She wore a light green and blue kimono with a light brown obi and tried to look casual as she walked through the woods in case anyone saw her. If they did she would just say she hadn't been feeling well and had gone for a walk hoping the fresh air would make her feel better.

San-Li sighed as she picked her way carefully over the foliage with tall, wooden shoes. She was stupid bringing Sam with her. What she needed to do was focus, not act like some love sick teenager. If that stupid lieutenant hadn't always been staring at her and practically drooling, and if Bando hadn't keep joking about renting her to him then she wouldn't have even considered bringing Sam in the first place. She was normally single minded about her trips; get in, get what she wanted, and get out. But right now all she wanted to do was go back to that room and-

"Arg! Focus! Focus!" San-Li hit herself in the side of her head trying to clear it.

She took out the piece of paper that she had hastily wrote down her notes on. According to her notes she should be coming up to an old village pretty soon. She climbed up a hill, pushed through some bushes, and saw it laying below. She started to move forward when her foot caught against something she couldn't see. She feel forward and felt a swish at the back of her neck. She looked up and saw a large blade stuck in the tree next to her. Her neck stung a little and when she reached back to touch it she felt blood.

"Great." She mumbled.

San-Li stood up and noticed a thin string that she had tripped over and followed it's path and saw that it was rigged to a relatively simple booby trap. She pulled out a dagger and cut apart the trap, hoping that she didn't trigger any alarms. The string was pretty stiff with age so hopefully there wasn't. She moved a little more carefully from then on and stopped at the edge of the woods.

The village had been converted to a military base. Guards were scattered about and didn't even try to disguise themselves as tourists. They carried military riffles making San-Li cringe. Bullets were a lot harder to dodge than swords or knives.

"Guess I'll have to do this the hard way." San-Li mumbled under her breath.

She untied her obi and let the outer part of kimono fall from her shoulders, leaving her in just the knee length under robe. She flung the clothes up into a tree and stepped out her wooden shoes. San-Li took several deep breaths and shot towards the village, dodging in between the guards.

One guard spotted her and started to call out but a quick blow to the throat cut him off. She then elbowed him in the head effectively knocking him out before he could raise his gun on her. San-Li grunted a little as she pulled him into a secluded spot and pulled out a knife. She laid the blade against his jugular vein but then hesitated. Her hand shook and she couldn't bring herself to cut him.

"Come on, you've done this hundreds of times," San-Li mumbled under her breath. "If you don't he's just going wake up and blow your cover!"

She pressed the blade more firmly against the guard's neck, but just...couldn't bring herself to do it. She swore loudly and the guard began to stir. She punched him hard in the face before he could focus on her and moved away quickly. She ducked into another small, ruined house and waited for the guards to pass by. She peaked out of the window and saw an old fashioned shrine a few houses away.

"That has to be where they're keeping the fan." She mumbled to herself.

She balked when she saw there was a larger concentration of guards there. Again she started to have second thoughts. San-Li groaned and laid her head on her knees. Her left eye was beginning to burn again from the broken magic and she snatched off her eye patch to rub it vigorously. She pulled a piece of fabric out of her robe and studied the crudely drawn symbol on it. It too was becoming stiff with age and was frayed around the edges. Her uncle had torn it off the sleeve of one of the people who attacked their family before he and his son were killed. She had found it under their bodies. Looking at it usually helped her get angry enough to refocus herself, but now she only felt weary and sad.

She slapped herself hard in the face and heard the sound echo through the small, empty hut. She closed her eyes and pictured the very last time she her family- laying dead with their blood splattered against the walls and covered the floor. Some nights she still woke up sweating from nightmares. Those people had to pay for what they did to her family and she was going to be the one to make sure they did.

"I should come back at night," She mused out loud. "It'd be easier to sneak around. I might have to take Sam with me though so it'd be easier to get the hell of here."

Glancing out of the window again, she noticed that the sun was a lot lower in the sky than it was before. If she hurried back now she could make it to the inn in time for dinner, make a final appearance and sneak into the shrine when it's nice and dark. Hopefully Sam will be able to keep up and not make too much noise.

"Well I guess I have a plan then." San-Li sighed and tied her eye patch back on.

She waited for a couple of guards to walk by and then darted out back to the cover of the trees.

A/N- Sorry if this chapter was a bit short and sorry but everything really picks up after this. Review please