"Dad. I told you this was a bad idea."

Yang stood at the doorway of the kitchen, as she slowly shook her palm-covered face. Everyone in the house knew that Tai couldn't bake, not even cook. When he did, it was considered a great miracle, that only appears once every a thousand year.

Tai looked at the pile of coal -that was supposed to be the cookies- with utter horror. "B-but, Lil' Drag, I swear, I saw a cooked cookie!" He narrowed his eyes and massaged his temples.

The blonde teenager paused, as she snickered. "Dad, you were supposed to bake! Not to cook!" She huffed.

Yang didn't know if she would roll on the floor laughing or take a picture of how ridiculous was her father's state. She just rolled her eyes and went to the table where Tai stood beside.

Taiyang failed on his hundredth attempt of baking cookies. As far as he remembered, he followed all the steps. Perhaps, he forgot that he hadn't taken off the tray from the oven before he went to Yang. Oh, he was really getting old.

"Look at that! A mountain of perfectly cooked cookies!" Yang pointed at the coal with a sarcastic beam. "I am so proud of my dad!" She directed the smile at her father.

"Not because they are called cookies, you're gonna cook them as well," she nudged her father, as she wiggled her eyebrows. "Eh? Get it?"

Tai flattened his eyelids and towered over his daughter. "Yang, I swear. I will wipe that smug look off of your face," he frowned deeply, doing his best intimidating look.

Yang covered her mouth and chuckled. "Aww, now dad's mad!" She laughed, until her eyes were flooded with tears. When her laugh subsided, she found that her dad was still staring at her like he was going to swallow her whole.

"Oookay…" She stood straight and firmed her gaze, trying to look stern. "Let's eat coal, dad!" She placed the side of her left palm on her forehead.

"Yang," Tai said, maintaining the look that made his hot-headed daughter hide in her shell.

"What?"

Tai bit the insides of his cheek out of instinct. "Bake another batch of cookies. I'm hungry," he wiped his stomach in a circular motion, a universal gesture of famishment.

Yang's eyes grew wide, as her lips curled into a knowing smirk. "I thought you'd never ask!"

It had been years since Yang talked like that with her father. It truly eased her and somehow, she felt protected at last. It wasn't that they hadn't had happy memories with their father, but Yang sweared she still found it incomplete. She had been contented with what her father was giving to her and Ruby, but because of certain circumstances, especially the time when her surrogate mother, Summer Rose, vanished without trace, everything in their lives changed drastically.

Yang needed to grow up faster than she should had been. She had to stand guard for her little sister and she had to fill the missing piece for Ruby. She had to be strong.

But the warrior within her was still a little child, desiring tender loving care and protection.

She had witnessed how slowly their school was destroyed. She had witnessed hopelessness; where all she could do was to lie down and wait for everything to be gone.

She lost her spark. She lost her hope. She couldn't find that small ignition of fire to light everything up.

"Yang…"

"Oh! Uh…" The girl had snapped from her reverie, as the cookie she was holding jumped from her hand, which she caught as soon as she could. She laughed awkwardly, as she swallowed the cookie whole. "Hey, dad!" She said, muffled.

Tai raised a questioning brow, as he took a bite of the cookie.

"Uhm…" Yang gulped and cleared her throat. "Hey, dad!" She flashed a beam, hoping that her father would bite the bait.

"What's the matter?" Tai leaned over the table and looked at his daughter directly in her eyes.

Yang leaned backwards ever slightly, as she let out a surrendering sigh. "Dad, tell me honestly," her expression fell into seriousness, her brows creased.

Tai prepared himself internally, as he mirrored the stern look.

"The story about my mom you told me lately isn't complete, is it?" She frowned, as her eyes turned glassy.

Yang just knew it. She could feel that her father was lying to her. If not lying, he might be hiding something to her and she hated it.

Her words hung in the air, as the tension grew higher. Tai could literally hear his heart pounding out of his chest and sweat trickling from his forehead. He bowed his head and dropped his cookie.

Yang's eyes narrowed, as anger started to build within her. She clenched her left fist, as she slightly hung her head, hiding her eyes.

"Yes. I haven't told you everything," Taiyang raised his head and squinted his eyes.

Yang gritted her teeth, as she trembled out of frustration. She slammed the wooden table with her fist, as it was divided into two, sending splinters of wood, shattered ceramic pieces and uneaten cookies flying into the air before crashing to the broken table. She stood up, eyes burning red.

"You know the reason all along!" She blurted out, her voice rusty.

Tai's eyes were closed, as he slowly stood up from his seat. "Forgive me, Yang. I can't tell you everything."

Her blonde hair lit up, as if it was burning with flames. "Why don't you tell it to me, now!? I'm tired of looking like a fool! I'm tired of finding something that was right in front of me all along!"

Tai opened his eyes and looked at his daughter with creased brows. "It's because you are not ready!" He snapped.

Yang gritted her teeth. "How long should I prepare?! When will I know...when I am about to die?! Huh?! That's what you want all this time?!" Her hair emanated more flames, as her anger consumed her.

Tired. She was very tired. She wanted to rest from this tireless search that was right under her nose.

Tai curled his fists. "Never in my life I wanted you to die, Yang! I'm doing this because I want to help you!" He pointed at his daughter with a trembling finger.

Yang panted, as the light from her hair slowly died out. "Help?" Her red eyes were flooded with tears, as her curled fist suddenly dripped warm blood. "That's how you help?"

Tai had seen the red glint from the corner of his eyes.

"You help by hurting me more? Should I thank you for that?" She squinted her eyes, as she opened her palm, which trickled crimson blood. She let her arm down, as she slumped her shoulders and bowed her head.

"Yang, listen to me," Tai looked at his daughter with pity, as the broken table separated him from the girl.

"I can't do this anymore, dad," Yang raised her head, her lilac eyes cascading tears. "I feel like I shouldn't have ever lived. It hurts so badly," she bit her lips, as she tapped her chest with her bloody hand. "I can't take the pain anymore."

Tai didn't hesitate to step on the broken pieces of wood, just to come to his daughter. He stopped right in front of the girl, who had her head low and her hand still on her chest. He grabbed the wounded hand and placed it on top of his right palm.

"Lil' Drag, listen to me," He placed his left hand on her left, as he hoped that the teenager would look at him, in which he didn't fail.

He thought that everything would be alright after the recent talk. He was wrong, and it seemed to him that he made his daughter feel worse than before. He didn't intend it to happen. All he had in his mind was to protect his child, but it turned out that his way hurt his daughter more. Only if he could share the burden she had, he would have done it from the start. Only if he could give her his right arm, he must have done it as soon as he'd seen her.

Yang looked at her dad tearfully, as she was biting her lip. She didn't know how to build herself up after all of what she had experienced. She didn't know what to do. She just could see herself crying until she lost all of her tears. The Yang she thought she was somehow vanished from her.

"How did you bake the cookies?" Tai started.

Yang tilted her head a bit. "H-huh?"

Her father looked at the ceiling and smiled slightly. "Oh, you know," he looked down. "Show me how you did it."

The girl couldn't understand the point of her father, but sooner, she found herself convinced by that. She headed to the oven, releasing her hand from her father's grasp.

Tai watched his daughter go with a soft smile. He knew that this was going to work. He wanted to bring back the spark within Yang to fight against the trials of life and never give up. He would be by her side until she finally regains herself.

Yang looked at the oven with a frown, as she harshly wiped the tears from her eyes using the back of her hand. "What's the point?" Her voice cracked a bit.

Tai went beside her, as he crossed his arms. "You'll find out."

The girl rolled her eyes and growled lowly, as she kneeled, opening the oven. "I mix all the ingredients and I always make sure that I put the right amount of everything," she raised a brow at her father, who nodded once. She sighed and flattened her eyelids, as she turned to the oven once more.

"If I don't do that, it'll be a...trash," Yang had somehow realized something, as she squinted her eyes.

Tai grinned like a madman.

"After that, I put the batter into a molding tray, then into the oven. I'll set the right temperature and…" The girl's eyes narrowed.

"Then?" Tai raised a brow.

Yang stood up, as she faced her father. "...and wait until it is ready…" She trailed off, as her eyes lit up with realization. But she knew it was far different from her situation.

"It's not the same, dad!" She creased her brows and frowned.

"It is," Tai said simply, as he placed his left hand on her right shoulder.

"You are like the cookies; you have to have the right amount of ingredients and the right amount of temperature."

Yang frowned deeper. "What? You are planning to bake me?"

Tai choked and when he regained his composure, he sent back the frown. "You know that it's not what I meant."

His stubborn as a bull daughter slowly raised a brow.

"The point is that you must wait for the right time until you are ready. Once you put the wrong amount of ingredient on the cookie mixture, what will you have?" He raised a brow.

"A rubbish," Yang stated nonchalantly, retaining the frown.

"My point exactly. Everything takes time, Yang," he smiled, as he tapped his child's shoulder.

She had recalled the same statement before, but she chose to shake it off this time. "But when will I know when I'm ready?" Yang shrugged.

Tai sighed and looked at the ceiling. "You're ready when you throw all your heavy luggage from your shoulders and move forward," he smiled down at his child.

Yang gasped faintly, as a certain friend of hers flashed back in her mind. "I…"

"See? You're not yet ready. Learn to let go, Little Dragon," Tai gripped his daughter's shoulder tightly. "And learn to forgive."

Yang looked down, as she closed her eyes tightly. Forgiveness could be easier to say than to be done. Letting go was as hard as forgiving as well. She wouldn't be able to do that, considering the pain she had caused her.

"Dad, so if I forgive and let go, you would tell me the reason why mom left me?" She raised her head and looked at her father.

Tai paused. "It isn't me, who'd tell you why," he received a frown from the teenage girl. "Your mom would be the one."

Yang looked down, as she creased her brows.

"Yang, give me your hand," Tai said.

The girl slowly raised her head and paused before she had fully raised her gaze. "Which one?"

A full five seconds of silence hung in the air, until the elder groaned.

Yang smirked, as she stood straight and stretched out her left arm. "I was just messing with ya', dad," she chuckled lightly.

Tai rolled his eyes and laid the back of her hand on his larger left. "Why are you bleeding?" He pointed at the wounded palm, as he frowned.

"Well," she rolled her eyes upwards. "I just wanted to hurt myself."

"Use your aura," Tai said sternly.

Yang rolled her eyes towards her father's gaze. "Geez, it was just a scratch," slowly, the wound on her palm closed, as the bleeding stopped. "There."

"Hey, Lil' Drag," Tai took a step backward, as it alerted the girl, her hand slipping from the hold of her dad. "B-behind you," he pointed fearfully at the back, as if some sort of monster was there.

Yang's eyes narrowed, as she folded her left arm in a fighting stance.

"R-ro…" Tai's finger trembled, as it scared the girl. "Roach!"

Yang screamed, as she folded her knees in a sitting position and buried her face in her legs. "Wings! Does it fly?!"

Tai snickered, until it grew into a booming laughter.

The teenage girl unwrapped herself, as her face twisted in annoyance. She stood up, as her eyes flashed red. "Daaaaad!"

Tai finished his laughter with a snicker, as he looked at his literally burning daughter. "Whoa, erupting already?" He grinned.

Yang growled, as her hair lit up.

"I thought you've grown up…" He tapped his chin in thought. "Why are you still afraid of roaches?" Tai couldn't stop his snicker.

"I'm not afraid of roaches! I just…" She bit her lip, as she looked side by side.

"Just…?" The elder crossed his arms and smirked.

"Just!" Her crimson eyes flashed, as they slowly died down with her hair, returning into their normal lilac color. "I hate those which fly!" She blurted out.

Tai suppressed laughter, turning his cheeks into red. "Really?"

"Yeah! I mean, who doesn't?" Yang took a step forward.

"Oh, come on, Yang," Tai shook his head, as he turned around and headed outside the kitchen. "You're still a little kid, no matter what you say."

Yang rolled her eyes and looked at the retreating figure of her father. "I'm. Not. Little."

Tai paused, but continued anyway. He smirked, as he walked towards the hallway.

"Hey, wait, dad! What about the table?"

Tai's head popped from the doorway. "Oh, that's the fifth table, Lil' Drag. You know what to do," he winked and smirked at his daughter.

Yang looked at the messed table, until her mouth curled into a frown. "Eh, I'll just eat on the bed," she went to the doorway, where her dad stood, who looked at her questioningly. "What? This is what I did the last time!" She creased her brows.

Tai sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Fine. I'll let you pass today."

Yang smiled victoriously.

"Just today," her small celebration was halted. "Condition yourself for tomorrow. We'll have a sparring," Tai walked away and left the girl with her mouth agape.

"What?! I am not ready, you said it yourself!" She narrowed her eyes.

Tai stopped in mid-walk and looked over his shoulders. "Refusing a challenge now, eh?" He raised a brow.

Yang gulped, as she instinctively held the stump of her right arm. "Uhm… No…"

Tai smirked.

"Not, of course! Tomorrow at 9, I'll be as energized as a worm soaked with soap! Mark my word, dad!" She breathed out through her nostrils, as she stood in a fighting stance.

Tai went off, as Yang frowned and thought of what would she look like the next day.

"I'm gonna fight single-handedly," she sighed and slowly shook her head.