Reunited and Loving It (part 2):

Sooooo, why WERE you kissing what you thought was a random guy?

The question hung between them awkwardly for a few seconds while Jett waited semi-patiently for Ketsu's answer.

Not that whatever reason it might be would change how shabla ecstatic he was to have his former girlfriend back in his arms, but, as the abandoned boyfriend, he really wanted to know.

Ketsu sighed, guilt and fear flickering in her expressive purple eyes, which had him instantly on high alert because there was only one person Ketsu had ever been afraid of that he knew of.

Her next words confirmed it.

"I saw my father and kind of panicked. Kissing somebody was the first thing I could think of to make sure he wouldn't look at me." She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his shoulder. His arms closed around her in comfort as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Goes to show you how much of a mess I am when kissing is the first thing that comes to mind," she mumbled into his borrowed tunic.

Even though every protective instinct he had was screaming at him to go pound Count Onyo into the ground like he wished he'd been able to do so many years ago as a teenager, Jett also had just enough sense to deal with the current problem first.

A problem that also happened to bring all of his possessive instincts to the foreground along with the protective ones.

She'd admitted just barely enough hints in their brief conversation to give him the impression that she hadn't exactly been chaste over the years, but that flash of guilt increased his gut feeling to something more along the lines of 'easy' to put it sort of delicately.

In some ways, he understood. She had always been an affectionate girl who craved love and praise from him to make up for the distinct lack thereof from her abusive father, so he could easily see that translating to her life without him as well.

But the fact that there was likely a string of men who had known her intimately made him want to get all of their names and shoot the applicable equipment off of every single one of them for touching her. Following that, he wanted to tie her up and shag her until she was a quivering mess and everyone else was completely erased from her memory.

At least I was her first. And if I have anything to say about it, I'm also going to be her last. A pitiful consolation, but it's all I've got.

Jett sighed mentally and kissed the top of her head. "You're not a mess, cyar'ika. Just lonely. There's a difference."

Ketsu looked up at him, wonder making her eyes shine like dew-kissed flowers. "How do you do that? How do you always know me like that? And after all this time apart?"

Ridiculously proud of himself, Jett grinned and hugged her up higher against his chest so they were closer to eye level again. "The benefits of a psych course, having three older sisters who didn't know the meaning of 'young ears', and being your soulmate; you're like an open book to me and always have been." He finished off with a quick and cheeky kiss to her lips.

She snorted, pushing out of his arms and crossing hers over her chest. "Sentimental dork. Don't get too mushy on me too fast, babe. You gotta leave a girl some illusion of having secrets."

Jett just grinned wider and snagged her around the waist to draw her back into his space, knowing that she was only teasing him and wouldn't punch him for being handsy. (He had years of touching to make up for, after all.) "I can do that. I won't even ask you what colour your underwear is today like I used to."

Ketsu blinked twice and then burst into beautiful laughter which filled the holes in heart even more than her kisses had; he'd only ever wanted to make her happy. She was still chortling when she rose on her toes and kissed him sweetly before pulling back a fraction and staring into his eyes almost seriously. "Shab, I missed you. I was a di'kut to stay away."

He returned her sweet kiss with interest before saying, "I know you had your reasons, Ketsu. Honestly, I'm kind of shocked to see you here. It's not safe. If your father had seen you…"

"I know," she whispered, fiddling with the collar of the black tunic. "I'm still dar'manda to him. To everyone."

He frowned down at her, upset by the defeat in her tone. "Not to me."

"Really?"

"Really," he said firmly. "And not to Sabine Wren, I'm sure. I heard your father went on quite a rant after you and Wren blew up about a third of the Academy. Personally, I thought it was great, but couldn't really say anything at the time. I think your status should be returned, especially with how things are now. I know Sabine's has, so yours should be too." He inhaled deeply, knowing she wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "And that means confronting your father, so I'm going to talk to him." Or beat some sense into him.

"No!" she shook her head frantically, clinging to the cloth of his tunic as he tried to move to do just that. "Don't. Please. He'll hurt you!"

Jett scoffed as he gently removed her hand from the borrowed item and then laced their fingers together soothingly. "Not likely. You're looking at one of the best Super Commandoes to graduate from the Academy, and with my brutal clan Saxon training as a foundation, your aging father would have to be stupid to take me on."

Ketsu blinked. Blinked again. Her jaw dropped slightly. And then she squealed and hugged him hard. "You made the cut?"

"I told you I would," he said smugly, relishing her shapely and lithe body pressed up against his once more.

"Yes, but, EVERYONE dreamed of making the Commando squad! They only take the top one percent! And only a third of those make it to the end of the training course."

"I know." He tried not to puff up too much at the pride in him she was radiating, but he was probably failing. "And thanks to some really bad decisions by both of the asshat Saxons, I'm now Captain of the squad."

"Wow, Jett. Just… Wow." Ketsu's eyes grew heated and heavy lidded as she slid her hips against him sensuously. "I'm feeling really hot all of a sudden," she whispered huskily, practically right in his ear.

Jett sucked in a breath and nearly choked on it as his body all but leapt back to life. "Uhhhhhh."

"You wanna go see my ship? She's really pretty, with a nice big bunk and everything." She trailed a finger down the center of his chest, finger rising and falling with the hills and valleys of his hard-earned muscles. His blood followed. And so did his brain. She hesitated just above the waistband of his leggings for a heart-stopping moment and then that finger went back up. When she reached his mouth, she stopped again, caressing his bottom lip. "Soooo? Wanna check out my underwear and get sweaty?"

Jett gulped as it felt like he was drowning in the siren call of his cyar'ika. He'd built up a vague resistance to her song when he was a teenager, but after so long apart, after so many years of taking care of things mostly solo, he had almost zero resistance to her.

Almost.

But there was something he needed to do first. Something that had been bugging him ever since the first time she returned to the Academy with more bruises than warrior training justified. A driving need to take care of this girl usurped his base desires and said that her father needed to pay for the abuse he'd subjected her to. Pay for making her feel unwanted. Pay for depriving him of his cyar'ika for so long.

For if she'd never been declared dar'manda, she never would have taken comfort in other mens' arms. She never would have left Mandalore.

She would have never left me.

So Jett corralled his whimpering libido and shook his head. "Not yet, ner kar'ta."

"Why?"

Feeling like a wretch for the hurt and confusion in her eyes, he kissed his way over her fine cheekbones. "Because I'm stubborn and I want to restore your status first so you can walk through this camp with confidence."

He mentally sighed in relief when her expression softened. "Yes, you are stubborn, Jett'ika. The most stubborn male I've met. And that's why I love you." She kissed his stubbling jaw softly. "If you must do this, then I won't stop you."

"I must."

Ketsu sighed, fingers caressing his nape almost absently as her gaze fell to the open collar of his tunic. "You're a good man, Jett Hark, and I don't deserve you."

He raised her chin with the side of a finger and caught her guilty gaze again. Shab, not that again. "Yes, you do. I don't care what you've done in the past; you will always be my cyar'ika and I will always love you. It's how we go forward together that matters."

She gave him that melty look again that made his heart pound with pride. "Stars, Jett. Now I really think that I don't deserve you, but I'm never letting you go again!" she whispered vehemently as her hands clenched almost painfully on the back of his head.

"Good," he had time to say just before she tugged his head down to hers and sealed their mouths together.

He didn't come up for air until he absolutely had to, making sure she was thoroughly dazed and leaning on him almost drunkenly first. And then he gave her his best smile and said, "Now let's go teach a lesson to the pain in the shebs who sired you, beat you, and then threw you away."

Her expression hardened almost instantly and sudden tension radiated from her previously limp body as her fists clenched at her sides. Now she looks like the badass bounty hunter I know she is.

"Let's," she growled in a completely new tone that would scare little children if they were around and then strode for the eating area with determination in every long step.

He fell just a little harder for her.

(And then had to sprint to catch up because he stood frozen like a mesmerized mooka for too many seconds just watching her fan-fragging-tasticly perfect hips sway.)