'What's up with this stupid obstacle course?' Wenling inwardly grumbles to herself as she nimbly avoids a bamboo shot that was directly aim at her head.

'If I didn't know any better, I would think that Lin was trying to kill me.' The brunette gravely assumes with her eyes close since she was deep in her thoughts.

'She's doing pretty good.' Lin mentally notes her performance after she critically analyzes her pupil's reaction to the abrupt shifts in the course.

The teen speedily scrambles over the three thick wooden walls when exhaustion starts to overcome her body after the climb over the obstacles.

Wenling briefly pauses in order to catch her breath before she leisurely peers up at the next obstacle. She then comes face to face with sharp blades that randomly swings left to right.

'It's official…' The brunette utters as her eyes dilate at the blades in front of her before she ultimately concludes, 'She's really trying to kill me!'

She realized that her pupil halted in the middle of the course in order to catch her breath. The goldenrod blonde sights landed on the sharp blades in front of her disciple.

'What will you do now?' The green eyed woman curiously ponders about her student's potential options to either conquer the obstacle or renounce her participation in the course.

Wenling slowly peers over her right shoulder until her gaze eventually lands on the previous hurdles that she manages to easily clear.

'I really climbed over that!' She shockingly considered as she stared at the three massive wooden walls behind her.

Her forest green eyes then cast over to the makeshift bamboo forest with the shoots that were aim at her head.

The brunette diverts her sights back on to the sharp blades when she thinks to herself, 'If I was able to get through all of those then what will these pathetic blades do to me?'

Lin closely observes an unexpectedly change in Wenling's confidence after she finally returns her focus back to the task at hand.

'Oh...what is this?' She abruptly stops in the middle of her sprint alongside the course.

The goldenrod blonde curiously watches her student carefully tracks the movement of the blades with her eyes.

'I can do this!' The brunette strongly reassures herself as she also mentally plans out, 'I just have to watch until I get the timing right…'

Her forest green eyes intensely hone in on the blades for a few more seconds until the movement of the swings suddenly slows down. It was at that moment, did the path visibly presents itself to her.

'… and then I make my move!' Wenling hastily realizes before she madly dashes through the swings with no signs of doubt.

She then closed her eyes since she assumed if she looked at the blades then it would only distract her and the result could possibly end with harm to her body.

The brunette happily leaps in the air after she promptly realizes that she was on the opposite side of the dangerous obstacle.

The teenage cheerfully proclaims, "Ha…I did it!"

The older woman proudly claps at her student's accomplishment and growth and replies, "You did very well. I think you deserve a break before the next lesson."

A joyful smile stretches across Wenling's face after she overhears the good news from her teacher.

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"Man, that was an intense practice!" Rei commented as he wipes his sweaty forehead with one of the towels that Grandpa had brought by earlier.

A low grumble emitted from the blonde haired boy, who was stretched out against the wooden platform with his towel over his face.

"What?" He questions since the towel blocks Max's mouth and could not hear what the blonde haired male says.

He reaches up to his face, flips the towel back so that his mouth was visible, rests his hands against his forehead and repeats, "I said that was probably the best practice we ever had in a while."

Rei diverts his attention on to the sky after he agrees with his comrade, "Yeah...you are right about that. It actually felt pretty good to go all out against each other."

He releases a sigh before he comments, "You don't think it is because the tournament is right around the corner that Takao the way he is now."

The raven haired boy adjusted his posture so that he was comfortable while he pondered over what his friend just said.

"It's true that he has become more focused in practice then he normally is…" He voices when another voice cuts him off.

"…because he usually blades by his emotions and right now they are completely muddled due to Hiromi's departure."

The pair glance over only to see their slate haired leader leans his back against the wooden wall of the house.

"He is in a dark space right now. It is a space that he is not use to nor equip to handle because he is inexperience to it." He explains his opinion about the situation at hand.

"So…what do we plan to do if he doesn't completely come around before the start of the tournament?" Max inquisitively asks about Takao's future.

Kai rotates from his teammates and states before he ambles away from them, "He'll be benched."

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Archimedes was on guard the entire time that she trails behind the strange woman with powdery white hair.

'What kind of trouble did I get myself in this time?' She mentally wondered to herself before she recalled exactly when she received the letter.

The raven haired girl just finished her studies before being chauffeured home by her father's most trusted driver and was greeted by both the butlers and maids.

"Ah Miss Archimedes," One of the maids drew closer to her with a white envelope in her hands before she explained why she called for her, "…this came for you."

Archimedes removed the envelope from within the maid's grasp and stared at it for a couple of seconds until the maid dismissed herself.

'It looks like an invitation.' She predicted once her eyes landed on the front of it to see it was just her name.

"Ah my lovely daughter, I see you made it safely back from school." Her father's voice suddenly broke her out of her thoughts.

"How was your day today?" He curiously inquired about her day while she leisurely peeked up at him before she politely answered, "It was the same as any other day there…boring."

That was actually a lie she would repeatedly tell her father just so he would leave her alone. However in reality, she led a group of delinquent girls that worshipped her as their "Ice Queen".

'A popular Russian social aristocrat with a daughter that runs a juvenile delinquent gang of girls…is an absolute field day for the press.'

The case was not that she was unaware of the consequences of her actions but rather it provided a sense of normality in her rather superficial lifestyle as daughter to a wealthy and prominent Baron.

"Let's get something to eat. Are you hungry?" Her father inquired with a hopeful expression on his face as he spoke to her.

A simple forward nod of her head signaled to him that she consented to the idea of going out to eat with him.

Once he left her to her thoughts again, the raven haired girl decided to open the envelope to see what was inside of it.

A plan ticket to Beijing, China and a stationary card was present as she extracted the card to read, "To seek your truth."

"Ah welcome Archimedes von Braun…I am so honored that you decided to accept our invitation." Another feminine voice chimes in, which breaks her out of her thoughts.

She peers upward to see that she was now inside of what she assumes was one of the numerous temples. A woman with chocolate brown eyes and orange hair sits before her on what appears to be a throne.

"My name is Inoue Matsumoto. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." The orange haired woman introduces herself as Inoue to Archimedes.

A brief silence ensues before she clears her throat and comments, "I most forewarn you that this journey that you are about to embark on will be one of…"

"You don't have to give me the spiel about the dangerous journey with greater rewards once it is over." Archimedes politely interrupts after she quickly lifts one of her hands up with the palm toward Inoue.

'So she's a cheeky little brat huh?' Inoue inwardly notes while her eyebrow secretly twitches from annoyance at the curt response from the girl.

"Well then Archimedes your teacher will be Akane." She introduces her to the woman off to her right, who kneels in front of her.

"Do treat this one humanely, Akane." The orange haired woman sternly mentions, which earns her the response of a nod from the powdery white haired woman.

As the chocolate eyed woman watches the newly assembled teacher student duo leave from within the foyer, she rose to her feet and stretched out her tense muscles.

'Now that we finally have everyone in place…it is only a matter of time before the gears really start to turn.' She contemplates as she travels around her throne, presses a circular red button, and pauses for a few seconds as a hidden wall lifts upwards.

Inoue advances forward until she passes underneath the wall, halts in the middle of her stride, rotates toward the wall, and presses a circular red button as the wall starts to descend.

She softly hums a familiar melody while she strolls forward in to an adjacent room, which contains scrolls, slabs of stones with engrave hieroglyphics, a wide wooden inverted desk usually use for architects or designers, a free stand desk lamp dangles over the desk, a laptop and a rolling stool.

Inoue leisurely approaches the desk, gently plops down on the stool, and critically studies the papers that grace the surface of the desk.

'I'm on the verge of cracking the code…I just need a little bit more time.'

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"Ah thank you," Lanying politely accepts the compliment from Audrey about her home before she reveals to her blonde companion, "I built it myself."

"So no one helped you?" She curiously poses after she eventually swallows a chunk of fried fish that tastes absolutely delicious.

The purple haired woman pauses for a brief second as a means to think when she comments, "Well I can't take all the credit since I did have some reliable friends to help out, now can I?"

"So...where are you from Audrey?" The older woman deliberately redirects the topic of their conversation to more of a personal stance, which only furthers that sensation in the dirty blonde's gut to lurch forward.

Lanying almost instantly reads the change in her student's body language once she curiously inquires about where she is from.

"If you're not comfortable with revealing such delicate information then you can always pass on the question." She assures the teen that she has the right to deny any of her questions.

Audrey shakes her head left and right when she claims, "It's not that I am not comfortable…it's just that I miss home."

'Oh so that's what it is…' The purple haired haired woman mentally affirms after she overhears what her pupil says to her.

"Do you have any siblings?" The older woman enquiringly asks while she lightly dips her fish in a small bowl fill with a black liquid.

She advances her head forward before she clarifies to Lanying, "I have an older and a younger brother. "

A wide smile materializes on her face after she mentions her siblings as if she recalls an incident between them that reminds her of happiness.

"Someone once said that siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teaches fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring - quite the hard way -" (Pamela Dugdale).

"I had a younger naïve brother, who would always follow behind me and annoy me with so many random questions like "Why is the sky blue?". We were born in this small fishing village that was known for its seafaring people that would bravely face the treacherous seas for large catches of fish."

"We completely idolized our father since he was known as the best fisherman in the entire village before he retired from old age. My father was quite adamant about not allowing us to join him on his trips out to the sea because he feared for our safety."

"Once I reached of age, I requested for my father to give me the test to prove my worth as a seafaring person. During my test, my brother managed to sneak on to the boat and hid himself from view. A huge wave washed over the boat and swept up my brother within its grasp. My father and I immediately dove in the water with no hesitation to rescue him. He was a fairly good swimmer but not strong enough to face a rip tide." Lanying unexpectedly halts before she concludes her story.

"Yet, you have the strength and courage to return out there to the water with no fear or phobia." She positively asserts to her after she intently listens to the story about the tragic death of Lanying's brother.

A warm smile stretches across her face since Audrey naturally offers words of comfort to her, which prompts her to say, "I know it's what he would want me to do."

"After dinner...there is something that I need to show you." The purple haired woman mentions to her student.

A comfortable silence soon settles among the two as they decide to relish in the taste of food with more mild conversation about each other's life.

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Meifeng tightly secures the object within her clutches, kicks the door close with the side of her foot, and rotates toward Hiromi.

"Do you know what this is?" She inquisitively inquires to her pupil.

The silver haired woman slowly advances forward until she finally reaches where she sits and gently settles the wooden instrument in front of her.

Hiromi curiously narrows her sights in on the rather large rectangular wooden instrument with smaller square wooden blocks on top of the strings. Two tassels dangle on the opposite sides of the board and a floral emblem at what she assumes is at the head of the device.

'It looks familiar…' She inwardly weighs to herself before she shakes her head in a 'no' fashion.

Her grey eyes search around the apparatus until one of her hands secures what looks like a small brown knapsack with a red string wrap around the top.

"It is called the Guzheng, Gu Zheng or Zheng but here in China it is simply known as the Pinyin. It's a Chinese Plucked Zither." Meifeng explains as she gently removes small picks and returns the sack to its original position before she slides each one of them onto the fingers of her right and left hand.

She comfortably positions herself on the side of the wooden contraption, points to the board with her index finger and breaks down, "This one has twenty-one strings but I have another one that has only eighteen. The pentatonic scale is tuned similar to how one would sing such as: Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, and Ti."

The silver haired woman lifts one of her hands so that her palms face the teen, and explains while she wiggles her fingers, "These are picks but they are known as plectra that I use to do this…"

The brunette carefully watches as her instructor slowly drags one of her fingers across every single last string present on the surface of the instrument.

"Shall I begin?" Meifeng suggests while she stretches her fingers out, rests her fingertips clad with plectras against the strings, and exhales a deep sigh.

She unconsciously permits her fingers to nimbly glide across the strings while she gently plucks away.

The ruby eyed teen felt as if she was instantly transported in to a world of beauty and mysteries. Each pluck of the strings deeply evoked lucid imaginations...or were they memories?

"Hiromi?" A familiar masculine voice addresses her by her name before she directs her sights over to the source of the voice.

"Takao..." Hiromi hesitatingly utters his name once her brain instantly registers him as none other than Takao Kinoyama that presently stands before her.

"Who else could it have been?" The blue haired male teasingly jokes with a tug of his hat and a confident smile across his face.

"Am I dreaming?" She unexpectedly wonders when she immediately realizes what she just says and quickly casts her gaze away from him.

Takao stepped forward until the distance that separated them from one another was eliminated. She then was feeling one of his hands pressing against her cheekstimulating warmth from the touch.

"I am only real if you make me out to be." He coyly mentions as he gently rubs his thumb against her cheek in a very affectionate manner.

The brunette exhales a deep sigh that causes her shoulders to slump forward once she realizes that it was all just a dream and that Takao would never ever openly display such forward affections toward her.

'As much as I want this to be the truth...'

"You aren't real." The ruby eyed teen softly yet solemnly admits.

Hiromi feels her body speedily warps back to the room where her sensei finally finishes her musical composition with a smile of satisfaction on her face.

"Did you enjoy my performance?" Meifeng curiously wonders as she idly relaxes back in to an upright position with her hands rest across the surface of her lap.

She nods her head and comments "Yes...yes I did."

"Good then. I do aim to please." She proudly exasperates after she slightly tilts her head at a comfortable angle when she speaks to her.

"Uhm...Meifeng," The brunette abruptly verbalizes as she casually watches her teacher carefully removes one-by-one the plectras from the tips of her fingers and returns them to the knapsack.

The silver haired woman cocks her head in the direction of where the young woman sits before she questions, "Yes, what is it?"

"I was wondering...if you could tell me...what's the name of that song you just played?" Hiromi unexpectedly stutters through her question as if she suddenly lost her confidence.

"Oh, I called that one "A Tale of Two Distanced Lovers"." The older woman honestly admitted unaware that the brunette inwardly felt as if she took a hard punch in the gut and the air escaped her lungs.

'I thought so...'

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Author's Note:

07.29.15 Major Revision

04.28.17 Minor editing revisions