Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
Boy, did they get up early at the Temple! The first few days Junior and Guerrero were allowed to rest from their numerous bruises after the incident with the waterfall, but then…
Master Ryuu moved them into the huge dormitory hall where all residents of the Temple slept on mats on the floor, even the Master himself. The only thing that distinguished his sleeping place from the others was that his mat was lying on a pedestal that allowed him an overview of the hall and also made it possible for the residents to see him during evening meditation.
To Junior's and Guerrero's great surprise they found their knives placed on top of their neatly folded clothes right next to their sleeping mats.
"Many dangerous things lurk in this jungle", the Master explained to them. "I trust you only to use your blades when you feel you have no other choice."
Junior and Guerrero soon came to the conclusion that killing Ryuu wouldn't pose much of a problem. He actively took part in all sorts of exercises, liked to meditate on high roofs while darkness was falling and in general made an easy target.
Nevertheless they had to stick around for now and live up to their cover. Killing someone was one thing. The question of a proper retreat, however, was just as important and at the moment they were at a loss regarding this aspect of the job. They still didn't know where exactly in the rainforest they were, much less how to reach the next outpost of civilization that would offer transportation to an airport or at least an airfield where they could find a pilot.
Simply running off into the jungle was impossible. As Ryuu had pointed out quite correctly there were too many dangerous things lurking about. It was a temporary problem, though. The Temple had to get supplies from somewhere, it was not an autarkic entity. Some of the supplies were provided by the small settlement of natives not too far away from the Temple, but despite all the remedies that were made of herbs and stuff the infirmary also had a stash of conventional medicine and that had to come from somewhere. As soon as they managed to figure out the Temple's supply route, Master Ryuu would be history.
Till then they had to play along, so when at four thirty the gong's sound that had seemed so subtle through the thick walls of the infirmary was used to wake them all up – damn thing was so loud, it made the floor vibrate – they had to get up and join in the cleansing ritual, meaning all residents gathered in the Temple's inner yard, completely naked (the Temple was men only) and have buckets of icy-cold water poured over their heads.
After drying up through running about half a mile ("I really hate jogging!" was Junior's favorite early morning complaint till Guerrero warned him one more time and he'd teach him to REALLY hate it), yes, still naked, it was time for the first sparring session (in pants, of course). Both Guerrero and Junior had already had excessive martial arts training, but what Ryuu taught them…damn, the man was good.
One day he gave each of them a burning candle and instructed them to fight while holding the candles. If one managed to beat the other and both candles were burning, they'd receive an extra portion of that deliciously spicy rice for lunch that the Temple's cook was rightfully very proud of. If one of the candles in the end was not burning anymore, they'd both be stuck with unsweetened millet gruel.
Now how the hell were they supposed to do that? Two kicks from Junior later and his candle had gone out. Guerrero swiftly, while delivering a roundhouse kick, reached over and lit Junior's candle again, with the flame of his own. Ryuu didn't object.
A second later he accidentally extinguished his own candle and this time Junior lit it swiftly while trying for a legsweeper at the same time. Again the Master didn't object.
Now they understood. The trick was never to let both candles go out at the same time. Damn, that required a lot of coordination, especially difficult since at the same time they were fighting each other. But how were they supposed to end this since an ending usually required a heavy blow… which would probably extinguish one or both candles?
It crossed Guerrero's mind that he could use the hot wax from the candle to beat Junior – poured in the face or over the inner sides of the arms it could force him into submission. But he scrapped the plan almost as fast as he had come up with it.
Junior was pondering the issue of how to end this, too. It was pretty much impossible not to snuff out at least one candle… Unless of course… there was the option of cheating...
Junior wondered if Guerrero would understand. He had no real way of communicating to him that he was planning to lie down for him. Master Ryuu had sharp eyes and heard really well, too… the problem was, to make this look believable, he needed to change his muscle tension. If he relaxed, it would be easy for Guerrero to take him down. But if he got hit by a full force blow of Guerrero's…
On the other hand, he hated millet gruel even more than jogging. Junior decided it was worth the risk. Right in front of him Guerrero rose on one leg to get ready for one of his really impressive jump kicks. He turned, twisted, aimed at Junior's chest… and there was the subtlest of glitches in his movement. When his foot touched Junior it did so almost gently.
Gosh! Junior couldn't help but admire Guerrero's abilities and his level of self-control as he crashed to the floor, holding on to his burning candle – he must have realized in the split second when he was turning towards Junior that something about his chest had changed.
Master Ryuu smiled as he helped him to his feet again.
"Well done, both of you."
… … …
What Junior was really bad at and Guerrero even worse was meditation. Junior regularly fell asleep during evening meditation and Guerrero, according to Master Ryuu, was good at sitting still and pretending to be meditating, but he didn't allow his mind to wander into the deeper levels of his consciousness.
"Do not be afraid of what you might find there", Ryuu told him.
"I know exactly what I would find there", Guerrero replied, not elaborating that he'd look at the complete blackness and barrenness of a man who made a living by killing, stealing, torturing and blackmailing other people.
"You'd probably be surprised", the Master smiled at him. "Even in the deepest darkness a spark can gleam. Under the right circumstances it might suddenly burst into a flame, enter your heart, make it grow three sizes…"
Overhearing Ryuu's words, Junior smiled, too. Not many people compared Guerrero to the Grinch and lived to tell the story.
Then he remembered that Master Ryuu wouldn't live either.
… … …
One night Guerrero and Junior were woken up by Ryuu and one other temple resident, Tuvia, the Master's right hand. Immediately after identifying themselves, they blindfolded them and led them outside. Hands placed on their shoulders they walked them through the jungle for a bit, half a mile maybe.
Finally the ground under their feet changed, became harder, and the air felt different, too. Significantly colder. It also smelt a little musty. Nobody said a word, but from the sound of their own breathing both Junior and Guerrero came to the conclusion that they must have entered some sort of cave a couple of minutes before Ryuu actually told them.
Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing he told them.
"This cave is completely lightless. Its ground is covered with deep holes, some of them are directly connected to the underground stream that you got caught in before we found you. Your task is to find a way out – you can only do this by meditating about the subject. That is your only option. Don't try to feel your way around, you are bound to fall. Meditate!" While he was talking, Ryuu's voice was getting fainter and fainter. He and Tuvia were walking away.
"You can remove your blindfolds now!", he finally called. Then they heard nothing anymore.
"Through meditation?", Junior scoffed. "There must be a trick to this!"
The cave was indeed completely lightless. Blindfolds or no blindfolds, it didn't make any difference. The only thing they knew for sure was that they were close to one of the cave's walls.
"Maybe he lied about the holes and wanted us to realize that through meditation", Junior mused.
Guerrero felt a little around on the ground where he was standing and eventually picked up a loose rock. Crouching down, he sent it rolling over the mossy, slippery stone.
TOC clatterclatterclatter… ... ... ... ... SPLASH made the stone.
Okay, so Ryuu hadn't been lying.
"My biggest problem with meditation is that I don't know what to think about", Junior spoke into the long silence that followed.
"Dude, the idea is that you don't think at all."
"But how are we supposed to find the solution then?"
Guerrero sighed. Good question. Maybe… "Let's retrace how we got here… they blindfolded us and led us through the jungle…"
"We're about half a mile from the temple and south of the waterfall…" Junior had intently listened for the sound of the Temple's gong and the rushing of the water for orientation.
"The distance in the cave was more difficult to measure since they steered us around the holes, but we probably covered another quarter mile…"
Junior hissed as the solution dawned on him.
"Spit it out, dude."
"They steered us with both hands on our shoulders. How did they see where to go?"
Good point, but Guerrero didn't really see how this was supposed to help. "Maybe they wore helmets with integrated flashlights…"
"That would be reasonable but leave us without a chance to get out of here. No, it must be something different, something laughably easy but unexpected… something crazy."
"Well, good to know I've got an expert with me", Guerrero grumbled.
Junior started feeling the wall, up and down, up and down, very methodically.
"What are you looking for?"
Junior hesitated for a moment, then figured what the hell. "A light switch…"
"Yeah…", Guerrero scoffed. "Sure."
Click.
The sound was almost inaudible, even their trained assassin ears had missed it the first time around. Probably Ryuu and Tuvia had also walked extra loudly to drown it out.
Suddenly the whole cave was bathed in blinding artificial light.
"Dude…" Guerrero said and shook his head, for the first time not in desperation after Junior had come up with something crazy.