Setting #6: Backyard

Timeline: Year 8 of Ken's Training – Summer

It had been a week since Ryu and Ken were given their punishment, and as awkward as the situation may be, the two had come to accept it just as the master had intended. After all, modesty is an arbitrary value in the first place, and as it is in a monastery the rules are already relaxed, especially between two friends. It is because of that relaxed relationship between Ryu and Ken, that despite their present restriction, they continued to spend most of their time together as well as training and doing chores. Sometimes there were odd looks or smirks of laughter from some of the other students; but Ryu and Ken just learned to live with it.

They had also learned to live with each other, and while they came to accept each other more and more in their present situation, they also learned to overlook any awkwardness that might arise. Such things as physical arousal from either of them, especially within matches they learned to ignore or accept as much as a cold breeze or irritated insect bite. Their focus has always been and always would be based on self enrichment through the martial arts.

One day during their punishment, Ryu had taken up a spot up in one of the tallest trees in the temple after doing his chores. He stared off into the sunset lost in thought about himself and the feelings he felt deep inside of himself. The building power he felt, it was somehow related to his feelings for… Ken? No… it was deeper he realized, Ken was but a means to channel that power, and he knew that each night when he awoke thinking about it; Ken had usually been nothing more than a victim of that building feeling. Often times he found himself thinking about trapping Ken in some terrible and painful way, and hurting him badly as Ken screamed or begged to be set free. Ryu shuttered as he thought about it, and grew disgusted with himself each time he did because it always to some level made him aroused. Luckily up in the tree, nobody would notice, and so now was the best time to think about that… especially since the Master might have figured something out a week prior.

In the backyard of the temple, Ryu's mind then started shifting to that of the training hall a week earlier. He remembered when his master had him held there, pinned and helpless as Ryu futilely struggled as he was commanded. Ryu had been looking at Ken, and even while trapped in the hold, his mind wandered towards that dark part of his mind, while he thought about Ken's revealed figure. It was then, while he was pinned and struggling, Ryu realized he was starting to get aroused, perhaps at Ken or his own dilemma… but it was then that the master moved in, almost as though he knew what Ryu was feeling. Ryu stopped for a moment and shuttered as the thought of how good his master was at reading others… perhaps he was somehow reading or feeling his Ki?

Ryu's thoughts returned to the moment of that encounter, as he was pinned there looking at Ken, he then felt his master's hand reach down his back and between his legs. Something about that feeling of helplessness made that darkness inside of him swell up, ever hungry for pleasure. It was when the master grabbed Ryu though, that he his dark feeling suddenly shrank; diminished as fear took control of Ryu's mind. It was at that moment that Ryu realized that not his secret was no longer his own, that when his master felt him aroused, that the master too would realized just what was happening with Ryu. The two shared a look for a moment, and in that single look Ryu could see… feel his master digging deep into Ryu's body; into his soul. The two shared a conscious thought of how Ryu felt, not just about his helpless position, but about Ken and everything.

Ryu shook his head again feeling the darkness arise in him, and as such he felt very aroused by the situation. He starred at the son as it was sinking into the horizon, and it managed to calm him and his heart rate down.

"Hey, Ryu!" Ken called from about twenty feet below on the ground. Ryu look down and saw Ken; the sun glistened off his sweaty body.

"Hey, what's up?" Ken repeated and waved to Ryu, "Something bothering you?" Ryu shook his head and smiled.

"Nah, just needed some time to figure a few things out." It wasn't a full lie. Ever since Ryu was a young teenager, he could feel the darkness swelling up… It was about time he started to figure out exactly what it was instead of ignoring it.

"Hey Ken," Ryu called down to him, "Why don't you come on up?" Ken gave a bit of an odd expression at the invitiation.

"I… don't really like climbing tress Ryu." Ken said somewhat timidly, which was odd because Ryu only ever saw Ken become timid when he was in trouble with the master.

"Oh come on, I'll help you up." Ryu said with a smile. Ryu braced the front of his feet on the trunk of the tree, and then lowered his body head first down the tree hanging out of it with his arms extended towards Ken.

"Come on, grab on." Ryu said, but Ken seemed a little hesitant as he looked up.

"Guess it is about time I got over this silly fear." Ken said as he jumped up and grabbed Ryu's hands. Ryu pulled Ken's arms up to the tree branch, and then Ken climbed up to the tree branch, inadvertently also climbing over Ryu's body. When they were both seated, neither of them mentioned the awkwardness of that situation, and stared into the sunset.

"I never thought you were afraid of heights." Ryu said starting a conversation.

"Nah, not heights; I like being up high. I just… have a bad memory of being on trees." Ken scratched his head as he tuned his attention towards Ryu and smiled. Ryu then remembered something Ken had said a little over a week ago at the bar.

"I was climbing around on a tree, and ended up breaking my arm in a fall." Ken had said back then.

"You broke your arm in a tree when you were a kid, right?" He asked, and Ken looked away and nodded.

"Yeah, it was stupid."

"Oh, what happened?" Ryu asked, but Ken kept looking off into the distant sunset.

"Well, I guess I could tell you. It is kind of stupid though." Ken scratched his head again. Ryu shifted his body to face Ken by shifting one of his legs over the tree branch and his back to the trunk.

"My folks, they have a pretty big place. I mean… like we are filthy rich and all. Anyhow, the mansion is three stories tall, and my room was up there. I was kind of a spoiled kid really."

"Yeah, I remember your attitude when you arrived here." Ryu said as he punched Ken in the arm; they both laughed.

"Anyhow, I spent a lot of time as a kid playing games and watching movies when I wasn't at school and all. I would always pretend I was characters in those and do dangerous stuff like they did." Ryu nodded.

"Well, one of my favorite things was the old Tarzan movies; I loved them."

"Tarzan?" Ryu questioned.

"Oh yeah, you probably never watched a TV show in your life." Ken laughed out loud, "Well Tarzan is this big naked guy who was raised by monkeys in the jungle."

"Naked guy?" Ryu asked again.

"Well, he wore a loin cloth. Guess that makes him better than us right now." Ken laughed again. "Well, he would always swing around on vines in from trees, and would always rescue ladies in distress. That was probably my favorite part of it now that I think of it. And whenever he would encounter something bad like a poacher, he would pound his chest to intimidate him!" Ken briefly mimicked the motion which brought a smile to Ryu's face.

"Well, I always idolized these characters when I was a kid, and would do things I thought was like them. Like one time I tried to make a rocket pack to fly with." He stopped for a moment, "That got a second degree burn on my back." He said as he pointed to part of his back to show Ryu.

"Well, after I had watched some Tarzan, I decided I wanted to swing into my bed room window from one of the trees in the back yard. Of course, not very many trees were that tall or as tall as this one here, but there was an oak tree that had been growing on the grounds since before my dad built the place a couple decades ago. The tree was right outside my window; it used to scare me during thunder storms." He laughed again.

"One day I climbed up that tree with one of my sheets I had made into a rope, and tied it to one of the highest branches there. I then attached a toy train to it to give it some weight, and tossed it into my room. I raced back down the tree as fast as I could."

"Where were your parents?" Ryu asked.

"Oh, Dad was always at meetings. He is really big into business and stuff, but that day he was at home in his office. Mom, well… She was probably in the garden or something; she is Japanese and insisted on taking care of her garden everyday."

"Your mother is Japanese?" Ryu asked a little surprised.

"Yeah, my dad was really into the Japanese culture, and so he married her. Its why he sent me over here to train and all. I guess he didn't want me to grow up like some dumb American. Guess I didn't get much of my mother's skin tone though; I'm about as white as they come." Ken laughed again, and actually seemed to relax a bit from his original stiff composure he had when he first climbed up.

"When I got back to my room, I took off my shirt getting into the Tarzan mood, and did the whole chest betting calling thing. I grabbed the sheet and climbed on top of my bed, and then ran forward and swung on the rope. Whoosh!" Ken made a whooshing motion with his hand arching upward to further illustrate the point to Ryu.

"Well, I wasn't expecting what happened next. I went flying out and the rope began to wrap around the trunk of the tree. I distinctly recall myself thinking that this never happened to Tarzan, and I kept moving forward going faster and faster. It was kind of like one of those polls with the ball attached at school." Ryu nodded like he knew what Ken was talking about, but had never actually seen one of those devices in his life time.

"I wrapped around the tree and eventually ended up hitting my head on a branch. When that happened I lost my grip and let go of the rope with my hands, but my pants leg got caught on the train I had tied to the bottom. There was some ripping on the pants, and I knew that it wasn't going to hold out for too long and I dangled there upside down." Ken paused for a moment and looked into the sunset, "It was kind of humiliating, because that is when one of the workers noticed what I was doing. She screamed and ran inside, and I knew she was going to get Dad." Ryu shook his head.

"Bet you were going to be in a lot of trouble over that. Did your Dad spank you?"

"Well, he would have except I got a lot worse than that from the situation." Ken turned his attention back to Ryu and continued.

"So there I was, hanging there by one leg. I knew I needed to get out of that situation, because if my Dad came I was going to be in big trouble. I started to shift my weight back and forth trying to get some momentum thinking that maybe I could catch one of the tree branches with my hands and climb down to safety. It would have worked too, except that when I was swinging my pant leg gave out form the train. I managed to grab part of the tree's trunk with my left arm while holding on to the train, then I did something stupid, well besides getting myself into the situation to begin with." Ken laughed again, and Ryu found himself honestly impressed at how much Ken was able to look back at himself without resentment for the situation.

"So, I decided that I could still get out of this, and I let go of the tree and started to climb up the rope. Then I found out why they don't make ropes out of sheets. The sheet was old and I guess kind of worn out, and so when I started to climb it, it tore clean in two. I ended up falling about thirty feet or so, and well… I busted my arm up pretty bad. Doctors said something about a compound fracture."

"Must have been terrible." Ryu said as he turned his attention back to the sunset.

"Yeah, when my Dad came out, he was furious and cussing. When he saw me he stopped and kneeled down by me after telling one of the workers to get help. I guess he had some training because he knew I wasn't too bad off. He pressed on my chest in a couple places and asked if it hurt, and if I could move my feet. He was happy when he saw me move my toes, even though I was bawling. That's when he gave me the drink; told me it would make the pain go away." Ken looked at the sunset.

"After that, I avoided climbing trees. I still loved being high up and stuff, but I learned something that day." Ryu laughed and slapped Ken across the back of the head.

"Guess something had to sink in eventually." He said with a laugh, and they both laughed. They both sat there for a little watching the sun sink into the horizon and the stars slowly started to show up in the night sky. Ryu repositioned himself sideways on the tree.

"I think I'm going to go for a night walk." Ryu said as he again braced his feet against the tree trunk and lowered his body head first. He hung there for a moment as Ken watched, and then let go of the brace and flipped backwards to land on his feet below.

"Come on Ken, you can do that!" Ryu shouted back up to Ken. He hesitated for a moment, and then moved closer to the tree trunk. Like Ryu, Ken braced his feet against the trunk and let his body hang down. With not quite as much grace as Ryu, he managed to fall down to the ground landing in front of Ryu.

"Ryu" Ken said as he stood up looking Ryu in the eye, "I'd trust you with my life, you know that right?" Ken said as he turned away and started to walk back towards the temple. Ryu, he didn't know how to respond.

"Ken!" Ryu yelled as he continued to walk away, "Despite what I thought of you when I first came here as a kid, you have become the best friend I could ever ask for." Ryu continued, "Whatever happens, remember that!"

Ryu's mind then returned back to his thoughts about his darkness as he walked towards the temple gates. As he walked he felt the wind kick up and blow against his body; it was going to be a cold night.