Once again Sakura Yugure woke up slowly to the feeling of soft bedding and a silk robe around her. It took her a moment to place where she was (still staying in Morrigan's penthouse suite,) partly because she was still caught up in recollections of another rather - interesting - dream about her new sister and current roommate, this one decidedly kinkier than the last. {What if Morri-neesan *had* done that while I was hypnotized... but no, I was still downstairs when I woke up, and the dream was up here in the bedroom,} she reasoned.

Looking to the side without getting up, Sakura blinked several times when she saw that there was no Morrigan beside her. The mystery was resolved a few moments later when the older woman's voice called up from the bottom floor, "Finally awake, little sister? I'm just cooking breakfast!"

Grinning - Morrigan's cooking had been excellent at every meal - Sakura jumped out of bed and took a moment to concentrate, dropping her robe and manifesting her fuku around her as she'd learned to yesterday. {I can hardly believe how much is changing,} she thought. {Creating my clothes, learning about what I'm becoming... I certainly can't claim this separated life is dull!}

Once downstairs, breakfast was quickly disposed of. "Oishii!!" (Delicious!) was Sakura's only comment between her first bite and her last.

Morrigan grinned at her. "I'm glad you agree. Cooking spells ensure your dishes come out exactly the way you *intend* them to, but it's sometimes tricky judging what flavours others will like."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "You've been using *magic* to cook all these meals? And here you let me think it was just skill!" She kept up the look until Morrigan began to appear worried, then she couldn't hold her face straight any longer. Her lips twitched, then she laughed out loud, soon joined by Morrigan.

"Oh, such a jokester you are! I'll get you back for that one, little sister, never fear," Morrigan threatened, to which Sakura replied with a raspberry ("Bii-dah!") before finishing the remains of breakfast.

"Now, the lesson for today is probably the last you'll need from me," Morrigan instructed, once they were in an open area in the living room. "You've probably noticed that Darkstalkers like Demitri and myself can create interesting things with parts of our bodies, using them like weapons?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, he used his cape to drill at you, and you morph your wings into all kinds of things, even blades." She paused, then continued, "Morri-neechan... I don't know if I want to go changing my body into... *things.* I just..." She trailed off.

Morrigan smiled. "I thought as much, dear. What I'm going to teach you is how to defend against them. You're familiar with the technique of channeling your spirit into your body to make it stronger, ne?" she asked. At Sakura's nod, she continued. "Well, this is the same principle taken to its logical extreme. You literally give your body the consistency of steel to block bludgeons, blades, and the like."

Sakura grinned. "Okay! How do we start?"

Morrigan smiled back. "Hold up your forearm as if to block my attack..."

Several hours later, Morrigan called a halt. "You're doing well, little sister! I think you've got the technique down. Shall we test it?" she asked, holding up a wing morphed into a blade.

Sakura gulped but nodded. "OK," she replied, holding up her arms in an 'X' shaped block and concentrating. The arms began to faintly glow, and Morrigan slashed out.

"Shadow Blade!"

With a faint *ping,* the blade skipped off the crossed arms without leaving a mark. Sakura opened her eyes from where they'd been squinted nearly shut and cheered. "*Yatta!!*"

Morrigan landed from her attack and smiled. "Good! Now it's time for lunch, then we undertake the *other* half of your training in defense."

"Other half, Oneesan?" Sakura asked as she headed for the kitchen.

"Yes, little sister, other half. Sometimes one misses a block, you know... and then you have to be able to deal with it."

"Deal with it? How?" Sakura asked, only to gasp as Morrigan literally sliced her own arm open to the bone... then the gash actually closed itself, like a time-lapse movie of a recovering wound.

"You heal yourself, of course!" she replied matter-of-factly, then turned to where Sakura had facefaulted to the floor. "Are you all right, dear?"

After lunch, Morrigan began to instruct her adopted sister. "Well, first we need to demonstrate the *principle* of healing a body that you control," she said... then formed her wing into a blade again and sliced open the side of Sakura's skirt.

"*Hey!*" Sakura protested, since the gash left *far* too much leg showing. Concentrating briefly, she reformed the skirt as it was before the slash 'remodelled' it.

"You've got it, dear - congratulations," Morrigan commented with a smile. Sakura blinked at her in confusion, and the succubus began to explain. "How did you repair your skirt, dear?" she asked.

The young girl frowned in concentration. "Well, I kind of remembered how it was supposed to be before it was cut, and reformed it to that pattern."

Morrigan smiled again. "That's it exactly. To heal, you apply your power to restore your body to the way it *should* be. For me, this makes my body heal faster, even to the point of reattaching severed limbs and such..." she paused at Sakura's silghtly green look. "I'm sorry, dear, but that's a fact of life among Darkstalkers. Fights are lethal, and if you're not prepared for that, you could end up dead. As I was saying, your healing will likely involve your body reforming itself, since it's just as much a creation of Power as your clothes. Do you understand?" she asked, since Sakura was looking a bit shell-shocked.

"Yeah..." the girl replied, then shook her head and slapped her cheeks (her Dizzy animation.) "Un! Okay, I guess I should practice then... but let's start with the small stuff, ne?" she asked with a weak grin.

Several hours later, it was nearly dinnertime, and Sakura was staring in horror at the severed end of her index finger, lying on the floor in front of her.

"Go on, dear, just like the other wounds. Reclaim the Power involved in the finger and return it to the pattern," Morrigan urged, worried. A battle between Darkstalkers often involved much more serious severings than this - {I remember that one time Jedah cut me in half at the waist,} Morrigan mused - and if Sakura couldn't handle this, she could be in serious trouble, great power or no.

Sakura sweated. "I'm trying, Neesan... But.. it's so.. *Hard!*" she groaned, but even as she did so the finger sparkled and vanished, her hand suddenly regaining the severed digit. "Huh... hah... did it.." Sakura panted.

Morrigan nodded, relieved. "Good. Rest a few minutes. If you feel up to it, we can spar before supper," she added, knowing that the girl's love of challenge combined with the lust for battle that was her new nature would get her up again faster than any other motivation.

Sakura nodded, appreciating the offer but deep in thought. {I don't think I felt the power *move* between the floor and my hand,} she mused. {It's as if it didn't need to traverse the space, it was just *there.* In that case...} Images of the Ashura Warp, the teleport technique used by Akuma and Evil Ryu, flashed through her mind. {Is this how they did it?} Grinning slightly, she began to repeat the exercise of a moment ago, with a few alterations. {If, instead of my finger *here,* I envision myself over *there...*}

Morrigan was taking her last few steps into the kitchen when there was a blur of energy, and then Sakura appeared right in front of her! "WHAT!?" she cried, leaping back and readying a Soul Fist... and dropping her arm at the obvious delight of her sister/student.

"YATTA! YATTA!" she cried, performing her victory kata with such exuberance that her right shoe came off her foot in the middle of a high kick and flipped over her to bounce off her head. Morrigan stifled a giggle.

{If she can do that, she's more powerful than I thought,} Morrigan noted as she fought her mirth. {Perhaps it's time I began learning from my new sister as well as teaching her.}

Minutes later, the two women were standing before a portal to Makai, the Demon Realm, that Morrigan had opened up in the foyer of the penthouse. "We'll fight there," Morrigan said, "then come right back. We'll be on the estate surrounding my castle, so you should be in no danger... except from me," Morrigan teased with a wink.

Sakura flipped her nose at her 'sister.' "Hmph! If you're so confident about it, maybe you want to make a wager on the fight?" she taunted.

Morrigan considered it for a moment... then nodded. "That *would* make it interesting, even just sparring. What are your stakes?"

Sakura, taken aback, stammered out, "Well, um - how about you go first?"

Morrigan considered this for a moment, and nodded. "Very well." She thought for a moment, then grinned impishly. "If I win, you come to Castle Aensland for one night - as my personal servant. You do *anything* I say. I'll bring you back to the apartment in the morning." As she said 'anything,' her smile went from impish to *very* wicked.

"Eeep!" Sakura squeaked. {That's a BIG stake! I can't just back out - what can I put up as a stake to match that...?} she wondered, thinking frantically. Finally, she just stammered, "Um - I - um - S-same stakes. I win, y-you come back here and be my personal attendant for the night, you do what I ask."

Morrigan nodded, extending her hand. "So shall it be..."

Sakura shook the hand - and snatched her arm back as a tingle of energy ran up it. "What was that?!?" she asked, spooked.

"That was the Pact, dear. When we of house Aensland make wagers or promises, we're bound to follow them - and so are those we do it with," she finished, quirking her eyebrow at Sakura. "No backing out now... for either of us."

Sakura gulped and gestured to the portal. "After you, oneesan."

On a plain with a shadowy castle in the distance, Sakura and Morrigan stepped out of the portal to Earth, which closed behind them. Sakura cast a nervous look over at the castle, and Morrigan took the opportunity to tease her a bit. "Don't worry, little sister. I'll show you around the place tonight... a very *complete* tour."

Stung (as Morrigan had intended,) Sakura turned on her. "Hey! Don't go assuming *you're* going to win!"

Morrigan arched one eloquent eyebrow. "Then prove me wrong, dear," she replied. With that, she took up a combat stance.

Sakura mirrored her, and the fight was on. The opening would come as no surprise to anyone who had fought either woman before.

"Soul Fist!"

"Hadoken!"

The bat of Soul Power met the *chi* ball and cancelled out in a small explosion and a shower of sparks, and the spectacle was repeated twice more as the two tested each other's limits at a distance. Concluding that they were evenly matched, Morrigan kicked off into the air, passing over Sakura's fourth Hadoken, and morphed her wings into jets to zoom right past the startled Sakura, who wisely spun to keep Morrigan in front of her.

This was lucky for Sakura, because Morrigan performed a snap-turn the moment she was past Sakura and came back in, gliding back with her legs covered in blades and even drills!

"Valkyrie Turn!"

Desperately, Sakura blocked, channeling energy into her arms to harden them to the density of steel, and shoved Morrigan away, breaking the move just long enough to get in a quick shot of her own.

"Sho-Oh-Ken!"

As she had done against Demitri a few days ago, Sakura took to the air to follow up her short Sho-Oh-ken, trying to land an Aerial Rave... but Morrigan, more adept aerially and less surprised than Demitri, was upright and waiting when she got there. The two traded blows and blocks in midair, but neither could gain an advantage over the other...

...until Sakura's momentum began to run out, and she began to drop earthward again. Morrigan maintained her altitude, and shot out a hand, grabbing Sakura's blocking wrist. "I *can* actually fly, dear," the succubus commented, pulling Sakura up against her too close for the girl to punch or kick effectively. "I *do* hope you enjoy the ride, though," she continued as she dove upside-down for the ground, angling so Sakura's head would be the first thing to land.

Sakura shrieked, but wisely didn't waste energy on squirming, instead hardening her skull the way she had her arms. That saved her from a concussion, but nothing could save her from the disorientation of hitting the ground headfirst from thirty feet in the air. She crumpled to the ground, valiantly trying to figure out which way was up.

She got some rather unwelcome assistance when Morrigan landed on her feet-first, having bounced away after the flying throw. The older woman stomped a few times, then leaped away just ahead of Sakura's furious backhand. To her new sister's angry glare she commented, "Be glad this is only sparring, sister, or that would have been spikes, not feet. Darkstalkers may or may not have honour when they fight - be prepared."

Sakura fumed, then nodded. "Thanks, Oneesan - I was still thinking of this as a street fight. Gomen." And with that, she ran three quick steps forward, ducked down, and swept out Morrigan's legs.

She didn't stop spinning after the foot-sweep, either, chaining the basic move into the beginning of a special one.

"Shun-pu-kyaku!"

Once, twice, and a third time Sakura's spinning leg connected on Morrigan, the last time sending the succubus hurtling away, and Sakura landed well in advance of her 'sister.' Using the time well, she blasted Morrigan with a *chi* ball on her way to the ground, adding another set of vectors to her tumble.

"Hadoken!"

Sakura attempted to follow up with another move - a flying jump-kick, but Morrigan slid along the ground, propelled by her wings, and evaded the blow. She rolled to her feet, smoldering in more than one sense. "A lesson well learned, I see..." she commented.

Sakura grinned saucily back. "I had the best teacher, Oneesan," she said. Morrigan's lips quirked in a momentary smile.

"Indeed you did," she replied, lunging in suddenly. Sakura raised her arms to block, but Morrigan came up under them...

"Shadow Blade!"

With a scream as she was sliced across the arms, Sakura stumbled back, only to be hit again.

"Soul Fist!"

Tagged fully by the soul energy, Sakura tumbled to the ground. Shaking her head, she kipped up only to find Morrigan beginning another attack already...

"SHADOW WAVE!!"

Gashed repeatedly by the bladed knockoff of the Shoryu-Reppa, Sakura fell to the ground, bleeding, and looked over at Morrigan, who was just landing from her final leap. Praying she had time, the young girl healed herself as fast as she could, closing the gashes in her skin and clothes.

Seeing an opening, Morrigan pounced - literally, going for another stomping attack. She realized she'd been set up when Sakura slid easily to a sitting position and swung out her leg.

"HARU-ICHIBAN!!"

The Super version of Sakura's hurricane kick knockoff was perhaps her most often modified move. Rather than perform a stationary spin like Ryu or a kick series like Ken, she'd first opted to go with sliding ground sweep kicks, but had modified it again when she revamped her maneuvers during the Apocalypse crisis. Realizing she lacked effective defense directly overhead, she had remade the Haru-Ichiban into a rising hurricane kick that travelled straight up and sucked opponents in like the Shinryuken, and it was this move that Morrigan fell victim to now. Whirled up into the air as if battered by a tornado, the succubus tumbled back down to the ground. Sakura landed moments later and dashed in, only to be repelled by a pair of most unusual jabs.

{Did she just hit me with her *hair??*} Sakura thought, only to be jolted out of her introspection by Morrigan's hand on her shoulder. She glanced quickly at it, but it wasn't clasping a nerve, just holding on...

...and then it was joined by another hand, just like the first, on the other shoulder...

...from *behind* Sakura.

She whipped her head around, expecting one of Morrigan's relatives to be there, only to see - *Morrigan!*

More head-turning confirmed that there were *two* Morrigans, one on each side of her... and then they spoke in eerie chorus. "Here's the battle refinement of my Doppleganger technique! Oshiyokki yo!" (I will punish you!)

"DARKNESS ILLUSION!!"

Sakura was pounded, slashed, hit, kicked, and beaten from two sides. Helpless under the onslaught, she concentrated on healing, so as not to be hamstrung or disabled when she got the chance to fight back. Finally, the double Morrigans swatted Sakura into the air, leaped up after her, and spiked her back to the ground, where she frantically rolled away as best she could. Gaining a fair distance while Morrigan dissipated her duplicate, Sakura sprang to her feet. {I can't take much more of this - my energy's getting really low! Good thing this move feeds on the energy from the area around me...} she thought, drawing back her cupped hands.

"SHINKUU...HA*DO*KEN!!"

Morrigan, caught by surprise, took the brunt of the sudden torrent of white energy. {She draws energy from the area around her to augment her power!} Morrigan thought in shock as she got back up. {Still, if she can do that...} Concentrating, the succubus began mimicking her sister's attack, letting her wings morph into forms to more easily scoop energy from the air around her and project it.

Sakura's eyes got very wide as she saw Morrigan's wings morph themselves into what looked like a large energy cannon from an anime, complete with orbiting 'bits'. Not wanting to take chances, she dove for the ground and channeled *chi* to harden her body as Morrigan cried out:

"SOUL ERASER!!"

After several seconds that seemed like hours to the unnerved young girl, the beams stopped firing and she sprang up. With the thought of having to serve Morrigan in her castle if she lost spurring her on - {Who knows what she'll have me do!} she wondered with a quiver of fear and.. anticipation? - she sprang to her feet and mustered her last strength for one final attack. Morrigan, staggered from releasing so much power for the first time, was just a second too slow to block as Sakura dashed at her, yelling,

"MIDARE-ZAKURA! HYAAAH!"

This was the other Super Attack that Sakura had modified during the Apocalypse crisis. Tired of having all and sundry ready and waiting for her Shoryu-Reppa knockoff, she had borrowed a trick from Captain America and his Final Justice, enacting a flurry of blows rather than two short Sho-oh-kens before her final uppercut.

Twenty-four hits later, Morrigan fell crashing to the ground from that uppercut, and Sakura pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. From that vantage, she asked "(pant) Do you (pant) concede, oneesan?"

Morrigan shook her head to clear it and looked up at her captor, smiling slightly. "I concede, sister," she said, and Sakura got off and helped her up. "And as promised," Morrigan went on once she was on her feet, "I am yours for the night. Until tomorrow morning, I must do anything you ask..." she said quietly, arching her eyebrows at Sakura while slowly sinking to one knee, as if presenting herself to the victor. "Aaa-nyy-thiiing," she finished in a drawl, and gazed up into the younger girl's eyes.

Sakura suppressed a shiver and pulled Morrigan back up to her feet. "(ahem) For now, just get us back to the hotel," she asked in an exasperated tone.

"As you wish," replied Morrigan, and they were gone.