Normal POV
The daily routine around the Shiba House has changed a lot in the past three days. Antonio has moved in. Ji told him and Jayden that they would be sharing a room. It allowed them to catch up, so the boys didn't mind the new sleeping arrangements. Tracy still refuses to talk to Ashley about the situation with Antonio and their feelings towards him. Dr. Santiago made a house call and was amazed by how quickly Luna recovered and told Tracy that Luna was clear to start training tomorrow.
Tracy and Antonio are in the dojo. Tracy is lying flat on the floor. Tracy lifts both of her legs toward the ceiling and goes through the five ballet positions. She slowly brings her legs back down and goes into a rollback to get back on her feet, then walks over to Antonio.
"I know how important it is for me to be ready to fight when Master Xandred finally shows up. I shouldn't be wasting time stretching," Tracy says.
"You don't have to apologize. I don't want to see you get hurt again. Now, let's get to work. I hope that I can teach you how to become a good fighter like me," Antonio says.
Antonio takes hold of her wrist. He leads her to the middle of the room. Tracy slowly slides her hand out of Antonio's grasp and starts to blush when their fingers brush against each other. She places her hand over her heart and feels it beating so fast that Tracy is scared it will pop out of her chest. Antonio looks over at her and asks, "Are you okay?"
Tracy takes a deep breath and looks over her shoulder, "Yeah I'm good,"
Antonio chuckles and steps closer to her. He starts to show her some of the moves he learned from Jayden. After Antonio feels she has mastered them, they are standing in the middle of the room. Tracy is facing him. Her back is towards the wall where the swords are setting on a stand. He cups his hands and tells Tracy to place her right foot on top of his hands. Tracy lets out a quiet gasp of fear before starting to walk backward. She is moving so fast that she trips over her own feet and groans as she lands on the floor.
"Tracy, are you alright? You didn't hurt your ankle, did you?" Antonio asks, dashing over to her and carefully helping her to her feet.
"I'm fine Antonio, but we can't do that flip," Tracy says in a shaky tone.
"Why not?" Antonio asks as he sees a few tears start to build up in Tracy's eyes.
"Because I've never tried to do that flip since what happened the day my ballet teacher had me try it two years ago," Tracy says through the tears, "I'm scared the same thing will happen again, so can we do something different please?" Tracy continues.
Antonio moves his right hand and gently wipes away Tracy's tears with his fingers. He thinks his heart will split in half hearing the fear in Tracy's voice and seeing her crying.
"Tracy, I never meant to scare you like that. I want to help you, but if you don't feel like talking about it now, I can move onto something different," Antonio says.
Tracy takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Then she dries the rest of her tears.
"No, Antonio, I should have told you about this before we started training," Tracy says, "I'm okay with talking about it now."
Antonio walks her into the living room. They sit down on the chairs. A few moments later Jayden and Ji come into the room.
"Antonio, why aren't the two of you training?" Ji asks.
Antonio explains what just happened in the dojo. The three of them sit down. Tracy says it is okay for them to hear her story too, even though Ashley already knew about it since she was there that day also. Antonio moves in closer and puts his hand on Tracy's shoulder.
"It happened two years ago. I was in my acro class and my teacher just paired me up with one of the boys in the class. We were working on a routine for the competition coming up at the end of the month. It was the first day we were practicing the trick." Tracy sighs, "After my teacher tells us how we are supposed to do it, I was getting myself into position when my partner flipped me up so high I didn't have much time to react. My right foot slipped on the mat when I tried to land, and the next thing I knew I was waking up and I couldn't breathe for a few seconds."
"It sounds to me like your partner was too impatient," Ji says.
"Yes, but you shouldn't be worried about that happening again with Antonio as your partner," Jayden says.
Tracy looks over at Antonio. He slowly moves his right hand and uses his fingers to wipe the tears from her eyes - again.
"Tracy, as I said earlier, I don't want to see you get hurt again. Plus, I'd never forgiven myself if I was the one responsible for your injuries." Antonio says, "When you feel like you're ready to conquer this fear, I'll be right by your side to help you."
Tracy reaches over and hugs him. Antonio embraces her back. When they break apart the duo freezes when their eyes meet Ji brings them back to reality by loudly clearing his throat.
"I have nothing against the fact you two having feelings for each other and may start dating, but training needs to come first. we don't know how much time we have left before Master Xandred or his mooger army start appearing in our world," JI says
The duo turns their heads towards Ji and say, "Yes, Ji,"
