Exam is the sequel to my story Final; if you have not already read Final, I would strongly encourage you to do so before reading Exam.
My thanks to Molloy for beta reading this story and to campy for his always valuable proofreading.
As always, if you leave a review, I'll send you a response.
KP © Disney
I.
"So tell me, how do you feel when Ron mumbles my name in his sleep?"
Yori's eyes shot open at the sound of her visitor's unmistakable voice. She propped herself on her elbow and saw, sitting cross-legged at the foot of her tatami sleeping mat, an auburn-haired young woman, dressed in the peasant shirt, jeans, and blue canvas shoes she'd been wearing the day she had been assassinated.
"This is not possible," Yori said.
"Check the motto," the young woman replied.
"No," Yori said. "You cannot be here, Kim Possible. You are dead."
"And that should stop me from being here why?" the teen responded. "You live in a world with magic swords and mystical monkey powers. Me being a ghost? No big."
"You are not a ghost," Yori declared.
"Fine," Kim said with a shrug. "Call me a kami."
"No," Yori insisted. "You lie."
Kim snorted. "If anybody here knows about lying, it would be you, wouldn't it? You've been with Ron for how long and you still haven't told him that you killed me?"
Yori did not respond. Kim had been dead for more than four years; about a year after her death, Yori and Ron had begun dating. Three days ago they had wed.
"Newsflash, Yori: I'm not going away," Kim declared. "Now or ever."
It was with both dread and relief that Yori then woke up.
II.
The experiences – Yori was still not clear whether she was having visions, dreams, or actual visits – had grown more frequent with the passing years. All she knew was that there was no peace for her when she slept. Wherever she might be, Kim would appear. At first, Kim wore the same outfit she had been wearing the day she had died. But then she began to vary her wardrobe.
Though it meant being away from Ron on their wedding anniversary, Yori had stoically bowed to the demands of duty and gone on a mission in the jungles of Cambodia. That night, after falling asleep, she was visited by a bridal gown-clad Kim Possible.
"This is what I wanted to wear the day Ron and I got married," Kim said. Yori's heart began beating faster – her visitor, who had always been a teen, was now her own age. She did a slow turn, showing off an elegant white taffeta gown. "Do you think he would have liked it?"
Much to her consternation, Yori found herself imagining Kim standing next to Ron, who was not wearing the black kimono he'd worn at their wedding, but a traditional Western tuxedo. Grudgingly, the ninja replied, "It is very becoming. He would have liked it very much."
"Thanks," Kim said. Then she disappeared and Yori woke up in a cold sweat, alone amidst the lifeless ruins of a long-ago vanished cult's temple complex.
III.
"I'm so going to have to change my mission gear," Kim groaned. The auburn-haired young woman, who now appeared to be in her late twenties, was standing before Yori in her familiar olive cargoes and black crop top – but she was quite pregnant. "I still can't believe Ron and I are going to have twins."
Yori's breathing grew shallow. "Leave."
"So not going to happen," Kim said, looking up as if she was only now noticing the ninja.
"How dare you mock me," Yori stammered.
"Not that hard after what you did to me," Kim retorted.
"That was years ago," Yori said plaintively.
"And I'm still dead," Kim replied unsympathetically.
Yori looked away. "You do not know the pain you cause."
"You so don't want to go there," Kim said icily.
"Then think about Ron-kun," Yori hissed.
A long, uneasy silence settled upon the two antagonists. Finally, Kim offered, "He would have been a great dad."
"Yes, he would have indeed."
"How is he?"
"Ron-kun is not well. He is angry, confused. He feels he is cursed and blames himself for my inability to bear children. He believes that death stalks him."
Kim said nothing.
"He is right, though not as he imagines. Death does indeed stalk him," Yori sighed. "I have failed, Kim Possible."
Much to the ninja's surprise, Kim didn't offer a gibe. Instead, she simply nodded, then turned on her heel and walked out of the cell.
For the first time in years, Yori didn't wake up until first light.
IV.
In the nights that followed, Kim, once again a teen, appeared but remained silent, keeping a silent, expectant vigil. She always sat quietly at the foot of Yori's mat. When spoken to, she refused to respond. When approached, she moved away. But she never stopped locking eyes with Yori, gazing at her intently as if trying to communicate something of fundamental importance.
V.
It was a late spring night when Kim had appeared. She was dressed in the black crop top and green cargoes she had always worn on missions and in which she had often visited Yori. This time, however, she was also wearing a large backpack, the kind one would use on an expedition. Rather than sit at the foot of Yori's mat, she stood silently at the entrance to the cell shared by Yori and Ron and pointed out the door, staying there motionless for what seemed an eternity. Then, finally, she turned and exited the room. When Yori woke up, she knew what she had to do.
VI.
Ron was not been pleased. "Are you nuts? You can't go on a solo mission!"
"I am sorry, Ron-kun, but I must."
"You can't! We've talked about this before. What if something happens to you?"
"Nothing will happen to me."
"Nothing was supposed to happen to Kim," he said frantically.
Yori closed her eyes, as if doing so would make her husband's pain disappear. Then she opened her eyes and looked into Ron's. "Do you trust me?"
"You know I do."
"Then trust me," she said, taking his hands in hers. "I must do this. For Yamanuchi. For us."
"C'mon, Yori, let me go with you," he pleaded.
"No. This is something I must do on my own. In my absence you will be Sensei."
"Then take Hirotaka."
Yori took a deep breath, then steeled herself. "If Possible-san had asked you to trust her alone on a mission, would you have respected her wishes?"
Ron's shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Fine." Reluctantly, he let go of her hands. "Just be careful out there, okay?"
"Goodbye," she said before she kissed him on the cheek. Then she strode purposefully out through the gate of the ancient academy.
VII.
"You are sure it is missing?" Yori asked the museum official. They were standing in the middle of a gallery at the Tri-City Museum.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but it's been gone for more than seven years now. We haven't a clue as to where it went," the curator answered. "One day it was here, the next it was gone," he said, gesturing towards the empty pedestal on which the Tempus Simia had once stood.
"I see," she said. "Perhaps you have other artifacts related to time travel?"
"No, but you might try the Tri-City History Museum. I think they have some contraption invented by Bartholomew Lipsky."
Yori nodded. "Domo," she said with a deep bow. "Your assistance is greatly appreciated."
VIII.
She considered the large, ungainly machine before her. It was a huge Victorian pile of metal tubes, copper wires, giant cylinders, shiny brass, and delicate gauges, all gathered around an ornate central compartment that resembled an early diving bell.
"Tell me," Yori asked. "Do you know if Doctor Lipsky ever tested his time machine?"
"The story is that he fried his hair," her host said with a bemused chuckle.
Yori hid her disappointment. Fried hair did not bode well for what she planned to do.
"Seriously, though, according to Lipsky's diary he did try but he failed."
"Do you know why?" she asked.
"Apparently, he could never get hold of the power supply he needed to make this run at full capacity."
"I do not understand."
"Lipsky wanted to travel through time. That means bending the space-time continuum. He couldn't know that back then, but he did possess sufficient insight to know he'd need a tremendous amount of power to make this thing work. He never figured out how to generate that much energy." The man shook his head. "Must have been tough being a mad scientist in the early twentieth century. Today's evil doers don't know how good they've got it on the tech front."
Yori really didn't hear the man's last remarks. She was focused on the machine and its power requirements – and believed she knew of an adequate source that might actually make the device operational.
IX.
In the weeks and months after Kim's death, Ron, overwhelmed with grief, refused to speak about his past with his best friend girlfriend. The pain and loss were simply too great and so he walled off that part of his life. But as time passed, he began to find talking about her cathartic. Despite her animus towards Kim, Yori had always listened sympathetically to Ron's stories – she couldn't do otherwise, lest her feelings towards Kim, and its lethal culmination, ever be revealed. Now Yori was grateful that Ron had shared his past with her, especially his memories of the multiple missions he and Kim had gone on to retrieve the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer.
X.
"Unt now, I, Professor Dementor, vith the power of ze Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer powering my Proton Decoupler Ray, vill be ze ruler of EVERYTHING!"
"I think not, Dementor-san."
The helmeted Teutonic madman, who was holding the cylinder aloft in triumph, blinked and turned to face the source of the interruption. He did not recognize the woman who had just dropped out of the air vent on the wall.
"Unt you vould be?"
"Your worst nightmare," she said with a polite bow.
"I do not think so," he replied airily. "If anyone vill be having ze nightmares, it vill be you, fraulein. Henchmen, ATTACK!"
Yori dropped into a fighting stance as Dementor's goons rushed her. She spun on her heel and sent a kick into the stomach of the one who was rushing her from behind. Completing the arc, she thrust out her arm, her palm striking the chest of another man, who went flying backwards. Then she executed a flip over the shoulders of the third man. Landing behind him, she delivered a quick pinch to his shoulder, and he crumpled to the floor. With similar ease and speed, she dispatched the remainder of the henchmen.
"Very well played, fraulein. However, vhile you may think zat you are uber, it is I who is uber," Dementor said as he leveled a ray gun at Yori. "Goodbye, farewell, auf wiedersehen!"
"While it is time to say goodbye," Yori said calmly, "it is I, not you, who will be leaving with the device."
"Do you not have ze eyes vith vich to zee?" he asked. "I, Professor Dementor, am ze one holding ze gun, not you."
With one fluid, lightning motion, she reached into her gi, withdrew a shuriken, and sent it sailing towards Dementor. The throwing star hit the gun squarely on the barrel and sent it flying. Yori then executed a triple somersault that put her in position to retrieve the weapon before Dementor could.
"Zis is not possible!" he shrieked.
"Your past experience should tell you otherwise," Yori replied calmly as she adjusted the controls on the weapon, setting it to stun. "Now, if you will stop ranting, it will be my honor to shoot you."
"Vhat? I am not okay vith zis shooting of me!"
"I do not believe I require your approval, Dementor-san," she replied before she calmly pulled the trigger. The Teutonic villain fell to the floor and lay motionless. Yori surveyed the scene with grim satisfaction. She had taken thirteen people out of action in under three minutes. She walked up to Dementor and knelt. She was removing the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer from his hand when she heard the footsteps. She did not need to turn to see who had joined her.
XI.
"So, what's the down low?" Ron asked.
Though his speech and mannerisms were as jaunty as they always had been, a careful observer would have noticed that Ron Stoppable's eyes were dull, as if missing some essential spark. Given the loss of Kim, then their child, that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was how he managed to carry on. Yori was amazed by his resilience. At moments of reflection like this, the true horror of what she had done revealed itself in all its awful majesty.
"As you can see, I have defeated Professor Dementor," she replied, wondering how he had found her.
Ron scanned the room. "Yeah, nicely done. Ninjas one, bad guys zero."
"May I ask why you are here? I thought we agreed that you would remain at Yamanuchi."
"Everything's Chauncey at the school. Hirotaka's got things covered."
"I see. Tell me, how did you know to find me here?"
"Wade. This place has been broken into so many times that it's wired into his system. And since KP and I had so much experience dealing with the vortex inducer thingie Betty Director asked if I'd be willing to look into it."
"I see," Yori said before another question came to her. "Yamanuchi is supposed to be secret. How did Load-san find you?"
Ron waved a dismissive hand. "Wade? He's got the world wired. And, seems that he's had me chipped for the past few years. Said he did it for my own safety."
"Did Possible-san know?" Yori immediately regretted her question. The old jealous instinct to find something that might possibly make Ron think ill of his deceased best friend girlfriend remained potent – and, as always, misguided.
Ron laughed, but without humor. "Yeah, she did. That's Kim for you. Always worrying about me. Who'd a thought she was the one who needed protection? Not that I had her back when she needed me the most."
"There was nothing you could have done to help her that day," she said, hoping to soothe her husband and redirect the conversation. That was easier said than done, though.
"Maybe you're right. But what if I had been there? Maybe I could have stopped Monkey Fist from going after her."
"No. He would simply have found her another time. Once the monkey man decided to kill her, she was a dead woman walking. It was only a matter of time. I am truly sorry," she said, gently laying her hand on his shoulder. "I know what she meant – means – to you."
"Thanks," he said, his voice thick. "Man, I miss her so much."
"I know," she said. Even though she had succeeded in killing Kim, she had soon discovered just how utterly she had failed in removing her from Ron's heart.
He blew his nose into a hanky. "Sorry. Last thing my wife needs is to hear me crying and going on about my old girlfriend."
"You do not need to apologize. She was – is – a part of you."
"Thanks for the understanding. I can always count on you."
Yori did not, could not, respond to that. The truth was that Ron could not count on her and could not since the day she had conceived her plan to eliminate Kim Possible. What she had done that day to guide him toward his destiny and into her life had instead led him away from the place he was meant to be.
"So, uh, why are you here?" he asked, hoping to dispel the uneasy silence. "We usually leave the supervillains to the Global Justice guys and since they asked me to deal with Dementor …"
"I cannot tell you other than it is of the utmost importance."
Ron's surprise at her comment was etched on his face. "Uh, hello, husband here?"
"I am sorry."
"This isn't one of those 'if I tell you I'll have to kill you' deals, is it?"
"No," she said.
"Then what gives? You haven't gone over to the dark side or something, have you?"
Yori responded with a right hook to his jaw, then a left to his gut, and finally an open-palmed blow to his exposed jaw. He toppled backwards and collapsed onto the floor unconscious. He had never stood a chance, never expecting an attack from his own wife. She looked down at the still, prone form of her husband. Not taking any chances, she found some rope and began to tie him up. When she was done, she tenderly stroked his cheek, and then left.
XII.
The first hints of morning light limned the horizon over Middleton as Yori quietly made her way through the park. It had been years since she'd last been there, but she remembered the place – and that long ago day – clearly. When she arrived at the tree, she surveyed the area to confirm she was alone. Satisfied that she was, she quickly scaled the trunk and secreted herself in the branches. There, she waited for her younger self to arrive.
XIII.
The younger Yori had planned her operation carefully. She had learned that Kim Possible would spend part of the day cleaning litter in the park. All the ninja needed to do was find the best location to execute her plan and then wait for her target to present herself. Having studied her surroundings, she had identified the most suitable place from which to strike. High above one of the paths, amidst the branches of a grand old oak, she would hide. There, she would wait and, when the moment arrived, strike down her target.
Filled with quiet confidence and determination, she set down a Styrofoam cup, carefully approached the base of the tree, quickly looked around, and then began to climb.
XIV.
Yori had just secreted herself on the limb when she sensed someone had joined her.
"You may turn around slowly," the visitor said in an all-too-familiar voice. "And before you consider how you might retrieve this situation, perhaps even turn it to your advantage, you should know that I know every form of martial arts, indeed everything, you know, and much more."
Yori considered what she had been told. "I see," she finally replied. Recognizing she had few options, at least for the moment, she did as instructed.
Having heard her own voice, she thought she'd be prepared to see her double. However, she was not. Perhaps it was seeing a slightly older version of herself that startled her. Perhaps it was the hard set of her jaw. Perhaps it was the unfathomable pain in the eyes.
"I am here to stop you from assassinating Kim Possible," her older self declared.
"Who are you?" Yori asked, trying to ignore what she saw.
"I am who you know me to be," her older self replied. "I am you, from your future."
"I do not believe you."
"That is your choice. One you will most unfortunately regret."
Yori noticed that the observation was offered with both palpable regret and deadly malice.
"How did you get here?"
"I am sorry, but it is of no matter to you."
"If you are from my future, you know that this assignment is of great importance, to Yamanuchi, to me, and to Stoppable-san," the younger woman said.
"It is indeed of great importance, but not as you imagine. By killing Kim Possible you will perpetuate the darkness that has overcome Yamanuchi. And you will essentially kill yourself as you will Ron-san."
"I do not understand. By eliminating her I will free Ron-san to meet his destiny!"
The older Yori shook her head. "He is her destiny, not ours."
"That is not true!"
The older Yori closed her eyes. "We have been married for four years and still he speaks her name in his sleep, still he loves her."
"But she will lead him astray or abandon him!"
"I believe you are wrong," she said, fighting down the bile in her throat as she gave voice to what she had long known to be the truth. "They are meant to be together." Then, with more equanimity, she added, "You know as well as I that he will no longer be the boy you desire if he becomes an assassin. He is not meant to take that path. Nor, I believe, are we."
The younger woman's mask of impassivity fell away. "What do you mean? We are ninja!"
"I have had much time to think about this," Yori said, the memory of many sleepless nights now crowding upon her. "There are other ways for us to protect the interests of Yamanuchi. The road our school has traveled leads to darkness. It is up to you to lead the school back to the way of honor."
"How will that be? If I do as you tell me, I will fail my graduation project. Then there will not only be no future for me with Stoppable-san, but none for me at Yamanuchi."
"I believe I can offer a solution."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Look into my eyes," the older woman said. "Carefully. Then tell me what you see."
Yori did as instructed. The misery and self-disgust she saw were undeniable and disturbing.
She then looked away and contemplated not only what she had seen, but also what she had heard, what she knew of Ron Stoppable, of his relationship with Kim Possible, and of what she, Yori of Yamanuchi, had planned to do in the name of honor and love. Long minutes passed before she spoke. "Share with me your solution," she said quietly.
XV.
Kim Possible was doing what she loved doing most – after lip-smacking her boyfriend, Ron Stoppable, that is – and that was helping people. At that particular moment, she was helping her Middleton neighbors by picking up litter in Middleton Park. She waved and said hello to her fellow citizens as they passed by. Children, adults, singles, couples, all cheerfully returned Kim's greetings. It was hard not to, given the joyous expression on her face. Everybody in town knew why she always seemed so happy these days: Kim had a BF. And not just any BF, but a BF who was also her lifelong best friend and sidekick in saving the world.
As she went about her work, she thought of the tow-headed young man. She wished he were at the park with her, but while she was picking up trash, he was helping Mr. North do yard work. Kim grinned at the thought – two things were guaranteed to get Ron to step up his game and put in extra effort: one was getting a chance to drive the Ferret Mobile. The other was the promise of some five-alarm KP kisses. Ron loved those kisses. Almost as much, she suspected, as she liked giving them – though she was looking forward to the day they could do more, much more than kiss, however. For while they were only high school seniors, their relationship had become serious enough that they had already begun dancing around the issue of when Ron might propose to her. They knew they needed to turn eighteen first, and were definitely not ready to get married; but they had been together since the age of four and knew in their hearts that they would spend the rest of their lives together.
As she recalled the song they danced to at their junior prom, Kim marveled at how this glorious day would be yet another wonderful "first day of the rest of their lives." She smiled as she looked upwards, enjoying the view as a few postcard-quality clouds scudded across a cerulean blue sky. After more than two weeks of far too much rain and raw wind, the sun shone bright and the temperatures were in the low seventies. That evening, she and her beau would go to their Senior Prom as a couple. No synthodrones, no whack take-over-the-world schemes, no hidden feelings would be a part of this special occasion. It was just going to be about an average teen-aged girl and her goofy, unique boyfriend having a ferociously good time together.
Kim spotted a Styrofoam cup by a copse of trees and decided she would pick it up, then be on her way home to meet Ron for lunch. She was daydreaming about slow dancing with Ron when she heard rustling from the leaves behind and above her. She turned, looked in the tree and was shocked to see in the branches someone with a blow-dart gun pointed at her – and poised to be used. Her eyes opened wide as she recognized the figure. Then she felt something prick her neck.
Before she could say anything her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.
XVI.
When Kim came to, the first thing she saw was a concerned Yori kneeling by her side. Anger welled up within her as she brushed the ninja aside and she sprang to her feet.
Overcome by a wave of nausea, she almost pitched over.
Yori grabbed her, preventing her from falling over. "I believe you should sit down, Possible-san."
Though still wary, Kim let Yori lead her to a bench. After the two young women sat down, the teen hero glared at the ninja. "What's the stinkin' sitch?" she asked as she reached for the soreness of her neck and discovered a dart. "What's going on?"
"My apologies," Yori said as she deftly removed the projectile. "But for my graduation project, I needed to show that I could assassinate someone."
Kim's eyes opened wide. "That is so many flavors of wrong!"
"It is one of the ninja's ancient arts," Yori countered.
Kim grimaced and shook her head. "And you chose to kill me why?"
"You are a master of multiple forms of kung fu and a highly accomplished warrior. Please accept my choice of you as a target as a compliment."
Kim sighed. As flawed as Yori's exercise was, the martial artist in her was nonetheless impressed with what the Japanese teen had accomplished. "So, just how long have you been planning this?"
"Many months."
Kim snorted. "You're very good. Tell Sensei he'd better give you an A or he'll be busted."
"I shall do that," Yori replied with a faint smile.
The two young women rose and prepared to go their separate ways. Then Kim turned to Yori. "You know, I'm very lucky."
Yori knew just how lucky Kim was but didn't say. Instead, she just looked at her with a curious expression that encouraged explanation.
"Junior year. You like liked Ron."
Yori nodded. "Indeed I did."
"If he understood girls, I'd never have had a chance with him. He'd have been yours."
"Perhaps. However, even had Stoppable-san known of, and returned, my feelings, I have come to believe that he is your destiny, not mine."
"So you're okay with him being my BF?"
"BF?"
"Boyfriend."
"Yes, I am. It is what was meant to be."
Kim smiled appreciatively. "Yori, you rock."
"Domo," the ninja replied with a bow. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to Yamanuchi."
That surprised Kim. "You're not going to say hi to Ron while you're in town?"
"No," Yori said. "And I would be grateful if you would keep this visit between, as you say in America, us girls."
"May I ask why?"
"Even though this was a simulation, the fact that you could have been hurt would distress Stoppable-san. I do not wish to cause him any pain."
XVII.
"Thank you for filming the encounter," Yori said as she took the digital video recorder from her double's hand. She placed the device in a pouch along with the dart she had used in her attack on Kim.
"It was my honor," her older self replied. "And let me say that you have acted with great honor, as difficult as it was for you to do what you did. I know how you feel about the school's traditions – and about Stoppable-san."
Yori spoke with resignation. "You showed me that it was time to move on."
The older woman gently rested a reassuring hand on her younger self's shoulder. "Still, to change the direction of one's journey is not always easy."
"But it is sometimes necessary," she replied.
The older Yori nodded. "I recall that Sensei once said that change was the way of all things."
The younger woman nodded. "I remember that, too."
Both women reflected on their teacher's observation. Then the older woman spoke. "Let us hope he still recognizes the wisdom of his words."
XVIII.
The teen-aged Yori approached her master, reached into her pouch, and withdrew the dart and a DVD, which she offered to him with a slight bow. "The results of my graduation project."
He cocked an eyebrow. "You filmed the assassination of Kim Possible?" he asked.
"No," she replied. "I recorded the simulated assassination of Kim Possible, which you may watch. The dart was the one I used in the operation."
The old man's brow furrowed. "You know that the assignment required for graduation is to successfully perform an assassination."
"But is not the purpose of the exercise to show that I have mastered the ability to do so? This proves that I have. Therefore, I have met the requirements of the exam."
"That is but one purpose," he said.
"And the other?"
"To prove you have the strength and discipline to be a ninja."
"But does it not take even greater strength and discipline to refrain from exercising the power of life and death over another when it is within one's possession?"
"Perhaps. But what of your thesis, that by killing Kim Possible you would free Stoppable-san to pursue his destiny as the mystical monkey master?"
"Upon reflection I have come to conclude that there would be no freedom in such a course, especially as it would be founded on lies and deceit. If Stoppable-san is to become the mystical monkey master, he must choose to do so of his own free will."
"And what of your feelings for Stoppable-san?"
"They are irrelevant if they are not shared. His love is not mine to take but his to give and he has given it to Kim Possible."
Sensei rubbed his chin, then quirked an eyebrow.
"To pass you under these circumstances would be to abandon centuries of tradition."
"Tradition can be like one of two rocks, a millstone around our neck that imprisons us or a foundation upon which we stand and build the future."
"You are very wise for one so young."
"Domo." Yori bowed in acknowledgment of the compliment.
"But what of Hirotaka? And the others? What am I to tell them of their graduation projects? What if they prefer the old way?"
"You might tell them that a wise man once said that change is the nature of all things."
Sensei's expression made clear that he recognized his own words.
"Still, some will say that the assassination is required for one to be a ninja."
"And some once said that one needed to be a man."
Sensei allowed himself a rare smile. "You will make a fine Sensei one day, Yori."
Yori again bowed. "You honor me with your praise."
"I speak the truth. You have done well, my student."
Yori bowed a third time and took her leave of her teacher.
XIX.
The two women sat at the edge of a mountain brook beneath the star-filled sky.
"And had Sensei not acceded to your proposal, what would you have done?" the older Yori asked.
"I would have performed the assassination," her younger self replied.
The older Yori was surprised. "You would have returned to Middleton to kill Kim Possible?"
"No. You convinced me that the time has come for our school to change and so I would have done what would have best served the interests of Yamanuchi, and, I will confess, me: I would have killed Sensei."
Yori recognized the cold, honest calculus that her younger self used. The newly minted ninja might have been deflected onto a different path, but she was still dangerous and determined. Yori felt for Yamanuchi's foes – without the increasingly distracting burden of guilt that she herself had so long carried, the young woman would develop into a formidable, terrible force. "It is time for me to depart," she said abruptly.
"But where will you go? By persuading me to abandon my plan to assassinate Kim Possible, you have eliminated the future from which you have come."
"This is true. But I believe there is much I can do in this world."
"You know that Sensei would welcome you at Yamanuchi."
"Ah, Sensei. While he has agreed to your proposal, he is still steeped in the old ways. You will need to be most cautious with him."
The young woman found herself unable to speak as the full impact of what Sensei had done over the years became clear to her. "You are indeed correct. That is all the more reason for you to return to the school with me."
"No," Yori said. "Setting the school back on the path of honor and dealing with those who have corrupted it is your destiny. Mine is to do atonement if I am to banish my demons."
"I do not understand."
"And I hope you never do. Goodnight."
The young woman wanted to stop her older self from leaving but knew that to do so would not be welcome. Instead, she rose, and bowed. "Goodnight," she said in response. "And know that you leave here having acted with honor."
Yori returned the bow and disappeared into the night.
XX.
After walking for almost two hours, Yori found a secluded glen where she would be able to spend the night in safety. She spread out her mat, and soon fell asleep.
It wasn't long before she sensed a presence. She propped herself on her elbow and was dismayed.
"You!"
Much to her horror, none other than Kim Possible stood before her in the middle of the secluded glen. The teen was wearing the peasant blouse and jeans she'd worn on that fateful, long ago day.
"Hi, Yori."
"What more must I do before you will leave me alone?"
Kim sat down and smiled. "Nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm here to say goodbye."
Yori was confused.
"But why?"
Kim shrugged. "I thought you'd like to know I wouldn't be disturbing your sleep anymore. And, I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"For saving my life. And Ron's. And yours. Take care." Kim then turned and departed, leaving Yori alone.
The ninja slept well that night.
Fin.