I don't own anything of the Mortal Kombat universe except my own creations. All credits go towards Netherrealm Studios.

Act I, Chapter VII

Changing Pace

The tapping of heels on the dining hall's floor was a noise she had very often disregarded in her mind, but the vivid after-effects of the royal banquet did not fade, and her mind wasn't able to shut out the clacking. The Princess couldn't eat or drink as much as she normally would, nor was she exactly fleet of feet or mind. Her thoughts were all in the gutter, one particular thought circling around in her mind. She prayed he wouldn't show up.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" the King asked, taking a sip from his tea, "You appear to be preoccupied today," he thought for a while, "For several days, actually."

"Apologies, father," she said, circling the edge of the plate with her fork, "The party has just taken a tremendous toll on my body and spirit," she stabbed at the food on her plate, "I hope this will pass within a few days from now."

"What happened back then, Kitana?" the Queen joined their conversation, "Does something stir within you? Perhaps some inappropriate behaviour from our guests?" her cup rested in her hand, "We can arrange to have them reprimanded."

"No you don't," she said under her breath, just silent enough to miss her parents' ears, "No, I haven't been harassed by the guests," she took a bite from her meat, "Just some minor troubles, nothing to concern yourselves about."

"Are you sure, darling?" Jerrod put his hand on his daughter's, "If there's anything we can do…," but Kitana interrupted him, "I am certain I do not require your aid, father," she sighed, "Apologies, but I must depart. I want to clear my mind and prepare for my training."

"We understand, dear," Sindel took a sip from her tea, "I suppose we will chat later in the day."

Kitana gave a small bow before leaving the table, speeding off to her chambers to dress more appropriately for sparring with her tutor. She reached her chambers and headed for her closet, fishing out her leotard. It was fairly standard, the only thing standing out was the open slit on the front, the leotard held together by black strings. She donned it and headed for the courtyard immediately, where she found her tutor relaxing on the few stairs that were present. His look was an off-beat mixture of joy and resignation.

"You look out of place," the Princess noted, and her tutor agreed, "Unfortunately, I have been relieved of my duties," the sapphire heir eyed him, and he continued, "By the Queen's command, my position has been transferred to someone else."

"To who?" and she couldn't even fathom the thought, "I apologise, but I think of a fat man with a scar across his eye and a rather massive lack of respect for his superiors."

"I doubt the fat, but he is akin to much of it," the tutor shrugged his shoulders, "but I did assess his skills in kombat to see whether he was fit to teach," he rolled his shoulders, "He was exceptionally skilled, suffice to say."

"Naturally," her tone was laced with anger, "but how did he even manage to usurp your position?" she asked, crossing her arms, "Did he bribe you? Threaten you? I theorise the last option to be more realistic."

"Well, you see, it's neither of those, as much as you'd like to believe, your Highness," he spotted the quick raise of her eyebrows, "From what I can understand, the Queen has been informed that you gave your new tutor oral permission to commence with your new training."

Kitana barely kept herself from burying her face in her hands, "A mistake, one I hope to correct soon, once I rid myself of my new tutor," her eyes lit up, "Besides, when is he to arrive? I could do with some entertainment."

"He's already here," he said, and her heart skipped a beat when he proclaimed that. More importantly, she noticed the shadow looming over her from behind, and she turned around to see his stoic face stare at her from a superior height, "Greetings, Chronos. I surmise you have come to uphold your agreement?"

"Our agreement," he corrected, "but yes, I've come to make sure that you get better at kicking people's ass," he turned to the tutor, "Sorry for stealing your job, sir."

He waved his hand at him, "My résumé will speak for itself," he got up from his impromptu seat, "Princess Kitana, it has been an honour teaching you for the last years, and I hope this man teaches you much more than I could," and Kitana's face rested on her fingertips. The tutor left the dragon and the woman to their own devices.

"Fine, let us start then," she said rather reluctantly, "but I have to attend lunch, so…," but the burly man was quick to shut her down, "You will leave when I allow you to leave."

She rested a hand on her hip, "You are commanding me to remain here against my will?" she was to continue, but his frown grew so deep it was liable to deform his face forever, so she kept it short, "As you wish, my great and skilled tutor," her hands were pointing at him, and he did not see the humour of it all.

"We start with a basic analysis of your skill level and technical prowess," he assumed his fighting stance, "I will test this by giving you a task," he put one hand behind his back, "You have to hit me once."

She laughed at him, but he appeared to be dead serious. She rolled her eyes and charged out of the blue, a flat hand aimed for his face, but he skilfully deflected it into nothing. A wave of strikes aimed at anywhere on the dragon's body, and none of them hit. Even attempting to catch him sleeping by tapping him on the shin with her foot proved to be futile, as he kicked her legs away from his own. An agonising two minutes of trying to hit him once, and that goal was apparently beyond her reach. He eventually dashed from her reach and relaxed his form.

"Hm, a valiant effort, but lacklustre," her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, "I suppose we have to work on your ability to recognise and exploit patterns and weaknesses," she gazed at him for a while before speaking, "You believe I am unable to recognise your lousy defensive tricks?"

He crossed his arms, "You couldn't beat lousy guarding, is what you are saying," his smile and inclined face were not inviting to her, "No, it means I held back," she said, and his response was odd, "If you're telling the truth, don't. I can take a punch, I'm not here to be pretty. I'm here to teach you."

And he assumed his stance again.

"Commence."

And for several weeks, that was the drill. Every sunrise, she'd get her ass kicked, learn nothing and go to bed. She had requested for him to removed, but the Queen and, surprisingly, King had vetoed that decision. Very rarely did he ever give advice, and if he did, it was cryptic. Something along the lines of 'look' and 'be concise' which, for a long time, was mostly empty words and very unhelpful for her advancement in her art of kombat. Many times, she'd spend the night contemplating her session, hoping to come to some sort of epiphany. Many times, she'd give up, but one fateful day, an idea popped up in her head.

He'd told her to be concise, to be less pronounced, which suddenly manifested itself as cutting down the time she spent winding up her strikes and kicks and more time landing them. And lo and behold, it gave the dragon a harder time blocking her strikes at first, but it seemed to be compensated when he learned what they looked like, which gave her a second realisation. He was always tracing her body, and at first she assumed him to be a lecherous deviant admiring her curves, but the more she got beaten, the more she was driven to figure him out. It finally resulted in her style becoming faster, harder, less predictable, less reliant upon her grace, more reliant upon her excellent physique and skill.

It lead to this day, nearly three months after her training started. She'd been on her way to the courtyard when she spotted a familiar old face, albeit with crutches supporting her weight. Her eyes welled up with tears and she broke out in a sprint, just barely stopping herself from ramming her friend full speed. A strong hug made the ebony gasp for air.

"Ribs, ribs, Kitana," she breathed and Kitana let go fast, "Apologies, Jade, just…," Kitana was out of breath somehow, and the emerald bodyguard shushed her before her tears suffocated the sapphire princess, "Don't worry, I expected something like this," she let her head dip a little, "What I didn't expect was that a familiar face to be your, ahem, teacher. Care to explain what happened in the time I was in the hospital?"

"An unfortunate event prompted this change," the sapphire princess pinched the bridge of her nose, "Suffice to say, I disliked the prospect tremendously," the ebony bore a questioning look, and Kitana elaborated, "However, I do not deny I rather admire his teaching. It relies on both of us to understand each other's conventions and ways of learning."

"So what you are saying is that you don't desire to disembowel him every time you lay eyes upon him," the ebony gave a sly smile, "I am impressed. It seems the Queen's decision to keep him here was a success, even with the many obstacles that had to be conquered to reach this point."

"It has been quite a dramatic period in my life to be sure, but I am confident that today, I show that I can back up my words with my skill," the bodyguard shrugged her shoulders, "I'd like to see you do so, Kitana. That might be amusing to watch."

"Yes, quite amusing," the sapphire princess smiled, "You will be pleasantly surprised to witness the conclusion to this story's arc," the bodyguard shook her head.

"Spare me your haughtiness, Princess," the ebony began slowly moving towards the courtyard, with Kitana in tow, "I'll believe it when I see it," she looked up through the mosaic windows, "It appears sunrise has just passed."

"Administrative complications delayed my arrival," she explained, "I was supposed to be here at sunrise and no later, but I cannot forfeit my duties in favour of his unorthodox teaching," Jade stared at her friend.

"Unorthodox?" the ebony pondered the choice of words, "I was prepared to suffer a long-winded monologue about how his way of teaching was below you," the blue-clad woman huffed.

"As I said, his teaching does help me progress," she said, "and that training is going to pay off."

They arrived at the courtyard, where Chronos was sitting cross-legged, that white air-warping aura engulfing his body. Kitana strode down the steps, and the big man didn't even say anything while rising, assuming his stance without sound. The princess mimicked him, assuming her stance without uttering a single snarky insult. Jade was satisfied in some odd sense, gone for so long that the Princess' lack of insults and preachiness put a mild strain on her thoughts.

Without a single second of stalling, the blueberry woman dashed a lightning fast dash, aiming a fist at the dragon's sternum, which was excellently dodged, and another strike at his gut, which wasn't evaded in time. The princess continued her calculated advance, slowly pressuring her burly male opponent into considering his attacks. An opening in his defence presented itself when she feinted a kick to trip him and he instinctively dodged, but his momentum had him unprepared for the follow-up kick, one with much greater force to the knee which crumpled him slightly.

Her assault seemed to wear down his stamina, but a slight mistake on the Princess' side was punished without relent, the woman hurled over the man with exceptional strength, having a second or two of airtime before crashing down onto the marble floor. She flipped up from the cold surface to see the behemoth slowly creeping up on her, hands at the ready. A quick dash towards him halted the man's momentum, forcing him in a more defensive stance, and Kitana restarted her offence, delivering more pokes to keep him honest.

After a long-winded period of exchanging small blows, Chronos' appeared to be drained of his energy, sweating profusely, moving slower than usual. Kitana picked her moment carefully, assessing the situation and waiting for the dragon to commit to a mistake, which didn't take too long as he threw a slightly sloppy straight. She ducked under it and retaliated with a potent strike to his sternum that knocked the wind out of him. The princess capitalised on his momentary stunned state and unleashed several furious blows that sent waves through his body.

He was slowly faltering and the sapphire-clad heir finally put an end to her losing streak with an unusual method of attack; a powerful shoulder that transferred so much force to the big man that he was thrown back a yard or two by the smaller, lighter woman. With that blow, the dragon was slain, the heroine victorious over the beast that plagued her town. At least, in her head that was. She was jumping up and down in joy, while Chronos suffered silently on the floor.

"Yes!" her cheer was audible enough to deafen Jade a bit, "At long last, I win!" she marched up to the downed man and taunted him, "Let it be known that I, heir to the throne of Edenia, have defeated the mighty beast known as Chronos!" she looked around to see her friend snicker. The Princess smiled, just before her downed opponent spoke weakly.

"Congratulations," he whispered, "you have bested me," he tried to get up, "today, you have proven yourself a better warrior than me."

In her excitement, she oversaw the struggle the burly man was experiencing just getting up from his face-down position, but his arms shook so badly he sank back down to the cold floor in mere seconds. Kitana did manage to calm herself down after receiving a withered look from her ebony friend, and the heir caught sight of the large man just lying down. She found it amusing for several seconds, but a twinge of guilt did finally pervade her mind. After all, despite their heads butting every three seconds they were in contact, he did offer up his time and effort to help her improve. As much as she despised the man before, it did look like his heart was not yet entirely composed of stone.

She walked over to him and slung and arm around her shoulder to help him to his feet to find that the dragon was hilariously heavy, and she was having a rough time dragging him to a bench. Her friend had limped off in the meanwhile, coming back at the moment Kitana perched her opponent on the bench. Jade had apparently fetched some medical supplies from somewhere to bandage him up, but she handed them over to the sapphire-clad woman, who was puzzled as to why. They could just get a priest to patch him up fairly fast, but maybe that wasn't Jade's intention. She hopped away again, making great leaps with her crutches, leaving Kitana to attend to the wounded man.

She kneeled next to the man and inspected his wounds, which were fairly surface-level, and the ones still bleeding visibly could be counted on a single finger. Regardless, she began patching up even the smallest wounds, starting with his right hand which had a small incision running along the length of it. Carefully bandaging up the wound, she noticed his rather lean hands, more appropriate for someone who was adept at playing a violin or harp or piano, not designed to hurt. His fingers were slim, his nails surprisingly long and clean, but his palms were calloused from whatever he did outside of fighting. She moved on to other wounds to take care of, but she had to ask him about his hands.

"I like your hands," she mentally banged her head against the wall for delivering her question in the most unflattering way possible, "I wouldn't peg someone with them as a fighter," he looked at her a bit drowsily, clearly still shook up from the several strikes that could inflict concussions on its own.

"You're not the only one," he began, "back when I was a little bit younger, my mum and dad would send me to some piano lessons. Thought I was a natural at it," he lifted his unwounded hand, "they weren't wrong though. If there was anything I was good at other than what I do now, it was playing the piano."

"I surmise you did not keep playing the piano considering what you do now," Kitana said, and the man nodded in acknowledgement.

"I wasn't enjoying it," he continued, "Lots of pressure on performing right, especially when other rich kid parents were around and about. Gotta say, having all eyes on you is sort of discouraging to some extent. It became annoying when other pompous assholes would just brush my skill aside as being born lucky enough to play the piano well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kitana sympathised with him, "I suppose mortal beings are rather judgemental."

"Well, it's not why I quit, because those rich kids that played the piano as well sucked ass anyways," the princess let an invisible smile form on her lips, "It's because I was bored with it, didn't feel like I was having any sort of fun. No exhilarating moments for me, no variables to take into account with a sheet of music. You got something that can't change."

"Well, I find that a loss," he looked at her when she said that, "I like the contrast of such a delicate creation being played by a goliath with lean hands."

"I wasn't exactly ripped when I played the piano," he noted, "but true, I would have found it fun to bamboozle people with my swift fingers hitting the notes just right," she smiled at that mention.

"I guess you can play all sorts of notes just right," she said, and he grunted, probably from her bandaging the still bleeding wound, "Including those of the ladies. Jade and I tend to talk about what happens at the Academy, and from what I hear, some of the women over there appear to be intrigued by your brooding and silent persona. I even heard that one of the overseers tried to get you so drunk that you'd sleep with her."

"Hm, yes, I suppose that was what she was trying to do," he thought about the last couple of months, "Azsara was obvious, she looked like she was on a dry spell for years, and the other women over at the Academy seem to suffer from being stuck in there for most of their days. Didn't get that feeling when I play overseer."

"Guess they don't think fondly of you?" she assessed correctly.

"I overhear things, and it boils down to being treated too harshly," he rolled his shoulders, "but that's just the thing about me and, eh, your kind," he gauged her response, but it appeared she didn't mind, "I don't have several thousands of years to just loiter away, if I reach a hundred I'm damn lucky. Or not, depending on whether I'm losing my sanity or not."

"As long as you live your life to the fullest," she commented and it looked like he agreed with her.

"Mmm," he almost groaned, and she noticed her hands running across his body, his iron muscle impressive to the touch and sight, and his tattoo was very well-crafted with some impressive detail on it. She was mesmerised for a second or two before her eyes shot up to his. She was relieved he didn't notice her momentary lapse of restraint.

"I also noticed your note that you left me on the day of the banquet," she started, "I guess your lean fingers found something else to commit themselves to."

"Yeah, that's something I did enjoy," he admitted, "More than once, I'd write something down and people would mistake my handwriting for that of a girl's," she hummed at that remark.

"Boys write worse than girls?" and he nodded at her question, "Is that a common Earthrealm occurrence?"

"Probably more along the line of stereotypes living a long time," he commented, "but sure, boys write worse than girls. Not like that around here?"

"No," was all she had to say before she moved on quickly, "I also found your other note."

"Hm, what other note?" he asked, and she smiled a devious smile, and his face grew worrisome, like something went awry, "I have a hard time recollecting what other note I left-"

She hushed him before speaking, "You'd like to warm my bed someday?" he seemed genuinely embarrassed by the mention of the lewd note, "How literal am I supposed to take that?"

"You're not supposed to consider it an option, and you weren't supposed to find it, I stashed it away," he was quick to emphasise it, "Aszara was the one that wrote it to get me in an awkward situation," she gazed at him.

"She succeeded, it appears," and he let an awkward laugh escape his throat, but she wasn't done, "Say, would you like it?" he raised an eyebrow at that question, but as soon as her eyelids grew heavy, he shifted on the bench, slightly uncomfortable with the question.

"Uhhhh…" she grinned at his massive discomfort, "I mean, you're attractive and, uh, you're good at fighting people, and…" he appeared to be at a loss for words for a while, so she gave him an easier question.

"Men and women alike would die to be in this position," she leaned in, her lips close to his ears, "So I will ask a final time, and I expect a yes or a no from you," her warm breath on the side of his neck gave him goosebumps, "Would you like to fuck me?"

She moved away from him again, and his face was almost aghast at her abrasive approach at coercing an answer from him. His eyes darted everywhere and nowhere except her eyes, and she didn't know whether it was because he wanted to say yes or no. After a full five seconds of him fidgeting with his fingers and running his hand through his short hair, she decided she had enough fun bullying this poor kid.

"I will allow you to consider the inquiry a bit longer, but for now, I will take my leave," she got up from her kneeling position, "and besides, I've managed to tend to all your wounds," he looked all over to see, indeed, most of his wounds bandaged and patched up.

"I didn't give you permission to leave right now," he berated her, but before she could respond, he continued, "I am giving you permission to leave."

She turned back around and rounded a corner to one of the halls, where she found her friend leaning against the wall, eavesdropping on their conversation. The princess silently signalled the ebony bodyguard to follow her to the princess' room, which she did without saying a single word. Arriving at the chambers, Kitana plopped on the bed with Jade limping behind, shutting the door slowly. After a second or two of the princess adjusting herself on the bed, she spoke.

"So, what did you overhear, my friend?" she asked, "Did you hear me…" Jade was quick to answer.

"You do understand that the attitude you are presenting now contradicts with the one you presented for several months," she resettled herself on her crutches, "I'd like to tell you about something Chronos told me," the sapphire heir raised a finger to interrupt, but restrained herself, "He told me that young boys would tease girls if they liked them, and vice versa."

Kitana rolled her eyes, "Yes, Jade, I understand what you're alluding to, but our dispute was much grander than pulling on each other's ponytails," the green-eyed mistress shifted her weight around, "and besides, what chance in all the realms would there be that he would like me?" it sounded more like she was looking for confirmation than for shaking away these thoughts.

"Is it because of prince Rain's affections towards you?" Kitana let loose some hysterical laughter, but Jade looked dead serious, "I wouldn't be all too surprised that your actions stem from a dislike of his proclamations of claiming you as his trophy," the princess let her laughter expire before speaking again.

"Rain's compliments and interest are superfluous and vain," she said, "Only serving one purpose, and that is to claim the throne of Edenia for himself."

"It is clear Rain desires more influence in the realm," the ebony said, "His negotiations with Jerrod about Alythandir and its surrounding territories have been exceptionally aggressive, and the prince's family has been threatening with military action if their demands are not met."

"Hah, if anything, the prince and his lowlife relatives will scamper off once they are devastated by the might of our armies," she rose from her bed, "And I will enjoy seeing him whimper when it happens so."

"I always let your pettiness slip my mind," Jade said, "Do keep in mind what I've said. Maybe you should see if you can invite Chronos over for tea."

Kitana laughed, but the ebony's piercing eyes did send the message. As Jade left the room, struggling a bit with the crutches, she pondered her own vague feelings about this topic. They had to be cleared up, and maybe Jade's suggestion was the best way about it; invite the dragon over for a cup of tea.

When you die, I'm going to default dance on your grave.

Back at it again with a shitty chapter, shorter than the last one. At this rate, the eleventh chapter is going to be nine words. Review and favourite and stuff so I can feel accomplished. Also, I'm trimming down the dialogue format due to a 100% backlash comprised of 1 people, so I'm trying to find a balance between what works and what I feel is the right direction for the format of this story.

P.S.: On a more serious note, I could use more reviews to properly gauge what is currently working and what could be edited and improved. Alwaysdoubted, love ya brew, but you're just one perspective.

- Frozen Yoghurt Man