I smiled as Carter danced. Even the once-irritated Enkai was smiling. Didn't think he would have been the type to get annoyed. He seemed so laid back. Even Huo was gentler with his partner.

"Want to try again?" Shuai said, giving me a gentle smile.

I looked down at the matted floor. One day, the mats will be removed. I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, go ahead."

I held the pole with my right hand and stretched my leg forward.

"You're still a little stiff, Lidia," he whispered as he went around me. He put his hands on my shoulders, pushing down on them a bit. "Relax your muscles."

I sighed as I lowered my leg. "Sorry."

He smiled. "It's alright. I got all the time for you."

My cheeks reddened. Why did I have to get stuck with the flirt? Although, now that he was this close to me, he looked a bit familiar. Some of his features were similar to those of Ling and her brother.

"Say, are you a Xian?" I whispered.

He smiled slightly. "My father belongs to it, but since clan membership is derived from the mother, not really?"

Really? So boys who married outside of the clan had their kids stripped of their status within it? Guess that explained why Ling didn't refer to Lei and his siblings with respect as she did toward Adela and Renshu, despite being from the royal family too.

"Is your father related to the Liu?"

He laughed. "No. But his older brother did marry a Liu. Why? Are you wondering whether I'm related to Ling and Renshu?"

I nodded sheepishly.

He chuckled. "Yeah! My cuz and I are both called Shu, like our fathers."

"Eh? They have Shu in their names too?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Since they couldn't pass on their surnames, they decided to leave their sons with a part of their names in their given name. They got the idea from their father also having 'Shu' in his name."

"I see. You're a lot more like Renshu than Ling."

He laughed. "Ling takes more after her mom. Auntie can be intimidating."

Was Renshu more like his father? If so, how did two very different people end up together? Opposites attract?

"Anyway, think we should return to practicing."

I eyed Mrs. Hirata as she scanned the class. "Not too shabby. Although, some of the newbies do have some work to do still."

Hope she didn't mean me. I wasn't even a newbie. Although, it had been a while since I had danced.

***

"Mommy, I'm doing it!" I said as I prounce around.

She sighed. "Lidia, you're moving like a chimp. You're supposed to be graceful like a swan," she said, grabbing my arms. "Hold them straight out. Don't flap them around too much. Also, straighten your back."

I sighed. Darn it, thought I finally got it down. I glanced at the little boy in the corner of the dance room. His movements were refined, and well paced like clockwork. However, something felt lacking. He looked like he wasn't having fun at all.

"Oh, interested in his dance? That's Huoyin, grandson of my old instructor. She asked me to teach him a few things."

"He's good."

Mother nodded. "Yes, but he's lacking something. There's no shine in his eyes." She sighed. "Knowing my teacher, she probably focused too much on getting him to perform as she wanted. Without some freedom, one becomes rigid."

"Am I rigid, Mom?"

She laughed. "Only when it comes to regiment. But your little chimp dance was cute."

I blushed. I wanted to be a swan, not a chimp!

Mom squatted down. "Say, why don't you go and help him?"

"Help? But he dances better than me."

She sighed. "Did you forget what I said already?"

Oh, right The boy's dancing was like a story that did everything according to writing manuals. Still a decent book, but not one that a person would re-read for fun.

"Okay, I'll go talk to him!" I ran over to the boy. "Hey!"

He jumped. His eyes were like a deer caught in the headlights.

I felt myself shrink in place. "S-sorry. Did I scare you?"

He turned away. "You're the daughter of the instructor, right? Did she send you to correct me?"

"Sort of, but not really. Your movements are great! But they're a little too rehearsed."

"And that's bad why?"

"Well, it sort of makes your dancing a bit boring."

His already large eyes widened. "Boring? Is dancing supposed to be fun?"

I nodded. "Yeah! Very fun!"

He hummed. "But Grandmother said it's meant as a job. Work isn't fun."

"A job? You want to go pro?"

He looked down. "I'm not sure. I like dancing. Well, I used to."

Did his grandmother make it boring for him?

"Just dance to your heart's content!" I said, moving around side to side.

Huoyin chuckled. "You move like a chimp."

"Rude!"

He laughed. "You remind me a little of Let."

"Let?"

"My twin sister."

"Eh? You have a twin?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She's way different though. The only similarity between us is our eyes, skin tone, face shape, and hair color."

"I see. I only have a big bro."

"Is he annoying?"

I laughed. "Sometimes! But I love him a lot!" I swung my arms as if I had a sword in my hand. "Dyl even taught me some of the sword moves he learned in his classes."

"He practices the sword? Which kind?"

"The Jian. He taught me tai chi."

"Do you know the bare fist style too?"

I raised one foot and nodded. "Yeah! It helped me get the movements."

He smiled. "You know, sword arts are similar to dancing. You actually looked a bit graceful there."

My cheeked reddened. His smile was kind of adorable. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Yeah."

Hmm, maybe I needed to think I was sword fighting rather than dancing. I backed away and held both of my arms out. Spinning, I slowly lowered and rose my arms. Mother had said I had flapped them too much earlier. So the pace of moving my arms should be slowed down a little.

A round of applause came from behind me. It was Mom.

"You did well this time, Lid."

I rubbed the back of my head. "T-thanks!" I smiled at Huo. "The boy genius helped me."

He turned around. Was he shy?

***
['Present']

Mrs. Hirata showed us another movement. This one was similar to the one I had rehearsed as a child when I first talked to Huo.

"Want to go first or would you like me to try it?" Shuai asked, flashing me a pearly grin.

"I want to go first."

He stepped away. "Alright. Dance like the ocean waves, princess."

I blushed. Why was he such a flirt? Bet Ling derided him for it.

"I am no princess," I mumbled.

Shuai chuckled. "And I thought Huoyin was the literal one."

I took a deep breath and got on my tiptoes as Mrs. Hirata had done. While I stopped dancing after Mom died, I did continue practicing tai chi. If I could incorporate the advice Huo gave me, I should be able to replicate what I had done as a kid.

"Good, but stretch your neck a little and puff your chest out," Shuai said as he shadowed me from behind.

I chuckled. It felt as if we were synchronized dancing.

"Not bad, Lidia, Shuai," Mrs. Hirata said as she approached us.

I smiled. "Thanks. Huo and Shuai helped."

"Huo?" Shuai asked, tilting his head.

"Uh, in the past. I was thinking of something he told me years ago. Back when I used to dance."

"Used to?"

I lowered my gaze. "I gave up on it after Mom's passing. It was hard to return to it."

Mrs. Hirata frowned. "Was she a dancer too?"

I nodded. "An instructor of dance. She really loved it. But, it was also stressful." I turned away. It was hard to talk about it.

Shuai patted my shoulder. His eyes were stern. "Should we repeat the first set again? You might get it right this time."

I smiled. "Okay."

Mrs. Hirata waved and turned toward the other students.

I eyed her son who had been paired with Katsuo's friend. The guy was really good. If I had to rank the students, he was probably the top dancer, followed by Huo, Shuai, and Enkai.

He turned to look at me, causing me to jump.

"Oh, eyeing the others again? That guy is in another league from us entirely. I wonder if this class is merely a way for him to get used to it again."

"Hmm? Again?"

He nodded. "He was in several big dance musicals in his middle school years. But in his last year, he wasn't heard of. Rumor has it he sprained his leg badly in the last performance he did." He sighed. "The video of the play I saw seems to show him hurting his leg, but that was in the middle of it. Could he really have continued dancing like that with a limp leg?"

"A limp leg?"

"I know, it's crazy. But those of us who wish to go professional live by the same motto as other performers, 'the show must go on'. I think continuing caused the damage to get worse."

I looked down. Did all dancers push themselves to such extremes? Mom certainly did. She would take those pills to keep her going during long nights. In a way, he and Mom reminded me of Sarah. Funny, the princess adored dancing. Maybe she could use some rehabilitation dance lessons once she got better at using her legs again.

Although, Dad did too. Their obsession with their jobs cost them their lives. If only they had decided to rest instead of taking that shady stuff and becoming addicted in the process. It got so bad that Dyl and I ran away. But what if we had stayed and tried to get them the help they needed? Or were they too far gone to have been saved? 

Shuai put a hand on my shoulder and smiled slightly. "Don't worry. If it were me, I would've stopped. It's better to stop and dance another day than risk permanent damage."

I chuckled. For some reason, I saw Ling continuing unlike him. Hmm, come to think of it, her brother loved singing and dancing. Could she do both of those two?

"That's good to hear!" I said as I walked toward the pole. "Say, you watch dance musicals, right? Do you sing like your cousin?"

He scratched the side of his face, blushing slightly. "Uh, sometimes. I'm not as good as Renshu, though."

I giggled. "So even you have your weaknesses."

He grumbled. "I didn't say that I was bad at it. It's just, I am not the best."

The best. Huo and Carter seemed to always want to be the best at everything they put their minds to. Was he the same?

He sighed and glanced at Toshiro. "Although, as that guy shows, I'm not the best at dancing either."

"You can't be the best at everything," I said.

He grinned. "I guess." He glanced up at the lights. "But, I still want to try. See how far my legs and magic can carry me."

Magic. Right, he was probably as strong as Nat and Tammy. "Say, can you show me your magic?" I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but why that?" He smirked. "Trying to size me up for your friends? If so, Ling can tell you all about it. She knows I'm the most skilled magician in our family."

More skilled than Ling? Yikes. She almost defeated Aurelius who gave Tammy some trouble. Would Tammy and Nat be able to defeat him and Enkai?

"But, if you want. Alright." He glanced throughout the room. "Ask your friends to go too. I want to fight all of you minus Nate and Tamara."

"All of us?" I asked.

"Of course."

Was he serious?! We would beat him! Or was he really capable of defeating all of us by himself?

I felt my heart beat rapidly. This feeling wasn't fear, but excitement. It had been a while since I'd sparred against anyone.

"Alright. I'm not sure if Huo or the others will join me, but I'm sure Cart and Ling will."

He chuckled. "You three along would be satisfactory. I want to see how much my cousin has grown since I last fought her." His olivine eyes shifted toward Carter. "And if that boy is really capable of one day becoming Magus Maximus."

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thoughts on Shuai? Predictions for the match against him?**