Kimiko had always been aware she could pass for a foreigner.

She looked white when it came to her skin tone. It was probably because her parents both had pale skin, as far as she could tell. Her father was hardly any darker than her. Her mother was part foreigner. Kimiko was born light. Her eyes were the real damming evidence, however. Since they were blue, which was not a Japanese color, the automatic assumption was that she was gaijin. The response from her classmates had always been less than positive because of that. In China, there came the dual stigmas of being Japanese and non Asian, which made things even harder for her. She had always been grateful that the Xiaolin knew no prejudices. Beijing, however, was China proper as opposed to the wilderness where she normally lived. The only way she could compensate was by brushing up on her Chinese and dressing the part. They wanted to get in and out without any incident, any arguments, any unwanted attention. Going up against Chase Young on his own terms meant a serious disadvantage from the start. Disguises would be the only way to lessen the controllable disadvantages.

Since the note had not said to meet Chase Young alone, the other Dragons were nearby. She wasn't stupid, after all. But she was cautious. With her hair in Chinese buns, dressed in a red qipao top with golden neck detailing, black pants and in flat red and gold Chinese slippers, Kimiko drew only approving glances from people on the street. Omi was Asian enough in and of himself to draw absolutely no suspicion, of course. Other than the occasional old couple who thought the two were dating, they went totally unnoticed. Omi was the only one who spoke Mandarin besides herself, and her knowledge was limited. He spoke Cantonese, Mandarin, and knew enough hanzhi for both of them. Omi had to guide her to the meeting spot and ask for directions, something he did easily and gladly for her. She felt rather touched that Clay and Raimundo put up with having so many dirty looks and comments thrown at them. It was reassuring that they cared enough about her to come.

Quite frankly, this whole thing felt like a trap. She knew it was. She just couldn't avoid walking into it. Chase Young had looked into her eyes and called her forth to this place. Her eyes were just like her mothers. There was no way that he didn't have information about her mother, not if he knew her name and what she looked like. Even if this was some kind of ploy to get to the Dragons, she had to at least try. This was her mother she was talking about, someone who had given birth to her. Traps hardly mattered. Besides, with everyone backing her up, Chase wouldn't be able to really hurt her. Not that he would try in a public place like this, with hundreds of people watching. Whatever his trap was, a direct attack wasn't it.

That didn't change the fact he obviously wanted something. He stood by a corner in the square, watching the hustle and bustle. He was dressed in a long black Chinese jacket, with gold accents. Underneath his black pants, she spotted his normal footwear. She knew why: she had attacked one of the most feared evil doers on the planet unhesitatingly before. There was every chance that, if he provoked her, she'd do it again. Even in public. Clay once used the American expression 'berserk button' in front of her. A berserk button is, he explained, a subject that turns normal people into angry, vicious hotheads. Kimiko was very aware that right now, her berserk button was her mother. Chase was dealing with a side of Kimiko she herself hardly ever let out, the side so intense it could be lethal. Playing with fire had never seemed more fitting of a phrase. Her eyes glinted dangerously as they met his.

"Chase," she said quietly, in English so no one could listen in, "You're early."

"So are you," he shot back dryly. "By half an hour. A bit much, don't you think?"

"We are stylishly early," Omi chimed in. No one thought to correct him that the phrase he was looking for was 'fashionably late'.

"You brought the child," Chase noted. "A wise choice, given where we are. I think you'll find it isn't a necessity to be so on guard, however. Contrary to whatever you believe, I'm not about to attack you. And if you brought Omi to be your voice of reason, I fear you're too insane to negotiate with."

"Just shut up and tell me where my mother is." That wasn't a request, either. Her hands were clenched into tight fists. Noting this, he responded quickly.

"Now, come on, did you really think it would be so easy?" he asked with a smirk. "Surely you know I want something in return."

"What?" she responded briskly as Omi opened his mouth to protest. "Name it."

"I only ask that you spend some time afterward with the Heylin," he responded coolly. "Nothing substantial, just three weeks. You would not be under any magical contractual rules to do anything. All I ask is that you spend some time reconsidering your alliances."

That seemed too easy. It fact, it was impossibly easy. Kimiko folded her arms and gave him a questioning look. "Why would you even ask me to do that? I'm not one of the Dragons that've gone Heylin before."

He smirked. "Because if you're anything like your mother, you'll turn within a week."

Omi latched onto Kimiko to keep her from attacking Chase. Her blue eyes flashed angrily, her fists clenched so tightly the knuckles went white. Her expression told him that she would have fire blasted him if they hadn't been in public. If not for Omi, maybe the public thing wouldn't have stopped her. The Chinese man regarded her calmly, golden eyes trained on her face. He was looking for familiarities, things that Kimiko had in common with Laan Se. That realization made her straighten up hastily, determined not to give him the pleasure of seeing her internal conflict. Omi pushed himself between them, as if preventing a fight. He gave Chase a scathing look. Although she couldn't see them, Kimiko was sure Clay and Rai, wherever they were hiding in this crowd, were tensed to make a move if Chase tried anything. This wasn't so much a meeting as it was negotiating a peace treaty.

And it was worth it, for her mother. Kimiko stuck out her hand. "I accept-"

"NO!" Omi shrieked, drawing looks from multiple passersby. "Do not do it, Kimiko! Chase Young will dirty your mind like he has done mine! He cannot be trusted, not even for this! He may not even know where your mother is - he's just lying to get a Dragon on the Heylin's side!" Turning to Chase, he added sharply, "I demand proof of Kimiko's mother. If you can't prove you know her, then we will leave immediately. Raimundo and I will rob you of your Shen Gon Wu at some later date."

Chase arched an eyebrow. "That breaks the warrior's code."

Raimundo appeared behind Chase, silent as a ninja. "Xiaolin warrior's code doesn't exactly matter all that much to me and Omi, in case you haven't noticed." Glancing at Clay, he added, "Actually, I think there's only one of us who isn't secretly a douche."

Surrounded by Dragons as he was, Chase Young knew a fight was likely to break out. So he chose a different option, one he was a master of: psychological warfare. There was no one that he couldn't break if he tried hard enough. If Kimiko wanted to be difficult, then he would take the harder way. Pushing Omi aside, he met her eyes and spoke directly and calmly, in Japanese so no one else could understand them. Even though they were surrounded by her friends, in the next few seconds her decision was hers and hers alone, without a soul in the world who could understand what she was being asked to decide.

"Shihong. Your mother misses you terribly. She isn't getting any younger, either. You won't be able to take forever in finding her. So I will make you a simple deal, one you can't refuse. I want you to come with me to my home. There you will use your power to awaken another Shen Gon Wu, the Boulee Mirror. Once you do that, you can take your pick of the Shen Gon Wu that I have acquired. No tricks, no lies, no extra add ons. I will even hold my tongue unless spoken to for the entire duration of your stay. You will not be restrained, and I will allow you to leave with whatever you can carry. Anything that happens in my home stays between us. I will swear this by magically binding oaths the second we arrive. Is that a good enough deal for you, or would you rather risk never seeing your mother alive?"

"It's a deal," she responded quickly. "As long as you swear it by magic. Even you can't get out of that."

Ignoring the protests of her friends (she'd nodded firmly, and he'd smirked; it was obvious he'd won) he stuck out his hand for her to take. "Well then, let's go."

Kimiko nodded, and took his hand. Everything flashed and swirled. In a split second, her mind formed doubts about what she'd done, but it was too late. Her friends faces melted away like smoke. The ground moved beneath her. The world was a tornado of sound and color until it all stopped abruptly. Staggering a few steps, her feet hit the marble of Chase Young's domain. Ignoring the sickness in her stomach that came from the impact, she looked to Chase. His face was impassive as he flipped through a spellbook. He was seriously going to take magical, truth binding oaths. Whatever the Boulee was, he apparently needed it activated desperately. Desperately enough that he would let an enemy in here, and let her do basically whatever she wanted. Suddenly a pang of worry hit Kimiko. Whatever she was awakening would only be put to horrendous ends by this man. It wasn't too late to back out of the deal. Still, she needed to do this. They could always get it from him later, couldn't they? Surely whatever Shen Gon Wu she stole in accordance to this plan would negate the effects of a single one. For a brief moment, her logical mind battled with her heart as Chase Young held out the book to her.

"Place your dominant hand on the book, and repeat after me." He instructed curtly.

For a moment, she paused. She knew that this wouldn't end well. She knew that this was probably wrong. Master Fung would not be pleased. The others would be terrified. Everyone would advise her this was foolish. But... it was for her mother. She couldn't walk away. Some traps needed to be walked into and some chances had to be taken. Kimiko sighed heavily, feeling the weight of the decision on her shoulders. Of course, Chase wasn't bothered by the delay. He knew what her choice would be just as much as anyone else did. If only she had the strength to prove him wrong, she'd walk away. A better warrior would. Unfortunately, this wasn't about being a warrior. This was about family.

She placed her hand on the book, defeated.

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Boulee means 'glass person', but it is used exclusively for women.

It means that the woman is pure, purely honest and purely devoted to someone, something or some cause, beyond all reason. There is no doubt, no lying, no deceit, no holding back, no attempts to hide it. Just pure love, directed at something by someone who expresses it in what the Chinese consider to be a pure way. There are many people in love, very few boulee. To be called that is to be a moral, honest, upright, calm, loving, compassionate, and unshakable person. To have that kind of love is to be willing to die for your love without a second thought, to speak truth because lying physically hurts, and to be so compassionate that everyone's problems are equal, from that of a king to a peasant's. Boulee. Glass person. Seethrough. So honest as to be transparent, so determined as to reflect the goodness a person is capable of.

Boulee love was not always, or even often, romantic. It was pure love, unfiltered by logic, reason, or thought. Pure emotion like that often encompassed the woman's friends, all of her extended family, or even all of an army in historic times. It was the love of a rare person, and could only be defined as being truly raw and quite frankly unwise. Westerners took a long time in translating the idea over, because it was so confusing. Love and innocence go hand in hand in Western society. Love and determination are partners in the East. Although with time the term fell out of favor and became obscure, the fact was that no one noting the differences between the cultures would fail to mention that even today, it's the highest praise that could ever be offered to a woman.

The Boulee Mirror, Chase then explained, was made to conform to a similar idea. It would reflect past events, but purely so. There would be no time travel, no slant in favor of any person, just truth. Other Shen Gon Wu meant to view the past became tainted by constant Xiaolin use. They began to reflect a warped, twisted past as they were used more often. The Boulee Mirror was different. Rather than showing its user what they wanted to see, it showed what was requested. It was not even equipped to sense who its user was. All that it was able to discern was that the user was human. Past that, it was an open book. Everyone could use it. Everyone, that was, except Chase. He did not register as human. So, unable to use the most non-biased Shen Gon Wu in existance, he needed someone to wake it up. Then that person could ask it the things he wished to see. That was why he needed her, and so here they were. It made a suprisingly non-evil amount of sense.

Kimiko couldn't help the reverance she felt when she touched it. The Mirror was old, and made of pure glass. See through glass lined the reflective glass, with bits of colored glass mixed in. The design was simple and pure. It looked just like a mirror. Whoever had designed it had planned everything out. Gingerly picking it up, she was surprised by how heavy it was. It weighed what it looked like it weighed. Staring into it, she paused as it glowed faintly.

"What do you want me to ask it?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. "How do I work this thing, exactly?"

"Your first question must be heartfelt," Chase responded quietly. "You must ask it something you sincerely want to know. Surely you have some past event you would like to have elaborated upon? Some truth you would like to know?"

Oh, dear lord, where did she even start? There were so many possibilities. Boyfriends, best friends who had left her suddenly, the past of Raimundo, Clay and Jack, or for that matter the past of any and all of her enemies. There were so many pressing matters. Her mother was the most obvious, but where to start there? Her mother had an entire life Kimiko needed to know about. Years and years of experiences. Kimiko bit her lip, thinking. If Chase knew her mother, then nothing she asked would surprise him, nor would the answers. So it was okay to ask something personal, then. She wasn't handing her enemy blackmail ammunition, or at least not any he didn't already have. And this was a question that had been eating at her for almost her entire life. She had to know some things she was sure her mother wouldn't tell her in person. She turned to the Mirror and took a deep breath.

"I want to see the first time my mother did drugs."