Tap-tap.

Kim frowned. She didn't need any distractions from Ron right now. He could come over for dinner if he wanted, but coming early to avoid his own homework, while she was trying to finish hers, just wasn't on.

Tap-tap-tap.

Wondering why he'd bothered to climb up to her room, the teenager leaned over to berate her best friend through the window, only to see the exact opposite crouched outside. "I told you not to come back," she warned Shego, snatching up her kimmunicator from the desk as she jumped to her feet.

"Yeah, like I'd ever listen to... ugh," Shego cut herself short, shook her head and started again. "That's why I'm not coming in. Backyard, Possible."

"What?"

"You and I are gonna hash this out right now."

"As if," the redhead snorted.

Shego had less success controlling her temper a second time. "You get your butt to the backyard or I stick around until your family comes home and starts asking questions." She observed Kim's look of shock turn to stubborn defiance as she glanced down at the kimmunicator in her hand. "Call the cops if you want," the villainess told her. "Or Global Justice. Or the army. Just means they'll come home to a bigger mess, and you'll have to fight me anyway." Without further ado, she leapt up out of sight, presumably crossing the roof to get to the back of the house.

Kim growled in exasperation, tossing the device onto her bed before marching downstairs and out the kitchen door.

Shego waited only long enough for the heroine to note her presence before leaping at her. Kim rolled aside and rose into a fighting stance, noting that her opponent had yet to light up her hands. "Don't go easy on my account, Shego," she declared.

"Just warming you up, princess," the villainess replied, but there was no smirk on her face as she said it.

The pair traded blows without further banter for a couple of minutes while Shego waited for Kim to get frustrated enough to bring her A game. Once holding off the redhead actually became difficult, she went on the offensive. "Drakken's signal was supposed to infect mp3 players, not hearing aids. And we didn't know your gran was in the bunch until you said."

"I know," Kim grunted as she counterattacked, but was immediately forced back on the defensive.

"Just making a point. She wasn't why you were so angry while we fought." Shego took a step back, assuming a less hostile posture.

Kim wondered why Shego was allowing her to go on the offensive when she stopped talking, and soon gleaned the green girl's intentions. She was setting up a protocol for this encounter. Attackers could talk. Defenders had to listen. Wierd... yet somehow appropriate for Shego. They circled each other as Kim considered what she had to say, then launched a series of punches and kicks at her opponent.

"Trying to kill me may be just a job to you, but it's my life. You honestly think I wouldn't take it personally?"

"I never have," Shego managed to get in between blocks.

"I don't try to kill you!"

"Wasn't talkin' about you." Shego clarified before knocking Kim back against the wall of the house, the impact forcing the teenager to collapse to her hands and knees. "I've been doing the super thing for half my life, Kimmie. And you're only half of my job these days. The best half, usually, but... that last fight... wasn't fun."

Kim launched herself at the villainess like a sprinter hearing the starting pistol, and they both eventually tumbled to the ground, grappling each other. "It shouldn't be fun," Kim snarled as she tried to maintain her position on top, "We're enemies."

Shego managed to roll them. "Is that your problem?" she asked, incredulous. "You think you shouldn't be enjoying it?" When Kim blinked up at her, confused, she added, "Then why the hell are you playing hero in the first place?"

"I do enjoy what I do," Kim confirmed once she'd kicked Shego off of her and vaulted to her feet before setting upon the green girl once more. "I don't mind risking my life to help people, or save the world. But you... you'd have fun, killing me. You'd take pleasure in it." She paused her attack, daring her opponent to deny it.

"Not how I'd put it," Shego admitted between dodged slashes. "I was rough on you when I said that. I got riled up because you got riled up... ugh, look, being the one who killed Kim Possible would have its perks, but..."

Kim roundhoused her so that she spun as she fell. By the time she rolled over, Kim was back on top of her, pinning her down. "But what?"

Apparently the villainess had trouble saying what was on her mind, and not just because she couldn't dislodge the lighter girl. "A world without you in it... would be... boring."

Kim stared down at her until the struggling ceased. "I thought we were becoming friends."

"...Maybe," Shego muttered, then defensively added, "You're the one who took what we do outside your bedroom personally."

"And in my bedroom?"

"That's up to you, cupcake," Shego purred before blowing the teenager a kiss, then finally managed to flip her off with a rocking kick during the morally superior girl's indignant squawk. She reversed her momentum and rolled to her feet, then waited until her opponent was back up before attacking again. "Seriously, does the lesbian thing freak you out?" she asked, then deliberately made it difficult for Kim to get the upper hand.

"Freaked, no," Kim finally managed to say. "Tweaked... maybe."

The punches between the two went back and forth in quick succession. "Can you at least admit how smoking hot I am?"

"In a goth nightclub, maybe," Kim scoffed.

"My skintone limits my fashion options, princess. Besides, my outfit's a classic."

"Better a dark room than a dark alley, I suppose."

Shego barked out a laugh at both the joke and the surprise considering its source, then was forced to exhale again as Kim kicked her hard in the stomach, forcing her back a few feet. In response, she only looked back at the redhead and smirked. "See? This is fun."

Kim's response was as Shego hoped for, full of challenge with a pinch of arrogant self-rightious snark. "You're just trying to get back what you lost when you said something stupid enough to ruin it."

Shego's fists flared with roiling green light, and with an enthusiastic grin she attacked Kim anew. Now she was bringing her own A game to the match, and the banter ceased entirely as they both focused on the combat.

Kim knew if she screwed up now, it could get her killed; but after facing off with the villainess for over a year, she was confident in her abilities. As they duelled she had to admit to herself that, despite the potential consequences, this was fun. And if Shego didn't mean it personally, maybe she shouldn't be so quick to take it as such. Each of them thought little of the other's life choices, but their ability... yes, professional respect. Kim had been too angry to acknowledge it at the time, but Shego had hit the nail on the head.

It proved to be a good fight, one that more than made up for Florida. There was no self-destructing device or exploding lair, no sidekick or mad scientist (or crowd of retirees and spring breakers) to interrupt them. It didn't stop until Kim noticed it was getting dark. She took several steps back and pointed this fact out to Shego between panting breaths. "My family's going to be home soon. Are you done trying to kill me for today?"

Shego, also short of breath, eventually nodded and extinguished the glow. "Fair enough. Hope I helped you work up an appetite."

"Yeah yeah, sexual innuendo, there's a surprise." Kim sighed. "I can't believe beating each other up turned out to be therapeutic. You realise you did this for purely selfish reasons..."

"Well, doy!" her archfoe replied. "The fact that you feel better about it too is purely secondary."

"I'll see you next time, Shego," the redhead told her, and headed back to the kitchen door. When she reached it, she glanced back to see the smirking villainess still standing there, a hand on a cocked hip. Kim chuckled even as she shook her head at the display. She could practically hear the older girl declaring, We both know you think this is hot.

By the time Kim was inside and peeked out the kitchen window, Shego had vanished, but the memory of her making faces made her laugh again. As the teenager went up to her room, she took note of the toll the fight had taken on her body. She was also hot, sweaty and hungry...

Maybe I should wash and change before the 'rents get home, she decided.

It wasn't until she was in the shower that she remembered something Shego had said: fighting Kim was the best half of her job.

The admission made Kim happier than she expected.