Hey guys! What's up!?

Before I go to the next part… I forgot to thank all of you who read my special one shot for Holocaust Remembrance Day, I really appreciate it! If you haven't read it yet, please make sure you do!

And now moving on for your entertainment…

Wild Cherry Blossom Part 2

The minutes went by, but for Jewel, it seemed like hours or even days as she just sat there along with the rest of the class. Jewel was one who was very active and even sitting still for a few minutes was unbearable for her, much less a whole hour. However, she stayed calm and kept her balance, while from time to time, planks of wood hitting the floor sounded as others couldn't hold it.

Master Basho just sat in the front of the classroom, waiting while taking little sips from his teacup, putting it down next to an hourglass, the sand in it slowly pouring as time went by. Jewel's eyes were constantly on the hourglass, sweating as she just wanted to shout out her impatience.

Eventually as the last bit of sand dropped in the hourglass, the time was up and Jewel could finally allow the plank of wood on top of her head to fall down onto the floor next to her.

"Very good to those of you who managed to hold it." Basho smiled. "I'm very impressed, you all have learned both balance and patience."

"So when do we get to learning kicks and breaking wood?" Jewel asked, happy this lesson was over.

Basho's smile disappeared as he wasn't amused by Jewel's attitude at all.

"You have much to learn before that reckless one." Basho snapped back. "Now, take a fifteen minute tea break and meet me by the gardens."

All the students left to enjoy some hot tea, except for Jewel, who went to the master to speak, of course Basho wasn't happy with Jewel.

"Why must we learn these kinds of things, I came here to learn actual fighting, not balancing wood on my head." Jewel commented.

"There is more to martial arts than fighting wild one, you will understand eventually and if you don't, than you have no place here." Basho replied in a sharp tone before going to the gardens to prepare for the next lesson.

Jewel watched the master go and sighed as she went to have her own cup of tea and let out some stress before joining the rest of the newer students to the gardens. There, they found Basho sitting crosslegged on the grass before a koi pond.

"And welcome to the next lesson of the day, learning nature." Basho spoke. "Knowing the nature around you will help gain an advantage over your enemy, now, what does everyone see here?"

"Water?" One of the students answered.

"Correct." Basho smiled.

"Hedges?" Another answered.

"Yes." Basho smiled bigger.

"Dry ground?" Yet another answered.

"Certainly." Basho replied.

"A class full of bored students and a slow teacher?" Jewel answered.

"No, try again." Basho's smile and voice changed.

"Sorry, bored and new students." Jewel corrected herself.

Basho just sighed as he stood up and walked over to Jewel, with a demanding look on his face.

"You are not to speak for the rest of the day unless spoke to." Basho demanded from Jewel. "Now, we're going to take a walk around the gardens and when we're done, I expect everyone to tell me all the things you see."

The class took a walk through the gardens, taking note of everything they experienced as it was all calm and peaceful. Well, except for Jewel, who didn't really care much about the walk, just wanting to get to learning fighting tricks. By the time the walk ended, Basho asked everyone what they have seen and when he got to Jewel, well, of course he didn't get a good answer.

"Alright, I believe that's it for today, tomorrow we're going to learn painting and not only that, but you're going to paint what you have seen today." Basho told the students as they then relaxed and went about their own business in the temple.

Jewel went off by herself, to her room that was given to her in the temple building where the female students lived. Once she got to her room, she just laid down on the bed, which was just some blankets laid out on the hard wooden floor. As Jewel laid there, she was debating about whether or not she made the right choice coming here, sighing she reached for her bag and searched through it until she found what she was looking for.

A picture, but not just any picture, it was of her, when she was a little girl, with her mother, shortly before she died. Jewel always kept that picture, just having it encouraged her to keep going and never give up, it's what her mother would have wanted. As Jewel was staring at the picture, a soft knock sounded on her door, putting the picture away, Jewel got up and opened the sliding door.

"Master." Jewel bowed as it was Basho.

"I see you are a hard one to teach, reckless and arrogant you are." Basho noted.

"Well, today wasn't what I expected, how can I fight when I'm learning about nature and painting?" Jewel questioned Basho's teaching method.

"There's more to fighting than kicking and punches, but since you are new, I'm going to make you realize your mistake." Basho started as he smiled, having an idea. "Meet me in the gardens again, during the night."

"Okay." Jewel replied, wondering where this was going.

And so Jewel waited for the sun to set and the bright moon to go in the sky as she walked out of her room and to the gardens, having only the moonlight to see where she was going. It took some time, but she finally found Master Basho, his back turned to her as he was looking at the koi pond.

"So you came?" Basho said without even turning around.

"How did you know I was here?" Jewel asked, as she was careful to try not to make a sound.

"Being able to hear what happens around you, even the tiniest sound is helpful in a fight, you'll learn that in a future lesson." Basho began as he turned to face Jewel. "Now, for the reason why I asked you here, attack me." Basho told Jewel, Jewel just standing there with blinking eyes.

"Excuse me?" Jewel questioned, not believing what the master asked of her.

"You heard me, you want to learn fighting so bad, let me see if you can beat me." Basho explained. "Well go ahead, I'm not making the first move."

Jewel let out a breath before she charged straight at Basho, running towards him, Basho simply stepped aside at the last moment, which caused Jewel to run straight into the koi pond, her face in the water as she got up, grasping for air.

"See, reckless, no effort whatsoever." Basho commented at Jewel as she got up out of the pond and tried attacking again, throwing punches.

Only Basho avoided each one as he moved his body constantly, knowing exactly where Jewel would strike as he watched her moves. Basho could only chuckle as Jewel became annoyed.

"You hit like a child." Basho chuckled as Jewel became more and more tired.

As Jewel kept trying, the two eventually got a tree in the gardens, Basho going behind the tree as Jewel followed him, only as she tried to keep up with him, a branch came out of nowhere and smacked her right in the forehead, causing her to fall down as it hurt. She was dizzy as she got up, to see where Basho has gone. She didn't have to wait long for he was right behind her.

"Right here." Basho told Jewel, as Jewel quickly turned around and tried to strike the master, only for the master to be even quicker as he took Jewel's wing and held it, to make her submit. "Looks like I won and I didn't even have to do much."

"But how?" Jewel said back as she gave up.

"I told you, you have much to learn before you learn actual fighting, now you see that you are unbalanced and unfocused." Basho told Jewel. "And next time you show disrespect I will make sure you never learn from me again, understand?"

"Yes master." Jewel replied.

"Good, I expect to see you in class tomorrow early in the morning, no excuses." Basho told Jewel as he went back to sleep in his room.

As Jewel watched the master go, she sighed, it was going to be a long time until she could get the hang of things, but she was determined to stay and be just as good as the master once she was finished.

And that's a wrap!

Hope you enjoy and see you in the next part!