Soul Urge II

Soul Urge II
By The Playing Mantis
Chapter 5: A Loving Sister

If the love of her family is power, then no one is stronger…
---Hephaestus; when asked by Sophitia why he let her take the holy sword

Cassandra never really trusted Hephaestus. The God had sent her sister out to destroy a sword, and she had almost died in the attempt. If it hadn’t been for that strange ninja girl, Sophitia would have died. She had thought that everything was fine when Sophitia married Rothion, but just as the two were happily married, Hephaestus sent Sophitia out to stop the sword again. Now, she had two kids and then those shards showed up at her door. Cassandra, who happened to be visiting at the time, saw how Sophitia reacted to the shards and saw in her sister’s eyes that she was planning on going to stop the sword a third time. She quickly grabbed the shards and bolted from the house, before Sophitia could react, and ran to the shrine of Hephaestus. “Why can’t you leave her alone?!” she screamed at the huge statue. “How can you claim to be a loving and caring God if you won’t let people, who have suffered for you already, alone?! I won’t let you do anything more to my sister!!!” She hurled the shards at the statue before collapsing to the marble floor, panting and sobbing. Suddenly, she heard a high-pitched sound that felt like it was piercing her brain. She looked up and saw that one of the shards of metal had landed near the sword and shield of Hephaestus, and they were reacting to each other. “What’s going on?” she asked as she walked up and picked up the shard. Once the shard had something between it and the sword it stopped making the noise. She slowly reached out and grabbed the hilt of the sacred sword, taking it from it’s holder. She looked at the blade and then looked at the shard in her hand. “It doesn’t matter who stops the sword, as long as it’s stopped, right?” she asked the statue. “If you have no problem with me doing this for my sister, make no sign.” She smirked when nothing happened and quickly pocketed the shard as she picked up the shield.

“Cassandra!” cried her sister’s voice. Cassandra quickly stood up and bolted for the stairs.

“Sorry sis, but I’m not letting you take this upon yourself again!” hollered Cassandra as she dashed past Sophitia and ran down the stairs, ignoring Sophitia’s screams of protest. It wasn’t until she finally stopped running and was back at her own house before she realized that she had left the other shard back at the temple. “Dammit!” she cursed. “There’s no way I can go back for it now!” She silently prayed that Sophitia wouldn’t notice it and quickly packed for her journey before Sophitia came looking for her.

“That was four months ago and now I’m really getting ticked off at the whole ‘not finding any clues whatsoever’ thing that’s been going on!” muttered Cassandra.

“Well,” said Rico, the man behind the bar that she was sitting at, “maybe you’re not looking in the right places.”

“Are you kidding?!” scoffed Cassandra. “I’ve done nothing but look for people who look like warriors and check out seedy bars for the past four months! I’ve been all over this and the next continent and now here I am in…where the hell am I?”

“Spain,” sighed Rico.

“Yeah, Spain. And now I’m in Spain! Where else would I go?” asked Cassandra.

“Didn’t your sister tell you anything about the people that might be looking for this sword as well? People she met before, maybe?” asked Rico. He was getting tired of talking to this wacko. She hadn’t ordered anything, wasn’t even drunk and she was talking nonsense. He needed to get rid of her, and hoped that she would take the hint. Then again, she was really good looking. She wore a pair of pure white ankle-high boots and had on a pair of chocolate brown stockings. She wore a sleeveless dress that reached down to her hips. It was white as well, except for a blue stripe down the front. It was held closed by a pair of clasps underneath her healthy looking c-cup breasts as well as by the brown belt around her waist. She wore a blue scarf around her neck that met in front of her throat with a short piece of pink fabric that had some sort of crest on it, but he couldn’t make out what it was. She had on a pair of white gloves that reached up to her biceps where they met a pair of metal guards that were attached by pink ribbons. She had a pretty face with green eyes and short blonde hair that was held back with a white hair band. In all truth, he would have liked to take her into the back room so that they could have some quality time in payment for wasting his time, but she carried a sword. Ever since that leather-clad, white haired woman had referred to her sword as ‘A woman’s best friend and my favorite castrator’ he’d been turned off by women who carried them. So, he merely sighed and continued to listen to her rambling.

“There were plenty of them,” replied Cassandra, “But I haven’t run into any of them. I started by going to China to see that Xianghua person, but she had already left. No one knows where Yoshimitsu, Mitsurugi, Taki, Kilik or Rock are, and Seung Mina’s looking for someone while Hwang is off to war. The rest, I don’t want to meet any time soon. This is ridiculous!”

“Wait…Yoshimitsu?” asked Rico incredulously. “You mean that freaky ninja guy? Always wears masks?”

“Yeah, him,” said Cassandra hopefully. “Why? Do you know him?”

“He’s renting a room upstairs,” replied Rico as he scratched his head. “Room 5, second on the right. But, he’s not in right now. If you want to find him, try asking around town.”

Cassandra thanked Rico before quickly leaving the bar. She asked all over town, but no one had seen him. “He’s a ninja, of course they didn’t see him,” she sighed as she sat down heavily and pulled out her shard. “If only you could lead me to your brothers, this would have gone so much faster.” She quietly put the shard away and brought out the sword. “How did she find all of those people before?” she asked. She was about to get up and go back to the bar when she saw a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye. She looked to where she thought that she had seen it, but nothing was there. She sighed and looked away, and there it was again. She slowly picked up a rock and turned away from the purple object before whirling around and hurling the rock at where she thought the object was.

“Oww!” yelped a man’s voice as a man in a bright purple outfit fell out of the tree he was perched in and hit the ground. He quickly stood up and brushed himself off before laughing happily. “Wonderful!” he said, “You have been looking for me, and now you have found me. What is it you were looking for? Information? My services as a bodyguard? Or maybe you just wanted to meet the great Yoshimitsu!” He laughed again as Cassandra felt a huge sweat drop appear at the back of her head. She looked him over and wondered if he was really all that great. He wore a pair of sandals and white socks that were mostly covered by a pair of ornate ankle bracers. His purple pants were held up by a belt that was equipped with a pair of flared hip guards with ornamentation that made them look like grinning faces. His purple shirt was covered by body armor that had the same grinning face ornamentation on the front with red flames emerging from the sides. His left arm had a grinning shoulder guard and an arm protector on it, but his right arm drew her attention. It wasn’t real. It was made entirely of wood, and she could see spinning wheels and gears running while he moved. His face was covered with a gold, grinning mask that made his eyes glow red. He word a helmet that looked like it belonged to a samurai, which would also explain the flag that was attached to his back. She guessed it had the symbol of his clan on it.

“Well,” said Cassandra. “Actually, I was hoping you could help me find a sword.”

“Really?” asked Yoshimitsu. “What kind of sword would this be? Sakabato? Broadsword? Double-edged?” He still sounded cheerful, but Cassandra could hear a certain edge to his voice.

“You know what I’m talking about,” said Cassandra. “You fought for the world’s safety four years ago.”

“I did nothing of the sort…” said Yoshimitsu. “But I know what you are referring to. Double-edged it is then. Come with me, I know of a place where we can talk. The previous owner won’t be back any time soon.”

“Previous owner?” asked Cassandra, “What previous owner? Where is this place?”

“All in good time my dear, all in good time,” chuckled Yoshimitsu. “We shouldn’t talk where the innocent could hear us, don’t you agree?”

“I just don’t want to end up where I have no room to dodge if you try to attack me,” said Cassandra.

“Very wise,” said Yoshimitsu. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. There’s no reason for us to trust each other. However, I would trust you a little more if I knew your name.”

“My name is Cassandra,” said Cassandra, “And I already know you’re Yoshimitsu. But that doesn’t mean I should trust you.”

“Ha ha!” laughed Yoshimitsu, “Maybe not! But, it’s a start! Follow me!”

Cassandra couldn’t argue with his logic, as much as she wanted to, so she just shrugged and followed him. The two walked in silence until they got out of town and started walking toward a cliff that overlooked the ocean. “Hold it!” snapped Cassandra. “Where are we going?! If this is a trap, I assure you I can kick your ass without breaking a sweat!”

“I am not the type of person to lay a trap,” said Yoshimitsu gruffly. “Ever since I fell into one and lost my clan for it…I would never do the same to another. I didn’t even stoop to such a pathetic tactic when I tried to get revenge.” He looked down and gripped his right arm tightly, and Cassandra suddenly felt sorry for him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to…”

“No,” said Yoshimitsu as his head shot up and he started talking in his normal tone again. “No, you didn’t. After all, how could you know? We’ve just met!” Cassandra winced because she could feel that his cheerfulness was a front, but she just smiled and nodded, unable to bring herself to point it out to him. “Anyway,” said Yoshimitsu as he turned away from her, “We’re almost there. We have much to discuss, but not out here in the open. Now, where is that switch?” Cassandra watched him curiously as Yoshimitsu walked around a few large rocks, checking them over carefully and poking his fingers into holes and cracks in them. “Ah! Here it is!” said Yoshimitsu triumphantly as he heard a small click and a small door opened in the boulder he was poking at. “Come on!” he said happily as he entered the boulder and disappeared.

“I’m really not sure about this,” muttered Cassandra, but she brought out her sword and followed him. The doorway lead to a circular stairway that spiraled downwards into darkness. She stopped dead when the door behind her closed, leaving her in pitch blackness. “Where are you, you stupid ninja?!” she cried as her body started to tense up. She didn’t like to admit it but she had a phobia of the dark and she was seriously close to having a panic attack.

“Sorry,” said Yoshimitsu as a small light appeared below her. “I forgot that there weren’t any torches up there. Just follow the light and you’ll be fine.”

Cassandra sighed with relief as she slowly walked down the stairs towards the light. “Thank you,” she said when she reached him. She thought that Yoshimitsu regarded her for a little longer than was necessary, but shrugged it off when he merely turned and headed down a short hallway. She followed him down a very short flight of stairs that ended with an archway that led into a huge cavern. Cassandra looked around in wonder. There was only a small pier for the two to stand on, but she could see through crevasses in the cave walls that there were numerous other caverns that could be reached by smaller boats that she could see moored to other piers. Right across the water from them was a small schooner that was docked against a wall that had numerous rooms that were probably used as quarters for the people who lived there. She turned around and gasped when she saw a huge boat. It was obviously a pirate ship due to the skull ornamentation placed all over the hull. There was no need for torches in the cavern because there was a huge opening in the back of the cave for the boat to use and sunlight was pouring into the cavern. She heard a clanking sound behind her and looked at Yoshimitsu, seeing that he had closed and locked a metal gate behind them and was staring at her again. She chose to ignore that and asked, “A secret pirate cavern? What’s going on here? Why did you really bring me here?”

“I told you,” said Yoshimitsu. “We have to keep the innocent populace out of the loop when it comes to the sword, Soul Edge.”

Cassandra shivered at the name but stood her ground. “Fine then,” she said. “Do you have a shard of the blade?”

“I have more than one,” said Yoshimitsu. “And soon, I’ll have yours too.”

“Do you really think I’ll just give it to you?!” demanded Cassandra.

“No,” said Yoshimitsu as he turned his back to her. “I suppose that would be asking too much, wouldn’t it?” Before Cassandra could respond he did a quick backflip and twirled his sword around, saying, “I shall assist your suicide!”

Cassandra hopped once or twice, swinging her arms to loosen them up before getting into her fighting stance and saying, “You want to do this that badly?” She wasn’t sure, but she thought that she heard Yoshimitsu chuckle when she said that.

Yoshimitsu calmly sat down on the floor and held his sword in front of him. Cassandra slowly lowered her guard and stared at him. She was completely taken off guard when he suddenly spun around and disappeared, reappearing behind her and diving into her, sending her sprawling onto the ground. “Overconfidence is the greatest enemy,” said Yoshimitsu calmly as he stood up and stared down at her.

“Don’t come crying to me afterwards!” snarled Cassandra as she got up. She quickly hit him with her shield before kicking him up into the air. She followed and spun around, hitting Yoshimitsu three times with the flat end of her sword. “And that’s the lesson for today!” she said with a smile as she landed on her feet and he landed on his back.

“Most impressive!” chuckled Yoshimitsu. He got to his feet and flipped into the air, bringing the heels of his sandals onto Cassandra’s head, smashing her into the ground, but landing on his sword. Cassandra looked up at him incredulously as he started bouncing around, laughing happily like a kid on a pogo stick.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” she cried as she ran up and grabbed him. She spun onto his back before kicking off, pushing him to the ground. He recovered just in time to see her shield come flying in to smash into his face. Cassandra easily caught her shield on the rebound and smiled to herself. “It’s all about skill,” she said smugly.

“Futile!” said Yoshimitsu as he slowly got up and looked at her. He shook his head to remove as much of the blur effect as he could before dashing in and grabbing her before wrapping his legs around the back of her neck. He quickly made his hand rotate quickly enough that his sword lifted them both into the air before he spun in mid-air, smashing the hilt of his sword into her forehead and sending her crashing to the ground. “Had enough?” he asked quietly. Cassandra slowly got to her feet and he could tell that she was woozy. He dashed in and detached his flag, swinging it around and hitting her with it. Cassandra fell to the ground and looked to be unconscious. “Only the strong shall prevail!” he said as he walked up to her to get her shard of Soul Edge. He didn’t want to admit it, but that had been a very close fight. If she hadn’t been hit by that attack, he would most likely have been the one unconscious on the ground.

He was reaching down for her when she suddenly opened her eyes and hit him with her shield. “Gotcha!” she cried as then bashed her shield into the top of his head, making his face crash into the floor. “It’s over!” she cheered.

Yoshimitsu slowly rolled over onto his back and said, “So that’s how it is!”

Cassandra giggled as she pointed her sword at him and said, “Winning is all that matters!”

Yoshimitsu looked at her sword and thought about his chances of dodging her attack and getting the advantage again, but nothing came up. He laughed happily for a while before saying, “Well done!”

“Uh…does that mean you give up?” asked Cassandra, not willing to drop her guard with him anymore.

“That is exactly what I mean,” said Yoshimitsu. “You have shown me your prowess in combat and while some would frown at your honor, I’ve found that honor only matters when you’re fighting a friendly battle. Can I get up now?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Cassandra as she backed away from him, but she refused to lower her sword until she was sure he had really given up.

“Thank you,” said Yoshimitsu as he stood up and sheathed his sword. “As I was saying, if you’re going to be fighting someone in a battle to the death, your opponent may not share your sense of honor and may fight in any way he can to win.” He looked at Cassandra and saw that she looked a little confused. “I pose a question to you, if one person fights honorably and one doesn’t, who wins?”

“Doesn’t it really all depend on the skill of the fighters?” asked Cassandra.

“I suppose it could, good question,” said Yoshimitsu. “Let us say that they are of equal skill then.”

“I would say that whoever survived won,” said Cassandra.

“Very good!” said Yoshimitsu. “Survival is paramount in human existence, but there are some warriors out there that have forgotten that. Some win their battles fighting honorably and live a long life, but most are cut down by a person who uses tactics that ensure his or her own survival. I learned that the hard way.”

Cassandra slowly put her sword away and walked up to Yoshimitsu and asked, “Would you tell me what happened? Or is it too painful?”

“I don’t know,” said Yoshimitsu. “No one’s ever asked to hear about it before. Come with me. We should leave here. Cervantes’ evil aura still lurks in this cavern and I don’t have the energy to deal with it right now. I’ll tell you about what happened on the way back to town.” He turned and unlocked the gate before stopping and turning around. “Oh, I almost forgot. Catch!” He tossed a small pouch to Cassandra, who caught it easily and immediately shivered at the immense evil aura she felt emanating from it. “There are quite a few shards of Soul Edge in there,” said Yoshimitsu. “For those unused to the feel of it’s energy, the evil can be…difficult to deal with. Are you okay?! Cassandra!!!” That was the last thing Cassandra heard before the evil became too much for her and she passed out.

She slowly woke up to find herself in a bed with a wet washcloth on her forehead. “Where am I?” she asked aloud as she looked around in confusion.

“You’re in my room at the inn,” said Yoshimitsu quietly as he looked at her from the chair he was sitting in. Cassandra quickly sat up but immediately regretted it. “Calm down,” said Yoshimitsu. “The evil of Soul Edge was too much for you to handle, but you’ll get used to it over time. Until then, we’ll keep it at a short distance from you.” He pointed to the small pouch that was sitting on a table a foot from the bed.

“You brought me here?’ asked Cassandra. Yoshimitsu nodded. “Thanks, I owe you one. Just tell me how I can repay you and I’ll do what I can. Unfortunately, I don’t have much money.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Yoshimitsu. “I did it because I wanted to, not because I was expecting a reward. Besides, the only thing I really want is my old life back.”

“That’s right,” said Cassandra as she leaned back against the headboard, “You were going to tell me what happened to you before.”

“Ah yes,” said Yoshimitsu with a sigh. He quietly gripped his wooden arm again as he said, “I was the best warrior of the Manji clan, back in Japan. Can you believe that? Ha!” His laugh was harsh and Cassandra winced at it. “Lord Nobunaga Oda, a warlord from Japan, massacred my clan because we didn’t want to help him in his war efforts. I was sent as an emissary of our clan and was tricked into staying a few days at his palace so that he could destroy my clan before I made it back. I was almost killed as well, but I somehow survived.” He hung his head down and punched his leg. “I was the only survivor of my entire clan! I spent a lot of time planning my revenge, and in the end, I challenged Lord Nobunaga to a duel. He agreed if I could beat his best warrior first. I did, but I was tired from the encounter, so I wasn’t at my best when I fought with Lord Nobunaga. He defeated me easily, and to make sure that I wasn’t a threat anymore, he cut off my right arm. Just to be safe, he ordered my execution, but I escaped into an underground waterway that only my clan knew of.”

Cassandra slowly got out of the bed and walked to Yoshimitsu. She could tell that he was holding back tears as she gently wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. “I’m so sorry,” she said. That one act of honest kindness touched Yoshimitsu’s heart and broke down the flood gate that had been holding back his tears for over four years. He gripped Cassandra’s back as he buried his mask in her chest. Cassandra winced because his wooden arm hurt, but she held her tongue, letting him weep for his clan.

“I…I thank you…” said Yoshimitsu as he slowly pulled away from her. He let out a deep breath before he realized that he was looking directly at her chest. He made a strangled gasping sound in the back of his throat, but couldn’t look away.

“I’m up here,” said Cassandra as she put her fingers under his chin and lifted his head. She had an amused expression on her face, but she shook her head and said, “I should go now.” She turned to leave, but Yoshimitsu grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“Please, don’t think badly of me!” he started to say before he realized that he’d pulled too hard and she was falling into him.

Cassandra fell into Yoshimitsu’s lap and giggled. “I don’t think badly of you…” she said before she felt something growing underneath her. She froze as she felt it slowly get bigger and bigger until it was throbbing against her inner thigh. She had never felt a guy’s dick before, had never even seen one up close, but she knew enough to know what was going on and she was slightly turned on by it. She swallowed before getting up and trying to play it off. “You are a bad boy, aren’t you?” she asked with a strained laugh.

“I’m really sorry,” said Yoshimitsu as he got up and turned around. “I…I haven’t been with a woman ever since my clan was destroyed. I apologize! Please, forgive me!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” said Cassandra. She thought about things for a second before smiling and saying, “Well, how about if you let me see what you look like as an apology?”

“What?” asked Yoshimitsu. “What are you requesting?”

“I want you to take off that helmet and mask and let me see your face,” said Cassandra. “Who knows? If you’re cute enough I might be able to forgive you.”

“I don’t know if I can…” said Yoshimitsu quietly. “It was a clan tradition that, as the best warrior, I would only show my face to my family and my betrothed. Even though my clan, family and fiancé are all dead now, I can’t part with that tradition. It would be asking too much.”

“I see…fine then,” said Cassandra as she turned from him and started heading for the door. “I’ll see you around then, you old pervert.”

She was about to grab the bag of shards when she heard Yoshimitsu call out, “Stop right there!” She playfully smiled and stuck out her tongue before putting on a straight face and turning around. “I can’t let you leave thinking of me as an old pervert.” He laughed out loud before saying, “All men are inherently perverts, but I’m not old! I’m only 27.” He reached up and took off his helmet, letting his long black hair spill out onto his back. He hesitated when he reached for his mask and said, “You will be the first person in over four years to see my face…myself included.”

“You don’t even take it off when you go to sleep?” asked Cassandra.

“Yes, as well as when I eat, which I do in private, away from mirrors,” said Yoshimitsu. “I haven’t been able to look at myself because of my failure to protect my clan.”

Cassandra bit her lip, suddenly ashamed that she would ask him to do something so painful. “Wait…” she said. “You don’t have to!”

“You’re right, I don’t,” said Yoshimitsu, “But, I should. I need to be able to look at myself again. And if it’s because of a beautiful woman like yourself, then I have no right to argue.”

Cassandra blushed. She knew she was pretty, but most guys saw her sister first and were immediately entranced. She had always been secretly jealous of her radiant sister. She was beautiful, quiet, calm and friendly. Cassandra, on the other hand, had always been a bit of a tomboy; roughhousing with the other boys and beating up anyone who was a bully. Before long she had won the love of all the girls in town and the fear of all the boys. Being completely unused to Yoshimitsu’s compliment she started stammering, “Well…I uh…t-thanks.” Yoshimitsu made a slight bow to her before reaching up and removing his mask.

Yoshimitsu slowly closed his eyes as his mask came away from his face. He heard Cassandra gasp and grimaced. “How bad do I look then?” he asked.

Cassandra’s heart skipped a beat when Yoshimitsu took his mask off. He was really good looking. His skin was pale from not getting any sun, but his Asian facial features were still handsome. She took in a sharp breath and saw him grimace, completely misunderstanding her. When he asked how bad he looked, she smiled and said, “You’re gorgeous.”

Yoshimitsu slowly opened his eyes and asked, “Really?”

“You’re a little pale, but you’re quite handsome,” said Cassandra with a smile as she walked up to him and kissed his forehead. “I guess I can forgive you now for being attracted to me.”

“Wow, that’s cold!” laughed Yoshimitsu. “What type of man wouldn’t be attracted to a woman who could kick his ass?”

Cassandra blushed and looked down at the floor. “Apparently, plenty of guys,” she mumbled. “I tend to scare guys away. My mother’s always telling me to stop being so boyish, or I’ll never land a husband. She keeps telling me to be more like my older sister.”

Yoshimitsu gently grabbed her chin in his hand and lifted her face to look at him. “I think you’re quite perfect the way you are,” he said as he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Cassandra’s body trembled when Yoshimitsu’s lips met hers. Part of her wanted to pull away, but another part wanted to stay, while the rest of her just wanted the other two parts to make up their minds so it could know if it should move or not. Yoshimitsu pulled away from her and saw the confliction in her face. “I’m sorry again,” he said. “That was very forward of me.”

“Yes it was,” said Cassandra tremulously. “Now I have to think up a suitable punishment for you.” She breathed heavily as she stared into his eyes, an extremely dark shade of brown, and suddenly found herself moving her head in and kissing him. She slowly closed her eyes as she clutched at his shirt and felt his arms wrap around her back. She pulled her head away from his and asked, “What am I doing?”

“Are you upset by this?” asked Yoshimitsu.

“No…just confused,” replied Cassandra. “I’ve never…no one has ever made me feel this way before, and I’m not sure what to do about it. I’ve always been in control…but this is something that I can’t…I don’t understand these feelings. They frighten me.”

“Calm down,” said Yoshimitsu as he let her go. She didn’t move away from him so he took a step back and said, “I shouldn’t have pushed myself on you like this. If you don’t feel you’re ready for this, then don’t force yourself.”

“It’s not that I’m forcing myself, and you didn’t push yourself on me,” said Cassandra, “I just…I don’t know. This isn’t something I’m used to, so I have obvious reservations.”

“Then let’s stop this right now,” said Yoshimitsu. “You seem fine, so why don’t you just take the shards and destroy that sword. We can pretend that this never happened.”

“But…” said Cassandra and felt tears come to her eyes when Yoshimitsu reached down and picked up his mask. “No! Don’t put that on again! Please!” She reached out her hand and smacked the mask away. She gripped his hand tightly and said, “Please don’t go back into seclusion, hiding your face from the sun.”

“I’m not a normal person, Cassandra,” said Yoshimitsu. “I can’t feel the warmth of your hand, or how tightly you’re squeezing right now.” Cassandra looked down and flinched when she saw that she was holding his false arm. “It would be in your best interest if you did just forget all about this encounter.”

“Don’t sell yourself short like that!” cried Cassandra. “Just because your arm isn’t real, doesn’t mean that the rest of you isn’t as well!” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “You can feel my body heat now, as well as how tightly I’m holding you…right?”

“Yes,” said Yoshimitsu, “but could you not hold me quite so tightly? That kind of hurts.”

Cassandra blushed as she let him go and turned around. “Sorry,” she said, “I guess I don’t know my own strength sometimes.”

“Did I ask you to let go completely?” asked Yoshimitsu as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Well, no…but the way you were acting, I thought…” mumbled Cassandra.

“Oh, so now you listen to me,” said Yoshimitsu. Cassandra giggled, but stopped when Yoshimitsu’s hands slowly traveled down her arms. She turned her head back to look at him and saw that he was smiling at her. Something inside of her melted right then and there and she reached up her arms and brought his head in and kissed him. Yoshimitsu continued slowly rubbing his hands up and down her arms, enjoying the sounds of her purring. He slowly pulled his head away from hers and gave her a slight, inquiring look. She bit her lip and looked slightly pensive before licking her lips and silently nodding. Yoshimitsu smiled as the two kissed again, and the next time his hands reached up to her shoulders they slowly went down her front and he started gently fondling her breasts.

Cassandra gasped when she felt his fingers move over and grope her breasts. His wooden hand was amazingly gentle and he had obviously done this before because every movement that he made made her pant and moan more. When his fingers finally found her nipples, he gently pinched them. Her eyes shot open and she cried out as a small jolt of pleasure shot through her body. Yoshimitsu took the opportunity to move his tongue into her mouth. Cassandra merely moaned as her tongue moved with his, following his every movement like a student following her master. She groaned in disappointment when Yoshimitsu’s hands left her breasts. He grabbed her hands and placed them on her breasts instead, and she eagerly started groping herself as Yoshimitsu’s hands slowly traveled down her body. She knew where his hands were going, but she still tensed up when his hands reached her hips and moved inward. Yoshimitsu felt her stiffen and hesitated. “Don’t stop,” moaned Cassandra.

“But you…” started Yoshimitsu.

“Don’t argue with a lady who can kick your ass,” said Cassandra. “It’s not wise.” Yoshimitsu laughed as he lifted up her skirt and ran his fingers along the insides of her thighs. Cassandra was panting so heavily by now that Yoshimitsu was afraid that she might hyperventilate, but he slowly moved his hands inward until they were gently rubbing up and down along the crotch of her panties. Cassandra whimpered slightly as a small wet spot appeared where Yoshimitsu was rubbing her and it was getting gradually bigger. Yoshimitsu kept his wooden hand down at her panties while the other one slowly traveled up her body, gripping one of her hands as it went up, and lightly traced her lips with his finger. Cassandra was overwhelmed by Yoshimitsu’s stimulation and let out a choked gasping sound as she had her first orgasm by another person. She whimpered and moaned happily as her entire body trembled before her knees went out on her.

“Whoa,” said Yoshimitsu as he quickly caught her. He scooped her up, cradling her in his arms, while she looked at him and smiled, basking in the afterglow. “I take it that means you liked that,” he said with a straight face.

Cassandra giggled and nodded. “Very much,” she said happily. “I’ve never done anything like this before…with a man… It was amazing. Can I do anything to make it up to you?” She felt something prodding her hips and giggled again. “I guess that means, yes,” she said. “I can’t go all the way with you, but I will help you…if that’s alright.”

“It’s more than I expected,” said Yoshimitsu as he set her down. “And I always liked pleasant surprises.” He removed his armor before sitting down on the bed, waiting to see what she would do.

Cassandra swallowed as she undid her belt and the clasps to her dress before slowly pulling it over her head. She let it drop to the floor, her face suddenly turning beet red as she stood in front of Yoshimitsu in only her underwear. She looked down at his crotch and saw that there was a small tent where his erection was straining against his pants. “You like what you see?” she asked rhetorically. She slowly licked her lips as she knelt down on the floor in front of him and reached out with trembling fingers, and gently touched Yoshimitsu’s cock through his pants. It twitched, causing her to jump back.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Yoshimitsu.

“You did it for me, it’s only fair,” said Cassandra, more to herself than to him. She didn’t know why she was being so hesitant. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what to do. She had accidentally walked in on Sophitia and Rothion enough times to know exactly what to do. But, Yoshimitsu was the first guy who wasn’t afraid of her, even after she showed her true personality, so she wanted it to be special for him. “Maybe I’m just afraid of screwing this up,” she muttered.

“Calm down,” said Yoshimitsu. “This is just supposed to be fun, don’t think about it so much.”

Cassandra smiled as she said, “You’re right. It is supposed to be fun, but it’s also supposed to be for people to show their love…and I don’t understand that feeling.”

Yoshimitsu frowned as he pulled Cassandra onto the bed next to him. “You love your family, right?” he asked. She nodded. “Well then…”

“But, it feels different with you…” she said.

“I should hope so!” he laughed.

“That’s not what I meant,” giggled Cassandra nervously. “I mean…I don’t know what I mean. We just met…how can we feel something like that so soon? Isn’t love supposed to slowly blossom between people who have known each other for a while?”

“Not necessarily,” replied Yoshimitsu. “You’ve heard the phrase’ Love at first sight’, correct?” Cassandra nodded. “Well, that’s what I would call this. You were the first person who’s ever managed to get past my technique of hiding within a person’s blind spot. I was actually about to call to you when you threw that rock at me.”

“That was just dumb luck on my part,” said Cassandra.

“Dumb luck is just as much a part of the skill of a warrior as anything else,” said Yoshimitsu. “As many battles are won because someone trips over a rock as the ones that are won through battle prowess alone.”

“I guess I understand, but what does that have to do with this?” asked Cassandra.

“That was merely the first step for me,” said Yoshimitsu as he removed her hair band and gently ran his fingers through her hair. “When we were both in the darkened stairwell and you shouted at me, I could hear the panic starting in your voice. I heard your sigh of relief when the light appeared and I saw your face as you emerged from the darkness to stand in front of me. You were so vulnerable that I just wanted to walk over and hug you, but you regained your composure quickly, so I just continued on.”

“Yeah…so I’m scared of the dark…is that a problem?” mumbled Cassandra.

“A problem?” asked Yoshimitsu, “Not at all! If a person shows no fear for anything than that person isn’t human. I must admit to being scared of spiders. (Me too…) There’s no real reason for it, but everyone has at least one irrational fear that they don’t like mentioning because they think it’s embarrassing.”

“Was it just those two things?” asked Cassandra.

“No, far from it,” said Yoshimitsu. “When you defeated me using that feint, it was a mark of brilliance. And you answered my questions correctly, without hesitation. It proved to me that you and I think alike, at least in that respect. Then you comforted me, and I was really touched by that.” He gently placed his hand on hers and squeezed it. The two looked into each other’s eyes for a minute before Yoshimitsu suddenly laughed. “And then I realized that you had placed my face against your boobs!” he cackled. “That was a big deciding factor for me as well!”

Cassandra slapped his arm playfully before saying, “You really are a pervert, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am, I’m male aren’t I?” laughed Yoshimitsu. “But, you can see how it happened even during the short amount of time that we’ve known each other.”

“I guess I can understand it,” said Cassandra. “You’re the first guy that I’ve beaten up that hasn’t been scared of me. And my personality didn’t scare you off either.” She blushed as she added, “Plus, you said I was beautiful. No one’s ever said that to me other than my sister.”

“And that is the worst tragedy of them all,” said Yoshimitsu as he leaned in and kissed her. His hands started roaming her body again as she allowed him to push her back onto the bed. He slowly took off his glove and placed his hand against her face so he could feel her warmth without anything getting between them. Cassandra smiled at him as her hands ran down his chest until they reached his pants. No longer afraid, she reached into them and started rubbing his cock. She easily rolled over on top of him and slid down his body so that her face was at his hips. She bit her bottom lip as she pulled his pants away and saw her first cock, up close and personal.

“Are they all this long?” she asked, making Yoshimitsu chuckle. His cock wasn’t very thick but it was 8 inches long when fully erect.

“It all depends on body type,” said Yoshimitsu. Cassandra licked her lips as she continued stroking him before she slowly stuck her tongue out and gently licked the tip. The feel of her tongue on his cock made Yoshimitsu shiver with pleasure. She giggled as she started running her tongue up and down the shaft, suddenly wondering what it would feel like to have it sliding in and out of her. She shook the thought from her head. She was saving herself for marriage, otherwise her mother would kill her. As she licked up the shaft she saw a bit of precum oozing out of the tip. She quickly licked it away and was surprised by the slightly salty taste. It hadn’t been what she expected, but it wasn’t too bad either. She smiled as she ran her tongue around the tip a couple of times and started cupping and massaging his balls. Yoshimitsu felt like he had died and gone to heaven. She was a little clumsy and hesitant, but she was doing everything right.

“Am I doing well?” asked Cassandra. Yoshimitsu could only moan in response. Cassandra smiled again as she opened her mouth and engulfed his cock. Yoshimitsu gripped the sheets tightly, trying not to cum too soon, but it had been a really long time. Cassandra only bobbed up and down a few times before she felt his cock start to twitch and jerk. She didn’t know what that meant and ignored it, continuing to bob up and down, until she felt the first few spurts of cum shoot into her mouth. She cried out as she pulled away, Yoshimitsu’s cock shooting it’s cum all over her face and breasts.

“I’m sorry…” panted Yoshimitsu. “I should have warned you.”

Cassandra giggled a little as she licked her lips clean and wiped off her face, licking her hands too. “It’s not a problem,” she said with a smile that made Yoshimitsu blush and get hard again. “Wow!” said Cassandra. “That happened faster than I thought it would.”

“Well, it’s been a REALLY long time,” said Yoshimitsu. Cassandra giggled again and started to go down on him again but Yoshimitsu grabbed her shoulders and said, “Let’s do this together, shall we?” Cassandra looked confused until Yoshimitsu turned her around and positioned her crotch above his face. Cassandra had never seen her sister in a 69 position, so she was a little confused, but quickly understood when Yoshimitsu pulled her pantyhose down, pulled the crotch of her panties aside and started licking her pussy while using his hands to rub her inner thighs.

“Oh yeah,” moaned Cassandra as she started licking Yoshimitsu’s cock again, enjoying the taste of the cum that had dribbled down it before. She ran her hands over it as she licked it and then thought of something to try. She ripped off her bra, grabbed her breasts and wrapped them around Yoshimitsu’s cock, using the saliva on the cock and the cum on her breasts for lubrication.

“Oh my god!” groaned Yoshimitsu. “I’ve never felt anything like this before!” Cassandra’s cushions were plump and soft, and they felt so good as they moved around his cock. He quickly shook his head and went back to pleasing Cassandra, holding her open with his hands and licking all around and inside of her. He smiled when he heard her panting and moaning. He was close to cumming and wanted her to cum with him, but he wasn’t doing enough. Suddenly, a thought came to him. He stopped licking her, causing her to groan in disappointment. He moved his real hand to her clit and started pinching and pushing it, making her shudder, and then he pushed two of the fingers of his wooden hand into her pussy.

Cassandra groaned and clamped her muscles down on the invader inside her depths. She wasn’t sure what Yoshimitsu was doing, but she didn’t care. Her entire body felt like it was on fire because of what he was doing and she hoped that he was feeling even half as good as she was. She could feel Yoshimitsu’s cock started to twitch and sped up the rubbing of his cock, but stopped dead when Yoshimitsu’s wooden hand started rotating. Her eyes shot open as wide as they could as his hand continued to speed up until it was moving at the speed necessary to lift him off the ground. Cassandra’s back arched and she squeezed her breasts together tightly as she reared back, giving Yoshimitsu the last hurrah and making him cum as well. His cum shot all over her breasts, but Cassandra wasn’t paying much attention to anything except her own orgasm which shot through her like a bolt of lightning. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, only a small gasping sound actually escaping her throat, before she collapsed forward. “That was great…” she panted happily as she slowly pushed herself up and laid down next to Yoshimitsu, who was panting as well.

“I agree,” he said. ‘I couldn’t have asked for anything better from you.”

“Really?” asked Cassandra with a wry smile.

“Well, okay, nothing that you would give me right now,” admitted Yoshimitsu.

Cassandra giggled before yawning. Her eyelids felt really heavy and she said, “I think we should get some sleep.”

“Yes, it’s late,” said Yoshimitsu. “We can talk more tomorrow.” Cassandra murmured something softly, but Yoshimitsu couldn’t hear her so he just smiled and covered her with the blanket before the two cuddled together and fell asleep.

Yoshimitsu woke up the next morning and smiled at Cassandra…until he noticed that Cassandra wasn’t in bed next to him. He shot up and looked around. All of her things were gone, including the bag of Soul Edge shards. He groaned as he fell back onto the bed before he noticed a small piece of paper lying on the small table next to the bed. He quickly grabbed it and read, “Dear Yoshimitsu, I’m sorry that I won’t be here when you wake up, but I couldn’t sit around anymore, and you looked so peaceful sleeping there. I don’t want you to think that last night meant nothing to me, because it really did and I would love to see more of you once I’ve destroyed the sword. My family runs a small bakery in Athens, so please come visit at least. There are so many stories I’d like to hear about, like how you defeated all those opponents and got all those Soul Edge shards. I’m sure your tales of battle will thrill my sister. She hates that sword as much as you do. At any rate, I’ll pay for the night I spent in your room. It’s only fair. Take care and just know that I think I love you. Cassandra Alexandra.”

Yoshimitsu read the letter and read it again, before something in his mind caught a few hints to something that made him feel sick to his stomach. “Older sister who hates the sword…from Athens…Alexandra…” he muttered before it finally hit him. “Sophitia’s sister! Oh god! And I never told her about the plot! I’ve got to find her!” Yoshimitsu quickly donned his armor but hesitated before putting on his mask and helmet. “I’m sorry Cassandra, but I need this right now,” he said as he slipped the mask on and bolted out the door. He ran down the stairs and ran up to the bartender, Rico, asking, “Did Cassandra tell you where she was going?!”

“Who?” asked Rico.

“Cassandra!” said Yoshimitsu patiently. “The blonde with the sword and shield.”

“Oh yeah, her,” said Rico. “What happened? She pick your pocket and run off? Well, too bad, we don’t cover things like that.”

Yoshimitsu’s wooden arm shot out and grabbed Rico by the collar, dragging him almost completely over the bar. “I asked if she told you where she was going!” he hissed. “She supposedly paid for the room today, so I’m guessing she talked to you! Now, where did she go?!”

“Calm down!” cried Rico. “She said something about some ninja girl who helped her sister earlier, so she was gonna go look for her. That’s all she said! Honest!”

“She’s looking for Taki?” muttered Yoshimitsu as he let Rico go and turned around. “She won’t be easy to track down, especially if the rumors about her being on the run from her own clan are true.”

“Wait,” said Rico. “Are you trying to tell me that all that stuff she was saying is true? Then that evil sword…”

Rico never finished that sentence because Yoshimitsu quickly brought out his sword and held it over the man’s throat. “If you wish to live much longer, I would suggest that you try your best to forget anything she might have said to you.” Rico silently nodded his head. Yoshimitsu quickly sheathed his sword and laughed as he exited. “Believe it or not, I’m only looking out for your best interests!” he chuckled before turning back and saying, “But seriously, don’t think about the sword ever again.” He turned and left without another word.

“What a whacko…” muttered Rico, thoroughly convinced that it was just some stupid game that the two were playing on him.

“Before I go in search of Cassandra, I should go see how Sophitia is doing,” muttered Yoshimitsu. “She’ll want to know that her sister is relatively safe.” He quickly departed, hoping that he could reach Cassandra before it was too late.

Cassandra sighed heavily as she reached the Hungarian border. It had been two weeks since her encounter with Yoshimitsu and she still felt amazed at the fact that he had cared about her. “I hope he comes to see me after I destroy that sword,” she said to herself. “I really miss him. Maybe I should have let him come with me.” She continued walking down the path until she came upon an old man meditating in the middle of the road. She arched an eyebrow, but took out her sword, in case of a bandit ambush, as she walked past him. She shrugged as she walked away from him, but stopped dead when she sensed some movement in the bushes to her left. She quickly looked back and saw that the old man was now facing her. She looked to her left and saw the outline of a man in black leather, hiding in the bushes. She looked to her right and saw a boy leaning against a tree, watching her carefully. “What do you want?” she asked. “If it’s money you can have it. I’m in a hurry.”

“We’re not here to rob you, young lady,” said the old man behind her. “We are here to see if you have any shards of Soul Edge.”

“And if I do?” asked Cassandra. “Do you want to fight for them?”

“We just want to know where you got them,” said the man in black.

“What does that have to do with anything?” asked Cassandra.

“Because we each came here with one and they were all stolen from us,” said the old man. “We merely wish to have them back.”

“As well as any more you might have,” growled the man in black.

“I got these from a friend of mine who I defeated in a one-on-one battle,” said Cassandra. “If you try and take me on all at once like this, you’re a bunch of cowards!”

“Who said anything about taking you on?” asked the man in black with a sneer. “Link could easily snatch that purse off of your belt with his boomerang, isn’t that right?” Cassandra looked around and saw the young boy shake his head and shake his fist at the man. “What do you mean, ‘that’s not fair’?!” cried the man.

“Spawn,” said the old man, who still hadn’t opened his eyes, “You know that Link has a high moral code. Don’t ask him to go against it.”

“Fine then,” snarled Spawn. “I’ll take her on! Link! Support me!” Link rolled his eyes as Spawn charged Cassandra, an axe suddenly appearing in his hand. Cassandra dodged to the side, Spawn missing her and hitting his axe into a tree. “I’ll…” growled Spawn until he realized that his axe was stuck. Cassandra looked over at Link who winked at her before he brought out a bomb that immediately lit, and rolled it at her. She let out a small squeak before she kicked it away. Spawn chose that moment to turn around, the bomb landing at his feet. He looked down and groaned, “Son of a…” The bomb exploded, sending Spawn flying.

“He’ll be back shortly,” said the old man right behind Cassandra. She whirled around and backed away, pointing her sword at him. “Don’t worry; I don’t intend to attack you.”

“Why should I trust you?!” asked Cassandra.

“Because you are Cassandra Alexandra and I have a message for you,” said the old man. Cassandra stiffened at the sound of her name, but remained wary. “Your sister, Sophitia, has been harmed very badly, and wishes for your safety,” said the old man.

“What?!” cried Cassandra, “What happened to Sophitia?!”

“She, along with other women searching to destroy Soul Edge, have been brutally raped by vicious creatures,” said the old man. “If I’m not mistaken, most of the shards you currently hold were last held by a young woman who we ran into in France. Rumor has it that she ran afoul of a nasty creature near Italy and gave her shards to a wandering ninja.”

“Yoshimitsu…” whispered Cassandra. “He knew…but he didn’t tell me…why?”

“Maybe he was planning on it,” said the old man, “and he just never got around to it. Maybe he didn’t want to alarm you. Who knows? You have the knowledge now. What you do with it is your choice. However, you should be careful. You are a target as well.”

“I don’t care about that!” shouted Cassandra, “I have to go see Sophitia!” She quickly turned and ran off. “Thank you for telling me!” she hollered as she looked back and waved.

The old man watched the young girl run off and disappear before looking at Link and shrugging. He sat down again and started meditating as he heard the crunching of leaves to his left. “Heihachi…” muttered Spawn as he limped up to the path. “Where is she?”

“In all the confusion of the explosion, she managed to get away,” said Heihachi. “Right, Link?” Link nodded with an embarrassed look on his face. Spawn let out a muttered stream of curses that would have made a sailor blush as Heihachi continued meditating and Link leaned back against the tree and drank some milk.

Cassandra kept running, even as her vision became blurry as tears welled up in her eyes. “Why did she leave?!” she cried. “Why didn’t he tell me?!” Her tear-filled eyes didn’t see the branch in her path, so she tripped over it and fell to the ground, the sword of Hephaestus landing in front of her, the tip of the blade embedded in the dirt. “And why didn’t you just leave us alone?!!!” she screamed at the sword, tears streaming down her cheeks. She picked up the sword and violently struck the ground with it, cursing Hephaestus’ name with each swing. “God damn it!” she screamed as she hurled the sword away. It became embedded in a tree right on the path. Cassandra stared at the sword, panting, before she collapsed to the ground and sobbed. “Sophitia, I’m sorry,” she sobbed before she wiped her eyes clean and stood up. She picked up her shield and grabbed the sword, which came out of the tree without any problems, and walked down the path, determined to be by her sister’s side.

Considering her urgency, Cassandra managed to cut down the travel time to three days mostly because she ran as much as she could, eating as she walked, and sleeping sparingly. Admittedly, this made her a little bedraggled as she stumbled into Athens, but she didn’t care as she ran to her sister’s house. She held onto the archway for support as she knocked on the door. “Yes?” asked a sweet voice that could only be her sister as the door opened. “Who is it? Cassandra!”

Sophitia stared in wide-eyed shock as her sister, who looked like she could barely stand, smiled warmly at her and said, “You’re okay…thank god…” before collapsing into her arms.

“Cassandra?! Cassandra!!!” cried Sophitia as she dragged her sister into the house.

Cassandra woke up when a bucket full of water was dumped on her head. She sputtered and coughed as she looked around. “Sorry,” said Sophitia, “But I had to rinse out your hair.” She looked back and saw that Sophitia was sitting behind her, smiling at her. Cassandra turned around and hugged her tightly, bawling on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I thought I was keeping you safe, but you came out to look for me, didn’t you?!”

“Nevermind that,” said Sophitia softly. “I’m just happy that you’re unharmed. Now, turn back around, so I can scrub your back.”

“Huh?” asked Cassandra before she realized they were both naked and in the bathtub. She blushed as she turned around and covered herself. “Sis! What are you doing?!” she cried.

“What’s the matter?” asked Sophitia with a grin. “Is my baby sister too old to let me give her a bath?” She giggled as she gently ran a sponge over her sister’s back. “But seriously, since when have you been so modest? Did something happen while you were out searching for the sword?”

“Well…” muttered Cassandra as she blushed again.

“Oh my…did you meet a guy?!” squealed Sophitia excitedly. Cassandra turned even redder, making Sophitia laugh happily. “You did! Was he cute? Tell me everything!”

“I don’t think I should…” muttered Cassandra.

Sophitia frowned as she pulled Cassandra into a hug and whispered, “You didn’t do…it…did you?”

“What?!” shrieked Cassandra making Sophitia wince and look into the other room where her children were sleeping, “No!!! I know better than to do that!” She lowered her voice when she saw Sophitia’s pensive look and looked down as she said, “It was more…doing close to…it…but not quite… My virtue is still intact and will remain that way until I’m married. I know what mom and dad think about girls who sleep around. I won’t do that.”

“I don’t care about what mom and dad think is right,” said Sophitia as she continued bathing her sister, “I care about what you think is right. Were thoughts of mom and dad the only thing stopping you?”

“Sort of…” mumbled Cassandra.

“Then you should have gone ahead with it!” said Sophitia as she slapped Cassandra on the back of the head.

“Ow! What?!” asked Cassandra as she looked back at her sister with wide eyes.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” said Sophitia. “Rothion and I didn’t wait until we were married.”

“What?!” cried Cassandra, causing Sophitia to clamp her hand over her sister’s mouth.

“Quiet!” hissed Sophitia as she put her finger to her lips. “So, who was this guy anyway?”

“Well, he’s a guy that you told me about. I managed to beat him and got all of his Soul Edge fragments,” said Cassandra.

“Good for you!” said Sophitia. “I thought I felt a familiar trace of evil in that pouch of yours. I don’t like the fact that you still have them, but I can’t stop you from continuing now. Not with so many fragments. But, you said it was someone I met before?” Cassandra nodded. “Hmmm…well it can’t be Li Long. Hwang and Kilik are already taken.” She smiled as she thought of Xianghua and Seung Mina and wondered how they were doing. “It wasn’t Maxi, was it?” Cassandra shook her head. “Okay…oh god…tell me it wasn’t Voldo. Please, tell me it wasn’t Voldo!”

“Who?” asked Cassandra.

Sophitia sighed with relief and said, “Nevermind.” She thought desperately on who would be left. “Mitsurugi? Rock?” she asked. Cassandra shook her head again, causing Sophitia to bite her bottom lip as she thought of who was left. When she figured out the only one left she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea, but had to ask, “Yoshimitsu?”

“Yeah…” mumbled Cassandra with a smile. “He was so sweet. And he dropped his silly façade in front of me. When I heard his story, my heart went out to him. And he’s the first guy who’s seen the real me and hasn’t run away.” She giggled as she added, “It doesn’t hurt that he’s drop dead gorgeous too.”

Sophitia looked at her sister’s smiling face and shrugged inwardly as she hugged her sister tightly. “If he’s the one for you, then I wish you all the happiness in the world,” she said. She kissed Cassandra on the cheek before getting out of the tub and helping Cassandra out as well. “Now, you’ve really got to tell me all the details,” she said with a giggle. “Was he good? Oooooh! Did he use that fake hand of his?! I’ve seen how fast it can spin!”

“Sis!” cried Cassandra as she grabbed a towel to cover herself before running from the room. Sophitia laughed happily as she dried herself off and followed her sister.

She found Cassandra curled up in a ball in the guest room and actually started to feel bad when she saw that Cassandra was crying. “I’m sorry,” she said as she sat next to her sister and hugged her. “I shouldn’t have teased you like that. Come on. Dry yourself off and tell me what’s really bothering you.”

“I was with him for an entire day,” said Cassandra between sniffles as Sophitia gave up and dried her off instead. “Why didn’t he warn me about what was happening to the girls who were after Soul Edge? He apparently even saved a girl from something near Italy, but he never said a word about it to me.”

“Did you give him a chance to?” asked Sophitia.

“We had the whole day…but first we fought…then the evil of the shards made me faint, and then he told me about his past and I hugged him…and then we just kind of…fell into each other…” said Cassandra. “We went to sleep immediately afterwards.”

“And in the morning?” asked Sophitia.

“Uh…I kind of left without waking him up,” said Cassandra. Sophitia slapped her hand to her forehead. “But, I left a note for him! He knows where to find me!” She blushed and looked down at the floor as she mumbled, “I guess he really didn’t have time to tell me.”

Sophitia put her sister in a headlock and gave her a noogie. “Even in love, you still act like a stupid guy!” she said. “Get dressed; I want you to take that sword and shield back to the shrine. When you head out again, take the sword and shield that Rothion made for me to use as a replacement for them.”

“Can I stay a day or two…preferably without letting mom and dad know?” asked Cassandra, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.

“Okay, but take the sword and shield up today,” said Sophitia. She hesitated before asking quietly, “By the way…do you know who all has been attacked? Maxi was off to save Xianghua when I last saw him. And who was that girl that Yoshimitsu saved? That description makes me think that Voldo was involved. Was it Seung Mina? I can’t help but fear for Taki’s safety too. I’m even worried for Ivy.”

“I don’t know any specifics,” said Cassandra, “But I thought that you said that Ivy was working for Nightmare. Why would he do anything to her?”

“I spoke with Taki after the last incident,” said Sophitia. “It seems that Ivy was being manipulated by Nightmare the entire time. Besides, it doesn’t matter if you’re friend or foe. No one deserves that.”

“True,” said Cassandra. She slowly got up and said, “I’ll take these up and then I’ll be right back. And then how about we make dinner together like we used to?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” said Sophitia. “Rothion always liked your cooking better than mine anyway.” She stuck her tongue out at Cassandra, who giggled as she put her clothes on. She quickly picked up the sword and shield and ran out of the house. She was at the steps of the shrine when she realized she still had the shards of Soul Edge on her. She shrugged and slowly climbed the marble steps.

It felt her coming closer…the one who held more of itself. It looked around. It still couldn’t see her, but she was close. It heard a voice that told it what it must do. It must give in to the pleasures of the flesh with her. It must make her scream and cry. It must make her feel pain. It wasn’t evil. It wasn’t good. It merely knew that it could only be made whole if it followed the voice. So, it bided it’s time and watched the entrance…waiting. Charade waited patiently.

“I hate coming here,” mumbled Cassandra as she slowly entered the Eurydice Shrine Gallery, “But, I can’t help but love the beauty of it.” The first thing that anyone saw when entering the gallery was a large stone statue of Eurydice herself holding the very same arms that Cassandra was there to replace. There was a brass, spiked fence in front of it to keep people from touching the statue. On either side of the statue were giant steps that were supposedly built into the side of the mountain by Hephaestus himself. Due to the constant snowfall on the mountain top, there was always snow melting and falling down the steps making them into beautiful waterfalls. Across the room from the statue there were huge barred windows that looked out onto Athens. Cassandra used to come up here to sit and contemplate, before she lost faith in Hephaestus. She silently looked past the windows and the statue to the small shrine that held a few weapons that a blacksmith and his wife had made in honor of Hephaestus. There was space for a sword and shield. “Fine, you can have your damn weapons back,” she said angrily.

She was very close. A few more steps and she would be within reach. It slowly reached out it’s arms to grab her before it started feeling weak. No! She was holding that sword! It was weakening, loosing cohesion. It flashed in alarm as it’s parts fell off of it, ruining every chance at a surprise attack.

Cassandra cried out as a huge pile of what looked like glowing bones came crashing down to the floor right in front of her. “What?” asked Cassandra as she looked at the pile.

It flashed angrily as it flew down and glared at the sword and shield that she held. It hadn’t been warned of this, but it was only a minor setback. All it needed to do was pull itself together and it would have no problem beating her.

Cassandra looked on in shocked amazement as a huge, red, glowing eyeball descended from the ceiling and started to rotate. The bone fragments shook as they slowly floated towards the eyeball like they were magically attracted to it. “What are you?!” she asked as the creature hovered in front of her in a fetal position. She was about to reach out and touch it when it flung it’s arms open, flames shooting out of it’s limbs. She quickly jumped back, weapon at the ready.

Charade looked at her and quickly scanned her mind for fighting stances that she knew. It found three that stood out. It pulled a sword and shield from out of nowhere before swinging it’s arms back and forth, hopping a few times, and pointing it’s sword at her.

Cassandra was taken aback. It was using her stance. She growled at the creature. “Okay, come and get me!” she shouted. The creature quickly rushed in and swung it’s sword at her. Cassandra easily blocked the swing with her shield and smashed the hilt of her sword into the creature’s head. It seemed to have no effect. She grimaced as she backed away, hoping to come up with a good strategy.

She blocked it’s attack too easily. It needed to try something else. The sword and shield disappeared, being replaced by a long sword. It also now had a banner on it’s back. It saw her pale and was happy. It got onto one foot before hopping towards her and swinging it’s sword.

“Are you doing this on purpose?!” cried Cassandra as she barely dodged away from the fake Yoshimitsu’s blow. She quickly tumbled behind the creature and pierced it’s ankle with her sword. “Payback!” she sneered before laughing wickedly as she smashed her shield into the back of the creature’s head and watched it fall forward before pulling her sword out. “Heh! Heh! Sorry!” she said happily.

Charade wasn’t happy. She wasn’t hurting it…but it wasn’t hurting her either. It looked her over and suddenly admired her form. It paused as it realized that it shouldn’t care about what she looked like.

Cassandra saw it hesitate and quickly took the opportunity to slash at it with her sword. It hit the creature’s arm and bounced off, like it had hit something made of metal. “Damn!” she growled as she rubbed her wrist.

Charade saw an opening and took it. It ran in and grabbed her by the waist. It quickly started spinning it’s banner, lifting the two into the air. After they were about six feet in the air, it dropped her and then stopped flying, allowing it to land on her. Right before it landed on her, she brought up her shield and it smashed itself right into the shield. It reared up as pain flashed through it’s entire being. The girl got up, holding her back in pain, but Charade didn’t think that would be enough. It had to give her more pain so it could become more complete.

Cassandra wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she thought that it had actually been hurt when it’s eye landed on her shield. She was ready to find out if that was it’s weak spot when Yoshimitsu’s equipment disappeared and another sword and shield appeared in the creature’s hands instead. But, the stance made Cassandra back up a step. “Sophitia…” she whispered in fear.

This was her weakness. This stance would defeat her. It had to! This was the only other stance she had in her memories! Charade winced slightly as it raised it’s arms to the heavens in mock praise.

Cassandra saw red. The creature wasn’t just using her fighting stance, it was using every movement that Cassandra had ever seen Sophitia using whenever she was training. This thing was making a mockery of her sister and she wouldn’t stand for it! “It’s time for your punishment!” she roared as she raced in to attack.

Sophitia was sitting at home, starting to wonder about what was keeping Cassandra when she heard a knock on the door. She sighed with relief as she got up. “What took you so long?” she asked as she opened the door, but stopped dead when she came face to face with a golden grinning mask. She quickly stepped back in shock before saying, “Yoshimitsu?! What are you doing here?”

Yoshimitsu was leaning heavily against the doorframe, and panting, like he’d been running for a long time. “I don’t…have much…time to waste…” he panted. “I saw…Cassandra… She’s okay… I intend to…protect her…with my life…as soon as I find her again.”

Sophitia smiled as she said, “That won’t take too long. She’s here in Athens.”

“What?!” cried Yoshimtisu. “Where?! Take me to her, please! I need to speak with her. I need to warn her about Nightmare’s plot.”

“First of all, she knows about it already,” said Sophitia, “As for where she is…” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, but Cassandra is at the shrine, in an area that the two of us are only allowed to visit because of our extensive training with the warrior monks. She should be back soon, so why don’t you come in and lie down? You look exhausted.”

“But I…” started Yoshimitsu, but Sophitia shut him up with a look.

“Come in and get comfortable!” she said sternly before smiling and saying, “If you have any intention of being with my sister, I expect you to listen to me when I’m being hospitable.”

“She mentioned that…did she?” asked Yoshimitsu weakly. “Uh…what exactly did she say?”

“Only that you didn’t go too far with her,” said Sophitia as she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house. He stammered a little before Sophitia shoved him into a chair. “Calm down,” she said kindly. “I’m not mad at you and I don’t think you took advantage of her. She’s a big girl and can make her own decisions. I know how she feels; my question is…how serious are you?”

“Well, I…” muttered Yoshimitsu as he looked at the floor.

He felt something warm on his knee and looked up to see that Sophitia was kneeling in front of him and had placed her hand on his knee. “Please tell me,” she said. “Do you love her?”

“Yes,” said Yoshimitsu. “She is a precious jewel to me; both strong and vulnerable at the same time. And her strength is her biggest weakness. Did you know that you are the only other person who’s called her beautiful?”

Sophitia bowed her head and sighed. “Cassandra was always a tomboy growing up, so she was never really looked at as a girl by her peers,” she said. “Our mother tried to get her to act more like a girl, but Cassandra wouldn’t let anyone change her. I told mom that Cassandra was beautiful just the way she was, but mom said ‘She will only be good looking until she understands her place in life. Then she will be beautiful.’” Sophitia let out a small laugh that might have been a sob. “Our own mother said that,” she said as she got up and turned around. “I was appalled and mom and I had an argument that I don’t think she’s ever really forgiven me for. The sad thing is; I’m partly to blame too.”

“What do you mean?” asked Yoshimitsu. “Cassandra had nothing but kind words to say about you!”

“Cassandra loves me with all her heart, just like I love her,” said Sophitia. “Which makes it all the more painful when I see her comparing herself to me when she thinks I’m not looking. The only reason she took up sword training in the first place is because she heard some boys talking about how graceful I looked while I was training. Unfortunately, her plan backfired because of her natural competitive spirit. She reveled in the defeat of her opponents, and chased the boys even further away. When I heard that she met someone who liked her for who she was, I was overjoyed.” She turned back to Yoshimitsu, tears running down her cheeks, but a warm smile on her face. “Please take good care of my little sister.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Yoshimitsu. “So, when should she be getting back?”

“She should be back by now,” said Sophitia as she looked out a window. She tapped on the window sill a couple of times before nodding her head and saying, “Wait right here. I’ll bring her back.”

“Do you think something happened?” asked Yoshimitsu.

“No,” replied Sophitia as she opened the door. “Some young punk at the shrine probably decided to pick a fight with her. He’ll be lucky if he finds all of his teeth.” She laughed as she winked at him and closed the door behind her. “An evil presence…at the shrine?” she muttered as she ran off.

“Don’t take me lightly!” panted Cassandra as she and the creature faced off against each other. She was running out of tricks. Nothing seemed to faze it other than blows to the central eye, but it was guarding that area with the shield.

She was close to defeat. It was close to it’s goal. After it was done with her it would be one step closer to being whole once more. One more blow would win it, and then she would feel the necessary pain. It didn’t relish the thought. It didn’t really care. But, something in the back of it’s mind, from what it used to be, told it that that wasn’t a good thing to do. It ignored the thought. Those thoughts weren’t conducive to becoming whole again.

Cassandra watched as the creature rushed up, in a low position, and recognized her sister’s uppercut. She dodged to the side at the last second and attacked. “Here I come!” she screamed as she threw everything she had at the, completely unguarded, central eye. She hit it with her sword. She hit it with her shield. She kicked and kneed it. “This is the end!” she cried as she did a roundhouse kick, knocking the eye out of the bones, making them collapse to the ground in a pile again. She quickly got between the bones and the eye to keep it from attacking her again. “All style, no substance,” she said with a smile as she waved her sword at it.

It was really unhappy now. She had defeated it. There was nothing it could do anymore. It was completely defenseless. It wondered what it was going to do until it heard the voice again. The voice told it what to do. It wondered if it could. This plan of action would leave it even more vulnerable, but it was the only idea it had. It closed it’s eye and slowly fell to the ground as it used all of it’s power to follow the voice’s command.

Cassandra sighed with relief as the eyeball dropped to the ground and stopped glowing. She walked over to it and nudged it with her foot, hoping it was dead. “I don’t understand this at all!” she said. “That sucked!” She dropped the weapons to the ground as she fell to her knees and smiled. “Guess I broke the cycle. It didn’t do anything to me.”

Unbeknownst to her, Charade could hear everything she said. It wasn’t sure why she didn’t feel it’s presence but figured that the Soul Edge shards were masking it. It was thankful for that. It waited patiently for her to lower her guard even more.

Cassandra quietly got up and placed the sword and shield in their holders before turning to leave. She had gotten halfway past the pile of bones when she felt something grab her ankle. She looked down and her eyes widened as she watched the pile of bones slowly meld together to form tendrils, one of which had snaked around her leg and was pulling her back. “What the hell?!” she cried as she reached for her weapons, only to remember that she had already put them in their holders. “No!” she screamed as she felt more of the tendrils grab her limbs and snake over her body. “Let go of me!”

Charade couldn’t believe that it had actually worked. It had planned on doing this while she was unconscious, but she had fallen for it so easily. She was struggling and screaming violently, but it held her tightly. It felt her fear because she knew she was trapped. It slowly rose into the air and floated until it was hovering right in front of her face. She was crying. It felt something for a split second. Regret? No, that was an emotion that humans had. Not Charade.

“Why are you doing this?” sobbed Cassandra as the thick tendrils easily pulled her arms behind her back and spread her legs apart. “What do you have to gain by doing this to me?!”

Charade was confused. It’s reasons were obvious. It wanted to be whole. Why else would it bother with her? But how could it explain itself?

Cassandra watched the eye looking at her. It had tilted slightly after her question and hadn’t moved. The tendrils had stopped moving over her body as well, causing her to start struggling again. But, while the tendrils weren’t moving anymore, they were still holding her tightly. She couldn’t move her arms an inch. “God Dammit!” she hissed before the eye suddenly whirled around and looked at the entrance to the shrine.

Someone was coming. It couldn’t be found out. If whoever it was left without noticing them, then the person could leave. But, the girl would yell for help. Charade looked back at the girl, who was now looking at the entrance to the shrine. It watched in growing alarm as the girl opened her mouth to scream.

“HEL—MMMMPHHHH!” screamed Cassandra as a tendril quickly stuffed itself into her mouth. She thrashed her head from side to side and tried to spit the tendril out, to no avail. She started to weep as the creature reached up and grabbed onto the ceiling, and lifted her out of sight.

“Cassandra?” called Sophitia as she entered the shrine gallery. “Hello?” She noticed that the sword and shield were back where they belonged, but where was her sister? And why did she feel so much evil nearby?

Charade felt the girl stiffen and stop moving when she saw the new girl enter. It looked at her and pointed it’s tendrils down at the new girl. The girl it was holding shook her head desperately, a pleading look in her eyes. It slowly pulled the tendril from her mouth before placing one gently on her lips, telling her to be quiet. She nodded her head in understanding. Charade started to silently crawl along the ceiling of the shrine, hoping to get to the roof so it could rape the girl, get the shards and become whole as quickly as possible. It watched her as it moved, watched her sob silently, but it didn’t see as a single tear slid down her face and fell to the ground.

Sophitia felt a drop of water hit the nape of her neck as she was looking around. She reached back and wiped her neck dry as she looked up at what had caused it, and screamed when she saw a horrific monster had Cassandra and was crawling along the ceiling. “Cassandra!!!” she screamed even as she watched the thing’s tendrils slowly writhe under her clothes, gripping her breasts and sliding between her legs.

“Sophitia!” cried Cassandra, “Run! Get out of here!!!” The two girls stared at each other for a split second before Sophitia turned and ran towards the sword and shield. “No!” screamed Cassandra. “The other way! Don’t try to fight it! Just get out!”

The new girl was reaching for the sword, but Charade got to her in time, wrapping a tendril around her ankle and yanking her back before she touched the accursed object. It slowly raised her into the air and looked at her. She wasn’t struggling, even though it looked like all the blood was rushing to her head. She just stared at it with a look of pity. It suddenly felt that strange feeling that what it was doing wasn’t right, but it forced the feeling away. It slowly turned the new girl around so that she was right side up, and wrapped tendrils around her body, holding her tightly.

“So,” asked Sophitia calmly, “what are you going to do to me, now that you have me captured as well? I’ve already played into your sick little game, so I doubt that I would be of any sport for you. However, I’m willing to do whatever you want if you let her go.”

“Sophitia, no!!!” said Cassandra through clenched teeth. “You’ve suffered enough! Let her go, it’s me you want!”

The two girls were begging to be raped as long as the other was let go? Charade didn’t understand humans. It stuffed tendrils into both of their mouths to shut them up so it could decide what to do with them. The new girl wasn’t fighting and it could sense that she wouldn’t give up any real pain. The first one was fighting like a trapped rat, and it could sense that she was unspoiled. She would give out lots of pain, both physical and mental. And the other girl might give out lots of mental pain if she was forced to watch.

Cassandra didn’t like the way that the eye kept looking back and forth between her and her sister. She bit into the tendril in her mouth, almost shattering her teeth in the process, and smirked when it pulled out of both of their mouths. “Let her go, you bastard!!!” she snarled, even as she shuddered at the feel of a tendril slipping into her panties. “Get out of there!” she growled as she struggled futily against her bonds.

“Calm down,” said Sophitia. “It can sense your fear and will use it against you.”

“How do you know that?” asked Cassandra.

“Because this is Soul Edge,” said Sophitia. She saw Cassandra shudder, but couldn’t tell if it was because of what she said or because of what the creature was doing under her clothes. “It has the same feel, but there’s a little bit of humanity in there. I don’t quite understand it though.”

Charade listened to the new girl and became angry. She was intuitive. She was making it think of the past. If it thought of the past it would have more thoughts that would make it want to stop. It had done enough thinking anyway. It was time to do what it came here to do.

Cassandra winced as more tendrils slipped under her clothes. “What are you doing?” she hissed as more and more tendrils pushed into her clothes. She whimpered as her clothes started to feel really tight. Her eyes shot open as she realized, too late, what was going on. “No!!!” she screamed as she heard the sound of ripping fabric and her clothes burst to pieces around her. “Sophitia…” she sobbed as her bra and panties were torn from her body, “Help me…Please…”

“Cassandra…” whispered Sophitia. She could only watch helplessly as tendrils writhed over her sisters tightly bound body. She could hear Cassandra whimpering and moaning as the tendrils wrapped around her breasts and started tugging and squeezing them. She bit her lip and looked away when she saw a tendril start to move to her sister’s virgin tunnel.

Cassandra saw her sister look away and felt a sense of dread well up in the pit of her stomach. She looked down in alarm and screamed when she saw the tendril reach her pussy lips and start to push into her. “No!!!” she screamed. “Please! Anything but that! I don’t want to! Get out of me! Don’t!! Please!!!” Cassandra wailed in agony as the tendril continued to push into her dry channel.

Sophitia winced as she heard her sister’s cries, unable to do anything for her. She had never felt so helpless, even when she herself had been raped. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed quietly.

It was going more smoothly than Charade could have hoped. There was an immense amount of mental anguish from both of the girls and the one being raped was radiating enough physical pain to almost blot out the mental pain. It could feel the negative emotions being absorbed into the shards and itself, making them both stronger. It did admit though, that there was a small part of it that wanted to experience the physical pleasure of moving in the first girl. Then, it hit the barrier. The maidenhead that proved that she was, indeed, unspoiled.

“Please…” whimpered Cassandra in a voice so soft that Sophitia’s head shot up and looked straight at her. “Don’t… You can have the shards…just don’t go any further…please…”

Sophitia looked at her sister with tear-filled eyes. Cassandra was deathly pale and staring at the tendril between her legs. “I’m begging you,” she sobbed, “Take me instead!” The eye regarded her for a short time and she saw the tendril slowly pull out of Cassandra. She breathed a small sigh of relief before she saw it plunge deeply into her sister. Cassandra turned white as a sheet as all the blood drained out of her face, before she let out a blood-curdling scream that was worse than anything Sophitia had ever heard before on the battlefield. She looked desperately at Sophitia, whimpering once or twice, before her head hung down and she wept. She didn’t react when the tendril started to fuck her other then the occasional grunt from it’s thrusting. “What’s the point of this?!” Sophitia hissed at the eyeball as it watched her imperiously. “I highly doubt that you’re getting any sexual pleasure from this, so why are you doing it?!”

Charade finally understood her anger. These two were lovers. That had to be it. It could use that later. For the time being, however, it was perfectly fine with merely pushing it’s tendril deep into the girl, making sure to push up to her cervical barrier with each thrust.

Cassandra was in agony. The blood wasn’t helping to lubricate her channel, so each thrust felt like her insides were being shredded by the cold metal tendril. “Stop…” she sobbed pathetically. “Can’t take anymore…stop…”

Sophitia shuddered when she heard Cassandra’s voice. “Cassandra, please, hang in there,” she said. Cassandra slowly lifted her head to look at Sophitia causing Sophitia to cry out when she saw the dead look in her little sister’s eyes. Sophitia had never felt so much rage fill her being before. “I’ll fucking kill you!” she screamed at the eyeball as she suddenly broke free of the tendril’s loose grip and tore at it. The eyeball looked alarmed and quickly floated out of harm’s way as more tendrils quickly ensnared her. She snarled and roared like a mama bear whose cubs had been harmed as she ferociously struggled against her bonds.

The girl was too dangerous to leave alive. She had almost killed it. It quickly wrapped a tendril around the girl’s neck and started to squeeze, when a pitiful cry stopped it.

“Don’t…don’t kill her…” gasped Cassandra. “I can’t…you can’t kill…I need her…” She looked into the monster’s eye and saw that it was glaring at her, but she didn’t care. “I’ll do whatever you want…just don’t kill her…” Cassandra sighed with relief as the tendril released Sophitia’s throat, but screamed as it reared back and pierced the back of her neck instead. “You bastard!!!” she screamed.

“Shut up,” said Sophitia, making Cassandra look back at her sister. “I’ve had enough of your pathetic babbling and stupidity. So, I have taken over the body of your lover so that I can speak to you.” Cassandra could only look in horror as Sophitia was released from her bonds and stretched her arms and legs before looking her body over, the tendril in the back of her neck pulsating in a disgusting fashion. Cassandra had to fight to keep from throwing up. She looked up at the eye, but it wasn’t moving anymore. Then she felt the tendrils that were holding and raping her just let her go.

“What’s going on,” she asked as she gently touched her abused pussy.

“Didn’t I tell you?” asked the creature that was possessing Sophitia exasperatedly. “I’m so glad I’m not human anymore. Humans are so stupid.”

“Let her go!” said Cassandra angrily. She quickly turned and ran for the sword of Hephaestus. She turned and ran at the eyeball but stopped when she saw that Sophitia was just smirking and had her arms folded. “What are you so happy about?”

“Just thought you should know that since we’re melded like this, if you kill me, she’ll die as well,” said Sophitia. She smiled warmly at Cassandra, who dropped the sword to the ground, before dashing in and picking the sword up herself. “Just kidding! You can’t believe everything you hear. But, if I slash her throat, she really will die.” She grinned evilly at Cassandra before saying, “Kind of makes you wish you had killed me before, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll kill you!” roared Cassandra.

“I doubt you’d do anything while I had this body as a hostage,” said Sophitia. “Now, will you just lie down and allow me into you, or will I have to do something that will mar this young woman for the rest of her life?”

“Why are you doing this?” asked Cassandra even as she blushed and laid down on the floor, knowing she had no other choice. “You had me before, why did you take her?!”

“As much as I hate to admit it,” said Sophitia, “I wish to feel the pleasure of the flesh, but I wasn’t receiving any from my metallic body. So I will receive it through this body.”

“But, she’s a girl,” said Cassandra as Sophitia knelt in between her legs and took off her panties. “She doesn’t have a…”

“She does now,” said Sophitia as a tendril easily flowed into her pussy and a huge cock slowly started growing where her clit should have been.

“What the hell…?” gasped Cassandra as her eyes widened in shock at the huge cock that was now getting erect between her sister’s legs. She looked in her sister’s eyes and only saw lust in them. She shuddered but merely lay there as her sister got on top of her and started to rub her breasts. “What are you?” she asked, “Sophitia said you were Soul Edge, but not quite.”

“I suppose I could tell you,” said Sophitia as she leaned in and kissed Cassandra. “I am called Charade. I was just a regular peasant who wasn’t quite as strong in the real world as I thought I was. I eventually found a few shards of Soul Edge and coveted them, but others coveted them as well and I was set upon by bandits. My dead body was tossed into a ravine; where the shards that were still held tightly in my grip slowly took over my body, turning me into what you see hanging above you. I am a melding of human and Soul Edge. It has given me a few interesting abilities, like the ability to scan the mind of my opponents to gain new fighting styles. Does that satisfy your curiosity or is there anything else?”

“Why are you things raping us?” asked Cassandra quietly. “Why did Nightmare put those monsters up to it? What’s the point of it all?!”

“It’s quite simple really,” said Charade. “Soul Edge needs to be reforged. But, it’s very weak. Do you know what it thrives on?”

“Negative emotions if what my sister said is true,” said Cassandra as she licked her lips. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was getting turned on by Sophitia slowly rubbing her cock along her pussy lips.

“Very good, you get a prize,” said Charade with a grin as she tweaked Cassandra’s nipples, causing the girl to squeal. “What could possibly give Soul Edge more power than feeding off of the desperation, fear, anguish and hatred of powerful women as they are raped by creatures that they loathe? But, for some reason the shards aren’t as powerful as they should be. There’s some power in there, but it’s almost as if right after the negative emotions were put into the shards, positive ones were radiated while they were close by. I can’t understand that, but I don’t really care. You and your lover here…”

“She’s my sister, not my lover,” said Cassandra.

“Whatever…” said Charade. “You and your sister have given both myself and the shards a huge amount of pain, fear and hatred. I will merge with these shards and come that much closer to being a whole being, then I can finally sleep.”

“Sleep?” asked Cassandra. “But, you would be Soul Edge, why would you sleep? Wouldn’t you take over the world or something?”

“I don’t care about the world,” sighed Charade as he completely dropped the veneer of superiority. “After I’m complete once more, I’ll sleep. I can win over the enormous power of the sword, because, in a way, I am the sword. I only wish to have one last taste of carnal pleasure before I leave this world forever. I don’t intend for either myself or the sword to wake ever again. I won’t stop it from happening, but I would prefer for it to just end.” Charade looked down at Cassandra and hesitated. “I’ve absorbed enough pain from you. Will you allow me into you?”

“I don’t have much of a choice in that, do I?” asked Cassandra with a little less venom than she had planned. “You have my sister hostage.”

Charade tossed the sword away and pulled Cassandra into a sitting position. “I’ll ask you again, will you allow me inside of you?” it asked quietly. Charade wasn’t sure what was going on. It wasn’t acting like it normally would, but it didn’t mind that anymore. The feelings that it had before came flooding back and it felt bad about what it had done, even though it still considered it’s actions necessary.

“Do you promise to release my sister after you’ve had your way with me?” asked Cassandra. Charade nodded, and Cassandra didn’t detect any falsehood. “I must be crazy for agreeing to this,” mumbled Cassandra as she laid back down on the floor and stared up at her sister. “Just be gentle, please…I’m still hurting from before.”

Charade blushed as it slowly lowered Sophitia’s body on top of Cassandra and started kissing her. Her hands slowly slid all over Cassandra’s body, caressing her breasts, tickling her neck, running along her stomach and rubbing her pussy gently. It wasn’t long before Cassandra was moaning with pleasure, which embarrassed her. Sophitia’s body slowly slid down Cassandra’s body, her tongue licking it’s way down as well, until her tongue reached Cassandra’s pussy. “I had forgotten how tasty a woman was,” said Charade making Cassandra blush.

“Don’t say things like that while you’re possessing my sister!” she squeaked as ripples of pleasure shot through her body. It wasn’t as good as Yoshimitsu, but it wasn’t bad either. She squirmed a little as she got up onto her elbows and slowly ran her fingers through Sophitia’s hair.

Charade looked up at Cassandra and was shocked to see that she was smiling. “What are you smiling at?” she asked. “In a way, I’m still raping you.”

“You aren’t acting like you normally would, are you?” she asked. Charade silently shook Sophitia’s head. “When you possessed my sister you suddenly started to show emotions, but I feel this is closer to the real you than what you were before. This is more the human you than the soulless demon.”

“You might be right,” said Charade, “But, I don’t care right now. I just want to finish what I started, and then I’ll leave you and your sister alone.”

“Then finish already,” said Cassandra as she pushed Sophitia’s head back down into her crotch. She was rewarded by the feel of Sophitia’s tongue pushing into her. She let out a small gasp before her eyes unfocused for a second. She quickly shook her head before she pulled Sophitia’s head up and kissed her deeply. Their tongues met and danced together as Cassandra laid down and Sophitia laid on top of her, their lips never parting. Cassandra gasped as she felt her lower lips part slightly for the cock’s entrance. “Remember, you promised to be gentle,” she said.

“That I did,” said Charade as Sophitia slowly pushed her cock into Cassandra, making sure that Cassandra was relaxed around the intruder before she moved deeper. Cassandra whimpered with each small push and Charade was panting heavily as he tried, desperately, to hold himself back. “You’re so tight!” hissed Charade after he finally bottomed out in Cassandra.

“Well, I was a virgin before you took that from me,” moaned Cassandra.

“I’m really sorry about that, but I had too!” cried Charade as he started to slowly fuck Cassandra.

“I know you did!” wailed Cassandra happily as she thrust her hips up to meet Sophitia’s thrusts. “What you did, you did for your own survival, and I don’t blame you for it!”

“Thank you!” sobbed Charade as he kissed Cassandra. Tears were flowing down Sophitia’s cheeks even as she started thrusting faster and faster into Cassandra’s willing body. Cassandra and Sophitia wrapped their arms around each other and started rolling around on the floor as they continued to fuck each other until Cassandra was on top and held Sophitia down. She gripped Sophitia’s breasts and started squeezing them as Sophitia did the same to her. “This is so fucking good!”

“I’m glad you like it!” screamed Cassandra as she fell forward and started pumping her hips furiously. Sophitia gripped her shoulders and held her tightly as she cried out in release, shooting her cum into Cassandra. Cassandra screamed again as she came herself, clamping down on the cock in her, squeezing every last drop of cum from Sophitia’s cock. Cassandra collapsed onto her sister and waited until she felt Sophitia’s cock to pull out of her and disappear before she asked, “How was it?”

“Better than I had hoped,” said Charade happily.

“Good,” said Cassandra quietly as she kissed Sophitia gently on the lips. “If it’s going to be your last time, it should be special. And I just want you to know, I don’t hold any bad feelings for you anymore. Please, don’t hate me for this.” She smiled at Sophitia’s confused expression before she threw her head back and screamed, “Do it now!!!” She quickly gripped Sophitia tightly as Yoshimitsu appeared out of nowhere and tore at the eyeball. Charade screamed in fear before the tendril pulled out of Sophitia’s neck, but it was too late. Yoshimitsu sliced the defenseless eyeball in half and it fell to the ground with a pair of dull clanks, a little blood seeping from them before they shrank down to the size of Soul Edge shards along with the strange tendrils. Cassandra fell forward, unable to move anymore. “I’m glad you saw that I wanted to stop you,” she said quietly.

“I’m glad I came to investigate after your sister didn’t come back,” said Yoshimitsu as he tried to find something to cover Cassandra with. “Why did you stop me?”

“It wanted to feel pleasure before it went to sleep…and now…it is…asleep…” said Cassandra as she slowly passed out on top of her unconscious sister.

Cassandra woke up in a bed back at Sophitia’s place. She looked around and saw that Sophitia was asleep in the next bed over and Rothion was asleep in a chair in between their beds. “Yoshi…?” she asked weakly, causing Rothion to stir.

“Welcome back,” he said kindly.

“Where’s…?” asked Cassandra but Rothion held up his hand.

“He’s in the other room, talking with an old friend of ours who helped him bring the two of you back here,” he said. “She claims that he has something she wants, but he just keeps saying it’s not his place to hand them over. I suppose you know what they’re talking about.”

“I can guess,” sighed Cassandra. “I’ll go talk to them.” She started to get out of bed but Rothion held her down.

“You’re in no condition to go anywhere, young lady,” he said sternly.

“Then bring them in here,” said Sophitia, causing Rothion to whirl around. “We need to discuss this now.”

“But…” started Rothion but he was silenced with a glance.

“Now,” said Sophitia simply. Rothion winced and nodded before quickly leaving the room. Sophitia winked at Cassandra, who giggled mischievously. Rothion entered a few minutes later, followed by Yoshimitsu and the ninja girl that Cassandra had seen helping her sister 7 years ago. “Hello Taki,” said Sophitia with a smile.

“Greetings Sophitia,” said Taki with a slight nod of her head. Her eyes moved over to Cassandra and narrowed. “I’ve only heard of your fighting abilities through your sister and Yoshimitsu here. It’s a shame we have no time to spar, but it is an honor to officially meet you, Cassandra Alexandra.” She bowed to Cassandra who blushed.

“Uh…likewise Taki,” said Cassandra. “I can guess why you’re here. You want the Soul Edge fragments that have been collected so far.”

“That is correct,” said Taki. “I’ve been led to believe that Rock is living a peaceful life with his adopted son, Bangoo, at the moment and Hwang is busy with the war in his country. Therefore, Mitsurugi, Nightmare and I are the only ones left out there, of the people we have met before, who are still searching. I have heard rumors of seven others though.”

“Seven?!” asked Sophitia. “Wait…I don’t think you should include Link, Spawn or Heihachi. They may still be looking, but they lost their shards a while ago.”

“Their shards are in my pouch right now,” said Cassandra.

“Indeed,” said Taki. “In that case, there are only four, and I don’t think that two have fragments either. A short man with a short sword and a large man with a battle ax. I believe they work for Nightmare.”

“Who are the others?” asked Cassandra.

“One is a young girl,” said Yoshimitsu. “Younger than Xianghua even. I’ve heard she’s the last priestess of the Village of the Wind.”

“The other is a beast who has been corrupted by the evil sword,” said Taki. “No one knows much more about him.”

“Well, watch out for him then,” said Sophitia. “You’re smart enough to know what’s been going on.”

“Soul Edge is trying to gain power by absorbing negative energy from the defeat and utter humiliation of powerful women,” said Cassandra.

“Yes,” said Taki, “I know that along with both of you, Xianghua, Ivy and Seung Mina have all fallen prey to that trap.”

“All of them?” asked Sophitia softly. “So, you really are our only hope.”

“True,” said Taki with a grimace. “Mitsurugi is both too hardheaded and too stupid to realize that what he seeks is evil, and the girl is too young. I will do what I can, but I need those shards that Yoshimitsu carries. However, he claims that they aren’t his to give.”

“Take them,” said Cassandra. “Take them and destroy that evil thing once and for all. Please…do it for Charade too. He’s still not asleep yet.”

Taki smiled at Cassandra as she bowed and said, “I see that beauty is not the only thing that you two share. Good day to you. I hope to meet you both again.” She silently took the pouch of Soul Edge shards that Yoshimitsu handed her and exited without another word.

“Did I do the right thing…?” asked Cassandra quietly.

“You were in no condition to keep fighting,” said Rothion.

“That’s not what she meant,” said Yoshimitsu as he led Rothion out of the room. He quickly took off his mask and blew Cassandra a kiss before putting it back on and exiting.

“I think that you handled the situation very well, considering,” said Sophitia. “You gave him a final taste of life. And while I’m sure that he wasn’t completely happy with your final decision, there was a part of him that understood that it was for the best.”

“I hope so,” sighed Cassandra as she laid back and stared at the ceiling.

“More important than that, though,” said Sophitia, causing Cassandra to sit up and look at her, “is the fact that you were right. Yoshimitsu is gorgeous!” She giggled as Cassandra flopped back onto her pillow and sighed. “Good catch sis, good catch,” said Sophitia as she stifled a yawn and slowly laid down.

Cassandra sighed again and was wondering if she could fall asleep when the door opened. Yoshimitsu entered and sat on the bed next to her. “I’m sorry I did that in front of you,” she said quietly.

“No worries,” said Yoshimitsu solemnly, “You made your reasons quite clear as it was happening. Taki was quite right. You have your sister’s compassion, or should I say that you have a compassion that is comparable to hers.” Cassandra smiled as she held out her arms. Yoshimitsu happily wrapped his arms around her and the two hugged each other. “I love you, Cassandra,” he said quietly.

“I…I love you too,” sobbed Cassandra softly. In the next bed, Sophita smiled softly and prayed for their happiness before she fell asleep.

To Be Continued…

(Longest one yet! It wasn’t meant to be…but I figured I needed to deal with this one more so that slavering fans wouldn’t rip my head off for making Cassandra and Yoshimitsu a couple. *shrug* I hope I handled Charade well enough. I wanted him to be more than just a floating eyeball in a pile of metallic bones. I think I pulled that off. Okay…Taki’s chapter is coming up. We’ll finally get to the end of all this madness as Taki deals with both Mitsurugi and Nightmare. Who’ll come out on top? If I have anything to say about it, the one with the jiggling boobs! *ahem* Right! Till next time!)