"Reborn"

The young woman hurried down the stairs, absent-mindedly counting the number of creaks and groans the old wood made as she moved from one step to the next. She had lived in the same building her entire life, and every morning was the same, with the same old steps and the same sounds. But after recovering from a terrible illness that had nearly taken her life, she was more than happy to have returned to the normal, boring routine. Sometimes you had to walk the wire between death and life before you finally learned to appreciate the little things, as her father had once said.

As she reached the kitchen, she glanced out the window by the sink to see a few of her father's students up early, sparring in the main yard. They were Master Tsai's best pupils, always up at the crack of dawn and in constant training and meditation. The young woman set about making breakfast for the household, which included herself, the students, her father and his guests. Although the town they lived in was small, Master Tsai's school was popular with many of the young men in the area. The building accomodated over twenty five students, each of them living in dorm like rooms with room mates. Their material lives were simple, but they considered their spiritual lives far more important, anyway.

As she began to set the freshly prepared food out onto the long tables in the kitchen, the students who had been sparring outside came in to eat, soon joined by their fellows who had gotten up more recently. Master Tsai came in from outside last, following his usual early morning meditations.

"Daughter, why don't you take some tea out to your brother?" the older man suggested, as he did just about every morning those days.

"Yes, father," she replied, taking up a tray with the tea cups and such already arranged upon it, and heading outside.

The Master and his wife had waited a little while before deciding to have a child, and while he had initially hoped for a boy to carry their family's name, he had grown to love his daughter very much. Her mother had died several years before of illness, but despite this, their daughter had continued to look to the future and help her father with the school in any way she could manage. The brown haired, brown eyed young lady of nineteen years of age was Master Tsai's pride and joy.

Walking around to the side of the house, the young lady found her way out back and down into the fields of grass beyond. There was a pond of coi fish there, shaded by an old, gnarled tree. In the shadow of the silent ancient sat a Chinese man in his early thirties, garbed in a pair of loose fitting grey pants and a green tunic, long, dark brown hair tied back with a single red and yellow ring. A pair of glasses perched upon his slim nose, his gaze was concentrated on the surface of the water before him.

"I've brought your morning tea, brother."

The man was quiet a moment longer and then turned to glance up at her, adjusting his glasses with one hand and allowing a soft smile to creep over his face. "Thank you, Lanfa."

She knelt alongside him and set the tea tray down on the same flat rock she always did, pouring his tea. "Do you think you will be joining my father's students today, Long? They missed you while you were away."

"I missed helping Master Tsai out, as well," Long replied as he took one of the tea cups in hand and raised it to drink, the steaming liquid fogging his glasses a bit. "But I still have much to reflect on... There are a lot of unanswered questions."

"You know I will never press you for answers, either, but you shouldn't dwell too much on the past."

"Wise words, but to forget the past is to repeat it." Long sighed quietly and turned his gaze to the fields beyond the coi pond. "I am quiet sure our guest feels the same way."

Lanfa followed his gaze to see a single figure standing in the fields some ways out, his shoulder length silver hair billowing out a bit in the morning breeze. He was a guest who had come home with Long Shin, a man everyone only knew as Renato. A man of few words, he mostly kept to himself, although he sometimes spoke with Long and Master Tsai. He had rather pale skin, and haunting silver eyes that seemed to look straight through you when if he happaned to meet your gaze.

"Renato seems like such a lonely soul," Lanfa commented quietly. "He never speaks with the students, and always wanders about the town alone."

Long sipped his tea again. "There is much on his mind, and his heart is at war with itself. In time, if he wins that war, he will come around. If not, he may simply vanish..."

The young woman's heart seemed to sink a little at the thought. The idea of another being simply wasting away from the inside out was not one she cared for. She had felt the same way while she was ill; a feeling of emptiness that crept throughout her entire body, eating away at her will to live. Long had explained to her upon his return that the mark that had appeared on her right hand was responsible for her illness, but hadn't said much more. Lanfa only knew that her adopted brother had done something to make the mark go away in order to save her lief. She idly wondered what role Renato had with that...

"Take him a cup of tea," her brother suggested. "Perhaps it will bring him around a little for today."

Lanfa nodded, and poured a second cup before taking it in hand and walking further out into the field.

Behind her, Long exhaled slowly and adjusted his glasses again. "We all have miseries we must bear... It is just that some sorrows are easier to endure when in good company."

As Lanfa made her way towards the tall, silver haired man, he did not turn to face her. His hands remained buried in the pockets of his loose fitting dark blue pants, the belt sash of which was partially covered by the lower edge of the black tunic he was wearing.

"Renato," she began a little hesitantly, "I've brought you some tea."

"No thank you, Lanfa..." came the quiet reply.

"Long suggested I bring you some as long as I was out here," she pressed, not so easily refused. "If you won't come in to eat, at least take this."

A small smile played across Renato's face, and he looked over his shoulder at the young woman. "You remind me of someone I used to know... Always pushy with things such as food, exercise, and keeping up with the changing world."

Lanfa's nose wrinkled a little in both surprise and uncertainty; she wasn't sure if that was meant as an insult or a compliment. "Oh?"

"My sister," he continued, surprising her. "She used to bother me about such things..."

Deciding this was a rare chance to actually carry a conversations with her father's guest, Lanfa moved a bit closer. "I didn't know you had a sister... Shouldn't you be with her?"

Renato surprised her yet again with a faint smirk and a low chuckle. He shook his head once and shrugged. "She never wanted to leave my side, and she never did, until recently... But in the end, she was no more than a stranger I never really knew."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." He turned away again, frowning.

Master Tsai's daughter gathered her courage and moved up alongside the young man, glancing up at him through deep brown eyes. "It's not as if I pity you... Both my father and my brother have taught me never to pity a warrior."

"Long's not your real brother."

"He doesn't have to be, but he still cares for me. I've never had any siblings, and he told me once that I reminded him of his sister, who died a long time ago. I think his sister must have been a very loving, kind woman... Your sister must have been, as well--"

"My sister was a liar!" The sudden outburst startled Lanfa, who took a step back, nearly dropping the tea cup. Renato glared at her, irritated, but couldn't hold onto his anger. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and dug his hands further into his pockets. "Appearences are never as they seem. Surely your father taught you that much. Surely you understand that, being what you are..."

"Being...what I am...?"

"Long told me about your illness, and how you nearly died. You're just like him... You're a zoanthrope..."

"I don't see how what I am has anything to do with my illness..."

"Foolish young girl," he hissed. "You don't understand, do you? All zoanthropes who bore the mark were doomed to die. But it was one huge mistake, caused by... Caused by one gullible zoanthrope who believed in someone too much..."

Renato fell silent, leaving the young woman confused. She had never expected him to tell her so much, but it explained why he behaved the way he did. Perhaps he was getting tired of holding it all in. Inner turmoil had a tendency to eventually find its way out, her father had often said. That was why learning discipline and releasing your emotional energies through positive activites such as physical training were important. Lanfa susptect that, like Long, there was something in this man's past, perhaps about his sister, that had influenced his life in a poor way. She also couldn't help but wonder what connection the mark had with her illness, but that would have to be something to worry about at another time.

"I can't say I know who that zoanthrope was, Renato, but whoever they are, they shouldn't be ashamed for having faith in someone they obviously cared for so much."

Renato's eyes slowly opened again, gazing across the fields to the horizon line. "Even though that sort of faith will be something they will have to pay for...for the rest of their life."

Lanfa forced herself to smile a little, to remain cheerful, as she always had for her father, even in the wake of her mother's death. "The only unforgivable sin is the one we commit in refusing to atone for sins we know we have committed. Whoever that zoanthrope is... As long as he or she continues to keep their faith in themselves, they will find redemption."

The silver haired figure remained silent for several long moments. Finally, he turned to look at the young woman, his previous anger replaced with regret. "I'm sorry, Lanfa... I should not have compared you to my sister. Unlike her, you speak the truth. You only wish to help...not to decieve..."

"I think I would like to help you, if you would let me..." Mustering her courage again, Lanfa smiled and placed one hand on his shoulder.

For the first time in a long time, a gentle smile crossed Renato's features. "Thank you, Lanfa... You are a blessing, as Master Tsai has often said."

Down by the coi pond, Long Shin watched the pair a moment longer before idly tossing a tiny pebble into the water, causing a series of ripples to travel outwards along its glassy surface.

"Your actions have touched many, moving outwards like ripples in the water's surface, Xion... And while some you have reached will draw back from you, others will draw closer. Nothing, not even the most horrible of occurances, comes without some good in return."

Author's Note: My first complete Bloody Roar fic! Yes, this hints at Xion x Lanfa, an unusal, but actually rather plausible pairing which I decided to try. Let's just say Xion's reaction to learning his sister was the cause of his horrible actions in Long's ending of BR3 helped inspire this. I really don't see him as a terrible person...just as someone who was misguided, and probably following the events of BR3, would probably want to seek redemption for his crimes. I admit to not knowing much about Lanfa or her father, but I don't think there's much information to begin with, so I had to sort of take a little creative license in that respect. Also, the name "Master Tsai" is an homage/in-joke to Sai Sici of G Gundam, the Neo-Chinese fighter. (His name is sometimes splled "Tsai.") Finally, the name "Renato" is a Latin name that means "reborn." I thought it was fitting for Xion to take on, seeing as he was once the "unborn."

Completed 02/18/2002. Written to "Star Stealing Girl" from Chrono Cross.