Remember More

Chapter 21

REMEMBER MORE

CHAPTER 21

Taking Yan's full weight onto his arms, John flew the two of them downward and into the mouth of the cave below in one large swoop. They made the landing and barely any dust was raised. He was getting better at it.

The second their feet touched ground, Yan jerked away from him. She began hitting him, battering him with the piece of wood still clutched in her hand.

"Whoa!" John held his hands up to ward her off. He backed away.

Yan kept it up. She advanced.

"Hey!" John waved his hand finally and knocked the branch out of her hand. "What are you doing? What's the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with me?! Why did you…" She pointed out the mouth of the cave. "…why did you do that?! You…"

"Well…I…"

"You don't just grab people, and then…"

"But…"

"Argh!" She flew in at him again.

"Yan!"

This time, she came at him with her fists. She kept pounding at him and John kept his arms up, taking the hits full on his forearms, shoulders, his sides. He was getting pummelled all over except in the face. He backed away some more.

Another five punches and then he noticed it. He wasn't feeling any pain. And no wonder, her fists were not making any contact with him at all. The nearest they came to him was about three or four inches and then they bounced off and away, deflected by some magnetic force now emanating from his body. He wondered at what was happening, because he wasn't doing it on purpose. It must be automatic then.

He shot out his hands and took her by the wrists.

Yan stopped for the moment. She stood still, breathing hard.

John peered down at her hands as he held them. They were red. And swollen. And pulsing with hurt and increased blood flow.

Yan shook herself free. She rubbed one hand with the other. She grimaced. "Ow…!"

John gazed deep into her face. "Does it hurt?"

Yan scoffed without looking at him. "What do you think?"

He reached out, slowly, so she wouldn't jerk away immediately. He took her hands in his. He began to rub them down, soothing them, massaging them.

Yan winced but she let him go on. "Wow, will you look at you now?" She smirked. "Big fat Kung Fu master, huh?"

John tried to smile back but it didn't take. He continued to massage her hands. He brought forth a bit of qi, just a bit, a pencil-like line of it and applied it to her palms and fingers, especially over the areas that were swollen.

Yan could feel it coming in. She knew what he was trying to do. Even though she couldn't do it herself, she was well versed with the concepts, so she guided the energy in, channelling the power over her injuries and began to lessen the impact of the trauma that had been inflicted just now by the punching.

Within a minute, the swelling had vanished. Even the pain had gone. Yan's hands were now cool and thin and supple once more.

She yanked them away. "Hm!" She made a face and stuck out her tongue. Turning around, she put her back to him and examined her healed hands more closely. She flexed them into fists and then unflexed them.

John took a step in toward her. "Um…I'm sorry…"

Yan ignored him. She stomped over and retrieved the branch that had been knocked aside earlier. She whipped out her lighter. She lit it up. Whirling around, she glared at him. She stood off to one side.