XV

Five days later, still in Kyoto, Kim was visited by Yori and Ron. Ron looked like his usual self while Yori wore a casual black dress, zipper boots, and black tights. A belt across her waist added a splash of azure. Kim wondered if her belt or boots hid weapons, or were weapons, or both. Yori also held a sack with something in it, but Kim didn't pay attention to that. Instead, she ran to Ron and they hugged each other with sincere warmth.

"Ron, I'm glad you're here! I've missed you. Things have been so weird."

Ron pulled away and looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, I know what you mean about things being weird." Then he quickly added, "So how's Shego? She still here?"

"Shego's still here, and I understand in a cranky mood. She's supposed to be released a little later. So is everyone else. But everyone else, who don't know for sure where they are, will be gassed unconscious and then taken to the airport, where the ninjas will get them tickets to anywhere they want to go. DNAmy finally has her last Cuddle Buddy. I'm not sure what they're going to do with Shego. As for me, I'm waiting for Mom and Dad to finish up with the technology. I understand that Global Justice and the ninjas have both made sure they have their old jobs back. I didn't ask for details."

"What about you?" asked Ron, "aren't you an international fugitive now, along with Shego?"

Kim waved it off, smiling. "So not the drama. They're publicly saying that it was part of me going undercover. Which is coincidentally right, in a way. They say that judging by their own experience, most people won't even remember my being a fugitive at all a year from now. And all charges are dropped against all of us. Even Shego." Kim looked unsure about that. "I have to admit, given that Shego killed Will Du, and has a long history of villainy, I'm not sure how they justified that one."

Yori said nothing, but she knew that the ninjas had strongarmed Shego to do them an unspecified favor in the future when requested by her school, something that not even Yori had any clue about, and in exchange they had also persuaded GJ to give Shego a clean slate, and thus a second chance…if she'd take it. She also knew Shego was leaving today, which is why Yori had made sure to catch Kim before that happened.

Kim continued. "Wade is feeling so very guilty. You know he would never hurt us, don't you, Ron?" Kim saw that Ron was looking downcast at the floor. "Ron, what's wrong?" Seeing Yori also looking down, Kim had a strong feeling she already knew. "Oh, no."

Yori looked at Kim and spoke. "Ron was most distressed when he thought you were lost. It is my fault, Kim Possible. He was so distraught, that I could not leave his pain be. He had the saddest puppy dog eyes…"

"Ok," replied Kim, waving her hands as if to ward it off. "I get it, I hurt Ron, Ron hurts me."

"No," answered Yori with conviction, "there is something real between us. I've always felt it, and so has he. The time had never been right before."

Kim frowned even deeper. Words dripping sarcasm, she added, "So much for us being destiny."

"To the contrary, I believe you will always be close, and in a way that I can never know. But destiny is malleable, and goes off on unexpected routes. It is sometimes better to go with the flow than to insist things always stay the same. Sensei says that change is good, and leads to…"

Angrily, Kim spat, "Spare me your ninja platitudes!" Kim turned away from the both of them.

"KP," said Ron, "I thought you were lost. I mean you kicked me, and the last time, you really, really meant it! We couldn't be close because of your infection, and I lost everything, when I was used to being with you."

"So Yori's your rebound girl." She said that to hurt Yori more than to ask a question.

Ron blinked, and then said, "No, I don't think so. That was part of it, but that's not all of it. She did fill a void that was left when you turned against me, and when I had to wonder if you were even you, and if we would ever be together as anything other than enemies or mind controlled slaves again."

Yori added, "I made a painting that I want you to have." Kim heard Yori reach into her bag beside her.

Kim took several slow, deep breaths to calm herself as she turned back to face them. Arms crossed, she blinked and softened a notch as Yori presented a beautiful painting of Kim and Shego. The painting was seemingly divided in half. At the top was a circle, and half was the sun, the other the moon. On the moon side was Shego dressed in in her green and black suit surrounded by black and a crescent moon hung above her head, curving up, almost like horns, or perhaps even a Cheshire Cat grin. Somehow, her face radiated mischief, and yet her eyes were solemn and sad.

On the sunny side was Kim Possible in her mission clothes, a fierce grin on her face, her hands in fists but held in an easy go lucky manner, one down, the other shoulder high. Her face came off as enthusiastic, and her eyes came off as innocent. Instead of a crescent moon, there was a rainbow, curving down around Kim.

The background, Kim's half in daylight, the other in dim moonlight, was a tropical island that had a beach on both sides, and a mountain in the background behind the pair. Somehow, the beach, perhaps because of the circle that was half-moon and half-sun, reminded Kim of a song she heard on the radio at Shego's private hideaway, Circle in the Sand.

"This is amazing," whispered Kim in awe. "Was this based on the island with Drakken's lair?"

Yori nodded. "But the beach represents where land meets water, the mountain where earth meets sky. They are opposites that blend together into a scene of stark beauty." After a pause, she added, "Like you and Shego."

Kim pursed her lips, and then looked back to the painting. She saw there was a poem written in beautiful calligraphy:

The Sun and Moon Dance
Your Enemy Turns Ally
Find Your Harmony

"It is a haiku," said Yori, as she saw Kim reading it. "I put it in English for you, and it won't translate into a proper haiku in Japanese. But it is sincere and true, as far as English goes, from having the proper number of sounds, the three lines, and a kigo."

Kim blinked at Yori. "What's a kigo?"

"Kigo are words or phrases associated with a season. For example, the moon is associated with autumn."

"But isn't the moon seen year round?"

Yori shrugged. "It is. But the nights get longer in autumn, and it's still warm enough in most places to enjoy the nights as the days grow shorter. So it has become, rightly or wrongly, a kigo for autumn."

"So you put me and Shego in a kigo?" asked Kim.

"A haiku, and a painting," corrected Yori.

"I don't know what to say," said Kim overwhelmed. "When did you make this?"

"I made the haiku on the first night at Drakken's lair. While Ron was meditating, I slipped out and spied on you and Shego." She bowed, "It was required of me, to assess if you'd been more compromised by the nanites than we feared." Straightening, she added, "The painting I began after I took Ron to the Yamanouchi School." After a meaningful pause, she asked, "What does it say to you?"

Kim looked puzzled. "Say?"

"Listen with your heart, and not your eyes."

Kim sighed. "I don't know. The nanites were why we got along."

"Were they?" asked Yori. "It is my understanding that you have worked together more than once. When Shego turned away from her criminal ways and came to you for help, you gave her something few, if any, in her life had given her before: understanding. I picked up that Ron was very jealous of you two."

Kim snickered momentarily before stopping herself. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Listen," insisted Yori.

"To what?" asked Kim peevishly.

"Your heart, your soul."

Kim blinked annoyed, and then grew thoughtful. It irritated her, but she realized that the sentiment and vision of Yori was sincere, and she was reminding Kim that the loss of one opportunity opened the doorway to another. One day ends only to allow a new day to begin.

"If you need help in listening," said Yori, "then maybe this can help." She handed Kim the pix of her and Shego together that they had done at the mall. Several pix of them smiling happily together and making silly faces, fully enjoying each other, were shown.

"You were in my room!?" Kim was upset, but then looking at the pix again, she couldn't repress a smile looking at the two of them together having fun. "Thank you, Yori, no matter what happens, I will treasure this gift. The painting, the haiku, and this…reminder." As Yori bowed, Kim hugged Ron and Yori gave them their space. "Best Friends Forever?"

"Always, KP," answered Ron. Rufus climbed up on Ron's shoulder and added his hug to Ron's.

"Go on," said Kim, "I've got things to do."

Yori and Ron left without a word.

Ron, his voice betraying great emotion though he otherwise held it in, said, "That went well."

"It did," nodded Yori. I hope that things work out between Kim and Shego, at least initially, or I fear it won't continue to work out so well. She kept her fear to herself, knowing whatever happened, a little time apart would make it easier for them to come together again as friends, and simply said, "I believe that Kim and Shego will spend some time together. I hope something special grows out of it: they have much to offer each other."

Ron shook his head. "I don't know. They're both awesome fighters, no doubt, but I don't know if it could work out anyway. Except maybe waxing eyebrows, buying shoes, and seeing chick flicks together." And sharing stories about my pants falling down. "Besides, what could Shego offer Kim? I mean beside high insurance premiums."

"Wisdom," answered Yori.

Ron's skepticism showed on his face, but he tried to hide it in his voice (not entirely successfully). "Okay, if you say so." Blinking, he added, "And what does Kim offer Shego?"

"Redemption," Yori answered confidently.

--xxxxxxxxxxxx

Kim knocked and entered Shego's room to find her putting on her tourist clothes.

"Hey," said Kim.

Shego blinked at her, and answered, "Hey, Kimmie."

"We did good, didn't we?"

"Don't remind me!" answered Shego. "I had my reasons, but I'm a villain. I don't like saving the world."

"You got to defy authority," answered Kim, "you fought the law and you won."

Shego grinned at that. "Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" Then her face hardened. "You know what YOUR ninja friends did to me? They wouldn't let me go until I agreed to do them a favor! They won't tell me what it is, they say they'll let me know when it's time!"

"And they expect you to keep your word?"

Shego laughed harshly. "Oh, yeah, Kimmie, I'll keep my word to ninjas." She shook her head. "Somehow, they knew my weakness. They know how much I hate being locked up in hospitals."

Kim blinked. "Why's that?"

Shego stared at Kim for a minute. Then she said, "I don't have the nanites in me anymore, I don't have to tell you."

"No, you don't," agreed Kim. "But you want to tell me. So why don't you do what you WANT?"

Shego glared hard at Kim. "When my brothers and I were growing up, the authorities determined we were too dangerous to be around other kids. All those weird skin colors and strange powers. School boards didn't want any of us there, and Mom fought them. Then the governor, and later followed by the Senate, passed the School Safety Zones Act, which kept 'dangerous freaks' like me from causing damage in a fit of teen drama or 'disrupting the learning environment' with our weird appearances, or in striking back for being treated like freaks. The act also specified that we were to be kept 'safely' away from the general population. We got time off, but we were closely watched, and most of our time was in clinics and a private school for the 'especially gifted,' which was their buzzword for dangerous freaks."

Kim frowned, feeling Shego's pain. Finally, she responded, "Surely being around others like yourself had to be better than being treated like freaks."

Shaking her head, Shego answered, "Maybe, but there were very few good people on the faculty, and they didn't know what to do with us. And others had issues that they projected onto us, some thought everything should work like in a textbook and chastised us for defiance if it didn't work out like they thought it would, and a few were downright evil who delighted in having us helpless in their power." Then looking hard at Kim, she said, "A few, like me and my brothers, tried hard to prove ourselves as good people, but it never worked. Others in our special schools left, those that didn't suicide, and became villains, bitter at their experience."

"But you didn't become a villain," said Kim. "Not for some time anyway."

"No, I didn't." Shego crossed her arms. "I even got a degree in child development, so that I could help others like me, and spare them the pain of the idiotic, and even evil, specialists that we were afflicted with."

"And a fully credentialed teacher, too," added Kim. Then she brightened. "Hey, how do you feel about babysitting?" She thought of Hana, and how hard she was going to have it in school. And once identified as being strange, that school safety act Shego mentioned, that Kim had to admit she never heard of herself (though maybe it explained why she'd heard of school shootings but not mutants going ballistic), would have Hana sent to one of those schools.

"Babysitting?" asked Shego, as if Kim had asked her if she'd like to help with the March of Dimes.

Kim was suddenly unsure. The only villains that knew about how special Ron's sister were currently unable to work mischief against her. She'd have to know how trustworthy Shego was before she could trust her.

And then Kim realized: the ninjas were also watching Shego. If she proved reliable, the favor they were going to have her do was tutor Hana! (She didn't want to think on what they'd call on her to do if they decided she was untrustworthy.)

And then Kim felt a dread awe overtake her as she realized to the extent they'd all been masterly played. Yori—be she a skilled kunoichi in this conspiracy or just another pawn--had practically pushed her here. If Kim and Shego became close, she'd join Team Possible. If Ron and Yori continued to be an item, Yori would also be a part of Team Possible. And even now, Ron was being trained as a true ninja. Hana could not have better tutors or protectors. Kim even wondered if Sensei were setting them up in case Hana needed to be protected from his successor. Shego's warnings about the ninja echoed in her head as she wondered if she should refuse to play along, or whether she should try to get some Cuddle Buddies for herself the way DNAmy had.

Shego stared at Kim. "What is it?"

Kim waved it off, unwilling to upset Shego at this point, and wanting to think about it more herself first. "No big, just a child I know that shows signs of being in the position you and your brothers were in a few years."

Shego actually looked concerned, though Kim wasn't sure if it was for Kim or for the child Kim knew. "I don't know, Kimmie, but I'll see if I can work something out."

"You mean it?" asked Kim excitedly.

Shego blinked. "I don't know! I just need to go somewhere to think!"

"Guess what," said Kim, "I'm uncertain about my future, too. And I need to think. About me. About you…"

"We're enemies, Kimmie, nothing to think about."

"Are we?" asked Kim.

Shego's fists began glowing green. "Leave. Now."

"No," said Kim. And then she closed her eyes. She figured it was too dangerous to dare her to do it or say she wouldn't, but was willing to risk simple defiance. She kept them close as she felt energy pass near her left shoulder and crash into the wall behind her. She opened her eyes again as Shego sighed, her hands no longer glowing. "Together then," said Kim.

Shego turned away. "I don't know, Kimmie. It's always been me against the world. Not even Dr. D gets too close to me. I won't allow it."

"I know we've been enemies forever, Shego. Well, almost. But now I'm feeling something totally new, and after all this time, I opened up my eyes, now I see you were always with me. I know you see it, too." Then she added, "I've been all over this world. Heck, in the last couple of weeks, I've flown all over it, from Middleton to Japan to the South Pacific to India to Germany, to the Caribbean, to Russia. And I find that I enjoyed all these places. And the reason I enjoyed them is you. Not the nanites, because I'm still feeling it. And you had a good time, too."

Shego sighed. "The nanites helped, and we were in a major situation, but you're too pure and innocent to ever be comfortable with someone like me."

"Shego," answered Kim, "when you came to me for help after your brothers turned evil, did I betray you? Did I treat you as a 'dangerous freak'? No, I accepted you, fully. We were, and are, friends! I know you're not as good as you were then, but I've seen a side of you others don't know, and I know there's a part of you that's in pain, but I'm not the one who caused it, I'm not the one who will cause it, but I'm the one who can make it go away!" When Shego continued looking away, Kim added, "Look at me. Shego!"

After a minute, Kim sighed. Almost defeated, she added, "Fine, but it's not me you're hiding from, it's yourself. I think you're more scared of what you're feeling than you were with the nanites in you, when you could blame your feelings on something other than yourself!" When Shego still didn't turn around, she said, "Yori gave me a couple of things I'd like to show you. Come see me if you want to see the really special one. But here's the other thing." So saying, she dropped the pix of the two of them being happy together on her bed and walked out of the room. Once outside, she paused to take a calming breath and then walked back to her own room.

In her own room, she tried reading, but couldn't. She finally lay on the bed, with the radio playing.

The trials you now are facing
They are not greater than your will
For there is nothing under heaven
You cannot overcome

See the door that lies before you
And know this too shall pass
The confrontation of your fears
In strength drawn from the past
When the silent voices whisper
Find the course that is your own
And however great the obstacle
You will never be alone

For I have watched the path of angels
And I have heard the heavens roar
There is strife within the tempest
But there is calm in the eye of the storm

In fragments of an instant
The chaos has returned
And all that was left to sentiment
Beneath the banner burned

And as that voice was slow receded
Into echoes, memory
My doubts were re-ignited
And fear awakened from its sleep

I believe in what I fight for
And I have paid for it with pain
I am here because my contributions
May help turn this fate away

And all who stood by and did nothing
Who are they to criticize?
The sacrifices of others
Our blood has bought their lives
This is the moment of truth
At the point of no return
Place faith in your convictions
As the boundaries start to blur

Then Kim's heart soared as Shego knocked and entered, still holding the pix. "So what's this OTHER thing Yori had?"

Smiling, and turning down the radio, she showed her the painting, and briefly explained everything Yori had told Kim about it. Shego was also impressed, though she frowned when she learned Yori had been spying on them as they talked on the balcony.

When she was done, Shego smiled shyly. "You know, we WERE in the middle of a Caribbean vacation when we were interrupted to save the world. I suppose we could finish it, and see where we can go from there."

"Let me get packed!" said Kim excitedly.

"What is this song anyway?" asked Shego, turning it back up.

"The Eye of the Storm, by Cruxshadows," answered Kim, "I think they just did a concert out here, so the radio is playing them a lot."

"Not bad," Shego said grudgingly. She figured if she could accept Kim Possible, then she could accept her music. "So hurry up, I'm ready for some R&R."

Kim said, "Ready!" And smiling wickedly at her, she added, "And I thought it was I&I."

Stunned, Shego answered, "Say what?"

And as they left, the radio kept playing.

There is no love untouched by hate
No unity without discord
There is no courage without fear
There is no peace without a war
There is no wisdom without regret
No admiration without scorn
There is strife within the tempest
But there is calm in the eye of the storm

If you find the courage within you
To face the path ahead
It matters not the outcome
If what you will gain instead
Is a heart deepened in the knowing
That experience carves the soul
And the very thing that empties you
Shall surely make you whole

Where the silent voices whisper
Find the course that is your own
And however great the obstacle
You will never be alone
For I have watched the path of angels
And I have heard the heavens roar
There is strife within the tempest
But calm in the eye of the storm.

FIN