"Brother!" Fon looked back at his little sister, feeling the tug on his sleeve.

"What is it, Yan Mei?" He asked, smiling back at her. Her eyes were wide and pooling with tears.

"Don't leave!" She pleaded. He gave her an apologetic look.

"But I have practice, Yan Mei, and if I don't go my teacher will be angry with me. I'll be back soon, don't worry." She pouted, and Fon ruffled her hair.

"I want to go with you then!" She exclaimed.

Fon laughed. "You're still too little to learn kung fu. Maybe in a couple of years, if mother and father allow it." He caught his father's frown in the background and knew what he suggested was probably never going to happen for her.

"Okay," she said, and Fon walked off, not wanting to be late.

"Oh, Fon! You did so well!" His mother had discovered one of his old tests in a drawer of his desk, and was gushing over the high score he had gotten.

"Thank you mother," he said politely. It really wasn't a big deal – a bit of studying, and the test had proved to be fairly easy. Then again, it had been that way for as long as he could remember. He tended to analyze situations before committing to anything, and that trait had helped him in his schoolwork. Not so much his social situation, though, but it didn't matter too much, as long as he had his family and his best friend Jin.

"I'm proud of you, son," his father told him and Fon nodded. He was doing well in school, as he always had, and excelling in his martial arts, of which he had advanced a degree just the week previous. He supposed that was the reason for his father's statement. His little sister looked up at him adoringly and he picked her up, though she was getting big enough that it would soon be improper to do so.

"I want to be just like you when I grow up, brother!" She exclaimed, and Fon hid his wince with a smile. She was smart. Very smart, just as he was, but she was also a girl. Girls didn't do martial arts.

"Well then, you should study hard," he said, settling for the statement that would cause the least emotional damage, and poked her cheek with the hand not holding her up. She rubbed her face and frowned lightly at him.

"Stop it! Help!" Fon heard, and he ran to where the cries were coming from. In an alley – how cliché - two men had a teenager backed up against the side of one of the brick buildings. Fon decided he'd intervene – what would he have been learning kung fu for, if not to empower himself to defend himself and others?

So he dropped his book bag, and walked stupidly into the shadowed alley.

"Hey," he said quietly. The two men and the boy turned towards him. "Stop that."

One of the men, the one with the crooked nose, sneered. "Oh yeah, and who are you to stop us?"

Fon chose to forego answering the man's question. Instead, he dashed in between them and with a kick disarmed the man on the right. Ducking under the other man's knife, he used an elbow to strike the guy's ribs and a strong kick to push him out of the way.

That done, from his still-low position he swept the first man onto his back and stood quickly to send a heel-strike to his ribs. He heard a crack and knew the man was incapacitated. It was good timing, because by then the second man had recovered.

Fon turned quickly, knocking the man out with a kick to the head. It was easier than he had expected, the man must have still been favoring his ribs.

He faced the teen. "Hey, are you all right?" He asked. The person turned.

"Fon?"

"Jin?" The one he'd rescued was his friend and classmate Jin. "What was that all about?" He demanded, angry that his friend had both gotten involved with disreputable people and also that he hadn't been told about it.

Jin scowled. "My business is my own."

"But those guys were serious! You could have been killed!"

"I don't want to - "

"Jin!"

"Fine!" Jin yelled. "Fine. Fine." He looked angry and ashamed. "My parents - they were poor, you know, and they wanted me to have a good education. So they borrowed money from a less than reputable source, and now they're mixed up with some bad people. Now I have to help them get the money."

Fon was bewildered. "Well, why haven't you gone to the authorities?"

Jin gave a bitter laugh. "It doesn't work like that, Fon."

Fon knew that if he pushed the matter, he would not only distance himself from Jin, but that there would be no way to help him thereafter. "Well," Fon said, changing the subject. "Let's get to school."

"Fon Li. Is this the kid that demolished the both of you?" The man speaking was sitting behind a desk. His dark hair was slicked back and tattoos crawled up his arms and across his neck. His strong build was emphasized in a sleek suit, He was intimidating.

One of the men sitting in front of him nodded hesitantly, not knowing what his confirmation would mean for his immediate future.

"I want you to go track him down. Tell me everything about him. Go."

The two men left, and the boss leaned back in his chair, content.

Ever since that day, Fon had felt on edge. He was wondering, now, why his usually analytical nature had disappeared just long enough for him to perform his 'heroic' act of saving Jin from those two thugs.

He didn't know what it was other than some prickling sensation, an irritation in the back of his mind. It almost felt like, however much he hoped it wasn't the case, that he was being watched.

"Fon Li. Seventeen years old, in his second year of high school. Has a younger sister, seven years old. His mother is a housewife, his father an accountant. He has been taking lessons in martial arts since he was five years old. Is in the top ten of his class in school consistently."

"Hmm," the boss said, leaning back in his chair. "Could be a valuable asset. Bring the kid here, and let me talk to him. I don't care how you get him here, just do it. Preferably in one piece."

"Yes, boss."

"What do you want?" Fon asked suspiciously. When the man in the worn suit had approached him, he had no idea what he'd wanted. But he'd noticed that the man had a bruise near his temple, and a slight bulge in his jacket made Fon suspect he'd been packing a gun. So he went with him. And so he'd ended up standing in front of a well-dressed, rich-looking man in a nice office, two goons behind him.

"Well, after you encountered my two employees a few days ago," the man said, gesturing to the figures at Fon's back, "I took an interest in you and would like to offer you a job." Fon twisted to look at the men behind him. The bruise on the head, the way one was ever so slightly hunched on one side – it was the two thugs who had been intimidating Jin. Great.

"With all respect, sir," he started as politely as he knew how, not wanting to anger the man but still keeping his voice firm, "I am in school right now and focused on studying. I am not looking for a job at this point in my life."

That should do it. Polite, short, and a valid reason to decline his offer. The man behind the desk smiled menacingly.

"Oh, but I heard it was your dear baby sister's birthday soon. Surely she would love a present from her big brother, paid for by the money he earned at his weekend job?"

Fon kept a cool demeanor. He had learned three important things from the man's statement, one of which terrified him. The first was that the job the man was offering would be weekends only. The second; the man was willing to pay. And third – the man knew about his family. If Fon didn't cooperate, there was no telling what could happen to them.

"What would said job entail?" He asked the boss coolly. The man gave him a repulsive grin.

"Not too much. You'd just be getting us money – we'll enter you into fighting tournaments at a maximum of once every other week. Half of your winnings go to us."

It could be worse. At least it wasn't something ridiculous like becoming a hitman.

"I agree to the deal."

His parents were a little concerned when he told them that he would be fighting in tournaments, but were proud of him nonetheless.

His sister thought it was exciting and congratulated him. He felt a bit ill.

After several years, he was contacted by Jin. His classmate had risen in the Triads through a series of suspicious coincidences to a relatively high level – much higher than the thugs that had tried to intimidate him as an impressionable teenager.

"Hey, Fon, you still doing work for the Triads on the side?" Of course he was; once in the Triads, however small the role, it was incredibly difficult to back out. And if he quit they would do something to his family. His normal job also didn't provide – dare he say it – the excitement and stimulation he was starting to grow accustomed to.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, I got a job for ya. There's a man who wants to meet you, told me he wanted a job done. And everyone knows you're the best." And indeed he was. His time in the tournaments – which he still participated in – had earned him the title of the best martial artist of their time, as fast as his namesake, the wind.

"All right, fine," he agreed.

"Excellent!" Jin exclaimed. "I'll be by tomorrow to give you the details and make sure your current contact knows not to make any rash decisions."

"Thanks. I guess," Fon said, still unsure of his former best friend's intentions.

"No problem. Happy to help an old friend, you know."

"So, Fon, the guy who wants to borrow you – before you meet him, well, he's a bit strange. Came in with the weirdest checkered clothes." Well. There was no accounting for taste.

"Alright. Let's go."

The two entered the room in which the client was sitting. Fon kept his face schooled in a passive expression, not showing his surprise at the man's odd appearance.

"Ah, Mr. Li, it's nice to meet you. Now, as I'm sure your friend told you, I have a proposition for you..."