One Month Later
Agent 8 swings her brush with full strength and splats the poor squid girl. She smiles and dips into the ink and then pops back up to swat at the next unsuspecting squid. Noir swims up next to her and jumps up, wielding a Kensa splattershot. Firing at the row of advancing opposing members, she logs splat after splat. Ali focuses on securing their ground. The other two squids on their team are awestruck. They don't know how to respond to their impressive abilities, or Noir's enthusiasm. Noir fires shots maniacally, screaming out, "BOOYAH! Boooooyah!" Ali is more subtle, and graceful with her techniques. She sneaks, and swipes. Together they form a great team, though. They wipe out win after win until they've had their fill.
"Winning with you never gets old." Noir puts her arm around Ali's shoulders as they walk away from the battle tower. Ali wishes she could say the same back, but in all honesty Ali feels stale. Something is missing from their fights. It doesn't give her a buzz like when she first arrived in Inkopolis. She gazes off in a certain direction and her wind wanders to Kai. She wonders how he's doing, and if he's okay. She hadn't talked to him since that night, and he had't contacted her. She wasn't surprised. She'd told Noir about everything, hoping she'd be shocked, but she wasn't. Noir had known about Kai's side business since they'd first met. She'd even been a customer once, which Noir warned Ali to never talk about. The only things that had surprised Noir was that Kai had slept with Ali for free, and that he's said 'no' when Ali asked if he slept with a lot of girls.
Noir had insisted that Kai liked her, and that he just didn't know how to handle his feelings. Ali wasn't sympathetic, because that was the same position she was in. She should have known he wasn't really interested when he hadn't asked where how she'd came to Inkopolis. "Helloo, earth to the badass octoling?" Noir waves a hand in front of Ali's face. Ali blinks and asks, "Would it be strange if I went to see him?" Noir frowns, "Who? Kai?" When Ali looks at her shoes, Noir laughs "No way. He asks about you all the time, I just never told you because I thought you hated him." Ali gives her a look, "'All the time'?" Noir rolls her eyes, "Okay, like three times, but you know Kai. He's not very vocal." The black tentacled girl holds up a finger, signaling her to wait while she taps something into her phone. A second later it 'dings' and Noir smiles at Ali, "You should go now. He's waiting for you." Mortified Ali shrieks, "What? I can't I'm not-" "Just go. Don't be such a baby." Ali snorts "I'm not a baby." With that, she walks in the direction of Kai's apartment, a route she had committed to memory long ago.
Standing at the base of the steps that led up to his apartment, Ali can't help all the questions that swirled around her head. They'd been there since that night. How many people had Kai slept with since they talked? Had he compared her to them while they'd gone at it? What if he hated her for walking away that night? She feels tears well up but doesn't let them fall, she sniffs, wipes the tears away and walks up the stairs. She'll never know unless she talks to them. She smooths her shirt nervously. She'd gone shopping recently and picked up an Annaki drive tee, cherry kicks and a traditional headband. She thought she looked pretty fresh, but wondered what Kai would say. Knocking three times she steps back and waits. The door opens and there he is. Kai, dressed in his inky black rider and punk blacks. Ali stares and finds herself speechless. What can she say? After their last encounter she's rendered unable to speak. Kai looks her over and remarks, "You look really good." He steps back "Come inside?" Ali forces her legs to move and walk past him. She catches a whiff of his scent passing by and closes her eyes involuntarily. She's brought back to the night they met. Opening her eyes she keeps walking until she reaches the living room, and sits in one of the chairs.
"What changed your mind?" Kai leans against the doorway, observing her. "What do you mean?" She asks. "About wanting to talk to me. I thought you hated me." He observes his fingernails and then puts his hands in his pockets. "I never hated you. I just felt..." Violated? Confused? Used? Everything that Keaton probably felt, she admits to herself. "I understand. How can I fix it?" Ali looks at him, and he continues "I've wondered how you've been doing. I've worried about your dreams. I know what it's like to be trapped in your head space." He walks over and looks down at her "I want to fix this." Ali speaks without thinking "Stop selling yourself." Kai's face shows surprise and she repeats herself "Stop selling yourself." She stands up, "Only sleep with me. I wanted you then, and I want you now, but only if it's all of you." Ali reaches out and takes his hand "It's not worth it to live like that. It's not worth any amount of money, or the emotional damage it ensues." She feels like she's begging "And you'll never heal if you don't leave that part of your past behind. Just, please, say you'll stop, That's how you can fix this." She breathes and registers Kai's hand, brushing tears from her face. She hadn't realized she was crying again.
Ali stands and looks up at him. He looks down at her and opens his mouth to speak, then closes it. He closes his eyes, opens them, and closes them again. "You can make money in turf battles, and salmon run shifts-" "It's not about the money." Ali feels another stab in her chest "You like... selling yourself?" He groans and grabs his face "No, it's not that." He turns away, "It's all I know. That, and being a soldier." He faces her, and Ali sees raw conflict written across his face. "It was all I knew too, and I hurt someone who probably really cared about me while I was figuring myself out." Ali rubs her arms "And I can't take that back, but I want to do things right from now on." She walks up behind Kai and places a tentative hand on his back, "I want to do right with you." Kai breathes and then turns to her "Okay." he whispers. "Let's do it." Ali smiles and wraps him in a hug. He hugs her back "I didn't really get to say sorry that night.." He trails off and she buries her face in his jacket "I forgive you."
They're lying in bed, naked and sweaty, looking into each other's eyes. "That was amazing." Kai cups her face in his hand, "You're amazing." If it were possible for Ali's face to get more flushed, it would've. "I have to go make some... cancellations. I'll be back." Ali leans over and kisses his nose, and whispers "Okay." Kai stands and puts on his leggings and walks out into the living room. Ali spreads herself over the large bed. Faintly she can hear him talking on the phone. Ali picks her own phone up from the nightstand and responds to Noir's barrage of texts, all asking how it'd gone. Ali responds, "He's all mine! No more squid biz!" Noir responds immediately "Really? That's surprising. How'd you get him to do that?" Ali fires back "He wanted to, he just can't be alone." She puts her phone down and sighs contentedly. The door creaks open and Kai walks in, "All done. I shut down my website and cancelled all my appointments." He smiles, but it's strained. Ali stands and walks over to him, nude. She get on her tiptoes and kisses him, "You're doing the right thing for yourself, and I'm so glad." Kai wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close, "You're so special." Ali's stomach feels as though a mass of sea butterflies were fluttering in her stomach. "So are you."
Something was nagging at Ali's stomach, butterflies be damned. "Kai?" His face is buried in her tentacles, "Yes?" Ali moves her head, forcing the boy to face her, "I know you apologized, but can you promise you won't lie to me again?" Kai closes his eyes and nods, "That was a mistake. I was afraid you'd react-" "The way I did? You should have just been straight with me." Kai strokes her tentacles, and Ali lets out a noise between a purr and a warble, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied." Ali murmurs "I forgive you," and leans against him. His bare chest gives off just enough warmth to heat up her bare chest. Kai stops petting her and she looks up, seeing him look out the window towards the sunset. Ali puts her head against him and they watch the sunset together, finally content with where they are.
Thank you for reading! - shipalltheotps