[Master Wu]
Lloyd is trying to speak to the group, but they don't let he finished his sentences, doing jokes and asking him indiscreet questions, making him lose his concentration.
Even know they are all now in their 20s, when they are all together like now, they act like a bunch of kids.
-"Silence everyone!" - I hit my stuff in the floor making everyone to shut up.
-"Yes, Sensei!"
-"Lloyd doesn't have to explain his private life to any of you, he is a grown man. Furthermore, this woman just entered our home, is not an ordinary being, she is half of an Entity, a Goddess we may call, and I want you all to respect her as such."
-"Great, first the evil Royal Princess and now a Mighty Goddess!!?? Can't you just hang out with normal girls?"
-"Jay!"
-"Sorry, Sansei!"
-"The Wolf and the Dragon need our help, and so we should all work together to help them."
-"Them? What do you mean Sensei? Who's Dragon?"
-"The Dragon, not just any dragon Kai, he is the other half of the Wolf, her eternal soulmate."
-"Hang on a minute, are you telling me Lloyd is dating somebody else's girl?"
-"Jay"- the others shout at him
-"Hey, that was not a joke, it is actually a genuine question."
-"Would you like to answer this question Nephew?"
-"I am The Dragon" - Lloyd finally said.
-"What?...."
—-
[Lloyd]
-"That is enough! Everyone goes back to your day to day tasks, Lloyd you come with me, let's see what Misako and Ruby have found." Uncle Wu tells me walking away from the kitchen.
-"Are you going to tell me how did you know I am the Dragon"
-"I didn't until you walked in this morning with her by your side, only the Dragon can courting the Wolf, any other mortal would die."
-"What?"
-"Now you sound like your follower's ninja, is not coincidence your paths have crossed, nephew. And doesn't surprise me you are who you are, there always has been something very special about you."
We entered the library where mom and Ruby have been reading the books. They seem to go on very well together.
-"Hey" - Ruby looks at me -"how was it?"
-"Great!" - I put my arm over her shoulders, and kiss her forehead, leaving a glowing mark where I kissed. I see my mom watching us with a smile.
-"So, what have the two of you find out?" - I asked
-"quite a lot!" - Ruby answered
-"Wu and Lloyd, you will have to train Ruby, the Wolf and the Dragon need to match their strength."
-"Oh, I will have to teach you Spinjitzu after all."
-"Looks like" - Ruby looks at me with a lost expression, she is not happy about I can tell!
Mom explained to us that Ruby has all knowledge about how to use the powers, both hers and mine, but the power itself is locked inside me. She can invoke them, but she is getting hurt once she let them go, my body for being stronger than hers would absorb it back too fast burning any part of her in contact with me.
By training her, she will gain physical strength as well as controlling over the power to let it flow slowly back to me.
Of course, once my memories are restored, we don't need to handle all this power between one to another.
-"OK, sounds easy!" - I am getting excited about the idea
-"Easy for you, I have never had any training... I don't even know if I can do it."- Ruby seems unsure
-"Yes you can, you are the Lupa, a fierce Oni warrior, the lead of well-trained hunters squad." -uncle Wu tells her
-"I am sorry to say, but that was another life, I, Ruby, don't have any combat skills" - she challenges my uncle with her strong personality.
-"That is where you are wrong, these two lives are very much connected as if it hasn't really ended, the skills you need are all inside you, as soon as you start they will come back to you."
-"Wu is right Ruby, you have your memories, your body will respond to them." Mom reinforces my uncle's words.
-"Talking about memories, why is that my memories haven't returned to me?" - I asked
-"Well, your grandfather made a mistake, he had hidden the Dragon's memory, just after the Wolf died, he did have good intentions to easy the Dragon's pain, but that cause the Dragon to forget how to remember the Wolf, and that is why you are not responding to Ruby's touch."
-"So, how am I suppose to remember?"
-"The book said: 'the Wolf knows what to do, she will reach for the Dragon's heart, there will be Love again, as always have been.' - Do you know what that means Ruby?" - Mom asked Ruby .
-"I am not sure. We have always had one of us remembering first, without any prompt, and the first one to remember would find the other, and by a single touch, all memories would be restored. But this life is different, none of us had remembered anything until I accidentally touch Lloyd's hand, and since that happen, my memories have slowly built up, again different from a previous life when all memories would come back at once."
-"We can only assume the same will happen to you Son, and your memories slowly will return. Ruby told me she did follow the rituals Mistake wrote for her, we can try doing the same for you."
-"So, we have lots of work to do. Where shall we start." - I was really expecting permission to start training Ruby, so I could spend more time with her, but...
-"Misako, you help Lloyd with the rituals, Ruby, you follow me"
Ruby raised her brown to me and followed my uncle.
—
[Nya]
-"No Kai, I didn't know they were dating, to be honest, I don't think they actually were dating, at least not until yesterday. Since the Oni attack, Lloyd has been in the monastery most of the time, training and reading... how could he been dating?"
-"But you knew she was the Goddess, didn't you?" - Jay asked me.
-"The Wolf, you mean?
-"Nya and I were checking for handwritten matches for the Wolf and yesterday we find a hospital paper in Lloyd's things, and Doctor Okami's handwritten was the perfect match" - Pixal explained
-"We called Lloyd to let him know, but I guess somehow he had already found out by himself. Maybe she has told him herself. She definitely knew he is The ... " - I stop myself when I see Master Wu approaching.
-"Nya, will you please come with me" - Sensei called for me.
I followed him all the way to the dojo. Ruby was there by herself looking around.
-"Ruby, you have already met Nya, she will be training you today"
-"Nya, would you please sort out some training clothes for Ruby to wear, and take her into a beginners training course, she has skills but she will need to remember how to use it."
-"Yes, Sensei!"
-"Thank you Master Wu" - Ruby bowed to him, and he leaves us alone
-"So, Ruby what is your size?" -
-"8, or 10 will be fine"
-"OK, any colour preference? - I mean, between grey or red?"
-"Red"
-"There you go, there is a dressing room just to your left" - I point the dressing room to Ruby
She came back a few minutes later in my gi, a bit on the losing side for her.
-"Nya, please take easy on me, despite what Master Wu said, I don't really know much."
-"Ok, let's see what you can do. Attack me!"
Ruby looks as if she doesn't really know what to do, she mirrors my defensive pose, and slowly walk around me. We keep eye contact all the way, once she closed the circle she attacks, using her left fist, I diverge, expecting a second attempt from her right, she hesitated, but used her leg instead, I wasn't expecting that, but I managed to jump, avoiding the hit.
-"no bad" I genuinely praise her attempted."I see you have a fast leg workout."
-"thanks"
She repeated her move, only this time she used her right first and add a second kick, which I almost didn't manage to avoid. I also noticed she is extremely calm, even in a rush of adrenaline, she keeps herself centred. I try to see if I can take her out of her centre.
-"so, you and Lloyd? How long this been going on?"
-"an eternity, longer than you could ever count" - she answered with a smile, investing in a double, fist and leg attack, hitting me for the first time, I realised she was the one getting me distracted.
-"wow, well done. I got the reference of the eternal soulmate, but how long in this existence, the two of you have been... you know."
She opened up to me, telling me about their first meeting in the hospital, about her memories from the past coming back to her, about he being so heartbroken and she feeling powerless about letting him know who she was, about all she did try to save Harumi's life, and all about the previous night.
As she let go, I felt trusted, at the same time her movements started to flow faster and faster, to the point I was struggling to keep up to her.
-"water?" I offered, thinking of a break, we have been sparring for over 45 minutes.
-"ok"
We drink some freshwater.
-"What is the training about?"
-"The strengths of the Wolf and the Dragon are out of sync, we need to level them, somehow..."
-"you don't look very optimistic about it.
-"come on Nya, there is no way I can match Lloyd level. He has been doing this for over 6 years now, I never enter a dojo before."
-"I don't know, it seems to me there is more to you than you can see yourself. And is not like you have to beat him, it is more the opposite, you two have to work together"
-"I guess you are right, I see why Lloyd has you as his best friend. thanks for your encouragement, it means a lot"
-"I am glad I can help. What do you say about testing your defence"
-"I have a feeling you can't wait to hit me" - she laughs, she is funny, and I like her.
-"Don't let it happen then. Nothing personal." I threw her a bo staff, she catches.
I started easy, just hitting onto the staff, moving my attack to a faster mode, she protected herself well. I managed to drop her a few times, but she recovered pretty fast too. She gained confidence and control over her staff and managing to return an attack after each defensive move. She is actually very good with the staff in her hands, it is like she has had plenty of training with that before. She drops me twice.
By the end she started losing concentration, I drop her one last time.
-"Nya, I am exhausted. Do you mind if we stop?" - she asked me.
-"Yes, ok, let's do a cooling down and breathing exercise." - I noticed someone is watching us, she sees him too and smiles to him as if she just heard something I didn't, and I noticed it is Lloyd.
-"Nya, do you mind if I join?"
-"Come in" - I reply
We do few minutes of Tai-chi all together, Lloyd and I know the movements and Ruby try to follow us.
-"are you hungry?" I asked Ruby wiping myself in a towel afterwards.
-"Actually I am." - Ruby replied Lloyd and she are in some kind of staring contest.
-"let's grab some food then"
-"you go ahead Nya, we followed you after" - Lloyd tells me, and I see by the corner of my eyes the two of them engaging in another sparring, of a different kind, and flashes of light are everywhere in the room.
-"I will do sandwiches for us, don't play too long kids" - I cannot resist... I heard they both laughing as I walked away.