Perfect School

"Friendship isn't good enough for you Jonah?" I eyed him with a hint of a smirk on my lips. I didn't answer his question for several minutes, holding a hand up anytime he tried to say something to me. "Maybe. Anything is possible. But I am wired against it, and before you protest that. I don't like being touched, something couples do. I also don't feel comfortable with more intimate things. Our of the relationships I've seen you have that seems counter productive to what you want." I heaved a sigh and glanced at him again, "So maybe is the best answer I can give."

Jonah:

I smiled, looking down at the ground. I let her words hang for a minute before I said anything. “There was a time when you would have thought the idea of friendship between the two of us would not exist. The most you would admit to was a partnership,” I told her. She was lying, of course, about being touched. She may not feel completely comfortable, but she did like it. I felt as much from her when I kissed her.

"And take that as a sign as to how much I've changed Jonah." Pulling my hands free of my pockets I cupped them in front of my face and blew hot breath between them. Rubbing them briskly together for a moment I motioned with my head towards the way we had come. "We should head back."

Jonah:

I nodded and we turned back. “How are you liking it here so far?” I asked. I was curious about her conversation with Krissy last night. They had both seemed more at ease afterwards. Kira was more open. Krissy was less timid.

"In what capacity? The country? We've been here for only a day. And I'm not a fan of the cold." I hunkered down against another blast of wind. "If you meant with Krissy and Michael...I only wonder what it is that I missed growing up. What would my life be, what would I be like, and how would I have been raised? I'll never know. But now I wonder."

Jonah:

“And what have you come up with? What do you think Kira Night would have been like?” I asked. I didn’t want her to start thinking of leaving the life we both lived, but I did want her to think of all the things Marie had stolen her from. She would come to see it sooner or later.

"I don't think I'd ever have become an assassin. But from the look of their basement I believe I'd have been trained to fight, use weapons, and so on." Glancing at him for a moment I shrugged. "I would probably be more like the childhood me. Before I was forced to change into what I am now."

Jonah:

“For the record, I like you the way you are.  I don’t like how you got here, but I like the person you are now.  The real you, not the various masks you put on,” I said with a smile.  It was genuine, both the smile and the words.  She wanted me to stop manipulating her, well, I couldn’t do that.  It was how I was.  It was like trying not to breath.  I knew what my actions would incite in other people, I couldn’t turn that off.  But I could do it in a way that was less offensive to her.  I could be real with her.

"Mmm," I hummed softly. "I don't know if I like the person under the masks though." Waving a hand I gestured to the landscape around us and the house that was just coming into view. "But perhaps it isn't so bad. If you hadn't helped remove some of those masks I might never have come here."

Jonah:

I studied her for a moment. “Perhaps. I don’t think I had much to do with it though. The first few layers maybe, but I think your actual family got you here. Kyra, Andrew, Kyle. They made you realize that some was missing. Really, they unlocked a part of you that always knew something was missing. I had nothing to do with that. Your family unraveled you in a few months more than I ever have in the years we’ve been together,” I said. There was a tiny bit of jealousy there for that.

"They have a way of getting under your skin don't they." I mulled it over for a moment then nodded. "But perhaps you are right. It was them and it did happen like that." Bringing my hands up to my face I cupped them over my mouth and breathed out. Giving them a brisk rub together afterwards I glanced over at him studying the lines of his face for a moment.

Jonah:

I looked back at her and raised my eyebrow slightly. We reached the porch and I opened the door for her. Warm air rushed out at us and dogs pushed their way between us.

“Tea?” Krissy asked when we came in. Eager to please and warm us up. She had mugs ready and an array of teas to choose from. Hot tea was not something I typically had.

I looked over the tea choices and selected one of the better more exotic brands. Being raised by Marie did have some advantages. I knew plenty about different cultures and the finer things in life. I could tell good tea from simply okay tea. "Thank you." I murmured to her after doing up my tea. Holding onto the hot mug with one hand I shrugged out of my coat but left my scarf on.

Jonah:

I selected the same tea Kira did and sat next to her on the couch. Krissy was much more bubbly today than she was before. Less timid. She did more talking than I did. She relied less on Michael though she still looked to him for affirmation.

Kira:

We wiled away the time by talking and at my request we adjurened in the basement where Michael let me try out some of the weapons on the wall. He had told me I could use them whenever I wanted and didn't need to ask. But after nodding towards the rifle on the wall and explaining that any weapon that seemed well cared for like that wasn't something to just pick up whenever I wished. The knowing look in his eyes and the faint smile on his lips was all I needed to see to know he appreciated the sentiment. Before long and after working out the last kinks I had from not working out Krissy told us we should go get ready for our evening outing.

Krissy:

I made sure we had all the supplies we would need. I packed a bag with four large fluffy towels and a couple thick blankets for afterwards. I put Michael’s and my own swimsuit in a bag. There was a slight anxiety of Kira seeing the scars on my body. It was a testament to how reckless I had been when I was her age. Would she think I was weak? That I was stupid or bad at what I had done? How could she possibly know that most of the scars on my body were because I was addicted to killing. To being up close. Even to being wounded because of it. I craved being in blood. Even, sometimes, if it was my own.

Kira:

I was wearing my suit under my clothes, ready to enjoy the feeling of floating once again. That weightless feeling, where I could simply relax and not feel anything was something I craved. My suit would expose my scar, and while it was a faint silvery mark across my back I couldn't remember that I'd already shown Krissy the mark. Normally I wore a one piece athletic swimsuit that included shorts for legs. This one was a two piece, including shorts. I did own bikinis but I hadn't brought any and I owned them because Marie had gotten them for me.

Krissy:

I packed a small cooler with drinks and snacks. We locked the dogs up in the house then loaded up the car. On the way to the hot springs, I gave them more options for things we could do for the rest of the trip. There were restaurants that Michael and I went to often. There were museums and various theme parks. We could go to the beach or a park. We didn’t go out often, so most of the places I listed we had never been to.

"I've never been to a theme park." I admitted while in the car. I knew there was a lot of different things I hadn't experienced. Unless it was something for Marie to show me off at I didn't get to experience it. With Jonah's help we built something of a schedule for the week without any pressure in case something more interesting came up.

Krissy:

We reached the hot springs and someone checked us in. It was an off day so few people were here tonight. They gave us our own sectioned off pool that would be ours alone unless more people arrived. I went to change and wrapped a robe around myself before going outside.

Jonah:

Kira was already beside the water when I came out from changing. “I’m not waiting,” I said with a little puff of foggy breath. I stepped into the water slowly. The contrast of hot water and cold air made my skin burn. I chose the hot over the cold.

I had been running my fingers through the hot water. It reminded me of the hot baths I rarely took, but whenever I brought my fingers out of the water it made the bite of the evening air all the more cold. When Jonah waded into the water I looked up at him, watching as he adjusted. When I heard footsteps behind me I stood and turned to my parents both wearing robes against the cold.

Taking it as my cue I began undressing right there. I held no shame about stripping to my bathing suit right there in front of the three of them. My body wasn't something I cared too much about. Marie had taken the time to make sure I was sculpted like a porcelain doll. But my rigerous training also made me dense. With so many eyes on me I had long stopped being shy about it.

Folding my clothes and setting them off to the side I turned to face the pool. I was excited to get in, but didn't right away. Not even though I started to shiver at being so poorly dressed.

Krissy:

My eyes scanned over her back and the scar I knew was there. Other that the long silver line, her skin was flawless and young. It made me feel all the more self-conscious about the multitude of marks on mine. And then with a pang, I realized, she only had the scar because of my own recklessness.


Jonah:

I watched Kira as she undressed, less interested in her body and more so in how she had the self-control to stand there in the cold when there was a hot pool in front of her. My attention turned to Krissy and Michael when they removed the robes and stepped into the pool.

Krissy had a decent figure, nice legs, but what I stared at were the scars on the exposed skin. I couldn’t help but analyze them to determine what caused them. It seemed to be every kind of mark, from stabbing, slashing, and bullet holes. And that was only what the one piece showed.

Kira:

It was only after Michael and Krissy entered the pool that I followed them in. I sucked in a breath at the heat of the water, and let it all out in a shaky breath the further into the water I got. After I reached the point where I could submerse myself completely I did so, relishing in the warmth and feeling of weightlessness.

Michael:

I frowned when I saw the scar on my daughters back. I didn't know when she'd gotten such a thing, what kind of injury could even make such a long but light scar. My eyes traveled to Jonah as he looked over my wife. MY gaze narrowed for a second before I summarized he wasn't checking her out for her body but for the scars my wife often felt self conscious about. It didn't quite sit well with me, but I drew my wife into a hug once we were in the water, pecking her cheek with a kiss.

Jonah:

I glanced to Michael and then away after the look on his face. I could only think that Krissy had done a lot of work in her youth. She couldn’t have been nearly as skilled as Kira or I, but then, Michael had some scars too. Their lives had been far different than ours.

Krissy:

I sank neck deep into the water and let Michael pull me into a hug and kiss my cheek. I smiled and returned it with a kiss on his lips. I stayed intertwined in his arms. When Kira surfaced I asked, “What do you think?”

An involuntary gasp escaped my lips as the frigid air touched my face. Diving under the water had been a mistake I now realized. But finding a place I could be comfortable took me only a few moments. "I like it. Though getting out wont be fun." I was also partially disappointed. I couldn't float here. It would be too cold. More than that however I was grateful to Krissy for bringing me to a place like this.