Nephrite's standing there, worry in his beautiful eyes.
I stand there like an idiot for a moment, thinking, Gods above and below he's gorgeous.
I see him raise a brow, and I realize to my dismay that I had forgotten to put my shades back on. I start to hastily turn to grab them when I feel a gently restraining hand on my shoulder.
"Wait, M-chan, what's the matter?" he asks.
"I forgot to put my shades back on, and I know my eyes aren't the most attractive things to look at," I say in a trembling voice, bowing my head so my hair would fall to curtain my face in silky waves.
He places a curled finger under my chin and gently tilts my head up to look into his eyes.
"Your eyes are beautiful, M-chan, you cannot convince me otherwise," he says softly.
We gaze at each other, and I feel my heart fluttering in my chest, drowning in the pools of deep blue that are his eyes.
A lancing bolt of pain coming from a wound on my back resulting from an errant breeze moving a loose piece of bandage to brush against the painfully sensitive area causes me to instinctively jerk forward into Neph's chest.
"M-chan?! What happened?" he looks down at me.
I gasp, the pain having torn the breath from my very lungs.
"N...not sure...uh...look at my back...anything loose or bleeding..." I say in a breathless voice, clutching the towel to my chest more from pain than from modesty.
He continues to support my small frame with a large, slender fingered hand on my flat stomach as he moves around me, looking at my horribly bruised and torn up back.
"Itai..." he whispers in sympathy.
"Huh?"
"Your back looks very painful, come, let me change these bandages, you will feel better."
I nod as he leads me to a stool, and I sit down, trying not to cry out as he removes the bandages as gently as he can, inadvertently pulling at my wounds. It can't be avoided seeing as the bandages where sticking to them.
"I am going to clean your wounds, this will hurt," he says after what seems like an eternity. "I am sorry."
I nod, "It's ok, Neph, it...it'll help me heal faaaaAAAH...!" I cut the off the scream before it could become a true scream, and close my eyes. Sweat rolling down my face, a strangled whimper escapes only sometimes as he cleaned my wounds.
It feels, however, that he was poring battery acid into the wounds.
"Now for the bandages, the wounds are clean," he tells me.
I slump forward, sobbing in relief, temporarily unable to control myself, "Th...thank...the gods," I whimper straitening up, feeling Neph's presence behind me, resting a soothing hand on my upper arm.
"Hai...it's almost over," he says bandaging me quickly and carefully.
"There...it's done," he says as I turn to face him, face, neck and upper chest glistening with sweat and tears.
"Doomo arigato gozaimusu, Neph," I say in a soft voice.
"Any time, M-chan, I'll leave the rest to you," he responds.
I feel the urge to lean over, kiss him passionately and do, well, other things with him.
Gah! DOWN girl! You just met the guy, don't go letting your hormones rule your actions.
An odd look comes over his face for a fraction of a second before he covers it with one of those heart stopping smiles of his.
"I'll be right outside, M-chan," he says softly, caressing my face lightly. Then he leaves the bathroom, softly closing the door behind himself.
I smile to myself as I splash cold water on my face neck and upper chest.
Within a few moments, I step out of the bathroom to see Neph leaning against the wall.
He looks over. "Ready?"
"Hai," I answer, and we head towards the den where Zoisite, Kunzite and the turtles are.
I gingerly sit down as Nephrite pours himself a glass of wine.
Needless to say, I'm still not overly recovered from my ordeal.
I attempt to smile at my friends, old and new.
They return the smile, and Kunzite speaks up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"M-chan, what is your story?"
"Well, it's a long one, where would you want me to start?" I ask.
"Perhaps the beginning would be the best place," he answers.
I bite my lip, "Ok, I wasn't really born, I was created."
No reaction from the turtles, seeing as they already knew the story, but Zoi's eyes widened, Kunzy rose a brow, and Neph looked at me with a quizzical look.
"For who?" Neph asks.
"The Department of Defense," I answer.
"By who?" Kunzite inquires.
"Well, I don't really know. A secret group of some kind. I have suspicions that they're connected to this bombing."
"So...what you're saying is that you're a genetic experiment done by a secret group for the US government?" Zoi asked me softly.
"To put it bluntly, yes. I escaped their torture and hid in New York," I answer, not wanting to go into detail about my life story.
"Until they found you and firebombed your home."
"Yes. They want their 'experiment' back. If the Turtles hadn't been nearby when they were, I wouldn't have made it out alive."
My eyes fall to the wine in Nephrite's glass, which he swirls before standing.
"You're safe now, M-chan. This anti-mutant group can't find you here," he tells me.
"Thank you for giving me shelter. I appreciate it," I say, looking into his eyes.
"Of course. It's late and you've had a long journey. We'll get some rest and finish discussing this tomorrow."
The others nod and go their separate ways after goodnights were said. Neph took me to his rooms.
I look at the bed, which he was motioning for me to use.
"Are you certain about this? I mean, where will you sleep?" I ask uncertainly.
"I'm quite certain. My bed would be more comfortable than a sofa for your wounds. I'll be fine on the sofa," he answers.
"All right."
Reluctantly I curl up on his king sized bed as he settles onto the sofa.
"Night," I tell him.
"Oyasuminasai, M-chan," he responds.
Within moments, I'm
fast asleep.
Part IV
Part VI
Meetings Index