Target: Green ninja

Chapter 21

Harumi slammed the door behind them, punching it with her bare fist.
" THEY GOT AWAY WITH HIM!" She yelled.
" HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ALIVE ANYMORE! And look! Of course my revenge is never allowed to succeed! Why !? WHY!?" She punched the door again.
" okay enough door punching" Lloyd stepped in between her and the door, gently grabbing her wrist, leading her away from it.
" hey, listen, punching that door won't do you any good. Look at your hands... that's going to hurt." She looked down and saw the marks.
" and I don't think it would be a good idea to destroy something that doesn't belong to us." Harumi angrily eyes Lloyd, not caring what the consequences of destroying the door would be.
" I don't care if this door breaks or not, unlike my revenge, it can be replaced!" She pushes his hand away and raises her fist for another strike.
" no no no" Lloyd grabs her again and pulls her with him, away from the door.
" I'm not a big fan of your revenge ideology, but last time we checked, Brine wasn't dead. So technically, you likely do have a second chance at getting it" Lloyd hated putting Brine into this kind of view, but Harumi was set on having her revenge.

" I know you want revenge on the dark lord, but, I have this feeling it's not all on the dark lord, you are angry at Brine as well... aren't you?" The rented room that they were in weren't big, but big enough for them to cool of, and keep the witch away from the door.
" so what if I do? It's not like he's innocent of what happened to my dad." She mumbled, slightly seeming a bit more calm.
" He had a part in it?" Lloyd eyed her. He didn't know Brine quite that well, but they came from the same league and both had been the renegade. It's stupid, but if someone out in this wide world would understand his past and the mess he had been through, Brine would be the one. I'm fact, he would know exactly what Lloyd had been through.
" It's because of him that my father died!" She snarled at Lloyd.
" come on, that's a bit harsh..." Lloyd mumbled.
" yeah? Remember the story I told you? My dad provided the league soul syrup, it was used on one of their agents to complete a special mission. Brine was that agent, and to everyone's surprise, he broke through the binding and gained control. That wasn't supposed to happen. And who had to pay for his actions?" Her angry yellow eyes eyed him and Lloyd slightly nods.
" your dad..." Lloyd replied.
" my dad." She confirms.

" But I still don't think he's the one to blame, at least not to it's core..." Lloyd takes both her hands in his.
" he's just as much of a victim to the league and the dark lord like you and me... we shouldn't focus on taking Brine down, but the true enemy behind everything. The dark lord..." his grip tighten and Harumi looks away, her shoulders relaxed.
" I get what you mean, but Brine is his vessel, right now, he is the one who provides the dark lord access to the over world. Taking away his only way up is going to trap him down there." Her voice was soft, and empty of anger. He had gotten to her, but still, she was determined.
" Join us, join me... we're going to take down the dark lord. I promise you that.
Harumi lifts her gaze and looks at him. Did he truly mean that? She didn't doubt him, but would it truly be possible to do so? His eyes met hers, and she saw the determination in them. She admired them.. those eyes were ...

Without thinking, she freed her hands from his grip and put both of them on his cheeks, and without warning him, she forced his head down to her level and pressed her lips against his. His lips were sweet like cherry, not really but they reminded her of them.
Lloyd was shocked at this and for a second, was stunned. In the gentlest way possible, he forced their lips apart and awkwardly mumbled: " I have a girlfriend..."
A shade of red crosses Harumis cheeks, but a slight grin crosses her face.
" yeah... you do. I don't know why I did that, sorry" she looked up. She couldn't help but wanting to do that again.
" no, please..." Lloyd tried to move his head away from her grip, but it was surprisingly firm.
" sorry... I don't know why I did that" she let go and turned away embarrassed. Why? Why did she do that!? She knew he had a girlfriend, and this is wrong but... no. This was wrong. How stupid of her to act like this! He was the green ninja, a natural enemy! She can't have stupid feelings for him.
" so what do you say?" Lloyds voice cut her off from her thoughts.
" it was an accident, I don't have feelings for you" she replied.
" what? No I meant you joining us taking the dark lord down"
" oh... well.. yeah. I guess I don't have anything else to do" she mumbled. She then turned to face him. She prayed to God that her face wasn't red from the previous embarrassment.
" can I really trust you?" She asked.
Lloyd didn't expect that but nods in reply.
" you truly can, you have my word."

She slightly nods at his reply and then pulls a small jar out of her pocket. She pulls off the top and holds it out to him. " spit into it..." she eyed him. Lloyd backed away, haven been fooled once, didn't like the sight of this.
" you need to prove your trust in me too" she spoke. Hating the idea of meddling with witchcraft, he did as she said and spit into the jar. She was right, trust from both sides was required if they were to work together.
She put the lock back onto the jar and started shaking it. Then a word was uttered and almost right away, Lloyd felt a warm feeling all over his body. He looked down onto his hands where the markings she had painted on him shone bright with purple. Then, almost like being washed out in water, it disappeared.
" you're free from my binding..." she mumbled and tossed the jar into the closest trash bin. It hit the edge and missed the speed to tilt into the bin and instead fell to the ground. Harumi didn't badger.
" Really?" Lloyd had to admit that this level of trust coming from her was unexpected. But very assuring.
" yeah.. as you said... I may get another revenge through your pajama dress up gang. Not a big fan of the nickname for the team, but this was the best thing that has happened since the beginning of the dark days, another force to defeat the dark lord meant another step closer. Far from being there, but now he felt a tiny bit of hope. Real hope.