Author's Note: Yuuki~desu! … I've rewritten this chapter 4 times! Gee. That sucked. But finally, I made it! To Yumi61 : I'm glad you like my quick updates! I do too :D And concerning Hao, I have to agree. But that was the plan, you see ;) Hope this chappie clears it up at least a little. Enjoy!

YUUKI'S HANDY DICTIONARY!

Jian – chinese sword

Hakama pants - ... Surely you know those! The japanase pants!

FONT EXPLANATION:

"Characters Talking"

Main character thinking

Stressing something or time skips announcements

"Main character's spirit talking"

Chapter 11: Reasons To Train

The next morning, I got up before everyone else and fixed myself a bowl of cereals. After I successfully wolfed it down, I went to our basement (turned dojo) and stretched before calling on my spirit.

"Yami!"

"Yes, Mistress?" he asked, already in his usual wolf form.

I patted his head and smiled slyly at his suspicious look. "Will you train with me?"

"Me, Mistress?" he asked as if he couldn't believe his own ears.

I sighed and sat down before him, staring deep into his impossibly dark blue eyes. "Yes, you, Yami. I need to practice a bit with my jian and who is better to ask than you?"

"I thought you said you hated using your father's favorite weapon..." he drawled on, his usual politeness notched down a bit.

"And yet, I always carry one wherever I go." I said as a matter-of-fact. "Could you just, please help me with this?" I pleaded finally.

"...Weren't you supposed to rest for two days?"

I pouted like a kid, trying to get him to comply with my wishes. "Oh, come on. You know how much practicing martial arts helps me relax... Besides my furyoku won't come back any sooner even if I slept those two days..."

His two midnight orbs bore holes into me before he gave in. "Very well."

He then transformed, jut like I expected him to. His form dissipated, shifting amorphous blackness standing in his place. Seconds ticked by when the blackness froze and exploded outwards, leaving behind a single person. There, in front of me, stood a tall, slightly muscular man with long black hair tied back into a waist-long thick braid, wearing only a pair of pure black hakama pants.

In his right hand, he held the most beautiful jian I had ever seen. It was obsidian with silver grip and intricately carved guard whose wings were in the shape of two intertwined blue dragon heads. Its pommel had the usual cloud-like shape but instead of floral designs, it depicted the yin-yang symbol surrounded by swirls of black and silver metal. Attached to the end of the pommel was a midnight-blue tassel that divided into two rich straps at the intersection – a silver coin that looked very much like the moon.

The man before me offered me his hand and I took it, letting him to help me get up. He nodded at me approvingly and I walked to the corner of the private dojo to grab my jian from its corner where I left it.

Getting into the appropriate stance, the lesson started.

We circled around each other, taking our time to seize our opponent.

While he was still my spirit, we didn't get to practice together often. And even when we did, it was usually just the attacks that involved furyoku. That's why we had to first test the other.

Spotting my little inattention, he thrust in and I parried it left, immediately using this chance to counter-attack.

Yami jumped back in an instant, very nearly dodging my sword.

Seeing the caution creeping into his focused eyes, it was my turn to make the move.

I jumped up and swung down for his head, only for him to deflect my sword and kick my abdomen.

My body landed on the floor painfully but I quickly got up, coughing. "It sure doesn't seem like this is going to be a waste of time." I choked out.

Yami smirked at me, mirth clearly in his eyes.

From then on, the battle was fierce. I couldn't afford even a second's distraction as we both were extremely serious.

Parry right. Deflect. Thrust. Back away. Jump. Chop down. Back flip. Kick out.

We went on like that for hours, my body slowing down with each move until Yami feinted an attack from right, making me react to it, which proved to be a mistake when his sword came to instead rest on my throat languidly.

Heaving with exertion, I accepted my loss and stretched on the cool tatami mats.

"You did good. Very good." he concluded as he let his sword disappear and sat down beside my sprawled body.

"Thank you." I breathed out sincerely.

His look suddenly hardened as he watched me, very attentively inspecting my face. "But it still doesn't explain why you want to master the jian until the end of this week."

I scowled at him, not very happy with the way he insisted I answer his question. Knowing he wouldn't give up unless I gave him a satisfactory reason, I coated my hand with the smallest amount of furyoku and reached for his braid. Tendrils of my spiritual energy trifling with his temporary physical form, his hair turned into shadows. I used those to wrap around my arm, showing him what I wanted him to do.

Understanding the motion, he willed my own shadow to wrap around me and drag me down, back into the empty Shadow Realm.

"Great." I called out cheerfully. "Now I can speak freely."

"Mistress?" asked my spirit from beside me, still in his human form.

Ignoring the rare confusion reflected in his voice, I spoke. "You wanted to know why I want to master the jian..."

His head bobbed once, expression stern.

"It is simple, really. If I am to ever effectively defeat someone as skilled with sword as Hao, I need to know everything I can about the weapon."

"D-Defeat Hao?" he all but hollered, completely astounded.

"Hm?" I looked at his stone-cold face and cracked up. "Don't tell me you thought we were actually very good friends."

"But... Yesterday you told Hao you enjoyed being with him!"

I had to grab at my stomach, I laughed so hard. "My dear, dear Yami... Are you sure you really are the Spirit of Darkness?"

"The one and only." he bit back, not at all amused.

Sensing the danger drawing near, I decided to explain. "My relationship with Hao is... Well, let's say it's a shadow play. Everything that we do, or say has a hidden purpose. Only the ones behind the screen know what's really behind it. Like when Hao sent us to watch over Yoh."

"You..." his human face scrunched up in distaste as if his next words made him sick. "You mean to say he wanted to get rid of us for some time...?"

I would have patted his head if he wasn't standing. "Exactly. Yoh never needed supervision. He could take care of himself well enough. Can you see it now? Our game?"

"So when he asked you why you returned..."

"He was confirming my loyalties. And has continued to do so even throughout the dinner, when he was reading my mind. And when he came into my room and woke me up? He tried to show me I had no right for privacy."

My spirit stayed quiet for a while, undoubtedly trying to absorb and understand everything I told him.

"Since when?"

I smiled fondly into the darkness, my mind going back all those years. "From the beginning."

The silence between us stretched on but this time, it was comfortable. "So many lies..." he finally whispered, probably not even realizing he spoke aloud.

I blanched. "Now, now, Yami. Do not misunderstand. We never once lied to each other. We simply don't tell the whole truth. What's more, we both know the other is hiding something, making it all the more fair."

I sat up, hugging my right knee to my chest and rested my chin on it. "You know, everything I said yesterday was true. Being with Hao and Opacho is fun and even meaningful. Hao's dream is nice and does not in any way go against my own goal. That's part of the reason why I joined forces with him. The other part is probably that there are only two sides from which to choose. Had I not chosen Hao's, I would be most likely made to fight him, seeing as our power levels are nearly identical."

Yami's eyes burned with fury when he lowered himself to my level. "And Hao's reason? How do you know he's not going to abandon you when everything goes wrong? Up until now I thought you'd be alright with him because you two seemed like such good friends, but with the truth now before me, I highly doubt he'd help you."

I clucked my tongue, formulating my response the best I could. "You are right on that. He won't help me. He's keeping me by his side because he wants to keep an eye on me, his possibly worst enemy. He also probably sees me like a handy asset for the future, if the desperate need to use me ever arises."

"Then-"

"-But!" I interrupted him rudely, "Because I know all that, I can easily avoid that scenario. I'll secretly help his other followers from the shadows, making sure they at least partly succeed in their missions, making the possibility of a situation where he'll abandon me to reach his goal minimal."

He then openly growled at me, upset that I had not bothered to listen to his opinion. "That's crazy and you know it! You'll work yourself to death even before we get to the final rounds of the Shaman fight!"

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic! I mean, what else can we do? Leave? He'll just hunt us down and we'll surely have to fight him then."

Yami's eyes narrowed dangerously at me. "Are you afraid to fight him?" he asked gravely, shocking me.

"What?! Heavens, no! I just don't want to. I respect the man too much to kill him. Especially when I could have prevented it from happening." I said, but my posture must have tensed because Yami didn't leave it at that.

"There is another reason, isn't there?" he questioned, thoroughly pissed off.

I desperately tried to find something great to tell him but there was no way he'd believe some half-baked lie. Not when he could see how hesitant I was to share this piece of my mind with him.

"Okay, okay, okay! I'll tell you!" I snarled. "There is also Opacho to consider." I admitted.

"Are you telling me Opacho isn't part of this 'shadow play' you mentioned...?"

I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the oncoming headache I could feel. "Yeah. I genuinely care for Opacho and killing Hao would make her hate me."

The Spirit of Darkness' face turned suspiciously blank, scaring me on the inside.

"We're fucked." he announced suddenly, startling me.

I sighed dejectedly, regretting I ever started this conversation. "Not necessarily." I grit out. "Hao cares about her too. She is our common ground, the key to our bumpy cooperation. If one of us was hurt, it'd upset Opacho greatly. She is what I'm counting on when everything goes down the drain."

Though I suspect it won't mean anything in the end. Yes, somehow my intuition was telling me that wasn't the key that would save me. Not that I'll tell Yami that.

"I repeat myself. We're fucked."

I giggled insanely at the defeated statement. "Brighten up, will ya?"

"You... Have you been smoking something?"

Smacking his arm, I stood up. "No, you genius. I'm getting back into the role and locking up any unwanted thoughts."

"Oh." he huffed, teleporting us back to the dojo.