Cherry Lips (Karezi)

Chapter Four

"What the f*** is that?" Karkat retched, his eyes crinkling with disgust. "It smells like dead fish and mustard."

Terezi snorted. "You think it smells bad? Please- try being me."

"Cease your bickering, both of you. I know the smell is awful, but that is not the problem- the problem is the cause." She gestured to the offending object- smears of purple and yellow all across the floor, and the two trolls nowhere to be found.

"Is that... blood?" Karkat asked, his voice trembling with horror. "Oh my gog, do you think they killed each other?"

Kanaya shook her head. "Worse."

Karkat's eyes went huge. "Please tell me they're not..."

"Kismeses? They are."

"Great." Karkat cursed under his breath. "What the h*** does that mean? What are we supposed to do about something like that? And how does Feferi feel about... you know... everything?"

"I think she's okay with it, actually. This means that Eridan is a little bit distracted- too distracted to murder anyone, especially her or Sollux- and Sollux is probably suited well to having both a matesprit and a kismesis."

"Then why are we here?" Terezi asked, clearly annoyed (probably because her time with Karkat was interrupted). "If everything is fine, what's the problem?"

"The problem is that a murderous genocidal maniac and a powerful doomed psychic are now filling buckets together even though they both are interested in a future princess. Do you see the issues there?" Kanaya wasn't usually so snappy, but Terezi's harshness was getting on her nerves.

"What do you want us to do about it?" She replied.

"I think you should go get Feferi, and I will converse with Karkat. Is that acceptable?"

"Sure." She left the room quickly, probably eager to get away from Kanaya's brusqueness. Since when was she so rude? Karkat had always spoken highly of the jadeblood...

"Karkat, we must talk."

"About Eridan and Sollux? Because I think you explained all of that pretty well and it doesn't need any more elaboration."

"No, not about them. About Terezi."

Karkat looked at her, confused. "What about her? She's great- end of story, I think. I finally got the guts to tell her how I feel and now everything is going great. She's a really good kisser, you know. Probably from making out with her scalemates or chalk or some weird s***."

"I am not going to concern myself with Terezi's kissing skills or how she may have obtained them. However, I am rather worried about the nature of your relationship with her. I do not want this to end up like one of my sordid vampire novels. Not that I have those."

Karkat scoffed, amused. "You really need to stop reading those, Kanaya."

"And you need to watch less rom-coms. They seem to have warped your perception."

"Because I'm with Terezi?"

"That is what I am saying, yes. Is she your matesprit now? Officially?"

"I... I guess. We never actually said that, but we kissed, so I mean..." Karkat was stammering nervously, his face turning bloodred. "Are you saying she might not want to be matesprits?"

"I am saying that being trapped in an idiotic quadrant entanglement may have a negative affect on you. Your weird fluctuations with Terezi have never amounted to anything that caused me to be concerned, so I ignored it."

"Why would you be concerned?"

"I..." Kanaya looked down, sadness brewing in her yellow eyes. "I am worried she is not the right person for you- that's all. That maybe you two do not belong together in the way you think."

"Are you kidding?" Karkat grumbled. "You don't even know Terezi- she's wonderful! We're great together. You're just making all these baseless accusations because you don't even know what you're talking about." He scoffed, sounding utterly disgusted with her.

"And here I thought you were my friend."

What was it the human kids said? Kanaya thought. The expression of pain that fit perfectly here?

Ouch.