"well g-good! Then we are ready." Kirin nodded firmly in determination, and turned around. She walked toward the end of the room. A large silk panel stood close to the wall. There was some Chinese character and the picture of a phonix and a dragon woven on the screen. Kirin approached the panel, and finally stopped when her nose was almost touching the fabric itself. There she turned, and offered Ran her hand.

"P-please, hold onto my hand. I'll lead you through."

Swallowing down her nervousness and fear, Ran followed after Kirin to the end of the room. When asked, she didn't hesitate to take the offered hand. The little sprite tried to reach out too, making some sound, perhaps out of excitement for the spirit connection.

Kirin shook her head and whispered something to the little creature, then looked up at Ran. "Y-you should hold on to him."

Taking Ran's hand and holding it tightly in hers, Kirin chanted something in Chinese, and put her other hand on the silk panel. For a brief moment the fabric seemed to be flashing in gold, and, after the flashes were gone, so did the panel. Instead, there was a dark pathway. One could see light shining at the other end, but the pathway itself was too dark for anything to be visible inside.

Taking a deep breath, the girl started to walk into the pathway, taking Ran with her. She had walked across this pathway numerous times before, but for Ran, this was the first time, and Kirin was rather nervous for the other girl.

"I-it would be best if you close your eyes...not that you can see anything at your current stage, anyways."

Ran nodded and kept a firm hold of the sprite, who had turned to cling to her after Kirin whispered to him. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let Kirin lead her down the dark pathway. Even though she tried to be brave, a tingle of nervousness kept prickling at her brain.

The two females didn't walk long, as Kirin was quite familiar with the pathway herself. When they finally reached the light source, Kirin breathed a sigh of relief and released Ran's hand, turning to her. "Y-you can open your eyes now."

The room they were now in was much more spacious than the room they were in before. It was neatly decorated with small flowers and exotic plants, no doubt all from China. A red carpet, decorated with golden linings, was neatly placed at the center of the room. At the end of the carpet was a cold-colored chair with red cushions that was the size of a queen sized bed. Above it, two semi-transparent curtains was secured by small jewelries like golden bells and metal charms. Along the 4 walls hang various Chinese watercolor paintings, as well as a few calligraphy scrolls. There was a large red-wood desk and chair set on the left, a few English books were placed on it as if Kirin was reading them before making appearance in the front room. The room had no window (nor doors, if Ran had a chance to look back), it had, however, a refreshing air constantly circulating. There was also a settle smell of sweet herbal medicine in the room, which made it all the more comfortable.

What was more surprising was the figure sitting---or rather floating---in the middle of the big bed-chair. It was a black haired-female, much mature looking than Kirin, and wore nothing more than a white sash that seemed to glitter with different colors. As the two female came in, she looked at Kirin with an expression of mild amusement, then smiled. The woman then left her seat and floated toward the two, mouth silently saying something that only Kirin seemed to be able to hear.

Kirin smiled back, and looked at Ran. "P-please, make yourself at home. T-this is Nu Wo, she's of your sprite's kind, so she should be able to communicate with your sprite..."

Nu Wo peered at the little black creature clinging to Ran and grinned. She reached out one hand, and patted the small creature on his head.

Opening her eyes, Ran stared around the room in awe. This certainly wasn't what she had been imagining, especially after being warned of possible death.

The little sprite eagerly nuzzled his head into the patting. Ran would have almost guessed that they knew each other somehow but decided that maybe it was because they were alike.

"So how does this spirit connection work?"

"O-oh?" Kirin blinked a little. This girl was quick on questions. "I-I don't know how it works exactly...it's definitely not science. So it's like...magic? Magic."

Nu Wo floated back to Kirin after giving the little creature a good pat on the head. She leaned herself weightlessly on Kirin and whispered something to Kirin's ears, which made the girl blush once more. Kirin replied something soundlessly to the woman spirit, who nodded and smiled, wandering off to the side so she was not distracting Kirin's time with her "guest".

"R-right, magic. It sounds unbelievable, I know, but that's all I can say to explain it...sorry."

Ran nodded as the sprite wiggled his hands than pouted when the patting stopped. "Is there anything you need me to say or do for it to work?" She bit her tongue to keep from rabbling out questions in her nervousness. She wasn't sure what to expect next.

Kirin stared at Ran and nodded firmly. "You m-must listen carefully to what I say." She waved at the little sprite, and said something as if to call him over. The girl then walked to the sofa-chair and sat in the middle of it.

"N-now, can you come over and sit on one side? Your s-sprite will sit on the opposite side."

The tree demon immediately jumped out of Ran's hold and plopped himself down on Kirin's right side. He bounced on the sofa-chair and grinned widely. Ran walked over to the sofa-chair and sat down on Kirin's left side.

"So I just listen carefully?"

Kirin blushed and nodded, then shook her head. "W-well, listen, and do what you are told is more like it." She reached out to get ahold of Ran's hand, and moved it onto her lap. She then looked at the tree demon and said something in Chinese, inviting him to put his tiny arm on her lap also.

"When I say close your eyes, c-close them. And when I say open your eyes, open them. Please do not have second thoughts in what you are told to do, even if it may sound weird. I-is that okay?"

"O-Okay," Ran said, getting a little nervous as they got closer to starting the actual soul connection. Doing as told, the tree demon placed his little hand on Kirin's lap as well and waited, oddly patient, for any other instructions.

Taking both Ran and the sprite's hand in hers, Kirin closed her eyes, feeling both life's heat rushing up from her palm.

"Now, c-close your eyes." The girl said, whispering Chinese afterwards that probably meant the same thing for the sprite. "I want you to c-concentrate your thoughts on each other. In a moment I will connect your minds together. Y-you will know it happened when you feel other thoughts rush into your minds...ones that you are unfamiliar with. When that h-happens, try your best to accept those thoughts and do not attempt to push it away. Is-is that clear?"

Ran closed her eyes immediately after being asked to. She swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. "Yes," she answered, much more firmly than she would have thought.

The sprite closed his eyes as well and nodded his head rapidly. Then he gave a little chirp of a response that could have been an affirmative to the directions.

Kirin waited. After allowing enough time to pass so both closed their eyes, she took a few deep breathes and started to concentrate her own thoughts, channeling them into energy like she usually practiced. This was the first time the girl had actually done spirit connection with a stranger. She had experimented with Nu Wo once, but other than that, she never performed this task to any other human being yet. The girl did not dare to tell Ran about her lack of practice, and she prayed that it would succeed.

Heat that had rushed up from her palm radiated further and further into the other parts of her body. Soon, her entire being began to glow faintly as energy was gathered up from herself and from the other two. In her mind, a bridge of energy was built, allowing the energies to interchange quite rapidly. For a moment Kirin felt dizzy and overwhelemed with the travling heat inside her body, most likely because of the lack of practice. The girl shut her lips tight, and hoped the process could pass before she passes out herself.

Ran chewed on her lip, trying to keep her breath steady even as her heart hammered with nervousness. What if she did something to cause this spirit connection to fail? She shook the doubt from her mind. Being doubtful certainly wouldn't help it succeed.

The sprite tried to sit still even as the excitement bubbled up inside his small form. This was something new and different. And he felt a strange curiousness to know what this person that had been caring for him was saying all the time. Though it was also funny to laugh at her running around and tripping over the plants he had moved. He grinned to himself at that memory.

Ran frowned as a thought not her own entered her mind. She could still remember the pain from that bruise she got after tripping over a plotted plant. She almost opened her eyes to glare at the little sprite laughing mentally at her. But she remembered that Kirin had never told her to open her eyes again, so she kept them closed.

The energy continued to surge, and Kirin could vaguely see some of the thoughts in her mind. The images of the sprite's mischevious deeds and Ran's unfortunate bruise resulting from it made her smile mentally. Eventually the thoughts faded as they crossed each other's pathes, and the girl felt no longer dizzy. She felt relieved, followed by a wave of exhaustion. No...she mustn't give up now. She had to stay until the very end.

Light that was radiating from Kirin now circled and enclosed Ran and the sprite as well. In the middle of the light Kirin murmured to herself.

"Almost done..."

More of the sprite's chattering thoughts filled her mind, much the same as her stunned thoughts entered the sprite's mind. A smile slipped onto Ran's face when she realized she would now be able to understand her sprite. It meant communication, at least, would be much easier between them. From his thoughts, Ran gathered that the sprite felt similar.

Both Ran and the sprite kept still and waited until Kirin announced that she had finished.

After what seemed to be a very long time, the light faded, and Kirin opened her eyes. She looked at Ran and smiled, an obvious exhaustion can be seen on her face.

"Y-you can open your eyes now. Sorry for taking this long. A-and please, when you are ready, follow Nu Wo to the outside where Rie is. I have a few more preparations to make for the sprite."

Ran opened her eyes, blinking them a few times to adjust to the light after having them closed for so long. "Ah, okay," she said. Standing, she stretched a bit before turning to her sprite. You be good, she warned him through thought. It felt odd to speak like that.

The sprite tried to give an innocent smile.

"I guess I'll leave you to the preparations then," Ran said out loud, walking over to follow Nu Wo back outside.

Kirin smiled. "I see it's working already, that's good..." She trailed off at the end, not feeling comfortable warning Ran that the sprite might change when his form changes. After all, Ran had gone through the spirit connection safely.

Nu Wo, hearing the mentioning of her name from Kirin, had made herself to the place where Ran had first came in. She looked at Ran and waved, inviting her to follow. Before the two could enter the invisible tunnel again, Kirin called out to Ran.

"I-I hope you don't mind if the preparation takes a while...the spirit connection drained my energy, so the process might be slow." The girl blushed and bowed. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you w-want, you can come back a few days later to pick up your sprite...or you can tell Rie where you l-live and we'll deliver him to you."

Ran turned back to Kirin when she was called to. "Take your time," she said, only able to guess how much the spirit connection would have tired her out. She bowed her head a bit. "Thank you very much for doing this."

She stared at her sprite, who grinned back at her. He didn't appeared worried at all about being separating for a short period of time. With that, she turned back to Nu Wo and followed her back to the outside.