West Blue: The Shadow Snake meets The Crimson Thief

“My goal in life?” Red echoed, stretching her body out beneath the covers and crossing her bare legs. She raised an eyebrow: it had been a long time since anyone had asked her that. “Hmm, well…when I started out on to the sea…I was running.” She looked up at him. “I was running from my old life. I felt trapped on that little island where I was born and I wanted adventure…” Red took another mouthful of wine, swallowing. “I still do want adventure…excitement…and I suppose it’s my goal in life to pursue a life of adventure regardless of where it may take me…”

She looked up at Kaizen, laughing slightly. “But I suppose on a less fantasmical…more practical note…” She sighed. “My parents were executed by the Marines because my mother was an ex-pirate. There was a raid on a nearby village by pirates and they put the blame on her having instigated it. They arrested my mother for a false charge of pillaging and they arrested my father for helping her to resist arrest. Our neighbour hid me during their execution...I didn’t even get to see them before…”
Red’s voice trailed off weakly and she stared into space for a moment before laughing again. “So you could say I’ve got quite a grudge against the World Government and all their affiliated organisations. In fact I’ll raise Hell for them whatever way I can…whether it’s by robbing their establishments, destroying them bit by bit…convincing their Marine recruits to drop out of their ranks…”

Red giggled almost cruelly. “You have no idea how often the damsel-pirate-lover act works on young men…and the occasional young woman…” Reiko tossed her hair, batting her eyelashes and pouting as she put on a shy-girl act. “Oh, there’s no way that we can ever be together! You’re a marine and I’m a pirate!” She gave a sadistic chuckle. “Then they end up dropping out of the marine ranks, love-sick for me and I leave them heartbroken…and they can never return to their previous position out of pure humiliation…”
Red ran her fingers through her hair. “And call me selfish if you want…but I love money too. I love all the riches that the sea has to offer. I like power, I like fame and I like wealth. If I can get my hands on some of that Beli, all the better.” She shrugged. “So you could sum it up by saying my goals in life are to have fun, make money and get into trouble…”

Red mulled about the idea of telling him of her fourth goal and deciding that trust would be imperative between them, took a breath and added: “There’s also one other thing. I’ve always wondered who the person who snitched on my mother- the one who handed her over to the marines- was. From what I could gather from the other villagers, the man was a traveller who was headed for the Grand Line…if there was any chance that I could find that bastard and make him pay…” Red suddenly had a fire in her eyes, her fists clenching and her teeth gritting before she forced herself to calm down, controlling her breathing.

She listened to Kaizen’s information about their current situation. “Mmm, well as long as you know where we’re headed. “ Red sipped at her wine, clinking her glass playfully against Kaizen’s. “We’re going to want to lift anchor tomorrow. Whether or not those suckers are all at the bottom of the bay or not, the docking security are going to notice something odd about the ship being moored for so long…” She took another long swig of wine and then leaned forwards, her eyes lidded and her lips in an alluring smirk. “Wow, Kaizen. You took out an entire ship single-handedly just to have a place to fuck me with no distractions. I’m almost charmed…”

Red settled back down against the pillows once more, listening to his history with concern slowly growing in her eyes at the mention of his parents.
“I…I…well, you can imagine that considering my situation, I can’t really condone your actions towards your parents. In fact…” Red shook her head, her brows furrowing. “I think…I think you win the “who’s the greater demon contest” here, Kaizen.” She watched as he slowly took on his snake-like form beneath the sheets.
Her heart started to pound and fear visibly flickered across her eyes. The last time she had lain at this black-scaled snake’s side in this very bed, he had been forcing tears from her eyes as she begged him to stop driving himself into her…

She looked away from him for a moment, giving a shaky smile as she looked down at her wine glass. “Though I still think it’s pretty cool that you’re an ex-mobster, not to mention a mobster with high status.” Red placed her empty glass aside on to the bedside locker. “So that’s your goal then, Kaizen Shikkaku? To become King of the Underworld? I can’t say I don’t admire your raw ambition…but to become a Shichibukai? One of the seven warlords? You need incredible strength at your disposal.”
Red ran a finger down his chest, lightly tapping over his heart. “And the question is, do you have the willpower to achieve your dream?”

Kaizen asked her about what she hoped to get out of being part of the team.
She assumed that a deeper answer than “because you won’t kill me in defiance” was called for.
Red sighed, sitting back against the pillows. “I suppose…being an assassin will serve the triadic purposes of helping me cause trouble for the World Government as non-Cipher Pol assassination missions are currently illegal…I can make some gold from this…and also adventure probably plays a high role in the life of an assassin…”
Red looked up at him. “Also, I…” She briefly reconsidered telling him the truth and taking into account that he had told- what she could only assume- was his own personal history, Red decided to tell him the truth. “I usually read my mother’s old log-books as I travel. I was hoping that one day, I might meet some of her old Nakama on the Grand Line and be able to ask them about what she was like as a pirate…and maybe piece together the truth about who betrayed her trust and ultimately caused her death…”

The sky outside had darkened completely at this stage.

Red licked her lips, laying down and looking up at him.
“So there you go…you know my story…hmm, maybe you could help me to gain control over my Devil Fruit powers? What’s your secret? How did you do it? From what I’ve heard, Zoan fruits are the hardest to manage…”
She reached up and daring herself to be fearless, delicately stroked his thick black hair. “You’ve got such amazing control of your Devil Fruit powers,” she told him, her fingers lightly grazing his temple. “One moment, you’re this vicious, monstrous serpent-like beast with fangs and bulging muscles and the next you’re this handsome, dashing gentleman in a fine suit with a sexy smile…”

She lay back in the pillows, brushing her hand back through her long curls as she got comfortable and suddenly starting to laugh. “That reminds me of a fairytale that I was told when I was little. Are you sure you’re real, Kaizen-kun?”
Wine, the after-effects of intense climax and exhaustion were performing a lax pas de deux, making her giddy and giggly. She yawned slightly.
"Shall we tell some more bed-times stories or shall we just kiss goodnight right now?" Red added jokingly.

Apparently Red's story was more traumatic then Kaizen thought. She was initially running away from her island, for a life filled with adventure. She told Kaizen that both of her parents were executed by marines, someone apparently snitched on the parents and told the marines of her parent's questionable past. The marines grabbed them and.. well, execution. They blamed the parents for being pirates.

The marines didn't give Red a chance to say goodbye to her parents.

Red admitted to hating the government after a brief pause. No doubt she was thinking about that day and regretting it. She told him about the pirate act she put for the marines to derank them one soldier at a time. Kaizen couldn't stop himself from admiring her tenacity. If she made those attempts to make a targets life miserable, and the fact that she.. well, forced herself on Kaizen twice, made her personality the type that Kaizen was looking for. She was even greedy, apparently, and they were getting paid a good sum of money per assassination.
After she talked about her methods of payback Kaizen spoke.

"You understand that there will be times when the marines and the world government give us targets to kill, right? My business goes to anyone, pirates, marines, and even the world government. My goal is to become the King of the Underworld, that means I have to have business with a lot of important people.. I have to gain power, influence, and fear. There is no better way to accomplish that then by making the right friends." Kaizen smirked, knowing that Red wouldn't like what she heard. He continued to talk though to give her the reason why she should stay without feeling TOO forced. The last thing he needed was a woman that tries to cut his throat every morning before he wakes up. "We don't discriminate on targets, either. It's very likely we'll have to kill a few.. corrupt marines. I have no doubt we'll be able to help your goal while trying to accomplish mine, one of them is bound to know about the incident with your parents, or at least have the documents for them."

Kaizen smirked when Red spoke about the ship being whipped out so he had no interruptions. It's true that he didn't want anyone in the ship when he was forcing himself in her. Unwanted guests had to die, and they all resisted instead of running away.. not that he would have let them run away anyways. He'll have to follow Red's advise and lift anchor tomorrow to void suspicion.

She was surprised at his past. Apparently Red now accepted that Kaizen was a bigger demon. He sighed, knowing that this was true for a long time now.. but his only advantage was that there wasn't a time when he wasn't 'evil'.

She then continued to talk, this time about his ambition and his goals. "My goals will become possible with a strong team. With you very few people will be able to see an attack coming. You might be able to plant bombs, assassinate people in the open, break through enemy lines without force; you have limitless possibilities in my field."

Red asked Kaizen if he could help her transform. Kaizen nodded, smirking, "I'll help you, but there's always something you have to give me in return." Kaizen licked his lips to give her an idea of what he had in mind. Every night he helps her she has to please him.. whether it's HIM having all of the fun or HER having some of the fun.

Kaizen wasn't going to tell her the details, obviously, because then she's be neglectful to ask for help at her expense.

She compared Kaizen to an old fairytale story, apparently it had something to do with a beastly man with muscles turning into a handsome gentleman. Kaizen couldn't help but feel a bit odd at the comparison. Did children read books about a possible snake demon that violated a woman? Kaizen scratched his head at the thought but dismissed it. If that were true then every child would be as twisted as Kaizen by his age.

"I'm sure I'm real, my dear Red, I'm sure I proved that several times when our flesh touched." Kaizen pictured their three encounters and smirked. He was still exhausted after his three climaxes that day, and two of them were prolonged.

She giggled and went back to bed. She asked if they should continue their stories or go to sleep with a kiss. Kaizen went over and kissed her lips almost as suddenly as she finished her sentence. He was very tired after that day. Even if his spirit was willing to continue his.. other spirit will find it hard to continue without feeling both pain and pleasure in yet another climax. Just to mess with Red, though, he went under her sheet and kissed her womanhood. He went back to his side and closed his eyes. The last thing he wanted was for her to have the last tease of the night.

"Goodnight, my perfect Red." Kaizen uttered under his breath. He made sure to have her hear the 'Goodnight', but mumbled the last part. Although to someone that was close, like Red, and the silence of the night, the words were barely audible.

Red listened to him tell her all about how they could possibly commissioned to kill by the World Government or the Marines and something in the pit of her stomach felt heavy.
She sighed, gritting her teeth for a moment and shrugging beneath the sheets. “I suppose that’s where all the well-paid work will come from anyway. Hmpf. On those missions, I’ll just have to myself that I’m helping you to achieve your goal and not those white-shirted, slave-branding bastards.” She smiled faintly. “I’m also used to hating myself every now and then for a few seconds so I don’t think I’ll be psychologically wounded or anything for temporarily abandoning my morals…and corrupt marines could be fun…” Her smile turned to a smirk and she winked at him. “And maybe I’ll achieve my goals in other ways too…maybe when you’ve become a big, powerful Shichibukai and King of the Underworld, you could keep me as your mistress and give me a life of luxury for all my faithful years of service?”

Red settled down on to her back, listening to him once more.
Kaizen agreed to help her control her Devil Fruit powers but added that he may need her to do some extra favours for him. She grinned up at him. “I’d have no problem with that…”
She found her eyes locking on to his tongue as it skimmed his lips, her heartbeat quickening very slightly and her face growing slightly hot…particularly at the thought of what that tongue and those lips were capable of doing.

She exhaled softly, bringing her hand forward to touch his face briefly and allowing her mind to wander back to the moments where his skin had met hers in the age-old dance meant only for lovers and those who dared to sail the waters of passion.
“Yes…I guess you’ve gotta be real…”

Red’s suggestion to say good night had barely left her mouth before Kaizen’s lips were on hers in a soft kiss…effectively answering her question for her.
She grinned and was about to unleash a snarky comeback but the Shadow Snake surprised her by suddenly ducking beneath the covers and grazing his lips against the apex of her legs.
She let out a cry of both astonishment and delight and glowered at him as he resurfaced.

“Sneaky…”

He bade her goodnight, murmuring something inaudible as he turned over. Red shook her head slightly, raising an eyebrow and laughing quietly.
“Goodnight, snake-boy,” she whispered in his ear, leaning right over to kiss his cheek and playfully dragging the very tip of her tongue across his neck.
With that, she turned over, tugging the covers around herself.

She lay awake for a few moments, simply mulling over the day’s events as she stared out into the darkness.
What was she doing? Taking on the role of an assassin to aid a man who had just previously forced himself on her and put her through a vicious bout of sexual torture?
Had she gone insane?
The crazy part was that the more she tried to rationalise her actions, the quicker she returned to the same conclusions as before: she had always done what she wanted to do.
And she wanted to stay with Kaizen- her handsome snake demon- and to help him.

“Why can’t I hate you?” Red murmured aloud, half-asleep, when she was certain Kaizen had fallen to slumber. “Why do I want you so badly?”
Sighing, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to surrender to sleep at last.