In an upper room of the dojo, Master Zhou was seated in a lotus position, seemingly meditating. Jason and Brook who stood in the doorway knew better than that. Master was probably waiting to spring up to from behind them the minute they entered. It was the flypass, a skill Master Zhou had been perfecting for half his life. It was a movement skill that would give the feeling that the attacker was teleporting from one place to another. Jason had been attacked too many times in the same circumstances and with the same move too often to walk in without caution. He quickly took off his jacket, displaying taut muscle beneath his shirt. Jason and Brook glanced at each other and nodded before stepping into the room one after the other and moving in opposite sides towards Master Zhou. Jason went left while Brook took the right side as they cautiously approached him. In the next second Master Zhou opened his eyes, looked up at them then jumped up, disappearing immediately.
Jason turned around and delivered a blow that was blocked by the reappearing master Zhou. He sent three powerful palm strikes that were all successfully blocked by master Zhou before he disappeared and reappeared beside Brook sending a kick towards him. Brook avoided it with a somersault, landing on his feet and immediately throwing successive kicks that were continually blocked before master Zhou disappeared again and attacked Jason. The two drew closer to each other and defended their backs while facing of a barrage of attacks from Master Zhou who seemed to be disappearing and reappearing. This went on for almost an hour before Jason felt the right flow of the fight. He signalled Brook who turned around and the two instantly surrounding master Zhou and delivered coordinated backhand blows to master Zhou's chest. Master Zhou stumbled back several paces, gripping his chest.
"Hahaha." Master Zhou laughed. "You two have finally gotten to this point. Then let's increase the difficulty."
Master Zhou sped towards them. He started attacking while they defended and counterattacked again for another ten minutes. Just when Jason thought he was getting the flow, all of a sudden, Master Zhou disappeared and arrived between them sending them sprawling unto the floor with a split kick to their backs.
"I can't believe you had a technique to get in between us all this while" Brook frowned while he got up Dusting his hands. Jason sat on the floor with his left arm on his raised left knee solemnly. He was very dissatisfied with the complexity of the flypass since he didn't possess it himself.
" Do you have any leads on your investigations?" Master Zhou asked with his back facing Jason.
"The same old leads. The Scythe is so difficult to track, and they're only growing more powerful" Jason said with distaste.
"Are you impatient? Do you want to get vengeance for your parents very badly?" Master Zhou asked.
"Ofcourse." Jason answered. "I'm not going to rest until it's done"
Master Zhou closed his eyes with a pained look before opening them to turn to Jason and Brook with a straight face.
" Vengeance requires pain. It is a language spoken through gritted teeth and spittle by a man who has nothing to lose. Are you that man Jason?"Master Zhou asked
"Do you think I'm not?"
"....." Master Zhou turned away after staring Jason in the face.
----
When Jason got home after various meditations and training exercises, it was already very late at night. He went back to find a dozing Nanny Jo and a wide-eyed Karen in the living room waiting for him. Jason had expected to find them asleep but found this intsead. He had expected that Karen would be fine with Nanny Jo for company. Apparently not.
"Why are you still up at this hour?" Jason asked, showing his displeasure on his face.
"She couldn't sleep and she kept looking out the door. I supposed she wanted to wait for you." Nanny Jo answered yawning.
"Jason's home" Karen whispered, giving him a big smile.
Jason couldn't find himself angry at all. He sighed.
"Let's go to bed Karen." He said walking up the stairs with Karen on his heels.
"After Jason took a shower and changed, he least expected to find Karen lying under the blankets in his bed, watching her toes which were sticking out after she pulled the blankets up.
"You want to sleep with me today?" Jason asked settling down into the bed with her. "Well alright, but it's just today, don't get used to it."
Karen stared at him, and he doubted if she understood, but whether or not she would obey him should have been the question.
Over the next week, a routine was created. Jason would go to work in the morning and come back in the evening. The rest of the day was spent with Karen and the work he brought back home. Karen would spend long hours in the garden at their new home and a lot of time drawing and sometimes writing song lyrics or poetry. On the weekends she and Jason would spend the whole day together, working out, swimming and playing sports. Usually, Marcus would accompany them on Saturdays while he spent Sundays with his family and the rest of the week with his numerous girlfriends and little time actually seeing to the family business. His sister Genny who had even taken courses like health care technology and health care informatics was more hands on in the work.
Jason would have Karen examined every two weeks, and she made progress in leaps and bounds.
Soon she could easily communicate and follow conversations. She even got a tutor for highschool syllabus after a few weeks. Despite all efforts to keep Karen out of his bed, she went in with him several times a week, and when he strictly prohibited her from doing it after she was well enough to understand, she crept into his bed only when he was already asleep. The truth was that he felt it every time she entered into his bed after he went to sleep. The slightest noise could wake him up, and she was usually giggling her way in, but he didn't bother sending her away. Like that, Six months went past in the blink of an eye.