Void Contract

Chapter Four: Genma's Honor

obsidianfox

Started: July 14, 2004

Last Updated: July 24, 2004

(ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

I gaze down from my chair to the younger girl in front of me. Her belly slowly rises and falls at a regular rate. Her eyes are closed. A long line of stitches running from a few centimeters above her right eye towards her ear. Her right arm is in a splint, and her left hand sits relaxed, near me. The rest of her body is covered by a white cloth.

Other than that line of stitches, her face is undamaged. I take it in, slowly. Her snub nose is especially cute, framed as it is by unusually large eyes. Her pert lips are mostly together, yet partially open, relaxed entirely. Violet studs adorn her ears, partially hidden by wavy black hair which falls just a hand over her shoulders.

Officer Jun Dee stands in the doorway, watching the two of us without speaking a word. Not that I'd understand if she did.

I watch the girl for several minutes, but as I do so I feel a growing desire... no, a need to comfort her, to protect her. My eyes fixate on her little hand. It is calloused, like mine, yet well manicured. After a few more moments hesitation, I place my larger hand over hers; my fingers slip into her palm. She won't hate me for it... I just want to comfort her. Or will she? A sickness blossoms deep in my chest, born of her rejection. My visage saddens, and I gently begin to withdraw my hand.

Then I feel her small hand squeeze my fingers. I turn to see the girl watching me; her eyelids are only partially open, but I gasp as they reveal large, startlingly vivid violet eyes speckled with gold. Tears fill her eyes and threaten to spill out. Yet, I see her lips twitch into the smallest of smiles, visible only at the corners, as those hyacinth orbs gaze at me. My heart flutters. I can't help but return my broad smile to her.

After a few moments of gazing at each other, the girl drifts back to sleep, but it is a minute longer before her small hand relaxes and releases mine. I withdraw my hand, but that sickness I felt earlier is gone. She didn't reject me. I continue to watch for several minutes, still smiling.

Upon hearing Officer Kong's familiar plod, I stand up and prepare to visit Pop.

(ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

"Ranma, m'boy!" shouts Genma as I walk in. His bed is in a half-sitting position. His good arm reaches behind his head and he chuckles nervously. "This is a little embarrassing."

"Why's that, Pops? You fought well."

"Boy," Genma growls, "no Saotome martial artist should ever be so soundly defeated by a pile of gardening tools! No! I must devise a technique to resist edges and pointy things... I'd use you, but I think it might go better with the Saotome School of Sloth."

"Shouldn't that be the School of Saotome Sloth?" I ask, rolling my eyes. "Making laziness an art! You, too, can sit on your fat ass and do nothing," I add daintily, as if for a commercial. "Whatever, Pop. There ain't a chance I'm letting you cut me OR poke me. Besides, you and me both know it ain't no gardening tools that tore you up."

"Whatever do ya' mean, boy! My memory doesn't fail me! I can even remember promises made when I was dead dr-!" Cough. Cough.

"You hiding something from me, Pop?"

"Never doubt it, boy! You haven't yet seen the full glory of the Saotome Masubetsu Kakuto Ryuu!"

"Oh, well, it isn't as if you're stupid enough to keep promises made when dead drunk; you don't even keep promises you make when your sober. Heh. I keep ALL my promises, Baka Oyaji."

"Don't you DARE insult my honor, boy! A martial artist is nothing without honor! I keep ALL my promises too! Even those I make when drunk."

"Oh, really? Maybe I need to buy you some sake, then," I reply with a smirk. "But I've seen you break promises, Pop. Remember Mrs. Tawaguchi? You promised to clean her house in return for that meal. You picked up ONE THING! And it was one of your many plates..."

"Boy, I promised I'd clean up A LITTLE. I kept my promise, did I not?"

"POP! She made me promise to clean up the rest, you lazy baka! What about Mr. Yamagawa? You promised to deweed his garden, and you destroyed it!"

"I promised to get rid of the weeds, and you were too lazy to do it, boy! You had to whine and whine and whine like a little girl, and come down with a high fever. So I found an easier way. We've had this argument before, boy. The weeds are gone, aren't they?"

"Pop! Nothing will ever grow there again! And of course I was ill! We were in the middle of poison resistance training! That's why we were at the friggin' medicinal gardens in the first place... access to poisons and antidotes. That training was cut damn short, though I don't regret it. What exactly did you do, anyway?"

"Another Saotome Secret, son, involving a biohazard suit and dioxins," Genma grouses. Then he speaks up, "Listen, boy! You can't go around making promises you aren't willing to keep! It is too easy to have conflicting promises. So, I'll let you in on another little Saotome Secret. Just as martial arts protects the body, words and loopholes protect one's honor and soul!"

"Words? Loopholes?! SOUL?!!"

"A master of words is a man to be respected, boy. Building, detecting, and blocking loopholes in agreements is a powerful art!"

"Baka Oyaji, you are hardly a master of words!"

"HAHA, BOY! There is more to your old man than you think! I keep much hidden from you. I've got a degree in business, boy, with a focus on contract law. I AM a master of words. Muahahaha!" Genma laughs evilly.

Sure, Baka Oyaji a master of words, all evidence to the contrary... "I can't believe you've got a degree, Pop. You probably graduated at the bottom of your class," I jibe.

"Somebody had to," Genma says straight faced, without emotion, and looking me directly in the eyes. "And the degree is from Tokyo U! You better improve your grades. boy, or your old man will always outclass you! Hahaha!"

I boggle for a few moments. Baka Oyaji got into Tokyo U? Then I frown, darkly... How does he tell me off about improving my grades when I'm getting twelve to sixteen weeks of schooling each year? The bastard. I'll show him!

After a moment, I speak up again. "I now know demons exist, so what's this about my SOUL, Pop? You haven't bargained that away, have you?"

Genma gets a very serious look on his face. "Never, boy. Your soul is your own. I can't bargain it away even if I want to."

"IS THAT THE ONLY REASON?" I ask, scowling.

"Of course not, boy!"

"Yeah, right," I grumble.

Genma continues, "There's also the fact that no demon wants a Saotome soul... our souls are multiply blessed! What was it... bad karma magnet? interesting times? Hmmm, I should remember; my master dabbled in demonology, and the demons refused to deal for mine and gave those as the reasons. Demons just don't want blessed souls!"

"Oh, great. That explains a lot of my past, actually," I mutter, not thinking of any event in particular. My life has been interesting, and painful, if nothing else. I look at the sterile hospital tiles around my feet for a bit. I notice our bags propped up near the door. "Pop, I understand the interesting times curse, but what exactly is a bad karma magnet?"

"Oh that? Simple. It simply means everyone else's problems will somehow end up involving you and, by extension, anybody nearby. Nothing too serious. Back in the days we were samurai, our clan was highly sought after, and allowed to live in comfort in a mansion very far from our lord."

"I think those are curses, Pop."

"No, those are Saotome blessings, boy! That Hibiki kid had an interesting blessing too. He'll be well traveled, I tell you, and his line is strong for it... life as a constant training trip."

"Uh huh," I reply sarcastically, trying to remember who Pop is talking about. Hibiki... Hibiki... Hibiki Ryouga? Oh! The lost boy, the fanged boy, my great friend and rival from one year in junior high.

Genma interrupts my reminiscing. "You should be proud of your lineage, boy! The Saotome clan will always be strong if we have interesting times to back our training! The path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril! Someday I'll take you to your ancestors' grave to pay your respects; every single one of them has an interesting past. Just think! Someday you'll have an heir too, who can absorb all your bad karma, and pass the Saotome blessing to the next generation," says Genma, his eyes twinkling at the idea of many strong grandchildren and the future of the Saotome line. His glazed gaze is directed at the flourescent lights above.

I'll inherit Pop's bad karma? This is definitely a curse.

Interesting times... would I choose a normal life over this? I ponder for a while, but come to no decision. Maybe I should try it sometime, and see if I like it. Eventually I notice Pop's glazed eyes and speak up, "I'm not ready for children, Pop."

"Of course not, boy! You must complete your training and get married first. Oh, Tendo-" Cough. Cough. "Anyhow," Genma turns to me with a serious look on his face, "now that we're dealing with demons, perhaps I should teach you mastery of words too. Some of those demons are damned contract lawyers... and vice versa."

"Baka Oyaji! Wouldn't NOT dealing with demons work just as well?"

"Of course not, son. If you don't have any skills, then someone will swindle you before you know it. I do it all the time," he says, grinning radiantly with pride.

"You swindle me?!"

"Well...," Pop scratches the back of his neck again for a moment, "that too, but I meant other people."

"But... but... Pop! How could you do this to your own flesh and blood!"

"It needs work, boy! Where are the tears?!"

"Arrrggh!" I growl. Real men don't cry? Where are the tears? What a crock.

"Hah, boy! You'll never be good enough to manipulate ME," says Genma. He adds, almost inaudibly, "and I think I'll put those lessons off for another year. Or three."

Of course, I snort. My old man wouldn't ever want me able to manipulate HIM.

"I aint dealin' with no demons, Pop. They should all die!" I snarl, remembering that creature I killed earlier and what happened to that girl's parents.

Genma frowns. "Not all demons are evil, boy. They, like humans and animals, range the full moral scale. Although many are evil, like the one I fought yesterday. Have I told you about that? I can't remember... I must have... where else... Was our conversation was interrupted when that girl fell?"

"Your memory really is going, you senile old fart!" I jibe.

"Noooooooo! It's too earlyyyyyy! I neeeeeeed to write down my secret techniques down before they're all loooooost!" wails Genma to the ceiling as streams of false tears fall down his cheeks.

"Yeah, you damn well better not forget that invisibility technique before you teach me, old man!"

He pauses for a moment, then turns to look at me. His face is completely dry. "That will wait at least a year, boy! No way you're disappearing on me again! But, we do need to find some temples and get some advice on where to go for mystic arts training. You're gonna learn it right, son!"

"So what do we do next?" I ask, curious.

"We search, boy! Come over here, boy, so I can whap you!" Pop shifts upwards in his bed.

"Not a chance, baka!"

Genma sits back again. "I'll be stuck in bed a few days, doctor's orders. Bastards have me on a strict diet due to some torn intestine." The man shudders a bit, and winces briefly in pain. "Damn gardening tools... I'll never look at them the same. Anyhow, it's a good chance to practice the up and coming School of Saotome Sloth.

"While I'm here, boy, don't you get lazy; you need to find a temple willing to train us, or at least willing to point us in the right direction. Sorry, son, but you're going to have to skip out on the thirty-seven Hong Kong dojos we haven't visited yet, and probably much of the rest of the Chinese itenerary."

"Waste of time anyways," I snort. "I walk in, pound the champion, pound the master, and, when they let me, pound all the advanced students at once, and don't learn a thing at most of them. I'm the best! Only the group combat gives me any problems, cuz' I can't practice it against you.

"Besides, ya' know only one in ten dojos has someone worth fighting or somethin' worth learning, and most of those won't teach me because it's some sort of family secret. Nuff' said. Now this mystic stuff... that's new." I bounce on my toes a bit as I feel excitement well in my chest. "I can hardly wait!"

Genma raises an eyebrow. "Boy, you'll need to search hard to find good and willing trainers in the mystic arts. Especially since you don't speak Chinese. Practitioners of the mystic arts are rare, and most of them won't teach you either. Besides, it'll do me good to bring in some techniques from another school. So, get to it early tomorrow! And don't slack off in your training, boy!"

"Ok," I reply, grabbing my pack. "I'll visit again tomorrow." For a moment, I pause. "Pop?" I ask seriously.

"What, son?" Genma asks, resigned.

"Well, what about the other girl? Shiina?"

"She needs to find to her proper family, boy."

"Her parents died, baka!" I shout, angrily.

"Even so, she might have an aunt or uncle or grandparent. I know what you're thinking. We can't take her with us, boy! She isn't some lost puppy. She's weak; she'd slow us down, and she belongs with her family!"

I scowl, but I see that Pop's right on all his arguments. "Fine, then!" I shout, turning towards the door.

"Teenagers," Pop snorts as I leave.

(ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

I yawn widely, stretching my jaw open and inhaling to the point of comfortable pain. Ah, that was comfortable! I can't help but yawn again. I blink a few times as my vision twists, then yawn once more. Maybe I'll camp on the hospital roof... or the nearby parking garage. Well, it is nice out tonight; roof it is.

Is Shiina awake? I wonder as I slip down the hallway towards her room. Why did my legs carry me here? I gaze sleepily towards the doorway. Officer Jun Dee flips out a pair of shades... the gesture vaguely registers as familiar, but I don't quite recall from where, so I step into the room and notice the wall that is the back of a much larger man, Officer Kong, approaching me. The man is facing Shiina's bed and holding something at arm's length.

Bump!

I glare at the large back of the man who backed into me, then shout feel a sharp pain in my toes, "Ite! Hey! Watch where you're going! Get off my foot!" I shove him forward, causing him to stumble off me.

Flash! A dizzying array of red light sweeps the room, reflecting from linoleum and whitewashed walls. Somehow, the light makes me feel woozy... like I'm living in a dream. The sensation is familiar. What happened? Memories swim and splash and the world swirls around me. Officer Kong turns to face me with a scowl and dark glasses on his face and an oblong silvery device in his hand.

Kong shouts something at me in Chinese, and the scowl darkens.

Oh... those glasses! That pen camera! I vaguely recall getting flashed with the thing earlier, then being told a ridiculous story that nobody would ever believe... except Pop? Why would he believe it? Didn't I feel something then, too? Not everything is as it seems when life feels just like lucid dreams. Confusion sweeps through me and a chill creeps through me, stunning me briefly.

Is it the pen that does this? That wasn't even direct; what would looking into that light directly do? I shudder at the thought.

Officer Kong raises his arm to face the device towards me.

I reach out and grab it just before it flashes. The red light briefly pours between my fingers and through my skin. "Hey! What is this thing, and why are ya' pointing it at me again?" I demand, jerking the thing from Officer Kong's hands.

Click!

I turn towards the sound to see Officer Jun Dee in her dark shades pointing a gun directly at my head with her good arm. In fact, I see right down the barrel that sits no more than an a hand from my eyes.

" Stop! " she shouts in English. Hey! I know that word! part of me thinks, proudly.

Internally, the rest of me sighs. My mind quickly catalogues the reasons. First, she's doing it all wrong; at this range I can dodge the barrel easily, and she loses the range advantage granted by the gun; she'd be much better off aiming from several paces. Second, today is the first day I've had a gun pointed at me, and it's already happened twice now. Third, these officers whom I liked are obviously not what they say they are. Fourth, it is really stupid to pull a weapon on someone when you aren't willing to use it immediately... Pop always told me that. Finally, today's just gone from... worse to worser? It went from bad to worse a long time ago.

With a single quick step, the gun and the arm carrying it are sitting over my shoulder. I reach up, and a single quick twist drops the gun into my own hand. Another step and I'm behind the beautiful female officer, and a quick shove knocks her into Officer Kong, barreling them both to the ground.

Oh, damn! I just hit a girl! "I'm sorry! Are you okay? How do I say this in English?" I ask, panicking, waving my arms in front of me. The effect might have been pathetic and comical if it weren't for loaded automatic pistol I'm waving about in one hand and the silver memory-raping pen device I'm waving about in the other.

Officer Kong whips out his gun and points towards at me, and squeezes the trigger. I lazilly step and fall to one side, dodging the trajectory. Pop taught me this with air rifles and paintball guns without any armor; the memory is a fond one of fun-filled months spent with guys in the JSDF a few years back. I went to an army brat's academy for a while. Well... there were also those nastier days with the American units; they didn't seem to like " Karate Kid " until I had to go, then they all said they'd miss me. Americans are sooo rude.

I yawn, wondering, Why am I so dreamy in battle? It certainely isn't a good habit.

BANG! The bullet misses, and I step in to take his gun; however, the large man hisses in pain and drops it to the floor. From his gun hand protrudes a tight grouping of a chopstick, a fork, and a butterknife. I blink... I didn't put those there.

A sudden movement from the bed tells me who did.

The girl stands between the officers and I with Officer Kong's gun her right hand, pointed towards the officers. I can't help but wonder if her broken right arm, which is in both splint and sling, will be able to handle the recoil; the pistol is a rather big one. Her left hand carries a pair of tweezers, a spoon, and another chopstick; all are held in what vaguely appears to be a throwing position.

Spoon, tweezers, and a chopstick? Huh? Anything goes, I guess.

All thought suddenly ceases when I notice one more thing: her backside is completely bare... uncovered by her hospital gown. I spend a moment looking at her back, legs, and a well-rounded pair of buttocks. Oh! Wow! I wish I was seeing the front. A familiar heat fills me as a powerful blush rushes to my face. I waver a little bit as I feel light-headed, and warmth trickles down my upper lip. My heart flutters for a few moments.

Slowly, my brain shifts back into gear... I'm letting myself get distracted when GUNS are involved? Damn. That can't be a good thing. I slowly regain my concentration... Look. Away. From the girl. Id finally returns control to Ego, and I find myself facing the officers... at least more so. I can't help but notice my brain spending a lot of time processing the girl in my peripheral vision.

Vaguely a memory surfaces... Oyaji shouting at me after I spent the evening playing games with a girl at a dojo, "Girls are a distraction from the art, boy!" Is this what Pop meant? Damn. He's more right than I thought.

As my mind recovers, I notice the girl is shouting at the officers in Chinese, and the officers reluctantly answering in turn. I see Officer Kong reaching slowly for something in his boot... another weapon? I step forward to stop him, but see there's no need as suddenly a chopstick and the handle of the spoon are pinning his arm to the floor... by going directly through his arm.

Okaaaaaay. So this girl has quite the throwing arm. I grin at the thought.

"What is this thing? What does it do to our minds?" I ask, suddenly interrupting the Chinese dialogue. I step up alongside the girl, mostly to get my eyes off her back.

Officer Kong smirks at me from his position on the ground. "Why, just return it to me and I'll show you. Apparently you weren't hit with it well enough last time," he snarls, then mutters a few choice words in Chinese.

The girl glances towards me, and I find myself stunned by her large gold-speckled violet almond shaped eyes, then she turns to face the officers again; "Answer the boy's question! What did that thing do to me? What were you trying to do to me?! Why am I in a hospital?! ..." she flips into their own language and continues to shout at them in Chinese, pointing the gun towards them expertly.

Eventually Jun Dee starts answering; her voice wavers and her body shudders a few times, but most of her reactions are hidden by those dark glasses.

After a few minutes, the girl turns to face me. "Give me that thing, little boy" she growls. Her gun, still pointed to the two officers, wavers a bit.

She's younger than me, and she's calling me a 'kid'? "Not a chance, 'little girl', I'm not lettin' anyone rape my memories," I snarl. "Not even you."

I sense movement and a bright flash of light from the corner of my eyes; Officer Kong and his partner didn't waste the opportunity. A new doorway exists where a cement wall used to; the reddish glow of molten rock and smoldering wood still surrounds the neo-doorway.

How the hell did they do that?

Clunk, clunk, clunk... something hollow and metal bounces towards us. I glance towards my feet in time to see a dull metal sphere bumping into them.

"Oh, shit!" shouts the girl. She dashes towards the door, but grinds to a halt when tugging me to follow doesn't cause me to budge. "Come on, you idiot!"

Oh! It must be a bomb. A BOMB! I pull the girl back towards me, ignoring her cries of my idiocy, then tuck her against my body and charge the window at a full Saotome sprint. Momentarily I try to remember what floor we're on.

KABOOM! A powerful shockwave strikes me just as I jump; it would break a lesser man, but for me it just gives the boost I need. Fire lashes my back as I clear the window.

Below me, I see cars moving about, looking vaguely larger than beetles. We're pretty high up! The girl starts shifting and fighting in my grip. "Put me down! Don't touch me!" she shouts.

I turn her around to let her see downwards. "Do you reeeaaally want me to put you down?"

"Ouch! Aaaaaah!" The girl shrieks in fright, shudders in my grip, and punctuates it with, "Don't touch me there! You pervert!"

But, she does stop fighting me. I glance down and see her bare backside; her nightgown whips in the wind, then notice my arm is crossing one breast with the hand on the other, and her bad arm is pinned against my chest. Oops! I blush and flip her back around to facing upwards.

Momentarily, I'm torn by indecision. How do I hold her so she won't think I'm a pervert, yet still protect her from the landing...

Shoot! That's right, I'm still in the air... and losing altitude fast. Without further thought, I grasp her closely to me and with a few minor Saotome disciplines, direct us towards the roof of a much lower building.

Heheh. Nobody expects a man that looks like Pop to be an expert on aerial combat, but he is. It only really bothers me when he says he looked a lot like me once.

I land and absorb the momentum of the fall with my legs, then look at the girl in my arms. Her face is completely white. She's in shock. "Are you okay?" I question, concerned.

She shivers a few times and doesn't answer.

"Shiina?"

That snaps her back into reality and shoves herself away from me. She lands in a rather undignified manner on the ground. "Who are you? How do you know who I am!" she snarls. She points Officer Kong's large pistol towards me with a shaky, but uninjured, left arm.

I yawn powerfully. Should I disarm her, or try to earn her trust while her gun is pointed at me? Well, she probably feels more secure with the gun, and I can dodge if she tries shooting. I remain standing and answer tiredly, "I'm Ranma Saotome of the Masubetsu Kakuto Ryuu. Pop and I saved you from a demon this morning at a park. The man you were with... I think he was your father, shouted your name... Do you remember any of this? And can you stop pointing that thing at me?"

Shiina panics, but keeps her gun pointed towards me. "I remember it vaguely... just at the edge of my memory, like a dream after I wake up. It's fading quickly. I think it's something that THING did to me," she snarls, nodding towards the device in my hand. "The woman said it's a... neuralizer? I don't know if that's the best way to translate it, but it messes with memories. She didn't tell me how to use it. I vaguely recall a big man with a gi, and that Mom got killed." She shakes a bit. "Did that happen? Is Dad okay?" she asks, her voice small, scared, worried. Her gun wavers a bit, then returns to me.

Looking at her gun, I realize that Officer Jun Dee's pistol is no longer in my possession, although the little silvery pen is still clenched in my right hand.

I glare at the neuralizer for a few moments and resist the sudden urge to shatter it in my hand.

Why did I resist that urge?

The answer comes to me: power. Such a device is like that proverbial ring of invisibility back in the days before fingerprints and DNA; it lets you do anything and get away with it. Nobody will even remember it was you. A low growl emanates from my throat. CRACK! My hands come together and the neuralizer shatters, twists, and tears beyond recognition. I drop the remains of the device to the roof.

Shiina looks at those remains with wide eyes. "Hey! You could have given it to me if you don't want it! That would be sooo useful..."

"Nobody should have that sort of power," I growl. These so-called 'officers' are nasty people if they mess with the minds of people and toss bombs about in a hospital.

Pop... did that bomb damage the hospital? "Pop is still up there," I mutter, looking. I sigh with relief when I see that it doesn't look like the building was severely damaged, then I turn my eyes back to Shiina, noting her rather skimpy dress.

Sirens wail just a few floors below as police vehicles approach the hospital. I'll need to get to my pack before they do if I want to avoid another painful day of questions; I have a task for tomorrow as is.

Yawn. "Ya' asked 'bout your pop? Your pop was killed while I was knocked out. I promise ta' tell the full story later. For now, you need some more clothing, and I need to fetch my pack before those police do. Ya' mind if I go?"

Shiina glances down at how she's dressed, then lowers her gun. "You better come back here!" she shouts. I grin wearily and leap backwards off the roof.

(ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

Thump.

Shiina blinks a few times, then swings her gun around to face me. "Ack! How did you get behind me? How did you get up there and back so fast?" She glances to the ground to see the white gi that I tossed at her.

"I'm the best!" I say, answering her questions. Then I add, "Wear those. I couldn't find where they stored your clothes. Err... it might be a little big for ya', but it's better than what you've got at the moment. I'll turn around."

A few moments later, "It's safe now!"

I turn around to see her in my final spare gi. So far, I've lost the one I was wearing when I woke up in the hospital this morning, I lost another to yellow icky-goo, and I gave my final one to the girl in front of me. "We'll get more clothes," I tell her, yawning. "That don't fit ya' too well, and it's my final spare. But, fer' now, I need ta' get some sleep. Umm... you can stick with me if ya want, I guess. But yer' gonna' have ta' stop pointin' that thing at me. It's really disturbing."

Shiina sighs, then lowers the gun and stuffs it into her obi (belt).

"I have a few questions for ya'... first, is the safety on this thing set right?" I slowly pull Jun Dee's gun from my pack, cautiously so as to not alarm little miss trigger happy.

She grabs the gun from me, glances at it, then makes a few expert motions with Officer Kong's much larger gun before handing it to me. "I'll be able to handle this one better," she says in quiet explanation. Then she snarls, "I wouldn't think you'd use something like that, seeing as how you're looking at it in such disgust."

I stuff the horrid piece into my pack. "Well, the police took my prints this afternoon, so I was thinkin'... well, I'll probably just drop it in the ocean, but I'd rather not have it go off in my pack when I'm jumpin' about. You seem pretty comfortable with guns," I say, almost as a question.

"It's in my training," she replies coldly. "You can tell me about the day later. For now, we should get away from here and find someplace safer." She sidles up close to me, and wraps her good arm around my neck. Her face flushes red.

I feel her hot breath against my cheek. A warmth rises in my chest and face. "Oh... yeah. Of course," I manage to stutter out.

After tossing on my pack, I lift her into my arms, and leap from the building.