Kitty: Happy New Year! I haven't updated for a while so here we go!
Kirra ploughed through the cool night until she reached her destination- the shower block, a temporary commodity; it was, effectively, an exceedingly large tent with all these temporary showers inside it, with a particularly smooth, rocky part of the scenery as its floor. She tossed her bag onto one of the cold metal benches that had been set up to keep people's possessions out of the water's reach, and yanked off her clothes hurriedly, determined to get in and out of the shower in the shortest time possible, just in case anyone else showed up.
She grabbed various bottles out of her bag, including shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, cleanser, toner and just about every other beauty product under the sun, and proceeded to turn on the nearest tap and let the freezing cold water spill over her. She shuddered- heating was obviously something they'd chosen to neglect.
Kirra was determinedly scrubbing at the dried blood on her arm, caused by the gash that had been afflicted on her shoulder; when she heard someone else enter the shower block. She blinked- once, twice, three times, and realized she was still standing in full view of whoever was about to come through the door. She thought maybe it'd be someone from another squadron; heck, she didn't care, as long as she didn't know them personally. But she was to be proven wrong when Kamali stepped into the tent.
Their eyes locked for a moment, before the steady pink colour that was seeping into Kirra's face turned bright red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
"What the Hell are you doing here!" Kirra screamed, reaching up with her arms and trying to cover herself from view as best she could. Kamali stood there, with his mouth opening and shutting stupidly, and when Kirra spoke he started muttering, "Umm... umm..." under his breath.
"That isn't an answer," Kirra growled.
"Umm... well... you're not the only one allowed to use the showers, are you?"
"That's true..." Kirra murmured, raising her hand to scratch her head and realizing Kamali now had a full view of her chest. She blushed furiously and quickly moved it back to cover her chest.
"That doesn't mean you have to stare at me," Kirra added slyly, to get Kamali back for her own slip-up.
"Oh..." Kamali muttered, before spinning ninety degrees and clenching his eyes shut as tightly as he could.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kirra questioned, bemused by Kamali's immediate obeying of her wish.
"Averting my gaze," he said immediately.
"Umm... you don't have to shut your eyes... just refrain from staring at me."
"I don't think I could do that with my eyes open," Kamali whispered, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks in seconds. Kirra blinked; did he actually just comment on her looks? That hadn't happened very many times before... usually the guys went for Trinity because she had a figure that was actually visible.
"Oh... okay," Kirra replied stupidly. She then turned away and almost jumped when she heard Kamali cough from behind her. She could tell what he was doing, and she was determined not to give in to her own impulses, no matter how tempting those impulses were. She saw him step towards one of the many showers out of the very corner of her eye and reach for the tap.
'Okay, Kirra, don't even think of looking over there. Think of something else... think chocolate and booze. Aa yes, the very best combination of food in the entire world,' Kirra smiled rather blissfully in her subconscious state of nirvana and Kamali noticed this.
"You're looking rather happy over there," he commented.
"I don't know WHY you're looking over here," was Kirra's immediate response, and she managed this without breaking eye contact with the wall.
"Sorry..." Kamali muttered.
'Don't lie to yourself. You want to see him too.'
"Shut up, stupid conscience," Kirra muttered.
"Did you say something?" Kamali asked.
"Nothing that concerns you," Kirra responded lightly.
"You know talking to yourself is one of the signs of madness."
"At the moment, I could believe that," Kirra said, with a bit of hysterical laughter in her voice.
"Why is that?" he questioned quietly.
"... I don't know."
At this point, Kirra turned to face him and stared fixedly at his face, afraid that her gaze might wander downwards. And she found Kamali staring fixedly at her... chest?
"Excuse me," she snapped, using her arms to cover her bare skin.
"I was looking at the tattoos," Kamali said, a little too quickly.
"You knew they were there, and they aren't that bloody interesting," Kirra snarled, blushing furiously at the same time.
'Okay, what to do. You were standing there, staring at her chest and she's now pretty pissed off, although she's kind of blushing...'
"What?" Kirra asked, unsure what Kamali was intending to do, unable to read the expression on his face.
In two quick strides, Kamali had arrived at where Kirra stood, and engulfed her in his embrace. Kirra shivered; partly because of the close contact and partly because after putting up with the cold water shower, his skin felt delightfully warm against hers.
Kamali gently placed his hand under her chin and pushed her head up until their eyes were locked. Once that was done, he held Kirra to him by placing his hands upon her waist, sliding them down from where they had been resting on her shoulder blades.
"I know you could get away from me if you wanted to... so why don't you try and move away if you aren't enjoying what's happening to you?"
Kirra didn't reply, frankly because she didn't know how. She knew he was right; in fact, he'd hit the nail right on the head. What was she supposed to do? Pull away and hurt his feelings or stay put and... Well, effectively get what she sought after. Currently she was being rather biased and leaning towards the latter because there sure as Hell seemed to be more in it for her.
"I... don't... know," Kirra replied slowly. "Because I'm not exactly reeling from disgust? But that doesn't mean I'm enjoying it," she added quickly, but lamely. Kamali could probably see right through her half-assed excuses.
"You don't have to be frightened of me," Kamali murmured into her ear, feeling her shudder from the contact of his warm breath against her cold skin.
"I'm not."
"Well, what are you frightened of?"
"That I don't know."
Kamali sighed and pulled away slightly. "Is it me?"
"No!" Kirra exclaimed, blushing at her quick response. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek with the tips of her fingers to try and show she wasn't lying.
Kamali smiled when she stopped doing and slowly leaned forward, fervently capturing Kirra's lips against his own. Kirra slid her left arm cautiously around Kamali's neck, while she left her right hand splayed across his chest, taking in his shape, feeling his skin heat up under her palm, and grinning inwardly as she softly clawed his chest, feeling him shudder from the stimulation.
The next thing Kirra felt was the shower pipe making an indent into her back but she barely noticed because Kamali's hands were working their way down to rest on the outsides of her thighs. Kirra emitted a low growling sound and she jumped, catching Kamali by surprise but managing to lock her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck, with their faces so close that the tips of their noses touched.
As amber once again met sea blue, Kamali leaned forward and kissed Kirra once, very softly on the lips.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Jesus Christ," Kirra said, but it was more of a seductive purr than a sign of rejection. "I was ready for this yesterday. I've been ready for this for a long time, even though you were exasperating and kind of stupid, in a cute way. But maybe... that's what I like about you."
"If you say so,' Kamali said, sounding unsure and delighted and the same time, but beginning to carry her over to the steel benches anyway, obviously disregarding his self-doubt. Kirra doubted she'd ever wanted anything more in the world than desiring to be close to Kamali now, with the possible exception of the two hundred and thirty dollar Barbie Dream Castle she'd wanted she was about eight.
'What the Hell am I on about? I'm all stupid from the sheer pleasure of it. Who cares about the freaking doll house I wanted when I was innocent?' Kirra broke away from her thought and smiled blissfully at Kamali who was now poised above her, 'ready to go', so to speak. 'This is a billion times better...'
"I'll ask one more time..." Kamali whispered against Kirra's neck, loving every moment that his skin held contact with hers, "Are you sure? Because if we continue, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself."
"I'm not going to stop you. Why would I want to do that?" Kirra's eyes shone up at Kamali, filled with concern and the very slightest glint of self-doubt.
"Don't worry yourself. You don't have to worry about that anymore..." Kamali reassured her as he placed a single, soft kiss to the palm of her right hand and once again braced himself.
The ends of Kirra's newly washed hair were caked with mud; something that would usually cause her to have some sort of nervous breakdown was totally disregarded as Kamali leaned forward, towards her...
Kirra felt pain, but it was quickly ebbed away by the feeling of satisfaction, the undying love and the desperation to explore each other further. They continued to feel all these emotions as their bodies moved as though they were indeed two parts of one whole, and eventually they both reached the very pinnacle of human bliss as they shuddered and collapsed against each other.
"We should consider ourselves lucky that no-one heard us..." Kirra muttered, showing that her usual vocabulary was returning and she was able to omit sounds other than growls, moans and purrs.
Kamali nodded in agreement, and kissed the crown of Kirra's head softly. "I think it's best that we go back."
The two people dried off (AN: Don't be sick. They were just in the shower- you know what I mean), dressed and hand-in-hand, hurried back to their tent, relieved to find Mahalia and Kurai sound asleep. Kamali gave Kirra a soft kiss and they exchanged yearning looks before retiring to their own beds and, without even saying the words, proving they loved each other.
They knew they couldn't be seen together, and yet their requirement for each other at this moment, after the first time they had made love to one another, was nothing short of critical. Activities of that nature between two people who weren't married were frowned upon (as ruled by Loch, may I add- Kirra knew it was him and not her parents or sister because that would basically make all three of them hypocrites) and they could both be sent away, and Kirra knew that the Senshi needed her here. Kamali seemed to linger, staying awake to watch Kirra for as long as he could until his body could no longer take the amount of exhaustion being inflicted on it and he drifted off to sleep. Kirra, however, felt surprisingly alert- rather satisfied and calm, yet alert at the same time.
And yet, regardless of how aware she felt she was, she was utterly unaware of the sharp eyes that had been watching them, from the very beginning...
The bright rays of morning sun that had the habit of shining directly where the top of her camp bed was placed woke Kirra very unwillingly. She groaned, shifting and trying to get back to sleep to little avail, eventually opening her eyes and finding her view blocked by something.
She yelped and wiped desperately at her face, and a single folded piece of paper flew off and landed on the floor. She grabbed it and unfolded it carefully, finding a note on the inside, signed at the end by Mahalia.
(AN: This is the note; don't get confused)
Kirra!
I've gone ahead; we got the early shift- 5am till 8am- and I couldn't get either you or Kamali up for the life of me, so they sent me out with your brother and his lot. The medical people are coming to get Kurai at about 8am to change his bandages and just generally see how he is. I said neither you nor Kamali were feeling well so at least try and act sick until 8, okay? You two kids owe me big for this.
I suppose I should explain; Kamali left the tent last night, did you run into him? I don't know what he was doing...
Anywho, see you around!
Mahalia.
(AN: So ends the note)
Kirra's stomach gave a guilty little lurch as she read the note, and she reached over to her bag and dug around desperately to find her watch. She finally found the little golden timepiece, and saw that it was 8:30.
'Mahalia should be back any minute,' Kirra thought, wrapping the watch in one of her t-shirts and placing it back in her bag gently. She heard Kamali stir and she turns her head around sharply to face him. He was staring at her, his liquid blue eyes piercing through her own amber gaze.
"Umm... hi," he said sheepishly, the very lightest of pink tinges rising to his cheeks.
Kirra smiled blissfully and jumped off her camp bed, and crawled over to him and placed a soft kiss to his brow, feeling slightly disappointed that there wasn't any room in his camp bed for her to hop in. Heck, there was barely room for only him because he was so tall and broad of shoulder. Kamali reached over to grasp her hand, which was clinging to the metal frame of the bed.
"Good morning," Kirra said, grinning as he drew her hand onto his chest and leaned forward to brush his lips against her skin. "I found this, by the way. Or, it was where I wouldn't miss it." She handed Kamali the note and as he perused it, his expression became more and more relieved.
"That woman is a saint."
"I know..." Kirra murmured, letting her eyes leisurely scrutinize his torso. Her eyes locked on a thin silver chain that hung from his neck; she'd never perceived it before, not even last night, when she'd basically noticed everything there was to notice physically about him.
"Whassat for?" she whispered, tracing the outline of the glinting chain with her finger, making him quiver very slightly.
"Mark of my Clan," he explained, sitting up so that a tiny medallion slipped from the end of the chain and into view. Kirra grabbed it with the tips of her fingers, acting as though she might shatter it into a billion pieces, and saw that the small pendant had tiny, intricate Chinese symbols on them, and in that way, kind of reminded her of her parents' wedding rings. Basically it was just a record of his name and parents on one side, and some sort of clan right on the opposite side. Kirra wondered if it was his real or adoptive parents' names.
"Xao Shin and Xao Mei..."
"Those are my adopted parents. They kept my first name but changed my family name to their own. It doesn't matter to me; I didn't know my parents and they were the only family I'd ever known, and there's no point in going back after twenty-five years of being called by that name."
"Your real parents are your proper heritage," she whispered.
"I never knew them. What's the point? And my adopted parents were the most wonderful people I'd ever known... but I think I've got a new favourite now," Kamali whispered in an equally quiet tone.
"That's so sweet..." Kirra muttered, with the slightest hint of sarcasm.
"That's the first time you've been sarcastic towards me this morning. Usually you would've had a severe sarcasm attack on me already."
"Oh, is that how you see it?" Kirra sniffed, but Kamali could tell she was kidding him. "I was in obvious denial."
"Why were you denying it?" Kamali's eyes flickered to her, and the unwavering blue eyes seemed to delve into the deepest secrets of her soul.
"Umm... don't ask me that. I have no idea..." she sighed, pushing a couple of waist-length pink strands of hair that had fallen loose, behind her ear, out of her face. "I suppose... it's partly because the opposite gender hasn't exactly been forgiving towards me in the past, and that I want to stay here, and not get sent away by Loch... they need me here, Kamali."
'You're still denying it...'
"I know they do. And they need me here too. In fact, they need everybody they can get their hands on here. It makes me wonder why your sister stayed behind... because aren't you, your brother and sister at greatest strength when together?"
Kirra opened her mouth to exclaim her surprise, but he put a finger to her lips to silence her before she began.
"I won't deny I've heard rumours about your entire family- partly fuelled by your parents former fame as champions, the fact that Kai can be here and still rumoured to have died at the same time, and the fact that you and your siblings have the most amazing amount of near boundless potency."
"I don't mind explaining, if you're ready for a rather complicated discussion..." Kirra muttered, and Kamali nodded, sat up and crossed his legs on the cap bed, leaving space for her to sit. She smiled gratefully and jumped on, once again combing the strands of wayward hair behind her ear with her fingers.
(AN: You've heard this before, I know... but this brings more light to the legend)
"My parents have bit beasts..."
"Driger and Galux, the white tiger and the mountain cat" Kamali said immediately.
"Thank you," Kirra said sarcastically, "And my uncle holds Galeon, the black lion, and Kevin and Gary, or Kiki and Gaou, own the monkey Galman and the bear Galzzy respectively."
"Those five bit beasts have been the guardians of our village and the respective tribes of our village until it was eventually united, but this was ages ago. They were eventually united during a great war, as well as another tribe that wielded a golden counterpart of the White Tiger. They were killed and the golden tiger sought comfort with its counterpart and his master, my father's ancestor. Both of them grew fond of the boy and he was able to weird them both to do his will with amazing power. The three were practically inseparable until..."
"Yes?" Kamali nodded, urging her to continue.
"This is where the irony comes into it. My father's predecessor fell in love with my mother's. Driger formed a bond with Galux and its new master and its 'brother' once again left the golden tiger, Kintora, alone, as it always felt it had been. Invaders came to the village, and it agreed to stand beside its brother's master and protect both him and his lover, aided by Galux and Driger, of course."
"At this point another thing happened..." Kirra shut her eyes and sighed for a moment and then continued to speak, opening them again, slowly, "Kintora fell in love with a human. A simple, ordinary human. Both humans and bit beasts alike, with the exception of Driger, Galux and their two masters of the time, eventually came to despise the two. But it eventually amounted to nothing, because the human that Kintora fell in love with was doused with bit beast blood in one of the battles, as he was trying to save one of the allied bit beasts, so they say. Holy Being's blood burns the skin, and if that doesn't kill the person, it's quite poisonous to humans. So eventually the human died and Kintora had lost another thing that it had truly cared for. Driger, Galux and my parents forebears tried to comfort it, but they just didn't understand the degree of what heartbreak can do to an already shattered soul..."
"Kintora ran away and was never seen again, but died. Some say of the injuries it sustained in battle, others say the losses was too much for it to cope with all at once, but either way, it was done. Driger felt disgraced by what he'd done. He felt he'd abandoned his brother... sister... whatever, when it had needed his support the most. He couldn't bear to see his counterpart simply fade out of memory and existence, so he and Galux caused their masters to conceive a child that would be reborn as Kintora. Peace had settled over the village and so there was no need for Driger and Galux to be awarded to anyone for war's sake, and after the couple and their child died, without producing any children of his own, the Holy Beings were given to the Elder of the village, which is how, all these years later, they found their way to my parents..."
Kirra sighed and looked at Kamali who was staring at her a little too calmly to make her comfortable.
"So that answers your question about how Kai is here and dead at the same time. One of the finer qualities of bit beasts is being able to evade time and space. Myself, my sister and brother, are able to travel back in time to before we were born, when we were born, currently its at the stage where we're all still kids, but are kind of getting wiser in the ways of the world- eighteen years ago. But it's different. We saved them from what we have to live through."
"That's where Trin comes in- she's staying at home to protect my parents, because that's who the bad guys are after. But they're going to be mad when they find out they're after the wrong set of parents..."
"What do you mean by that?" Kamali asked. He looked stunned but rather interested in what Kirra was saying.
"My parents are getting old, Kamali. They're almost fifty. My mother is too old to bear children."
"Where does childbirth come into this?"
"The bit beasts have been exiled from their home dimension by the people we are currently fighting against. They managed to save the source of their power, the Star, and bring it to this dimension with them, but like Kintora, it needs to be born as a human entity so as no to arouse suspicion."
Kamali paused, thinking about these facts for a moment. Then he grinned slightly and looked at Kirra out of the corner of his eye.
"It's good... almost too good. I can see why you're worried for your parents. Well... both sets of your parents, if you don't mind referring to it that way..."
"So you see, this whole war is a faux pas, to try and keep the set of parents I have who're eighteen years to my real parents' juniors safe."
"Good... no, great... well, not great that we're risking it all for a lie, but if it works out in our favour... but what exactly are you going to do when the bad guys discover they're after the wrong people?"
"We haven't got to that yet..." Kirra grinned sheepishly at Kamali who smiled and stroked Kirra's near-bare shoulder.
"I always kind of thought as bit beasts as just violence obsessed creatures, but you seem to have a certain degree of wit too."
Kirra did her best to look insulted but couldn't keep the smile off her face as Kamali dragged her haphazardly onto his lap and kissed her cheek.
"You know, I never thought of you as a dominant guy," Kirra joked, but like Hell she cared about this, she thought. No one else was there, Kamali was biting at her neck, why the Hell not?
His chest felt wonderfully warm, solid and smooth against hers and his hair was cutely mussed. 'He's not meant to look or be clean-cut. He looks better when he looks and acts imperfect.'
They leaned towards each other and kissed each other very softly, but with Kamali's hands slowly coursing Kirra's back and Kirra's fingers being lightly run over Kamali's face and chest, it didn't stay all that chaste for very long. Kirra actually felt relieved that he didn't seem to mind about the whole bit beast thing; she'd been terrified that he'd reject her, as he had probably been terrified that she would reject him the night before. But Kirra hadn't, neither had Kamali, and for that they were glad.
However, they chose a really inconvenient time to start getting comfy like they had last night. This was due to the fact that Mahalia had just arrived back at the tent, and witnessed basically everything they were doing. She stepped into the tent just as Kamali was lowering Kirra to be pinned under him, using his arms to support her back, and they stared at each other for the brief moment that it had taken to assume that position before they got back to swabbing each other's throats.
"Ahem," Mahalia coughed, causing Kirra's eyes to shoot open as she sat bolt upright, whacking her head against Kamali's as he sat up quickly and rubbed his forehead, staring at Kirra, and then following her gaze to where Mahalia stood.
"You kids are just the source of my never-ending entertainment, aren't you?"
"Err..." Kirra started, but Mahalia began to speak again, and cut her off.
"So there is truth to the rumour I heard at breakfast."
"What rumour?" Kirra asked immediately.
"The rumour involving someone apparently seeing you two at the shower block last night, screwing the Hell out of each other."
When neither Kirra nor Kamali responded to this, but let heat seep into their faces despite their best efforts to stop it, Mahalia's grin grew even wider.
"So is that a yes, the rumour is indeed fact?"
"You dare tell anyone else..." Kirra started, while Kamali continued to blush.
"I don't need to, EVERYONE else knows."
"How the Hell do they..." Kirra started, but was once again cut off by the older woman.
"Someone saw you, I assume."
"Who?"
"I dunno. Some weaselly little snot-nosed pervert, obviously."
"I'm gonna find him... and I'm gonna KILL him... or her... or whoever," Kirra snarled, tightening her grip around Kamali's neck, only actually ceasing to strangle him after he yelped because her fingernails were gauging his jugular.
"Why do that?"
"Because he started this rumour..."
"Yes, and it's just that. A rumour. Unless they drag you in for a couple of tests that involve a whole lot of gory things that you really don't wanna hear about, they can't really prove that there's any truth behind it."
"But you saw us..." Kamali murmured, finally finding his voice.
"You think I'd turn you in to the Asshole? I think not."
"Oh Mahalia..." Kirra whispered, and she jumped off the camp bed and hugged Mahalia, "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah... now get the Hell off me," she grinned to the younger pink-haired woman, who nodded and smiled in thanks anyway.
"Got caught up in the moment."
"Obviously. Now, I'll take you kids to get something to eat, on account of I think that you'd be hungry after burning all that energy the night before."
Kamali and Kirra blushed, and watched Mahalia leave the tent to give them privacy to get changed into their usual uniforms. Once they'd done that, the three friends headed up to the food tent.
"Cheat!" Artemis exclaimed triumphantly, flicking all the loose cards on the table towards Marth, who grumbled and added them to his hand. After spending almost the entire night teaching Artemis the strategy involved in the game, he and Tasha were now being flogged by the girl. She combed a caramel-black strand of hair behind her ear and grinned triumphantly at Marth and Tasha who threw each other a rather desperate looking glance. Artemis only had four cards left, while Tasha and Marth had the rest of the deck almost evenly distributed between them.
Marth eyed the four aces in his hand and plucked them out one by one and reached out to place them on the table, but was tapped on the shoulder before he had the chance.
He spun around to come face-to-face with some particularly hostile looking men who seemed to think they were the kings of the world, and looked on top of it too.
"Hey Kon, I didn't think your sister was the type to be easy."
"... Huh?" Marth blinked at the comment made by the nearest thug, his hand still hovering over the table, cards still in hand.
"Haven't you heard yet?"
"What haven't I heard?"
"Someone caught your sister and that Xao guy doing each other in the showers last night."
At this point, Marth did place his cards on the table. Or, rather he slammed his hand down so hard that a dent was left in the metal top. Artemis' eyes bugged out slightly as his fist missed the front of her face by about an inch.
"Better dob her into Mummy and Daddy, right?" guffawed one of the thugs stupidly, before all of them turned and walked away, the whole group eventually joining in the stupid guffawing.
The group of three were silent for a few moments, before Artemis slowly began to speak.
"... That was bizarre in a disturbing sort of way."
"I wouldn't put it past them though," Tasha commented, glaring back at Marth when he started glowering at her.
"My sister acts like a complete moron at times but she still has a sense of right."
"Maybe she's just turning out like your parents," Tasha hissed spitefully.
"Say that again," Marth snarled, glaring at Tasha angrily. There were many things he could put up with, but he loved his parents and hated the way people took a stab at them every chance they got. "My parents are good people, Tasha."
"You know what really frustrates me? The way you defend your sister when she treats you like shit and you don't seem to care."
"She's still my sister, for crying out loud. And I've heard enough bad things about my family for one lifetime and I'm sick of hearing people insult my parents."
The whole time this argument was going on, Tasha and Marth's voices stayed deathly silent. No one but Artemis noticed the whispered war of words going on between the two people and she felt like she was stuck in the middle.
At this point in time, Kirra, Kamali and Mahalia entered the large tent and immediately noticed Marth and Tasha glaring at each other from opposite ends of the table closest to the entrance-exit, and Artemis simply sitting in the middle, looking uncomfortable.
"Ahem," Kirra coughed, breaking her brother's concentration and causing Artemis to jump and look sharply up at her. Tasha flinched slightly- almost too slightly to be noticeable, and continued to glare at Marth, even though he was no longer glaring back.
'Obviously a very dedicated person when it comes to spite,' Kirra thought.
"Kiz, tell Tasha that the rumours aren't true, please," Marth said, getting back to glaring at Tasha, but the dark-haired woman was way ahead of him.
"Umm... rumours? What rumours?" Kirra said lamely, refusing to meet her brother's gaze.
"I can tell you know what rumours," Marth snarled.
'Curse you...' Kirra mentally snapped at her younger brother.
'Yeah, curse me. I'm starting to believe I already am though,' Marth sighed.
'Why is that?'
'I'm cursed with the inability to understand women.'
'Every man is,' Kirra's lips curved into a slight smile. She could tell Artemis, Tasha, Kamali and Mahalia were confused but she didn't care.
'Tasha and Artemis are driving me mental.'
'What are they doing?'
'Tasha is tearing strips off me and having a go at our family because of the rumours that turned out to be truth...' Marth's voice had gotten darker as the sentence progressed, '... and Artemis is sitting in the middle looking like a deer in the headlights.'
'Tasha's already demonstrated that she doesn't think too highly of me. This is the sort of thing she needed to destroy my already scarred reputation entirely. And Artemis just doesn't know who to side with, I assume.'
'Thanks, Kiz... now I want to ask you something.'
'Let me guess...'
'Why did you do it?'
Kirra sighed mentally. 'Because I love him?'
'You don't sound too sure.'
'I can assure you, I'm not.'
'You'll figure it out, I'm sure.'
'Fat chance.'
The mental connection between the two siblings was then broken and Kirra spun around and went to get her daily helping of slop. The unfortunate who had been given the job of spooning it out gave Kirra an apologetic glance and let the rancid stuff drip onto her plate.
Kirra winced but nodded and thank you, before grabbing a spoon and going back to Marth's table and sitting down. There was a large lump in the usually runny mixture but she was too hungry to care, so she decided to eat around it.
She scooped the food (if you could really refer to it as food) onto the spoon and held her nose as she downed it. Her eyes flickered back to her bowl and the lump in the mixture shuddered and moved.
"What the Hell?" she questioned, catching the attention of her younger brother. Marth watched as his sister poked around her bowl with the spoon until she finally cornered the moving lump and scooped it out to reveal possibly the largest cockroach he had ever laid eyes on.
Kirra's face paled momentarily, but her expression was immediately changed to one of disgust as she shrieked out loud and flung the spoon onto the ground, desperately trying to step on the cockroach.
Kamali suddenly stepped forward and squashed the bug, causing Kirra to lose her balance and fall over, back onto the metal bench. The colour slowly returned to her face and she took many huge breaths into her lungs.
"You alright?" Mahalia asked socially.
Kirra nodded and smiled weakly. Mahalia grinned evilly and picked up Kirra's now cockroach-less bowl. "Sure you don't want any more?"
"Positive. I'm going back to the tent..."
"Okay. See you there."
Kirra exited the tent and sighed- she definitely needed some time alone to clear her head. As she wandered through the array of tents that were half-heartedly set up on the sodden ground, she watched the people who passed her. Some looked as tired as she felt, others looked like they were trying to stop their seemingly inevitable doom with denial and laughter, and others, who had probably lost someone close to them from this whole ordeal, just looked like they had nothing to live for anymore.
One particular group caught Kirra's eye; a small group of teenage boys that were snickering amongst themselves about something or other, but the reason became blaringly clear as they noticed her and began to chortle louder. Kirra performed her trademark eye-roll and walked past them with her head held high; seeing that they all looked about fifteen years old they probably enjoyed just hearing about sex.
She continued to pass the tents of varied sizes and colours (all the colours being dark, mind you) until she reached her own. She ducked inside, and the first thing she noticed was her nephew and niece sitting on Kurai's bed, attempting to patch up their various injuries.
Kurai looked up at Kirra as she entered the tent, and grimaced when their eyes locked.
"They got us."
"Who? The enemy?" Kirra questioned. 'But the enemies wouldn't leave them alive if they caught them...'
"You're right, they wouldn't," Kurai cut in. "A couple of bigger people got us and told us that you were a slut."
Kirra froze momentarily, grinding her teeth so hard they scraped together with an uncomforting squeak.
"Kirra? What's a slut?" Lita asked, whilst wiping a dribble of silver-streaked blood from her nose.
'How do I explain this to a seven-year-old?' Kirra thought to herself, before deciding on a more gentle way of breaking it to Lita.
"It's a woman who... likes lots of men at the same time."
"You mean like you?"
A muscle in Kirra's left eyelid twitched. "No."
"But you like Kurai and Marth and Grandpa and Daddy and Kamali, don't you?"
"I meant more like loving lots of men at the same time. As in more than a friend and the men not being a part of their family." The mention of Kamali hadn't gone unnoticed. What would happen next- telegrams being sent to Trin and her parents?
"Aa... okay. I sort of get it, I suppose. Like that lady that once tried to catch onto Daddy until Mummy threatened to rearrange her face."
Kirra wasn't surprised. The words 'Kai' and 'Hiwatari' placed together were enough to drive most women into some sort of pleasure fit. But, surprisingly, Kai had actually managed to avert his gaze from the fangirls and stay with her sister. Kirra also had the feeling that if Trin had ever thought for one moment that Kai was barking up the wrong tree there would have been more rearranged than just faces.
Kirra reached for her bag, and after considerable rummaging, found a handkerchief (still unused, thanks) and wiped the slight drips and flickers of blood off her niece's face and frowned.
'I don't like the way this is going for these two, Trin.'
Her sister's presence echoed from far away and Kirra could feel her grief.
'I know that. I don't want them involved in this, Kiz.'
'You're the Boss. You can request their transfer back home, Trin.'
'They'll suspect... I need to wait for a moment when they're able to home without raising suspicion.'
'They'll either have to be pardoned, do something so incredibly bad that they're disgraced or... get so badly injured that they'll be unable to fight.'
'The second one is sounding good. Can you help them?'
'Why me? Me and Marth are in enough trouble as it is.'
'Who else is supposed to help them? Marth is definitely in trouble for going at Loch the other day but no one can prove that anything happened between you and Kamali... although something obviously did.'
Kirra sighed. 'So, exactly how many people know about that?' She could feel her sister's mirth and it was driving her crazy.
'A lot, obviously, from what I can gather from what you just said. You liked him and it was about time you did something about it. Perhaps being so forward was kind of uncalled for, but...'
'Oh, listen to you,' Kirra interrupted.
'Okay, I'll stop... but I'd wait a while to let Loch cool off before you try anything.'
'Of course.'
(Four months later)
"So... you've developed a serum strong enough to knock out a bit beast for two weeks. Very interesting..." the old man grinned. "We should test it."
The scientist's lips curved into a smile and he nodded eagerly.
"Very well... once we have completed the upgrades on our top three ranked soldiers, we will bring the Kintora here and use it to our advantage."
"Good... make sure those lower-ranked idiots do not fail me."
Kirra snarled- a thing she was becoming increasingly good at these days- as she managed to get her increasingly ratty battle uniform over her head. She then tossed it behind her, towards her now filthy knapsack, and reached for her more casual set of black 'business' clothes. Frankly a wash wouldn't have gone astray for any of her clothes, but it was rather hard to find a washing machine in the middle of nowhere. She threw her hair over her back and cursed when it began tickling the back of her knees.
"My hair is giving me the shits," she snarled to Kamali, who was sitting behind her attempting to sharpen their shared katana with a rock.
"I'd offer you the katana, but this thing couldn't cut through hot butter."
"Thank-you!" Kirra replied sarcastically.
"Anyway..." Kamali said, without taking his eyes off the blade, "It looks prettier long."
"Not when it's this long... it's just annoying."
"I'll trust your judgement," Kamali grinned up at her. Kirra glared in return, but eventually lost it and grinned back.
"You two are so cute."
Kirra jumped at the sound of Mahalia's voice, then spun around on her heel and glared at her friend, who maintained her grin.
"Do you have to be so god damned creepy all the time?"
"That's my job!" Mahalia said cheerfully. Her eyes then darted around the tent and she cocked an eyebrow.
"I was so sure Kurai was here when I left."
"He was," Kamali said, looking at Kirra reprovingly, "But Kirra sent him to get the material for 'Operation Dismissal'."
"If he gets caught doing it it'll save us half the trouble," Mahalia commented.
"He won't be," Kirra said bluntly, but with the utmost confidence in her young nephew.
"I hope you're right," Mahalia sighed, "I'd hate to see that kid get hurt again."
"What the Hell were you thinking?" Tasha snapped at Marth, who was keeping his mouth firmly shut on the aptly named, 'Operation Dismissal'.
"My nephew and niece don't belong here," he repeated slowly, as if he was trying to talk to Tasha in a foreign language. "They're not even the legal battle age."
"They're part of the Senshi, for crying out loud! And we need all the help we can get at the moment."
"You think I don't know that? This was a suicide mission anyway!" Marth finally snapped. He stood up, being about the same height as Tasha but stronger than her by far. But Tasha didn't look the least bit intimidated by Marth. "There was no way we could have won from the beginning, regardless of whether we went in with one or one million Senshi!"
"Then why did your sister send us in?" Tasha asked lightly.
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."
'Great job, Marth,' Kirra sarcastic comment echoed in his head.
'Why is she congratulating him? He just did something utterly idiotic and she is rewarding him?' Dranzer's questioning voice entered his mind also.
'It's called sarcasm, Polly,' Kirra snapped.
'Polly? I am not mere parrot! I am the legendary red phoenix of the south!'
'Whatever you say, Polly,' Kirra sighed, and left.
'Blasted feline...' Dranzer cursed, before also leaving.
"... And what's so crazy that I wouldn't believe it? Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Tasha snapped at Marth, who had just recently woken up from the trance-like state that speaking to his sisters and the other bit beasts put him in.
"No," he said simply, before turning to his left and ducking out of the tent. Tasha gritted her teeth out of sheer frustration before following the dark-haired man. He was heading in the direction of his sister's tent, so he was obviously going to conspire against the authorities.
"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped after him. "Going to conspire against the leader some more?"
"Leader?" Marth asked, without looking back at Tasha.
"Loch," she stated simply.
"He's not the leader."
"He is. He is the only one here that has authority to dismiss the soldiers."
"He lacks a lot of things, though."
"Like what?"
"Brains, looks, the respect of the Senshi..."
"What are you on about?" Tasha snickered. "Jealous?"
At this point Marth did turn around to stare Tasha straight in the eye. They were standing every close to each other and it wasn't very comforting having glaring golden eyes staring you down.
"My parents built the Senshi up from nothing, Tasha. We didn't work so hard to watch that asshole to try and take what rightfully belongs to my family." Marth's eyes flickered around momentarily, obviously checking to see if there was anyone nearby, and then pressed his lips against Tasha's.
Tasha's eyes widened and her first thought after the initial action was, "Time to struggle- you don't want this" but she then realized that he wasn't forcing her at all, and she was basically kissing him of her own free will. By the time she'd decided that she should break away, Marth had already done so and once again stared directly into her eyes.
"And I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think I truly cared for you like I do."
Marth then simply turned around and began to walk away. Tasha snapped out of her trance-like state and snarled after Marth.
"I think you're just one of those people that wants their cake and eat it too."
Marth looked over his shoulder at her and let a fanged grin cross his lips.
"As Kiz says; what good is cake if you can't eat it?"
He then took about five more steps and ducked into the tent on the left, leaving a very confused Tasha behind.
"About time," Kirra snarled as Marth ducked into the tent and sat down behind his nephew and niece who held a pair of scissors in one hand, and had their others arms adorned with about three rolls of duct tape each.
"Pay attention, kiddies. This is your first step onto becoming just like Aunty Kiz," Mahalia smiled at the two kids. Lita looked rather pleased about that but Kurai seemed rather unsure.
"Here's our plan of action, kids; we knock him out, we drag him to the shower block, YOU duct tape him to the steel bench, savvy?" Kirra asked. Both Kurai and Lita nodded, so Kirra grinned and stood up, along with Marth, Mahalia and Kamali.
"Alright. In that case, let's get this show on the road."
Loch was wandering up and down the few rows of tents that were still occupied, enjoying having total control over the troops.
'Especially those Kon and Hiwatari freaks,' he thought, guffawing stupidly but quietly as he turned into a particularly tight row of tents. It was near the centre- full of thin rows between the tents so that people on the outskirts could get to their tents.
A twig crunched behind him and he spun around, his beady eyes looking for the source of the sound. At this point, he felt a sharp pain to the back of the head, he grunted, the world went black, and he knew no more.
"Got the bugger!" Kirra cried triumphantly, looking at the katana, whose flat was still indented into the back of Loch's flabby head.
"Good shot, Kirra," Kamali smiled, and Kirra smiled and wrenched the blade out of the back of Loch's head. There was no cut, because he was hit with the flat, but there was a rather nasty purple bruise already beginning to emerge.
"Well, you know. It's one of my many areas of expertise."
"The others being what?" At this question, Kirra walked over to Kamali and whispered something in his ear. He turned bright red and Kirra laughed, and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek before walking back over to Loch and attempting to pick him up.
"Urgh! This guy could stand losing some weight... MARTH!"
Her little brother appeared from behind a nearby tent and shut his eyes for a moment, before opening them and pointing at Loch, who immediately levelled out and began to hover in the air.
"Very good, little brother. Someone's been practicing."
Marth made no response, instead concentrating on keeping Loch airborne. Kirra grinned- it must've been some task.
"Let's go before anyone catches us."
"Or before my mind gives out," Marth growled through gritted teeth. "You weren't wrong about this guy needing to lose a few kilos."
Lita and Kurai sat in the shower block nervously, waiting for their aunt, uncle and friends to appear with Loch so they could duct-tape him to all Hell. Kurai breathed out a sigh of relief as he heard his uncle complaining about Loch's weight and he jumped off the bench and stood out-of-way. Lita followed her brother's lead, and she was glad she had, because at this point, Loch thundered onto the bench, almost knocking the whole thing over.
Kirra strode in and grinned at Kurai and Lita, who grinned back.
"We've done our part, now it's up to you, kids. Can you manage it?"
"Of course," Kurai grinned maliciously at Loch.
"I'll leave it to you, in that case. Good luck, kids."
(Two hours later)
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, YOU LITTLE..." Loch thundered and Kurai and Lita, who stood frozen to the spot in front of him, listening to him ramble about how their behaviour was shocking.
"Both of you are dismissed! I never want to lay eyes on you again! And your aunt and uncle can enjoy triple battle shift..."
"Why are you punishing them for what we did!" Kurai suddenly spoke up, looking utterly furious. "They did nothing!"
"It's obvious you didn't organise this by yourselves. And who else would help people like you?"
Kurai glared at Loch with pure scorn and he gritted his teeth.
"There's a truck waiting for you outside. It's ready to take you back to the base, so what are you waiting for? Enjoy your imprisonment."
Lita sniffled but held her head high as she walked out of the tent, and Kurai followed her, making sure that if Loch was going to make any comments, he would be on the receiving end instead of his sister.
He didn't, so Kurai simply followed his sister out to the truck and got in, sitting in a familiar stance that he'd obviously inherited; eyes closed, arms folded across his chest, looking like he was meditating rather than trying to rest.
"It'll be a while before we get home, Lita. You'd better rest."
Lita nodded and curled up into a ball on the steel floor of the truck. And so, the Hiwatari twins began to make their way home, away from the battles, wars and fights they should never have been part of. However, what they will find out when they get there will shock them...
(Note)
Squadron A,
Due to recent infractions of the rules set down by Captain Trent Loch, you will be punished with triple shift, effective immediately...
(End what you need to hear of the note)
"Triple shift!" Kirra shrieked at the note Kamali shoved into her hand. She scrunched the rectangular white card in her fist and gritted her teeth angrily.
"How dare he? I'll kill him!" she snapped, getting up and clenching her fists by her side, her fingernails were digging into her palms and drawing blood.
"No need to get upset, Kiz," Kamali commented, pausing to yawn mid-sentence. "Triple shift just means it's three times more likely that we'll die."
"That's exactly my point- exactly!" Kirra laughed hysterically.
"No point in sitting around," Mahalia stood up and stretched. "We'd better get going otherwise he'll be out looking for us."
Kirra scowled and narrowed her already paper-thin pupils. Her expression said revenge and Kamali didn't like it. She was in enough trouble as it was and he didn't want her to be dismissed. He loved her, but it was her irrational thinking and vengeful nature that had actually made her worth talking about in the lower ranks. There were also the rumours about exactly how far her family's power stretched- rumours that had turned out to be truth.
"Kirra... I don't want you to get in trouble."
"I won't," Kirra replied irritably.
"I don't think you believe what's coming out of your own mouth."
Kirra didn't reply, but left the tent ahead of both Kamali and Mahalia, who simply looked at each other.
"What's wrong with her?" Mahalia questioned. Kamali shrugged.
"Believe me, if I knew I'd tell you."
Marth was poised for battle, katana suspended over his head, ready for the next attack. Suddenly, the fight seemed so much harder, with the lack of resources and units, and with the ever-increasing numbers of the enemy things certainly weren't looking good. He could feel people watching him; the lone figure of hope in a crown of beaten people who had lost the last of their optimism.
He knew many people were watching him: the enemies (for some reason they seemed intent on attacking him these days), his comrades, and Tasha. She was wondering, just as he was, what had caused him to have the sudden change of heart towards him.
Nearby, one of the enemies hissed in delight at the syringe that was now embedded into its metallic arm. It's commands echoed in its head; the only thing it could hear and comprehend.
'Find one of the three Kintora spirits and capture it. There's only enough serum for one, so you'll have to go back for the other two...'
It stuck its purple, forked tongue over its yellowed, rotten teeth and hissed, delighted at being given the chance to serve its master in such a way. It could sense their presence... the younger two were so close... but the eldest was miles away... it would have to wait for an opportunity to come up...
"Go," it hissed to its fellow low-ranked soldiers. "Go and get the youngest one." They nodded delightfully and ran down the hill they were perched on, ready to search for Kintora, and defeat it.
Yet another enemy took a swipe at Marth and he dodged swiftly, and kicked it in the stomach. It spat out a black, oily substance ('Some sort of blood?' Marth thought) and fell to the ground, utterly defeated. The other Senshi simply stood on and watched as Marth single-handedly brought all enemies that faced him down. He was red in the face and sweat covered his forehead, but he continued to attack, driven by the tiger's spirit and love of carnage.
However, he didn't expect a whole new battalion to suddenly appear from over a nearby hill. Marth grimaced but readied himself for battle, gripping the hilt of his katana so hard his knuckles turned white. Tasha looked on, wondering why no one was helping him. She looked at the man next to her, who was watching on with a sick look of delight on his face.
"Why won't anyone help him?" Tasha whispered hurriedly.
"He's a traitor to the Captain. He must be left to fight by himself."
"That's insane! He'll be killed!"
The man's smile grew wider. "That's the idea."
Tasha's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as she watched her squadron leader gradually exhausting his energy and losing focus. He was suddenly swiped from the side and three large gashes appeared on his arm, just below the tattoo that marked his family group. Silver-coloured blood splattered to the ground and the small stones it landed on immediately began to disintegrate. Tasha's eyes locked on the place where his blood had been spilt and her mouth dropped open. What exactly was Martheo Kon?
"Damn it! I can't sit here and watch!"
Tasha shot around to look at Artemis who was glaring out at Marth with tears budding in her eyes. "I refuse to watch my friend die."
Artemis dashed through the crowd and out to Marth, and immediately began to attack the surrounding units that were blocking her view of Marth.
"Traitor! You will also be punished!" someone in the crowd shouted and then the whole rabble of Senshi began throwing insults at them.
"What do you know? Two in one day!" the man next to Tasha commented. Tasha shut her eyes, trying to shut out their jeers and Marth and Artemis' cries of pain. Eventually, she opened her eyes again and stared determinedly out at them.
"Make that three."
"What?" he questioned, but Tasha didn't hear him because she had already swiftly ducked through the mass of onlookers and began to attack the various enemy units.
She could hear the throng of people begin to shout again, but she ignored them as she dealt a swift punch to the enemy in front of her and stumbled, clutching at its emotionless face.
Tasha suddenly felt someone brush past her in a blur of pink and she let herself take a quick look, only to see Kirra swinging the now sharp Squadron A community katana above her head.
"Didn't think you'd be out here," Kirra commented, brushing a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
"Didn't think you were fond enough of your brother to save his life."
"Call it a hobby."
The crowd once again started yelling and Mahalia turned around and gave them the one-fingered salute.
"Shut up! We were gonna be out here anyway!"
Kamali had made his way through the fray and had managed to pull Artemis out of the group of attacking enemies. She had cuts all over her face and her right arm was clearly broken, bent at such an abnormal angle that Kirra had to turn away.
"What about Marth?" Tasha called out. Kirra's face had gone very white, but she shook her head regardless. She lunged forward in an attempt to save he brother swatting away enemies as if she was waving away insects.
"Marth! Where are you!" Kirra shouted to her brother, but all she could here were the ear-splitting hisses and screeches from the enemy.
She saw a dash of reflective red and ran towards it, swatting away all in her path. One of them was standing over her little brother, who was convulsing violently, and injecting some sort of clear liquid into his arm.
Kirra cried out and ran towards him, but was knocked down before she had the chance to reach him. A blow to her stomach sent her to her knees and she gasped, completely winded by the assault.
The injector finished his job and tossed her lifeless brother to some waiting units, who smiled gleefully and began to slowly move away...
"Damn it!" Kirra snapped, coughing violently as she got to her feet. She suddenly felt slimy, cold steel against her face and she looked up to see the youma that had got Marth breathing into her face.
"We'll be back for you. Until then, everyone you care for is in danger." It then threw her haphazardly to the ground and moved off. Gradually, the enemies disbanded and she was left, lying alone in the middle of the battleground.
"Kirra!"
Kirra looked around at the sound of Kamali's voice and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground just in front of her weakly.
"What happened? What the Hell was that all about?" he questioned hurriedly, gently picking her up and putting her back on her feet while still holding her close.
Kirra felt ashamed to feel the stinging heat of tears bud in the corner of her eyes, and she said the only thing that she could manage, and the only thing that mattered.
"They got Marth..."
"Are you sure about this?" Trinity eyed her younger parents, who nodded and stared at their 'grandchildren'.
"Of course. We owe you more than this," Ray replied.
Trinity breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged both her children.
"Please behave? I'll be back for you once it's safe for you to come back."
"When will that be?" Lita sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"... I don't know."
"..." Lita didn't say anything, just sniffled some more. Kurai didn't say anything either, but his face paled from its usually pale shade to a sort of murky white.
"I'll be back soon, okay?" Trinity said, completely unsure of whether she was lying or telling the truth. She then turned to her mother and looked her straight in the eye.
"I hate to do this to you, seeing that you're already hiding something, but please make sure that they stay safe, to the best of your knowledge."
Mariah looked uncomfortable as Ray stared at her and kept her eyes directly locked on Trinity, and nodded, refusing to meet Ray's eyes.
At this point, Trinity turned and left, and, despite her grief for having to leave her children, a small smile graced her lips.
'So Dad doesn't know... I know you're scared to tell him Mum. I was scared too... but at least you'd done it before..." Trinity shut her eyes and stopped in her place. "And you have no idea how much that child will mean to the Bit Beasts..."
Nice long chapter.
