Kim Possible is property of Disney. Original characters are property of author.

A Fan fiction by Six-string Samurai.

Loudness Between Shadow & Light

Chapter 1 - Is That Your Ghost, or are you Really There?

Bursts of harsh breath splashed out into the actinic wash beneath the streetlamp, growing slower and more steady as the girl who could do anything doubled over, hands on her knees, trying to make use of the few minutes lead she knew she'd gained. It felt like she'd been running just this side of forever, and her lungs burned with the exertion. The wind picked up and a sharp chill cut her skin to the bone, dressed as lightly as she was in brown cargo pants and a logo-less violet t-shirt. She'd lost her hoodie what felt like ages ago, tossing it to the winds as it'd been too torn to do anything but hamper her flight.

The sharp staccato of boots on concrete behind Kim caused her to start, whipping her sweat-plastered hair around in a halo as she turned wide-eyed, heart still hammering a mile-a-minute in her chest.

Nothing. The residential street was empty, save for the swirl of autumn leaves on the wind, and a few dark cars parked out in front of the single-story homes that lined the road. A part of her felt stupid at her overreaction, but that part was small and easily shoved aside as she already knew full well the reality of the situation, even if she still had trouble actually believing it herself. It was all just too, much.

Despite all the crazy things she'd seen, the crackpot scientists and the genetic monstrosities, the aliens and the schemes of megalomaniacs, most of it straight out of a b-movie, this took the cake. Nightmares weren't supposed to be real, and her life so far had leant itself more toward the realm of science-fiction, not horror. Some lines weren't meant to be crossed, but crossed they had, and tonight was proof enough for her.

"Kimmie," the all too familiar voice cooed in the redhead's ear, and she spun, lashing out with a backhanded strike, swinging at phantoms. Kim's eyes searched the darkness between the light posts, the shadows beneath the nearest car, and the bushes along the sidewalk for the origin of the voice.

"Damn it, I'm not playing this game! Where are you," the teen's voice rang out hoarse from all her exertion.

"Don't be like that Pumpkin. I thought we were having a blast. What's the matter," the words blew soft and warm past Kim's ear, and she fought to hold in her mounting frustration at her elusive stalker.

"Why do you keep doing this? Whatever happened, we can fix it," Kim was almost shouting despite herself. It was too much, and it had been going on for the past two hours. It was driving her crazy. "Just stop."

"Aw, Pumpkin, does that mean you're giving up already?" The voice came from everywhere, yet nowhere all at once.

"No, I'm not…I'm not giving up on you Shego."

Kim steeled herself as a pair of hands gripped her shoulders lightly from behind. "That's not what it sounds like to me, Kimmie. I never figured you for a quitter," dark lips whispered into the back of Kim's neck. There was a pause, and the teen felt the soft touch on her cold skin tighten ever so slightly. "You're shaking, Pumpkin. Don't tell me you're…scared."

Fear, that was a part of it. The cocktail running through Kim's veins was equal parts fear, exhaustion, cold, and a small portion of shame that welled up from somewhere inside. It was embarrassing to be unable to do anything against the woman she'd always considered her rival, maybe even her equal. But, tonight, the scales had changed in Kim's eyes, perhaps irrevocably so. No matter how she tried, she couldn't even land a single blow on the older woman. Not after the first three or four hits anyway. Hard strikes that had been taken with nothing more than a strangely cold smile.

At first, there hadn't been anything that had tipped off the teen hero to the sudden change in the status quo. It had started out like countless other past encounters. A call from Wade informing her of a heist in progress, the telltale hint of green fire that announced the involvement of a certain pale green thief. A perfectly ordinary sitch in Kim's mind. Sure, there had been no sign of Drakken, but he'd been pretty quiet since wrapping up the incident with Warmonga.

Shego, on the other hand, had gone the other route, showing more activity in the past year than she had most of the time Kim had known her. After her hand in saving the world, Shego had gained a new measure of respect from the teen, and their fights had become more intense because of it.

Kim was trying harder to bring the hero back out into the light that she knew for certain was hiding just beneath Shego's surface. She'd seen the truth in Miss Go, and Shego's past with her brothers just went to prove the point.

However, Kim found out the harder she dug, pushed and prodded, the more obstinate and distant her rival became. She'd reached at impasse, a gulf that she just didn't know how to cross. And it had been widening over the last six months. Then, the thief just disappeared without a sign of hide or hair a month ago.

In of itself, the redhead would have normally paid little attention to, as villains did that from time to time, dropping off the map. But, during Shego's absence, Kim had foiled Drakken's absurd plans on three separate occasions. The blue scientist's assistant and bodyguard hadn't shown up even once on any of the occasions.

Tonight marked a reunion, of sorts, between the two of them. To say Kim Possible had been surprised was the understatement of the year, because the woman she met was almost a stranger in her rival's skin. It was obvious in the way she moved, how she held herself, even in her voice. The pale woman who had been running Kim ragged through the streets of Middleton wasn't the ex-hero she'd known for so long. Fought with, bled with on countless occasions. Traded barbs with.

No, someone else had been watching Kim through those emerald eyes when the hero had shown up at the broken doors to the jewelry store just a little past midnight.

"Kimmie, it's been so long. I was waiting, wondering when you'd show up tonight. I thought you'd be more excited to see me," said the Shego that was all but embracing the redhead. "But, instead you made me chase you all this way."

"Shego," the teen tried to shrug out of the other woman's grasp, but the gloved fingers on her arms didn't budge an inch.

"Tell me. Why'd you run? I thought that was my thing," the voice was soft and beginning to cross into an uncomfortable closeness.

"I don't know. It…it seemed the right thing to do at the time."

"Nothing's ever stopped you from trying before. Isn't that your whole, I dunno, motto? It's on your website, isn't it? Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything."

Kim could feel every word Shego breathed into her hair, and it struck the teen on some basic level. Fighting back the urge to shudder, she took a moment to gather herself, before speaking. "It's your feet, Shego."

There was a harsh bark of throaty laugher. "My feet princess? What pray tell is wrong with them? I happen to think I have nice feet, thank you very much."

Kim spoke in a rush, not really wanting to think about it just at that moment, not in the position she was in. "They're not…uh, touching the ground."

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A/N: Man, it'd be cool if someone could tell me what I did wrong in presenting this initial chapter, because taking a look at the traffic, almost no one is reading the next two chapters...I thought I had a good plot hook going on.

If no one reviews, I won't know what to fix in later chapters. Or just give me a sad little pat on the back for a failed idea. Either one would be appreciated so I can figure out where to focus my efforts. Love and Peace.

- S Cubed