Negotiating the price of Friendship.

Kim slowly came back to her senses. The last thing she remembered was that this strange boy had succeeded in the test, despite her efforts to put him in a tight spot. He truly was as resourceful as Moira had told her. Then a last bit of memory surfaced in her mind, an explosion! The Outsider spawn had unleashed a last Void burst before dying.

Kim felt very weak and her eyelids seemed stuck closed. She was shockingly naked, with only something made of fabric laid over her crotch. She was outside, she could feel the sun rays heating her body and she was wet...

No, not wet, covered in something thicker than water, a familiar feeling for someone used to fight. It felt like she was covered in drying blood. Probably the same thing that was keeping her eyes shut.

Marshalling every bit of strength left in her body she managed to open her eyes half way and brush her hand on her chest. She couldn't feel the flow of her Ki, which was starting to frighten her. It was strange, the thing she was covered in was clear, looking more like honey than blood...

And there were some strange bumps on her chest!

John was visible from were she laid down, standing in only a pair of blue boxers and talking to some strange green woman. (who seemed not to be wearing anything) she was laying on some sort of vegetal bed and in some sort of forest. She could hear the noise of some water dripping behind her and over it, if she focused enough, the sound of their conversation...

"... will she wake up? Did everything went alright?" asked John.

"I had to use a lot of pollen to keep her asleep during the healing, my King, she has a great inner strength. Without the fountain she would have died. With seven broken ribs, a punctured lung and the nick on her heart I couldn't have saved her... She has awakened my King! " said the green woman.

Kim looked around and spotted her weapon, but the Celestial Shard was laying entangled in a thick mass of vines and she had barely to strength to raise up to a sitting position.

"Where am I? What did you do to me? And why am I naked?" she asked. She meant to scream it forcefully, but without strength or the use of Ki it came out very low, little more than a whisper.

"I'm glad you are OK. You are here in my kingdom. This is Sylvia, she a dryad and the mother of the glade growing around us, she helped me tend to your wounds. A piece of shrapnel nearly stabbed your heart and shattered your rib cage. I'm afraid that your bra and kimono top are ruined. As for your panties Sylvia removed them when we bathed you in the fountain. " he explained.

"How did we get here? How did you leave the killing grounds? Did you..." asked the weakened Slayer.

"We technically still are in it, or we should go back to it when we leave this place. With my enemy dead, you **** and dying, the lock was lifted. You're lucky it did. So contrary to you who tried to kill me twice I just saved your life." he said.

"You have an infinity sapphire ? Who are you?" she replied astonished.

"The thing I have is called an Hearthstone, but it looks like a big sapphire so we probably are talking about the same thing. I'm glad you are awake now, we have a lot to discuss." he said, looking at her dead serious and sitting near her. She tried to hide her nascent breast that had grown unexpectedly, but couldn't keep her arms up.

"Discuss what? And why am I so weak? Why can't I use my Ki?" she complained.

"Lots of strength, so little memory. You nearly died and would have done so without my intervention. I think some thanks would have been in order, but don't worry about it, such things will be taken into account during our negotiations. We have a deal to conclude, you promised me something. " he reminded her.

"What negotiation? You mean the egg? I really doubt I will ever be able to summon a pair of them before 8:00 am tomorrow." she said.

"So not only did you try to **** me, you then gave me a test that you expected me to fail, got most of my gear ruined in the process, didn't thank me for saving your life and now you will break an oath and come back on your word? No matter those eggs are a touchy subject if it's like this that the Northern Wind clan practice deals with others. " he replied.

"Don't talk of things you do not understand! You can't contest the honor of my clan!" she spat back.

"In that case you're representing it poorly. In any case let's negotiate. You will of course provide me with that egg as we agreed beforehand, but then there is the matter of reparations... " he began.

"You want money? My body? Why are all men this age such pigs?!" she said.

"Money would only go so far and you're really not my type, besides I have a girlfriend. The saber I used to fight this abomination and that was destroyed in the process was my only real weapon. All the rest that I had and some of it was damaged, were only tools poorly designed for fighting. With no weapons and my armor nearly destroyed I would take huge risks going around should anything or anyone attack me. You will see to that..." he explained.

"My father has a collection of katanas and Chinese swords, if you release me he will give you one of them, but you can't have this one." she said, pointing out at her own weapon.

"I'm perfectly aware of that. My powers work strangely sometimes. For instance what happened to your chest is a side effect of the spells we had to use to rebuild your ribcage and chest area. The thing is that it will cost me five grand to repair my armor and I wouldn't have to do it if you didn't impose this stupid test on me. So we're now at the egg, a sword and about 7 grand in total to repay the damage done to my equipment. Then there is the issue of your condition of course... " he continued.

"You stripped me, touched me, gave me those things! Why I am sweating so much? What is this stuff you covered me with. What now?" she asked, really pissed off.

"I was referring to the fact that you still belong in the community of the living and didn't take a trip to the afterlife. I doubt you would have afforded me the same care should the situation be reversed. You owe me a debt of gratitude. You will have to protect me until such time that you save my life before you are released from this debt. Should you evade this duty, reveal anything about me, my kingdom or try to betray me I would make everything I can to reveal anything I know of you and your clan to the larger public and of your betrayal to anyone in the Abyss. This includes Moira, I didn't intend to let her know about this place for now and I only brought you here to save your life. " he concluded.

"This is preposterous! You can't expect me to agree to such conditions!" she complained.

"In that case I will return you to the killing floor now, but this blade will remain here as an insurance of your silence. Will you agree to this treaty?" he asked, handing out a piece of paper to her.

She started reading the contract and reacted strongly as she approached the end of it. "This isn't what you said! It says here that I have to pay you nine thousand dollars, you talked about seven earlier. And it says here a sword of your choice, we cannot accept this!" she pointed.

"Seven was just for my equipment and before you complained. Considering the fact that despite the fact that I pointed it three times now you still didn't apologize for wanting to kill me or thank me for saving you we will round it up to 10 thousand. And I will need a short blade to go with the sword, you made me lose a magic shield of great value and I doubt you have any at home. " he explained.

Kim nearly cursed at him but stopped herself just in time, it would only make the price go higher.

"I apologize for the harshness of the test I made you pass and for my lack of gratitude for having saved me. You are right, it would be dishonorable not to pay for what has been lost. I will sign a contract as soon as you amend it." she said. She received a new one near instantly. The part about secrecy was very extensive, she had to conceal and help to conceal his nature and powers from his family and girlfriend. She also had to keep quiet about what she saw in his kingdom.

She signed the contract and once he was sure all was in order John and Sylvia helped Kim get up, putting her arms over their shoulders. It made the ragged kimono that was covering her crotch fall down, revealing her naked body.

"We'll help you get the sap off your body, it can be very sticky but it does wonders on bruises, wounds and burns." he told her.

She wanted to scream and fight him but she was so weak right now. They carried her to a pool of water over which was floating a golden orb of light and cleaned her. She was conflicted, the fact that only Sylvia was touching some parts of her body was both reassuring and frustrating.

She was feeling really warm despite the temperature of the water. In the end once she was finally clean of the sticky substance John advanced his hand towards her boobs, making her heart beat so fast it got her dizzy. But he only touched her chest rather than grope her tits. He was probably using a spell, but she could not feel anything. Suddenly, in a flash she felt her Ki flow again and her strength come back.

"Let's go back to your place now. And remember that I will enforce this contract to the letter." he said.

On the path to the small stone building his school uniform appeared on him, she was still naked, holding her sword that he had left her recover.

Just before leaving his kingdom John reflected on what just happened. He had managed to remove the collar from Sylvia and if anything she was even more devoted to him now than when she was wearing it. John took advantage of the fact that he had to keep Kim asleep to heal her in order to give at least some sort of boobs (even if they were barely A cup), the poison that Sylvia had given her had successfully blocked her Ki used in addition of 5 negative charges of Alter Body on her core with only modifiers about this. He had removed it once she had accepted the deal, curing her of the toxin in the same way.

He could now close the Theft window he had kept open all along, no longer needing to be able to equip the Bitch Binder collar on her if she got mad.

He only hoped that her father wouldn't be in her room looking for her when she would return there totally naked.