Flashback (III)

Ice sighed as the mangled face of a man lay unmoving on the ground.

He knew the moment the words left the man's mouth, that he was doomed.

Cinder's chest was heaving, his eyes slowly coming back to calm and he blinked rapidly before finally coming back to himself. When he saw the unconscious figure on the ground, he gasped for a minute and looked at his father.

"Did I do that?" he asked incredulously.

Ice, who was crouching at that moment, nodded and reached out to take Cinder's small hands. He studied the hands carefully, looking intently at the broken skin on the knuckles and the bleeding.

He was a bit relieved to see that it seemed to be only skin abrasions and it was not swollen.

Still, to be sure, he asked, "Can you move your fingers like this?"

Ice did some basic hand movements, such as opening his hand wide and clenching them again. He looked intently at the movements and of Cinder's facial expression.

"How's the pain? Is there any numbness?" Ice continued to ask.

"It's okay," Cinder said with a shrug. There was pain, but he'd been through so much more in normal training. This was just something similar and not too painful.

"Not numb," he also clarified when he noted his father's dissatisfied look.

"Looks like we need to cut this short," Ice said with a sigh and stood up, "We need to get your wounds cleaned up. Wouldn't want to get it infected now, do we?"

Cinder nodded.

Ice turned towards the other four that were just sitting there like obedient children that had got reprimanded. They didn't dare move but just sat on the ground, looking at them.

Seeing the fate of their leader, they felt that they had been very, very lucky.

Ice was bad enough. Turned out his spawn, Cinder, was just as bad.

"Spread the word," Ice said, "Ice's son, Cinder, is learning the ropes."

The four nodded vigorously, like chicken pecking rice.

Not only were they going to tell people about Ice and Fyre having a devil spawn son, but also that the spawn was just as bad as Ice in terms of decisiveness and anger.

They watched silently as the father and son duo left the scene.

✿ Master Shifu ✿

Kyle was sitting on the floor, in the typical seiza position of Master Shifu's country, Country J.

This basically meant that he is sitting with legs bent, knees forward and his butt is resting on the heels. His back was straight, and his hands folded on the lap with his knees slightly apart.

He was looking at his son being treated by his (Adopted) Father, who was currently scolding him endlessly.

"How on Earth could you allow this to happen?" Master Shifu was saying as he gently wrapped some gauze over Alex's knuckles. He had already cleaned and disinfected it, so this was the last step of the treatment.

"He's just a baby! For you to take him out and make him fight is ridiculous! I never sent you out so early!" Master Shifu kept on complaining, ignoring the fact that when he came to teach Kyle, Kyle was already 6 at that time - so he couldn't have sent him out earlier than that, right?

Plus, in normal ninja families, going out to train at 5 was rather normal. This was something his wife, Sayuri, had told him.

Alex, hearing how his father was being scolded, had a silly grin on his face.

Kyle's lips twitched upon seeing this.

Having dealt with Alex's wound, Master Shifu now turned to Kyle and immediately whacked him on the head with his cane.

Kyle's face scrunched up a bit at that, wincing at the pain.

Damn.

The old man didn't hold back this time.

Alex couldn't help but laugh a bit under his breath upon seeing that.

Never before in his life had he ever seen his father being reprimanded like a little boy.

Ever since he could remember, his father was at the top and no one dared to contradict him, let alone scold him. Not even his grandparents.

Except for his mother, of course.

But even she didn't hit him like that.

Seeing the grimace on Kyle's face seemed to be a trigger to Master Shifu, who gave him a few more knocks on the head.

"Seems like you need some reminding," Master Shifu mumbled.

"Master, I brought Alex here to formally introduce you to my son, Alexander Belvior Smith," Kyle said clearly, then bowed forward a bit, "And I seek your permission to train him in the Kato Arts."

Master Shifu, whose real name is Kato Dazai, kept quiet and stared at his son who was bowing low and asking him. He turned to look at Alex, who observed him with clear eyes.

Then he turned back to Kyle and said, "Your son has a lot of anger in him."

Kyle sat back up, his back straight, "Yes, Master, but he is learning to control it."

"You deem him worthy to learn the Arts?"

Kyle replied, "Only you can deem him worthy, Master. I only see his potential."

Master Shifu's face broke into a smile, satisfied, and looking rather smug, "Yes, only I can determine if he's worthy."

Although Kyle wanted to laugh a bit at the behaviour of his Father-slash-Master, he did not. As his Master got older, he certainly was getting to be more and more childish.

Kyle knew it had been a trick question and luckily, he had answered correctly. Otherwise, with his Father's temperament, he would most likely drag the issue for several weeks before finally declaring that Alex was worthy.

Master Shifu then turned to Alex and tapped his legs, "You. Sit like your father."

Alex looked at how his father was sitting and copied it.

"Back straight!" Master Shifu commanded, and Alex immediately stiffened his spine.

Master Shifu nodded in satisfaction then asked seriously, "Alex, do you really want to learn the arts of the Kato Clan?"

Alex nodded while saying, "Yes, Sir."

"Even if the person who is responsible to teach you is your own father?" Master Shifu pressed on.

"Yes, Sir," Alex replied calmly.

"And you are to obey his every word, without question?" Master Shifu continued to ask.

"Yes, Sir," Alex replied, his expression not changing nor his voice showing any distress.

Master Shifu took a minute more to stare at Alex before he finally said, in satisfaction, "Alright. You can learn. When the time is right, you will undergo the test. If you pass, you will formally be adopted into the Kato Clan and learn the Kato Art."

"I understand," Alex said, nodding.

Master Shifu then turned to Kyle and gave him one last whack on the head, "You. Teach your son."

"Yes, Master," Kyle replied respectfully, not showing the pain that he was feeling even though his head was throbbing.

And what was that last one for?!

As if hearing his unspoken question, Master Shifu said with a smile while waving his cane, "For old times' sake."

Kyle barely managed to hold back the roll of his eyes but the years of training and discipline enabled him to hold on.

Once Master Shifu left the room, Alex's grin was so wide on his face that Kyle looked at him resentfully. Rubbing his sore head, and actually feeling a bump or two, Kyle leaned back and stretched out his legs.

"Man, Master Shifu is ruthless," he said with a sigh.

The memories flooded back when he was but a young lad, just learning the arts from Master Shifu when he first came over to train him. Master Shifu had been ruthless, really, considering how young he was.

Then again, Kyle knew it was because Master Shifu actually wanted to make it hard on him so that he'd give up. In the end, Kyle's hard work and tenacity won him over - that, and the fact that he picked up the skill well.

Even before he was accepted and adopted into the Kato Family, Kyle had regarded Master Shifu like a father. After all, he spent most of his growing years with him.

Tilting his head, Alex asked, "Why Master Shifu? I mean, he's from Country J so shouldn't it be Sensei Shifu?"

Kyle smiled at him and replied, "Master Shifu is the last direct descendant of the Kato Clan. Well, before I got accepted, that is. He is Master, not because he's a teacher, but because he is the Head of the Clan. On that note, he also doesn't want to be regarded as a teacher but rather, as the Elder, the Master. Hence, Master Shifu."

"Oh," Alex responded, understanding, "But it's still strange."

"Well, at least Master Shifu doesn't translate to Teacher Teacher like Sensei Shifu does," Kyle pointed out.

Alex blinked, the realisation hitting him and his lips twitched as he held back his laughter.

Darn if he was going to laugh at what his father said.