Yet Another Kigo Fic! – Chapter 2
By Ken-Zero
Disclaimer: Just like last time, nothing magically changed. I still don't own any of these people.
After Kim Possible hung up the phone, ending that wildly inappropriate conversation closer with Shego, she counted, by primes, to…well, the highest nine-digit prime number she could think of before flopping onto her bed. As far as she was concerned, they were going to have their chat tomorrow night, learn some things, and be done with it. She was sure, under all the innuendo Shego had used, that that was what the older woman wanted, as well. Still, in her opinion, tomorrow night couldn't come soon enough.
Shockingly enough, it came quicker than anticipated. Of course, running a mission for most of the day helped speed things along, especially when that mission involved a high-speed chase through river rapids on the Amazon, trailing Monty Fiske, also known as Monkey Fist, in his pursuit of mystical monkey mojo and assorted artifacts to crown himself Monkey Master. Now, Ron had told Kim that during all the hullabaloo surrounding their graduation Sensei had come to him and told Ron that he was the real Monkey Master. Unfortunately Monty wasn't present to hear that little revelation, which meant he was as misguided as ever.
Actually, if Kim's memory served, Monty had been a statue for whatever reason when Shego and Dr. Drakken were awarded their medallions…
Which brought her back to the task at hand. Sort of.
Kim was actually fretting about what to wear. Some small part of her conscious mind screamed at the ridiculousness and futility of such an exercise. After all, it wasn't like she was going on a date. Ron's schedule was locked up for the next three nights, anyway. And besides, it was only Shego. Unfortunately, the part of her that was freshly eighteen was fully in control, and it argued with the rational part that, hey, it was Shego. The one woman from whom, for whatever reason, Kim couldn't really handle clothing criticism easily. Kim knew if Bonnie were to insult her taste or style that she could brush it off, piece of cake, and move on. But when Shego picked on Kim's choice of clothing, it really, really irked her. Kim didn't know why; maybe it was just that piled on top of all the other bits of teasing and mocking. Except she usually handled those just fine, as well.
With a frustrated growl she reached in and grabbed the first items of clothing her hands touched: her mission gear. She tossed those aside and reached for another set, finally coming away satisfied with the kind of semi-nice clothes she wore to work at Club Banana: bright-colored shirt with three-quarter-length sleeves and pants that were too nice to be called jeans but too casual to be real khakis. She changed in a flash, ran downstairs to kiss her parents goodbye, and hopped into her car.
Ten minutes later she was there…and half an hour early. She took one look around and felt a familiar feeling well up inside: excitement. She rubbed her hands together: it was time to shop.
After all, she may have been a world-saving, ultra-athletic, high-school-graduate teen hero, but she was female, too.
After Shego hung up the phone, she had a good solid giggle fit that lasted for about fifteen seconds. She couldn't help it; about the only part of that phone conversation that wasn't amusing was the lack of a screen to see Kimmie's face. Well, that and the context of the call, at least. Shego knew their "talk" wasn't going to be pleasant, but as it was going to be in a public place, neither of them would be exactly ready to just go at each other's throats without a really really good justification.
Still, if the questions were going to where Shego thought they would go, it would not be a night to look forward to, which meant Shego knew it was going to come up much faster than she anticipated.
She was pleasantly surprised when the next day dragged on like molasses in winter with the speed aspirations of a snail. She got to feel good and lazy, staying in her hideout practically all day with the television on and a bowl of popcorn handy. Finally, though, the appointed time arrived, and she cleaned herself up before sorting through the handful of casual clothes she kept in each of her few hidey holes. She selected black jeans and a lime-green tank top over which she wore a short black jacket. Black gloves hid her hands and she split her hair so it fell equally in front of and behind her shoulders. No reason to really give away her skin tone, after all, especially since she didn't want to be reported by random passersby.
Having made herself presentable enough she went to the other end of her hideout and rode a small elevator to the surface. The end of the ride opened into a parking structure, and as she stepped out the wall slid closed behind her. She walked to a nondescript black vehicle, climbed in, and turned the keys that were already in the ignition.
Shego made it to the mall in record time, probably because she had traumatized half the people on the road. Shego was a fine pilot; she just extended those hotshot skills to the road, and that tended to scare a lot of people. She checked the car clock and discovered she was nearly thirty minutes early.
With a shrug she stepped out of the car. She locked it and went inside, then rubbed her gloved hands together, smiling a little. It was time to shop.
After all, she may have been a green-skinned, comet-powered, plasma-wielding master thief, but she was a female, too.
Shego and Kim managed to cross each other's path six times in the next twenty-four minutes without either of them realizing it. An outside observer who knew what was supposed to happen might have found it amusing, but as there were none of those that pleasure was wasted.
Nevertheless, at about six minutes to eight both women were finishing their last runs at different stores. Kim's Kimmunicator went off just as she was putting her receipt in her bag, and she headed for the food court at a brisk walk.
Shego checked her watch and saw she had only a few minutes left; luckily she was about three store fronts away from the food court, so she had plenty of time.
Both women became slightly apprehensive as they approached the meeting place; Kim knew that the food court area would be the only place Shego would be willing to talk, since the noise level meant that practically no one could listen in on them. Shego knew that the food court area would be practically the only place Kim would be willing to talk since the redhead would most likely be absolutely starving given the energy output she maintained.
Shego found Kim first, a not-too-difficult task given her luxurious mane of red hair. Shego was willing to bet that Kim was the only red-haired petite female cheerleader in the entire building, too, since not many other people had that hair coloration. Shego knew of Kim's mother having red hair, and that was about it. She snuck up behind Kim, who was apparently scanning the crowd to see if she could spot Shego, and crossed her arms, assuming a bored, semi-irritated expression. At least her hair was pulled back enough to let Kim see her face.
Kim was indeed looking for Shego. She wasn't having much success; she supposed that the thief probably wouldn't be wearing her normal catsuit, given the circumstances, which meant she would be looking for any flash of pale green skin…hopefully helped by the most awesomely thick head of long, shiny black hair Kim had ever seen. She'd had to suppress the urge in the past to just run her fingers through it, and not just because Shego was her archrival: Kim had tried to give up being that grade-school girly when she entered high school and had mostly succeeded.
She sighed and scanned the crowd again, but she saw nothing. Then she turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin. She put a hand over her heart to calm it down. "Shego!" she hissed. "Don't do that!"
The supervillain laughed. "What's the matter, Princess? Afraid of me now?"
"So not," Kim scoffed. "I just…wasn't expecting you right there."
"Uh huh. And your face is all red…why?"
"Because you scared me, duh," Kim answered.
"I've scared you before, Cupcake. Aw, is our conversation last night getting to you?"
"So not," Kim repeated. "Look, can we sit down?"
"Sure thing." They found a table—a small miracle given how crowded the mall was—and set their bags down next to their chairs. Kim felt a little apprehensive still, as she thought Shego was being awfully civil...until she remembered why she'd suggested they meet.
"Look, Shego," Kim began, "I'm sure you know why I wanted us to talk."
"I have my guesses, Pumpkin, but why don't you tell me?" Shego was sure she knew, but she would rather humor Kim for the moment.
"I want to know why," Kim said simply.
"That's a big question, Kimmie," Shego said, leaning back in her seat. "I suppose we could start with the Big Bang"—Kim's face flushed again and Shego fought back a grin—"and move along the creation of the universe and all that stuff. But that's more the 'what' and 'how,' not the why. As for why, who knows? Maybe it's just one of those things that happen once in a galactic while."
"Can you ever be serious?"
"Why? Oops, there's that question again."
"Shego…" Kim put her head in her hands.
"That's my name," she confirmed. "So glad you can remember it. So, what's your question?"
"Why did I have to take you and Drakken out again?"
"Oh, that was a date? I didn't know you could do that with two people…"
This time Shego couldn't help but laugh as Kim nearly smashed the table in frustration.
"Dammit, Shego," Kim growled, which secretly impressed the older woman. She'd never known Kimmie to swear before, but there it was. She supposed graduating high school would have something to do with it, as Kimmie could finally start to grow beyond her shining knight image. Or was it knight-ess?
"Alright, Princess, I'll be good," Shego said. "Sort of." She leaned forward in her seat again. "So what's on your mind?"
"Why did I have to take you and Drakken out again?" Kim repeated. She looked offended, like doing the hero thing was no longer her pride and joy.
"Do you want the long answer or the short one?"
"Long, please."
Shego sighed. "You get the short one first. Basically, Dr. D needs me around. And he pays."
"Why does he need you around? Didn't you tell me before that you just make fun of him and poke holes in his plans?"
"Yeah, I did. But just think of what would happen if I wasn't there one day for him. That whole pickles incident doesn't count, by the way. He'd get this crazy-ass mad scientist plan, like his last one, except he'd need to get the parts himself, or he'd design something with even more fatal a flaw than usual, like fatal to him and not just his lair. Then when he would try and execute it he'd more than likely get himself eaten alive or something. I mean, remember when we actually had to help you against Warmonga and her partner, whatever his name was? Drakken's flower power helped get you free, or so he told me, but imagine if I hadn't been there in his lair when he first tried to use it. It would have probably grown a giant Venus Drakken-trap that would have had a nice big lunch."
Kim looked skeptical. "You mean to tell me you're only in on this ride to keep Drakken safe?"
"Well, not really," Shego admitted easily. She took off her gloves and shed the jacket; now that she was in Kim's company she wasn't worried about being hauled off anywhere. "Much better. My main reason is that he pays me. Isn't that just wonderfully capitalistic of me? I provide him a service and he pays me for it."
"But you told me that he operates in the red most of the time."
"He's a genius with some things, Kimmie, but a moron about the rest. Way early on I taught him some basic money management. He basically has two separate funds: one for me, one for his crazy schemes."
"Okay…so why, then? I mean, honestly, I thought that after you helped with Warmonga and them that things would be slightly different."
Shego's expression dropped. "Not many professions on the right side of the law that give the kind of adrenaline rush I like, Princess," she said. "People don't change that easily. I admit, it was nice being recognized and not having to go to jail for it. Or at least look like I was going to jail. And hey, Dr. D actually came up with a scheme that worked, once and for all. He'd had his victory; it just so happened that it came with saving the world instead of conquering it."
"And then?" Kim drew the words out like a certain Chinese drive-through voice.
"Don't start that," Shego warned. "Not my favorite movie. Anyway, the other bad guys started picking on him for that very fact. Let's just say that the one-man blue group doesn't handle peer pressure very well. You told me he went to college with your dad?" Kim nodded, and Shego continued. "See how that turned out. Anyway, with all the other guys harping on him, he had to prove that he could conquer the world just as easily. And since I was kinda attached to him, I was by default along for the ride."
"That's…the dumbest justification I've ever heard," Kim said frankly.
"And don't I know it. But it's like I said, I keep him mostly alive and well and he pays me good money."
"That's so mercenary, though. Didn't you feel better after getting your medal?"
"Not really, no," Shego said. " I was kind of operating on a euphoric, we-made-it-out-alive feeling, but when the Doc's little plant dude wrapped me up that went by the wayside. I think I hurt his feelings when I sliced my way free."
"I saw that feed," Kim said. "You looked…embarrassed."
"Well come on, who wouldn't be?" Shego exclaimed. "I mean, bad enough that we have to be hailed like heroes, which I am emphatically not, but then his plant thingy gets it in its mossy head that the two of us are an item?" She made a nasty sound.
It was Kim's turn to laugh. "You deny it so violently that I'm tempted to think it's actually true, but I wouldn't do that to you."
"Thanks," Shego said sarcastically. "It'd be like me saying you got laid by the buffoon three nights a week for the last year."
"Shego!" Kim shrieked while turning bright red again. The villainess smirked.
"Strike a nerve, Kimmie?" she asked slyly.
"Hell no!" Kim said vehemently.
Shego chuckled. "There's that same violent denial. Are you sure he's not keeping you company at night?"
Visibly Kim restrained herself. "Absolutely sure," she said primly. "If you must know we stopped being an item a few weeks after your medal ceremony. And we never did…that."
"I sense some gossip fodder, but that's not what I'm here for. At least, not right now," Shego amended. "Anyway, that's my story. You can't blame a girl for needing to keep a job, can you? Besides, I wouldn't have this any other way: this way I get to knock you around legitimately, no holds barred and all that."
"You're staying criminal just to fight me? Well, that and the paycheck?" Kim touched a hand to her chest. "I'm flattered."
"Improved use of sarcasm, very good, Princess," Shego said approvingly, and Kim grinned. "Look, I know you don't like this, but it's like I told you back then: people don't change so quickly. I've been a criminal for almost half of your life. It's not so easy to leave that behind."
"But you want to, don't you?" Kim asked softly. It damn well sounded like it to her, to listen to Shego talk and hear the tone of her voice.
"Hmm?" Shego asked, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't hear you, Cupcake. What'd you say?"
"Nothing," Kim said. "At least, nothing important." She sighed. "So do you think Drakken could be convinced to stop taking over the world again?"
"Don't know, don't care," Shego said, crossing her arms. "Really, Kimmie, trying would be a waste of time. You can't tell me you don't enjoy getting it on with me?"
Kim half-smiled in spite of the double entendre. She really did like mixing it up with Shego, since the two could go all-out without worrying about injuring the other or the perceived formality of sparring. There was always the rush, just like Shego was talking about, that came with full-on combat with someone who was at least Kim's equal, if not her better. It spurred on Kim's…well, Ron had called it "natural Kim-ness" that had gotten her lead spot on the cheer squad and also made sure she kept on taking missions in spite of setbacks. Her father's truism didn't do a thing to calm it, either: Kim really believed anything was possible for her.
Shego echoed the smile. "See what I mean? You like it, too."
"I know," Kim sighed. "Well, I guess that answers my question…much as I may not like the answer. Do you have any?"
"Yeah. My place, or yours?"
Shego laughed long and hard at Kim's expression.
A/N: Yes, I realize a fat lot of nothing happened here except for some rationales and explanations. I'll do better later, but hopefully this means things are a bit clearer.
As for why Shego and Kim are so chummy, we'll take a look at that next chapter, as well as get back to the present. And by the way, the comments about the girls enjoying shopping…well, I haven't met a girl yet who didn't, so forgive the generalization.