"Sensei," He said nervously, a distinct look of worry and restlessness replaying on his young face. "Can I talk to you?"
The old man, as usual, was wearing a pure white yukata and similarly a pure white obi to blend in perfectly. The only noticeable colour difference was the bamboo hat. The curved thing remained on his head during the daylight hours, only coming off for bedtime or times of reflection and meditation. He had been about to meditate anyway, so it came as as a small surprise that he was gently accosted by one of his students so soon after breakfast.
"Here?" The white bearded man queried as he stroked his impressively long clean facial hair.
The younger man shook his head quickly, looking around himself as his brothers continued to spar in the courtyard of Yang's former temple. All he felt was a growing sense of unease, he had tried to focus, really he had, but something had spooked him. And now, he desperately needed to get it out in the open, specifically; he needed to talk about this recurring dream that plagued his sleep.
The reason he had come here after breakfast? Well other than it being in his direct path of the courtyard and his brothers and Nya, it was also an easy way of speaking to someone he figured might be able to help. Sensei really was the only person he trusted with this strange dilemma. Sure, he knew from personal experience that this man was old and wise...ad finitum, but then Wu had seen most things including the surreal and downright unbelievable; what with his own brother living in the underworld. And, he was the only person other than Misako that would show inquisition to the otherwise unreadable unconscious mind.
The short of it; Wu, as their respected Sensei, he knew that some dreams should not be ignored. Some, should be acted upon.
That was what had brought him here. These dreams weren't right, they were far too real to be nothing more than important and meaningful. And these recurring dreams were painful too, not only in mind, but in body too. Jay actually ached when he woke up, he had cuts and bruises not linked to his training regimes or exercise schedules. These injuries were completely and totally unexplainable. He'd had to resort to covering his limbs with long sleeved tops or joggers when lounging around because he didn't want to accused of self harming, he wasn't the type of guy to resort to that extreme form of punishment. Jay had never suffered with overwhelming emotional distress, even when Zane had sacrificed himself. He was stronger than most thought him, though he was a sensitive soul, he wasn't the type to inflict damage to his own skin, on purpose. He tried to avoid that, since having a scar on his right eyebrow was testament to how long wounds would remain.
"In private?" Jay asked, largely unsure if his Sensei would question the reasons for wanting such privacy.
"Of course," The old and wise Sensei nodded. His wide brimmed hat tilted slightly though it remained in place. Wu opened the dark wooden door to his own meditating space, allowing his young student the room to enter.
Troublingly, the young student he had learned to know so well over these years, had entered this room with the utmost respect. What had unnerved the elder wasn't the undue respect shown; that respect had been taught. Moreover, was the subdued silence that accompanied the usually talkative one. In fact, if Wu was honest with himself, this young student was being particularly quiet, which was mostly unheard of and troubling at that.
Sure, Wu knew that there had been instances where Jay had been unusually quiet. These had been particularly emotional times when there had been troubles relating to a certain female or when Zane had sacrificed his body to defeat the Overlord. Wu noted by intuition that this was slightly different to his previous gripes. The young lightning master was quiet because something was troubling him, something that didn't directly involve his brothers or his girlfriend. No, this seemed to be more personal, a deeper meaning to it.
"Tea?" Wu offered, gesturing to the sea-grass mats that lay upon the wooden floor. "Sit, I shall pour one for both."
He approached his teapot, taking it from his one burner stove top. The old man poured the scalding hot water into his Tetsubin, allowing the hot water to infuse and soak the dried tea leaves and chamomile flowers. All the while,listently intently as his young student sighed, holding his breath to avoid the continual sighs to escape.
"Thank you Sensei." He nodded, then gently removed his jika tabi respectfully before placing them near the door. Then he did as suggested, looking at the two mats either side, facing each other with a table between the two. His Sensei would always sit facing the window which gave him the one facing the door.
"Please." Wu nodded, "Can you light the incense for me?"
The young ninja sat on his haunches apprehensively and leaned across the small table, lighting the sticks with the small candle flame. The little mat beneath him gave no cushioning whatsoever from the hard floor beneath that. He knew that he couldn't spend too long taking of his woes, lest he end up with a numb backside. Frustratingly, he looked at his Sensei who seemed to be taking an entirety to make a couple cups of relaxing tea.
"Relax," the old man soothed from the opposite side of the room. "The mind cannot be accessed if it is troubled in anyway."
He bit back the sigh and frown, choosing instead to remain straight faced as he followed each small order. He did think for a few seconds and no more that this might have been a waste of time, but, being as he was in here now...Relax, he thought.
As ordered, Jay took deep calming breaths, invigorating his mind as he breathed in the incense and old wood smell that lingered around as he sat in near silence. The only noise to alert him that there was another in here with him was the sound of a ceramic spoon being used to stir and infuse followed by the strainer as the hot water was poured into two receptacles. He looked up to watch as Wu walked back to the small table, placing both teas on the tray.
Wu slowly took his place on the sea grass mat in front of his student. Hat finally removed, he looked at Jay with a straight face. "What is troubling you?"
Puzzled, Jay didn't say a word. How did the old man know that he was troubled? He hadn't uttered a single word to indicate he was worried or troubled, just that he wanted to talk. In fact, all he'd done was ask for a word in private. And now he was in here, he felt like he was seeing it for the first time, from new eyes or something.
Jay noticed the scrolls hanging on the walls, tapestries hanging with bamboo frames, each picture having a meaning or a fable to them. The odd Bonsai tree, trimmed so perfectly it actually looked like he was looking at it from a distance. There was no doubt, the old man kept this place immaculate, it was much tidier than his workshop. Which currently had blueprints and various other things strewn over the floor and work surface.
"I had a disturbing dream last night."
Well that was one way of starting a conversation, Jay thought. Feeling somewhat stupid at not having thought of a better way to word his weird dreams as of late. He was sure that this set of dreams was likely attributed to this line of work or maybe being an elemental master. Perhaps, even having such a vivid and wild imagination was the cause? He momentarily hung his head in shame, wishing the floor would swallow him up whole and spit him out below into the clouds.
Without too much of a pause, Sensei Wu took a sip, placing his cup down gently, he observed his jumpy student. "Did it worry you?"
Jay nodded, not looking up from the incense sticks to meet the gaze of his elder. The smoke continued to swirl upwards, coiling and undulating, dispersing into the exposed beams of the temple of airjitzu. Jay didn't follow the smoke, his eyes remained glued to the steam and smoke as they mixed as one.
"Look at me Jay, tell me what you saw..."
He lifted his gaze, troubled sapphires locked with aged and experienced grey. "I-I saw a place up in the sky. I don't even know how I got there."
"This place, do you remember the name?"
Jay nodded, the posed question jogging his memory somewhat. "Seireitei," he mumbled, as straight faced as he could. Trying in vain to remember more of the strange place he'd visited on more than one occasion. Truthfully though, each time he'd visited, he'd managed to travel even further into this sacred place; he wasn't even sure how he'd managed to get into the place to begin with, yet he remembered that too was a painful experience. He woke up tossing and turning, tangled up in his sheets, feeling like he'd been run through by a big ass blade. That was when he'd got through the main walls, into the inner part, having been told he would have to face thirteen imperial guards of the Gotei.
Wu frowned, remaining closed with his words.
He looked around himself nervously, hoping no one was listening in. "It was something called the Soul society." he felt stupid admitting the name, foolish for stating he'd been having bad dreams that plagued his waking moments too, affecting his concentration both on the training field and with his own hobbies.
Finally Jay looked upwards. "It's just a dream though, right?" Tired bleary eyes looked at his Sensei for reassurance that these stupid dreams meant nothing and to stop worrying about such irrelevancies. He was hoping for a stern word of wisdom to tell him to focus on his training and enjoy his youth and health whilst he was still young.
"Who else is there with you?" Wu enquired, sipping his drink slowly.
Hewas surprised by his Sensei. He seemed interested...odd. Still, Jay thought long and hard, searching the recesses of his mind and the most recent brutally bloody dream he'd endured. "Everyone's there, even you."
"Hmm, any names? Why Seireitei, what is special about this place?"
Jay shook his head. He knew who he was in his dream and it would certainly explain his sustained injuries every other week. He did however wonder that if his brothers had similar dreams considering they too played a part in his own. Had they too come to seek out advice and reassurance, as he was now?
"I'm there to rescue someone, she's locked in the Senzaikyu. D-does this even make any sense or am I wasting your time?" Jay asked. Worry apparent at being taken for a fool at spilling his most disturbing dreams. "I mean it feels pretty real, the fights and the hatred towards me." Taking a drink to steady his nerves, he placed the small drink down. "It all feels so real though."
"Dreams and nightmares, visions of what may be. They can all hurt, in their own ways. The only difference is the message within them."
"Am I going insane? Maybe too many video games?" He offered, miserably. Trying his hardest to think up any plausible reason why he was dreaming up these scenarios.
"Our mind's think up painful memories, they become entangled with our emotions, thus we have nightmares. Others may be simple dreams of happier times or things we yearn for."
"I'm not thinking this up." Jay shook his head slowly. "And it's not anything I'd yearn for. I mean, why would I want to fight dream in dream out, I do that on a day to day basis? You think that might play a part?"
Wu shook his head. "How often do you have these dreams?" His Sensei asked, looking intently behind Jay as the younger elemental master pondered the question.
"Every other night." He had them frequently, that was for sure. Each time he learned a little more. In this dream he held a huge blade, it was almost as tall as he was. And to get to rescue Nya, he had to fight thirteen different foes, so far during the past few weeks, he'd only managed four. He'd found out the hard way too, that these captains all had lieutenants, they too were pretty damned hard to beat.
Sometimes his opponents had just been too strong for him and the exertion of the dream and his sustained injuries had woken him.
"The next dream you have, day or night." Wu started, looking at the smoke as it spiralled. "you must come and see me, the sooner the better. You shall remember more if you come when it is still fresh in your mind. Only then will we see more into these visions."
"Visions, you think they're visions?"
Wu nodded, gently placing his aged hand on Jay's forearm. "Visions, dreams. They all have a meaning, no matter how strange they seem. But to dream of the Soul Society, depicts a great adventure may take place. Please, no matter the time, you must wake me the next time you see this vision."
Jay nodded. He didn't feel any better for sharing this. In fact, if anything, he now felt worse. More apprehension than before as he bowed respectfully to his Sensei and stood to exit the smoke filled room. "You don't seem overly worried?"
Wu shook his head gently, replacing his bamboo hat. "I am not concerned, for now. Not whilst you are all still here."
Jay deadpanned at that. "So, I can just rest unhappily that these so called dreams are nothing sinister?"
His Sensei, noting the tone of disappointment simply nodded, no eye contact was given. "These dreams, as always, They tell us to remain alert."
Jay nodded. "I know." He clenched his jaw. He hadn't the heart nor energy to tell his master that the dreams he had were pulling at his very soul. Even when he sat working on his inventions, his daydreams would be the same. He would wake up seconds later on the floor, aching, feeling broken, winded and injured. Here he was, none the wiser, walking out of the room that was his Sensei's private quarters and meditation room. Before exiting the room, he turned back to look at his Sensei. "Thank you." It wasn't particularly genuine, maybe he should've played it by ear and gone straight to his dream companions Captain Aizen or Renji.
But who was he?
Jay only recognised that he shared the same shade of hair, nothing else was familiar about his person, other than the bright auburn hair.
One thing was for sure as he closed the door behind him. He was dreading going to sleep tonight, maybe he could pull an all nighter, drink some strong espresso. Or, he could do what his Sensei had suggested, he could sleep, dream and then attempt to replay his visions for the meaningless entertainment of his Sensei, who at this moment probably thought he was mentally unstable.
"Jay, ya coming to train? Got you partnered up with Kai." Cole's voice boomed through the open temple doors followed by his black attired self. "You alright, you seem out of sorts?"
Jay smiled, rubbing his hand through his hair nervously. "Haa, n-nothing that can't be solved with a little body conditioning, strong coffee, pizza and ice cream later?"
He hoped to the First Spinjitzu Master that these were just nightmares. There was no way in the underworld that these were mere dreams. Since when did dreams or visions hurt? The one he had last night, Jay was just about to go up against a man who had bells on each pointed end of his spiked hair. A captain, a strong one too and the first strike of his fragile looking sword had Jay waking up, gasping in pain, holding his chest with tears running down his face.
No, he decided then and there, he wasn't going to go to sleep tonight, he'd stay up all night if he had to. He feared that if he did fall asleep, he'd never wake up again.
Next one shot, a part two to Jaya and the revealing of their joint secret.