Kigo

4)

Chapter 4: Pandora's Box
~o0o~

Kim's mind was ablaze with the Pandora's Box that Shego had laid out before her, knowing she was going to open it, and damn the consequences. Decision made, it was best to start at the beginning. She quickly zeroed in on the main question, the only one that mattered.

"Why did you leave, Shego?" she quietly asked. "You and I fought almost every week, then we save the world together, and suddenly you're just gone. How could you just leave me... just go like that?" She lay there biting her lip, her gaze never leaving Shego's face while she waited patiently for her to answer.

Question asked, the silence dragged on between the two women until Kim thought she was not going to answer, then...

"It was the spotlight," Shego finally replied, her voice dull and stripped of all emotion. "I've been on the other side for almost half my life, and to be thrust back into the open like that was more than I wanted. I've done the whole hero thing before, remember? I know what it's like to be in the media's glare, and I have my reasons for not wanting to do it again. I... I'm not going through all that shit again, and I decided fuck this, I deserve a break. So, Princess, that's where I've been, I've been away on holidays."

All what again? Kim wondered. Shego had definitely shared something from her past, and she never did that. "Okay, Shego, I can sort of understand the need for a break. After all, you must have seen the mess of reporters outside my house, so I can certainly identify with wanting to leave. But, why didn't you say goodbye? I mean, you could've at least let us know you we're going."

"I don't do goodbyes, Princess, never have, never will." She suddenly sat up, throwing a glare at Kim. Fuck this, why can't she stick to the simple questions, instead of looking at my life?

Kim didn't flinch from the glare, but then she noticed something in Shego's face. She almost missed it, but it was there, Shego was feeling guilty.

OH MY GAWD!? WHAT THE?! But so not the time to push, she'll never admit it. Kim blinked slowly, breaking the deadlock between the two of them, and moved onto her next question. "So, since you said you were on holidays, is that really what you were doing for almost a whole year? Where have you been? Where on earth could you go for that long without anyone recognizing you?"

"Okay, Princess, this is getting off topic," she snarled. She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "I'll play your little question game for now, but I'll be asking some of my own, because of this. Yes, as I said, I was on holiday, but I'm surprised you didn't just call me if you were looking for me that badly. I left my number with Drew, and told him I was going away on holiday. I also gave him specific instruction that if either you or the twins - that's my twins, the Wego's - not yours, were after me, then he could give you the number."

"I did talk to Drakken, but all he said was that he didn't know where you were, and that he had lost your contact number. He certainly didn't say anything about you being on holiday, or that you'd left me as a contact." Oooh, that Drakken! How could he bungle up something so simple? She folded her arms and silently fumed at the incompetence of certain blue skinned men. And what's up with leaving me on her contact list? I'm so gonna find out.

"Not my fault then," Shego stated while staring at the ceiling, crossing her hands behind her head. I leave one thing for that bumbling idiot to look after, and he screws it up, GJ is sooo welcome to his sorry ass. "Well, Pumpkin, the place I stayed at is off the grid. It's where I go when I want to totally relax, and that's where I've been for the last year."

Gawd, I so wanna know where she was. Kim bit her lip in thought. But there's no way she's gonna tell. Closing her eyes, she spent some time going through everything she had been told, before deciding to change tack for her next question. "So, you came back, but why now? And why back to me, of all people?"