The pain was the first thing he felt. Even before he opened his eyes, it woke him up.
"Ugh..."
He squeezed his eyes shut even harder and his teeth clenched. Everything hurt. No part of his body was spared the pain.
"What a night..."
Zhang... FINALLY someone connected to Yuanda Zhu who could take Ryo to the man. And just when he had sat down to talk, when a path forward was finally in his grasp, it was snatched right for his hand.
Zhang had been taken.
Kidnapped.
Ryo had to get him back.
He cut his way through the crowd of goons trying to block his path; putting one after another face down in the pavement.
He had not done so unscathed. They threw their own punches, sloppy as they were compared to his well-trained ones. Opponent after opponent had worn him down, and he almost had wondered if there would be no end to it.
He'd taken a beating, but he had dealt out a harder one; enough so that he'd managed to pull Zhang out of the grip of the Chiyomen. It was a rough victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Truthfully, it was the best kind in his opinion.
'Could've lost... but I was better.'
He allowed himself a small smile, feeling a little of the bruises he knew were going to be forming. He allowed himself a few breaths of air, then finally opened his eyes.
The white light above blinded him, making him shut eyes again quickly. Upon a second attempt, his vision focused, making out patterns in a familiar ceiling, along with the fan, slowly pushing air down on him.
He was back in Xiuying's room.
"You're awake!"
Fangmei. Right on time.
"Yeah..." he slowly answered, his rib cage protesting at the strain his lungs were putting on it.
The sight of Fangmei coming in to wake him up had become a familiar one in the past month. She'd come in with her trademark smile and happy, beaming eyes to make sure he was up, whether or not he needed to be. Xiuying and Hanhui always had something they wanted him to do at the temple on the weekdays, but the weekends were his. It didn't make a difference to Fangmei, she was always there every morning.
He forced down his pain and put on a small sideways smile to meet her happy face...
"Good morning Fang-..."
...only to find it was not there.
"...mei?"
This time there was no smile, and no beaming eyes either. Her big smile had been replaced with a small, sad one. The light in her eyes gone... now filled with... fear?
Ryo was awake now. What was wrong? Did he need to worry?
"Fangmei? What's-GAH!"
Lightening pain shot through his body, scaring muscle, tissue, and anything else in its path. It instantly knocked him back on Xiuying's couch.
"No!" She was by his side almost as fast as he'd fallen back down. "Don't move!"
Ryo caught his breath, moving (carefully this time), propping himself up in his elbow.
"It's... alright" he assured her. She didn't look convinced.
"Please..." she urged. "Just stay still..."
He did as she asked, for the moment, still getting his bearings.
"What's... wrong?" He tried asking again.
She looked at him incredulously, eyes wide.
"Don't you... remember?"
He suddenly realized... he didn't. He remembered rescuing Zhang... then... nothing. He didn't remember coming home yesterday.
...home?
Why... when did he start...
'Never mind.'
"Fangmei," he tried again. "What happened?"
The girl's wide eyes, softened, reverting back to that anguished look... It was starting to make Ryo restless.
"You were... unconscious... you collapsed outside of our building."
She started to fidget with her fingers, anxiety eating at her.
"You were... limping... badly..." the girl's face was strained. "And then you fell."
'Limping hom- back here... and collapsing?'
He couldn't remember... none of it. Although now that he thought about it, his leg seemed to think differently right now.
"Master Tao had to help carry you in."
'...what?'
"...Xiuying?" He slowly repeated.
The girl nodded.
'Great...' that would go over well...
"You were hurt so badly..."
He could remember none of this... only the fight...
...and Zhang...
He was starting to remember... the talk afterwards...
"There is one thing you can do..." Zhang advised. "But it is very dangerous..."
Whatever it was, Ryo was willing to do it.
"The man hunting Zhu is Don Niu if the Yellow Heads gang. He has a rival from another gang called the Heavens."
Ryo's blood began to pump hard, feeling he next step of his events now close a hand.
"Who is this rival?!" He demanded.
Zhang nodded, pleased by the boy's determination.
"His name is-"
'REN!'
Remembering his next task. Nearly put him on his feet. Nearly.
Again, pain halted his advanced, forcing him back on the couch.
"Don't! Please!" Fangmei begged. "You shouldn't move!"
She moved in closer to him, her small hands on his arms, gently trying to hold him in place. "You'll need at least a day to recover, probably more..."
A day... no he couldn't waste that much time.
"I can't..." he replied, again trying to get up.
"Come on!" She urged, her hands pressed against his shoulders-
"GAH!" Again, back on the couch.
Fangmei yelped, instantly pulling her hands back liked she'd touched fire. "I-I'm sorry!" She squeaked.
Ryo fought to get his breath back.
"It's... okay..." he forced out.
Fangmei brought her hands to her chest, holding one inside the other.
"You need to rest! Let yourself heal!"
There was no time... If Zhang was right, and Yuanda Zhu was in hiding, he was on the defense. The ... 'yellow heads? Is that what Zhang called them?' were looking for him. They could find him soon.
He needed to find their rivals, led by this "Ren," and make a counter attack as soon as possible.
He needed to go... NOW.
Mostly out of will, a little out of rage, he rose to his feet in a burst of strength, determined not to fall back on that couch again.
He didn't. He instead crashed to the floor.
Fangmei yelped.
"HAZUKI-SAN!"
She knelt down, her arms wrapped around him, trying to support him. Her help, along with one of his hands bracing against the ground (and the other nursing his side), were just enough to keep him from going face-first into the floor.
This was ridiculous! He needed to find Ren! NOW! He needed to rescue Yuangda Zhu, to find Lan Di, to kill him! To avenge his father!
He couldn't just waste time here, being weak. So he was in fight, so he'd taken some blows, so what?! He was a fighter, it's what was expected!
'STOP BEING WEAK!'
"I have..." he breathed out "...to go..."
'Good... now just push off the ground...'
He just... had to...
...
"Why...?"
Her voice was soft… sad…
It stopped him cold.
He had never heard her sound like that before. Then he turned his head to look at her…
And regretted it immediately.
Fangmei...
The sweet, chipper girl always waking him up with a smile, always humming a tune to herself as she ran around the temple grounds doing various chores...
She was about to cry.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" Her small voice was trembling...
For a few, long seconds, neither said anything. She looked at him, her eyes watering, and he stared back, frozen like a deer in the headlights.
He had absolutely no idea what to do.
"F-Fangmei-"
Did he just stutter?
"You should..." her voice was shaking. "You should... be more careful!"
His resolve was suddenly not so solid.
'She just... she doesn't... u-understand... she doesn't understand that-'
"Please..." she begged, her hold tightening, albeit gently. " whatever you're doing… please stop..."
The damn broke, and the tears came. She lay her head into his shoulder, softly crying.
"Please... Ryo-san..."
She was pleading... crying...
He wasn't going anywhere. Not with her like this. Not with his motivation just drained away from his body and mind.
With what strength he could muster, he shifted himself into a seated position. She never let go of him the whole time.
"Fangmei..." he brought an arm around her, consoling her as best he could.
The best thing to do was just to let her cry.
...
...
...did she just call him Ryo?
"Ryo-kun," Ine-san gently inquired as she dabbed away the blood from the boy's forehead. "What happened?"
Gentle as the elderly woman's voice was, Ryo still had trouble answering, because-
"Nozomi was crying," Ichiro answered for him.
"ICHIRO!" Ryo yelped, pulling away from Ine-san's care.
"What?" The other boy helped up his hands in defense. "It's true, isn't it?"
"Ryo," Ine-san pulled the boy back to continue her care. "Did you make Nozomi cry?"
"B-But it wasn't my fault!" He frantically defended himself. "I was trying to get our kite out of the tree and fell! I didn't fall on her, she never got hurt!"
"...yeah that's true," Ichiro agreed. "She was all like 'Ryo! Ryo! Waaa!' And then Ryo ran away."
Ichiro's explanation earned a glare from the other boy. He then quickly returned back to Ine-san.
"See?! I didn't do anything!"
"Hmmm..."
Ine-san had a pensive look on her face.
"Nozomi was crying because you were hurt, wasn't she." It was said a statement more than a question. Ine-san already knew the answer.
"U-Umm..." the boy couldn't think of what to say.
"HA HA HA!" a voice bellowed. "Already breaking the hearts of young women Ryo?"
"Hazuki-sensei!" Ine-san scolded. "No talk like that right now!"
Iwao Hazuki was usually a more solemn man. Kind-hearted of course, a great father to his son, but was one to seldom joke.
That changed when it came teasing his son about women, much to Ine-san's ire.
The man held his hands up with a chuckle, placating the woman. Then he turned to his still-disturbed son.
"So... Nozomi cried after seeing you get hurt, and then you ran away?"
Young Ryo looked up. "I...I-I-"
"Did it bother you that she was crying over you?" Iwao softly inquired. Ryo nodded in the affirmative, saying nothing still.
"Of course you should try avoid worrying your friends Ryo," his father explained. "But it is not wrong when they do worry. Their worry is a sign of how much you mean to them."
The boy looked somewhat calmer now. Iwao could see it's words were getting through to him.
"Nozomi cares for you Ryo. It's not bad they she cried when you were hurt. And it's not wrong that you would make her care so much. You should in fact be grateful that others would care for you so much. It is a good sign of who you are."
Ryo finally smiled, settled down by his father's wisdom.
"Besides," Iwao added, his warm smile turning into a wry grin. "It is a also a good sign of how much a lady's man you will become!"
"HAZUKI-SENSEI!" Ine-san scolded.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Little Ryo simply looked on, his head turned in confusion as his father laughed heartily while Ine-san reprimanded him.
His father's voice faded, becoming soft, then slipping away, like morning mist dissipating in the light of the morning sun.
Ryo's heart became heavy, knowing that day he was reliving, and others like it were gone now, only memories that survived in his heart.
He breathed in deep, then exhaled slowly, calming himself and swallowing the lump in his throat down before he choked on it and brought on tears as well.
Opening his (dry) eyes, again Xiuying's ceiling was the first thing he saw for the day. With a grunt, he heaved himself up into a sitting position.
What surprised him is that he was able to to do it. No pain came with his movement.
At least none that made his body give out.
A slight soreness was felt, but it was the kind he could walk off, as opposed to-
"HAZUKI-SAN!"
Crashing to the floor, barely able to move...
Fangmei's tears...
Now it came back to him... and he didn't know how to respond.
Fangmei...
Where was Fangmei?
He was alone in the room, with only the sounds of Hong Kong beginning to awake and start its daily routine along with the rising sun shining through the windo-
"Morning?"
It was morning when Fangmei had come in...
Ryo looked at the clock.
"...nine?"
...
HE'D SLEPT FOR AN ENTIRE DAY?!
The guilt and self-shame was immediate.
So much time wasted...
So much he could've finished in that day...
What about Ren? Could he have found him by now?
...
"Why?"
...
Fangmei's voice echoing in his head silenced his self-criticism.
"You need to rest... let yourself heal!"
"Please..."
That had rattled him. Badly.
Enough to make him consider her plea.
"Take it easy..."
Saying it out loud was strange enough. He'd been pushing so hard for so long. He couldn't really even remember the last time he had taken things slow.
"Oh yeah... since Father died..."
His anger rekindled and the urgency began to pump into his veins once more.
About to rise from the couch, he looked over the table first, seeing a cup with a note. He reached for the note first.
Please, just take it easy today. I promise to cook the best Japanese food I can if you do!
- Fangmei
She had dotted the "i" in her name with a heart. Whether it was her trying to act cheerful again or just writing subconsciously, Ryo grinned wryly at it. Fangmei was definitely the type that would do that.
He reached for the cup next. No heat reverberated from it. He looked again at the note.
'Please, just take it easy today.'
"Today" must've been yesterday. Fangmei certainly got her wish. He took a sip from the cup.
"Cold..."
...
He drank it anyway.
His walk to Man Mo Temple was slower than usual. For once his mind was not racing ahead with thoughts about how find Lan Di or Zhu, with his legs pumping to make his body catch up.
Today his mind was focused inward, reflecting.
"Why...?"
Seeing Fangmei so... sad...
He was still reeling from it.
Dwelling on it had made his mind wander to other things.
"Would your father want this?"
"The master is worried about you..."
"You should be more careful! Please..."
Xiuying, Hanhui, Fangmei... Their words were echoing in his head over and over now. And he was starting ponder them.
They were scared. Scared for him.
"They just met me..."
Why did they care?
Xiuying had offered him her room to stay in, without asking if he even had anywhere (and ignoring him when he tried to say he did).
Hanhui gave him a lesson here and there about moves in the Chinese martial arts, with him often asking to show him some of the Hazuki style in return. A rather familiar relationship that Ryo had not scene coming.
And now with Fangmei...
They were truly worried for him. A lot.
A small pang guilt crept in, which he quickly forced down. But still he pondered his current situation.
He'd never really taken the time to reflect on his surroundings, the people around him specifically.
Why did they do what they had done? Fangmei's tears, Xiuying taking him in, Hanhui's discussion about martial arts (which admittedly Ryo enjoyed quite a bit), what stemmed from it?
"Ryo, what is one of the most important skills you can master?"
Without a so much as moment of hesitation, the ten-year-old answered:
"The Pit Blow Father!"
The Iwao smiled and chuckled at his son's eager response, and the proud look he had, proclaiming one of the Hazuki style's signature moves to be the answer.
"Unfortunately, that is not it Ryo," he gently advised.
They boy's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"I-I-It's not?!"
Iwao smiled, holding down a laugh at his son's wide-eyed, dumbstruck face.
"Care to try again?"
Young Ryo pondered.
'A kick, a punch, a throw... it really isn't the Pit Blow?'
"Situational Awareness, Ryo."
The boy just stared. "...huh?"
It's about knowing what is happening around you.
"Oh..." Iwao's son answered, "Oh! Like knowing how many opponents you are facing and if they're behind you!"
Iwao nodded. "Yes... but this does not just have to apply to martial arts. It can apply to your life as well."
He looked up to ceiling of their Dojo, as if lost in thought of how the concept had applied to him in his own life.
"Be mindful of place you live, the things that happen around you, the environment you are in, and most importantly: the people you are connected to; those you value, and those that value you."
Iwao now faced his son. "To be aware of all these things will help you better understand the world around you and will help you better make the right choices. Do not forget this Ryo."
"Situational Awareness..."
How interesting for that memory to come back to him now of all times. Nonetheless, his father's wisdom provided a good option for him.
He wanted to know more about them, and to do so would take time. Time he would need to invest, away from his mission.
It would no doubt provide relief to them as well, seeing him not so single-minded.
He conceded that it would probably make things better, especially after he came home like he did the other night. He wanted things to be better between him and the people who worried over him, but it didn't mean he would simply concede to their ultimate wish.
He knew what they ultimately wanted from him, Xiuying most of all: for him to abandon revenge. It wouldn't happen, that much he promised.
Lan Di would pay. He would see justice done.
Nothing would dissuade him from his path...
...
...
'...but it wouldn't hurt to take it a bit slower perhaps.'
To be continued...