Chương 41: Sibling Rivalry

Mr. Cheng's Best Acupuncture smelled like what a hippie commune must: herbs, mushrooms, and incense. I'd gotten used to the scents and it would normally be like walking into a library after a long day at school– a nice combo of comfort and nostalgia. Except today. Because today I still had scars on my arms, they were fading but for now still there, hidden under my hoodie. I had surpassed using a chopstick for my fighting technique and had a far better rate of accuracy, having used it in two fights now.

And, biggest of all, I had two new hands that were from now on basically indestructible. There was so much more that I needed to learn, but how would Mr. Cheng react to such a drastic improvement? I could pretend to be at the same skill level as before, but that would be a waste of time. Maybe I could explain it away as having practiced during all that day– no, I had told them I was sick. The truth was I was learning too fast. Mr.

Cheng had been clear that chi striking took a long time to learn and I don't think he meant a few weeks. Clearly my four points in Intelligence were doing more than enhancing my chronomancing skill. Sharon at the store front was dealing with a customer, so I walked through to the back and opened the door to the courtyard. The afternoon sun had warmed the stone tiles and brought out the scent of the flowers Mr. Cheng had in potted rows around the space.

I immediately felt my whole body– bones and muscles– relax just by standing there. Except for my dear brother next to me. Tianyu– yes, I remembered his true name– was practicing his moves with his usual hard and fast speed. He had the form down better than I did, but every move he made looked like he was trying to kill an invisible person. Laushu was like a fluid dancer as he moved; every swing of Tianyu's arms was only ever a strike. Clearly, he had skipped meditation again.

I plopped down my butt on the soft grass, closed my eyes, and began to breathe. There hadn't been as much traffic on the streets, probably because of a super show going on across town. So my ears could really hone in on the soft chirping of birds fluttering in and out of the trees, the feel of the four o'clock sun on my face, just warm enough to feel like I was bathing in a golden pool. My chest rose higher and higher as my lungs filled with air, then down and down again as I expelled it all out.

I was in my snowglobe of peace, a thin, clear yet solid bubble arced above me, blocking out everything that might disturb the serenity inside. … except the shout that echoed from my annoying little brother's throat. I cracked an eye to see him stomping forward and swinging his arms in a wide circle, grunts and hisses emerging every few seconds.

"Could you be a bit more quiet while training incorrectly?" He side-eyed me as he continued his overly aggressive kata.

"What would a wàirén know about how to train properly?" I got to my feet. For all I knew, 'wayren' could have meant "beginner" or "the crude excrement of dogs", but since it was Tianyu, it was most likely the latter.

"I know that you look like a drunk serial killer flailing around like that." That should be more of a burn than whatever 'wayren' was, but who could tell with Tianyu? His hand stopped in the air mid-swing. He slowly turned towards me, face red, teeth clenched.

"I am practicing to kill people if I need to– that's the whole point of this! And my form is perfect. You are the one that moves through the forms like a– a fat cow." I glanced down at my toothpick legs, my skeletal wrists. It was hard to gain weight when you couldn't afford to buy food that would help pack on the pounds. Was it dieting if you skip meals because you don't have enough money or was it just being poor? Either Wu had a terrible concept of health or he was just really bad at insults.

I arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'll tell you what, little brother, I'll stop eating desserts if you quit drinking before training. I'm concerned you're going to punch yourself in the face and pass out again." His face was turning lava red now, and just like a volcano, he looked ready to explode.

"I'm not your little brother! I have been training in martial arts since I could walk. I'm not the drunk one; I just have enough force to actually hurt someone, unlike you." If this little twit only knew. I had fought men who outweighed him by a hundred pounds of muscle; gone up against a mutant who tried to slice me to death and won. Sure, sometimes I'd had weapons and my powers had usually been employed, but if I could take Brandon down, surely I'd have no problem with putting my own little brother in his place.

I brushed my hair back off my shoulders.

"You wanna test that out?" One side of his mouth turned up and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me.

"You can't be serious. Just because your teacher has taught you how to suck air into your lungs and you can wave soft hands in a circle, you think you could fight me?" His body bowed forward as he began to laugh.

"Let's find out, shall we?" I raised my hands into position. His head shook back and forth, but the smile was still on his lips as he brought up his hands too.

"Alright. But when Cheng has to take you to the hospital, remember: you asked for it." He stepped forward, legs slightly bent, hands in fists in front of him ready to strike. His whole body was sharp angles. Clearly, he wasn't using what we had been learning for a month. I placed my feet wide and assumed my stance with arms forming soft circles, one extended forward and one back as Laushu had taught. My breathing slowed as the noise of the city became muffled around us.

I blinked once and then Tianyu stepped forward and his fist flashed out. For a split second, pain gathered between my eyes as if my power were starting on instinct, but it didn't feel as if the world slowed at all as my arm spun to deflect it. My hand had just barely touched his arm to brush it aside when his fist slammed into my chest. The wind left my lungs in a burst as his foot snaked behind mine and suddenly everything was spinning.

A swift breeze whistled around me before the ground slammed into my back and my head bounced on the grass. My body laid there frozen in place, trying to suck down air back into my throat. I wasn't sure which was more bruised: my chest or my ego. Tianyu leaned over, his dark shadow shrouding me in my defeat.

"Are you ok, little sister?" His voice dripped with false concern. My ego, it was definitely my ego. Pushing myself up to a sitting position, I rubbed the side of my chest where he hit me.

"You punched my boob, you pervert." He took a faltering step backward.

"What! No, I just struck your chest." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I slowly got to my feet with a groan.

"Yeah that's where mammaries are located, genius. Pretty shameful to use a fight to touch a girl's boob. How do you say "creep" in Mandarin?" The sound of a deep belly laugh filled the small courtyard.

"I believe the most appropriate word would be sè láng." Mr Cheng stood in the doorway of his shop, arms folded across his chest. Tianyu spun toward him.

"Don't tell her that! I am not a sè láng." The smile on Mr. Cheng's face slipped into a frown.

"No, but you are a bully." Tianyu threw his hands up into the air.

"She started it. She challenged me."

"And you decided to use your grandfather's style instead of the one you were sent here to learn." Mr. Cheng shook his head sadly.

"It would be more honorable to face your opponent using the style you are both learning together instead of the one you have already mastered." Tianyu's brow furrowed.

"Fine. Let's go again. This time we will fight using your passive techniques." His mouth twisted on the word, making it offensive. I glanced between Laushu and Tianyu.

"Fine. But you better not try and grope me again." I dropped back into my stance, far more cautiously than last time. Tianyu spluttered in indignation.

"I did not– That's not how–""Come on suh lang, let's fight." I butchered the pronunciation, but it was worth it to see the fire ignite in Tianyu's eyes.

"Begin!" Mr. Cheng's barked command launched us into action. Tianyu took the initiative moving forward to strike. I had a strategy here: supposedly an angry opponent was an easier opponent, but staring up at this glaring boy who was half a foot taller sure didn't make it feel like a good idea. His arm swung toward my head and then darted his fist toward my face. I was ready this time and swept his limb to the side with a raised hand. Before, his movement had been so sure, but this time it seemed more hesitant.

Maybe it was just the look on his face. Eyes narrowing when his strike failed, he moved towards me and kicked hard at my hip. My arm flowed down and blocked his leg before sliding backward to disengage. My compendium of skilled moves was almost zero. Practice for me had consisted of what was called "parting the wave" during every lesson. I wasn't Bruce Lee, the Kung Fu expert; I was Daniel Laruso, doing the Chinese version of wax on, wax off, but it was working.

Tianyu, on the other hand, had spent all of his time learning the few strikes that Laushu had been willing to teach. He used them now, moving forward, his hands a blur as they lashed out over and over again only to be swept aside like waves… being parted. Maybe there was something to the names of these forms after all. Sweat beaded on Tianyu's face with each failed strike. He brought his fist around for a jab at my stomach and as I brushed the blow wide, he was left open.

My eyes honed in on the point by his collarbone just like I had with Brandon. Without thinking, I extended my fingers and darted them forward in my first actual attack against him. His stance shifted at the last second, so my strike hit his shoulder hard, but nowhere near the chi point. His eyes grew round and it was his turn to take a step back. He reached up and rubbed the spot I had hit with a grimace. My head jerked to the side to look at Mr. Cheng.

Surely he could tell exactly what I was trying to do with my two fingers there. His eyebrows were drawn together, mouth set in a straight line as he watched from the doorway. Finally, he said, "Point for Ben Niao."

"There are no points in a real fight!" Tianyu shouted.

"I'm not even really fighting against your stupid bird."

"Hey!" I said, crossing my arms in front me.

"My nickname means early bird, not a stupid one. And yours is stubborn pig, you suh lang." Brother turned to Mr. Cheng, gesturing to me and mouthing off in Mandarin. He then stepped forward to re-engage.

"Wait," Mr Cheng called out.

"Rest for two minutes, then you may fight again. Especially you, Tianyu." Brother stood with his face scrunched up like a prune, teeth mashing against each other as he stared at me. Had this boy ever heard the phrase "chill out"? He seemed ready to fight me to the death just over this silly competition. His parents must have been training him for the Olympics since he was two or been going to Kobra Kai for all his training. He did not in any way shape or form "rest".

He paced back and forth, scowling at everything as he did, l ike a spikey headed sith. My eyelids dropped down as I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of grass. The formerly gentle sunlight now beat down on my black hoodie, but I just kept breathing, centering myself. I would embed the look on his face forever in my brain if I could hit his chi point. His head would jerk down, staring at his floppy arm, the same one he'd just used to try to strike me so many times, and then his eyes would meet mine again.

I had a pretty good idea of what kind of expression I would see. The same as Brandon's had. I was starting quite the nice mental photo album. Of course, in the space of a few seconds and one small headache later, I could use my power on him. Then I could really take him down, but it was hardly worth exposing myself to both him and Mr. Cheng just for this pissing contest. And, you know, fair play and all that fighting with honor stuff too, I guess. Mr. Cheng called out, "Face each other." My eyes snapped open.

Tianyu ceased his stalking like a caged tiger, and stepped towards me.

"Bow." Arms at my side, I bent at the waist. Tianyu just dipped his shoulders and neck, never taking his eyes off of me.

"Ready." Only a foot apart, we sank back into our stance.

"Begin!" Tianyu's fists flew up to my face in a blur and would have left my eyes looking like a racoon had they connected. My foot pulled back as I shifted my weight and let the punch pass me by. He fought like a storm, every strike followed by another. My arms were a blur as I deflected what I couldn't dodge. With each failed hit, his frustration seemed to grow as his face grew red and eyes filled with fire. The problem was even using a style he seemed to detest, the truth was– he was talented. But Mr.

Cheng was right that taichi was all about balance, yin and yang. Tianyu was pure yang and it was throwing off his balance. A wild strike came careening towards my head, I batted it aside but not far enough. His fist still struck my shoulder. I staggered back with a grunt of pain. Tianyu's eyes flashed dangerously as he pounced on the opportunity. Tired of my game of defence, he leapt towards me, fist flying. Just like with Brandon, my eyes took in the scene and my mind processed it in a moment.

I saw his balance shift as he threw all his weight behind his punch. Mr. Cheng's voice echoed in my head.

"When your opponent loses their balance, you must pick it up and use it against them." Time did not slow, the sounds of the world did not grind to a halt. But my thoughts raced through my training like lightning in that split second as Tianyu's fist raced to connect with my jaw. I knew what to do. Instead of batting away his next strike, my hands grabbed his wrist and twisted my whole body. Too much force behind his blow and now the momentum worked against him.

He flew through the air over my shoulder, back cracking against the grass when he landed. Click. The look on his face went into my brain's memory stash. Right next to all of the commercial jingles that refused to die. Looked like it was his turn to reacquaint air to his lungs. My finger pointed at my chest as I stared down at him huffing for breath.

"I won. You can call me big sister from now on." His fighting had been handicapped by Mr. Cheng's insistence on using taichi, and my system-enhanced ability to learn had certainly helped me out. It wasn't a big win, but it was a small one. Tianyu shoved himself up, wheezing slightly as he spoke.

"You'll need to fight me again if you want to win. We're still even from when I sent you to the ground."

"I can do this all day, little brother." My hands began pulling up my sweater over my shoulders. If I was going to kick his butt again, I was going to do it with less sweat this time. It got over my head and onto the ground when the intakes of breath came. My head swiveled as I looked between them, fingers grabbing onto the fabric of my shirt to check that it was still on. It was, so I did not thankfully expose myself to my new Chinese family. Their eyes were staring at my arms.

I glanced down to see the pale ridges interlacing down my arms the way gothic architecture does to a church's chapel. Just one more day and they would have been gone completely. I swallowed as my eyes cut to Mr. Cheng. His lips were pursed, still not looking at my face.

"The fight is over. Tianyu, go home. Ben Niao, your lesson will start now."