cloudy with a Chance of freedom

chapter 22

It took Fon a moment to realize Skull had lead him to the seventh floor for a specific reason. The room currently looked like a proper dojo complete with tatami mats and the rhythmic sound of a bamboo fountain 'clacking' in the background.

"You're adjusting pretty well to things, but even I can see you need to let go before you snap," said Skull.

He slid into a basic stance. Fon blinked, before he realized what Skull was offering and did the same. He hadn't had a chance to really let loose and adjust to the fact he was in his teenage body. Just being able to figure out the extent of what he could do now would be a relief and give him some measure of control over this situation.

It was with some surprise that he found Skull was a rather difficult opponent to face. He was slippery as hell and almost impossible to pin down. Fon found a strange, delighted smile crawl onto his face. He was having fun for the first time in years and it felt exhilarating.

All the stress and confusion over the sudden influx of memories seemed to vanish as he started to figure out his new limits (limits which would soon be gone once he got back into his old training regimen) and just let himself fall into the pattern of attack and defend.

Fon found himself staring at the ceiling of the fake dojo as Skull used a leg sweep of all things on him. He was panting from exhaustion and enjoying every second of it.

"Feel better?" grinned Skull.

"Much," admitted Fon. He accepted the cold juice from the Cloud and sat up a bit. To his delight it was made from mandarins.

"I'm sorry you were so confused, but I couldn't leave things the way they were. I've had so much shit thrown at me the first time that the idea of not helping you all become the people I knew you could be sounded absolutely ridiculous. Besides... I about died laughing my ass off when I found out how much Kyouya took after you," said Skull grinning at him.

Fon looked at him and chuckled openly hearing that. Kyouya never believed his mother when she said he was just like Fon as a child.

"Tell you what... how about we get together at least once or twice and week and try to beat the crap out of each other in the name of training? I never really said it before, but I always enjoyed the tai chi training you gave us whenever we had time to spare."

By this point Fon's breathing had evened out. Out of all the others, only Skull seemed to take his instructions seriously and he did recall how the other always seemed to show genuine improvement whenever they had a chance to spar.

A small, sad smile came onto his face. How did he miss this side of Skull the first time? Were they really so self-absorbed that they missed the little details in each other?

"I'd enjoy that."

"Besides, this means I finally have someone to meditate with and practice the few katas I know in the morning. Blaise hates waking up as early as I do just to do some running and Viper refuses to wake up an hour before breakfast. And you know how Verde is," said Skull.

Fon chuckled. Verde occasionally ignored things like sleep, food and bathing once he was absorbed in a project. He found them 'trivial details'.

He was pleasantly surprised to find Skull already up and stretching outside when he came down. The two of them fell into an easy rhythm and Fon found himself following Skull's lead almost instinctively...and it had nothing to do with the fact the other was a Sky. It was more like the easy camaraderie he had with the few members of his family he was actually close to.

It wouldn't be until Verde quietly said "Welcome back" that he realized he felt like he belonged in his skin again. He had felt like he was simultaneously in a body too big and too small until that moment.