Kim smirked as the ninja monkey hit the floor. It had been three years, and Lord Monkey Fist never taught his legions of ninja monkeys anything new. It was too easy nowadays to beat both monkey and master. As she caught the last monkey by the tail and threw him aside, Monkey Fist leapt at her feet first. They fought for a few minutes, but Kim easily tripped him and put her foot on his chest to keep him down. "Curse you, Kim Possible!" he growled while panting. "You know, you say that every time," Kim said in turn. "When is this curse going to come into effect?" Monkey Fist grinned at her, pulling a small remote from the inside of his sleeve. "Now," he chuckled simply. He pushed the large red button on the remote. When nothing happened after a moment, he pushed it again. Monkey Fist pushed the button a multitude of times, growing progressively paler with each failed press. "Aw, is the monkey looking for his laser?" Shego's jeering voice called down from the high wall of the monkey kung-fu master's compound. She stood beside the demolished ruins of a tracking laser gun, smugly looking at her nails. Monkey Fist broke down in sobs at his newest failure. When Interpol arrived (Monkey Fist had set up his base in Spain of all places this time round), the lieutenant detective greeted Kim and handed her a check before rounding up the monkeys and Monkey Fist. Shego walked up behind Kim and put her arms around the red-haired woman. "Ooh, this was a good one," she said, spying the hefty figure on the check. "Glad you finally started charging for services rendered." Kim laughed and leaned back into Shego's embrace. "Glad you started working with me," Kim replied. "Everything seems...almost too easy right now." Shego kissed her on the cheek. "Well, call it practice for when the world really needs us," she murmured. "And even if we have trouble, we do have a friend or two waiting in the wings. Come on-let's go home." ---------- "You can stop hiding behind that tree if you want to. You aren't even trying anyway." Tao stepped out from behind the lone, bare tree in the cemetery and walked to stand a few feet away from Farrah. The brown-haired woman stood in a long black coat, staring down at two headstones. "How's your leg?" Tao asked gently. Farrah let out a soft laugh. "You nearly die because of me and you ask me if I'm all right," she murmured in wonderment. "I'm fine." She finally looked up at Tao and nearly began to cry at the bandages covering the left half of the silver-haired woman's face, as well as the sling her right arm rested in. Tao smiled at her. "I'm fine," she said. "You're a liar," Farrah said, rubbing at her eyes. She frowned when her hands came away damp. "You lost an eye and you were shot. Don't tell me you're fine." She knelt down, weeping openly now for the pain Tao had suffered, and in remembrance of her mother, who was buried just before her. Tao took a few tentative steps forward before crouching down in front of Farrah. She pulled the sling from her torso, tossing it aside before reaching up to untie the bandages around her head. The bandages fluttered to the ground, revealing the four fresh scars over Tao's left eye. Farrah let out a sob and reached out, burying her face in Tao's chest as she cried. Tao lifted one of Farrah's hands and put it over the scars, smiling at the other woman as she did so. "You should know something about me," she explained. She pulled Farrah's hand away, revealing an open, perfectly intact golden eye. "I can heal myself like you wouldn't believe. I'm fine." Farrah sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "Why are you here?" she asked in confusion. "To visit your mother," Tao replied. "I thought I should, now that I've told you everything. And I've just been making sure that you're all right." "Why?" "Because I love you." "How can you? I've blamed you for my mother's death for years. I've called you a monster for years. How can you love me?" "I don't know, but I do." Farrah smiled slightly. "Fine. Then let me do this." She leaned to Tao and kissed her. After a moment, she pulled back. Tao smiled at her. Her tail slowly swung about her, the appendage holding two red roses. She laid one on the grave of Farrah's mother and handed the other to Farrah. The two women walked from the cemetery, hand in hand. The sun shone in the cloudless blue sky in a moment of perfection. The moment did not fade.
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