Strange but True

Chapter 1

You know what's weird?

Pots.

Not the pots you cook with, no, but those clay ones. The ones that people mold and then paint to look all fancy. The ones that have those designs on them. The ones that you put on that spinny thing and then it suddenly becomes this fancy thing that looks like a giant vase, and then you hold a paintbrush and let it spin some more to give it these swirly curvy lines. Those pots. Those are weird.

They have them all over the place in the dojo. I have no clue why. There's nothing in them, and they're sitting on pedestals just begging to be knocked over by someone who isn't watching where they're kicking. They have no purpose, other than to make this place look even older and more traditional. They don't look cool, like the swords on the walls. Honestly, they just look stupid and out of place.

I've tried telling Xander this. His response is always, "they're my granddad's."

I know they're your granddad's, Xander. I highly doubt you'd go out shopping for decorative pots painted with pretty blue swirls and cherry blossoms to decorate your badass Sword Flames dojo.

You're probably wondering what got me thinking about these pots in the first place.

Everyone in the dojo right now is doing yoga. Xander says it's necessary to stretch your muscles before and after doing heavy training. This is the cool-down, the aftermath of running for miles and miles for several hours with weights on our backs.

Actually, I didn't do most of the running. Xander lost one of his weights, so he carried me on his back for part of it. That, and I tripped and twisted my ankle like a klutz. Xander always says that training when injured is a bad idea, because it'll make the injury worse.

You can imagine what happened a few years back when he broke his leg.

He was not happy.

But yeah, we're doing yoga, and my eyes landed on one of those pots. It's just sitting there, on a pedestal, in the corner of the room. It's completely useless. The only thing it's doing over there is giving the dojo this old-timey expensive mansion vibe, and collecting dust. It's just one more thing we have to watch out for when we're sparring, and one more thing that we have to clean once training is over.

I'm tempted to just go around and break them all, but that's probably a bad idea. Still, I can't help but get this smirk on my face when that awful idea comes through my head again.

Yes, Xander Shakadera, it is I, UKYO IBUKI, WHO BROKE ALL OF YOUR VASES! MWAH HA HA HA HA!

I'm holding the tree pose. It isn't really a stretching pose, but it's one that improves balance. My balance isn't bad, I can rest on a beam in the ceiling, but it never hurts to maintain decent balance.

There's a knock on the door. I'm too focused to answer it.

"Quon's here!" I hear Yugo say.

"Quon!?"

I nearly fall over. Come on! I used to be the most graceful one of us. I'm a ninja! I'm quiet, I'm fast, I'm slow, I'm graceful!

Apparently, Quon is all it takes to ruin that grace.

I look at the door. There he is, with his skateboard tucked under his arm. I watch him unfasten the chin strap of his helmet and pull it off his head. I watch him shake out his hair. I see him look at me and crack a smile.

I feel like I'm melting every time I see him.

I return the smile. I can feel my face getting hotter. My eyes meet his.