be on the rare side in this story, and even then, it won't be traditional. Help me with my
French if there's anything glaringly wrong in the stories, please. Peace out. ,v,,
"JEEEEENNNNYYY! You don't have to put on the red light.. strut the catwalk for money! You
don't care if it's wrong or if it's right! JEEEEENNNNNNY!! You don't have to wear that dress
tonight!"
Shina rolled her eyes as she shuffled down the corridor of her father's home in France towards
her own Spartan room. Slick with sweat, fresh from her morning workout, she felt increasingly
irritated by the booming singing voice. Standing beside her father's closed bathroom door,
she heard it loudest of all. With an exasperated sigh, she flung the door open and peeked
her head in.
"JEEEENNNNYYYY! I won't share you with that insect Stuuuuun!" Gado was roaring rather
unmelodiously into his hairbrush, wearing only a white towel around his waist, golden hair lank
with water around his face.
He blinked in surprise when he saw his daughter in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.
She gave him a narrow-eyed "I hate you" look that all children give their parents at one
time or another.
"Mind keeping it down?" hissed Shina at him, pulling back from the bathroom before he
could answer, closing the door behind her. Truthfully, it wasn't her father's embarrassing
infatuation with Bat-Ho that had her in a bad mood, but it made a handy target. It was
none of her business who her father slept with but hearing "Oo, you're so sexy when you're
in pain!" through the walls every once in a while didn't make her feel very kindly towards
the model/spy. It was just -weird!-
Back in her own room, Shina let out a soft sigh, raking a hand back through her sweat-soaked
hair, leaning her shoulders against her closed door. No, what was really bothering her.. was
her weakness in the face of ShenLong. -Repeated- weakness. First she got her ass kicked
then she failed to kill him when she had the chance. Of course, she hadn't brought up any
of this to her father, she didn't dare think of what he'd say if he found out she snuck out of
the base and met ShenLong in Rio de Janeiro. KP would be the least of her problems.
But all that was weeks past. She'd left ShenLong in Brazil, and she could always hope she'd
never see the crazy son of a bitch ever again. Hope springs eternal. So for now, she tried
to concentrate on living her life normally, as she did when she thought ShenLong was dead.
Reaffirming that to herself with a nod and a soft mutter of "Why does it matter anyway?!" she
prepared the clothes she was going to wear for the day, grabbed her towel, and headed
off to her own bathroom for a long shower.
Long was seated on the Gados' plush couch, with his student Uriko pacing the large living
room, peeking into crystal boxes and sniffing flowers. Surprisingly, Gado lived very well.
Long had always privately assumed that he lived in a jumped up barracks, but was proved
wrong when he finally visited him. Or rather, visited the other person that shared the house,
Shina. Gado had told Long that Shina seemed a bit troubled and had invited him to France
to find out what it was. He had also mentioned his daughter's run-in with ShenLong, and
that, almost as much as his worry for Shina, had made Long drop his hermit ways for a little
while and rush over, with Uriko in tow. The kitten thought it was a grand chance to go
shopping in Paris.
Gado had left the two of them in the living room, with a servant passing out tea in fine
porcelain cups, going to find Shina and show her to their guests. But as it happened, Shina
found them on her own. She'd been passing on her way from the bathroom to her room
when she'd heard voices in the living room, going out of her way to go past the entry way
and see who it was.
Long's handsome face was made all the more dazzling by the light of his smile as he saw
Shina, making her halt in her tracks with a surprised expression. She almost checked over
her shoulder to see if he was smiling at someone else, but she knew there was just her.
"Wow.. uh.. Long!" She cleared her throat and whipped the towel she'd been using to dry
her hair off her head. Although privately, she didn't think that looked any better. "This is..
a surprise. And Uriko!" She was on safer ground with the kid, nodding a greeting as Uriko
waved cheerfully at her.
"You can take me shopping in Paris!" Uriko exclaimed, as if it were the most fabulous idea
she'd ever come up with. "I bet you know all the best places!" Shina blanched in horror
and couldn't think of a thing to say for a moment. But she was saved from Uriko's
enthusiasm by Long.
"Your father invited us here," Long ran smoothly over Uriko's excited plans for her first
European shopping trip. He pulled himself up gracefully to his feet, long-fingered hands
smoothing nonexistent wrinkles from his blue silk mianzi and soft white cotton pants. "But
I don't have business with him until tomorrow. Would you like to do something with Uriko
and I today?"
Gado came up behind Shina and swatted her across the shoulders while replying for her in
a booming voice, "Of course she would! Still recovering, needs a break."
Covertly, Shina glared at him. She was immediately suspicious about the whole thing. What
would her father possibly want with Long? The man was practically a recluse!
While Shina was considering mauling her father and making her escape while she could, Long
was studying the leopardess. She didn't look very troubled to him, or even badly injured to
him. But if Gado had noticed something, it must be there. The lion could be incredibly shrewd
sometimes. Besides, Shina's company would not be unwelcome. She looked very attractive
standing there, even in a smoldering fury. Fresh from the shower, her hair hadn't had time to
harden into its usual spikes, hanging around her face with that soft wet look, very charming.
Her clothing, despite the distinct lack of femininity, certainly did suit her; a white ribbed men's
undershirt and a pair of navy blue cargo pants, tight across her hips and thighs. He was mildly
amazed at the damage her delicate-looking feet could inflict as his eyes passed over them,
peeking from under her pants.
"What's going on here?" she asked flatly, in a tone that said she wouldn't believe the answer
was "nothing." She glanced suspiciously from Long to Gado and long was forcibly reminded
that no matter how pretty the warrior looked, she was clever in her own right.
Uriko defused the situation, though, oblivious to the undertones of it all. "We just want you
to get out more, that's all!" And she went over to wrap two of her arms through one of Shina's,
beaming up at the taller woman. "Come on, it'll be fun! I promise. Now, where's your room?
Do you have a CD player..?" Uriko's voice trailed off as she dragged Shina down the hallway,
but not before the victim shot a venomous glare over her shoulder at Gado and Long.
Alone, Gado glanced towards Long and released a low whistle. "Going to have your hands
full with her for the rest of the day." The massive lion-man didn't make it sound like a bad
thing, though. He enjoyed his daughter's feisty attitude, loved her very much. "Thought
we were going to get it for a moment, there." His tone changed and his proud smile wilted
around the edges, voice softening. "Thank you, Monsieur Jin. I'm not sure what happened
but I know she's troubled."
Before Long could respond, Shina and Uriko were back, the older woman striding very hard
back to the living room in a pair of brown leather combat boots. Uriko came trotting after,
holding up a long sleeve shirt made of sheer blue material. "But it would look so pretty
on you! It matches your eyes!"
Shina glanced at her father. He smiled at her.
An hour later, Shina was seated in the driver's seat of a red car, speeding down the highway.
Wearing a silky blue shirt over her men's undershirt and looking incredibly irritated about it.
Long would have appeared to be thinking if she'd glanced over at him, but she didn't, hadn't
looked at him since he smiled at her and told her how nice she looked with the sheer cloth
added on. Uriko was gloating about the whole thing.
"Don't reeeaaaally wanna make it tooouuugh, I just wanna tell you that I've had enough! It
might sound crazy but it ain't no lie! Baby, bye, bye, bye!" Uriko warbled in the back seat,
after she'd tired of pointing out shops she wanted to visit from her window. "IIIIII knoooow
that I can't take no more, it ain't no liiiiiie! I wanna see you out that door; baby, bye, bye, bye!"
Shina cringed inwardly. She was nice and all, but that kid yowled like a cat on a fence.
Although admittedly, her voice was better than her sister Alice's. That rabbit-squeal got on
Shina's nerves sometimes, especially when in her beast form, when her hearing was more
acute. Mon dieu! she thought, trying to block out the singing. She could cut glass with that
voice.
Her nerves were already on the raw, so maybe she was being harder on the girl than she
normally would be. Shina realized this and tried to soothe herself before she ran over a
pedestrian.
An hour after -that-, they were walking down a Parisian street packed with both natives and
tourists, the former cursing the latter roundly in guttural French and Uriko oblivious to it all as
she led Shina and Long on a merry chase through the streets, both of them loaded down with
boxes for the teenager.
"Do you think she'll grow out of it?" Long discreetly questioned Shina as they paced behind
Uriko.
Shina laughed and shook her head. "I have no idea. I never went through this stage."
Yes, she -laughed!- She was in a much better mood, simply because Uriko's attitude was kind
of catching (be perky with her or die!) and Long's company was just downright pleasant. He
radiated elegant calm and she found herself unable to resist the soothing effects of his presence.
And then they were seated at a stereotypical, yet quite pleasant, sidewalk cafe, discussing the
finer points of martial arts (Shina and Long) and the Backstreet Boys (Shina and Uriko,) whom
Shina had never heard of before. Uriko was shocked, nay, horrified by this information.
"Nani!? Never heard of the Backstreet Boys? Not even AJ? He was just on the news, went into
detox or something!" Uriko gasped, leaning forward across the wrought iron table and almost
spilling her decaf (which both Shina and Long had insisted she have) with her elbow.
"Uh.. no." Shina was taken aback by Uriko's attitude. Was this some heinous faux pas in the
world, that she didn't really pay attention to modern music? A lot of the soldiers liked classic
rock and that was about all she listened to. "I like.. The Eagles? Rolling Stones? Boston?"
Uriko stared at Shina, then let out a laugh, leaning back in her chair as if it were too funny
even for her. Long smiled in a politely puzzled way. Of course, he had no idea what either of
them were talking about. He had been in a cave for eight years.
Shina didn't understand what was so funny, either, but she smiled anyway.
Shina was standing outside of a frilly looking shop, trying to prolong her soda for as long as
possible so she'd have no excuse to go into the store, which forbade food or drink. Just eyeing
the lace from the windows made her dizzy and slightly sick to her stomach.
Unable to get Shina inside, Uriko had settle for Long as a fashion consultant. Not so privately,
Shina was under the impression that neither of them were acceptable in this capacity, but since
they were all the teenager had.....
Sighing, she hit the bottom of her soda and reached out to deposit the empty cup in the nearby
wasteba---
Red eyes, suddenly close, too close. Where had he come from? Hot lips sealed over her own,
taking by force what she wouldn't have given willingly. An arm locked about her waist and
pulled her tight to the hard body attached. No time for more than a muffled gasp, not even a
ghost of a struggle.
---Just as suddenly gone. Shina left stunned and shaken on the sidewalk, dropping her cup
with a styrofoam bounce to the cement. Only the bruised feeling of her mouth let her be
certain that what she thought happened had indeed occurred. She raised trembling fingers
to her lips, then abruptly clenched her hand into a fist, blue eyes blazing with instant rage.
"He'll pay for that." She murmured to herself. Then her eyes turned outwards to the crowds
around her, walking along blissfully unaware. "I've got a lot of debts to settle at your door,
bastard."
Long and Uriko came out of the store to find a pale and angry Shina waiting for them. Without
a word being spoken, they knew the day was over. Even Uriko was subdued by the rage on
the leopardess' face.
The sleek Chinese scholar was left wondering what could have possibly happened to ruin
their host's mood so completely and he watched her speculatively the whole drive home, until
she disappeared into the house's gym without a word for the rest of the night.