Innocence

Chapter Freak Out

Corran had had to take Britt back to his place, after hearing that HE was alive and looking to kill them, well... she had went ballistic. She has pinned Ariana to the hood of her car and started throwing punches left and right. Adam and himself had set straight to separating the feuding siblings, but this was not to be easily accomplished, for Ariana had slammed Brittany on the ground and started pummeling her with her own barrage of punches. First, Adam grabbed Ariana and pulled her away, checking her to see how much damage the elder twin had done. After that, Corran grabbed Britt and pulled her off to the side, trying to quell her fury.

Flashback

"This is all your fault Ariana!! Your the one who wanted to go to Japan in the first place, and when we were there you just couldn't let it go!! You had to go investigate!" Brittany screamed, pulling against Corran's arms that held her back. "You made us train! You made us go up against him! You made me think we killed him!! Do you have any idea what that did to me!? You--you..." She broke off as she cried into Cor's chest.

"Hey...It's okay..shh." He murmured to her and then turned towards Adam who held a shaken Ariana. "Man we'll see you later, I've gotta take her back now. I don't think she'll be able to deal with this for a while." Corran said as he smiled slightly at Adam.

"Yeah, no prob. man, I'm thinkin the same thing with Ari here." He said as he glanced down at Ariana as he rocked her slightly, she shook badly.

"Alright I'll see ya laterz."

"Laterz." Adam said as he watched Corran place Brittany in the car and then get in himself, driving off quickly. "It'll be alright love." He said as he pressed Ariana to his chest as she started to cry a bit.

End Flashback

Brittany had fallen asleep on the ride back to Cor's place, he was pleased to see no nightmares befell her, just a calm peaceful sleep. He glanced at her every now and then, watching for signs of danger, but they never came. The ride passed along mostly in silence, except for the occasional whimper from her, and soon enough they were at his apartment. He gently picked her up, carrying her inside, being careful not to wake her. As he got his door open he walked inside, shutting it with his foot, wincing slightly as he heard it slam. Brittany stirred but never awoke. He placed her under the covers of their bed and watched her sleep for a moment before going into the kitchen, grabbing himself a beer while trying to figure what they were going to do. Eventually she'd have to see Ariana again, that's when the real fireworks would happen, he understood how Brittany could think it was Aria's fault. But it wasn't, not completely, he'd heard the full story and by what he gathered, Ariana insisting to train is what saved them in the first place. But he knew Britt would never see past what she wanted to see. He wondered to himself if Adam was having any luck with Ariana.

Adam watched Ariana, she sat at the computer, stance completely ridged and incredibly tense. She was currently tracking the whereabouts of Tokijo. That was who they were up against, He knew everything that happened, Aria had only finished telling him about it, and he was very concerned for her. But she would hear nothing of rest, not even with the stress he knew was being put on her body. She instead insisted on researching all she could on Tokijo. He walked over to where she was, placing a cup of coffee on the table beside of her lap top.

"Mmm..thanks babe." Aria whispers as she rubs her eyes once again, then taking a sip of that miraculous invention called coffee.

"Maybe you should take a break for a minute, just let your eyes have a break, come back in ten minutes, maybe you'll think of something then. You don't have to do this all at once, remember, your not alone this time, I'm here for you." He pleads with her, he hated seeing her like this and frankly, it scared him.

"Oh baby..." She says softly as she lays a gentle caress on the side of his face. "...I know I'm not this time, but I really need to get all the information I can, we don't have any time to lose he's--"

"A serious player, so you said, but he isn't going to attack in the next ten minutes, you need to rest."

"--I know but...Brittany--"

"The two of you will be fine, she was shocked at your little bombshell, and so she didn't handle it in the best way. That's okay. I know she'll come around. You just need to relax." He says looking deeply into her hazily tired emerald green orbs.

"I just can't Adam." She whispers, looking down and taking another drink of her coffee. "I just can't."

--

Tokijo sat in the middle of a darkened room, hands rubbing together meticulously, a nefarious smile crossed his scarred features.

Those damned twins had almost killed him, but they hadn't succeeded, and he had little miss Brittany Tanner to thank for it. Ariana was fully ready to administer the killing blow, if not for her twin's interference, she had to settle for knocking him out and torching the building. And he would have died too, if not for his faithful companion Manuela, she had pulled him out of the burning inferno in the nick of time and carried him to safety.

"Well they are certainly in for a shock, I'm back and out for blood, If it was a fight the Tanners wanted then it was fight they'd get. To the death, their death." Tokijo chuckles darkly to himself, all light fading from the room except for the eerie glow of his orange eyes.