AN:/ For everyone that celebrates a winter-based holiday, Happy Insert-Your-Holiday-Preference-Here! For everyone that doesn't celebrate such holidays, Happy Gimme-Presents-Day! For everyone following the Gregorian calendar (obviously not Chase), Happy New Year! Hmm, anything else to add? Oh, right! For once, no Guest reviews :( That makes me sad, but happy since that probably means that all previous guest reviewers now have an account I can properly contact them at...well except for lovely Elizabeth, she seems MIA for the holiday season.


"I'm leaving you in charge." Chase's words startle Shadow, and she looks up from the latest book she's studying from to see him talking with one of the cats that can become human.

He's leaving? But…

Shadow lowers her gaze back to her book and pretends to still be reading. She scoots her chair a little closer to the two talking so she can hear better.

"I shouldn't be gone for too long. An hour at the most, she probably won't even realize I'm not here. Make sure she continues studying. And if she should somehow finish her work before I come back…then I guess you can let her watch the monks via the pool. The time for the fall of the Xiaolin Temple is drawing closer, and she needs to be ready to infiltrate."

Shadow's eyes widen as they flit to Chase for a second before returning to staring at the book. She doesn't have many pages left…but she also thinks he'll be back long before he claims. She doesn't realize when exactly he leaves, but she knows she's finished the book. It was about the Japanese language. Chase had ordered her to read through it twice and do all the exercises afterwards, but Shadow had chosen to do them all as she read to save herself some time. Originally, she had thought to show Chase her work and then go hunting with the big cats for those rats that keep finding their way into the cave system.

But now, as she strides up to the former tigress meant to watch her, she has a better idea. Quietly, she offers her the completed workbook. The tigress flips through the pages before sighing and gesturing for her to follow her to the scrying pool, before pulling up the image of the Dragons of Fire and Water riding on the back of the green size-changing dragon that was beginning to look a little yellow. It only takes a minute for Shadow to overhear the bald monk child say something interesting.

"But why can I not join you Kimiko?"

"Omi, this is Family Day. Rai's already gone to see his siblings. Clay's back in Texas. And I'm going to see my Papa. Besides, Jermaine said you could hang out with him today since you already see your family every day at the temple."

"But…I wish to visit your father and have laughs with him like we did after we defeated Panda Bubba again!"

"No, Omi. Next time we're in Tokyo though, I'll make sure Papa has some time for all of us. Okay?"

"Very well…but why can't I just stay with Dojo? He's family too."

"Because I need to hit the Dragon Spa before my shedding fully hits. And no humans are allowed to enter the secret kingdom."

Shadow watches as Kimiko jumps off the dragon - Dojo - and waves to her friends as they fly off. The golem grins widely and turns her attention to the tigress that she never bothered to learn the name of. She points at the tiny Kimiko in the pool of water before telling the tigress her demands. "You will help disguise me so I can get close to her and find out any information possible for the inful… infiltration. Since the Xiaolin monks are currently separated, this is the best time."

The tigress shakes her head, "young mistress, those are not the orders your Papa left for me to follow. You are to observe from the safety of the lair. Master Chase would not like to return from his errands, only to find you missing."

Shadow growls in displeasure, trying to convince her to let her go, before she remembers that only Chase understands her when she speaks like that. She quickly switches to Chinese and repeats herself. "You and I both know that he won't do anything to you if he comes back before I finish my mission. He's only tough on the cats that are only cats. Not the cats that are also human. Besides, Chase likes you, you do magic like him, and he scratches your head when you do a good job. I've never seen him raise a hand against you."

"That's true, but he still raises his voice…" The humanoid-tigress sighs, coming to a decision quickly about what to do. "Very well, Mistress Shadow, I'll cast a high-level glamour on you so you may meet tu mad…err, interrogate the young Dragon of Fire without worry."

A few minutes later, Shadow finds herself in Tokyo after going through the scrying pool's portal feature. The disguise spell the tiger-human used on her, makes Shadow take the form of a small mixed Japanese six year old girl. Her hair is raven-black, her eyes are amber, and her skin is porcelain pale. She wears what her encyclopedia called a cheongsam, in blue. Not far away, at an ice cream vendor, is the Xiaolin monk Shadow came to observe up close.

She waits until the Dragon-In-Training receives her ice cream cone before Shadow accidentally runs into the young woman, making the ice cream fall. Initially, Kimiko's reaction is to yell at whoever ran into her, until she notices young Shadow giving her teary eyes and fake sniffles. For a moment, Shadow says nothing, content to just stare at the woman who seems even prettier now than she did in the pool.

Kimiko, who had been staring the whole time, shakes her head and bends down to Shadow's level, giving her a light grin. "Hey, missie, you have to be more careful when you're running around. Someone could have gotten really hurt." She says in Japanese.

Shadow feigns trying to understand her, but she doesn't have to fake it too much. She was only introduced to the language two days ago, after all, and is much more fluent in Chinese and English. She continues to fake cry as she apologizes in Chinese. "I'm sorry! I got lost and I was trying to find my…"

What was the word Kimiko used when talking to the tiny monk?

She sniffles to cover up her delay. "My Papa. I lost him." Shadow gets an odd feeling when she says that, knowing inwardly that she's placed Chase as her pretend father. Part of her finds it strange, whereas, another part of her finds it fitting.

Kimiko appears dumbstruck. She slips easily in Chinese as well as she examines little Shadow. "Your Papa…"

Shadow can recognize from her lessons on body language, that the Dragon of Fire is caught in a memory thanks to her appearance. She slowly gets frustrated, but manages not to show it as she calls Kimiko's attention back to her. She tugs on her sleeve. "Pretty lady, can you help me find my Papa?"

"I…of course. What's your name, little one? And where did you last see him?" Kimiko replies gently, before her gaze falls on her fallen ice cream. "Hey, do you like ice cream? I'll buy you a cup."

"I…" Shadow mentally starts going through different names. She should have thought of a fake name earlier!

Oh no, oh no no no, wait, what was that word Spicer used when things went wrong for him? Shit? Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Huh, that makes me feel better. Still need a name…

"Himeko. I've never had ice cream before, and Papa was last by a thingy with water. What's your name?" Shadow finally stops her fake crying, getting tired of it. Kimiko orders two cups of vanilla ice cream from the vendor, with extra rainbow sprinkles on one and chocolate sprinkles on the other. The Dragon of Fire then turns back around with lets Shadow pick one of the cups of ice cream. The little girl chooses the rainbow sprinkled one.

"I'm Kimiko, ours names are like a pair, huh? Hmm, do you mean the fountain a few blocks east?" Kimiko starts eating her ice cream and gently begins to lead them both away from the vendor. "Oh, and we'll need to call out for your Papa when we get there, but I don't know his name, so what is it?"

Shadow takes a tentative bite of the ice cream, using that time to think up a fake name for her pretend father. She knows she can't say Chase Young. That would ruin everything. "Uhm, Cha…o. Papa's name is Yang Chao, and I'm Yang Himeko."

"Oh? So you're a halfie, like me."

"Yes…"

"Well, at least you remembered your Papa's name. When I was your age, I could never remember my Papa's name. The one time I got lost as a little kid, I told the police that helped me find him that his name was Shippo, when it's really Toshiro."

"Toshiro? Toshiro what? Did you forget your family name?"

Kimiko's face hardens a bit at that and Shadow wonders if she discovered something that Chase didn't know about. He never mentioned that the Dragon of Fire was having family problems. At least, that's what Shadow thinks her face means. Kimiko soon puts on a fake smile and answers, "Nah, I remembered my family name, I just didn't think it would matter to you since we should be looking for your Papa. Now come on, the sooner we find your Papa, the sooner you can go home. You know, Himeko, you have really pretty eyes, I'm guessing your father is to thank for them?"

Kimiko's smile is hesitant when she asks the question, and Shadow can tell that she's thinking hard about something, but she can't for the life of her guess what could make the Dragon of Fire, whom Chase says is normally a spitfire, whatever that means, be so cautious. Instead of thinking on it, Shadow grins widely, "Yup!"


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