WooHoo! Chapter 3! I'm on a roll! Thanx to everyone who has read my story and stuck with it so far. Double thanx to everone who reviews as well! PLEASE! I'm constantly self conscious about my writing so any feedback, good or bad, is welcome. I need to know things like is my Riddick believable, some stuff from the books would be good. Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Y'all know the schpeel.

Chapter 3: All Downhill From Here

Kyra tossed and turned in a restless sleep. Frenzied images flashed like a strobe through her mind. Passion, heat, and long restrained desires. Hands grabbing and pulling and groping with such intense need. Lips kissing all over her body as she writhed beneath his touches. Tiny intense moans, flesh melding with flesh. A growl, then a cry… "RIDDICK!"

Kyra shot up in her bed sweating and completely blown away by the dream (No, nightmare. No, dream) that she'd just experienced. It had been so real. She could've sworn she felt him doing… things to her that she'd never EVER thought of. True she wasn't practiced at this in any form really (she'd only held an interest in one man, and there was no comparing anyone else to him as much as she hated to admit it) but she had fantasies like any normal almost eighteen-year-old girl. Never like that though. She was still trembling as echoed feeling washed over her.

"Oh good, you're awake," came an amused voice from the doorway. He could smell Kyra's pheromones spike all the way downstairs where he'd been laying awake and plotting against her. She'd been having some kind of good dream about someone. "Get dressed. We're going on a little trip." She was going to protest but he left before she had the chance. It wasn't even light outside, he couldn't be serious. She hunkered back down under her blankets and had almost drifted back off when his voice came like an air-raid siren.

"GET THAT ASS MOVING!" She jumped out of her skin and her covers, unconsciously grabbing for she shiv she kept on her at all times. He stood leaning slightly over her with a wide grin his face. "Go on, Kyra," he spit out the name like it left a foul taste in his mouth, "shiv me. I dare you."

"Goddammit Riddick, it's not even dawn yet! Gimme a break!" His expression suddenly fell and became completely sober and his tone turned dead serious. He got so close to her face she could feel his breath on her lips.

"You've been on a break since you thought I died, it's time to get back to work. And since I bought myself some time off from the bounty game I get to be your boss, understood!" She flinched a little, but nodded. Oh, he wasn't down for playing games today. The games were officially over. He backed off and turned to leave.

"Will you at least tell me what we're going to be doing at the ass-crack of dawn?" she asked getting up from her bed. He turned and stood silently looking her up and down for a moment with an appraising eye. She was wearing only panties and the short nightshirt she'd changed into before falling asleep the night before. Her boldness receded and she blushed a little, feeling like a horse on an auction block.

"Just be ready to go in ten," He left her alone to get ready and she did what she was told, grumbling the whole time. 'Ten my ass,' she thought, suddenly feeling childish.


Eleven minutes later she appeared downstairs, dressed in all black, hair tied up in her usual ponytail with raccoon circles under her eyes. She hadn't been up this early in a long, long time. When she saw this time of the night/morning it usually meant she hadn't been to bed yet. Even Imam didn't get up this early.

"I said be ready in ten," he growled as she entered the kitchen.

"Bite me," she retorted, instantly regretting it as she considered the fact that he just might.

"Hmm, if I thought you wouldn't like it I would. Say what were you dreaming about this morning?" He laughed at her as she blushed furiously at his remark. She could feel her anger rearing its ugly head.

"Not you, that's for damn sure!" 'Oooh you lie!' she thought. "I should kick your ass for that!" He grew serious again.

"I would love to see that but save it for now and eat, you're going to need your energy." She growled as he threw an apple at her. She caught it with one hand putting bruises on it from the force of her fingertips. Riddick quirked his eyebrows at her. He lowered his goggles, 'she's definitely got potential,' he thought to himself, 'yeah, potential.'


They left the house and hiked into the hills outside New Mecca. Riddick set a grueling pace but Kyra kept up without uttering a single complaint. She had to; she had something to prove both to herself and to him. He couldn't help but be a little impressed. Finally after what seemed like a whole days hike they reached a small plateau where they sat and ate lunch.

"So this is what you hauled me up here for? A picnic?" She wasn't complaining, her stomach had been growling for close to two hours.

"No, but I can't work you out on an empty stomach, not yet anyway," he chewed a bite of bread. Kyra swallowed her bite of cheese hard.

"Work me out how?" she raised a quizzical eyebrow. Flashes from dream threatened to butt in but she suppressed them just in time.

"You need to work on your skills. They're definitely there, they just need to be refined. Plus you have anger management issues we need to work on." He smirked at the indignant look that briefly crossed her face. All Riddick got in response were a few choice words muttered under her breath.


Riddick had to lay low for obvious reasons, but they followed the same ritual strictly. Every morning they would hike to different places in the hills with different characteristics that would serve as a tool in Riddick's lessons. He showed her how to harness her anger and use it against her opponent. He showed her how to focus her will and bend the laws of physics in her favor while fighting. He taught her ways to deal with pain until she was certain that she could still walk even on a broken leg if she had to. He used different techniques to amplify her senses and sharpen her reaction time. The two were practically inseparable for months.

'This is how it should have been,' Kyra found herself thinking more often than not. Her cynical side would then butt in, 'But that's not how it was, he left. Don't ever forget that.' She wanted to think that she was just using him for what he could teach her. Then when the time came she would shed him like she shed Jack. She knew better, but that was the plan and she would stick to it for now.

Riddick also tried to keep himself objective, but he knew it was a futile point. She was under his considerably thick skin. He found himself thinking about her not just as the pain-in-the-ass little sister he never had, but as an extension of his own soul. It scared him to think she was that close, no one had EVER been that close. He wasn't sure what to do with it.

Imam was just overjoyed that she was becoming even somewhat like her old self. She was still distant, but it was better now than it had been. At least now she didn't run the streets, she had somewhere to focus her anger and force. It lead him to wonder downheartedly how much longer it could last. It was like his mind was foreshadowing events to come, and he didn't at all like the feeling he got from it. But as always he kept his mouth shut about his thoughts and enjoyed the calm while it lasted.


Then one day the calm broke.

They had been in the hills sparring for hours. It had stemmed from a gag comment Riddick had made about the size of Kyra's ass, and was now a full blown mock battle. They circled each other, breathing hard, senses at their peak. Kyra had blocked, turned, or squirmed her way out of every offense Riddick threw at her. In turn he had evaded her every attempt to pin him. Neither would give up.

"Don't you get it? You're not gunna win this old man." Kyra mocked.

"OLD MAN!" Ooh, that was low. Suddenly Riddick's attention perked away from the two of them and the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention for the first time in months. He shushed her thinking he'd heard something.

"Yeah, that's what I-" she retorted but he shushed her again.

"Something isn't right," he whispered.

"That's not gunna work this time Riddick," she poked at him but the look on his face was grave, he wasn't playing anymore. She listened, training every nerve in her body to pick up on anything strange. He was right, something was off.

Riddick tackled her to the ground milliseconds before the bullets flew past them soundlessly piercing the ground a few feet in front of them and sending spires of dirt and grass into the air. They scrambled for cover and listened closely. They heard voices in the area around them.

"They went around that way," was one.

"Go go go…" that made two.

They heard at least three more sets of feet running softly toward them.

They were surrounded, weaponless, and completely off guard.

"Who the hell is that?" Kyra asked him quietly, her breath coming in short bursts.

"They found me." He looked her square in the eyes and found astonished panic there as realization dawned.

Mercs.


The mercs made a few mistakes that day. The first was not having hand signals for what they were going to do. It gave away their position, defeated the purpose of an ambush. They were amateurs. The second (and really the only one that mattered) was fucking up Richard Riddick's new peaceful life with the only people in the universe and beyond that he cared about.

Kyra learned how to kill that day. And kill she did with the ferocity of a crazed and rabid wolf. Her performance was flawless. But those filthy vultures figured out he was alive, it was only a matter of timebefore he was back to being the most hunted man in theknown universe. Riddick made up his mind. He would have to run again. She could take care of Imam and his family without him now.

He packed a bag and headed for the next transport shuttle that would take him as far away from Helion Prime as he could get. Kyra chased him down the busy street.

"I'm coming with you," her voice was serious, but she had to be joking.

"No, it's too dangerous," he continued walking.

"I can handle myself, I'm coming." He whirled around and pinned her to the wall behind her. His lips briefly brushed the skin of her ear and that one simple touch made her tremble.

"I know you can handle yourself. It's too dangerous for me," his voice was low and harsh, "Do you know what I would do if one of those pieces of shit ever hurt you? I don't want that on my conscience." His words made her swallow hard. He backed away quickly and went back on his way. Desperately she screamed.

"You're not leaving me here again! GODDAMMIT I WON'T STAY HERE WITHOUT YOU!" He stopped and slowly turned to face her. All his anger melted away as he looked at her. Her stance was hostile, but her eyes were shimmering with pent tears. They were silently pleading with him. She really would crumble if he left her here again and he knew it. His best judgment left him as he turned back around and waited for her to catch up. This was going to be a mistake.