The Past

Kaia?s fists flew toward the pads as Ajax moved them in a rhythmic succession. Left, right, jab. Right hook. She spun on a barefoot, sending her other into a powerful roundhouse kick, connecting with the red cushion Ajax held out. Kaia?s foot lowered to the mat, bouncing lightly as the petite girl dropped backwards, her taped hands falling to her sides.

?Again.? Came the commanding voice of her brother.

?No.? She retorted, shaking her hands at her sides. ?Ajax I?m tired. Enough already.?

?What do you think someone will do when you?re tired?? He responded, whining with the last word to tease her.

?Let me go back to bed?? She questioned with a grin, sweeping in quickly to send the palm of her hand against his bare stomach. It would undoubtedly leave a red mark due to the resounding ?slap? that was heard when her hand had made contact. Ajax growled, the pads quickly dropping off his hands as he reached out to snatch his sister off her feet. She laughed, a melodious sound splitting her lips as she was thrown over a shoulder before he finally dropped her back to the mat.

Kaia shook her head, reaching down toward her taped up hands. Her brother?s large and calloused hands snatched hers, gently unwinding the tape from her palms. She glanced up at him, watching as he worked in silence. She supposed to other girls he was handsome; after all, they were always calling the house or trying to be her friend when they saw her about town, in attempt to get closer to the star athlete of East Hartford High School. In the lights of the gym, the dripping sweat was a glistening sheen on his skin, the tattoos on his skin only serving to enhance the muscles of a well-honed athlete. To her though, he could be annoying and demanding. And he smelled. Bad.

?You need a shower.? She commented, smirking as he yanked the last of the tape off her hands.

?Oh and you don?t, smelly?? He poked her, running a finger down her cheek. He held out the fingertip to show her the perspiration he had wiped from her face.

?Yeah but you smell worse.? She responded, sliding between the ropes and heading toward the locker room with a grin.

Kaia pushed open the door to her room, the smile on her face still dimpling both cheeks. Her face hurt from all the smiling and laughing, but she could not help but feel giddy and cheerful.

She did it.

She graduated from West Point.

With honors.

Top in her class.

Kaia hung her robe on a hanger, sliding it into her closet. The cap followed shortly after, being placed gently on the shelf above her clothing. She flopped onto her bed, staring at the diploma with her name on it. Ajax had, of course, yelled the loudest when her name was called. She would have turned a bright red were it not for the cheers of the others around her. She might have been the youngest and was nonmilitary, but Kaia found kindred spirits in her West Point classmates.

They had been hesitant at first, almost making her life hell as a the young child prodigy. She, however, had taken it upon herself to join their workout regimens in the mornings and evenings. She had even joined them in the gyms and gotten into the boxing ring a few times, much to her brother?s amusement. Kaia even suspected he threw in some new moves during her training just so she could show up those fancy military kids.

She laid back on her bed, arms flopping to her sides as she stared at the ceiling. What on earth was going to top this?

?Kaia!? came a hiss from the window.

Kaia sat up, glancing at the door and then to the second story bedroom window. That sounded oddly like her brother, but why was he outside?

?Kaia!? the hiss came again.

Kaia rose and moved to the window, sticking her head out into the warm spring air. ?What?? She hissed back, wondering at the absurdity of it all. It was only nine o?clock in the evening. Why the stealth?

?Get down here! I got another surprise!? Ajax whispered up to her, motioning with her hands for her to hurry down.

Kaia pulled her head back inside, wondering what she was supposed to do. Apparently he didn?t want their parents to know, so she couldn?t just walk out the front door. But, said parents were downstairs watching television. Kaia quickly slid out of the dress her parents had bought for her and instead threw on a pair of loose linen pants and a tanktop, her Nike sneakers last on her bare feet as she slid out the window and climbed down to the ground.

Ajax smiled widely, a muscled arm drawing her close for a squeeze as she lowered his free hand to mess up her hair. ?C?mon kiddo, I got another gift.?

~Three weeks later~

He's packing the duffel bag with clothes, some money he's saved up, and a few other necessities when Kaia comes in, looking nearly as if she's in tears.

"I still don't know why you have to go, Ajax. I mean...come on, what's out there that you can't find here at home? You have all sorts of schools offering you scholarships, you could stay..."

He shakes his head, stuffing the last thing into the bag and zipping it shut. "I told you why, sis. I know I could do all that stuff, be a big sports star, get rich and have everything that way, but..." He sighs, shaking his head and sitting on the edge of the bed. "I only do that stuff because I have a talent for it, and to make Dad happy. But all that stuff...it's never who I've been."

She sighs, walking over and dropping onto the edge of the bed next to him, looking at the wall opposite from where they sit. "I know. But this stupid martial arts thing you got into when I was at West point...I mean, are you sure this isn't some...weird craze you got hooked on that you're just gonna drop in a couple more months?" She giggles then. "You remember, like the time you decided you thought that you were all gung-ho about being an Olympic decathlon athlete, and started training your heart out for it, and a few month later you decided that you still liked football better?"

He grins at that, nodding, looking down. "Yeah, I remember that, but this...this is different, sis. I'm...learning things about myself...and what I can do, why it is I'm so good at sports and stuff. It's deeper than just talent...and I want to learn more about it. Just like you going to West Point...improving your mind, learning what you're capable of...that's what I want to do."

He looks over at her. "This is important to me, Kaia."

She still doesn't look over at him. "But...who's going to make sure I keep training, or get me out of bed to get in shape, or back me up when I need it...?"

He chuckles at that, tossing an arm around her shoulders roughly enough that he almost knocks her off the bed, and laughing when she glares at him. "Oh, I think you can manage it for yourself while I'm gone, sis...and besides, it's not like I'm gonna stay away forever. If you've let yourself slip and I come back to find out, you know I'll make you regret it."

She groans at that, rolling her eyes, and tosses a punch at his ribs, which he slaps away with a grin. "You don't have to worry about that, bro. I might just have a few surprises for you when you get back, too."

He grins, standing and picking up the bag, shouldering it with ease. "Come on, you can walk with me to the bus station. Dad said it was okay, even though you're still grounded."

She huffs at that, standing and heading to the door. "Hmph. You should be too, you know."

He laughs. "Yeah, but I'm too old for them to do anything about it." He reaches out and musses up her hair for her. "You're still just a kid."

She growls back at him, straightening her hair as they head out the door. "Don't remind me."

"You look like you're on a mission."

He'd come into the bar not long after he'd set up a place to stay, still burning inside with the want, the need to do something, anything, and fast. He had no clue what he was coming into this place to look for. Like everyone else that hadn't been sheltered under a rock for the past several years, he'd seen any number of holovid shows about street samurai and shadowrunners in general...but that is as far as his knowledge extends.

He'd basically went for the first seedy-looking place he could find, hoping to find himself some help for getting his family back. What kind of help, he's not sure, but he needs something.

Even a kid from a sheltered background and upbringing like his knows you don't just walk into a megacorp and demand to know where to find your kidnapped parents and kid sister.

He turns towards the voice, his sense of smell and hearing already liking what they're finding - a delicate scent of flowers and spice, the voice like honey with just the right amount of a smoky, dangerous edge. If he hadn't been in his current predicament, he'd have been asking for her number in the next tick after laying eyes on her.

He's not disappointed. Long, golden tresses unbound and falling free, framing a face that would make a goddess jealous, eyes a lovely shade of chocolate brown. His own dark eyes look down, scanning the rest of her, to find a feast for the eyes - long, lean, sleek curves that her clothes cling to readily enough to accentuate her frame without eliminating the need for an imagination. An impulse switches his sight as that scan is repeated, nothing hidden from his gaze. No 'ware, it seems, but she has more than a touch of magic in her, perhaps something along the lines of his...and yet, at the same time, different. Oh, yes...most definitely his type.

In another time, another place, he'd have asked for her number. And a date.

If there weren't more pressing concerns.

Right now, it's an effort just to smile, and the one he forces feels to him grim and brittle.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say I am."

She smiles, a deliciously slow curving of those sculpted lips. For the first time he notices that she's not wearing makeup...or if she is, it's incredibly subtle. As she moves to take a seat next to him, he watches, those dark, burning eyes not missing a single movement of her body, her muscles. Her walk is a graceful, nearly feline prowl as she moves, and his trained eyes pick out the economy of movement which he has become accustomed to seeing from trained fighters.

Beautiful and dangerous.

The thought crosses his mind as she settles into her seat, her eyes looking him over even as he watches her, pausing - interestingly - at his neck, then his wrists.

He waits until she's finished looking him over, saying nothing. Finally, she speaks again in that smoky, sweet voice. "What's your name, chummer?"

Right down to business? Not at all like the holovid shows he used to watch.

At some point down the road, he'll look back on that thought and laugh.

For the moment, though, he is caught off guard. The 'runners in all those shows always had an alias, a 'street name' to preserve their anonymity. He hadn't thought this out very well. His hand comes up to rub his neck nervously. Screw it - his given name doesn't sound like anything a parent would name their child.

"Name's Ajax. And you are?"

She smiles, a knowing smile, as if she knows he's not in his element. "You can call me Aphrodite."

Of course I can.

Her smile widens just as the thought crosses his mind, and part of him wonders just how transparent he must be.

"So, tell me, Ajax...what brings a nice boy like you into a place like this?"

He feels himself bristle slightly at being called a boy, but lets it pass for the moment. If nothing else, she certainly seems more at home here than he feels, and it wouldn't be a good idea to alienate a possibly helpful source.

At some point in the future, he'll look back on this moment and shake his head in wonder at the na?vet? of the younger man he had been, trusting the first person to come along. Of course, it all worked out perfectly, but it could have been very costly to him indeed.

Before he can stop himself, he is looking into those milk chocolate eyes, and it all come pouring out of him - his parents, his sister, the unhappy homecoming, finding out who had taken them, and finally what drew him into this bar in a search for anyone that might be willing to help him.

Through it all, she listens attentively, taking in every detail, without a single interruption. When he finally does finish, she's smiling. Not the sexy, seductive curve of the lips, not that knowing smile, but something more...dangerous.

"Well, this is your lucky night, Ajax...as it happens, i know a few people that would be happy to help you, and it won't even cost you anything."

The smile that crosses his face is much more genuine than the last one, though it is not one of happiness...it is more feral, anticipatory, the smile of one that can't wait to get started.

"Then what are we waiting for?"