Chapter 12

Nina placed a rose quartz needle in Yao's right shoulder, guiding his ki along his arm. "Your arm is recovering well from the trauma" she said as she gently twisted a needle close to his wrist. "You must have made a breakthrough while you cultivated."

"I did. What about you? Did you finally breakthrough while I was away?" he asked, curious to see if she had become stronger.

"No, my progress seems to have stagnated for some reason. I even tried earth aligned herbs from other cultures. I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels in mud here." She placed another needle in the crease of his elbow. "There. Your metal ki should begin balancing itself."

He looked up at her, the bath and shave had already made him feel human again "You know a year is a long time. I was thinking," he paused trying to find the words. "maybe we could try for another child." He said softly.

"Do you mean that?" Nina asked, surprised.

"Yeah." He clenched his free hand as he waited for an answer.

"We would need to change things in our relationship. We'd both have to sacrifice a lot for that." Her hand gently touched his back "But I would be willing to work them out with you"

"So..yes?" his hand relaxed a bit hearing her but he just needed to hear her say yes.

"As long as we can come to an agreement, yes." she said.

She smiled a bit, she could tell he wanted to move already "After dinner tonight. If we start before we'll miss the reservation" she said firmly. "It's an official reservation instead of a visit. Even with Enzo's influence, I had to put it in months ago"

"Fine." he pouted and she chuckled "Why don't I give you a back massage?" she asked as her hand ran across his back. He was definitely due for one.

"Okay." he said and relaxed on the table. It had been a while.

She started to carefully remove the needles from his arm and placed them to the side to sterilize later.

She crawled onto the table and straddled his hips. With a small motion of her hand a small bottle with a jade top made its way to her. She opened it up and rubbed the oil mixture on her hands and a small amount onto Yao's back.

"It's been a while even before you went into isolation..." she said as she started to gently spread the oil across his back. "I'll start lightly and work my way in" she said as she heard him grunt. She dug her thumbs along his back, working his knots out. "God Nina," he let out a groan "that feels good." He felt a cool energy along his body as Nina's yin energy helped him relax. She massaged his hips to give him a better range of motion then as she moved up his back she sighed "Bad news, you've been overcompensating with your left hand to make up for your arm. It's caused an imbalance in your form."

"You sound like the old woman, have you been training with her this past year?"

"When I have time. I've mastered my throwing needles" she said as she dug her thumbs in the muscles between his shoulder blades. "My spiritual breakthrough has been causing problems. The hag knows something but she's keeping quiet until I figure it out or ask for help."

"Why don't you just ask for help?"

"We both know, her help comes at a hefty price and I still owe her from my own ki deviation"

"I know, but if you keep stagnating the others will take advantage of your weakness. We can't afford to be weak Nin-Ah!"

"I am not weak." she frowned as she dug into a sensitive area on his shoulder.

"Fine you crazy bit- fuck Nina stop!" he yelled as she massaged into his shoulders again.

"Believe it or not I'm actually helping you, asshole. I told you that you overcompensated. I need to fix your posture or your ability to fight will suffer."

"Stop for now. We will fix it later. I just want to relax today." He reach back and pat her leg.

"Okay" she said as she massaged his back with a bit more care then moved off of him. "Rest here for about fifteen minutes before you get up so the medicine settles. I'm going to sanitize my needles and get ready for dinner."