River woke up in her own bunk. She was not feeling... she was normal. Thank God! the orgasm she had almost hurt- Almost. Then her mind crossed over the boy. It was all like a dream, she could see his thoughts, and being how she was at the time, went after the poetically smutty ones he had. Oh, who was she kidding, she went through every gorram fantasy he had ever had. It took some time. The thing that River remembered that puzzled her was simple- he liked it. It was obvious that he wanted to get away, but somehow he could feel him when she invaded his mind. Then she remembered their game of chase, and the few times she had caught up to him. Wait- she new about the tunnels too. She just realized that somehow she new Serenity was more useful for illegal stowing than originally expected. And that was how the boy got away from her so easily. This was going to be fun. River looked around. The ship was dark. Mal must have taken the ship back into the black. She looked around and found everyone was asleep. Good. River got out of her bed, looked down, and immeadiently pulled her blackout back over her. “They took me back without clothes on?!” she stammered out loud. And it wasn’t only that, but her whole lower body was slightly red. How powerful WAS that orgasm? God, she hoped this would never happen again. She dressed in a loose skirt and shirt, went into the kitchen and got something to drink. She had a horrible taste of sweat and something else in her mouth... What was it? Shoe? After her drink, River went down into the cargo bay were so much had seemed to change in the past two weeks. Mostly because she found over 100lbs of stolen goods in there first of all, but something else was different. Serenity seemed to have gotten wider to accommodate the new changes in her life. River went back to her task in mind. She looked around and found a vent that seemed to be substantial in her memory. After opening it, River crawled inside. She was expecting it to be smaller, but it seemed like it really had grown. And instead of metal, she found the very bottom lined with somewhat of a carpet. Just where she wanted to be. Crawling carefully along, feeling the sides, River peered ahead into the darkness. She probed carefully with her mind. The boy cold only block her from getting into his head, she thought. Maybe, if she felt sensitively enough, she could feel the block. After some time of trying this, she suddenly found a point void of anything. It was amazing. Normally she heard somewhat of a static, from all the microbes and bacteria. But this was just empty, silence, peace. Wow. River moved as fast as she could, trying to find the one way into the hidden catacomb of tunnels that let off from the vents, but just couldn’t. “Think like he does...” she was saying out loud. If a boy wanted to stay hidden, he would do it at the top, unless that was someone who knew what they were doing. Then he would want in on the sides, or bottom. River probed her mind. She needed to remember where exactly to go- She stopped. Here, it looked familiar. She looked up, looked down, looked all around, but still nothing. Then she tried tearing up the carpet, but it wouldn’t budge. Aye ya teh-ha, this was strange. Then it occurred to her. A telekinetic would surely have more creative ways to hide something. Like opening the lock from the inside. River started tearing away at the carpet. Sure enough, underneath was a hinge. She couldn’t find the actually opening though. She started slowly moving the floor of the vent back and forth. She wasn’t surprised when it started getting easier. And then suddenly, something fell out of place, and she felt a part of the floor panel drop about an inch. Then, she slid it to the side, revealing a small compartment underneath. Just big enough to fit one or two people. She found one. The boy was sleeping, completely unaware to her presence. River crawled into the small chamber and laid down beside him. *** The boy opened up his eyes. He was staring at the wall, and was colder than he thought he should be. He looked over and saw his blanket wrapped up into a big heap that was taking up most of his room. Too tired to straighten it out, he decided to roll into the blanket and use it more as a cocoon style warmer. He was vary alarmed when the blanket grabbed him instead. “Morning sleepy,” River said as if she did this every day. The boy was terrified. What if the drug hadn’t worn off yet! What if she was still uber-poweful and was going to kill him with sex and he would never ever get to- wait, she was laughing. Hmm. “I wish I had a camera right now!” She laughed. “Your face is wonderful!” Then she took out the camera he had and flashed a bright picture. “Oh wait!” River exclaimed. “You have one I could borrow!” The face that followed got it’s own picture too. The drug had worn off, but she apparently still had some extra cravings left, even if they weren’t for sex. “Give me that!” the boy reached out, trying to grab the camera from her to destroy the film. She merely moved her hand an inch out of reach. “A little slow this morning, huh,” River grinned. “Well, after what you did to me yesterday, I’m supprised I was able to get up. Now it was River’s turn to make a face. With one quick movement, the boy snatched the camera from her hand and pressed the button, capturing her from what he assumed would be the best angle. After recovering, she whacked him over the head. “Hey!” she whined after doing so. “Why did you do that?” “Hmm... lets see here,” the boy mused. “Somehow snuck into my room, made me think I was going to be molested by a blanket, made me think I was going to be raped by you, and then you took a picture of me in my most hideous state, and laughed about it too. That sums it up quite nicely I would say!” River nodded her head, and grinned. Yup, she was still a little wako. Best get her out of here before- River kissed him. Damn, too late. “Erm...” he stuttered, wondering if he enjoyed that or not. “All better?” River asked, putting on her most innocent face. “Um, look River... your still going through you super period, so I would suggest you vacate my bunk immeadiently.” River looked disappointed. “Will you come with me?” she asked. He looked at her. ‘I am strong, I am a stone! I am...” “Weak,” the boy mumbled as River pulled him into the cargo bay. He was awake now, but still missed the privacy of his bunk. Even though the extent of what he could do would be sleeping, reading the stolen books he had collected, and sorting through all the left socks... “Lets fight!” River shined excitedly. “What?” asked the boy, unable to imagine how River could win a fight in her current condition. She would be seeing way too many colors in the air right now. At least, that is how it was for him. She probably still could win a fight with a normal person, but with him, while he was awake. That was a different story. “C’mon! Scared?” she coaxed him. He was weak. “Fine, but I will drop my shield so you can tell what I am going to do. And there is no “cheating” for you.” he explained. “In your condition, I will let you do anything you want, besides using weapons, to win. There is absolutely no way for you to cheat.” “Absolutely?” she asked, a grin on her face. “Yes. Nothing will be considered cheating.” He didn’t like that grin. He took his normal stance, right hand forward, left beside his neck, back hunched, legs bent. He dropped his shield and he felt River enter his mind. It wasn’t anything like yesterday, though. River took up a strange stance, both hands hovering right in front of her chest. Hmm, this is new. “Go,” he said, and went to go in for a frontal attack on her legs. River had other ideas. First thing she did was rip open her skirt and let it fall completely to the floor, leaving her in nothing but underpants and a bra. The boy stopped in his tracks. “You cheated,” he stuttered, just before River landed a palm-heel strike to his forehead. The boy quickly let instincts take over, bending his back... back to absorb the blow, but River was one step ahead of him. She thrust her foot through his legs and kicked up, hitting him in both the head and the groin. He completed the back hand spring, but was a little blurry on his vision. His stomach felt like it was going to explode, and it was as if River’s hand moving towards his neck was going in slow motion. Shit. River connected hard with the boy’s forehead once again (luckily, she didn’t want him to bleed out his nose) and sent him falling back onto the grate. Knocked back to his senses, he sprang up and landed one punch, kick combo before being beaten back down to the ground again. This time River straddled his arms to trap him underneath her. She lowered her head. “Gotcha,” she grinned. The boy was seeing more River’s than he could handle right now. One was enough. “Why, yes... yes you did...” he mumbled, his pride -and head- injured. God, he really needed to work on fighting half naked women. One of his weak spots. This was kind of a nice view thou- ::SLAP::! ...ow... “Bad thoughts!” she said, waving her finger back and forth. The boy immeadiently remade his shield, hoping she hadn’t found out where else he slept. Then he felt it. Not just a breeze, but a way to get back. “Hey!” River exclaimed at the boy’s sudden disappearance. “I know you are right underneath me you stupid idiot! C’mon, don’t run away, cause I will always find you!” She moved her hips closer to his head to try and make him feel even more uncomfortable. “Whado you make of this, sir?” Zoë asked Mal up on the catwalk. River snapped her head up. She hadn’t heard their thoughts! Layo-tien boo, he must be able to block other people’s thoughts as well! Mal was just staring. All he saw, of couse, was River seemingly molesting the floor... “Well, Zoë, I think I am just going to get the doctor,” he breathed, “and ask for some help with River and some anesthesia for me...”

*** River felt awkward. This went without saying though. After she had gotten up, she looked around for her dress. Gone. Gorram boy and his go tsao de powers of hellish annoyance. There was not enough mandarin in the world. Simon and Zoë had escorted her to the infirmary, were Simon gave her a physical and said her hormone levels were dropping, but still high. She would be ok though. No duh! she already knew this. What she didn’t know was if Mal was ever going to let her fly Serenity again. She was going to get back at that boy for this. She was going to get back...