh of relief. Suddenly a hand reaches up and grabs her towel. She is yanked back behind the rock right into the arms of Jaaku. She giggles and puts her hands against his chest.
"Shhhh, someone will hear us."
"So? There is plenty of steam around." He assures her and smiles cheerfully at her. She loses herself in his orange eyes and her face stays a light shade of red.
"I....feel so odd right now. I shouldn't be feeling this towards you. I am a Galaxy Police Officer and you are Jaaku. I just.....don't know what to think."
"Then don't think." He says and slides his arms completely around her.
She looks into his eyes for a bit longer, "Jaaku? Do you feel anything? Or is this just another mind game like with Mihoshi?"
Jaaku thinks for a moment, then his face softens. "Oddly enough, I think I do feel something. It's....very strange. It's like what I feel for Ryoko." She nods blankly and reaches up, pushing some of his spiky hair back. "You are doing something to me, Kiyone. If all the Galaxy Police could do this, I'd be caught by now." She blurts out a laugh and then leans her head forward, covering her mouth with her hand. He smiles as she looks back up into his eyes. Finally, she leans forward and kisses him softly. The forbidden kiss takes him off guard but he slowly closes his eyes and kisses her back.