[FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma][Dark]Kyuuketsuki ch.3: The House of Elders

This chapter focuses mainly on new characters and I'm a little worried how it turned out. Any feedback greatly appreciated. fic should follow

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Kyuuketsuki
Chapter 3(counting prologue):The House of Elders
By Zorknot

DISCLAIMER: Ranma1/2 owned by Takahashi Rumiko and
various other companies.

NOTE: All previous chapters can be found at
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=101834
or at
http://geocities.com/zorukonotsu/fanfics.html
The website is primitive, but functional.

Nyuuchezutswun is the name of the Amazon village.

~~~~~[BEGIN]~~~~~

The darkness was profound. Even with the torch still burning in the
passageway, the inky depths of night curled around Li San, making
her feel naked, cold, and alone.

Gurei had left.

He had gone to certain death and he had smiled at her in thanks at
the chance to do so. He was not a woman, not a warrior, not really
anything in the Amazon way of thinking. Li San herself had not a
week hence joined her sisters in laughter at the way he tottered
about with his bulbous features and rotund physique. And yet...

Li San tried to pull herself together, tried to squelch the twin
streams of moisture that rolled down her face. Again there was the
ever present doubt she had...that she wasn�t meant to be a Healer, a
Warrior. The sight of blood still made her squeamish, cries of pain
drove needles in her spine, yet she was expected to kill as much as
save those who were her patients.

Magic made curable many things that stymied science, but it was a
double edged sword. The demon god that languished in the source
of the Jusenkyo springs fed magic not only to its waters but to the
creatures that drank of them. Even common animals could inflict
terrible curses upon their enemies, and those humans that
campaigned against the Amazons could unleash punishments many
times more insidious.

Possession was nigh incurable after only few days and often those
who may once have been friends were twisted into perverse
creatures of monstrous strength. Cancer, by comparison, was at the
level of a common cold.

The vampires of Jusenkyo were not the only evil in the world, but
if possession was a disease, then they were an epidemic. An
epidemic for which there was only one remedy... Death.

This really wasn�t any different from any other task she had been
given. She had the means for a cure, and now she had to administer
it.

Pao Da was a witch. As things looked she was the one most likely
responsible for the failing of the wards of Jusenkyo. The only way
to defeat her was through her familiar. An owl. Sha Resu. She had
to remind him of his old life, and then she had to kill him.

If she didn�t do this the Amazon�s only true defense against the
vampires would be closed to them, and not only would they likely
perish, but they would become an army of revenants that would
bring death to all.

Li San was an Amazon. She could not cry. She could not be weak
now when she was needed by her people. She could not allow a
man to show more courage and nobility than herself. She was a
secret believer in male suffrage, a belief strengthened by what she
had learned tonight, but she also had her pride as an Amazon, and
it was this that granted her the strength to wipe the moisture from
her eyes, extinguish the flame of her torch, and grab the wooden
rungs of the ladder to the outside world.

Li San climbed out of the dark hole she had been stationed in and
analyzed the situation at the main entrance.

The villagers were getting more and more frantic. Their torches
rose up and down in anger. Weeping fathers begged that their
children at least be allowed inside, raising them up almost as if in
offering. All of them were trying to get in, and only Lin was
keeping them at bay.

Li San couldn�t just go in herself. She had seen what had become
of the elders, and she knew that without some aid she would perish
as well. But the other warriors of the House were either already
dead, distributing cleansed Jusenkyo water, guarding the other
entrances, or trying to get inside themselves. She had to contact
them somehow, but how could she do this without revealing what
terror was going on inside the House of Elders, the very center of
everything that Amazons stood for?

How could she find aid, without causing total panic?

Seeing the mobs of screaming villagers so tenuously kept at bay,
seeing how violence was a secret undercurrent that threatened to
reveal itself at any moment, Li San decided that total panic was
inevitable. The House had to be cleared.

Li San was not an imposing figure. She was small, only some
fourteen hands high, and her frame was slight. She was athletic
more than strong, and most of the time her small stature was a
strength rather than a weakness. But right now she wished she was
massive as a village guard, twenty-four hands high with gigantic
rippling muscles and a wide, domineering stance. Even if she was
as big as a house, though she doubted she�d make it through that
crowd. There was no easy way to do this, but she had a way.

Li San closed her eyes and silently thanked the Goddess for her
training.

She concentrated and breathed in deeply, moving her ki outside of
herself, and into the crowd, halfway between where she stood in
darkness and the step where Lin brandished her halberds in an
attempt to keep those that got through the four other guards from
passing. Now she used her second sight to see herself, not only
visually but thermally and with sound as well, then she stretched
her ki into a long strand between the two locations and �arced� her
image across the ki strand to the step.

There was gasping as those in the front seemed to see someone
materialize out of thin air.

Good. It worked. A bead of sweat trickled down Li San�s brow.
Elder Ko Lon could perform the �Splitting Cat Hairs� technique
without difficulty, but it was never meant to be used over such
large distances, and while Li San was skilled, she lacked the vast
experience of an elder. She would have to be quick or she would
risk losing concentration altogether.

�Lin, we must assemble a team to destroy Pao Da.� Li San spoke
knowing her words were repeated by the image. She could not hear
what Lin might be saying though, she had to trust that she was
understood. �The guide has given me information that will help us,
but I require aid.� The image flickered as Li San gasped for air.
She was shaking from the stress. �Please...let...me...through.� She
managed before her ki snapped back into her and she staggered,
panting, as colored lights played across her vision. Swallowing she
took a few moments to recover and then straightened herself. She
felt lightheaded and sick to her stomach, but she blinked these
sensations away and concentrated on the crowd in front of her.

When ki passes through the body it produces a giddy or uneasy,
shuddery feeling in even those insensitive to psychic phenomena.
When the ki passed through the crowd then it made an aisle way
through the people as they almost unconsciously moved away from
the sensation. Li San could get through, but she had to be quick.

Taking one last breath she broke into a sprint and headed for the
almost indistinguishable crack in the mob. She dodged and weaved,
and as the aisle way closed she eventually had to use her nearly
depleted ki reserves to jump over people. As she reached the front
though, people started backing away for her, recognizing her status
as a healer and as someone who had something important to say.

The two guards closest to her nodded, and she stepped on to the
veranda of the House of Elders. The battle had not yet begun and
already she was out of breath and faint. Li San had youth, but for
an Amazon youth held little virtue, only skill. She had lived her
seventeen years in a time of relative peace and she felt it now. Lin,
entering her thirtieth year, held such power in her body it could be
smelled. Like the crispness of ozone. There was such difference in
their skill levels, Li San almost felt like jumping back into the
crowd rather than speak to Lin. Stories of Lin were told to her as a
child, shared across campfires, whispered in taverns. Lin was in
fact, Li San�s idol.

Li San greatly respected the elders. There was no idea among the
Amazons that age equated frailty, and she honored them to the
point of near worship, as did many others. But they were gone.
Blown apart. And now there was only Lin. If anyone could bring
the Amazons together and banish the vampires once again it would
be Lin. Lin was their only hope.

Li San kneeled deeply in front of her heroine and stayed in that
position until she could trust herself to look up without breaking
into tears once again.

�Stand, sister Li San. I would hear this information you bring from
the Guide.� Lin commanded. Her voice rang clear and true. Part of
it was an act, Li San knew. Part of it was just to give an appearance
of strength to the mobs surrounding them. Still, Li San took
comfort in it. Lin would not let the Amazons fail.

Shakily, Li San stood. Once again she mustered her courage; she
looked straight up into her idol�s eyes. So fierce those eyes, they
could challenge mountains and they would win. Li San wanted
desperately to look away, but that would show weakness, and she
would not do that. Not here. Not now. �Sister Lin,� She began,
feeling not for the first time that �sister� was entirely unsatisfactory,
however technically appropriate it might be, �there is a way to kill
the witch.�

�What�s this about a witch?� One of the women in the crowd
shouted.

�We shouldn�t be worried about witches now! We have to protect
our men and children from the vampires!� another woman insisted.

Sometimes people could be so inane in times of stress, and the
worrisome thing was it was often about the things they cared most
about.

Li San addressed not the crowd but Lin. �I need help. The House
must be cleared...�

Lin set her jaw and waved Li San silent. She stepped toward the
crowd and spoke, �People of nyuuchezutswun! I and my fellow
Guardian sisters have kept a dire secret from you, but now it must
be told. The vampires have already reached this place.�

�No!� one of the men said this time, �We should still have an hour
at least!�

�The witch has been masquerading as elder Pao Da for some time
now. Tonight after a scheduled meeting, it assassinated all of the
other elders save Ko Lon, who remains in Japan.�

A deafening murmur arose. �What will we do?� �We�re crushed!�
�What chance have we now?�

�Why have you kept this from us!� a voice demanded.

�I hear someone among you questioning the authority of the
Guardians of the House of Elders.� Lin boomed in her stormy alto
voice. The crowd quieted. �You have plenty reason to doubt the
House. The Elders are all dead save for two, and half of our best
warriors perished with them. The witch masquerading as Elder Pao
Da remains in the House, kept from the rest of the village only by
virtue of the House�s protection. Until now there has been no way
to combat this menace. We have been keeping Guard on the House
for the safety of all, to keep the witch from escaping. If you would
challenge us in this, then be the first to volunteer to vanquish this
beast.�

A well muscled woman with black hair and a scar through the left
eye pushed up through the crowd. �I will volunteer! I still have
courage and honor, even if those of the honored House of Elders
lack both!� She spat on the ground.

Lin actually smiled. �Well met, sister Buri Lo. I see that you do
indeed posses courage and honor...but have you intelligence and
patience? Tell me, Buri, how you expect to vanquish this witch
once inside.� The smile left Lin�s lips and her features turned
painfully sour, �This fiend that has reduced our elders to puddles
on the floor, that has left some of our strongest warriors, our sisters,
as nothing more than twisted bones and flesh.�

Buri Lo simply glared stonily at Lin, apparently unable to offer any
suggestions.

�Let me tell you what you will be facing, my sisters. Arcs of white
hot energy, cutting through anything in its path as easily as if
nothing were there. Powerful blasts of ki that need only come near
you to rend you free of all thought, and if they should reach you,
cause instantaneous death. The hag is fast and cunning and can
dodge any attack. It has the mind of an elder at its command. And
who knows what powers this witch may possess that I haven�t
been witness to. We made every attempt to vanquish the nightmare,
but death is not a price to be paid lightly. When we saw that none
would survive if we persisted, we fled.�

�But now we are faced with death from the springs as well!� This
was from a man, holding a small child, scarcely more than a baby,
with one arm. �If we can�t enter the House for our protection, how
will we survive?�

�We would not, were it not for the aid of the Jusenkyo Guide. He
has given us a way to defeat the witch.� Lin replied.

Buri spat again, �The Jusenkyo Guide is a man. Not even a warrior
that one.�

Li San had been a silent witness to all this, marveling at how
masterfully Lin was handling these tough questions, but to hear the
Jusenkyo Guide dismissed as nothing...she started speaking before
she realized. �The Guide may be a man, but he has a woman�s
heart! He is as noble as any warrior, and braver than many here. As
I speak he travels into the woods, to elder Ko Lon�s cabin, to try to
save his family from certain death. If there are any who doubt the
veracity of my words, travel there and see for yourself!�

�We are not fools who would do such a thing,� spoke one of the
guards, a tall, willowy Amazon with unnaturally white hair and a
somber expression on a youthful, elven face. �but what
information could the man Gurei offer that could be of any use
here?� Li San recognized her as Bura Shu, a healer like herself but
of much greater experience. She was around Lin�s age and the two
often worked as a team. Li San was a healer due only to her
unwillingness to cause pain. She often looked at Bura as someone
to surpass as opposed to someone to admire, but she held a large
measure of respect for her as well.

Li San could feel the eyes of hundreds burning into her and she felt
the doubts start to creep in. What if the Guide�s plan didn�t work?
Whoever entered the House would die, and it would be her fault.
What if she got part of it wrong? What if no one believed her?
What if they attacked her outright? Li San gulped, closed her eyes
and focused. This was a small thing. This was a recounting of
information. She could do this. After she was done, it would be out
of her hands, and she could move on to helping out the wounded in
the upcoming battle. She just had to concentrate on the particulars.
�The witch...has a weakness.� She began. Still she felt the
expectations like an electric charge, her throat went dry. She
swallowed again. �It has a familiar. An owl. This owl...It has
within it one of the vampiric spirits of Jusenkyo.�

�That hardly sounds like a weakness!� Someone shouted from the
crowd.

Li San closed her eyes took in a breath, opened them and
continued. �Its name is Sha Resu. Long ago when the magicians
ruled the lands he led an uprising against them. He was caught and
when he would not reveal the names of his comrades he was turned
into an owl. He sacrificed his soul to help destroy the magicians�
rule, but now he has been perverted by the demon god of
Jusenkyo.�

�We face death on two fronts and all you can offer us is stories?�
An outraged voice asked.

Li San�s eyes started burning. A lump grew in her throat. She
could not cry though. Not here, not now. Once she had revealed
what she knew she could cry. Then she could be weak. Now was
the time for strength. �If one can remind Sha Resu of his past, he�ll
be distracted, then the owl will be vulnerable...kill it, and the
witch�s power dies as well.�

�How sure are you that this plan of the Guide�s will work?� asked
Bura Shu.

�I...I don�t know!� Li San could think of no other response. She
wanted out of this burning furnace of eyes and back in the darkness
of solitude, where she could be alone with her fears. With her tears.

�You don�t know? You would risk lives on a mere suspicion? Do
you realize what we face?� a voice challenged.

�This is a fool�s plan!� someone else called out.

Li San had failed. No one would volunteer for this. She hadn�t
thought it out. She hadn�t figured the witch�s raw power into
account. She had panicked everyone for nothing. She wasn�t fit for
all this. She was a fool. �You�re right,� she whispered. �You�re
right,� she said louder. �It was wrong of me to ask for volunteers
for this.� Li San turned her back on the people. �Lin, please open
the doors. I will go myself.�

Lin put a strong hand on Li San�s shoulder. �You will not be going
without me, my sister.�

Li San looked up in wonderment at Lin�s strong warrior features,
at the grim yet somehow warm smile. In this terrible night of death
and suffering, here was a moment she would treasure forever. All
she could do in response was nod.

Lin turned to the crowd. �Will any follow us on this fool�s plan?
We may all die this night; who among you will die with honor?�
There was murmuring within the crowd.

Buri Lo spoke up. �My words were not empty. I will go anywhere
I might shed demon blood.� She went up all four steps of the
veranda in a single stride and unsheathed her massive twelve-hand
sword from her back. The sword was almost as large as Li San
herself, but Buri held it easily using only one arm. She spun it
around in a figure eight pattern once before resting it on her
shoulder.

�I offer my services as well.� Bura Shu said bowing her head of
long white hair before gracefully climbing the steps herself.

Lin nodded and said. �This is enough. We need speed and
maneuverability more than numbers. Protect yourselves against the
vampires. If we do not return in an hour�s time you must consider
the House lost. May the Goddess protect us all.�

Just as Lin was about to open the door, Li San suddenly
remembered something. �The Guide...he said something else. He
said that the witch was not one of the walking dead...that she could
leave the House at any time...�

�Huh?� asked Buri.

Bura Shu just nodded. �No doubt it has been raising an army all
this time.�

�Zombies� Lin grimaced, tightening the grip on her halberd.

�Let me go first then,� Buri requested, �it�s time the undead
learned to stay dead.� With that Buri opened the door and they all
entered, Li San closing the door behind them...

...into darkness.

Absolute darkness.

But there were sounds. Shuffling, scraping...moaning.

�Bura! Can you give us some light?� Lin hissed.

Slowly a white light brightened around Bura Shu. Li San looked
around. And suddenly she was staring straight into the face of her
mother. Rotten, disfigured, gaunt and reaching for her... Li San
screamed.

Buri pushed her down and swung at the creature, decapitating it. It
still walked, guided by some infernal mechanism. Buri picked Li
San up by her collar, �Find your owl, girl, and get out of my way!�
Li San nodded, eyes wide and left Buri, looking back only once to
see her split the creature that was once her mother lengthwise in
the dim half light provided by Bura Shu.

Her mother was dead. She knew it before of course but before
there was still hope that somehow she might have found a way
out... There wasn�t time for mourning when Li San escaped, and
there wasn�t time now. She reached at her belt for her own weapon,
a pair of nunchaku made of iron and coated with a thin layer of
silver. They had a dense diamond pattern etched in the middle of
each small rod to provide a grip, and the chain that held the rods
together swiveled at the junctions to allow for more movement.
Nunchaku were effective weapons, particularly against opponents
who favored blades, and they also allowed a knock out without
serious injury if such an outcome was desired. They were not
however, the best weapons with which to battle zombies.

One grabbed her by the ankle, the skin, dry, cold. Not as startled
this time, Li San had the presence of mind to know better than to
merely flail at it with the nunchaku. Instead, she wrapped the chain
of the weapon around the wrist of the creature and twisted
forcefully, breaking the arm with a sickening crunch. Still the hand
held fast to her ankle and pressed harder. Li San tried pulling it off
with her fingers, but the zombie�s hand wouldn�t budge. It
squeezed harder, causing Li San to gasp in pain. Not knowing what
else to do she concentrated healing ki into her hand and touched
her ankle to keep the damage to a minimum. Amazingly the hand
disintegrated!

�Bura Shu!� Li San yelled, �heal the zombies! It kills them!� She
stood up and turned around to see if Bura had heard her, only to
have her face come inches away from the blade of Lin�s halberd.

�Duck.� Lin commanded and Li San obeyed. She looked behind
her to see the head of another former Amazon fall. She knew it was
still alive.

Li�s weapons were largely ceremonial, silver being the traditional
metal of the healer. But silver was also an excellent conductor of ki.
Li San looked at her nunchaku and, concentrating, covered it with
her healing ki. Then she swung at the zombie towering over in an
upwards diagonal strike as she stood up. The nunchaku ripped
right through the torso and the zombie�s body was reduced to
halves twitching on the ground.

�Where is the witch?� Lin growled behind Li San. She stabbed a
zombie in the torso and pitch forked it over her head where it
landed in Bura�s grasp, promptly turning to dust from her ki. Lin
and Bura stepped to either side of Li San, and the three formed a
defensive triangle in the clearing they had created.

�Where is Buri Lo?� Li San asked in return.

�Arrgh! Independent wench! She�s either killing zombies two at a
time or she�s dead!� Lin replied.

�The witch is most likely in the main hall,� Bura surmised, �These
zombies are her army, and she wouldn�t want to risk destroying
them to attack an intruder.�

�So we�re safe as long as were surrounded by undead?� Lin asked
sardonically.

�No...I suspect things are going to get quite a bit more
complicated� Bura replied.

Just then there was a tremendous cackling and a patina of blue fire
spread across the ceiling. For a moment the three Amazons and the
zombies were still and then...the zombies rose up in the
air...levitating as if held up by strings.

�Sweet and holy Goddess of eternity!� Lin cried out. And the
zombies began their attack.

They spun rapidly in the air and then swooped down upon them. Li
San had to use every bit of her speed to evade the first and the fists
of the unholy thing ripped gouges in the floor beside her. Covering
her nunchaku with healing ki, Li San swung at the zombie...but it
dodged!

It flipped over her attack and changed directions in mid air, its foot
now aimed directly for Li San�s head. She barely found the time to
dodge before the foot was already digging through the floorboards,
splinters flying through the air. Acting quickly, Li San swung at
the zombie�s back. Stuck as it was in the floor, she hit it, and it was
split in two from the ki. But the torso moved by itself now,
spinning around at terrible speed and heading straight for Li San.
Flinching, she held the nunchaku with both hands vertically out of
pure instinct and by luck this caused both arms to be severed from
the creature as they spun through the weapon.

One of the hands found its way into the skull of another zombie
and it exploded through, leaving only a reddish brown mass on the
neck. This very zombie was heading straight for Lin, who was
engaged with another. Li San pulled another nunchaku from her
belt and using two weapons at once she made two scissor motions,
first up and down, then left and right, reducing the zombie to a
floating half of a torso.

Lin dispatched her opponent similarly and turned around to see her
would be attacker fall. �We�re going to get killed if there�s much
more of this...Li San, Bura, start moving toward the main hall!
Don�t attack unless absolutely necessary!�

Li San nodded and ran down the corridor dodging zombies and
swinging at anything coming toward her with her nunchaku. Using
two at once felt sloppy, but it couldn�t be helped. The attacks were
coming from all sides, and she needed a weapon for each hand to
deal with them.

Then suddenly there weren�t any zombies. Or rather no zombies
that were moving around. Blinking, Li San stopped. In the eerie
blue light from the ceiling she could just make out a figure... �Buri
Lo?�

�I thought you might be troubled by these unholy bastards so I
took care of them for you.�

�But...it was pitch black before! How did you...?�

The silhouette that was Buri pointed to its head...Li San
remembered the scar. �You think this is decoration girl? I�d have
no depth perception, be useless in a fight if I hadn�t trained my ears
to see for me.�

Lin and Bura came up behind Li San, Bura offering her own light.
This actually caused Buri to squint and Lin could see her face now,
though the light was still quite dim. �We need to move� Lin
pressed.

�Yes, I don�t know how long these demons will stay down...�Buri
nodded.

It was then that Li San noticed something. Disembodied, hands,
feet, heads were floating...drifting up the walls so slowly as to be
barely perceptible in the gloom. Suddenly Li San knew what was
going to happen. �Buri, look out!� She cried, and all of the body
parts zoomed toward Buri Lo.

It was amazing how many the sword mistress was able to deflect
with such a large weapon, but finally, a hand ripped through her
knee, a foot through her shoulder, and finally, another fist blasted
through her heart.

Li San screamed and fell to her knees on the ground. Her eyes
were wide and she tried to catch her breath as her heart beat
against her chest. She had hardly known Buri but the pain she went
through, the cruelty of her death...

There was a short pause that seemed stuck in eternity, and then Lin
spoke. �Everyone, get to a wall, now.�

Li San complied without question, numbly getting up and
flattening her back to the wall on her right. She saw Lin follow her
own order, taking the left wall and throwing down her halberd. She
took two three-pointed fist daggers from her belt and equipped
herself with them. An Amazon who had gone through the
�Chestnuts in Fire� training could cause bloody death in seconds
with such a weapon. She could also slice through arrows, bolts
from crossbows, even bullets before they could reach her, provided
she knew they were coming.

Bura, who had been fighting hand-to-hand before, took position
beside Li San and equipped herself with two shield glaives. At first
glance, these were nothing more than small circular shields,
roughly four hands across with a conical steel bolt in the center.
However the edges of the shield were razor sharp and on inside of
the starfish-like grip there was a trigger that released blades a hand
long from each spoke. It was an expensive weapon, but its price
matched its versatility. It could be used either for defense, or as a
dangerous offensive blade that could reduce enemies to ribbons. It
too was powerful against ranged attacks and in desperation the
wielder could throw it at an opponent, causing perhaps injury or
death to the unwary. Those skilled at glaiving could even cause
them to return in a boomerang fashion. Those who were masters
could catch the shield glaive again without loosing a limb.

The shield glaive was a favorite weapon among the healers, but Li
herself would never use something so deadly. She had trained in its
use, as she had for most every weapon, but that only meant she
could pick one up without injuring herself. She held a certain awe
mixed with repulsion for it. She had so wanted to be a great
warrior like Lin in her youth, but the violence just wasn�t in her. In
many respects she was the best healer of her generation. Li�s
control of ki rivaled even those of healers ten years older than her,
but in martial arts she was woefully inadequate. She couldn�t
understand why Buri Lo, a seasoned veteran of battle, had died
before her. It was unfair somehow, and Li was afraid the fates
would realize their mistake and cut her thread next.

Shaking, she put her nunchaku back into her belt and equipped her
hand shields, smaller than Bura�s shield glaives and with a layer of
silver on the middle stud and handle as well as around the rim. Li
was often mocked for using her weapons as mere show pieces, but
now she counted the extravagance among her blessings. She took a
deep calming breath and looked up, just as the first onslaught of
disembodied limbs came rushing toward her.

Her hands blurring in front of her, Li blocked the projectiles one
after another, filling the metal of the hand shields with healing ki
that reduced the zombie parts to dust. They came from everywhere,
and they curved and twisted and corkscrewed. All through this Li
San inched with Bura Shu closer and closer to the doorway of the
main hall. The flak lessened and regained force, ebbed and flowed,
like an eternal macabre sea of bones and sinew.

Only Li San wasn�t here anymore, she was six years old in
projectile evasion training, surrounded by ten other students, each
throwing painted pebbles at her as she was forced to dance around
them. �The most important thing for an Amazon,� she heard her
instructor say, �Is to be observant. Speed matters for nothing if its
possessor is blind. Mark the location of everything near you, in the
air, on the ground, behind you, above you, AND in front. Use all of
your senses, not just your sight. Hear and feel the wind rushing
from each object, smell and taste the air for clues that something is
near, finally do not neglect your unconscious mind, it sees far more
than you can.�

�Yes, mother,� Li San said and dodged and weaved and blocked a
hundred body parts. Without thinking, she jumped away from the
wall, into the center of the corridor. She felt the rush of air, smelled
putrification, subconsciously made a route for her limbs to follow
for maximum efficiency.

�Li San! What are you doing! Get back by the wall� Lin screamed.

...but Li was twelve years old. She was in her first fight with a boy.
She just had her first period and as part of the ceremony she was to
fight a male to prove to all her womanhood... and to keep from
getting married. He was strong and talented for his age, many said
it was a shame he was born male, but still he was no match for Li
San. She played with him, slapping him with her palm instead of
causing any real damage, milking her audience...

More and more body parts aimed for the easy target of Li San, but
she deflected or dodged all of them. She did flips and twists and
jumps and twirls, and the floor and ceiling became just two more
projectiles to avoid, gravity just another force to combat against.

�What is she doing?� Lin asked.

�She�s gone mad.� Bura replied, absently deflecting a skull with
her shield glaive.

...�Finish him!� Li�s mother yelled from the audience and she
knew she had put things off too long. The boy jumped high in the
air to try a flying sidekick. Li crouched down low. She deflected
the kick with her left arm as if it were nothing, and rising up she
uppercut the boy in the chin, with so much momentum she did
three backward flips and a mid air somersault as a follow through...

�We should get to the main hall while we can,� Lin suggested
crossing warily over to the other side of the corridor to join Bura.
Hardly any zombie parts attacked her now.

�No. We�ll be killed,� Bura shook her head.

�That was going to be the end result anyway!�

�I know this. But she,� Bura pointed to the blur of action that
seemed to levitate off the ground in the middle of the corridor,
�she still has hope. There is power in that.�

�If there were power in hope we wouldn�t need war!� Lin
contested, �Still, if we die first she won�t stand a chance...
Goddess! She�s so weak, but she shows this strength now...I don�t
understand it!�

�You always try to put labels on things, Lin. Things aren�t always
black or white.�

�Maybe not always, Bura, but they are right now.� Lin punched a
spinning leg out of the air and slammed it into the ground,
�Black...� Lin ripped the limb to shreds with the fist daggers,
�...and white.�

...Li San stood, looking at the crumpled form of the boy, smiling.
She was a woman now, she had proven herself. The audience
cheered, she could hear her mother�s voice among them. She
walked to the boy to offer a hand up to show that there was no ill
will, but when the boy got up, he started crying. He was bleeding
from the nose, some teeth were missing, and he was crying. �Stop
it,� Li commanded, but the boy just wailed louder. �Stop crying!�
The tears and blood streamed down the boy�s face...and a lump
grew in Li San�s throat. �I didn�t hurt you that badly! Stop it!� Li
San looked at the floor trying to blink away the tears that were
forming in her own eyes. She saw something red beside her foot.
The tip of the boy�s tongue. The boy had his tongue between his
teeth, he was trying so hard to hit Li, but then her fist came up... �I
didn�t do anything! Please! Stop crying, please!� and the tears
were streaming from her own face now. Tears she swore never to
shed. Tears that marked her in front of everyone as being weak.
And now she screamed to herself as much as the boy: �STOP IT!
STOP IT NOW! Stop...stop crying...� and she collapsed wailing on
the ground, her words no more than incoherent blubbering.

That was the last battle Li San ever won.

Until now.

The amount of flying limbs had decreased steadily and now there
was nothing but silence and darkness.

Li was six again, her ordeal with the painted rocks complete. Not a
single pebble had left its mark. �How�d I do, Mommy?� she asked.

�Very good, Li. You�ll be a powerful warrior someday,� her
mother said smiling approvingly the way only mothers can.

�Mommy, I love you� Li San said now, in the darkness standing on
the dust that was all that remained of friends and family. She shed
a single tear, and then fell unconscious on the floor.

~~~~~*~~~~~

�Wake up, Li, NOW!� Lin screamed, rousting Li San from her
dreams. Li smiled. She must not be awake yet she realized. The
great warrior Lin would never be shaking her like that. As if she
were worried about her...as if there were something dangerous
coming...as if everything she knew were about to collapse around
her...

Li San remembered.

She leapt to her feet...and instantly regretted it. She was sore in
almost every muscle and she felt nauseated, dizzy. Recent
memories flashed in her minds eye: pools of blood and twisted
bone that had once been human beings, teachers, sisters...mothers...
And Buri Lo.

Li San turned and retched uncontrollably, wishing she could purge
herself of what she had seen as easily.

�Li, we don�t have time� Bura pressed, �Look!� the older healer
pointed to the ground.

The black dust was moving away from them, like the undertow of
water before a massive wave. Li did not want to see what form a
wave of the terrible powder would take. Nodding, she followed Lin
and Bura as they walked the three or four horse-lengths to the
doorway briskly but warily. Lin had retrieved her halberd, but Bura
still wielded the shield-glaives. Li compromised, tossing her right
hand-shield to the floor and pulling out a pair of nunchaku. She felt
so weak though, she could barely lift the metal weapons, and her ki
was so depleted she�d risk death if she tried to use it now. She had
suspected it before...but now it was certain. There was simply no
way she could survive this night.

The thought was strangely comforting, and gave her a small
measure of strength. If she was going to die, she would die as a
warrior. She never would have thought it possible with her
sensitivity, but these dead things without souls, these creatures that
felt no pain or longing, they were giving her the chance. She
would die with honor, fighting alongside the great hero Lin and the
renowned healer Bura Shu.

They reached the doorway just as a gust of wind moaned down the
corridor. It picked up speed rustling Li�s tattered cheongsam and
almost knocking her over.

�Hurry!� Lin yelled over the rising roar of wind and moved to
open the door.

�Wait!� Bura yelled back, �Stay close to me!�

Li San moved as close to Bura as possible and Lin did the same.
Abruptly the wind stopped, and there was a glowing bubble around
them.

�I...can�t hold this for long.� Bura said, straining �A minute at
most. Open the door NOW.�

Lin did as her long time partner asked. Her arm eased through the
force field and pushed the heavy door open with a low creak. And
then her arm wasn�t there anymore.

A blinding blast of white light wracked against Bura�s field, the
awesome heat leaking through even that. Lin slowly withdrew the
stump that was once her left arm. Warriors trained long and hard to
combat against shock. With an adept enough healer, limbs could
even be replaced provided they were reattached quickly enough.
Lin did not have that option though. If she survived, she would
never have a left hand again. She would be half the woman she
was before.

Li could read this in her idol�s eyes as the warrior swallowed, her
face ashen. She could almost feel the loss as if it had happened to
her... �Lin,� Li said, even as they moved into the main hallway and
the funereal powder exploded in around them, �even with one hand,
you are still the best warrior of all the Joketsuzoku. Whatever
happens tonight, I will mark this as one of my proudest moments,
because I�m fighting beside you.�

Lin nodded slowly, and as she took a breath she seemed to recover.
�The powder might get in if it�s slow enough!� Bura warned.

�I�m on it!� Lin called back and pushed her right hand through the
barrier. �Mouko Takabisha!� She yelled and a ball of hot air
slammed into the powder blowing it away from Li, Bura and
herself. She quickly pulled her hand back in. Just in time too, as
another ribbon of white-hot ki slammed into the barrier. �It
worked!� Lin exclaimed. �Elder Ko Lon�s letters were right!�

�I don�t know...if I can withstand another blast...Does anyone see
the owl?� Bura asked.

Li�s eyes saw only colors from Pao Da�s ki attack. She was having
trouble seeing much of anything, much less any owl. �It�s too
dark!� Li yelled.

�I...can�t do anything about that...the powder is probably...getting
close again.� Bura grimaced.

�Close your eyes everyone!� Lin yelled.

Li shut her eyes tight and she heard another �Mouko Takashiba!�
from Lin and then, almost right on top of that a tremendous white
glow and rush of heat.

�Gahh!� Bura gasped, and when Li San opened her eyes the shield
was gone. She tried to pierce through the darkness, to detect
anything in the gloom, but even though the glowing blue patina
was on the walls and ceiling of the main hallway as well, she
couldn�t detect any trace of the owl or elder Pao Da.

Then she saw it. A glimmer of light in the air that quickly grew in
intensity. But for a brief instant, Li could tell where it came from.
The owl.

A fraction of a second and the light was too bright to look at
directly... and it was almost on top of them.

Li San didn�t think. There was no time to think. She only screamed
the first thing that came into her head, and it was only by accident
the thing she screamed was the name �SHA RESU!�

And then everything went black.

~~~~~*~~~~~

There were no sounds, feelings, smells, or tastes. Only nothing.

And then a voice, only it was not a voice... ~You know my mortal
name. You recall a past long burned away in the slow fires of time.
Who are you who does such a thing?~

~I am Li San.~

~Really? There was a time, you know, when that name meant
something.~

~I don�t understand. Am I dead? What is this place?~

~There is tremendous power in a name. Even if someone is
unaware of the meaning, they can be affected by it. I am more
sensitive to its power than most, perhaps, but it is not uncommon.
Just the fact that you know my name and I happen to value the
meaning of yours is enough reason for me to spare you. If you had
been named something else, you might already be dead.~

~But...my friends...~ Li felt a tremendous sadness wash over her, a
sadness mixed with a tinge of anger, and finally a feeling of dark
apathy.

~They will die. You will die too at some point. Does it really
matter how?~

Li found herself unwillingly stymied by the question. What
difference did it really make if she died now or later? Would she
be more happy...less? How could she know?

~Let me answer the question for you, since you seem unable to
answer it yourself. It doesn�t matter how you die. All that matters
is how you live. Have you striven to make the most out of your life
at every opportunity? Have you shown courage, honor, and dignity
when you could have run away, shirked responsibility, and insulted
another? Have you made the most out of your life? If you
have...then you need not fear death. But then why would you wish
for it?~

Li again felt the wave of sadness and anger course through her.
~You fought to defeat the oppressive wizards when you were alive,
why are you using magic against us now?~

~Yes I helped defeat the wizards. To do that, I had to give my soul
to the demon of Jusenkyo. I was given awesome magic to defeat
the wizards, and when I was successful I was torn from life and
placed in an all consuming flame of heat and cold and pain...I
could not stand it...but I had to. After an eternity I was given
release, only in the body of an owl, the very form I was cursed
with by the wizards. Still, I was free from pain, I was alive! But
one splash with hot water and it all went away. I was relegated to a
dark corner, only able to see the life of my victim as if from far
away...the pain was gone but the isolation was just as bad. I
learned to push my victim toward cold water, to keep him from
using an umbrella, from remembering to worry about the curse. It
was only after my victim died, unable to defend himself after hot
water splashed me, that I realized I had become the very thing that
I hated. But after only a few moments in the hell of Jusenkyo...I
knew that I didn�t care. That was one thousand five hundred fifty
years ago...two hundred years after I sacrificed my soul and just
before the creation of Nyannichuan. My only goal since then is
staying in the living world. I don�t care about you or your friends.
In fact, I think its only fair that you should suffer a bit before you
fade off into sweet oblivion.~

~But, you can�t mean that! You must still care...somewhere within
you!~

~Do you know how I got cursed with the form of an owl?~

~You wouldn�t tell your captors the names of your comrades...~

~Yes, someone has done well to keep the stories alive I see. All I
had to do was give them a name. Just one name, and they might
never have cursed me and I might not be here about to kill your
friends. But I never told them anything. They kept asking who, and
I kept saying that I didn�t know. They tortured me, used magic to
cause me pain, and finally they turned me into an owl. They were
tired of asking �who�... they wanted me to ask it for awhile. I was
cursed for eternity because I cared.~

~But you defeated the Wizards! You might not have been able to if
you hadn�t done that!~

~When I was released from Jusenkyo into the body of an owl I
flew around and discovered as much as I could about the world.
Do you know what I found? I found a government ten times more
oppressive and ruthless than that of the wizards I had defeated! It
doesn�t pay to care. Not if you�re immortal.~

~But you do care. You�re so sad...~ Li realized as she said it
something that she knew only on a subconscious level if at all. The
sadness, the anger, the apathy...they weren�t her emotions but those
of Sha Resu!

~You�re an empath? Of course! No wonder you were able to
connect with me! I thought you were using a talisman or spell...~

~An empath?~

~Yes you can read the emotions of other people...You were not
aware of this?~

Suddenly Li San�s life shifted into focus. That boy...it was his pain
she was feeling! And ever since then...not being able to cause
pain ...actually feeling good sometimes when she lost a match...all
she had attributed to weakness, was actually her greatest strength!

~Yes. I do care. If you can read emotions then I cannot lie to you
or myself. I care, but I do what I must to continue living. To stay
away from the Hell of Jusenkyo.~

~Then...why not help me? Maybe we can find some way to destroy
the demon of Jusenkyo and you won�t have to go back again!~

~The demon of Jusenkyo cannot be destroyed. Only changed into a
different form of evil...still I think I will help you.~

~Why?~

~Because I want to use you. Because I think through you, I may be
able to live again. Because Pao Da bores me with her goals of
domination and can offer me only a meager existence at best. In
her mind she is already dead. She has lived for hundreds of years,
but has done nothing. Now she tries to make up for it, but she has
no imagination. No passion. No soul. Helping you would be much
more beneficial to me. You must understand, though, there will be
some sacrifice on your part.~

~What kind of sacrifice?~

~I must become your familiar. I must see through your eyes, and
you through mine. If you should die before the owl that holds me
here, then you will take my place in Jusenkyo for all eternity.~

~There isn�t any other way?~

~Yes there is. There are many ways I could help you that wouldn�t
require such a sacrifice. But this is moot. I will only help on this
condition, and without my help you will die. Perhaps you might
prefer that to what I�m offering though, and so I give you the
choice.~

~Okay. I accept...but I have one condition of my own.~

~And what is that?~

~Your name...Sha Resu, what does it mean?~

Li could feel the spirit smiling, ~It means, �Great Vision�~

~Thank you.~

Sha Resu laughed, ~You really have no idea what you�re getting
into...~

And suddenly, Li was scared.

~~~~~*~~~~~

She felt herself falling and instinctually she flapped her...wings?
She was an owl! There was a bright band of energy in front of her,
moving inexorably toward three humanoid figures...She had
switched bodies with Sha Resu.

Trusting to instincts that were not her own, she flew toward her
human body and her friends hoping that maybe somehow she
could save them... but Sha was already moving lightening quick,
pushing Bura and Lin out of the way of the very attack he himself
had created.

Sha Resu, pointed at Li. �That�s it!� Sha yelled, �that�s what�s
been attacking us! Kill it!�

Li San, saw Lin getting up, saw her take some throwing stars out
of her belt with her free hand, and promptly turned around to fly
the other way. Li San had played right into Sha Resu�s hands! If
she died as an owl before her human body died, she�d be trapped in
Jusenkyo forever, and Sha would be free! He hadn�t even lied to
her. He had told the truth the whole time, but Li never realized he
would do this. A metal throwing star almost hit her. Without her
mother�s training, Li San would have been killed instantly. As it
was, her senses were so warped as an owl she almost didn�t dodge
it anyway.

Li San angled to land on one of the benches arranged in rows in the
main hall. The back of the bench offered some measure of
protection from Lin�s attacks and she could peek out from the side
to see what was going on. Looking now she saw things weren�t
going well.

Bura Shu had collapsed to the ground gasping for air. A tendril of
smoky black powder drifted to the healer�s prone form. The
powder thickened and Bura was only able to give a short yelp of
surprise before she was completely enveloped in the black stuff.

Li San could feel the dust entering Bura�s orifices, filling her lungs,
stomach, bowels...she wanted to scream but all she could do was
make a strangled �Hu� sound... Then it was over.

Lin turned to see her partner engulfed in black death. She placed a
firm hand on Sha�s shoulder. �Save her,� she commanded. Only Li
San knew she was already dead.

Sha looked over in Li�s direction, then at Lin, then at Bura, and
finally at the center of the black mass.

�Do you hear me? Save her, or I�ll kill you where you stand!� In a
second, Lin had a fist dagger on her good hand and against the
neck of Sha�s stolen body.

Li could see Sha�s eyes widen even as far away as she was and in
the dark. Truly if she hadn�t been an owl she would have had the
same reaction. This was her idol, threatening to kill someone she
thought was Li herself. If she did though, Li wouldn�t be forced
into Jusenkyo...but then she�d spend the rest of her days as an owl...

Sha slowly placed a hand on Lin�s wrist to say he would save Bura.
Then he raised an arm and pointed at the black mass with an index
finger. �It is time for you to die, you meddlesome old hag!� And in
an instant the black dust fell to the floor, leaving elder Pao Da...
frightened and exposed.

And then a beam of white energy hit and Pao Da exploded into a
wide splash of blood and tissue fragments.

The dust no longer covered Bura, and Lin could see what Li San
already knew. Lin clenched her fist, and as Sha turned his stolen
head back toward Lin the fist met sharply with the temple. �You
aren�t Li San.� Lin said over the fallen form, and sat beside the
body of Bura Shu.

Li could feel the darkness now. Not just from the blue patina of the
walls and ceiling dissipating into nothing, but also from Lin. Li felt
tired, depressed, and angry to such a great degree she knew all of it
couldn�t be from herself. Still she had a hard time figuring out
where her feelings ended and Lin�s began. Before she knew of
being an empath, she would have attributed it to weakness, or
perhaps an imagination that was a little TOO good. But couldn�t
that still be it? Could she really trust anything that Sha Resu said?

But Lin had to be the cause of the dark, unclean, terrible feeling Li
had. Because Li wanted so much to be relieved, to cheer that the
House was finally clear even despite the awful casualties. She
certainly did not want to feel such tremendous guilt.

Li flew to her body. She had inserted herself into people�s dreams
enough in the past to combat possession that it was easy enough
for her to return to her body. She opened her eyes and took a
breath. �Lin,� She said, �This is not your fault.�

�I know its not my fault!� Lin snapped. �It was Elder Pao Da�s
fault. Or maybe Jusenkyo�s fault. Maybe it�s your fault, Li San.
Maybe you�ve just been deceiving me all this time...But I should
have seen it. I should have been able to do something...�

�There was nothing you could do...�

�You�re trying to make me feel better?� Lin seethed, �If you want
to make me feel better, TELL me I could have done something,
TELL me I was stupid, or that I wasn�t paying attention, or that I
should have been less trusting...Don�t you DARE tell me there was
nothing I could have done...that I was helpless...that I�m still
helpless.� Lin was crying now and so was Li.

�I don�t think you�re helpless...� Li tried.

Lin features hardened into a cold mask. �You�re a witch. I can�t
trust you anymore than I could comfortably spit out a rat.�

The feelings of fear and isolation were decidedly Li�s own. It only
just now dawned on her that she was a witch. If her familiar died,
maybe she could return to normal, but she would probably never
be accepted back into Amazon society. Simply being a witch was a
crime punishable by death, and even if somehow she convinced
everyone that it was okay, and that she wasn�t evil and they
accepted her back...somehow she felt like she had already lost
something irretrievable, that her ties to her Amazon sisters were
now completely severed and that they would never be mended.
�I�m sorry.� Li spoke softly through her sobs. �It was the only way
I knew we could be saved...�

Lin closed her eyes. �By the Goddess! Bura, you were right. I
admit it! But why couldn�t you be wrong? Why can�t things be
simple? Black and White...why does everything have to be gray?
Why do there have to be evil elders...good witches...Why can�t you
be here now?� Lin opened her eyes. She crouched over Bura and
lifted her dead friend�s left arm into the air. Then she put Bura�s
hand in her mouth and held the arm up with her teeth.

�Lin, what are you doing?� Li San asked.

Lin made no sound in response. She simply used a fist-dagger to
cut off Bura�s arm at a certain spot on the fore arm. It was a clean
cut. Amazing in itself, really. Then Lin held it by its base and
placed it on the stump of her left arm. It was an almost perfect
match. �Heal me.� Lin commanded.

�I...I can�t!� Li protested.

�Yes you can! You�re a witch you can do almost anything! Hurry
up before I realize what I�m doing.�

Li San could feel such hope and not a small amount of craziness
coming from Lin that she nodded. �Okay...I�ll try.� She placed her
hands on Li�s stump and Bura�s arm and concentrated. Even with
someone�s own arm this was extremely difficult. Blood vessels had
to be matched, nerve ending rejoined, muscle tissue healed in just
the correct way, bone material reknitted. Each process had to be
handled on its own and could take weeks, even months to complete.
Only for some reason all of this was happening on its own. All Li
was doing was supplying ki. It was as if...

It was as if the arm WANTED to join with Lin.

A mere five minutes after Li started, Lin was flexing Bura�s hand.
It was odd to see such a thin hand and wrist on such a large arm.
The skin was milky white to Lin�s tanned bronze.

To use another�s organs for any purpose without the owner�s
express consent was of course illegal in Nyuuchezutswun. In fact, it too
was punishable by death. Necromancy was simply too dangerous.
The souls of the dead, even the recently so, were often ruthless in
their quest for life, or a more restful death. Bring one person back
to life, and there would likely be twenty sent to the grave before
the reborn finished exacting vengeance for their half existence. Lin
knew as well as Li San that Bura had become a part of Lin
spiritually as well as physically. Maybe it would turn out alright.
Then again maybe Lin would go mad from an internal power
struggle and kill anyone near her out of reflex.

�Now you can�t trust me either.� Lin said. �Which means of course
we�re stuck with each other.�

Li nodded and swallowed.

�Come, we must tell the villagers their House is safe.� Lin said,
standing. They both knew it wasn�t their village any more. �You
mind giving some light?�

Li made her hand glow so they could see their way out of the
building. They walked steadily down the corridor they had fought
so hard to get through. In no time they were at the door to the
outside, and who knew what lay beyond. Li and Lin both pushed
against the double doors, and when the villagers saw them there
was a massive cheer.

�The House is clear!� Lin called out. �Elder Pao Da is dead. So are
Buri Lo and Bura Shu. You sleep with their bodies tonight, but you
shall at least wake up on the morrow.�

�Is the witch destroyed?� someone asked.

�Are you sure it�s safe?�

�What if the vampires use fire or try to ram down the walls?�

�A second barrier extends beyond the walls of the House.� Lin
responded. �Just be sure not to invite any vampires or curse
victims inside.�

�What about the owl? The familiar...Is it dead?�

At that very moment Li heard a flap of wings and felt the talons of
Sha Resu�s owl form puncture flesh as they wrapped around her
right collar bone. She was in pain, but it was her own pain and she
could deal with it.

~Do not think that this is over, Li,~ Sha�s words came to Li San, ~I
will not give up. It is only a matter of time, and I have more
patience than you can possibly imagine.~

�It�s her!�

�She�s the witch!�

Li San could say nothing that would be believed. She simply
walked down the steps into the crowd, which parted wide to let her
through.

Lin paused on the veranda. �By Amazon law, we should both die. I
ask though that you wait until a time of peace to exact the
punishment. For now we will resign ourselves to darkness.� And
with that, Lin followed Li San through the crowd and into the night.

~Do you see? Do you see how they judge first and think later?
That is the nature of human thought, And it will never be changed.
Not by anything you can do.~

�Shut up.� Li commanded her familiar. �Unless you�d like me to
kill myself? Maybe you�d like to go back to your friend the
demon?�

Only Li�s own thoughts filled her mind, but she could feel the fear,
the hatred, the sadness. �You shouldn�t have let Bura die. You
were supposed to protect both of them, that was the deal. But you
wanted my body. You couldn�t wait. Where was your patience
then?� Fear and rage coursed through Li, but she knew now that
they weren�t her feelings, at least not entirely. She continued
speaking with increased confidence. �I fought my way through the
House of Elders; I have faced my fears and conquered them. I
made a sacrifice and I upheld my word. You have done nothing but
kill, and you went against our agreement. I don�t have to do
anything you say.�

There was a feeling of cold calm and the owl perched on Li�s
shoulder nodded. ~You will though...You will.~ And with that the
owl flew off into the night.

Li was now away from the crowd and approaching the woods,
heading toward Jusenkyo. She didn�t know where else to go.
Several homes still had torches burning outside them and smoke
coming out of their chimneys...homes that had Jusenkyo cursed
inside. They would probably be gone by tomorrow.

A horse came running toward Li at a mad gallop, its eyes wide
with fright. It was a copper colored stallion. Its coat shown in the
torchlight as it passed Li. It was Ranma, Gurei�s horse. Gurei
hadn�t made it.

Li dropped to her knees and the tears started coming again. She
didn�t try and stop them this time. She wasn�t an Amazon anymore
anyway. Was she weak? Was she cut out to be a warrior? Those
questions seemed so inane now. So stupid. She would survive or
she would die. It didn�t matter. Everything she had loved was gone.
Except...

Lin placed a strong hand on Li�s shoulder. �Gurei helped us...He
was a good man, I wish I had known him better. But we have to
see if there�s anything we can do to stop the vampires. We have to
go to Jusenkyo.�

�I wonder what Bura would have thought of that.� Li got to her
feet, wiping the moisture from her face.

Lin�s face held a distant expression. �It was Bura who suggested
it,� she said.

After an uneasy silence they both just started walking. It was
strange, Li noted, but somehow the thirty-year-old Lin had stopped
being an idol, a woman almost twice her age, or even a warrior,
and had become her friend. Perhaps it was the fear they both now
held. That they would become as vile as the vampires themselves.

They were a witch and a necromancer, fighting against an army of
vampires each ten times stronger than themselves. The odds were
hardly in their favor. Still, Li San felt a little better about their
chances. �Lin?� Li asked, remembering her conversation with Sha
Resu.

�What is it?�

�I was just wondering...what does your name mean?�

�Hmm? Lin...doesn�t mean anything...Well I...I suppose there�s no
reason not to tell you now...It�s short for Lin To.�

�Lin To?�

�That�s right you�re too young to have seen a naming. The
elders...used to choose English words to name the children. It�s a
tradition started some 300 years ago when an English woman
supposedly saved the village. My parents were poor and they made
clothing for a living...My name means lint. That stuff that gathers
in corners and crevasses where clothing is stored. Once I found out
what it meant I didn�t care for it much.�

�I don�t know...I think it�s kind of neat. I mean, you can�t ever get
rid of lint...�

Lin smiled sadly and nodded. �Yes...and as long as there is reason
there is always hope.�

�I don�t understand.�

�That is your name. Reason.�

�My name means...reason?� Sha Rezu�s statement made sense now.
There was a time, he had said, when reason had meant something.
But Sha was wrong, Li San decided. Reason still meant something,
even in all this chaos. Li nodded �My mother...�

�Your mother was an amazing woman. I am glad to have known
her.�

Her mother had told Li many times she was destined for great
things. After that fight with the boy, she had stopped believing. Li
looked up at the blackness of the sky as she walked. She could
already feel the hunger and pain from the spirits of Jusenkyo as
they drifted free from their prisons. She would find a way to stop
them. Her mother was dead now, and all she had left from her was
her memories and her name. No matter what happened Li decided
she would do her best to honor both.

~~~~~*~~~~~

Have you seen my cat?
It turned into a bat!
Have you seen my dog?
It turned into a hog!
Have you seen my dad?
He turned into a cad!
Have you seen my mommy?
She turned into a zombie!
Let�s hold hands and pray.
Now let�s run away!

-Amazon nursery rhyme

~~~~~[END]~~~~~

Any feedback greatly appreciated. Prereaders listed in final draft.
Thanks for reading!