I do not own any Disney character named herein, and am only writing a nonprofit story for entertainment purposes only.

Kim Possible: Lost

By LJ58

III

"Welcome to Yamanouchi, Shego-San," the old man with flowing beard bowed to her.

"I…..don't use that name…now…"

"Nevertheless, it is who you are. What you are," he told her as he cut her off, and gestured to the old-fashioned buildings within the high walls of the hidden school

"And you know who I am? Was? And still…..welcome me," she asked incredulously.

A lean, willowy Japanese girl smiled as she bowed, too. "We trust the monkey-master, Shego-San," she told her as Hana stepped forward to bow low to them, too. "If he welcomes you, it is our honor to welcome you."

"But….."

"Come," the girl told her, taking her pack from her. "I shall show you to your quarters where you may rest. Afterward, we shall speak of what you might find here."

"Yori's cool," Ron told her. "You can trust her."

"Stoppable-San, it is good you have brought the Han," the old man said he and Ron walked away with the little girl. "I have had a vision…"

She heard no more as they parted, and she followed Yori one way, and Ron and his sister went the other. Dispirited as she still felt, she couldn't help but be curious about the old man's words.

"Why did he call Hana 'the Han,'" she asked as the ninja girl led her to a small barracks that obviously housed only women.

"He has not told you? I suppose it will do no harm for you to know, since you are here, and will learn it soon enough anyway."

"Learn what," she frowned.

"Hana Stoppable is the manifestation of an ancient power long prophesized to change the world. She is known as the Han. Raised properly, she will make the world a long unrealized utopia if she survives."

"Survives?"

"The Han has many enemies. As does the monkey-master, who is charged with preparing and protecting the Han. Their enemies would like to turn her to evil, or failing that, simply slay her. Stoppable-San is bound by honor to train and protect her until Hana is able to reach her own destiny."

"And all this time I thought he was just a buffoon who lucked into mystic kung-fu," she admitted.

"Oh, no," Yori told her as they entered the barracks that were empty at that time of day since most of the inhabitants were off on duties of their own. "Stoppable-San is a great warrior with a heart unlike any since the first master who established Yamanouchi generations ago to watch for, and preserve the Han."

"Who knew," she murmured, and then realized something from the way the woman spoke.

"You love him," she realized as Yori's bland mask slipped for the first time.

"Shego-San, we all love the monkey-master. His destiny….."

"No. You love him."

Yori sighed. "What I do, or do not feel is unimportant in the greater scheme of his destiny."

She reached out, putting a hand on her slender shoulder that felt hard as stone beneath her hand when they stopped before an empty chamber. "Take my advice, and tell him. Love…. Love is too precious to risk. If you don't tell him now, you may….. You might never have…..another chance," she choked as she stepped into the room, and just dropped her knees to cry again.

As much as she had been crying lately, she was sure she should have been long cried out. But the tears kept coming every time she thought of…..

"I see," the ninja girl said as she came and knelt beside her. "You have lost your love?"

She said nothing as the girl's hand rested on her shoulder.

"I, too, admired Possible-San. And I envied her. For she possessed the love and devotion of the world's greatest warrior. Yet, to my undying shame, I wished for her to be gone."

She said nothing to that.

"As she is not here for me to apologize to, Shego-San. Perhaps you might take my apology in her place until you meet again."

"Meet…..? You don't get it. She's gone. Dead. Eaten…..! Oh, God. Eaten alive."

"Shego-San," Yori told her quietly. "She may have died, but she died a warrior's death. In my culture, we believe that spirits continue beyond death, and those destined to be together will eventually find one another in the next life."

She gave the girl a bleak stare, but said nothing.

Yori finally rose, then moved to stand before her, bowing low as she said, "I offer you my genuine sympathies, and my most heartfelt apologies that I might have somehow cursed Kimberly-San, and ruined your happiness. Forgive me," she asked, and dropped to bow even lower.

"There is nothing to forgive. She would never have faulted you, and neither do I," she told Yori quietly. "Just….go. Please, go, and let me sleep."

"Of course. I shall be near if you need anything."

"Sure," she said as the soft whisper of the door sliding closed was the only sound that marked the ninja's going.

She lay down, and didn't even bother to remove her boots.

It was just easier to lay there, and do nothing.

KP

"How are you feeling," Ron asked her in the fifth week of her stay.

It said something that she was starting to watch people now. That she came out, and tried to help with some of the chores around the school. She didn't fight. She didn't train. She just worked. Master-Sensei suggested she might be seeking penance, as much as oblivion.

Ron had the feeling he knew why. Or, at least, a part of a reason.

It was ironic to him, though, that the woman who had spent so many years trying to kill Kim now seemed to grieve her loss the hardest.

"I'm all right," Shego told him, still idly raking as the late summer turned toward autumn, and some of the trees were already shedding their leaves.

"Master-Sensei would like you to lead one of the beginner classes."

"Huh?"

"One of the instructors fell ill, and we're short-handed."

She stared around them at the busy groups of students that seem to have their divisions, though they all seemed pretty much the same to her.

"I'm hardly fit to teach…."

"Sensei felt you needed a challenge. It's just for a while, until the instructor gets back on his feet."

"What about the other guys you had?"

"Secret missions," he smiled. "In fact, I'm leaving myself…."

"Again?"

"Just for a while. Things to do, you know?"

Shego glanced around again, and nodded.

"I guess I can try."

"Just push the basics. Some of the newbies sometimes forget how important they are," he stated blandly.

"Let me guess, you learned that one the hard way?"

"Don't we all," Ron asked, sounding more like the buffoon she remembered.

"Maybe some of us," she grumbled, but still didn't sound like herself. Far from it.

"Okay. I'll let you go see Sensei, and he'll let you know the drill. I've got to get going."

"Right. Mystic destiny, and all that, right?"

"Actually, my vacation is over, and I'm expected back at the restaurant," he grimaced. "Even monkey-masters need to pay bills," he sighed.

She said nothing to that as Ron left. It was over two weeks later that she realized Han was gone, too, and she never even noticed her departure.

She noticed very little as the days seemed to bleed together as she worked, or spent time showing arrogant novices just how bad they were, and then returning to her room to sit in silence until finally succumbing to exhaustion. Still, there was no real passion in her any more. No ambition. It seemed there was no life left her, and she wondered just how long she could gone on like this before she simply gave up herself.

She didn't think of seeing Kim again in another world.

She knew all too well which direction she was likely headed. It wouldn't be to whatever heaven had claimed Kim Possible. That was one thing that kept her from taking what would have been a natural step to her mind now.

That singular fear that she would forever be lost to the one woman that knew and understood her better than she did herself. Lost to the one woman she had learned to love.

After a lifetime of selfish indolence, that love had genuinely surprised her.

And it was gone before it could truly blossom.

As every night since her arrival, she cried herself to sleep as those thoughts continued to torment her.

KP

"You are up early," Sensei's familiar voice spoke from behind her as she sat on the step, staring out at the pale horizon where the sun had just started to rise.

"Couldn't sleep," she murmured, not as bad as she had been when she first arrived, but still not doing much better when left to her own devices.

Two days ago, three of the regular instructors came back. Two took over the novices, and left her to just the usual chores. They didn't divert her very much any more since most of the leaves were gone now, and the trees, and the grounds, were clear.

"Walk with me, Shego-San."

Shego stood up, only then noticing Ron was standing nearby. She nodded, but said nothing as Ron bowed to them both before they walked away. She waited, but Sensei said nothing as he led her to the garden when he settled on a bench to study the fish in the small pond.

"Tell me, Shego-San. What do you see," he asked, gesturing at the pond lit by the first rays of the sun.

"Water. Rocks. Fish," she delineated without interest.

"Some would only see the surface. Or the stones beneath. Some would see only the flashes of color of the fish as they swam about. Some might see all three, but still miss the truth. Look closer," he ordered.

She frowned, and then paused as she realized, "I see our reflections," she realized.

"Boo-yah," came the dry reply. "Now, tell me. Which is the reflection? The you in the water, or the you above the water?"

"Well, in the water."

"Are you so certain? Is it not possible that the shape in the water is looking out, and thinks you are but the reflection?"

"Okay," Shego sighed. "Look, my Chinese master tried to get me to wrap my head around those koans and stuff, but…..I have to be honest. I've always been a here and now girl, and I never could quite….."

"That, Shego-San, is why you suffer. But to find the heart of your dreams, you must learn another way."

"Why bother?"

"Because, Shego-San," he smiled that secret, smug smile of his that really grated on her at times. "I have had a vision. Kim Possible is still alive. And only you may find her if she is to stay that way."

Shego had absolutely nothing to say to that as she stared at the pond again, her jaw hanging.

"How? Where….?"

"Not yet. First," the old man told her. "You must prepare. You must be ready for what is to come. Will you trust me, Shego-San?"

"Anything," she turned to tell him. "Anything you want, if you just help me find Kim," she almost pled with him.

The old man only smiled.

"First, you train in earnest. As I said, you are not ready for what is ahead. Not yet."

KP

Flashback:

"Shego," she cried even as she tried to fling herself back and away, but knew she was too late.

She screamed again as the jaws missed her throat, but long, sharp claws found and raked her sides as the hind legs tried to rake at her belly to tear her open. She stabbed the now active laser into the panther's side, and blood and gore splashed her even as another cat screamed, and ran off with a small dart in its side.

It made six or seven feet before it dropped dead.

Kim weakly shoved at the panther atop her that was still now, not yet realizing her laser had found it's throat, and sliced it open. The other panthers had fled, and she was blinded by the dead feline's hot blood as she finally pushed the heavy animal off her to sit up, using the ragged remnants of her top to wipe her face and eyes.

As she blinked against the red haze still blurring her vision, she gaped at the nine, small men in simple loincloths that ringed her. One of them was poking at the cat with a short spear as others held small bows with more of those darts.

She listened to them jabber for a moment, then everything caught up to her, and she fell back into a gray haze that quickly turned black. Then she knew no more.

She didn't hear the men seem to argue over her as they eyed her strange color and size. She didn't notice when they tore off what little remained of her top to study her injuries, and her maimed hand. They ignored her dismembered hand after a single glance, never heeding the small, metal device attached to a shredded synthetic band that lay nearby.

Finally, they formed a litter, and two of the nine lifted her to carry her away, leaving not one trace of their passage as four others carried the dead cats on a pole they cut to manage the feline's weight. Tonight, they would eat well, and they would have several stories to tell. Of the hunt. And the sky-witch that fell to the ground to strike down a panther with but a touch.

Their shamaness would tell them if the omens were in favor of sparing the sky-witch, or letting her die. After all, they were only hunters. They were not equipped to handle sky-witches, or whatever argument she had with the gods that caused her to be cast out. So they carried her to the village for the shamaness to decide for them.

KP

She woke in agony.

Every inch of her body was on fire, and she didn't understand why.

She tried to sit up, but found she couldn't. She lifted her hands, but found one missing, and didn't understand why that made her so terribly frightened. Her mind seemed shrouded in a fog, and she wasn't sure, but she felt she should be dead.

Even as she moaned, and tried to sit up, a small, stocky woman that seemed older than humanly possible came into the darkness that surrounded her, and eyed her with canny, dark eyes. She said something in a tongue she couldn't decipher, and then scooped up a thin, pale gray sludge from a bowl in a gourd cup, and set it to her lips.

She instinctively tasted it, and gagged violently.

The old woman cackled, and swatted her hand away to pour more of it into her mouth before she could close it.

She wanted to retch, but it didn't come back up. It just pooled in her belly and sat there like liquid stone.

"Ugh," she complained, and finally just turned her head away, and thought to close her mouth. Tightly.

The woman cackled, but put the gourd away. She then pulled the hide cover from her, proving she had been unable to sit because someone had tied her to the ground with stakes that held leather straps across her badly scarred body. She looked down at pale, puckered flesh that looked as if someone had tried to flail her alive.

The woman seemed to understand her confusion, and make a raking gesture as she gave a very eerily accurate impression of a panther's growl.

She shrank back, green eyes wide, and stared fearfully around her.

The woman laughed again, then she began to babble on in her incomprehensible tongue as she make sweeping gestures, and strange moves that made no sense. Finally, the woman stopped, eyed her, and said one last word that sounded like 'Turnip.'

Which, obviously, made less sense than anything else that had happened.

She was getting sleepy again, though, and she thought she might have been drugged.

She barely remembered laying her head back, but she knew when she woke abruptly to find herself staring up at the trees and jungle around her. She rolled to her feet, standing there clad in her pants, bra, and boots, and nothing more. She still wore a bandage around her wrist, but she was otherwise in fair shape considering the freshly puckered scars and scratches covering her body.

She still had no idea where she was, or why. She was remembering a degree of what had happened, and wondering why someone had not come to find her, but in the middle of the jungle, with the sun hidden from view just now, she had no idea which way to go, and how to find help.

She held up her injured limb, and remembered a large feline's jaws.

Cringing, she realized she had better find some way to defend herself, or she might end up on the menu again. A quick check of her pockets told her everything was still there. Everything but…..her Kimmunicator! She looked around, but didn't see the indispensable device.

Sighing, she refused to give in to despair just when she was finding out she was still alive. After all, life was hope, and she was all about hope. She pulled out her laser, found it had just enough charge left to do what she needed, and went to find a suitable sapling. A short time later, she had serviceable spear, and the tube still had enough charge for maybe a few more small bursts before it was gone.

Now all she had to do was find food and water, and a direction home.

Only what she recalled of where she had been dropped into the jungle wasn't helpful. She was somewhere in northern Peru, and many, many miles from the nearest settlements. Provided it wasn't an unfriendly, rebel community. That meant she had to be doubly careful about even approaching anyone even if she saw people. She was, literally, on her own out here.

Still, she was certain her friends were looking for her. That people would be missing her, and that they would be coming after her.

She had no idea that almost four weeks had passed, and she had spent most of it in a feverish haze, crying out for a woman whose name was coincidentally similar enough to a native goddess that they thought her blessed enough to try to save.

Not blessed enough, however, to risk harboring after she was well, in case she had earned the ire of the gods who had apparently cast her out. Better to let the gods decide if she lived or died on her own, than risk their village's safety with an outcast from the sky kingdom.

Not that she knew any of that. She only knew she passed out under the fangs of a huge cat, and woke up to the cackling of a weird, old woman. One that apparently had left her to the graces of the jungles after inexplicably bothering to tend her wounds, and save her life first.

Kim turned, and looked around.

Then looked around again.

Okay. Food and water, and shelter. Then she would deal with directions, and a plan. For now, she had to survive long enough to be saved. Or to save herself, if it came to that. Because she was never one to sit and wait when she could be acting.

It wasn't her way.

Setting out toward a hazy silhouette on the horizon, she hoped she could find something to guide her in the right direction. All she knew just now was that she was lost in a jungle, and that wasn't enough to find a way home. Fortunately, she was a Possible. And anything was possible. She would survive, and she would get home.

To Ron.

And Shego.

Especially Shego.

Because she still had to tell Ron about her real love.

Now that was the drama, she grimaced as she carried her new spear, and headed down what seemed an animal path, guessing it was the fastest way to find water.

She never saw the dark eyes that tracked her.

End Flashback

To Be Continued…