Notes: The title is a lyric from Angelzoom's "Fairyland".
Okay, we have a few new Chinese words. YAY! I just hope my dictionary won't fail me...again...
The teacher's given name, Ke-Pa, means to be fearful. As you can tell, she stutters a lot.
The boy Ren "mutilated" is named Suōshǐ, which means to instigate. If you don't know that word, you can compare it to kicking a beehive – you do something to someone else that makes them react in a negative way. Suōshǐ has flunkies! Yay! Their names are Zhui, Sui, and Zhe, which, according to my dictionary make up the word "follower". -nods-
Mu Qin is "mother". Chibi-Ren says it in this chapter as a way of being formal with Pin-Mei. I may or may not begin to use it regularly depending on how I feel. I mean, I still use Nii-Sama, which is Japanese. -sigh-
I was disappointed when I looked up Chinese currency. I was counting on it having coins, but the Yuan, which I am confident is the official currency there, is all dollars. Paper. Or at least I didn't see any coins. Well, I got confused because they had about two or three different currencies, one for each part of China, and I just gave up. This is what I get for being American. -sighs-
Now, we can say that the children are around 7 and 8.
Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga Shaman King. The story and its characters were created by Hiroyuki Takei. All original characters made specifically for this fanfiction and any tie-in/spinoff pieces were created by Jezebel Parks.
A Gift of Love – Chapter Sixty-Five: Let Tenderness Freeze
"I-I'm sorry to call the both of you here like this, Mr. and Mrs. Tao, b-but Mr. and Mrs. Chi insisted that we have this conference..." a bespectacled woman with bangs and wavy shoulder-length black hair said nervously as she frantically sifted through a filing cabinet.
A middle aged couple was already sitting on a couch opposite the one Ren and Pin-Mei would be sitting in. An armchair was between the ends of them where Ms. Yin would be sitting. Ren looked them over. The man's hair was combed over, not to say that he was balding, but there was a certain haughtiness in it. His wife had slightly graying hair which was held back in a tight bun. They wore formal clothes and gold jewelry. Obviously rich, obviously ignorant.
"Ke-Pa, leave the files and let us find out about the parents of the boy who mutilated our son," Mr. Chi said impatiently.
"Mu...Mutilated?" Pin-Mei whispered listlessly as she almost fell into her seat. Ren caught her and lowered her slowly.
"N-Not really, Mrs. Tao! It was just a bloody nose and a broken arm...Of-of course there were some bruises, b-but Suōshǐ is alright..."
"To you he is!" his mother cried, bursting into what seemed to be fake tears. "Our child is too afraid to go to school because of their little monster! Preying on our poor son like that! Why would you allow such a boy to come back to school?"
Pin-Mei's eyes had widened at "monster". Of all the things she could have said, to choose a word that was often used to strike fear into the hearts of children was something she hadn't been prepared for. The moment Ren sat next to her, she clung to him as if to tell him that she wanted to go home, that she wasn't ready for this. But she had begged to come. At more than six months pregnant, she shouldn't be put through this sort of stress, father and son had reasoned. Still, she had pleaded with her husband to allow her to accompany him in the effort to defend their son. He ultimately relented.
The younger Ren was sitting outside in a chair under the supervision of the assistant headmaster. Suōshǐ, a boy with spiky dark brown hair, was sitting in another chair less than ten feet away, his arm in a sling. While he glared at him, his "attacker" just stared straight ahead.
"You're gonna get it," he said. "My parents are gonna rip yours apart."
Ren's head lowered. "Mu Qin..." he whispered.
"Let's just hope the assistant headmaster can stop him if he tries to attack my poor, defenseless son again out there..."
"He...He wouldn't!" Pin-Mei cried. Her son's smiling face flashed in her mind.
"Mama! It hurts!" Ren cried as he held his leg, his knee bleeding.
Pin-Mei stooped down and cleaned it, then put a bandage over it. "How's that?"
"It...It still stings!"
She smiled at him, then kissed the bandage. "That should help."
He smiled. "Yeah! It feels better already!"
She stood. "I'm glad." She turned to walk away, but there was a tug on her skirt. She turned back around. "What is it, sweetheart?"
His head was turned, trying to hide a blush. "It still hurts a little...um...Will you carry me?"
"Ren is a kind child! He really is! He would never hurt anyone else for any reason! He doesn't even fight with his sister! He—!"
"Oh, so you're suggesting that my son broke his own arm?"
Pin-Mei froze and then recoiled, seeking solace in Ren's arm once again. He looked down at her with soft eyes, but offered no kind words.
The teacher sat down, seemingly pleased with herself. "H-Here! I found them!" She cried holding up a folder. She opened it and sifted through some papers. Finding one, she held it out for the Chi family to see. "As you can see, Ren is a very good student. He has top marks in all subjects with seemingly no effort at all." She produced another page and showed it as well. "He...His record is immaculate, never having any incidents before yesterday in which he was the instigator, so I hope you can understand Mrs. Tao's disbelief at the situation."
Pin-Mei glowed with pride. Lien was average, taking an interest in drawing and music, which she loved, but the fact that Ren, like his father, excelled in academics tickled her whenever the subject was brought up.
"It's always the quiet ones," Mr. Chi muttered.
Her smile broke as she looked up at her husband, her eyes pleading with him to say something.
"What about Suōshǐ's record?" he asked calmly.
Ke-Pa adjusted her glasses and looked through another folder. "A-Average marks..." She flipped a page. "S-Six incidents last term..."
"Not exactly a model student, wouldn't you say, Chi?" Ren said with stoic sarcasm.
"I can see where his horrible attitude comes from,"
"Like father, like son, right? I believe it can go both ways."
"You insolent-"
Pin-Mei touched his arm. "Please...Don't make things worse..."
He exhaled. "I'm not. He's the one having a conniption."
"I should have known it was a young couple..." the Chi woman whispered to her husband. "Children raising children..."
Ren's eyes narrowed. "Say that again?"
She looked at him with scornful eyes. "Are you what this generation would call a 'knocked up couple'?"
Ren tilted his head with an angry grin. "You'll have to explain that."
The elder woman pursed her lips. "You know. Two people have a one night stand, but then the girl gets pregnant, so they become a couple for the sake of the child, or in this case children." She surveyed Pin-Mei's pregnant figure with disgust. "And now you wish to bring another mistake into the world. If you young people would stop your promiscuity then we would have less rambunctious children in our schools and more productive ones."
Pin-Mei seemed ready to retaliate, but Ren but an arm up to block her.
"Chi," he said in a low voice. "You would do well to teach your wife to bite her tongue. It could get her into trouble some day."
Mr. Chi snickered. "Is that a threat?"
Ren sneered, his eyes flashing. "No, just some 'friendly' advice."
Ke-Pa looked back and forth between them, unsure of what to do. "L-Let's bring the boys in a-and have them each tell their side of the story," she said finally.
So she walked over to the door and had them come in. Suōshǐ ran to his mother and hugged her. Ren walked over to the couch and calmly sat next to Pin-Mei, making no motion to embrace her in any way. Trying to hold back tears, she held him close to her, causing his eyes to widen.
"I...I don't care if you really did this," she whispered. "You're still my son...and I still love you."
He looked up at her with pitied eyes, as if she were the child and not he.
"Ren, tell us what happened," his father said flatly, not wanting to waste time with small details.
"NO! Suōshǐ is going to go first!" the other boy's mother cried. She turned to her son. "Go on sweety, just tell us the truth. We'll make sure that little devil over there doesn't attack you again."
Suōshǐ waited until he thought no one was watching and stuck the tip of his tongue out at his opponent. Then he looked fearful.
"I was on my way to lunch when I accidentally bumped into Lien-,"
"Who's Lien?" Mr. Chi asked.
"My sister," Ren snapped, his eyes instantly hardening.
Suōshǐ's parents shot him a death glare, as if to say that they had expected as much from him. Pin-Mei gently stroked his hair as she leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"Honey, you'll get your chance to speak...but for now it would be best if you let Mama and Papa do the talking...We don't want you to get into any more trouble." She kissed his head.
He looked up at her again with regretful eyes.
"ANYWAY, I bumped into Lien and she fell on the ground. I was GOING TO pick her up and apologize, and maybe even give her some snack bar money. Then, outta NOWHERE," he pointed at Ren. "THIS IDIOT comes up and starts beating the snot outta me! I was like WHOA! I was GONNA apologize and stuff if he hadn't come and done that! He was laughing the whole time, too! He was teasing me as he snapped my arm, and said he was going to yank the whole thing right off!"
Pin-Mei wanted to say something. She knew that none of this was true - she hoped it wasn't - but she had already told Ren to be quiet, and to go against herself would be setting a bad example, at least in her eyes. All she could do was clench her free fist.
"He said he was going to go after MY little sister and-"
"That's not true! Ren would never-!"
Everyone stared at the young woman, up from her chair, an uncharacteristic anger on her face. She looked around, realized what she had done, and sat back down pretending to fix her glasses in order to hide her reddened face.
"I-I'm very sorry for that...I d-don't know what got into me..." the teacher whispered.
The Chi parents wasted no time in jumping down her throat.
"How would you know that? Were you there?" the mother demanded.
"N-No...I...I..."
"You're playing favorites with this brute, aren't you? Defending him after what he's done to our son?"
"I...I..."
"We want an answer, Ke-Pa. Your job may depend on it. We'll make sure."
She was practically in tears. "I...I..." She put her face in her hands and broke down.
"Here."
She stopped and looked up to see her student's yellow eyes staring back at her. His hand twitched a little in order to get her attention, and she looked down to see a handkerchief in it. Looking back at him, she slowly took the soft cloth from him and began dabbing her eyes with it. He just stared at her, emotionless.
"I appreciate you trying to defend me, Ms. Yin, but people like this won't give in to words as light as yours." He briefly placed his hand on her arm. "But thank you." He gave her a small smile similar to his father's.
Then his eyes became cold again as he looked to the other family. "But what she said was the truth. Everything your son just said was a lie. I had my reasons for hurting him."
"Ren, come on! If we don't get to the cafeteria, like, NOW, then the line for the snack bar is going to be WICKED long, and I'm going to be mad. Mom FINALLY gave me money for it, so I wanna be able to get something!"
"S-Sorry!" He turned to Ms. Yin. "Um...Can I go...?"
She smiled and took the books he had been putting away for her. "Of course, Ren. Go on."
"Thanks!" He scrambled to the doorway where Lien had been tapping her foot. She glared at him. "Sorry! I'm really sorry!"
She rolled her eyes and walked out. "Just come on, already."
He followed her. "Thanks for reminding me," he said as he reached into his pocket.
She looked over at him. "What?"
He held up a shiny coin. "Ta-da!"
"Where'd you get that?"
He beamed. "Papa gave it to me last night after training."
"So you finally realized that he wouldn't disown you if you asked...Nice job."
Ren blushed. Lien had had no trouble asking Pin-Mei for money, she just didn't give it to her until now because she wanted her to earn it first. Ren's project had been to ask his father for money, something he was very reluctant to do. He loved him, but that didn't change the fact that he intimidated him.
"But at least you might be on your way to growing a backbone." She gave him a friendly slap on the back. She grinned deviously. "Ooh, was that muscle? You getting all ripped because you're out practicing with Papa?"
Ren could see her hands reaching around. "No! Stop!"
Too late. She startled tickling him all over.
"Is the muscle here? Here? HERE? Or is it ALL OVER?"
He couldn't help laughing. "S-Stop! Stop, Lien!" He twitched and the coin flew from his hands. "No!"
She stopped, allowing him to chase it. Lien watched as a shoe stomped on the coin to halt it and Ren stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly looked up at the boy who had stopped it. The boy picked up the coin and inspected it.
"S-Suōshǐ? C-Can I have my coin back, p-please?" He was absolutely quivering. He already knew that his coin was his no more.
"Geez Renny, I dunno. This coin kinda scuffed my shoe..."
Ren cocked his head. "Where?"
Suōshǐ grinned as he lifted his shoe. "Can't you see it right here?" He motioned for his victim to bring his face closer so he could get a better look. "Just a little closer..."
"I still can't see it..."
"Lemme bring it closer to you!"
Just as Suōshǐ kicked his leg up, Lien grabbed her brother by the shoulder and practically threw him behind her. She turned to the boy.
"Give my brother back his coin," she said fiercely.
"No."
"Any reason?"
"Dun't feel like it."
"Crappy reason."
"Whatcha gonna do about it, witch girl? Curse me with a tag?"
"No. This."
Ren looked up just in time to see his sister swing her arm back and slap the boy across the face.
The entire hall froze. This girl who along with her brother could be considered the least popular kids in school, had just slapped the most popular. Everyone watched Suōshǐ, who was obviously in shock.
"Wow," he said finally. "That takes guts, I'll give ya that. Surprised me."
Lien watched as three taller boys came up from behind him.
"I've got my own surprises."
"Oh poo," she mumbled.
She tried to run back to Ren in an effort to run away, pulling him behind her, but one of the boys grabbed her and threw her on the ground. Lien grabbed her head in pain as another boy grabbed her collar and lifted her up.
"You probably got your witch cooties on him, freak."
"Cooties aren't real. Papa said so," Lien said defiantly.
"Your 'Papa' is a loon," the boy declared.
"My Papa can beat your papa any day of the week!"
He frowned and kneed her in the stomach. Her brother watched with wide eyes.
"Lien!" he whimpered.
He ran up, seemingly trying to help detach the boy from her. One of the other boys grabbed him and shoved him to the ground, forcing him to land on his stomach. He tried to get up, but the boy sat on his back. Desperately, he clawed at the tile floor, trying to grab onto something would give him even the slightest chance to reach his sister.
"Look at him squirm," Suōshǐ said laughing. He walked over and put his foot under the boy's chin and tilted it up. "Aww, look guys, he's crying."
"Please...just let her go..." Ren whispered.
The bully laughed again. "We will, in a few minutes." He turned to the boy holding Lien. "Punch-bag her."
The boy grinned and punched her in the stomach. Ren watched helplessly, his eyes still wide with fear. He looked about the hall. Kids had stopped and were now staring at the scene before them.
"PLEASE! SOMEONE GET A TEACHER!" he screamed.
They all just turned their heads and walked away, not wanting to get involved. He lowered his head, not knowing what else to do.
"You," Suōshǐ said talking to the remaining henchman, "Hold his head up. Make him watch what he got his stupid sister into."
Ren's head was forced up, but he shut his eyes.
"Keep 'em open or we'll hit her harder."
He hurriedly opened his eyes. As soon as he did, he wanted to close them again. The boy was holding Lien to the ground, punching her stomach.
'No...Just...Just stop it! Why...Why do we have to suffer? What did we do? WHY?' Ren thought helplessly.
Do you want them to leave you alone?
'Yes...more than anything. I just want to save my sister...'
I can help with that, you know.
'I...I don't want your help! I won't be like you!'
So you want her to die?
'NO! But I don't want them to either! I know that you'll kill them!'
Everything has a price. The price for your cowardness may be your sister's life.
'No...NO! I don't want to lose her! I can't! My parents need her! I need her!'
Well, either let me help you, or she'll surely die...I can already feel her life diminishing...
'No...They wouldn't kill her! They might beat her up, but they wouldn't KILL her!'
Such naivety. Look at them. They want the both of you dead and out of their sight. Those that turned away from helping you feel the same...
'Ugh...I...I feel sick...'
Indeed...humans are such vile and cruel creatures...For you to have to struggle so hard to live...It's so unfair, Ren. So unfair...
'It's unfair...Why is it only the two of us who have to suffer like this?'
Like I've been telling you for over a year...I can help you...Just let me borrow your body...I'll make you stronger...I promise...Then I'll help you get revenge for all the pain these people have caused you...
'I...I don't know...'
I was the one who made your father strong...You want to be just like him, don't you?
'I...I do...but...'
You want to save her, don't you?
'I do...I really do...but...I...'
"Hey look!"
Ren snapped out of his mental conversation and focused on the subject at hand.
"Dude, how hard did you punch her?"
His eyes zeroed in on his sister's face. Blood was trailing from her mouth. He watched one drop hit the immaculate tiles of the hall floor.
Something inside him snapped.
'I'll do it...I'LL DO IT! I'LL DO ANYTHING! JUST SAVE LIEN!'
There was a low sneer.
Of course.
"See that, Renny? That's what happens when you mess with us. Guess she's learned her lesson. C'mon, guys. I'm hungry."
The boy got off of Ren's back and the other let go of his face. Ren's head drooped as his bangs covered his eyes. A devilish grin slowly formed as he picked himself up off the ground.
Suōshǐ stopped as he heard a body hit the floor.
"Um...Suōshǐ?" the boy who had been holding Ren's face said nervously. There was a gagging sound.
The leader snapped his head back to look at him. "What the fudge is it, Sui? Didn't you hear me say I was hun-"
He stopped.
Sui was on his back, Ren straddling his stomach, his hands grasping the boy's throat. Suōshǐ's eyes widened. Ren looked up and let the boy go, allowing him to fall unconscious. Suōshǐ looked past him and saw Zhui on the ground. He backed up nervously.
"What...what the heck...? Ren...What did you do?"
Ren smirked. "I only gave them what they've been asking for ever since you all started targeting us." He raised his head, revealing cold eyes filled with blood-lust. "Now I believe it's only right that I give you the same thing..."
"Z-Z-Z-ZHE!" Suōshǐ screamed.
The boy appeared in front of him, but as he charged, Ren grabbed his throat and flipped him over, knocking him out as he hit the floor. He turned to the remaining boy.
"It's your turn."
Suōshǐ backed up nervously. "N-No! Ren, please...don't! I'm sorry, dude! I really am!"
Ren sneered. "Sorry? Sometimes apologies are just too late."
Suōshǐ screamed as he turned and tried to run away. He didn't get far. Ren grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer, then grabbed the other wrist with the boy's back to him. He placed his foot on his former attacker's back, then began pulling on his wrists as he put harsh pressure on his foot.
Pitiful screams left the boy as the pressure increased.
"STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"
"Sure, just a second..."
SNAP
"Let's see...which one was that?"
Ren shook the left arm, then the right. The boy screamed again.
"The right one. That's your dominate hand, isn't it? How appropriate. Now you can have the same helpless feeling I've had all this time." He threw him to the ground. "But no more." He looked down and saw his coin on the ground. He stooped and picked it up. "See? If you had just given it back to me in the first place, we wouldn't be in this position."
He closed his eyes as he slipped the coin into the pocket of his blazer. They opened slowly as he gazed down at the boy with an expression of mixed disgust and amusement. He grasped Suōshǐ's throat and lifted him. Their eyes met. Suōshǐ quivered as he stared into Ren's cold yellow eyes. They had never been like that before. They used to be wide and innocent, teary most of the time.
"Should I kill you right here and now to make sure that you never bother me again?"
"N-No! Don't! Please, I'm begging you!"
"I don't know..." The hand tightened. "Oh, sorry. My hand tends do that when I'm thinking..."
"Ren!"
Ren looked behind him see Lien leaning against the wall, her face still bloody.
"Ah, Lien...Isn't this wonderful? This will teach them to leave us alone, don't you agree?"
Lien stared at him. "Ren...Papa told us that we should never hurt another person...He told us that it's wrong...We have no right to hurt them..."
He glared at her. "So we should do nothing when they hurt us?"
"Ma...Mama said that we can't change other people. Don't you remember that? When we went home crying when the teasing started? She said we can't change others, but we can change ourselves! We can show them that we don't need their hatred!"
He smirked and shook his head. "Lien, sometimes worthless humans need to be put in their place. I'm doing just that. I'm avenging you, dear sister."
She stared at him. "You...You're not my brother..."
His eyes widened. "What did you say?"
"YOU'RE NOT MY NIISAMA!"
A certain light returned to his eyes as he dropped the bully, who had by now been coughing up blood. Teachers rushed in soon enough to see Ren's hands on the boy, and they seized him.
"How...How can you talk about such a violent act so casually?" Mrs. Chi whispered. "You attacked our son, yet you speak of it with such a placid tone!"
"Ren...Why...?" Pin-Mei whispered. Her hands covered her face.
"Ren," his father said, "I understand you wanting to avenge Lien, but you went too far. They didn't break any of her bones, but you broke his. That's not a fair trade."
He squinted his eyes as his son glared back at him, then turned again.
"I'm sorry," he said to his victim.
The boy snapped his head away. "You should be, you stinkin' shaman."
"Dear, don't antagonize the animal," his mother cooed, her hand running through his hair.
"He's not an animal," Pin-Mei said suddenly, her hands falling. "It was your son who instigated this, and who's been making my children's lives a living HELL this past year! If anything, YOUR son is the animal. This is just one occurrence where my son acted, but do you know how many times I've had to watch my precious children, my flesh and blood, come home with cuts and bruises and black eyes?" There were tears in her eyes. "TOO MANY! AND I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET YOU TALK ABOUT MY LITTLE BOY LIKE THAT!"
The room was staring at her. She turned her attention to the boy. "You are going to give a heartfelt apology to Ren, and you are going to mean it. If you refuse, then God have mercy on your soul because I'll break your other arm to beat it out of you."
The Chi family stared at her, the parents finally beginning to accept the role their son had played.
"D-Do as Mrs. Tao says, Suōshǐ," the father said.
The boy nodded slowly, his eyes wide, and looked at Ren. "I...I'm sorry for all those times I made fun of you and Lien...P-Please forgive me."
"Apology accepted," Ren said, his voice still placid.
In the silence that followed, the older Ren surveyed the opposing family.
"We'll pay for a third of the medical bills with our sincerest apologies for your son getting what was coming to him."
"T-Thank you..." the other father said.
He was told the total and he divided it in his mind, then whipped out a checkbook and scribbled down the amount. He folded it and handed it to Mr. Chi.
"Well, I wish the three of you luck in sorting out your problems because you surely have a lot of them. We'll do our best to make sure that the next time Ren needs to retaliate he doesn't break any bones, and you make sure your son stays away from ours." He looked to Ms. Yin, who was dumbfounded. "Thank you for calling us so we could sort this out." He nudged Ren.
"I apologize for any inconvenience I caused you," the boy said, as if he had been trained.
"N-Not at all," she replied. She touched his shoulder. "Y-You know I enjoy having you a-as a student."
They parted. When the Tao family arrived at home, Pin-Mei went into her and Ren's room and locked herself inside, sobbing. Ren took his son outside to train. Before they started, he sat him on the rock his wife had occupied years before, his voice low.
"If you ever upset your mother like that again, you'll regret it," he said. "She shouldn't have been there in the first place. She's more than six months pregnant, and she doesn't need this sort of stress. If you needed help, you should have come home and told us that things had gotten really bad and that we needed to intervene, and we would have taken it from there." He grasped the child's right arm. "Don't you EVER upset her like that again. EVER."
His son looked up at him. One eye seemed encased with fear, the other apathetic. "Yes, Father."
"Good. Now come on, we need to get started."
As his son picked up his Kwan Dao, he glared at his father.
You'll regret tossing me aside. I'll use this body to prove it.
Two months later...
Ren's whole demeanor had changed. He wasn't as sweet, he didn't smile as much, he didn't cry. He put all of his concentration into training with his father. He had started working out with him also, gaining a small amount of muscle. Both Pin-Mei and Lien looked at him with longing eyes, wondering where the boy they knew had gone. The eyes that answered theirs were cold, devoid of emotion.
One night, Lien woke to her brother shaking her shoulder. She groggily turned over. "What?"
In the darkness, she saw her brother's yellow eyes glowing. There was also the deadly shine of a Kwan Dao blade. As he raised it, she momentarily saw his eyes soften as a tear fell from them.
"Run."