Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ A Gift of Love ❯ Ryuuro (Pin-Mei's Version) ( Chapter 46 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I again apologize for the break. The fight scenes were stumping me. And I got a miniscule case of writer's block. Plus, I switch off between writing this on my mom's computer and my own (mine is a piece of crap that I can hardly do anything else on, so I use hers so I can listen to Kawaii Radio), and my story kept getting stuck on hers, and she has a password on it to keep me out. I also apologize that this one is a little shorter than usual.

Hua revived Pin-Mei by first healing her wounds, the cause of her death, and then placing her soul back into her body. However, now Hua only has an incompatible soul within her - Ma Ying's. Her body is now very unstable, so she won't be able to fight. She'll keep coughing up blood until she dies.

For some triumphant sounding music for Pin-Mei to battle to, we will turn to Ayumi Hamasaki's “still alone”. It's a sad song, but it is masked by a powerful instrumental.

I also have some other good news. The picture of Pin-Mei I drew a while ago is finally up on my deviantart. In addition, there's another picture of her with her hair down wearing wedding-type attire. The club photo sticker is done (despite Ren's weird eyes), and I'll color it and put it up later. You can get to it by clicking the “homepage” link in my profile. This story has also begun to be posted on Adult Fanfiction and Media Miner, both with a more graphic “rape” scene, and some chapters have been revamped. The AdultFF version is GRAPHIC. Like, NC-17. If you choose to read it, please be wary of my warning.

I recently spoke to a friend I went to a Japanese camp with (not in Japan. Japanese girls came and stayed with us at a sister academy of theirs). She's basically the person that made this fanfic happen. She started talking about Faust and Manta and how underappreciated they are. So I went home and said, “Well, I'll go rewatch Shaman King.” And I did. Then, lo and behold, this came into my head (of course it was much different). So yeah, go her!

Notes: “jouchama” is what I believe to be the female form of “bocchama”. I didn't find it in the dictionary anywhere, but I looked at the stem of the male title, “boc” and found that “bocchan” means “son of others” while “obocchan” is an honorable term for “son”. With that in mind, I looked up “daughter” and found “ojouchan” for “honored daughter.” Thus, jouchama was born, if it didn't exist already.

Hua is going to talking a bit harshly to Pin-Mei in this chapter. It's not that she doesn't love her, she just knows that she needs a little tough love right now.

For the record, whenever chibi-Pin-Mei says she loves Ren, she basically thinks it's a synonym for “like”.

“Renmei” in Japanese means “alliance”.

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A Gift of Love - Chapter Forty-Six: Ryuuro (Revelation: Pin-Mei's Version)

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Pin-Mei woke up and looked to her right. She smiled. Ren was still there beside her. He had said a couple weeks before that she would only be waking up like this, with him next to her, once, and then he was going to kick her out. But here she was, two weeks later, still sleeping next to him.

“Niisama…” she whispered as she inched closer to him.

His eyes suddenly opened and he glared at her. “Don't get so close to me. It's weird.”

Pin-Mei looked over her shoulder at his arm, which was still wrapped around her, and giggled. “Okies, sorry.”

Ren realized his fault and moved his arm away. He sat up and got out of bed. She sat up also and watched him put on a pale yellow shirt. As he did the last tie, he turned to leave the room, ignoring her. She scampered after him.

“Niisama! Wait for me!”

He picked up his pace. She skipped after him. Ran came into view and stopped the two children.

“Are you ready, Pin-Mei?” she asked bending down to her level.

The little girl cocked her head. “Ready for what?”

Ran forced a smile. “You and your father are leaving today. You're going back home.”

Pin-Mei stared at her. “No…no…NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!” She ran over to Ren and latched herself onto his arm, burying her teary face into it. “I'm not going home…I wanna stay here instead…”

Ran looked her sadly. “I'm sorry, sweetie, but you have to go. En won't let you stay here. He doesn't want you to distract Ren anymore.”

Pin-Mei lifted her head. “I won't anymore! I promise! I'll be really quiet! Just PLEASE don't make me go home!” She looked up at Ren with pleading eyes. “Please Niisama! Don't let them take me!!”

He just stared down at her with apathetic eyes. They made her even more upset.

“Please Niisama! I want to stay here with you! I love you! I love playing with you! Please help me!”

He just kept staring down at her, emotionless. Suddenly, she was picked by the collar of her shirt by Zhang.

“We're going,” he said bluntly.

Ren watched him carry her away, his name still being called. He and his mother watched until their visitors were out of sight. His mother looked at him.

“Ren, darling--,”

“Don't talk to me. I want to be alone - again.”

He went back to his room and slammed the door, the sound echoing through the long and empty halls. Ran stared at it.

“Oh Ren…”

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Rong stared at Pin-Mei. This was a side of her that even she had never seen. She had yelled. She had sworn. Someone who was so embarrassed about her body had ripped off her clothes as if she didn't care who saw her. Then she had fashioned herself to look like her fallen fiancée. Now, she stood over Ren's lifeless body, a look of bloodlust in her eyes. Rong found herself slowly inching away from her. It wasn't until she bumped in HoroHoro that she realized she had moved at all.

He looked down at her. “What?”

She blinked a few times and swallowed. “…I think…I think I'm nervous.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “For her?”

“No…for us. The few times Lady Hua became enraged, the results were staggering. Since I've never seen Pin-Mei in this sort of rage before, I have no idea what's going to happen.”

He looked up at the heartbroken girl. “I guess it will depend on whether she's simply paying homage to Ren by looking like him, or if she's trying to be Ren.”

“Rong,”

Rong snapped her head up to look at her master. Pin-Mei didn't turn to face her as she spoke.

“I'm sorry if I scared you. All you guys need to do is watch. I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because of me. You're all important to me. You were important to Ren, too. I could tell. And I'm going to protect the people important to him…I wouldn't be honoring his memory if I didn't.”

She clenched her fists.

“Justice needs to be served. A few months ago, I wouldn't have known what justice was…but when Ren came to rescue me, I learned it. Sometimes, what seems to be malice can be justice in disguise. He killed the syndicate in order to save me, and to punish them for touching me. Destroying the evil…that was his justice. And now…” She lifted her head. “It's my justice as well.”

She looked to Bason, who was hovering over his master's body.

“Bason,” she began. “I know that we've never worked together…and that it may go against your usual practices, seeing as I'm not from the Tao family…but to avenge Ren, it's something we must do. I don't have Ma Ying anymore, so I need you.”

Before the spirit could reply, a tag landed on his forehead. He disappeared. Pin-Mei's eyes widened. She ran over and picked up the tag.

“Bason!” she cried. She stared at the characters on it. “… `Seal'…No…I need him…I can't fight without a spirit…”

Hua knelt down and took the tag from her. She examined it, then put it in her robe. “He'll be fine. Once Suo is defeated, he'll come out again. No harm will come to him.” She stood and looked down at her daughter, who still knelt on the ground in anguish. Hua sighed and pulled her up by the scruff of her neck. “Dry your eyes, Ren-Mei. Don't shame your fiancée's memory by crying when you said you would fight.”

Pin-Mei's arm was still covering her eyes. “But what am I going to do? I don't have a spirit to help me…”

“Ano…Jouchama?”

She removed her arm, still looking to the ground, to see Li-Ling looking up at her. Her pink eyes were soft and beautiful, full of concern. As Pin-Mei straightened up, Li-Ling kept her eyes on her.

“Jouchama, maybe I could be of service?” she offered gingerly pointing at herself.

Pin-Mei's eyes widened once again. “You're a spirit!” she cried pointing at her.

Rong and HoroHoro blinked.

“Not as sharp as Ren,” he said.

“Unfortunately, no,” she agreed.

Pin-Mei gave a half-smile. “Great. Now we're on to something.” She looked around and saw Minbouken on the far side of the room. “Aw crud.”

Yoh blinked. “Are you going to go get it?”

She shook her head. “No need to.”

They watched her extend her hand, which was in a gentle fist, and snap her fingers. Minbouken leaped into the air and sailed toward her. The grip landed perfectly in her hand. The three boys and Jun stared in awe. The boys clapped a few times.

“How did you do that?” Manta cried.

“That's my ability,” Hua piped in. “Before I died, I wrote down my abilities in a book and gave it to Zhang to give to Pin-Mei. It had instructions for how to learn each of the different spells and attacks. I wanted her to be ready in case something like this ever happened.”

Pin-Mei let out a Ren-like sneer. “Like she said, I learned it from that book.”

“The ability is based on the will of the weapon you want to fly to you. If that weapon wants you to use it, it will comply, if not, it will remain where it is. Minbouken has part of my will in it since I wielded it before Ren-Mei here, that's why it didn't hesitate to fly to her.”

Her daughter twitched. “Stop calling me that.”

Hua grinned. “You'll have to deal with it. It sounds cute.”

She scoffed at her. “I'm going. Come on, Li-Ling.” She began walking away.

“Hai, Jouchama!” She floated after her.

“Ren-Mei, what page did you get up to?” Hua called.

“Ten,” Pin-Mei called back, not bothering to stop or turn around.

Hua looked slightly worried. “That's three or four spells at best…”

“Why? How many pages are there?” Yoh asked.

“…285,” Hua said softly. “That's not going to be enough…Suo will easily defeat her.”

“Li-Ling in Minbouken!”

As the rosy petals dripped to the floor, Pin-Mei glared at Suo. “Finally, for once in your life, dear grandmother, you're going to feel pain that can be compared to nothing else.” She sprinted toward her, her blade raised. “The pain I've been living with all these years…You're going to feel it!!”

“I'm shaking in my robes.”

Suo waved her fan, sending a strong wind at her attacker. Pin-Mei halted and braced herself against it, resuming her charge when it had subsided. She leaped up into the air and aimed her sword at the vile woman. As it looked like she was about to connect, Suo caught the blade in the fan. She smirked.

“Fool.”

Pin-Mei watched in horror as Minbouken shattered.

“No…”

Suo snapped the fan shut, turning it into a dagger. “It's a good thing you aren't really part of the Tao family. They don't need any more embarrassment.”

She stabbed her through the stomach. She took another fan from her sleeve and sent another strong wave at her granddaughter. Pin-Mei flew across the room and slammed into the wall. She coughed up some blood and fell to the ground.

The group stared at her. Rong started running toward her, but Hua held her back.

“Don't. This is her fight.”

Rong looked back at her angrily. “So I'm supposed to sit here and watch her die…AGAIN??”

Hua shook her head. “She'll be fine.” She smiled in Pin-Mei's direction.

Rong turned back around to see Pin-Mei standing up, removing her hand from her stomach. “She…she can…”

Hua smiled again. “Page one.”

The look on her daughter's face was that of pure determination and anger. She slowly walked to the middle of the room. Suo sneered at her.

“What are you going to do now, Pin-Mei?” she scoffed. “You have no weapon anymore. I doubt you can use your fists, so what's next…Ren-Mei?”

Pin-Mei twitched. She had no idea what to do next. It was true that she had no weapon she could use. She squeezed her eyes shut.

She's right…What should I do?

Then she looked up at the ceiling.

My room is above this one…

She smirked and raised her head, lifting her left hand to the ceiling.

“Come.”

The ceiling opened up and hundreds of stuffed animals floated down and hovered next to and behind her. Pin-Mei looked forward again as one plushie flew down in front of her. She opened her arms and it glided over to her. With a small smile, she embraced it tightly.

Rong stared. “I can't believe this…”

HoroHoro came up next to her. “What? What's so special about that one?” He squinted to get a better look at the plushie. It had purple hair with a small tongari, shining yellow eyes, and a disgruntled frown on its face. His eyes widened. “Why is that...”

They watched as Pin-Mei let go of the plushie and it perched itself on her shoulder.

“That's…Lián…”