Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo & Stitch or any of the characters therein.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
LOVE AND LUST

I couldn't believe my eye. I was astonished that he was able to recover so quickly. Mother was very strong, and I knew that she had hit him hard. Even a light hit would have had most men on their knees for at least a few minutes. Le'Kruune was up in under twenty seconds, and I was even more horrified to see that he was smiling. Mother seemed wholly unnerved by this. She continued to glare at him.

"You ought to know me better than that, Vay," Le'Kruune purred. He took a step forward, and Mother took a small step in retreat and met the couch.

"All those wild nights back on Turo. Surely you remember? I even dared you to do that once, just to prove to you my tolerance for pain. And do you remember what happened?" He looked eagerly at her for an answer. When she didn't give one, he continued.

"You did it. You actually did it. But not with your fist. No. You were wearing those damned gravity boots, and that still didn't faze me. You were horrified by my failure to react to the pain. You accused me of getting off on it; called me a masochist and a sociopath. Well, you were right, baby… I LOVE IT!!!" He laughed hideously. Mother's furious expression remained unchanged. She didn't even flinch when Le'Kruune bent over and whispered in her ear, quite loud enough for me to hear him: "And just think… later on tonight, when your little guy's asleep, we can abuse each other all night long, just like the good old days."

I had never had to try so hard to control myself from doing something drastic. I felt like biting his face off, while right beside me my mother, the bearer of this harassment, seemed to be accepting it without the slightest care. I managed to contain myself physically, but I wasn't able to stop the words from exploding from my mouth. "How can you let him talk to you like that?" I demanded of my mother. For a moment I was more angry at her than at him.

"Because she knows it is all in jest!" replied Le'Kruune, grinning happily at me.

"I wasn't talking to YOU!" I shouted at him.

"Well, I wasn't talking to YOU, either," he retorted, standing up straight. "Really, you should know better than to eavesdrop on a private conversation."

"You were saying it right in front of me! And you weren't being too quiet about it, either."

"Well, if you don't like what you hear, then cover your ears and sing a happy song. Either way, please refrain from interrupting me."

"I'll interrupt you anytime I feel like it," I growled. "Especially when you're talking dirty to my mother!"

"Wendy, please!" Mother turned to me and frowned. "This is between Le'Kruune and myself. I can handle this a lot easier without your interrupting."

"But -"

"Your mother's right, Pleakley. Do be a good boy and play quietly in the corner while your mother and I… interface with each other."

I shook my head furiously. "I'm not leaving her side! I'm not even going to turn my back while you're in the same room with her. You can't be trusted."

Le'Kruune chuckled. "Your mother beat the hell out of two armed guards and tried to blast my jewels off with a plasma cannon and I'M the one not to be trusted? You really kill me!"

"If only," I muttered, "if only."

"Tell you what," he said, looking back and forth at the two of us. "I'll humor you a little. You say you won't turn your back on me? Well, I have a little something here that will ensure that never happens." He strolled over to the nearest wall and slid a long hand underneath the silk tapestry hanging down from the ceiling. I heard a faint click-click as though buttons were being pressed on a wall panel, and sure enough, the tapestry rolled up to reveal one, as well as a few other things that began to emerge out of the wall. I immediately recognized the metal restraints, and my heart jumped into my throat as I realized what he was going to do. He turned back to me and grinned.

"Yes, you see? You can't possibly turn your back on me when your back is up against a wall." I took a terrified step in retreat and backed into Mom. I turned and looked at her. For the first time that night, she actually looked shocked.

"You wouldn't dare!" she protested. Le'Kruune smiled devilishly.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" he asked. He looked back at me. "And don't bother to run. I have two heavily armed guards right outside this door who will be in here in a millisecond if I should call them. And this time I doubt even Vay can handle them, although I would love to see her try."

I didn't know what else to do, except run. So I did. Le'Kruune gave chase, and we bolted back and forth around the room for a few seconds before he gave up and called for his guards. The moment they came in, plasma cannons raised, I stopped, but did not come forward. I allowed them to drag me across the room to the restraint wall and strap me up against it. Then they left. The whole time Mother hadn't said a thing. Now she just stood there, staring at me, with my hands strapped up high over my head and my feet inches off the floor and also strapped. I hung my head in shame. I had failed to protect her and now… now she was going to have to surrender herself to save me again.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Le'Kruune walked up to me, shaking his head pitifully as he surveyed my immobilized form.

"Oh, dear, what a tragedy!" he moaned, eyes smiling maliciously at me. "Poor little Pleakley, in trouble again, and it looks like it could be life-threatening." He looked over his shoulder at Mother as he said this, but she just glared at him, apparently at a loss for words.

"I'm sure his mummy has something to say about this!" he teased, pinching my cheek hard with two clawed fingers and shaking it vigorously. I said nothing, even though it hurt, but just then Mother spoke up. "Stop it!" she shouted, stepping forward. Le'Kruune stopped and looked at her questioningly.

"Stop it? Is that all you have to say? Stop it?!! Oh no, my dear, that won't do at all. No. I want to hear you beg… beg me for mercy for your poor son, before you beg for mercy for yourself!"

"That won't work, Le'Kruune, because I'm not afraid of you. We made an agreement: you give me what I want, and I'll give you what YOU want. A fair exchange. But don't even bother to patronize me. I know where I stand."

"Alright, then! I'm glad to see we have an understanding here. Good choice, Vay. Good choice." Le'Kruune sounded delighted. He left me alone and walked over to my mother.

"NOOO!!!" I shouted. "MOM, YOU CAN'T LET HIM DO THIS! YOU CAN'T LET HIM WIN! PLEASE, DON'T DO IT!!!"

"An agreement has already been made, Wendy," she told me. "I never go back on my word."

"BUT MOM -"

"Enough! This is my business now, not yours." She looked up at Le'Kruune. Her expression was unreadable. He bent over then, and whispered something in her ear. I could not see her reaction because Le'Kruune's fat ugly head was in the way, but when he drew back, I caught a brief glimpse of her eye, widened with surprise, before he leaned toward her again. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her passionately on the mouth. I screamed then, for the entire duration of that kiss, which lasted for a very long time. It seemed to transpire in slow motion , and all I could do was watch helplessly as that monster forced his tongue down my mother's throat.

I wanted to kill him. Now more than ever I wanted to KILL him. It no longer mattered the things he had done to ME. But for what he had done to my mother, what he was doing to her now, and what he was about to do to her… I wanted him to die, slowly and horribly, a thousand times over. I struggled hard against my bonds until the metal cut into my wrists and ankles. I felt no pain, though. I felt nothing; nothing but burning hot fury and hate. I cursed him as loudly and vehemently as possible, using every profanity I could think of as well as some I didn't even know I knew, and a few gibberish words that flew out of my mouth with all the force and fury of a curse. He ignored me, though, and that only made me seethe even worse. I felt warm blood pouring out of my newly opened wounds.

When he finally stopped and looked up at me, he sneered. "Perhaps we should continue this elsewhere… like in my private quarters. It's much too noisy out here, don't you think?"

Mother didn't say anything. She didn't even look at me. She just stared at the floor and nodded in agreement. Le'Kruune kept one hand curled around her waist while the other one wandered up to her hair. He brushed his long, thin fingers through it, then brought them down and caressed her cheek. She looked up at him again, and I saw the passion in her eye, though I knew it wasn't for HIM. It was for me. She loved me enough to face this monster, and to let him have his way with her, brutally and without sympathy, just to save me from his wrath.

Without a single tear in her eye, Mother gave me one last look, pleading for my forgiveness, as Le'Kruune swept her up and carried her into his bedroom.