Free Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance by Susan Westwood Page A

it go or leave.
    “Yes, Master,” he said quietly, clenching his teeth as he wondered what he would do in a fight with no anger, and how he could ever expect to win.
    Koichi lifted his chin and clasped his hands behind his back. “Take off your shoes and socks.”
    Jake, who had put his gi on and worn it to the dojo from his house, had not bothered to take his shoes off. He did as he was told. A minute later he was standing barefoot before Koichi.
    “Walk into the water beside this wooden platform.” Koichi told him as he walked up onto the wood. Jake blinked and looked at the older man in surprise before sighing, with a shrug, and walking into the calf-deep water. The surface he was standing on was soft like sand, and he felt himself sink slightly with each step.
    Koichi turned to face him. “Today you will learn the kata, and you will follow my movements as I teach it to you, while you stand in the water.”
    Jake frowned and looked at the wooden platform that Koichi was standing on. “Master Koichi… shouldn’t I be standing on the platform with you?” he asked in confusion.
    Koichi spread his feet and looked out over the top of Jake’s head. “You will do kata in the water, and you will follow as I teach it to you. Watch closely, and do as I do.”
    Jake nodded and bowed to Koichi, who bowed back, and Koichi began to move slowly; so slowly that Jake had a difficult time keeping his balance. Every time he moved, the sand beneath him shifted, and he struggled to keep from falling. Every time his balance was lost, he reflexively lowered both feet to remain standing, and every time he did it, he splashed water clumsily.
    Koichi continued to move, and Jake continued to try to follow him, feeling more and more like a baby trying to learn to walk than a skilled warrior learning to fight. He frowned in frustration and Koichi eyed him sternly.
    “You must let go of your anger. There is a reason that you are training in water. You are like a wildfire… out of control, and that was why you didn’t get a hit in on me when we sparred. It’s why you never touched me. You have no control and focus.” Koichi moved with a serene fluidity that Jake could not seem to match, no matter what he did to try, but he gritted his teeth and continued to parallel Koichi’s moves.
    Koichi spoke calmly. “You are fire right now, and I am water. Water douses fire. Your anger and hatred is the fire that is consuming you, and with it, you have no control; you have no future. You must let go of your anger and hatred. It is the past, and the past is nothing more than shadows. You must become like water. Water always finds a way.”
    They continued the kata training, repeating it over and over until Koichi could see that Jake had learned it, and then Koichi bowed to him slightly and turned to step down from the wooden platform. Jake began to follow him, leaving the water and Koichi turned to face him and shook his head.
    “You must stay in the water and continue the kata. You will remain there, doing the kata until you can do it without splashing one drop of water. Then you will be water, and your movements will be as fluid as that in which you stand.”  Koichi looked at him as if there was no other option or way, and Jake knew that he meant it.
    As Jake went back to the place in the sand where he had been standing, he sighed heavily and began the kata again. Over and over he lost his balance and splashed, or he moved too fast and too hard, and he splashed, and it seemed as though no matter how slowly or carefully he moved, he could not help but splash.
    Koichi watched him for a long while, saying nothing. Then he stepped back up on the platform and sat on his mat again, folding his legs around him and preparing to meditate once again. His eyes stayed on Jake and before he closed them, he spoke again.
    “I feel confident that you know who Bruce Lee was. He spoke of water, and it was the element he found himself in the most. He said,