Author's notes.

Just to avoid confusion: the last part of the chapter - the part written in italics - is a scene which happens shortly after the events of the first chapter (I do believe such thing is called "flash forward", but I'm too lazy to check it out now XD. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Er...I DID tell you that most of the story is basically a huge flashback, didn' I?

- goes to check the Author's notes on the first chapter -

...yep, I did. Enjoy!

The storm was getting stronger now. Glancing out of the window, Monkey Fist could barely see DNAmy's awful pink camper through the pouring rain. The wind was getting stronger too, he could hear it howling around the old castle. A small smile formed on his lips as a thunder covered the sound of the rain against the window.

As a kid, he had always been fascinated by storms. He chuckled to himself as he remembered how, every time there was a storm, he used to open the window despite his mother's prohibitions to admire its wilderness and fury.

She always got angry when she caught him doing so, he remembered. Since her husband's death for pneumonia, she had been paranoid about her only child's health.

"Montgomery Fiske," she would have said, her hands on her hips "you're in trouble now, young sir!"

Which meant deep trouble, of course, like every time she called him with his full name. Most of times he ended up being grounded for a while, at least until Bates managed to calm her down.

But the prohibition – not to mention flu, which he often got after those little misdeeds – did nothing but increase his fascination toward violent storms. Monkey Fist smiled with an odd fondness at the memory of the foolish, stubborn young boy he had once been. To him, storms were the proof of how untameable Nature really was, despite all human efforts to tame it. So different from the quiet, predictable lifestyle everyone expected him to lead as the last descendant of a noble family.

Monkey Fist shrugged. Of course, this storm had nothing to do with Nature. It had been created by man, much like his monkey hands and feet. But still…

Lost in his thoughts, he let his gaze wander out of the window. As he glanced at the spot were DNAmy's camper had been minutes before, he was most relieved to see the camper was finally gone. She had probably decided there was no use into staying while she couldn't even put her nose out of the camper. Good riddance.

He was still gazing at the storm as he felt something pulling his robe. He looked down at the monkey ninjas who were trying to get his attention.

"Oh, here you are. Did you make sure all the windows are closed?"

Yuki wasn't sure of how long she had been following the monkey ninjas through the castle's alleys walking on the beams near the ceiling and careful to not make a sound. To her, it could be hours: the castle was much bigger than she had though. It was going to take forever to search anything suspicious: the thought almost made her groan.

Oh, well, it didn't really matter anyway: she knew there was a storm outside, she could hear the thunders and the patter of drops against the walls, and she surely wasn't going anywhere until was finished.

Just her luck.

Sensei would have chided her, for patience was very important characteristic for a ninja.

Much to her displeasure, patience was obviously something she totally lacked of.

Therefore, she almost sighed in relief as she and the monkey ninjas finally got inside a large living room.

Unlike the rest of the castle, inside the living room it was warm. There was no light on, except for the fire that crackled into a large fireplace, casting flickering shadows on the walls. The room was even more sinister than he rest of the castle, Yuki thought as she silently got in, but at least it was not so terribly cold.

She looked down. In front of the fireplace there was a red armchair, near which there was a small table. On the table there was a very ancient-looking book.

Yuki smiled to herself. Lady Luck was still with her, after all. Maybe she could climb down and take it without those monkeys noticing her…

She shuddered and almost lost her balance as she heard a voice just a few feet away.

"Oh, here you are. Did you make sure all the windows are closed?"

Yuki caught herself just in time before doing something very stupid – like falling down from the ceiling right in front of their noses, just to say one – and looked in the direction where the voice was from.

Not very far from her, glancing out of a window, stood a tall, dark-haired man wearing a dark red robe. She could not see his face, for he was giving her his back. She was kind of surprised by the realization that he had to be Monkey Fist himself. By hearing Yori's description she had thought he was some sort of weird-looking, savage creature, more resembling an animal than a man. Now she was surprised to see that, at least seen from behind, he looked like a normal man.

He was speaking with somebody she could not see from her position. She silently moved closer, and blinked as she realized he was speaking with his monkey ninjas. Speaking with them, as if he could understand their whimpers.

Yuki shrugged. Oh, well…after all he had trained them to fight and follow his orders, hadn't he? Then it was totally possible that he had elaborated some sort of code to communicate with them.

She got as close as she could without being spotted to better listen the unusual conversation.

"So, the skylight was closed" Monkey Fist scowled "are you sure you left it open earlier?"

All monkey ninjas nodded while Yuki, a few feet above their heads, cursed her own stupidity. A ninja should never leave any proof of its presence. She hadn't thought that someone could notice the skylight had been closed. But a ninja should never act without thinking first.

Why couldn't she just get it right? She had never, ever made such mistakes before…why now?

And most important…what would have happened to her if she was caught? She hadn't thought about this eventuality, focused as she was on her mission. She was a good fighter – she had spent her whole life training in martial arts, after all – and she had never lost a fight in years. But now she could see she was outnumbered: there were at least ten monkey ninjas there, not counting Monkey Fist.

How many chances did she stand against a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar? What if…

Stop this! – she thought angrily. She couldn't let herself think negative: her honour and maybe the whole world's safety were at stake. No matter what would happen, she wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Below her, Monkey Fist was beginning to panic. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that it could have been the wind to shut the skylight, he could not stop himself from thinking about the awful possibility that DNAmy had somehow managed to get inside the castle after pretending to leave. If she actually had – and he hoped with all his soul she hadn't – he was stuck inside with her for a whole month, until the storm finished.

I may have trapped myself with my own hands. God, I swear that if she actually got in I'm just going to get out of here, storm or not. Being struck by lighting would be less painful and surely more honorable.

He shook his head, trying to get such thoughts out of his head. The skylight was very small, he reminded himself, and DNAmy was far too fat to get through it. Maybe it had really been the wind…or maybe, somebody else had sneaked inside the castle.

He had to find out, he decided.

"I do not want any intruder here. Check every single room of the castle."

Yuki relaxed slightly as she watched the monkey ninjas scurried outside. It was quite ironical: she was in the same room with the nefarious Monkey Fist…and yet that was the only safe room in the castle.

She looked at him again. He had turned to watch his monkey ninjas scurrying out of the room, and now she could see his face. He had indeed a human face despite some slightly monkey-like features, she noticed. Her gaze lingered on his dark blue eyes for a few moments.

As he moved from the window and began to pace back and forth across the room, Yuki finally understood why Yori had described him as a "monkey man": his hands and feet were actually a monkey's hands and feet.

Creepy. Man, she was going to have nightmares about it.

She turned her glance away from his hands and let it wander in his face. He seemed anxious: his eyes kept flashing at the door, and he was nervously biting his lower lip.

He kept pacing back and forth until his monkey ninjas came back. She could not understand their whimpers, but she had a good guess of what they were saying: no intruder had been found inside the castle.

Monkey Fist seemed immensely relieved to hear the news. "Fine" he said "it must have been he wind, then. You are dismissed – do whatever you want, just don't bother me for the next two hours. Understand?"

As the monkey ninjas scurried out of the room, Monkey Fist sat cross-legged in his armchair with a sigh and grabbed the book on the table.

Now, back to work – he thought.

Yuki smiled as she saw him open the book. Finally!

Silently, she crawled just above his head to take a peak at the book while he was reading.

"How is he?" Sensei asked.

The young man shrugged. "I personally took care of his wounds" he said "he's not in real danger, but he's terribly in pain. Maybe, with some painkillers…"

Sensei shook his head. "No painkillers for him" he said sternly "he has a lesson to learn. Anything else?"

"Well…" the other man seemed uncomfortable "he has high fever, and he doesn't sleep well. He keeps…saying things in his sleep. Bad thoughts, very bad thoughts."

"What kind of thoughts?"

"He keeps pleading Death to come for him. I'm afraid he might try to kill himself."

"I understand" Sensei sighed "tie him up, then. Desperate men can do desperate things."

He turned to leave, but the young man stopped him. "Sensei, are you sure you don't want to tell him…you know…"

The older man shook his head. "Not yet. As I said, he has a lesson to learn – he will have to learn it the hard way."