Snake Eyes got ready for the day as he thought of Temper. She had started not one, but two fights the day before and he ended up carrying her to her room across from his. He would end up having to escort her to the room she stayed in, the first night they came, to get her stuff. He knew that he was the only one who could restrict her anger without making her want to leave, which he both hated and was thankful for. He wanted her to come here and train, take her anger out on people who could take it, not have someone piss her off more like the events of yesterday.
Snake Eyes left the room and knocked on Temper's door. When she did not answer he slowly opened the door and entered. This part of the temple was more modern with non-shoji walls and hinged doors. A long rectangular window only half a foot in width was placed at the top of the wall opposite to him. The low rise bed was in the corner to his right, a dresser was in the corner diagonal to him, across from the bed. A door was placed in between the bed and dresser, leading to the bathroom.
Temper lay in the black and grey covers of the bed. A cup of tea sat on the small nightstand next to the bed. He strode over to it and picked it up. It was the same tea that the Soft Master gave to those who could not sleep. He took in a deep breath and left to the guest room she had slept in. He picked up her belongings and brought them to her room, then left to spar with Jinx.
Temper woke up to a door shutting. She perked her head up and looked around the room. Memories of the day before came flooding into her brain, the fight, the food, the fight, the sparring, and finally, falling asleep.
Snake Eyes must have carried me here, at least there was nothing to snoop through, she thought bitterly. She sat up and saw her bags near the door. At least nothing he hasn't seen before, she added.
She looked to the nightstand where the cup of tea was placed. She raised her eyebrows furrowed, then she remembered.
Temper woke up in a room illuminated by a strip of glass on the farthest wall that was letting in some moonlight. Her brain throbbed against her skull causing her thoughts to be cloudy. She knew she was not going to fall asleep easily and felt her way to the door. She stumbled out and kept walking until she came to a kitchen where the Soft Master watched a kettle on the stove.
"Ahh, young one, I knew you would be here soon," he said to her.
Her headache started to fade and become numb as she took a whiff of the herbs in the air.
The Soft Master came over to her and put a cold hand to her warm, clammy forehead. He frowned and her head felt like a bullet went through it the moment the kettle seemingly screamed. She clutch the roots of her hair and groaned in agony.
When the whistling stopped she waited until the pain subsided before opening her eyes. It was not effective as her vision blurred. The lip of a ceramic cup touched her lips and hot liquid streamed down her throat, burning it. She felt a cool hand on her arm.
Vaguely Temper remembered walking through the door and plopping down on the mattress.
She shook her head and made her way to the dining room, where she ate breakfast. As the day progressed she wandered through the training rooms, sparring with some of the students. Around lunchtime she met up with Snake Eyes by accident and she ate while he sat there, conversing with her.
So you spent the past four hours sparring with people and didn't kill them or hospitalize them? Snake Eyes interrogated.
He did not expect her to be awake for a while after drinking the Soft Master's tea. He realized that the Soft Master must have made it more potent or else her body would have fought off the effects sooner.
"I do have some self control, y'know," she said with a smile on her face.
Did you like it?
"Like what?"
Sparring with the students.
"You're not gonna make me start my training over are you?!"
No. I was wondering if you would like to help me train some of the classes.
"Which classes?" she asked taking a sip of tea.
Two beginner classes, three intermediate, one experienced, and Jinx.
"How do you want me to help you with Jinx?"
Spar with her, help her if she needs it. You're going to be with me for the entire day, might as well help.
"The entire day?"
From breakfast to dinner, he confirmed.
"Damn," she muttered, finishing her lunch.
Snake Eyes stood up and signed, Come on, the beginner class is about to start.
Temper got up and they walked to one of the training rooms. Temper ended up instructing them when the Soft Master sent for Snake Eyes and he had to leave. The students told her what they usually do and when Snake Eyes did not show up after the class left she got nervous. A new group of students came in a few minutes after the last class left.
"Hey, where's Snake Eyes?" an African American female asked.
Temper looked at them, not sure what she should say.
"Umm, he's not back yet so I'll be training you today," she informed them.
They looked at her, uncertain, and got into their usual places. She remembered what the beginner class did and went through the same steps and began to ease herself into the new job.
Same steps: drills, sparring, drills, sparring. Nothing complicated about that, she reminded herself.
Snake Eyes came back right when the class left.
"What took you so long?"
She put her face in her hands and breathed deeply. When she looked back at him he started to sign to her.
The Soft Master wanted to know how you were doing, he informed her.
"And that took two hours?!"
No it took five minutes. It took about an hour to spar with one of the other masters, another hour to meditate.
"Do you realize that you left me in charge-"
Yes, he interrupted. I got many questions from the students, they wanted to know who you were, they said you did good.
"Are you kidding me?"
No, they really said that. But, I thought it best that I come for this next class, they're a little bit more rowdy.
Rowdy was a fucking understatement! she yelled internally.
They were older and half the boys kept flirting with her, the girls were malicious, nobody paid attention to the sparring rules, and if one more female said a thing about how strong or hot Snake Eyes was, Temper was going to kill them. It was mostly out of jealousy, but she would not even admit that to herself.
Snake Eyes already had one of his beginner, an intermediate, and the experienced class that morning when Temper was wandering around the temple so all that was left was the class with Jinx. Temper mostly stayed on the side lines and watched Snake Eyes teach Jinx a few new moves. After an hour Jinx left Temper and Snake Eyes to meditate.
The Soft Master might have hinted that you've trained others.
"I've helped train classes. For a while I had the responsibility of monitoring the progress of students. But I'm sure you were wondering more about apprentices. Yes, I had some. No, it did not go well."
He did not bother questioning it further and they kept to themselves until the dinner bell rang.
Two weeks passed by and she took over some of Snake Eyes' classes when he wanted a break. Temper was introduced to Kamakura who trained with Jinx. The two apprentices approached her two days after Kamakura came to Japan.
"Hey Temper!" Jinx greeted.
Temper looked at them over her cup.
"Is there something you need?" Jinx's smile slipped and she looked to her male counterpart for support.
"We wondering if you could take us out..." Kamakura started.
"Why do you need me?" Temper questioned.
"In order for someone still in training to leave the temple, one of the higher masters needs to give them approval," Jinx informed her.
"I still don't get it. Why would I be of use?"
"There are certain levels of masters. The ones who have completed their training; the senseis and instructors; the masters, like you and Snake Eyes; then there's the Soft Master and Blind Master," Kamakura clarified.
"I'm not a master here," she told them.
"But a lot people say that you're one of the masters, the Soft Master and Blind Master validated it," Jinx corrected her.
Temper looked at her surprised, searching for any tells that this might not be true. When she found none she put her cup down and stood up.
"Snake Eyes would be mad if I did this without his permission, did you ask him?" Temper questioned.
"Yes, he said no," Kamakura told Temper before Jinx smacked him in the arm.
"But we really want to go outside... I need to go outside," Jinx pleaded.
Temper looked at the desperation in Jinx's eyes and empathy swelled in her.
Damn it.
"Fine," she breathed out and closed her eyes as Jinx gave a small squeal and hugged the woman in front of her. "Where are we going?"
"To eat, then maybe somewhere fun..." Jinx informed her.
"Somewhere fun?" Temper questioned.
"You'll see," Jinx said, trying to tempt her. "Meet us here in half an hour." Jinx pointed her finger to the floor and, with Kamakura, left.
Temper came back to the dining room where Jinx told her to meet. Her hair was in its usual ponytail and she wore casual clothing: a grey shirt , flannel button up that was tied around her waist, skinny jeans, and boots. Jinx came into the room wearing a midriff t-shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, and high heeled boots. Kamakura came in wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans.
At least we don't stand out from one another, she thought.
"Ready to go?!" Jinx asked excitedly.
Temper bit the side of her lip and nodded.
When they got to the outer wall two guards stood in front, but when Temper nodded to them they stood aside as the three walked straight past them. Temper's shoulders hunched and she breathed out, closing her eyes. I'm going to get in so much trouble, I can see it now. Temper looked to Jinx and Kamakura who were grinning and talking to each other. A smile played on Temper's lips. But it's worth it.
The three ate at a restaurant not too far from the temple where they all shared small talk.
"And those times you just have to see his reaction!" Jinx said while laughing.
Temper laughed so hard all she could do was nod while people snuck glances at the three.
"Those few times you catch him by surprise are the best!" Kamakura added.
"I remember when the Blind Master and Soft Master gave us the challenge of catching Snake Eyes-"Jinx told Temper.
"Or surprising him," Kamakura added.
"-off guard. I tried without success," Jinx pointed to Kamakura, "but then it's his turn to spar with him and five minutes pass when you see Kamakura take a step back. Snake Eyes stays in his fighting stance while Kamakura just stares at him trying to find a way to catch him off guard-"
"Or surprise him," Kamakura repeated.
"Then you see a light bulb go off in Kamakura's head. He steps off the mat, you know the one near the pond?" Temper nodded her head in understanding. "Well he bends down and pulls the mat out from under Snake Eyes. Being the oh-so skilled ninja he is, he flips backward, and ends up getting an early bath," Jinx chuckled at the memory. Temper's mouth dropped.
"It worked?!" she asked in surprise. Jinx nodded and Kamakura grinned.
"At first I was so sure he wouldn't fall for it, but then he did."
Jinx laughed lightly again and motioned for the waiter to bring the check.
"You ready to go somewhere fun?" Jinx asked her, a mischievous smiled came to her lips.
Temper looked at her phone, nine o'clock, she thought to herself.
Snake Eyes is going to be mad when he finds out, she reminded herself.
When she looked back to the two apprentices her resolve to tell them that they needed to go back wavered.
To hell with it, what could he really do? she asked herself.
"Yep!" Temper replied, she had no idea what she was in for.
The party of three walked up to a club, Demented.
Well isn't the name just lovely, she thought sarcastically.
Temper may not have liked the name, but she was in awe when she stepped inside. Glow in the dark paint was splattered on the walls, only appearing every other second due to the strobe lights. Despite the square shape and warehouse look from the outside, the inside was anything but boring. White couches occupied the corners of the rim of the first floor, which was more like a ledge as the middle was an open space, giving a view of the floor below. Temper looked up to see the rigging, but was not able to see the ceiling itself. She looked back down to the bottom floor. People were dancing, sitting at the bar on the far side of the room, or sitting at the few tables around the outskirts of the dance floor.
She followed Jinx and Kamakura down the stairs in front of the entrance. Jinx and Kamakura left Temper to go dance, so she ended up at the bar. Right around her tenth shot of tequila, Jinx came up to her.
"Hey, what are you doing at the bar?" she questioned.
Temper held up her empty glass to her. "Drinking," she replied and set the glass back down on the bar. "It's been a while."
Jinx rolled her eyes, grabbed Temper's arm, and dragged her to the dance floor.
"Come on, you know you want to!" Jinx yelled over the music.
Temper started slow and eventually danced with so many people she lost count but mainly Jinx.
The party ended when Kamakura pulled her away from a male and took her to the side lines of the dance floor.
"Though this is a lot of fun, it's getting pretty late," he informed her.
She went over to the bartender, gave him a ticket, and he handed back her stuff. She pulled her phone out from the pocket of her jeans and checked the time. Three o'clock!
"Shit," she muttered and made her way through the people on the dance floor to find Jinx. Temper grabbed Jinx by the arm and hauled her out of the club.
"Hey!" Jinx exclaimed, "what's the rush?"
"It's almost four in the morning," Kamakura told her and she instantly sobered up.
The three ran to the temple as fast as they could after they got out of the cab, got past the night guards and, as quietly as they could, race to their rooms. As soon as they entered the dining room, the only way to get to their rooms, they ran into none other than the silent ninja himself.
"Snake Eyes!" they all yelled in surprise.
"You're up early," Temper pointed out with a nervous chuckle.
No, I actually woke up on time, he signed.
Temper looked at her phone, shit we are so busted.
You all are tasked with the job of cleaning up the kitchen today and for the next three days. Temper, can I please speak to you?
Temper looked to Jinx and Kamakura who looked at her with pity. Temper slowly walked out of the dining room with Snake Eyes. He escorted her to her room in silence, or at least, without signing anything. He faced her when they got to their rooms.
What were you thinking?
"They said you told them 'no'-"
And even knowing that you helped them get out of the temple.
"What harm could it have done?"
They are distracted from their training.
"Not all distractions are a bad thing," she pointed out.
And going clubbing is a good distraction? he questioned.
She looked down to the ground.
"I'm sorry okay? I didn't think it meant that much to you to keep them locked up."
It's not okay. You undermined my authority.
"I didn't mean to," she told him.
Just do what I ask and clean the kitchen.
"I will," she promised. Though she felt guilty she also felt like yelling at him, but she knew that would only make things worse, so she just went inside her room and got ready for a long day.