RJ's elbows landed forcefully on the practice dummy as he let out a power scream. He stood there, looking at the dummy, unsatisfied with his results.
"Killer moves, man," said an amazed voice behind him. He turned and saw a blond young man, about the same age he had when he had started at Pai Zhua and smiled.
RJ insisted on wearing student robes while in the academy, because in his mind he would always have something new to learn and would always be a student. Also, he didn't like others knowing he was a master, because that lead to a lot of questions he didn't feel like answering.
"Thanks," he said with a smile as the other boy approached another practice dummy. RJ looked at him and smiled wider. He was very good looking and RJ, well, RJ liked people. He liked looking at people. He liked talking to people. "What's your name?"
"Dominic," the boy said, throwing a very bad punch at the dummy. "You can call me Dom."
"Well, Dom," RJ said, walking up to him. "Are you straight?"
Dom froze after throwing another terrible punch at the dummy. "Sorry?"
RJ laughed in his mind and decided to keep it up. He really liked having that effect on people. "Your back, is it straight? I can't tell because of the robes."
Dom let out the air he didn't know he was holding in, his eyes fixed on RJ and his flirty smirk. "I think so." He realized he was staring and he dropped his gaze.
RJ approached and got behind him, standing very close to him. "May I?" He asked, softly placing his hand on Dom's back.
"S-sure." Dom shut up as RJ put a hand on his chest and pulled him into a straight position.
"You will never have enough strength all hunched down like that," RJ said softly. He then moved his hands to Dom's, closing his fist tighter and then holding his wrist between both of his hands. "Tight fist and straight wrist," RJ explained, looking at Dom's face as he fixed his hand.
"I was told the rhino technique was done with an open hand," Dom commented, looking at RJ's face. RJ just looked back, smirking, his eyes glistening with repressed laughter.
"You may want to learn to throw punches with a closed fist first," the master recommended. "Now," he put his hands on Dom's hips and pushed them so they were twisted to one side. "From the foot, through the hips, up the back, to the hand. That's where the real power of the punch comes from." Dom was listening but RJ's hands were still on his hips and it was a little distracting. He looked at the master's eyes and felt himself blush. RJ opened his mouth to say something but then another voice boomed through the practice pavilion.
"Master!" RJ rolled his eyes and removed his hands from Dom's hips. "A word."
"Master?" Dom asked, blushing even more and attempting to bow before RJ stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't bow," he said and then turned to walk towards Master Finn, his father, who was standing by the door, looking stern and angry.
RJ reached his father's side and Master Finn turned, walking out of the pavilion, in the direction of the meditation gardens. RJ was following him, slouched and rolling his eyes.
When they were out of sight of everybody else, Master Finn turned to his son.
"What on Earth do you think you're doing?" He was obviously angry. RJ raised one eyebrow and shrugged. "That boy is a student!"
"And I was correcting his posture," RJ said nonchalantly.
"You were flirting with him!"
RJ let out a snicker. "I was correcting a student's posture, dad. What you think it was is really not my problem."
"Don't think for a second I fall for this," Master Finn snapped. "All these years, all along, I've known. You think you hid it so well, but I've always seen it, I've always seen you throwing looks, giving smiles, touching…"
RJ shrugged. "I like people, dad."
"Perhaps you like some people more than you should." Master Finn was now looking around them, compulsively checking nobody was eavesdropping in their conversation.
"I think I liked it better when you turned a blind eye."
"I have never turned a blind eye-"
"What about all those years I spent in suffering and pain, trying things your way? How many years? How many times did you ignore my pain in favor of having me do what you wanted, of having me be what you wanted."
"So now you're just going to go around picking cherries from the trees, doing whatever you want?"
"The times have changed, dad," RJ looked at his father, admitting to himself feeling anger at that moment would be a waste of energy. "And I have changed too. If you don't like me anymore because of that," he started to walk away. "Then pretend I'm not your son and look the other way. I don't mind, it's the only thing you were really good at."
Master Finn snapped something back but RJ decided to ignore him and keep walking back to the training pavilion.
Dom was still there, still throwing very bad punches.
"Are you sure you're completely straight, Dom?" RJ asked from the door. Dom swallowed hard and straightened his back. "Because if you were, you wouldn't be throwing such terrible punches." Dom straightened his back but refused to even throw a glance at him. RJ walked to the dummy he had been working on. "Our styles are not the same, but I can help you with the basics."
This time, Dom walked towards where RJ was punching his dummy, each punch sounding powerful and making the dummy vibrate.
"That's some power you've got there," he commented breathlessly. "Master" He added.
RJ looked at him and smirked. "Call me RJ," he said and turned again to the dummy. "Look at me, Dom, my feet, my hips, my back, all aligned. That's were the power comes from."
Dom imitated RJ's position and his punch sounded a lot stronger but he winced.
RJ took Dom's wrist between his hands. "Tight fist and straight wrist, Dom. Don't make me bandage you." He let go and stepped back so Dom could try again.
Dom threw a couple more punches, that sounded powerful and didn't hurt him. He looked at RJ smiling. "Thanks, mas-RJ."
RJ nodded benignly and approached him again, standing behind him, very close, and putting a hand on each shoulder. He pulled Dom's shoulders back and straightened his back again. "Now, straighten your back, unless you want me to strap a wooden plank to it."
"Well, I naturally slouch," Dom said, getting into position. "You may have to correct my posture more often than you think." This time, he did glance at RJ over his shoulder.
The master was trying very hard to keep from smiling. "Focus, now," he ordered. "We can talk about how straight you are, over dinner."