AN: Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the last few chapters! I look forward to hearing your opinions and thoughts! Feel free to let me know.

And now, have fun reading!

Chapter 3

Kyle followed suit and grabbed a bow and joined Chris at the archery stand. Chris looked over at him, waiting. Kyle blew his hair from his forehead, aligned his stance grabbed an arrow and let it fly. It hit its mark perfectly. "In my family it is a tradition for a child who turns 13 to be gifted something special. So, when I turned 13 my aunt and uncle gave me a present. They said they would pay for me spending at least 4 months in a foreign country. Like what you are doing now. It is a tradition for a 13-year-old to spend at least a couple of months abroad in a different country. My brothers got it as well and my parents paid for my cousins. So when I was asked where I wanted to go, I decided I wanted to go to Japan. I had loved learning about it in history and I was reading a book about it at that time. In Japan they have different weapons and styles of fighting. Mostly due to their history with Samurai and Ninjas. They learn the old Samurai and Ninja ways of fighting. I picked up that there was a skill barley anyone could do, only the best. Fighting with two swords. I felt I had found my calling. So I spent all of my time learning from old masters. I balanced on trees to learn to keep my equilibrium and then mastered the art. All of the elders told me that I wouldn't have enough time to become really good. Sadly when I got home, we didn't have the necessary weapons. My grandparents saw me try to learn on my own, but we didn't have what I needed. Then on my next birthday I got a present from the whole family, these swords and a private teacher. My brother Felix tried to join me once, but he didn't like the style. After that I had private lessons. He helped me and after many long, difficult months I was as good as he was. Now I am also a master." Kyle finished speaking and concentrated on also putting his last arrow on target. He checked to see if Chris still had arrows in his quiver and went to retrieve his own. After putting the bow back on the weapons rack, he said "I'm going to do some exercises for my balance" and went to retrieve a small array of objects which he placed seemingly at random across the room. Chris watched him. "Can I join you?" Kyle nodded. The next 20 minutes Kyle slowly showed Chris how to navigate the course while he himself crossed the distance with his eyes closed.

When they had finished, both left the training room, leaving their weapons behind. Chris showered quickly and put on some clothes, then knocked on the door to Kyle's room. "Come in" He heard from inside. He stuck his head inside "You can go in now. I'm done in here." Kyle looked up from the book he was reading. He had removed his shirt and shoes and was sitting on a couch with a book in his lap. "You can come in you know. I'm not going to bite." He grinned. His black curls has slipped over his eyes again, so he pushed them back and got up. "You like my room?" he asked taking a step forward. Chris smiled and nodded. He saw that Kyle had a wall full of pictures. Intrigued Chris went over to it and looked at the photos. There was Kyle with his brothers, with his parents, with a girl Chris didn't know, many photos in action and also some from Japan. "Who is she?" Chris asked pointing to the girl in many on the pictures. "That is my ex-girlfriend." He turned with a quizzical look to Kyle who laughed and said "It's a weird story to be honest." Chris turned to him fully and answered with a smile "Oh, everyone has weird stories. Don't worry about it. It just makes you normal, I guess." Kyle slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, indicated for Chris to follow suit and began speaking. "When I was in Japan, Jenny was there for a week. She was touring the world; she is two years older than I am. She was going to visit different Institutes all across the globe and at that time she came to the Tokyo one as well. We hung out a bit and talked and said we would stay in touch, because she is from the London Institute. Over the course of the months I was in Japan, we talked on the phone a couple of times and skyped too. When I came home, she visited very often and I went to London too. Since we always had to portal we almost always had a warlock around. It was actually quite crazy. So, after about a year, when I went to London on her birthday, I kissed her. We started dating and had a great time. The long distance thing was sucky and I think we portaled every day. When she turned eighteen she decided to come here for good. That was when things started turning bad. We started lying to each other and keeping things from one another. I had a student at the time, so I was completely focused on training and work. She had nothing to do and was bored. I don't really know how long we tried to work on it. Maybe like 4 months, I don't know. Anyway, she broke up with me, saying it wasn't how she had imagined it and that she would be going back to London. Now, our relationship is quite good again. It has been about 6 months since our break up. We haven't really seen each other since then. Well no, she came here for the twins' birthday and I went to London for her dad's funeral, but we haven't really talked much." Chris took all the information in and asked "You had a student? What do you mean by that? And you need to let yourself have time to heal and get back to normal. You guys might be friends again or not, who knows." Kyle nodded his agreement and set out to answer the question "I am a master of the sword fighting skill you saw earlier, so my parents and my former teacher had the idea that I could train others, like I myself was trained. It is a real paying job. The students live here in the Institute and train. There are several different levels you can reach. I have never had a student who wanted to reach the highest stage. But I've had a couple who want to reach the basic level and one who wanted a level that is a little higher. I'm actually surprised that I don't have a student at the moment." Chris gaped at him "Wow, you're 17 and already earning loads of money, are teaching others. Are all of them younger than you? The people you train?" Kyle shook his head, "No, I've had a student who was about 15 years older than me. He actually listened to what I said and it was really good." Chris nodded and said "Sounds really great. Oh Kyle, I wanted to ask you something. Would you mind telling me what is interesting to look at here in Toronto?" Kyle nodded "Sure. I can tell you, but I can also go with you and show you around a bit? If you're interested." Chris grinned and said he would be delighted. Kyle showered quickly and threw on some clothes. He grabbed a washed out jeans and a cream coloured sweater and blew his curls from his forehead impatiently. He put on his normal boots and stowed his knives in their normal positions. After he was done he pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time and went to Chris' room. He knocked and waited for him to answer. Chris came out the door and together they headed towards the main entrance of the Institute.