I sighed and woke up, looking around my room and over at the peacefully sleeping Lin. I wondered how late he stayed up, because he was wide awake once I fell asleep. I shook my head and gently removed his arm from my waist so as not to wake him up. I leaned over and kissed his forehead before slowly standing, still in what turned out to be a futile attempt at trying not to wake him. He opened his eyes and looked at me with a smile. I raised and eyebrow and smiled at him. "Morning, early bird." I said with much sweet-coated-sarcasm as I could. It was about twelve in the afternoon.

"When did you wake up?" He asked and sat up, rubbing his eyes slightly.

"Five." I said as seriously as I could muster, of course I was only kidding.

"What? You stayed up until about twelve last night!" He said.

"I was kidding Lin. I woke up just a few minutes ago." I said laughing slightly.

"Oh." He said, smiling slightly. He then grabbed me and threw me down, attempting to tickle me. Little did he know, pain and pleasure are one in the same for me. I can control them. It only hurts if I allow it, and it only tickles if I allow it to. Pain and pleasure are only a state of mind, you can control it by telling yourself that it isn't there, or that it is. It depends on what you want. He sighed some, watching my blank face. "Don't tell me you're not ticklish." He said. "Everyone is ticklish."

"Even Vicious?" I asked and raised a brow at him. He looked a little flustered and dropped his head.

"Personally, I wouldn't know…" He started. "But you have to be ticklish!" He started tickling me again. I decided to humor him and allow myself to be ticklish. It was strange, because I hadn't been tickled by anyone by my mother, and I hadn't been tickled by her since I was a young child. That was a long time past. I rolled around on the bed, laughing loudly and obnoxiously, such as was my stupid laugh. The one that I had hated since birth.

We didn't hear the knock at the door, and it came open. It was Shin standing at the door, eyebrow raised. I supposed that Lin hadn't told him. Of course, it must have looked incredibly awkward to see Lin sitting atop of me, hands on my ribs. I turned my head to look at him, eyes wide. I sighed slightly and began to laugh hard. How awkwardly hilarious it was, maybe if your were insane.

"Hey Shin! I guess this must look weird, ne?" I asked innocently. I suppose he didn't know what to say, which would explain why he turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. I smiled up at Lin. "Well, that was awkward. Perhaps you should go and talk to him." I told him. He sighed and nodded to me, standing and rushing out the door after Shin. I stood and reached for my hair brush. One I located it, I pulled it roughly though my long ebony hair a few times. I then pulled hair back into a high pony tail and took my clothes off, changing into some workout clothes. I then made my way to the gym, to my pounding bag. I opened the doors, flicked on the light and walked to the bag. I beat the hell out of that for a few minutes, before I heard Lin's voice behind me. I turned around.

"Shin's okay." He said before I could ask. "He just thought it an awkward position and left." He said. "He's not angry or upset, or anything." He finished.

"That's good. It was quite the awkward moment." I said. Lin nodded and walked over to me. "Hey, can I ask a favor?"

"Anything, you know that." He said and smiled slightly, looking to me.

"Will you spar with me?" I asked, tilting my head. "I'll try not to become ferocious." I said. He nodded and took off his uniform, save his pants and socks. I walked with him to the bamboo weapons rack, and we both pick up bamboo Katanas. I looked at him and bowed, just as he did. With that we lunged at each other, clashing bamboo. That probably sounds stupid, but hey, we can't clash metal if there is not metal to clash. Empty thunking sounds filled the air around us as our swords collided, making somewhat of a rhythmic sound. Almost like a fast-beating heart, one much like my own. Finally our swords met at such an angle that our faces were inches apart. I smirked back at him as he looked at me. We both were pressing all of our weight against the swords. "You're really good at this, Lin." I said.

"I'd hate to half to be someone to face you. You're someone not to screw with." He said, raising a brow, the same smirk on his lips. I then realized that his smirk was totally hot, but shook that from my head. "Alright, if one of us drops our swords before the other, someone will get hurt. On three. One, tow three." He finished. We both jumped back a distance and dropped our swords. I walked over to him and held out a hand, as was traditional for me to do, when finished sparing with someone. Lin grabbed my hand, shook it once, then pulled me into his arms. "You're quite the dangerous one, Kasumi." He said. I smiled a bit.

"What's a girl to do? I can't do much about it but stop fighting, and you know I can't do that." I told him. I then noticed Lin's muscular body. Nicely shaped but not grotesquely shaped and bulging, like some megalomaniac matador. I sighed and smiled some, staring for a moment before shaking my head of the thought.

I had a nicely shaped body as well, as some might say. Also not grotesque and bulging. Muscled legs, for the big amount of running around and kicking that I did. Slender but toned arms, for the gun and sword handling that I did. Nice ass, and not huge, but not small boobs. A…babe…as I've been called. That was one of my peeves. Men's pathetic perverted little names for women. Names like Chick and Babe…but one in particular bothered me. Doll Face. It reminded me of how shallow people really are, anymore. Looks. Beauty this, handsome that. It disgusted me.

I turned to Lin and smiled, stepping back. I bowed to him and stood up. "Thank you Lin-chan." I said. "Well, I must go and take a shower." I said, and turned to walked away. Lin ran up after me, walking along side me. He smiled to me as I took my hair down, letting if flow freely. I walked along until we reached Lin's room, and stopped. "Later." I said and walked off to my own room. Once there I opened the door then shut it again, once I was safely inside. I locked it, looking around to make sure there was no one there. People, for some reason, seemed to like doing that. Fortunately, I was alone. I stripped all of my clothes, save my bra and underwear, and walked to the dresser. I pulled all fresh clothes from the dresser and walked into my bathroom, turning my shower on. I then stripped the remainder of my clothing and stepped into the hot water.

The water poured onto my skin and I let out a heavy sigh. No need to scrub my skin or scalp off this time. No meetings with Vicious, which was completely and totally a good thing. I sighed as the water poured over my ebony hair and bare back, washing the sweat and worry away. I turned to face the jet of water, letting it pour over my face. I closed my eyes as I poured some soap into my hand and washed my face with it, stepping back under the water, I washed my face. Next I washed my hair with soap and conditioner, then the rest of me. About twenty minutes later I shut the water off and stepped from the water, wrapping the towel around me. I looked at myself in the mirror for quite some time. I thought back to myself as a child. She'd hate to see me in such a profession, but I'm sure she'd love Lin, in fact, she did. I sighed some and peered into my sharp ice blue eyes. Eyes hardened by many years as a professional murderer, eyes that had once belonged to an innocent little girl who used to skip through flowers and sing happy songs. "Kakine no, kakine no ma ga ri ka do. Takibi da takibi da, Ochi ba taki. Ata ro-oka, ata ro-oyo. Kita kaze pipu. Fui tei ru." I sung to my mirror. With another sigh, I turned from the mirror and began to change into the clean clothes, throwing the towel from myself onto the floor.

Once fully dressed, I picked up the dirty undergarments and towels, bundling them. I brought them out, throwing them into the almost full hamper. Chikusho! I'll have to do laundry tomorrow. I thought, then walked over, plopping down onto my bed. I threw the coat from the bed along with my tie, leaving my black shirt slightly open. I laid back on my bed and rolled over, facing the wall. Today had gone completely well, no Vicious no nothing. Of course, today was far from over, but I was very tired from all of my exercise. I closed my eyes, just for a second, in an attempt to sleep. It was useless. I found that I couldn't sleep without Lin.

Slowly I stood from my bed and walked out of my room in my socks, pants, and slightly opened shirt down to his room. I opened the door quietly, and looked around. No sign of Lin, accept for the faint sound of the shower going. I smiled and snuck into his room. Walking soundlessly to his bed, I crawled onto it and tucked myself into the corner, facing the room instead of the wall. I then closed up my shirt, minus one button so as not to smother myself in shirt. It was a few more minutes before Lin emerged from his bathroom, in nothing but a towel. I blushed madly and became completely soundless, with an attempt not to laugh at the fact that he had no idea that I was there.

He was humming some sort of Chinese tune. Very happy and upbeat. I watched him carefully as he walked. With his hair wet, he looked much like his little brother Shin, only older. I smiled and watched as he walked over to is hamper, throwing his dirty clothes into the hamper. He then made his way to his dresser, still oblivious to my presence in his room. As soon as he pulled out his uniform, he reached for his towel. "Hey!" I shouted with a smirk. He threw his hand from his towel and it remained on, thankfully. He turned to me with raised brow. I smiled and waved. "I hoped you were going to change in your bathroom, and was going to wait until you came back out to surprise you. But I figured you wouldn't want me to see you completely naked, just as I wouldn't want you to see me completely naked." I said. He smiled slightly and held up a finger, rushing into the bathroom. He then came back out, changed into everything but shoes, tie, and trench.

"So, what would you have done if that towel fell?" He asked. I smirked slightly.

"You know, I really can't say as though I know. That would have been more awkward that the previous moment with Shin." I said. He smiled and walked over to me, sitting on his bed. "Lin…"

"Yes?" He asked, wrapping an arm around me.

"You look a lot like your brother, when your hair is wet." I said. He smiled some and nodded. He then let go of me and plopped backward on his bed, and I followed suit.

"That could have something to do with us being brothers." He said. I smiled slightly and rolled over on my side, setting my head on his chest. " I have to go on a mission alone with Vicious tomorrow." He said seemingly out of nowhere. He then rolled over as well, making my head fall onto my arm. He wrapped both of his strong arms around my and pulled me on top of him. I laid there for a little bit, unsure of what to do. Soon I felt Lin's chest rising and falling whilst he slept. I smiled and placed my ear over his hear, listening to his strong heart beat. A heart beat I was sure to miss, if anything were to happen to him. I lifted my head form his chest and shook my head of those horrible thoughts. Nothing could happen to him, he was with Vicious, and Vicious and Lin were actually really close, but so were Gren and Vicious…

Arg! I just couldn't get the horrible thoughts to leave me. I felt as though something horrible would happen. Surely nothing could happen to Lin, he was the last thing holding my sanity together. If I lost him, I'd go completely and utterly insane.

I shook my head again and set it against his chest, over his strong heartbeat. I soon found the mixture of Lin's scent and heartbeat put me to sleep. Nightmares were soon to follow, but not just in my dreams...

Author's notes:

Thank you to Doom-Song8 and Ash! For being awesome! Well, the next chapter is my last. The last chapter should be longer than my normal three pagers, so watch out. I'm sorry for this being so short but, If I tried to extend it, it would become monotonous, so there would be no point in posting it 'cause no one would read.

Thank you to all who have and will read! And thank you to anyone who reviews!

Be sure to drop me a line in my guest book on my homepage. That would be totally awesome of you! Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk.