Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ A Gift of Love ❯ The Fall of the Xu Family ( Chapter 48 )

Another one so soon? Well, I basically bribed myself with a Christmas Tree cake from Little Debbie's. I told myself I couldn't have it until I got home from school the day I posted a new chapter and was reading the reviews. I'm surprised at my sudden willpower.

I plan on updating before Christmas, although I can promise anything. This story will probably be done a little after, if not before, the first week in January. Yes, all half-decent things must come to an end (I hate being pompous)

Well, there was a pairing I was hinting at since 43 or 44. Now, it's blatant.

Gah…so tired…I posted this at 2 AM. Imagine…when this is done…I can sleep again…

Notes: “Roulect” is a neologism meaning to select something from many options, but still being able to choose what you want.

More Ren/HoroHoro implications.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A Gift of Love - Chapter Forty-Eight: The End of the Xu Family

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pin-Mei looked at Yoh. The stern, cold look in his eyes resembled Ren's so much that it was nearly impossible to deny him.

“…Ren? Is that really you?” she whispered.

He seemed to pay no mind to her awe at his appearance. “Pin-Mei, you can't go on like this. You're not acting like yourself. You lose when you try to do things you're not used to and not capable of. You'll begin to waver, and your power goes down when that happens.” A small smile appeared on his proxy's face. “Just be Pin-Mei and you'll win. I know you will.”

“Ren…” She wriggled from his grasp and hugged him. “I'm sorry, I'll do better…I won't act like this anymore…I'm so sorry.”

He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Don't apologize to me, apologize to Rong. You broke her arm.”

Pin-Mei looked behind her to see HoroHoro attempting to tend to Rong's arm, but failing miserably.

“Um…how about if I…”

“OW! DON'T FREEZE IT JACKASS!”

“AT LEAST I'M TRYING YOU OLD HAG!”

“I'M NOT A HAG! I'M ONLY ONE YEAR OLDER THAN YOU!”

“HAG HAG HAG! RONG'S A HAG!”

“IF MY ARM WASN'T BROKEN, I'D RING YOUR SKINNY LITTLE NECK!”

They went back and forth, and Yoh did his best not to giggle, forcing himself to regain his stern gaze when Pin-Mei turned back to him.

“I have to go now. It was hard enough to get over here, and I can't maintain this state for long. Just remember to be Pin-Mei and not someone else, alright? You'll win that way. I'm positive you will.” He patted her head. “And no more swearing alright? You're supposed to be the innocent one.”

She stared at him for a few moments before burying her face in his chest. “Ren…”

Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground. She looked up to see a rather perturbed Anna.

“You can get away from my husband now,” she said, her voice still cold.

Pin-Mei looked up to see her dragging Yoh away, who was seemingly free of Ren's possession. She clenched her fist on the ground.

Pin-Mei…You're such an idiot, she said to herself.

She stood and snapped her fingers. Shan's Song blade flew to her and she took it.

“Yet again, I've strayed from my path. I say I'm going to do things, and I don't do them. I just screw up again. I'm disgracing Ren…And I can't handle that. From now on…” She looked over her shoulder at Suo. “I'll make him proud…I'll keep myself. I refuse to let him down…to let everyone down.”

She looked at Rong, who was still bickering with HoroHoro about how to treat her arm. Sheepishly, she shuffled over and knelt down in front of her. She gently took Rong's arm and ran her hand down it. She sighed and stood up.

“Sorry.”

She walked away. Rong stared at her, then suddenly found she could move her arm without any pain. She rubbed her wrist, trying to get the feeling back in it. The Ainu blinked at her.

“Is it really okay?”

“Yeah.”

“She could have given a more heartfelt apology.”

“She's embarrassed. But it's alright, I know she didn't mean it.” Rong stood and began walking back to the group. He followed. “To tell you the truth, her heart is still really confused. She doesn't know how to act right now. She wants to be strong like Ren, but she doesn't know how. She doesn't get that Ren's Ren, and she's her. Pin-Mei can't be Ren, and Ren can't be Pin-Mei. The only way she'll know is through trial and error. And as long as she isn't in any mortal danger, I'll stand by and watch.”

“I guess…” He smiled slightly. “But it was kinda cool how he stopped her like that.”

“Who, Ren?”

“Yeah.”

She laughed.

“What?”

“That wasn't Ren, you fool. It was just Yoh pretending to be possessed.”

He fumed. “Hey, lady, I've been around Ren a hell of a lot longer than you, and I know when he's there and when he's not.”

“Wow, what a lousy friend. It blatantly wasn't him. For one thing, his eyes were still too soft. Yoh isn't capable of keeping Ren's constant eagle-eyes. And he looked really uncomfortable when Pin-Mei hugged him. Not only that, he didn't tell her he loved her before he left. Plus, he “left” so suddenly. It was Yoh.”

“It was Ren! I'll bet you anything it was!!”

“Fine, your headband. You have to give it to me if I'm right.”

“And WHEN I'm right, you have to treat me to a Chinese buffet.”

They stopped, shook on it, and continued on to join the group. When they got there, Rong put on the sweetest face she could muster.

“Why, Yoh! That was a lovely performance! You had me fooled for a minute there! Awesome job!” She gave him a thumbs up.

There was a moment of silence. Finally, Yoh blushed slightly and put his hand behind his head.

“Hehehe…Thanks, it was really hard.”

HoroHoro's jaw dropped. Rong smirked and held out her hand, and he meekly put his headband in it.

“Nice doing business with you.”

“Shut up…Hag…”

She slapped him with the headband. As he fell to the ground, she examined it. “Hm, guess I actually WILL have a use for this after all.”

“But why didn't you just channel him for real?” HoroHoro asked as he got up.

Anna folded her arms. “There's no way even I can reach him right now. He must have already been condemned.”

His eyes widened. “What do you mean, `condemned'?”

“His fate in the afterlife has probably already been decided. Depending on how he's judged, we may never be able to contact his spirit.”

“But why?”

“Because of the way Ren used to be…”

Everyone looked back to see Jun with her right hand on her left arm, which hung straight at her side.

“Because of the many people Ren killed, and the kind of lifestyle he led before he met Yoh, he may not be able to escape Di Yu…”

“You're kidding…” HoroHoro whispered. He looked around. “That's a lie! We'll be able to get Ren back, right? Pin-Mei came back! Why can't we bring Ren back too?” No one looked at him. Zhang was on the floor trying to comfort Hua and both seemed to ignore him. “Right?” Everyone just stared at the ground. “COME ON!!”

Rong put her hand on his shoulder. “HoHo…the only reason why Pin-Mei was able to come back was because Lady Hua extracted her soul from her own body and put it back into Pin-Mei's after healing it. We…we don't have that sort of option with Ren. Unless there's something here I don't know about, which I doubt, there's no way for Ren to come back. He's gone, Horo, he's gone.”

He angrily shrugged her hand off him. “Don't tell me that. It's bullshit,” he said in a low voice. “Ren's coming back, whether you have faith or not”

He began walking away from the group and over to Ren's now cold and almost grey body. Rong clenched her fist and followed him. She stood behind him and watched as he stared down at the body. She opened her mouth a couple times, but always closed it when she realized she didn't know what to say. Finally, she found the words.

“I know that you probably don't want to hear this, but I know what you're feeling,” she said in a loud whisper.

His head turned slightly, and then looked down again. “Sure you do.”

“No, I really do. I was feeling the way you are now when Pin-Mei died,” she asserted. “I wanted to give up. I honestly did. The only reason I kept my chin up and fought was because Ren believed that she'd come back. Even though I said I believed him, in the corner of my heart, I doubted him. I didn't believe in his ability to defy destiny.” She chuckled softly at herself. “I guess that's just the power of love. It just makes it all the more clear to me that I was just possessive of her, that I must not have loved her at all. If I did, I would have been the one telling everyone that she'd come back…”

“…Yeah…”

She gave him a sad smile, one that he couldn't see. “I know that you're in the same boat as me, HoroHoro,” she said. “You cared about Ren, but he didn't feel the same way. It's written all over your face.”

He flinched slightly.

“Um…Sorry…I…don't feel the same way…”

“Don't worry. I won't tell anyone…But I want you to know that you don't have to be alone, alright?”

He didn't say anything. Rong rolled her eyes a little bit, acting as though she didn't care.

“If you ever want to cry to me about this sort of thing, I'll be willing to sit down with you and let you bitch and moan all you want. But only every once and a while. Any more and I'll smack you.”

She waited for some sort of reaction, but got none. Feeling a little awkward and stupid, she rubbed the back of her neck as she looked at the ground.

“Well…um…I'll give you some time to be alone, because I'm guessing that's what you need-slash-want right now…So just…take your time.”

She turned and started walking away, but was stopped. She looked back to see HoroHoro's hand on her wrist. His head was lowered, but she could still see a veil of red on his face. Rong watched as he let his hand slip from her wrist to grasp hers.

“Hey…Will you stand with me a little while longer?”

She stared at him, then at their hands, and then back again. A faint shade of pink covered her cheeks as she turned back around to take her place beside him.

“Sure.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pin-Mei finally lifted her head.

The last attack I have…I've never used it before…I didn't learn it from Mom's book, so I don't know if I even developed it right…Please…just work…

She called Wei Shan's spirit over to her, as well as Yan's. Spirits came from the plushies and surrounded her in a circle of small flames. She took a deep breath and held her hand out.

“Li-Ling!”

The flower guardian appeared before her. “Hai, Jouchama!”

“Hyoi Gattai in Song Blade!”

She looked up, taking another breath.

Here goes everything…

“ROLL!”

The spirit flames swirled around her like a twister, eventually congregating on the ceiling in a pool of light. Pin-Mei raised Shan's blade in the air.

“SOUL ROULECT!” She held her hand out. “WEI SHAN!! HYOI GATTAI!” The ball of flame landed in her palm and she forced it into her chest, allowing it to integrate with her body. When she raised her eyes, they were cold, like Shan's.

She charged toward Suo with the sword held at her waist behind her. Suo waved her hand over her fan and it changed into a blade as well. They clashed, although Suo seemed to be putting next to no effort into the deadlock. She pushed her off and Pin-Mei fell to the ground. As she was getting up, Suo's blade glowed and she propelled her high into the air.

The spirit left Pin-Mei's body and she raised her hand again. “Tao Da-Xia! Hyoi Gattai!!” she cried as another spirit entered her.

As her eyes opened, she somersaulted and landed on her feet. She gracefully raised her sword with a Tai Chi style stance. Her eyes were warm and calm, despite not having a smile; an obvious influence of the spirit possessing her.

In the blink of an eye, Pin-Mei was right behind her opponent. As Suo gasped and turned to look at her, she was met with a swift roundhouse kick that sent her to the floor.

The others watched with wide eyes.

“How did she suddenly get so fast?” Yoh wondered aloud.

“It's Da-Xia…” Jun whispered. “She was known as one of the only women in Cathay to master the Taoist Tai Chi sword style…That's one of the reasons why she married into the Tao family…But…she was killed by her own family for marrying Tao Yi, the heir at the time, because of the ongoing feud between Tao and Qiao families…”

“How sad…” he whispered.

“But that's the style she's using now, and that's why her speed is so great.”

As they looked back over, Pin-Mei was yanking her grandmother up by her robes, her sword at the woman's throat. She glared down at her.

“Although Tai Chi is not supposed to be used to take another person's life, I'm sure an exception can be made for you…”

Horrified, Suo looked around for something to help her. Her hand moved behind her, and she felt something wet. She looked at her hand and saw blood from the small puddle she had found running down her it. Quickly, she grabbed more and threw it at Pin-Mei's eyes.

Pin-Mei dropped the sword and stumbled backwards, trying to clear her vision. When she finally looked up, her grandmother slapped her face with her fan, sending her to the ground. Da-Xia's spirit left her as she tried to sit up, only to have her face stomped on.

“Hm…you seem to be dominated by people against your will a lot, don't you?” Suo cackled. She took her fan, the blades exposed, and cut off the faux tongari.

“Learn your place, Pin-Mei,” she continued. She stepped on the girl's throat, causing her to cough. “You're a disgrace to the Xu family. You can't mix medicine, and your other medical skills are below par, and that's being too generous. I could never allow you to wear the Fan family name. You can't do curses or illusions. You're an outcast, Pin-Mei. Now what family do you think will be willing to take in a failure like you? Does that family even exist?”

“Ta…” she coughed, gasping for air.

Suo let her foot up a little bit. “What was that?”

“THE TAO FAMILY!” she shouted. “Ren already gave me my name…so I'm as good as in now…That's the family I belong with…”

Suo frowned, then sneered. “Tao Ren is DEAD Pin-Mei. They have no further use for you. All you were needed for was to produce heirs in an effort to revive the family. They were using you. It was just luck that he developed feelings for you. You're not welcome in their house anymore. Not without Ren.”

“Ren's coming back…”

“What did you say?”

Pin-Mei lifted her head. “He's coming back. I'll bring him back, even if I have to spend my whole life finding a way, I'll bring him back. Too many people will miss him. This is where he belongs.”

It's a promise, Ren…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The light still wasn't getting any closer. Ren's legs were getting tired. Part of him wanted to stop, but he knew that wasn't an option.

I have to make sure that Suo's defeated. I can't let her screw up people's lives anymore.

Suddenly, he saw a flame. He skidded to a stop as it grew and took shape.

Asakura Hao.

“Ah, Ren. It's been a few years. How have you been?”

Ren clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “MOVE HAO - NOW!!”

“Your explosive temper hasn't changed. I wonder what else has changed about you.”

Ren tensed. Hao just smiled at him.

“Oh, Pin-Mei is it? How cute…You're willing to ruin your legendary family bloodline for that bastard child.” His smile grew wider. “So she's the reason why you're here.”

Ren's hands were bleeding. “What the fuck do you want, you fucktard?” he half yelled.

Another wicked smile. “It's gotten a little lonely in the Chamber of Avici as of late. No one is on the platform with me. So I can't have you leaving me all alone. I need company.”

“That's because you PUSHED them in! Isn't that right?!”

“Maybe, but I don't like sharing my space with humans. Speaking of which, I don't want you to go back and make a mistake. Just allow your family to die. It's so much better than to have a half-breed like her bear your offspring.” Hao laughed. He knew he was getting under Ren's skin.

His eyes flared. “DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT PIN-MEI LIKE THAT!!” He ran and lunged at him, but Hao nimbly dodged and singed his back.

He shook his finger at him. “That's no way to treat someone who's trying to do you a favor.”

“Sorry, but the Tao family doesn't accept favors.”

Ren's eyes widened. That hadn't been his voice. He looked behind him to see Tao Yi with his Houraiken pointing at Hao.

“Yi--!”

“Go Ren!” he cried. “We can take care of this little twerp!”

Ren's eyes widened. “`We'?”

He squinted and saw Faust and Eliza appear from the shadows. The doctor smiled.

“Nice to see you again, Ren-kun.”

“Faust…”

He squinted some more. His eyes widened in what could have been horror.

“Ch-Chrom…”

The priest appeared behind his friends. Ren froze. Why would Chrom help him after how he had mercilessly killed him during the preliminaries?

“It's alright, Ren,” Yi reassured him. “Chrom volunteered. Something about how priests must not be biased against anyone or some spiritual mumbo-jumbo like that. Now GO! Pin-Mei needs you!!”

Ren backed up a few steps. He looked at Hao, then Yi, then Faust, then Chrom. How can I leave like this?

“Go, Tao Ren,”

He looked up to see Chrom nod at him. He nodded back.

“Thanks,”

Yi smiled. “Great. Go get her, Lover Boy!”

“You'll pay for that!” Ren yelled as he ran past Hao.

Hao glared at them. “Foolish souls.”

Yi shrugged as he took out his Houraiken. “Family trait, what can I say?” He looked at his team. “Okay, kid, it's time we put you in time out.”

Hao just smirked.