There are little pockets in reality where for a few precious moments in time nothing exists beyond the walls of our own fragile bubbles. Leon and D were snuggled in such a pocket their dreams and memories slipping through one another's souls as they slept. Daniel lay curled under his blanket nestled in a warm cocoon of sleep the many bruises and cuts dealt him temporarily forgotten. Nana and Q Chan soared through a night sky tinged with the promise of dawn and hope. On the streets below Alan hummed to himself happily content to finally be able to give back a little of what Leon gave him. It was almost as if the fates had stilled the clicking of their looms to allow them all a brief respite from the constant weaving of their lives. Who is to say? Perhaps they had indeed quieted the threads of these creatures rushing towards one another. How else to explain Wu-Long and the men he sent both being way laid in their endeavors to wreak havoc? The hafling fumed uselessly at the long train running before his red sports car while across town his men pushed and tugged their black vehicle across the intersection its battery strangely dead.
Ning and Jill lay within their own delicate shell in these stolen moments. Jill had roused from slumber slowly not wanting to smash what she was all too afraid was a fantasy. Her cheek was pressed against silk made warm by flesh and below her ear came the inviting thud of a heartbeat. She tried to hold tightly to it not wanting to awaken to her empty bed once again. Pleasant vague images rolled through her of a long dark haired man holding her, cherishing her, loving her. She sighed and nuzzled in closer to the source of warmth content to float. Gradually the layers of sleep pulled back though and Jill raised bleary eyes to see her fantasy made real. She blinked at the fuzzy image unable to focus without her glasses. He slept peacefully his chest rising and falling steadily a low purr barely audible. His long lashes fanned out gracefully against the creamy pale skin. His mouth partially open as he breathed his lips parted in a silent invitation. Jill pulled herself up on one arm and knelt over him. She laid her palm against the smooth plane of his face in a shy caress, her thumb gliding over the soft red lips.
'Such a beautiful man' Jill thought to herself, 'so hard to believe he could have done such a cruel thing to his own child.' Her sympathy and fear for the D she knew welled up within in her and into Ning through her touch. His empathic barriers unguarded Ning whimpered and turned into her hand reflexively. Jill's immediate reaction emotionally was of concern for the older kami's well being. Ning responded innately by relaxing, a blissful sigh escaping from his lips. Jill pulled her hand back slowly the wheels of her head sifting through the various information she had gathered and holding them up against the different reactions the kami gave to stimuli. Glimmers flickered through her agile mind of how it might all fit together and a picture began to emerge from the jigsaw.
Jill leaned in tentatively and kissed him softly on the forehead letting her true wants and desires rise to the surface.
Ning noticeably purred louder at the sweet affection he could feel being generated towards him. A small tendril of hope unfurled cautiously inside of him. He reached back hesitantly towards the glow that was Jill and let her coax him out of the fortress he had built inside to protect himself. Sleep drained away at the pressure of her mouth against his in a warm request to be let in. She kept the kiss firm but gentle careful not to demand. Ning quivered under her unsure, afraid, and scared that she would hurt him the way all the others had. Jill brought both her hands carefully up to his head placing first one then the other on each side of his brow. He twisted under her helpless against the wards and bonds to keep from seeing straight into her mind and soul. He ached with want for the beauty she carried inside and his mouth opened of its own accord his near breathless gasp pushed back by Jill's tongue. She explored the richness his mouth offered reverently. Her fingers carded through his thick hair in slow easy motions giving calm assurances.
Ning could hear the faint cries pouring from him but was to wrapped up in the wonder that was Jill to care. His long life had been an internal struggle to cope with the overload of empathic information he received from every living creature around him. The ability was his gift and his curse. In ancient China he had been worshipped as a god, held aloof from the emotional firestorm that was man and for centuries had longed to return to the cool interiors of those distant shrines. Inside those walls the humans who surrounded him were dedicated to meditation and their souls were like burnished black glass inflecting neither pleasure nor pain in him. Time stands still for no one and age upon age of forced seclusion and solitude to ease the anguish he felt had embittered him against humanity. Scars like shattered glass lay in the layers of his soul where those he had tried to love had scalded him with their jealousy, greed, and self-pity. Words can be twisted and misconstrued, actions can be denied, and lies can be told even within ones own mind but the inherent truth of ones feelings cannot be changed. A lesson Ning had learned all to well. And yet in the human woman above him he could sense no malice and no hidden agenda echoed in the halls of her brain. Exposed as he was by his grandmother's wards it would have screamed through him in nerve wrenching waves to have been touched by someone of a base nature. Instead compassion poured through him mingled with a desire that was unmarred by the need to possess or be possessed and when Jill released his mouth a tiny wail of loss slipped out.
"Ning? You okay?" Jill asked in a quiet whisper. Ning opened eyes darkened to deep purple with passion and gazed into the lustrous blue of Jill's. A small smile played on her face filled with hope and the first sprays of love and he knew she knew what she was doing to him. He smiled up at her oddly relieved to not have to hide from her.
"Yes, Jill-san, I am most fine." Jill grinned in relief. She leaned back in close and kissed him again thrilled with the first shy strokes of his tongue into her mouth. She moaned in appreciation as he found the sensitive spots and gave up holding herself up. She laid the length of her body against his delighted at the hardness she could feel in the juncture of his legs. She ran her hands up the length of his arms and intertwined her fingers with his and inadvertently shared the regret she felt that he could not hold her. Ning broke their kiss so he could whisper in her ear.
"I too wish to have you in embrace." He told her struggling with the English words he wanted to say, his soul in his eyes.
Down below a large sleek car pulled in and parked. Four men got out each car door closing with a decisive thud. The fates had resumed their intricate weaving and the fragile shell had been burst. The elevator clicked in time to their shuttles through the loom as it rose to Jill's floor. The head enforcer gave a gleaming smile to his three cohorts.
"All right boys, it's time to play. Now I want everyone to be real nice to the lady and show her what good manners we have." Three sets of laughter rang through the tiny chamber as it slid to a stop. The men piled out the minute the doors opened each one smiling at the thought of what they would do to the woman. They stopped just shy of her door and took up spots around it checking to make sure the coast was clear. The smallest of the group approached and knocked on the door softly giving the eye piece his best "I'm an encyclopedia salesmen" grin and waited.