A/N: I almost forgot to add something. You know how I have a list of warnings? Well, Yuan's hair is a warning too. He cuts it in this story. HE CHOPS IT OFF! MUAHAHAHA!

Now let's see what Sheena is up to…

Sheena woke up craving bacon and eggs- a decidedly un-Mizuho breakfast if there ever was one. She yawned hugely, glancing out the window to see that it was almost dawn. Getting up, trying to ignore her sore muscles and growling stomach, she splashed some cold water on her face before trying to make her sleepy brain function properly.

The Chief of Mizuho had gone to try and make peace with another tribe the day before.

She looked up at her ripped and torn, bloodstained purple ninja robes. Water steadily dripped from her face back into the bowl, creating ripples, breaking up the image of her face into a million tiny shards. For a moment, when she looked back down into the bowl, she could see a steady crimson spreading, little red tendrils wriggling out like baby snakes. Then she blinked, and her reflection blinked back at her from the clear surface of the water. She sighed, stretching and trying to get the kinks out of her muscles as she searched for her comb.

The mission of diplomacy had ended in bloodshed.

She slowly ran her comb through her hair, doing her best to untangle the inky black silk, sitting down next to her window so she could see the sun rise. Once, she thought to herself, once upon a time there was a nation called Mizuho who lived in seclusion on a chain of islands, long ago. The Fallen Hero Mithos split the worlds in two and the nation was cursed to be forever split, hounded and discriminated against by the 'outsiders'.

Damn, they know how to make their curses last, huh? She angrily yanked the comb through her hair, wincing as a stubborn knot got caught in the teeth of the comb. Double Damn.

She sighed loudly as the sun made its full appearance, shining down and looking much too cheerful to suit her current mood. Her shoulders hunched, she rested her chin against the windowsill, watching the nearby forest come to life. Not the Gaoracchia Forest. The Forest of Death was all the way on the other side of the village, far away from where Sheena ever was. She made it a point to avoid it, no longer did she take extended trips out into the forest to hunt down monsters and keep her skills sharp. For her, the place was haunted in more ways than one.

If Orochi noticed a change in his fiancé when she had returned from hunting down Mizuho's assailant, he made no comment. It was impossible not to notice, though- her aversion to large bodies of water, her dislike of the cold or of rain. Now that winter was on its way, Sheena was more depressed than ever, even if she tried not to let it affect her ability to run Mizuho effectively.

Putting the brush down, she stared out at the forest. Maybe today she should leave. She considered it- considered finding out where Kuchinawa had been holing up for the past year. She'd been doing a little research of the whereabouts of all the Exiles from Mizuho, and she had a hunch that if she only left now, she could find him. Her hunches were usually correct, including the hunch that any acts of diplomacy would have ended in failure.

Two bluebirds preformed a midair dance out in her yard, causing her to smile despite herself. If she didn't know any better, she would say it was still summertime and winter would never come, and never let loose the memories locked in the snowflakes.

"Rrrrwraow!"

Out of nowhere, an embarrassingly obese tom cat had sprung up, raking a claw at the bluebirds. The ungainly creature fell down flat on his nose, complaining loudly for anyone to hear. Sheena did her best not to snicker as she found a new life to her morning. Weren't cats supposed to be graceful? The tom must be someone's pet. There was no way a stray could survive with the terrible hunting skills this one showed. But the cat didn't have a collar of any sort, so she could only guess. He stood up, watching the birds intently with large amber eyes, wiggling his bottom for a moment before leaping up again, chasing the teasing bluebirds all across her lawn. Sheena couldn't help it. She laughed out loud.

The tom stopped and looked at her, as if aware he was the source of her laughter.

"This is harder than it looks, y'know!" the tom said, hissing slightly.

Sheena blinked several times. Had a cat just… Was she still dreaming? She'd never had a dream this vivid before. She sat back, staring with huge eyes as the tom cat sauntered over to her, leaping up onto her windowsill to sit in front of her, swishing his tail from side to side.

"Yo," he said. "You know, it's been eight months since you called me last? I'm getting really freaking bored."

Sheena shook her head, wondering how she had slipped so far down the path of insanity without noticing. "I don't…" she shook her head again, harder this time. "I don't think we've met before."

"Of course we have, toots!" the tom yowled, grinning at her as best as he could with the limited facial muscles a cat was endowed with. "Look- I'll even give you a hint 'cause I'm so nice." He closed his eyes, appearing to concentrate, and suddenly a bright red collar appeared on his neck.

The collar was fastened by an obnoxiously large, spinning red bow.

"Gnome?"

"The one and only! Miss me, baby?"

Sheena gathered up the summon spirit into her arms, glancing around the yard to see if anyone had witnessed the odd conversation before closing the blinds and sitting down on her cot. Gnome made himself comfortable on her lap as she scratched him behind the ear, not sure how exactly he had arrived but glad for the company.

"I didn't realize you were gone in the first place," she told him as he looked around her home with interest, tail swishing lazily. "Don't you guys… I don't know… live in my head or something?"

"Pshyeah right," Gnome said, purring softly under his breath. "I can just see us now- Celsius and Efreet would be at each others throats all the time and Volt would be making that annoying click-y static noise he always does. The bastard knows it irritates us. I never really understood why he couldn't just use the human language like the rest of us." Gnome kneaded his claws on Sheena's lap, growling. Then he realized it was hurting her and stopped- not that she would have complained. Being a tomboy meant she got scratched up all the time.

"Sheena?" Tok tok tok tok tok! The familiar sound of someone knocking on her door made her curse under her breath. No rest for the wicked, she supposed.

"Hold up Orochi!" she yelled, and then continued, softer. "Gnome, that's my fiancé. Can we continue this talk later?"

"Heck no. Just tell him to go away."

"I can't do that! He's my fiancé!"

"Sheena? Is there someone in there?"

Sheena shook her head and then remembered Orochi couldn't see her through the door. "Uh, no!" she said, rummaging around her room for some clean clothes. "Uh, uh, no, there's no one here."

"Hehehe, so I'm finally going to meet the poor sap who thought it was a good idea to marry you?" Gnome asked from his place on her table, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

"Gnome, just shut up," Sheena snapped, giving up her quest for clothes and just pulling a souvenir robe from the hot springs. "Come on in, Orochi."

Orochi stepped inside, his eyes roaming around in search of the mystery person he had heard Sheena talking to. "Good morning, Fujibayashi-sama," he said, bowing. Softer, he added, "…Sheena."

Sheena smiled, pecking him on the cheek. "Sorry, but I'm not seeing anything good about it- oh!" Sheena flinched in surprise as Gnome leapt onto her shoulder. The fat cat balanced precariously on his narrow perch, examining Orochi from head to toe.

"Hmm," he said. "Are you sure you wanna marry Sheena, buddy? 'Cause let me tell you, I already have a pretty serious commitment to her and I don't see no action."

Sheena flushed. "Gnome!" she said between clenched teeth. "Cut that out!"

Orochi chuckled, scratching Gnome under the chin as if talking cats was an everyday occurrence for him. "I didn't know you had a cat, Sheena."

"I don't," Sheena said at once, but then noticed him reading Gnome's name tag, the one that quite clearly stated: "Property of Sheena! You touch-ee, I kill-ee!"

Gnome snickered.

"He's mine, but he's not a cat!" Sheena said, reaching up to hold the ungainly summon spirit around his impressive belly. "I mean, isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah, isn't it obvious?" Gnome echoed, running a long red tongue over his chin.

Orochi bent down to look at Gnome closely before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but what am I supposed to be seeing? He looks like any other tom cat I've ever seen. Although he's abnormally fat. Does he get enough exercise?"

"Hello!" Sheena said, angry now. "Can't you hear? Does the fact that he's talking not strike you as odd cat behavior? He's not a cat!"

"By the way, Sheena-cake?" Gnome looked over his shoulder at her, amber eyes mischievous. "While I'm in an animal form like this, only you can understand me because you're my summoner."

"What?" Sheena hissed at him. "Why didn't you say that earlier? Now my fiancé thinks I'm insane!"

Orochi looked on in alarm. "Sheena, are you talking to your cat?"

"For the last time, he is not a cat!" Sheena groaned, holding Gnome up to Orochi's face. "He's the summon spirit of Earth!"

"Meow," Gnome said.

Orochi placed the palm of his hand gently against her forehead, pushing her bangs out of the way. "Sheena…" he said slowly, taking her by the elbow with his free hand and leading her to her cot. "I think you might be over working yourself. You should take a break while I go call the doctor."

Sheena made a small noise of frustration deep in her throat, shaking Orochi off of her. "I'm not crazy!" she said, "And I'm not sick. Gnome!" She snapped her fingers at the cat, who was trying his best not to erupt into fits of laughter as he rolled around on the floor in a very un-cat-like manner. "I command you to take a human shape so that Orochi can understand you!"

"Command? Command! That's cheating!" Gnome hopped up and down, hissing. "Just 'cause you own my magic doesn't mean you can't ask nicely!" But after a moment of grumbling, he changed. It wasn't a flashy transformation- it was just, one moment there was a cat sitting on the floor and the next moment there was a man. His skin was dark, and when the sunlight streaming through the window touched his skin it was reflected off as if he were made of bronze. Solid obsidian eyes, with no whites whatsoever, still were gleaming with the same mischievous light. Shirtless, and looking as though someone had coated him in dust, he grinned at Orochi. "Hiya."

Orochi visibly jumped, pushing Sheena back behind him instinctively as he pulled out a dagger. "Who…" he looked from Gnome to Sheena, who was still fuming silently. "You mean…"

"Yeah," Gnome said. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Gnome. And as I was saying before, are you sure you wanna marry the Banshee? 'Cause let me tell you, buddy, I already have a pretty serious commitment to her and I don't see no- mmmph mmmanumammum!" The summon spirit was cut off as Sheena clapped a hand to his mouth, flushing furiously.

"Gnome!" She snapped, rapping him on the head with her fist for every word she spoke through clenched teeth. "Will-You-Cut-That-Out!"

"OW! Ow-Ow-OW-OW-ow! Sheena! I only meant the last time you called me all I got to do was eat a giant spider and then poof! I went back to my shrine and I've been waiting for eight months. You never call me anymore! I thought you weren't like the other girls! Wahhh!"

Sheena finally let him go with a frustrated sigh, ignoring his pitiful whimpers. "Goddess help me," she muttered under her breath. "Listen, Orochi? I actually have to talk to you about something important, but let me get dressed first." She glared over at Gnome again. The sniffling summon spirit was consoling himself by complaining to the potted plant she kept on her windowsill.

"Of- of course," Orochi said, turning to leave. Sheena had to mentally applaud him for managing to take Gnome in stride. But he paused as he reached the doorway, looking over his shoulder. "But, ah, I would feel better if that thing wasn't in here while you changed."

"Who, Gnome?" Sheena raised her eyebrows in surprise, glancing back over at Gnome, who was now talking animatedly to the vines just outside her window, asking them about how the weather was in Mizuho. "He's harmless, trust me."

"Still…"

Sheena sighed. "Fine, fine. Gnome?"

The summon spirit looked up at once, his face innocently blank of all devious intents. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Could you turn into a girl just until I finish changing, please?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely!" Gnome smiled, and there was a woman standing where he had been earlier. Instead of bronze, her skin was pitch black like rich, fertile dirt, and her eyes sparkled with the multi-faceted light of a ruby mine.

She was still topless.

"That's not what I meant," Orochi said weakly, but left the house anyway.

Gnome cackled obscenely. "Did you see the look on his face?" she howled, pounding a fist on the floor. "You'd think he'd never seen a pair of tits before." Gnome grinned again, looking down with admiration at his own creations.

"That was mean of you," Sheena said, rolling her eyes as she found her red outfit, the one her grandfather had given to her when he had deemed her worthy of being successor. "And I would appreciate it if you toned down your language when around me, Gnome." Stepping behind a changing screen, she kept on. "And weren't you saying something about having been gone, earlier?"

"Hmm? Yeah, well, I wasn't gone. I was just hangin' around my shrine, waiting for you to call me. Since you never did, I decided to go to take the initiative and came to see you. You are, by far, the single most coolest summoner who ever made a pact with me. I get bored without ya, babeh!"

"Aww, that's sweet of you to say." Sheena said, peeking around the screen to smile at her.

"And you have a fabulous chest."

Sheena's smile dropped. "Didn't I tell you to tone down the raciness?" she grumbled, ducking back behind the cover to finish getting dressed. When she was done, she walked back around to see Gnome holding her potted plant like a dear friend, helping its flowers grow even though it was out of season. "So why a cat?"

"Dunno. I was bored." She put the pot back down and then leapt into Sheena's arms, once again a plain brown tom cat. "But since I can't really use magic unless I'm at my shrine or with you, it was tiresome and sometimes I wished I'd picked something a leeeettle bit more intimidating than a cat." He wriggled until he was comfortably resting his head against her chest, purring contentedly. "So where to now, Mistress?"

"Well…" Sheena gazed out the window again. "You said you wanted some action?"

Gnome's ears perked up. "Do tell."

"I found a lead. It might take me to wherever Kuchinawa is, and when I find him I'm gonna need all my strength and magic to stop him once and for all. You'll be there?" She scratched him, pressing her nose against his fur fondly. He smelled like he had just rolled around in the dirt for a while, but she didn't mind.

"Hells yes!" Gnome said. "Of course. All of us will be there, Mistress. Technically our pact with you is over, but we kinda unanimously agreed that it's better to be with someone we know than to risk making a new pact with whatever punk decides he wants Efreet to burn up a city, or whatever."

"Good," Sheena said. "But first I need to go to Meltokio."

Gnome shrugged. "As my Mistress commands." Then he yawned hugely. "By the way, whatever happened to the healer lady? Why are you with Mr. Blue-Boy?"

Sheena shook her head, moving to open the door for Orochi. "Maybe some other time. We've got stuff to do."

A/N: Like... check her mail!