M: Jade's Love Confession

This story takes place sometime after the end of Mortal Kombat 11. Some of the lore references won't be canon but then again, their canon seems to be in constant flux...

*****

Jade panted as she channeled all of her force into clashing her violet staff against Kitana's steel fans. Sparks flew with the clanging of their wills and weapons. Each stab and swipe from the women were accompanied by grunts or hollers with every subsequent attack becoming fiercer than the last.

Jade vowed to never repeat the life she once lived—and died. She treated every session on the training grounds like her life depended on it. Given the tales history told, that may have been the case.

Her best friend of thousands of years, Kitana, defeated the Keeper of Time, Kronika, and used the power of her hourglass to restore her home of Edenia to its original beauty, peace, and prominence. Not only that, she returned herself and Jade back to life from their revenant forms where they were servants of Kronika and the Netherrealm. Given a second chance at life, Jade promised to live it with everything she had.

Jade wore her green leotard style outfit. It was split down the middle with black crisscrossed strings where the edges of her breasts were revealed and struggled to stay in the opening. Green arm guards extended from fingers to elbows. Gold chains hung from either side of the outfit at her wide hips where her "razorang" boomerangs sat in their holders. A green cloth hung from her waist to cover her crotch. Her toned, hazel legs extended to her knees where black boots with triangular jade gemstones set in both at the top took over. Despite her black hair being in a ponytail, their tips brushed against her lower back.

Kitana provided the perfect training partner for her best friend in not only skill but because of how much she made Jade sick.

Lovesick.

Jade letting her best friend know how she

really

felt about her was a part of living life to the fullest. She just couldn't figure out how.

All the years she stood at Kitana's side as her friend, as an assassin working with her for Shao Khan, and after his fall, she looked upon her with envy. Kitana's movements spoke to her status as a princess, adorned with grace and elegance. Her steel fans' slices and kicks mimicked the flows of a dancer. The words from her lips were of such intellect and class they brought all within earshot to her attention.

How could anyone not fall under the unintentional trance of her royal presence and beauty?

No one had figured out why Kitana, after 10,000 years of existence, remained unwed. Kitana would always say she hadn't met anyone that was a match for a woman of her stature. Liu Kang came the closest to becoming her significant other. That outcome was hinted at by verbal and nonverbal flirts and by how often he risked himself to save her life but their paths wound up splitting in different directions.

A notion remained in the back of Jade's mind. Maybe

she

could be the one to woo the princess and sweep her off her feet? There were never any hints that Kitana's interest in her existed beyond the platonic but what if? Cramps twisted Jade's tummy the longer her mind lingered on the subject.

The skies were blue without a cloud and the sun sizzled the perspiration on her skin. Trees on the palace grounds and lining the streets of the world reached to the atmosphere. The scents of flowers spiced the winds in the perma-springtime clime. All came together to bring great ease to Jade in getting lost in her training.

Kitana's presence knocked Jade's heartbeats off-rhythm and sent them into a frenzy as if this was the first time laying eyes on her. Kitana wore a royal blue bandana that tied at the rear. Her jet tresses were in a bun with a steel hair stick through its center. Her blue one-piece jumpsuit style outfit opened in slits at her clavicles to show skin and made a heart-shaped opening at the cleavage to display the curves of her round breasts. Her suit was colored black around those breasts and the same color made a V-shape on her abdomen. Blue arm guards protected her up to her shoulders and black gloves covered her forearms. Her outfit was blue at legs that stretched into her knee-high black boots.

"I really get weary kicking your ass so much!" Jade quipped with a voice lifted over the collisions of their weapons.

Kitana's brown sugar irises shot forth and her jaw flung open. "It's on, now, Jade! I lost last time because I was trying to comfort you after leaving your boyfriend but don't expect any mercy this time!"

She danced towards Jade and slashed at her a couple of times with both fans. Jade deflected the swipes and grinned in her little confident way. The adrenaline speeding throughout had her on a high.

Jade walked with a slight bend in the knees and her staff pointed at her opponent. "Whatever! I think living the princess life has turned you to cotton!"

"I'll show you how soft I am!" Kitana whisked her left fan in a cross strike followed by her right at her friend and Jade fended them off with a bit of struggle but was successful.

Jade continued her steps in slow motion in sync with her friend's. "Oh, did that nerve hurt when I struck it?"

"Nuh, uh. That won't work on me, Jade. You can't make me lose focus by making me angry because I spend my time getting even!" Kitana panted as she swung left, swung right, and pedaled her feet like she was on a bicycle sending her stumbling backwards. Jade paused in shock before readying her staff again.

"Your old boyfriend taught you a thing or two, I see."

"Helps that I'm a quick study."

"How have you been without Liu? It can't have been easy..." Jade tossed a roundhouse kick at her face. The princess leaning away caused it to hit air.

"As long as I focus on rebuilding Edenia, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking." Kitana lowered to the ground and threw a sweep but Jade cartwheeled over it.

Jade charged the princess with a flurry of jabs. "I have a newfound respect for you after restoring our world and most of all, giving me life again! I can't thank you enough."

Kitana used her fans to shield herself. "You don't have to thank me. You should know I couldn't be without my best friend and we needed a proper world to live in. I have you, my mother, and Edenia back. I couldn't be happier—well, there's one thing that might put a bigger smile on my face..."

"Heads up!" Jade held her staff and both ends and rammed the weapon at the princess. She clanged a fan against it but Jade twisted to the ground like a top with her staff spinning with her. The princess timed her jump to land on the weapon and spring boarded away into a backflip.

Kitana's grin displayed her entire set of pearly whites and meant to playfully mock her friend. "How did you like that? You're not the only one that can show off!"

"Hey, you can't take my job!" Jade glowed green as she propelled forward with a midsection kick. Kitana knocked it off-target and with a whoosh, retaliated by bringing a slash down and followed by corkscrewing at her with a flying attack but all she assaulted was the wind. Jade pirouetted and vanished in a puff of green smoke to reappear with another kick at her back. "That's how you do it, princess!"

"Ah! Oof!" Kitana groaned while tumbling across the dust like the kick had the horsepower of five hundred stallions. Upon the end of her revolutions, she pushed off the ground but fell to her chest with a tight squint. "Lucky...you...ahhh..."

Jade smirked and stood tall over Kitana with her chin tilted above the horizon feeling pretty good about herself. "So...whew...what else would put a smile on your face?"

Kitana grunted as she made another effort to get to her feet. She climbed enough to dive into a roll and Jade chopped down with a strike but Kitana recovered and parried from a knee. Jade's intensity brought a holler with a jab, which her friend blocked, another jab ending with the same outcome, and a sweeping staff move that passed beneath the princess as she hopped into the air. Jade boosted forward with another attempted boot to the midsection but, in a flash, her plant leg wound up airborne as well and she collided with the dirt.

Jade, back aching in addition to her pride, moved a smidge but she choked on a gasp as a closed fan whisked through the air and lodged into the ground cracks by her ear. Kitana hit a flip and anchored a boot to both sides of her opponent. She squatted and held her other fan at her friend's neck.

"Do you yield?" Kitana asked with a wicked smirk.

Jade shut her eyes as if to hide from shame. "Like I have a choice..."

Kitana rolled backwards, sprang to a standing posture, and bowed to her partner. "So, how's that for a 'soft princess'? Do you need time to pick up what's left of your pride from the ground?"

Jade grimaced but grabbed her weapon on the way to her feet and bowed to Kitana. Losing was her pet peeve but being at the end of her friend's victory and having her own taunts thrown at her was especially humiliating. Kitana

almost

enjoyed giving Jade shit more than the spar itself. Their sessions gave Jade a chance to spend time with her favorite person in the world so a loss was still a win though she would plot to even the score next time.

"Okay, you beat me once. You want to throw some confetti or streamers?" Jade pushed forth a smile instead of kicking her own ass for the defeat like she normally did.

"Once? I'll let you keep thinking that since it makes you feel better. Anyway, to answer your question, how about I tell you over dinner? Say seven o'clock?" Kitana narrowed her eyes and caressed Jade's cheek. Jade's deep inhale seized and her thighs tightened.

She raised a brow with a head tilt. "It almost sounds like you're asking me on a date."

Jade was fishing and perked up inside at the possibility.

Kitana folded her arms against her torso and forced a jittery smile Jade hadn't noticed since her and Liu Kang were a thing.

"Hehe, really? That's what you took from that? How do you know you're my type?"

Jade spread her arms out to the sides and spun a circle to showcase her goods. "Who wouldn't want this? I know one person that

really

liked it..."

Kitana took Jade's hand into her own. Jade's mood threatened to collapse into the pits when thinking about her former lover, the khan of Outworld, Kotal. He offered to give up the throne to Kitana for her role in saving Outworld but she decided to stay in Edenia to ensure her home world's continued return to prominence. Jade poured out her love to Kotal but said there was a powerful force pulling her towards joining Kitana in Edenia to assist in her goal. "Follow your heart" he said and with a final kiss, that was the last she saw of her lover. Kitana, despite tending to her duties as princess and world restorer, always made time to console Jade and nudge her to talk about her feelings. Jade preferred sharpening her skills as a ninja assassin opposed to any of that but her mental recovery truly began when she submitted to Kitana's suggestion to get everything from her mind into the open. The princess also had the honor of being the only person to ever witness the fact she does have tears.

As if she needed more reasons to fall for the princess...

"I'm sorry..." Kitana sympathized but Jade waved it off.

"I'm okay but thanks..." Jade cocooned herself with Kitana and all her troubles were forgotten for the time.

Kitana flipped and walked towards the palace with her guards as her ass rolled like waves. "I'll be waiting for you tonight! Don't forget seven o'clock!"

As usual, by the time Kitana left, Jade's mind was a glob of mush but lately, her fingers and toes couldn't stop shaking and her heart pumped like she'd run a marathon. The anticipation of what the princess wanted to discuss did little to calm the madness.

Around a quarter till seven, Jade was in her room completing her evening attire by donning a sleeveless dress of her favorite color with thin shoulder straps that hung low enough at the cleavage to draw eyes to the curves of her round breasts but plenty remained to be left to the imagination. The bottom of the dress reached her knees leaving the rest of her legs for the world to ogle. She whirled her hair behind her head and slotted a pair of hair sticks through her strands to hold them in place.

Jade preferred a battle dress to one designed for evening wear but attracting attention because of a fashion faux pas and bringing shame to herself and the princess was not a possibility. She fitted her lobes with diamond-shaped jade earrings. She parted the oak doors to her walk-in closet and reached for her boots for combat. The force of habit made her chuckle and she skipped over to her elegant collection of footwear to find a pair of studded wedge sandals with black straps to step into. She sighed and contemplated swapping them for the battle boots...

Interrupting her thoughts were knocks like someone was going to beat the door down if she didn't answer. She took her staff, shut the doors to her closet, and opened the ones to that led to the hallway. The sight captured in her eyes knocked her world off its axis. She'd seen the princess at what she thought was her most beautiful but something about her now exceeded anything she'd ever done.

Princess Kitana's golden tiara sat upon perfectly straight black tresses that extended to her butt. Around her neck hung a trio of gold necklaces. Her royal blue dress had a single strap over the left shoulder and a split that rode up the right side to display her battle-hardened leg. The outfit shimmered at a certain angle in relation to the light. Her black flats were studded with sapphires. Her pink lips gleamed and kept begging for Jade's focus. Those same lips plumped with a smile as the women caught themselves entranced by the other.

Kitana broke the silence with a flirting whistle. "Whoa, someone is trying to win the Ms. Edenia award."

Jade blushed and flushed with warmth. "Thanks but have you looked in the mirror lately? I'm sure you're the star of many men's...and women's dreams."

Kitana anchored a forearm across the doorframe and leaned against it with a slow, long-lashed wave. "Am I the star of yours?"

Jade gasped as a fire lit between her legs. That was prior to paralysis setting in.

"Oh, um, you're always on my mind." Jade wasn't prepared for that either because of her naivety or she didn't believe her interest moved beyond the platonic—if that could happen.

Kitana's eyes found the weapon in Jade's possession. "You're bringing your staff on a date? No flowers or breath mints?"

Jade looked at her hand and shock struck her as her subconscious must have swiped it. "Oh, I didn't realize I had it. This calm still feels strange and I feel naked without my weapon."

Kitana tilted her head and softly smiled causing Jade to believe she should have chosen her words better.

"Maybe I can make you feel better about being naked?"

Jolts shot throughout Jade but she playfully resisted. "I'm not sleeping with you on the first date."

Kitana smirked and took Jade's hand into her own with four fingers on the bottom and the thumb on top. "No, of course not! I never said this was a date anyway! My tummy is grumbling. How about you? Ready for dinner?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Jade propped her weapon inside the door despite the awkwardness of leaving it behind.

"Come on!" Kitana started walking with Jade in tow but after a few steps, she released her hand mid-stride.

Jade found the handhold adorable but wondered if she detached because she wasn't sure if it was appropriate. Kitana's hand was surprisingly soft despite the years of combat she'd experienced. The wonders of having the resources to get any health care product in existence.

They walked along the royal carpet to the stairs leading to the foyer. Upon reaching the bottom, to their lefts was the hallway with the kitchen. Jade could almost taste the wood fire oven roasted quail from its aroma floating through the air. Beyond the kitchen, the women found the private room that would host their meal.

The room's stone walls were painted in a warm, reddish brown hue and the light from the candles lining the room added to the relaxing glow. A clear vase with a few red roses sat on the lone table with another candle's flame swaying in the draft next to it. Chopsticks, rolled napkins, a bottle and glasses of wine finished the setting. Jade reveled in all she surveyed.

"It's beautiful..." The rest of Jade's words escaped her as she continued to stare at the scene with drool threatening to puddle the carpet.

"I'm glad you like it. I hoped you would."

A light shined in Jade's mind and she rushed to pull the princess' chair out for her. "Please, have a seat, my princess."

"Thank you, sweetie." Kitana smiled as she settled onto the red cushion and Jade scooted her forward so her legs fit comfortably under the table. Jade walked to her side and did the same for herself.

Around that time, the kitchen door busted open. A pair of chefs brought bowls of diced quail over a bed of rice and veggies and placed them in front of the women. After making sure they had everything they needed, the chefs left them to their privacy.

Jade jutted her nose over the steam and took a deep sniff. The roasted bird watered her tongue and appetite.

"Smells good. I'm ready to dive in!" Jade took the chopsticks, pinched a sample of her dish, and fed her face. She took her time chewing and savored peppery herb flavors that made her taste buds dance.

Kitana placed a sample of food on her tongue and ate it but she spaced out the amount of trips her chopsticks made while Jade was eating like she'd fasted for a week.

"So, I should come right out with it..." Kitana said as she stacked her forearms on the table and shifted her body forward.

Jade finished taking a sip of the red wine and peered at her from above the glass. "What's on your mind, princess?"

Kitana mimicked her glass's rise and drank some before she returned it to the table. "I want you, Jade."

Another helping that was halfway between the bowl and Jade's pie hole froze mid-trip. Her last bit of food hung in her throat and she made a big gulp to finish the swallow. Her heart stopped and restarted in uneven beats. Her confession had Jade fluttering off the floor yet her lips numbed. The most beautiful woman she'd ever met and her best friend wanted her—but wait, how exactly did she want her? It might have been a good idea to get clarification before running away with her admission.

"Oh, ah, you want me as in what?"

"Do I have to spell it out? No, wait. Are you messing with me?"

Jade patted a napkin to her mouth's corners and directed her full concentration to the princess. "No, I mean there's more than one way to want someone. You could want a serious relationship or maybe you want my body. I don't know."

"Okay, the answer is yes."

"Yes...what?"

"Yes to both."

"Oh..." Jade shuddered as her tongue tied into a knot. Her heart hammered against her chest as her eyes remained double in size and her mouth stayed open.

"I love you and I'm

in

love with you. Am I being clear enough or would you rather me beat around the bush some more?"

Everyone dreamed of hearing that from someone who shared mutual feelings but Jade was trying to make sure she wasn't going to sit up in bed in a cold sweat and it was all in her mind. Kitana's eyes and bottom lip drooped. "Do you not feel the same? If you don't, I understand..."

"No, no! That's not it!" Jade shouted at the prospect of Kitana withdrawing her sentiment. "I...I'm trying to get over my shock! We've saved each other more than I can count and you gave me and our world life again. You're everything I could want. I love you more than anyone I've ever known."