Conclusion [Friday afternoon—Yamanuchi

After finishing morning drills and, with Sensei's permission, doing their meditations early, and laying in the prep work for the evening meal, Ron, Yori and Rufus waited patiently in the central courtyard for their friends to show up or, in this case, literally fall out of the sky.

"It will be all right, Ron San. Kim Possible has been here with you before," she pointed out noting his anxiousness.

"Yeah I know," he agreed. "It's just..." He sighed. "This is the first visit where I'm here here and they're visiting us. I know it's silly but….."

She shook her head. "It is far from silly to want our friends to be happy when they are with us. That is part of being a good host." She kissed him. "It's part of what makes you so considerate."

"Guess I have good role models, huh?" he supposed while giving her hand a squeeze.

"Ron San, stop!" she blushed although she enjoyed the compliment.

It was at that moment that they saw a small cargo plane flying overhead. From it, they saw a door open and two people jump out of it.

"There they are," he pointed out as the two parachutes blossomed in the sky.

Slowly the duo grew larger and larger as they floated gently toward the ground and landed with ease in its center.

"Hey, guys!" Kim greeted while taking her helmet off and stashing the parachute in her knapsack. She set those items along with a take out bag down and rushed to hug her friends.

"Good to see ya!" Ron returned the greeting while hugging Kim and shaking Rick's hand. "Saw your sitch, Dude. That was awesome!"

"Thought you'd like that," Rick concurred with a grin. "Especially seeing Drakken like that." He considered the facility. "This is some place."

"Sensei is waiting for us. And then, after training, we will be, as you Americans say, on our own. Ron San has an extra special surprise planned for tonight," Yori announced.

"Surprise?" Rick wondered.

"Chez Ronald is back," Ron deadpanned. "Nooni wanted the break so I volunteered to show off the mad cooking skills!"

"YUM!" Rufus agreed. Then he sniffed the air and spied the bag. "NACOS!"

"Compliments of Ned," Kim declared. "Two each. Sorry we couldn't bring more but…."

"Cool! Let's go and talk with Sensei. Then we can eat these and get down to the stuff," Ron noted as they all headed for the central building and their afternoon schedule.

[Dining Room—7:00 PM

While he normally preferred to keep the students on a regimented schedule, Sensei allowed occasional exception for the sake of principle. In this case, he had three things in mind: to celebrate the visit of special friends and also to allow Ron to teach the others how to pitch in and collaborate, sharing the load in the process.

After their lunch and the sparring with Yamanouchi's finest, Yori guided Kim and Rick around the grounds, letting them enjoy the simple beauty of the place and its aesthetics.

As they did that, Ron worked away in the kitchen, chopping, slicing and dicing vegetables as well as the chicken and pork donated by three of the alumni. While the tasks consumed most of his afternoon, he looked at cooking as an art form much as painting a picture or composing a poem might be to someone else. As much as his martial arts training and relationship with Yori helped him, this aspect completed the triumvirate.

And in that lay Sensei's most critical reason—to help the foreigner find that balance within himself.

Meantime, the students admittedly grew impatient and hungrier with each passing minute. While they did not say anything due to both Sensei's wishes (and Japanese cultural norms), they were an hour past their normal dinner time. However, there was an element of curiosity among them too. What would their gaijin brother from the West offer them on this night?

At the head table, Kim, Rick and Yori sat alongside Sensei waiting for the feast in process.

"Thanks for letting Ron do this, Sensei," Kim expressed. "You're in for a treat."

"So I understand," the teacher agreed. "Nooni has tried a sample of this dish and she approves. Besides, it lets us see yet another of Stoppable San's facets."

The doors swung open, allowing Ron to walk out into the room. "Hey, guys! Sorry that dinner's late and all. Umm…wanna line up and we'll get started? Dinner is served!"

The ninja students stood but remained in place while their master and guests took their places at the head of the line. Then they joined the honored ones for their part in the feast.

Once back at the table, Sensei said a small blessing before bidding everyone to sit and enjoy.

"He really cooked this?" Rick asked, having tried a bite from his dish and staring at it incredulously.

"Yeah. Ask the gang back in Middleton about his coup in the cafeteria. As he said, Chez Ronald was a hit," Kim agreed while considering the chicken, pork and vegetable mixture on the rice.

Yori hesitantly tried the dish. While she would eat it no matter what, she did not normally deal with fatty or heavy dishes very well. However, as the food passed over her tongue, she closed her eyes and smiled, savoring the symphony of tastes. Her boyfriend definitely had more sides than even she considered. "This is wonderful!"

"Told you so," Kim noted wryly as she bit into a pepper. "You might want to tell him though."

Yori looked up to see Ron sitting down next to her with his own serving. "Ron San, I never would have guessed you could cook like this!"

"Yeah, kind of left that as a surprise, didn't I?" he replied feeling self-conscious. "Glad you like it."

She let her eyes sparkle into his, revealing her approval for the culinary art she and the others were enjoying. Already, she thought of ways that perhaps he could cook for her one on one at some point. While she wanted to give him a kiss, she would do so later for it did not do to express PDAs in front of her classmates and Sensei.

Ron savored his own meal. More importantly though, his friends—no, his family—truly enjoyed themselves around him. To him, that was the most important thing. No longer was he Ron Stoppable, the klutz/hanger on/sidekick. On that day, he truly became a part of a larger team.

And that was the most important thing to him…..

THE END (for now)