Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. All characters are the property of NeoGeo/SNK and all that jazz.
Sore ga Ai, Deshou?
Chapter Eleven: Yamada Jubei
The last month and a half of summer ran rather smoothly for Andy with Mai gone. Hanzo-sensei was able to focus his whole attention on Andy without having to divide himself between training his apprentice and grooming his heir. In addition to the Kakejin exercise, they also began Ashi drills, which were basically an advanced form of running.
Andy would be given a straw hat and instructed to keep the hat fixed on his chest with no way of fastening it but the air pressure created by running at a certain speed. Sometimes Hanzo would have him run with a long cloth behind him to act as a windbreaker and increase his air resistance or with sacks filled with rocks or sand to weigh him down. The calmative result of these drills was to condition Andy to perform amazing feats of long distance running in case he had to get out and away from somewhere fast (like say, a murder).
On days when Andy wasn't doing his rigorous drills, Hanzo would show him the more advanced moves of the Kappou style. The difficult acrobatic techniques such as Cho Reppa Dan and Ku Ha Dan and other various moves not named in the games because really, what real martial arts style would only have two serious acrobatic attacks like that?
As the days grew closer and closer to the beginning of the school semester Kazutaka grew more and more anxious to have his daughter home again. Every time the phone rang he would practically leap on it, determined to be the one to answer (often times injuring himself in the process thanks to his bad leg), hoping that it would be Shizune telling him that she was on her way over to return Mai to them.
"Moshi-moshi!"
Both Hanzo and Andy heard him gasp into the receiver wondering what he could have tripped over beside himself to make his voice strained like that.
"Oh its just you…" The shoji screen slid open and Kazutaka hobbled out, putting just noticeably more weight on his cane that he had been that morning. "Chichi-ue, Yamada-san is on the line for you."
"Ooh, I haven't seen him in a while." Hanzo commented, as he left the sparring circle, not even bothering to tell Andy that the day's training was over.
That was fine, Andy was used to it by now. Hanzo was a hard task master and drill sergeant but when his best friend, former rival and drinking buddy, Yamada Jubei called then training for the day (and sometimes the following morning, depending) was canceled. Jubei and Hanzo had been martial arts rivals when they were younger; Hanzo with his kappoujitsu and Jubei with his judo, two different styles used by two equally great fighters each striving to be the best. They had become friends in the war, being stationed in Manchuria together where they had met Tung Fu Rue (Andy was still unclear of the details on that bit, both Hanzo and Jubei seemed reluctant to talk of their time in the war), and they had remained best friends ever since.
"You stupid, jug headed, asinine deviant!" He heard Hanzo's incandescent voice roar. "No I will not bail you out this time you should have learned your lesson by now you brainless, sex-obsessed neurotic! Go stew in a cell for a while!"
Andy entered the house just in time to see his master slam the phone back down on the receiver so hard it made the wall on which it was mounted rattle. Jubei and Hanzo were best friends and so, naturally, Hanzo was the person Jubei called whenever he needed to be rescued from a bad situation. His "bad situations" unfortunately revolved around being picked up by the police for various forms of sexual harassment and molestation.
Hanzo stormed past Andy, down the hall to his bedroom. Emerging again a little less than five minuets latter, having changed out of his sweaty training gi and into a respectable looking hakama and yukata ensemble.
"Oi, Kazu!" He shouted from the entranceway. "I'm going out for a bit. Make sure you set four places for dinner."
"Is Mai-chan coming home?" He all but jumped.
"No."
Hanzo left.
…
Kazutaka was showing Andy what plants were and were not edible and how to make fire without matches or tinder when Hanzo returned with Jubei in tow.
"You don't have to lead me, Hanzo-kun." They clearly herd the old judo master protesting from the other side of the gate. "I'm not a dog."
"I know you're not." The old ninja responded. "A dog would be better behaved."
"How was I supposed to know she wasn't yet sixteen!"
"That is not the point, Jubei-kun." Hanzo thrust open the gate and dragged his friend in to the inner courtyard where Andy and Kazu sat. "You don't see Kazu parading around like an over sexed gorilla, do you? And Andy-kun, he's still just a boy! Do you want to teach him that it's okay to molest women on trains?"
"At least as ninja neither of them would get caught." Jubei muttered. "By the way, hi, boys."
Andy and Kazu both waved half hearted "Hey"s to the old master.
"Ooh, are you doing survival training?" Jubei asked, pulling out of Hanzo's vice like grip. "I remember doing that when I was younger. Hanzo-kun and I did it together; the 44th army division. They gave us some basic training before shipping us out to China. 'Course, Hanzo-kun already knew everything before he even started the training, in fact, I think he even showed our sergeant a thing or two, ne Hanzo-kun?"
Hanzo-sensei deigned not to answer; instead he grabbed his friend by the collar of his haori and pulled him inside the house. "I just laid down a good deal of money to get you out on bail, now you're gonna have to work off that debt! The washitsu rooms could do with a thorough cleaning and I'm sure Kazu can think of some other things for you to do after he finishes with Andy."
"You're putting me to work?" The judo master exclaimed. "And here I thought we were friends."
…
For such a dirty old man it turned out that Yamada Jubei was meticulously clean and did a splendid job cleaning the washitu rooms, unfortunately he took so long that Kazutaka had already set the table for dinner by the time he was done and Hanzo-sensei couldn't squeeze any more work out of him.
Andy entered the dining room to find that Kazu had not set four places but five. When the boy asked why Kazu replied quite happily that, "Shizune called while you were meditating and said that she's bringing my little Mai-chan home tonight."
"Yeah, and this jerk is refusing to let us eat until she gets here." Hanzo muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
The blond just shrugged and sat down, he noticed that Jubei-sensei refrained from commenting and since he didn't feel particularly starved at that moment he decided that he didn't mind waiting.
An awkward silence must have fallen over the party because Jubei felt the need to fill it with chatter. "So, Andy-chan, how've you been recently? We don't get to see as much of each other very often. How's your training going? And school, that's important too."
"They're both fine, I suppose." The boy answered.
The old judo master nodded as if that were the answer he had expected and turned to Kazutaka. "And how's the leg? Hanzo-kun told me what happened. Are you adjusting well?"
Kazu gave a noncommittal reply; obviously distracted by watching the minuets tick by before his precious little girl was returned to him.
"Well, I'm done sitting." Hanzo-sensei rose to his feet and left the room. "You can come and get me when you're ready to serve dinner for real, Kazu. Don't announce a meal if you're not going to serve it."
Kazu just huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.
…
Mai arrived latter that evening to the great displeasure of everyone else. Shizune had returned her latter than promised, already fed and ready to barricade herself in her room until the start of the new school term.
Andy's breath caught in his chest when she walked through the door and paused in the entrance hall, bending down to take off her shoes and displaying generous cleavage that she hadn't had a month ago on Hagi. He knew it was rude to stare but the boy found himself unable to look away, so captivating was the sight of her generous bust, far to generous a breast line for her age.
"Andy could you take this for me?" She offered him her travel bad. "Andy?" Mai had to snap her fingers in front of his face a few times before she finally got his attention. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, fine." The blond ninja-in-training took her bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll just take this for you… I'll just... I... um, welcome back." He backup intending to carry out her request and deposit her travel bag in her room for her and nearly tripped over his own feet in the process.
"Hmph, some ninja he's turning out to be." Shizune commented when she too, paused in the entrance hall to seamlessly and gracefully step out of her getta.
"He's doing just fine." Hanzo said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're late."
"A woman is never late, Uncle." Shizune smiled coyly. "Nor is she ever early, a woman arrives precisely when she means to."
"So I see." He shifted his attention to Mai. "Did you have fun, kitten?"
Mai looked as thought she was about to reply but paused, casting a sideways glance at Shizune. Instead she said, "I'd just like to go and lie down please. I'm tired."
"I'm sure." Hanzo patted his granddaughter on the head.
"We had a fun time, didn't we Mai-chan." Shizune offered one of her patented pastic smiles.
Mai just smiled in return and tried to squeez between the adults to get away, before she could scamper off down the hall and barricade herself in her room Kazutaka came hobbling into to the entrance hall, his cane making a thunk thunk thunk sound with every step.
"What's this!?" He stopped when he saw Mai. "I sent off my little girl, who's this young woman I see now?"
"Its still me, 'Touchan." Mai answered. She knew that was just one of those games parent's liked to play with their children, a variation on the 'Look how you've grown!' statement, but Mai wasn't really in the mood to indulge him in it. She just wanted to go to bed.
"Mai-chan, look how you've grown!" Jubei had apparently come up behind Kazu.
She offered a polite not to her grandfather's friend and wondered when the adults would finish fawning over her so she could go.
At some point in the middle of all this Shizune slunk off. She was no longer the focus of anyone's attention and there really wasn't anything she had to say to anyone either. Sine her presence was no longer required she figured no one would mind if she left, so that was exactly what she did.
"That blood drippin' out of your nose better be from my fist, Jubei-kun." Hanzo muttered out the corner of his mouth.
"Huh?" The old judo master looked puzzled. "But you haven hit m-"
His sentence was just off by the back Hanzo's fist colliding with his nose with bone breaking force. The cartilage of Jubei's nose collapsed under the impact.
"Eh, what'd you do that for?" Mai blinked up at her grandfather in utter confusion while her father mouthed the words 'Thank you' behind her back. Mai was still young and blissfully ignorant of her pseudo-uncle's lecherous tendencies but both her father and grandfather were more than well aware of the old judo masters lack of restraint when it came to attractive young girls and Mai was quickly growing in a very attractive girl.
…
The next morning while Kazutaka took Mai out shopping for new school uniforms Hanzo along with Andy escorted Jubei back to his own dojo on the other side of the Higashiyama Mountains.
The train ride was relatively quiet and uneventful with the exception of one small portion of the rout between six stops that stretched between two schools who's semesters had already started for that term.
One girl, a high school aged girl in a short blue and white pleated skirt had been standing in front of Jubei, one hand holding her school bag, the other one of the suspended rings for balance. Jubei had reached his hand out to grope the poor girl but before Jubei's hand could even brush the material of her skirt Hanzo had lanced out with reflexes to fast for one so old and closed his hand around his friend's wrist.
The old ninja had shook his head in a silent reprimand and released the judo master's wrist. He then hissed at Andy, "Watch him."
Andy spent the remainder of that train ride keeping a close eye on the old judo master's hands, making sure they didn't "accidentally" brush up against an unwilling woman. He wasn't yet as "ninja" about it as Hanzo whom combined subtlety with speed in a way that made his actions seem almost inhuman but the ninja-in-training did have enough subtlety and brains to keep Jubei under control.
When an attractive girl or woman came within range of the old man's grasp Andy would ask him a question, there by drawing the girl's attention to them momentarily so that any possibility of Jubei being covert in his actions melted away. Andy had heard of his fair share of perverts back in South Town, while he and his brother had been lucky enough never to have fallen victim to any they had know people whom were not as fortunate.
Most perverts tended to be spineless. If they knew they could get caught they wouldn't try. All a person had to do to dissuade most molesters was to show a little confidence because predators preferred easy targets. If a person knew to look out then the molester would lose interest for fear of being caught.
And that was exactly what Jubei did. He backed down and behaved himself until they had reached his house.
The Yamada dojo was also set on the top of an obscenely high hill in another "small town" just like the Shiranui residence was. But that was where the similarities stopped. While the Shiranui house was traditional in its design it still boasted heating and air conditioning, electric lighting, telephone lines and in-door plumbing. The Yamada dojo was an old wood house, and by "old" I mean an old wood house.
Jubei led them into the kitchen and began lighting a wood-burning stove for tea. "Sit anywhere you like." He called over his shoulder to his guests.
Hanzo led Andy to what he assumed was a sitting room but was littered with magazines and books of a dubious nature.
"Ugh." The old ninja muttered while nudging a pile of Pinku Monthly out of his immediate way. Once the offensive magazines were out of the way he sat down and motioned for Andy to do the same.
The boy obediently sat down beside his master and began studying the magazine covers to his right with fascination.
"Eyes forward, puppy." Hanzo barked. "I promise that spot on the wall will be ten times better than anything in any of those."
"Hai, Sensei." The ninja-in-training snapped his gaze up from the erotic images to a stain of the shoji paper of the opposite wall. It was not more interesting than the porn but it was far less degrading to women.
"You did a good job keeping Jubei-kun under control today." Hanzo commented after a prolonged pause.
"Thank you, Sensei."
"I just might send you here to train over the winter holidays. He may be a lecherous old coot but he knows his left hook from his high kick and while he's training you, you might keep him out of trouble."
"Hai, Sensei." Andy nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the stain on the wall and feeling resentful of Hanzo's apparent decision to make him baby-sitter to a 'lecherous old coot'.
Jubei returned not long after that bearing tea and brittle rice crackers with him. The three of them sat and ate, Andy sitting in silence while the other two swapped stories and reminisced about places and people that Andy had never seen nor met. He listened intently, hoping to catch Master Tung's or his father's name mentioned but neither was.
He knew that they (Hanzo and Jubei) had met Tung Fu Rue in Manchuria during World War Two, the one people whom lived during that era refered to as simply "the War", but he had never heard the actual tale. Not from Tung back when he and Terry were living with him, not from Hanzo-sensei in all the years he'd been living at the Shiranui dojo so far and now not from Jubei.
Jeff had once told him and Terry not to pester Master Tung about it, that the War had been a very painful time in his life and that it hurt to talk about. Was it the same way with Hanzo and Jubei? But they seemed to be reminiscing about it just fine right now, about all except for how they met and became friends with Tung.
After a while the tea grew cold and the conversation winded down and Andy reserved to ask, "So, how did you meet Master Tung?"
The two turned their heads and regarded him silently a moment or two before answering.
"I was separated from my platoon." Jubei answered slowly. "Tung-kun helped me find my way back."
"Oh." Andy said, feeling as though he had received only the barest minimum of answers. He decided that there must have been something in between the getting separated and the getting back that had traumatized them all to the point of being reluctant to talk about it. After all, Andy figured that if he were asked he wouldn't want to talk about his life on the streets before Jeff and that hadn't been anything like a war at all.
…
"I'll tell ya about it some time."
"Huh?" Andy looked up when his master spoke. They were on their way back from the Yamada dojo, sitting side by side in two of the few seats that had been available when they'd made their train connection back to Niigata.
"The War, and Jubei and Tung in Manchuria, I'll tell you about it some time." He clarified.
"Oh, thank you." The boy responded.
"Just not until you've grown up a bit." The old ninja amended. "Tung was like a grandfather to you and you deserve to know a bit more about him but not until you've got a few more years and a few more life experiences under your belt."
"Okay."
"It's a good story. The bitter-sweet kind that makes you feel sad and hopeful at the same time."
…
Happy Holidays to Everyone! Sorry this chapter was so long in coming.
A/N: I bet you're all curious about this past that Jubei and Tung had in the War (no, its not shonnen-ai/yaoi). Well, I'm sorry to break it to you but that's a fan fiction for another day. I've got it stewing on a back burner right now 'cause I wanna finish this one, but I'll write it some day. :-)
Thank you to all my kind reviewers. Your positive encouragement is like manna from Heaven for me.