Disclaimer: If you are just joining the party read chapters 1- 4 as homework first. Saiyuki and all its characters…not mine. They belong to Kazuya Minekura. Seiobo's a bitch who is up for torture by the one who has most painful method. Kirriah Sai and Kye are mining alone. Official X-Men characters belong to Marvel Comics and Stan Lee. I have no money for suing…so please don't bother trying…complete waste of time.

AN: From this point on due to Kirriah's Japanese heritage I am using the English version of Goku's pet title. Also, I used telepathic communication to denote the "voice" Sanzo heard. I figured that it was close enough to telepathy to denote it as such. (exhales sharply) Now that all of that is out of the way, here's chapter 5….

words – thoughts

"words" -- telepathic communication

Chapter 5: Rain and Two Muddy Animals.

Awareness of new scent broke the young assassin out of her thoughts. She found her attention focused on the temple porch where a tall, blond, and very angry priest now stood. The boy she'd been watching seemed oblivious to the man or his mood until he yelled out a name; Goku. Afterwards the priest had the boy's full attention, so the young assassin surmised that this was his name. From their conversation she also gathered that the priest was called "Sanzo", so this was definitely the pair that Sai had mentioned. The way this Sanzo guy spoke was so like her father that the young mutant felt her ears flatten against her head in fear as he yelled even though she knew that she was not the target of his anger. Using the same tone of voice as her father, Sanzo had ordered Goku to get inside. Instead of obeying immediately the boy whined and tried to prove how much fun the rain was. He didn't notice Sanzo had left the porch, until the priest hit him in the head with a fan.

After she had learned the names of the man and boy, the young assassin only half listened to the conversation until Goku told Sanzo that he couldn't get sick. The young mutant returned her full attention to the scene just in time to see Goku get up and take a few steps in the direction of the temple rubbing his head. Suddenly, she felt the wind change directions and watched in horror as he stopped dead in is tracks. She knew by his posture that he had caught scent of something new; instinct said that "something"…was her. A moment later, her worst fear was realized as Goku appeared to sniff the air a couple more times, before he whirled around and dashed off in her direction excitement blazing in his golden eyes.

That's it. I'm screwed, the teen thought miserably closing her eyes and silently rolled onto her back ignoring the mud that now covered her back. Any idiot can tell that this guy is an innocent. He probably hates unnecessary death and destruction. I can't in good conscience kill him…but if I don't, Seiobo's probably gonna…. She shook her head unable to finish the thought.

o—o—o—o

Sanzo stared after the wayward monkey and for a brief moment wondered if he should go after him. Then he remembered how much paperwork he had left and made the decision to go finish that instead…if such a thing were possible. That stupid monkey never misses a meal. Sure as shit he'll be back just in time to annoy me about dinner. Sanzo thought bitterly as he headed back inside the temple. Drying off, he settled down to tackle the mountain of paperwork on his desk. By the time he was through, he felt as if he had literally climbed a mountain. He went to rest his eyes and before he knew it, he was asleep.

o—o—o—o

Sighing, the young mutant opened her eyes and almost yelped in surprise as she found herself suddenly gazing into Goku's golden eyes. Only a moment ago, he was in the temple yard and now, here he was in front of her. The guy was covered head to toe in mud, twigs, and leaves, despite the rain. He crouched down next to her sniffing her as if he were trying to confirm whether or not she was the origin of some strange or new scent. How could I have allowed him to sneak up on me like that? She mentally chided herself for being so careless.

This close Goku's scent completely flooded her mutant senses. The young feline mutant realized now, it was unmistakably different from anything she'd ever smelled in her life…yet it was also familiar somehow. This Goku kid definitely isn't a kami, youkai, or a human…mutant or otherwise. His scent doesn't have the "tags" of any of those races. It's obvious that he's sentient, but what is he? And how could I remember having smelled this scent before when I've never seen this kid till now? The teen shoved the thoughts aside deciding to ask Kye about them later.

The teen watched in wary silence as Goku sniffed once more before declaring triumphantly, "It's you! I found ya! I win!" The boy paused…confusion plain on his face before he asked, "Why do ya smell so funny?"

Not wanting to blow her cover the young assassin asked, "What do ya mean by 'funny'?" She silently cursed her soft accent, even as she spoke the words.

"Ya smell like a human an'…a tiger an' ummm…," the boy paused to gather his thoughts before he continued, "…an' me," he finished pointing at himself with a cheerful smile.

"Well I don't know why ya would think I smell like ya, but I smell human 'cuz that's what I am. As to why I smell like a tiger, I got two tigers I play with at home …so you're probably jus' smellin' them," the teen explained. As she waited for his response she quietly prayed that Goku wouldn't pry further.

She wasn't so lucky, because at that Goku's eyes instantly lit up and he asked excitedly, "Really? Where are they? Can I see 'm? Where do you live? Can I come over and see what your house is like? Oh an' why do ya sound so funny when ya talk? An…."

Closing her eyes the mutant teen took a few deep breaths and tried to still her own thoughts as Goku fired off one question after another in rapid succession. Where she came from and how she lived were among the ones she caught. However she only caught parts of what Goku was asking because he asked his questions far too fast for her to keep up. In fact, she had a feeling that her Chinese teacher would have trouble following this kid and she was born and raised in China. Professor X had found the woman in China Town five years ago and convinced her to teach a wild and rebellious mutant kid the Chinese language including how to read and write it. She and her sister Katriana had just been kicked out of the Gen-X school for defying the head mistress Emma Frost. The idea was to teach her to respect the authority of people who other than her mom, dad, or Hank through learning a foreign language. The foreign language had fascinated her from the start and she found herself actually studying a non survival subject for the first time in her life. Before she realized it she had applied herself not only to the learning of the Chinese language but the culture and mannerisms as well. Now she was grateful she had. Even though she still had a long way to go before she had the language or the culture completely down, the teen knew she was learning fast.

When he had finished, she opened her eyes and kindly said, "Ya sure got lots o' questions. I'm afraid I didn't catch much o' what ya jus' said cuz ya spoke too fast fer me ta follow. As to where I live… well, my home's 'bout a five hour hike from here. I'm…"

"Wha! That far?" Goku interjected slowing his speech down to a more normal speed. Even still, it took great effort for her to keep up with what he was saying. "I live jus' over there an' th' rain is gonna get really bad soon. Sanzo says that walkin' in it makes humans sick." He paused, appearing to think real hard for a moment before he exclaimed, "I know! Ya can stay with me an' Sanzo till th' rain passes. It'll prolly be gone soon," he exclaimed suddenly forgetting all about the tigers.

The mutant teen knew that the rain wouldn't let up till the morning at the earliest. She'd always had a bad feeling about staying overnight around that many people. Since before she could remember her parents had cautioned her not to stay overnight around normal humans if she could avoid it. The reason was that they tended to discover and try to kill people who were obvious mutants like herself. However, she didn't want to be rude and definitely didn't feel up to trying to explain how she was human but unable to get sick. So she tried to excuse herself by graciously saying, "Much as I'd love the company, I can't do that 'cuz we haven't even been properly introduced."

Not willing to give up, Goku said cheerfully, "That's no problem I can fix that, I'm Son Goku. What's your name?"

The teen sighed and stood up. Bowing slightly she smiled, "Pleased to meet you Goku my name's Logan Kirriah, but you can just call me Kang-li."

She smiled and patiently corrected him through several attempts until he got it right. "Kang-li?" he asked. The uncertainty in his eyes vanished as she nodded confirming that he had successfully pronounced her name.

"Yes, do ya like it?" Kirriah asked her keen eyes searching his for the truth of his answer. "My teacher said that she named me that because I refused to do anything she said when we met until she proved she had rightful authority over me. Even then, I was still pretty defiant."

"…Kang-li." Goku frowned slightly as he tested the name again. A wide grin brightened his face as he blurted out, "It suits you."

Kirriah shook her head and laughed in spite of herself as she waited while Goku repeated her name over and over till he was sure he had it memorized. She knew that one way or another Goku was going to get her to go home with him, so she decided to go along. After all, the best way to find out about a person is to see how they live, right?

After repeating the name several more times Goku giggled. A wide grin spread across his face as he proudly proclaimed, "I got it memorized now! You're Kang-li! So Kang-li, now that we know each other's names you can come home with me till the rain stops right?" Goku asked innocently, expectancy making his eyes shine like mini suns.

After several more minutes, Kirriah sighed in agreement and allowed Goku to take her by the hand and lead her towards the temple. As they walked, she wondered if Goku had this same disarming effect on everyone he came in contact with.

As they left, neither of them noticed a pair or bright blue feline eyes carefully watching them from the trees.

o—o—o—o

Kye had been feigning sleep when Sai and Kirri left the den. Something about her little sister's mission bothered her a lot. As a result, she hadn't slept as well as she usually did. She had no doubt Kirri could handle herself in a fight, after all she was a survivor had been groomed into a warrior by the very best. Kye had secretly watched Kirri on every watch she did for the town during that first month. Her main reason was to assure herself that Kirri's training wouldn't slip when faced with the very different kind of enemy she now faced in this strange world. It didn't. Although she had tried to keep it secret, Kye had noticed that Kirri had even stepped up her training exercises in both unarmed combat as well as with her katana pushing herself to a whole new level of skill, even adding new exercises and techniques. She also knew that Sai had a tendency to be lazy when it rained so she waited for a few minutes before following them at a safe distance.

When the link to Kirri went dead silent, Kye nearly panicked. Nothing like this had ever happened before and she didn't like the very sudden quiet.

When she finally ran into Sai, she was so worked up that she almost attacked him. "What's going on here, Sai? I can't hear her anymore!" She hated how out of hand things had become and her agitation was clear in her voice but she was unable to do anything about either problem.

"Don't worry Kye." Sai's calm voice came through clearly causing her to sigh with relief. "Kirri's fine. It's ok. This is something she apparently feels she has to do alone. So no interfering, got it?"

"Fine. But I'm still gonna watch her to make sure that she stays ok."

With that Kye edged close enough to the tree line so she could see Kirri without being seen or heard herself. She smiled at the sight of the hyper boy asking Kirri a lot of questions. She knew his questions were in Chinese because Kirri was responding to him in the same language and the only language that Kirri picked up in the last three years was Chinese. Apparently without the link she couldn't understand what was being said. In that case, she'd have to trust Kirri's instincts and use her natural born senses for understanding the situation.

o—o—o—o

Loud curses and toppling objects woke Sanzo from the nap he hadn't realized he was taking. Suddenly, a young female voice with a thick Japanese accent rang out, "HELL NO, YA CAN'T TAKE MY KATANA, YA BUNCH 'O DUMB ASSED PRIESTS!" With an irritated sigh, the worldly priest got up from his desk deciding to find out and put a stop to the cause of all this annoying...

"Somebody help me! Please, I didn't do anything!"

Sanzo narrowed his eyes with irritation. Not another one. As if he were being drawn there by a magnet, Sanzo bolted from his office and rushed through the halls to the room of the temple dedicated to Kanzeon Bosatsu. This is not happening again.

As he reached the door, Sanzo stopped and schooled his features before entering the room as he tried to decide who he was going to kill first.

"Help me please! I don't wanna hurt anyone. Somebody…anybody please help me!"

o—o—o—o

Kirriah crouched on top of a tall statue of Kanzeon Bosatsu and glared down defiantly at the ring of priests surrounding her as she tried to decide how to best handle her current situation. She really didn't want to hurt any of them, but at this rate she wouldn't have any choice. These priests are persistent. Strange though, they seem to be either unable or unwilling to get to me up here. But I can't stay up here forever. I wonder if Goku is doing all right, the teen thought as she spared a glance in Goku's direction. As she did, Kirriah noticed that he seemed to be having the time of his life. She giggled in spite of herself at the sight of Goku as he leapt strait up in the air to avoid an acolyte who had leapt to catch him. His would-be captor ended up sliding across the floor head-first into a candle stand instead of acquiring his prey. He then briefly landed a half step to the side and jumped out of the reach of another priest at the last second, laughing the entire time as if the whole thing was just a game.

"We have you surrounded. Come down and hand over your weapon right now! This is your last warning," gasped a priest as he glared up at her.

Kirriah's face flushed with barely contained rage as she yelled back at him, her Japanese accent thick with frustration. "HELL NO, YA CAN'T TAKE MY KATANA, YA BUNCH 'O DUMB ASSED PRIESTS!" Lowering her voice she growled, "I ain't comin' down…ya can't have it …so just…deal with it! It was the last thing my Otousan and Okaasan gave me before… before…" Kirriah trailed off as she buried her face in her knees to hide her tears as she cried softly. She was aware of but ignored the ring of priests who continued to curse and try to get her to come down.

Suddenly, all the sounds around Kirriah ceased and a strange presence seemed to fill the room accompanied by a new but familiar scent. At this point though, the young mutant was beyond caring. She simply hugged her knees closer and cried silently into them.

o—o—o—o

As Sanzo entered the room of the temple dedicated to the Merciful Goddess, everyone instantly froze…especially Goku. One look at his "Sun's" face told the muddy monkey that Sanzo was not pleased and that he was in very big trouble. Goku watched in shocked silence as Sanzo walked past him without even acknowledging his presence. Instead he headed straight for the statue his new friend had climbed up to get away from the group of priests that had decided to chase after her instead of him. While he didn't know what an "okaasan" or "otousan" were, Goku figured that they must be something very important –at least to Kirri. She refused to give up that "katana" she said they gave her for anything.

Worried for Kirri, Goku jerked free of the acolyte that had caught him just before Sanzo had entered the room. Cautiously he crept over to where his Sun now stood. He narrowly dodged of the way of the rush of priests scrambling to get away from Sanzo. The monkey stopped at what he thought was just out of the reach of Sanzo's fan and stood quietly.

o—o—o—o

It wouldn't have been hard for Sanzo to find the owner of the voice that had waken him even if there hadn't been a ring of cursing priests to mark the spot for him. Judging by the curses and threats from the ring of priests, if he hadn't seen Goku when he'd first entered the room, Sanzo would have sworn that it was the monkey they had cornered up on top of the Merciful Goddess' head. No one else the priest had ever met had gotten such a rise out of those idiots, including Gojyo.

"Somebody…anybody please help me! I didn't do anything wrong. Help me please! I don't wanna hurt anyone!"

Deciding to deal with the muddy monkey later, Sanzo headed straight for the statue of the Merciful Goddess and stopped a few steps away from the group of priests. He cleared his throat once and glared at the priests surrounding the statue. Within seconds they were on the other side of the room. Sanzo was aware that Goku was now standing near by but chose to ignore him for the moment.

"Somebody…anybody please help me! I didn't do anything wrong. Help me please! I don't wanna hurt anyone!"

Sanzo took a step closer as he took in the scene before him. On top of Kanzeon Bosastu's head was the huddled mass of a young human girl, dressed in solid black with a katana strapped to her back. The sight of her reminded him of how his new shadow looked when he had found him. Despite the presence of her weapon she appeared to be helplessly trapped and very desperate for a way out.

I can't believe I'm about to do this…again. You'd think I'd learned my lesson after getting stuck with that stupid monkey. Sanzo thought as he remembered all the trouble Goku's mischief had caused him to date.

"Somebody…anybody please help me! I didn't do anything wrong. Help me please! I don't wanna hurt anyone!"

"….hey," Sanzo said his usual bored, irritated voice carrying slightly more irritation that usual…even taking into account the rain. "I'm here now so just shut the hell up already."

o—o—o—o

"….hey," an irritated authoritative voice spoke to Kirriah from the base of the statue. "I'm here now so just shut the hell up already."

"Huh?" Kirriah replied as she reflexively snapped up her head to see who the speaker was…half expecting to be met by her father's piercing gaze. Instead of the steal blue eyes of her father however, the teen found her gaze locked in place by the violet eyes of the angry priest from the temple yard. Kirriah swallowed hard and silently prayed to whoever may be listening, that this man wouldn't kill her. She took a deep, calming breath before continuing semi-respectfully, "Mister, I'm not sure what you're talkin' 'bout. I wasn't callin' anyone. W-who are you?"

The priest closed his eyes for a moment before he answered a long and honorable official sounding title of some sort. The way he spoke it though was as if it were just one big annoyance rather than a high honor. Kirriah warily stared at him for a moment before asking hopefully, "Don't suppose that there's anythin' shorter I can call ya by is there, mister? That's a bit of a mouthful."

If it were possible, the priest seemed to become even irritated. Now what? Kirriah thought as she curled in on herself as tightly as she could and waited for his response. Wait. He's a priest right? ...He won't kill me…I hope, she thought as she glanced at Goku. The teen knew he had said something but wasn't sure exactly what it was that he said.

o—o—o—o

As Goku watched Kirri he couldn't help wonder if this was what he looked like when Sanzo had found him in that stone cage. She looked ready to try to escape through the roof. He wanted to say something to help. For the life of him he couldn't think of what to say that would comfort his friend, so he stood there quietly and waited. Her strange accent had gotten really strong as she talked to the other priests and while it was much softer now, it still distracted him from what was being said. He knew that she had asked who Sanzo was. Sanzo had responded with his full title. The monkey didn't blame her for getting a little nervous at that. Sanzo was intimidating enough without adding in his full title.

Kirri took a deep calming breath and her accent softened greatly as she asked, "Don't suppose there's anythin' simpler I can call ya by is there, mister? That's a bit of a mouthful."

Before he knew it he blurted out grinning, "Jus' call 'im 'Sanzo'. I do."

She looked at him weird before returning her attention back to Sanzo. For a moment he wasn't exactly sure why. That's when he found out that he wasn't quite far enough away from Sanzo to avoid that fan.

"Oww! What was that for?" he cried as he glared at Sanzo, who had already turned to face Kirri. While Goku couldn't see his face, he knew by his posture that Sanzo had relaxed…at least a little.

o—o—o—o

Sanzo watched in growing irritation as instead of relaxing or coming down the young foreign girl seemed to shrink further in on herself. She was acting more like a cornered tiger cub than a teenage girl who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He needed to get her to a place where he could get some answers, but to do that he first had to get her to come down.

The priest decided that since she was acting like an animal he would treat the situation as if she were one. It had worked with Goku after all. Sanzo knew that as long as she perceived him as a threat the girl would never come down. So, in a firm but soothing voice he said, "'Sanzo' is fine. No one's going to hurt you. Come down and we'll go somewhere less intimidating and discuss exactly who you are and how you came to be here."

The teen looked at him dubiously as she answered softly, "T-that's f-fine with me, but I ain't giving up my katana no matter what ya do." I-It's th' last thing my parents ever gave me…or ever will give me."

"Hunh," he responded in a bored voice. "Keep it. Hell if I care."

Sanzo ignored the shocked gasps of the priests from across the room. He knew that they were all too afraid of him to challenge anything that he said or did. Instead, he watched the girl who had called to him intently as she moved to obey his order. Without a word, she slowly got up and jumped from the statue's head to land almost soundlessly on the floor behind the statue in one clean motion. While the display of athleticism impressed him, his face showed nothing. Several minutes went by, but the girl didn't surface from behind the statue. This is so stupid, Sanzo thought as he moved to go to her.

o—o—o—o

Kirriah removed her weapon from her back, taking great care to keep it sheathed, crouched down with it balanced on her lap behind the statue and tried to think. For the hundredth time since she'd been in this strange world she read the words that were on the side faced up, "Always with honor". That Sanzo guy seemed like he genuinely wanted to help her get out of this mess with her skin in tact, but that could have been just a trick to get her to come down. She didn't know what she should do. She was definitely cornered with the only way out blocked without going through half a dozen or more priests. She was sure that Sanzo was a normal human and therefore it would be dangerous to trust him. However, Goku wasn't even human and yet he trusted this man so completely. Before she could decide on a course of action, she heard footsteps and smelled gun oil mixed with cigarette smoke. Looking up, she was shocked to see Sanzo looking down at her with an agitated expression on his face. Violet eyes narrowed and it felt as he was peering into her very soul.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a bored voice. He spoke slowly as if he wanted to make sure that she understood what he was saying properly. "Get up and come with me."

Kirriah still wasn't ready to blindly follow this man anywhere. She swallowed hard and answered softly as she blinked her eyes innocently, "Where?"

"To talk." Sanzo replied as he held out his hand to help her up.

Kirriah dubiously looked at the hand then back to the man extending it once more. Closing her eyes the young mutant followed her instincts. Slowly she reached out and took it half expecting to be yanked up and her sword forcefully taken from her. Her eyes flashed open in shocked surprise as she realized that Sanzo was gently raising her to her feet. Once she was back on her feet he let go of her hand. The teen stared down at the handle of her katana and gripped it tightly. Kirriah was still uncertain wither she should trust this human or not, "Umm…Sanzo?" Kirriah paused as she looked up at the priest with her heart in her eyes.

"What." The priest replied in detached voice.

"If I did give you my katana would you keep it safe and return it to me when I ask?"

Sanzo's expression seemed soften as if he knew that it had taken a lot of courage for her to ask such a thing. "I already said I didn't care if you kept it. If you chose to hand it over temporarily why would I try to keep it?" He held her in another measuring gaze before he continued. "Of course I would keep it safe and yes I'll give it back to you whenever you ask."

"Then in that case…" With that said, Kirriah firmly gripped the hilt with one hand and with the open palm of her other hand gently guided the blade upward until the katana was level, keeping her eyes fixed on the katana as she did. After doing so, she opened the hand gripping the hilt and raised the precious weapon up towards Sanzo. Kirriah felt hot tears begin to form in her eyes as she looked up at Sanzo and ducked her head down and closing her eyes quickly in effort to hide them. Taking a deep breath she continued slowly and respectfully, I entrust it to you."

o—o—o—o

"…I entrust it to you."

Sanzo studied the girl as she surrendered up the very weapon she had only moments ago sworn she'd never relinquish no matter what he did to her. The tears pooling in the corners of her eyes spoke volumes as to the decision's difficulty for her. As she held up the sheathed blade Sanzo noticed strange symbols elegantly grafted in gold onto both sides of the black sheath and that a tiger preparing to spring at its prey made of pure ivory formed the hilt. Sanzo was shocked and wondered how she came to possess such a fine weapon but decided not to ask her about it until he'd gotten her safely out of there and to his rooms where he could question her in relative peace.

"Hn. I said you could keep it," he stated blandly as he continued to scrutinize the girl. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a pair of gold eyes watching him intently from around the statue. However, he gave no indication he was aware of them or their owner.

At this the girl's head shot up her teal eyes meeting his as if she were searching for some answer in them. "I know. Please...just take it for now." She paused as if weighing his intentions before continuing. "You know, as a sign of my cooperation," the teen finished softly. Keeping the katana raised she bowed respectfully before him as she waited for him to take it.

"Fine," Sanzo replied as he carefully took the katana from the girl with one hand and gently placed the other on her shoulder, which he now noticed was covered in mud. She flinched slightly at his touch but made no move to attack of run. Great. That's all I need…another muddy animal to deal with today. He gave her a gentle nudge towards the exit. "Now let's go." Sanzo sighed as he led this strange girl towards the only exit to the room, tuning out the protests made by the other priests.

They were a few feet away from the statue before Sanzo realized that he was short one animal. He paused and called over his shoulder, "Hey stupid monkey that includes you too unless you'd rather stay with them." Sanzo nodded at the group of priest glaring at him from across the room. "I don't give a shit either way but if you stay here you'll probably miss dinner."

"Wha!" Goku cried out as he sprang to life and Sanzo's side with amazing speed. "But Sanzo I can't miss dinner! I'll starve to death!"

He continued to whine for food all the way to the wing he shared with Sanzo as if he was sure no one had heard him the first time or his point wasn't clear.

Once they were in the hallway of his rooms with the wooden doors closed behind them, Sanzo pulled out his fan and without even looking at the boy sharply smacked him upside the head. Ignoring Goku's reaction he said dryly, "Stupid monkey you can't die from missing one or two meals." Pointing down the hall towards his bathing room he continued coldly, "Now go wash up and get changed. Hurry up or you really will miss dinner."

Sanzo glared down impassively at the muddy monkey, who stared at him in shocked silence for several seconds as his words sunk in before giving a small cry and disappearing around the corner towards the bathing room.

As he watched the boy's retreat, Sanzo felt a very small twinge of guilt, not that he'd ever let the monkey know. He knew that he was being a little too harsh on the monkey, but all that paperwork had left him in a particularly dark mood.

Pushing those thoughts aside for later contemplation, Sanzo redirected his thoughts back to the young teen he had for some reason, that now eluded him taken charge of. She was just standing there staring at nothing and trembling. There was no way he'd get his answers if the girl lost her wits. Sighing the worldly priest tried something he didn't do very often. Kindness.

"So kid," he began as gently as he could. He even managed a weak smile. "You got a name?"

The girl simply nodded an affirmation.

This isn't going to be easy. But then, what the hell is? Some of his irritation slipped into his voice as he said, "Well, what is it?"

"Logan Kirriah," she replied in a voice just barely above a whisper. After a moment's pause she added in a stronger voice, "I have been going by Kang-li since I came to this area. So just use that."

"Fine. Kang-li, you owe me some explanations and I intend to get them tonight."