Omi stopped crying when he heard this recognizable voice, spread his fingers, peered through them, and gasped. "Master Fung!"

His master hurried to his chair and untied him. As Omi slid down off the chair (it was a little too big for him), Master Fung noticed his blotchy face and wet eyes. "Are you alright? What happened, young monk?"

Omi opened his mouth, closed it, then looked down, suddenly fascinated by the floor. When Omi didn't reply, Master Fung turned to Kimiko and Clay and removed their gags. "What happened here? Did the monsters harm you? Why was Omi crying?"

Kimiko was too busy trying to spit the extra bit of cloth out of her dry mouth to answer and Clay was stunned silent by Master Fung's behavior at the door. He didn't think he had ever seen Master Fung look that scared before. Sure he had freaked out for a second when Omi told him that he lost the Heart of Jong, but he quickly recovered and stayed calm and focused as he tried to resolve the matter. And even then, that was a time for freaking out. But when Master Fung saw them, he looked . . . . Clay wasn't sure how to describe it. Like them being here was worse than ten thousand years of darkness.

Finally Kimiko got the cloth out, moistened her mouth, and started to speak. "Clay and I are okay, but something weird happened to Omi. The girl in the blue jacket-"

Master Fung abruptly placed a finger on her lips to stop her from speaking and looked back at Omi. Omi closed his eyes and shook his head. "It was nothing. I will be alright."

Kimiko slightly tilted her head away from Master Fung's fingers, her eyes wide and disbelieving. "Omi, are you kidding? You were on the floor bawling your eyes out like someone had died. You couldn't even talk."

But Clay remembered that that wasn't entirely true. For a little while Omi kept saying that he didn't mean to do something, but he never said what. As if sharing Clay's thoughts, Omi's face suddenly filled with an emotion that startled Clay even more than Master Fung's panic. But it only stayed for a second and instantly left, leaving his face expressionless and bloodless. Master Fung had turned his attention back to Kimiko and his head was in the way of Kimiko's view of Omi so neither of them saw it. Clay recognized it as one of the many feelings flashing across Omi's face as he was looking at Daggereyes. Shame. It wasn't that Clay had never seen Omi ashamed before. He, Kimiko, and Raimundo had always seen one of his embarrassed sad looks after he had lost a showdown. But this one was different. It was much, much stronger somehow than the other times. What did Omi see when he looked into Daggereyes's eyes? What didn't he mean to do?

Meanwhile as Master Fung untied Kimiko and Clay, he went back into his usual serious, steady state. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay at the temple. Do you have any idea how serious this is?"

Kimiko wasn't listening. She was not going to drop the cause of the state Omi was in after the event with Daggereyes. "Omi, what on earth did she do to make you cry like that? Whatever she did was not 'nothing'. You didn't even so much raise a hand to defend yourself when Moonskin-"

"All of you go outside." Master Fung seemed to have just become aware of the source of the violin music and was looking at Moonskin with intense suspicion. Clay wasn't sure, but he could've sworn that there was a funny glint in his eyes. Clay thought he recognized it from somewhere, but he couldn't recall where.

"But-"

Master Fung silenced her with a glare. "Now. No arguments."

Kimiko glanced at Clay questioningly. He shrugged and started for the door. He stopped when the way was blocked with some of the elder monks. Master Fung said something to them quickly in Chinese. Whatever it was brought Omi's attention away from the floor and he gave Master Fung a startled look. A couple of the elder monks entered the caravan and the rest left, clearing the doorway for the apprentices. Clay went out. Kimiko began to follow him, but stopped halfway and looked back at Omi. "Omi? Are you coming?"

Omi looked at Moonskin, who was still playing, and stared until the elder monks got in front of Moonskin, hiding him from view. Omi's gaze fell back to the floor and he slowly started for the door. Kimiko went to him and grasped his hand. Omi looked up at her, half startled and half relieved. Kimiko gave him a comforting soft smile and lead him out of the caravan. Omi cast one last glance at Moonskin as they stepped out into the sunshine. The door slammed shut behind them.

Then one of the monks pulled a silver cross out of his robes and held it up to Moonskin. Moonskin did not look at it, but his knees buckled, his notes warbled, and he began to shake. The other monk reached for the violin and bow and tried to tug them away, but Moonskin held on. In the tussle the bow wasn't even creating notes anymore as it slid across the strings, it was just making a scratching sound.

Master Fung watched the struggle for a little while then marched over, took the hand that held the cross and pulled it down into Moonskin's face. Surprised by the intrusion and this sudden pain, Moonskin let out a sharp gasp and his grip loosened. When the monk tore the violin from his fingers, Moonskin dropped to the floor as if a body part had been ripped from him.

With the cross still on him, the monks roughly yanked Moonskin to his feet, overturned two large burlap sacks over his head, pulled the mouths down over his torso and arms, then tied the mouths down tightly around his waist. The monk carelessly tossed the violin and bow onto the floor. Moonskin winced at their sounds of impact when they hit. The monk felt through the burlap searching for an arm, gripped it hard when he found one, and yanked Moonskin to his feet. The other monk that had possession of the cross stepped behind Moonskin. The hand holding the cross disappeared back into his robes then reappeared, the silver cross replaced with a wooden stake. The monk pressed the sharpened point of the stake against the young vampire's back. Before going to the door and opening it for his fellow monks and their prisoner, Master Fung leaned near Moonskin's head and spoke sharply "Todo o problema ou resistência e você morrerão. Do you understand?"

"Yes." uttered a weak voice from inside the sack.

I am so sorry for taking forever to write this and I'm really sorry for its length. I promise the next one will be much longer and hopefully when Christmas vacation starts, I'll have more time to write. Oh, and thank you all very much for the reviews!

angel hakusho: Actually it's kind of the other way around. ; )

Calistar Heir: Your feelings and guesses are right on the money.