"So, remind me how you're going to convince my mom and dad that you're staying in our house?" Tao frowned as Ming clambered onto the bike behind him.

"You underestimate an agent from Triple-Zero," Ming said with a smirk. "I could probably convince them to adopt me too if I wanted to."

Tao winced. "Er ... p-please don't do that."

"Wimp. C'mon, hurry up and get us home. I'm starving."

"S-so am I! Because of you, I never got the chance to buy my lunch!"

"Well, hurry up and go home so we can eat. Jeez, stop making things so complicated, panda-boy."

"Stop calling me that ..." Tao mumbled sullenly, kicking off and exiting the school. They passed by Xiumin and Chen who were walking the opposite way to get to their homes, and the two of them waved goodbye.

"You have interesting friends," Ming commented as Tao expertly wove through the busy, crowded streets of Beijing, in a way only a true city person born and bred could ever accomplish without causing severe accidents.

"Well, they're your friends too, you know."

There was a long silence, and for a second Tao wondered if she didn't hear him over the wind and the blaring of car horns. Then she said, slowly and sounding amazed, "MY friends?"

"Well, yeah. Chen thinks you're nice, Xiumin finds you hilarious, and Luhan ... Luhan gege likes everybody. M-mind you, they aren't exactly the most ideal friends, a-and they're the only ones I have ... b-but they're decent, and they'll be loyal to you no matter what."

Ming nodded slowly. "Yeah ... yeah, I can tell."

She didn't say anything after that, so Tao decided to focus on riding the bike instead.

Ming closed her eyes and struggled to concentrate. She wasn't here to make friends. She was here to find Liu Fang's child. She couldn't afford to get distracted, no matter how nice and normal Tao and his friends were ...

Her eyes snapped open. "Incoming!"

"W-what?" 

Ming's light grip on Tao's shoulders tightened. "I sensed someone's presence. It's different from the other citizens here. Dangerous. About two or three. They're following us."

"Y-y-y-you're k-kidding," Tao stammered, feeling his palms start to sweat. He looked around wildly and almost lost control of the bike. "W-where?"

", focus!" Ming snarled, pinching the back of his neck.

"Ow!"

"Focus, panda! Just keep riding and I'll do the work."

She forced herself to calm down, her sharp eyes drinking in all the hustle and bustle around her, picking out any details out of the ordinary. 

"Okay. There are two closing in on the right, and one on the left. About three behind us. They're fast, but they're on foot. We have a bike, that's one good advantage."

"C-can't we l-l-lose them f-first?" Tao whimpered, his stutter becoming more and more pronounced as he grew more frightened. He once again almost forgot who Ming was. She was a spy. An assassin. She wasn't normal. And she had also dragged him into a dangerous world he's never known before.

"Of course we will, stupid panda. Did you really think I'd let them follow us all the way home? Lose them at the next alley. Do it!"

Tao immediately complied, jerking the bike violently to the left and speeding down a narrow, dark alley.

"Don't screw up, panda-boy!" Ming warned him, eyes still darting left and right. "If we take a wrong turn and get stuck, we're done for. The most important thing right now is to keep moving and confuse them. I promised Boss I wouldn't cause trouble, and I'd rather not take them down in a physical confrontation if it comes down to it."

Tao nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He felt like his voice box just disappeared. He gripped the handlebars even tighter and turned another corner.

Now that they were a bit further away from the noise of the city, they could clearly hear the running footsteps and shouts of the attackers as they tried to catch up to them.

"T-they seem pretty far away," Tao sighed in relief. "I think we might be able to -- GUAAAAAGH!!!"

At that moment, a man stepped out of the shadows and, yelling something loudly, got into their way. Tao jerked at the handlebars in an attempt to avoid a collision, but it was too late. He crashed right into the man, and he and Ming flew off the bike.

Tao landed hard and winced as he skidded along the ground. But this was nothing compared to his Wushu training. He jumped to his feet. "M-Ming! Ming!" Panic set in as he looked around in the darkness for the girl. "Ming!"

"Shut up already!" Came an annoyed voice nearby, and Ming shoved an empty garbage can out of her way. There were bruises along her arms and face and a rather bad scrape on her knee that was bleeding, but other than that she seemed fine. She definitely wasn't running low on energy, either.

"A-are you alright?" Tao yelped.

"Of course. You think this little injury will bother me? What's more important is that they've caught up to us, and they also trashed your bike."

Tao looked at his fallen bike and winced. The metal had bent at an impossible angle, the handlebars twisted off, the back tire deflated and detached. It didn't look pretty.

Then he noticed an unmoving body nearby. "Er, that' s the guy we ran into, right? He's ... he's not d-dead, is he?"

Ming snorted and lightly kicked the body. "Course not. He's unconscious at the most. Stop being such a scaredy-panda, and dredge up those impressive Wushu skills I saw before. They're coming."

Indeed, by the time she finished speaking, Tao realized they had been surrounded by five or six of the men. He flinched, feeling panic set in. He and Ming went back-to-back.

"You were sent here by Liu Fang, am I right?" Ming said to no one in particular.

One of the big, hulking men spoke. "Who sent you? Where does your allegiance lie?"

"None of your business."

"M-Ming ..." Tao whimpered softly, feeling his eyes start to tear up again. What could he do? These weren't ordinary bullies, and Xiumin or Luhan definitely weren't there to save him. But if he tried to run away, he'd leave Ming to them. He didn't care if she was a spy or whatever, he would never forgive himself if he left her to fend for herself.

Suddenly, he felt something cold touch the back of his hand. Ming gently wrapped a hand around his wrist, squeezing it softly. She was letting him know that it was going to be okay.

Tao fought down the tears and took a deep breath, feeling a rush of bravery surge through him. He could do this. They were nothing but ordinary opponents he fought in Wushu competitions. He could do this.

"Try not to die, idiot," she hissed, before suddenly leaving his side. Tao heard a yell of pain as Ming did something, probably extremely painful, to one of the men.

On Tao's side, one of Liu Fang's goons stepped up to him. Tao balanced his center of gravity and held up his fists.

"Heh," the man snorted. "I may not be able to see you clearly in the darkness, but even I can tell you're just a high school kid. What are you doing playing with mafia and assassins, boy?"

Tao chose not to say anything. The courageous adrenaline high was back again, and he was afraid a careless comment might bring it down again.

"Well, not like I care. Man or boy, you'll look the same once you're dead!" With that, he swung at Tao.

Tao's eyes caught everything clearly. The goon's big, hulking, lumbering movements. He lightly stepped backwards out of reach and dashed in again, using a well-placed roundhouse kick to the temple to knock him unconscious.

"What the --?" The rest of the men became more wary. "Watch it, guys. The brat can fight!"

They threw themselves at him all at once, in an attempt to hold him down and block his attacks. Tao dodged them all and felt the adrenaline high show him everything happening in clear detail. In his mind, it was just another Wushu competition, and these were just another one of the boys he had to fight. Only they didn't even know Wushu. Disappointing, really.

The last thing Liu Fang's goons remembered before being knocked out was the blazing, intense eyes of the high school boy and the frightening aura around him as he began his attack.

*♦* 

"Tao?"

He realized she had spoken his name instead of calling him 'panda'. "Are you alright, Ming?"

"Not even a scratch on me. These guys are weak. They're probably some sort of gang Liu Fang hired in an attempt to bring us down quickly. He obviously underestimated our capabilities."

Tao smiled when she said 'our'. His little sugar rush on danger was ebbing away, and now he just felt tired, hungry ... and kinda stiff.

"Looks like we'll have to walk home. Lead the way, panda-boy."

Tao flinched and frowned at the return of his nickname. Then he sighed and grabbed his backpack, hositing it back over his shoulder and walking out of the alleyway.

Ming followed close behind. She looked him up and down and winced. "That looks like it really hurts. You got the worst of the fall."

"Huh?" Tao looked down and realized his arms were scratched and bruised, and there were holes and tears in his pants from the fall, shallow bleeding scrapes on both legs. He didn't even notice it before, but now that he did, it started to hurt.

"Ow."

Ming snorted, but when she spoke, she sounded strangely relieved. "Well, at least they didn't kill you. I have to say, your Wushu skills are really impressive up close. I'd say they're Triple-Zero standards. And, well, uh ... sorry about your bike."

Tao vaguely thought that he would've probably thrown a fit under normal circumstances. After all, that bike was his only method of transportation. Instead, he shrugged. "It's fine. I can always save up money to buy a new one." 

Then he flinched when he remembered something else. "Oh no ... how am I supposed to explain THIS to my parents too?!"

*♦*

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE? HUANG ZHI TAO, YOU ANSWER ME RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!"

Tao cringed as his mother did nothing short of explode the second he got home. He wondered why his parents were home so early from work -- work didn't end until at least six -- but the sight of the wreckage in his living room reminded him that his nosy neighbours probably called them.

"THE LIVING ROOM! COMPLETELY DEMOLISHED! WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED HERE? WHO'S MOTORCYCLE IS THAT? AND YOU, COMING HOME LATE, LOOKING LIKE YOU JUST CAME FROM A FIGHT! WELL, DO YOU HAVE AN ANSWER? HUH? DO YOU? DO YOU?!"

"I-I have an explanation f-for all this, Ma!" Tao said weakly. His mother didn't seem to hear him.

"HAVE YOU BEEN HANGING AROUND A ROUGH CROWD? WHAT HAPPENED TO XIUMIN, CHEN, AND LUHAN? SHOULDN'T THEY BE MAKING SURE YOU'RE STAYING AWAY FROM THINGS LIKE THIS? EXPLAIN WHY THE LIVING ROOM IS DESTROYED AND WHY THERE'S A MOTORCYCLE THERE! GO ON, EXPLAIN! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH MONEY THIS WILL COST US? AND NOW THE NEIGHBOURS ARE ALL TALKING, YES, WE'LL BE THE GOSSIP OF THE CITY ONCE THIS GOES OUT! MRS. PEI WILL SPREAD IT ALL OVER CHINA, MARK MY WORDS!!!"

"M-Ma, I can explain!"

"OH, CAN YOU? WELL, EXPLAIN! GO ON! TELL ME!"

Tao felt tears start to well up again. "W-well ..."

"It was all my fault, Mrs. Huang," Ming suddenly spoke up from her spot near the door. Tao nearly jumped out of his skin. He completely forgot she was still there. Judging from the way his mother jumped too, she didn't notice her either.

"W-who are you?" She said, eyeing her warily. She seemed to have lost all her anger seeing the strange girl there.

Ming bowed low, her facial expression a mixture of sadness, despair, and shame. Tao couldn't understand how a girl who was so loud, tough, violent, and outgoing could pull off such a meek expression.

"You see, your son saved me," she said, her voice all soft and sad. "I am orphaned, you see, and I was being chased by these terrible people who wanted to gauge out my eyes and make me a begger on the streets. As I was running away, the man lost control and crashed into your living room. I thought I was going to die, but Tao saved me and chased the men away. I ... I've been running away for such a long time ... I've forgotten what it was like to have a home." 

Her eyes filled with tears that nearly made Tao choke on his own tongue. It looked like she had pinched herself very hard and didn't blink in order to achieve those tears.

"Oh, how sad!" Mrs. Huang said, her own eyes filling with tears as she became overcome with emotion at Ming's blatant lie. Tao stared in shock. How could she believe that? It was so cheesy!

Then he remembered his mother loved watching dramas, and something like this was right up her alley in sympathy.

His father came in, wondering what the disturbance was. And in the span of five minutes, Tao watched in utter bemusement as Ming used lie after lie to wrap his parents around her little finger. It was incredible.

By the end of it, she somehow managed to convince them to let her stay. She even promised to work in order to pay rent and pay for the damage in the living room.

"Oh, dear, you don't have to do that ..." Mrs. Huang exclaimed.

"No, I should!" Ming said earnestly. "You are so kind to give me a home, it's the least I can do!"

"Well then, at least let all your meals be free, I am more than happy to cook for you."

Mr. Huang nodded. "Yes, please consider yourself part of the family, Ming."

"You can call me Auntie, if you'd like. Huang Aiyi," Mrs. Huang said in a motherly way. She looked up and saw Tao. "Tao, what are you doing? Go show Ming the spare room, don't just stand there looking like a lemon."

Tao forced himself to move and mechanically walked upstairs, a very smug Ming right behind.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"T-that ... lying thing. How did you get my parents to believe you?"

"People are easily swayed and easily enraptured, panda-boy," Ming said, ruffling his hair and then punching his arm. "It all depends on the right buttons to push."

Tao shook his head and sighed. Looks like he really was stuck with Ming now.

*♦*

Merry Christmas, guys ^^