Day 4 - Part 1
The village, near the Shotoken dojo
It was almost evening when Ken finished his bit of work at the little noodle shop that he and Dan were apprenticed to. It was a ruling in their dojo that all disciples must take up some form of apprenticeship in the village so that their lives would be more than just training, eating, sleeping and more training.
While he has a fondness for all types of noodles, his buddy has an apprenticeship in carpentry. In particular he noticed that Ryu specializes in boxes of which the sizes range from small jewelry boxes to large clothes chests.
The results of his works Ken was very much familiar with, as he had sent a few such boxes back to his mother as birthday gifts. And not only that, quite a few village girls had queued up for a piece of his work although he wonders if they were after his works or him.
Collecting the daily mail from the postal office he began checking through the stack as he waited for Dan to load up some fresh grocery onto the cart.
"My fan mail, my fan mail, a letter from mom, more fan mail, a parcel for me....hmmm this smells nice." Ken mumbled
"What?" Dan asked he loaded the last food parcel up the cart.
"This letter here. The way it smells kinda says that it's writer is a cute girl near my age."
"And that's suppose to be new? Get off the cart."
"No. Its part of your training. So push."
"What? Again?! Its an uphill task!!" Dan exclaimed, pointing at the way back to the dojo and then at the cart on which Ken is sitting on."
"If you don't like my basic training, you could always be transferred to Ryu." Ken shrugged, his legs swinging in the air, he took another sniff at the letter.
"Ryu? No way man! He'll make me do ten rounds around the mountain, fish, chop wood and gather mushrooms on top of my apprenticeship. And all that in one whole morning! Not in one day. No thanks I rather have you any time. At least you're easier on me."
"Besides he's acting a little freaky these days. I've seen him just sitting there and staring at his fists." Dan mimicked a blank look while staring at his open palms just to make his point.
"Then shut up and push. I still have to cook our dinner." He snapped, hitting Dan on the upside of his head for poking fun at his stoic brother.
"Soooo,,,. What does it say?" Dan shifted the subject back to the letter.
"Wouldn't know. It's addressed to Ryu." Ken shrugged and held the letter against the setting sun to see if the weak light could reveal some words. The cart jerked and Ken fumbled with the letter almost tearing open the envelope. He glared at Dan who feigned innocence
"Ryu?! After his stint in Thailand. I wouldn't be too surprise."
"Wanna read it?" Ken grinned.
"Wouldn't he notice?"
"Nahh. He wouldn't notice that it was read if the girl personally handed it to him with a marching band to announce its arrival. But its still his first fan mail." Ken shrugged keeping the letter as he makes a mental list of what to cook for tonight.
As they leave the village gate, Ken caught a familiar scent that made his head turn.
"What are the odds that Ryu's cute little fan girl made her way here?" he mumbled to himself.
It was obvious that she caught his stare and turn towards him. Ken smiled noticing that he was right about the cute girl with the bun-up, braided hair.
"All this way for Ryu? For an obsessed fan girl, she is rather cute." Dan commented.
"If you don't push, we'll be late! If Ryu gets the feeling we're late he'll do the cooking!" Ken snapped at a panicking Dan.
"Its not like he's a bad cook." Dan defended.
"But do you want to eat his same old fish dish or do you want my fish surprise?"
"And that's?"
"I'll be surprise that's its not Ryu's fish dish if we're late." With that the duo continue constantly squabbling their way back to the dojo.
By the time they got back, Ken found that Ryu was still in the meditation room and Ken promptly took over the kitchen and whipped up dinner. It was only after dinner that Ken gave Ryu his letter.
Out of curiosity Ken tried to peek, but Ryu simply strode around the room avoiding Ken.
"So who is she? Is she cute? How is it that I never seen her before? Is she cute? When did you start dating anyway? Is she cute? Can she fight? Is she cute? When are you gonna introduce us? IS SHE CUTE?!!" Ken started his interrogations to break the silence. And at the same time he sensed Ryu was not clouded by that depressing aura he had since returning from Thailand.
Even if that aura comes and goes he felt that to be able to brightened Ryu somewhat she must be someone special and his curiosity was eating him up from inside, especially since he noted a faint smile upon his stoic brother.
"She is a childhood friend who left before you came to the dojo. I had not seen her since then."
"So that's who she is. She's a whole lot cuter the girls at the village. You lucky dog you." Ken slung his arm around Ryu's shoulders.
"She's here?!" Ryu looks up and caught Ken's huge grin. A bead of perspiration formed on the Ryu's forehead. There was something foreboding about his brother's strange look. As if an evil plan to tease him was forming in that blond head of his.
"Yeah. At the village. A couple of boys took interest in her though, I guess you'll have to join the queue tomorrow." Ken shrugged
"She's too much like you to wait for tomorrow." Ryu sighed and headed out of the room, leaving Ken to ponder.