"The… the Lunar Revel is coming soon. You know only once a year we get to leave the Kinkou Monastery to offer our prayers at the Warrior Saint's Gate…" What the fu— what was wrong with her? She had somehow managed to awkwardly blurt out a few words, but it felt like her tongue had been swapped for a knotted rope.
Shen didn't respond. Akali hadn't gotten to her question yet, so he didn't have to, and so he didn't. The stoic boy never was one to spare words.
"So after we do, would you like to go with me… to see the festival at the Ing'Xao Village?"
There. Finally. It was out.
Shen gave a longer pause this time. He blinked once, and then sighed, before closing his eyes. It was a painfully long silence. It was only until Akali finally turned her head away from embarrassment that Shen finally responded. She could hear the calm in his voice, the passivity, almost as if he was trying to be kind. But it counted for nothing. His words, as they came out, stung worse than any insult.
"Sorry. The Lunar Revel may be a rest for you and the rest of the Xiao'nin, but my training resumes as soon as I finish my duties at the Warrior Saint's Gate. I will be training throughout our trip. I don't really have the time."
"Oh… right…" She didn't know what else she was expecting. Of course Shen would be training, even on their Lunar Revel pilgrimage. His was their golden boy. Their heir.
"Of course." Akali finally finished. "I'm sorry for bothering you." She felt her face flush, from disappointment, or embarrassment anymore she didn't know. Hell, she didn't care. "I should have known that-"
"It's fine." Shen cut in- not rudely, but curtly. "Well, if that's all then- Please excuse me. I have duties to attend to."
And he left, leaving Akali standing alone there, feeling stupid.
Shit.
Well, what else did she expect from a boy whose emotions ranged from "barely any at all" to "potato"? What else did she expect from the heir to their Kinkou Order as son of their Headmaster, and heir to the seat of the Eye of Twilight as son of the same? She only succeeded in getting her hopes high enough to be crushed.
She sighed.
At least Shen could keep his mouth shut, if nothing else. Since no one would ever know about this, Akali could at least go crawl off alone to 'cry' about it later, or more likely beat the ever-loving shit out of some training dummy—
She turned, realized where she was and then froze in blank horror.
Ohhh no. Oh no, nonononono.
She had turned only to sight upon an entire class of full of Xiao'nin had been training in the courtyard below. Every one of the students was another one of her peers, and she blankly recognized a few of them when she was walking over to confront Shen, but she wasn't conscious of them training below until now. But they weren't training any longer- now they were simply staring. A good thirty pairs of inquisitive teenage ninja eyes stared straight back up at her, to Akali's horror. Even worse, normal people wouldn't have been able to eavesdrop from so far, but these were ninjas in training, who specifically trained to enhance their hearing to extra-human levels. They had almost certainly heard- every—single—fucking-word- she said.
Akali gathered herself, held her head high up, and turned and walked away with as much dignity has she could muster up. There wasn't much left. Even now, as she tried to disappear into the Kinkou Castle as quickly as she could, she could hear the faint tones of soft laughter and wicked gossiping that blossomed in the courtyard.
"Fucking shit," Akali muttered, wholly dreading with a pit in her stomach her next group instructional session.
Nine straight takedowns. Surely father would notice.
Master Khen swept Shen off of his feet once more, sending the boy toppling to the ground. Even though Master Khen was the Eye of Twilight, head of the Kinkou Order and one of the strongest martial artists on the Isle, he would have normally scored a least a hit by now. Today, their private sparring sessions were different though.
"...Would you like to go with me…" Akali had said, her eyes fixed on his with determination. "To see the festival at Ing'Xao Village?"
It was troubling. Shen picked himself from the ground, dusting himself off. He pursed his lips, disappointed. His performance today was unacceptable
"Shen. Is something that matter?" Father spoke to him, concern in his eyes. His father was as perceptive as expected from the Eye of Twilight. Nothing escaped his watchful gaze… least of all, his only son.
Shen shook his head.
"You can't fool me, son." Master Khen reached out to ruffle Shen's hair. "Sit. We'll take a break. My tea should be ready anyhow."
Shen bit lip, thinking. At his father's request, he dropped to the floor, sitting up in seiza position. How could he explain to his father what was troubling him?
Master Khen gave an exasperated smile.
The man strode over to their family's dining room, a small section of their quarters that had been sequestered off from the rest of their rooms. As one of the Triumvirate of their Order, Master Khen was afforded a larger cabin compared to the rest of the Kinkou, though he kept their living space sparse and spartan. Their private sparring area utterly dominated where the guest room should be, leaving only small rooms off to the side for Shen and his rooms.
Master Khen spoke to his son with his back turned, pouring some hot tea into a pair of ceramic cups.
"It's strange, Shen. You're quieter than both Su-Ling and I." Khen gave a small sigh after the mention of his late wife. "But you're just as kind as she was. I'm glad."
"I'm sorry for bothering you." Akali had almost spat out, her eyes cast to the side. There was hurt and disappointment in her eyes. And anger, but not at Shen. It was at herself.
He didn't really know what to say after that, so Shen left her there, shooting her hopes down and abandoning her. He did not lie. He truly did had no time. But at the same time… he didn't want to hurt her like that.
Master Khen had taken the seat across from Shen, taking a formal-stance seat just like his son was. The man handed off a steaming hot mug of tea to his son.
"Father." Shen tilted his head, frowning. "How do I apologize to a girl?"
Master Khen took the time to finish his sip of tea before answering.
"Apologize for what?"
"...I'm not sure."
Master Khen sighed, letting the hot air out of his mouth. When his face rose, there was look of horror spreading on his face.
"What... what did you do, Shen?"
There wasn't much else to do about it. Shen explained to him how he was caught at the bridge-way between the main castle of Kinxui Hidden Fortress and their living quarters.
"Ah. So you just got asked out. I guess you're at that age, huh?" Was that relief spreading over his father's face? "Whoever it is, you just have to treat that girl kindly from now on. This happened to your father a lot too. Your continued kindness will heal their wounds."
Shen caught his father smiling. The man suddenly rose, scooting over and taking a casual seat next to him. With one hand, the man kept sipping at his tea, his eyes closed and a small grin on his face. Shen could feel his father's other arm reach around and pat him on the shoulder. "So? Who was this girl? She in your class?"
"Her name is Akali."
Shen heard the sounds of choking.
"Akasou's daughter?!"
"Yes."
Master Khen put his hand over his lower face, his teacup left on the wooden floor by the side, his brows furrowed in deep concern.
"What in..." The middle-aged man muttered.
"Father? Is something the matter?"
"That girl takes more after her father." The Eye of Twilight sighed. For all his watching of Ionia's twin worlds, even he didn't see this coming. "And… how did young Akali take it?"
"Akali?" Shen thought back to a few hours ago. "Disappointed. Hurt. Maybe a little angry, too. She sort of ran away after I turned her down.."
"Is that so. Then I am amending my advice."
"Huh?"
"I know from experience that with women from the Aka clan, there's only one way to truly apologize."
Master Khen bit his lip, his eyes widening. With a start, he turned Shen around, twisting so he was face-to-face with his son and he put both hands on Shen's shoulders, towering over him. Shen felt the weight of his father's hands adding to the weight of his words. "When it came to both Lady Akami and Akase, this was the only method."
"Father? You're frightening me." Just what in the world did Master Akasou do to him put this fear of death that he saw in his father's eyes? They were both Kinkou Triumvirates… which meant they were comrades, right?
"Just do whatever they ask. The next thing they ask is your command."
"Is that it?" That sounded easy enough.
"Whatever request it is. If she is her mother's daughter, it will be reasonable enough."
"I… don't understand?"
"Just do it."
It took Master Khen just three short weeks to regret this advice.
Three weeks later...
The shouting from the angry schoolmaster at the front of the temple reached a crescendo. The huge man was nearly spitting in Master Khen's face. A few more words, and the schoolmaster grinned, as if he had won some sort of argument, as Master Khen stood still as a statue, implacable through the storm.
The schoolmaster opened his mouth, said only a few words and raised a fist the size of a bucket.
There was only a blur from Master Khen.
And then, the man's face seemed to bulge outwards; he collapsed, falling to a knee. The schoolmaster groaned and vomited clear spit. At this, the schoolmaster's disciples rushed forwards to help their teacher, but the Dai'nin to either side of Khen struck them down with swift strikes over their heads with sheathed swords, sending the disciples sprawling back, crying and clutching their heads.
Master Khen withdrew his hand, flexing it. In an instant, every Dai'nin within the temple flew to the entrance, just as the schoolmaster's disciples started flooding forwards, enraged by the attack upon their master. A small-scale riot erupted in front of the temple, with the disciples attacking with their swords and spears, and the Kinkou Dai'nin beating them back with the scabbards over their swords.
Shen fell back, watching and analyzing the situation through the peanut gallery of Xiao'nin that were glancing nervously at the erupting melee. Some civilian contact at the entrance of the shrine, it looked like. And his father was in the middle of it all.
There was a commotion at the front and all of the Dai'nin along with Master Khen had rushed to the entrance way, where a small riot was beginning to form. It seemed like one of the local martial arts schools were unhappy about the Kinkou occupying the entire shrine during the festival.
Already, their Chu'nin handlers were corralling them towards the back of the otherwise empty shrine to the Warrior-Saint, but their eyes were focused elsewhere, towards the source of the commotion. They looked amongst themselves, unsure if they should leave the children to assist the Dai'nin and their Eye of Twilight.
"Shen."
He turned to look at the source of the sound. It was Akali, with Kona standing behind her. Kona was behind Akali, pushing Akali's arm forwards as if to offer her hand to him. Were they trying to ditch?
"Let's go see the festival."
Really? Now? Shen thought to himself. The boy felt a brief flash of annoyance cross his thoughts. Of all of the times to go and goof off… Ridiculous.
Shen was about to break his father's advice and turn Akali down again, but the boy saw her eyes.
Despite being shot down by him weeks ago… he still saw that same determination in her look. In the way she spoke. In the way she carried herself. She was insecure, unsure and a self-loather. This was no triumphant coming of age woman. But despite all that... he could see there was still fire in her eyes.
This girl was undefeatable.
Shen didn't know how he felt about the girl in front of her. He didn't know if he could return those feelings. Akali was not the prettiest, nor the most talented, nor the strongest, nor the smartest girl in their class. But he did know one thing.
He admired her courage.
Shen sighed with exasperation. She got him.
"Sure."
And Akali's eyes lit up.
He took her hand and she and Kona pulled him along, sifting through the crowd of junior ninjas towards the nearest pillar to scamper up to the Shrine's rafters.
