Author's Note: Wow... I already got three reviews. I'm surprised... but that means I have to update. Thanks to Demon Wraith, Violet, and Virus for those. And it means some plot development, yay! Also, emo Sareena. xD Really, I do hope that I have her in character... she's never been given a lot of screen time, so it's hard to determine how she would act and what she would say. I just assume that she's sassy... because sassy women rock. But she's also a self-loather, so she's a bit emo.

Oh well. I think I'm doing okay. I just hope it's not getting repetitive!

Which is why this now has PLOT, RAWR.

Alright, here we go, chapter four.

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Amaranth

Another Sareena/Sub-Zero story by Strike To Incinerate.

Now with plot development!

--

Sub-Zero had slept on a couch that night. Not because Sareena had kicked him out; she couldn't, it was his room. No, it had been his choice, not wanting to upset her further (despite her protests that she was 'alright'. For a demoness, she was a horrible liar).

It had been less than comfortable, but he'd had worse.

About mid-day, after lunch, he'd heard a commotion in the courtyard.

His reaction was delayed, figuring that Sareena had forgotten all about their 'talk', and had once again decided to goad some of his warriors into a fight.

How annoying.

She was probably just bored again...

But this time, a sentry came in, his clothes ragged and torn, limping as he tried to run, trying (and failing) to resume some sort of posture in front of the Grand Master of the Lin Kuei. He was bleeding heavily, large drops falling to the floor.

He was surprised, at first; she hadn't been that rough with them last time. Just gave them a few bruises and scrapes, maybe a dislocated shoulder, and knocked them all out, cleanly and efficiently. None of them had had noticable, bleeding wounds...

It set him off.

"I take it that Sareena is not playing with you and the others again?" he asked, raising a brow beneath the mask.

The sentry shook his head. "Grand Master... Noob Saibot is attacking the temple again," he informed him.

His eyes widened. "Of all the times not to check..." he muttered, brushing past him, near-sprinting to the courtyard.

'Where's Sareena? Is she still in the temple? Did she have the common sense to stay inside?' he thought. Sareena was strong, but she was no match for the man that had once been his older brother. And it was his fight, besides.

But, as he threw open the heavy stone door, the sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one. Bodies of six or seven Lin Kuei, possibly as high as ten, littered the ground... mangled, their limbs near sliced off, disemboweled, or simply stabbed clean through the chest.

Blood stained the snow-covered stone, staining it a bright and vibrant red.

He hated the color red.

And there, fighting admist it, was the wraith clad entirely in black, stone hammer in hand, and Sareena, with her large, serrated blade.

Fighting.

He could see that she was getting tired, even from twenty feet away. Her breath was coming in heavy pants, making large clouds of foggy mist, and she was just barely dodging the swings from the hammer, moving out of the way of heavy slams only at the last second.

But Noob Saibot was able to slide away from the slashes of her sword with ease. He could hear the manic laugh taunting the demoness as she tried to keep him from getting to the temple doors.

Sareena was protecting the Lin Kuei sanctuary.

But inch by inch, she was losing.

Her foot slipped in the snow, her knee hitting the now-exposed stone, and Sub-Zero realized that a week was not enough time for her to adjust to the terrain. He could see Noob's wild grin, and the hammer, slowly coming down towards her head...

He did the only thing he could think of. He materalized an ice wall in front of her to absorb the blow and give her enough time to roll backwards... and enough time for him to jump in and finish his brother.

She did roll back as the ice shattered from the hammer's blow, covering herself and snow. Her hands were numb... she couldn't push herself up... she tried to scoot back...

but he grabbed her ankle... dragging her back towards him. Her hands clawed at the ice, snow and stone, but she only succeeded in getting dirt and ice under her nails. She tried to kick him, but he only shook her in annoyance, lifting her up by her ankle.

She was looking at the ground.

"Fancy finding you here, deserter..." Noob sneered at her.

"Let go... jackass!" she tried again to kick him, but he only laughed.

"Let you go? Now why would I do that, Sareena?" he told her. "You know what the price is for deserting the Brotherhood of Shadow... you and Ashrah will pay most dearly for this insult to our master..."

"He's not my master!"

Sub-Zero decided that this was as good a time as any to step in. "Put her down," he commanded. "Your fight is with me," he said sternly, holding up his Kori sword.

Noob laughed again. "I don't think you quite understand..." he said. "Your new girlfriend is a member of the Brotherhood of Shadow. In fact, a rather important one; she's one of Quan Chi's personal assassins," he explained. "Although, my original idea was to kill you today, Quan Chi has made it clear that capturing deserters always comes before personal vendettas... so my plan is now to drag her back to the Netherrealm for her punishment."

"I don't think so," Sub-Zero disagreed. "You'll be setting her down, and gently. She's a member of the Lin Kuei."

"She's not even human... and she wasn't born into the clan. She still belongs to the Brotherhood of Shadow," Noob responded.

"Not as long as she's my wife," Sub-Zero said smartly.

That took the Netherrealm wraith aback... giving Sareena the oppurtunity to shove her foot in his face. Startled, he dropped her... and she landed on her back, scrambling to grab her sword and stand up.

Muttering curses as his hand tightened on the stone hammer, Noob realized that he shouldn't have left Smoke with the Brotherhood.

"Don't think I won't be back for that little wench..." he warned them. "And you," he said, pointing at Sareena. "It doesn't matter who many Lin Kuei you screw. You won't ever become human."

"Touch her again, and I'll kill you, brother or not," Sub-Zero warned him, suddenly protective of her... he meant it. He didn't like the way his brother was talking to her, and he was worried that he had actually hurt Sareena.

"Because you've done so well at that before, haven't you?" Noob said snidely, before vanishing in a puff of black smoke.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking back at her.

She nodded, rubbing her cheek. "I'll be fine... I've had a lot worse," she replied. "Thanks for saving me, though..." she said.

"It's nothing," he replied. "Why didn't you tell me that you were a member of the Brotherhood of Shadow?" he asked.

"Because I was trying to forget it," she said quickly. "I hated it there... I hated that entire order. I hated having to cater to Quan Chi's every whim, eliminate anyone he considered a threat, when I wished that I could help them kill him... that's why I told you that you wouldn't understand," she explained.

"You could have put all of the Lin Kuei in danger--" he began.

"See! You don't understand!" she cut him off. "It took so much for me to come here! It was impossible for me to escape on my own! I'll never know how Ashrah did it!" she shouted at him, her eyes bright, her hands clenched into fists.

He had forgotten that Ashrah, now a warrior of light, had also once been a member of the Brotherhood of Shadow, until she'd come upon an ancient sword that had granted her a soul and shown her the error of her ways. "But Quan Chi will continue to send demons after you, won't he?" he asked her.

She nodded, grudgingly. "Yes... I don't think he'll ever get Ashrah back... but he considers me to be more important..." she trailed off.

"Why?" he asked. "And how were you able to leave the Netherrealm, if you couldn't escape on your own?"

She sighed, calming down. "I should have told you at first... I'm sorry," she apologized, and then, began to tell how she had escaped from the Netherrealm.

It wasn't a long tale; Ashrah had returned to the Netherrealm one day, and Sareena had been sent to fight her, to punish her for killing so many demons. But, they both refused to fight, and instead, only lightly sparred while talking.

And they had formed a plan.

Ashrah, who was now able to freely traverse realms, would go to the Elder Gods, and tell them of Sareena's desire to leave.

Intrigued that a demoness without a soul would want to escape so badly, especially one of such high rank in the Brotherhood, Raiden would go to investigate.

Sareena would tell him numerous secrets of the Brotherhood that could then be relayed to the Champions of Earthrealm... which would indubitably make it easier for them to defeat the Brotherhood of Shadow when the time came.

"I guess Lord Raiden never told you, or Sonya, or Liu Kang," she said. "But that's why it's so much more important for Quan Chi to get me back... it's really a matter of pride. I escaped, gave valuable information to the enemies of the Brotherhood, and I'm trying to forsake my demonic heritage. Any one of those three things is punishable by death. They'd kill Ashrah, if they could... but she was lucky enough to find that sword," she finished.

He nodded. Now it all made sense... Raiden had obviously kept those secrets to himself, saving them until they needed to use them against the Brotherhood. That was why Sonya didn't know. And Raiden could not have entrusted Sareena's safety to Liu Kang, the strongest warrior of Earthrealm; Liu Kang had to focus on being the Champion. Not to mention that Kitana would probably have had serious issues with another woman hanging around so much. No, Sareena had to be entrusted to him, the second strongest warrior of Earthrealm...

He hated when Raiden did the whole, 'I work in mysterious way... things will make sense in the end...' thing. It was annoying and stupid. He could have just told him that Sareena was a valuable asset to Earthrealm, and needed protection. He would have done it, and he wouldn't have been biased against her because of her heritage... Sonya probably wouldn't have been, either.

"I think I should apologize," he told her.

"What for?" she asked. "You haven't done anything. I'm the one who's going to get people killed... I'm the one that turned your life upside down. I think I should keep apologizing."

He shook his head. "No... I think I was unfair to you. I was suspicious of your motives, because you're a demoness. If I had known, I would have been kinder to you. I didn't realize that you... well, weren't a burden," he said.

She smiled a little. "Really?" she asked.

"Really. I apologize for that, Sareena..." he told her. "And I also apologize if I made you feel like less of a person because you're not a human," he said. "You're certainly not a demoness. Not an evil one, in any case."

She was quiet for a moment... and then she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

Not expecting such a gesture, he was thrown off balance, and they both landed in the snow.

But he wasn't entirely displeased. She was warm, and he liked holding her. She still smelled of incense and her skin was surprisingly soft. If there was anyone he wanted to knock him over with an embrace, it was her.

Although she couldn't see it, he was smiling, too.

--

The tender moment didn't last for very long. It only took one look around for them to remember that they had Lin Kuei warriors to honor and bury, a courtyard to clean, and then, if that was done, they could resume their normal lives and have dinner.

It was Sareena's very first burial ceremony. In the Netherrealm, when a demon died, their corpses were generally just eaten by lesser demons, or if they were lucky, their opponent had thrown them into one of the many boiling sulfur pits. No one missed a demon.

So she had watched, with an abnormal amount of interest, as some of the Lin Kuei had dressed the dead for burial, washing out their wounds and adorning them in silk uniforms, before placing them in the masoleum underground.

A buddhist priest had come to perform the necessary chants, and incense was kept burning at all times. It seemed very odd to her, but she was quiet and respectful, trying her best to mimic him and the other Lin Kuei.

They were soon finished, but for the rest of the day, everyone was somber, and the Lin Kuei temple seemed empty. It wasn't... but everyone always felt bad for a while when warriors died. Afterwards, they usually found their loyalty to the Lin Kuei more passionate than ever, and vowed to avenge their fallen brothers, making it a rather nice turnabout, in a morbid way.

Sareena and Sub-Zero took the tasks of laying food for the dead on the table, in front of pictures of the deceased warriors, and burning hell money. Sareena found the second part the most interesting, and even a little fun; she could create fire from her hands, which was useful.

"We burn money so that they dead will be able to have it in Heaven," he explained.

"Isn't Heaven supposed to be a paradise?" she asked him. "Why would they need money?"

"Stop questioning it. Religion is very important to some people in Earthrealm. It provides comfort to the dying, knowing that they are going to a better place, and it helps some people believe that their life has meaning or purpose," he explained to her.

"But the Lin Kuei do have purpose," she replied. "I mean, that's pretty obvious."

He shook his head, fighting back a smile. The warriors would have been overjoyed to hear her say that.

"And we're not even burning real money. What are they going to do with fake money in Heaven?" she continued, moving back to her original topic.

He tried to stifle the laugh that rose in his throat, but he failed, and it came out as a weird cough.

"So you do have a sense of humor!" she teased him, throwing the rest of paper bills into the fire.

"Just don't go spreading it around..." he told her. "Someone has to be the hardass."

She chuckled. "Okay, okay, I won't tell," she promised. "My lips are sealed," she said, drawing her forefinger and thumb across her mouth in a zipping motion.

--

Dinner had passed without incident. It had been quieter than usual, but the liutenant had graciously allowed Sareena to sit next to him, because she had single-handedly defended the temple until the Grand Master had arrived.

He felt proud of her. The warriors already respected her and treated her as one of their own... a claim that not many could make. Frost had been with the Lin Kuei for years, but her arrogance and narcissism had kept her from being well thought-of. Most of them were still edgy around Li Mei, if only because she was from Outworld, and they were downright frightened of Sonya... they were impartial to Jax and Johnny Cage, because those two were almost never serious. They did like Kitana, Liu Kang, Jade and Kung Lao, though... but who didn't?

He had gone on a final patrol of the halls before going to the bedroom. His brother's threats were still fresh in the back of his mind, and it was the only way to ease his paranoia.

Sareena was sitting Indian-style in front of the fire, but she hopped up as soon as she saw him.

"Why're you so jumpy?" he asked her, taking off the mask and setting it on the end table.

"Um... no reason..." she replied, dusting off her skirt. He wouldn't have said anything else if he had noticed her flexing her fingers and giving him the funniest look...

There was something different in her eyes.

"You're a horrible liar, you know," he pointed out. "You're fidgeting. What's going on? Is something wrong?" he asked, hoping that they wouldn't repeat what had happened the night before.

No, it was quite the opposite.

She practically jumping on him, pressing her lips against his.

He was startled, but her coaxing lips soon melted him, and he was kissing her back.

Until she reached behind herself and started to unlace her top.

He pulled back, and said, "What are you doing, Sareena?"

She raised a brow. "Well, I don't see how we're going to have sex with all of our clothes on," she replied, and then resumed the unlacing.

He grabbed her hands immediately, hoping that the top would not just fall of... well, part of him hoped that it would. But, no... he had to be the sensible one, since she obviously was not. "That isn't what I meant," he told her. "We're not having sex."

She chuckled. "You want to call it something else?" she guessed. "That's fine... I don't care..." She leaned in, hoping for another kiss, but he gently pushed her away. "What's your problem?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sareena... no. We can't do this," he told her.

"Why the hell not? You want to, I want to, I don't see what the big deal is," she responded quickly.

'Well... she has a point, I'll give her that,' he thought, but shook his head anyway. "We've only known each other for two weeks. Most humans do not have random sex, Sareena. Most of them wait until marriage."

"We're married," she pointed out.

"I know... but we both have a lot to worry about right now. You're distracting enough as it is," he told her.

She smiled a little. "Really? I'm a distraction?" she asked him, her voice sweet.

"Yes. You're very, very distracting. It's very hard to focus if I'm thinking about you," he said honestly. "Imagine if I knew what you looked like naked. I'd never be able to think about anything else. I'd never get anything constructive done... I'd go insane," he continued. Well, the last part was exaggerating a bit, but it was better that he was stroking her ego than making her upset. She seemed to put a lot of pride into her voluptuous human appearance.

She was blushing. "Oh... that's so sweet..." she said quietly. Her hand stroked his face before she kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied.

She turned and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to go for a walk... to cool off," she told him, opening the door.

"Be careful," he warned her.

"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine," she said, shutting the door.

He sat on the bed, shaking his head. He wondered how he had found the inner strength to turn her down... it had been a very tempting offer. Too tempting. If she had gotten that top off, it would have been a non-issue. He was a very strong-willed man indeed.

He felt kind of like an idiot. Most people would have killed for an opportunity like that... and he hadn't been with a woman in a while...

He decided that it was time for a nice, cold shower. Really, really cold.

--

And that's the end of chapter four. Plot development. Rawr. And this chapter was by far the longest! I'm happy. Still have no idea how I'm going to end this, though. Or if it's gonna have a lemon.

Oh well. Reviews, plox.