The Awakening of the Awakener

Breathe

Lu Ping rushed to his hut, eyes closed, and breathing heavy, swiftly turning heavier by the moment as his panic increased ever more and more. He had lost control before, at least a few times, it was inevitable. As good as he was, keeping a constant lock and key on the abilities within him was...far more difficult then people tended to believe. Especially when one was trying to keep them under the surface for such a long time. Lu Ping had not properly used his abilities in ages, barring that moment yesterday when he had been forced to fight that girl and man in order to take the token of the Mountain and Sea gang from them. He had no idea why they would even want such a token, but he just could not allow them to have it, it...it was not something he could do. He knew that it would not end well for them to have such a thing in their possession. 

In all actuality it was not wise for him to have it either. Carrying around such a token was dangerous, especially with the members of the gang milling a bout in the town. Still, it was better then some arrogant prat having such a dangerous item in their possession. Despite not even knowing the danger of it, they decided to take it. The greed of humanity knew no bounds, and it was pathetic. At least, to him it was rather sad. He did not care much for that, though, it was in his possession now, and he would not allow anyone to take it, even the Mountain and Sea gang. 

He assumed that there was just too much going on all at once. He was dealing with the fight from yesterday, he was dealing with the knowledge that the Mountain and Sea gang were in the town, and also having to deal with the realization that he had no idea which members were in town, nor how many there were, and he also was dealing with the Wind Takers. As much as he would like to just leave, and honestly he felt it would be far more then they deserved, he just was not able to do so. He wished he was. It was not like they would care, but he could not just leave them to the mercy of the Mountain and Sea gang, as much as he may want to go. He could not say that his absence would put them in any less danger. If anything, it likely would put them in more danger then if he was here. 

As he was being idiotically sentimental, he could not allow that. Sure, they may bully him mercilessly, and sure he may dislike them, but he also knew that they would not even stand a fighting chance against any one of the Mountain and Sea gang, barring perhaps, maybe the Senior Disciple, and only if they were dealing with extremely lower members. Considering that Lu Ping had no idea how many of them were in town, he could not just leave them.

It was a bit stupid. He was willing to help them, even though they had not once cared for him before. Still, he could not deny that the Wind Takers had taken him in, and even if he may hate it for all that it is worth, he owed them to at the very least not let the Mountain and Sea gang raze them to the ground because of it. 

His loss of control, hopefully it would not do too much. He had no idea if his eyes changed colour, but given the fact that he had felt a surge of strength, he would assume his ability of strength had activated, making it incredibly likely that it had caused his eyes to change to red, which of course was not exactly the most ideal outcome. Then again, very few people would believe the two. After all, it was Lu Ping that they were talking about. The timid, careful, and wary member of the Wind Takers. 

He had very little to worry about there. He was more worried about what would happen if Senior Disciple heard about it. The other already thought that he had martial ability. If he heard that his eyes had changed to red, there was no way that he would let such a thing go. Lu Ping definitely did not need added complications on top of everything else he was being forced to deal with.

Why did nothing seem to work well for him? He could only hope those two idiotic members did not go blabbing about what they may have seen, how would he manage to figure out a defense for his eyes having changed to a crimson red in the middle of a fight? A verbal fight, yes, but a fight nonetheless. 

He did not want to really think about any of that. He had too much to deal with in this one moment, he could not be dwelling on what two stupid lowly levels of the Wind Takers may do. Lu Ping, sat himself in the straw chair, the token that he had taken to carrying with him everywhere, too nervous that someone would find it otherwise, sitting on his knees as he stared at it, lost in thought. Lost in memory. 

Perhaps it was not a good idea to dwell on the things which and happened in the past, but Lu Ping also knew that he could not hide from the Mountain and Sea gang, and eventually, they would come to a climax. He just hoped that he could put it off for as long as possible. He hummed to himself as he traced the ever familiar design with his nail, his eyes unfocused. 

---

XiFan had heard what happened between Lu Ping and the other two disciples. He had stopped them from messing with Lu Ping, but he should have figured that it would not end it completely. He sighed heavily, now they thought that Lu Ping had martial ability? More likely that he had managed to escape them and they did not want to loose to a weakling. While XiFan believed that Lu Ping did have martial ability, and was just hiding it, the fact also remained that if he did truly have power, he had managed to keep it hidden for years. Had endured the taunting, the bullying, the criticism and the cruelty and yet had not once faltered. He doubted that he had failed now.

Though, a sudden thought occurred to him. After all, on normal circumstances, Lu Ping would never lose control of himself, but Lu Ping had not been normal as of lately. The last twenty four hours had proven that greatly. Not only had he gotten into some sort of a fight, he had been mocking, and had even talked back to Teacher! Whatever it was that was causing Lu Ping distress, it was clearly a rather big deal.

XiFan knew it had to do something with that token that he had taken. He had not gotten a really good look at the token, but he needed to know. He would have to try and find a way to get a closer look at it. Knowing what it was, it would help him in figuring out what was bothering Lu Ping.