Post by Shugo Yuy™ on Feb 9, 2015 19:25:18 GMT -5
I walked through the streets, bandaged and probably looking like crap. I had just been let out of the hospital after my fight with Leon. I’d been unconscious in the hospital for about three hours apparently. I still didn’t know whether to make heads or tails of the guy. He fought me earnestly… Despite saying he liked the killing intent, he tried to call off the fight after seeing the shape that I was in. On top of that, he took my broken ass all the way to the hospital apparently. But dammit… in my dream he threatened that girl… the one with the green hair. He threatened to kill her if I didn’t get my act together.
“Umph…”
I was so deep in thought that I almost didn’t notice that my shoulder ran into someone. I felt a bit of pain from the damage Leon had put me through when I bumped into the old man, but I powered through it.
“Excuse me, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry.”
“Oh? That is okay. Are you alright? You look defeated boy.”
The old man scanned my body up and down. I guess he was taking a look at all of the bruises that I had on myself. Yeah I looked like I was in pretty bad shape after the fight, but Leon had said it himself. I won.
“What?” “Oh. No. I won that fight.”
For whatever reason, as soon as I said that the old man started chuckling to himself, covering his mouth slightly before he spoke.
“A fight? Haha, you make martial arts sound like a child’s toy.”
A child? Seriously? This guy didn't even know me? What the hell was his deal. I was starting to get pretty pissed off. I felt my fist tighten as he insulted me.
“Who the hell are you to call me a child?!”
“Excuse me. I am Bei Shin, Master of Martial Arts. Have you thought about joining a dojo? Maybe you would not look so defeated.”
Martial Arts master? I guess he knew more than he let on originally. My eyes narrowed on him slightly. Asking me to join a dojo? This was the guys way of trying to get more students? I wanted to just blow him off, but at 552... maybe knowing some actual martial arts would come in handy? I weighed the decision in my head before he started speaking again.
“I did not mean your body. You look like you lost the fight of the soul.”
Seriously?! What the hell was this old man talking about? The fight of the soul? It just sounded too strange. Like I was in some sort of old kung fu movie or an anime or something. I wished I was, but I wasn't. This was real life. If I was going to learn martial arts, I wanted to learn it from someone who was more grounded in reality. Not some old nut.
“Whatever. If I need advice like that, I’ll ask a fortune cookie.”
With that, I turned away from the old man and continued walking down the path I was headed. I just wish I knew where that path lead.
I left the hospital. Allen was okay. He was going to pull through, but I couldn’t face him. It was my fault that he ended up like that. Because I hadn’t been good enough, because I hadn’t been serious enough, Allen paid the price, with a knife planted into his back. I might as well have put it in there myself and turned. I walked down the streets of Chinatown. I don’t remember how I got there, and I had no idea where I was headed. I just know I walked until I stopped in front of the large gates of a dojo. I pushed the gates to the courtyard open and stepped up to the front door. I would pull the sliding door open without a word.
“Oh? I believe you said you did not need the advice of an old man?”
The old man that I bumped looked me in the eye as he spoke. He sat on the floor behind a low table. In front of him on the table was a pot of tea, and two cups, as if he had company. But there were only signs of one person being in the dojo, the old man. Was he expecting me to come? How did he know? The old man would put his cup down and raise a brow at me after a minute of me just standing around. He would sigh before speaking up at me.
“Well. Come in out of the cold boy.”
I nodded silently. Sliding my shoes off, I left them outside and shut the door behind me. The old man beckoned me to sit down at the table across from him, where the other cup was. I narrowed my eyes at the cup as I sat down. Was this guy psychic or something? Or did he just always get two cups out in case someone interrupts him while he’s drinking some tea.
“You seem quieter than before.”
I knelt down in front of the table, my hands on top of my knees. I stared down at the table as I thought about how to ask him for help. Did I even deserve to ask him for help? I was awful last time. I took my anger out on this old man. Why did I even come here? I heard him chuckle while he looked at me before taking a sip. Somehow the chuckle was enough to lighten me up enough to talk. I raised my head up to look at him.
“I messed up. I got cocky and didn’t take a fight seriously. I didn’t realize what was going on and because of it, my friend got hurt. Badly. I can’t even face him. So yeah, I’m quiet. I’m quiet because you were right, I’m defeated. I’m quiet because I want to ask you to train me but I don’t have the right after the way I treated you last time. So what I’m saying is, I’m sorry!”
Even though I got all of that off of my chest, I still felt a little nervous. Nervous enough that my mouth felt pretty parched. I reached down to the cup of tea in front of me, and after raising it up, I chugged. Luckily for me it was only luke warm. Unluckily for me, it sits heavy in your stomach. The old Master would laugh stroking his beard. He scanned me once over with his eyes. He poured me out another cup of tea.
“Very well. I will train you. The monthly cost of my training is $15,000 a month.”
Fifteen grand? I almost spat up my tea. If he charged that much to every student, I could see why his dojo was completely empty. Maybe this was all just an insane prank. This old guy was probably just yanking my chain.
“Wait, what? That much for martial arts lessons?”
I spoke in disbelief. The old man just chuckled for a moment and looked at me. He smiled before he began speaking.
“Why? Is that a problem for Shugo Yuy, son of Yuy Corporation?”
He knew who I was? Damn. Was this old guy extorting me? Or did he just only take clients with money. I turned my head to the side before rolling my shoulders and looking up. I turned back at the old man. Damn I must have been desperate.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
And that was how I became Master Bei Shin’s student. That was the simple part. The next part was the training. Master Shin insisted on getting to know my physical level at first. So he made me run. A lot. I did laps around the dojo that first day. I didn’t know if it was because I was stubborn or because I thought he wouldn’t train me if he thought I wasn’t good enough. I jogged for almost two hours that morning. I don’t even want to know how many calories I burned. It was a steady jog the entire time, I couldn’t afford to slow down to even a brisk walk.
“The bushes.”
“W-what?”
I spoke between shallow, panting breaths. I paused, using him talking to me as an excuse to catch my breath. Sweat was pouring down my forehead and drenching my shirt.
“I’ve seen enough of you running. Quite frankly, you look like you’re about to vomit. If you really need to, I won’t hold it against you if you vomit in the bushes.”
I was about to say something, but even faster than I was running before, I made it to the bushes. I was on my knees at the bushes, throwing up. That took up another five minutes. I felt like I didn’t have anything left in my stomach by the time I was done. I pulled off the work out shirt I wore and wiped my mouth with it before throwing it to the side.
“What’s next?”
“You have courage boy, but one needs to know their limits.”
“With all due respect Master, I’m here because I disapprove of my limits. I can keep going.”
He smiled and laughed at me but nodded. Next the old man led me to an old bamboo practice dummy. He said he wanted me to practice punching the dummy. The old man said that speed was the key, not strength. He told me that if I focused on increasing the speed of the punches I threw, instead of focusing on the power, I would be able to break the dummy a lot faster. I wasn’t quite sure that I believed him but I started.
“NO! NO! NO! Where did you learn to throw a punch?! From the streets?! Your body is all over the place! Keep your feet planted. You exert too much energy by throwing your body around. Punch with your arms, keep them light, keep them free. The more punches you throw the stronger they will become. For now, focus on the form and speed of each blow.”
“Yes Master.”
I sighed and focused on my punches. Standing up straight, I focused on throwing short quick punches at the dummy. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Bei Shin was unimpressed. Great. I tried throwing my punches faster, but it still didn’t do anything for Master. So if it wasn’t the speed… was it the form? My punches were still all over the place. I took a deep breath as I paused. I focused on one spot on the practice dummy. Putting my fists back up, I shot my punches alternatively. Slowly at first, my right would strike, and then my left would hit the same spot. I kept this up, increasing my pace with each punch. I was so focused on this that I didn’t even notice that Master was nodding as he watched. I honestly don’t know how long I kept this up, but by the time I was done, my knuckles were bruised and torn.
“Why don’t we take a short break for a snack?”
The old man held a tray of… well… rice balls and some tea. I was sore, and sweating. I was so focused on breaking that practice dummy that I had no idea how tired I actually was, so the food was probably a good idea. Master and I sat down outside of the dojo on the hard wood steps. My shaking hands took a rice ball and bit into it.
“These are good… I’ve never had them before. Makes me think we’re in some kind of anime though.”
“Oh? Are you training to become some sort of anime hero?”
I thought about it for a second. I never took myself for the hero type. I was just a goofy kid before. Even now… I didn’t think I was going to be much of a hero with this training. I looked up at the sky. All I wanted was the power to make a difference. I just wanted to make sure that people wouldn’t get hurt again.
“No… I don’t think anyone would believe I was a hero. Instead… I just. I want to do the right thing. I treated everything like a joke before and other people had to pay the price. There’s dangerous people out there, and I just want to make sure that they aren’t able to keep on hurting people.”
The old man paused for a second and nodded his head understandingly. Did I impress Sensei?! I was hoping to make a good impression on the first day of practice. My face lit up for a second, until I heard him break out laughing. In fact, the old man laughed at me so hard that he started slapping his leg while his giggles echoed throughout the dojo’s grounds. He laughed so hard that all of the birds and wild life just ran away.
“I’m sorry boy. That’s just rich. You realize the actions you just described are a hero? Very well, call yourself what you will. I will continue teaching you boy.”
“Umph…”
I was so deep in thought that I almost didn’t notice that my shoulder ran into someone. I felt a bit of pain from the damage Leon had put me through when I bumped into the old man, but I powered through it.
“Excuse me, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry.”
“Oh? That is okay. Are you alright? You look defeated boy.”
The old man scanned my body up and down. I guess he was taking a look at all of the bruises that I had on myself. Yeah I looked like I was in pretty bad shape after the fight, but Leon had said it himself. I won.
“What?” “Oh. No. I won that fight.”
For whatever reason, as soon as I said that the old man started chuckling to himself, covering his mouth slightly before he spoke.
“A fight? Haha, you make martial arts sound like a child’s toy.”
A child? Seriously? This guy didn't even know me? What the hell was his deal. I was starting to get pretty pissed off. I felt my fist tighten as he insulted me.
“Who the hell are you to call me a child?!”
“Excuse me. I am Bei Shin, Master of Martial Arts. Have you thought about joining a dojo? Maybe you would not look so defeated.”
Martial Arts master? I guess he knew more than he let on originally. My eyes narrowed on him slightly. Asking me to join a dojo? This was the guys way of trying to get more students? I wanted to just blow him off, but at 552... maybe knowing some actual martial arts would come in handy? I weighed the decision in my head before he started speaking again.
“I did not mean your body. You look like you lost the fight of the soul.”
Seriously?! What the hell was this old man talking about? The fight of the soul? It just sounded too strange. Like I was in some sort of old kung fu movie or an anime or something. I wished I was, but I wasn't. This was real life. If I was going to learn martial arts, I wanted to learn it from someone who was more grounded in reality. Not some old nut.
“Whatever. If I need advice like that, I’ll ask a fortune cookie.”
With that, I turned away from the old man and continued walking down the path I was headed. I just wish I knew where that path lead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I left the hospital. Allen was okay. He was going to pull through, but I couldn’t face him. It was my fault that he ended up like that. Because I hadn’t been good enough, because I hadn’t been serious enough, Allen paid the price, with a knife planted into his back. I might as well have put it in there myself and turned. I walked down the streets of Chinatown. I don’t remember how I got there, and I had no idea where I was headed. I just know I walked until I stopped in front of the large gates of a dojo. I pushed the gates to the courtyard open and stepped up to the front door. I would pull the sliding door open without a word.
“Oh? I believe you said you did not need the advice of an old man?”
The old man that I bumped looked me in the eye as he spoke. He sat on the floor behind a low table. In front of him on the table was a pot of tea, and two cups, as if he had company. But there were only signs of one person being in the dojo, the old man. Was he expecting me to come? How did he know? The old man would put his cup down and raise a brow at me after a minute of me just standing around. He would sigh before speaking up at me.
“Well. Come in out of the cold boy.”
I nodded silently. Sliding my shoes off, I left them outside and shut the door behind me. The old man beckoned me to sit down at the table across from him, where the other cup was. I narrowed my eyes at the cup as I sat down. Was this guy psychic or something? Or did he just always get two cups out in case someone interrupts him while he’s drinking some tea.
“You seem quieter than before.”
I knelt down in front of the table, my hands on top of my knees. I stared down at the table as I thought about how to ask him for help. Did I even deserve to ask him for help? I was awful last time. I took my anger out on this old man. Why did I even come here? I heard him chuckle while he looked at me before taking a sip. Somehow the chuckle was enough to lighten me up enough to talk. I raised my head up to look at him.
“I messed up. I got cocky and didn’t take a fight seriously. I didn’t realize what was going on and because of it, my friend got hurt. Badly. I can’t even face him. So yeah, I’m quiet. I’m quiet because you were right, I’m defeated. I’m quiet because I want to ask you to train me but I don’t have the right after the way I treated you last time. So what I’m saying is, I’m sorry!”
Even though I got all of that off of my chest, I still felt a little nervous. Nervous enough that my mouth felt pretty parched. I reached down to the cup of tea in front of me, and after raising it up, I chugged. Luckily for me it was only luke warm. Unluckily for me, it sits heavy in your stomach. The old Master would laugh stroking his beard. He scanned me once over with his eyes. He poured me out another cup of tea.
“Very well. I will train you. The monthly cost of my training is $15,000 a month.”
Fifteen grand? I almost spat up my tea. If he charged that much to every student, I could see why his dojo was completely empty. Maybe this was all just an insane prank. This old guy was probably just yanking my chain.
“Wait, what? That much for martial arts lessons?”
I spoke in disbelief. The old man just chuckled for a moment and looked at me. He smiled before he began speaking.
“Why? Is that a problem for Shugo Yuy, son of Yuy Corporation?”
He knew who I was? Damn. Was this old guy extorting me? Or did he just only take clients with money. I turned my head to the side before rolling my shoulders and looking up. I turned back at the old man. Damn I must have been desperate.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
And that was how I became Master Bei Shin’s student. That was the simple part. The next part was the training. Master Shin insisted on getting to know my physical level at first. So he made me run. A lot. I did laps around the dojo that first day. I didn’t know if it was because I was stubborn or because I thought he wouldn’t train me if he thought I wasn’t good enough. I jogged for almost two hours that morning. I don’t even want to know how many calories I burned. It was a steady jog the entire time, I couldn’t afford to slow down to even a brisk walk.
“The bushes.”
“W-what?”
I spoke between shallow, panting breaths. I paused, using him talking to me as an excuse to catch my breath. Sweat was pouring down my forehead and drenching my shirt.
“I’ve seen enough of you running. Quite frankly, you look like you’re about to vomit. If you really need to, I won’t hold it against you if you vomit in the bushes.”
I was about to say something, but even faster than I was running before, I made it to the bushes. I was on my knees at the bushes, throwing up. That took up another five minutes. I felt like I didn’t have anything left in my stomach by the time I was done. I pulled off the work out shirt I wore and wiped my mouth with it before throwing it to the side.
“What’s next?”
“You have courage boy, but one needs to know their limits.”
“With all due respect Master, I’m here because I disapprove of my limits. I can keep going.”
He smiled and laughed at me but nodded. Next the old man led me to an old bamboo practice dummy. He said he wanted me to practice punching the dummy. The old man said that speed was the key, not strength. He told me that if I focused on increasing the speed of the punches I threw, instead of focusing on the power, I would be able to break the dummy a lot faster. I wasn’t quite sure that I believed him but I started.
“NO! NO! NO! Where did you learn to throw a punch?! From the streets?! Your body is all over the place! Keep your feet planted. You exert too much energy by throwing your body around. Punch with your arms, keep them light, keep them free. The more punches you throw the stronger they will become. For now, focus on the form and speed of each blow.”
“Yes Master.”
I sighed and focused on my punches. Standing up straight, I focused on throwing short quick punches at the dummy. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Bei Shin was unimpressed. Great. I tried throwing my punches faster, but it still didn’t do anything for Master. So if it wasn’t the speed… was it the form? My punches were still all over the place. I took a deep breath as I paused. I focused on one spot on the practice dummy. Putting my fists back up, I shot my punches alternatively. Slowly at first, my right would strike, and then my left would hit the same spot. I kept this up, increasing my pace with each punch. I was so focused on this that I didn’t even notice that Master was nodding as he watched. I honestly don’t know how long I kept this up, but by the time I was done, my knuckles were bruised and torn.
“Why don’t we take a short break for a snack?”
The old man held a tray of… well… rice balls and some tea. I was sore, and sweating. I was so focused on breaking that practice dummy that I had no idea how tired I actually was, so the food was probably a good idea. Master and I sat down outside of the dojo on the hard wood steps. My shaking hands took a rice ball and bit into it.
“These are good… I’ve never had them before. Makes me think we’re in some kind of anime though.”
“Oh? Are you training to become some sort of anime hero?”
I thought about it for a second. I never took myself for the hero type. I was just a goofy kid before. Even now… I didn’t think I was going to be much of a hero with this training. I looked up at the sky. All I wanted was the power to make a difference. I just wanted to make sure that people wouldn’t get hurt again.
“No… I don’t think anyone would believe I was a hero. Instead… I just. I want to do the right thing. I treated everything like a joke before and other people had to pay the price. There’s dangerous people out there, and I just want to make sure that they aren’t able to keep on hurting people.”
The old man paused for a second and nodded his head understandingly. Did I impress Sensei?! I was hoping to make a good impression on the first day of practice. My face lit up for a second, until I heard him break out laughing. In fact, the old man laughed at me so hard that he started slapping his leg while his giggles echoed throughout the dojo’s grounds. He laughed so hard that all of the birds and wild life just ran away.
“I’m sorry boy. That’s just rich. You realize the actions you just described are a hero? Very well, call yourself what you will. I will continue teaching you boy.”
