Our Little Secret

After the incident with Talia in the Tensuon sauna, Johnny was out of the facility and on a train as quickly as possible to Tokyo. He'd been texting Cassie since she replied back to his first message. A few hours on the bullet train gave him some time to cool off. It gave Cassie some time to get ready as well. He asked her to to meet him at the train station. She'd said Akashi was home and the last thing Johnny wanted was the sumo butting in.

But he wasn't sure what he actually was supposed to do? He just wanted to tell Taylor but Cassie told him in confidence. It was the last thing she wanted. He was in a very bad position.

When he stepped out of the train, he looked around. He hoped she wasn't late. He wasn't sure if he could handle waiting around any longer. He hadn't told Cassie the specifics. He was saving that for when he saw her face to face.

The moment Cassie heard that Johnny ran into Talia, she knew that he would want to tell Taylor about her, and the texts that followed proved her right. She did her best to calm him down, get him to talk it over before he did anything. It was a very delicate situation, after all. There was a monster hiding in girls' clothes among them, and no one knew it but them. They had to stay the monster, but her disguise would make it very difficult to do without looking like they were just picking on poor Talia Wilson.

Cassie had spent so long wondering who was inside the Dark Angel mask, but she never guessed it. She was asking herself the wrong question. She should've asked herself who was inside the Talia Wilson mask, and now the girl was free, disguised in her own skin. It made Cassie sick to think about.

She went to the train station as soon as Johnny said that's where he'd be, and she had a couple hours to wait around and think things over. Her brown Uggs, stretchy black pants and Northface jacket, and the black headband that protected her ears from the autumn chill, were hardly the uniform for a monster-hunter, a conspirator, a killer. Cassie was all of those things, as recent events had shown her, and no one that passed by her would ever guess.

She spotted Johnny a moment after he left the train and got up to meet him. She stopped in front of him, hands in the pockets of her jacket.

"Hi Johnny."

Johnny smiled at Cassie. It was a little more half hearted than he wanted it to be. He was certainly glad to see her but the circumstances weren't the best. Johnny lifted up his hand and placed it on her head. "Yo, squirt." He said and ruffled her hair almost as a formality. He then pulled away and looked at her.

"Man..." He said and looked around. "I don't wanna talk here but I dunno where to go. I... can we just walk or something, man?" Johnny asked and then just started to walk away from the train station. He didn't even know WHERE to go he just needed to move.

"I was just doin my thing at the gym, you know." He said, just starting up. "And... and shit! She just GOT INTO the hot tub I was in, man!" Johnny said. "Like, it was no. big. deal, and junk!" Johnny shook his head and looked at Cassie. "I ... I almost choked her, man. I almost hurt her. The shit she said, man. She'd way fuckin crazy, dude."

Johnny rubbed his temples. "She was the one that took the picture of me and Shauna, man." He added while he tried to clear his head.

Cassie nodded. She was expressionless as she walked next to Johnny, hands in her jacket pockets, chin tucked into her collar for warmth. "It's good that you didn't," she said quietly. "I know all about the things she says, but if you touch her, you're the bad guy, and that's not right. We can't give her any excuses to act like she's the victim, because then she wins."

The chill in her voice was unnerving even to her. She was discussing Talia as if she were less of a person and more of a problem to solve or a game to win. She felt like she was at war and discussing strategy, and it didn't even seem wrong to her. She wondered what it meant.

"Johnny, do you think I'm..." She began, and then paused and never restarted. She closed her mouth without another word and looked away at the passing buildings while she mulled over the questions.

"Yeah, man." Johnny responded. She was right. Johnny knew that even when his fingers were around Talia's throat. "Yeah, she's real good at not been at fault for shit and junk." Johnny scowled. "I just got lucky. Lucky I didn't really do anything. That's why I had to get a hold of you man."

Johnny walked in silence afterwards until Cassie spoke. He wasn't really sure what to do except not tell Taylor. But then he stopped. He grabbed Cassie by the shoulders and looked at her. "I don't really know, man. But, I guess we're in this together. She needs to be stopped somehow. I don't really know how though. You broke her face and now she's kissin my wife and shit. "

Johnny couldn't help it and ended up squeezing Cassie's shoulders roughly before turning away quickly and continuing to walk.

Cassie looked up at Johnny, and felt a tremendous wave of relief. The look of grave determination on his face, the conviction in his voice... They really were in this together. Cassie wasn't alone with Dark Angel anymore, though she wasn't rid of her either.

"Ow." She didn't flinch, though Johnny's strong hands hurt her little, sturdy shoulders. She wore a faint smile while she looked up into Johnny's dreamy hazel-brown eyes, his dashing features, his curly mouth... He was a good guy, she knew it. She wouldn't mind having him for a brother, but she knew she'd never be able to think of him as one. It was her cross to bear.

She resumed walking alongside him, and after a thoughtful silence she spoke. "I want to do the right thing, Johnny," she said. "And... I thought I knew what it was before, but now I'm just not sure. Everything is so complicated now... I hate it. I hate that we have to fight someone like this to stop them from doing bad things to other people. Why is that?" She looked up at him as he walked next to her. "Why do people do things like that and refuse to stop even when people try to help them? It's so..." Stupid. Ignorant. Careless. Selfish. Ridiculous. Petty. Adolescent. Childish. Hateful.

"It breaks my heart Johnny." She said, and her voice faltered.

Johnny stopped when Cassie finished speaking. He looked around and noticed a small sushi bar. He grabbed Cassie's and and pulled her inside. With a quick burst of sturdy Japanese that sounded almost strange coming from the man, he passed the greeter like it was a checkpoint and led her to a booth in the back. He ignored the looks that came their way. Such contact between the two and Cassie looking very Western was bound to raise suspicious eyes. But Johnny felt like they were only safe there.

Johnny then sat in the booth and stared at Cassie. "I'm kind of a simple man and junk, Shorty. Life's already pretty tough without making everything even more complicated."

Johnny ran his fingers through his hair. "Sometimes you just gotta keep teachin someone the same hard lesson until they get it through their head."

Cassie followed Johnny into the place and slid into the booth opposite him with her hands folded tightly in her lap.

"Yeah, maybe," she nodded. "But... I don't want to teach anyone any lessons. I never did," she lamented, leaning forward against the table for support. "Johnny, I don't feel like myself anymore. I just wanted to get along with everyone and help and compete, and... watch Taylor. And... I guess I've always been the baby and had lots of people around, and I wanted to prove that I wasn't just everyone's baby sister. I don't know what I'm doing anymore..."

She reached across the table and took hold of Johnny's hand, timidly, looking for his permission before closing her fingers on his. "I'm only doing any of this because I don't want anyone to get hurt. But... if someone has to get hurt, it should be Talia, right? Until she learns her lesson, and stops trying to hurt people. Then everything can be good again, right?" Her eyebrows knit up, and her face was heavy with a terrible sadness.

Johnny frowned at Cassie's words. He didn't like seeing her like this. He didn't like seeing anyone like this. He shared her desire for everything to be... cool. He looked down when Cassie reached for his hand. He turned his head away as if watching the act somehow made it better. He felt like he should pull it away but Cassie needed some kind of comfort. If a little bit of human contact soothed her, then it wasn't a big deal right? Two seconds ago he was touching her hand to pull her into the building.

"Who WANTS to man? Except maybe people who get off on stuff like that. But those people aren't any different than the dudes who need to be taught the lesson in the first place. Sometimes good people just gotta do what they gotta do and junk. doesn't mean anyone's gotta like it."

Johnny turned his head. "Though... with all this shit that's been goin on lately with her, I don't think I'd mind it one bit. Teachin her. But she'd never get in a ring with me. She'd never fight me fairly because she knows I'd kick her ass and I'd probably enjoy it man." Johnny frowned. "I'd like to think that I wouldn't enjoy it and junk but I know there's a part of me that does. That really does like it."

Johnny sighed. "But I ain't a bad guy. And you ain't some bad chick." Johnny said and smiled weakly at Cassie. "I think that you just gotta stop worryin about everythin else, take a look at what's important to you, figure out if there's anything keepin that from you and then decide how to best approach that obstacle, ya know? Sometimes that's ignorin it. Sometimes that's goin around it and sometimes that's just poundin its face in." Johnny then attempted a chuckle to try ant lighten Cassie's dour mood.

Cassie nodded along, but from her eyes she was miles away. She just couldn't understand it. She couldn't imagine why Talia did the things that she did, and she couldn't help but think that Talia, Dark Angel, had beaten her. She had wanted to ruin Cassie, and prove she wasn't so good a person. She had succeeded.

Was this really the way the world worked? Could someone's best efforts at making peace land them in the middle of a war? It was too late now, she knew that. If she stopped fighting back now, who knows what Talia would do. She could go after Taylor next, or Johnny. And if she was the one who took that picture of Johnny, then that meant she was snooping around him anyway...

She quickly drew her hand back. Johnny's attempt at easing the tension rang in her ears, she tried to force a laugh but instead she began to cry.

"Sorry," she said. Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out while she wiped a tear away with her finger.

"im at ur place. dont make me come get you!" It was from Taylor. She had texted earlier saying that she wanted to hang out. Cassie thumbed out a reply "Okay, I'll be home in a little while."

"It's Taylor, she's at my house." Cassie couldn't help but look a little guilty. "Um... Do you want to come too? Or..." Had Johnny told Taylor where he was going? Would it be weird for them to show up together? "Well, just come over. It's okay."