All It Takes

By: Yamiko #7

Hello again! Have you all recovered from Chapter Six:several well-aimed bullets whiz past her head: I'd have to say...no...in my shoddily-prepared defense: if you kill me, you'll never know the end of the story, so let me live for now, 'kay? I told you it would get better, and it will during this chapter. No worries.

Before I get started, a random fact: the chemical composition of the creme filling of Twinkies is such that, if a single, specific chemical is changed, the composition is no longer that of creme filling, but of plastic.

Scary, huh. I heard that on the radio, so I'm not sure as to the veracity of the fact, but I thought it was pretty interesting and decided to share. Now you're all even more motivated to go out there and eat a Twinkie, right? Especially the deep-fried ones ...

Didn't think so. laughs

And to all you wonderful reviewers (all 8 of you), I will probably be answering my reviews at the end of this chapter or the beginning of the next one. (Like you've all been looking forward to it...) Thanks for taking the time to read my story and caring about it enough to leave intelligent commentary in the reviews, I really do appreciate it. Good reviews just make my day. n.n Thanks again, and on to the story!

Chapter Seven: Determination

Rosette was in a quiet shock. This had never happened before. She had always been the one who lost faith, the one who got scared, the one who wanted to quit. Chrno was always the person behind her, backing her up, urging her to continue on.

Not this time. This time, Chrno had given up. Rosette couldn't explain how she knew, she just...did. Blame it on the pocket watch.

She licked her lips and winced, tasting blood. Chewing her lip was a nervous habit, and somehow she'd bitten her lip bloody and not even noticed it. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd done this...

...Wait, yes she could. She had been eight, and her brother Joshua had nearly died of the flu. Her lips had been raw for weeks afterward. She'd never again bitten her lips that badly.

Until now. She was more worried about Chrno than she knew.

'Well...' she shook off her shock and worry. Now was not the time to think about that. She'd panic later. '...since the tables have turned, I guess it's my turn to save Chrno,' she decided, summoning all the determination she could muster.

Of course, trying to save him without a gun could prove to be difficult. The fact that her hands were bound behind her back and she was locked in a room she'd never seen before also made things a little harder than she'd have liked them to be.

She heard humming coming from the other side of the door, a male voice singing words she didn't understand. Spanish. Joshua was standing outside the door.

Rosette shuddered, remembering the way Joshua had undressed her with his eyes - appraising her body as if she were a prize to be had - and the frequency with which he did it - twice in less than five minutes. The pervert gave her a serious case of the creeps, and having him that close while she was tied up didn't make her feel any better.

Hey, maybe she could use his pervertedness against him.

'NO!' Rosette railed against the thought. That idea was scary in more ways than one.

'In case you've forgotten, Chrno is in trouble,' a voice in her head - common sense, she guessed - informed her. 'You can't exactly afford to be picky.'

'Plus, it might actually be fun,' another voice said with a sneer that was almost visible. That one was her id.

Rosette winced as Common Sense clobbered Id. A war zone in her very own head. At this point, she wouldn't be surprised if she were certifiably crazy.

No time to think about that now. She had to...oh, ew. She didn't want to think about it.

She raised her hands behind her back and tilted her head backwards until she could grab her habit and yanked it off her head, letting her hair fall free to her shoulders. She scooted downwards, skirt inching up her thighs until the side slits flashed the edges of her underwear. She rolled on to her side, facing the door. Not much more she could do to her outfit than this.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling. 'I really, REALLY don't want to do this...'

She looked back at the door. 'Here goes nothing.' "Joshua," she moaned plaintively. "Joshua..."

Attracted by the sound of a female voice, Joshua opened the door and leered at what he saw. He had a hard time believing that the woman who had been such a hellion earlier was willing now, but, as his madré had often told him, never look a gift horse in the mouth. "¿Si?" he answered silkily.

"Can't you please help me?" she asked in a breathy voice, scooting a little further downwards. The skirt inched up accordingly. Any further and she'd be flashing him completely.

Joshua gave a lusty grin. "Why, of course, chica." He strutted into the room, swinging his hips in an almost feminine fashion, unashamedly showing off. His actions drew Rosette's gaze to something he hadn't realized she'd see - her gun stuck in his belt. Things had just gotten much easier for Rosette.

"Now, what can I help you with?" Joshua made the seemingly innocent statement sound dirty, a promise of unsavory things to come.

"It hurts," Rosette moaned, rubbing her wrists against the ropes that bound them. She hoped the ploy wasn't too obvious - if he caught on, she'd be in even more trouble than she was right now.

She needn't have worried. Joshua's brain was too overexcited and saturated with hormones to think about anything above the waist. "Certainly, chica," he breathed, straddling her and going to his knees, one leg on either side of her thighs. He reached down and easily untied the knot holding Rosette's wrists together. Seconds later, his world exploded in sparks of pain.

The second Rosette was sure her hands were free, she rolled quickly on to her back and jerked one knee as hard as she could into Joshua's groin. As he reeled back in shock and pain, she took advantage of his distraction and, grabbing him by the collar with her newly-freed hands, rolled them both over. Now he was lying on the floor looking stunned and she was the one on top, kneeling on his chest.

"Wha...what..." he gasped, his brain still too disengaged to form a coherent sentence.

Rosette pulled her gun out of his waistband and slipped it into her side holster. "I'll take that, thank you." She then rolled him over again and used the rope that had until recently been on her wrists to tie his hands behind his back. Deciding that the rope wasn't enough, she yanked the pull cord from the drapes and tied his legs together as well. Satisfied, she got up and made for the door.

"You..." Joshua gasped behind her. "You...bitch!"

Rosette stopped just short of the doorway and looked over her shoulder at him. "I hope it falls off."

She walked through the door, shut it firmly behind her, and headed off to find her partner.

:Reads over what she just wrote: Wow, is this scene ever written badly. It should probably be redone before I post it, but I'm too busy/lazy/fill-in-the-adjective. :Shrugs: Oh well.

The really sad thing about this particular scene is, I had a great time writing it. (Especially the Id/Common Sense part. I've always wanted to do one of those. n.n) I've been looking forward to this scene for a long time, and it didn't really turn out the way I had hoped it would (It's still too short!), but I still had lots of fun writing it.

Wait a minute. You all didn't really think this would be a sex scene...did you? For shame! The rating of this fic isn't high enough for that. :laugh: Even if it was, I wouldn't be writing one of those scenes anyway. That's somebody else's job. Plus, there's no way I'd put Rosette through that; she's a lot like me, and I like her too much to put her through something like that.

And for the guys out there who read this and winced...sorry. You know what Rosette did to Joshua is definitely in character for her. I really didn't see how I could write the scene without that happening. So again, I'm sorry...it won't happen again. (There won't be another opportunity.)

So, thanks for sticking with me through this one :laugh, and see you next chapter!