Colin sighed. "Yoshi, if you want to go in there and kill that girl because you're afraid, then do it. Go ahead. But know you don't have my blessing and I'll not stick around and watch you piss your life away because you're too scared to live and breathe. I'll just go back home to Ireland and call up the rest of the gang and tell them we should go buy an Island in the middle of the ocean, and watch the world self-destruct, because the great Yoshima Miakoda has all the answers even when she doesn't have a fucking clue."
Colin walked to the doorway and stopped as he placed his hand on lever for the elevator. He turned back to the woman who stared out of the window, her quiet tears traveling down her face unbeknownst to him. "When you go in there and do it, you tell Clarion that I apologize for failing her and that most of all, I'm sorry that you failed yourself."
As they elevator slammed closed Yoshi fell forward, prostrate on to the floor and cried quietly; her hand gripping the handle of her dagger. Three feet away Clarion shook with anger and fear as she willed away her on tears and begin to think up a plan to get out.
* * *
CH 18: Open mouth, insert foot
What Clarion assumed was two or three hours passed in complete silence. Perhaps the sound of her rumbling stomach had been heard by Yoshi; who soon walked into the room with a tray. The tall woman sat the tray beside Clarion and did her best to take of the handcuffs without touching her. Yoshi tossed the cuffs on the bed and stood up. "An hour." With that she left in the same silent manner. Clarion looked down at the plate and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Clarion wasn't sure what hurt more the fact that Yoshi wanted to kill her or the fact that she remembered what she liked for breakfast.
Clarion rubbed her wrists before she devoured the large chocolate chip muffin. For a second Clarion imagined that she might be able to rationalize with Yoshi, but she knew better. As the food and coffee filled her body, Clarion felt a surge of energy coursing through her body. At least if Yoshi cuffed her again, she knew she know was strong enough to break the cuffs. She smiled as she started on her second muffin and then stopped in mid chew as she looked down at the tray her food was on. Clarion smiled as she spoke quietly to herself. "This is going to be easier than you thought, ch¾ r."
Forty-five minutes later, Clarion stood up and shook the crumbs off her body. The only glitch in the plan was that she was barefoot and in shortsleeves, but they were merely technicalities. Clarion picked up the tray and held it to her side as she walked towards the partition. She took a deep breath and focused the energy gathering in her body. She knew without looking that her eyes had grown brighter with a glow of green. She touched her tongue to her fangs and breathed deep. Now or Never. She tapped on the partition. "I'm done."
Yoshi was there so fast Clarion almost missed her moment, but as the opening of the door left Yoshi's torso wide open Clarion acted. With both hands holding the tray she rammed the edge into Yoshi's gut several times, shoving the woman out into the main room of the warehouse. When Yoshi finally doubled over enough, Clarion brought the tray up with extreme force, connecting with Yoshi's face and driving her backward. Clarion stared down at the downed body of the dark woman in disbelief. She almost couldn't believe she did it. Clarion returned her breathing to normal, dropped the tray and scurried down the steps and out of the building. It was two miles to civilization and the gravel was going to be a bitch.
-- --- ---- ---
Yoshi didn't show a bit of surprise when Colin stepped off the elevator followed by the smell of alcohol. Colin raised an eyebrow as he sat down his twelve pack and looked at the woman who seemed as if she hadn't moved from the spot he left her in three hours earlier. Actually, except for the bag of ice she was holding to her nose she looked exactly the same, with her hair in a ponytail, black Akido pants, and a sports bra. Colin let out a laugh as he opened two beers on the counter and went and sat down next to Yoshi.
Without looking she reached out and took the cold bottle and proceeded to drink deeply. Colin eyed her with empathy and drank from his own bottle. "You want me to fix that?" He nodded at her nose.
"I can do it, but I just want to feel it for a while."
"You let me set it and you be feeling it even after you heal it." Colin smiled wickedly.
Yoshi dropped the bag and sipped from her beer. Colin raised up on his knees in front of the woman. He touched both his index finger and middle to the either side of her nose right on the bridge. He felt the bone carefully and then in one swift rush of motion he snapped her bones back into place. Yoshi sucked in air harshly as a sign of pain and then drank deeply from her beer as Colin moved away from her. They sat in silence and went through the twelve pack before either said another word to each other.
"You can't kill her Yoshi. I mean I'm sure she'd find a way out of it, but she's absolutely amazing. You do realize she should be dead by now." He laughed. "I'm not really sure how's she lasted this long."
"How amazing is she?" Blue eyes filled with color, glanced at a smirking Colin and then looked away.
"Well me and your boys did a little digging and it seems our little Clarion is no spring chicken. She's nearing 230. There are some fuzzy records in the seventeen hundreds but she shows up larger than life in the eighteen hundreds. But about her nine lives, it seems that Clarion Larieux was a cat burglar for nearly 30 years." Yoshi turned her head and arched her brow at Colin. He nodded and smiled. "You ever been to her place?" Yoshi gazed out of the window with a look of remembrance and then she nodded. "Look like a museum right?"
"Or a woman with good taste and money."
"Oh Yeah speaking of, Clarion's worth about 120 million dollars and that's just cash, bonds, stock, and the assets she accounts for. The Monets are real. Along with the Rembrandts, the Picassos, the Rodin's, Boucher's and whatever else she got her hands on. Our little Clarion's one heck of a lady."
"She's ours now?"
"Hey, I admit I'm head over heels in love. I'll keep her all to myself then."
Yoshi turned slitted blue eyes on Colin as the corner of her mouth curled up in a devilish smile. "Mine."
Colin laughed as he leaned back on his arms. "You never did understand the concept of sharing did you." He hopped up from the floor and cleared the bottles. "So what's the plan chief?"
Yoshi stood and faced Colin as he stood in the kitchen. "You trust me now?"
"No….I have faith in you."
"Why?"
"Because once upon a time, in a far off land, I watched a fearless young woman fight her way through at least three dozen men without out thought or consequence to bodily harm, just to save one ordinary man."
"He was my father."
"And you loved him."
"Still do." she whispered.
Colin walked over and put his hand on the shoulder of his friend. "If you believe in nothing else believe in his love and belief in you. I don't know what else to tell you."
"I sat here for two hours and tried to figure out what to tell myself. You're right I've got no clue what to do, I'm not sure, I'm hesitant, I'm confused, my mouth is dry, I've got butterflies in my stomach…and more than anything, I can' t seem to forget what her lips taste like."
Colin laughed and pulled the tall woman into a half-embrace and half-headlock. "You are insane." He released her with a playful shove and a sloppy kiss to the forehead. "It feels good to be alive doesn't it."
"Is this really what it feels like?" Yoshi looked doubtful.
"Why do you think I'm drunk all the time girl?"
"Because you're trying to ruin your liver?"
"Well in the beginning. But mostly because the next day when I ache all over and I can't remember who I'm laying next to, it's not so bad that I've been on this earth for damn near 830 years."
"That's awfully morbid and stupid Colin."
"So is base jumping off a cliff in Hawaii, but it feels damn good to hit the water and not break my neck."
Yoshi shrugged her shoulders as Colin began pushing her towards her bedroom. "What's that mean? I don't understand."
"Whatever, maybe it's a crappy analogy, who cares. You want to know what the point to life is?"
"If you say sex, sleep, alcohol I'm going to hurt you."
"While those are the most important things in life along with good food, no they're not the point. The point is there is no point."
Yoshi stopped in the doorway. "How can there be no point?"
Colin shook his head and moved into the room. "I mean there is a point, a point of chaos, and questions, and open-ended answers, and lots of things that individually don't make sense but as a whole create a grand picture."
"And you think I'm insane." Yoshi laughed as she walked to her closet and tried to tune out Colin's philosophy on life.
--- ---- ---- ----
Yoshi walked into St. Francis at two in the afternoon and sat down in the last row of pews, folded her hands in her lap and waited. At ten in the evening a grim looking Father Munez sat in the pew in front of her.
"You're not going to leave are you?" Yoshi shook her head. "What?"
"I'm looking for Clarion."
"Good for you."
Yoshi ignored his snide reply. "Father, can you help me find her?"
"I don't think that would be a wise decision." He turned his back to her and started to get up.
"I don't think it is either, in fact I have no idea what to say or do, I'm at a loss for strategy here."
Father Munez did not curtail the broad smile that graced his face. He sat back down and raised an eyebrow at Yoshi as he looked her up and down. "You're serious?" She nodded. "Hmm." Father Munez tugged at his lip at he searched for something to say. "Well, you've caught me off guard here. I'm a little unsure of what to do, hadn't planned for this."
"I didn't either."
"That's because you can't, Yoshima." He scratched at the scruff of his growing beard. "I'm intrigued and willing to help, but forgive me if I'm still a tad distrustful of your motives. Why should I help you at all, you're going to kill her."
Yoshi grimaced and looked down at her hands before she made eye contact with the father. "It's not like I want to-
Father Munez sat forward and started to get up and Yoshi grabbed his sleeve. She removed her hand as he glared at her and sat back down. "Finish."
She sighed. "I don't want to kill her. But at the same time I don't understand the scrolls, they're confusing. I don't know what to do."
Father Munez relaxed his suspicion as he listened to the dark woman's sincere musings. "What do you want to do?"
Yoshi shrugged. "I don't know that I know what to do." She shook her head. "I've lived for nearly a millenium and nothing has ever been this hard. I mean there was one or two other times, but those were different circumstances."
"It's never easy when it's the real thing." Yoshi looked at him with a question in her eye. Father smiled. "You look like you've spent your whole life waiting for something to bite you in the ass. This is it."
"So is this God's test?"
"According to theory this is all one big experiment anyway, so why not."
"That's not helping Father."
"I'm here to guide, not pass out cheat sheets." Yoshi sighed. "I ask again, what do you want to do?"
Yoshi took in the high ceilings of the Cathedral and breathed deep. "I want to buy a boat."
"And?"
Yoshi grinned. "And, maybe an island somewhere and I want to sail around the world and visit the places I haven't seen in centuries and decades….and I want her with me." She avoided Father Munez's gaze as she dropped her head and looked at her boots.
Father smiled and moved his hand past free falling black hair and raised Yoshi's chin. "Do you know how to beg?"
"You want me to beg?"
Father chuckled. "I don't."
"Oh." Yoshi lifted her hand and brushed her hair away from her face. "I think I understand the concept."
"Amazing." Father shook his head. "Well your going to need to be prepared for some groveling, some pleading, maybe tears, and she's got a small temper."
"And she can turn a tray into a battering ram." Yoshi reflexively touched her nose. "Where?"
Father Munez smiled and stood. Yoshi followed suit. "Follow the path between the Roses and the Light, then go left at the fork."
"What? Can we not be cryptic, I have enough confusing language in my head."
Father shook his head. "No, I'm serious. Go to the cemetery, about a mile in there's a headstone for the Roses' on the right and one for the Lights' on the left, follow the path."
Yoshi blushed. "Oh. Sorry." She chuckled at her confusion and gave the father a lopsided grin. Yoshi walked with the priest and stopped at the door.
Father looked up into deep blue eyes with question and the smallest hint of amusement. "You want me to say a prayer or something?"
"Should you?"
The acoustics in the cathedral picked up Father Munez's laughter and carried the genuinely delighted sound through the building. He stopped as a few worshipers turned in his direction. He cleared his throat as he ushered Yoshi out of the building with a giggle. He looked up at the scowling woman and apologized. "If it'll help--go in peace… yada yada yada, may the Lord have mercy on you…amen." He made the sign of the cross in the air and then touched Yoshi on the shoulder. He held his hands up in a boxing stance and spoke. "Remember, bob and weave. Bob--and then weave."
Yoshi smiled. "Sure thing Father."
* * *
CH 19: "I'm hitting my knees for you, Baby"
Yoshi found herself standing in front of a mausoleum when she got to the end of the path. She drew in a breath as she found a man-made fissure in the cement and forced back a slab of concrete. She closed the slab behind her and wasn't surprised to find that the room was dimly lit with torches hanging in opposite corners. Yoshi looked around the room and found no signs of life, but her ears picked up at the faint sound of movement below her. Yoshi placed a hand on her blade as she stepped around a large crypt and there she found steps that led down. She removed her hand from her sword and began to slowly descend the stairs.
Yoshi barely had time to take in the vault itself before Clarion rose from behind a marbled crypt. Angry green eyes focused on Yoshi, who stood at the entrance to the steps with her hands at her sides. "Get the fuck out Hunter!" Clarion's voice was strained from crying but it still harbored fierce anger.
Yoshi didn't make eye contact with the enraged woman as she held her hands up. "I mean you no harm Clarion, I just want to talk." In a blink of an eye Clarion moved from behind the crypt and was in front of Yoshi. She drew back her arm and slapped Yoshi hard across the face. Yoshi's head snapped to the side and she slowly brought her head back around to face Clarion.
Clarion shoved Yoshi with each sentence. "Leave now! Get the fuck out. Leave me be and let me go!" Clarion stopped pushing when Yoshi hit the wall. Clarion stood with her fists clenched at her side. She stepped back and breathed deep fighting the surge of energy in her body that was prompting her to let go of her human nature. Clarion looked down at the floor as she grabbed fistfuls of her hair and moved away from Yoshi. "Let me go, just let me go, let me go." Her voice cracked as she came to a stop in front of the crypt.
Yoshi glanced at the red-head and then looked away as she dabbed away a drop of blood with her tongue. She moved away from the wall, but made no move to get closer to Clarion. "Will you please just let me talk?"
Clarion threw up her hands and released a guttural scream. "What the fuck is there to say!?" She didn ‘t wait for Yoshi to answer as she walked around to the other side of the crypt declaring it as a barrier. "Absolutely nothing. There's nothing to say, there's nothing you can tell me to make this different. Stolova wants me dead, along with every Vampire on the fucking East Coast. And you," she thrusted her hand out in an accusatory manner, "you want to kill me because you don't know what to do with me and because it's law." Clarion laughed. "Fuck you Hunter! I can do bad by myself so I don't need your kind of help nor do I want it. Just walk away and let me go."
Yoshi grimaced in pain as Clarion's words assaulted her with the force of her fists. Yoshi tossed her head about as she looked about the room and tried to come up with something to say. She noticed the duffle bag in the corner next a bed that had recently been slept in. A small refrigerator stood in a corner beside a small table and a stool. Along the back wall, rested cardboard boxes and frame covers. This was Clarion's little hideway. For a moment, Yoshi wondered what treasures were in those boxes what else she was hiding away. Finally, she looked up at Clarion and managed to make eye contact.
"Where do you think you're going to go?"
"Anywhere but here, how about that."
"They'll find you."
"Let them come, I'll just keep moving."
"What kind of life is that?"
Clarion's laugh pained Yoshi in its mocking quality. "What do you know about a life? You live in the middle of nowhere and you don't see the people that are supposed to be your friends for decades." Clarion eased out from behind the crypt as her voice grew strong. "You live in your little world of books, swordplay, and traditional duty. What have you done but be stagnate because you're afraid to be wrong."
Yoshi frowned as she went on the defensive. "I'm sorry I'm not thief, is that what you want?"
Clarion howled with laughter. "I'm sorry you're not as well. Forgive me, oh great one, for not being a fucking upstanding citizen for two hundred years. Forgive me if I got bored!"
Yoshi drew in a breath and calmed herself. "I'm not judging you Clarion."
"Yes you are! Just like you judge us all. And you know what, I find it awfully hypocritical of you to stand there and question my humanity when clearly, it's you who is lacking it."
Yoshi stepped back as if she had been hit and Clarion dropped her gaze, thinking that maybe she had gone too far. Yoshi hung her head and bit at her lip as her mind raced. She turned towards the wall and kicked at it idly like a scolded child. When the room hummed with silence, she curtailed her want to sob and spoke. "Clarion, I-I don't know what to do. I have no answers, but I have to have your help. I want your help…please." Yoshi turned around and faced a scowling Clarion who clearly didn't know what to make of the dark woman in her weakness.
Clarion toned down some of the sarcasm as she answered. "And just like that, I'm supposed to just say, okay, let's go. I'm supposed to put my life in your hands and put belief in your want to save me. Bullshit. How can I have faith in the faithless? Yoshi--I, oh boy, for the life of me I can't imagine you telling me anything that's going to make me believe." Clarion sighed as she watched the tall woman struggle with her thoughts.
Yoshi let her head loll back as Clarion's words washed over her. She ran her hands through her hair and then wiped away errant tears as she dropped her head. Her mind filled with Colin's rants and Father Munez's bad joke. It was almost too much for the woman, but she knew if she didn't leave here with Clarion then this would be the end. Yoshi closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and cut her mind off as she let the words come without prompting.
Her voice was a whisper. "I-I need you."
Clarion leaned off of the crypt and arched a brow. "What?"
With her eyes still closed, Yoshi spoke again. "I need you. I-- need-- you. I, me. I want--I-I need you." Yoshi sighed and continued, oblivious to the slack-jawed expression on Clarion's face. "Just me, just for me. Not…ah. Fuck!" Clarion slapped a hand over her mouth to hold in her squeak of surprise. "Look, I need you. Fuck the scrolls, fuck Colin, fuck Father Munez, fuck Stolova, fuck the law, just fuck, fuck, fuck!" Yoshi let loose an exasperated breath and drew up her hair as she finally opened her eyes. Clarion just stared as she held her arms across her body, and held a hand over her mouth. Yoshi swallowed and knew she couldn't stop talking now.
"You're right, I have no faith. You're all absolutely right, I don't know what to believe or even how. But, I do have faith in you. I believe in you. That's all I have strength for right now, and to be honest it's only my faith in you that's keeping me going right now." Yoshi drew back her coat and pulled out her katana. Clarion stepped back more out of reflex than fear.
Yoshi flourished the blade with her right hand and then held the blade up horizontally with both hands as she touched the blade to her forehead and mumbled something unintelligible. She then dropped to her knees, bowed her head, and held the blade above her head. Clarion was unsure of what was happening or even what to do. In fear, she wanted to run from the tomb, but she held fast to her spot if only out of awe at the display before her feet. Yoshi's black hair scraped the concrete as she bowed her head. Her coat pooled out around her and she resembled to Clarion a knight in supplication as she held the blade out with both hands. After a moment of reverent silence, a strong clear alto broke the silence as Yoshi spoke.
"Clarion Giselle, I lay down my blade. I kneel at your feet to beg forgiveness and to beg of your mercy. In this, as in all things, my life is yours. I pledge you my honor, my skill, my duty, my core, all that I am, from whence I came to wherever you lead. As it is and as it should be, from beginning to end, alpha and omega: I give you my blade."
Yoshi whispered a stream of Japanese to herself and then she laid the katana down on the ground between Clarion and herself, placed her hands on her thighs and bowed her head. Clarion wiped at the tears that escaped green eyes and stared down at the crown of blue-black hair. For only the second time in her long life, Clarion was speechless, and the first time she did it on purpose. Clarion ran a shaking hand through red hair and let loose a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. She had been prepared for a yelling match, maybe a scuffle, and the possibility that she might have to hurt the woman who made her ache with want on the inside.
Clarion had cremated and buried any hopes she had for her and Yoshi, so this was highly unexpected and unfortunately for Clarion she was out of smart ass comebacks. Clarion observed the silent woman kneeling at her feet and step towards her, so that only the width of the katana separated them. With just the faintest hint of shaking, Clarion placed a small hand on Yoshi's head and felt the woman shiver. Clarion firmed her touch, as she smoothed the dark locks away from Yoshi's face until she looked up. Clarion couldn't help but grin as teary green eyes fixed on teary blue eyes that were vibrant with life. Clarion continued absently combing her fingers through Yoshi's hair as she breathed out, "I accept."
Clarion took a step back as the breath left her body as Yoshi rose up onto her knees and embraced the small woman. Clarion giggled as Yoshi nuzzled her face in her stomach. Clarion reached around and released the pressure of Yoshi's hold as she knelt. Clarion held onto one of Yoshi's hands as she careful slid the katana out of her way. The two women grinned at each other and then Clarion began a two handed exploration of Yoshi's face. She drew her fingertips across the faint bruise on Yoshi's face.
Green eyes looked to the floor in shame. "I'm sorry I hit you."
"No you're not." Yoshi smiled. "But look on the bright side you were the first person to break my nose…in at least 50 years."
Clarion snapped her head up and her eyes went wide in shock. "Oh God, I'm sorry, really. I-I-
Yoshi touched long fingers to Clarion's lips and quieted the woman. "It hurt--a really really lot."
Clarion touched her forehead to Yoshi's and chuckled. She raised her head and planted a soft kiss on the bridge of Yoshi's nose. "A really really lot, huh?"
"Excruciating."
"Oh, yeah, spell it."
Blue eyes rolled with mirth. "Uh, e, x, something, ‘ting."
Clarion laughed aloud as she tousled dark hair. "Not too bright are you?"
"Complete idiot."
Clarion lowered her voice. "C'mere idiot."
Both women leaned in and met one another in the middle. Warm lips latched onto one another without hesitation or tentativeness, but in the mutual understanding that precious time had been wasted. The passion that quickly built a week ago on Clarion's couch was revived with no fear of stopping. The women rapidly devoured one another as tongues met and their hands roamed freely across one another's bodies. Yoshi let her coat drop to the floor along with Clarion's shirt as she stood up with the woman attached to her body like second skin. In hindsight, it was true that the bed was three feet to the right, but Yoshi's mind was so swirled she could only make the two steps that allowed her to deposit Clarion ontop of the marble crypt.
If the marble was cold Clarion couldn't feel it as she pulled the tall woman down on top of her and begin pulling at the black t-shirt that was keeping Clarion from certain goals. Yoshi smiled as she broke their kiss and left a trail of heated kisses down Clarion's neck, across her torso, her bra, and down her stomach. Yoshi stopped when she reached the edge of Clarion's warm-up pants and looked up at Clarion with heated blue eyes. Clarion laughed as she saw a glint of mischief flash across Yoshi's face. "You won't ruin them, it's just buttons." At that, a stream of metallic pops echoed through the vault as Yoshi yanked away the halves of Clarion's pants with one sure tug. Adidas warm-ups went in opposite directions as Yoshi tossed the pants away and ran warm hands down the length of Clarion's legs.
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