CH09: Master and Champ

The students ranged in age from toddlers to old men and all were of varying skill levels. The head of the dojo led them through various katas before separating them to spar while he watched their technique and corrected errors. One student, a boy in his mid teens, stood off to the side and watched as the master taught the other students. His eyes flicked back and forth over the class, taking in what he could learn and stopping to watch whenever the sensei corrected other students.

"Need a sparring partner?" Meiling asked. The boy was obviously being left out of the group on purpose. She could guess why by the way he was paying attention to the movements of the rest of the class.

"No." He replied dismissively, not taking his eyes from the instruction the teacher was giving to a young boy.

"You must be as bored of this as I am. Besides, you're paying to learn here, you might as well learn how to lose," Meiling taunted him. She was pretty sure that he was the star pupil of the group and was only awaiting personal instruction rather than being ignored.

"You're the expert at that are you?" The boy sounded irritated. It reminded her of the way Syaoran used to act before he had met Sakura.

"No just the best teacher," Meiling replied as she struggled against the growing urge to pound the boy to death. The attitude was a lot more irritating coming from him.

"You're not worth fighting." He said flippantly. His head turned slightly as the teacher moved to the next student. He perfectly mimicked the stance that the teacher was showing to a middle aged woman.

"You wouldn't lay a hand on me. In fact, I bet that I could knock you down three times and you wouldn't land a single hit," Meiling bragged. Sure, he might be good, but she knew that she was much better.

"Really? You would bet on it?" He smirked confidently.

"I'm pretty good." Meiling replied derisively.

He turned and finally started paying attention to her. "Fine then, if I hit you, you go to a dance as my date," he said smugly. To Meiling, his attitude seemed really immature.

"I'm not too old for you?" Meiling asked. He had to be at least two years younger than her, if not three or four.

"The guys are going to be so jealous when I have you on my arm. So let's get this started." He threw the first punch. She dodged and caught his wrist. She was not going to be some arm candy to some prepubescent kid.

"Didn't you want to hear my terms?" Meiling asked. The boy's first punch had not been too serious. He had intended to take her by surprise and win the bet. The next strike he would put everything into.

"Why? You're not going to-" He kicked at Meiling's side thinking that she couldn't dodge while holding his wrist. She didn't have to. She spun around and he found himself looking down on her from the air moments before he bounced heavily off the floor. He grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.

"One." Meiling smirked as she backed off and allowed him to stand. He took a minute to steady his breathing. "Don't underestimate your opponent; it only takes one lucky hit to take you out of the match." It was good advice, and that only meant that he would be even more pissed off by it. Meiling knew from experience how infuriating it was to have someone who looked down upon you criticize you.

"Take your own advice." He launched into a flurry of punches and kicks. He was faster than Meiling had anticipated, and she was put on the defensive. His speed almost matched her own and she could barely see his strikes. Many of them came within a hair's breadth of hitting her. His speed came at a price though. She soon recognized it as one of the elementary attack patterns that she had mastered as a child. Once she realized this, she was abled to dodge past his attacks and hit him in the chest with a palm strike. He went flying back and slammed into the ground, stunning him for a moment.

"Two," she said calmly. She was trying hard to resist panting she was not used to doing so much exercise anymore. He was looking irritated as he stared at the mocking girl. "Fast is good, but not when it is predictable. Watch for weaknesses and don't rely so much on patterns and forms," she suggested as she relaxed into the traditional Li stance.

"Predict this!" His leg shot towards her face. She barely had to lean back at all to dodge the attack. Using a single finger, she pushed on the back of his heel and he lost his balance. He landed on his butt for the third time.

"Attacking in anger will cloud your judgment and make you easier to defeat. Calm and focused - that's how your mind must be to react intelligently in a battle. Also, I believe I won." Sounds of clapping alerted them to the fact that the entire room had been watching the fight.

He scowled angrily. "So what did you want?" He grumbled.

"I'll make sure you win the tournament, and you'll give me half the prize money," she said. The boy had potential, but his ratty gi told her that he probably wouldn't have anything she'd value, especially in her current circumstance.

"I'll win without some nobody training me," he countered petulantly.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Meiling smirked. She had not competed professionally since she was his age. It was understandable that he hadn't heard of her.

"Some loser who likes to beat up younger kids?" He was trying to get a rise out of her. Meiling's temper finally gave out.

"Try Li Meiling, the flaming fist of the Li clan. National martial arts champion, undefeated in tournaments, national or international," She practically shouted, emitting an aura of killer intent that would make a grown man cower in fear. The boy backed off. He'd already seen what she could do, and it would be stupid to make her angry now.

"She's also the new teacher I'm hiring to train you for the tournament," the sensei said kindly.

"But you're the shadow tiger of Japan," the boy exclaimed, "your first strike is the last. No one can train me better than you can." He obviously idolized the elder martial artist.

"I may look young, but I'm almost fifty years old. I'm not as young or fast as I used to be. I need someone who can bring your skills up to a level my body can no longer reach," he explained, rubbing his back for emphasis.

"You're Tsumeguchi Kagetora!" Meiling exclaimed with surprise, finally recognizing him. The man was legendary in the martial arts world. "I studied your book of martial arts forms when I was training. Your method is legendary."

"Admittedly, you might have had more trouble if I was still competing when you first started fighting professionally. If I remember correctly, you went from completely unknown to national champion in eight months." The boy's right eyebrow arched skeptically when he heard this.

"When you have proper motivation, you can achieve anything," Meiling replied. At the time, she had been considered completely average in every respect. The elders had thought that she might even be slowing Syaoran's training down. Proving herself had been the only way to make sure that they were not separated from each other. Even that achievement would not have been enough if Yelan had not intervened on her behalf.

"Well you'll find this boy to be plenty motivated," he said proudly, "His name is-Laishi Ryuuten."

"Laishi-" Meiling stumbled over the name. It was familiar to her. How could she forget the battle with the power card? Sakura still hadn't mended the wounds created that day. Meiling hadn't thought that Laishi had any direct relations, but thought it was better not to mention it.

"When's that dance you wanted to take me to?" It was the only thing she could think to say at that moment. He looked at her stunned. "It's not that I like you or anything," she quickly explained, "but... we're going to be training together so we should get to know each other as friends."

"This Friday," he said. Then he actually smiled. Meiling returned the smile nervously. She hoped that his name was just a coincidence. If he actually was related to Laishi Lin, things would get awkward if he ever found out that she had been there when Laishi had died.

The tournament was scheduled for a week before school started and lasted for an entire weekend.

For the rest of the class, the people took turns sparring. Each member of the class got a firsthand demonstration of Meiling's skills. One eight year old boy even got a hit on her, much to everyone's amusement.

After the class was over, Tsumeguchi and Meiling waited for the others to leave before discussing what the arrangements for this new job were.

"I can't pay you a lot," he saidn "As this dojo currently stands, I have taken upon myself as many students as I can possibly teach well. If this works out, with your help, I may be able to take on more students, but for now, I can pay you no more than twenty-eight hundred Yuan a week. Lessons are every weekday at seven."

Meiling considered what he had said. The job would not interfere with her waitressing for the rest of the summer, and would keep her out of debt, but once school started, it would not even cover her rent.

"I would only be able to stay for a few weeks... After the tournament I would need to find a better paying job to cover my rent."

"If I could suggest that you look for some cheaper housing..."

"I can't. I need to be within walking distance of my school because I can't afford a car as well as a house. My apartment was the cheapest available."

"I see." He thought for a moment. "There are some extra rooms upstairs. I suppose I could let you rent one of those."

"How much?" She asked excitedly. It seemed too good to be true.

"You will be expected to keep the dojo and I would ask that I receive a portion of any tournament winnings."

"You either really want me to stay or you think that I'm going to win a lot." she laughed nervously.

"Welcome home," He said with a smile, not indicating which he had meant.

Tsumeguchi led her to a flight of stairs and up to the second level of the three story building. Meiling was surprised to find that this level contained two more training rooms.

"I originally intended to hire more teachers and expand into these rooms, but things did not go as planned," he explained.

"You couldn't find enough students?" Meiling asked.

"When you're a martial arts legend, students are easy to come by; it is worthy teachers that I had trouble finding. Just choose one of these rooms. It will be your private room. I am afraid I can't offer much of a kitchen, but you can borrow mine until you figure something out."

Singing was the one comfort left to Tomoyo, or at least it had been. Ever since their 'date', Eriol had not left her alone. It was not that he was forceful, but he made sure to see her several times a day. Every time she would prepare for her upcoming performance, he would be sitting on the windowsill listening to her sing. There was nothing she could do about him and that smug little smile he always wore, so she tried to ignore him.

However, on this particular occasion, he took it a step further. She had opened her mouth to sing, and she had heard the piano playing. He was accompanying her perfectly and it infuriated her.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Tomoyo demanded. Over the past couple of days, she felt that she had made her feelings for him abundantly clear.

"I must sincerely apologize. It seems that my presence distracts you from your practice. I'm looking forward to taking you there. I am sure that your performance will be a resounding success."

"It's just a bunch of teenagers gathering for a party before school starts. I don't even know why I agreed to perform." She huffed, turning her back on Eriol.

"Please don't lie to me," Eriol calmly protested, "You know that I cannot be so easily fooled. You're doing this for her."

"I don't even want to speak to you. I don't want to see your face anymore. I want nothing to do with you." She mumbled irritably.

"I can't leave you alone. It would be terrible if you forgot about me." He looked into her eyes in a way that sent eerie chills down her spine. "Besides, we never got to have our date, and I won't stop until we have it properly. After that if you want me to leave you alone, then so be it."

"What kind of game do you think this is?" Tomoyo's fists were clenched tightly and she glared at her tormentor angrily. "I'm not going to be a pawn in your stupid -"

"Who said you were a pawn?" Eriol approached and kneeled before her, "You, my dear, are the queen," he kissed her hand. She pulled away ad rubbed her hand on the bed spread. "and while the game still revolves around the king, the queen is unique in that she both commands the pawns and has unrivaled strength."

"Strength? What strength so I have that the great wizard does not, since I cannot even keep to myself with my power."

"By virtue of being the queen, I can neither let you go, and my opponent cannot cease striving for you. Both sides align at your rallying call, and your very presence brings about the life or death of the pawns and if you're lucky, you may even get a chance at striking the enemy a mortal blow." He stood up and smiled darkly.

"Enough with the chess analogy. It doesn't apply. I'm weak. I can't do anything but watch as everyone around me gets injured or killed." She swung an unskilled fist at Eriol. He caught the blow easily and pulled Tomoyo against himself.

"Not everyone," he whispered before he pushed her away and leapt out the window.

"Damn you, Hiiragizawa."

"You found another place to live?"

"It's practically free to. It came with my new job," Meiling said excitedly. She had called Sakura so that she and Syaoran could help her move into her new apartment. "Grab the refrigerator, would you?" Meiling requested.

"It's almost as big as I am!" Sakura exclaimed. It wasn't a full sized refrigerator, but it was still more than Sakura could handle on her own.

"You can use the Clow cards again, can't you?"

"Even if I transformed the power card, I'd never have enough energy to use it," Sakura pointed out. She also did not want to risk endangering herself by using up too much energy. "Besides, I doubt I'd even be able to get it through the door."

"How about the loop?" Meiling suggested.

"I've never used it, but I'm pretty sure I have to know where I want it to loop to."

"You aren't very helpful are you?" Meiling joked and then furrowed her brow as she tried to think of another idea.

"I never said I couldn't do it, but I'll probably need help." Sakura took out some ofudas. "Syaoran showed me this trick once. Syaoran, tilt the refrigerator please." Meiling and Syaoran worked together to tilt it backwards while Sakura attached some wind ofudas to the bottom. The sound of food rolling to the back and the splashing of liquid spilling surprised the three.

"I guess we should have taken the food out first," Meiling said sheepishly, "No wonder I couldn't move it when I tried." There was no point in removing the food now, it would already be spilt. She would have to remember to clean it up when she got it to her new home.

"Okay that's good I think." Sakura said. She grabbed the large appliance and lifted it with ease. A layer of air swirled under it and supported the weight.

"Actually, I had another reason I wanted to talk to you," Meiling said as they guided the appliance down the stairs to where Wei was waiting with a van. "You guys are going to a dance this Friday."

"Hoeee?" Sakura turned to Meiling, forgetting about what she had been carrying. "I don't know if he's ready for that kind of thing yet."

"You will come, won't you Sakura?" Meiling begged, "I don't want to be stuck with just a bunch of fourteen year olds."

"Why are you going to a dance for people that young anyway?"

"It's not like I'm dating him. He's just a student at the Dojo I'm going to be working at. I am going to train him for a tournament."

"So you're training him to fight by going dancing?"

"No, I just thought it would be good to get to know him." She said confrontationally.

"What aren't you telling us?" Syaoran asked tensely. Meiling always acted like this when she was hiding something. "You wouldn't be going if there wasn't another reason."

"His name is Laishi Ryuuten." Meiling replied nervously. Syaoran's kept his expression blank. He didn't want to acknowledge the name.

"Is he related to her?" Sakura asked, nervously clutching her hands together.

"I don't know. What was I supposed to say? 'Did your mother die last year and do you blame my best friend?'" she said with badly emulated innocence, "That isn't exactly easy to bring up in a conversation." She huffed.

"So you're just hoping he's going to spontaneously start talking about his family? Or maybe, you're hoping the issue never comes up." Syaoran mocked, making Meiling feel like a coward.

"Does it make a difference?" Sakura asked, "It doesn't matter who his family is. It matters who he is."

"Tsumeguchi-sensei told me that he was a special case. He's very gifted, but he is an orphan. I don't know the circumstances, but he has been getting his training without paying the dojo for several years now."

"So, he's fighting to remain in the dojo now?" Sakura asked.

"No. Tsumeguchi is too kind hearted for his own good." Meiling smiled happily as she thought about the man. He had been very helpful, even after she had rudely burst into his dojo and beaten him up.

"I've heard that name before," Syaoran mused out loud.

"The hand to hand combat manuals. He wrote a lot of them," Meiling reminded him, "I knew who he was the moment Ryuuten said his name."

"Look at that!" A woman remarked. She and her husband were exiting their apartment.

"Damn, she's strong!" Her husband replied. They weren't the only ones appearing in the hall. The noise had attracted the attention of some of the other residents as well.

"She's holding that with one hand as if it was weightless." All at once, Meiling Syaoran and Sakura grabbed the refrigerator and descended as quickly as possible towards the ground floor.

Meiling's move finished without further incident. Afterwards, she ate and then trained while waiting for the class to begin. Ryuuten showed up early.

"Good evening, Li-sensei." Ryuuten greeted her.

"Want to spar while we wait?" Meiling asked. It was always more fun to train with a partner.

"That would be great," he said. He grinned confidently as he took his stance. It was the same one that the Shadow Tiger used. It was a good match for the Li style.

"Let's make this interesting," Meiling suggested, "Every point shot, the victim has to answer a question."

"Like truth or dare?"

"You'll have to hit me to get the answer." Meiling smirked. A few seconds into the fight, Meiling scored the first hit. "Boxers or briefs?" She grinned evilly. Asking him about his mother right off would have been cruel, but that didn't mean embarrassing him wouldn't be fun.

"Commando," He replied jokingly, but with a hint of seriousness. "Actually it depends what I'm doing."

Meiling feinted a dodge of one of his strikes and allowed him to graze her side. "I guess it's your turn."

"How many times have you slept with your boyfriend?" he asked. She was trying to embarrass him, why shouldn't he do the same?

"I..." Meiling paused as she considered her answer. "I don't have a boyfriend." She hit him. "How many times have you slept with your boyfriend?"

"Snarky bitch," was his reply as he launched a ferocious flurry of attacks. When one finally landed he asked, "Why do you think you're so much better than everyone?"

"I'm not better than everyone, just better than you. A Li does not lose except to another Li," she grunted. The kid had stamina. He hadn't stopped attacking.

"Why do you get special treatment from everyone?" She asked as she karate chopped him in the side when he tried to punch her.

"Because I don't have a fucking family. My parents are dead!" He replied loudly and angrily. She had obviously struck a nerve with that question.

"Well so are mine; it's no excuse. A person has to live on their own strength. You can't rely on someone else as a crutch 'cause you'll just end up getting hurt in the end." Meiling bit her lip and hit him hard enough to knock him down. She had come too close to getting really emotional. She still had something to do. "What happened to your parents?"

"Dad was an alcoholic. His liver failed. He was a bastard. Mom had been taking self defense classes to protect herself. When she was pregnant, he tried to hit her. She protected me and punched him in the gut. He collapsed. A few hours later he was dead. I only know what she told me before she died."

"What happened to her?" Meiling asked gently. He hadn't gotten up, so she didn't bother attacking.

"That bitch killed her," he said angrily and glared downwards.

"Who did?" Meiling knew she was close to getting the answers she needed.

"It doesn't matter," He deflected angrily.

"I lost my father when I was young," Meiling knew that she had pushed him too far. She had to reciprocate if she wanted him to trust her enough to talk about it. "I was an only child then. They never told me what really happened to him. My mother never really liked me. She was more than happy to go work at the main family's compound so my cousin could have a playmate and she could be rid of me. I only saw her a few times after that before she left me there. After that she got sick, but I didn't care. Aunt Yelan was more of a mother to me even before I moved there than my real mother was."

There was not even a pretense of fighting anymore.