Children of the Zodiacs

two

Ren

Ren clenches his fist in attempt to subside the sharp pain shooting up his arm which he landed heavily on to block his fall.
'That's enough for today,' Shifu bellows.
Ren let out a sigh as the tension in his shoulders loosen. He looks down at his arm, still throbbing from the pain. Better see the doctor before it gets worse.
'Does it hurt?'.
Ren looks up to see Jian standing there waiting for him.
'Yeah, you can head back first, I'm going to get it checked out.'
Jian hesitates, a little reluctant to leave, feeling partially at fault for throwing him but nods and walks off.

🐀

'Ren, I haven't seen you here for a while. You used to come around often to greet me,' the doctors' kind eyes crinkles, 'I was started getting lonely without hearing your endless chatter.'
Ren smiles, 'I have been busy with the Great Race approaching and Shifu gives us no rest. Neither does my grandfather.'
The old man chuckles, 'Why do they worry so much when you still have a year to prepare. Now let me see your arm.'
Ren raises his arm out for the doctor to examine his injury.

🐀

'What did he say?' Jian asks with his mouth full and continues slurping his second bowl of noodles.
Ren glances down at his half eaten bowl of noodles not being able to compete with Jian's appetite.
'He says it will be fine, as long as I don't use it so often it will eventually heal by itself.'
Jian looks up from his bowl, 'Does that mean you can't train?'
'I'm not going to stop training; I just have to be cautious and take it more lightly.'
'Do you want to train after school then?' Jian suggests thoughtfully.
'I can't, He shakes his head, 'I have lessons with Grandpa.'
Ren sighs. He is always behind on training. While everyone else is given excessive training at home, Ren's grandfather does not find it necessary to put so much time on physical training but rather believes that the key to winning is to focus on tactics and knowing his opponents, as well memorizing the map where the race is held until its imprinted into his brain.

'Ren'.
He looks up from his thoughts to find Jian eyes glued to his bowl .
'Are you going to eat that?'
Ren quirks his eyebrow. 'Do you want to slow down a little?'
He shrugs, 'If I slow down, how am I going to manage to eat four bowls before break finishes?'
Ren puts on a disgusted face. 'You know there is an option of eating one bowl like everyone else?'
Jian responds with a smirk and grabs Ren's bowl, slurping it down at the same consistency as his first.
Ren lets out an exasperated sigh and stands up from his chair, leaving his friend who is too immersed in his noodles to care.

He walks out of the dining hall and into the hallway, passing the many classrooms until he reaches the training room. He pushes the door open, walks in and wanders to the end of the room where the dummies lay. Already a handful of students are there, eager to get ahead of everyone.

He hears a loud gasp coming from behind him. 'The little, nerdy mouse who hides behind books all day is in the training room during his break. What ever happened in the past few days I was gone?'
Ren rolls his eyes. He did not have to turn around to know who it was.
'Well let's see. The CHARMING and SMART mouse got his lunch stolen by a very hungry ox and since he didn't want himself to be the next meal, he decided to escape to a safe haven. However instead he meets a sarcastic tiger who is now questioning his character change,' he responds and turns around with a smirk. 'So as you can see nothing much has happened since you were gone.'
An annoyed expression appears on Hu's pretty face. 'Honestly? I wish I didn't ask, and what, charming and smart?' She snorts and rolls her eyes.
'I was simply correcting you, you're welcome,' Ren replies.
'I'm not sure what mouse you're talking about but it's definitely not you,' Hu fires back.
Ren playfully gasps, putting his hand to his chest and staggers backwards.
She ignores his dramatic response. 'Well as much as I love winning our weird and meaningless arguments, we should stop wasting our lunch break and do what we came here to do.'
Ren grins, 'Hey, I knew you loved our little banters.'
Hu gives him an exasperated look.

Getting the hint, Ren walks over to the corner of the room where the weaponries are held and grabs two wooden swords. He tosses one to Hu which she catches effortlessly and they walk to the center of the room and turn to face each other.
'Whenever you're ready little mouse,' Hu taunts.
Ren replies with a shake of his head, 'Ladies first.'
She shrugs, 'Whatever's easiest for you.'

Hu takes a deep breath as she raises her sword above her head and brings it down.