I do not own nor have rights to any of the characters contained within this story.

Chapter 7 – The Band of the Blade

After Ron's talk with Felix he had mixed feelings, he was disappointed that he hadn't gotten any further news about Kim but, he was happy for his friend. Felix and Monique seemed an unlikely pair at first glance but the more he thought about it the more it just seemed to be right. Felix was an introvert, seldom coming out of his shell (Except during sessions of Monster Mayhem) and Monique was so extroverted that she would talk to anyone at any time, even to the point of seeming bothersome. These personality traits seemed to compliment each other. "They'll be good for each other" Ron thought smiling.

While his friends seemed to be making progress with their lives, Ron was at a virtual standstill. He and Rufus were currently staying in a hotel room in Go City; he had started looking for a small apartment but after talking to a real estate agent for only a few minutes got the distinct feeling that he should set his sights higher, much higher.

After several hours of riding around with this overly helpful real estate agent Ron finally saw something that just looked right to him, although he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. It was a large rambling house, well more of a small mansion actually, on the outskirts of Go City. It had a very large garage area, large enough for dozens of vehicles, an old ballroom that would make an excellent dojo, but the best feature as far a Ron was concerned was the kitchen. This was the kitchen of Ron's dreams, all stainless steel, dual ovens, walk-in freezer, in short, a kitchen to die for. As soon as Ron saw this he knew that the house and he were made for each other.

The problem was he didn't want any real estate records in the name of Ron Stoppable. He was at a standstill till he could get a new identity, real estate records were in the public domain and that would make it too easy for a certain red headed, green eyed young lady to trace him down. Ron knew that if Kim was able to find him and talk to him his resolve would buckle in a moment. Then he would be right back in the same situation, putting Kim in danger. And that was something that Ron had decided never to do, Kim's safety meant everything to Ron.

Another complication had arisen just two days ago. A knock on his hotel room door had startled him at first but that was mild compared to his shock upon opening the door. There in the hallway, luggage in hand, had stood Yori, a short Japanese girl, with shinny black hair that seemed to be stop just above her shoulders evenly framing an incredibly beautiful face, she was dressed in blue jeans and a white T-Shirt with the words 'GO CITY' emblazoned across the front in bright red print. After a full minute, with Yori in the hall and Ron just standing there holding the door open, Yori had finally given Ron a "Well, are you going to invite me in?" look which shook Ron out of his trance enough so that he did indeed invite her in.

Upon entering Yori turned and faced Ron bowing deeply she started the conversation;

Yori: "Stoppable-san, it good to see you again, Sensi has given me the task and honor of being your first guide and teacher as you continue the physical training of the ninja arts. I hope you will not consider me unworthy of that honor"

Ron, knowing that Yori could whip his butt any day of the week and twice on Sunday, didn't know what to say. He just shook his head rapidly to clear the cobwebs that seemed to have formed in his mind and said,

Ron: "Yori, it so good to see you again" Then Ron remembered the proper ways of greeting his Japanese friend and bowed from the waist deeply saying very formally "It would be I who was dishonored not to trust the wisdom of Sensi in sending you here or to question your abilities in the training of an unworthy outsider such as I"

This formality completed Ron raised his head without standing from the bow, smiled widely and looked directly at Yori before saying "And hey, it's Ron-san remember", at this Yori smiled at Ron and giggling said "Oh Stoppable-san, your American ways of humor continue to amazes me"

At that moment Rufus, who had been softly snoring on the large bed raised his head and as his sleepy eye's focused on Yori he immediately jumped up and very clearly squeaked "Yori!" As Yori turned toward the sound she spotted Rufus who immediately bowed very formally. Smiling with undisguised glee Yori returned the bow and as she stood again Rufus jumped from the center of the bed where he had been sleeping and landed on the edge of the bed in a quite recognizable ninja fighting stance. From there Rufus jumped again clearing the five feet between the bed and where Yori stood quite easily, landing on Yori's arm Rufus quickly scampered up to her shoulder and with his small arms outstretched rushed forward to rub his small whiskered nose against Yori's cheek. "Rufus-san" Yori said happily, "It is so good to see you again" to which Rufus relied "Cheeeeeese".

After this exchange the three friends relaxed in each others company and while Ron and Yori talked of the school in Japan, the friends he had made there and discussed the form that his upcoming training would take Rufus jumped back to the bed and quickly fell back into a deep snoring slumber. During their talk Ron found out that help would be joining them the next day in the form of Hirotaka. Ron had never met Hirotaka as they had traded places during the exchange program that Sensi had arranged to get Ron to the Yamanochi School and Ron looked forward to meeting him. He got a feeling from Yori, as she talked about Hirotaka that she and he were more than just friends or fellow students, when Ron mentioned this to Yori she looked down at her feet, smiled and said in a giggly voice "Hai, Stoppable-san, I have the honor of being Hirotaka's betrothed".

Ron felt little uneasy about this news, after Kim had met Yori that time that Sensi disappeared she had explained Yori's actions to him he had felt that maybe Yori had a crush on him, "Well" he thought, "I guess Kim was wrong, but I'm happy for Yori, my feelings for Kim don't leave much room in my heart for anyone else anyway, at least not right now, and not in that way.", Ron, never really that quick on the uptake, just realized that with Yori here, and Hirotaka on his way, there were now three of them, two boys and a girl, a very beautiful girl at that. But here he was in a hotel room with a bed in the middle of the floor and a bathroom off to the side. He pondered this for a few moments and then called down to the front desk to arrange for two additional rooms.

Ron had a very restless night that night. After getting Yori settled in her room the two of them had gone down to the hotel dining room for dinner leaving Rufus with a large supply of Nachos and cheese in Ron's room, for some reason the hotel frowned on rats, even naked mole rats, in the dining room. To Ron's amateur chef's taste the food was not the best, but at least it was filling. During their meal Yori had excused herself for a moment, Ron had thought that it was to Uh.. freshen up, as the ladies called it, but noticed her walking back to the table deep in conversation with the hotel manager. They had stopped a few feet away from the table still talking when Yori stepped back two paces and bowed to the manager. Ron wondered about this and was going to ask, but their conversation turned again to Sensi and others at the school and the question was never asked.

At 5:00 AM Ron was awakened by the telephone in his room, still half asleep Ron simply reached over and picked up the receiver, "Helloo" he mumbled. The bright and chipper female voice (way too bright and chipper for this time of the morning in Ron's opinion) said "Good morning sir, this is your 5:00 AM wakeup call", confused for a moment Ron snapped awake and said "Wakeup call, 5:00 AM? I didn't ask for a wakeup call" Ron then heard the explanation, "Sir? A Ms. Yori said she would meet you at the grand ballroom at 5:30 AM and said I should tell you to wear something called a gee". "I shoulda known" Ron thought, "The darned ninja discipline, can't wait one stupid day." Uh… thank you" Ron said to the voice on the telephone "And by the way that's a Gi spelled G. I." and hanging up the phone flopped back down into the suddenly very comfortable bed thinking "Ballroom huh, so that's what she was up to with the manager last night" After a few moments he groaned and rolled out of the bed to face his first day of training. At exactly 5:30 AM Ron opened the door to the Grand Ballroom of the hotel, he had been standing outside the door for the last 5 minutes but waited until the clock in the lobby read 5:30 exactly before opening the door mentally blowing strawberry's at Yori as he entered, Yori, dressed in a white Gi, was standing in the center of a rather large array of cushioned mats the covered a good half of the ballroom floor.

As Yori saw Ron enter the ballroom, in his black training Gi, she bowed and said "Exactly on time Stoppable-san, you are of course ready to begin your training" Groaning Ron returned the bow and said "Come on Yori, I haven't even had breakfast yet, where am I going to get the energy to train without stoking the old oven" Yori giggled slightly at this and said "We will of course take a short break in three hours for a light breakfast before continuing, I am sure you will not wither away to nothing in so short a time as that" Grumbling, Ron agreed and proceeded to the center of the mats facing Yori. Yori told Ron that they would start with fifteen minutes of meditation before moving to a sparing match so she could see how far Ron had progressed on his own since leaving the school.

After Ron and Yori had settled in the Lotus position to meditate they both closed their eye's and focused on their own mantra's for meditation, Yori could hear that Ron, like most beginners, was muttering his mantra in a low whisper and she could swear that he was muttering "Bueno-Nacho, Bueno-Nacho" over and over again but she quickly pushed all thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on focusing her energy for the upcoming session. Unseen to either of the Gi clad young people there was a soft blue glow coming from under the right sleeve of Ron's Gi. Had anyone had walked into the ballroom at that moment they would have seen the soft glow spread into an aura around Ron and then slowly recede, is if the aura was being absorbed into Ron's body.

Yori's Point of view

At the end of their mediation Ron and Yori stood and faced each other about seven feet apart, after a slight bow to signal their readiness they both assumed their fighting stance. Yori noticed that Ron's stance looked very good; he seemed relaxed yet alert, balanced and steady. She thought silently to herself "Good, Ron-san has been keeping up his studies. I will start slowly, but not too slowly and see how far he has taken this" with that thought in her mind she moved, she was intending to spin quickly to her left, bringing her left arm across in a fake and then dropping into a slight stoop at the last second and pushing the palm of her right hand into Ron's chest, knocking him down, but as she completed the spin she noticed that Ron was no longer standing where he should have been, instead he was about three feet to her left in a perfect position to sweep her feet from beneath her as her momentum forced her past him. Which is exactly what he did. As Yori was falling she rolled onto her shoulder and was immediately on her feet again. As she stood there a moment she thought to herself "Very good Ron-san, I may have an actual sparing match here" and she proceeded to set up an attack again, this time she did not intend hold back and she would use all her training and put her opponent down onto the mat. That was when she saw the look on Ron's face and she stopped.

Ron's Point of view

After assuming their fighting stance Ron felt comfortable, "Wow" he thought "I always had problems remembering how to do this correctly, but today it all just seems to be coming together, 'bout time Stoppable, all those nights of practicing in the backyard when no one was watching are really paying off" as Yori started moving, Ron was surprised and a little bit angry. Yori was moving toward him in what looked to be slow motion, "Hey" he thought "does she think I'm so bad that she has to move like she's stuck in the mud or something" as Ron recognized Yori's intention of faking with her left he moved to his right and watched her slowly move by him at the last second he decided to teach her a lesson for treating him like a baby and swept his right leg around in a sweep to take her legs out from under her. This was when Ron got really surprised. The sweep Ron had performed had done exactly what he intended, but instead of falling down to the mat with a thump it looked like Yori was floating in the air, falling to the mat sure, but moving in the same slow motion as her attack. "Whoa, wait just a minute here, where in the heck did she learn to do that? That's even cooler that the disappearing thingy they were trying to teach me back at the school" A puzzled look came across Ron's face as he stood there waiting for Yori to complete her fall and roll back up. When she was standing again she seemed to switch back into play mode from slow motion.

Back to reality

Yori just stood there staring at the look of complete bewilderment on Ron's face when the look disappeared suddenly to be replaced by a wide smile. She was unprepared for Ron's comment as he said "Hey Yori, you just gotta teach me that, that slow motion thing was just way cool" The look of bewilderment must have been contagious because it now spread to Yori's face as she thought "Slow motion? What is Ron-san talking about?" Then her trained ninja eye caught something that widened the look of bewilderment on her face. During the exercise the right sleeve of Ron's Gi had been pulled up slightly and Yori noticed the softly glowing blue band that Ron wore on his wrist. Rushing forward, which made Ron fall into a fighting stance once again, Yori grabbed his hand and then pushed the sleeve of his Gi up a little further to completely reveal his wrist. Staring at the band on Ron's wrist a small involuntary gasp left Yori's throat. "Stoppable-san!" she gasped "Where did you acquire this?".

Ron looked down following Yori's gaze and saw she was looking at the band on his wrist. "Oh that. Sensi gave it to me, well kinda anyway. It was like in a dream ya know, I was there and Sensi was there and we talked a bit and then he gave me this bracelet thing and when I woke up there it was. Why? Is it valuable or something?" instead of answering immediately Yori dropped Ron's arm and backed away about three feet where she kneeled and then bent forward and while cupping her hands to her breast touched her forehead to the mat.

Seeing Yori like this frightened Ron. This wasn't the confident and resourceful Yori he had come to know and admire. He walked over to Yori and knelt in front of her gently placing his hand under her chin he slowly and gently raising her face from the mat until her luminous black eye's were looking directly into his chocolate brown ones. When Yori's gaze was locked onto Ron she noticed a look of deep concern in his eye's. "Hey Yori, it's me, Ron-san remember." Ron said softly and gently "If I did something wrong let me know, I can make it right, I know I can. Please"

When Ron had touched her chin Yori had felt a slight shock go through her body. She was now positive that she knew what the band on Ron's wrist was and what it represented. "Stoppable-san" Yori asked, "You do not know of the legend of the Band of the Blade? Sensi did not explain to you the power and responsibility that the Band represents?"

Yori saw the look on Ron's face change slightly, he now looked confused but the look of concern was still present as he said "Band of the Blade? No, I don't remember Sensi saying anything about that. Maybe we should call and early breakfast break so you can explain it to me. I don't know if you noticed but that that low rumbling sound is my stomach, it doesn't like being empty" Yori smiled slightly and thought to herself "It is still Ron-san. If Sensi thought it wise to give him the Band then he must feel Ron-san is ready, I wish that Sensi had thought to inform me of this before sending me here; I would have been better prepared. No wait, I would have felt unworthy of the honor and refused to come. Sensi must have known this and withheld the information purposely. I pray that I will not let Sensi down"

As this thought crossed her mind Yori came to a decision. She closed her eye's and softly said "Hai Stoppable-san, there are things you should know before we continue" then opening her eye's and looking into Ron's face she smiled and continued "I had thought that the rumbling sound was from Go City's underground railway's but I now realize it is much to loud for that. Let us take that break now as there is much I have to explain to you"

Ron rose from the mat and extended his hand to Yori to help her rise. As Yori took Ron's hand she once again felt the small shock of power but was neither surprised nor startled anymore. Once they were both on their feet they turned toward the ballroom doors headed out for breakfast and a story about the Legend of the Band of the Blade.

AN:

I hope the formatting is better now and the reading is easier, I'm trying to amp down the angst a bit. (it was even starting to get to me)

Userx: Thanks, I'll work on the comma thing. I'm trying to take this story somewhere but keep having to rehash my outline a bit in keeping with the stuff I keep throwing at myself. I hope you'll put up with me; writing is turning out to be a steep learning curve. Teaching an old dog new tricks and that kind of thing .

Next – The legend of the Band of the Blade.