Chapter 22

"Good, Jianjun! Here, now come at me like this!" Xena came at the short man with a series of complex movements, making him step back quickly to get out of her way.

"Alright. Like this?" He mirrored her movements, adding an extra few at the end, which forced Xena to flip backwards, out of harm's way. He smiled at her cheekily.

"Very good," she admitted, returning his grin and going on the offensive. She fought him back, blow for blow, until, she finally flipped over him, engaging his sword halfway over and disarming him by the time she hit the ground. Jianjun scowled and went to retrieve his sword.

"I'll get the best of you someday." He picked up his sword and swung it idly at her, and she caught it with her own. She stepped closer, muscling their swords close to Jianjun's chest, finding delight in the effort of his concentration against her.

"You do have the best of me, Jianjun. You have all of me." She kissed him over their blades. When she drew back he stared at her with doey eyes and a ridiculous grin on his face. She forced her sword, sending him flying back with the strength of her blade.

"Ooo you're nasty!" he said, making a face. Xena grinned evilly.

"Come on, let's see how nasty I can get."

They fought until Jianjun surrendered, exhausted.

Xena smiled at him. "Great workout, Gabrielle. I mean- Jianjun…"

He shrugged.

Xena went over and wrapped her arm around him, kissing him on the head.

"Am I really like Gabrielle?" he asked, craning his neck to look into her eyes.

"Yes, you are." She smiled. "You've got her fire, her intelligence, her strength… her beauty."

Jianjun blushed furiously. "I think 'handsome' is the word you are looking for." He paused. "But you didn't believe it at first. That it was really me."

"Yes well, I was just afraid that it was too good to be true."

"Which it isn't."

"Jianjun, let's talk." Xena pushed him gently down into a sitting position, then sat on her feet in front of him. Jianjun was still a little flustered at being called 'beautiful,' but caught on to the serious note in Xena's voice and frowned.

Without prompt, Xena dove into what she had to say.

"It's about your past life with me. I turned you into a warrior, I taught you things and put you in situations I never should have, but I couldn't part with you, no matter how hard it was to see you suffer. Until one day. After about 6 years of travel together, I made a huge mistake. I left you. I died, and it was my choice to die. I left you alone to fight a man that ordinarily would have never matched your skill, yet you were in such grief you lost the battle, and died. I have been trying to return to your side ever since, wanting only to guard and protect you, as I had promised I would. I have failed you, and I have failed myself." She paused; forcing herself to stare into those deep brown eyes, round with the information he had just received.

"How do you remember such details of our past life together?"

"Because I lived through them, I have lived through 400 years of painful time, before finally finding you again."

"How?" Jianjun looked stunned and bewildered, but Xena also sensed a greediness in him as he drank up her every word.

"Something happened to me which anchored my soul to this earth. My body can die, but I cannot pass on into any afterlife or into the karmic cycle. I'm stuck." Jianjun let out a long breath of air and looked at the ground. He started tearing tufts of grass out of the hard dirt and throwing them away. Xena placed two fingers under his chin and turned his face up toward her. "But now I have found you. Every life that you are born into I will find you, and we will be together. You have changed during our time together. Every day you seem more and more like Gabrielle to me. I think that is a wonderful thing, and as hard as it is to believe it, I think I may be a good influence on you."

Jianjun smiled, a bit embarrassed, and went back to the original subject. "So how did you get a body?"

"A um, god gave it to me." She didn't want to explain that it had been a pity gift. It still didn't sit right with her that she had had to ask for help.

"I'll bet… I bet we could take it further." Jianjun was looking at her greedily again.

"How?"

"I uh, have a Shaman friend?" He wrinkled his nose, bracing himself for her response. All she did was raise an eyebrow and push out her lips.

"You're so cute when you pout."

"I don't pout." She said forcefully.

"Do too."

"Gabrielle had a lot more tact than you do."

"No she didn't."

"How would you know?"

Jianjun winced. "Just a guess. Listen, Xena this could be our big break. If you can move outside of your body then we could destroy our enemy's leaders and avoid any more bloodshed."

"OK." Xena said simply.

Sorry for not updating for a while, I got writer's block… I will force myself through it though, and will continue to write when I can.

Also, I've been emerged in other fan fic stories… there are some really great ones out there.