Power Rangers Fan Fiction ❯ Bitter ❯ Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

 

 

Kimberly licked lips she suddenly realized were dry and thanked God her mouth - wide open in shock - was hidden behind her mask. She refused to show them the excitement, the surprise - the fear -that ran through her veins at the thought that they'd stumbled upon her so many years after she'd turned her back on her friends, her family… her hopes and dreams and life and -

 

Jason was talking, Kim realized belatedly, though she had no idea what he was saying. Tommy had yet to blink; his chocolate eyes (those beautiful, thick eyelashes still perfectly in place, she noticed jealously in passing) boring holes in her head as she pushed herself up. Her arm refused for a moment to bear her weight; she let out a hiss as it buckled and Tommy's hand shot to her shoulder to steady her.

 

`Always the White Knight, whether he likes it or not,' she thought wryly, shooting him a thankful look.

 

“Kimberly?” Jason repeated, obviously just as shocked to see her as she was to see them. “It's… Kimberly Ann Hart, it's really you?” The girl he'd grown up with, thought of as a sister, had just about dropped off the face of the Earth their senior year in high school.

 

Now she'd dropped back in on them - literally - and he couldn't believe his eyes.

 

Kim nodded silently as she managed to shrug off Tommy's grasp. She rolled to her feet, ignoring the hand Jason offered, pushing the pain to the back of her head. Tommy finally averted his gaze, staring at Rocky, his expression undistinguishable. Nonetheless, Rocky seemed to understand and offered a consoling look.

 

A pang rocketed unexpectedly through Kimberly's heart. She remembered very clearly the days when she and her ex-boyfriend had been on the same mental wavelength. Now they may as well have been on different planets.

 

Jason stepped forward, concern over the blood trickling down her arm outweighing the shock of seeing a long-lost friend. She waved him off before he could grab at it; he refused to accept the answer and reached out again.

 

“Hey wench!”

 

The men whipped their heads around toward the trees; Kimberly let out a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes.

 

“If you've still got two legs and a heartbeat, you have no damn reason to not be over here!”

 

Jason's face darkened; apparently the years apart had done nothing to curb the brotherly protection that had been a part of him since they were in kindergarten. Before he could storm off, Kimberly launched herself at him and grabbed his elbow. “Don't!”

 

He turned incredulous eyes on her. Tommy had risen by this point; when she turned to sneak another peek at him she found his face twitching as though it wasn't quite sure what emotion to display. Rocky stood next to him in a show of solidarity, his arms crossed - unsure whether his pleasure at seeing Kim alive and mostly-well would win over his lingering anger (even all these years later) at the way she'd callously broken Tommy's heart.

 

Kim turned back to Jason, who was attempting to extricate his elbow from her iron grip without hurting her. “No, really, don't. It's not worth it. And…” Her voice lowered to a mutter. Muffled by the mask, it was just barely decipherable to Jason when she added, “not that I'd tell him, but dog-boy has a point.”

 

She finally pushed away from Jason and cursed as she realized she'd lost her gun in her tumble. She grumbled under her breath as she headed back to the battle. Kimberly was about halfway there before it occurred to her; whirling on the balls of her feet, she found - as expected - that the three had begun to trail her.

 

“Do not follow me,” she ordered in a tone that rivaled Jason's and Tommy's “leader voices” perfected over the years of leading Ranger teams. “Stay here. Don't draw attention to yourself and for God's sake don't you dare morph. This isn't your fight!”

 

Token resistance made - though she doubted the hard-headed alpha-males would listen - she turned back toward the battle and crouched, peering through the trees for a good opportunity. A scoff from behind her confirmed what she'd expected: sending an injured woman into battle had never been their thing, even when she'd had the protection of giant robots and magic spandex. Toss in the fact that they didn't know and therefore most likely didn't trust her allies… well, no amount of bad history with any of them was going to keep them away.

 

`Fabulous. They have no idea what they're getting into, and I have no time to explain.'

 

The men, Jason at the lead, had just about reached her when another masculine near-scream rattled the trees. A glimmer caught their eyes at the same time Kimberly let out a frustrated shout; she threw her hands in front of her, palms out.

 

Tommy gaped as a pink glow bloomed out from her hands, creating a sort of force field between them and where the worst of the fight was taking place. Spears of what looked like diamond tore through the foliage like a hot knife through butter - only to come to a screeching halt at the pink light. Looking to his left, the other two looked just as shocked; Rocky's jaw was nearly on the ground as Kimberly dropped her barrier.

 

“For the last time, stay here,” she snarled before rocketing back into the fray, reaching for the gun that lay halfway between her and… -something almost unidentifiable.

 

For the former rangers, it was an oddly familiar scene. A tall creature - more animal than human - snapped a long jaw full of sharp teeth at a whirling red and white blur. That same blur grabbed Kimberly's bad arm and tugged her out of the way of the monster's next lunge; as they came to a halt, Kimberly freed her arm and cuffed her apparent rescuer in the back of the head.

 

“Are you stupid? You shot that blast straight at me! You could have killed me!”

 

“You're just fine!”

 

“No thanks to you!”

 

“If you would have stayed where I could see you, it wouldn't have been a problem!”

 

Kim huffed, rubbing the side of her gun on her bodysuit in an attempt to free the dirt caked on it. “Yeah, blame the girl thrown across a battlefield.”

 

A small smile began to crawl across Rocky's face; happy to see her or not, he'd always been amused by Kim's attitude and it appeared it had only gotten snarkier over the years. To see her throwing around the dry commentary brought back memories of better times.

 

`Of course, the witty banter was generally aimed at the enemy, rather than her friends…'

 

“Hey, you two almost done over there?” A dark-haired woman wearing a black outfit similar in style to Kimberly's threw an unbelievably huge boomerang at the creature, who let out a god-awful shriek as the weapon carved across his back. “Any time would be great!”

 

Kimberly turned to face her other friend, rolling her eyes. “You've got it un-” A blast knocked her off her feet and kept her from finishing her thought.

 

“Kimberly!”

 

Tommy's agonized cry - almost straight from the past, both Jason and Rocky noticed - had her rolling to her feet in a smooth move. “Shut up!” Too late; Tommy's anguish had grabbed the monster's attention and they ducked back into the foliage as hands went to morphers instinctively.

 

“Not much cover, but it'll have to do,” Jason assessed. “It's Morphin' Time! Tyrannosaurus!” Jason reveled in the power rushing through his body.

 

“Ninja Ranger Power now!” With a few hand motions, Rocky was enveloped in red robes.

 

Tommy sent up a quick prayer of thanks that he'd actually remembered to grab his zeonizer that morning. “Zeo Ranger 5, Red!”

 

Unfortunately for the three red rangers, what had once been a safe-guard against enemies ended up putting them in more danger than they anticipated.

 

“Excellent!” the monster hissed, taking a step toward them. The guys stepped forward and shifted into defensive positions as he advanced, teeth flashing happily. “Three of the colored brats… Kouga will pay a lot for that power.”

 

“I wouldn't count on it!” Rocky shot back. He was about to shift into a ninja streak when the woman in black hurled her giant boomerang again with an indecipherable shout, cleaving a small trench between the monster and the red-clad men.

 

The creature wouldn't be deterred, however, and continued to advance.

 

Rocky all but disappeared into a smudge of crimson, ending up next to the unknown man in red. `Is he growling?' the ninja ranger wondered.

 

Jason pulled out his sword, running to flank the creature on the left, near the dark-haired woman. He took note of the way she easily hefted the boomerang and wondered how such a big thing could be light enough for her to swing it like a bat.

 

“What is that thing?” he finally asked.

 

Her eyes flickered to the unfamiliar man next to her, wondering if this was one of the friends Kimberly always talked about. “Crocodile demon,” she grunted. She pushed her weapon forward, using it as a shield as the demon swung its tail, letting loose a volley of energy blades. Jason cleaved through the ones headed toward him, though a few made contact - sending sparks flying from his outfit.

 

“There's too much red on this battlefield,” Kim muttered, realizing belatedly that Tommy had flipped over the youkai, landing in front of her and whirling to face the monster in a defensive position - leaving her to cover his back if necessary.

 

`Well, I guess he still trusts me in battle. Or he's acting on instinct.'

 

Instinct, indeed, had seen Tommy rushing to Kimberly's side. While he knew she could take care of herself, keeping her safe had been all but ingrained into him. He'd hardly noticed what he'd done until Kim shoved him to the side and threw paper - paper! - at the monster.

 

“What are you gonna do, wrap him up as a gift?” Rocky shouted from the demon's opposite side, earning a snort from his companion, whose massive sword had begun to crystallize.

 

“Just watch.”

 

The demon screeched, a noise that had the rangers clapping their hands to their heads. Kimberly and her female friend merely cringed. The man standing next to Rocky let out a snarl; motion on the top of his head caught Rocky's attention.

 

“Holy hell, do you have cat ears?”

 

The comment, ringing through the air on the wings of the demon's howl, sent Kim into near hysterical laughter and earned an enraged growl from the cat-eared man. “Shut up!” He swung his sword angrily, shooting off another barrage of crystals. These tore into the crocodile, who'd been stuck to the spot by arcs of pink energy leaping off the burning pieces of paper.

 

Jason gaped as the shards left nothing but ash behind and shot toward his friends. “Tommy! Kim!” He sprinted toward where he'd last seen them - hoping there was something left.

 

The dust cleared as Jason and Rocky drew closer; they found Kimberly had knocked Tommy on his ass and again put a wall of pink power between them and where the monster had stood. She looked up at them before taking a quick glance at Tommy. “Go ahead and power down,” she said wearily. “They already know who you are.”

 

“What?!” Tommy nearly exploded. Jason pulled his helmet off, refusing to power down but deciding to trust Kim's assessment that her friends could be trusted. Following Jason's lead, Rocky tugged his hood back in a smooth motion, eyes sweeping over his friends, who seemed fine - physically, at least.

 

Tommy was climbing to his feet, face still hidden behind the tinted star-shaped visor; Rocky knew damn well his friend was seething. Whether it had been the attack from somebody they thought was an ally or the fact that Kim had apparently saved him (stomping on an already bruised ego)… or maybe because he had ended up on the ground while a smaller, less dangerous-looking person had played the hero.

 

Or maybe he was pissed because Kim was there in the first place. Perhaps it was because her friends supposedly knew who they were. Rocky wasn't quite sure. Jason was looking between Tommy and Kim anxiously; Kim was about to erupt, it was written all over her face, and he wasn't quite sure who her ire was aimed at.

 

Kimberly's hands fell, clenched into fists as she stood up. She shoved her way through Jason and Rocky (who let out twin sighs of relief that her anger apparently wasn't directed toward them) and ripped her facemask off, dropping it on the ground.

 

The cat-eared man in red narrowed his eyes at the rapidly approaching woman, tensing as if for another battle. Behind him, the woman in black shook her head, a wry smile on her face.

 

Kimberly was only a foot in front of the man when she shouted, “God damn it, InuYasha! You could have killed me! And Tommy!” She reached out to shove at him - much like a child shoving at a redwood, given the height differences between the strange man and the tiny woman - and he caught her by the wrists, growling.

 

“You're fine! Just like last time! Stop getting in my way and you won't have reason to bitch!”

 

“Oh, I will always find a reason to bitch at you with the way you wave that sword around! I know darn well you have to be compensating for something!”

 

Jason tried to muffle a snicker but was unsuccessful; even Tommy got a laugh in, drawing InuYasha's attention. “What do you humans think is so funny?”

 

The three red-suited men shared a look at the odd question; what was the emphasis on “humans” supposed to mean? None were willing to power down in the face of a person with weird animal ears and what appeared to be fangs for teeth.

 

“Oh, leave them alone,” Kimberly said with a sigh, walking past InuYasha now to join her black-haired friend, who was looking over the area with a practiced eye. “Sango, did that walking hand-bag drop anything worthwhile?”

 

“Nothing. Feel anything?”

 

“Nothing.” She glared at InuYasha, “Dog-boy will be feeling my boot in his ass in a minute, though.”

 

“Aw, leave him alone. Diamonds are a girl's best friend, maybe he just felt friendly!”

 

Jason, Rocky and Tommy spun to face where a very familiar voice came from. Tommy began to remove his helmet, obviously to check his vision, when a seagull flapped down to the ground in front of them… and turned into a red-headed young man.

 

“Shippou?!”

 

Shippou greeted his new friends with a nod before smirking at Kimberly, who came to join them. “Nobody saw anything; I managed to divert a pair of beach bums headed this way.”

 

Sango shot him a withering look. “Yeah, because you did so well with these three.”

 

“I knew they would be fine,” Shippou shrugged. He picked up a chunk of diamond and rolled it around in his hand. “You know, if dog-breath is so determined to go throwing them around everywhere, we might as well pick `em up and make some money.”

 

Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if only Lord Stick-Up-His-Ass wouldn't get all pissed-off about it…”

 

Rocky finally lost his battle with his curiosity. “Um, not to break up this really interesting conversation or anything but… how do you,” he pointed at Shippou, “know her?” he asked, swinging his finger around to Kimberly.

 

“And who are they?” Jason added, gesturing to where Sango and InuYasha were now… apparently talking to a kitten. “You've always been drawn to weird people, Kim, but this really tops any of us.”

 

“None of us have animal ears,” Rocky pointed out.

 

“Hey,” Shippou said, “Let's not insinuate that demons or half-demons are any stranger than you humans.”

 

Tommy blinked, finally bringing himself into the conversation. “Demons? You… you aren't human?”

 

“You look human,” Jason added. The look he gave Kimberly demanded explanations, fast.

 

“Shippou's a fox demon,” Kimberly said. “A kitsune, to be precise.”

 

Rocky shook his head. “Kiss-you-what?”

 

“Kitsune,” Shippou corrected. “Like my name, it's Japanese. Means `fox-spirit,' basically. I'm a fox demon. I do illusions and stuff.”

 

“Was that thing you were fighting a demon?” Tommy asked, eyes trailing back to where the crocodile had stood.

 

Jason nodded, “The girl over there said it was… a crocodile demon, I think.”

 

“Why didn't it get any bigger?” Rocky added.

 

It was Shippou's turn to be confused. “What?”

 

“The monsters we fought,” Rocky waved his arms about, “always got bigger! Like skyscraper-size! Godzilla-like!” He'd gotten that far before meeting dark glares from Jason and Tommy. “What? They obviously already know… Kim said so!”

 

Kimberly opened her mouth - to clarify or explain or deny, she never got a chance to say. Shippou cocked his head, holding up a finger.

 

“Your phone is ringing.”

 

Rocky, Jason and Tommy each moved to their pockets, confused; they hadn't heard anything.

 

“No, hers,” Shippou clarified. Kimberly had already begun sprinting to a nearby tree. A huge black bag leaned against the trunk - it took her a moment or two before she found her cell.

 

Jason made to ask Shippou a question; again, Shippou held up a finger. “Shhh! I want to hear who it is.”

 

Tommy and Jason shrugged at Rocky's inquiring glance; they couldn't hear a thing, though Kim was nodding and writing something on her hand. Shippou cursed as she hung up. “She has to get going.”

 

“I have to get going,” Kimberly unknowingly echoed, sprinting back up to them. Sango and InuYasha followed behind her. InuYasha stopped Kim with a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Before you go, you want to do some explaining, wench? They're probably just as confused as we are. Why are you blabbin' about demons?” he punctuated his question with the cracking of knuckles - knuckles connected to fingers tipped in long claws. Rocky, Tommy, Jason and Sango agreed with his confusion.

 

Shippou just grinned and rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet.

 

Kimberly sighed, checking the time on her phone before hurriedly going into a Cliff's Notes version of the tale. “Jason, Rocky… Tommy,” she added almost grudgingly, wincing as Sango's eyes lit up in understanding. “This is Sango.”

 

The dark-haired girl smiled.

 

“This is dog-boy,” she added.

 

He snarled.

 

“I'm sorry, InuYasha is his real name. He's a half-demon. Half dog-demon, to be precise, which is why he has those adorable ears,” she cooed with a smirk.

 

InuYasha looked like he wanted to hit her.

 

“And you obviously already know Shippou… even though I have no idea how.”

 

“And you?” Rocky asked, eyes on Sango as she adjusted the boomerang over her shoulder.

 

“Human. I'm a demon-slayer, like Kimberly - hence the matching outfits.”

 

Eyes widened as Sango referred to Kimberly as some sort of slayer. She hurried to explain, “It's a long story and I'll try to get the time off later to fill you guys in or maybe Shippou can do it but yeah…I slay demons now. At least until I'm free again.”

 

Forestalling any questions from the guys, she turned to Sango and InuYasha next. “As you heard, this is Tommy, Rocky and Jason…they're my friends. Were my friends…are my friends?” She pointed to each in turn as she stumbled over describing their lapsed friendships, adding, “They were each Rangers with me back in Angel Grove.”

 

Kimberly looked over her shoulder at the guys, confirming, “They already knew. And not from me - my Lord,” she drawled sarcastically, “actually knew Zordon back in the day. Apparently the two almost got into some weird feud for a while.”

 

Kimberly was spared continuing by a series of beeps well-known to each of the Rangers - it sounded exactly like their old communicators. In fact, each looked to their wrists before realizing it came from Kim's phone.

 

“Yeah? I'm on my way… shit! No, stay there… yeah, I'll meet you instead. Bye.”

 

Looking up with a frown tugging at the side of her mouth, Kim stumbled headlong into what almost passed as a goodbye. “I really have to go; Ginta thinks he's been followed so I have to meet him at the Port instead.”

 

InuYasha let out a string of curses that could peel paint from walls, spinning on his heel. “Stupid wolf. I'll go try to keep Kouga away. Sango, you're with me.” The Rangers watched in awe as the kitten grew to the size of a decent-sized pony in a wreath of flames. Sango sat comfortably on the cat's back, reaching for a collar from Kimberly's bag.

 

Tommy, well-acquainted with invisibility after his last stint as a Ranger, was the only one of the three able to hide his shock when the cat and woman disappeared into thin air. Moments later, a burst of hot wind suggested they had flown away; InuYasha had leapt into the same area and vanished as well.

 

Eyes on the guys, Kimberly stripped out of her body-clinging armor, revealing a tank and ridiculously-tight shorts. “Take this for me?” she asked Shippou, who nodded. “Listen, I'll see if I can get permission to find you guys for some explanations…” She hesitantly met Tommy's eyes. “I know some are more overdue than others…”

 

“Just go,” Shippou waved her off. “Your helmet is latched to your bike; don't run anybody off the road.”

 

“I make no promises,” Kimberly responded with a wicked smile. “Don't worry, Jason,” she added to her anxious-looking friend. “I've done this a lot. Shippou, get their numbers for me. I'll call you after this meeting.”

 

Shippou wasn't the only one who noticed the way almost-black eyes followed Kimberly's barely-covered backside up the trail, but he was the one unable to hide the smile.

 

“What?” Tommy snapped, realizing he'd been caught gawking and feeling rather irritated that he'd even given in.

 

The others shook their heads. “Nothing,” Rocky soothed. “Let's get back…we have quite the story to tell.”

 

Shippou nodded, “I'll come with. I live in that building - somebody's gotta keep you guys out of trouble!”

 

Rocky laughed, “Somehow, you seem like the type to make it!”

 

Emerald eyes flashed merrily. “I have nooooo clue what you're talking about…”

 

 

OoO**OoO**OoO

 

 

“Pay attention before I knock your head off your shoulders!”

 

Kim dropped to the mat just moments before a bokken could glance off her temple. She scissored her legs, lashing out with one as she spun. InuYasha leapt over it with a scoff. “You're getting predictable, wen-ooof!”

 

Kim grinned as the half-demon slammed onto his back, brought down by her second leg. “And you're getting cocky!” She let out a breathless chuckle as she rapped her heel on InuYasha's solar plexus, taking further admittedly slightly sadistic glee in the wheezy cough he produced.

 

“Do you yield?”

 

InuYasha narrowed golden eyes at her before rolling and leaping in a single, smooth motion. “Hell, no!”

 

Kimberly caught him by his wrists, landing heavily on her back and trying to use the momentum to flip them again but to no avail. He flashed one fang in a smirk, “Keh! You're too weak!”

 

Her face went dark. “Oh, that's it!” She released one of InuYasha's wrists and brought up her hand in a fist cloaked in pale pink, clocking him in the side of the face.

 

Rolling to the side, InuYasha brought a hand up to his singed cheek. His golden eyes were wide. “Holy shit, woman! What has you so pissed that you'd resort to purification?”

 

Kimberly was spared explaining as the door to the workroom opened. A heavily-pregnant black-haired woman all but waddled through the door, bringing InuYasha to his feet and by her side in a barely-visible blur. “Sit down,” he ordered, pointing to mats stacked in the corner as he relieved her of a tray. “I didn't say you could be carrying stuff!”

 

The woman heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Oh knock it off, InuYasha. I'm pregnant, not on my death bed.” Still, she made her way to the mats, shifting her attention to where Kimberly sat.

 

“I don't know of any other miko around here, so I'm assuming you're the one who put that mark on my husband's gorgeous face. What gives?”

 

Kimberly grinned. “I thought it could use some rearranging?”

 

“I liked his face that way.”

 

“Sorry, Kagome,” Kimberly sing-songed, obviously not apologetic in the least. “Next time I'll hit him in a place more easily hidden, I promise.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I swear, you two go at it more than him and Sesshoumaru.”

 

Kim made a face. “If we could just avoid mentioning him altogether, that'd be great. It's so totally bogus how he got me into this mess.”

 

“Did you just say `bogus' and mean it?” InuYasha asked around a mouthful of rice. Kim eyed the way he was shoveling food into his gullet and her angry face shifted into one of disgust.

 

“I swear to God you put Rocky to shame.”

 

InuYasha snorted. “I ain't impressed by your friends, by the way.”

 

“I wouldn't expect you to be. You're not impressed with anybody but yourself,” Kim shot back angrily. “And besides, the Rangers don't aim to impress. The Rangers are meant to keep the world safe.”

 

“Did a damn fine job,” InuYasha muttered. “How many times are they going to rebuild that damn town of yours?”

 

Kagome interrupted what she knew was about to become another legendary sniping battle between the two, who had been at each other's throats for one reason or another since they'd met. “Wait, wait. You met one of Kim's friends?”

 

InuYasha swallowed his last mouthful, putting down the bowl with a belch. Kagome glared and his ears shifted back apologetically.

 

Kimberly rolled her eyes at the exchange. “Yeah. Jase, Rocky… and Tommy,” she added softly, “are down. Apparently on vacation or something. I ran into them - literally - while going after that croc demon today.”

 

Kagome's eyes shone and Kimberly recognized the look. It was one she used to wear - back when she thought the world was romance and roses, when she was undoubtedly in love and thought the rest of the world should be, too.

 

Yeah, that went well.

 

Kimberly made to cut off Kagome's starry-eyed expression sharply. “Don't even think about it. Sesshoumaru would kill me.”

 

“Nah,” InuYasha interjected, “He'd kill them. He still needs you.”

 

Her look could have dried the Pacific. “Thanks. That's really soothing. You'll make a great father.” She cringed, knowing that jab had been a little below the belt.

 

“Is it just them?” Kagome asked excitedly, either ignoring the sarcastic comments or not having heard, getting too caught up in plans of match-making. “Or are the rest of your friends here?”

 

“I don't even know why they're here,” Kimberly shouted, standing up and beginning a series of stretching exercises. Kagome's eyebrows rose; Kimberly only began moving like that when she was nervous. “I don't know where they're staying, why they're here, or how long until they leave.”

 

“Shippou does.”

 

Kimberly sighed and turned to look at InuYasha. “I'm aware of that… and probably more frightened of that possibility than of risking Sesshoumaru's wrath.”

 

“Oh come on, it won't be that bad,” Kagome assured. “Sesshoumaru is reasonable.”

 

Kimberly and InuYasha shared dubious looks, for once in agreement about something.

 

“Well,” she qualified, “when asked by the right person. I'll talk to him. He doesn't like me,” she grinned, “but he respects me.”

 

“He's pissed at you,” InuYasha pointed out. “You're pregnant and,” his voice grew low in imitation, “of absolutely no value.”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “No, he's angry at you for `defiling the miko,'” she mimicked.

 

Kimberly snickered, brought out of her nervous funk by the way the two emulated her Lord almost perfectly. “That is so totally creepy and weird how you guys can do that.” She flopped to the floor then, slipping back into the past. “I can't do this. I don't want to do this.”

 

“Do what?” Kagome wondered. “See your friends?”

 

“The ones you never shut up about? The ones you have plastered around your condo? The ones you search for online to try and find out how they're doing? The ones-”

 

“Oh, shut up,” Kimberly cut off InuYasha with a glare. “Yes. Them. The ones I cut off absolutely all contact with due to his royal majesty's threats of really disgusting, awful things. The ones who think I cheated on Tommy. The… the only guy I've ever actually loved, whose heart I stomped on callously to keep him away. Yes. Them.”

 

Kagome cringed at the assessment. “Ouch.”

 

“Well, ain't nothin' you can do `bout it now,” InuYasha pointed out with a shrug. “Go whine to Shippou if you're so worried. He obviously ran into them at some point, maybe he knows somethin' you don't.”

 

 

OoO**OoO**OoO

 

 

Trini sat on the couch, staring out the window at the waves rippling ashore. A dusky sky reflected off the water, making the scene look like something from a magazine.

 

She still couldn't believe it.

 

`Kimberly's here? And fighting demons?' It was just too weird. If she didn't know Jason would never lie to her - especially about something like this - she would have thought her husband was pulling the wool over her eyes.

 

She and Kimberly had been best friends since second grade. The petite gymnast had been a great match for the brainy karate student; they got along from the moment they met and had been best friends through high school. When Trini had left for the Peace Conference with Jason and Zach, they'd promised to keep in touch… and had, nearly religiously.

 

Phone calls, letters, post cards… Trini loved picking up knick-knacks to send to her best friend back home, and Kimberly kept Trini up-to-date on the latest Ranger news and Angel Grove gossip. There hadn't been much of a lull in communication when Kimberly had moved to Florida, either. Trini had just started dating Jason and the two would stay up for hours talking about the men in their lives; Kimberly had been so frightened to lose Tommy to the long-distance relationship and Trini had been worried that Jason might just be clinging to a feeling of closeness that was difficult to find as the student ambassadors traveled the globe.

 

Then Kimberly missed their weekly call. She didn't call the next week, either, or offer up an explanation in a letter. Trini had panicked, thinking something was wrong, and called Tommy - only to find out that she had broken up with him.

 

Which had been the weirdest thing of all.

 

Kimberly loved Tommy with a passion Trini had no comparison for. He had been the be-all and end-all of her best friend's existence. Trini knew damn well that no matter how excited Kim had been for the Pan Global games, she'd been counting down the days until she got to go home to Tommy. And Tommy had been just as in love with Kim; the two had eyes for nobody but each other.

 

And yet… Kimberly claimed she had found another guy. She'd fallen in love with somebody else. Without telling Trini - and that was what had been the icing on the weirdest cake Trini'd even seen. If there was one thing Kimberly loved as much as gymnastics (a close second to Tommy in her life), it had been gossip. Trini knew everything about the girls Kim trained with, the cashiers at her favorites stores at the mall, the mother-like figure who took care of the girls at Coach Schmidt's training compound… she'd never, ever mentioned another guy in anything but passing.

 

It was so un-like Kimberly that Trini couldn't wrap her mind around it.

 

“Hey, you okay?”

 

Trini's head jerked up, eyes meeting with those of her husband as he knelt to be even with her. His arms wrapped around her the moment he realized how troubled she was.

 

“What's got you so upset?”

 

Trini sighed. It wasn't like her to be moody or pensive - her mind and her body were trained to be calm and efficient. `It's just like Kim,' she thought wryly, `to throw everything into an uproar just by being around.'

 

“Do you think we'll learn the truth?”

 

Jason didn't have to ask what his wife was referring to. Both had agreed long ago that Kimberly hadn't just met another man. That wouldn't have accounted for her basically falling off the face of the Earth. She hadn't even responded to the wedding invitation they'd sent; that had solidified everything. There was no way in the universe that Kimberly would have willingly missed that. “I don't know,” he admitted. “But I really hope Shippou has some answers.”

 

“If he does, let's go get them,” Zach said excitedly from behind them. He was psyched at the thought of finally finding out what had happened to his childhood friend.

 

“I, too, am quite intrigued at the prospect of learning what circumstances could have led Kimberly to halting communications,” Billy joined in. The young man frowned at the looks of confusion on Jason's and Zach's faces and ran his hands through sandy-colored hair. It'd been such a long time since he'd left Earth, and he'd been forced to fall back on his vaunted vocabulary; the translator he used on Aquitar didn't work with colloquialisms.

 

“He wants to know why she stopped talking to you guys,” Hayley translated as she came down the hall. Billy threw her a thankful look. As children, Trini had always been his translator; his vocabulary, like his IQ, had outstripped his friends from the start. As the self-proclaimed “nerd” of the group, the first Blue Ranger had eventually begun to dumb down his speak when Trini, Zach and Jason left for Switzerland - leaving him without a translator.

 

Adam was smart, but apparently even he had his limits.

 

Now, though, Tommy's friend Hayley was able to share Trini's “translator” role. The genius had been thrilled to meet Billy via the link-up between Aquitar and Tommy's basement command center. It was a very poorly-hidden secret that his friends hoped Hayley would give Billy reason to stay on Earth…

 

The red-head was beautiful, but Billy was happily committed to Cestria on Aquitar. He admitted only to himself that it was weird - the idea that a human would fall in love with an alien… but Aquitarians were similar in physiology to a human for the most part and they were light-years ahead of Earth's inhabitants when it came to science and education. He loved his role on Aquitar, no matter how much he longed for some of Earth's finer points: his friends, his family, cheeseburgers…

 

“Are you sure you're feeling up to going?” Hayley asked Billy, interrupting his musings. The man had teleported in from Aquitar just earlier that day; they'd barely made their flight from Reefside to Miami. He'd been on the go since before the day had started on Earth and if she had to be honest, he looked awful. Smudges under his eyes, slumped posture - which was to be expected anyway, since Earth's gravity was stronger than that of the water-covered Aquitar… Hayley had often been the one to keep Tommy from overdoing it in college. His friends were all similar.

 

“I'll be fine,” Billy assured her. “My condition is not so depreciated that I cannot remain coherent for a few more hours.”

 

“Well, we going?” Adam asked softly from near the door. The rest of the group had migrated into the living room while Trini had been thinking. Everybody looked at each other before nodding; it was hard to miss the fact that nobody managed to look Tommy in the eye.

 

Out of each of the friends, he had the most reason for wanting to know just what the hell was up with Kim - and the most reason for wanting her to stay gone. Most were subdued as they walked down the hall toward the elevator; Zach was thrilled and somewhat bouncy (of course, he was hard to keep down even in the most trying of circumstances) about the whole ordeal and tried to get Rocky to be excited with him.

 

“This will be great, won't it? Shippou's place is higher, so I bet the view is better,” he nudged the pale man. “What was `Sha's rule? You can look but don't touch?”

 

“I dunno,” Rocky gave in with a small smile, “if it's as high up as I think, the ladies might all look like ants!”

 

The two bantered back and forth, hoping to cut through the tension that seemed to build as the elevator rose.

 

The doors parted with a ding! and the group found themselves facing another door almost immediately. Trading glances with Tommy, Jason raised his hand to knock… and nearly bashed in Shippou's skull as the door was thrown open.

 

“Hey guys!” Shippou looked up at the raised fist and emerald eyes widened. “Whoa, hey, what did I do? Don't kill the messenger!”

 

Jason lowered his hand with a bit of a blush staining his cheeks. “Sorry, was gonna knock…” he mumbled, trailing off.

 

Shippou waved aside his apologies. “You had no way of knowing I could hear the elevator. What are you all standing out there for? Come in, come in! Make yourself at home!”

 

No matter how much gaping the group of friends had done when they saw Mercer's condo, it paled in comparison to the wide eyes darting around the absolutely huge expanse of space.

 

“Whoa - somebody has a kickass interior designer,” Aisha said.

 

“Kimberly did most of this once I bought the floor and tore down most of the walls to rebuild,” Shippou said flippantly, bounding for the kitchen. “Soda? Water? Something a bit stronger, perhaps?” he called out over his shoulder.

 

“Whatever,” Zach responded, taking in the huge surround-sound stereo. “I thought you said he was a demon and had some mad hearing skills,” he shot over to Jason.

 

“Yeah,” his friend clarified, eyeing a collection of swords and other weaponry with awe. “That's what he said - and what we saw.”

 

“So why the huge speakers?”

 

“For when I have human friends over,” Shippou clarified, hauling a cooler full of drinks to the center of the room. “Here - help yourselves. I'm nobody's maid, but that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of stuff to eat or drink. If you want something else, I probably have it - it's just in the kitchen.”

 

Cracking open a beer, Tommy settled on a white leather couch with a serious look on his face. “Are you going to give us answers now?”

 

From around the room, gazes turned from Shippou's various treasures to the two staring each other down.

 

Shippou broke first, tearing his eyes from Tommy's solemn expression and focusing on the door to the elevator. “A lot of it isn't my story to tell,” he demurred. “But I can share a little. Any questions to start?”

 

“You acted like you knew us in the elevator,” Tanya said from beside Adam. “Did you?”

 

Shippou grinned. “Yeah - once I'd heard your names. I've seen a lot of pictures of you guys; well, fewer of you,” he noted of Tanya, “and heard a lot of stories. There was another woman, though…”

 

“Katherine,” Aisha confirmed. “She's in Australia but will be here next week. And that's Hayley. You probably don't know her, but she's Tommy's college friend.”

 

Shippou nodded his greetings to the redhead. “Anyway, Kimberly told me all about the Power Rangers when she learned that we'd met Zordon. We knew him before you guys were even thought of,” he said to shocked looks. “That Alpha 5 was a riot, wasn't he?” Shippou's eyes unfocused as he thought about his robotic friend.

 

“So… you knew Zordon,” Billy encouraged when it seemed like Shippou was drifting into his thoughts.

 

“Oh! Yeah, sorry,” Shippou replied sheepishly. “We ran into your Command Center while checking out the area around Angel Grove for some shards. It's a long story, I'm sure Kim will tell it when she gets here.”

 

“Kim's coming?” Trini asked hopefully.

 

“Yeah. I cleared it with Sesshoumaru… he's her employer, of sorts,” Shippou said. “She, uh, doesn't know you guys are here, though.”

 

A grin crawled across Rocky's face. “Well, she always did like surprises.”

 

“Less nowadays,” Shippou said. “After all, a surprise attack got her into this mess in the first place.”

 

“What do you mean?” Hayley asked suspiciously. She'd always hated how Tommy had never really been able to let go of his first love, even after she'd so callously broken his heart.

 

Shippou looked up, staring at the door. “Well, here she is now, so we can let her tell you!”

 

A click at the door suggested somebody was unlocking it; feminine muttering could be heard from the other side and it was only partially opened before Kimberly's voice rang out.

 

“Shippou? You did remember that I said if this door is booby-trapped one more time I'm going to pluck the fur off your tails one by one and wear them as a scarf, right?”

 

`Booby-trapped?' Zach mouthed to Shippou, who looked highly amused.

 

“It's safe,” Shippou called out soothingly. “This time, at least. I've been too busy to get into any shenanigans.”

 

“Yeah right,” Kimberly muttered, looking down to remove her sandals as she entered. “You get into shenanigans in your sleep, you foxy brat. Now, you said you had a surprise for me, so where is it?” she asked playfully, finally turning around.

 

The moment her eyes landed on her friends, her mouth dropped.

 

“Sh-Shippou? Does… does he know?” Her eyes, suddenly narrowed in fury, fell on her fox demon friend. “If everything I went through was in vain just because you felt like being cute I swear-”

 

“It's fine, he knows. He says you deserve the break.” Intercepting Kim's dubious expression, he added, “Well, that's not exactly what he said. But he did say that so long as you don't let them interfere with your `priorities,'” Shippou stressed, using his fingers as quotes, “you were welcome to greet your friends and provide some explanations. Something about re-integrating with the real world once things are cleared up,” Shippou finished helpfully.

 

Kimberly stared, eyes darting around the room before meeting Tommy's. A few breaths later, she hit the ground in a dead faint.

 

 

 

Disclaimers:

Anything from Power Rangers (and their affiliates) belongs to Saban and Disney. I don't have permission to use and abuse them as I plan on doing. I don't get any money for this, either.

 

That being said, I don't own InuYasha and Company either. The “real” InuYasha belongs to the genius of Rumiko Takahashi (and Viz and all those other companies involved).