It was an usual night in that the house was not alive with the loud cheerful chatter of young women, each so bright and burning with their chosen passions. Often at night, Buttercup would be sparring, either with one of her sisters or she would work her frustrations out on a side of beef that needed tenderizing. It was not that she was a cruel girl, but there was something in Buttercup that left her with more restless energy than her sisters, and she had a quick temper despite her training in patience with several wise monks. Perhaps it was the spice in the Professor's recipe, most of it had gone to the making of Buttercup's personality. She was, by far, the loudest of the sisters and the silence of the house was all the more telling without her voice ringing within the walls.
Him had fallen into the habit with Blossom of answering as many questions as she could come up with: sometimes she asked of his home, what relations he could claim to remember, often she asked of his powers and physical anatomy. Him answered what he could, for he knew of Blossom's ambition to begin the field of Demonology and he'd found it useful to discuss himself as it aided in the recovery of his memory. Only a few holes remained blank when it came to his history now, only a few things were blind to his mind. He remembered his disgust with the girls' ideals for peace and happiness in Townsville, and all he'd done in failed attempts to put an end to their goodness.
It did not shame him, for the past was past, and in spending personal time with the small family he'd grown fond of them all. So fond in fact that he'd made a promise not to harm them or any other residing in their realm. A promise was a rare thing, but for their kindness, Him could make an exception.
As for Bubbles, now there was a puzzle Him could enjoy. He knew that the girl had grown to care for him, and perhaps allowed herself to feel an attraction...no challenge there, as Him considered himself quite alluring. Still, Bubbles was fighting her feelings for reasons that Him could only just barely comprehend. Something about Him being an inhuman former enemy, or some nonsense. That didn't matter to Him. What did matter was that Bubbles could overcome her hesitation and allow him the chance for seduction he'd been waiting for since seeing her all dressed up for a night out with her friends.
She was a beautiful young woman, and though a far cry from the demonesses Him frequented, there was something about the girl that captured his attention. He'd always favored using her for her naivete and innocence in his past schemes, and now he simply favored her for himself.
Him's pointed ears twitched on stepping into the house from the backyard. He'd heard an irritating buzzing sound, much like an alarm clock, and now the house was devoid of the girls. Him crossed the living room to step into the kitchen and found the Professor standing before the counter, cutting vegetables. "What was that noise?" Him asked the man.
The Professor looked up, startled, his grip on the knife suddenly tighter. He refused to give in to the urge to be unkind to Him, as the demon was a quest and had showed himself to be a new friend rather than the old foe he was in the past, but all the same the Professor still found himself uneasy when Him was near.
"Oh, Him, you scared me. That noise was the hotline."
Off Him's blank look, the Professor went on…
"Whenever something is happening in Townsville, the Mayor calls the house to get in contact with the girls. It's been this way ever since the girls figured out how to use their powers to defend the city."
Him sat down at the kitchen table, watching as the Professor resumed his dinner preparation. "They use their powers only for good things."
The Professor shrugged, recalling the first time the girls had discovered their powers and nearly destroyed the entire city in a game of tag. "Most of the time, anyway."
Him thought back to what he'd done so often in the past, secretly watch as the girls fought giant robots and, hitting closer to Him's home, they would fight monsters. "They use their powers to fight evils things...like me."
The Professor wiped his hand on a dish towel and turned to Him. "They don't want you to be an evil thing anymore. Bubbles believes in you, she's sure that you can be a force for good. Blossom thinks it's possible, but that you have to be taught to know right from wrong – or at least, right from wrong the way it's defined in our world. Buttercup…well, when it comes to Buttercup, actions have always spoken louder than words."
Him tapped the tabletop with the sharp tip of his claw. "And what do you think?"
The Professor raised his brows. "Me? Well, I had my doubts when they first brought you here. You, being what you've been in the past and the girls being my girls…I'm sorry, maybe you'd understand my hesitance if you had your own children."
Him looked up, "But I do. Hundreds."
The Professor dropped his fork. "Hundreds? How is that even possible?"
"I've had many consorts over the years. I'm very potent, and my consorts are very receptive. We breed when the mood strikes, and it strikes...often." Him shrugged nonchalantly in his explanation.
"Oh. Well, then as a father I'm sure you can understand why I was uncertain about you being here at first. But you've proven that you mean no harm and once your memory comes back we can get to the bottom of what happened to you."
Him sighed lightly. "Mmm. I'm starting to remember some things, but not that most important thing – who did this to me and how I can return to take back my place."
In the distance, they could hear the battle crashing throughout the city.
"Do you think they're all right?" Him asked the man.
"Oh, yes. If it's one thing my girls have proven over the years it's that they will take on any challenge and meet it head-on. There isn't a villain in Townsville that stands a chance against them, not even you." The Professor chided.
"I held back." Him said plainly.
The Professor looked up, "Pardon?"
"Every time we fought, I held back. I know I did. To put it simply, they amused me. It was fun for me to come here and play a game or two with them, and when it was over, I let them enjoy the illusion that they roughed me up a little, but that's all it ever was – an illusion."
The Professor wasn't sure what to say to that, but he did not have the chance to respond when the sisters had just returned through the front door.
Both Him and the Professor stood and moved to greet them. Each sister was in a similar state of disrepair, their clothes torn and burnt, their hair in disarray and all of them very much worse for wear.
"Girls, do you want dinner?"
Blossom shook her head. "Rough night, Professor. I just want to lay down."
Buttercup nodded in agreement. "I might eat later, but right now I just want to..." Buttercup didn't finish as she flopped onto the sofa and turned on the television, flipping through the channels until she found her preferred comedy skit show. Glued to the television, the Professor knew that she was effectively tuning out the world for the time being.
The man nodded in understanding. "That's all right. Girls, I'll wrap up dinner and you can help yourselves when you're feeling up to eating." Clearly, this was not an uncommon occurence in the Utonium household; the last thing that the girls wanted to do after fighting so hard was sit down to a big meal. They would often rest for several hours and then devour the entire kitchen when their appetites returned to them.
"Ugh, I hurt all over." Bubbles said, unknowingly repeating Him's own words on realizing his injuries in the Townsville Park.
Him asked, "What happened?"
Buttercup shrugged, "It was another monster trying to trash Townsville. Some purple slime monster with spikes and tentacles. Bubbles got blasted before I could take it down."
Blossom turned to Him. "Can we assume that monster was one of your children?"
Him sighed lightly and nodded, "It's possible, yes."
Buttercup winced, "Oh, I'm sorry Him, but it was wrecking the city. We…we didn't kill it. We just beat it up, in case it was one of yours. After we knocked it out, the monster vanished."
"Thank you." Him said quietly.
Bubbles tilted her head back and let the hot water course over her, washing away the grime and sweat from the fight. It felt wonderful to scrub the filth away and replace it with a thick lather of her favored papaya shampoo and coconut body wash. Glancing at the floor of the shower, she watched thankfully as the dirt swirled away down the drain.
Minutes later, Bubbles turned off the flow of water and took a deep breath to clear her mind. She stepped out of the shower and stopped short at the sight of company. Him was standing in the doorway of her bathroom, simply watching her. She quickly reached for a towel, which she wrapped around her dripping body.
Bubbles dashed behind the shower curtain, her face now flushed with heat from embarassment rather than the steam of the shower. "What are you doing in here, Him? Do you need something?"
When he spoke again, his voice was closer. He had stepped into the bathroom with her. "No. I wanted to make sure you were all right."
Bubbles quickly patted herself dry with the towel. His behavior made her nervous, but it also thrilled her in a way she had never felt before. She feared what he might try to do to her, but by the same token she was curious to know what he would do next. Strangely, his unpredictability was part of the reason she'd become infatuated with him. "Could you hand me my robe, please? It's on the wall hook."
Him glanced over and spied the short satin robe. Baby blue, of course. He handed it over to her.
Bubbles moved to belt it about her waist. She didn't know why she should be concerned, it wasn't like Him was a man, but all the same she didn't feel comfortable with him being able to ogle her body if he chose to do so.
She emerged from the shower stall to reassure him. "I'm fine. Another day, another fight."
"I assume your sisters ended things in town quickly." He said. The concern in his voice wasn't solely for her well-being, it was clear that he was worried they had injured one of his children.
Bubbles looked away for a moment before looking back at Him. "Yes, we always do. I'm sorry, but you know why we had to do this."
He nodded. "Yes, I know. And they all know the risk of coming into this realm and facing you. Right now, there's nothing I can do to stop them."
Bubbles nodded and moved past Him into her connected bedroom. "I know. In time."
"You said it hurt you?"
"It comes with the territory." She said lightly as she sat down on her bed. She had been about to ask Him to leave so that she could change her clothes and comb out her hair, but when she looked up to speak to him, she noticed that he was eying her strangely.
"Lie down on your stomach."
She raised her brows, "Why?"
Him looked at her. "Do you trust me?"
Bubbles hesitated, watching Him, taking the measure of sincerity in his eyes. Without answering him, she moved to do as he asked.
She closed her eyes and breathed as the demon moved forward onto her bed, to climb atop her. For a single moment, Bubbles froze, fearing the absolute worse from him.
But Him did not attack; no strike came, there was no painful blast of energy.
He did, however, move to straddle over her narrow hips before he pulled her robe down to reveal her naked back. For a moment, he stared down at the canvas of soft skin before him, marveling at the contrast between their colors. Her skin, the color of pale cream, and his own, a deep crimson.
Bubbles said nothing as she felt the cool drag of Him's claws up and down her back. He was not trying to hurt her, he was only touching her, testing, and perhaps waiting to see if she would stop him.
She didn't.
Him began to work the rounded backs of his claws into her muscles, giving her a long, hard massage to work the tension from her back. He rolled his claws into her, putting a measure of his strength into the touch, determined to ease her stress, perhaps to give her some pleasure as well.
Bubbles, for her part, had to restrain herself from writhing under his ministrations. She had never been given a massage before, and certainly she'd never had such an intimate experience such as this. The demon, the most dangerous enemy she'd ever known, was straddled atop her, his claws moving up and down her back – and Bubbles shivered to realize that she didn't want Him to stop touching her. She wanted more.
Him hesitated before leaning forward and planting a demonic kiss on the tender place where her neck sloped into the curve of her shoulder. Bubbles's breath hitched; the soft suction of his lips, the dangerous drag of his fang over her pulse point. She shuddered, unsure what had just happened to make her feel so sated, so relaxed. She felt his weight shift above her as he moved onto the bed at her side.
For several moments, Bubbles simply breathed, reveling in the faint afterglow of his touch. She was sure that she had never felt so relaxed in all her life. She almost felt weak, so lazy that she made no move to shy away from Him's claw – the tip of which he'd started to drag over her chest, over the curves of each breast, moving over her flat belly.
"Mmm. Thank you." Bubbles said as she curled onto her side, so relaxed that the didn't bother to replace her robe and protect her modesty.
"You feel better?" Him asked from his place beside her. He thought that he liked seeing her this way; her skin flushed a rosy hue, her eyelids at half-mast, her body betraying her better sense, wanting more, wanting him.
"Yes." She said as she stretched lazily. "If you keep that up, I might decide to keep you around for a little longer."
Him laughed at that and draped his arm over her waist, pulling her closer to spoon against him. "Ah, well I'm happy to earn my keep in one way or another."
They remained that way for several hours, until yet another disaster interrupted their time together.