(Sorry, for the long waiting time, but I have been working a long time with this chapter. I just couldn't get it to be right. Finally I decided to pull 2-3 chapters together to this one, therefore several months has past since the last chapter – JoBO)


A lesson to learn

"Shirimasen." (I don't know.)

Mr. Lee shook his head firmly and stared Terry directly into the eyes.

"Chigaimasu!" (Wrong!)

Terry looked down.

"Demo…" (But…)

"Shizukani" (Be quiet)

Mr. Lee showed him the series of movements again and this time Terry could see what he did wrong.

"Wakarimadu ka?" (Do you understand?)

Terry nodded.

"Hai!" (Yes)

"Yattemitara." (Try it!)

Terry tried again and could feel the difference. It was just a little change in where he placed his foot, but it gave him more stability in the movements.

"Ii desu yo." (Good!)

(Surprise, Terry has learnt Japanese, but I will continue in English, since he only speaks Japanese with Mr. Lee and away from the school together with Mr. Lee - JoBO)

Mr. Lee walked over to the shrine, which held the dojo's must valuable item. It was an ancient samurai sword, which had been past on to the eldest son in Mr. Lee's family for hundreds of years.

"You are ready. Come back tonight after dinner."

"Why?"

Mr. Lee didn't move, but kept staring at the sword.

"Let your apprenticeship remain a mystery and let the results speak for themselves."

He turned around and left the dojo. Terry had over the last months learnt that Mr. Lee never gave him the answer that he wanted, but he instead gave him the answer that he needed, so Terry just shook his head in respect and left the dojo.

He walked up to the school just as the sun rose in the horizon and cast the first sunbeams down on the sleeping school. Terry smiled over that thought. Due to Mr. Lee's hard training he only needed to sleep a couple of hours each night. First it had surprised him that the training and some meditation could have such a great effect, but now it was just a natural part of him.

He used the drainpipe to climb back up to his room. He held his training with Mr. Lee a secret, so he didn't use the door. He could just imagine what Marco could do with that information. After that thing with Martin had Marco been after Terry every waking moment, which meant he also had turned the whole school against Terry. First had Terry tried to fight it, but then had Mr. Lee giving him an advice: "The wise student sees the things as they are without trying to control them. He let them evolve, as they will, while he stays in the centre of the circle." It was just a matter of time before Marco was going to make a mistake.

He jumped over the balcony's fence and walked into the room, where he immediately saw the flashing light on his computer. He went over to the computer and answered the call. Bruce's face came up on the screen.

"You took your time!"

"Sorry, I was sleeping."

Terry could see the disappointment in Bruce's eyes. He hadn't told Bruce about his training with Mr. Lee. Somehow he felt he didn't needed to know… not yet.

"I have just talked to Anna and she tells me that you are doing very good at your school subjects."

Terry shrugged his shoulders. One of Mr. Lee's conditions to train him was that he studied really hard.

"Yeah, how are things going back in Gotham?"

Bruce crossed his fingers.

"That was just what I wanted to talk with you about. Anna also told me, that you aren't doing so good in her sisters karate class."

Terry sighted. He hated that class. Carissa's accident had meant she couldn't teach the class, since she had broken her leg, so she had hand it over to Mrs. McKeen, who was the woman that had trained them the day, where Marco had broken his nose. Like the rest of the school Marco also ruled this class and used every possibility to irritate Terry. A long time ago had Terry decided that he only came to the class in order to fulfill Bruce's wish, but it didn't meant he going to made an effort.

"Well, I concentrate mostly about the school subjects, so I don't have so much time for the other things."

Bruce nodded.

"That's good, but try to find some time for that also. Okay?"

Terry nodded and they ended the call.

o-

Terry made sure that his door was lock before he quietly began to climb down the drainpipe. The other thought he had lock himself in to study like he used to do, but this time it was just a trick. He quickly came down to the ground and walked over to Mr. Lee's house, where he met Mr. Lee in front of the garden gate. The light was scarce, but he could see that Mr. Lee was carrying something on his back.

"Come, we don't have much time."

Mr. Lee turned around and began to walk quickly down to the beach. Terry almost had to run to be able to reach him.

"Where are we going?"

Mr. Lee stopped.

"We are going to visit some of my friends. They don't like strangers, so from now on your name is Kenshin and you are my grandson, okay?"

The look in Mr. Lee's eyes told Terry that he shouldn't ask more, so he just nodded.

"Good, it seems like our ride has come."

He pointed out at the ocean, where Terry dimly could see a boat coming in. Mr. Lee took him down to the boat and they went aboard. Mr. Lee quickly introduced Terry to the boat's master, who was known as Mr. Chan, as the boat began to sail away from the school.

They had been sailing for around an hour, when they landed at some kind of harbor. Terry followed Mr. Lee into one of the close by warehouses, where the sight, which met him inside, almost took his breath away. The warehouse was packed with people, who were screaming their lungs out in line with the fight between two men, which were going on in at big cage in the middle of the warehouses.

Mr. Lee and Terry pushed their way though the crowd and came to some stairs, where Mr. Lee asked Terry to wait for him as he went up the stairs, which let up to a platform, where some men in suits were sitting. They greeted Mr. Lee with kindness. Terry could see that Mr. Lee asked them about something and pointed down on him, but the men shook their heads, then he took the bundle from his back and handed it over to the one of the men, who seemed to be the leader. The leader opened the bundle and took a sword up. Terry immediately recognized the sword as the one from the dojo. The man studied the sword shortly and then he nodded to Mr. Lee.

Mr. Lee walked down to Terry and pulled him into the middle of the warehouse, where the cage was standing.

"What happened?"

Mr. Lee looked in him straight into the eyes.

"We made a bet."

"But…"

They came to one of the gates in the cage, which just in the same moment was opened, so some men could pull the unconscious loser out. Mr. Lee pulled Terry over to the gate and pushed him inside the cage.

"I bet that you could win over Mr. Tong's fighter, Ryuji, who also is known as Dragon Man."

Mr. Lee pointed at something behind Terry, so Terry turned around. In the other end of the cage stood there a giant of a man with a big dragon tattooed on his chest. His upper arms had almost the same dimensions as Terry's waist. Terry could in the same moment hear the gate being closed behind him.