Shara smiled warmly as she worked at chopping up a few vegetables. For some reason, the moment she entered Scott's home she wanted to make a salad.

"You're good at that..." said Scott in a slightly awkward tone. What else was he supposed to say? Someone he'd known during his childhood had shown up as an absurdly sexy cosplayer. It was not a standard interaction for him.

She looked back at him over her shoulder and winked. "I'm good at a lot of things. A proper female heroine needs to have many skills, right?"

Scott nodded politely then did his best to look away from her swaying hips. Her outfit made it an incredibly difficult prospect. Quite honestly, had he not seen Jackie cutting vegetables in far less on a consistent basis he would not be able to do even this much.

He stared at the television, despite the fact that it was not on. "So, what have you been up to in the last decade or so?"

"I've been here and there training with my family," she said.

Scott chuckled softly. "They still demon hunters?" he asked her with an amused expression.

"Of course," she said without missing a beat.

His chuckle intensified slightly as a memory from his younger days surfaced. He, his sister, and Shara were hanging out near their favorite oak tree. Shara leapt off the tree and started to attack the air with precise knife-hand strikes.

Scott could clearly remember his laughter at the time, and how he howled when she admitted that she was practicing for taking over the family business. It was obvious from how she dressed that she watched too much anime. Her family were renowned demon hunters, and she was also secretly a ninja.

Of course, it was hard to call it a secret when she dressed like a ninja most of the time. Scott mentioned it often enough, but she always laughed it off.

"Wahoo!" she cried happily.

Snapped out of his reverie, Scott looked over to the happily exclaiming girl. She brandished a bowl of salad in his direction then offered him a winning smile. "Perfecto!"

"That is one fine salad," admitted Scott with a nod. The precision craftsmanship of each bit of vegetable was quite telling. Shara's skills had improved over the years, delusions of anime ninjahood or not.

"Of course!" Shara tossed her hand to her mouth and made another "Oh. Ho. Ho." laugh.

Scott could not help but laugh as well then said, "Yep, you still sound like you're trying to lay an egg."

"I do not!" she cried in a high-pitched tone reminiscent of a wail.

Shara sat the salad down then leaned forward and wagged a finger in his direction. "I'll have you know that the sacred laugh of my people is formed from the highest of noble ideals!"

"Right," said Scott. His lips quirked into a smile. As tired as he was, somehow Shara had reinvigorated him a bit.

She placed a hand to her overly exposed chest then took in an impressive breath. "Devils far and wide have learned to fear the sacred laugh. They cringe and cower at the very thought of our noble Ohoho echoing across the land. It is the sound of justice coming for them like the peal of a true and righteous thunder!"

"I do believe that they cringe, yes," admitted Scott lightly.

Shara pouted at him slightly then snorted. It was not long before her expression shifted into one that was slightly giddy. "You're still a rude little boy, aren't you?"

"Apparently, so," he said.

"Hmm," said Shara. She waved her borrowed kitchen knife at him briefly, for all the world reminding him of Jackie due to their similar antics. There was something strangely disturbing about how easily she copied the other girl's stance and mannerisms without having ever met her.

"How's the fam?" he asked her in an attempt to shift his current line of thought.

"Same old, same old. The parental types are in the Philippines hunting down a particularly nasty Aswang," she said. "Grandpa's doing his thing down in New Mexico."

"A chupacabra?" asked Scott with a smug smile on his lips.

"Of course not, they mostly show up further south," she said with a snort. "I think he's visiting a lady friend."

"Right, right," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

He looked at Shara for a moment then closed his eyes. She was the same as ever. A lonely girl who spent most of her time by herself in the woods, Scott had met her before his father's death. The majority of their brief time together as friends were spent with her fancifully claiming her parents were roving the world while she had to live alone with her grandfather and train to fight demons.

There were many times when Scott doubted that there was even a grandfather, as Shara spent the night at their house far too often. On more than one occasion he'd discovered her sleeping under their oak tree.

"How about you?" asked Shara. She grew quiet after asking her question, but before Scott could say anything she spoke again. "I heard... About Liz."

Scott betrayed no emotion in his face, but he also did not open his eyes. He took a breath then nodded. "What have you heard?"

"She, um... died," said Shara.

Scott nodded his head again. "If that's what you know about it, then it's probably best to leave it at that."

"I'm sorry if bringing it up bothers you," said Shara.

"It's fine to bring it up. It stays on my mind anyway," he said. "Things have been alright I guess."

She eyed him critically for a moment then sat her knife down. She moved to sit next to him on the couch then reached out to touch his shoulder.

"I know I've been gone for a while, but you don't have to lie," said Shara softly.

Scott snorted and turned his head away from her. "I dwell on a lot of things, but if I let it get in the way of my life I'll spend all my time doing a whole lot of nothin'."

"There's a little hint of that rude country boy I knew," said Shara.

"Hmm?" he asked her gently.

"Well, you seem to try and speak like a normal person nowadays," she said. Shara laughed softly then poked him in the side. "I remember back then you sounded a little more 'country'."

"Now, I don't take kindly to them werds you jes' spoke," said Scott with a snort.

"Don't ham it up!" she cried with a laugh.

Scott laughed as well, a genuine if sad little laugh that encapsulated his thoughts on the matter. "I've mostly forgotten how to speak like a real person, I suppose."

"Why's that?" asked Shara. Her smile widened at the thought that he believed his country twang was the way that real people spoke.

He shrugged. "After Liz... passed, I had to go live somewhere else for a while. The folks there didn't like my 'twang' and decided to properly educate me on how to not be an irritating little shit."

"Did it work?" she asked him curiously.

He opened his eyes and snorted at her. "Does it seem like it did?"

She shook her head then laughed at his sour expression. Scott grunted at her then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Look, some stuff happened. I didn't really have anyone around for it that I trusted, but I'm alright now more or less," he said softly.

Shara bit her lower lip then drew in a deep breath. Her eyes cast down she said, "I'm sorry... If I'd known..."

He shook his head. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You were a kid. What could you have done?"

Her head snapped up and she stared into his eyes. "I'd have done something."

Scott drew back from the intensity of her gaze then looked away. "Well, we both could have... but at least you have the excuse of not living in the house when it happened."

He closed his eyes tight as the memories resurfaced once more. The stench of blood, urine, and freshly expelled feces. The thick red splatter of red on the floor. The look of pain on his sister's rapidly cooling face, and the huddled mass of his step-father's brutally beaten body, came fresh to memory.

Unbeknownst to him, hot tears began to slide down his cheek. For a brief time he was trapped in that nightmare memory once more. The sights, the sounds, and the stench combined to overwhelm his senses. It was not until a strangely warm presence invaded his ever-present inner hellscape that his eyelids fluttered open.

He blinked away the tears then realized that Shara had her cheek pressed to his cheek. Embraced tightly in her arms, he could hear her softly repeating the same thing over and over. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Scott blinked slowly once again. Why did she act like it was her fault, or even changed anything? There was nothing she could have done to stop the situation, even if her family had not moved just before his father died.

"I couldn't do anything," she whispered hotly as tears of her own began to fall down her pristinely beautiful cheeks. "I really couldn't do anything."

He was about to say something when another voice interrupted his train of thought. "You've got her where you want her, you pervert. Time for rape."

Scott's brow became furrowed as the hateful voices started up again. Why had they waited until now to say anything? Had the bastard's taken a coffee break? "Shut up." he snapped inside his head.

"Make her scream, for daddy," sniggered the voice. "You know she wants it."

"Shut the hell up!" he snarled inside his mind. "She's not like that!"

"She's been dressing like that since she was a little girl, and you know exactly how to make little girls scream for daddy, don't you?" countered the voice in his head.

Scott's eyes closed tight and his eyebrows drew together even tighter than before. "I've done nothing wrong."

"Bet it felt sooo right, didn't it?" asked the voice in a smug tone... just as right as those stupidly big tits pressing against your arm right now.

"I've done nothing wrong!" he snarled at the voice.

"But you want to... where are your hands right now, you fucking degenerate?" asked the voice snidely.

Scott's eyes snapped open and he looked down to see than one of his hands rested on Shara's thigh and in a position dangerous close to her most feminine of mysteries. "Fuck you, you fucking voice."

"Didn't think I was your type. I'm not a slutty little girl," remarked the voice.

Scott's left eyelid began to twitch. Despite the aggravating noise inside his head, he moved his hand and embraced Shara gently. He would be damned if a stupid voice in his mind would steal this moment from him.

Pressure began to build up inside his head as the voice shifted from conversational to downright abusive once more. Wave after wave of pressure built and released inside his head as he was assaulted by hateful venomous words that tore at the very fabric of his sanity.

Once again tears began to fall, this time accompanied by a slight trickle of blood from his nose. However, he refused to relent. He'd needed a proper hug for a long time, and he would not give up on it.

Somewhere along the line, the pain and pressure became too much. He lost consciousness and knew nothing for a time. Neither the warmth of his bed at the Screaming Onion, nor the warmth of Shara's embrace reached him. He was simply alone in a voice of impenetrable blackness.

For a time he knew nothing, but soon he began to awaken within that empty darkness. A light sprang up inside his mind and a single word spoken by a warm masculine voice, reminiscent of a patient father speaking to a small child, echoed inside his mind. "Remember..."

Scott's eyes snapped open and he was in his bed back on Earth. He blinked away the crust of what could only have been an incredibly lengthy sleep then rolled his head sideways. He blinked again as Shara's intense gaze pierced his soul.

"The hell...?" he asked her before he drew away slightly.

Shara sat up in bed, her completely naked breasts bouncing majestically before him. Scott stared dumbfounded at her glory for a moment, but then she reached down and clasped his hands. He did not fight her in the slightest as she drew his hands to her breasts.

"Do you like them?" she asked him in a strangely distant tone.

No voice assaulted his mind for once, so he answered honestly. "Yes..."

"Do you want to touch me more?" she asked him in an almost mechanical fashion.

"I... Yeah," he said, his mouth going dry.

She tilted her head to the side and lightly licked her lips. In a cold, almost menacing tone, she asked, "Do you want to fuck me?"

He could not speak in words. All he could do was mutely nod to her. Yes, he wanted that sort of thing badly. Just the idea of actually being able to be with someone was like a dream to him.

The Shara before him suddenly morphed into her appearance as a small child, his hands still clutched to her chest. "Of course you do, you fucking pervert," said Shara a smug expression on her lips.

Scott bolted upright on the couch as the invasive dream came to an end. Panting heavily as though he'd run a marathon, he looked around. Shara was nowhere in sight, but it soon became apparent that she'd left him a note on his coffee table.

After he caught his breath, he read the note that she left for him:

~*~

Hey, bestie. You scared me a little when you passed out, but I guess you were tired? Anyway, I took the liberty to call you out of work today. Ashton was a bit surprised that I was the one who called, and seemed odd for some reason. I think she might have been sharpening a pencil or something too, there was a lot of grinding noise on the other end of the line... Weird, right?

Anyway, you get some rest. Oh! You might also want to see a doctor just in case you've come down with something...

Oooh! Another also! You still give the best hugs! Sooo warm... *Giggle!*

Love you, my Scott

XOXO for my BFF!

PS: I tossed your salad before I left. I hope you don't mind. =^.^=

~*~

He read through the note a few more times then shrugged. "I could call in to verify my day off, but... They'd want me to come into work."

Scott opted not to bother. Worst case scenario would mean that he'd finally be free from his job.

"What exactly does she mean about tossing my salad?" he asked after a short bit of time passed. Scott looked to the left, back to the right, and then down at his still clothed manly bits. Despite the throbbing pain in his skull he could not help himself. A goofy smile rose up on his lips.

With a snort he looked over to the salad sitting on his kitchen counter. Next to it sat a bottle of salad dressing. "Right then... salad for breakfast."

"Kind of thoughtful of her," he said with more pep in his words than his headache should have allowed. "Wonder if she knows I'm trying to lose weight?"

As he sat down to eat another thought occurred to him. "Why did she underline the word 'my' when she called me 'my Scott'? Possessive much?" he asked with a laugh. It was one of her endearing qualities as a kid. She often told Liz that he was her Scott. They would occasionally argue about it all day.

After a brief moment of introspection he shrugged and chalked it up to Shara being Shara. She was always a weird child. As an adult she was still an odd child, albeit absurdly well-packaged one. They had a shared history but it's not like they were that close after so many years had passed. She was no doubt just trying to rekindle that friendship from before, though she never did seem to learn the meaning of personal space.

"I'm reading too much into things. She's always been a bit over-dramatic and lacking in the proper comprehension of boundaries," he said to himself as he began to enjoy Shara's expertly tossed salad.

"Mmm! Refreshing," he said after he tasted it properly. "Such a wonderful combination of flavors..."