69 Volume 3: Yin and Yang

She woke up not long after he left with a start. It was the strangest feeling; rather than waking up groggy and tired, as she always had before, she woke up totally refreshed.

Sitting up with wide eyes, she wondered what had changed. She gave a big stretch and got to her feet, looking around curiously. She sensed, rather than heard, someone talking.

Her lips quirked. It was in the direction of the twig.

"Good morning, Little Sister!" The twig greeted her cheerily when she walked over. "Or should I say good evening?"

"So you CAN talk!"

"Yep, yep!"

"I'm so relieved. I thought maybe planting you didn't work."

"Ha.. Haha. About that…" The twig waved its leaf. "While I'm glad you found that Mister Light of yours… though really, what abominable taste you have… I have no intention of talking to that guy."

"Really, why?"

"I don't like him."

"Why?! You've only just met him!"

"Little Sister, I've met that punk before."

Her eyes grew large. "On the outside?"

"Yep, exactly."

"Did you guys get into an argument or something?"

"Hahaha… more like I carry a one-sided grudge. I'll be shocked if he even remembers who I am; much less think to have an argument with me. That's just how bad it is between us. So. I'm not talking to him. You and I can be friends, but I'm not having anything to do with that punk!"

"W-wow…" It was really amazing to see a twig so venomous. "But… maybe… if you talk to him, you can work things out…?"

"No." Came the flat reply.

"But—"

"Look," The twig waved its leaf, "some things can't be solved by talking. I don't want his words. His words made things crooked to begin with, further talking won't solve anything. So I'm keeping my grudge. If Little Sister doesn't like it, pull me up and toss me out. I can be your friend, but I'll never be his."

She looked at the twig sadly. "Are you going to hurt him?"

"Hurt him?"

"Yeah, because of your grudge."

"Little Sister, this grudge has been going on one-sidedly for a long time. Everything and anything I could do to hurt him, I've already done. But he's too much of a stupid punk to realize it. PAH!" The twig made a spitting motion.

"Um… if he doesn't realize you're punishing him, is it even worth doing it…?"

"It is. The fact that he's too stupid to notice is its own kind of satisfaction."

She really didn't understand it at all. She couldn't imagine carrying a grudge, much less one where the other person didn't realize they were the target.

"Anyway, what's your verdict Little Sister?"

"Hm?"

"Do you wanna be my friend or not?"

"…you're not going to use me to hurt him, are you?"

"What?! Never! Friends don't do that to each other!"

"Then… could you… at least not do anything to him while we're together?"

"Hrm… well..... I suppose. But I'm still not talking to him. Harrumph!"

"Then… I think it'll be alright. I really do want to be your friend and talk to you. I'd be sad if I couldn't because of this grudge."

"Good, I'd be sad if it got in the way too," Then the twig asked seriously, "Aren't you a little too trusting though? You barely know me, but you believe I'll keep my word."

"You… are you a liar?"

"If I was, I certainly wouldn't tell the truth now of all times."

She frowned a little, forehead wrinkling and then shook her head.

"I don't think you're a liar. Why would a tree lie anyway? Hm," She gave a firm nod. "You're a good old tree, that's what I think. You told me about your grudge, knowing it might upset me. You're honest, so I'll definitely trust you."

This caused the twig to laugh; amused and secretly pleased to be trusted so openly and without reservation.

"Aren't you the most pure, precious Little Sister out there? Innocent right down to the core, yep. No wonder that punk keeps such a close eye on you, even to the point of smothering. Probably can't bear the thought of someone coming along and ruining you. Other than himself, of course."

"Mr. Light would never ruin me," She gave a giggle and patted the twig's solitary leaf as if it were telling a silly joke. "But who is 'someone'? Why would strangers want to ruin me?"

"The outside world is a harsh place, Little Sister. We trees know. We hear and see all the secrets people hide. That's why you shouldn't go out there alone. Very dangerous people exist in the world…" The twig tilted, and thought to itself: not the least of which is that punk you let hang around you.

"Is it very dangerous outside? I didn't know. I thought… I thought since Mr. Light lived there, it must be alright." She said this very anxiously, gripping her hands together as she did. "And then I found you so… so it can't be dangerous all the time?"

"You were lucky. Don't rely on chance to save you! It's that innocent mentality that's going to hurt you someday—" Seeing Little Sister start to wilt at being scolded, the twig began to feel bad and cleared its non-existent throat.

"Well… the outside has some good points too. But going out there by yourself in your ignorance isn't safe. So I'll protect you… you… Hey Little Sister, what's your actual name, hm? I'm calling you Little Sister but you've got to have an actual name, right?"

"I don't remember."

"Seriously!?"

"There's this poison that's making it so I can't remember things. That's what Mr. Light said. He's helping me get rid of it so I can remember again."

"…you've already gotten poisoned?! What's that punk even doing!? I'm definitely, DEFINITELY going to be protecting you from now on." The twig declared loudly before calming down and saying, "Well, as to your name, I guess I can just keep calling you Little Sister for now."

"Is calling you Old Tree alright?"

"Hm… can you think of something better? I know I'm old, but seriously… being called Old Tree all the time is just depressing…"

"You want me to give you a name?"

The twig's leaf snapped to attention and it gave a short, sly chuckle.

"…oh, that's an idea… yep…. sure, give me a name, Little Sister. I'm already this close to you, a little closer won't hurt anything."

Little Sister did not quite understand, but it seemed the Old Tree wanted a better name. Tapping her chin, she thought seriously about what name to give the twig.

"What about… Shuya?"

The twig swayed slightly and then bent its leaf as if nodding.

"Shuya… Shuya… yep! I like it!" The twig tilted its leaf. "Hey, Little Sister, now that you gave me a name, how about giving me a body too?"

"Body?"

"Yeah.. Just… put some of your essence into this twig here and, poof!, I'll get myself a body. Then we can talk AND walk!"

"..essence.. I don't know what that is…"

"Oh sure you do. It's what keeps you alive. It's how you're living right now."

She looked at herself and frowned.

"I didn't know that this essence thing was keeping me alive."

"Even if you didn't know, it definitely is… but let me think. This place kinda bends to your will, doesn't it? Maybe if you just wish real hard for essence, now that I explained what it is, this world of yours will make it for you?"

"M-maybe?"

"It can't hurt to try."

She shut her eyes and did as Shuya had instructed. Wishing real hard to give a little of her essence to the twig.

"Oh, that's enough! That's plenty!" Came a shout and she opened her eyes.

The twig was dripping in red liquid, a puddle forming around it.

"Phew! A drop is a bucket full in this place! All's the same in the end though!" Even as Shuya was talking, the red liquid was being absorbed into the ground and the little twig. It pulsed light again, as it had when planted, but this time much stronger. As the pulse grew, Shuya's twig form enlarged and changed.

When it faded, a woman stood there. She had narrow blue eyes and long dark blue hair which was half up and wrapped in a lazy bun. Her deeply tanned skin stood out against her pale green dress, which wrapped tightly around her ample chest and loosely around her long legs.

Shuya did a single twirl and then grabbed her 'Little Sister's' hands and began swinging her around in a circle with a strength that didn't match her appearance.

"Little Sister! This is great! To be honest, I'd only heard about this and wasn't sure if I could do it! I just thought it'd be interesting to try, but see? It really did work!"

"Y-your welcome, but I'm getting d-dizzy!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Shuya stopped swirling her and gave her a gentle pat on the head. "Anyway, with this we're friends for life! No, better than friends, we're like sisters! I will be your Big Sister and you will be my Little Sister."

"Oh! My B-Big Sister, my first ever!" Little Sister agreed excitedly, her face flushing a bright red. She didn't understand why, but for some reason, having a sister was deeply moving. Before she realized it, tears started gushing out of her eyes.

Shuya gave a small smile and gently patted the girl's head.

"It's alright… everything will be alright. I'm here for you. I will be with you and protect you until you breathe your last breath. No one will hurt you as long as I'm here. Not even that stupid punk."

The Little Sister rolled her still wet eyes and, wiping them dry with her sleeve, laughingly said, "Even if you call him a punk, he's always been very kind and gentle to me. He'd never hurt me."

Shuya raised her eyebrow, which arched beautifully.

"You never know with him, he's got a temper. He could lash out at you if he gets into one of his fits."

"That's not true!" She insisted, eyebrows set stubbornly. "I know… I know he won't, just like I know you don't mean me any harm. Even if you have a grudge against him, please don't speak so badly of him. Please, Big Sis?"

Moved at being called 'Big Sis', Shuya could only 'tsk' and admit defeat. "Alright, alright… I'll try not to speak… so negatively. But he's still a punk to me."

"Thank you." Little Sister grinned.

"Anyway," Shuya booped the smaller girl's nose playfully. "I wanted to teach you some self-defense! A kind of defense that even that Light of yours won't know."

"Really? What?"

"Here, let's sit down and cross your legs."

"Sure."

They sat and Shuya faced her, looking very formal and professional. "No offense to you Little Sister, but you don't know much. So I'm going to have to start with the basics first."

Little Sister nodded, not offended at all.

"There are lots of ways to divide the world, the one outside and the one in here. You've already got some idea about the nature elements, right?"

"En!"

"Well, that's just one way to divide the world. The universe is like a house." Shuya began by drawing three stick figures, a large one pointing at two smaller ones carrying crudely drawn hammers. "The very stuff of all things comes from the Will of the Universe. From the Will, all that is has its being, and without it, nothing may exist. In some places, this being is called the Dao."

Shuya pointed at the big stick figure, indicating it was the Dao. Then she pointed at the two smaller stick figures.

"When the Heavenly Dao set out to make the Universe, he gave authority to the God Shangti and Goddess Xi Wang to do the actual making of our world."

"You're not very good at drawing, are you Shuya?" Little Sister commented.

"Quiet you." Shuya huffed before clearing her throat to continue, "Now God and Goddess created something called the Way of the World. All the rules and laws and reason why things do what they do, steam from this Way. The Way of the World may be thought of as the foundation of everything as we know it. No one can go against the Way unless they mean to destroy the foundation, and thus our world."

"Why would anyone want to destroy the foundation of the house—I mean, world?"

Shuya paused drawing her rectangle (foundation) and looked thoughtful.

"Isn't that the big question? But I really don't know. There are definitely some people who want to blow the whole house up by rebelling against the Way. Those guys are called Devils, and their minions are called Demons. Stay away from anyone that calls themselves either of those things, alright?"

"Of course!"

"Good girl! Moving on… Yin and Yang are next. These two divine energies naturally flow from God and Goddess and are like the frame of a house." She then began to draw a frame over the rectangle, including a very basic roof. "Just like with the foundation, the frame of a properly built house is very rarely noticed. So even though yin and yang give structure to everything, it's not something easily seen or accessed."

She then drew windows and doors, she even made the roof curve slightly at the corners.

"Now the nature elements, like the water and wood you eat, are the walls, windows, doors, and decorations of the house. They are what you see most, what you admire. They are both functional and beautiful. And they're also the easiest to access and the easiest to modify."

"Everything in our world are made up of these three components: the Way, the Yin and Yang, and the Nature Elements. Even you, Little Sister, are made up of these three components."

Little Sister pointed at herself in surprise.

"Yes, it's true. How your body functions is based off the Way of the World; the Yin and Yang combine to make your unique Spirit, and the Nature Elements give you the energy to survive." Shuya smiled kindly at Little Sister. "Does that make sense?"

"It does! That was very easy to understand."

"Excellent… Now what I want to focus on is the Yin and the Yang. The frame of the world."

The younger woman tilted her head, "Yin like your Master?"

Shuya chuckled. "Yes, like my Master! Yin and Yang affect everything, but it's not something the average person can see. Yet… my Master exists. She was the very embodiment of Yin… as if Yin had become a person. Very unusual.. Hm… no matter how I research and think on it, I still don't know how that came about, and Master never knew either… ah… such a big question that I can't answer… so annoying..!"

"…but what IS yin exactly, Big Sis? And what is yang?"

"Oh right, I got off track there, didn't I? To put it simply, Yin is female."

"Female..?"

"Yes, like you, like me. Yang is male, like the punk." Shuya then did a little sing-song:

"Shangti and Xi Wang, together forever, never apart.

He is the Yang, she is the Yin, day and night,

they are a cycle completed once again.

When yang finds yin, a new life begins.

So may you find your yin, if you are yang.

May you find your yang, if you are yin.

Completing the cycle, moving with the Way."

Little Sister clapped excitedly at the end.

"That was great! You're such a great singer Shuya!"

Shuya sniffed a bit, embarrassed. It wasn't that great, but she wasn't going to argue with her ignorant Little Sister. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.