p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She was weak, and pathetic. It had only taken two days on the ship and the time had not healed, or given her any further clarity. There only came that gnawing need to return here and watch him; it was a comfort to be here and see him move through his little life. Even those swimming thoughts of hatred, of the clan smugly saying there were right all along felt less when she was here. She emwould /emprove them wrong, but she still had time to enjoy the human. If only for a little while it was a small gift she would allow herself to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/strong/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She sat on the vent, wondering of things she knew could never be. She wanted to ask him things, about himself, of his life—would these things improve her chances of killing him? Why was she lying to herself? Of sitting with him, and being able to stare into those eyes again, and feel that same wave of excitement was what she really wanted. The rain was light tonight, she thought as she looked up at the sky with dappled spots of twinkling stars. They spread across the hazy, purple blanket of the night./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Those stars would be here long after, and so it was okay to think of things that seemed so small in the reality of things. She growled to herself, and tightened her grip on the edge of the vent. What if I touched him, and what if he didn't turn away in disgust, like so many of her clan had?/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"They always used to tell her she was too short to mate. That her face was not like her clan members. While she retained their shape, her mouth was closed, with only two short mandibles that were on her lower lip. Her skin was bright pink, with patches of black. Her mouth resembled that of the ooman; stretching horizontally. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Yuuhman. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"They had called her that. A mix of Yautja and ooman—it used to anger her. She was lying to herself all the time now it seemed. Maybe she really had come here to feel like she was closer to something she was, and maybe that was all it was. The thoughts had caught her off guard, and when she'd clawed her way back to reality, she saw the human was staring right at her./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He was stood across the way, peering through the window; those eyes unblinking, gazing at her. She slowly stepped off the vent and took a step closer to the edge of the rooftop. She'd kept her cloak off because this is exactly what she wanted but now she had it, panic set in. She could only stand and look at him. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Here I am. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"The man slowly raised his hand again and waved to her. The rage seeped in but shrank away when she raised her own hand, and waved back slowly./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He stepped backwards and pointed downwards. Then he was rushing out of the door. He had ran from her. He had fled in horror or disgust, turned away from her in fear, and what had she expected? It was time to go home, and that would be the end of it. She went to the other side of the rooftop and looked down, savouring whatever good feelings she had experienced here one final time, things she could not really understand. Every time she wanted to move, her feet felt like they were too heavy to lift. The sting of pain made her look down, and she realized she'd been tightly holding the end of her wristblade, the edged metal had burrowed into her hand, freeing her blood that trickled neon-green down her fingers and onto the floor below. The sound of a door opening caught her off guard, and she turned back, ready to attack./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"It was /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"him/emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;". She remained poised, the clicking rhythms from her throat were strong enough to warn him. Yet he didn't seem scared as he shut the door and turned to face her again./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I thought you'd run off again."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She let out another series of clicks, trying her hardest to quell the feeling of weakness that seemed to overcome her. The air in her mask suddenly felt too thick to breath. Up close, she felt intoxicated with too many feelings to contain at once. He didn't move; only shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and then looked around, as if this was the most casual encounter in the world. His lack of fear irked her, infuriated her once more, but she was frozen in place and could not bring herself to move. She hadn't seen him up close like this, hadn't heard his words spoken as if they were equals./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He walked towards her. Her clicks melded into a quick, short growl. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Do not come near me. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He fearlessly ignored her warning and let his eyes look her up and down. Her breathing was heavy, ragged, and even with the mask on her face, she could not stop herself from trying to suck in fresh air—everything was wrong—she felt like prey, unsure of what to do. He raised his open-palmed hands to her, inches apart from her now./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I'm not going to hurt you."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He reached out, and gently touched the skin of her torso. Her muscled tightened, but she felt something clear; his touch was soft./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"There was a tingling feel to it that rose, and she remained still, enjoying it./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So, you're real. And I'm not crazy."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Her skin felt like it was on fire. She couldn't fathom all of the emotions that came through her. Confusion, enjoyment. Out of all the planets and places she had been, nothing had approached her like this, so casual or fearless. When his hand moved away from her, he stepped back. Her breathing was untameable; it gave everything away. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Want. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She could feel herself bubbling up, something inside of her wanting to explode as she watched him step back./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"A part of her wanted to feel his touch again. She could not hear him speak now, lost in the sudden rage of confusion that engulfed her. He still smiled that same smile and spoke soundless words. She let out a roar, carried deep inside her. It echoed out, spreading across the rooftops, fleeing pigeons that flapped in panic and fluttered away to escape. It was all too much. She turned and fled from the rooftop, running all the way back towards her ship, sprinting until she felt like her legs were going to buckle./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You wanted to fight me that first night we met, so have you come back to finish the job? Well, here I am."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She stormed towards him, each foot a heavy thud. His stature barely shrunk as moved. His eyes flared, white and wild but he did not move an inch. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What is this man? /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She tilted her head, trying to understand as she raised her wristblade high, it extended with a fierce, metallic purr. His hands went to her arm, his fingers slid gently over her wrist. She looked at them, and then felt the rush,/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I cannot. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I have to. I cannot./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Do it then," he said softly. "Come on."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"It would be so easy to drive the blade deep into him, to see him gasp, and to turn him from this—this wonderful thing to nothing but a trophy. The thought still swam deep in her but she could not move her arm. His hand went to the blade. He pulled it towards his chest and tapped it./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Here should be about fine." She looked down at where the blade was aimed, and then back to him. The feeling inside exploded, slamming her like a heavy gut-punch./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She wanted to pull the blade away, but he held onto it with a tight grip. She saw fresh blood seeping from his hand and pulled at it until he let go of the blade. It retracted away, and then she grabbed his hand and turned it over, watching as his palm filled with fresh crimson. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"No. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"This wasn't what she wanted all. The sudden rush of fear had taken her over, terrifying her that she'd hurt him somehow. He stared at her with those same, piercing eyes. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I don't want this./em/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You don't want to hurt me, do you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She had to stop him bleeding. In a panic she reached for her med-pac. He grabbed her arm and shook his head./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""It's alright. I'm alright," he said and then tilted his head as he turned her hand over like she had. His eyes shone with the bright tint of her blood. "You're hurt. Is that your blood?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded. She couldn't stop the soft clicking from escaping her mouth as he gently touched her palm, running his fingers next to the drying blood. "Soft. Are you okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded again. She had no way to ask him if he was okay, but the look in his eyes told her he was. There was strength to him. All of the feelings she had felt, all the confusion, had melted away when he had almost shoved the blade into himself. The thought that she could hurt him, had come here to hurt him, was suddenly the worst feeling imaginable./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He kept touching her palm, examining it like a fortune teller. "So you don't want to kill me. But you keep coming back here? Why?" The rain lessened, the thunder's roared turned to purring as it slid away. Both of them looked up at the sky as the last droplets gave way, and then both back at each other. "What do you want with me?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't respond./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Where do you come from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She looked up, and he followed her gaze with an open mouth. "Far away," he whispered. "Very far away. You're not human." The way he said it to her made her feel better./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't stop herself from gently squeezing his fingers suddenly. When he looked back at her, she was lost in the touch of it, savouring whatever moments she had left with this strange little thing./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You're—" he whispered, lost in the interest of her hand, and then his eyes slid over her body. Her netted torso, her breastplate. "You're—you're definitely /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"something./emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So," he said as he slid his bloody hand into his pocket and went to the edge of the roof. She followed him with her gaze. "You're from up there," he pointed upwards. "You're not going to kill me. So why did you keep coming back here to spy on me?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She turned to face him./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So why?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What could she tell him? That she was excited by him, enthralled by his strength, and his fearlessness? That even though she was of a completely different race trillions of miles away, that somehow she found something /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"warm /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"in him. She wanted to say those things, but if only she could not be a coward for a moment, just a sliver of time to tell him things she couldn't really understand. He circled around her./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I think you like me."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She snapped to him, craning her neck to stare as he moved around her like smoke./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't help but nod slowly, and he mimicked her with a sly smile./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Really? I was just taking a guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She kept nodding./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Her mandibles twitched underneath her mask. For now it was the best she could say. She'd scour the language matrix back on her ship when she returned, hopefully learning enough to say more. Standing there made her feel exposed, like a plasma cannon was aiming right at her heart. He moved closer again, and ran his fingers over the smoothness of her stomach. There was something in the touch, a spark through his hands that made her just want to stay here and savour the touch, the smell of him so pervading even through her mask. She went to reach her hand out and stopped, pulling away. Her stomach tense, and his hand smoothed over the ridges of her muscles; spreading warmth. There came a silence within of comfort and warmth, it felt so foreign but so right. She lost track of time and pulled away. "That explains why you always came back," he said./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't argue with herself anymore./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Will you come back?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded and put her hand over his, rubbing her palm against his skin. He didn't shy away at her touch./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Will you come back tomorrow? You promise?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What would one more night change anyway? She nodded and stepped away./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He smiled. "Good." It felt so hard to pull away from the feel of his fingers; her skin turned cold as she turned and stepped toward the edge of the roof. She took him in one last time. The urge grew strong but she stopped herself reaching out and touching him again. He watched her with that same sly smile as she jumped from the roof, and disappeared into the darkness. She would keep her promise, after this, not even the elders arriving in force could stop her coming back./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She sat on the vent, wondering of things she knew could never be. She wanted to ask him things, about himself, of his life—would these things improve her chances of killing him? Why was she lying to herself? Of sitting with him, and being able to stare into those eyes again, and feel that same wave of excitement was what she really wanted. The rain was light tonight, she thought as she looked up at the sky with dappled spots of twinkling stars. They spread across the hazy, purple blanket of the night./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Those stars would be here long after, and so it was okay to think of things that seemed so small in the reality of things. She growled to herself, and tightened her grip on the edge of the vent. What if I touched him, and what if he didn't turn away in disgust, like so many of her clan had?/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"They always used to tell her she was too short to mate. That her face was not like her clan members. While she retained their shape, her mouth was closed, with only two short mandibles that were on her lower lip. Her skin was bright pink, with patches of black. Her mouth resembled that of the ooman; stretching horizontally. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Yuuhman. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"They had called her that. A mix of Yautja and ooman—it used to anger her. She was lying to herself all the time now it seemed. Maybe she really had come here to feel like she was closer to something she was, and maybe that was all it was. The thoughts had caught her off guard, and when she'd clawed her way back to reality, she saw the human was staring right at her./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He was stood across the way, peering through the window; those eyes unblinking, gazing at her. She slowly stepped off the vent and took a step closer to the edge of the rooftop. She'd kept her cloak off because this is exactly what she wanted but now she had it, panic set in. She could only stand and look at him. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Here I am. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"The man slowly raised his hand again and waved to her. The rage seeped in but shrank away when she raised her own hand, and waved back slowly./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He stepped backwards and pointed downwards. Then he was rushing out of the door. He had ran from her. He had fled in horror or disgust, turned away from her in fear, and what had she expected? It was time to go home, and that would be the end of it. She went to the other side of the rooftop and looked down, savouring whatever good feelings she had experienced here one final time, things she could not really understand. Every time she wanted to move, her feet felt like they were too heavy to lift. The sting of pain made her look down, and she realized she'd been tightly holding the end of her wristblade, the edged metal had burrowed into her hand, freeing her blood that trickled neon-green down her fingers and onto the floor below. The sound of a door opening caught her off guard, and she turned back, ready to attack./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"It was /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"him/emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;". She remained poised, the clicking rhythms from her throat were strong enough to warn him. Yet he didn't seem scared as he shut the door and turned to face her again./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I thought you'd run off again."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She let out another series of clicks, trying her hardest to quell the feeling of weakness that seemed to overcome her. The air in her mask suddenly felt too thick to breath. Up close, she felt intoxicated with too many feelings to contain at once. He didn't move; only shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and then looked around, as if this was the most casual encounter in the world. His lack of fear irked her, infuriated her once more, but she was frozen in place and could not bring herself to move. She hadn't seen him up close like this, hadn't heard his words spoken as if they were equals./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He walked towards her. Her clicks melded into a quick, short growl. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Do not come near me. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He fearlessly ignored her warning and let his eyes look her up and down. Her breathing was heavy, ragged, and even with the mask on her face, she could not stop herself from trying to suck in fresh air—everything was wrong—she felt like prey, unsure of what to do. He raised his open-palmed hands to her, inches apart from her now./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I'm not going to hurt you."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He reached out, and gently touched the skin of her torso. Her muscled tightened, but she felt something clear; his touch was soft./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"There was a tingling feel to it that rose, and she remained still, enjoying it./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So, you're real. And I'm not crazy."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Her skin felt like it was on fire. She couldn't fathom all of the emotions that came through her. Confusion, enjoyment. Out of all the planets and places she had been, nothing had approached her like this, so casual or fearless. When his hand moved away from her, he stepped back. Her breathing was untameable; it gave everything away. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Want. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She could feel herself bubbling up, something inside of her wanting to explode as she watched him step back./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"A part of her wanted to feel his touch again. She could not hear him speak now, lost in the sudden rage of confusion that engulfed her. He still smiled that same smile and spoke soundless words. She let out a roar, carried deep inside her. It echoed out, spreading across the rooftops, fleeing pigeons that flapped in panic and fluttered away to escape. It was all too much. She turned and fled from the rooftop, running all the way back towards her ship, sprinting until she felt like her legs were going to buckle./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You wanted to fight me that first night we met, so have you come back to finish the job? Well, here I am."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She stormed towards him, each foot a heavy thud. His stature barely shrunk as moved. His eyes flared, white and wild but he did not move an inch. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What is this man? /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She tilted her head, trying to understand as she raised her wristblade high, it extended with a fierce, metallic purr. His hands went to her arm, his fingers slid gently over her wrist. She looked at them, and then felt the rush,/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I cannot. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I have to. I cannot./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Do it then," he said softly. "Come on."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"It would be so easy to drive the blade deep into him, to see him gasp, and to turn him from this—this wonderful thing to nothing but a trophy. The thought still swam deep in her but she could not move her arm. His hand went to the blade. He pulled it towards his chest and tapped it./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Here should be about fine." She looked down at where the blade was aimed, and then back to him. The feeling inside exploded, slamming her like a heavy gut-punch./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She wanted to pull the blade away, but he held onto it with a tight grip. She saw fresh blood seeping from his hand and pulled at it until he let go of the blade. It retracted away, and then she grabbed his hand and turned it over, watching as his palm filled with fresh crimson. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"No. /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"This wasn't what she wanted all. The sudden rush of fear had taken her over, terrifying her that she'd hurt him somehow. He stared at her with those same, piercing eyes. /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I don't want this./em/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You don't want to hurt me, do you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She had to stop him bleeding. In a panic she reached for her med-pac. He grabbed her arm and shook his head./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""It's alright. I'm alright," he said and then tilted his head as he turned her hand over like she had. His eyes shone with the bright tint of her blood. "You're hurt. Is that your blood?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded. She couldn't stop the soft clicking from escaping her mouth as he gently touched her palm, running his fingers next to the drying blood. "Soft. Are you okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded again. She had no way to ask him if he was okay, but the look in his eyes told her he was. There was strength to him. All of the feelings she had felt, all the confusion, had melted away when he had almost shoved the blade into himself. The thought that she could hurt him, had come here to hurt him, was suddenly the worst feeling imaginable./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He kept touching her palm, examining it like a fortune teller. "So you don't want to kill me. But you keep coming back here? Why?" The rain lessened, the thunder's roared turned to purring as it slid away. Both of them looked up at the sky as the last droplets gave way, and then both back at each other. "What do you want with me?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't respond./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Where do you come from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She looked up, and he followed her gaze with an open mouth. "Far away," he whispered. "Very far away. You're not human." The way he said it to her made her feel better./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't stop herself from gently squeezing his fingers suddenly. When he looked back at her, she was lost in the touch of it, savouring whatever moments she had left with this strange little thing./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""You're—" he whispered, lost in the interest of her hand, and then his eyes slid over her body. Her netted torso, her breastplate. "You're—you're definitely /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"something./emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So," he said as he slid his bloody hand into his pocket and went to the edge of the roof. She followed him with her gaze. "You're from up there," he pointed upwards. "You're not going to kill me. So why did you keep coming back here to spy on me?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She turned to face him./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""So why?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What could she tell him? That she was excited by him, enthralled by his strength, and his fearlessness? That even though she was of a completely different race trillions of miles away, that somehow she found something /spanem style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"warm /emspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"in him. She wanted to say those things, but if only she could not be a coward for a moment, just a sliver of time to tell him things she couldn't really understand. He circled around her./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""I think you like me."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She snapped to him, craning her neck to stare as he moved around her like smoke./span span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't help but nod slowly, and he mimicked her with a sly smile./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Really? I was just taking a guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She kept nodding./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"Her mandibles twitched underneath her mask. For now it was the best she could say. She'd scour the language matrix back on her ship when she returned, hopefully learning enough to say more. Standing there made her feel exposed, like a plasma cannon was aiming right at her heart. He moved closer again, and ran his fingers over the smoothness of her stomach. There was something in the touch, a spark through his hands that made her just want to stay here and savour the touch, the smell of him so pervading even through her mask. She went to reach her hand out and stopped, pulling away. Her stomach tense, and his hand smoothed over the ridges of her muscles; spreading warmth. There came a silence within of comfort and warmth, it felt so foreign but so right. She lost track of time and pulled away. "That explains why you always came back," he said./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She couldn't argue with herself anymore./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Will you come back?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"She nodded and put her hand over his, rubbing her palm against his skin. He didn't shy away at her touch./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;""Will you come back tomorrow? You promise?"/span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing" /p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"What would one more night change anyway? She nodded and stepped away./span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"He smiled. "Good." It felt so hard to pull away from the feel of his fingers; her skin turned cold as she turned and stepped toward the edge of the roof. She took him in one last time. The urge grew strong but she stopped herself reaching out and touching him again. He watched her with that same sly smile as she jumped from the roof, and disappeared into the darkness. She would keep her promise, after this, not even the elders arriving in force could stop her coming back./spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" /span/p