Your standard legal disclaimer thing: I don't own Kim Possible. I will remove this story off the net if they give me shit. Blah blah blah, yada yada yada. You all know the drill by now.

To anyone interested you can see a sketch of Agni here at: deviantart DOT com SLASH deviation SLASH 60631830 SLASH

Small Surprises, Big Consequences

Chapter 3: Audacity

Kim awoke uncharacteristically late the very next morning. Usually she rose with the sun filled with seemingly boundless energy that she would probably end up spending throughout her day. Today however she felt, to put it bluntly, like crap. Her mouth tasted like old sticky shoe polish, she had a throbbing headache and to top it off her right arm appeared to have fallen asleep some time ago and felt like pins and needles were digging into it. Using her left hand she wiped the sleep from her eyes and let out a tired groan. Curious as to how long she had slept in, the redhead craned her neck around to look at her alarm clock to find the digital numbers reading that it was close to twelve thirty in the afternoon.

Wow… It's been years since I stayed in that late.

Whenever the teen was in bed past seven she felt slothful and lazy and usually did her best to be up on time. Thankfully, today was Sunday and so she had no prior engagements prepare for. The redhead thought back on the day before to try to remember why she felt so out of sorts that morning and quickly recalled the stream of events that had so heavily taxed her. Remembering her meeting Agni, and all the chaos that came after knocked any trace of sleep that remained in the redhead out on it's figurative ass and she immediately sat up, or at least tried to. She found to her dismay that her right arm was apparently wedged under something very warm and heavy.

Kim looked down curious as to what it could be and saw a noticeable lump under the blanket laying on top of the limb in question. Almost reflexively, Kim grabbed the edge of the blanket covering the lump and in a single swift motion pulled the cover completely off the bed and unveiled the foreign object. The curled up figure of a small dark haired girl was lying on Kim's arm and after the initial shock wore off Kim immediately recognized the girl as Agni.

Shego's daughter was in the fetal position breathing slowly and evenly, deep in slumber despite having lost the comfort of the blanket. The girl had shed her sweater and shoes, which were lying in a pile next to Kim's bed and now only wore a black tank top, her shorts, and black stockings. The girl's normally rude and abrasive attitude was not at all present when asleep and instead she seemed serene and almost peaceful. If it weren't for the green skin she could have been any normal girl. That image was extinguished when Kim freaked out at the sight and pulled her arm out from under the young girl, waking her with the sudden movement.

"Agni, what the hell are you doing in my bed?" Kim shouted eliciting a groan from the young girl. Agni rubbed her eyes and opened her left eye half way using it to scowl at the redhead.

"I was sleeping, that's what. At least I was before you decided to be rude."

Rude! I'm the rude one? She snuck into my bed and she doesn't even live here! Kim thought amazed at the girls nerve. The cheerleader took a deep breath to try to calm herself before looking down at Agni who had sat up and was rubbing her eyes.

"Seriously Agni, what are you doing here?" Asked Kim, in no mood to play games.

The girl frowned and looked away. Kim recognized the look from yesterday when she asked what her name was. Apparently that look meant that she was busy coming up with whatever answer was in her best interest. After a moments hesitation Agni looked up at the cheerleader.

"I'm hiding." She said frankly.

Kim blinked in surprise. In the back of her mind she complained that there was simply to many shocks happening that early in the morning. Most of the teen's enemies had the good graces to shock her after three pm. Half expecting to be ignored, Kim asked what was most on her mind, "Hiding from who?"

Agni sighed and slipped off the bed and began to pull on her sweater and shoes. Kim secretly wondered if she had been wearing that filthy outfit the entire trip, but figured that there were more pressing matters to investigate.

Agni turned to look at Kim and the older girl recognized the forced neutrality of her expression as one that had no place on a girl her age.

"My mom."

(Seven Hours Ago: Shego's Apartment)

When Agni first arrived at Shego's home, she had been as excited as a kid at Disney Land (not her mind you but your average child) and ran all over the apartment to get a rare feel for her mother's life. Whenever the two would exchange letters Shego made it a point to never go very deep into what went on with her personally. It was her way of keeping the girl from finding out where she was so that she couldn't run away to her like she had. Apparently Shego had greatly underestimated her daughter's tenacity.

Until now Agni didn't know where Shego lived, or even what she lived in whether it was a house or an apartment. Hell, for all that the girl knew Shego lived in an igloo deep in Alaskan tundra. That didn't mean however that her Mother didn't give exciting details into her professional life. Agni was always riveted by the older woman's detailed accounts of her past heists, the exotic places she visited and the dangerous people she had to deal with on a regular basis. Whenever a story involving her mother showed up on the news or Internet, Agni always got excited since it game substance to the larger than life accounts and made Shego feel closer to home. As far as the girl was concerned, it was better then being related to a celebrity would ever be.

It was great, all accept for the fact that she could never proudly state that she was that woman's daughter (as much as she would love to). It was around when she was four, and Shego left that her family began to insist that she act like she didn't know the woman around others. Agni wanted to ignore those instructions and would have, but when Shego was the one to ask, it was different. She made it seem so much more important.

When finishing her exploration of the older woman's living space Agni was surprised and somewhat disappointed by two things; The first thing that bothered her was that in her minds eye, whenever she thought about what Shego's home would look like she always thought it was decorated wall to wall with souvenirs of the green thief's past exploits, sort of like walking into a massive crime museum. What she found instead was a surprisingly Spartan environment. The walls were bare and the furniture was simple and practical rather than aesthetic. Aside from the kitchen, which was fully stocked with appliances and the living room, which had an admittedly impressive and up-to-date entertainment system, there was an almost sterile quality to the apartment. Anyone could have lived there with how impersonal it appeared.

The green girl quickly figured that it made sense, considering that her mother was probably all over the world most of the time and simply wasn't home enough to properly break in the place. I guess it's cool to not bother with too much excessive junk. Agni thought as she surveyed the room she was in.

The second problem was that it was of course a one-bedroom apartment, and a rather small one at that. There was just enough room for Shego to live comfortably by herself. However, along that same vein there would be no room at all for Agni if she wanted to stay. Regardless of this all-to-apparent fact the young girl did her best to remain optimistic. It was an alien thing for Agni to attempt considering her usually cynical attitude but she figured that when it came to her mother it was worth it.

I don't take up much space; I could live on the couch…

Agni looked up to see what her mom had been doing the whole time and after some quick searching found her in the kitchen downing a glass of water. There was an open bottle of aspirin in front of her on the kitchen counter. When Shego noticed Agni in the room with her she stopped what she was doing and put away the glass and the aspirin and turned to face her daughter. Her mother's troubled expression chilled the younger girl on the inside. If Shego told her she couldn't stay the young green girl wasn't sure what she would do.

Shego took a deep calming breath and then looked Agni in the eye. Her expression was that of stiff neutrality.

"Agni, why are you here?" Her voice was level but with the faintest hint of disapproval that to the young girls ears was loud as a warning klaxon.

"I-I told you why, mom. I-" Shego cut her off with a quick hand gesture.

"I know what you said but you're a smart girl. You know what I do and you know that I left you with your grandparents for a reason. I know that you wouldn't just forget all of that on a whim." She crossed her arms and leaned against the countertop.

Agni bit her lip to try to keep from frowning but failed. She didn't come on a whim she came out of desperation. Life at home was swiftly becoming unbearable and all she could see to make things better was the one woman she idolized. Her monthly correspondence with her mother had rapidly become the only thing she had to look forward to lately and in her admittedly naïve attempt at correcting the problem, every answer she came up with had the green woman right at the center. Now Agni was beginning to see that there was no way out.

"I just… Things are just re-really hard, y'know…" Agni managed as her voice began to choke up. With Shego across the kitchen rather then across three states keeping up her emotional walls was swiftly proving impossible, she was still a child after all. That aside, if she let even a single tear escape in front of the older woman Agni would never forgive herself.

Don't you dare cry, you loser!

Shego for her part kept still and tried her best to remain steady on the matter. However internally she could feel her heart being pulled in twain as she watched her daughter visibly keep from breaking down. She knew from her own experiences that their lives did not allow for much comfort. There were a lot of complications involved with being from not only a domineeringly unbearable household but also being green… whatever the hell they were. The word human didn't seem to apply to sometimes considering what they could do and that included Agni's uncles. In Shego's opinion her daughter had it much worse then she did. Shego had been changed on that fateful day when she was twelve, the age Agni was right now. Whereas the young girl was born that way and had to live with it since Day One while doing her best to try and hide it from others.

Had it been completely up to Shego she would never have left in the first place. Agni wouldn't need to wear that make up and Shego wouldn't have to live like she didn't know her own child. In the end though it wasn't exactly the older woman's choice. Yes, the final decision was hers to make but in her opinion that choice was a delusion at best. She simply wasn't equipped to raise the girl, both mentally or otherwise. She had already proven that.

If I were a part of her life like she wanted Agni would be utterly miserable. I learn from my mistakes, and I do not intend repeat them… There were certain events in Shego's life that she simply refused to revisit even when by herself. Her reason for separating from Agni was one of them and would remain between her mother, herself and one more person who no longer had the capacity to talk about it. But that was in the past and it was going to stay there. All that mattered right then was for Shego to attend to the small girl trying to be so strong in front of her.

Shego walked up to Agni and kneeled on the floor so they were both eye level before pulling the small girl into a hug that she gratefully reciprocated, burying her face into the Thief's neck. For almost ten minutes the two simply basked in the closeness that past circumstances now denied them. Eventually Shego broke the silence.

"You should go to bed now. We'll talk more about this in the morning. I'll let you use my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

Agni nodded too tired to protest, and not yet willing to let go of Shego but then pulled back her head to allow a yawn to escape. She really was pretty exhausted. During her entire trip she usually spent the night hiding in empty train cars or the backseat of parked automobiles, always making sure to wake up and vacate before first light. A quiet and uninterrupted sleep was all she could think of right now. Shego stood up and took the young girls hand leading her to the bedroom. The older woman was amused to see the young girl fall into a deep unconsciousness before her head even hit the pillow.

(Four Hours Ago: Shego's Apartment)

Shego had decided earlier that night to make a phone call while Agni was asleep but seemed to have forgotten something about the little green-skinned preteen when she put her to bed. As a benefit from their unusual physiologies neither she nor Shego ever needed more than four or five hours of sleep a night. Her grandmother once told her that that fact made taking care of her while she was a baby absolutely unbearable, and only Shego seemed to be able to do it since the two shared the same sleep habits.

Agni woke up with a start to the sound of raised voices later that night. For a moment, Agni thought she had imagined the loud voice she heard, like the temporary holdover from some nightmare. However that theory was dashed against the wall when she heard it again. From what she could tell her mother was on the phone with someone and certainly not sounding pleased.

"-And you've got a lot of nerve saying that to me considering you're the one she ran away from!" Shego shouted into the receiver. It didn't take a genius to figure out whom Shego was shouting at. As far as Agni could remember, Shego and her grandmother always got into the worst arguments and the young girl was usually the subject matter at hand.

I'm not surprised she called here. At least Gram knows her number. Agni thought incorrectly. In fact it had been Shego who made the call that she was currently regretting. Not even her mother knew her apartment number.

"I didn't take her, I've said that three times already! Maybe you could hear me if you're ears weren't already clogged by your massive ego!" Now fully awake Agni stealthily snuck from the bedroom and peeked around the corner. The young girl saw Shego looking down at the phone receiver in her hands and debating the merits of smashing it to bits. After a moment she put the device back to her ear.

Yeah, that's Gram alright. Only she could ever get to Mom like that.

"Y'know, maybe this wouldn't happen if I could visit her every now and th-" there was an abrupt pause during which Shego's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You really are an idiot if you think for one second that I'm going to stop writing her."

Agni winced and took a step forward to try to hear some of her grandmother's side of the conversation. It was no secret that her Gram didn't like that they kept in regular contact. Not that it had ever stopped her…

"Yeah… yeah I told you already that I'm taking her back first thing in the morning… listen-," There was a pause during which the expression on Shego's face didn't hide that she wasn't happy with what she was hearing. "-No, you listen! The reason you take care of her, the ONLY reason is because I agreed to let you. When I say that I could just as easily not let you, I hope you understand what I mean." There was another long pause.

"Hah, child services. And that means shit to me, why? You're the one that keeps rubbing my job in my face so you should know that I could give a damn about laws."

Shego sighed and leaned back against the wall dangling the phone at her side to calm down since her right hand had begun to take on a slight glow. She felt tired and drained. She brought the receiver back to her mouth. "Yeah… Like I said; tomorrow morning." She hung up the phone without another word and leaned against the wall with her eyes shut tight.

Well, that's it. Agni thought and her chest tensed up. I guess she's made up her mind. She shook her head and quickly darted off back to her room. Well I certainly have too! The young girl quickly pulled on her shoes and sweater. Going to Shego's had been an exercise in desperation and fully admitted need for a place to be accepted. However, that did not mean that Agni had exhausted all of her options. There was one more thing she could do and it was in fact the easiest option at her disposal since it didn't rely on any others. She quietly slid opened the bedroom window and started on her way down to the streets.

I'll run away and live on my own. It's either that or Mom. Going back home never even entered into the equation.

(Kim's Room: Current Time)

"What? Why did you run from Shego?" Kim's voice cut through Agni's inner reverie and the young girl looked up sharply, frowning. The girl shrugged and started walking towards the window.

"She and me had different ideas is all."

It didn't take a rocket scientist for Kim to know what the young girl was referring to (and she would know since her dad was a rocket scientist). Shego had told her that she was going to take Agni back home the day before, and apparently when Agni found out she wasn't too fond of that plan. That didn't however; explain why the girl was in Kim's room now.

"Even if that was the case, why were you sleeping in my bed?" Kim almost shouted remembering the shock brought on by the scene. Agni leaned against the window and gave the older girl a somewhat apologetic look. The look was only somewhat apologetic because it was obvious that the green girl tried to hide the expression.

"Well, my mom's a pretty great tracker. Really, but I bet you knew that already." Kim hadn't in fact since it never came up, but she figured that to do what that woman did for a living, being able to find people was certainly a must which made sense since tracking was one of Kim's many skills as well.

"I needed to go somewhere she wouldn't look and this was all I could think of." Agni stated which wasn't entirely true. She doubted that Shego would ever think to look for the girl back home, but hiding there defeated the purpose of running away in the first place.

Agni rubbed the back of her head while breaking eye contact. "I was pretty beat when I finally got here and the bed was right there so…" Kim frowned and crossed her arms.

"So you just crawled right on in? You can't just sneak in bed with a person and think they'll be okay with it!"

Agni shot her a surprisingly defiant look and matched Kim's pose. "Well I didn't think you minded considering the minute I got under the covers you pulled me close and called me "Pandaroo"!" Agni shuddered. Her mom's arch foe was into Cuddle Buddies. It was enough to make her flesh want to crawl off.

Kim's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates before she recovered enough to shout, "I did not!" He looked on the bed to see if her precious stuffed animal was anywhere and saw part of it poking out from under the mattress frame. She hoped Agni didn't see it and tell Shego or she would never be able to live it down. Kim quickly averted her gaze from the incriminating plushy and turned her attention back to the rude and audacious twelve-year-old.

Agni had the decency to cut down on her self-righteousness by a narrow margin and cut the flustered hero some slack. She turned and began to open Kim's window before Kim noticed and halted her actions by placing a firm hand on the girls shoulder.

"Where do you think your going?"

Agni whipped around and knocked the girls hand off her shoulder. "Out, this was just a pit stop anyway." She honestly had no idea where she was headed but that didn't matter. Her bank account was full and would afford her all the money she needed to get by. She was also relatively confident that she could take care of herself even without money, but the more she thought about it the more that confidence began to slip away.

Kim for her part wasn't sure why Agni was so hell bent on not returning to Go, but as it stood asking would be pointless. She could almost hear the girl snap back at her, "Mind your own damn business!" without Kim even needing to bring it up. One thing the redhead was sure of though was that she couldn't let the girl just disappear. Sure she seemed pretty resourceful especially for her age, but she was a minor. She probably still hadn't hit puberty yet and she just wanted to run off.

"I can't let you just go on you own." Kim said resolutely. Agni just smirked.

"Then stop me." And almost faster then Kim could blink she leapt out the window.

Oh if that's how it's gonna be…

Agni tucked and landed in a roll, controlling the spin so that she ended up on her feet with no wasted motion before she was off like a rocket. Ducking and swerving behind houses and tree an onlooker would have thought that she had run that route her entire life rather then just improvised it on the fly. She smirked as she ran.

Mom gives that ditz way too much credit. The twelve-year-old thought snickering, but the expression soon formed into a grimace. Thinking about Shego suddenly ruined her good mood and made her stomach twist. She would have liked nothing more then to run back to the woman, but she wasn't about to forget how it was made perfectly clear that Shego couldn't keep her. It was a pretty morbid turn of fate, the girl thought; the person who wanted her didn't like her, and the person who liked her couldn't keep her. Lost within herself she didn't notice the obstruction in the road and crashed hard into something soft before falling back on her behind.

Agni rubbed her sore nose and looked up to see what she had smashed face first into only to be greeted by the smug grin of her mom's archenemy. Kim had her hands on her hips and looked down at the girl like a cat cornering a mouse. Mostly Kim was just smug that she had shown the girl that while the twelve year old had definite inherent skill, compared to Kim she was a rank amateur. She figured that Agni could use for a dose of much needed humility.

Agni for her part couldn't believe that the teen (that as far as she was concerned didn't even belong in the same room as her mother) managed to both track and outrun her so effortlessly. Undeterred the girl launched herself backwards and ran the opposite way only to once again be met with the smiling redhead. Luckily, the second time Agni was on alert so she knew when to stop without hitting the hero.

"Going somewhere?" The cheerleader asked coyly.

Agni was becoming more then a little frustrated and decided that if the girl wasn't going to let her leave in peace, then leaving in peace she would not do. Kim took a reflexive step back in surprise when a kick aimed for her face (but would likely have hit her chest) lashed out to connect. Kim's arm shot forward and grabbed the offending limb around the ankle but had to bring up her other arm to block when Angi twisted her weight around and kicked out with her free leg, hoping if nothing else to free herself. Kim almost casually blocked the other kick with her forearm and snagging the opportunity twisted her arm around and caught the girl by her other ankle. This resulted in a scene involving the cheerleader holding the now very angry young girl upside-down looking up at her in utter fury.

"Put me down, Loser!" She shouted with fire in her emerald eyes.

I wonder what this girl was like for her babysitters. Kim thought bemused by an attack on her person by such a young girl. She was about to ask Agni if she had given up when she saw that the girl was just looking up at her and had stopped struggling. The redhead reflexively loosened her grip, as she was about to ask but seemed to forget exactly whose child she was dealing with. Both of the girl's hands flared up suddenly with frightful swirling green light and she swiped forwards with her tiny-clawed hands causing Kim to drop her.

I guess that answers my question as to how much she took from her mom's side.

Kim casually sidestepped the slashing torches at the end of the young girls arms with practiced ease. She wasn't even working up a sweat and her hands even behind her back as she continued to dodge the attack.

Okay, I admit it. She is pretty good. But I bet my Mom could still kick the crap out of her.

But Agni, however, was obviously tiring herself out as she slashed forward relentlessly. After about ten minutes Kim saw a perfect opening and darted forward, leaping behind the girl and snatching her by her forearms in a tight hold. At first Agni struggled against Kim's grip like an animal caught in a bear trap but after awhile she gave up and lay still, tired and resigned to her defeat and the hands of the older and far more experienced opponent.

"Have you calmed down?" Kim asked waiting for when she could let go of the girl without her running off.

"…Yeah." Agni said sounding as beat as she felt.

"Spankin."

Kim let go and took a step back, ready to spring forward if the girl ran off again. Much to her relief, Agni didn't but she also didn't turn around to face her. It was odd but it was like Kim had broken the girl's spirit. She hadn't in fact but Agni was simply dreading hearing that she would be sent back home. The green-eyed girl knew that if she tried to run off again she would probably be caught the same way.

Kim reached down and took the girl by the hand, and she was surprised when she wasn't shrugged off. Agni remained silent the whole time as they made there way back to Kim's home. As they walked, Kim kept stealing glances her way.

I know she doesn't want to go back, but she has to. I mean her grandparents are probably totally worried about her. Something about Kim's inherent need to help kept tugging at her from within; she simply couldn't let things just fizzle out like this. The way Agni was acting, it was as if Kim was leading her to her execution. As far as the redhead was concerned, there were no correct answers to this problem, just okay ones.

Maybe, she thought, If I could just figure out why she doesn't want to go back, I could help her fix it… She knew she was being optimistic but it was her way. When they were in front of Kim's home, Kim kneeled in front of the girl and looked her in the eye.

"You really don't want to go home, right." It wasn't a question.

Agni just shook her head.

After some thought as to what she would say Kim looked over Agni. "Maybe… maybe I can help. I am known to do that after all." The young girl looked up at her and cocked her eyebrow.

"You can stay here for today and get cleaned up first and then, if you'll let me, we can figure something out." Kim saw Agni look away but she didn't seem to be dismissing the assistance outright. After awhile she nodded.

"Sure… " To Agni, she was just buying herself some more time anyway. If the do-gooder thought she could fix her problem then there was no reason to try and stop her. As far as Agni was concerned she needed all the help she could get. Kim smiled at the small progress made and felt for the first time that day that things were starting to settle down.

She should have known better by now.

Chapter 3: End