Assassin (24 page)

After they came back into the dojo, Case pointed to the other end of the room.

"You can warm up and practice over there, while I work with the Master. When we're done, I'll come back and play with you," Case grinned.

Rain smiled in return and nodded. She bowed to show respect to the training hall and then went all the way to the end of the room and faced the sliding glass doors that made up the bottom half of the glass wall. She heard Case and the instructor begin their tutoring session, but then she blocked the voices out so that she could focus on her own practice. This time, since she didn't have to stop where Case's knowledge left off, she planned to go through every pattern she knew as her workout. But first, she needed to warm up.

Meanwhile, Case easily fell into her role of student and took in everything Jack told her. Some of the techniques she'd learned since her last visit to him needed some work, and she enjoyed getting to show off her skills of mimicry. As she followed his movements, she refined her technique to imitate everything the Master was doing.

Jack praised her honestly. Of all the students he'd ever taught, Case had been the fastest learner, not just of the techniques themselves, but also of all the other things involved in the martial art, like its history and leaders. When he'd conferred the rank of Sandan on Case, it hadn't been honorary; she'd earned it in all respects. Case had told him she'd tested with her other instructors and they'd passed her on to her Third Degree black belt, as well.

It wasn't until two hours later that Case finally bowed farewell to her Master, and he left her to her friend who was still diligently refining her own techniques in her chosen martial art.

Case watched Rain work through her current pattern as she slowly walked over to her. The practice form was full of double and triple sidekicks, and Rain seemed to float through the air, as her legs shot out multiple times in rapid succession. Finally, she finished, and Case grinned at Rain's heaving chest. It was difficult getting a hundred and seventy pounds of muscle into the air over and over again like that.

"Hey," Case said, and Rain turned her head.

"Hey," Rain replied, and stepped back into attention, before relaxing and shaking out her limbs. "You done?"

"Yeah. You wanna spar for a little bit? After you get your breath back," Case tempered.

Rain smiled.

"Yeah. Give me a minute. Those patterns really take it out of you when you haven't done them in a while."

"Yeah. That was pretty amazing. Maybe you can teach me some of that someday."

Case quickly turned around and walked away before Rain could respond. She couldn't help but hope that somehow she'd get to be with Rain once the current situation had been dealt with, but she knew it would never work. She would never be accepted into Rain's world, and she didn't think Rain would just pack up her life in order to be with a cold-blooded assassin.

While Case retrieved a couple cups of water from the cooler, Rain analyzed what Case had said. There were several implications that came to mind, but Rain couldn't escape the feeling that Case had no intention of being around long enough for "someday" to ever happen. But Rain also didn't miss the fact that the statement itself implied a future together, which Rain hoped was a good sign.

Case returned with two white paper cups and handed one to Rain. As Rain eagerly downed the liquid refreshment, Case spoke.

"So, what was your brother like?"

Case wasn't sure what prompted her to ask about Rain's brother. She just knew she wanted to know as much about Rain as she could, and time was running out. It was this sinking feeling in the back of her mind that, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake. Though working out had seemed to give her a little reprieve.

Rain paused at the abrupt change in conversation, but then she remembered mentioning him earlier that day. She realized Case was probably just continuing that previous train of thought. She swallowed the contents of the cup and then slowly replied.

"Well, he was seven years older than me. He looked exactly like our dad, all wavy blond hair and green eyes. I look like our mom. He was always really protective of me. When mom died, it... Well, my dad pulled away from both of us, and it was kind of me and my brother against the world for a while. He was the one that took care of me and tried to make sure I did well in school and didn't get into too much trouble. Then, when he died, that was it. There just wasn't anything left after that. When I... uh, decided to get into all of this, it was kind of the last straw. My father never wanted me to get into this line of work, so when I did, he cut me off completely. We haven't spoken since."

Rain glanced away for a moment and then shook her head.

"I think I'm ready for that sparring you mentioned," Rain said, and tried to smile a little.

Case nodded.

"Sure."

They took up their positions and then started the match. Case threw in a few maneuvers from some of the other disciplines she knew, but Rain was able to block them well enough and the sparring continued. They settled into a natural rhythm and Rain decided to continue their conversation, but in the opposite direction.

"So, what about your family?" Rain asked, as she ducked a crescent kick and blocked the follow-up back kick.

"What about them?" Case replied evenly, and jumped back to get out of the way of the side kick Rain tried to level at her head with one of her long legs.

"Well, you've told me your mother couldn't cook, and your father was psychotic. I'm sure there's more to it than that. Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Rain persisted.

"No. Thank god."

Case gritted her teeth in annoyance with herself. She knew her extraneous comment would bring a follow-up question from the undercover agent, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She tried to clamp down on the faint stirrings of emotions in an attempt to keep them from coming to the surface. It seemed to work, as she landed a turning kick that was light and controlled to Rain's left shoulder.

"Why? They're not so bad," Rain smiled, and sent a jump front snap kick to Case's head, but the short blonde blocked it by crossing her arms at the wrists.

"Because I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to go through what I did," Case replied curtly.

Then she grimaced, as she realized she'd spoken her heart again. There was too much truth in her words. She redoubled her efforts to get her emotions under control and tried to bring her attention back to the sparring match.

"Oh," Rain said, a little more subdued.

The realization of exactly how alone Case had been for her entire life made Rain's chest feel heavy. She'd always had the love and support of her brother, not to mention both her parents, at least until her mother had died. Those early memories had continued to be a source of strength for her, even after their deaths and the breakup of her family. The reality that Case had survived the things she had all by herself was difficult to imagine and pulled at Rain's heart.

As Case saw Rain's mouth open to presumably continue her current line of questioning, Case quickly overrode her.

"Look, can we talk about something else?" she requested impatiently.

Rain felt her own walls come up, as Case's sharp tone sliced through her and derailed her previously compassionate thoughts.

"Sorry. I thought since I told you about my family's less than stellar history, it wouldn't be a big deal if you told me a little about yours," Rain challenged, as she used her long arms to get inside Case's defenses and land a few whisper-soft blows to Case's cheeks.

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong," Case told her coldly and frowned, as she realized her concentration was being thrown off to have allowed such an easy opening to Rain.

Case tried to tune everything out, as she sent a hook kick to Rain's face, then a double-feint turning kick to Rain's thigh, before raising her leg to reach Rain's face again. But the tall woman blocked all the attacks.

"What are you so afraid of?" Rain questioned abruptly, her frustration mounting at Case's refusal to trust her.

"What are you talking about?" Case retorted and continued to frown in concentration, as she tried to penetrate Rain's perfect defense and ignore her annoying questions.

"Why won't you talk about your family? I know they put you through hell, but sometimes talking about it helps," Rain tried to reason, as she retreated behind her safe background in psychology.

Case's anger, which was only just barely being contained, broke through the surface and quickly took the opportunity to be released. This time, she didn't try to stop it.

"I did talk about it! I told my mother what my dad was doing when I was four. She already knew. She didn't do shit to stop him."

Case feinted a high kick, which got Rain to raise her arm to block. As soon as she had her opening, Case landed a hard turning kick on Rain's side. Rain grunted, but let her muscles do their job of absorbing the impact for her.

"She let him fuck me when I was seven years old!" Case continued.

Case extended her reach to throw a punch at Rain's face, but then feinted it and spun to offer a reverse turning kick. Rain ducked out of the way and then attempted a sweep of Case's legs, which Case easily jumped over. But while Case was in the air, she shot out her leg unexpectedly and clipped Rain's jaw with the hard outside edge of her foot. Rain tasted blood.

"She watched him beat me and then rape me over and over again!"

Now that the floodgates had been opened, there was no stopping the torrent of emotions that Case had been trying to keep in, and Rain belatedly realized that maybe she had pushed a little too hard. Case's attacks had lost their practice strength and were starting to come faster and harder. Rain tried to adapt and added more force to her blocks to counteract the heavier blows.

"She never protected me! She was supposed to protect me!"

Rain managed to block the series of punches aimed at her chest and face, but she missed the kick that came out of nowhere and grazed the top of her head. The maneuver brought their faces close together for a moment and Rain saw the glassiness of Case's eyes. She realized Case was nowhere near as detached as she'd thought a few moments ago. A trickle of fear passed through her, as Case's moves began to speed up beyond what Rain knew she was capable of countering.

"Why didn't you protect me?!"

Case's voice started to crack with the yelling and it was difficult for her to breathe, but her frontal assault against Rain never faltered. At the change from past to present tense, Rain started defending herself in earnest, but it only seemed to fuel Case's rage.

"Why didn't you make him stop?! He wouldn't stop!"

Rain could tell that Case didn't even see her anymore, though she seemed to be able to attack, block, and counterattack Rain's every move. As Rain found herself being backed up towards the wall behind her, she tried to circle around, but Case was relentless and blocked every attempt at escape.

"He just kept coming at me and you wouldn't make him stop! You wouldn't stop!"

The pain and fear Case felt inside was overwhelming. She wasn't supposed to feel anything, but now it was the only thing she was doing. In the back of her mind, she told herself that breaking down like this would only make things worse, would only open her up even more to the one woman who was able to get inside her without even trying, but nothing seemed to be able to stop the flood of rage and pain that consumed her.

"I couldn't stop you! I hated you! I hated you both! I still hate you!"

Tears finally made their way past Case's eyelashes, blurring her vision, but it didn't prevent her from continuing her assault on Rain. She kept up her advance until she had Rain completely backed up against the wall.

"I hate you!"

Rain felt her back touch the wall and knew she was in trouble. There was nowhere for her to go to escape Case's rage and she had no doubt that it was directed solely at her, if for no other reason than she was the closest target.

"I hate you!"

Rain saw Case's stance change and knew what the short woman intended to do, but she only had a split second to prepare herself.

"I hate you!"

Oh shit, here it comes! Rain thought and brought her arms in and tensed up her midsection to protect her stomach and chest, as she waited for the rock hard blows to land.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

With each uttering of the word "hate," Case hit the wall to the side of Rain's midsection. Rain could hear the plaster beginning to crack under Case's constant pummeling, but the blows never touched her.

Even through her haze, Case didn't want to hurt Rain. She knew Rain truly cared about her and that was what made Case feel safe enough to let go of some of the pain she'd been holding in for most of her life. Unfortunately, her body had been in a constant workout for the past several hours and it couldn't keep up with the demand Case was putting on it.

Case started to fall to her knees in exhaustion and Rain went with her to the padded floor. Case limply curled up into Rain's arms and Rain held her as she listened to her cry.

"I hate you. Why didn't you love me?" Case repeated over and over again through her sobs.

Rain rocked with her, completely forgetting her anger and fear of a few minutes ago, as her heart was wrenched out of her body by Case's unanswerable question. She brushed Case's bangs off her forehead and constantly planted little kisses anywhere her lips could reach.

"I do love you," she whispered without a second thought. "I don't know how your parents could have done what they did to you. You were just a child. You deserved to be loved," Rain continued quietly.

"I hate you both. I hate you so much. It just hurts. You didn't love me," Case cried, unable to hear what Rain was telling her, but subconsciously aware of the caring arms and soft tone that allowed her to finally give a voice to her oldest and deepest wounds.

"It's okay. Everything's going to be all right," Rain gently soothed.

"I feel like I'm broken inside," Case whispered, and her tears renewed their earlier strength into full-fledged sobs, as she tried to burrow deeper into Rain's arms.