The swirling mists of Mspace parted as the Lotus Blade cut its way through the fog. Ancient eyes watched its passage, acutely aware of the damage it was doing to the bonds that fixed the dimensions in place. An artifact of such power could not help but affect the surroundings it passed through, and ancient suns in unknown universes flamed and died as its passage created rents in Space-Time.

Despite the frustration, there was nothing the Bodhisattva could do. The very disruption currently being caused by its voyage through the interdimensional void was the reason the dimensional barriers had been weakened to allow the watcher to enter his reality in the first place. He was well aware that he simply had to reach out his hand and call the magic wishing staff, and it would return to his hand, but if he were to intervene now and prevent its passage, the temporal backlash could unmake the entire macro-universe. Paradoxes like this were one of the reasons the powers refrained from taking direct action; but for him it was already too late.

True, he had not intervened directly, but he had meddled in matters that should have been left alone. He was sure that Buddha would not approve, in fact if she ever found out what he had done, being buried under a mountain for five hundred years would be a picnic compared to the punishment she would impose, yet even after all this time he felt responsible. It was a dilemma he was ill suited to handle. He had always preferred direct action to subterfuge.

Raising his hand to his head, he pushed back the UPS cap he still wore, and scratched his head. Giving the Monkey Master a hint was no big deal in the scheme of things as far as he could see, but Buddha never seemed to understand his reasoning. Still, he took full responsibility for his actions, and he refused to stand by and do nothing. After all, he had wielded the Magic Wishing staff for many years and would not stand by and see it usurped to the cause of evil.

True, he could not take direct action, all he could do was the equivalent of throwing a pebble at the side of a mountain, bue he knew that even a pebble aimed at the right spot could trigger a landslide.

His attention was drawn away from the Lotus Blade as another object parted the interdimensional mists. Dragged along by the Wishing Staff, the stiff body of a naked mole rat trapped in suspended animation, trailed in its wake. This would not do. The Lotus Blade was travelling through time and space, its destination far in the past where it would lie buried for millenia until it was destined to be found. This animal was the pebble that would shake the foundations of worlds.

Unable to divert the passage of the Lotus Blade, the entity felt no such compunction with the molerat. Reaching under his shirt, he pulled a hair from his body, held it up to his mouth and blew. It didn't appear to do much, a slight disturbance in the maelstrom around the trapped animal being the only discernable effect, but it was enough to change the fate of worlds.

No longer caught in the wake of the Lotus Blade, Rufus cut his own path through the mists. The pebble had been cast, and only time would tell if it would hit the one place where it could have an effect or if any number of random events would deflect it away from the crucial time and place it needed to be.

With his bolt shot, the observer could do no more. He watched for a while as the molerat's passage diverted slightly from the fixed trajectory of the Lotus Blade, and was about to return to his own timeframe when he felt another presence in the mists. Frowning slightly, he focussed on the feeling and shifted his phase state until he found the source of this new observer.

His previous experience with wraiths led him to expect an undying hatred of life and a never-ending thirst for blood, but what he found was quite different. He materialised behind the redhead, but the only emotion he could feel was an aching sadness coupled with a fierce protective love.

His vision was no longer filled with the swirling maelstrom of Mspace. Instead he stood in an underground complex; more specifically, a small section that had been converted into a stark bedroom, with only a few sticks of furniture to identify its owner.

The ghost was unaware of his presence until he stepped up behind her. She turned startled as she suddenly realised she was no longer alone. There was no recognition in her eyes but when he showed no sign of attacking she relaxed somewhat and began to appraise him with an attitude that he found slightly disconcerting. Females of his own culture were rarely this brash.

"It takes a powerful reason to hold the spirit from the wheel." He didn't look directly at the phantom, but rather focussed on the sleeping figure in the physical reality the spirit had been observing. "She must be very special to make this non-life worth while."

"It hurts." The spirit admitted, acknowledging the strain she was under, constantly battling the seductive call of the wheel of life. " But it is nothing compared to what she is feeling."

The Bodhisattva turned his attention to the figure sleeping fitfully in the bed below. He could see the long black tresses spread out of the pillow, and the green tinged face pinched as if even sleep couldn't bring peace to the tormented soul.

"It's a dangerous game your playing." The Bodhisattva's comments were aimed at the spirit by his side, although he never took his eyes off the sleeping female. "She is bound to a fate that will expose her to powers that could prove especially harmful to one of your kind."

"I have no choice." The spirit was undeterred. "She would do as much and more for me." Megan sighed as she watched her friend's pain. "She was always the brave one. I just hope I can help her find some peace."

"You've already drawn attention to yourself." The Bodhisattva pressed the point. He needed to be sure she understood the risk she was running. "It knows you now, and your soul could be destroyed utterly. Are you sure she's worth the risk?"

Megan turned to face him, her eyes burning with an intensity that spoke volumes to the passion burning within. "Oh yes! Absolutely!"

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"Ron San! I'm back!" Yori let the back door swing shut as she hurried to place the bags of groceries on the kitchen unit before she dropped them. The house was dark, but that was nothing unusual these days.

She didn't get a reply, but she wasn't really expecting one. It was just one more problem she had to deal with, and the message from Yamanouchi was very clear. The Monkey Master needed to pull himself together and focus on the task in hand.

"Ron? You in here?" She walked out of the kitchen into the hallway, heading for the living room where she had last left him. As expected, Ron Stoppable hadn't moved. Sitting in the dark, an old shoe box containing a small dolls blanket on his lap, he didn't register Yori's entrance, even when she flipped the switch and flooded the room with light. His cheeks were stained with tears, although he had stopped crying hours ago. Instead he just sat, staring blankly at the TV, lost in his own sense of misery.

Yori frowned. This had gone on long enough. As Monkey Master, he had responsibilities, and it was up to her to snap him out of his catatonia. Slipping out of the lounge, she headed to her own room and changed.

Ron hadn't moved when she returned, he didn't even register that she was now wearing her school uniform of white blouse, blue skirt and ankle high socks. There wasn't even a reaction as she sat down beside him, even when she put an arm around his shoulder.

"Stoppable San." Her voice was gentle as she tried to coax him out of his misery. "Yamanouchi is doing everything they can to find Rufus."

The molerat's name at least triggered a reaction. He turned to look at her, his eyes tormented as he silently pleaded for her to give him the news that his pet had been found.

"He is the Chosen One. Guardian of the Lotus Blade. If we find it, we find Rufus."

It wasn't enough. He was trapped in a cycle of despair and Yori realised she would have to resort to more basic methods.

Her slender hands cupped the young man's cheeks and she looked him directly in the eye.

"I promise you, I will not stop until Rufus is found."

Leaning forward she kissed him full on the lips. Not chastely like his previous kisses with Kim had been but passionately, with an intensity that spoke directly to the baser nature of his psyche.

"Yori? I ..." He didn't get a chance to say any more.

Encouraged by his reaction, Yori kissed him again, and instinct took over. His hands reached up to pull her closer, wrapping his arms around her slim waist as his libido drove away all other considerations in his mind. No longer a passive recipient, he returned her kisses hungrily as his brain, seeking a release from the torrid agony of his loss, lost itself in the intimacy of their embrace.

Without breaking their kissing, Yori reached back with one arm and pulled his hand away from her waist. Ron didn't have time to register what she was doing before he found his hand touching another part of her anatomy. It took some moments before his befuddled brain realised that at some time during their kissing, she had unbuttoned her blouse and before he knew it, he found himself cupping her naked breast in his hand.

The feel of the soft pliable flesh beneath his touch sent a jolt of excitement to his groin, the brush of her engorged nipple stroking his palm nearly sending him over the edge. Some part of his being was telling him to pull back, that this was disrespectful, that he was crossing a line, but the teenage lust surging through his body drowned out any such thoughts.

As soon as Yori felt him relax, she shifted her attention to the rest of his body. While Ron experimented with this sudden escalation in his sexual experience, she began to traverse his body with her mouth, shifting away from kissing his mouth, to first his jaw, and then swiftly onto his neck.

Before Ron was fully aware of what was happening, he found himself struggling with the folds of his hockey shirt as it was swiftly drawn up over his head. Opening his eyes, he was just in time to see Yori drop his shirt to the floor, swiftly followed by her own white blouse.

The sight of his first semi naked woman was better than he could have ever imagined. Unable to speak, he just gazed in adoration at the perfection before his eyes. Small neat breasts jutted from her slim frame, her exquisite face framed by perfectly straight jet black hair, the sight simply took his breath away.

No longer restrained by his clothing, Yori's kisses progressed lower, tracing a burning trail down his chest with a brief detour to his exposed nipples.

"Unggh! Yori?"

His torso flexed under her relentless assault, the sensations almost too intense to bear, but the young woman didn't let up. Her kisses progressed down his chest, while her hands focused on the next target of her assault.

It was with some surprise that Ron felt his belt suddenly loosen. The deft fingers of his assailant had released the buckle before he had realised what was going on. True, the pressure in his Jeans was growing distinctly uncomfortable, but the realisation of how far she was apparently willing to go jerked him into action.

"Yori! I don't ..." Once more his hesitant interjection had no effect on the young woman. She had already unbuttoned his waistband and even as he was speaking, he felt the zip of his trousers release it's hold.

The sensation of cool fingers slipping under the band of his boxer shorts was nothing to the feeling as they wrapped themselves around his stiffened member. With a flex of her wrist, she exposed him fully and he finally lost all powers of speech.

"Unghh" his only comment as he looked down, his own gaze met by the mischievious grin of the young ninja. He thought that he was in heaven, but the sudden sensation of warmth and wetness that engulfed him blew his mind.

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Frozen in a splinter of time where the present meets the future, a trapped soul had been waiting for a thousand years to rejoin the wheel of life. Unaware of its surroundings, it never saw the crackling red flame that broke into its timeframe until the two forces merged with a silent explosion of psychic energy.

Pain was the first sensation it experienced, the first breath of life filling its lungs as the comforting darkness gave way to excruciating light. Cold was the next sensation, a cool breeze flowing over its body, a sharp contrast to the warm constant temperature it had experienced in the womb.

Eyes barely open, Toshimiru pushed himself to his feet. Wobbly as he struggled to gain control of his four feet, he instinctively headed for his mother's teat, whimpering as his larger brothers and sisters grabbed the prime spots, he finally settled with his mouth engorged by the large nipple and began to suckle.

The future held many trials, not least of which being how to handle the tail, but for now he was happy. As the runt of the litter, Toshimiru would have to learn a much needed lesson in humility, but his doggy awareness didn't think that far ahead. For now, a belly full of milk was good enough.

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Shego lay on her bed and cursed, she had been doing that a lot since she got back. Finding Dr Drakken actually back had been a highlight in a very depressing couple of days, and her erstwhile employer had been the main cause of her unhappiness.

It had started with a casual remark about the headaches she had been experiencing, and had led to hours of examinations while she sat with some kind of brain scan while he had huffed and tutted through his tests.

Apparently, whenever faced with a conflict between her old way of thinking and her modified brain waves due to the modulator, she had suffered excruciating migraines until one or other of the thought patterns had established itself as predominant. Looking back over some of the occasions that had triggered those headaches, Princess had featured far too often for her own comfort, and in too many occasions she had been in the role of Hero Protector. It was an existence she had thought she had left behind many years before. The thought that she could go back to that life was too horrible to contemplate.

True, Drakken had pointed out that her basic character wouldn't change, and true she had blasted him after one too many probing questions into her relationship with her brothers, but there was a nagging sensation in the back of her mind that something had altered inside her, and it wasn't necessarily a change she would welcome.

Now, alone in her private quarters, the door double locked to prevent any intrusion, she indulged in one of her guilty secrets.

"I just wanted to see if you were OK. Your mother . . ."

If Drakken ever caught her watching this she would never live it down, especially after the ribbing she had given him when he first raved on about the show, but curiosity had got the better of her and she quickly became a closet fan. Besides, this guy was hot.

"We're both good. You?"

Whenever Shego felt down, she liked to watch it, especially this episode which promised so much even though she knew the shitstorm the writers were going to put the main characters through. When she was at her most maudlin, this was the scene she loved the best.

"If I can go a while without getting shot or stabbed, I'll be alright."

Watching a couple with even bigger life issues than her own always made her feel a little better, even if only for a while.

"Look! This can't ..."

".. ever be anything. I Know"

Shego wiped the back of her hand across her eye, rubbing a watery eye as she struggled to hold off the feeling of melancholy. Not wanting to admit even to herself how much her life sucked right now.

"For one thing, you're like two hundred and twenty four years older than I am."

Somehow, the knowledge of what these two were going to be put through made the whole scene even more poignant and for a while, safely secluded from any watchful eye, the hardnosed mercenary allowed herself to let down the emotional barriers she had wrapped around her heart.

"I just gotta . . . I gotta walk away from this."

"Yeah right." Shego's thought was accompanied by a cynical snort at that line. Deep down she wished life could be like the movies sometimes. At times like these, she ached for a soulmate with whom she could share her most intimate thoughts and feelings. These two had what she secretly wanted but even that wouldn't be enough. They were doomed from the start and that knowledge fitted well with the feeling that her life was similarly fated to be filled with disappointment and pain.

"I know. Me too."

The girl on the screen gazed longingly into her partners eyes which drew a hurriedly stifled sniff from the watching thief. Unnoticed, a single tear formed in her eye until it was angrily blinked away.

"One of us has to go here."

"Yeah!"

As the scene reached its denouement, a black pit of misery erupted in Shego's soul, the tensions and missed life opportunities that had been suppressed for so long, and brutally exposed over the past few weeks, finally broke through the barriers she had wrapped around her heart, the internal pressure too much for her to contain.

As the couple on screen moved in for their kiss, Shego lost the battle to contain her own tears and sobbed bitterly at the shrivelled emptiness of her own life. For now, nothing mattered except the vaccuum that existed in her deepest being. A void that had been their ever since that fateful day in Go City when Megan died.

Briefly overwhelmed, she just lay back on her bed and wept, the final shot of a cross burned into the man's chest as his true love walked away just seemed to sum up her own despair. as the title music played, she broke down completely and buried her head in her pillow while she wallowed in self pity.

When she had finally cried herself out, she lay still for a while as the last vestiges of extreme emotion relinquished their hold on her heart. Once more under control, she pushed all those dark feelings back down to the deepest recesses of her soul, once more sealing them off behind walls of denial.

There was only one thing to do in these situations, one place where she could recover her poise and resume her lifestyle of choice. It was time for a holiday, where she could clear her head and forget about all the difficulties her complicated life tended to raise.

Quickly packing her bag, she slipped out of her rooms and headed for the hangar, hoping she didn't run into that idiot Drakken. She didn't feel quite able to face his buffoonery in her still somewhat fragile state of mind.

Phone clamped to her ear as she made final preparations, she left the lair unnoticed by anyone.

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The room was still dark when Yori slipped out from under the duvet, careful not to disturb the sleeping figure beside her. The cool night air was cold on her naked body as she padded silently towards the bedroom door.

A murmur from the man she was leaving behind made her freeze and look back, hoping that he wouldn't wake and start asking difficult questions, but he just rolled over and resumed his slumber.

The sight of the toussled blond haire gave her pause for thought. She had been in active service with Yamanouchi since the age of fifteen, mainly on espionage missions, and she had quickly learned that as an attractive young woman she had an easy way of breaking down the reservations of older, powerful men.

Sex was nothing new to her, just a tool to achieve her aims, but the last few hours had been a totally new experience. Maybe it was his hesitant nervousness, or his amateurish attempts at lovemaking, but whatever it was, Ron had touched her in a way she had never felt before. the sheer sincerity of his feelings for her had transcended the whole sexual act to a level of intimacy that was new to her, and for a moment she balked at leaving his side.

Duty came first, however, and the demands of the Yamanouchi overrode all other considerations. Closing the door behind her, she left Ron sleeping in his parents bed and slipped into her own room.

Quickly dressing in the traditional shinobi shozoku, she took some extra time as she equipped herself fully for the task ahead. Finally satisfied, she opened a window and silently slipped out of the house.

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Dr Drakken fidgeted nervously as he sat in the green room of the TV studio. For months now, he had hungrily grabbed every offer to appear in front of any audience he could find until they all blurred into one. It had got to the point where he wasn't actually sure what show he was appearing on and it worried him. He could hear the noise of the audience even back here, and they were getting louder.

A sharp knock on the door made him jump, but it was only one of the production crew.

"Dr Drakken? It's time."

Drakken swallowed nervously as he stood up and smoothed down his trademark blue suit. As he followed the young man out of the room, he was hit by the sudden increase in noise. Heading down the corridor, he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and palms were clammy, while the noise grew steadily larger.

"Je...rry, Je...rry, Je...rry"

He could hear the words now, and it worried him. This wasn't the serious scientific debate shows he had started out with, it sounded more like a bear pit. What the hell had he got himself into?

Standing in the wings, he suddenly got an urge to run, but he was surrounded by some very large minders, and he suddenly felt the missing familiar presence of Shego. The thought of his lieutenant, brought a sudden rush of homesickness flooding through him, but he had no time for nostalgia. He was propelled out from the safety of the wings, stumbling into the glaring lights of the stage.

The wave of noise hit him like a tsunami, and with the added disorientating effects of the studio lights dazzling him, it took several moments to realise that he was being booed. He took a tentative step backwards only to find his escape blocked off by one of the burly bouncers that had been shadowing him all day.

In front of him were four chairs arranged in a shallow arc, facing the audience, while standing slightly off stage was a medium height man with blond hair and glasses. Thinking he should recognise him from somewhere, he found himself being directed none to gently to sit in one of the chairs, a firm arm on his elbow giving him no chance to resist. He barely registered the the two people already seated, one a young girl with a rabbit caught in the headlights of a bus look on her face, the other a hard faced older woman, presumably her mother.

"Dr Drakken." The blonde haired man paused for dramatic effect. "Last years winner of the Nobel Peace Prize!" He paused for a moment for dramatic effect, the crowd hanging on his every word. "But you haven't always been such an upstanding member of society. Have you?"

"Well actually no." Drakken grinned evilly at this recognition of his earlier notoriety. It was nice to finally get recognition for all those years of hard work. Up to now, the media had treated him as if he had done nothing of note prior to the Lowardian invasion.

"For several years, I was top of Global Justice's league of supervillains." He acknowledged the boos of the audience as if they were an accolade. He could recognise theatre when he saw it, and this man was obviously playing to the crowd. It would make great television.

"You regularly threatened the world with no thought for the innocent people you put in danger!" Even this didn't come across too forcefully. The presenters voice was too level and reasonable, as if he were merely a historian of events. The crowd were not so restrained, their cries of disapproval grew louder as Drakken totally failed to show the expected level of remorse for his crimes.

"Well, it's all part of the job description." Drakken flippantly dismissed the accusation with a shrug. "I mean I could hardly be a villain without threats could I?" He bared his teeth in his trademark grin.

"And your own people?" the presenter queried. "Did you not care about them either?"

Drakken's face fell at this slur. If there was one thing he took pride in, it was the care he had lavished on his henchmen, despite their regular failures to prevent his plans from being ruined by a certain redhead.

"I always look after my staff!" He was actually quivering with rage at the insult. He wasn't sure what this man was playing at, but he wasn't going to stand by and be slandered by anyone.

"You're a criminal!" The blonde man scoffed at Drakken's puffed up sense of outrage. "You expect us to believe that you give a damn about anyone?" The boos from the crowd grew louder as he whipped up the already charged atmosphere in the studio.

"Was a criminal." Drakken snapped back. The response was automatic, the hostility eminating from the crowd was effective even against Drakken's legendary self importance. He lifted the medal that hung around his neck and waved it to the crowd. The cold metal of his nobel prize was cool against his palm and he felt some of his self confidence return. "I was pardoned remember."

"Yes! Yes! A wanted villain who saved the world, we know all about that."

Drakken frowned. What was this man after. He could see there was some hidden undertone here, and he waited warily for it to become apparent. Whatever was going on, it was obvious that the crowd had been wound up to a frenzy of emotion leaving them wide open to manipulation, and it was obvious that this man was an expert.

"I'm talking about your blatent disregard for your responsibilities."

Drakken blinked. Responsibilities? What was this idiot on about.

His blank look didn't go down well with the audience. A new wave of booing broke out as they took umbrage at his lack of instant remorse, leaving the bemused doctor looking around him for any explanation about what was going on.

He found himself looking at the two other people up on the stage with him, the woman glaring while the young girl flinched as the noise levels rose. Were they something to do with this? He certainly didn't recognise either of them.

The TV host let the crowd vent their anger for a few seconds before motioning for them to settle down. He didn't want to lose control, that wouldn't make good television.

"Your responsibilities to these two poor innocent victims of your organisation's failure to live up to the most basic of employee rights."

Drakken looked once more at the woman and young girl sitting on the stage. "They've never worked for me! Why would I hire a child?"

"But you did hire her father!" Anger finally found its way into the presenters voice. "And now they are left bereft because of your callous disregard for the people who work in your organisation."

Drakken still didn't have a clue what he was going on about.

"The name Robert Brinkley mean anything at all to you?" The presenter couldn't believe that the blue man could be so callous. The man had died.

"Bob?" Drakken queried. Losing one of his men had been a savage blow, and he didn't appreciate being reminded of that painful experience. He also didn't see what his ex-employee had to do with this circus. He was starting to get angry. "Of course I remember Bob."

"But did you ever give a thought for his family?" The presenter was warming to his theme now. All the participants were where he wanted them, it was time to go in for the kill. "His wife and child left without any support now their husband and father was lost? Don't you think you owe them for the dedicated service he gave you over the years?"

"But I have!" The upset look on the blue man's face gave everyone pause for thought. He genuinely looked upset at the accusation. "I've personally paid for his partner to have counselling, and he has a pension for life. It's all part of the employee package."

There was a pause as everyone digested this outburst. Only the woman sitting on the stage showed any reaction as a flicker of fear showed on her face.

"I'm sorry." The presenter realised that he had lost the momentum, but that wasn't what was bothering him. "He has a pension?"

"Yes!" Drakken snapped having finally lost patience with this farce. "Bob was gay!"

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Dr Dementor muttered to himself in German as he fumbled his way through the darkened lair. It was an old base, long abandoned, but it still retained a few interesting pieces of machinery which he could use to get his revenge.

It took a while for the shut down powerplant to fire up again, and he didn't have enough energy to power the whole base, but he didn't need to. Directing all the available energy to the pulse laser, he stood over the console punching in coordinates as he planned his revenge.

"Secret Ninja School? Hah!" His voice echoed resoundingly in the empty lair, he only had one volume setting and that was loud.

He was just finishing his preparations when some sixth sense at the edge of his perception warned him of something that wasn't right. Suddenly aware that he was alone, he looked back over his shoulder, fear clutching at his heart as his imagination ran riot.

The lair was dark, the only light coming from the glowing lights of the console he was working on. Minutes passed as he listened intently for any clue as to what had unnerved him, until even his paranoia had to admit that he was imagining things.

Sighing at his own jitteriness he turned back to the controls and prepared to fire the weapon that would irradicate the Yamanouchi school forever.

The sting in his neck caused his hand to slap at the spot unconsciously, but the toxin flowing through his veins already meant his motor functions were already impaired. He clutched at the console as his legs gave way, unable to stop himself from collapsing to the floor as his arms failed in their futile efforts to keep him upright.

Falling to the floor, his limbs quickly lost all feeling as he rolled onto his back, his chest tightening as the paralysis quickly spread to his torso, lungs briefly labouring to force oxygen into his chest until they too succumbed to the disabling effects of the poison.

Mouth open, gasping for the breath that never came, his last sight was of black boots, split at the big toe, stepping out of the darkness and standing by his side.

Yori watched the man die impassionately. She had no qualms about killing this man, he was a known threat to her school and judging by the hardware he had been working on, she had got here none too soon.

As the tin headed man finally stopped thrashing about, she bent down and retrieved the pin that was still stuck in his neck. The blowpipe she had used to dispatch it was tucked into her belt, and she paused as she contemplated the small brass dart that lay in her hand.

Her mind flashed back to the last time she had held it in her hand, as she had contemplated using the same poison on Rufus. Only the intervention of his second vision before she had a chance to use it had saved his life and, as she could now acknowledge, save the Yamanouchi.

She tucked it back into her belt digitalis and other chemicals would need renewing but that could wait until she got home. With luck she could be back in bed with Ron before he woke up. All in all it would be better if he didn't know about this.

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For the first time in weeks, Kim was free of the relentless burden of guilt that had weighed her down for so long. Drakken's expose of Robert Brinkley's sexual preferences had swept the media village like wildfire as his ex-wife's story melted under the full on glare of media investigation. If there was one thing the media couldn't resist, it was a new angle on an existing story, and Drakken had delivered in spades. Investigative reporters scented blood and began to carry out the due diligence they should have done from the start. It was a rich seam that quickly revealed sensational results. Apparently, the child wasn't even his.

The revelation from her parents that they had been approached by the Brinkley woman's lawyer with an offer to drop everything for a payment of $50,000 exposed the scam for what it was. Just a sordid attempt to extort money from the rich and famous.

Wade kept her well up to date with the backlash that was sweeping the news channels, and there were a couple of days where the reporters were once more camped on her front lawn, or at least hiding in the bushes, until Global Justice finally came through. A few harsh words from Dr Director to the editors of various news channels and newspapers was enough and the paparazzi quickly discovered that there was no market for their pictures and they moved on to easier targets.

Without the constant harrassment, she was free to relax and let her mind wander.

The warm sun on her back as she reclined on the lounger was heaven after so many months of pain and worry. With no sound except for the distant sound of waves breaking on the beach and the occasional raucous cacophony of parrots in the trees, she smiled in pleasure even though her eyes were closed as she bathed in the delicious heat.

Clad only in a white bikini, it exposed every possible inch of skin to the heat without quite crossing over the line of indecency. She would never have dared to wear something so revealing normally, but here it seemed right. After all, there was only one other person on the whole island.

"I thought you redheads burned easily."

Shego's sardonic tone did nothing to shake Kim from her lazy state of drowsiness. She just shrugged her shoulders and shifted her position slightly.

"You haven't even used any sunscreen."

Kim's lips curved into a smile as she imagined the older thief's disapproving look, not bothering to open her eyes to check. Honestly, for an anarchist supervillain, she sometimes sounded like a bossy older sister.

The sudden shock of cold liquid between her shoulders could not be ignored however.

"Gaahh!" Kim jerked up briefly before being pushed back down onto the lounger by her companion. Kim relaxed once more as she let her companion spread the protective lotion over her upper back. Strong hands rubbed over her exposed skin, and Kim soon settled down to enjoy the sensation as delicate fingers worked the sunblock into every inch of exposed skin.

Once her shoulders were well protected, Kim felt Shego's hands move further down her back, fingers pressing into her spine as they kneaded out knots in her muscles. There was a brief hiatus as the string of her bikini top hampered the even application of the sun lotion, but before Kim could register what was going on, she felt a swift tug on the bow and problem solved.

With that impediment removed, Kim felt the rhythm of Shego's hands change as they switched to a more sedate pace, starting at her lower back and pushing up towards her shoulders and neck in long steady strokes.

Kim groaned with pleasure as she enjoyed the impromptu massage, especially when the focus switched back to her shoulders, the tension of the past few weeks melting away under the expert ministrations of the experienced thief.

"Sit up." The words sent shivers through her body as the soft breath brushed against her ear. Without thinking, the cheerleader complied, forgetting too late that her bikini top was no longer fastened. The thin scrap of material fluttered to the floor as she shifted her position, but neither woman took any notice. After all, it was just the two of them on this island and Kim reckoned that if Shego wasn't bothered, she certainly wasn't going to make an issue of it.

Anyway, all such worries melted away as she lost herself in the delicious sensations of the shiatsu massage she was being given.

"Mmm yeah." Kim's moan of pleasure elicited a throaty chuckle from the woman behind her. Kim was rapidly losing any resistance as she melted under her touch. Unwilling to expend energy sitting up, she slumped back into the arms of her masseuse.

"You like that Kimmie?" Kim's heart skipped a beat as the dusky voice purred in her ear. She could feel the older woman's breasts pressing on her back, and her body was starting to react in unexpected ways to the treatment it was receiving.

Her mind flashed back to the last time Shego had touched her so intimately, remembering the powerful sensations she had experienced under Yamanouchi mountain. She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to retain control, but her composure was shattered when the thief's tongue wrapped itself around her right earlobe, and she moaned in delight as the tingling sensations surged through her body.

Kim instinctively tilted her head away from her tormentor, thought whether it was an attempt to disengage or exposing herself to more of the same she couldn't say. Whatever the reason, she found herself gasping for air as those tender lips roamed freely over the sensative skin around her neck and jaw-line. Lost in the moment, Kim couldn't suppress another moan as strong arms wrapped themselves around her body. Slick fingers slipped over her exposed breasts, her engorged nipples stimulated further as the soft palms brushed against them.

No longer able to resist her urges, she turned her head to face the older woman. Eyes heavy lidded and her mouth partially open, she found herself caught up in a lascivious kiss. Dark stained lips latched onto her own and she responded hungrily, her own arms wrapping themselves around the green woman's shoulders as the two of them melted into each other's embrace.

Kim found herself swept up in the moment, the stronger woman almost picking her up as she found herself turned around on the sun lounger and pressed back into the seat cushions. A frisson of excitement surged through her mind as she looked up into those green eyes. Naked lust exuded from her every pore and her slim arms reached up and pulled her green goddess down into another passionate kiss.

The teenager lost all sense of time as she gave in to her own wanton desires. The first time Shego's tongue probed at her lips, she eagerly sucked it into her hungry mouth. Her first french kiss and she was eager to taste more, but the older woman had other ideas.

Kim protested when the thief broke contact, but only for a moment as the older woman transferred her attentions once more to the delicate skin at Kim's throat. Shivering under her touch, Kim arched back her head to give greater access but Shego had already moved to her collarbone. Feathery kisses caused her skin to burn with desire and she reached her arm back over her head, allowing her raven haired temptress to transfer her attentions to the delicate skin of her armpit.

Kim gasped once more as her left breast was cupped by the thief's slim fingers, but that was nothing to the sensations as her right nipple was suddenly engulfed in the soft wet mouth of her lover.

The word burned in her brain, raising her already aroused state to an even higher level.

Her Lover.

It was a description she had never laid on anyone before, not Josh, not Eric and definitely not Ron, but with Shego it seemed so right. A frisson of excitement sent a shiver through her body at the acknowledgement of her situation, that only served to heighten her arousal.

A barely suppressed moan escaped her lips as her already hyper-sensative skin was further stimulated by fierce kisses as Shego slowly worked her way down her body. Her stomach, taut and firm after years of conditioning burned as nerve endings sparked under the sensuous assault.

No longer in complete control, Kim writhed under the assault, her thighs pressed hard and slowly rubbing together as she subconsciously sought some level of release but there was no relief, only an ever increasing level of delirium that left her panting in a frenzy of lust.

The swirl of a tongue in her navel elicited another gasp, and she never noticed the swift tug on the spaghetti ties on her hips that were all that held her bikini briefs in place.

Shego's chin was now gently rubbing itself on the skimpy scrap of fabric that was all that covered her nakedness, the material moving slightly now that it was no longer fastened and Kim could feel the friction on her pubic area. Her neatly trimmed bush prickled slightly under the pressure and an electrifying jolt of pleasure shot through her body.

One brush of long slender fingers, and Kim was fully exposed; the hot breath on her groin highlighting the wetness between her legs as she waited, hardly able to breathe, for the touch she craved. A touch that never came as Shego's attentions shifted to her inner thigh.

Whimpering constantly now, she could stand no more. Her raven haired tormentor was pointedly skirting around her sex, deliberately holding back on giving Kim the release she so wanted so badly. As Shego's kisses started to move back up her body towards her stomach, Kim moved her hands down to rest on the green woman's head, pushing it to where she needed it to go, her surrender complete as she let her knees fall away, opening herself up completely to her paramour.

A throaty chuckle was all she heard before her world exploded in ecstasy. As soon as she felt the soft sensation of a tongue on her clitoris, her body arched up from the lounger and she opened her mouth in a silent scream.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The loud knocking on her bedroom door jerked her out of her fantasy even as her orgasm wracked her frame.

"Kim! Time to get up or you'll miss your plane."

" 'Kay!" Kim managed to barely croak a reply as her hand, thrust under the waistband of her pyjama's, continued to frig while the waves of pleasure surged through her body, barely registering her father heading back down the stairs while she rode the most intense sensation of her life so far.

Slowly the ferocity of her pleasure lessened, and she slumped back onto her pillow, her fingers still gently stroking her vagina, now slick with her own fluids. As she slowly regained the power of rational thought, her free hand moved up to rest on her brow as she faced up to what she had just done.

"Oh God! That was so wrong!"