The Kimmatrix: Matrix Resurrections
A Fan Fiction Fusion By
Classic Cowboy and Turles
Chapter 6: Remembrance
"Memory is not an instrument of exploring the past, but its theatre."
- Walter Benjamin
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The night had progressed onward, and while all of Neo Zion was asleep, there were a few still awake. One of them was Ron Stoppable, returning to the apartment that he shared with Kim. He was dizzy with excitement over what had happened only thirty minutes ago and was drunk with feelings he had never felt before. He knew that they existed; he just didn't know about them first hand. It was so much that Ron had to hold onto the guard rail as he replayed the events of the evening over and over in his head. Even though it was one of the greatest nights of his life, Ron just wanted to crawl into bed, sleep, and hopefully dream about the night again.
The buzz didn't stop Ron from finding the apartment, after all, he did get himself lost and un-lost in the maze called Neo Zion. So, within only a few short hours, he was able to figure out where everything was.
He unlocked and opened the apartment door quietly, hoping not to disturb Kim, whom he assumed was already asleep. He came into the dark apartment with the thin ray of light from the cracked door piercing the darkness, turned around, and closed the door, shutting out the ray of light. He felt that he knew the apartment well enough to feel his way back to his bedroom, but before he could take another step, he heard something.
"Good morning, Ron." An all too familiar voice called out from the dark in a menacing tone. At the moment the voice registered, the lights turned on, and Ron saw Kim in the kitchen with a very peeved look on her face.
"Oh," Ron uttered as he rubbed the back of his head, knowing that he was in six feet under, "You're up early, Kim." He smiled sheepishly, hoping to charm his way out of the immense amount of trouble that he was in.
"And you're up late." Kim replied as she walked out of the kitchen and faced Ron with crossed arms over her chest. She looked at Ron with a glare that could've scared Shego into submission, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Ron knew this kind of trouble; he had seen his own father being pulled over by policemen for speeding. Later on in life, Ron had heard how to handle being questioned by a policeman after being pulled over: just keep looking forward and make careful guesses until it's found out what the accusation is for.
"Um…" Ron gave his careful guess, "Four-thirty?"
"Try six forty-five." Kim growled as she approached Ron with a very hateful fire in her green eyes. It was the kind of look that made Ron feel sick to the pit of his stomach. He was so nervous that he had lost all connection to the buzz he had only a seconds ago.
"Kim," he began, his mouth feeling very dry and his skin wet from the cold sweat he'd developed, "I…I can explain."
"I know." Kim had cut him off and made her explanation, "I came to check on you an hour ago and you were well entertained in the Construct with your Bon-Bon." She said in such a snippy way as though she meant to grunt out the words 'entertained' and 'your Bon-Bon', signaling her extreme disgust for them.
Then again, something had happened to Kim that night. She woke up around five in the morning, and she knew that Ron wasn't home because his bed was still made. So, acting on a hunch, she went to Trin Zion to find that Jack Room that she had heard Morpheus talk about, that place for people to connect to the Matrix, to train, and to entertain. It was there that Kim found Ron and Bonnie, and she checked the program they were in. Yet, nothing she had seen or done could have prepared her for what she saw on that screen. She saw them, Ron…her best friend…and…Bonnie…her school rival...together. Both of them so close, so intimate, and in such a way that Kim felt the goop she had eaten earlier rise in her throat and deposit itself on the Jack Room floor.
"Oh, I see." Ron grunted, feeling his own blood heating, "So, you came to check on me, huh? More like an eavesdropper?" The blood began to boil within Ron as he began to understand the situation a little further in his perspective.
"It was almost six in the morning, Ron." Kim said in a very condescending tone like an overbearing know-it-all, "You are my best friend, and for some reason I can't put my finger on right now, I actually might care whether you were lying in a gutter somewhere…dead!"
The nervousness the Ron felt seconds ago had vanished in the heat of what he felt next. He was being treated like such a little kid, as if his own mother didn't do enough of that. As he thought about it, Ron noticed that he was treated so much better in Neo Zion than he ever was back at Middleton; everyone was so much nicer to him, everyone…except Kim. She still treated him like her goofy sidekick and the fact that he was The One still hadn't registered with her like it did with everyone else in Neo Zion.
"I already have a mother, Kim; I don't need another one here." Ron growled back in a tone that Kim had never heard him use before on her, "I'm a big boy after all, and while we're discussing this; why is it that when it comes to my interest in girls, you get defensive, while I never said a damned thing about you being on that date with Josh Monkey while I was risking life and limb to get that cure for you!"
Kim remembered that night very well; it was the date with Josh Mankey…her first date. It also happened to be the time that Drakken had sprayed Kim with a plant enzyme that made a part of her disappear every time she blushed. While she went on her date with Josh, Ron was half a world away and risking it all to get the same plant to cure Kim's ailment. Ron managed to cure Kim, but he never stopped her from finishing her date with Josh and that still burned deep within Ron, despite how happy he looked for Kim.
Kim immediately retorted, "This isn't about Josh and me. This is about you and Bonnie."
Ron crossed his arms, feeling his anger growing with each new frustration. Everything began to compound as he thought about it more and more, like a fire having gasoline thrown on it.
"At least Bonnie trusts me and really cares about me." Ron sneered at Kim, "Unlike some people."
"Yeah." Kim chuckled in a very sarcastic way, "Like she really likes you."
Ron turned his back to Kim, "She asked me out, didn't she?" He asked in a very snooty sort of way.
Having Ron's back turned to her only annoyed Kim even further. It was bad enough that he wasn't listening to her, but now he was intentionally ignoring her. She felt so furious, but she still continued to try and prove her point in the face of such blind ignorance.
"She asked you because you are The One; it has nothing to do with you." She replied, hoping it would open Ron's eyes to the truth.
"Oh yeah?" Ron asked back snobbishly.
"Like anyone would really ask you out for any other reason." Kim answered back as she turned her back on Ron, and as she did, the full effect of her words hit her. She realized all too late that her anger had forced her to blurt out something she didn't want to say. In her mind, she wanted to say 'like Bonnie would ask you out for any other reason', but she blurted out a generalization in her fury. She raised her hand to her mouth in dread and turned back to face Ron.
For Ron, the damage was so much greater. Even though he wouldn't admit it, Ron was more emotionally fragile than Kim. She always was so much stronger than he, and even though Ron had faced such cutting remarks from total strangers…he could handle it. It was the fact that it came from Kim that made it cut to the bone. It seemed so unbelievable that Ron still couldn't believe what his ears told him.
As Kim turned to face him, she could see the damage that she caused on Ron's face. His skin was pale, even his freckles, and his eyes--- those pretty, brown eyes like those of a puppy dog; they were already shrink-wrapped in tears. Ron Stoppable was truly hurt, cut down to the proverbial flesh and bones by the words of his best friend.
"Oh Ron…" Kim gasped, her voice on the verge of crying too, "I…I didn't mean that…"
Ron reached up and brushed away the already leaking tears. The tears may have been flowing, but Ron wasn't crying at all, and with dry eyes he glared down at Kim. The look he carried in those brown eyes was that of a person filled with eons of grief, hatred, sorrow, and agony.
"You said it, Kim. So you must have meant it." He snarled at Kim, trying his hardest to keep his composure, to hold onto whatever piece of dignity he still had after the years of women stripping it from him. Ron stomped to his bedroom door, each stomp like the echo of a monster in a child's nightmare. Before he went into his bedroom, he stopped at the door and looked back at Kim, his eyes filling up once again with tears.
"I know that Bon can be hateful to you sometimes," Ron stated to Kim in that un-Ron voice again, "But I see what brought that on now!"
With that last statement, Ron gave Kim one last hateful glare and then went into his room, slamming the door and sending out its deafening, hollow bang.
"Ron…" Kim whispered, her voice breaking as her own tears started to flow, "…I really…really didn't mean it…"
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The morning rolled on, and while the damage had already been done between Kim and Ron, another proverbial storm was brewing between two old rivals. It was in one of the many offices of high ranking officers and councilors within Neo Zion; it was also one that Morpheus had been to many times in the past, though, it wasn't because of issues of regulation; one would say it was more personal. Morpheus came into the office that he had been to so many times before and stood at attention in front of his superior officer.
"You called, Admiral Locke?" Morpheus asked in a soldier's tone.
Locke had advanced in rank from simple commander to the rank of Grand Admiral in charge of the Zion Hovership Fleet. The years hadn't been too kind to him; he had lost a good amount of hair above his brow while the rest had turned gray around the sides of his head, which implied greater age than he actually had. One could even go so far as to say that as his bitterness of the past grew, it manifested itself through every lost and gray hair along with every wrinkle on his face. Admiral Locke looked up at Morpheus, his face wrinkled even further with anger at him.
"I just want to know one thing, Captain Morpheus. What in blazes goes on inside that head of yours!" Admiral Locke barked loudly at Morpheus as he stood up from his desk. "It was bad enough that you helped that boy," Locke sneered, "but you freed him from the Matrix, as well? Do you realize you, quite possibly, have single handedly destroyed the truce that has lasted for sixteen years?"
Morpheus, as always, wasn't surprised at Admiral Locke's anger. He had gotten the same abuse from this man since day one. It seemed to have gotten worse in the past sixteen years, probably ever since Niobe had left Locke to go back to Morpheus. Being calm as usual, Morpheus kept his neutral demeanor in the face of such rage and gave his answer.
"He is only a boy, Admiral." Morpheus tried to explain calmly, hoping to set his passions aside, "He is a boy meant for great things; things that do not include being murdered by Agents."
"I've spoken with the machine representatives, Morpheus." Locke retorted, his anger coming down and starting to border upon terror, "Do you know what that boy is? Do you? He's not Neo, Morpheus! For God's sakes, he's Smith! Have you forgotten what that monster did?"
How could Morpheus or anyone close to Neo have forgotten? Even with a veneer of sixteen years, the memory…or the nightmare of him still remained as fresh as the stench of rotting meat. In his heart, he was shocked at this news of Ron being Smith. If that was the case, then why did the Oracle say he was the One? He wondered if it was some kind of lie that the Machines concocted to get rid of the One. Then he realized something that made sense, Ron had told Morpheus what the Oracle had told him, and what he said fit the facts.
"I have not forgotten, Admiral." Morpheus replied, trying to sound unaffected by the news, "And you're only half right. He's part Smith and he's part Neo. That is what the Oracle has said."
"The Oracle also told you that Neo was destined to stop the war." Locke refuted with dark sarcasm.
"And he did." Morpheus answered back with a slight smile on his face, thinking how even though Neo didn't do as he was "meant" to do; he still found a way to end the war.
"And what happens if the Smith side takes over?" Locke asked, darkly mocking Morpheus for having all the answers with his prophecies and messiahs, "He should be given over to the machines and put down! We cannot risk another Smith!"
"'Put down', Admiral?" Morpheus asked, sounding almost horrified at what he had heard, "You speak of the boy as if he is a rabid animal. Ronald may be a child, but he is still a human being! You cannot expect me to allow him to be turned over to them to be dissected like a lab rat because they don't understand why he's here?"
Admiral Locked stepped back for a moment. He had never heard Morpheus speak to him like that before. It was something that he would never understand. Then again, Locke was a soldier and a concrete thinking soldier only relies on the facts; the abstract was lost on him. That was how Locke thought and there was no way to change him.
"And you wonder why she left you…" Morpheus uttered without giving a second thought to being thrown into the brig, because he knew…no, he believed in something Locke would never understand, "Ronald Stoppable is part of my crew now, and my responsibility. If you would wish for his death, you will have to bring about my own first."
He turned and walked out of Locke's office with the declaration still very fresh in his mind as well as Locke's. With Morpheus gone, Locke just stood there behind his desk with his dropped in anger and shame.
"God damn it, Morpheus!" He cursed, "You will never change!"
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After storming, well storming really wasn't the word for it; it more a determinedly calm stride out of Admiral Locke's office, Morpheus made his way to the Mess Hall. It was a place similar to a cafeteria, at least in the conventional sense; the room was circular with two exposed levels like the walkways of a two-story mall. Set up to the exposed and main levels were tables and benches, all of them looking old and beat up. Yet, even with such old looks to them, the people still went from their tables to the food lines that dispensed the white goop and water. Even though people could get food in their homes, the Mess hall was still built; maybe it was because they still needed that feeling of company when they were eating.
Morpheus entered the Mess Hall and looked out at the crowd of Zionites all conversing at tables, waiting in line, going back and forth from tables to whatever destination they had in mind. He saw a hand raising and waving him over; his eyes fixed upon it like a ship to a lighthouse. He followed it until he came to a large, circular table where the crews of the Neb II and the Mad Dog sat. There were Niobe, Ghost, and Link sitting around Kim while across the table were Captain Barkin with Tres (Bonnie) sitting on Ron's lap like a sleazy lap dancer, and last, but not least was Tater Salad (Brick). They all welcomed Morpheus to their table as he took his seat on the bench.
"How did it go, Morpheus?" She asked seeing the look on Morpheus' face and knowing what it meant.
Morpheus shook his head and sighed, "It could have gone better, but it has gone worse before."
"So could you vague that up for us, sir?" Kim asked jokingly as she tried not to look across the table to Ron with Bonnie in his lap. His precious Bon-Bon…it always made Kim feel nauseous when she would think about last night (or early that morning to be a little more accurate) and what she saw on the screen. She forced herself not to turn her head to look at them, not just because of Bonnie, but because she couldn't look Ron in the face after what she said, and who could blame her? It was a good thing that Kim didn't look, because Bonnie was smiling in the most devilish of ways when she saw how disgustedly sad Kim was.
"I'm sorry, Kimberly; I cannot tell you. It is a… delicate issue." Morpheus paused, and then turned to Ron, remembering Locke's exact, cold-hearted words about another human being, "But I can advise you, Ronald. Do not travel alone in Neo Zion. Please, for your own safety."
Ron nodded, noting the very ominous warning that Morpheus had in his own voice.
"Oh, he won't have a problem with that." Bonnie giggled like a school girl as she wrapped her arms around Ron's neck.
While across the table, Kim was secretly cursing herself for looking in their direction. She saw, in that one instant, how much Bonnie was enjoying herself around Ron, while Ron's eyes were always on Bonnie in a dreamy gaze, never looking away. Kim could feel the goop rising in her throat as she turned away and shut her eyes, wishing with all her heart that she hadn't seen what she did.
Of course, the ones sitting closest did notice Kim's expressions towards both Ron and Bonnie. Link, Ghost, and Niobe couldn't help seeing such despair in Kim's eyes. Their attention was drawn away when Morpheus stood up and made an announcement to both crews.
"Now, if you'll excuse me." He said in his captains' voice, "I must prepare for the celebration tonight and I suggest you all do the same. Expect a long night."
"Hehehe…" Brick laughed, "Allllriiight!"
While the crews got up and went their separate ways, Niobe caught up to Kim. Perhaps it was just the pain that she had sensed from her last night or it might have been her intuition telling her that something deeper was wrong with her. Then again, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk to her and offer her help.
"Hey Kimmie!" Niobe called, "Where are you going?"
Kim stopped and turned to face Niobe, and in the light of the dim fluorescents of the Mess Hall, the former captain could see Kim was on the verge of tears, but was desperately trying to hold them back. Kim was trying to hold onto her old image of being a strong woman.
"Just got some steam to work off." Kim said coldly, blinking quickly to keep the tears from spilling out onto her cheeks, "I figured I'd work out in the Construct at Trin Zion before I get ready for tonight."
"Want me to come with you?" Niobe asked, greatly concerned as she moved closer to the anguished teen.
Kim quickly shook her head the instant that Niobe asked, "Nah, I have a lot to think about." Kim answered rather weakly.
"Ok, but remember to turn on the safety settings." Niobe instructed just like a mother telling her child to take a sweater in case it got colder that night. As she left to join Morpheus, Niobe had to look back and as she did she couldn't help feeling such pity for the young woman. The answers were so obvious, but, like Morpheus, she was blind to them. She turned back, caught up with her husband, and headed back home to get ready for the celebration.
Kim, on the other hand, smiled; despite how painful it was to perform such a simple action. She then shook her head at how it was so similar, her discussion with Niobe; it seemed to ring back to her mother and father. She did think about going to see them both, but then she thought that they'd give similar answers to what Morpheus had told her. That there was no harm in Ron being with another girl… 'unless that other girl is Bonnie', Kim thought. The more Kim thought about this, the more the bile in her throat began to rise and the more she needed to get to Trin Zion to blow off some serious steam.
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Kim had arrived at the Jack Room of Trin Zion, the very same place where she saw Bonnie and Ron together in the Construct. Her stomach turned as the thought of it once again came up like the meal in her stomach. She desperately needed to vent and the Jack Room was the place for it.
She was only on the first floor of the circular enclosure, with the ceiling going ever upward into the exposed floors above her. The Jack Room was the Barnes and Noble of Neo Zion with all the available Jack Chairs, but, even though she wanted to forget everything, something made her go to the second floor, and back to the chairs that she found Ron and Bonnie sitting in. It seemed odd to Kim's logic that she would wish to return to such a place of pain, but then the heart is never logical.
She found the very chair that Ron was in just that morning, and in an odd way Kim was thankful that the chair was vacant. She climbed into it and allowed the automatic systems of the chair to plug her in. She looked at the touch-screen above her head, chose the program, and pressed the button that read "load". Kim's eyes immediately closed as the program began. She could sense the bright light that came on as she opened her eyes and found herself in the sparring program. Immediately, she felt a light tickle at the back of her neck; she reached for it to find her long ginger hair had returned. She stroked it like a long lost pet, smiling and thinking that at least her hair would always return to her.
She looked out into the dojo of the sparring program; it was exactly the same as the one she saw on the Neb II when she and Ron were freed from the Matrix. Though in the center of the room there was something that Kim requested when she was loading the program. It was something called a "wooden man" dummy, a solid, wooden pillar about as tall as a person with wooden pegs sticking out at different angels to simulate a person's arms and legs.
Kim approached the wooden man and began a series of punches, kicks, blocks, and combos. She started out slowly, but grew faster and faster with every thought that came to mind about Ron and…Bonnie. The chunks rose in her throat once again, but instead of swallowing them back down, she fought harder and harder. Her punches, blocks, kicks, and combos grew faster and harder the more she thought about it until she couldn't take it anymore. All of it with…the Bonnie and Ron…relationship…
SNAP!
Her punch broke off a wooden arm of the dummy, but Kim didn't care anymore. She imagined Bonnie's face over the top of the wooden pillar where its face would be. Thinking about her rival sent Kim into a berserk frenzy, making her arms and legs nothing more than a blur to the average person's vision. Each of her punches and kicks broke a wooden 'arm' off, and with each snap, Kim wished it could have been…her…
Once all the pegs were broken off, Kim stopped to catch her breath. She felt herself on the verge of tears again with all that had happened, but she fiercely held them back. She had forced the tears back like water behind a dam when she heard a voice call out to her that she hadn't wanted or needed to hear…at all.
"Not bad, Kimmie." The smug voice of Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller said in that Californian sarcasm, "But you know, wooden men don't hit back."
Kim made a quiet sniffle as she said to Bonnie in a very dark and almost challenging voice, "Have a nice date with Ron…Bon-Bon?" She asked without looking back at the high and mighty bitch that approached her.
"Oh, beyond nice, Kim." Bonnie said in a very genuine, dreamy tone as if she wanted to rub Kim's face in her happiness, "I don't understand why you didn't grab him up while you had the chance."
Kim's blood began to pound in her ears once again, and, even though she had spent so much of her energy on the wooden man, she couldn't take it from Bonnie anymore. Ever since the day that Kim made the Cheer Squad, Bonnie always had given her grief in any shape, form, or fashion, but her being with Ron was the lowest. Still, she had to answer Bonnie's statement. She turned to see Bonnie copying her once again, wearing an identical black gi. She even noticed Bonnie's "Matrix" hair was longer than it really was; it made Kim feel like Bonnie was moving in on her life, as if she, Kim, did not exist. She looked Bonnie straight in the eye as the two began to circle around the dojo sparring floor like roosters in a cock fight, each insult and jibe a peck at each other.
"Best friends don't date best friends." Kim stated, feeling self-righteous, "It's an unwritten rule, and by the way…I don't like people using my friends like you did."
"Oh?" Bonnie retorted, smiling devilishly and reveling in her contentment, "Is what I did any different than using a friend as a decoy?"
That statement hit Kim pretty hard. Bonnie was right; Kim had used Ron several times. He was always the distraction and nothing else on the mission, but the truth was Ron wasn't as skilled as Kim when it came to the mission. Still, as a team, they always came through, but Ron always had a choice.
"I never made Ron do anything he didn't want to do." Kim snapped back as the two of them continued to circle one another in their stand-off before Kim added one last thought to her retort, "And Ron, surely, had no idea of what he was getting into last night."
Bonnie's smile continued to grow more and more demonic and clownish as she kept her eyes fixed on her rival.
"Oh trust me, Kimmie." She said, still reveling in her own sadistic joy. "Ron knew…exactly…what he was doing…and he knew it…very…very…well…"
Kim's nausea rose again, her blood heated to the point of combustion, and she couldn't hold back the tears. They started pouring down her cheeks like twin waterfalls.
She grinded her teeth as she spat out at Bonnie through her tears, "I hate you!"
"Mutual." Bonnie hissed back, still smiling that evil clown smile, "Now, are we going to circle each other, fight, or should I leave you to cry your little eyes out?"
Kim answered silently by jumping high into the air of the dojo, and locking her eyes on her target; her hatred of that target was so much that she no longer felt her own body. All around her, the world slowed down so that the heel of her foot slammed into the top of Bonnie's head. Kim landed quickly onto her feet to watch Bonnie fall flat onto her face, and her tears dried up instantly. She felt such pleasure seeing Bonnie on the ground of the dojo, crawling like the worm she was. It was an almost sadistic pleasure, and, at that moment, Kim welcomed it.
"You have no idea how long I've waited to do that to you." Kim said, smiling down at Bonnie, who got on her hands and knees.
"Same here." Bonnie snarled through her smile as she whipped her body around, bringing her foot against Kim's legs, and sending her opponent tumbling to the ground. Even though Kim knew that there was so much meaning in her 'duel' with Bonnie, she felt such a rush, much like the rush of the challenge she had in the past against foes like Shego and Monkey Fist.
"Not bad…Bon-Bon." Kim growled through her faux-smile as she quickly got back to her feet.
"You aren't so bad yourself…" Bonnie smiled even more, "…KP."
"DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT!" Kim screamed as she flew across the dojo floor, bringing her fist back, and following through to Bonnie's face. The punch had such force that Bonnie thought her neck would to snap, but instead her whole body followed into its motion, and she spiraled five or six times into the air like a rag doll being thrown from a swing, before she hit the dojo floor with a great thud.
Bonnie got to her knees, tasting something salty on her lips. She reached up with a closed fist to brush it away and looked to find blood. At that point, it became personal for Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller. She looked to the sword racks on the far side of the dojo, as did Kim, and it didn't take very long for either to figure out the other's next move. The two girls ran at Matrix speed for the sword rack, their hands reaching out for different swords. Kim reached for a Japanese Katana while Bonnie drew a Chinese Jian. With swords drawn and scabbards discarded, the bitter rivals moved to a stand off as they went back to the sparring ground floor, outstretching one foot at a time with their eyes never breaking contact.
It seemed rather ironic in the swords that Kim and Bonnie had chosen. The Japanese Katana was built for speed and grace, to slice and dice through its target, while the Jian was designed to be a strong, stabbing weapon. The match had come down to fluid grace vs. sheer strength between Kim and Bonnie.
"I've waited a long time to put you in your place, Kim." Bonnie said, holding onto her Jian with one hand.
"So many have tried, Bonnie." Kim smirked as she tightened her grip on her katana, "So few have conquered."
Kim raised the katana above her head and dove for Bonnie. The two of them met in the complete stalemate that came with being a person's equal in every way. With each thrust, neither one of them landed a single blow on each other, to skin or cloth, until, at one point in the duel, their attacks had struck their gi. Kim was first to land a cut and Bonnie's left sleeve came off. Bonnie then disposed of Kim's right sleeve. On and on the shredding of clothes went, until the two of them were left fighting in nothing but their underwear. Kim's was red and frilly, accenting the best parts of her body, while Bonnie's was black and sleek, her thong showing off her shapely ass. Even though they were stripped down to their essentials, they weren't fixing to stop the duel to re-attire themselves. The two of them came up against one another in a spark-spitting, sword lock and were staring each other down.
"I see what this is about, Kim." Bonnie smirked, "You're jealing." She said as she pushed her Jian harder against Kim's katana.
"Jealing on what?" Kim grunted while trying to gain some leverage against Bonnie, "You? You and Ron? As if!"
"You are, Kim." Bonnie laughed while pushing even harder, "You want to know the truth? Sleeping with Ron last night had nothing to do with him being the One. I know that's what you were thinking. When it comes to your feelings on the subject, I can read you like an old newspaper!"
Kim's face melted into a dazed shock at what she heard, her grip starting to loosen around the tsuba (hand guard) and nakago (handle) of her katana while Bonnie smiled even brighter as if she knew that victory was hers.
"Don't get me wrong," Bonnie said, almost apologizing, "The geek was better than I thought he would be, sure beat the hell out of Brick and Josh, but that wasn't what it was about either. Do you know what it was really all about, Kimmie?"
Kim felt torn; on the one hand, she didn't want to know why Bonnie was doing all these things, while on the other hand, she was starting to figure out all of it, and wanted to know if she was right, though, it was another hard blow to Kim when Bonnie named Josh and Brick, 'What a slut.', she thought. Yet, the answer to Bonnie's question…Kim wasn't at all ready to hear the answer.
"It was all about you!" Bonnie cackled almost like Shego when she would taunt Kim, "The whole world knows your most treasured possession is your friendship with Ron. You revel in the fact that you mean something to him, but you know what, Kimmie-cub? Now I mean more to him than you do! After all, what's a friend…compared to a lover?"
The final emotional blow was felt by Kim. Her suspicions were right about Bonnie; she had had an ulterior motive for being with him, but she never expecting something like what she heard. Bonnie and Ron together only to get back at Kim? She could feel a proverbial chasm opening underneath her feet and her heart sunk to the bottom and shattered. As her heart broke, her grip on the katana loosened and the blade fell to the floor. With the blade lost, so was Kim's will; her arms fell to her sides, and Bonnie saw her moment of opportunity. She used her Jian to flip Kim's katana into her free hand, and with Kim's will broken, she reveled in her close handed victory. She held the Jian and the katana at Kim's throat in a pincer shape, and held them there for a second, letting Kim feel the edges of the blades against her skin.
Kim no longer cared; she saw Bonnie's point: what's a friend compared to a lover? She no longer saw any reason to fight, because how can anyone live without a single friend in the world? She closed her eyes, out of expectation the temporary pain the swords would bring before the program would reload itself. Though Kim was also trying her hardest to get Bonnie's voice out of her head before the end would come.
As Bonnie brought the swords away to strike the killing blow, a voice called out.
"KP means more to me than you ever will, Bonnie."
Hearing that voice, Kim's heart rose out of the depths of that chasm, and reassembled itself in her chest where it flew with the greatest of hopes. She opened her eyes to see that Bonnie's weapons could no longer be called such. They looked more like a metal ice cream cone with the way they swirled around each other. Bonnie dropped the combined swords in confusion, looking in the same direction that gave Kim a wide smile.
"Ron?" They both asked in very different tones, Kim's being that of relief and Bonnie's of surprised shock.
Over at the right side of the dojo, near the sparring floor was Ron in his white gi with an extremely serious look in his eyes. Kim did feel afraid of that expression, but was relieved when she saw it was being directed at Bonnie, who was trying to act very innocent about the actions she took.
"How…" She uttered as she tried to take an innocent, sexy, and seductive pose towards Ron, "How much did you hear, Ronniekins?"
As she got within arm's distance of Ron, he gave a very angry look at her.
"That's Ron to you, Bonnie." He scolded the deceiver, who tried her best innocent smile on him, but he wasn't buying it, "I heard enough. Thanks for a night to remember, but after hearing that, you won't get another."
Ron moved past Bonnie and towards Kim, his eyes containing that Ron-sweetness that remained despite all that had happened to him. Bonnie, on the other hand, saw that she had lost once again, but what hit her the hardest wasn't that she lost to Kim, she had dealt with that several times. It was the fact that she lost…to Ron Stoppable. Of all people to lose to, she lost to him. She stepped back, seeing Ron approach Kim, and felt the results of her actions sink down onto her shoulders and how it didn't work out the way she wanted.
"Log out!" She called out as her digital self faded and melted into that green falling code that consumed her body and vanished into nothing.
With Bonnie gone, Ron came over to Kim.
"You alright, KP?" He asked with that unique Ron-ness that he always had.
Kim felt so happy to see him, but she had to ask him something.
"I thought you were mad at me." Kim said meekly, hoping that Ron would explain his actions to break up with Bonnie in such a way.
"I am, but you're still my best friend." Ron smiled, "Nobody messes with my friends."
"Even your love..." Kim stopped to correct herself as she looked away from Ron's face to the dojo sparring floor, "…girlfriend?"
"Girlfriends come and go, KP." Ron smiled as he reached out to Kim's chin to bring her gaze back to his face. Kim looked up to see Ron smiling in that old goofy grin that he had back when they were in the Matrix, "You went through boyfriends before and did that break us up?"
Kim's heart flew in her chest with such joy that she didn't say a word; she just reached up and threw her arms around Ron's neck. The tears came unbidden, and she buried her face into Ron's chest, weeping into his gi. However, this time, she wasn't crying because she was sad; she was crying because she was so happy. She thought that she had lost her best friend for all time, but she had regained him, all within the same day. For Kim Possible, the past twenty-four hours were an emotional roller coaster, but she felt so happy with her arms around Ron's neck and her face in his chest.
"Thanks." She said through her tears, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Ron…especially now."
"Best buds forever, right, KP?" Ron asked as he reached around, wrapped his arms around Kim's waist, and lifted her into the air in his bear hug. Kim let out a small, high pitched yell when Ron did that. A yell that she hadn't let out since she was a little girl being lifted onto her fathers shoulders. Kim then felt the pressure that Ron was creating on her ribcage as she squeezed.
"Right, right." Kim choked out as her tears dried after seeing and feeling that the old Ron was back, "Now put me down, silly! I…can't breathe!"
"Do you think that's air you're breathing?" Ron quipped as he loosened his hug and brought Kim back down to her feet, The two of them had a good laugh together until Kim saw a rather sad look in Ron's eyes.
"You ok, Ron?" Kim asked, rather concerned for her newly-returned best friend.
"I just came out of the first and shortest relationship I've ever had, Kim." Ron told rather sadly, "It lasted only half a day."
"Bonnie wasn't worth it." Kim smiled sympathetically as she laid a hand upon Ron's shoulder, "Also…about what I said this morning…I really didn't mean it, not at all. A girl would have to be insane to pass you up and I know you'll make some lucky girl very happy, Ron."
"Thanks, KP." Ron smiled as he straightened up to look at Kim, and that was when it hit him. In the heat of his realization of Bonnie's betrayal, he failed to notice Kim was in her intimates. The shape of her body in them made him blush slightly and caused a small stir from his groin. He cleared his throat as he looked in the opposite direction from his best friend.
"What is it, Ron?" Kim noticed Ron's blushing.
Ron cleared his throat again, "You might wanna cover up, KP."
Kim looked down at herself, and, realizing that she was in her undergarments, she let out a short yelp, and tried to cover herself, but she stopped when she realized that there was no need for embarrassment in front of Ron. After all, she had seen him in his boxer shorts quite often whenever he lost his pants, of course she didn't think much of it then, but in that present state she found something humorously erotic about it. She then set her hands upon her hips and looked up at Ron.
"It's not like it's your first time seeing a girl in her intimates." She smirked, "Is it, Ron?"
"Nope." Ron said as he shook his head and took one last look at Kim's frilly lingerie, "Besides this stuff looks a lot better on you than it did Bonnie."
"Thanks, Ron." Kim smiled.
"That reminds me why I was sent here." Ron added in that goofy Ron voice, "Niobe sent me to find you; she has some old dress robes she wants you to try on for the celebration this evening."
Kim rubbed her chin, "I wonder what she's got for me."
"Let's go find out." Ron smiled, "Shall we?"
"After you." Kim nodded.
"Log out." Ron commanded as his digital body turned to code and vanished.
"Log out." Kim commanded and followed Ron back to the real world.
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"I don't know about this." Kim said as she stood in front of the mirror in Morpheus and Niobe's apartment, looking at her reflection with a little leeriness about what she was wearing. It was a robe, though it seemed to be much more than that. It was a pair of white, loose-fitting pants, kind of like what those Arabian belly dancers wear when their shaking their groove things for their Sultan. The top was a sash that went around her neck and down into her pants where it was held. She felt so exposed in it since the sash only covered her breasts. The majority of her back, all of her arms, and so on were exposed to the slightly cool air. Kim still felt a little odd about wearing it since the sash wasn't too transparent, but one could see the shadows of her nipples sticking out through the material if one looked hard enough.
"It was a friend of mine's," Niobe said as she adjusted the sash around Kim's neck and breasts, "A good friend who's no longer with us. I'm sure she'd like you to have it."
"Isn't it a little revealing?" She asked, voicing her concerns, and feeling a little heat coming into her cheeks, "I mean…aren't children going to be there."
"No, dear." Niobe explained, "The kids have their own celebration at the school. The celebration we're going to is all adults. Most of the time, it breaks into a rave, so it might not be a good place for young ones, but you are right. It is a little revealing. Though Neo never complained about it and I doubt very much Ron will either."
"We're not like that…" Kim blushed even further, the heat going across her whole face, thinking about what Niobe might be thinking about, "We're just best friends. That's all we've ever been and all we'll ever be."
"Riiiiiiighttttt." Niobe smiled.
The conversation between Niobe and Kim was interrupted by a small knock at the door and that familiar voice coming through.
"Is everyone decent?" Ron's voice asked.
"We're fine, Ron." Niobe announced.
With that, the door opened and Ron and Morpheus walked in. Ron was wearing one of Morpheus' old dress robes that seemed to just drape from him like a curtain on a narrow rod. Compared to Morpheus, Ron was a rather lanky man, so the shoulders of the robe just draped off the side, and the neck looked like it had been stretched like a turtleneck shirt. It was so loose that Ron had to readjust it a few times before he could set it in a suitable place. Once he found that it was in the best place possible, he turned to look at Kim in that loose set of pants and sash. Instantly his face turned crimson, the heat covering his face, and the beating of his heart was in his ears.
Morpheus, on the other hand, looked at Kim and smiled.
"I see you gave her Trinity's favorite dress," Morpheus observed, "She would have liked that. You look…amazing in them Kimberly."
"Thank you, sir." Kim curtsied with the extra material of her loose pants before turning to Ron, "So Ron, what'dya think?" She asked as she twirled around in it, giving Ron a full head to toe look at the dress like a model strutting down the catwalk at a fashion show.
Ron couldn't help staring at the different parts of Kim's body in that dress. It seemed so enticing all around, that it gave him that same feeling that he did when he saw Kim in that pair of red panties and bra. His face felt like it was burning while his pelvis was stirring once again. All these physical reactions had delayed Ron's brain to receive Kim's question and think of an answer, but there was only one thing he could utter as he brought himself back to reality.
"Um…" He stammered, trying to look Kim in the eye and not allow his eyes to wander all over her body, "Um…wow…I mean…you look…wow…"
"The celebration is to start very soon," Morpheus spoke up, "Shall we?"
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The four of them headed over to Old Zion where the celebration would be held. Ron and Kim didn't know very much about it; only that they said that it would be held in a place called "The Temple". In their minds, they always imagined a church kind of setting, a place where there were wooden pews, stained glass, a pulpit, and all that. How wrong their assumptions were when they came to the mouth of the temple. At first, their approach to the temple was just another metallic catwalk like all the others throughout Neo Zion. After that, it began to change, and the metal walkway gave way to solid rock. Kim and Ron looked in and they found themselves at the mouth of an enormous cave, a cave that made Ron think back to when he was taken in by an old and reclusive television star that was once known as The Fearless Ferret, yet, even that cave was nothing compared to Neo Zion's temple.
The cave was all smooth and orange colored like Ayer's Rock in Australia, stalagmites and stalactites all around, and torches lighting up the entire cave in a yellow glow that mixed with the orange hue of the rock. All around the temple were small openings where lava was oozing through, and, naturally, the people steered clear of them, which was what made the temple feel so warm. That was when it occurred to Kim why her clothes were so revealing. In the center of the cave was a teeming mass of people. It felt like all of Zion had come to the Temple for the celebration, then again why wouldn't they? There was a small step at the far end of the cave, which had a bright, white light shining down upon it. It was like an altar, and standing there was an old man dressed in blue robes that contrasted against his mane of white hair.
"That's Councilor Hamann," Niobe pointed out to Ron and Kim as the four of them moved amongst the crowd, coming closer and closer to the altar of the Temple. As they did, they heard the Councilor begin to speak.
"May I have your attention, please?" Hamann spoke out, and, with his words, the crowd fell silent. With the crowd quieting down, Kim, Ron, Morpheus, and Niobe continued to move up to altar amongst the people dressed in scant and revealing clothes.
"We are gathered here," Hamann began his speech, "as we have for the last sixteen years, to celebrate the peace that so many young men and women have given their lives for. Today we celebrate the freedom that has been given to us by these men and women, including two who brought about its true beginning, Neo and Trinity. May their sacrifices long be remembered, and the peace they gave us never forsaken." Hamann paused for a moment to observe the masses of Zionites looking up while others looked down in silent contemplation for those who were gone. Hamann then turned to his left, "Now, as a tradition, we call one of our best to speak. I give you Morpheus."
Councilor Hamann nodded to his left while the masses of people below the altar cheered and screamed loudly at the sound of Morpheus' name. The cheering lasted for several seconds as Hamann stepped aside and Morpheus stepped up to the altar, while Kim, Ron, and Niobe stood in the back, watching him address all of Zion like a true leader of men. It was strange to Niobe how Morpheus could gather and lead the people in such a way as he could and still wasn't a Councilor. Perhaps it was because he preferred to be a soldier and fight rather than delegate.
"Zion! Hear Me!" Morpheus called out to the screaming masses of people, his voice echoing through every nook and cranny of the cave while the crowds voices died down to hear his great words, "Sixteen years ago today, we were facing death itself. Sixteen years ago today, while we were fighting for our own lives, two others were selflessly fighting to save us all. Today we remember them, our heroes, our friends, our…family…" Morpheus stopped for a moment, nearly losing his composure in thinking about the past and what had happened back then. He then brought himself back to face the audience, "For them we live still, and for them, within this generation, mankind will see sunlight, real sunlight for the first time in countless generations!"
The crowd cheered for him.
"Now, Zion!" He spoke finishing up his speech, "Let us rejoice and make a noise that Neo and Trinity may hear from wherever they may be!" He turned to his left and glanced over at Kim and Ron who were just mesmerized by how Morpheus was able to capture the attention and hearts of all of Zion in one speech. He turned back to the crowd, "Let them know that we remember them! Let them know that we will remember them until the last man stands on Earth! Let us celebrate and let them know that we do remember them because we…are…free!" He raised his arms in strong triumph to the crowd as the crowd began to cheer in a wave of joy that echoed throughout the entire cave and perhaps all of Neo Zion itself.
As Morpheus stepped down from the altar, the band over on the far right of the cave began to play using pieces of trash that were recovered from the wastelands of the Earth. With the start of the beat, the crowd began to dance, jumping up and down looking like popcorn kernels in a popper as they danced. Others in the crowd began to dance very provocatively, mashing their hips into one another or sometimes swaying their bodies together like waves in water.
Morpheus came up to Niobe, who threw her arms around her husband, "You did good, as always, babe." She smiled.
Ron and Kim looked down into the crowd seeing them dance.
"You know…this is a little freaky…" He gulped as he noticed people were pouring water out onto the crowd to cool them down. Sometimes the water landed on the people, soaking through their clothes and exposing themselves to one another, and other times it landed on the lava pockets sending out steam like the hot rocks found in a sauna. Ron was nervous since several of the women were wearing clothes just as revealing as Kim's and their tops had become transparent enough to see their breasts beneath the soaked garments.
Kim on the other hand was starting to relax; she could feel the energy surging through the cave. It seemed so thick, like smoke in a bar. She breathed in that raw feeling from all around her and couldn't help tapping her foot to the drum beat of the song as a woman came on and began to sing.
Deep in the night
Far off the light
Missing my headache
Visions of light
Sweeter delight
Kissing my love ache
How come I must know
Where Obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
Where the passion hides its feeling?
How come I must know
Where Obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
The direction of relieving?
Deep in the night
Far off the light
Missing my headache
Visions of light
Sweeter delight
Kissing my love ache
How come I must know
Where Obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
Where the passion hides its feeling?
How come I must know
Where Obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
The direction of relieving?
"Hmmm, not bad…" Kim nodded as she listened to the rhythm; she even began to bob her head and tap her foot to it. She looked at Ron to see if he was doing the same, when out of the corner of her eye she caught a look at someone. Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller was looking up at her and Ron, and already Kim went to the defensive, mainly because of the dress that Bonnie was wearing. It seemed so revealing that she was close to being naked and that prompted her to think, 'Not this time, Bonnie'. She didn't even give it a second thought before she reached out and grabbed Ron's hand.
"C'mon Ron. Let's dance!" She chirped happily like a kid saying to their parent that they wanted to go to the park. She gave sharp giggle when she saw the shocked expression on Ron's face as she led him down into the mass of dancing people. After all, Ron had never experienced anything like this when the girl asked him and not vice versa.
"K…Kim…I…I don't know..." Ron stammered as he was led into the mass of people, "You know I really can't…KP! L'go! No! I can't dance!"
It was too late for Ron to make any objections to Kim's request since she had already brought him into the mass of people dancing all around him. He could feel the heat both inside from his blushing and outside from the steaming heat of the lava pockets in the cave and the sweating and dancing people. The musky smell of sweat filled his nostrils, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Kim who wrapped her arms around him and began to dance in the same provocative manner as the people around them. It was as if the crowd had bewitched them into releasing all their inhibitions about dancing and to simply have fun.
As Kim pulled Ron into the crowd, up near the altar Morpheus and Niobe watched with smiles on their faces, especially Niobe since she knew exactly what they looked like from a distance. It was a very distinct memory that she had about a certain celebration from years and years ago.
"Remind you of anybody?" She asked her husband with a sharp smirk.
"Neo never fought that hard to stay out of a dance," Morpheus answered back, keeping his eyes on Ron and Kim in the crowd as he continued to muse about the past, "And Trinity wasn't quite that territorial."
"I wasn't talking about Neo and Trin, love." Niobe smiled as she came over to her husband, wrapped her arms around his waist, allowing her hands to gentle caress his buttocks through his robes.
"If not them…" Morpheus asked, uncharacteristically confused about what Niobe was referring to, "…then who?"
"Oh, just a boy I used to know," Niobe cooed, her smile growing, "A shy little guy, just woken up, first temple party, and he was stuttering so much when I asked him to dance with me, it took him well over a minute to get my name out."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Morpheus flushed before turning his attention away from Niobe and back to the rave where the people still danced, jumped, and moved sensuously to the music while the water was still being splashed down upon them. As the dancing continued, so did the music.
How come I must know
Where Obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
Where the passion hides its feelings?
How come I must know
Where obsession needs to go?
How come I must know
The direction of relieving?
110101100110100111001011011100101010110101
The celebration lasted through the night, though while all of Zion was still partying, Ron and Kim were running back to their apartment. They were told to head to bed early since they were departing tomorrow to go see the Merovingian about some more information concerning the stolen device of his. Still, Ron and Kim weren't thinking too much about that since they'd had so much fun. They were giggling like they were six years old and having the time of their lives on the playground without a single care in the world. The two of them were dripping wet from head to toe, droplets of water from their clothes were dripping onto the walkway as they made it to their apartment. They had just happened to be standing in the very place where they were dumping water out onto the sweating crowd of dancers at the temple. The two of them were so soaked that they felt like they had just gone through a log flume ride at a water park.
They came to the door of their apartment, still dripping from the water unceremoniously poured onto them and drunk with laughter.
"That was the most fun I've had in a long, long time." Kim laughed as she tried to catch her breath, leaning against the rail and watching Ron try to find the key to the apartment in his soaked robes.
"I know, KP. That was…was…" Ron started, but his mind froze when he noticed something about Kim's clothing; it had become completely transparent from the water. It stuck to Kim's body like a see-through jumpsuit. He could see everything, the ampleness of her breasts, and the peach color of her nipples, which stuck out like knobs on an old television, and everything from her waist down.
"What's wrong, Ron?" Kim asked, rather worried when she saw the expression on his face.
Ron had to think quickly; he knew that she was unknowingly showing him more than he should be allowed to see.
"Um…Nothing, KP." Ron muttered, "Just a little out of breast… Breath! I'm a little out of breath."
"Did you sneak into the wine at the celebration, Ron?" Kim smiled playfully, only making Ron blush deeper as he tried to search for the key faster, "Just because you're out of the Matrix doesn't mean that the drinking age has changed."
"No. Just tired I guess." Ron choked out, finally finding the key in his water logged pocket. He pulled it out, turned to the door and tried to think of things to keep his mind off of what he had seen. He tried to think of boring, un-erotic things that would not turn his mind into raw, teenaged, hormone-gushing mush. "Morpheus said we're leaving early in the morning, so I think I'll go crash for the night."
Ron turned the key, entered the apartment, and turned on the main light as Kim came in with him and he closed the door behind her. The two of them came out into the main area to say their good nights to one another.
"Ok, Ron. I probably will soon too." She said, hesitating for a moment while Ron was heading to the door of his bedroom. Before Ron made his second step, she added one last thing, "Oh Ron, one more thing."
"Yeah, KP?" Ron asked as he turned around to look at Kim, but he kept his head up and his eyes looking forward so that he wouldn't look below Kim's neck. He knew what he saw was causing a stirring between his legs, and, with such a loose robe, Kim would figure out what he was thinking fairly quickly unless he controlled himself. He looked Kim straight in her beautiful, emerald eyes and took a sharp breath when she approached him hurriedly. The breath became a gulp when she brought both of her hands up to his shoulders and stood up on her tip toes.
"What're you doing, KP?" He asked the very instant that Kim laid a gentle kiss onto his cheek. Ron felt himself flush even more, just like he felt when Kim took him by the hand and led him to the dance floor. Though secretly, Ron was thankful that Kim did that because it was the most fun that he had ever had in his life.
"Happy Birthday, Ron." Kim said as she stepped back and grinned happily at her best friend. She noticed that Ron had grown an inch taller than her in the past year, both in the Matrix and in the real world. It felt like Ron was a real man, after all the times before when Ron was always the same height as Kim, but in the last year, he had changed so much. That was even more evident in the past few weeks since their release from the Matrix.
"Birthday?" Ron asked, still dazed in the heat of his flush from Kim's kiss. His mind came around to the time; it was around the beginning of December that they were called by the Merovingian to find that stolen device. He then thought that it was a couple of weeks 'til his birthday and it was two weeks into his time out of the Matrix. "It's my birthday? I completely forgot!"
"I'm not surprised," Kim smiled and said sympathetically to him as she moved in to hug him, "You've had more thrown on you than I have, and I know I've had a lot to take in."
Ron hugged Kim back, but feeling the dampness of her clothes against his, he felt the nakedness of her body against his and he quickly, but carefully, pulled back.
"Well, I really need to…to get to bed." Ron said rather quickly before retreating to the door of his bedroom, "Good night, KP."
"Good night, Ron." Kim replied.
Ron turned into his bedroom and closed the door. Kim felt the sudden urge to ask him to stay. On the other hand, the thought had crossed her mind that she could follow him in, but then she quickly set it aside as she wondered what she would say when she walked into his room. With that in mind, she turned and walked to her room and closed the door behind her. She did wonder why Ron was acting so strangely when they got back to the apartment, Ron's blushing, his mentioning of breast, and just a lot of blushing on his part. Then she thought about her own reaction, and her intense, almost unstoppable desire to follow him to his bedroom.
"Ron's my best friend." Kim thought, internally debating the issue with herself, "Why am I thinking about him like that?"
She went to her bathroom to get a towel to dry off the excess moisture before changing into her night clothes for a long rest. As she came to the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror. Curious about herself, she stepped back and saw what Ron was reacting to. She felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop at the sight of herself.
"Oh…my…god…" Kim whispered in her mind, looking at herself from neck to legs; she flushed a very deep red. It was the kind of blush that bordered on that feeling of dying of embarrassment mixed with a twinge of anger and the slightest hint of arousal.
"How could he not tell me?" She asked in her head, "I might as well be naked!" The blush then deepened, spreading all over her body which seemed to intensify the feeling of it. Though from a distance, she would have looked adorable in her full-body flush, her emotions simply seethed as she breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. She ran her hands down her sides, smoothing out the damp cloth, but midway, down she cocked her head slightly and looked in the mirror. She found herself wondering how much Ron had seen before he started acting strangely. Then she wondered if he liked what he saw, after all he had liked what he'd seen when she was in that lingerie inside the training program, so seeing her like this must have been the icing on the cake.
"At least he didn't laugh himself silly or something." She thought, but then she shook her head, "Damn…why am I even thinking about this?" She sighed as she took off the damp robes, "I need a shower… a really, really cold one."
As she took off the last piece of the transparent robe, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled once again thinking one last thing about the situation.
"Can't say that I blame him."
To be continued…