~Videl~

"Why can't you see me?!" Videl yelled at her mother uselessly. Her mother was smiling cruelly this time, as she walked past her toward the release catch. "Can't you hear me!?" Videl screamed. "Mommy, don't go! Please!" The airlock chamber opened, and her mother stepped inside. When the ejection sequence started its robotic countdown once again, and the sound of the air hissing out - like an evil vindictive snake - pierced the air, Videl didn't bang on the glass wall this time. She sank to the lab floor, sobbing. "How could you leave me behind?" Videl whimpered, staring in horror at her mother's disdainfully glowering face. Her daughter was invisible to her - she meant nothing to her! When the chamber opened up behind her mother at 0, Videl let out a garbled, blood-curdling scream. "NO!!!"

Videl woke up from her nightmare with the scream on her lips. She gasped for air, looking around and realizing she was not 10 years old, and she was in her bedroom, rather than the lab. She was alone! Or so she thought for a horrifying moment, before she felt the weight of someone climbing into her bed and sliding under the covers. Kane wrapped his arm around her waist, squeezing tightly.

"You were screaming, sweetheart," Kane told her, sounding pained, like her anguish was his own. "It's just a dream, okay?"

A fleeting crash of relief barreled into her as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like a scared little girl whose nightlight had burned out, leaving her in the dark where shadows looked like monsters. Her room was dark, except for the light streaming in from the bathroom. Suddenly, she felt frustrated and resentful. "You weren't next to me," Videl sobbed into his chest, wanting to push him away, but also needing his proximity. "You weren't here - I thought I was alone." If she wasn't so torn up from the emotional pain that the nightmare had caused her, she would feel horrible for sounding like she was accusing him of abandoning her - he was  here now. Kane didn't sound upset by the accusation though, unless he was trying his best to hide that it stung a little bit.

"I was sleeping on the floor, V." Kane's chest rumbled against her tear-streaked face. "You're not alone, baby. I'm here."

"Why were you sleeping on the floor?" Videl couldn't help the needy, aggravated whine in her voice.

Kane flinched, like the sound of it hurt him slightly, but he squeezed his arms tighter around her, not letting his tone reflect it.

"Should I have slept on the couch?" Kane asked gently, running his fingers through her hair.

The feeling comforted that wounded part of her that needed to be upset at someone, and she started to calm down.

"No, I need you close to me," Videl whimpered shamefully. "Please, don't leave me alone. I don't want to be alone."

She cringed at how clingy she sounded, but she was more afraid of the empty chasm of space that wanted to claim her shredded soul in its depths, than the idea of her neediness pushing him away. He said he wasn't going anywhere, her inner voice said, spitefully. He can't leave! He promised. But he hadn't promised out loud, she had just felt that it was unspoken. He could run away any time. As if reading her panicked thoughts, or perhaps just responding to her last words, he kissed her forehead that was surely salty with sweat.

"I won't leave you, V." Kane sounded so sincere. "I promise."

Her anger, her anxiety, and her cloying loneliness ebbed, hearing those words. Her breathing slowed as he kissed the tears away. She was safe. He wasn't running away. She wasn't alone. Now that she was feeling more even-tempered and level-headed, the guilt and embarrassment for treating him like she did finally dominated her other emotions.

"I'm sorry," Videl whispered brokenly. "I'm sorry I acted like you abandoned me."

Kane sighed as he shifted his embrace so that he could look into her eyes. "You were scared, princess. You were angry." His voice was full of sympathy and understanding. "If you need someone to be upset with, I can take it."

"I don't want to be upset with you," Videl shook her head sadly, gazing at his handsome face. She furrowed her eyebrows and her eyes savored all his features, before she blurted out her feelings for him. "I love you, Kane."

Kane's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes went wide. He looked like a cornered animal that was looking for the nearest exit. Videl's heart twisted painfully as he pulled away from her suddenly and sat up, raking his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair.

"Wait, no!" Videl cried, bolting upright and hugging her arms around her middle, as if her chest were about to split open and she would shatter into a million pieces. "Please, forget I said anything! I take it back!" She knew how desperate that she sounded, and her voice shook horribly.

Kane's silver gaze snapped to hers and he looked stricken, like she had just stabbed him with a knife.

~Kane~

"I don't want to be upset with you," V told him, sounding like a little girl who had accidentally yelled at her parents that she hated them during a temper tantrum. She sounded guilty, and like she was scared that she was about to be punished. But he didn't blame her for reacting that way, even if it stung a little. Sienna had warned him that she would feel this way, and he was determined to absorb whatever V could throw at him. Or so he thought, until the next words she whispered turned his world on its axis.

"I love you, Kane."

Kane felt that same shot of adrenaline course through him that he had felt when he thought that he heard her say those words in her sleep, only multiplied tenfold. He jerked away from her like she had burned him with a cigarette and buried his hands in his hair. He hadn't expected her to say it now!  It wasn't how he had imagined it at all, but there it was - hanging in the air between them like a hologram. He struggled to gather his strength and resolve, to suss out how he really felt about her as quickly as possible. Do I love V? I think I -

"Wait, no!" V's cry sliced through him like a sword. "Please, forget I said anything!" She pleaded. "I take it back!"

Kane's heart seized in a cold, icy grip, and his stomach clenched like he hadn't braced himself properly against his opponent in a boxing match, and was trying to after the hit had already landed. Too little, too late. He braced himself after the fact, and he was left with the pain in the wake of the impact. His head whipped around to pin her with his stare, his eyes surely reflecting his hurt. V shrank under his gaze, hugging herself against it.

"You can't take that back, V!" His voice came out sharp and wounded.

V's hands clapped over her trembling lips, eyes filling with tears, and he instantly softened and withered at the sight. She was just scared that he would run, he should know that. She wasn't trying to say that she didn't mean what she said, that she didn't really love him. She was most likely wanting to ease the palpable fear that her words had evoked in him, possibly thinking that if she didn't, he would reject her confession and shatter her when she was in her weakest, most vulnerable state.

"V, I - " Kane choked on the words, trying to force out the truth. He knew that he felt it, knew that he had been evading the inevitable - he was a goner before the match had started. He just had to make himself admit it to her. "I want you to love me."

You're such a weak, little bitch! Fucking SAY IT!  He cursed himself inwardly for defaulting to the easier truth that he had already had time to come to terms with. V's hands lowered shakily to her lap, and a tear escaped as her lips parted. He was sure that she was going to ask if he really did want that, but he had to power through while he had the nerve. He had to rip off the band-aid the rest of the way. It was now-or-never time, so he didn't give her a chance to speak.

"Because I love you so much it hurts."

Kane flinched at his own words, like he couldn't believe he had actually said it, like his own feelings were foreign to him. It was true though, and it was more honest than he thought that he could be about something so dangerous to his well-being, his peace of mind. She had his heart in her hands now, and he wouldn't try and hastily take it back like she had. V's reaction was not the one he had begun to hope for - she burst into tears, no longer fighting them back. Fuck!

But before he could judge it, he that realized she was smiling.

"I thought - " V let out a little hiccup on a slightly hysterical, half-sob, half-giggle. "I thought you were gonna run away."

Kane felt relief calming his racing heart, rushing through his veins like a strong sedative. She was happy. He had told her that he loved her, and the world hadn't ended because of it. Kane sighed and reached out to pet the smooth skin on her thigh, where her nightgown had ridden up a little too high, exposing more of her lovely legs.

"I would be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind," Kane admitted tenderly. "But I promised I wouldn't leave you alone, and to be honest, I don't think I could if I tried."

V bit her lower lip, watching his hand stroke up and down her thigh.

"You broke this wild beast," Kane murmured. "I've been tamed, and it's a little scary how easy it was for you . . . "

Confessing that made him feel like he had been defeated, and he wasn't comfortable with the nature of that feeling in the slightest. She had conquered him - he was powerless. No girl had ever done it before, and he was sure that no other ever would.

"I tamed you?" V mumbled shyly, her lashes fluttering as she looked up at him to search his eyes, and though he could see her in his periphery, he kept his eyes fixed on his hand on her leg, and the goosebumps that were rising on her skin.

"Like a lapdog," Kane grumbled, but he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He didn't want  to like being at her mercy, but maybe he did. Maybe he wanted her to own him as much as he wanted to own her. "Will you train me to be a good boy?" He teased, letting his hand stroke further up her thigh than was appropriate.

V's breath hitched as he did, and he liked the sound of it. He flicked his gaze up to hers as his hand rested just centimeters from her panties. The expression on her face was good enough to eat.

"If you don't bite," she teased back breathlessly.

A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he shrugged, "I might bite."

He enjoyed the way that her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. At least in this way, he still had power. He had the power to make her tremble in the best way, make her beg and plead for his  mercy.

"Not too hard . . . " Kane crooned silkily, letting his fingertips play at the edge of her panties, a lightning bolt of desire crackling through him when her thighs parted slightly, like she was anticipating his touch going further. Wanting it to. "Will you still pet me?"

V's mouth fell open at the question, clearly hearing the danger and the sexuality dripping from his words, seeing the hunger in his eyes, feeling the electricity buzzing in the air.

"Mmhm!" V's high-pitched hum was gratifying and she licked her lips, causing his eyes to zero in on her soft, glistening mouth.

"I want you to," Kane rumbled hoarsely, letting the back of his hand punctuate his words by petting the fabric that covered her most intimate place, and fighting the urge to growl when he felt the warmth and wetness seeping through from the other side. "I'll try to be good," he said, though it came out more like a veiled threat, a promise meant to be broken. He wanted to do bad things to her. He was a predator toying with his prey, pretending to be docile and harmless, when he was anything but.

"You will?" V whispered uncertainly, closing her eyes as her thighs trembled at his touch.

"Mmmh," Kane hummed in a primal way as if he was mulling it over, while he caressed the outside of her panties, up and down. "I might be bad if you don't punish me for it."

V's breathing was becoming rapid and shallow before he said it, and when he did, she gasped. And then suddenly, a coy smile lit up her face, as if she'd thought of something good to retort with.

"You can be bad if you want to," V said seductively, shocking him with the blatant desire in her words. She sounded more sensual than he had ever heard her sound before, outside of that fake moan after he stopped tickling her. Like she was confident that her sweet, little-girl voice would turn him on if she said it just right.

It was Kane's turn for his jaw to drop. She grinned mischievously, like she was pleased by his reaction, and he wanted to make some joke about how only a naughty owner wouldn't punish their pet for doing bad things. But he was fucking tongue-tied by how quickly she had turned the tables on him. He shook his head, snapping himself out of the shock. Then, he rearranged his features into a devilish, sultry smirk, relishing the way her grin vanished into a look of delicious unease, like she had created a monster that was ready to devour her in one bite.