Dear reader:

Please know that the characters and setting in this tale are not mine. This story is not meant to generate profit, it was merely meant to allow my imagination some freedom to wander and hopefully, entertain a little on the way.

That said, please enjoy...

"Well, it looks like another mission accomplished."

Yori smiled at the comment, and the voice that made it. Turning around, she saw her friend, Junso, standing outside of Yamanouchi's administration building.

"The mission was not difficult," Yori tried to remain modest. "There was no danger to me."

"As long as you kept your head," Junso countered, approaching her. "I know the details; you played the part of a cocktail waitress, acting like a silly fushidarana, yet keeping your eyes and ears open. The sort of men who frequented the casino don't much care for snitches, so if you let your guard down, or showed that you weren't an idiot, you'd have been in serious trouble."

"Nonsense," Yori tried to brush it off. "My duties were merely to spot arrivals for the prime operative. For such men that were present, they hardly see pretty young women as people. Once they gave me a good ogle, I was merely a source of drinks."

"Well, I finally got you to admit that you are pretty," Junso snorted. "Next, I'll work on getting you to admit that you're smart. For instance, timing your arrival back to Yamanouchi just after lunch, which means that there's no real point in arranging tasks for your afternoon."

"I have no intention of shirking my duties!" Yori protested. "I returned with all due haste..."

"I know," Junso grinned as she interrupted. "That's something else I have to work on, getting you to be just a little bit scandalous."

"My honor..." Yori tried to argue.

"Can't be much fun for you," Junso again interrupted. "But it provides endless entertainment for me. I took the liberty of procuring food for the two of us, so if you would like to dine in the gardens, rather than the dining hall..."

"That would be my preference," this time Yori interrupted the older woman. Her answer was a smug grin, the sort that said that Junso felt she was succeeding in her mission to corrupt the honorable, young ninja, before the older woman led the way to what had become their favorite "dining and gossip" spot.

Yori was honestly puzzled by her friendship with Junso. She had hardly known the other woman, other than being able to put a name to a face, prior to their mission to Middleton. Yet, when they returned to Yamanouchi, neither was ready to set aside the comradeship that they had developed. Perhaps an emotionally-trying job had left both of them open to friendship, but Yori didn't care; she finally had a close friend.

"You seem well-informed as to what I was doing," Yori pointed out, as they made their way to a stone fence under a tree.

"The benefits of being too valuable to risk," Junso replied, with more than a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Since I cannot be subjected to the dangers of an assignment off of the Yamanouchi grounds, nor the risks of intense training, I spend my days filing reports and organizing records. Yamanouchi has an extensive network of observers, handlers and sleeper agents all over the world. The effort needed to collect and organize these reports is impressive, but so is the knowledge to be gained. I'll tell you this about your mission, Yamanouchi has a sleeper agent working in the casino. All he does is do his job for the place and report what he observes. He reported when a new cocktail waitress started work last week and he reported when she didn't show up for her shift yesterday. He never knew that you were a Yamanouchi operative and he is unaware that your partner for this mission managed to photograph records that should be able to prove that the place was laundering money for an international crime syndicate."

By now, the two had reached their goal and sat on the stone fence. Junso set out the food she had collected between them and, for a few minutes, the two were more interested in chewing and swallowing than speaking.

"So, how have you been doing?" Yori asked, once her hunger's edge had been worn away.

"Do you need to ask?" Junso snorted. "I'm surrounded by people who are determined to keep me safe and healthy. I wouldn't be surprised if someone's creeping around right now, listening for a cough or sneeze."

"I checked before we were seated," Yori assured her.

"Well, someone's sure to be keeping an eye on me," Junso grumbled. "And whomever it is can probably read lips, so keep your face down if you don't want what you've been saying to be reported. For me, it's wake up every morning, perform light calisthenics, then work in the administration building. All during the day, if I even look at an object that weighs more than ten kilos, someone appears to move it for me. After my duties are done, I'm encouraged to take a walk before dinner, then perform more calisthenics before nightfall. No combat training and no missions outside of Yamanouchi are allowed."

"Your current mission won't be forever," Yori assured her. "Once it's done, perhaps we can be assigned a mission together."

"Do you really believe this?" Junso asked. There was sarcasm there, but there was also hope.

"Of course," Yori assured her. "You may never be a true fighting ninja, but you are well versed to gather information and blend in with others. Not all of a ninja's mission is fighting and sneaking."

"I hope so," Junso told her. "I've only ever really wanted to be a graduate and serve the school."

Her words, and the wistful tone, saddened Yori. While Junso had never been even close to her capability in martial arts or agility, it wasn't for lack of desire or drive. As she had said previously, she was too valuable to risk. As much as her friend was surrounded by people concerned for her health, their concern was only marginally for her. The Han was growing in her womb and Yamanouchi was not about to risk this child.

Yori took the opportunity to study her friend a little more. Although Junso wasn't a proper ninja, she was still very fit. She was average in height for a Japanese woman, but was considerably broader. While mastery of Ninjitsu would probably elude her, she could put a great deal of muscle on her broad frame and still carry it gracefully...if she was ever given the opportunity. Yori sincerely hoped that she would have the chance.

"Still, there is the here and now to deal with," Yori declared. "Do you learn anything interesting during your duties?"

"Oh, the things one can deduce," now, Junso's smile was wide, genuine, and a little cruel. "Would you like to hear some?"

"That would border upon dishonor," Yori pointed out.

"So, shall I keep Yamanouchi's secrets?" She asked.

"I said that it would border upon dishonor," Yori stated. "I never said that I didn't want to hear. A bit of temptation is good for the soul."

"Well, I've confirmed that you are one of Master Sensei's favorite students," Junso told her. "He expects you to go far. He has even stated to his advisers that he believes either you or Hirotaka will some day be his replacement."

"Such news makes it difficult to remain humble," Yori protested.

"That's your problem," Junso snapped, with false irritation. "Until I can have an adventure of my own, I'm living them through you. By the way, I hope you realize why Master Sensei scheduled you to not return for another two days, even though your mission was done."

"I assume that it would allow me a circuitous route back here, should it be necessary,"

"Of course not!" Junso rolled her eyes in irritation. "It's to give you a little chance to unwind and have some fun! You were supposed to visit a club, catch a concert, or maybe visit a beach and turn some heads. Your partner is taking the time to unwind, why didn't you?"

"I don't find such activities very enjoyable," Yori confessed.

"Only because you haven't tried them! Please, live a little, for both of us, when you have the chance!"

"When your current assignment is over, and you get your first mission outside of Yamanouchi, we will do such things together," Yori offered.

"I'm holding you to that," Junso told her. "Next piece of news, Master Sensei tends to celebrate successful missions by tying one on. He always invites an adviser or two to dine with him, and they are served by the same few students that he can trust to keep their mouths shut. After such a dinner, Yamanouchi has to purchase quite a bit of sake and scotch to replenish the stores, and those advisers are excused from morning duties the next day. He's invited a couple of such men and requested the services of those trusted students, tonight."

"So, he will probably not be observing my training tomorrow morning," Yori grinned. "Anything else?"

"Your cousin is currently on assignment in Italy," Junso told her. "He's acting the part of a party boy and has made some success trying to charm a mafioso's daughter. I think that warrants some teasing when he gets back."

"Indeed, it will," Yori grinned, but the grin faded. She had not been happy with her latest mission, the first in which she went undercover among underworld figures...or at least those who flaunted the fact that they were engaged in less than savory occupations. Such men tended to want one thing from women and while none of them had tried to force their attentions on her, she had been groped more than once. As she took on more missions it was inevitable that eventually, she was going to be faced with a harsh choice to either submit to such degradation or compromise her mission.

"Okay, your cheerful expression went away really fast," Junso noted, now deadly serious herself. "Was it something I said?"

"No," Yori quickly informed her. She looked at her friend again and realized that her current situation was, in its own way, as horrid as the situation that Yori was contemplating.

"Tell me, how was it that you were selected for the honor of performing the task you now do?" Yori asked her, instead of saying why she was troubled.

"My bloodline," Junso shrugged. "I am apparently a direct descendant of Toshimiru."

"All of us are the blood of Toshimiru," Yori protested.

"I didn't ask when I was told what I had to do," Junso told her. "Why the curiosity? Did you want to do this?"

"No," Yori was honest with the answer. "But I have to wonder what caused one student to be considered the best choice to perform your duty."

"Whatever it is, I wish someone else was better at it," Junso sighed. "Trust me, I would much rather be risking my life and training hard than be treated as the servant who's carrying a priceless artifact around." She paused for a moment. "But you've given me something else to dig into. I might as well make good use of the fact that the only thing anyone trusts me to do is sit in a comfortable office while my classmates are sweating, bleeding, bruising and risking their lives. Maybe I'll have something more to gossip about after your next mission."

"My next mission will come when and where it does," Yori shrugged. "For now, it is time to catch up on my training and academics."

"Such dedication," Junso rolled her eyes in false disgust. "I really have to work harder to corrupt you into living a little."

Life was getting easier, and that troubled her.

Kim understood irony and she hated to be in its cross-hairs. Her life was hectic enough; maintaining an A average in school, indulging herself in numerous school activities...in addition to the cheer squad, AND taking on her missions was exhausting an

d complicated. Anything that made that life easier should be welcome...but this wasn't. Ron was getting stronger, quicker, more confident. Okay, that helped on the missions and on the squad, but it bothered her. Much like her role as captain of the cheer squad, her position as head of Team Possible meant that she needed to know the abilities of those she worked with. Ron's sudden increase in ability, while welcome, was also troubling.

She wasn't being paranoid or jealous, was she? Did paranoid people know they were unreasonably suspicious? Did jealous people know that they resented other's recognition? She was sure she wasn't either, but she decided to get another opinion, just to be sure.

"Hey Kim, what's up?" Wade asked, in response to her kimmunicator call.

"I'm worried about Ron," she admitted. "He's just...not himself."

"Faster, stronger, more confident?" Wade asked. "I've noticed it, as well."

"I should have expected this," she grumbled, half to herself and half to her tech support.

"I analyze each of your missions," Wade reminded her. "I'm always looking for trends and shortcomings."

"So, when did you notice him changing?"

"Bear in mind that it's not an exact science," he told her, his fingers flying about his keyboard. "My own opinions are inherently biased and I have to take into account that each mission the two of you take on has variables that cannot be completely integrated into my algorithms..."

"Wade, summarize!"

"Okay, I calculated that there was a thirty percent chance of unexplained improvement on his part when the two of you had that misadventure with the Amulet of the Monkey King." Wade told her.

"Ron fought Fiske and held his own...for a little while," she recalled. "He also handled all of the monkey ninjas without much trouble."

"I calculated a forty percent chance of unexplained improvement when he had to get that orchid from the Amazon Basin," Wade continued. "Then a forty-seven percent chance that he was performing outside of my established parameters when he was hunting down the overdue library book. Next..." he paused, offering Kim an embarrassed look from the screen.

"Say it," Kim told him. "It's not like it's a secret."

"During the unfortunate incident with Dr. Bortel's Moodulators, he showed uncanny speed and agility," he continued. "Both when you were...pursuing him at the school and then when you were trying to attack him at the festival."

Kim didn't know if she was more embarrassed by her crushing on him or by her attempts to beat him. Neither were her fault, but she had still done them. If she had caught him at the festival, she could have injured him severely. If she had caught up to him, alone, while that device had her in love with him...

She shook her head; neither had happened and she was grateful.

"Then we had the incident with Team Impossible," Wade's scowl threatened to break the kimmunicator's screen. "Ron went one-on-one with Crash Cranston and won. I calculate a forty-eight percent chance of this being due to some outside influence."

"Only forty-eight?" She scowled at him, matching the expression he had when discussing Team Impossible. "So, you're saying that there's an above even chance that this could be normal? I'm not buying it!"

"Kim, let's look at the situation," Wade suggested. "Since I started assisting you, you've done most of the prime work on your missions. You've fought the bad guys, infiltrated the lairs, climbed the cliffs and trees, repaired the aircraft in flight, that sort of thing."

"I always appreciate the ego boost," she offered him a smile. "But I don't see the point your trying to make."

"My point is that you do a lot of things that very, very few people would even try, but Ron's right behind you for almost all of them." Wade told her. "Sure, back when Global Justice was studying the Ron Factor, he wasn't able to jump between buildings like you were but look at when you had the nasty cold. He swam across a couple of miles of open ocean, scaled a two hundred foot cliff, then infiltrated a lair by bungee jumping down a ventilation shaft. For you, that's no big but for most of the population, it's practically suicide."

"Still not connecting the dots here." She was honestly puzzled.

"Put bluntly, he's still a developing young man. All this intense activity to a healthy, teenage body is going to have an effect."

"I guess it's possible," Kim mused. "But the missions are kind of intermittent. To really get fit, you have to have frequent, regular exercise."

"Like being on a championship caliber cheer squad?" Wade asked.

"He's just the mascot!"

"Who does the same acrobatic moves that the cheerleaders do," Wade pointed out. "And going through your grueling workouts, all while wearing the bulky mad dog costume."

"My workouts aren't grueling!" Kim insisted.

"For a normal person they are," Wade countered, with a grin.

Kim went silent, lost in thought.

"I still can't buy it," she finally said. "It's not just his raw, physical ability. He's also gotten more confident. Just today, we were decorating the gym and we didn't have a ladder or lift. He shinnied up one of the beams, out to the center of the gym and caught the ropes the rest of us threw to him, and secured them. Since when has he been brave enough to do that."

"It's a cycle," Wade shrugged. "Greater ability generates greater confidence. Greater confidence pushes him to do more, which increases his ability."

"Maybe," she admitted. "But it just seems that he's changed ever since...the cheer competition at Wannaweep."

"You mean Gottagrin?" Wade tried to correct her.

"Don't even argue," Kim snarled back at him. "That place will be Wannaweep forever."

"Semantics aside, my point remains," Wade told her, shaking his head slightly. "He's on the cheer squad and backing you up on missions. It's inevitable that he's going to develop strength, agility, coordination and stamina."

"I don't know," she muttered in response. "You said that you calculated a forty-something chance..."

"Forty-eight," he supplied.

"That's almost half," she pointed out. "Almost an even chance that something else is responsible for this. What are the possibilities?"

"For the two of you, the possibilities are almost endless," Wade admitted. "You're constantly being exposed to various beams and rays. The inventors have barely tested them enough to make sure they have the effect they're after, much less tested them for side effects. Add into this the chemicals found around the bad guys' lairs and the mystical forces you guys come up against...or even work with."

"So, you're saying that Ron's Mystical Monkey Power might be the cause?" For some reason, Kim looked almost pleased with this possibility.

"It's a possibility," Wade admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But a minor one. This physical improvement didn't show up, at least permanently, until over a year after the incident when he gained this power. Not only that, there seems to be a correlation between him and you being in danger and the power expressing itself. By your own admission, his physical improvement is showing up at all times, even when neither of you are on a mission."

"How about Wannaweep?" Kim asked. "He says that he jumped in the same grotto that Gil had and a few minutes later, he was getting the better of Gill."

"Doubtful," Wade answered. "Gil clearly became stronger and gained other abilities through transformation, but Ron shows no sign of transformation. He's stronger, yet he isn't bigger. I still believe that it's just the affects of a strenuous, physical lifestyle making him more fit and confident."

"Isn't a scientist not supposed to have biases?" Kim countered. "Doesn't a previous belief taint the research's objectivity?"

"Please quit using my scientific prejudice against me!" Wade complained, scowling from the screen. "I hate it when we disagree and you have a point."

"It's for Ron," Kim insisted. "If something unexplained is affecting him in a positive manner, there could be negative side effects."

"Man, you really have me on the ropes with this argument!" Wade sighed. "Alright, I'll do some tests for alterations."

"Discretely," Kim insisted. "If it is him getting better normally, I don't want him upset with us investigating him."

"That will take more time."

"Let it," Kim told him. "I'm having enough trouble with him as it is."

"About that," Wade looked decidedly uncomfortable about saying what he was about to. "What's up with the two of you? Usually, the two of you would be hanging out with each other after school. You haven't really spent any time together, outside of missions, school and the squad, since..."

"Go ahead and say it," Kim sighed. "It's tiptoeing around the issue that's making things awkweird."

"Since the incident with the moodulator," Wade took the plunge.

"I don't know," she slumped her shoulders. "I knew it was going to be a little weird, but he came and saw me the next day and everything seemed to be on the mend, even if he didn't stay very long. Ever since then, it's not like he's avoiding me but..."

"He's not going out of his way to spend time with you?" Wade asked. "Which is a big change from before?"

"That's it." Kim nodded.

"Okay, I think that this is a little outside of my area of knowledge," Wade admitted. "But I might know somebody who can have a word or two with you, from a better perspective." His fingers were flashing over his keyboard again. "I'm not trying to butt in, but the two of you work better as friends. If there's tension between the two of you, it could spell danger on a mission."

"Thanks Wade," she offered a small smile. "I miss my best friend."

Wade only smiled in return before signing off, leaving her alone in the changing room. During most of the school day, the room was deserted...she wouldn't have made a sensitive call to Wade if it wasn't. Pocketing her Kimmunicator she made her way back to the gym. Most of the decorating was done, with only a few students left finishing up. A quick scan confirmed that Ron wasn't among them. She sighed again and headed out for her next class.

The afternoon classes weren't rough, and Ron had most of them with her, but he wasn't socializing with her. Oh, if she said something he'd answer, even cracking jokes with her, but it wasn't their usual way of interacting. She hated this; if he had a problem with her, she wish he'd just come out and say what it was. She'd rather be arguing than this.

After school practice wasn't any better. Of course, Ron was on top of his game, showing greater agility, strength and stamina than he had last year. Kim wondered about what Wade had mentioned; the cheerleader workouts were tough, especially if you were wearing a full costume with an oversize dog's head mask. Maybe Wade was right; Ron was a teenage boy living an active lifestyle. Of course it was going to affect him, so maybe she was jumping to conclusions.

Of course, that didn't explain why his academics were improving, nor did it explain why he wasn't as close with her as he was before...that unfortunate incident with Bortel's damned chip. These were mysteries that she had to answer. By the time she finished dressing after practice, Ron was already gone. This was another thing that had changed; since when was he ready to go before she was, and why wasn't he waiting for her? She had always enjoyed the walk home after school. Sighing, she left the gym and set her course towards home.

It wasn't a long walk, but it gave her time to think. Wade was probably right about Ron's improvement, but he hadn't delved into the whole explanation. It probably wasn't just a feedback with confidence boosting ability, which boosted confidence. There was also success and motivation boosting each other.

She had plenty of success in her life; sure, she worked hard for it, but succeeding meant that she had the motivation to put in the hard work for additional success. Because she usually succeeded, her infrequent failures were challenges to be overcome, not a mainstay. Ron had faced a different path; usually failing and being scorned for it. She had called him lazy but really, was he? When you never gained anything from hard work, was avoiding hard work being lazy or being realistic? Anyway, he was succeeding physically now, so maybe that had bled over into his academics; success brought on hard work to see more success.

So why was she irritated? Was it only because he wasn't finding the time for her like he used to; something that had only recently started, or was she jealous that he was getting better? That wouldn't be very nice of her, but it was better for her to face it and deal with it, now. The incident with the cooking class had stayed with her, she had vowed she would never again get jealous if Ron proved better at something. Of course, she had to recognize that she was jealous...if she was...and realized that she herself was inherently biased in her observations. She needed an outside opinion.

She offered her parents offhand greetings as she made her way to her room. There was nothing unusual about this, as she was usually busy. She pulled her workout clothes out of her gym bag and quickly found her way to the laundry room, having learned a long, long time ago to not let them go unwashed. Finished with that chore, she returned to her room to do a little studying before her chores and dinner, only to have her computer switch on and Monique's face to appear on the screen.

"Is this thing working?" Her friend's voice sounded over the speaker. Fortunately, Kim had been able to control herself enough to not shriek in shock.

"I can hear you," the redhead answered.

"Okay, I didn't quite believe it when your friend called me and said he could patch me through," Monique commented. "But that young guy, Wade, said that you could use someone to talk to about your best friend."

"Yeah, I really could," Kim admitted. "Ron and me...well...it hasn't been the same since that chip made me crush on him."

"Things are bound to be awkward," Monique shrugged. "Getting back to being just friends again is going to take some time." There was a bit of a smirk on her face after her comment.

"Okay, spill!" Kim sighed. "You're thinking something else, what is it?"

"Why go back to being just friends?" Monique asked. "Neither of you are with anyone right now, so why not see where this takes you?"

"Because I just don't see him that way!" Kim told her. "At least I didn't before..."

"And now you think of him like that?" Monique asked.

"I don't know if it's real or not," Kim admitted. "What if it's just something left over from the chip? What if we start dating and one day...I can only think of him as a friend again? What happens to us?"

"Okay, that's a legit concern," Monique nodded. "Have you thought of telling him?"

"Why?" Kim asked. "He broke up with me...then asked if we could be friends again the next day."

"Because he deserves to know the truth," Monique pointed out. "I've talked to Felix a little, and Ron's been talking to him. The reason Ron broke up with you was that he was so shook up by the way you went from 'you lost the kimmunicator' to 'I want you' in a matter of minutes."

"That was the moodulator!" Kim protested.

"And neither of you knew it at the time," Monique pointed out. "He just knew that something was wrong. It wasn't that he didn't want to date you."

Kim was silent at that.

"He's also shook up about the whole thing," Monique continued. "Let's throw the false modesty aside for a minute here, you're hot as hell. Having a hot teen girl throwing herself at him was a teenage boy's dream come true, even if it was his lifelong best friend and he knew that something was wrong with it. Finding out that none of it was real, even if he was the one who broke it off, has to hurt."

"It's not my fault!" Kim protested. "I'm trying to do the right thing!"

"It's not your fault," Monique agreed. "And it's not his fault either. You're trying to do the right thing, and so is he. Like I said, he's been talking to Felix and Felix has been talking to me; back when he was crushing on Zita, apparently he mentioned that the two of you might date some day. You essentially called him an idiot for even thinking that."

One of Shego's kicks in the stomach couldn't have hit harder than that.

"I was way out of line with that one," she admitted.

"No kidding," Monique rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Ron has some self-esteem issues the way it is. Having you crushing on him, only to stop has to bother him...even if he knows why."

"So what do I do?" Kim asked. "If this was bad, what happens if we start dating and break up?"

"I'm not saying you should date," Monique told her. "You're right about that, if you just don't feel that way about him, there's no way you should even try."

"It's just..." Kim tried to speak.

"I'm talking here," Monique interrupted, holding up her hand. "I know that you might have changed your mind, but until you're sure, taking that step is a bad idea. The big thing is, you have to let him know that you're confused about it all and you're willing to give him some space while he figures out how he feels."

"Okay, that sounds like good advice," Kim admitted. "Just how many times have you had to do something like this?"

"None," Monique fixed her with an evil grin. "So I get to see how it works out for you."

The screen went dark, leaving Kim alone with her thoughts.

A/N:

My thanks to Joe Stoppinghem, for beta reading.