Following Kennen in the best of his ability, Shin quickly grows tired when they reach a pier with ships heading towards Ionia. Resting on the top deck of a passenger ship, the two wait patiently as the vessel casts off. Shin was currently occupied by a loaf of honey beard that was given to him by the female staff, also completely unaware of Kennen who was examining him with great focus. Shin was tiny, smaller than Kennen by a margin, but slightly bigger than his animal counterpart. His clothes consisted of a simple blue ninja outfit similar to his original-self except it had no armor, only the clothe. He did harbor a headband with Shen's signature emblem, it appeared more round making the image less threatening. Ninja tabi shoes were also worn along with wooden swords on his back which can easily be mistaken for chopsticks. Big yellow eyes and a baby face, Shin also had a short ponytail. And to top it off, a pair of furry wolf ears poking out from his head and a shaggy tail out his lower back, both matching his black hair with a noticeable purple hue.

Finishing his snack that was nearly as big as him, Shin yawns and curls up into a ball before finally falling asleep. To Kennen's dismay, the ship reached its destination and he didn't want to wake him, so carefully placing him on his back, the Heart of the Tempest gives Shin a piggyback ride to the temporary Kinkou base.

With Kennen's speed, the two reach the cabins where Akali was resting in no time. Wondering if Shin should stay in Shen's cabin or his, Kennen ponders further oblivious to his passenger slowly waking up. Shin suddenly jumps off and runs towards Akali's door yelling "Akali-shenpai!" Kennen attempted to capture him before reaching the enterance, but runs face first into the door after he shadow dashes through it. Kennen shakes off the stars circling his head and begins to whisper towards Shin to come back, trying not to disturb Akali. Shin, inside, ignores him and paces towards the futon with the Fist of Shadow in a thin, plain kimono. Yawning once more an rubbing his eyes, Shin proceeded to walk over then took a spot in between her arm and side, before falling asleep.

Kennen decided to give up and return to his cabin, seeing how he too was tired. As Shin continues to sleep, Akali begins to slowly awaken due to the sudden warm and fuzzy sensation on her side. Lazily looking at the ceiling, she shifts her vision near the cause of her interrupted slumber. What came into view was a small head sticking out from under the blanket with furry ears that would occasionally twitch. Still dazed from her fatigue, Akali lightly tugs on the ebony ears and rubs the tips between her thumb and index finger. The results were expected as he stirs and rolls over on his stomach where he now faces Akali directly. Still in a disorientated state, she then pokes the soft cheeks of his round face, enjoying the mocha like feeling. He finally opens his eyes dispite all the touching and stares at Akali with his big yellow eyes.

Seconds pass by and Akali's brain finally registers as she slowly brings him closer to her face while he is held up in the air.

"Good morning, Akali-shenpai." He says, outstretching his arms.

"Hmmm, it most definitely is...Shin." She replies before hugging him tightly against her chest.

She then hears a knock at the door in which Kennen's voice is heard.

"Akali, you're awake now, right?"

Kennen quickly returned to her cabin out of concern, to check on Shin and hopefully pass on sensitive information about him onto his teammate. Akali answers and opens the door with Shin held against her stomach.

"Errrr, there's something important I need to tell you."

"I know, it's about how Shin became like this, correct?" She says in a happy tone as she holds up Shin.

"Not exactly, it deals more with Shen, our leader."

After a short explanation about how Veigar and Lulu's spell caused Shen to become like he is now, also including the fact that there are others, Akali gives a proper reaction in the form of confusion. She turns Shin around to face his small figure where he gives her a big smile.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Shen turned into Shin during our match."

"Then what should we do?" She asks as she places the tip of her thumb into Shin's mouth where he starts suckling as if it were a milk bottle, closing his eyes and grasping her hand.

"For now, we'll look after him. Lulu told me that this is likely to wear off over time, but she's working on a spell to undo this just in case."

"I see, thank you for the information. Well Shin appears to be hungry so I'll feed him now." Akali concludes their conversation before closing the door.

She walks over to her cupboard to retrieve some peaches and a cup of milk. Placing a top on the cup then cutting a notch in the cover with a knife, Akali creates a Sippy cup. Returning to her living room, she sits down and places him on her lap then begins feeding him. The peach was nearly as big as his head but he managed to take some bites with some help from Akali. She felt a strong motherly aura surround her when she carefully lifts the sippy cup for him to have a drink. Noting that she was technically caring for a pint-sized Shen, Shin could easily be seen as a certain pair's child if you exclude the wolf ears and tail waging about. Thinking he had enough, Akali utilizes her memory of mothers she's seen in Ionia taking take of their infants. Wiping his mouth and hands with a wet clothe then patting his back, Shin lets out a burp.

"Feel better?"

"Un." He replies, resting against her stomach as she strokes his head.

Akali then notices a piece of paper tied around his tail. After untying it, she opens it up to find an embarrassing yet familiar though she's had, written down on paper.

"Akali-shenpai, your face is all red. Yawn~." Shin says, rubbing his eyes.

"It's nothing, why don't we take nap together." Akali quickly collects herself before returning to her futon with Shin laying next to her. She even improvised a small kimono for him to sleep in. Matching pajamas!

It wasn't long before Shin fell into a slumber, but his grip around Akali's hand never relaxed. As composed and disciplined Akali may be, she couldn't fight the temptation of his sleeping, innocent face and gave his cheek a long goodnight kiss. Thoughts about the piece of paper caused Akali to contemplate deeply about the possible reasons behind it. Shin will disappear once more in the near future, but what was written on that paper was almost telling her that Shin is the potential result of the wish inscribed on the sheet in the first place. She blushes once more before officially calling it a day. She did think of this opportunity as a means to train for the future.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long delays and short chapters, lots of studying and exams going on. :(