Dimly, over the ache of her body, she could hear the thunder rumbling outside and the downpour of rain. Just like the second day she was here, when Shego had made her do the stairs even when she could barely see past her nose in the torrent of water. She had slipped and fallen more times than the day before, but Shego had nodded approvingly, saying she had cut her time down by seven minutes. It felt like an eternity, lugging the weights day in and day out, when her body had adjusted miraculously in Kim's eyes. Of course, Shego had then asked her to add a few more rounds of up and down the mountain to her route until she was satisfied that Kim could do it with ease. Well, with as much ease as carrying mini-boulders up a mountain could be.
After that, rain or shine, Shego had required her to go down to the bottom of the steps, grab her weights, and go all the way to the top of the steps that lead to almost the top of the mountain. The first time Kim reached the top, she was too tired to admire the pagoda built near the edge of the mountain that overlooked the whole valley. Vast areas of wilderness stretched out before her, but she was too wrapped up in dreading the descent to the bottom with her load. However, after a time, she could sit at the top for a while before heading back down. Some times Shego went with her, other times she didn't.
They both were busy. Kim with her training, and Shego with keeping house. Cheung would come occasionally with food that Shego would cook. He would never stay long, so it was basically just Kim and Shego all the time. Kim now knew what a house-wifey Shego looked like. Very scowl-y and cute. She swept the floors and cleaned house very well. Usually after dinner. Kim would help, but she would watch Shego out of the corner of her eye.
Their relationship had been… odd to say the least. The dynamic between them had to be changed, since they were faced with each other, day in and day out. It was awkward for the both of them. For the sake of their station in life, even though they knew it was slightly ridiculous, they had kept the animosity up between them sporadically. But most other times, they would find themselves at ease with each other and found that they enjoyed the other's company. Which was confusing. Stuck with your mortal enemy, it was trying to keep up feelings of hatred towards each other when one lived in close quarters. And shared meals. And washed dishes. And cleaned house. Together.
Kim Possible took a deep breath of the moisture-soaked air, slipping deeper into the water until she was submerged to her chin. There was always a day or so of rest every few days or so in between Shego's inventive exercises, to let her heal and worry about the next assignment. When her taskmaster had deemed she had mastered the weights, Kim's burden changed to two buckets of water. Using a thick, flat staff, Shego had padded her shoulders and back with cloth, showed Kim how she should hold it, and hung the two buckets of water at either end, asking her to go all the way up the mountain without spilling a drop. That took an entire day, even though the new load was so much lighter than the weights they unbalanced her. By the time Kim was back at the bottom of the mountain, she had lost half the contents of each bucket.
It didn't help that Shego had joined her and decided to trip her or push her as she went up. The pushes had escalated to light punches and kicks, which Kim either dodged or tried to absorb so none or a minimal amount of water would spill out of the buckets. The abuse had also escalated, the hits gaining more power behind them. When she snapped at Shego, Shego would shrug and tell her “don't blame me cuz you can't keep water in a bucket”. Shego always complained about not being satisfied with the progress Kim was making. It was always ‘she wasn't fast enough’ or ‘she spilled too much water’. Well, the speed she could work on, but the spilling of the water… who's fault was that!
Kim soldiered on and after what seemed like forever, only spilled small cupfuls of water, even when Shego ‘encouraged’ the spills. Kim's fingers prodded at the bruises on her body, taking inventory. Today, Shego had aimed a punch at her, and the young heroine had braced herself for it when she saw that there would be no way she would be able to dodge the punch.
Ducking her head under water, Kim let out a scream of frustration. The hit had knocked the air out of her, and in the first time since the first week, she slipped and fell. Her buckets had toppled off the ends of her pole and the water drenched the steps around her. Kim had just a little more to go, and she would've been near the top.
“You've spilled all the water,” Shego clucked her tongue, a noise of exasperation. “Go back to the bottom and get some more. Then start all over again.”
Kim had lost it then and struck out at Shego, and they had duked it out on the steps. The collection of new bruises that coloured her body was the results of the little spat they had.
A shadow fell over her, alerting her to someone's presence in the bathroom. Kim broke the surface of the water, wiping the water from her eyes. Looking up hatefully at Shego, Kim was too angry to cover up her nudity.
“Don't you know how to knock?” Kim asked angrily. The two had gotten along spectacularly well, despite the circumstances that brought Kim to Er-mei. In truth, Kim found that she had grown to like the time she spent with Shego, enjoyed her quirkiness, her sarcasm, and well, just her overall presence.
But right now, she wasn't liking Shego too much.
Shego crossed her arms, scowling at Kim. “I knocked. You didn't hear me. I thought you fell in.”
“Oh, how nice of you to check on me.” Kim said sarcastically, not sounding very grateful at all. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to tell you I already ate my dinner.” Shego said snappishly, prickled by the tone of Kim's voice. “I left yours in your room. You can eat there.”
“Fine!”
“Fine!” Shego retorted and stalked out, knocking over the little wooden table that had Kim's towel on it.
“Real mature!” Kim shouted after the hot-tempered woman.
The next morning, Kim left her room and barely avoided stepping into her breakfast. She looked down at her meal, feeling her ire rise at the way half her drink had been slopped over the side, and her eggs and bacon had been fried to a crisp. Her toast was soggy from the spilled drink and a mushy apple sat dejectedly on the breakfast tray. There were no utensils.
And there was Shego, in the middle of the meticulously kept garden, doing taichi. Kim's eyes narrowed at the calm expression on the brunette's face as she went through the motions slowly.
“Hey!”
Shego showed no signs of hearing the red-head, even though several songbirds lifted from their perch around the garden, making scandalized bird noises at being so rudely disturbed. Shego's hair had been tied up loosely, a serene look plastered on her face.
“Shego, I'm talking to you!”
Shego continued her slow-motion movements, completely centered and apparently oblivious to everything around her.
Infuriated beyond anything else, Kim grabbed her breakfast and slammed the door loudly. Shego's grim smile was the only thing that tipped off the fact that she could very well hear Kim, as she continued her exercise. A few minutes later, Kim had finished her breakfast hurriedly, made her way to the kitchen to clean her dirty dishes. With that done, she left the house, casting Shego evil looks as she raced out to begin her exercises.
It was driving the red-head crazy. Shego, that is. She stretched herself soundly dimly feeling the warm rays of the morning sun, thoughts racing a mile a minute as she contemplated the brunette's cruelty from yesterday. Kim's side still ached from the punch from yesterday, as she raced down the steps to her stick and buckets. The training was ridiculous. It consisted of carrying things up and down a mountain.
‘What am I doing here?’ For the first time since… a very long time, she asked herself that question. How long has it been? Trying to keep track of the days was almost impossible. Each day bled into the next in obscurity, her sense of time dulled by hard work. There were too many times when she had tried to keep track of the days, but it was too hard. Mind-numbing exercise made her forget to mark the days off on the bottom of her vanity desk.
Her family.
Kim missed them so much, but had resigned not to ask Shego about them anymore. When the two women had started getting a bit more comfortable with each other, and Kim asked if she could contact her family; Shego had explained to Kim that if she kept with that line of thought, she would have to break the redhead's legs. So Kim had pushed her homesickness away. Shego had helped, keeping Kim too loaded down with work to think about anything besides what she was supposed to be doing, only having time to think about family and friends when she was about to fall asleep.
At the bottom of the steps, Kim got her two buckets and wandered off into the forest where Shego had shown her a little stream ran merrily by. Filling her buckets, she went back to the step and looked up at the steps grimly. Kim didn't know how, but she knew Shego should be coming down to meet her. And not even a quarter of the way up, she saw the woman sitting there, relaxed, looking up through the green foliage.
Determined to get all the way up without spilling anything, she passed by Shego cautiously--and barely managed to avoid a lightning fast sweep. Kim jumped out of the way, tensing as she heard the water sloshing around the bucket precariously. But not a drop fell.
Shego's face stretched into a predatory grin and her eyes glinted dangerously. “Oh, very good Kimmie.”
Kim squared her shoulders. It was going to be a long day…
Slowly, Kim made her way up the mountain, with Shego as a constant obstruction to her upwards climb. But to her credit, she had managed to keep every drop of water in the buckets. She could barely believe it when she made it into the pagoda. Weak-kneed and with a collection of new bruises, she watched Shego warily, who had sat down, fanning herself in the shade of the pagoda.
“Time out.” Shego made a ‘T’ with her hands. “Lunchtime.”
Kim knelt down, carefully lowering the buckets to the ground. Shego slipped off her backpack, and dug out two lumps of rice wrapped in plastic wrap; one of which she threw to Kim.
“Sticky rice?” Kim unwrapped it, examining the contents.
“Yeah,” Shego drawled, watching Kim take a small bite. The villain chuckled. “Afraid I'm going to poison you, Kimmie?”
“No,” Kim took a larger bite now. “I was afraid your cooking might've slipped from the looks of breakfast this morning.”
Shego's eyes narrowed. “Okay, you got me. I was being childish. So sue me.”
Kim eyed Shego for a good few minutes, then let out a tiny chuckle.
“What?”
Kim shrugged, enjoying her lunch. It was just a lump of rice with meat filling inside, but it was extremely good, especially after such a challenging climb. They ate in silence, acknowledging the truce. Shego never said sorry, Kim was used to it. For the dark-haired woman to apologize… well, that would be going against everything Shego was. From what Kim knew, anyways.
“What day is it today?” Kim asked, using her thumb to push a stray piece of rice into her mouth. “I feel like I've been here forever.”
Shego chuckled. “Feels long, doesn't it? It hasn't been a month yet in the outside world.”
Kim raised an eyebrow. “So how long?”
“How long do you think you've been here?” Shego took out a little thermos and took a sip. Tightening the cap, she tossed it at Kim, who caught it easily and took a drink. “We're going by the lunar calendar here. Next full moon marks one month.”
Kim nodded slowly, remembering last night, as she went back to her room from the bath, she had looked up and seen a waxing half-moon hanging in the sky. Odd, though. Kim could've sworn more days than that had passed…
“Look.” Shego's sudden excited whisper drew Kim from her thoughts, and pointed out towards the mountain. A huge crane was flying by, wings spread, its white feathers unblemished by any impurities except for the brilliant crimson forehead and the black feathers, like long brushstrokes, trailing from its eyes down to its neck, and tipping the edges of its wings. The sun's light gave the bird an almost unearthly glow.
“Oh,” Kim gasped as the magnificent bird opened its beak to let out a melodic cry. The two stayed silent as the bird circled closer, still calling out mournfully. As it flew closer, Kim suddenly realized something about the huge crane… it was bigger than she thought. In fact, she was certain the crane was almost as big as a baby elephant. Wait. Scratch that. It was as big as a baby elephant! …a baby elephant that had been eating all its vitamins…
“That,” Shego said, still with that excited tone in her voice, “Is a xian he.”
“A what?” Kim spared Shego a glance, but immediately turned back to the giant crane which had lighted delicately in a faraway marsh, and started preening its feathers.
“A fairy crane.” replied Shego.
Kim and Shego watched the xian he for a while before Kim hesitantly posed a question. “Like… that species is called a fairy crane? Or fairy crane?”
“Fairy crane.” Shego shuddered in pleasure as the crane let out another mournful cry. “I thought they would have all left by now. But not this one.”
“Like… fairy as in… magic?”
Shego gave Kim an annoyed look. “Yeah.”
“Yeah, okay.” Kim made a ‘psh’ sound. “Pull the other one.”
“That's an honest to god mythical bird come to life.” Shego insisted.
Kim rolled her eyes. “Okay, why is it here then?”
“Probably pit stop. Immortal birds don't need to eat or rest. But they're lazy and vain.” Shego smirked at the bird, who had canted its head towards the pagoda, its black eyes gleaming with intelligence.
“Oh my god, its going to eat us!” Kim ducked.
“No, I'm telling you, its soooo vain. Probably just making sure we see it.” Shego openly stared at the bird, and in response, the xian he spread its wings proudly, showing off its spectacular wing span. “See? Vain!”
The legendary avian let out another cry, that sounded suspiciously like bird-talk for “Look at me!”
“Wow.” Kim watched the bird, mouth agape as it flapped its wings. Miraculously, the wind that should've been coming from that impressive wing span didn't disturb a thing. Lifting off soundlessly, it circled the marsh; on one of its rounds, it circled close to the pagoda, and let out another beautiful cry.
The mystical bird's chest puffed out in pride as it caught Kim's awestruck expression and her breathless, “wow…”
“Show-off!” Shego shook her fist at the giant bird, grinning, and the xian he veered away, flying off into the distance.
Kim focused her eyes on Shego, almost beside herself with excitement. “You said ‘they’. There are more of them!”
“I don't know if there's a whole flock of xian he, if that's what you're asking.” Shego rubbed the back of her head thoughtfully, “Maybe? I dunno. When the xian he comes, there's only one.” Shego shrugged, as if that was the end of that.
But Kim wasn't done. “So… ‘others', like… other things?”
“There are a lot of other ones…” Shego waved her hand irritably, as if swatting a fly. “You should read up on your Chinese myths. You'd be surprised to find out that a lot of myths are very much real.” Shouldering her backpack, Shego started down the mountain. Picking up her burden hurriedly, Kim followed Shego as quickly as she could.
“But I don't know Chinese,” Kim huffed. “Shego, could you teach me Chinese?”
The bird was a good omen, because that day, Kim made it all the way back down without spilling a drop. Shego, though Kim knew the woman didn't want to admit it, was pleased. So pleased that after dinner, Shego produced a plate of red, round fruit and placed it on Kim's table.
“What is it?” Kim picked one up. It was about the size of a ping-pong ball, maybe a bit smaller, and it was encased in a rough rind. She tapped it on the ground experimentally. Shego sat down in front of her and picked up one of the things.
“Lychee.” Shego smiled at Kim indulgently. “Watch.” Shego placed the fruit between her frontt teeth and bit down just enough to make an incision. Then, using her fingers, she popped it open, remind Kim very much of how the insides of an egg escapes the shell. A transparent, yet slightly milky juice leaked out and rolled down the pad of Shego's hand to her wrist. Transfixed, Kim watched Shego pop the juicy fruit in her mouth and work it thoroughly, before spitting out a glossy brown nut and placing it on a napkin to be disposed of later.
“And that,” Shego smacked her lips. “Is lychee.”
Kim was captivated by the sight of Shego tongue running from pale-skinned wrist to thumb, in a bid to capture the lychee juice that had leaked onto her hand.
“I-I know what lychee is,” Kim babbled, laughing a bit too loudly. “Just, you know, they were a-already peeled and seeded… and in a can…”
“Well, fresh ones are better than the canned ones.” Shego picked up another lychee, completely oblivious to the fact that Kim had been watching her with a bit too much interest. “Try one.”
Kim picked one up obediently and mimed Shego's actions. The fruit was juicy and so sweet. Not to the point where it was unbearable, but sweet to the point where you craved more after you had finished one.
“This is so good.”
“Told you so.” Shego picked up another fruit, and sucked up a few stray juices from her fingers when she opened the lychee. “They're so messy to eat, though.”
Kim, again, had been rendered stupid by that display. Shaking herself quickly out of it, she grunted in assent and kept her eyes to her own lychee. They ate with relish, the treat was welcome respite for the both of them. Soon, there was only one lychee left, and both women noticed it at once, and quickly exchanged looks before lunging at the poor lychee at once. Laughing, they knocked the lychee out of each other's hands, dived for it when it came lose from their grasp, fought to reach it when it rolled from them and pulled at each other to keep the other from getting it.
Finally, Shego dived, rolled, and stood up with the lychee in her clutches. Blowing on it to loosen any dust that might have clung on, Shego ripped off the rind and popped the juicy meat in her mouth, before throwing her head back and laughing maniacally. Which prompted her to choke on the lychee.
“Serves you right!” Kim grinned from her position on the floor. In the scuffle, Kim had ended up on her back and laughed as Shego choked. When the villainess’ face started turning purple, Kim stopped laughing and scrambled to her feet.
“Hey, you're joking, right?”
Shego clutched at her throat and glared at Kim as her face rapidly went from purple to blue. Running behind Shego, Kim administered the heimlich manoeuvre, causing the lychee to pop out back into Shego's mouth.
“I'm okay,” Shego coughed, her hand over her mouth to keep the offending lychee in. “I'm… okay.”
“You,” Kim looked at Shego, bug-eyed, her arms still around Shego. The dark-haired woman, meanwhile, was happily eating the lychee and spat out the seed into her hand. “are joking me. You ate it!”
“Waste not, want not.” Shego quoted sagely.
Kim knocked her head against Shego's back in despair as she realized something: Her arch-foe, the bane of her existence… was an idiot.
“I like lychee,” Shego wiggled in Kim's arms. “And stop banging your head against me.”
endnote: So how you like it? Shego might be a little bit OOC near the end, and I blame it all on the lychee I've been eating:D Who wouldn't fight for the last one! Even if I choked on it and coughed it back up and the lychee fell on the floor… FIVE SECOND RULE! I would wash it and eat it again! But if my mother was in the near vicinity, I would throw it away cuz my mother would murder me for eating something off the floor.