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If it's not clear + signs within quotations indicate speech in a different language. Japanese in the case of this particular story.

A Long Talk

Sheki panted slightly as she tried to keep up with the two young men on the trail ahead of her. Apparently Ron and Hana had not exaggerated the story of the hike in. She wondered if she could feel justified about irritation towards them for telling the truth.

At the school Hana slid open the door and entered Sensei's quiet room. The stark simplicity always surprised her. She expected visible symbols of his life around him, but instead he emphasized his detachment from the world. He had seemed ancient to her from her earliest memory. But she was not prepared for today. Even though she had seen him in decline over the last few years the change in his appearance shocked her. His gaunt form lay on the futon, under a heavy blanket. The skin of his face was like dry parchment, drawn tightly over a skull. She could not tell immediately if he even breathed. "+Sensei?+" she whispered softly.

He turned at the sound of her voice, "+Welcome, child and Master. You honor me with your presence.+"

Hana hesitated, not certain what to do and burning with curiosity about the strange greeting.

"+Please sit,+" he invited and she sank cross-legged onto a straw mat beside the futon.

She worked up her courage, "+Sensei, when you spoke to me in Middleton you called me Master. Here today, when I entered, you called me Master again. I do not understand.+"

He had rehearsed his speech a thousand times in his mind over the years, and could put it off not longer, "+I need your forgiveness, Master. You are the living evidence of my weakness, my greatest failure as head of your school.+"

If anything Hana felt even more confused, and feared his mind had started to lose contact with this world, "+I still do not understand why you call me Master.+"

"+You know you are different from others, do you not?+" he asked kindly.

"+The fact that sometimes I know things I've never learned? Some things come more easily to me than they do to other people, and some things are more difficult. I am raised in America and I still sound like a foreigner.+"

Sensei nodded. "+Toshimiru founded Yamanouchi centuries ago. The Master was the greatest warrior of his age, and a great magician. With the Lotus Blade he carved Yamanouchi from the living rock of the mountain and served as the first head of the school.+"

The girl sat quietly, wondering why he told her what everyone who ever came to Yamanouchi knew.

"+The Master loved his school very deeply, and left behind a secret mystic weapon that later heads of the school could call upon in times of greatest peril.+"

"+Ron told me of Monkey Fist trying to steal the weapon.+"

Sensei tried to laugh, but it turned into a raspy cough. "+Monkey Fist could never have used the weapon. It was only there for those who loved the school. It had been written down on a scroll, in case a head of school failed to pass the secret to his successor. But the language of the scroll hid the truth from the Englishman.+"

"+I still do not understand what this has to do with me.+"

"+Toshimiru himself was the weapon which would come to the aid of those who loved Yamanouchi. He left his spirit in the Lotus Blade. The spirit of the great warrior and magician has come to the aid of the school several times through the centuries."

"+I don't-+"

"+Call your weapon, Master.+"

"+My weapon?+"

"+Raise your right hand, child, and ask that your blade come to you.+"

Not fully understanding the request Hana raised her hand and concentrated, "I wish for my weapon to come to me." She half-expected the Lotus Blade to appear in her hand, and half feared the prospect.

The weapon appeared in her hand, assuming a longer, heavier shape than the form it took in the Yamanouchi shrine to its founder. Hana's expression changed also, the look of curiosity over Sensei's words replaced with the look of peace. She softly ran her hands over the sword, "+It is good to hold it again.+" The room remained silent for a minute after the reunion of the sword and its Master, then Hana turned to Sensei and asked sharply, "+What has happened? Why am I like this?+"

"+I failed you.+"

"+That is obvious enough. How could the head of Yamanouchi allow this?+"

"+I can offer you no sufficient reason, Master. But I can reveal the truth. Years ago I received a premonition. Monkey Fist would use the Yono to attack the school. Twice before you saved the school from that demon's power.+" Hana nodded her head at the memory. "+I did not know how quickly the attack might come, but I knew you were our best hope. Ron is monkey master, but I did not think he loved the school enough to die for it-+"

"+To die for it?+" the Master interrupted. "+What do you mean?+"

"+You do not realize? The power of your spirit is so great, Master, that when you possess a student his own spirit is driven out. When your spirit returns to the Lotus Blade the student is dead, a shell empty of spirit.+"

"+So, Ron…+"

"+Loves the school, but not enough to die for it. I would have taken on your spirit myself-+"

"+But only the head of the school has the power to call me forth and put me into the body of another. So you could not serve as vessel.+"

"+The honor should go to the finest student at Yamanouchi, and that was Yori. She would have laid down her life to serve as vessel for your spirit, but I was weak. My granddaughter's life meant too much to me. I was unwilling to sacrifice her for the school. And I did not feel I could ask anyone else to die for Yamanouchi.+"

The room was silent for a minute. "+Who is Hana Stoppable? And why am I wearing her body?+"

"+In my weakness… I realized that if your spirit is so strong it expels that of the individual I decided to look for a body from which the spirit was already gone. Students of Yamanouchi are found throughout society. They served as my eyes. But the bodies of those who died by violence or suicide were unsuitable vessels. Then I had a call in regard to a stillbirth. The umbilical cord had been wrapped around the baby's neck and the doctors had been unable to save the child. I did not know how long until the Yono would attack, and realized this was a form which the demon could not anticipate.+"

"+Why do I remember almost nothing of this. Why has my spirit been in something of a dream state for these years?+"

"+What I had not realized is that your spirit, so strong it destroys the living who house it, allowed life to blossom in the dead form you entered. I do not know if Hana's spirit was that of the original baby, revived when you animated the body. Or if you brought a spirit with you from the Lotus Blade, or allowed a spirit without a home a place to dwell. But the other spirit found peace and dominated the body. Of course, at first I could not know that. You needed care, and the presence of a monkey master. The Yamanouchi network smuggled you out of Japan so that you could be placed under the protection of Ron.+"

"+Did the Stoppables understand any of this?+"

"+It is more of my shame, Master. I deceived them about your identity and origins. I manipulated their memories. They thought they had done all that which was necessary for a legal adoption, believed they had been engaged in the process for months. They are honest people. They knew international adoption takes years. No one is called in the morning and told, 'You may adopt a baby by noon'.+"

"+But you did not manipulate Ron's mind.+"

"+He has the monkey power. I do not think I could change his memories. I know it hurt him deeply to arrive home and find a baby for whom he was totally unprepared. It bothered his parents. They falsely remembered he had been told for months that a baby was coming, yet he acted as if it had been sprung on him without warning.+"

"+But my first fight was not with the Yono.+"

"+No, Master. Monkey Fist broke into the school library while I was in America. I suspect an ex-student, Fukushima, who had been the Englishman's tool once before, told him of the Annals of Yamanouchi, or of the other scrolls we possess.+"

"+He did not find the Annals?+"

"+No, Master. They were too well hidden. But he found the scroll which spoke of you, although he did not realize it.+"

Toshimiru laughed, "+And so the first action of the tool he sought was his own defeat.+"

"+Yes, Master. And soon after that you encompassed the defeat of the Yono.+"

"+I do not understand that,+" the ancient warrior said. "+The Englishman was soon back as flesh.+"

"+Yori, who had been denied the role as your vessel, called him forth to do her bidding. She bade him use his magic for the reconstruction of the school. She held him in thrall and allowed me to drive the demon's power from his body.+"

"+So, the Yono is no more?+"

"+I do not know, Master. Perhaps someone with sufficient power could bring him back to our world. I pray that the information to do such a thing is lost.+"

Toshimiru contemplated what had happened to him.

"+Why have I been allowed to linger in this form? You must have known for years that mine was not the spirit animating her body.+"

Sensei sighed, "+Again I lacked the courage to act. I did not know what to do. Your spirits are so integrated that if your spirit returns to the Lotus Blade I fear Hana will die.+"

"+I thought you said she has her own spirit within her.+"

"+She does, Master. But it draws on your strength. I had hoped that it would grow stronger and that you could leave. Perhaps it is strong enough, but I am not certain and fear your return to your rest would mean her death.+"

Toshimiru sat in contemplation, "+Perhaps it is a good thing to live in this world for a time. So much has changed since I drew breath. Through the girl I have experienced things I've never dreamed of: computers, television, and text messaging. I will stay on this plane a little longer. Perhaps her spirit will grow in strength.+"

"+You are wise, Master.+"

"+I simply use what I have been given to my own best advantage… Does Hiro know who I am?+"

"+I told him today.+"

"+Ah, the fear in his eyes when he saw me,+" Hana's face smiled, "+He thinks I will challenge him for the school.+"

"+Please, Master, I beg of you. Give Hiro your support.+"

"+He has never liked me… Hana… whoever I am. He is not ready to lead the school.+"

"+No one who followed you was ever ready for the task. When I became Head of School fifty years ago I was not ready. For ten years I heard that my leadership was inferior to my predecessor.+"

"+You believe Hiro will grow into the job?+"

"+And I fear for the school if he is not allowed the opportunity.+"

"+You fear for Yamanouchi if a man incapable of good leadership is not allowed to lead?+"

"+He is capable. He wanted the position for the honor of leading Yamanouchi, but deep within he wants to add to the glory of the school.+"

"+To add to his own honor,+" Toshimiru snorted.

"+Have you read the play Antigone?+"

"+I am not certain if I know what you are talking about+"

"+It is an ancient Greek play. Creon is the new king of Thebes. He wants very much to have the respect of the people and be a good king. His pride and desire to be thought a great leader brings ruin upon his city and his family. At the end of the play he has lost all he holds dear.+"

"+And you tell me this to comfort me and accept Hiro as head of my school?+"

"+I tell you that because Creon could have been a great king, had he been given the chance. He was a good and capable man brought down by fate. You could bring down Hiro, but would it be best for the school? Will students believe your identity or suspect you are a fraud? Would you be accepted and hailed, or rejected for being a woman? Do you wish to stay and watch the little details that the head of the school must care for? The job has not grown easier over the centuries.+" Sensei's voice was initially loud with passion as he made his case, but quickly grew weaker - as each breath became more difficult. "+You have tasted some of the world's changes through Hana… I can tell you nothing, Master. I can only beg you to consider what I ask. But I trust that you will do nothing to weaken the school you…+"

Toshimiru sent the Lotus Blade back to its resting place. Hana would wish to mourn the passing of the school's former head. With the blade gone Hana reasserted control. She trembled at the memory of what she had heard. It explained odd dreams, memories, and sometimes even desires that drifted through her mind some evenings as she fell asleep, or mornings as she awakened. As she stretched out her hand to close Sensei's now sightless eyes she found her hand shaking. "What am I?"

Author's Note - Someone played with someone's memory in Hana's adoption. In Big Bother she came from the Middleton Adoption Agency, and the building was shown. In O No Yono she came from the Yamanouchi Adoption Agency - which was shown as a different building entirely.