Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ A Gift of Love ❯ A Knight in Disguise ( Chapter 54 )

Sorry I'm even later than usual. I got sick and could barely think at all. Not fun.

 

Phew! I'm glad last chapter went over smoothly. I was a little worried people would be like “Ew! Smex! Yucky!” But luckily you guys are mature enough to notice that I didn't just throw it in there because I felt like it. O.o

 

I'm kind of upset that I killed off Zhang. I kinda grew attached to him. I battled with myself for a while over whether I was going to have Ling and Shu live or not. I ultimately decided not to. We can't have a one hundred percent happy ending. Someone has to die on the good side. Ling, Shu, thank you for the memories. -salutes-

 

I based a little bit of this chapter on an experience I had with a teacher from China in fourth grade. She smacked me on the head because she thought I was making a mess with the calligraphy ink. -cries-

 

And I just wanna say…I really love Ren in this chapter.

 

Notes: Some sexual talk/humor.

 

Some flashbacks to the night before are taken from the AFF version of this chapter and the one before it.

 

It has been said that Ren lives in Kisshu…I don't know if this is true or not, but at least it gives me a location. We're gonna work with it.

 

It might also be worth noting that Pin-Mei is the youngest in her class because of cutoff dates for entering grades.

 

“GÅng xì” means “congratulations”.

 

“Biăo zi” means “prostitute/whore”.

 

This may feel like Pin-Mei is being victimized, but you must also remember that a similar situation, while it would have had a different topic, could have happened to Ren as well.

 

It's Japanese superstition that if you sneeze, someone's talking about you.

 

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A Gift of Love - Chapter Fifty-Four: A Knight in Disguise

 

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Ren opened his eyes and looked down at himself. He smiled. Pin-Mei was sleeping with her head on his chest, a content smile on her face. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead, then gently began rubbing her left shoulder with his arm around her.

 

Scenes from the night before were playing in his mind. It was almost too unreal. He had never thought it would come so soon. Even as he moved above her, a slight twinge of guilt had swept through him. What if she regretted this tomorrow? What if it was too soon?

 

But last night, she had smiled.

 

He looked down at her to see tears falling down the sides of her face, her eyes closed. He panicked slightly.

 

“Are you okay? I'll stop if you--,”

 

She shook her head and smiled brightly. “No…No, it's not that at all…I'm just…so happy.”

 

She stirred next to him, then moaned quietly and opened her eyes. He stroked her hair and she looked up at him. He smiled at her.

 

“'Morning,”

 

She was about to reply when she looked down and saw how the blankets were barely covering his body. It reminded her of what had happened only hours before; his body moving over her, sweat falling from his brow, dripping down his chest and back. And…what had happened when she had driven him to awaken his chauvinistic, controlling side.

 

“Was that an invitation?”

 

She giggled, dropping the sultry front. “Maybe.”

 

He mimicked her child-like smile. “On your knees.”

 

His sudden change in mood surprised her. “What?”

 

He frowned and grabbed hair, pulling on it moderately in warning. “I said get on your knees!”

 

“Yes, Ren!” she cried as she obeyed him. She fell on all fours in front of him.

 

He grabbed her chin and glared at her.

 

“You are to address me as Lord Ren. Do not speak unless spoken to. You will do EVERYTHING I tell you to. Resist, and you will be punished. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes, Lord Ren!”

 

Her face burned red as she remembered how he had completely dominated and had his way with her. It only became hotter as she looked up at his smiling face, the one that had given her a spine-tingling, monopolizing glare only a few hours before. She dove under the covers on the opposite side of the bed. He stared at the large, shaking lump that seemed to be trying to hide from him.

 

“It's not like I don't know you're under there,” he said sighing. He crawled over to her and was about to rip the sheets off her when the lump made an embarrassed sound. “What?”

 

“C-Can you...um…p-put some p-pants on please?”

 

Some would have taken this as an insult, like she didn't want to look at him, but he just smiled. She was back to being the submissive, meek, bashful girl she had always been. As he humored her, whispering could be heard from under the covers.

 

“Perfectly normal, nothing wrong with it, naked boys are a part of life…You're going to be living with it for the rest of your life so get used to it…Nothing to be embarrassed about…”

 

“Are you chanting under there?”

 

Pin-Mei looked up to see that Ren had lifted the covers up and was staring down at her. She frantically curled up into a ball, trying to cover herself up as best as she could. A jacket was draped over her and she looked up. A large shirt of Ren's was now covering her up, seeing as how her nightgown was out of commission.

 

The night before, when it was being removed, Ren failed to see that ribbons tied it closed in the back. Even after Pin-Mei had shown them to him, his patience with the wretched material was already rail thin. He had reached around, grabbed all the ribbons, and, with one powerful tug, ripped them out, taking most of the back with them.

 

She was staring dumbly at him, so he put her arms through the sleeves and buttoned the shirt up for her. As he looked at her blush stained cheeks, he couldn't help but tease her. He went behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

 

“You were so cute last night,” he chortled in her ear.

 

He immediately felt her tense, her body getting warmer.

 

“R-Really?”

 

“Oh yes. Trying to dominate me when I came in the room, wearing that nightgown…You must have been planning this.” When she said nothing, he nipped her neck as a warning. “Answer me.”

 

“Yes! Yes! I was!” she cried frantically.

 

He smirked. “That sounds eerily similar to what you were saying last night.”

 

“N-no! I-I didn't!”

 

“Oh that's right…” he whispered in a sultry voice. “I think I heard `Ren!' instead. You and your cute little moans…”

 

If she wasn't red before, then she sure as hell was now.

 

“T-thank you…I think…”

 

He turned her around and hugged her against his chest. “But I hope I made you happy last night.”

 

She looked up at him. “Were you happy?”

 

“Of course I was.”

 

“Then I was too.”

 

She suddenly fell onto her back on the mattress, taking him with her. He felt her undo the knot in his pants.

 

“I thought you wanted them on.”

 

She grinned at him.

 

“I changed my mind.”

 

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Two hours later, everyone was awake and breakfast was in progress. As usual, Ren and Pin-Mei sat at the head, with Rong and HoroHoro to their right, and Yoh, Anna, and Manta to their left. It was quiet as the rest of the Tao family sat down at the table, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Ran smiled at the couple as they both took a sip of their milk.

 

“So, how did the two of you sleep last night?”

 

They both spat out what they had been drinking and looked at each other. Pin-Mei bowed her head to hide a red face.

 

“Is there a problem?” En asked, a look of suspicion on his face.

 

Luckily, his son was a quick thinker.

 

“You're damn right there is! This milk is sour! I finally wake up and you give me SOUR milk?” He grabbed his fiancée by the arm and dragged her away. “Come on, Pin-Mei. We're going to find some drinkable milk.”

 

When they were out of earshot, Ren turned to her, irritated.

 

“You said something didn't you?”

 

“What?”

 

“Why else would she ask that? Did you go ask her for advice or something?”

 

“Oh yes, of course. `Excuse me Ran, but I plan on seducing your son tonight and having premarital sex with him, and I was wondering if you were aware of any turn-ons he might have. While we're at it, can you tell me about your and En's first time? I just need some tips.'”

 

“GOD YOU CAN STOP NOW!!” he yelled covering his face. “Thank you for giving me such an awful picture of my parents having sex. That's just what I want to think about right now.” He felt her lean her head against his chest.

 

“I'm sorry,” she whimpered. “I don't know how she found out, but if it's because of me, I'm sorry.”

 

He sighed. “Forget about it. Just come on. We have to at least pretend we're getting new milk.” He began walking down the hall, but stopped and turned around when she didn't follow him. She was staring at the ground grimly. “What is it?”

 

“Ren…” She walked over to him and held his hand. “I have to go back home for a while.”

 

His eyes widened. She was leaving him again. He grabbed her shoulders. “Why?! I finally have you here with me again, and you want to go back there?”

 

She stared at the floor. “I have to figure things out…”

 

He looked at her quizzically. “Figure things out?”

 

She nodded. “I'm the only one in my family who's alive, so I have to clean up the house and decide what to do with it.” She laughed sadly. “Selling it isn't really an option. Since a family of shaman has been in it, no one's going to want to live in it.” She looked genuinely sad now. “Besides…I want to give my parents a proper burial.” She dipped her head. “Please let me go, Ren. I have things I need to do there.”

 

She leaned against him again and he held her.

 

“Alright, I'll let you go. But I'm coming with you.”

 

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“It's nice to actually walk through this place leisurely when I'm not looking around for you frantically.”

 

“Yeah…It is a nice house. I just never took the time to appreciate it…”

 

Pin-Mei walked down the dreary halls, her footsteps echoing throughout the deserted area. Ren followed her, but was a few feet behind her. Whether she was showing it or not, she was in pain. She stopped in front of a door and opened it.

 

“What's in there?” he asked.

 

“This is my room,” she said softly.

 

They entered the room to see that the hole the stuffed animals had fallen through only a week before had repaired itself. The plushies themselves were back in their places. Fan Yan and Wei Shan's doll proxies were on the ground, as motionless as ever. Ren watched as she walked over to the over-sized dolls and leaned them against the wall.

 

Pin-Mei looked at her plushies. “There's no way I can bring them all,” she said sighing. When he didn't reply, she said, “I'll just bring my favorites.” She began digging through the mountain of stuffed animals.

 

He watched the cotton-filled entities whiz past him as she sorted them. When she was done, there were about twelve plushies on her bed.

 

“What makes those so special?”

 

“Papa bought them for me last year, so I at least need to take these ones.” She smiled at him. But then she noticed that he was staring past her. She looked down. Her eyes widened.

 

Lián was poking her.

 

“What the hell is that?” he asked pointing at the doll version of himself.

 

Pin-Mei grabbed the doll and held it against her chest, embarrassed. “I-I-I can explain.”

 

“What the hell is that doll?”

 

She dipped her head so she didn't have to look at him. “Ling made it when I got home from seeing you ten years ago…I had trouble sleeping…So she made Lián for me so I could pretend that you were there…”

 

She felt his hand on her head and looked up. To her surprise, he was smiling.

 

“I hate to say it, but that's a little…cute.”

 

“You're not mad?”

 

He laughed. “No, I'm not.”

 

“You…You wouldn't mind if I took him?”

 

“…As long as you kept him in a separate room. I don't want you sleeping with him. I'd feel like I had competition.”

 

She smiled. “I'll just keep him for if you're ever not there…like a mission or something.”

 

“I promise it'll never be when you're pregnant. If someone tries to make me go, I'll snap their neck.”

 

She blinked, then gave an excited smile. “I'd love to see you do that. It sounds neat.”

 

He stared at her. “You're so weird.” I don't think she realizes that it means that I would kill them.

 

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They were soon walking through the halls again. Pin-Mei opened another door and swiftly went inside. The sheets of the giant bed inside were blood red. Fans of various sizes were hung about the room, along with a couple picture frames. A mirror hung over a large antique bureau. She squinted at the bureau and saw a long box laying on its surface, and then went over and opened it.

 

Ren watched her lift a large bladed fan from the box and open it.

 

“So this room is…”

 

“Yes, it's Suo's.”

 

“Why are we in here again?”

 

She looked back at him. “I'm taking the fans with me. I wanted to learn how to use them so badly before, and now I will.”

 

He looked at her quizzically. “Why?”

 

She gave him a malicious glare that seems to have a hint of guilt and sadness in it.

 

“Years ago, I decided that I wanted to kill her with her own weapon.”

 

He stared at her. She smiled sadly.

 

“Not what you were expecting from me, huh? I'm supposed to be the innocent one, right?” She turned away from him. “I wanted to kill her. I wanted to so badly. I was afraid of what she would take from me. She killed Grandfather, and then Mother…She took Father away from me for so many years.” She was clutching the iron fan tightly. “There was almost no other feeling in my body that was as strong as the desire to see her dying on the floor before me.”

 

He could hear her voice shaking. “Pin-Mei…”

 

“The scary part is…when I finally killed her, when I finally got my revenge, when I was covered in her blood, I didn't feel sorry at all. It didn't affect me. I had just killed someone, and I didn't even blink.”

 

He touched her shoulder and turned her around, allowing him to see the many anguished tears that were cascading down her cheeks.

 

“I would cry every time I killed a spider…and I can't even feel a bit of remorse over killing a human being!” she screamed as she fell to her knees. “What kind of person am I becoming?! Soon I'm going to be totally heartless and just kill people when they annoy me! How can you love someone like that?!”

 

Ren sighed as he remembered his former self. She was upset about killing one person when he had killed hundreds. He knelt down in front of her and gingerly held her hand.

 

“There's a difference between killing someone because they're a bad person and killing someone just because you feel like it. Believe me, I know,” he said quietly. “And you should also believe me when I say that you're not a cold-hearted person. If you ask me, that's nearly impossible. You had your reasons for killing her, and they were pretty damn good ones. If you didn't kill her, then you would have just kept suffering, and I don't think either of us wants that.”

 

“But…But…”

 

“But nothing. I'm right and you're wrong.” He stood. “If you insist on beating yourself up, then go right ahead, but I'm going to help everyone else pack your stuff.”

 

She watched him with wide eyes as he made his way to the door, and then got up and followed him.

 

“Wait!” she cried grabbing his wrist.

 

He had to smile. He loved it when she came after him like this, when she needed him. “What is it?”

 

“There's one more room I have to go in, and I don't want to do it by myself…Will you come with me?”

 

He held her hand. “Alright. Let's go.”

 

Ren followed her down the hall yet again until she stopped in front of a large door. Pin-Mei grasped his hand tightly as she put her hand on the doorknob. He looked at her quizzically.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I've just never been in this room before now…” she whispered. With that, she swung the door open and looked inside.

 

A large luxurious bed with gold satin sheets was in the middle of the room. Vases of flowers were on pedestals around the perimeter, and pictures were everywhere; hung on the wall, set on nightstands, low tables, anywhere there was room.

 

Ren stepped in after her and stared at the pictures. All of them were of Hua. No…not all of them. When he looked closer, he could see that the wall closest to his bed was adorned with pictures of his daughter. Her days as a newborn, her years as a toddler, all her years up until now.

 

Pin-Mei walked up to the frames and touched them. Why were these here? Why did they contain pictures of her from the years when he had paid her no attention? She fell to her knees and cried.

 

“Father…”

 

She felt Ren's arms around her, and closed her eyes as she leaned against him, eager to find some comfort in him.

 

“Looks like he loved you all along,” he said. “I think that maybe he didn't know how to father you without you having a mother. He didn't know how to tell you that she died giving birth to you. Maybe he was scared. Last year, he finally realized how much you needed…how much you wanted his love and attention and left his fears in the past.”

 

He looked up at the pictures of her in the last year, which were plentiful due to the spotlight he had placed on her. She was smiling. In many of them, she was sitting on his lap and hugging him. He smiled.

 

“Just remember the past year and how happy you were. How happy he was.”

 

She nodded.

 

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“I have a couple things I need to do before we go back. I want to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Xu…I have to tell them about Father also…And I need to return my school uniform.”

 

She was clutching the outfit with trembling hands. It was evident that she was not looking forward to facing her classmates.

 

“I'll go with you.”

 

They walked through the dirt streets of the small down that Zhang had once called home. People stared at her, while some attempted to wave with a fake smile. Pin-Mei seemed to play along, eager to just get her job over with.

 

They were soon at the small farm Ren had seen in the visions Suo had shown him. Meekly, she walked up the front stairs and used the doorknocker to alert her grandparents of her arrival. A few moments later, the door opened. Xu Na stood before them, her hair with traces of white and gray.

 

“Pin-Mei?” she whispered. Her granddaughter nodded with a smile. The old woman wrapped her arms around her. “We haven't seen you in so long!” She looked behind the girl, confused. “Where is your father?”

 

Pin-Mei's eyes lowered. “Grandma, let's go sit down.”

 

The couple could see the hearts of Xu parents break as Pin-Mei told them everything that had happened; how their son was dead. Na cried into her husband's chest.

 

“Na, he died doing what he felt was right,” Sun reassured her. “He always wanted Hua to be free, and what he wanted for his daughter was no different. He is happy now, Na. He is with Hua, and we can only be happy for him.”

 

His wife nodded as she wiped her tears from her eyes. She seemed to finally notice the young man her granddaughter had brought.

 

“Who is this gentleman, Pin-Mei?”

 

Her face went red and she bowed her head. “Um…He's…He is…my…That is…”

 

“I'm Tao Ren, her fiancé,” Ren cut in, knowing they'd be waiting a long time for an answer from Pin-Mei.

 

The older couple stared at them. “Engaged already?”

 

The younger couple nodded.

 

After a moment of silence, Na chuckled. “At least you picked a handsome one.”

 

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“I really don't want to do this…”

 

Ren looked up at the building that was Pái Chì Academy. Its stone walls were spotless perfection and a picture of purity. He glanced at Pin-Mei, who was staring at the doors as if they were the gates of hell.

 

“Go on,” he said to her.

 

She buried her face in the black fabric for a few moments and breathed deeply. She nodded. “Yeah.”

 

Her hands shaking, she opened the glass doors and stepped inside, and he followed. They walked down the halls in silence until Pin-Mei suddenly stopped short, causing Ren to crash into her.

 

“You're never going to change, are you?”

 

“This is my homeroom,” she whispered. She turned around, her back to the door. “I really don't want to do this.”

 

He folded his arms. “Well, what's the worse that can go wrong? Tell me that.”

 

“They're going to laugh at me.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I'm me.”

“Well, then they're not worth listening to. Just go in, hand the uniform over, and then we can go home.”

 

She hesitated, shut her eyes tight, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Okay.”

 

Ren gave her a small smile and patted her on the head. “I'll be right here. If they start pulling out clubs and pitchforks, I'll step in.”

 

Pin-Mei smiled. “Okay.” She turned around, took another breath, and opened the door.

 

“…Okay class repeat after me: ichi, ni, san…”

 

It was Japanese --- notoriously her worst subject.

 

The teacher was writing on the blackboard, her back turned to the class and Pin-Mei. A couple students looked back at her and snickered. One by one, the students noticed their returning classmate. They began whispering to each other. Uneasy, Pin-Mei looked behind her to see that Ren had hidden himself outside the room. She swallowed. The fear was coming back.

 

“What is all this chattering?” the teacher yelled.

 

She turned and saw the cause for all the noise standing near the door. She forced a smile, but it was obvious that she was angry. When she found that her smile had no effect on her pupil, she dropped it.

 

“Xu Pin-Mei!” she yelled, causing the young girl to cringe. “Where on Earth have you been? You've been gone almost two and a half weeks without notice!”

 

“M-Ma'am! Ms. Chin! I have a good expla--,”

 

“First you leave for over two weeks, come back, stay for barely a month, and then take off again! Do you think that you can just go on vacation whenever you please? With an attendance like this, you'll never get into high school! What sort of school would accept a child with you record anyhow?”

 

Record? Ren thought. What, is she secretly a yanki who steals kids' lunch money and spray paints the walls? Give me a break. But as he thought about it, he couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. She'd ask permission to take the money and paint the walls, not just do it.

 

Pin-Mei cringed as she heard his small laugh. Was he making fun of her too? She pushed the idea out of her mind. He wouldn't do that, she reassured herself.

 

“I…I'm transferring to a school in Kisshu,” she said confidently. “I came here to return my uniform, then I'm going to my new home - in Kisshu.”

 

Her class stared at her as did her teacher. They obviously had been expecting to be able to criticize her for skipping school, maybe give her extra homework or keep her after school. But no, their little toy was leaving. Her teacher gathered herself and formulated a way to possibly make her student spill the details involving her departure.

 

“Oh, Pin-Mei! This is certainly a sad turn of events. What is causing you to leave us?”

 

Pin-Mei could feel the tears coming already. She didn't want to remember one of the reasons that she was leaving this town.

 

“My…” She breathed deeply to stop from crying. If those tears fell, it would leave an opening for her classmates to attack. “My father passed away last week. My grandmother did a short while later as well, so without anyone at my house to mind me, I'm going to live with--.”

 

She stopped. What would they say if they knew she was already engaged to be married? Surely it wouldn't be anything good. Being betrothed at her age was something so old fashioned that they couldn't possibly understand.

 

But wait, wouldn't that be the same as denying Ren? Denying that they were together? Denying that she loved him? That she would hide their relationship because of what others would think? She thought of when Suo had pulled on her hair, commanding that she say that she would never utter the name Tao Ren for as long as she lived. She had said that she had no right to betray him. Had that changed? No, not at all. If anything, she owed him more now. He had come and rescued her. To deny him now would tell him that she didn't appreciate him saving her life.

 

Her teacher narrowed her eyes. “Living with who?”

 

“I'm going to live with my fiancé,” Pin-Mei said firmly. There she had said it. She dared someone to laugh; she would laugh right back at them.

 

One girl giggled. “Engaged? I bet it's some ugly old coot! Like, forty!”

 

The boy next to her started clapping. “We thought it wasn't possible with your face and all, but you were able to shack up! Congrats on becoming a biăo zi!”

 

“GÅng xì! GÅng xì!” the class chanted. They laughed.

 

A biăo zi. That's what Ren had called her in the nightmare Suo had woven for her.

 

“My little biăo zi…”

 

She hadn't known what the phrase meant. But now, coupled with the one phrase she did know, “to shack up”, she finally understood; she would have sex with anything that had a pulse.

 

“Children, children, settle down,” said Ms. Chin, obviously trying to fight her own laughter.

 

Pin-Mei shook her head as she took a few steps backward. “It's not true!” she screamed. She dropped the uniform and covered her face, trying to hide herself from the cackling faces of her peers. “It's not true…I'm not like that,” she kept whispering, as if trying to convince herself that it was the truth.

 

“I know you're not.”

 

She looked up through her tears to see Ren smiling down at her. His arm was around her midsection giving her a subtle hug. She quickly calmed down, comforted by his presence, and he turned to glare at her teacher.

 

“A teacher unable to control her own class? You really don't have the respect of these children, do you?” he said, his mouth slowly turning into a smirk.

 

She frowned at him. “Who are you, young man?”

 

“I'll tell you what I'm not - a forty year-old coot.” He shot the girl who had originally said the statement a death glare. She cringed and shrank in her chair. Ren turned his attention back to his main enemy. With a venomous leer, he stepped in front of Pin-Mei. “I'm Tao Ren,” he said in a voice that matched his glare.

 

“Charming,” the instructor said in a flat voice. “Do you have a pass to be in this building?”

 

Ren smirked and held his left hand up so he was looking at his palm. The gold band on his ring finger flashed with the same anger his eyes did. “This is the only pass I need, bitch.”

 

She stared at it, then gave her own smirk. “So you're the fiancé our little Pin-Mei is serving. Well, I hope you find some use in her, though that may be a hard task to accomplish.”

 

“I've had enough of your bullshit,” he bellowed. “When Rong mentioned Pin-Mei having problems with classmates, I assumed it was a little name calling. I figured fourteen year-olds would have at least a little bit of maturity to stay away from such raunchy subjects, but I'm sadly disappointed.”

 

“I really don't appreciate your vocabulary,” Ms. Chin said angrily. “I must ask you to leave.”

 

“Gladly. But first, you're going to give me her files so that I can hand them over to my school and have her transfer there.” He held out his hand to receive them. When she didn't move, he snapped his fingers. “Come on, lady. I don't have all day.”

 

Ms. Chin glared at him before stomping over to the file cabinet, removing a manila envelope and slamming the drawer shut. She grinned.

 

“I'll give this to you on one condition; I'm going to write a sentence in Japanese on the board. Pin-Mei must read it out loud in Chinese and then write a response in Japanese. If she succeeds, I'll give you the envelope. If not, she won't be allowed to transfer, and must remain here with me and my students.” Her pupils snickered.

 

Without hesitation, Ren nodded. “We accept your challenge.”

 

Pin-Mei's eyes widened. She grabbed his arm. “Ren! You shouldn't have done that! Japanese is my worst subject!”

 

Ren gritted his teeth and looked at the board where her teacher was writing a sentence in Japanese kanji.

 

“I have faith in you,” he said finally.

 

“You do?”

 

“Of course I do. I'm supposed to support you when you need it, aren't I?”

 

She gave a small smile. “Yeah. Thanks.”

 

“ALL RIGHT!”

 

The couple looked up to see the sentence Ms. Chin had crafted on the board. Ren read it quickly and frowned. He looked at Pin-Mei, who was biting her lip as she stared at the characters.

 

Does she not know it?

 

After about thirty seconds, she finally opened her mouth.

 

“`Write…,'” she pushed the words out. “`…a…fact…about…your…little…boyfr iend…”

 

She took a deep breath and looked at Ren. He nodded, and she walked up to the black board and picked up the chalk. After thinking for a moment, she slowly began writing. Ren carefully followed the movements of her hand, mentally correcting her sentence. When she was finished, she stepped back, looked at it, and put the chalk down. She walked back up to stand with her fiancé.

 

“Well, let's see what we have here,” Ms. Chin said strolling in front of the board. She mumbled the new sentence to herself. She turned to the class. “It would seem that Miss Xu has a sense of humor.”

 

“What does it say?” one girl asked.

 

“`He is the heir to a family of assassins.'”

 

The heir chuckled. “Damn right.” He walked up to take the envelope. As he grasped it, he leaned in to whisper in the foul woman's ear. “She wasn't kidding…And I would double check that water of yours.” He eyed the pitcher on her desk that had been behind her back while she was writing the sentence.

 

She released the envelope instantly and stared at the pitcher, shaking slightly. When she looked up again, the couple was about to walk out the door.

 

“Nothing good will come out of being with a girl like her!” she cried pointing at the girl beside him. “She comes from a family of shamans, you know!”

 

Ren grinned. “Yeah, I know. I do too.” He put his hand on Pin-Mei's shoulder and began to guide her out the door. Suddenly, he stopped and turned her around again. He grabbed her hand.

 

“Make a fist.”

 

“What?” she questioned, but did as she was told. He took her middle finger and stood it up. Then he displayed it for her teacher and classmates to see.

 

“Sayonara.”

 

He took her hand guided her from the room. Confused, she looked up at him.

 

“What did that mean?”

 

“I'll tell you later.”

 

Ms. Chin shook as she stared at the pitcher.

 

“What is it, teacher?” a student asked.

 

She pointed at the jug of water. “Th-That brute didn't touch my water did he?” she stammered.

 

“Um…” The children scratched their heads. “None of us were watching him. We were watching you write.”

 

The woman let out a small screech as she grabbed the pitcher and poured the supposedly tainted water down the sink. She ran to refill it.

 

“Is it time for history yet?” one boy asked.

 

She nodded furiously and told the students to open their books.

 

“Now, to continue with what we were studying yesterday, the Tao family was known throughout China for their vast ability to assassinate any target. Their specialty was using poison…” She stopped and stared out the door, dropping the chalk she was holding.

 

“What is it, teacher?”

 

“Cl…Class dismissed…”

 

Ren sneezed.

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

He looked down at her and smiled. Her eyes were closed, and her face was decorated with a deep blush as she panted, trying to stabilize herself. He leaned down and kissed the crook of her neck, then allowed his teeth to gently graze the skin before kissing it again. He grasped her hand as her chest continued to heave.

 

“You're all mine now…No one can take you away from me - ever. You belong to me.”

 

She smiled.

 

“Yes…Yours…Forever…”