I've not come into enough money to buy SSX in the last 24 hours, so EA Games BIG still owns all characters and locations... for now...

Chapter 7: What if...
"Psymon, wait up." Kaori called after him as he slowly staggered towards his lodge. "Wait." She repeated, catching up to him. "If you think I'm leaving you alone again after the other night you're dreaming. And don't say you're fine." Psymon shook his head.
"Kaori you don't need to-"
"I don't care if I need to or not I'm staying with you. Do you think Zoe would want you being left alone in this state?"
"I'm alright, it was just a bad night."
"I'm staying with you." Kaori wouldn't change her mind, Psymon sighed.
"I hope I'm not responsible for how stubborn you've become."
"You had a hand in it." Psymon lost his footing and teetered for a bit, Kaori grabbed him. Psymon looked down at her.
"… ice." Kaori kept her arm around his waist.
"Sure it was, keep walking." They walked slowly towards Psymon's lodge and up the steps.
"I thought you had a boyfriend. I don't think he'll be cool with you staying the night at my place."
"Psymon, I'm keeping an eye on you, not screwing your brains out." Psymon looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she turned red and smacked his arm. "I'm not saying I wouldn't want to, but we're not." Psymon smirked as Kaori led him to the living room and laid him out on the couch. She rolled him onto his stomach and slid his shirt off. "Relax." she ordered. Psymon went limp as Kaori worked his back with hands that were surprisingly strong. "Dear Lord you're tense boy." Psymon raised his hands like a shrug and let her keep going to work. There were many silent minutes until Kaori broke the silence. "Psymon, you still with me?" Psymon nodded.
"eeeeyup." Kaori looked down at Psymon's muscular body, the chain tattoo that wrapped around him, and the angel on his forearm. She ran her fingertips along the scar where he had to have the word "Stark" removed from his tattoo. She ran her hands along he base of his hairline, so glad that he buzzed off the long fat spikes a few season ago and now let his hair grow back normally, though it was still quite short.
"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we never broke up?" Kaori said out of the blue. Psymon paused for several moments.
"You'd be giving me this message with less clothes on?" Kaori laughed.
"Seriously, do you ever think of what may have happened if we stayed together?" Psymon breathed in, raising Kaori a few inches, then exhaled deeply, letting her ride back down.
"Are you asking me this out of real curiosity, or because I'm half naked and you're sitting on my ass?" She rolled her eyes with a smile. "I dunno, I guess at times I wonder what would have happened. But we've become such great friends, I just don't know if we could have that if we were still involved romantically, ya know?" Kaori nodded.
"I know."
"And the whole make-out buddies thing, that just wasn't something we should have been doing."
"Okay you're two for two."
"Besides, aren't you happy with your new guy? What's his name again, Pedro?" Kaori laughed.
"Phil, but nice try. Yeah I guess we're cool." Psymon turned his head now to half look at her.
"What's with you girls and 'we're cool'? Seriously, either things are good or they're not, 'we're cool' is about as indecisive as it gets." Kaori nodded. She worked his lower back, tugging his waist line down a bit.
"… no underwear today?" she teased. Psymon was still for a few seconds.
"Knew I forgot something today."

Psymon was woken up that morning by Kaori shaking him gently. He mumbled and rubbed his head, his headache was less painful this morning."Did I sleep through the alarm again?" Kaori shook her head while she ran her hand along his chest.
"We're still in the living room, there's no clock in here." Psymon opened his eyes to see the afternoon light pouring in through his window. He looked at the clock on the VCR to see it was past noon.
"Why the sleep in?" he said, having difficulty keeping his eyes open.
"You need the rest." Kaori answered, running a fingertip along his neck, she was laying half on him. He opened his eyes fully now and looked at Kaori.
"… why are we naked?" Psymon sounded quite concerned about this, Kaori laughed and kept caressing his cheek.
"Nothing happened, we just cuddled, I promise." Psymon laid his head back down and closed his eyes, still in a bit of pain.
"Kaori you have a boyfriend."
"Nothing happened."
"We're naked on my couch after you spent the night, it doesn't matter what did or didn't happen." Kaori sighed and stood up, she looked down at Psymon, who still was covered from the waist down by a sheet.
"Psymon, relax. We did nothing, you know I like the feeling of another body against mine, you know that's how I like to cuddle. We never had sex when we dated, we're not going to now, relax." Psymon sat up and eyed past her for a second.
"Still, appearances are all people need." Kaori put her hands on her hips.
"Psymon, no one's going to see us." Psymon nodded with a smirk and pointed with his thumb to the window to his right.
"Oh, okay, well maybe someone oughta tell him that." Kaori looked over to see one of Griff's buddies with his face against the window, peering in. As soon as he saw that he was caught he took off running.
"Damn it!" Kaori shrieked, diving into the sheet that Psymon laid under.

Psymon's balance seemed much better that morning, he was able to walk much longer before the dizziness set in. Kaori walked into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of track pants and a Tshirt she stole from Psymon's room. Psymon finished making some French toast and served a plate to Kaori. Little was said over breakfast, Kaori's face was still red from the peeping tom they had earlier.
"Oh relax, you did the kid a favour." Psymon chuckled, Kaori looked up, flabbergasted. "Seriously, what the kid saw today will likely go down in his memories forever since you're likely the best naked woman he'll ever see." Kaori went a darker red, trying to glare angrily at Psymon but smiling too much.
"So I look good naked, do I?" Psymon chuckled and shook his head.
"I've already told you that." Kaori ginned.
"Well, you seemed against it this morning."
"I was against it because you have a boyfriend."
"I told you, nothing happened."
"Shall we go over this again?"
"… no." Kaori quietly finished her French toast. "So, you don't think less of me, do you?" Psymon shook his head.

"Kaori, it takes a certain level of trust to wake up next to someone undressed and still be comfortable enough with them to sit and talk over breakfast. If we weren't cool you woulda been out that door in a shot.""You said it."
"Said what?"
"You said 'we're cool'. Last night you complained how chicks always say that." Psymon smirked and nodded.
"Dear God, I'm turning into a woman… dear God… I'm a lesbian." Kaori laughed loudly and threw her napkin at him. "No, I don't think less of you." Kaori smiled.
"Okay, good." Psymon stood up and took her plate to the sink.
"Kaori." he started, she looked at him. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"… just, for caring. For being a good friend… though at times a bit of a freak, a good friend no less." He looked over his shoulder with a smile as she went red again. "I'm going to admit, when we became friends I never imagined you had the side in you that you've shown me." Kaori gave a smart-alecked smirk at Psymon.
"What can I say, you corrupted me." Psymon laughed as he washed the dishes.
"Just thanks for being you." Kaori smiled. She stood up and walked behind him, slapping his butt. He brought his wet hands up to eye level with a challenging look, she stepped back.
"You win." Psymon smirked and continued the dishes. "Do you ever think about that night when the avalanche hit?" Psymon rose his pierced eyebrow at her.
"Do you EVER stop living in the past?" Kaori hopped up onto the counter and sat, dangling her legs.
"The past is safer, it's predictable… at times."
"What about the avalanche?"
"When you came looking for me. We weren't friends back then, but you looked for me anyways. Mac wouldn't even look for me and you never gave up, why?" Psymon stopped, he never really wondered much himself.
"I don't know, seemed like the right thing to do at the time."
"You left everyone else, including Zoe, in a house with a killer to come find me."
"Well, I would have brought Zoe with me, but somebody had to maintain order in that lodge." Psymon joked, Kaori looked serious though. "I don't know why I kept looking. When I got to that ravine I'll admit I felt close to giving up… I don't know."
"But you didn't."
"Kaori… you're someone's kid. Someone's sister, someone's friend, you were someone's lover… Too many people would have been heart-broken if you died."
"That is the weakest answer ever, Psymon."
"It's all I can offer, I don't have anything else." Kaori nodded.
"If I was anyone else would you have still gone?" Psymon thought and nodded.
"Well, unless it was Moby, then I may not have been so persistent." Kaori smiled at Psymon's joke.
"What if it were Zoe that wound up where I was?"
"Well obviously I would have gone after her."
"What if she was in my situation, but died?" Psymon looked up and didn't move. "Would you had gone back to the lodge, or kept searching until that storm took you?" Psymon made no movements or sounds. Kaori realized she was out of line and apologized.
"Look, that's not what happened, let's not even entertain that thought. What does any of this have to do with anything?" Kaori hopped down from the counter. Psymon stopped and calmed down. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, can we just drop it, please?" Kaori nodded to Psymon's words.

Yeah I know, fairly uneventful chapter, I just like painting Kaori with a portrayal that she's not the little sweetie everyone thinks she is... ah corrupting the innocent. Read on.