Shego stood, her body frozen in a martial arts stance. One knee was lifted up so she balanced on one foot, while both arms were raised to form a straight line from right hand to left hand, angled downwards slightly. Ting Ting stood beside her, body frozen in a similar pose.
So cute.
Simultaneously, they both started moving slowly, one arm sweeping down, the other reaching up to the sky. While their upper body moved with careful grace, the one foot that hung suspended in the air stomped down with significant force. Their upper body was already twisting around agilely, reminding one of a dance while their legs executed two quick kicks, vanquishing invisible enemies. Now, Shego and Ting Ting's legs slowed to a sluggish pace, tracing lazy patterns in the sand as their hands and wrists twisted quickly in a dizzying motion. Open-palmed, their fingers lead the way, performing short but deadly bursts of attack. The sequence advanced to the next stage as the lower body was drawn into the whirlwind pace of attack that the upper part of the body was setting. The two, woman and child, utilized the whole of the space they had; their deadly dance taking them far from each other, than back together again. Neither engaged the other nor did they show that they saw each other. They spun, back to back, a flurry of jabbing and lurching steps that were coupled with deceptively slow sweep with the an elbow followed by three quick moves: a twisting of the body accompanied by a quick jab with the hands with fingers extended, and a kick that started with the knees making contact with whatever enemy they were fighting in their minds, to a full extension of the leg.
Now the careful flow was broken as they both moved sinuously, but halting sporadically in their shadow-fight, bodies bursting forward into a fierce strike, then backing up. Both in constant motion. Even though they weren't attacking, their bodies moved, swaying lazily but would be ready at a moment's notice to strike. Just as suddenly as it started, their bodies slowed down until movement was at a snail's pace, and anyone who would happen upon them now would have thought they were doing tai chi. The exercise ended with both of them freezing back into the position they had started in.
Shego's body moved with the practised ease of a dancer, each movement was precise and thought out, no movement was wasteful. She conserved every second and every inch she had to move, weighing out the pros and the cons of even a crook of a finger. Shego's control was incredibly impressive. Throughout the exercise, her face remained impassive and relaxed, not showing the intense concentration the fast and slow fighting-dance required of her. She was beautiful and incredibly dangerous all at once. Shego was irresistable. Within a few seconds of the end of the exercise, Shego's breathing had slowed back to normal, her heart beating steadily.
Ting Ting, though accomplishing the exercise flawlessly, was heaving. Her face had contorted into weird expressions as her young mind scrambled to not screw up the complicated chain of motion.
So. Cute.
“Please… Shego?” Ting Ting begged. The little pig-tailed girl held up one finger, pouting prettily and doing a pretty impressive copy of Kim's puppy-dog face. “One candy?”
‘That's so not fair,’ Shego's resolve evaporated instantaneously in the face of that look. She sighed and went to a bag sitting at the edge of the clearing. She returned to the gleeful Ting Ting holding up a bottle of coca-cola and assorted candy wrapped in cellophane and tied with a curly ribbon.
“Happy belated birthday,” Shego surrendered the items to the little girl's grasping hands; the little girl who was now hiccuping with wildly joyful giggles. “Since you gonna lose those baby chompers anyways… don't tell your dad who's been helping you rot those teeth, okay?”
“Kay!” Ting Ting accepted those gifts happily with a quick “sze-sze” and a deep bow that toppled the girl that had balanced so well on so many ocassions during her practise.
“Good girl, but be careful.” Shego crouched down, bouncing on her heels slightly. “And don't say I don't give you anything.” Shego took out a fat red envelope and handed it to the young girl. Again, Ting ting bowed prettily and thanked Shego, her heart more into the candy and coca-cola than the money in the red pocket.
“Open?” Ting Ting pulled the puppy-dog look again and held the coca-cola bottle out to Shego. “Please?”
“Where did you learn that?” Shego grumbled. She took the glass bottle and opened it easily.
“Kim!” Happily, the little girl started guzzling the soda. Shego frowned at the mention of Kim's name, but tried to smile in the face of those innocent eyes. The green-eyed girl wasn't fast enough though, and Ting Ting caught the grimace.
“You don't like Kim?”
Shego sighed and sat back. How to explain it to a child? … why was she explaining it to a child?! But who else was there to talk to?
“Okay, pinkie swear,” Shego held up a pinkie. “You don't tell anyone, not even your daddy or ah Fong.”
“Mommy?”
Shego winced at the title. “Yes. Mommy.” Another sore point. But it was to be expected. Slowly, day by day, Shego was getting over her. And every day that heartache lessened bit by bit, she realized that she had made the right choice.
“Sure!” Ting Ting hooked her pinkie to Shego's and tried to conjure up a serious expression on her face. So cute. “Cross my heart!” Her little fingers made a cross over her heart.
Why pour your heart out to a little girl who would never understand adult feelings? Who else could she talk to in this village? The elders… that was too embarassing and weird. Cheung was out of the question and Michelle… well… that would just open a whole can of worms. There was no-one else she was close to in this village. There was Kim. But what she was going to say was about her, so that was a no go. Then there was… but she just wasn't a choice… So basically Shego had no-one.
‘Except for little miss stuff-your-face,’ Shego smiled kindly at the girl who was ripping into the little package of candy at a frightening rate. Shego's feelings for Ting Ting were very transparent. Shego would deny it, but everyone could see that the woman had a soft spot for the little five year old girl.
“Why so bum, chum?” Ting Ting slapped Shego on the arm, a bright smile on her face. Shego chuckled and accepted a gummy worm from Ting Ting. This was good. Shego, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, was no island. The villainess might not need people to talk to, to respond to her. But she wanted that comfort of having someone listen to her.
“Well, you see, it all started with me and ah Fong--your mommy. When she got married to your daddy.”
Ting Ting sipped her cola, listening attentively, giggling.
“What's so funny?” Shego asked, poking the little girl playfully.
“I saw,” Ting Ting covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide and doing a very good impression of a scandalized gossip-monger. “I saw you and mommy kissing!” Ting Ting closed her eyes and started puckered up her lips, making faces at Shego.
“You can't tell anyone that either!” Shego shrieked. A kid barely out of her diapers had dirt on the great Shego. Who would of thought?
“Why?” Ting ting brought up some very good questions. Questions that Fong and Shego had always fought about. Why can't people know? Was she ashamed of her? Was she afraid of their relationship? Well. That's over now.
“Because.” Shego didn't have an answer. It had been an irrational fear. She knew deep inside of her, that people knew, people talked.
“Oh. Okay.” Ting Ting paused in her devouring of the sweets. “But all the other kids saw you too.”
Shego blushed red. “What?! Where? When?!”
“Last Chinese New Year's!” Ting Ting grinned. “When you and mommy went away during lion dance!”
“Did you see anything after?” Shego's face, though it seemed impossible, grew even redder.
“No,” Ting Ting shook her head. “After, Lo po-po came to find us, and she saw too! So she says peeking is bad.”
“God,” Shego drew out the groan. She knew Lo po-po knew about her and Fong… but she hadn't known the old woman KNEW!
“Boobie,” Ting Ting giggled, revealing just how much she had seen before Lo po-po had come along. Which meant the old woman had probably caught an eyeful.
Lo po-po had noted that the children had all sneaked off en masse, so she had followed them. They were all standing on tiptoes, the taller ones lifting the smaller ones up to stare through Shego's window. Periodically, they tried to stiffle their conspiratorial giggles. Lo po-po regarded these children with arms crossed, trying to summon the righteous fury of a parent, but failing so badly. They all looked so cute! But she had to be strong, so Lo po-po squared her shoulders and called out to them in a harsh whisper.
“What are you children doing?” Lo po-po frowned at their backs. They all turned, their eyes widened, looking very much like mice caught in the rice jar.
“Shego…” A breathless whisper reached Lo po-po's ears, and her head shot up to look at what caught the children's attention. What she saw made her jaw drop. Her grand-neice was lying on top of a table, with Shego above her, kissing the girl with tender urgency. Fong's shirt had been torn open at the front, revealing a plain white bra that Lo po-po dimly noted she had bought for her grand-niece just a while ago. That same bra was being pushed up to bare the soft, flushed skin of Fong's breasts. Shego's mouth descended on that skin hungrily and Fong arched up, groaning in pleasure.
“Okay kids, back to the lion dance! They might be serving the desserts now.” Lo po-po started shooing the children away quietly, and pressed a finger to her lips to signal to them to go quietly. “Not a word to anyone, okay? Not a word!” Though they quavered under Lo po-po's stern gaze, she knew that children were very much like adults when it came to gossip: like sieves.
Lo po-po glanced once more at the window and shook her head as her grand-niece tossed her head back wantonly, reveling in the pleasure Shego was giving her.
‘At least close your shutters,’ Lo po-po rolled her eyes. A quick jerk of her head, and the shutters shut quietly by themselves, as if blown by an invisible wind. Neither Shego nor Fong noticed, too wrapped up in each other to notice, their mutual pleasure brought them to that very pleasant place where only the two existed, and everything else was below notice.
“Okay.” Shego massaged the bridge of her nose as feelings warred inside of her. Panic, yes, even Shego felt panic; panic at the fact that people knew. Why? She didn't know why. Guilt. There was the guilt. So hiding it had been useless. People already knew. But if she denied it… there was always a chance… but above all those feelings, that constant and familiar anger, fueled by all the frustration this was causing her. Lashing out at the faces in this village that had become familiar to her.
‘So they knew all along… but they never told me…’ Shego raged inside. ‘They probably went around talking to each other, like we were some feature of the week!’
“What happened?” Ting Ting tilted her head to the side. “Why don't you talk to mommy anymore?”
Shego let out a short bark of laughter. Her throat felt closed up with bitterness. “I shouldn't see your mommy anymore, Ting Ting. She…” Shego paused, swallowed. “…loves your daddy.”
“I love my daddy too!” Ting Ting nodded solemnly, agreeing with her mommy's choice. “But…” Ting Ting crossed her arms, trying to act grown-up and pensive. “You don't like mommy anymore?”
Shego softened. “I like your mommy just fine. Its just not good if I'm still there, you know?”
Ting Ting shook her head. “Nope.”
“Okay,” Shego reached out quickly and stole the coca-cola Ting Ting had been sipping.
“No!” the little girl howled in despair, hands trying unsucessfully to retrieve the stolen drink.
“See, that is how I know your daddy will feel if I like your mommy.” Shego returned the coca-cola to the girl, having made her point. Ting Ting held the bottle of soda close to her, watching the expression on Shego's face with intelligent sensitivity. Making a decision, she held the bottle up grudgingly to Shego.
“What's this?”
“Daddy teaches me to share.” Ting Ting poked out her lower lip courageously. “You can take a sip. Don't be sad, Shego.”
The child soothed her raw nerves and Shego shook her head. “No, Ting Ting. Its… you know, some things you just don't share. And your daddy would never share your mom. And I wouldn't ask him to do it. That would be selfish.”
“Sharing is selfish?”
“You'll get it when you get older.” Shego rubbed the girl's head affectionately.
“Okay!” Ting Ting smiled. “Finish the story!”
The green-eyed villainess rubbed the back of her head and leaned back, her arms supporting her. The sky was almost cloudless, except for a few puffs of cotton-candy clouds in the sky. “Well, your mommy and I decided it would be better if we didn't like each other. So now you have a new mommy.”
“But what about you? Don't you want a mommy too?” Ting Ting's line of reasoning and her problem-solving skills needed a lot of work.
Shego choked on her laughter. “No… I don't.”
“Oh. Okay.” Ting Ting made an impatient gesture with her hand that was pure Fong. The young girl was at that age where she was soaking things up like a sponge. “So…?”
“So… Kim and I… well we kissed.” Shego paved over the rest of the details. The little girl really didn't need to know where Shego was kissing the other girl… she wouldn't understand anyways.
“Oh!” Ting Ting clapped her hands. “You're gonna get married?!”
“No.” Shego shook her head in exasperation. “Well… its bad for us to be together. Its just not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“Because we're not supposed to like each other. This wasn't supposed to turn out like this!” Shego moaned and buried her head in her hands. “She was the one person I was supposed to not care about!”
“But you like her. And Kim likes you.” Ting Ting, even though she was just a little child, was highly perceptive. But all children were like that.
“Well, not anymore.” Shego sighed. “I got her angry. She's not really in the forgiving mood.”
“You can say you're sorry. And do this,” Ting Ting demonstrated the puppy-dog face that Kim was so adept in.
“Yeah,” A new voice broke through the clearing. “Why don't you just apologize?”
Shego scrambled to her feet, the wall she had lifted up when she was talking to Ting Ting slammed back into place. She watched as the redhead they had been talking about approached them at a leisurely rate, a look on her face that made Shego nervous.
“Hey Ting Ting, you mind if Shego and I had a talk alone?” Kim knelt down to talk to the young girl. Ting Ting nodded solemnly. She dashed away, then dashed back, holding out the coca-cola to Kim.
“No, that's okay.” Kim shook her head, eyes travelling over to Shego. “Its your birthday gift. This is something you don't have to share.”
Shego made to follow Ting Ting, but Kim's hand shot out to catch Shego's arm. Immediately, Shego twisted out of the grip, but Kim reached out again, grabbing Shego's shirt. Shego kicked out, and to avoid being hit, Kim let go but caught hold of Shego again with her other hand. They twisted around each other, one trying to get away, the other holding on.
‘She's improved.’ Shego thought, impressed that the strict regiment of exercise had indeed made Kim stronger. Shego grunted, blocked a jarring hit. ‘But not at my level yet. A little bit more, but not yet.’
While before Shego could disengage Kim skillfully and quickly, now it was like a blind man trying to wildly hammer a nail into the board. He'll get it, sure. But it would lack finesse. And Shego had to admit, she was struggling to keep Kim down with her share of bruises.
“Bulked up, Kimmie?” Shego grunted. She had wrapped around Kim from the back, an arm pressed against her neck, applying a slight bit of pressure as a warning. “Think you can take me on, sweetheart?”
“Stop… fighting me.” Kim tried to throw Shego off, but Shego only tightened her hold. “We… have to… talk.”
“About what?” Shego snarled.
“Xaio Qing.”
Shego let go suddenly and rolled away, the name of her master alarming her. But she relaxed quickly.
“What do you want to know?” As long as Kim didn't want to talk about the conversation she had just heard between her and Ting Ting, she was fine.
Kim sat on the ground, rubbing her neck. “So this village is…”
“She Cun.” Shego answered the unspoken question. “This is the home of the descendants of Bai Su Zhen.”
Shego remembered the story of Lady White Snake, as told by her master. Two snake demons; one white, one green. One was named Bai Su Zhen and the other Xaio Qing. The elder and the younger respectively. Bai Su Zhen had fallen in love with a mortal named Xu Xian. Because Bai Su Zhen loved her husband so much, she transformed into a human. Xu Xian fell in love with her on sight and married her later on, never suspecting that he had bound himself to a snake in human form.
“He was a useless fool.” Xaio Qing had said bitterly. “He was so fearful all the time. He was not good to Bai Su Zhen. He didn't trust her at all. When that damn monk came along…”
Abbot Fa Hai had gotten wind of these two powerful snake demonesses posing as humans and convinced Xu Xian to test his wife by giving her realgar wine. The celebratory beverage was drank during Dragonboat festivals. Bai Su Zhen had thought her magic would keep her safe from the affects of the wine, but by the second cup, she had dashed the drink to the floor and retired to her bedroom, violently ill.
“Bai Su Zhen sent me away.” Xaio Qing sighed. “We demons do not do well during Dragonboat festivals. Humans decorate their houses with calamus and mugwort to keep spirits away. I was… not as powerful now as I was back then. I would have suffered greatly if I stayed behind, so I went home to Er Mei to wait out the festival.”
When Xaio Qing had returned to the home Bai Su Zhen had made for the three of them, she found Bai Su Zhen in snake form writhing listlessly in bed while Xu Xian lay on the floor. The shock of seeing his wife as a snake had shocked him to death.
“She loved him so much, she even went to steal a ressurective plant to bring him back to life.” Shego's master spat out. Every time Xaio Qing told Shego the story, she would get agitated. “Ungrateful bastard that he is. As soon as he was ressurected, he went to the monk to plead for sanctuary from his monster of a wife.”
“The stories are, she was the kindest human or demon anybody could have the pleasure to be around.” Shego recited, having heard her master pronounce that fact so often. Kim nodded, needing to hear it from Shego. It was all too much. To have people she barely knew tell her this outrageous story. Kim needed to hear it from someone she could trust.
Kim didn't know why Shego was the first person she sought out.
“I killed that bastard.” Xaio Qing said with grim satisfaction. Bai Su Zhen had gone to beg for her husband back, but Fa Hai turned her away. The ensuing fight ended up in tragedy, with Fa Hai's monastary and the monks in it washed away by floodwaters Bai Su Zhen and Xaio Qing had unleashed and lost control of. Bai Su Zhen had gone into labour. She delivered her son, only to be consumed by the out of control waves. Fa Hai had managed to save Bai Su Zhen's infant son.
“I didn't save her,” The sound of the green snake's voice, choked on anger and tears, echoed in Shego's head. “But I killed Xu Xian.”
“So her son…” Kim prompted.
“Xu Shi Lin.” Shego nodded. “Most of these people are his descendants. Shi Lin was raised by Fa Hai, but abandonned the old abbot when Xaio Qing came for him. He settled here, where his descendants dwell, still. Some stay, some go and some come back.”
“Why stay here, though?”
Shego smiled wryly. “Kimmie, what are you trying to say?”
Kim flushed indignantly. “Well, its a valid question! Why stay here when--”
“--when civilization is just around the corner?” Shego smiled. “Yeah. I thought that too when I was here. But here, each person has everything that they need. This is home to them. Xaio Qing is their provider and protector, and though there are no technological miracles here, they want nothing. There is no bond in this village greater than what every person has to Xaio Qing. It is a duty they all do. They're free to leave. But most come back.”
Kim nodded and the two fell into a tense silence, both embroiled in their own thoughts.
What Kim had seen with the elder Lins made her re-evaluate Shego. Maybe she had been a little unfair. What the Lins showed her showed her a Shego that she recognized and a side of her arch-nemesis that she never saw. Kim was regaled with the story of Lady White Snake, the whole drama unfolding in front of her like an interactive story. She was also shown Shego's integration into village life. How she fought against the monks and made herself a celebrity in the village. And how Shego had made her trek to Er Mei with Grandma Lo to meet someone.
“Well, this is nice.” Kim said loudly, gesturing around the area. It was a small alcove at the side of the village, surrounded by trees. Here, grass receded and allowed for a dusty clearing to exist in the centre, a perfect sparring arena. If one looked up, the sky stretched up to unimaginable heights above them, framed by the rich green of leaves.
Shego nodded, looking upwards. The cotton-candy clouds had disappeared, and now the sky was just a rich blue canopy. “It is.”
More silence.
“Okay, I might as well apologize first, because if I wait for you, we'll be here forever.” Kim took a deep breath. “I'm sorry.”
Shego stayed silent for a few seconds more before nodding her head. “I accept your apology. Though I don't know what you're apologizing for.”
“Ha!” Kim beamed, taking a step forward triumphantly. “So you're saying sorry?”
“For what?” Shego asked innocently, a smirk on her face.
In response, Kim threw a playful punch in Shego's direction, starting the two off in that comfortable space where they knew each other and their bodies did the talking. Where every phrase that they threw out at each other was anticipated, the actions never deceptive, the ‘why?'s always answered with a ‘because’. And both were satisfied with that answer in the pain and thrill of combat. In the exilerating competitiveness between the two, the mountain of skill Shego had put in between them that had been insurmountable now seemed conquerable.
The two foes traded smiles in between themselves. This was a familiar niche, the rhythm was something they both recognized. This dance was routine. This was a groove they had once known by heart but forgotten. Shego and Kim would learn the steps again.
Just whoever was playing this music; play on, brother, play on.
endnote: critism, comments, suggestions and even a whazzzzzaaaaa! is welcome. :D I love you guys! Ahahah, I'm going to NY for the labour day long weekend! Hip hip, HURRAH! :D
p.s. Get Natasha Bedingfield's new CD. SO GOOD.