Absolute Vertigo
Chapter 1
"Oh, love, love, love. Oh, it unites, your right. And hate divides.
Let's see which one's stronger, shall we?"
-Callisto
Vertigo sucked in his breath deeply, and then let it out. It was
purely a sigh of frustration; knowing he was stuck in bed on medical leave
until the "doctor" said otherwise.
He sat up in bed, wincing as a stinging pain shot up his side, and
looked down at his stomach. The thinck, white bandage around his thin waist
was stained red in some places, the result of a knife wound from the day's
battle.
A rival clan had attacked the Lin Kuei, and, naturally, Quinn was
ready to risk his life protecting his clan. As he fought off the intruders,
one of the assassins slashed him across the stomach. It wasn't a deep wound,
but the pain was noticeable, and so was the blood. The vision of ten dead
rival ninjas at his feet made his frown fade to a smirk. The clan doctor
stepped up next to his bed as Vertigo's mind wandered from his flashback to
reality.
"Lovely carving you got in your stomach, Quinn." Sage said
sarcastically, staring at a clip board in his hands and flipping a page.
Quinn frowned, and Sage smiled when he looked up into his face. "Not
in a good mood today, brother?"
Vertigo snickered. "Draw your own conclusions, Sid."
Sage and Vertigo weren't literally brothers, but they had grown so
close in their years together that Vertigo had "adopted" the young ninja as
a little brother.
Vertigo's smirk faded and a genuine smile crossed his handsome face.
"So, what's the verdict?" he said, glancing at Sage's clipboard.
Sage sighed, leafing through the pages of the clipboard. "You'll
live..." he started, and Quinn snickered. "And it probably won't scar...
but I've been really busy in here lately, so I hired someone to help out with
you."
Vertigo cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah? Who?"
Sage was about to open his mouth to speak, but then looked to his
side and smiled. "Oh, here she comes."
Quinn glanced over in the direction Sage was looking. She?
"Toxin," Sage continued. "I'm glad you're here. I need to go help
with these other patients."
Toxin was a tall woman, with tanned skin, shoulder length black hair,
dark green eyes, a shapely, fit body, and a friendly smile. Quinn was
convinced that he had never seen a more beautiful woman.
Toxin, too, was absolutely certain that she had never seen a more
attractive man than the one in front of her. If he was standing, she
decided, he would be a couple inches over six feet tall. He was slender,
with a well-built physique, granting him an over-all attractive body. His
short hair was black, and his eyes were a deep, dark blue, with a mysterious
aura to them. In his handsome face, Toxin saw a mystic personality,
belonging to a man who wasn't supposed to be completely understood. She
widened her smile to him as Sage proceeded to introduce them.
"Quinn," he said, turning to Vertigo. "This is Olivia, aka Toxin."
he turned and pointed to Toxin. "And Olivia," he pointed to Vertigo.
"This is my bro Quinn, aka Vertigo."
She extended a hand to Quinn, and he shook it firmly. They smiled at
each other the entire time. He gave her a wry, half-grin, as if he knew the
way she was thinking of him. Olivia knew the idea seemed impossible, but she
still couldn't shake the feeling that he could read her mind.
Sage snickered under his breath as he turned to leave, and Olivia was
left with her new patient.
"Nice war wound you got there, solider." Olivia said, smiling, as
she began to remove the makeshift bandage from the waist of the bare-chested
ninja in front of her. She blushed, as he gave her that grin again, right
when thoughts came into her head.
Quinn snickered. "I'm telepathic, in case your wondering." he said,
smiling. "But don't worry, I've read minds much worse than yours."
Toxin smirked, rolling the bloody bandage up in her hand, a lot less
nervous then a second ago, and she didn't know why. "I bet you have." she
said.
A conversation started from that point, as Olivia numbed Vertigo's
belly, stitched up his wound, and wrapped a fresh bandage around his waist.
She found herself having no trouble talking with him, and as she got to know
the young warrior, she found she had a lot in common with him. His
pesonality still held a lot of mystery, but she could tell he wasn't the way
that she had heard he was. Even if they didn't personally know him, everyone
in the clan knew who Vertigo was. His father, Oniro's brother, was a kind,
popular ninja in the clan, well liked by everyone. Except his brother.
Olivia had been with the Lin Kuei long enough to see Vertigo be born and grow
up into the ninja he was when she met him, but she never really paid
attention to the affairs of the nobility, even the birth of a son.
Vertigo was said to be the exact oppisite of his father: cold,
bloody, heart-less, and overly evil. His father always defended his son,
and many accused him of picking favorites among his three children. Olivia
had never believed or disbelieved Vertigo's father about what he said about
his son, but after the conversation she began to have with him in the med
room, she began to believe that the clan was wrong.
The anesthesia Toxin gave to Quinn to numb the pain as she stitched
him up numbed him a little too much, and he had trouble walking when
he was ready to head home. Toxin happily offered to help him back to his
quarters, and quinn accepted her offer with a smile. She helped hold him up
as they headed to his room, laughing and talking until they reached his front
door. He then asked her out to dinner, smiling, and leaning against the door
pane. Olivia happily excepted, with a large smile, convincing herself that
she would have asked him out if he hadn't spoke up first.
* * * * *
Olivia stood in front of her dresser, trying to find something to
wear. It was 7:30, and she was supposed to meet Quinn in a half-hour. The
numbness in his abdomen would have worn off by then. She smiled, thinking
about the date, and reached up to water one of the many plants in her room.
Toxin's quarters were like a greenhouse, big and airy, and full of greenery.
Her ability to keep her plants alive was much more than a green thumb.
She put down her watering can, pulled on a different shirt, and
headed to the bathroom, when she heard a knock at her door.
"Who is it?" she called, turning to the door.
"It's me." a familiar voice answered almost immediately.
Toxin smiled and went to the front door. She opened it, and a
friendly face greeted her.
"Hiya Anna." she said, hugging her cousin. "What's going on?"
Knightshade smiled, returning her cousin's hug. "Well..." she said.
"I've heard from a...... 'reliable sorce' that you have a date tonight?"
Olivia snickered. "Your sorce is correct." she said, grinning.
"Well then, mind telling me who the new prey is?" Anna grinned
devilishly.
"'Prey'?! Anna, you know me better than that!" Toxin objected, but
she couldn't help from laughing.
"Uh-huh......"
"Well.... the 'prey' is Vertigo. Ya know, Oniro's nephew?"
Anna's face dropped. "The nobility?" she mumbled. "Olivia, I
thought you would be smart enough to stay away from the nobility. You know
they're just a bunch of arrogant bastards. And Vertigo, from what I've
heard, he's just a young carbon-copy of Oniro. You can't trust him, let
alone date him!"
Toxin shook her head. "Anna, you don't know him. He isn't that bad.
He seems like a perfectly nice guy. Besides, it's just a date, nothing more.
You have nothing to worry about. Not all members of the nobility are like
Oniro, trust me."
Olivia grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. "You have a key."
she said to Knightshade before leaving. "Can you lock up before you leave?"
Anna nodded absently as her cousin left. "I just hope you know what
your doing, Olivia." she said to the empty doorway.
End of Chapter 1
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