Chapter3
“Evan… you aren’t going to believe this,” Jake said excitedly as he poured himself a cup of hot coffee the next morning. It was shortly after sunrise, but he hadn’t been able to sleep hardly at all.
There was a loud yawn on the other end of the line, and with a sleepy voice, Evan responded. “Yeah? Wassup?” he mumbled almost incoherently.
Jake walked to the window and looked out of the old mini blinds at the street in front of his rented house. “Well, you know what you were saying about change not falling in my lap? Yesterday it fell into my lap. I was at the gym and this… god, she’s hot… this woman came in and she was watching me fight. When I was done, she told me she wanted to take me to this place for pro fighters, except she didn’t say where it was. I didn’t know until we got there.”
“Is this something that you can wait to tell me all about until a decent hour?” Evan moaned into the phone.
Jake ignored him. “Evan! She took me to the Hayashi dojo! They’re looking for fighters and she wanted me to try out there to be one of their fighters!” He still couldn’t make himself believe it, and saying it out loud only made it sound more surreal to him.
There was silence for a moment on the other end of the line and then there was fumbling, and Evan spoke more clearly. “What? What did you say?”
“The Hayashi dojo. Evan… I made it in. I start training today to compete in professional martial arts competitions.” Jake grinned and raked his fingers through his sandy golden hair.
He heard Evan stutter slightly. “The… the Hayashi dojo? Seriously? You’re kidding me. You’re kidding… Jake, this is a hell of a joke to play on me at the crack of dawn. What the hell are you doing this to me for?”
“I go in at nine this morning to start,” Jake said, his grin barely containing his happiness.
“You are serious. Holy… wow. How in the…?” he began to laugh a little then. “That’s so cool, brother. I’m so happy for you. That’s the best.”
“Thanks, Evan. I’m not going to be able to be around too much, between the garage at night and the training during the day, but I’ll see you whenever I can, right?” Jake asked, letting hope begin to move through him finally, in small undulating waves.
“Yeah, sure… of course. The dojo is a huge priority. Go do it! I’ll come to your fights! I’m always at the fights. I’ll drop by the garage too. You’re going to kick some real ass now! I’m proud of you, Jake. You deserve this. You do.” Evan sounded as happy as Jake felt, and for once it finally seemed to Jake that things might just be going his way.
They talked a little while and then Jake finally let Evan off the phone so he could go back to sleep. Jake washed out his coffee mug and left his house, locking the door behind him. Heading to the dojo, his mind was on two things; the future he had ahead of him as a fighter for Hayashi, and getting Lisa where he wanted her. He parked at the end of the parking lot at the dojo and went to her office.
She was sitting at her desk when he walked in, and the moment their eyes met, his mouth curved into a grin and she felt her cheeks flush at the memory of how she had reacted to him the night before in her car.
“Good morning, Jake.” She spoke to him in a cool tone, before anything could go where it shouldn’t between them. She motioned to one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Please, have a seat.” He sat, keeping his eyes on her. She opened a desk drawer and took a file out of it.
Spreading pages before him, she explained what each one was and showed him where he needed to sign them. As she spoke, she kept her eyes on the paperwork, but she could feel him watching her, and it took everything in her to stay focused on what she was talking about. Finished explaining finally, she looked up at him and found his eyes lingering on her mouth.
Clearing her throat, she handed the pen in her hand to him and lifted her chin confidently. “Please get these signed and then you can begin your training with Koichi.”
He didn’t look away from her as his hand closed over hers, his fingers slowly brushing her skin as he took his time taking the pen from her. She drew in a subtle breath and let go of the pen, withdrawing her hand quickly. She had hoped he hadn’t seen her reaction, but judging from the half grin on his face and the wicked glint in his eyes, she knew he had.
Lisa rose up from her desk and walked toward the small table at the corner of her office where a pitcher of ice water stood. She poured herself a glass and drank it slowly, willing her heart to slow and her body to cool down.
She was so intent on calming herself that she didn’t hear him get out of his chair and walk to her. She didn’t realize he was near her until she felt him immediately behind her, and everything in her caught fire and froze at the same time. She turned where she stood and found herself almost chest to chest with him. She could smell the fresh scent of soap on his skin and feel the heat from his body as he smiled down at her.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me with this,” he said in a soft velvet voice. “I appreciate it.” He let his eyes fall from their connection with hers to her lips, and as he stared at them, he opened his mouth just a little as if he was thinking of taking a bite of her; tasting her, and then he raised his eyes slowly and shared a gaze with her. She could not speak or breathe.
“I hope you let me thank you properly soon…” He smiled a little as he stared right into her eyes. She was sure that her heart was going to pound itself out of her chest. He chuckled a little and gave his head a shake before turning and walking toward the door.
“I’d love to stay in here with you and get to know you much better, and I will at some point in the very near future, but for now, I better go see Koichi. Do you know where he is?” he asked with a mischievous light in his steel blue eyes.
She struggled to draw in a breath and maintain some semblance of her composure. “He’s in the water garden to the left when you walk out of the door,” she answered him in an even voice. She had no idea where the calmness in her tone had come from. She was anything but calm, but she was also grateful that somehow her brain had managed to override her body and act as though he hadn’t had the effect on her that he had. She prayed with everything in her that he hadn’t been aware of it at all, but there was a part of her, deep in her, that felt as if he knew far more about what was going on inside of her than she wanted him to know. She was beginning to wonder if there was anything she could really keep from him.
He left and she turned back to the water in front of her. She swallowed half a glassful of the cool water, wishing that she could wash the whole inside of her body with it and ease the heat in her. She stalked over to her desk and sat down again, covering her face with her hands. She told herself that she had to get a grip on herself and on her emotions and thoughts. She absolutely could not let a man like him affect her the way that he did.
He was a student and a fighter there at the dojo, and she was one of the staff. That was the extent of their relationship, and that was all that there ever could be between them. She was determined to make sure of it. He had potential, and she was there to encourage him and help him reach it, and nothing else. She had to put the dojo and the competitions first. There was no other way around it.
Jake found Koichi sitting on a mat on a small wooden deck before the shallow end of a pool of water that was part of a large water garden. The pool grew deeper at the far end, and at symmetrically placed intervals throughout the pool, there were stands of reeds growing out of wooded pots, and water lilies floated on the surface in places. There were two waterfalls; one constructed of bamboo, and one constructed of stone, and water quietly bubbled and streamed over and through them both, creating a relaxing and peaceful sound.
Koichi was not moving. He was deep in meditation, and even the sound of Jake’s arrival had not stirred him, though Jake was certain that the older man knew he was there. Jake waited silently near him until the older man finally opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Jake.
“Good morni
ng.” He said simply. Jake wasn’t sure if he should nod or bow, and wanting to make a good impression, he decided on a bow. Koichi rose up in the same fluid motion that he had moved in the day before. He bowed in return, and took a deep breath.
“Before we begin, there are things that need to be discussed.” Koichi said calmly.
Jake nodded silently.
Koichi pointed to the wooden beam near them, which was holding up part of the canopy over the walkway beside the building. “You are like the beam of wood; no longer a tree, but not carved into anything more than a simple square. You are a basic form. It will take time for you to carve your own self into the future that you want. Right now there is much anger in you. Much anger…” he repeated, lowering one brow slightly in concern.
“You are using your anger and frustration to fight, and that will always lead to loss; loss of a competition, loss of self, loss of future. You cannot center yourself around anger and hatred. There is no seed that can grow in fire. Fire destroys; it does not foster growth. You must learn to find peace and serenity at the center of yourself, and when you find that, you will have balance, and your martial arts will no longer be an act of war, but rather a form of self, of expression, and of defense.
When you are balanced, you will find that your competitions will be much easier won. You will have focus, and you can see your competitor, you can see the way to overcome each one of them, and you will find the success that you seek.” He looked sharply at Jake then. “There is no other way. Do you understand?”
Jake nodded. He pressed his lips together in a tight line. He didn’t understand. The fires of anger and frustration in him had always helped him to win his battles. He knew that was the way he would be able to go forward. As he looked at Koichi watching his eyes, he knew that the older man fully expected him to give that up, and he didn’t know how to do it. Fear twisted in his stomach.
“But… how will I-” he began, but Koichi’s face darkened.
“You will call me Master Koichi.”
Jake took a breath and nodded. “Master Koichi, how will I win if I have to let go of the only way I know how to fight? I win all of my fights now, and I do that with all the anger inside of me.”
Koichi watched him silently for a long moment. “You must unlearn everything that you think you know. You must let everything in your past go and focus on your future with a clean and fresh start, and you must not bring any of your anger or hatred or frustration with you, or you will not succeed.” Koichi took a step toward him.
“You must let go of all of that right now, or you must turn and walk out of that gate and not return.” Koichi’s voice was as steady as it had been all along, but Jake knew that he was giving him an ultimatum. He knew he had no choice. Let it go or leave.
“Yes, Master,” he said quietly, clenching his teeth as he wondered what he would do in a fight with no anger, and how he could ever expect to win.
Koichi lifted his chin and clasped his hands behind his back. “Take off your shoes and socks.”
Jake, who had put his gi on and worn it to the dojo from his house, had not bothered to take his shoes off. He did as he was told. A minute later he was standing barefoot before Koichi.
“Walk into the water beside this wooden platform.” Koichi told him as he walked up onto the wood. Jake blinked and looked at the older man in surprise before sighing, with a shrug, and walking into the calf-deep water. The surface he was standing on was soft like sand, and he felt himself sink slightly with each step.
Koichi turned to face him. “Today you will learn the kata, and you will follow my movements as I teach it to you, while you stand in the water.”
Jake frowned and looked at the wooden platform that Koichi was standing on. “Master Koichi… shouldn’t I be standing on the platform with you?” he asked in confusion.
Koichi spread his feet and looked out over the top of Jake’s head. “You will do kata in the water, and you will follow as I teach it to you. Watch closely, and do as I do.”
Jake nodded and bowed to Koichi, who bowed back, and Koichi began to move slowly; so slowly that Jake had a difficult time keeping his balance. Every time he moved, the sand beneath him shifted, and he struggled to keep from falling. Every time his balance was lost, he reflexively lowered both feet to remain standing, and every time he did it, he splashed water clumsily.
Koichi continued to move, and Jake continued to try to follow him, feeling more and more like a baby trying to learn to walk than a skilled warrior learning to fight. He frowned in frustration and Koichi eyed him sternly.
“You must let go of your anger. There is a reason that you are training in water. You are like a wildfire… out of control, and that was why you didn’t get a hit in on me when we sparred. It’s why you never touched me. You have no control and focus.” Koichi moved with a serene fluidity that Jake could not seem to match, no matter what he did to try, but he gritted his teeth and continued to parallel Koichi’s moves.
Koichi spoke calmly. “You are fire right now, and I am water. Water douses fire. Your anger and hatred is the fire that is consuming you, and with it, you have no control; you have no future. You must let go of your anger and hatred. It is the past, and the past is nothing more than shadows. You must become like water. Water always finds a way.”
They continued the kata training, repeating it over and over until Koichi could see that Jake had learned it, and then Koichi bowed to him slightly and turned to step down from the wooden platform. Jake began to follow him, leaving the water and Koichi turned to face him and shook his head.
“You must stay in the water and continue the kata. You will remain there, doing the kata until you can do it without splashing one drop of water. Then you will be water, and your movements will be as fluid as that in which you stand.” Koichi looked at him as if there was no other option or way, and Jake knew that he meant it.
As Jake went back to the place in the sand where he had been standing, he sighed heavily and began the kata again. Over and over he lost his balance and splashed, or he moved too fast and too hard, and he splashed, and it seemed as though no matter how slowly or carefully he moved, he could not help but splash.
Koichi watched him for a long while, saying nothing. Then he stepped back up on the platform and sat on his mat again, folding his legs around him and preparing to meditate once again. His eyes stayed on Jake and before he closed them, he spoke again.
“I feel confident that you know who Bruce Lee was. He spoke of water, and it was the element he found himself in the most. He said, “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water.”
Koichi breathed in slowly and breathed back out again, just as slowly. “He could have said that specifically of you. Remember it, and think on it as you do your kata. Focus on the water, and focus on yourself, and let everything else go.”
Jake did the kata again, and he could feel his muscles begin to tighten and ache as he moved. He looked at Koichi, who had closed his eyes, and he spoke. “How many times do I have to do this?” he asked, hoping that the end was somewhere in sight.
Koichi answered him without looking at him. “Again, I will quote Master Lee: ““I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” It is repetition and practice that make your form so that it is more than second nature to you. It must be part of you; it must be like your heartbeat, like your breath, like every part of you that exists.... the same way that your body functions without you thinking about it, so too must be your kata; like breathing, like living.... it is a part of you.”
Jake hesit
ated for a moment, but then as he watched Koichi and looked around himself at where he was, he realized that it might just be possible that he didn’t know all that there was to know, and that he could actually learn something from the old man. He took the kata water training as a challenge, and he told himself that he would do it, just to prove to the older man that he could do it, and that nothing was going to get in his way and stop him, no matter how crazy and ridiculous it was.
After three hours, Koichi rose up and looked at him. “Continue. You are still splashing.” He said before turning and walking away. Jake watched him go, and he continued his movements, feeling frustration course through him again as he wondered how crazy the old man really was.
Do kata in the water without splashing. It was impossible. There was no way to move in water without splashing. He thought about how he would like to tell the older man to get in the water himself and show Jake how well he could do kata in it without splashing.
The more Jake thought about it, the angrier and more frustrated he became, and the more determined he was to use that anger and frustration to show Koichi that he could fight with fire in water and win. He continued to repeat the kata, over and over, each time growing more tired and sore, and each time vowing that he was going to do it without splashing.
Koichi walked to a doorway behind the water garden, where Lisa was standing silently watching Jake from the back. He joined her. They watched together in silence for a while and she finally spoke, though she didn’t turn her eyes away from Jake.
“Do you think he’ll be able to do it?” she asked, trying to keep the concern in her mind from reaching her voice.
Koichi sighed lightly and tipped his head a little to the side. He did not answer her for a long time, and finally he spoke quietly. “He won’t be able to do it until he learns to let go of the past and focus on the future. That will be his own choice and it will not come until he changes it. Today, the answer to that question is no. He will not be able to do it.”
Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 6
