Balancing the Equation: part 14, Taiji
Title: Balancing the Equation: part 14, Taiji
Disclaimer: I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts; wherein I confess me much guilty, to deny so fair and excellent ladies any thing. I shall do the world no injury for I have nothing in it.
Pairing: Chekov/Sulu,
Rating: Adult, 17+
Type: Series, #14/20, sequel to Victor, Victor
Warnings: Sex, and all my Russian comes from the internet.
Word Count: ~2500
Summary and Notes: Chekov and Sulu kiss and make up. Archived at awfully_clever.
"So..." Sulu kissed his more-than-a-boyfriend on the nose and brushed his pink cheek with his thumb, "There's no report to write, is there?"
Chekov smiled and returned the kiss, "Nyet."
"You still mad?"
He shook his head and the corners of his mouth turned up into a sweet, crooked smile. "I am never mad for very long, but perhaps I make an exception for Irina. You are not mad?"
"No," Sulu thought about the fight in the hallway and how he'd failed to see the truth of the matter. "My fault for not realizing what a psycho hose-beast she is."
Chekov scowled, "Sorry?"
"Screaming harpy? Lunatic bitch-monster? How about..." At this point, Chekov smiled and was nodding his head. "Wicked Witch of the East? Maybe someone will drop a house on her."
"You are absurd, Zaichik," he giggled. "That makes no sense at all! But yes, she is very wicked."
"You know, the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy Gale dropped a house on her, stole her fabulous shoes, and went to the Emerald City." Sulu held pointed a crooked finger at Chekov, squinched up his face, and in his best witches' voice said, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" This was followed by a cackle, which sent the Ensign into a laughing fit. "What? What's so funny?" He tickled Chekov's sides and he laughed even harder.
"You are terrible!" Chekov squirmed and giggled as they flopped onto the bed, "So bad!"
"Is that so?" Sulu straddled the younger man, pinning him down. "How bad am I?"
"Very bad." Sulu leaned down and kissed him, tasting the barest trace of vodka on his lover's tongue. "I like when you are bad."
"If loving you is bad," His words were almost lost as their mouths pressed together with increasing frequency, "Baby, I don't want to be good."
Chekov laughed, "That is a terrible line. Maybe you say, 'You are so bad that I will punish you.' And I will say 'Oh, please, Zaichik, do not be so harsh with me!' And then you will say, 'Yes, yes!' and I say 'No, no!' and then we have good sex."
Sulu tried his wicked witch voice again, "All in good time, my pet. All in good time."
"You are strange, 'Kasha."
Sulu kissed him quick before getting up to rifle through his stash of data tapes, "And you are culturally deprived in the ways of the 'Wiz." He found the tape, labeled with a rainbow and a pair of red shoes, "Prepare to be educated." Chekov pulled Sulu into their bed and even as the younger man wrapped himself around his lover like an affectionate kraken, drowning Sulu in a sea of kisses, Sulu maintained his grip on the data tape. "Okay, Wiz later. Make-up sex now."
"Mmm. Da. You were telling me that I am so bad." He tugged at Sulu's shirt, exposing the skin of his finely muscled abdomen.
"Oh yeah, so bad. Mm-hmm." He placed the data tape on their nightstand, pulled Chekov's shirt off and threw it in a wad to the floor before removing his own. Chekov had begun to develop muscles in his shoulder and chest and as he stretched his arms over his head, Sulu couldn't help but admire his young lover. He touched the golden pendant that nestled between Chekov's pectorals, remembering when he'd given it to him. "You look like an angel."
"Which one?" His elvish smile and mischievous eyes made him look more wicked than any witch in Oz.
Sulu reconsidered, "A fallen one."
Chekov closed his eyes as though trying to remember something, then spoke, "B'shem Adonai elohei Yisra'el, miymini Micha'el, umismoli Gavri'el, umilfanai Uri'el, ume'achorai Refa'el, ve'al roshi Shchinat ha'el." He opened his eyes and nodded once.
"What was that?" Sulu puzzled over the syllables and though one or two of the words tickled in his memory, he couldn't figure their meaning.
He concentrated for a moment, "Eh, sorry, one minute. I can translate to Russian better than English. It means 'In the name of G-d of Yisra'el, Micha'el is to the right of me, Gavri'el is to the left of me, Uri'el is to the front of me, and Refa'el is behind of me'" He shook his head, "Sorry, 'Refa'el is behind me and over my head is Sh'khinah.' I used to say it when I was little to protect from bad dreams."
"Angels?"
"Except Sh'khinah." Sulu puzzled over the unfamiliar word, trying to determine its origin. "Sh'khinah is like, maybe, part of G-d, but not an angel, understand?"
Religion wasn't something they talked about much and Chekov kept it close to his heart like a precious gem, only showing facets of it every now and then. Sulu wanted to see the whole shape of it, to understand this part of him. "Sort of."
"That's okay. She is like part of G-d that is like a mama, to keep you safe." Chekov's wicked grin spread across his face, "Maybe you do not wish to think of your Mama when we are fucking. That's okay. I will give you other things to think about." He unbuttoned Sulu's pants and pulled them down, reaching around him with long, cool fingers. Chekov tugged with lazy strokes, reaching around with the other hand to the small of Sulu's back. "Do me like before we went to Delvintown, like the Greek boys used to do."
"Yeah, okay." He took off his boots and socks and shucked his pants the rest of the way off as Chekov watched, feeling a little shiver of vulnerability at being naked when Chekov was not. He crossed his arms over his chest and assumed a commanding stance, "Strip." Chekov grinned and rushed to pull his boots off, flinging one of them toward the dresser. "Slowly."
"Aye, sir." He took the second boot off more slowly and placed it next to the bed. Socks went next and he rose to his knees, first looking down as he unbuttoned his trousers and then as blue eyes peeked up from underneath half-closed lids and long pale lashes, he unzipped. Sulu's cock twitched as he watched muscles tense and relax in Chekov's shoulders, his chest, his arms, his jaw. He maintained the façade of detachment, though his heart burned and his brain was awash with the desire to rip the rest of his lover's clothes off and to be so close to him that they were like the Taiji, dark balancing light, part of one inside the other. Chekov tucked his thumbs inside the waistband of his trousers, a triangular smirk belying feigned shyness as he pulled them down to his knees. He sat and rocked back on his hips as he pushed his pants the rest of the way down and off, letting them fall into a pile at the foot of the bed. "Your orders, sir?"
"On your back, hands behind your head." Chekov sat with his arm hooked around his knee as he fondled himself with his free hand. Sulu let a corner of his mouth turn upward, "Was I unclear?"
Chekov batted his eyes and grinned, "No, sir."
"Then get on your back." Chekov stretched out like a cat in the sun and laced his fingers behind his head, crossing his ankles as though he were relaxing on the beach. Sulu grabbed a bottle of massage oil from the nightstand and climbed into the bed, uncrossing Chekov's ankles and sitting between his now wide-spread legs. He poured a small amount of the oil into his palm and rubbed his hands together to warm it. Then, as he began to work the spice-scented stuff into Chekov's thighs, the younger man began to moan and squirm.
"Mmm, Zaichik, please!" He didn't have to specify with words, his erection, now heavy with blood, and the way his hips lifted from the bed said enough.
Sulu continued, adding more spiced oil to Chekov's thighs, "Patience, Uke." When his lover's legs were soft and slick and the sweet little wanton sounds became too much, Sulu straddled him, closing the younger man's legs with a touch and a soft-spoken command. "Close your legs." Hands still slippery from the oil, he gently grasped Chekov's warm pink erection and looked into his lover's eyes, sliding himself between those strong, pale legs.
Chekov tightened the space around Sulu's cock, "Mmmm, you are so good for me." He crossed his ankles again, making his thighs close even tighter around Sulu as he thrust forward in a metronomic rhythm. Sulu moved faster as desire urged him on, prickling his skin like the sting of a whip, and before long, slow lovemaking transitioned into fast fucking. Chekov shouted, "Dokhozhú! Dokho-aaah!-zhú!" and came, warm and sticky on their stomachs. Sulu let go of Chekov's erection and crashed down into his lover as the younger of them kissed him hard and held tight to his ass. Sulu's senses hit the height of pleasure and he came with a grunt between Chekov's legs.
They stayed there, kissing, sticky, and sweaty for a long minute, eventually rolling to their sides, Sulu's hand on Chekov's cheek and Chekov's ankle crossed over Sulu's. Once again, Sulu thought of the Taiji and smiled. Never had he thought that the words of his sensei would follow him into his bed, "Balance, Hikaru. See the Taiji? That means balance, light and dark, yin and yang. That is the foundation of your practice and of all things. If those plants you love so much do not have the proper balance of sun and water, shade and dry, they will shrivel up and die. So it is with all things." Sulu nuzzled and kissed his lover once more, "I love you so much, Uke."
"Ja teb'a l'ubl'u, Zaichik moi. Davay pozhenimsya? Ja dostanu tebe zezd'i s' nebedz. Hey, let's watch the movie!" Sulu knew the first part as "I love you, my bunny rabbit," he'd heard it often enough, but the rest was a mystery. It didn't matter. He said it with such a sweet smile that it was certainly something wonderfully schmoopy.
"Yeah, put it in!" Chekov wiped himself off with a pair of discarded underwear as Sulu went to get a wet rag. When they were reasonably clean, they snuggled up under the covers as the movie played. The MGM lion roared three times and made a gruff kind of sound before the image faded and cut to the opening credits and then to a pigtailed young woman in a checkered dress.
"What is wrong with the display?" Chekov complained.
"Nothing, it's supposed to look like that. Captain says that this part was filmed in color and that Kansas really looks like that, but I couldn't say. I've never been to Kansas." Chekov nodded and Sulu buried his nose into the damp sandy curls, breathing in the sharp scent of his lover's sweat and kissing his head. "Now, shh. Watch." As the movie played, Chekov watched with curious interest, the same expression that so often settled into his face when they came upon new stars. Then the line came and Sulu couldn't help himself, "Elmira Gulch! For twenty-three years, I've been waiting to give you a piece of my mind! And now? ...Well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"
"I would say it," Chekov remarked, "I would tell her to get out of my house or I will get my phaser!"
Sulu laughed, "You're not a Christian woman."
"No on both accounts, and neither are you. Ai! No! No! No! Why are they taking her dog? This is a terrible movie!" He gestured wildly at the screen.
"Just watch, okay?" Chekov settled in again as Sulu twisted a curl around his finger. The best part, Sulu had decided, was watching him watch it for the first time. He laughed at the ancient jokes and cursed at Professor Marvel.
"What the Hell? He is a liar!" He worried about the twister, was relieved when the girl awoke, and when the film switched to Technicolor, he was genuinely surprised. "Bozhe moy! Look at that!" Sulu sang along with the munchkins, which made Chekov grin and even giggle when they got to the part with the coroner. "Oh! This is the witch! I understand now. Maybe I will get long socks and red shoes for Irina." Every part of the movie elicited some kind of response across the range of human emotion and if there was such a thing as the opposite of a Vulcan, Sulu decided that his Pavel was it.
The ending credits rolled and Sulu gave him a soft peck on the lips. "So, what did you think?"
"I liked it!"
"Yeah?" Their fight was long forgotten now, and he felt more like himself again. "Now, watch this. Computer, play Dark Side of the Rainbow." The movie started again, but instead of the cheezy orchestration, there was the faint sound of a heartbeat that grew progressively louder, the ticking of a clock, and then a wailing scream before the music began. The best album in the Universe, dark and delirious, balanced what might be one of the best films of all time, sweet and fanciful.
Later that evening, as Chekov slept, Sulu composed a letter to his old teacher.
Sensei Dia Jing,
I know it's been a long time, but I wanted to thank you for everything. The dojo was like a second home to me and you were like my badass favorite aunt or something. I've been keeping up my practice, so maybe one of these days I'll beat you in a sparring session, but I sincerely doubt it. I've been teaching my boyfriend and sometimes I hear things come out of my mouth that you always used to say to me. I can still hear you yelling "Shung!" to get me to relax.
I want you to know that it's not the fighting I'm grateful for, though it did come in handy and I should probably also thank Mrs. O'Malley for the fencing lessons. It's all the other stuff that I wanted to thank you for - patience, balance, respect, all the stuff that really matters. Anyway, I just wanted say thank you and let you know that I haven't forgotten you.
Be well,
-Hikaru
To his surprise, a reply came back within a few minutes.
Courageous Little Mouse,
So happy to hear from you! I have much business now and I have to tell people to go somewhere else. There is not enough time and I am getting very old. But I make time for your sisters. Kiko has no interest, but Hana is becoming better than you. She will be a good teacher one day. Unlike you, she is learning the Chinese forms, which are better. You were very stubborn. Always Judo with you! Maybe you will wise-up and learn like your sister. She tells me all about your boyfriend. If he is so smart, he will ask to learn Chinese forms.
Tell me when you are getting married, okay?
Even if you don't learn the Chinese forms, you know the important things and this makes me very very glad that you are my student.
Zai Jian,
-Dia Jing
Part 13: Outbreak, 2 of 2
Disclaimer: I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts; wherein I confess me much guilty, to deny so fair and excellent ladies any thing. I shall do the world no injury for I have nothing in it.
Pairing: Chekov/Sulu,
Rating: Adult, 17+
Type: Series, #14/20, sequel to Victor, Victor
Warnings: Sex, and all my Russian comes from the internet.
Word Count: ~2500
Summary and Notes: Chekov and Sulu kiss and make up. Archived at awfully_clever.
"So..." Sulu kissed his more-than-a-boyfriend on the nose and brushed his pink cheek with his thumb, "There's no report to write, is there?"
Chekov smiled and returned the kiss, "Nyet."
"You still mad?"
He shook his head and the corners of his mouth turned up into a sweet, crooked smile. "I am never mad for very long, but perhaps I make an exception for Irina. You are not mad?"
"No," Sulu thought about the fight in the hallway and how he'd failed to see the truth of the matter. "My fault for not realizing what a psycho hose-beast she is."
Chekov scowled, "Sorry?"
"Screaming harpy? Lunatic bitch-monster? How about..." At this point, Chekov smiled and was nodding his head. "Wicked Witch of the East? Maybe someone will drop a house on her."
"You are absurd, Zaichik," he giggled. "That makes no sense at all! But yes, she is very wicked."
"You know, the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy Gale dropped a house on her, stole her fabulous shoes, and went to the Emerald City." Sulu held pointed a crooked finger at Chekov, squinched up his face, and in his best witches' voice said, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" This was followed by a cackle, which sent the Ensign into a laughing fit. "What? What's so funny?" He tickled Chekov's sides and he laughed even harder.
"You are terrible!" Chekov squirmed and giggled as they flopped onto the bed, "So bad!"
"Is that so?" Sulu straddled the younger man, pinning him down. "How bad am I?"
"Very bad." Sulu leaned down and kissed him, tasting the barest trace of vodka on his lover's tongue. "I like when you are bad."
"If loving you is bad," His words were almost lost as their mouths pressed together with increasing frequency, "Baby, I don't want to be good."
Chekov laughed, "That is a terrible line. Maybe you say, 'You are so bad that I will punish you.' And I will say 'Oh, please, Zaichik, do not be so harsh with me!' And then you will say, 'Yes, yes!' and I say 'No, no!' and then we have good sex."
Sulu tried his wicked witch voice again, "All in good time, my pet. All in good time."
"You are strange, 'Kasha."
Sulu kissed him quick before getting up to rifle through his stash of data tapes, "And you are culturally deprived in the ways of the 'Wiz." He found the tape, labeled with a rainbow and a pair of red shoes, "Prepare to be educated." Chekov pulled Sulu into their bed and even as the younger man wrapped himself around his lover like an affectionate kraken, drowning Sulu in a sea of kisses, Sulu maintained his grip on the data tape. "Okay, Wiz later. Make-up sex now."
"Mmm. Da. You were telling me that I am so bad." He tugged at Sulu's shirt, exposing the skin of his finely muscled abdomen.
"Oh yeah, so bad. Mm-hmm." He placed the data tape on their nightstand, pulled Chekov's shirt off and threw it in a wad to the floor before removing his own. Chekov had begun to develop muscles in his shoulder and chest and as he stretched his arms over his head, Sulu couldn't help but admire his young lover. He touched the golden pendant that nestled between Chekov's pectorals, remembering when he'd given it to him. "You look like an angel."
"Which one?" His elvish smile and mischievous eyes made him look more wicked than any witch in Oz.
Sulu reconsidered, "A fallen one."
Chekov closed his eyes as though trying to remember something, then spoke, "B'shem Adonai elohei Yisra'el, miymini Micha'el, umismoli Gavri'el, umilfanai Uri'el, ume'achorai Refa'el, ve'al roshi Shchinat ha'el." He opened his eyes and nodded once.
"What was that?" Sulu puzzled over the syllables and though one or two of the words tickled in his memory, he couldn't figure their meaning.
He concentrated for a moment, "Eh, sorry, one minute. I can translate to Russian better than English. It means 'In the name of G-d of Yisra'el, Micha'el is to the right of me, Gavri'el is to the left of me, Uri'el is to the front of me, and Refa'el is behind of me'" He shook his head, "Sorry, 'Refa'el is behind me and over my head is Sh'khinah.' I used to say it when I was little to protect from bad dreams."
"Angels?"
"Except Sh'khinah." Sulu puzzled over the unfamiliar word, trying to determine its origin. "Sh'khinah is like, maybe, part of G-d, but not an angel, understand?"
Religion wasn't something they talked about much and Chekov kept it close to his heart like a precious gem, only showing facets of it every now and then. Sulu wanted to see the whole shape of it, to understand this part of him. "Sort of."
"That's okay. She is like part of G-d that is like a mama, to keep you safe." Chekov's wicked grin spread across his face, "Maybe you do not wish to think of your Mama when we are fucking. That's okay. I will give you other things to think about." He unbuttoned Sulu's pants and pulled them down, reaching around him with long, cool fingers. Chekov tugged with lazy strokes, reaching around with the other hand to the small of Sulu's back. "Do me like before we went to Delvintown, like the Greek boys used to do."
"Yeah, okay." He took off his boots and socks and shucked his pants the rest of the way off as Chekov watched, feeling a little shiver of vulnerability at being naked when Chekov was not. He crossed his arms over his chest and assumed a commanding stance, "Strip." Chekov grinned and rushed to pull his boots off, flinging one of them toward the dresser. "Slowly."
"Aye, sir." He took the second boot off more slowly and placed it next to the bed. Socks went next and he rose to his knees, first looking down as he unbuttoned his trousers and then as blue eyes peeked up from underneath half-closed lids and long pale lashes, he unzipped. Sulu's cock twitched as he watched muscles tense and relax in Chekov's shoulders, his chest, his arms, his jaw. He maintained the façade of detachment, though his heart burned and his brain was awash with the desire to rip the rest of his lover's clothes off and to be so close to him that they were like the Taiji, dark balancing light, part of one inside the other. Chekov tucked his thumbs inside the waistband of his trousers, a triangular smirk belying feigned shyness as he pulled them down to his knees. He sat and rocked back on his hips as he pushed his pants the rest of the way down and off, letting them fall into a pile at the foot of the bed. "Your orders, sir?"
"On your back, hands behind your head." Chekov sat with his arm hooked around his knee as he fondled himself with his free hand. Sulu let a corner of his mouth turn upward, "Was I unclear?"
Chekov batted his eyes and grinned, "No, sir."
"Then get on your back." Chekov stretched out like a cat in the sun and laced his fingers behind his head, crossing his ankles as though he were relaxing on the beach. Sulu grabbed a bottle of massage oil from the nightstand and climbed into the bed, uncrossing Chekov's ankles and sitting between his now wide-spread legs. He poured a small amount of the oil into his palm and rubbed his hands together to warm it. Then, as he began to work the spice-scented stuff into Chekov's thighs, the younger man began to moan and squirm.
"Mmm, Zaichik, please!" He didn't have to specify with words, his erection, now heavy with blood, and the way his hips lifted from the bed said enough.
Sulu continued, adding more spiced oil to Chekov's thighs, "Patience, Uke." When his lover's legs were soft and slick and the sweet little wanton sounds became too much, Sulu straddled him, closing the younger man's legs with a touch and a soft-spoken command. "Close your legs." Hands still slippery from the oil, he gently grasped Chekov's warm pink erection and looked into his lover's eyes, sliding himself between those strong, pale legs.
Chekov tightened the space around Sulu's cock, "Mmmm, you are so good for me." He crossed his ankles again, making his thighs close even tighter around Sulu as he thrust forward in a metronomic rhythm. Sulu moved faster as desire urged him on, prickling his skin like the sting of a whip, and before long, slow lovemaking transitioned into fast fucking. Chekov shouted, "Dokhozhú! Dokho-aaah!-zhú!" and came, warm and sticky on their stomachs. Sulu let go of Chekov's erection and crashed down into his lover as the younger of them kissed him hard and held tight to his ass. Sulu's senses hit the height of pleasure and he came with a grunt between Chekov's legs.
They stayed there, kissing, sticky, and sweaty for a long minute, eventually rolling to their sides, Sulu's hand on Chekov's cheek and Chekov's ankle crossed over Sulu's. Once again, Sulu thought of the Taiji and smiled. Never had he thought that the words of his sensei would follow him into his bed, "Balance, Hikaru. See the Taiji? That means balance, light and dark, yin and yang. That is the foundation of your practice and of all things. If those plants you love so much do not have the proper balance of sun and water, shade and dry, they will shrivel up and die. So it is with all things." Sulu nuzzled and kissed his lover once more, "I love you so much, Uke."
"Ja teb'a l'ubl'u, Zaichik moi. Davay pozhenimsya? Ja dostanu tebe zezd'i s' nebedz. Hey, let's watch the movie!" Sulu knew the first part as "I love you, my bunny rabbit," he'd heard it often enough, but the rest was a mystery. It didn't matter. He said it with such a sweet smile that it was certainly something wonderfully schmoopy.
"Yeah, put it in!" Chekov wiped himself off with a pair of discarded underwear as Sulu went to get a wet rag. When they were reasonably clean, they snuggled up under the covers as the movie played. The MGM lion roared three times and made a gruff kind of sound before the image faded and cut to the opening credits and then to a pigtailed young woman in a checkered dress.
"What is wrong with the display?" Chekov complained.
"Nothing, it's supposed to look like that. Captain says that this part was filmed in color and that Kansas really looks like that, but I couldn't say. I've never been to Kansas." Chekov nodded and Sulu buried his nose into the damp sandy curls, breathing in the sharp scent of his lover's sweat and kissing his head. "Now, shh. Watch." As the movie played, Chekov watched with curious interest, the same expression that so often settled into his face when they came upon new stars. Then the line came and Sulu couldn't help himself, "Elmira Gulch! For twenty-three years, I've been waiting to give you a piece of my mind! And now? ...Well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"
"I would say it," Chekov remarked, "I would tell her to get out of my house or I will get my phaser!"
Sulu laughed, "You're not a Christian woman."
"No on both accounts, and neither are you. Ai! No! No! No! Why are they taking her dog? This is a terrible movie!" He gestured wildly at the screen.
"Just watch, okay?" Chekov settled in again as Sulu twisted a curl around his finger. The best part, Sulu had decided, was watching him watch it for the first time. He laughed at the ancient jokes and cursed at Professor Marvel.
"What the Hell? He is a liar!" He worried about the twister, was relieved when the girl awoke, and when the film switched to Technicolor, he was genuinely surprised. "Bozhe moy! Look at that!" Sulu sang along with the munchkins, which made Chekov grin and even giggle when they got to the part with the coroner. "Oh! This is the witch! I understand now. Maybe I will get long socks and red shoes for Irina." Every part of the movie elicited some kind of response across the range of human emotion and if there was such a thing as the opposite of a Vulcan, Sulu decided that his Pavel was it.
The ending credits rolled and Sulu gave him a soft peck on the lips. "So, what did you think?"
"I liked it!"
"Yeah?" Their fight was long forgotten now, and he felt more like himself again. "Now, watch this. Computer, play Dark Side of the Rainbow." The movie started again, but instead of the cheezy orchestration, there was the faint sound of a heartbeat that grew progressively louder, the ticking of a clock, and then a wailing scream before the music began. The best album in the Universe, dark and delirious, balanced what might be one of the best films of all time, sweet and fanciful.
Later that evening, as Chekov slept, Sulu composed a letter to his old teacher.
Sensei Dia Jing,
I know it's been a long time, but I wanted to thank you for everything. The dojo was like a second home to me and you were like my badass favorite aunt or something. I've been keeping up my practice, so maybe one of these days I'll beat you in a sparring session, but I sincerely doubt it. I've been teaching my boyfriend and sometimes I hear things come out of my mouth that you always used to say to me. I can still hear you yelling "Shung!" to get me to relax.
I want you to know that it's not the fighting I'm grateful for, though it did come in handy and I should probably also thank Mrs. O'Malley for the fencing lessons. It's all the other stuff that I wanted to thank you for - patience, balance, respect, all the stuff that really matters. Anyway, I just wanted say thank you and let you know that I haven't forgotten you.
Be well,
-Hikaru
To his surprise, a reply came back within a few minutes.
Courageous Little Mouse,
So happy to hear from you! I have much business now and I have to tell people to go somewhere else. There is not enough time and I am getting very old. But I make time for your sisters. Kiko has no interest, but Hana is becoming better than you. She will be a good teacher one day. Unlike you, she is learning the Chinese forms, which are better. You were very stubborn. Always Judo with you! Maybe you will wise-up and learn like your sister. She tells me all about your boyfriend. If he is so smart, he will ask to learn Chinese forms.
Tell me when you are getting married, okay?
Even if you don't learn the Chinese forms, you know the important things and this makes me very very glad that you are my student.
Zai Jian,
-Dia Jing
Part 13: Outbreak, 2 of 2