Here's chapter 12!

I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. The overall impression I got was that you people want 1) Longer chapters and 2) upload more often. I will try my best to upload regularly but I have just moved back to Uni and I will be doing my dissertation as well as a shit load of coursework which obviously has to take priority but I will try to write as frequently as possible.

JimmyHall24 – yeah the Elder Gods are dicks.

OgkushE – you didn't come across as mean at all! I will try to upload as often as possible but, like I said, I'm at uni now and that has to be my priority.

Kuai Subby – Thank you! Yes I like their relationship too but I'm afraid that aspect is a bit of a slow burner. The main focus of the story is Nyssa finding her powers and finding her way home.

FNAFFRENZYCAT – yes, I was very pleased to kill that dick. I mainly wanted to use it as a way to show Nyssa that Raiden hasn't forgotten her.

Thank you to everyone else guessing her powers. To the people who guessed telepathy; you were really close! Originally, Nyssa did have telepathy but someone suggested something better so I've gone with that.

This chapter is actually told from Kuai Liang's POV so Nyssa's power won't be directedly stated, more implied.

Chapter twelve – Harder, better, faster, stronger.

Time passed quickly for Kuai Liang.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and his grief disappeared soon enough with the help of training and friends. The experience had been a wake up call to the type of life that awaited him once he came of age and became an assassin. Kuai had become a more serious student since his Déshì's passing; investing much more time in his studies, his training and perfecting his cryomancy with Bi-Han as his teacher. Whenever Tomas and Nyssa were bored and wanted to play, Kuai would suggest practising their kata or sparring together as opposed to sock-ball and hide and seek.

Bi-Han and his other sifus had noticed this change and were pleased with his progress. They began treating him better, took him more seriously, and they often encouraged him to focus and dedicate himself to the Lin Kuei code of conduct; to value honour and duty above everything else. As long as he stuck to this, he had the potential to become one of the most powerful members of the Lin Kuei.

"It's all about discipline and control," Bi-Han had told him one day. "You and I have a lot of power but without control, it's no good. As long as you continue to train hard and don't let anything hold you back, you can be just as strong as me. Maybe even stronger than Dad was!"

But something was holding him back; Nyssa.

He had always respected and admired his friend for her determination and bravery. Despite everything that had happened to her, she refused to be treated like a victim and sort to prove herself to be just as capable as any of her fellow apprentices. It was this quality that had inspired Kuai Liang to try harder and become a better fighter and warrior.

But something had changed within the young cryomancer and he wasn't sure what it was. He only knew that it had occurred when she had let him cry on her shoulder. He'd been well aware of the mutual hatred that existed between his friend and father, however Nyssa had put aside these feelings in order to comfort him in his time of need. These simple actions had shown Kuai how much she valued and cared for him, truly touching his heart.

The kiss he'd placed on her cheek had been a spur of the moment decision. He knew the fraternisation rules too well; Lin Kuei assassins did not need to know the meaning of a kiss or a loving embrace. But he'd gone ahead with it anyway, thinking that he'd forget all about it when he went to bed.

Instead, it consumed him and kept him awake at night. Sometimes, it was all he could think about.

Now, his stomach twisted into a knot whenever she walked into the room, his heart did backflips whenever she spoke to him and he found himself wishing over and over again that it was her lips that he'd kissed instead. He could never look at her the way he used to, no matter how hard he tried.

How could he become a cold and fearless assassin when one look from her made him feel like his spine had melted?

These thoughts circled the teenaged cryomancer's mind as he sat inbetween Matteo and Rickard on the wooden benches in the dojo, watching the object of his affections about to engage in a sparring match against Tomas, silently praying for her to win. He couldn't take his eyes off her as they bowed to each other before taking their respective stances; leopard and mi tzu.

"Remember, you are to use only your martial arts skills, no special abilities. That means you, Tomas! HADJIME!"

"Ladies first," said Tomas, winking cheekily at Nyssa.

"Awwwwh but you always start! I want a turn," replied Nyssa, a wry grin forming on her pretty face. Kuai Liang, Matteo, Rickard and the other apprentices burst into silent giggles at her joke whilst a pink tinge coloured Tomas' pale cheeks.

"See, now I have to hurt you," said Tomas before charging towards her. He delivered a combination of perfectly executed punches and knife strikes, aiming straight for her head. Kuai watched excitedly as Nyssa calmly ducked under the punches as if she could predict his movements until Tomas changed tactics and aimed for her stomach. She deflected it easily, grabbing his wrist and twisting it, putting the Czech teenager in a wrist hold.

She raised her hand and attempted to throw a leopard chop to his jaw, but Tomas was quick and dropped to his knees to avoid it, before twisting his arm against Nyssa's grip, breaking free. Kuai's hands balled into fists out of anxiety as Tomas threw an elbow strike to Nyssa's abdomen, before dropping even lower to trip her with a low sweeping kick and she grunted in pain as she hit the floor. But his anxiety vanished almost immediately as Nyssa had rolled backwards to avoid being pinned down by the silver haired teen and was on her feet once again.

'Come on, Nyssa!' he thought as she launched her own attack, going on the offense. She aimed a snapping front kick to Tomas' jaw, which he blocked, before lengthening her stance and delivered five hard and fast leopard punches, catching him in the chest and stomach.

As soon as her combo ended, Tomas attacked once again. He tried to mimic her combination of punches, aiming for her arms and chest in an attempt to distract her before throwing a round house kick to her face. But Nyssa dropped into a side stance and hooked her arm underneath his leg, blocking his attack and leaving him hopping on one leg, trying to keep his balance.

Wasting no time, she then hooked her front foot around his ankle and pulled forward, sweeping Tomas off his feet. He crashed head first onto the training mat, and Nyssa leapt on him and pinned him down by placing one knee on the small of his back and the other on his shoulder blade. She raised her fist over her head, poised to strike.

"Give up?" she asked confidently as Tomas struggled to push her off him, all to no avail.

"Yes," grumbled Tomas, tapping his palm against the ground in surrender.

"YAMAE!" called out their teacher, Edward. He was a tall, burly British man in his early thirties. He had been absent from the Lin Kuei temple for a number of years due to a mission that took him to the United Kingdom, but he had finally returned to take over the classes that Déshì formerly taught. He was a karate specialist, particularly in shotokan and go kan ryu and Kuai Liang had warmed to their newest teacher very quickly, liking his style of fighting as well as his more hands-off approach to teaching; he didn't beat them.

"Hai, sensei," replied Nyssa and Tomas, the former pulling the latter to his feet, bowing and then standing to attention. Edward insisted on day one that the students call him 'sensei' as opposed to 'sifu'.

"Well done, both of you. Nyssa, you can stay. You'll fight Kuai Liang next," said Edward and Kuai's heart sunk in his chest. As much as he admired Nyssa's skills as a fighter, he hated sparring with her. He couldn't bear the idea of hurting her.

Nyssa, however, didn't appear to share his sentiments as she beckoned to him eagerly, taking her place on the opposite side of the match. They bowed to each other and Kuai took his shotokan stance. He expected Nyssa to resume her leopard style stance but was surprised to see her study him briefly before she copied his movements and mimicked his pose.

'Strange,' he thought.

"HADJIME!" called Edward and the two of them sprung into action.

Kuai started the fight with two front jabs followed by a side kick, aiming his foot towards her shin. Nyssa leapt backwards on the balls of her feet to avoid him before launching her own attack. She started with a snapping front kick before stepping into a round house kick, followed by a side kick, aiming for his head.

Kuai Liang could tell that she was trying to force him back so he stood his ground and blocked her first two kicks and then countered the third with an upper block before attacking with a reverse round house kick that landed right on her chest.

He saw Nyssa wince in pain as she staggered away from him but she didn't give him time to regret his attack as she shook off the pain as if it were nothing. She threw two front jabs and a reverse punch to his head but was caught off guard when Kuai grabbed her wrist and stepped towards her. His other hand came forward and pushed on her shoulder, causing her to fall backwards over his leg that he'd conveniently placed behind her.

She fell on her side with a thump, her wrist still in Kuai Liang's hand. As fast as lightning, he was on top of her, one knee pressing firmly onto her ribs and the other on the side of her face. He then twisted her arm gently and began bending it backwards slightly.

"I'll break your arm, Nyssa," he calmly lied to her as she struggled against him. He'd never really try to do any lasting damage on her. This was his preferred method of winning a fight; putting his opponent into a submission as opposed to knocking them out.

But Nyssa was having none of it and managed to yank her arm free. She then struck him with a back fist that caught him right on the chin and Kuai Liang felt his teeth rattle in his mouth. He fell backwards slightly, taking his weight off Nyssa and accidentally allowing her to spring to her feet. He only just managed to recover in time as she attacked once again. Kuai raised his arms to block the two jabs she aimed at his face but didn't react quickly enough to block her side kick that caught him on the shin.

'She mimicked my combination,' he thought, as a tense ache filled his leg. With the right amount of power, that kick could have shattered the bone.

Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain, he threw a succession of hard and fast punches, trying to strike her chest and stomach. But Nyssa caught his wrist in her hand and stepped forward. He felt her hand on his shoulder and before Kuai realised what had happened, the ground was vertical instead of horizontal and he felt the pressure of Nyssa's knees on his ribcage and ear. She had tripped him over the same way he had tripped her and was now bending his arm back gently.

"I'll break your arm, Kuai Liang," she said, the amusement in her voice was undeniable. He tried to pull his arm free just like she did, only to feel her knees change position so she was now straddling his waist and pinned both of his arms over his head. Kuai could only stare up at Nyssa, her brown eyes gleaming triumphantly.

'How did she copy me like that?' thought Kuai Liang incredulously. He had never seen Nyssa practice shotokan with him or with any other apprentice before now. How was she so good?

His thoughts were interrupted when jeers and wolf whistles from the older students and annoying giggles from the younger ones reached Kuai Liang's ears and he felt the heat crawl up his neck and into his cheeks. The two of them were in a very provocative position that he really wanted to get out of.

"Look! He's her bitch," came Huiliang's voice, prompting the class to burst out laughing. The victorious look disappeared instantly from Nyssa's eyes, replaced by a hateful glare and she leapt off him.

"I surrender. Kuai Liang wins," she told Edward dully as Kuai got to his feet.

"What? No, I don't! You had me pinned down. The fight was yours," insisted Kuai Liang. He felt no shame in losing to Nyssa – she was a skilled and determined fighter and he'd tried his best. His heart twinged with guilt as he realised that Nyssa had deliberately thrown the fight just to spite those who laughed at them.

"He's right, Nyssa. You were going to win," said their sensei, a puzzled expression on his face.

"No, I surrendered. Kuai Liang won," Nyssa replied adamantly, her expression stony. Edward sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Class dismissed. Make sure you're all in the armory in one hour for your crafting test. Nyssa, stay behind. We need to have a talk," said Edward. The rest of the apprentices got to their feet and filed out of the dojo, most of them still snickering. Kuai Liang walked out of the door and decided that he'd wait outside until Nyssa was finished talking with their sensei.

"I can't believe you lost like that," said Tabansi nastily as he and the rest of Huiliang's gang walked past him.

"She beat you too, cretino!" snapped Matteo, coming to stand next to the cryomancer. He, along with Tomas and Rickard, had been the only one who hadn't laughed at the two of them.

"Yeah, but Kuai Liang got his ass kicked. She'll never beat me like that," laughed Huiliang arrogantly.

"You forgotten about your testicle retrieval operation then?" asked Tomas shrewdly, prompting Huiliang's face to flush an angry red before he stormed off huffily. The only member of his gang that remained was Bi-Han.

"She did beat you badly, Kuai. You're faster and stronger and she's not even a shotokan user. That fight should have been an easy win. What happened to becoming a serious student?" chided Bi-Han, making Kuai flinch slightly. He couldn't stand the disappointment in his voice.

"I am a serious student, Bi-Han! But so is Nyssa!" argued Kuai Liang angrily.

"It's true. She's just as good as the rest of us. She's beaten all of us in sparring at some point. Except you and Huiliang," said Rickard fairly.

"Yeah, but you were going easy on her, weren't you, Kuai? You can't make that mistake in the future. It may cost you your life. Now come with me," replied Bi-Han, reaching out to take his brother's arm.

"Why?"

"We have an hour before our crafting lessons. We can practice cryomancy whilst we wait,"

"You go ahead. Work with Xueman for a change. I'm going to wait for Nyssa," said Kuai Liang, rooting himself to the spot so show his brother that he was serious. Bi-Han looked at his younger brother in disbelief, before walking away, shaking his head and muttering something about lost causes.

When he was out of sight, Kuai turned back to his friends, who had their ears pressed to the door, trying to listen to what their sensei was saying to Nyssa. Kuai copied them and listened carefully, hoping that Nyssa wasn't receiving a beating.

"I don't understand, Nyssa. You had that fight one, yet you let yourself get upset because a couple of idiots laughed at you," came Edward's muffled voice.

"You don't get it. I'm never good enough for them. When I win, they laugh at me and tell me it's because my opponent was going easy on me. When I lose, they still laugh at me for being weak and getting my arse kicked. I'm sick of it," replied Nyssa angrily.

"You know that you're not weak so you shouldn't believe them when they tell you that. You don't realise how talented you are, Nyssa. When I arrived here, the other teachers told me that you were a nervous fighter and always getting injured. But you've become braver and barely have a scratch on you. Not only that, but you changed to a fighting style that you have limited experience with and made it look easy. I'd like to see Bi-Han and Huiliang do that," said Edward. A smile formed on Kuai Liang's lips. He felt relieved that their new sensei was trying to encourage Nyssa rather than reprimand her.

"That was nothing special. I was just doing what came into my head," replied Nyssa quickly, suddenly sounding defensive. Kuai heard Edward sigh exasperatedly.

"That was a compliment, not a criticism, Nyssa. As assassins, we have to master multiple forms of martial arts and you're already a step further than the others. You have the potential to be the best assassin here but you're deliberately holding yourself back," said Edward.

There was a long silence on the other side of the door. Kuai strained his ears to hear Nyssa's reply, but she never gave one. He heard Edward sigh again before telling Nyssa that she was free to leave. The boys backed away from the door just in time as Nyssa emerged, a scowl plastered across her face.

"It's ok, guys. I know you were listening," she told them as they started walking to the Grand Hall.

"We wanted to make sure he wasn't hitting you," said Rickard, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"I'm ok. Don't really want to talk about it..." she mumbled, looking off vaguely into the distance.

"Is it true though? That you were just doing what came into your head?" asked Matteo curiously.

"Well, I've watched Kuai Liang, Xueman and Bi-Han spar together loads of times, so I guess I just memorised their moves. It's no big deal," replied Nyssa dismissively. The boys all exchanged impressed looks.

"Are you kidding? That's a huge deal! Is it really that easy for you?"

"I don't want to talk about it,"

"I need to learn how to do that,"

"So if you watch me train, do you think you could remember my moves?" asked Tomas eagerly.

"Just leave it alone!" snapped Nyssa irritably. She turned on her heel and stomped off down the corridor and towards her bedroom.

The boys stood there in stunned silence as the sound of a door slamming in the background reached their ears. Nyssa rarely snapped or shouted at them. She was usually more easy going and laid back and only got riled up when provoked. Kuai Liang knew that something had to be bothering her.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Tomas in a slightly hurt voice. Apart from Kuai Liang, he had always been the closest to Nyssa and she'd never shouted at him before out of anger so her outburst had shocked him greatly.

"Maybe she's sick or something?" wondered Matteo.

"Perhaps you should go and talk to her, Kuai Liang. Maybe you can find out what's wrong," suggested Rickard and the others nodded in agreement. Kuai felt his stomach tighten nervously. He hadn't been alone with her since he kissed her cheek all those months ago.

"Ermmm maybe someone else should go?" asked Kuai nervously. Three pairs of eyebrows raised in surprise and their incredulous facial expressions were almost identical.

"What's wrong? Have you fallen out with her as well?" asked Matteo suspiciously.

"What? No! Of course not!"

"You've been acting weirdly around her for some time now..."

"Tomas is right. Has something happened between the two of you? Why won't you go and speak to her?" asked Rickard. Despite his mastery of cryomancy, Kuai Liang felt himself becoming very hot under the collar now.

"Nothing's going on! I'm just not sure she wants to talk to anyone at the moment!" said Kuai Liang, forcing his voice to remain calm. His friends' suspicions would only be raised if he became defensive and they seemed to buy his act.

"Maybe. It's just that's she's never shouted at me before. She's one of my best friends. I don't want her to be angry at me," said Tomas, looking completely crestfallen. He reminded Kuai Liang of a kicked puppy and a twinge of guilt flowed through the cryomancer.

'Just go and talk to her. Being in the same room as her doesn't mean you're going to kiss her again. Just go and see what's wrong!' his brain told him reassuringly.

"Ok, I'll go," he said, shaking off his nerves and walked to her bedroom and knocked quietly before pushing the door open. He poked his head around the door and saw Nyssa lying on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. A frown formed on his face once again; he didn't like it when she was sad. He preferred the cheerful and playful Nyssa that he'd grown so accustomed to over the years.

"Hey, Nyssa. Are you ok? We didn't mean to upset you just now," he said, walking over to stand next to her bed. He wanted to sit down next to her and put his arm around her, but he resisted. He didn't want Xueman walking in on them cuddling. They'd never live it down.

She sighed heavily and pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her temples gently as if she had a headache.

"I'm sorry I snapped earlier on. I don't know what's got into me lately," she murmured sadly.

"Do you want to talk about it? You can tell me anything,"

"That's sweet of you, Kuai, but I don't think it's something I can talk to you about,"

"Really? Try me. Is it because you beat me in training today? Cos, if it is, then you should know that I'm not embarrassed by it. You're a lot smarter than me and I thought it was clever the way you used my throw against me," he said bracingly, giving her a gentle nudge, wanting to cheer her up.

But her expression remained sad and troubled and she stayed silent and avoided his gaze. She never acted this way around him before which made him slightly suspicious. Maybe it was...

"Is this about that time I kissed you? Because if it is, I should probably tell you-" he started in a low voice, but she interrupted with a shake of her head.

"Don't worry about that. I know you didn't mean anything by it. You were only saying thank you, right?" she asked, finally meeting his gaze. His mouth formed an O shape in surprise and he momentarily hesitated, not sure how to respond.

Although he was relieved that Nyssa wasn't upset or confused by the kiss, he felt his stomach sink in disappointment. Against his better judgement, he'd almost told her how the kiss had been bothering him. He'd almost told her about these new feelings he had for her. A wave of sadness washed over Kuai Liang's heart, despite his brain telling him that it was probably for the best that Nyssa didn't return his feelings. They were both safer just being friends.

"Yeah, sure. Just wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong idea," he lied, forcing his face into a smile. His friend smiled back at him and leapt to her feet.

"Don't worry about me, Kuai. I'm just dealing with some stuff at the moment. I'll tell you all about it once I get everything resolved," she said, her tone much more positive now. He was glad to see her back to her usual self somewhat..

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise. Anyway, I should probably go and say sorry to Tomas. He wasn't too upset, was he?" she asked as they began walking out of her room, only to bump straight into said apprentice who had been waiting just behind the door with Matteo and Rickard.

"It's ok! All is forgiven!" said Tomas cheerfully, giving Nyssa a one armed hug which she returned warmly.

"He bounces back quickly," laughed Rickard. Kuai Liang smiled but he secretly felt a pang of jealousy, wishing that he'd hugged Nyssa.

"You sure everything's ok, Nys?" asked Rickard.

"Yeah everything's fine. We've still got 45 minutes until we need to go to the armory. Shall we go outside and play?" suggested Nyssa.

"Oohhhh it snowed a lot last night so we should have a snowball fight! Like build forts and everything!" said Matteo excitedly. Rickard, Tomas and Nyssa agreed enthusiastically before looking at Kuai Liang for his answer.

"Well...shouldn't we spar some more or practice our kata? We've got our yearly review coming up so we should prepare for that," he suggested, suddenly remembering Bi-Han's offer to train together. The others looked at him with mild disgust.

"You only ever want to train these days, Kuai Liang," grumbled Matteo.

"You're turning into Bi-Han Point 2," said Tomas cheekily, which made Kuai Liang bristle with anger.

"I am not! That's not true, is it Nyssa?" he demanded indignantly, looking at her for back up.

"Well...it's true that you don't really want to play with us anymore...but I wouldn't say he's becoming Bi-Han's clone..." replied Nyssa slowly, trying not to take sides.

He opened his mouth to argue some more, but an idea came into his head. A much better idea than arguing. So his friends thought he was becoming a stick in the mud?

'We'll see about that.' he thought evilly.

Pretending to look angry and hurt, his hands balled into fists in anger and he glared at his friends, making them fidget uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I'll show you!" he said, before raising both of his hands and showering them all with a blast of ice and snow. Kuai roared with laughter amongst their squeals of shock and surprise, before turning on his heel and running through the corridors and towards the courtyard, his friends hot on his heels, shouting death threats but he wasn't scared at all.

No one beats him at snowball fights.

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE!

In case anyone is wondering, Nyssa's second power is innate capability, meaning that she can watch someone do something (like fix a car, performing a gymnastics routine) and she'll automatically be able to do it. So she's seen Kuai Liang and Bi-Han spar and practice their kata so she can immediately do it, she only just realised how to do it whilst sparring with Kuai Liang.

Her third power will be revealed in the next chapter. I'm trying to speed things up a little so the next chapter will take place about two or three years into the future, so Nyssa will be about 15.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please read and review!