Chapter 15:
Kaolen who?

Bam. Down on the floor again. Pain shooting up my spine. Another bruise. Nothing new.

“I think we need to get you a private tutor,” Siwon finally said.

“What?” Jimin gasped, still standing as proudly as ever – not on the floor and not any sweating what so ever. “I’m not good enough?”

“Nope,” I groaned.

“Isn’t there anyone here who can appreciate my talent?” Jimin sighed.

Siwon muffled a laugh with his knuckle, and I saw Jimin give him a deathly glare as I tried to sit up.

“Baby, are you okay?”

Suddenly Kai had appeared beside me, using his teleportation skills again, and I shot up in bare reflex. “Yah! Stop scaring me!” I yelled.

“Who invited Kkamjong?” Jimin said, back to serious mode.

I couldn’t help but find the nickname a little funny, since Jimin was playing with Kai’s real name Jongin and the word dark. Dark Jongin. Kkamjong.

“Don’t diss my skin tone, man-lady. It’s nothing but y, where as you are quite the opposite.” Kai answered.

"Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength," Jimin replied in a wise tone.

There was silence.

“Your brutal strength is you not knowing how a real woman should be,” Kai retorted likewise after a while.

I was starting to consider their banter almost funny, and got up to brushing my knees and arms before walking to Siwon’s side. He was studying the quarrel with an amused glint in his eyes, and he started talking to me with his eyes still on them.

“I suppose it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up as a couple in the future,”

“Really?” I said, trying to consider it. It didn’t seem possible to me. “It seems more like fighting between siblings to me,”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Siwon replied, nodding his head to one side.

The banter kept going between the two of them, and I only heard the quick exchanges of insults in small detail as they went too fast for me to really follow them due to too little interest.

“Moron!”

“Stone woman!”

“Couch potato!”

“Seriously? Couch potato?”

Siwon and I kept studying them for a while longer, as if fascinated. I decided to break the silence between us.

“So..” I said. “Private tutor, huh?”

“Yap,” Siwon answered. “I know just the right guy for the job,”

“Oh? Who?” I asked.

“Huang Zi Tao,” Siwon decided to look down upon me, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Amazing guy that is – has too much free time on his hands too. He’s just too smart for his own good,”

I recognized the name from the sleepover – Tao was that guy from Kaolen. The one Hyorin had described as unsociable and weird. How typical that I had to end up with people like that.

“And you think he can teach me the martial arts?” I asked.

“At least better than Jimin. I don’t think she’s fit for teaching you – to her everything just falls naturally since it’s her power.”

“Nice that you figured that out now..” I muttered.

“You said something?” Siwon asked, sparing me a quick glance.

“Nothing,” I quickly responded, looking away.

“Well, it’s decided then. Just meet up in the gym hall where you met Kaolen and me that first day of yours later tonight – he should be there then. Tao will know of your arrival, I’ve already spoken to him about it.”

“Oh,” I said, a little surprised. I supposed I hadn’t really had a say in it.

Jimin suddenly went up to us, grinning slightly. “So, what did I miss?”

Neither Siwon nor I answered her question, but looked around her, searching for someone.

“Where is Kai?” I asked.

Jimin went silent for a while, her gaze turning confused.

“Oh, you mean that pitiful Kkamjong?” Jimin said at last, raising her eyebrows slightly. “He teleported away to somewhere, too scared to face me,”

“Were you raising your hand at him?” Siwon said, and I saw that amused smile by his lips again.

The most misfit look of innocence appeared on Jimin’s face, and I groaned inwardly.

“Me? I didn’t do anything,” she grinned.

--

“Seriously?” I asked. “You’re going to join me?”

“Of course I am!” Jimin answered. “The guy to train you could be a complete moron for all we know!”

“I thought you said he was just a misunderstood-“

“Pssh,” Jimin brushed me off quickly with a quick waving of the hand, but I almost thought I saw a little blush appearing on her cheeks, which was completely off-character. Jimin didn’t blush. “You can’t take everything I say for good fish, I mean-“

“Tell me, Jimin – you wouldn’t happen to be a little inte-“

“Come along now!” Jimin abruptly said, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the door. Apparently it was the end of the discussion.

--

Which was basically the reason why Jimin joined me to the training hall later that evening. Because Huang Zi Tao could possibly be a moron. That and the fact that I still had trouble maneuvering myself around on the school grounds, and Jimin apparently knew where I’d been. Or she knew where Kaolen used to spend their evenings. I was suddenly uncertain.

We entered without knocking (because I seriously didn’t think I needed to show a certain guy the courtesy) and stepped inside only to stop by the sight that met us.

It wasn’t the most shocking one, guys training and sweating and glistening in their gloriousness, but you know. Kaolen was famous for a reason.

And their hotness while sparring in pairs was enough to make us stop the first thing after stepping inside.

Which the guys did too as soon as they noticed our entrance.

And then we just stood staring at each other, and I found it being really awkward, but I suppose popular guys expected the intruders to start the conversation and so I did. I had hoped this Tao-guy would have given a little warmer welcome since he was expecting me. Instead I figured that the “unsociable” part rumored about him was true.

“Hey,” I said.

A few seconds passed again, whereas none spoke, and I continued. “Which one of you is Huang Zi Tao?”

“You weren’t looking for me? What a shame,” one of the boys said, suddenly smiling at me.

That response made there only two remaining that could be my new tutor. I already knew Kris with his new badass, y dark hair. The one that had just spoken looked pretty fit and had a side-fringe almost covering his right eye. He looked sweet. (Correction: none of these guys looked sweet to be honest, they looked goddamned y, let me tell you. Don’t judge me though; I am a girl after all.)

“Nope,” I answered, mouth twisting almost, but not quite into a smile.

“That one’s Lay,” Jimin said beside me, nodding towards the one who had spoken. “The one to the right is Chen,” she thereafter said before turning to the left. “He is Tao,”

“And that’s it.” I finished for her. As I said so, my eyes met Kris’ briefly, and as usual – he did not look happy. Dissatisfied would be an understatement. After that I looked at him who Jimin had pointed out as being Tao, and nodded to him while eyeing him carefully up and down. “I’m Sora,” I said.

“That I am familiar with,” Huang Zi Tao answered.

I recognized him as that guy who’d had the best moves the second time I’d seen Kaolen – in this precise gym hall actually.

“I’m Jimin,” Jimin said beside me.

Tao shifted his gaze to the girl beside me, and answered. “I’m not familiar with you,” He scrunched his eyes slightly together, and I felt a snicker make it past my lips. I was quite amazed Kris hadn’t said anything yet. As I could see though, he’d moved over to the bottles and towels by one of the benches by the wall.

“You’re supposed to be my new tutor,” I said.

“Yes, I know that,”

Jesus Christ, this guy was difficult to converse with.

“So?” I asked.

“So, you should be aware that you can only practice with me in the evenings when I practice here with the guys,”

“I thought Siwon said you had too much time on your hands?”

One of the guys snickered, though for what reason I didn’t know. I thought it was the one with the side-fringe.

“What?”

“I suppose not,” I said, though by his actions I felt like he did indeed have too much time on his hands. A/N: See what I did there? LOL ‘cause ya’ know, Tao’s power is time control, and he has too much time on his hands which means he literally… ya get it? no? Oh, okay..

“Let’s get this over with,” Kris suddenly said, and I shot him a glare.

“I need to test out if you’re any good first if you’re gonna tutor her,” Jimin suddenly said, referring to Tao as she stared him down. At this Tao answered with a calculating glance. “You do?”

“Yes,” she answered, genuinely. “So get ready,”

The corner of Tao’s mouth twitched as if to smile, but there never appeared one on his lips.

Apparently there was a whole different way of sparring with someone who actually knew how to wushu. A/N: Dang, is that even a verb? If it isn’t, now it is.

Jimin and Tao started out standing in front of each-other before bowing deeply. The whole aura seemed to change. Somewhat more solemn, but still competitive.

My eyes widened at what I could only call was a battle cry from both sides before everything happened really quickly. Apparently carefully assessing the situation wasn’t on any of their to-do-lists in battle – practice or not.

Jimin landed the first blow with her right arm, hitting Tao’s ribcage much to his surprise it seemed. I don’t think he actually expected her to put up much of a fight since Kaolen supposedly were superb in the stuff they did, but besides that I had the nagging feeling that Kaolen in itself was kind-of ist due to one certain person. All in all, it added up to a somewhat surprised Tao that wasn’t able to block the first few blows. But when Jimin was to do her next move – a low kick to his legs, Tao was ready.

Jimin ended up on the floor for a few seconds, her eyes widening before newfound excitement took place, and she was back up on her feet again in one fast movement – bouncing back up.

I was just about to turn my head towards the other guys when I felt hot breath on my cheek.

“I think I should have formally introduced myself,” a voice said.

I turned my head sharply, stepping away as I did and met the gaze of the one with the side fringe – the one called Lay. He had a mischievous smirk playing by his lips, but I convinced myself to meet it with something else than the instinctive growl that wanted to take place. I managed to smile.

“I might be somewhat familiar with you,” I said, smiling politely.

“Oh, you are?” Lay looked pleased at this as his grin only spread. “Well, it’s only polite with an introduction anyhow,”

“My name is Zhang Yixing – though people mostly call me Lay,”

He made a move to grab my hand before starting to close the distance between his lips and my hand, but I pulled it away from his grasp before he could get that far.

“Song Sora,” I quickly said. “Pleased to meet you,”

Though Lay puckered a brow at my reaction, he smiled again. “The pleasure’s all mine,” he said.

I moved my gaze to the two who were not yet done with their sparring, and frowned slightly. The fight just seemed to have gotten more intense.

“She’s a good fighter, huh?” Lay asked, and I nodded in return. “I don’t think she’ll be able to beat Tao though,”

“Don’t be so sure,” I replied.

“She’s a girl. Of course Tao will beat her,” a new voice entered the conversation.

A voice I was defiant to refute. Did I say Kaolen were a little ist? I’m sorry; I was only referring to their leader – Kris.

“The ?” I growled low. “Just because she’s a girl doesn’t mean she’s weak,” I answered.

I heard Lay laugh softly, amused.

“Women are by nature weaker than men,” Kris said, looking down upon me with his arms crossed.

“Watch your mouth, or you might end up with another hair color again,” I said, threateningly.

Kris was just about to answer me as we heard a rough crack to the left followed by an exhilarated huff of breath.

As we looked over to where the sound came from, we saw who had lost and who had won. One hand of mine automatically fisted itself when I discovered that both Lay and Kris had been right – Jimin hadn’t been able to beat Tao. Kris had been right for all the wrong reasons though. And Jimin didn’t really look that defeated – she looked more.. invigorated.

“Wow,” Jimin said as she got herself up. (No gentlemanly gestures in this neighborhood, ‘lemme tell ya’..) “You’re actually pretty good,” she said to the winning opponent.

Tao eyed her, seeming like he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t lying in a dark hole of self-pity with tears streaming down her face as a result of her defeat.

“Yes, I’ve heard that before,” Tao replied curtly.

Jimin ignored that comment. “This is the first time someone has beaten me,”

“And why was he even able to?” I said a little loudly, trying to reach into their bubble. “This is supposed to be your power,”

Jimin twisted her head and shot me a glare I didn’t even think I deserved. “Because I’ve never had a really good trainer – and I’m pretty new at this!” She turned to Tao. “But you – you’re great!”

I was getting suspicious with all the praise she was giving. It was too unusual.

“Maybe we can teach each-other?” she continued.

My eyes widened. Damn, was this girl trying to fetch a study-date or something?

Tao looked dubious. “I don’t need anyone to tea- “

Jimin interrupted him. “We can discuss ways to train Sora,”

Oh, great – she just had to include me in their business. I shot her a glare which she didn’t really see – back facing me and all.

“I think I will be able to do that on my own-“

“No, you can’t!” Jimin interrupted again. “I was actually appointed to be..” Jimin turned to look at me, uncertainty flaring in her eyes. “To be Sora’s Watcher,”

“My what?” I asked.

“Yes! Sora’s Watcher,” she repeated, turning towards Tao again with a winning smile on her lips.

Lay snickered beside me, seemingly amused again.

“I don’t think I ever heard about a Watcher,” Tao started, but Jimin was decided.

“Yes, well here I am – sent to watch Sora’s progress and her safety,” she clarified.

“That’s news to me,” I muttered. Lay snickered. I have to say it was pretty amusing how Jimin had Tao under full control though. I thought Tao was supposed to be scary, but seeing him like this – he seemed almost confused.

“So, let’s get started!” Jimin grinned.

--

“This is boring,” I stated, standing on the side-lines and staring out into thin air.

Tao and Jimin had begun sparring with each-other again; testing out different methods or something and seemingly those two were only absorbed in themselves and their fighting. To be honest, I don’t even think they were considering different ways to train me.

I looked to the right and the only one I saw was Kris leaning against the wall bars of the wall. Both Lay and that last dude had disappeared – where to I didn’t really know.

Kris didn’t even bother answering me.

“Where did the others go?” I asked him, wanting to break the silence.

“Away,” Kris replied curtly.

“Oh, because that explains so much,” I muttered sarcastically.

The next few moments there were only the sounds of Tao and Jimin’s stepping and hits; as well as occasional battle cries; that were heard.  

“This is boring,” I repeated.

Again Kris didn’t even bother answering.

I looked at him in my peripheral view, feeling annoyance build up. The tall, handsome, ist guy who at the moment was just standing there, ignoring me. I was going to get a reaction from him, I swore on it. Looking up at his now gorgeous, black shoulder-long hair, I knew exactly what would hit a nerve.

“Hey, did you hear about that one guy that walked around on campus last week who looked like he had a bonfire as hair? Completely crazy, red hair,” I said, speaking mostly to thin hair but still towards Kris. I know it was childish of me to bring it up – mocking him like that, but since Kris’ looks apparently was important to him, I didn’t see anything wrong with messing about it. He needed someone to take it down a notch for him.  “He walked around with this epic, glowing orb of a head-“

“Shut up,” Kris said coldly.

I shot my head to the side to look at him, eyes flaring. “Why should I? Why would I?”

He didn’t reply, just kept staring straight ahead with arms crossed. I took that as my cue to continue.

Let’s just blame this on the fact that I was very bored.

“Here’s your chance,” I said, turning my body fully towards his and facing my arms out. “You can vent your anger out on me for changing your hair – hit me with all you’ve got,”

“Now why in the world would I do that?” He still hadn’t looked at me.

“Well, ‘cause if you won’t protect yourself you’ll end up with a lot of damages to that pretty body of yours in just a few moments,”

I didn’t give him time to respond. I was annoyed, bored and restless. So I just struck out with my arm at him, the only forewarning being my last words to him.

Only thing was; that forewarning was apparently enough.

Instead of hitting his ribcage, which I’d aimed at, he’d managed to grab my outstretched fist, twisting it so that I had no choice but to follow in a spin, and pulled me roughly towards his chest – back first. Not only was I locked with my arm across my chest – Kris grabbing it from behind, but he also had an arm firmly around my waist and other arm, making me completely immobilized. Kudos for the effective defense move.

“There’s something about you that just makes me so aggravated,” Kris voiced behind me, and I felt chills run down my spine as his breath touched my skin.

Huffing a little angrily, I tried to wriggle out of his tight hold on me. Didn’t work. At all. It only resulted in him holding me even tighter.  

“That makes two of us,” I responded, puffing some air out of my mouth to blow away strands of hair that hung in front of my face.

Kris snorted before pushing me roughly away, making me stumble to catch my foothold again. I glared at him as I rubbed the wrist he’d twisted.

“Okay, I see why Siwon sent her to me,” someone said.

Looking to the side, I saw that Tao and Jimin’s attention had shifted, and that they were now staring at us – Tao calculating, Jimin suspicious.

“How bad of a teacher must one be to not even get a sliver of development from her?” Tao continued his last words.

The fact about Tao’s insult was that it wasn’t meant as an insult. He was simply stating what was on his mind. I snorted. It might not have the intention of being an insult, but it still felt like one. An offense both to Jimin and me.

Jimin didn’t say anything, which again – surprised me. I thought she was going to out on him, because she was just that kind of girl.

“So? Are you a bad teacher or a good one?” It was said as a question, but meant as a challenge.

Tao looked at me, seemingly perplexed. “A good one, of course,”

I almost scoffed at his straightforwardness.

“Let’s see about that, then,” 

Now, let's just imagine for a few moments, that you're standing with your back against this guy, his arms around you while whispering sweet nothings in your ear.. Feels wonderful, right?

Now with that thought in mind: sleep well. Or do whatever else you're planning to do.. With this in mind. 

//heemiah