The Figure sat behind his desk with his huge boots propped up on the surface, reclining in his chair and smoking a cigar. His massive, muscular seven foot frame seemed to dwarf that chair. It looked as if it wanted to collapse beneath him. A big cloud of smoke surrounded his face. His eyes flickered to the door when Skyler came in, a mild expression of amusement passing over his visage for a brief moment.

"No one stole your bike, you whiny little bitch." His cruel eyes stared Skyler down amidst the haze of acrid cigar smoke. "I told Suki she could ride it around."

With that, he spun around in his chair and gazed ponderously out the window, puffing his cigar and scowling his ever-present scowl.

He could feel the boy's eyes burning into him. He could hear his ragged, angry breathing. Tommy loved pissing people off, and, when he knew he was succeeding, he was sure to keep chopping away.

"Go cry about it." Tommy added this little chide with great satisfaction.

The engine was cut, and the only sound was her sneakers digging into the myriad of little crushed stones that made up the long driveway and the wheels of the motorcycle doing the same. No, she hadn?t run out of gas. Not yet anyway, it still had a half tank. No it was because it was late, late late, oh god I hope no one else is up late. Her teeth were biting into her lower lip as she pushed it up slight concrete incline that separated the floor of the garage from the rocky driveway. Kick stand placed down she placed her hands on her hips leaning down to inspect the, mostly, superficial damage she had wrought on the bike earlier.

?SkySky?s going to kill me?? she whispered to herself. How was she supposed to know that the Red Dragon Inn tossed its grease out onto the cobblestones of the back alleyway? The thing had just slipped right out from under her and crashed into a pile of trashcans, a few minor things bent, but mostly it was the paint job. That nice man had offered to fix it for her for free, yet she hadn?t been able to find his shop in time before it closed to get it fixed. She planned on just waking up early in the morning before Skyler and taking off with it again before he saw it, she continued the outer monologue ?But if he wakes up first I can just tell him some ruffians recognized his bike? that?s it!?

And then just as quickly she was unconcerned with the state of the bike, her arm stretched out in the thin sparser than normal light and she scrutinized one of the threads that had become frayed earlier on it when the bike had caught as it passed under her. In other words, she was unharmed from the incident, having landed miraculously on her feet, and she continued to quietly talk to herself ?Drat, when?s JenJen going to take me shopping??

Fingers entwining with one another she stretched, raising her hands palms up, over her head and yawned briefly before turning around to take the shortcut through the hall and into the kitchen. She went perfectly still seeing that outline in the hallway. Those narrowed slit like eyes. That tall lanky frame. The devil itself had come for her that night. Her chest failed to move from the first second she saw him, breathing and maybe even her heart just shutting down. A long moment stretching by, giant pools of very focused and awake looking jade watching the figure watching her. Her hands falling limply to her side and her mouth opening and closing several times, words failing her utterly during this time.

?Sk? s?. Sy? Sk? she gulped down some air,
?SkySkywhatareyoudoingupsolate?Youneedyourrestyou
looklikeyouvehadaverylongdayI?msorryIborrowedyour
bikebutIneeditagaintomorrowbutthatssomethingtotalk
aboutforthemorning,eeeehhhh?Okaywellgoodnight
SkySky!?

Most impressive considering she only had one measly breath of air.

Her eyes averted away from his finally and she took her first hesitant step towards him, her only escape from the garage now besides running back outside, was past him. A second step, and then a third. She turned her frame to fit past without touching him when it came to that, her breathing coming in short little gasps now that she did her best to stifle.

Being tired and careless after messing with Natsuki was a sure way to get into a horrible situation. As Skyler?s hand caressed that cold gun metal beneath her skirt her jade pools seemed to grow double in size, the shock spreading down from her face, through her body and down to her knees to still them from shooting forward and making horribly violent contact with his crotch right then and there. Even then as he slipped away from his close position no action to simply put him down and out came from her, her stay here had been so nice until this moment. Had Pslyder been right, and they were in fact, not good people?

Her head shifted the slightest to glimpse his final glare as he turned and made his way up the staircase before she finally was able to move again, to think again. Normally relaxed fingers curling into fists and she hung her head there in the hallway for a while, feeling in a sense, defiled.

Her head jerked up after that moment passed, a grim determined look taking hold of her features and out she stalked to the garage, a five gallon bucket picked up and out towards the surf she went?


Hours later a gentle touch to Skyler?s door handle was given. The boy had been so tired he had simply entered his room, slammed the door and passed out. With no lock in the way she entered the room silent as a mouse, the bucket lowered slowly and painstakingly to the ground to keep its contents quiet. There in the earliest of morning lights, was Suki, standing over Skyler with a bucket at her feet, a box under one arm, and straps of what looked to be formally a denim jacket that was now cut into strips. Tip toeing to the stand next to his bed she set the, what seemed to be a shoebox and alarm clock, on top of it. Then her work began.

Ever so mind-numbingly slow she began to entrap his arms and legs in the denim strips, first securing all four strips to the underside of the bed. Then slipping the noose like ends over each ankle or wrist and finally with extreme patience and care, tightening them each without waking him, not needing to tie them tight. His soon-to-be struggles would take care of that. Nearly half an hour of excruciating slowness passed before she stood back with her hands on her hips, admiring the work she?d done. Then the fun began.

Peeling off a dangling piece of duct tape from her arm she placed it, without much fanfare, onto Skyler?s mouth, making sure it was firmly in place. No longer caring if he was awake or asleep she then moved to the bucket and reaching into it she hauled out two of the biggest, ugliest, scariest crabs she had found in the last two hours of wandering the beach, bordering on seven inches across the sound of dripping water into the bucket was the first sound in the room she?d made yet. Carefully she placed the two, one between his legs and the other on his chest. Yet the fun didn?t end there, now she grabbed a hold of the bucket, taking less care to be quiet now that the hard part had been accomplished she stood at the foot of his bed, the other hand holding onto the bottom edge of the bucket and she began to rock it back and forth chanting quietly to herself, ?Ichi? ni? san!? The bottom of the bucket raised and several gallons of seaweed laced saltwater splashed out onto Skyler?s form and beautiful king sized bed.

Without further ado she walked over to the box near the bed, and hauling out an alarm clock from the shoe box with a red and a black wire leading back into the now rather sinister looking shoebox, she set it carefully within view of Skyler.

?You?ve one hour to think on what you did wrong?? she whispered in that quiet neutral voice of hers, not even turning to look at him now, her hair maneuvered to hide her face from him and she pressed a switch on top of the alarm clock before stepping out of the room, once more silent as a shadow, door swinging shut behind her, her last words slipping through the narrow opening of the door before it locked shut behind her, ?? all washed up.?


Her duffle bag loaded and set just outside the door before her operation began she picked it up and the strap was slung over her shoulder. Purple sneakers carrying her down the stairs, thinking it rather prudent to not be at the house for a few days. Stopping in the garage on her way out she glanced at the motorcycle, and she paused as if remembering something. Fingers curling into fists once more she stalked over to the bike and kicked it over, and then kicking uselessly at the frame and spokes all the while glaring at it as if it was Skyler before a big breath was taken and a sigh eased out of her lips. She turned and walked out of the garage, moving down the driveway, disappearing into the gray fog of the early morning.

Molly sat bolt upright in bed when she heard frantic, muffled screams coming from Skyler's bedroom. After all, her hallway bedroom was just down the hall from the master bedroom, so she could hear any noise coming from inside that was relatively loud. Was he having a bad dream? It wasn't like Skyler to scream like that. He was usually as quiet as a mouse in there.

The maid threw off her covers and ran toward the master bedroom, her long white night gown swishing around her ankles. Still hearing Skyler's screams inside, she opened the door just enough to peek in. If he was getting attacked in there, a five foot nothing little housekeeper like her wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She would only look inside long enough to see if she needed to go get Tommy, or if the boy was indeed having a bad dream.

She saw Skyler tied down to the bed, writhing around with an angry crab on his chest and one between his legs, but no one else was in the room. Molly ran inside and looked him over where he lay bound to the bed, her face distorting in shock.

"What happened to you?" she asked, as if he could somehow give her a discernable answer with that tape over his mouth.

She couldn't understand a word he said, but she did understand that he wanted her to do something about his current situation. The sight of the blood dripping from his chin down his neck was unnerving, but Molly sprang into action anyway. She ran to the hall closet, snatched a broom and ran back to the bedroom. She climbed up on the bed swatted at the crabs, trying to knock them off Skyler and onto the floor for now. She got the one between his legs on the first try, but the one on his chest had locked one of its pincers into Skyler's pretty hair. She tried swatting at the crab but it just held on, pulling some of the boy's hair out of his head. Finally it tore free. The crab flew through the air with a thick lock of long pretty shiny black hair in its pincer, and landed on the floor of the bedroom with a wet plop. She watched in grotesque fascination as it clicked its way across the floor and hid under the bed.

When the drama was over, Molly gazed down at the the whimpering Skyler on the bed sympathetically. He was bleeding from the leg and the chin, and appeared to be near tears. The maid laid down her broom and grabbed his pocket knife that she knew he kept in his night stand and quickly began to cut the denim cloth that bound him to the bed. When he was free, Molly left to get the first aid kit she kept in the hall bathroom.

She returned in no time at all with the first aid kit. The maid of Cosmo Beach paused at the doorway, however, checking her path for crabs before sprinting toward the mattress and diving onto it. She had well-justified fears of one of those crabs coming out from under the bed and hacking off one of her bare toes.

Once she sat safely on the mattress, she crawled next to Skyler and opened the first aid kit. She immediately went into "motherly" mode, whispering soothing sounds down to him, things like "Shhh," "Relax," "I'll make it stop hurting."

"This may sting a bit but it'll help. Shhhh, now." She soaked a big wad of gauze with rubbing alcohol and pressed it against the wound on his thigh. She took his hand, placed it over the gauze and instructed him to keep pressure on it.

After the thigh wound was dealt with, Molly went to work on the chin gash, pulling his hand away to inspect the damage. Wincing at the depth of the cut, she wet a cloth with rubbing alcohol and cleaned the blood from the wound. Then she put down some clean gauze and taped it firmly over his chin so a clot would form and the bleeding would stop.

When her work was done, Molly gazed down the length of Skyler's curled up body, shaking her head. "What happened to you? Who did this?"

When the boy wouldn't answer her, she simply sighed and began to leave. "Don't worry about the crabs under the bed, I'll send Gasher up to take care of them." Molly hopped off the mattress, drew the hem of her nightgown up so as not to trip on it, then scampered nervously out the door.