WILL OF FIRE, HEART OF IRON

The next day, a bruised and beaten up Lee is knocked to the ground by Seokju who doesn't have a scratch on him.

"Come on Lee, is that really the best you can do? Get off your ass and hit me already." Seokju demands.

Lee gets up, wipes the blood from his mouth and charges at Seokju. Seokju smiles, glad that Lee has a fighting spirit. Lee swings wildly, but Seokju easily dodges them all, then knees him in the gut and punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Lee slowly gets back to his feet and runs at Seokju again.

"Lee's definitely determined, gotta give him that." Mikey says, eating a drumstick.

"Yeah, but don't you think Seokju is going a bit too hard on him?" Mira asks.

"We all went through this, Mira. We can't take it easy on him because the world won't."

Mira understands his brothers words as they continue to watch Lee and Seokju train.

Later both Mira and Lee are doing one finger handstand over a sharp spike.

"Good, now we'll hold this position for twelve hours. Unless that's too hard for you." Mira says with an effortless smile.

Lee grits his teeth, struggling to hold himself up.

"No...I can- do it... no problem." Lee says, impressing Mira, Mikey, and Seokju.

After that, Lee wears a blindfold and Mikey stands across from him with tennis balls in his hands. He then starts to throw the tennis balls at the boy who tries to dodge them, but gets hit almost every time. After getting hit in the stomach, he drops to his knees.

"Maybe we should take a break." Mikey suggests.

"Yeah, we've been going pretty hard today. Maybe we should stop for now." Seokju says.

"No!" Lee yells.

Everyone looks over at Lee in shock, slowly standing to his feet.

"Let's keep going. I'm not done yet." Lee says.

Mikey shrugs and continues throwing tennis balls. As Lee is training, Monroe Ijin secretly watches from on top of the dojo.

After a hard day of training, an exhausted Lee stands infront of a solid, round, piece of wood. He puts his hand on the wood, feeling how sturdy it is, then remembers Kasumi's last words to him.

"You must- never give up." Her voice echoes through his mind.

He then punches the piece of wood, hurting his hand. After pausing for a moment, he punches it again and again, ignoring the pain.

Thirteen years later.

An eighteen year old Lee throws punches and kicks at the piece of wood with rapid fire quickness. He doesn't stop, or feels pain anymore, he has hardened his body like steel.

Later, Lee is wearing a blindfold and Mikey stands across from him with tennis balls again. Mikey throws a ball at him, but this time Lee is able to dodge, making Seokju, Mira, Mikey, and Monroe happy. Mikey continues to throw tennis balls, this time even faster, with Lee dodging and flipping around them. Mikey then throws five at him, but the young fighter catches four of them and kicks the last one back, hitting Mikey in the face, dropping him to the ground. Lee peaks from his blindfold and sees Mikey down, feeling a little bad.

"Sorry Mikey." Lee says.

Mikey slowly sticks up a thumbs up, making Lee and everyone else laugh.

After that, Mira and Lee stand with one finger on the spike for well over twelve hours. While Lee is holding the position no problem, Mira starts to fade soon dropping to the ground.

"What? Done already?" Lee asks with a smile.

Mira chuckles.

"Show off." She says.

Lastly, Lee and Seokju prepare to spar. For the past Thirteen years, Lee hasn't been able to land a single hit on Seokju and today the young man is determined to change that.

The two charge at each other, with Lee jumping in the air and throwing a spinning tornado kick that surprises Seokju who barely dodges. Lee stays on the attack and throws punches and kicks that Seokju is barely being able to dodge. The oldest is then backed into a corner as the youngest prepares to throw a kick aiming at his face. Seokju quickly dodges and punches Lee in the face with a left cross. He goes for another punch, but Lee dodges it and throws a right hook. Seokju jumps back avoiding the hook, but that's when Lee jumps up and throws a knee at his face. After the knee gets blocked, Lee throws a reverse roundhouse kick that Seokju ducks and smiles.

"Not bad kid." Seokju thinks to himself.

"Wow Lee has really improved hasn't he?" Mira says.

"Yeah, his training has really paid off."

Lee throws a high kick at the side of Seokju's head, but he blocks again. The young man continues to throw kick combinations that overwhelms Seokju's guard, knocking him back. Lee charges at his opponent while dodging punches thrown at him. Lee throws another kick that Seokju blocks, this time answering back by punching Lee in the face. Seokju goes for a right hook, but Lee kicks his fist out of the way. He goes for a right cross, but Lee again kicks his fist out of the way. Lee quickly dashes at Seokju who throws a punch in his direction. He is then surprised when he looses sight of Lee for a split second.

"What? Where did..." Seokju thinks to himself.

Seokju's eyes widen as he turns around and sees Lee behind him. Lee throws a punch right at Seokju's face, finally landing a solid hit on Seokju, knocking him to the ground.

"He did it!" Mikey yells as he and Mira cheer.

Seokju slowly gets to his feet, spits out blood from his mouth, and walks over to Lee. After a few moments of silence, Seokju offers a fist bump to his youngest brother.

"Nice job." He says with a smile.

Lee smiles back at him and bumps his fist.

"Thanks."

At that moment, both Mira and Mikey hug Lee.

"We're so proud of you." They say with happy tears.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it." Lee says with a even bigger smile.

Monroe Ijin then approaches the young man and bows.

"You have done well, Lee."

Lee is filled with pride when he hears this and bows.

"Thank you, master."

Later that night, Lee grabs a backpack with food and water, then leaves the dojo to head into town. He walks into a flowershop/bakery where he sees a beautiful girl, with red hair and golden yellow eyes standing behind the register. Lee is stunned for a moment, never seeing anyone so beautiful.

"Hey, what can I get you?"

Lee doesn't answer for a moment, still stunned by how beautiful she is.

"Ummm, hello?" She asks.

Lee quickly shakes it off.

"Oh, sorry. I would like some flowers. You know some to put at a grave." Lee says.

"Oh I'm sorry for your loss. We have some right over here." She says, walking over to get the flowers.

"So um- Who are you giving these to? If you don't mind me asking." She asks.

"My sisters. They died thirteen years ago protecting me."

The young lady stares at him for a moment.

"I'm really am sorry." She says again.

Lee gives her a smile.

"It's alright. They live on through me and my memories." Lee says.

The young woman gives him a smile back.

"My mother passed away a few years ago. She got really sick. So now it's just me and my sister."

"I'm sorry." Lee says genuinely.

"It's ok. I'm trying to make her proud, keep this place running, keep up with school, make sure my sister stays out of trouble. Sometimes it gets- overwhelming, you know?"

"I get it. But you seem to be doing a good job with this place. I'm sure your mom would be proud." Lee says with a charming smile.

The young woman starts to blush while smiling.

"Thanks." She says, brushing her hair behind her ear.

As the two stare at each other for a moment, the young woman starts chuckling, face still red.

"Sorry for staring, that was weird. I just got lost in your.... You know what nevermind."

She then gives Lee some white roses.

"Here. These were my mom's favorite."

Lee takes them, with a smile.

"Thank you. How much do I owe you?" Lee asks.

"Don't worry about it. It's on the house, just give your sisters my best for me." She says.

Lee smiles and nods. As he turns to leave, the young woman stops him for a moment.

"Hey. What's your name?"

"I'm Lee. Lee Ijin." He replies.

She smiles.

"I like that name. I'm Kira Sujin."

Lee grins.

"It's nice to meet you Kira. I look forward to seeing you again." Lee says.

Kira starts to blush again.

"Likewise." Kira replies as Lee leaves the shop.

After that, Lee is sitting infront of the three stones, putting down the flowers and praying over his sisters souls. He then looks at them with a kind smile.

"Training has been going better. Took me a while, but I finally got the hang of it. Landed a hit on Seokju for the first time today so that was pretty nice."

He then puts his hand on the middle stone, representing Kasumi, remembering her words from that night again.

"I promise. I'll live on for you all. No matter how hard it gets, no matter what it takes. I will live a long life for all of you. You have my word."

At that moment, Monroe sits next to him, surprising Lee.

"Master?" Lee says.

"I thought you'd be here. It's the anniversary of when I found you."

Monroe starts to pray for the lives lost.

"Tell me. After all these years. Are you stuck in the past?"

Lee thinks for a moment.

"No master. I'm not stuck. But I will always remember it, because it molded me into who I am now. And even though I love the family I have now, I won't forget the family I lost. Because they helped mold me too."

Monroe smiles and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"That's a good answer boy." He says.

He then reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a necklace.

"Here. I wanted to give you this when you were ready. And I feel like now, you are."

Lee takes the necklace and looks at the stone.

"Thank you, master."

As Monroe and Lee smiles, Lee feels a hand on his head. He looks up and Sees Seokju, along with Mira and Mikey.

"So this is where you go all the time." Seokju says.

The three sit next to Lee.

"These must be your sisters." Mikey says.

The three of them then starts to pray.

"We appreciate you three protecting our little brother." Mira says.

"We promise, we'll always look out for him." Seokju adds.

"Even if he doesn't make it easy."

Lee smiles, wanting to stay in this moment forever.

"Thank you. All of you." Lee says.

Meanwhile, a young man with blonde hair and a suit, named Hak Son Kang, is standing infront of a window of a giant mansion, looking over the city. At that moment one of his informants enters the room and kneels.

"Lord Kang. We have found Monroe Ijin."

Hak Son slowly turns around.

"Is the child of Asura with him?" He asks.

"It's unclear. There's four possible candidates that we assume are his students."

A smile appears on Hak Son's face.

"So he really has abandoned the Order Of The Lotus."

He then takes a pill that makes him stronger, causing his ki to explode.

"Get project X-9 ready. We move tomorrow." He orders.

"Yes sir."

His henchmen leaves the room, leaving Hak Son Kang alone as he starts radiating with demonic pink ki as a devilish smile appears on his face.

"Soon, the Assassin Clan will rise in infamy. Once I steal the power, the Course of Asura has. This world will be in the palm of my hand. And NO ONE...Will stand in my way.

Meanwhile, a man wearing a Demon mask watches from a roof top across from the mansion, taking interest in what's going on.