Kyle felt an unprecendented calmness that could not be explained.

His earlier nervousness, anger and even disgust just dissapeared. In fact, he felt no emotion whatsoever. No fear even. His heart was beating so evenly, as if he was asleep. In this state, everying became crystal clear and he noticed every single movement and motion around him. Everything was crystal clear and had entered into a state of utter peace. It was as if his body was a robot, and he was merely watching everything through its eyes.

He waited patiently, hardly moving as he continued watching Samuel. The latter took out some drugs, possibly cocain ... and proceeded to snort it up his nose after lining the white powder on a glass counter. As Samuel threw his head back after taking the drug up his nose, Kyle made his move.

Kyle had already been in position the moment he saw Samuel take out the drugs. A small 3" blowpipe was positioned through the small opening, a poisoned dart already at the tip of his tongue. The moment Samuel threw his head back, Kyle blew into the pipe. The dart flew forward quickly, and accurately entered Samuel's mouth and down his throat.

Samuel coughed, and frowned, feeling something small entering. His eyes started watering and he cursed at the fly that had flown in. What bad luck. Just as he was getting back his breath, intense pain racked his entire body. His mouth started frothing, and he gurgled, grasping his throat but could not making a sound.

Kyle watched this scene without for a second, hardly feeling anything and even whispered a soft, "Goodbye". Not waiting for the death that would come, he took the cut-out hold, taping the cover back into the hole. At one glance, no one would know that there had been a hole there at all. Kyle escaped the penthouse, silently, before anyone even knew what had happened.

***---***---

Master Shifu sat there, looking intently at Kyle that had returned. Truth be told, he had actually followed Kyle and was prepared to come in and help should the situation go out of hand. However, not only did Kyle execute the mission properly, he had been shocked to have seen the state of mind and body Kyle showed upon exiting the penthouse. Those precise movements, the emotionless eyes, the steady breathing ... all pointed to one thing, and one thing only.

The State of Zen.

The most illusive and coveted state every ninja strived to achieve. It was something even the Masters may not achieve in their lifetime. The closest they could get was Pseudo Zen - almost similar, but not perfect. There will be times when their emotions could seep in and affect them. The State of Zen, however, meant that one is cut off from all emotions completely and thus, distractions. The margin of error when being in such a state is next to zero. One not only had to have peace of mind, but to be able to maintain that clarity and state throughout.

The Kyle in front of him was normal now, and Master Shifu wondered what sort of secret this Kyle had. There was a theory, the optimum method of achieving the State of Zen was to have a strong soul and fortitude. For that, it would require years of hardship, or something that was so profoundly traumatic, to be able to temper such a soul. Kyle, a 13 year old rich boy that had the love of the family : what sort of experience that he had gone through then??

Master Shifu was mystified, but didn't question Kyle about it.

"You failed the mission," Master Shifu said solemly, "It took more than an hour."

"Yes, Master," Kyle replied, not protesting. He had been over the time limit by a mere 10 minutes, but it was still over the time limit. He knew that there will be occassions when one would need to execute the mission exactly within the time frame, or the window of escape or opportunity would be lost. No matter the reason, he hadn't fulfilled the mission properly. The choice he should have made was either choose a faster method of execution, or leave before the time was up and come again at another time. Instead, he had chosen to stay, observe and kill as he didn't want the man to live again.

The thing was, while he had wasted time in his thoughts after observing Samuel, once he entered that weird state - he knew. He began meticulously calculating the risk and dangers, and weighed the consequences of leaving, and staying. He came to the conclusion that the best choice was to stay and execute him there and then.

"Good," said Master Shifu, "You passed."

Kyle looked up in surprise.

"The most difficult thing in any mission is not in its execution, but in deciding what is the best method for execution. You had your instructions and normally, one is expected to follow without question," explained Master Shifu, "But more often than not, being able to determine and decide the best course of action when things change is the more important matter."

He looked at Kyle squarely in the eye, "And you achieved that, and more."

Kyle knew what Master Shifu was referring to. The weird state he had been in. He was more efficient, more clear and felt so powerful at the same time. Yet, not so overconfident that he was going to kill everyone in the room and rescue the kid. The normal Kyle wanted to go and take the kid away from that Hell hole, but the 'weird' Kyle knew that it wasn't the best choice. So, he left.

Right now, he felt a pang of regret but he knew it was for the best overall. He could have been caught, as the situation would have been way over his head. He was good, but he wasn't Superman. He would most likely have died, and nothing would have been achieved. Knowing it, and accepting it, were two different things however. If he had been 'normal' then, would he have made the correct choice? He honestly couldn't say.

"Go back now," Master Shifu said, "Tomorrow, you don't have to come for training. Instead, go through today's mission and train yourself."

Kyle nodded, "Yes, Master Shifu" then left to go back to the dorm.

**--***--**

Kyle was under the shower, letting the water hit his head and flow down as he leaned forward with his hands on the wall. At this time, his photographic memory was a pain. Images of the small boy kept going through his mind and he gritted his teeth. His body shivered, not because he was cold of the water pouring on him, but of the cold that invaded his heart.

Taking a deep breath, he thought of the state he had been earlier. How did he achieve it? Thinking back, he reaslied it was born out of his intense desire to punish Samuel for what he was doing. Wait. No, it wasn't just that ... it was a combination of things. Kyle took several more breaths, thinking back of what he had been feeling, what he had been thinking and then ... the switch flipped again.

He stood up straight, ignoring the water that was pouring into his eyes as he looked at his hands. He looked around, noticing every single movement around him. The water droplets, the dust particles in the air, the sound of the water going down the drain ... all of it was clear as day as if it was being played in slow motion, one at a time. His heart was beating rythmatically, and the pain of the earlier memories became nothing.

Nodding his head, he took several deep breaths again and turned back to normal. He did this for a couple more times, and each time, he could enter that state much more easily. However, he noticed that after coming out of the state, he would be exhausted. He figured it must be because all of his senses were intensified, putting more strain on his body. He took note of it, and knew that he couldn't maintain the state indefinately. In the meantime, he needed to figure out if he could actually strengthen himself so that the state can be maintained longer.

Kyle finished his shower quickly, and tiredly walked back into the room. Xing Han was still snoring away, so Kyle threw his damp towel right on top of Xing Han's face"Wake up, sleepy head"

Xing Han jolted awake, and threw the wet towel away in disgust, "You seriously need to get a better method of waking me up," he complained.

"Sure," Kyle replied with a smile, "I could always pour water on you instead. Oh wait! how about THIS revolutionary idea? "

"What?" asked Xing Han suspiciously.

"Actually getting up by yourself!"

Xing Han didn't answer, but merely grumbled as he staggered out of bed. Kyle watched him go, then sat down at his desk. He sighed, thinking of what happened earlier, and in the bathroom. He felt that the feeling was similar to what Po, in Kung Fu Panda, had when achieving 'Inner Peace' ... yet at the same time, it wasn't. Yes, it was "peace", in a way but it was more than that. Kyle couldn't quite place his finger on it. He shrugged mentally and decided to ignore it. He wasn't the philosophical type anyway. As long as he knew the state, and how to get to it then everything else wasn't important.

He went to put on his school uniform while thinking. After Xing Han was ready, they both headed to the cafeteria. Kyle's eyes scanned the place and quickly found Kay and Sarah. Sam was in line, so Xing Han went to join him in queueing up. No one questioned it when Xing Han was really cutting in line by standing next to Sam (don't do this, folks) as everyone was used to the fact that either one would be 'holding the line for the other'.

Kyle sat in front of Kay as usual, who then pushed a tray of food to him. Kay always got Kyle his breakfast, as Kyle caused too much of a commotion when he stood in line. So Kay would come earlier, get his breakfast and wait for them to arrive.

As Kyle sat down, Kay looked at him with a slight frown on her delicate face. Despite the smile on his face, she knew something was wrong.