Nephrite and Kunzite waited patiently outside of the playground where they had demanded the Sailor Senshi meet them. Both were hoping that they would not be required to show Sailor Moon before getting the Silver Crystal, though.
Not that it really mattered at this point. With Sailor Moon dead, they felt like they could easily defeat the remaining four Senshi. Even if they did try and use the crystal on them, without Sailor Moon, it would not have the power it needed to defeat them and the several youma they had brought with them; all of which were hiding in the shadows right now.
Kunzite was the first to sense their presence.
“They’re near,” he said to Nephrite.
Nephrite grinned. “Excellent.”
After a couple more minutes, the four remaining Sailor Scouts and their feline advisors walked onto the playground and stood a few meters from their enemy.
“Where is Sailor Moon?” Sailor Venus demanded to know.
“Give us the crystal and you’ll get her,” Nephrite ordered.
Sailor Venus pulled out the faux broach and held it. She shook her head. “No. Show us that Sailor Moon is okay first,” she demanded.
A blast of energy hit the ground in front of the Senshi, sending them flying and causing Sailor Venus to drop the broach. A youma flew over and picked up the broach and took it to Kunzite.
Kunzite and Nephrite smiled as the Senshi began to pick themselves up.
“Naive as always, Sailor Idiots,” Nephrite laughed. “I hate to tell you, but Sailor Moon is dead.”
Kunzite opened the broach and ran his finger over the crystal. Suddenly a green burst of light shot out from it, causing Sailor Mars to chuckle.
“I hate to tell you, Nephrite, but that’s not really the Silver Crystal,” she grinned.
Kunzite looked at it closer and tried to tap into its energy. He then threw it to the ground. “She’s right!”
“SUPREME THUNDER!” Jupiter screamed, sending a thunderbolt at the pair. They narrowly dodged the assault, Nephrite’s hair getting singed slightly.
“We need to get out of here,” he growled. “YOUMA ATTACK!”
All the youma who were hiding came out and began to attack the Senshi. Nephrite and Kunzite attempted to vanish but couldn’t.
“What is happening?” Kunzite asked Nephrite.
Nephrite shrugged. “I don’t know!”
The pair this time barely dodged an attack from Sailor Mars.
“Guess we run,” Nephrite stated.
Kunzite nodded and the pair started to scurry off.
A Spanish guitar sounded in the distance as a rose impacted the ground in front of Nephrite and Kunzite, causing them to slam to a stop. Tuxedo Mask stood there, and even through his disguise, managed to glare at them.
“What have you done with Sailor Moon?” he demanded to know.
Kunzite fired an energy shot at Tuxedo Mask, but the shot was weak and puttered out before even making it to where the caped vigilante was standing.
Tuxedo Mask again scowled and repeated his question. “Where is Sailor Moon.”
“She’s dead,” Nephrite said, grinning smugly. “Gone. Forever.”
Tuxedo Mask seemed shaken by this news. He didn’t want to believe it, but there was something in the tone of Nephrite’s voice that led him to believe that Nephrite was certain that Sailor Moon was in fact dead.
Tuxedo Mask growled in rage.
“TUXEDO MASK, LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!” Sailor Mars yelled.
Tux turned in time to see a youma leaping at him with its gigantic claws in full goring position. Tuxedo Mask quickly pulled out his cane, though no one was quite sure exactly how his cane was going to help him against those gigantic claws.
Suddenly two orange energy blobs came down from the roof of one of the nearby buildings and nailed the youma, knocking it off course and allowing it to hit the ground harmlessly. Tuxedo Mask looked at the youma, noticing that it was dead. He whacked it with his cane for good measure before turning back towards Nephrite and Kunzite.
“They don’t seem to be playing fair,” Nephrite sighed.
Kunzite shook his head. “No, they are not.” The white-haired general pulled out his communicator that George gave him and pushed a button.
“Hello?” George answered.
“Yes, we seem to be in a bind,” Kunzite sighed. “The Senshi seem to have brought those Starfleet people with them.”
George sighed. “Alright, I’ll send you all the drones I can spare-” he paused. “They seem to have transport inhibitors up around you.”
“What are those?” Kunzite asked as he dodged another attack from the Senshi as Nephrite began to fight Tuxedo Mask.
“They keep us from beaming in. Do you have those transport enhancers I gave you still?”
“Yes,” Kunzite replied, pulling one from his pocket.
“Activate it.”
Kunzite pushed a button on the enhancer. A few seconds later a dozen Tatewaki drones beamed in. Shortly after that, a dozen Kodachi drones.
“I would suggest hiding someplace safe,” George grumbled. “Without our ship, it’s taking us longer than we hoped to get our army rebuilt.”
“Okay,” Kunzite sighed, putting the communicator away.
Rei, who was with Shelton on the roof of a nearby building groaned as she set the sniper rifle she had the Sisko beam down to random remodulation. “We need to be careful. Use phaser mode till we absolutely HAVE to switch to using projectile rounds.”
“Aye,” all the NSO team members replied.
The Sailor Senshi were distraught at how their attacks, much like before, did not affect or even seem to annoy the creatures that simply materialized in front of them. All the youma had been defeated, and now these monsters were the only thing between them and Nephrite and Kunzite, who were trying to leave, but were being confronted by Tuxedo Mask.
The drones advanced on the Senshi but were soon being sent to the ground by the orange blobs of energy that were hitting them from various directions, coming from the nearby rooftops.
“They’re no help at all,” Kunzite growled as he tried to push Tuxedo Mask away from Nephrite.
With about twelve drones left, the phaser blasts began to simply dissipate upon hitting the drones. The Senshi got worried when the orange energy blobs stopped, but then decided to simply duck and cover when they noticed rather than being hit by the blobs, the drones were simply dropping; blue nano-robotic goo spraying out of the side of their heads.
It took the NEO teams not more than a couple of minutes to gun down the remaining drones.
Kunzite finally got a good kick in and knocked Tuxedo Mask over. The two generals took off running towards the street. Mars quickly stood.
“FIRE SOUL!” she screamed as she shot a fireball at the pair, hitting Kunzite in the back, injuring him. Nephrite almost screamed as he saw his friend fall to the ground. He quickly picked him up, carried him to the street, stopped a car, pulled the driver from the car, and stole it, driving off.
Mars began to look around as the rest of the Senshi slowly stood.
“WHY DID YOU LET THEM GET AWAY?!” Mars screamed.
Tuxedo Mask walked over to the group and looked around as well, trying to see who Mars was yelling at.
“YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THEM? WHY DID YOU ALLOW THEM TO LEAVE?” Mars again yelled.
Rei watched her duplicate yell for a while before turning to Shelton. “Continue surveillance for now. I’ll be back on the ship.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Makoto was amused by Ranma’s tale of mutiny. She was a little disappointed that she wasn’t the one who got to drag the woman to her quarters, but nonetheless, she was amused. As well, she got to do one of her favorite things ever.
“I told you so,” she smiled.
Ranma nodded as he leaned back in the conference room chair. “I’m just sorry Gosnell...” he paused, “...and you, had to go through what you did because of it.”
Makoto grinned a bit. “It’s been on my mind lately for some reason anyway.” She sighed and turned to look out the window. “It’s kind of funny how fate works out. If he hadn’t made such a stupid decision and signed that contract, he wouldn’t be here, and we wouldn’t have ever found each other again.”
“Not sure how much the contract has to do with it,” Ranma shrugged. “I told him I don’t have any intention of holding him to it.”
Makoto slowly spun around in the chair and smiled at Ranma. “I think that just proves how loyal everyone is to you, Captain.”
Ranma continued to smile. “I assure you; it goes both ways.”
Makoto nodded. “I know.”
The conference room doors opened and the rest of the senior staff, as well as Miharu, walked in and sat down. They began to discuss the situation and what their options could be to end the threat once and for all.
“Captain,” Rei sighed, “I think that our theory that their hideout having to be within walking distance of the electronics store was wrong. We clearly saw them beam in drones, so wherever they are, they have the ability to transport.”
“How can they do that without any kind of line of sight?” Minako asked.
“They must have a relay placed on a large building,” Kaii pointed out.
“My guess would be the Tokyo Tower,” Ranma suggested.
Rei nodded. “That would probably allow them to hit all of metropolitan Tokyo.”
Ranma looked to Kaii. “How confident are you that you could take Nighthawk down there and check out the tower without being detected?”
“I should probably do it at night. There will be less air traffic to avoid and hopefully fewer people to potentially see any exhaust wake.”
Ranma nodded. “Make it so.”
Kaii nodded.
“Also,” Ranma continued, “I want you to check for transporter signatures in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward.”
“Yes sir.”
Shampoo looked to Ranma with some concern.
“You think we there too?” Shampoo asked.
Ranma sighed. “I know we are,” he said, sliding a PADD to Shampoo. “Gosnell was looking through a phone book and found my father and father-in-law’s martial arts school.”
Ranma turned and looked towards the planet. “I have every reason to believe that the Kunos are going to try and kidnap this world’s Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo, as well as potentially your counterpart, Shampoo.”
Shampoo looked up from her PADD. “Me?”
“Well, you know George did have a thing for you.”
Shampoo sighed. “Right....”
“What are you planning?” Rei asked.
“I intend on letting them,” Ranma said.
The room was quiet for a moment before Makoto began shaking her head. “Oh... No, no, no.”
Ranma chuckled. “I figured you’d have an objection.”
“I wouldn’t be doing my duty as chief of security if I didn’t object to a plan that allows the captain, XO, and CMO to be captured by a hostile force!” Makoto grumbled.
“Right now, it seems to be the only way we’re going to find them,” Ranma sighed. “We’ll be tagged, and once they take us back to their hideout, the NSO teams-”
“And me!” Makoto demanded, causing Rei to laugh.
“And Makoto,” Ranma continued, smiling, “can beam in and destroy whatever they’ve done.”
Rei pondered things for a bit. “Our counterparts messed up the Negaverse guys pretty bad, so it’s pretty safe to divert most of our surveillance.”
“Sounds good,” Ranma said.
“So,” Miharu finally spoke up, “how are you going to keep the native versions of yourselves from being compromised?”
“I think they need to have a more delicate touch applied to them,” Ranma said. “Stunned and sedated for the duration.”
Shampoo blinked. “I never have to stun myself.”
“First time for everything, Commander,” Rei smiled.
Ranma nodded. “I assume you’ll be taking our duplicate Usagi home?”
Rei nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay then,” Ranma stood. “Kaii, let me know when you’re done with your scans.”
Kaii nodded. “Aye.”
The four duplicates stood quickly as Rei, who was carrying Usagi-2, materialized in front of the temple. Minako-2, as well as Luna and Artemis, ran over to her, a worried expression on their faces.
“Usagi!” Minako-2 cried out.
“She’s just sleeping,” Rei said, handing her over to Makoto-2 who had walked over as well. “She’ll be good as new, although confused when she wakes up.”
Rei ran her hand through the duplicate Usagi’s hair before Makoto-2 took her to put her in a bed. Rei-2 looked at her counterpart with disgust in her eyes.
“You know you could have stopped them. But you didn’t. You just let them drive away.”
Rei sighed. “We can’t become involved in your conflict.”
“You’re already involved!” Rei-2 argued.
“Yes,” Rei nodded, “to stop the outside interference from our world. Not to decide who should win and who should lose.”
Rei-2 scoffed. “I can’t believe you and your people could be so morally indifferent.”
Rei shook her head growled. “Oh, don’t give me this fucking speech. I’ve been there, done that. I saved more lives last week than you will save in the next ten years.” Rei walked up and got right in the face of her duplicate. “So, save your morals and ethics speech for someone else.”
“You shot the one who was about to hit Tuxedo Mask,” Rei-2 grumbled. “Why’s that?”
Rei didn’t answer.
“You can interfere when you feel like it?”
“Rei,” Minako-2 softly said.
Rei turned and shoved Rei-2 to the ground. She then dropped to her knees, wiped a tear out of her eye, and growled at the mirror Rei.
“Maybe I will interfere here. I’ll tell you a little bit about the future. How about you be a little less of a bitch and perhaps your life won’t be the lonely, shell of a life mine was, devoid of friends, meaning, and love.”
Rei stood back up and turned to the rest of them. “I still have a couple of people watching out in case any more of the Kunos come after you. But we’re close to finishing them off. Once we do, we’ll let you know.”
Minako-2 and Ami-2 nodded as Rei beamed back to the ship. Rei-2 remained on the concrete for a moment and stared angrily at the spot that used to contain her counterpart.
“Boy, you’re going to have to try harder than that!” Genma yelled at Ranma as he, at least in his opinion, expertly dodged Ranma’s leg strike on the roof of the Tendo Dojo.
Ranma scowled. Little annoyed him more than his father not taking him seriously, and that was exactly what he was doing right now. What was more annoying was that he could feel the air getting colder and he knew for a fact that any moment now it was going to start raining, and the last thing he wanted was to end up changing.
“Come on, Pop,” Ranma growled as he attacked again, his father doing the best he could to avoid the strikes coming from his son. “I know you don’t care, but I really don’t want to get drenched.”
“What does it matter, boy?” Genma asked, as he is socked in the stomach and drops to his knees. Ranma leaned down to help his father up, but rather than take his hand, Genma simply grabs ahold of Ranma’s undershirt and hurls him towards the pond several meters away.
“You’re going to have to take a bath anyway!” Genma called after Ranma, laughing as the martial artist splashed into the pond, emerging as Ranma-chan.
Captain Ranma Saotome, from a nearby rooftop, looked to Akane who was shaking her head disapprovingly. Both Sisko officers, dressed in all black, were concealed well, waiting for their two counterparts to go to bed so they could replace them.
“What?” Ranma whispered.
“I forgot what an ass your father could be,” Akane whispered back.
Ranma laughed quietly. “And not more than a month ago, you were yelling at me to be nicer to him.”
Akane grumbled a bit. “Yeah, well, I rescind that.”
Ranma again laughed quietly. He then sighed and rubbed his ring finger. “I feel kind of naked without it,” he admitted.
Akane smiled, leaned over, and kissed Ranma. “Good,” she grinned.
Rain began to fall, changing the captain, as they watched the panda gloat before hopping down off the roof and going inside with his son-turned-daughter.
The rain, at first, annoyed Shampoo. Turning her into a cat seemed to be an inconvenience, but she quickly realized that things might work out for the better this way.
The inside of the Nekohanten was dark. As expected, Shampoo and her great-grandmother had gone to bed early. Both were early risers and as such, were in bed by 22:00.
Neko-Shampoo managed to pick up the hypospray she needed as well as the transporter tag she would need in her mouth and slithered in through an open window. Once inside she maneuvered around, far more quietly than she would have been able to had she been in human form, thanks to her padded paws and her mere three-kilogram weight. As well, the cat’s expert night vision allowed her to avoid obstacles far easier than she would have been able to as a human.
Shampoo first poked her head into Cologne’s room. The old woman was sound asleep.
Good.
Neko-Shampoo slowly made her way down the hallway to Shampoo-2’s room. There she saw her. Herself. Sleeping peacefully, a small smile on her face. Neko-Shampoo almost pitied her. She assumed the poor idiot was dreaming of happy life of her and Ranma, blissfully ignorant of the heartbreak and pain that he would bring her.
There was a part of her that wanted to kill her.
Her job was to protect her.
Who’s to say she wouldn’t be allowed to protect her from other things as well.
If she was dead, she’d never feel the hurt. The anguish.
Then again, Neko-Shampoo thought, maybe this world had a different destiny for this Shampoo and maybe she and Ranma would be together.
The small cat sighed and walked up to her before hopping on the bed and walking up to her neck. She set down the tag and hypo before softly kissing Shampoo on the cheek. The cat then picked the hypo back up.
However, the Amazon was a light sleeper. Neko-Shampoo should have known that. The touch to her face woke her. Shampoo-2’s eyes opened and she looked over. Her eyes went wide when she saw her cat half looking back at her, holding some strange-looking device in its mouth.
“AYAY!!!!!!!!!!!” Shampoo-2 cried out, trying to scoot away.
Neko-Shampoo leaped at Shampoo-2 but was swatted away. Neko-Shampoo growled before attacking again, this time leaping onto Shampoo-2’s back and sinking her claws into her, finally connecting the hypospray to the back of Shampoo-2’s neck.
Shampoo-2 took flailed around a bit, trying to get the cat off her before falling asleep and dropping back onto the bed. Neko-Shampoo quickly grabbed the transporter tag and stuck it to Shampoo-2 and beamed her away. She then moved over to where there was some tea, noticed it was warm enough to change her, and knocked it over, causing her to revert to human form, just before her door slid over and Cologne ran in.
“Child, what is wrong?!” Cologne asked.
“Shampoo have bad dream,” Shampoo said, standing.
“MY DARING SHAMPOO!” Mousse screamed, running into the room. “ARE YOU OKAY?!”
Shampoo stared wide-eyed at the man in front of her. “M-M-M-Mousse...”
Cologne, who could tell there was something different about Shampoo to begin with, found her reaction to Mousse disturbing. Not only did she react like she hadn’t seen him in years, but she didn’t seem to have any qualms about him looking at her while she was standing there naked as the day she was born.
Mousse hurriedly tried to put his glasses on to see what all the commotion was about. Once he did, blood exploded out of his nose.
Shampoo, realizing what spurred Mousse’s reaction, ran to the closet, and grabbed a robe, and put it on.
“Shampoo okay,” she said, quietly, trying to keep her crying in check. “Just very bad dream is all.”
“Do you need me to sleep with you?” Mousse asked.
Cologne sent Mousse flying out the window.
“QUACK!” he objected from the street below.
“Would you like to talk about it?” Cologne asked.
Shampoo shook her head as she moved back to the bed. “No, great-grandmother. Shampoo just want to go back to sleep, thank you.”
Cologne nodded and began to turn away. She started to move out of the doorway before turning back around towards Shampoo who had gotten herself tucked into the bed.
“You have your alarm set, right?” Cologne asked.
Shampoo nodded. “Yes, Great-Grandmother.”
Cologne smiled, turned again before suddenly whipping around and attacking Shampoo. Shampoo dove out of the bed and dodged the attack that sent the bed exploding into hundreds of shards.
“What have you done with Shampoo, you imposter?” Cologne asked.
“I Shampoo!” Shampoo argued.
“You are not!” Cologne retorted. “Shampoo was looking forward to tomorrow specifically because she could sleep in.”
Shampoo again dodged another attack. “Stop attacking and Shampoo explain,” she pleaded.
“Where is Shampoo?” Cologne once again demanded to know, attacking Shampoo again. Cologne was getting very confused. Whoever this Shampoo doppelganger was, she was just like her. She seemed to know all her moves like Shampoo would, and as such, was able to avoid them.
“STOP ATTACKING SHAMPOO YOU DRIED-UP POTATO!!!!!” Mousse yelled, trying to attack Cologne, but again getting sent through a window and out into the street.
“MOUSSE!!!!” Shampoo screamed, looking out the window.
Cologne saw an opening and took it. She attacked again, and again, her attack was dodged, but this time Shampoo seriously attacked back and knocked Cologne to the ground. The act of being... struck... stunning the old woman.
Cologne looked on, slightly worried, as Shampoo’s battle aura glowed brightly.
“Shampoo ask you to stop and Shampoo explain,” Shampoo growled.
Cologne, concerned that maybe she could not defeat this Shampoo, conceded, not necessarily defeat, but at the minimum a stalemate.
“Where’s Shampoo?” she asked again.
“She safe,” Shampoo said, calming down.
Mousse again came charging into the room.
“Mousse, relax,” Shampoo ordered him, quietly.
Mousse, before he could again get pummeled by Cologne, heeded her words, and sat down next to Cologne.
Shampoo explained the situation to them, including the fact that she could get into a lot of trouble by explaining the situation to them, and explained the fact that their Shampoo was hidden away until the people from their world were defeated.
“Once we capture them, we return Shampoo, then we go back to our world,” Shampoo finished.
Mousse blubbered a bit. “Two Shampoos...”
Cologne just rolled her eyes. “I think you’re greatly underestimating Shampoo’s strength if you don’t think she can manage on her own.”
Shampoo sighed. “I defeat your Shampoo as cat with medical device. These not like annoying Kuno who run around and grope Ranma and Akane. They can and do kill people with technology from 500 year in future. Strength only go so far.”
Cologne nodded and finally agreed. “So,” she asked, changing the subject slightly. “If you, Ranma, and Akane all work together in your world, tell me, have you married him as our laws dictate?”
Shampoo turned away slightly. “Shampoo not allowed to discuss such matters.”
Cologne shook her head in disappointment. Mousse, however, smiled slightly.
Ranma-chan tip-toed through the Tendo residence towards her room. It had been years since she had stepped foot in this house, but her memory was pretty good, so she was pretty sure she could remember which room was hers.
Luckily, all the girls had their names on the doors, so she wouldn’t accidentally be walking in on any of them.
However halfway down the hallway, she did happen to come across Genma-panda tiptoeing the other direction. The pair looked at each other for a moment. Finally, Genma-panda whipped out a sign.
‘Late night snack?’
Ranma-chan nodded. “You?” she whispered.
Genma-panda nodded. The pair continued in their respective directions. Genma-panda stopping at the end of the hallway for a moment, confusion dawning on him slightly as he could swear he left Ranma sleeping in his and his son’s room before he left. Regardless, his need for a sandwich overrode any desire to perform detective work and he continued towards the kitchen.
Ranma-chan reached her room and slid the door open. There she saw her alternate male half. A sight to behold. Spread-out, horrid looking. No wonder her wife hit her so much. That said, she was hoping that she still looked that young.
Ranma-chan tiptoed over to her male duplicate and injected him. Ranma-2 seemed happy about the additional sleep and moaned in appreciation before Ranma-chan tagged him and beamed him away. She then took his place in bed and dozed off to sleep.
Akane easily found her duplicate’s room and quietly opened the door. She let out an audible sigh upon seeing the Furinkan High school uniform hanging up, realizing that she would, in fact, have to wear that come tomorrow.
The dresses she’d grown fond of didn’t look quite that frumpy.
In fact, she noticed that the vast majority of all Akane’s dresses were quite frumpy. Did she really have this bad of taste in clothing?
She sighed again as she moved over to the bed. She pulled out the hypo and injected Akane-2 and tagged her. She beamed that Akane away and then started to get undressed before seeing, to her delight, P-Chan.
“P-Chan!” she whispered, picking him up and hugging him.
To her chagrin, however, the little black piglet was horrified and bolted out the partially open window. Akane wondered if it was because somehow, he could tell that she was not ‘his’ Akane.
Didn’t seem to really matter, however. He was just a little piggy. Not like he could run around and tell everyone.
In a seedy area of Tokyo, Bravo team and part of Alpha team had replicated some Yen and rented out two rooms of a ‘love hotel’ for two days. One of the rooms they had converted into a command post, where they were monitoring things. Anthony and Kio were stationed there.
In the other room, Yayo, Masters, and one of the Sisko’s doctors were stationed, as well as Shampoo-2, Ranma-2, and Akane-2, all set up on temporary biobeds.
They had easy jobs. Keep the three sedated, and if necessary, do some short-term memory erasing.
Shampoo-2’s had already been taken care of. Basically, now all they were doing was waiting.
Anthony looked to Kio who was watching some game show on the television. Kio, who had made herself comfortable on the bed, was chomping away on some popcorn, while laughing at someone getting clobbered at the hands of some strange obstacle, while the announcer was yelling at him, berating him, and letting him know how he had dishonored his ancestors.
“Do you even speak Japanese?” Anthony asked her.
“Universal translator,” Kio said, pointing to her ear.
“That’s not what I asked,” Anthony asked, hopping onto the bed next to her and stealing some of her popcorn.
“No,” she replied. “Why would I need to?”
“Heritage?”
Kio rolled her eyes. “Do you speak African?”
Anthony eyed her kind of sourly. “There are like 50 distinct languages from the African continent,” he grumbled.
“Well, do you speak any of them?” she asked.
Anthony sighed. “Well, your point, albeit racist, is taken.”
“I think you understand I didn’t mean to be racist, Tony. And why is what I said racist and what you said wasn’t?”
Tony cleared his throat, ignoring Kio’s impeccable logic, and stole some more popcorn. “It would be kind of weird to live back in this time, where people were defined by their cultural traits and race again.”
“We kind of did, when we were marooned.”
“Ugh, that was an extreme, though.”
“Still happens in our time, though,” Kio pointed out. “There’s us, the peace-loving do-gooders. The Klingons, the warmongers. The Romulans, the untrustworthy, spies. The Breen, the frozen, back-stabbers. The Ferengi, the corporatist, greed-mongers,” she looked to Anthony. “Should I go on?”
Anthony shook his head. “Well, you can’t even lump the Federation as one?”
“Oh?”
Anthony shook his head as he took the popcorn away from Kio and set it on a table. “Yeah, I mean, if we were all the same, then I likely wouldn’t be as interested in you as I am.”
Kio smirked. “You’d nail anything you could catch.”
“If only that were the case, Lieutenant,” he said, positioning himself, on his knees in front of Kio. “Life wouldn’t be so damned frustrating.”
Kio smiled. “So, what makes me so special?”
“Well,” Anthony smiled rolling up the bottom of Kio’s tank top, making a jokingly disgusted face at the scar on her stomach as he did so, “there is the olive skin that somehow on a spaceship you manage to keep just perfectly tan.”
“Hard work,” Kio whispered.
Anthony pulled her tank top all the way off.
“Those are just spectacular.”
“Small,” she sighed.
Anthony slid his hands below her bra and smiled. “Not from my point of view.”
Kio moaned slightly.
“Dark brown eyes that I’ve never seen anywhere else,” Anthony said, before kissing Kio.
“If this ruins...” Kio softly said.
“It can’t,” Anthony replied. “I’ve been in love with you since the first day I met you,” he whispered. “But Nik was my best friend. And you know what they say...”
Kio began to unbuckle Anthony’s pants. “If you say it,” she whispered, “I’ll rip your junk right off,” she smiled as the pair kissed.