"It was pretty scary," Ally said after recapping the fight for Asuka for about the one hundredth time.

"Yeah, fighting a group like that can definitely be scary, especially if they're armed and if you don't have proper training," Asuka said.  The two women were seated in the middle of the dojo sipping camomile tea.  This was almost like a nightly ritual to the two since it kept the mind and body relaxed.  "Good thing you did have the proper training."

Ally picked up her tea and took a long sip, trying to avoid Asuka's eyes.  "What's wrong?" the older woman asked.  "If you're worried about the gang coming back, don't.  They might, but you're prepared for them."

"That's the thing," Ally replied, slowly putting down the tea, "I didn't feel prepared."

"What do you mean?"

"Jiu Jitsu got me hurt," she admitted, shaking her head, "I tried to do a collar lock on one of the men.  It stopped him from crushing Kiro, but his friend hit my back with a bat."  She lifted up her pajama shirt in the back to reveal the purple bruise.  It had fused with another bruise from a hit to the ribs and left most of her waist black and blue.

"But you know not to do that move unless you're on the ground, it's dangerous.  Why did you do it?" Asuka asked, looking the bruise over.  She knew it would heal relatively quickly, but it still worried her.

"What else could I do?  I mainly know Jiu Jitsu and this wasn't a ground fight."

"Then make it a ground fight.  Fight on your own terms."

"How can I make it a ground fight when there are groups of men surrounding me?  The moment I get on the ground is the moment I get smashed by a baseball bat or fall onto a knife!"  The girl realized her voice raised so much she was almost yelling.  She lowered her voice and apologized.

"I understand your frustration," Asuka responded calmly, though on the inside she was aching.  What she spent over a decade teaching her niece was going to be no use in some situations and that pained her.  All she wanted to do was protect her and it was her teachings that left her kin vulnerable.  "What would you like me to do?"

"I don't know, teach me something I can use in a fight," Ally replied, though it came out wrong.  The look on Asuka's face went from calm and collected to hurt and crushed.  "Wait, Auntie, that's not what I-"

"You already said it.  I know we teach you how to fight with your fists, but sometimes words can hurt more."

"No, no, that's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean..." Ally began but struggled to find the right words.

"Exactly.  You said what you meant."

"No, no!  Jiu Jitsu is great one-on-one!" Ally said, trying her best to recover the words she said without thinking.  "I need to learn something I can use in a group fight!  Something I can use against weapons!"

Asuka looked down at her tea and pondered silently.  She swirled the golden liquid around in the cup and drained it until only the dregs remained.  "I do understand.  Jiu Jitsu isn't ideal in a group fight or a fight with weapons because it's a very close combat martial art.  You didn't use anything you learned from the other masters?"

"I did, and that's what saved my life."

This stung, but Asuka didn't let it show.  She understood why Jiu Jitsu didn't help her niece in this instance.  "Then maybe that's something us masters need to focus a bit more on- group fighting and defending against weapons.  People have forgotten how to honor martial arts and the skills of the human body.  Cowards bring their friends to fights and cowards bring weapons that aren't their bodies to fights."

Something about Asuka's words struck Ally.  "But does that make Kiro a coward?  He brings me to fights."

"Do you intervene with his fights?"

Ally thought on this for a moment.  The only fight she ever stepped in on was the first time she met Kiro, but even so she didn't fight the leader of the Karate Club.  Earlier in the day she came to Kiro's aid when a group was going to unfairly attack him, but that was defending, not intervening.  "No."

"So then does that make Kiro a coward?"

"No."

"Good.  Tomorrow I'm going to talk to the other masters.  We'll see what we can do about group fighting and maybe we'll teach you and Kiro how to perform certain moves together, but that's much much later on.  There are some very powerful, but very complicated techniques that can be performed by two highly skilled people.  Shin and I have mastered a couple together," Asuka added, wiggling her eyebrows in a silly manner.

"Oh gross Auntie, can I go to bed now?"

"No, finish your tea, give me a hug, then go to bed."