Kiko hit the buzzer impatiently to enter the clinic several times to no avail until she found a person from maintenance ducking into an office to clean it down the hall. She stealthily took his card he left on his cart and the door opened. She was supposed to meet Lauren and Suzie but it looked like no one was home until her head soft relaxing music coming from a room. The hall to it was a little musty with warm vapor smelling with of a hint wet wood.

Putting her ear to the door, it sounded like 2 women in a sauna and more overly they were having sex. It did sound like Lauren and Suzie, but cracked open the door to verify.

There was Suzie on the top bench spread eagle goading and fisting Laruen's hair to pull her into her slit in an attempt to get more traction. The doctor appeared to be working her slit like a pro and would give a new meaning to trenching. She would normally let them be but she needed access to the lab area with Kendra in addition to having access to her 'food' too. Besides her back pack was getting heavy. She needed at least one of their access cards and access codes. Sure she could steal one of their cards, but she'd still need a secondary code.

She cut the BS and walked straight in and got to business talking to Suzie.

"Hey, I rang but no one answered. Can I get an access card and code also some space in the lab so I can prepare something for Kendra as well?" Kiko kept a straight face like nothing was wrong.

Laruen tried to compose herself with Suzie letting go to cover herself up all embarrassed. Lauren tried to do the same, but it took her longer to find a towel.

"Sorry," Lauren and Suzie stammered simultaneously.

"No biggie, I work alone, so just show me where everything is and I can make due."

Lauren got up and told Suzie, "Stay here and relax, I'll be right back."

Lauren took 15 minutes to orient her to everything and Kiko started to unpack her things across the lab table. Kendra didn't know she was there yet. As she was packing, Lauren, only clad in a long towel turned back to her and brought out her hand to shake Kiko's, "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Doctor Laruen Lewis."

"Nice to meet you doctor," Kiko tersely stated with a practiced smile. She didn't know what Trick relayed to Laruen about her name and whereabouts. She finally shook Lauren's hand, and said, "Call me Jessie."

"Wh… what, Trick told me you were Kiko. Kiko Tanaka," Lauren looked confused.

'Guess the cat is out of the bag,' she thought and clarified, "It's a nick name. Please call me Jessie Sato and do not use that other name in front of Kendra. I need her to give a fresh start."

Lauren reached for her pocket to pull out a pen to bite but found only a towel.

"So… So.. so you're the one of the best in your field and world-renowned … if I dare say?" Lauren was curious since she never met a professional assassin that seemed ordinary and demure. She was also a woman and she admired that. THAT is a field she herself could never go into.

Kiko hated to share but avoided, "If it is as you say."

"I..I get it.. one liners like … like double oh seven, Mission Impossible, the Saint," Lauren blurted out.

"Bad movies with several critical plot flaws, terribly executed missions and of course the guy saving the helpless women nearly naked women," Kiko added. It was true after all and she knew from experience.

"And a human too taking down Fae at times, kudos to you," Lauren added to make conversation.

Kiko didn't reply and just stayed on target but stated, "Sorry I need to get to work."

Oh well. "Of course. You know where to find me." It was a little tongue and cheek, but it worked. Kiko wanted to be left alone and that she could do, besides, she was still in the midst of romancing the entire formula out from under her lab tech, Suzie in a nice way. Suzie was a literal train wreck right now, but time could fix that. Lauren's last thought was why did Kiko need a heating plate and wok?

The assassin quickly got to work and when she was done, she pulled on some scrubs. She made herself up almost like she was going on a date pulling her hair back into a pony tail and oddly she didn't sport weapons of any kind. Could she take on a Ghoul in hand to hand? She didn't know but with Kendra's, experience from her past life, Kendra might come out ahead.

NOW was the test.

Kendra fucking HATED anyone and everyone. She hated life and didn't know what life was anymore since all she could think about was eating BUT not eating flesh so that she didn't give up her humanity. It was a catch 22. She needed to eat to survive and be somewhat normal but at the same time, what she ate defined her. She hated being a ghoul. Out of all the things to become she mused.

At least that stupid ass Wolf… well Dyson, stopped annoying the shit out of her on a near daily basis. Dyson at least was fading away since he stopped visiting so she could be alone in her misery. She was having issues long term recall, even short term to a degree. Maybe it was the pain from not eating, and maybe it was some brain atrophy one of the doctors…. Laura… no Lauren and Condor….. no Conner were constantly lecturing her about. No matter, she still remembered her promise to someone she loved, Eric. She could no longer remember her time with him, but LOVE seemed to help her hold on to the important things.

No, she'd never bed with that loser Dyson again, that is what she promised after Eric all. Eric may forget her, but she'd never forget him, at the very least her end of the bargain. There was probably more to it, but she writhed in agony curled into a ball on the floor. Food was there for her, but it smelt good, but it was poison for her soul she believed.

For her the next stop was death. Sure they can force feed her but she had the RIGHT to how she lived and passed away from this veil.

It was then she detected the door to the main room open. It was really loud and it hurt her ears. It was a part of her being ghoul. All her fight and flight senses were amplified but this ticked her off. "GO AWAY! She warned."

Kiko strode in stealthily with a medium size non-descript brown bag in hand and sat down just outside the reinforced glass door separating Kendra's area. There was a table further back and chairs but chose to sit right in front of the door crossing her legs underneath her. It was only fitting since Kendra from what she heard refused to sleep on anything but the floor. She awful like Kendra had be denigrated to some sort of animal.

Kendra with her speed sprang at the clear glass door in a blur and slammed into it a full force to get whoever this was out of there. What took her off guard was that this Asian woman didn't even flinch.

There were small holes cuts into the door to make talking possible, and she hissed and screeched at this woman and again but no reaction. It was like she wasn't there. Also from her scent, she didn't fear her.

Kiko really disliked seeing Kendra let herself go like this. Her hair was matted, she had torn all her clothing off, probably due to the pain, but she was also filthy. Lauren mentioned that they often had to sedate her to get her to at least be reasonably clean every so often but you can't force someone to have good hygiene.

"You HEARD ME you stupid bitch! LEAVE and don't you DARE enter this room or I'll kill you," Kendra seethed with hate banging on the glass more forcefully.

Kiko just ignored her and proceed to open up her bag pulling out a Chinese food container and chop sticks.

"Don't you DARE eat here, all this human food makes me even more agitated!" Kendra yelled and then yelled to the ceiling to be heard by anyone, "Get this fucking moron OUT of here! Anyone!"

After 5 minutes of yelling her head off to get someone else to take this obtuse woman away, Kendra in the end knew she had no intension of leaving whatsoever. She just sat there calmly and ate what looked like some Korean dish she knew before. Upon closer observation it seemed like bulgogi.

"So you just plan to fucking SIT there and eat to torture me," Kendra relayed exasperated.

Kiko finally turned to her and replied with a shrug like it was self-explanatory, "Well I'm here to observe you and I'm hungry too."

"Don't eat here, I'm not good company. By the way, do you have a name?"

"Does it matter, you'll forget sooner or later."

"NO I won't. Especially that dunce of a lapdog Dyson Wolfbane. USELESS. So unless you want to me call you ….. La Femme Nikita. Give me something."

Well she wasn't that far gone and boy did she have will power. She remember Dyson and she just called her a name of an assassin but to test replied back, "And WHY would you call me that?"

"I… I don't know… it seemed fitting. She's like some … some….. someone … well .. some vigilante who kicks so serious ass."

Kiko snickered taking a bite of her food. "Do I? She pointed to her scrubs."

"I….. I don't know… something about you."

"I'm DONE talking to you. Now LEAVE," Kendra demanded.

"No"

"FUCK YOU! Can't you see I'm trying to die here!"

"Dying isn't much of a living," Kiko added calmly.

"I said get out!"

"No"

"GOD, ok FINE, open this door and I'll kick you out myself."

"So you are inviting me in?"

"HA! At your own peril," Kendra screeched gnashing her teeth at her ready to feed.

"You don't eat your food nor do you let anyone in without being tranqed first."

"QUESTIONS QUESTIONS and more questions! Are you here to kill me with them 'cus yer doing GREAT!"

SILENCE ensued with a staring contest.

HOURS later, without saying word, Kiko dozed off, but knew if something went wrong she'd be able to combat it. That and Kendra was still in there somewhere.

Kendra woke her up a couple of times, but hey, there was only so much she could do.

Boredom set in and Kendra returned to her corner to wallow in pain as usual, but at least yelling at this no named idiot helped her forget about the pain.

She even left her fucking food next to the door with the box lid open to torture her. For some reason however, her food didn't repulse her as would normal human food.

She finally crept up to the door and the holes were big enough to stick her finger or 2 through the hole. At first she sniffed the bulgogi. Then just as a test reached into the box with some effort to fish out a slice of the meat.

After she dragged it back into her area, she sniffed this suspiciously for time. Was this some ploy to get her to eat? It couldn't be since it looked and smelled like that dish for the most part. Also this idiot observer was eating it.

She took one lick and some of the seasoning did turn her off a little, but nibbled into the beef and it didn't taste too bad. She was expecting to wretch in agony and hurl like she did with normal human food but no. She did finally finish the entire piece of meat in one gulp.

One thing was for sure, she wanted more but couldn't fish any more out through the small holes.

So she finally banged on the glass to wake the nurse tech up. "Hey, what is that?"

Kiko pretended to get up groggily and said, "A Korean dish. Bulbogi."

"Give me more. NOW," Kendra demanded.

"You WANT this. You can't have it since it will put your system into shock!" Kiko said astonished swiping the food away from the glass door.

"Does it look like a fucking care?" Kendra let out sternly.

"First thing's first, I'll let you get One more piece and NOT tell the doctors….."

"FUCK Lauren Lewis and John Conner," Kendra cut her off.

NOT bad Kiko noted, one piece of beef DID improve her recall ability.

"As I was saying, first my name is Jessie, Jessie Sato and a please would be nice."

"NO WAY. No flipping way! I'll call you whatever I want," Kendra stomped.

"Then I won't share and now on top of that, you don't get to call me names EVER again. As a matter of fact NO cursing."

"FUCK YOU!" Kendra just stormed away NOBODY told her what to do.

"oooookk" Kiko just opened up another box of food with what looked like a Chinese food container of General Tso's pork or chicken. "I'll be back. I've gotta reheat."

It was a long 10 minutes and Kiko came back and the food was piping hot.

"Ugggg Jessie, MUST Fu….. must you torture me…. Look if I'm gonna die, at least can I get some freaking food that doesn't taste like dog sh… stuff." Kendra tried hard to correct herself.

THAT was what she was looking for Kiko mused, Kendra was complying and as such, gingerly give her a piece of her Chinese food this time and Kendra didn't hurl or act with displeasure, she seemed to relish it.

Kendra gulped the food down and look at her warily, "WHAT is in this?"

"It's just Chinese food," Kiko shrugged and took a bit of General Tso's herself.

"Can I have more ….. please." Kendra finally asked nicely with even a slight smirk.

"OK you know I'm breaking tons of rules here, BUT since you asked nicely. I will share all my food with you, half now and half later. First I need to know how well you can take it and second, you need to take a shower and get clothed."

Kendra HATED to be dictated to and the offer seemed too good to be true. She was about to pass but Jessie asked in earnest, "Do I look like I lie or bluff?"

"No," Kendra said flatly. Oddly she could read Jessie well.

"Are you going to hurt me if I let you out or run away?"

"No. I will do neither."

"Promise me and give me your word."

It took a moment with Kendra staring her down but finally she mentioned "Yes Jessie Sato. You have my word that I will comply to your wishes ONLY if you are the one to feed me from now on."

"Done."

Kiko stood up and scanned her card and entered in a 6 digit code and the door unlocked with a metallic click.

"Please sit with me?" Kiko asked setting the bulgogi out first. She could tell Kendra was barely holding herself together and wanted to devour the food. Kiko sat down and gave Kendra chopsticks and there in the most civilized manner she could began to eat. She picked up more and more speed but resisted the urge to wolf it down. She screeched every now and then, but hey, she was hungry.

After 5 minutes which was a record for a large dish, the bulgogi was all gone. Kiko could also tell that Kendra resisted licking the box it came in.

Kendra felt much much better. Not only did her aches and pains go away, but she could think much clearer. SOMETHING was amiss with Jessie. She seemed familiar. Jessie was her name but there was another name which she went by.

"Hey, let's get showered up."

Kendra nodded and complied. She observed that Jessie didn't know the place that well. It was just a feeling. She knew it well enough so she assumed that she was a temp of some sort.

For the first time Kendra stepped into the shower stall under her own power after being admitted to the Clinic. The water was bearable but warm. She preferred colder but wondered why, did Jessie assume she was like a regular warm blooded human?

That answer came when Jessie slipped into the cramped shower nude as well.

Kendra just gave up and couldn't help but to notice Jessie's body who sponged her down. It wasn't needed but heck, at least she'd get tolerable Asian food faster. Jessie had a small build than her, but she too was built like her which was Toned and her abs were well defined like she had 6 .. nooo 8 pack abs at this point. In addition she had some light scarring too but hidden well by what seemed like plastic surgery. She must be fighter of some sort or at the very least ex-mil. What was someone with her skill set doing as a nurse tech? Was she just POSING as one? The name Jessie didn't suit her. Also it was possible that she was some sort of former mercenary. She was WAY too calm. FEAR simply just wasn't her in makeup.

It took an hour and a half mostly untangling her hair but she got Kendra into scrubs too and there they sat once more at the table just outside her room.

To Kiko, Kendra cleaned up really well. She looked almost, if not better than, the Kennie she knew before as a human.

This time Kendra ate again but more slowly even sharing the food with Jessie who seemed full since she didn't take much. Well it was more for her and she was sure she'd be admonished by Dr. Lewis soon. At least Jessie was good to her.

There they just did small talk about nothing. It was mostly about TV shows on Webflicks. Some binge worthy ones came up and Kendra was surprised how she now remembered watching some with Eric. Now she also remembered Dyson, and knew she treated him like shit, but a promise was a promise. She'd have to apologize to him later though about all the crap she spewed at him when he visited.

Kiko noted her recall was at least seventy five percent which was impressive in just one feeding. She might remember more if she kept herself fed, but IF she remembered it all, what to do about the memory of Kiko Tanaka?

There they sat and laughed as long lost friends do talking about anything and everything but nothing too serious. Kiko missed her Kennie and she was more or less back.

Kiko did her best to stay up but dozed off since she herself was on her 22nd hour and the next thing she knew Kendra was carrying her to a room to sleep. Lauren who was in sleep wear almost crapping her in pants when she saw Kendra out and about roaming the halls of the clinic but let her be giving her directions to the next available room. Kiko noted that Suze was passed out in a cot too from the room Lauren came out of which was meant for 1 really. Lauren was probably shacking up with her.

Kendra nudged open the door and set a now awake Jessie in to the bed, "Hey, I'm sorry I just hadn't had anyone to talk to for a long time. Thanks for teaching me how to laugh again."

Kiko did need sleep being thoroughly exhausted and got comfortable in the twin bed but also Kendra needed to go back into her locked room for safe measure. Ghouls never sleep and Kiko needed sleep since she came here after a series of hits. She needed to lay low anyway. Before she could do anything, Kendra spoke. "Thank you Jessie. Can I call you Jess? You have my word and I will stay… if you don't mind."

'OK stay WHERE?' Kiko thought to herself but it was answered when Kendra wrapped herself in a spare comforter and tucked herself right into the small bed with her. It was nice of her to do that since her body temp always ran much cooler as a ghoul.

There both wedged into the creaky cot and Kiko had no choice but to drift off to sleep and accept Kendra's word that should won't leave, eat her, or cause anyone harm. She herself was also unarmed.

Kendra stayed and was just content lying there but kept thinking things through but finally within an hour it all came together. She turned and kissed the heavily breathing assassin next to her on the forehead and whispered, "Thank you Kiki."

She stroked Kiko with the utmost care and noted that she didn't even have a knife on her. That took guts but it seemed that Kiko loved her so much, she came back to her. Now what to do. Should she just stay with calling Jessie as her name? Calling her Kiko or Kiki had way too much baggage but it was fitting of her best friend.

As for the food, Kiki MUST have found a way to disguise her food as common Asian food. That, and Kiko ATE it too in order to be convincing. She really did love her since assassins were trained to avoid having meaningful relationships all together as Tamsin alluded to.

A friend would be there for you, a good friend would help you out, a lifelong best friend would eat and drink what a ghoul ate even though they were human.

Kendra didn't know how she felt about Kiko, but at least with Kiko, she didn't promise Eric explicitly not to go with her. How far was the critical question. Also, it seemed that Kiko was just happy just being friends. At least with the lower expectations, she had more breathing room.

This was going to be a really odd adventure Kendra concluded closing her eyes.

A/N: So for Kendra, GUESS who is back in the running and guess who had been voted off the island!

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