Yao breathes deeply, arms extended in front of him as he slowly goes through the motions, then exhales, as his hands - palms out - stretch above his head. He sighs, then slowly drops his arms to his sides, and rolls his shoulders. Tai Chi was always so relaxing, made him smile unconsciously. Yao turns around, and unties his hair, lets it float around his shoulders before he quickly rebraids it after seeing that Ivan is here.

"You watch me every morning, aru."

The tall man with ash-blonde hair tilts his head to one side, then nods. "Da."

"Any reason, aru?"

Ivan doesn't say anything - he hasn't worn his normal attire since the fall of the USSR, instead, opting to wear a crisp black Armani suit even though he still carries his pipe around with him - but gives a small shrug. Yao finds himself annoyed with the Russian's silence, and purses his lips, but doesn't press the point, and instead, turns to resume his exercises, feeling the annoyance drain away as soon as he starts.

"It's similar to Systema - poznai sebia."

"Aru?"

"Watch."

The Russian is a large man - towers above Yao, and without the old military uniform he wears, with the lines of the suit, one can see that he is lean, graceful, smooth. Ivan moves closer towards Yao, and before the Chinese man can react - it's just a sense of everything being inverted, topsy-turvy, and Yao finds himself on the ground, gasping for breath. Whatever Ivan had done - it was somewhat similar. It was a graceful movement, small, flexible, adaptable. But it was fast.

"You see, da? Similar."

Yao finds that Ivan has kneeled, his knee on the Chinese man's chest, keeping him down onto the ground. "Pretty little Chinese man, down on the ground. . .I do want to make you regret the Sino-Soviet split." Yao struggles underneath the Russian, and manages to sit up slightly when Ivan shifts, straddles the man beneath him instead. A pale and cold hand reaches to play with the braid that has fallen over Yao's shoulder, undoes it and runs his fingers through the hair to undo the braid, and then presses his fingers against the others cheek.

"Lesson one in Systema." Ivan bends his head, and kisses Yao on the lips, and the smaller man responds with a palm shooting forward, and Ivan stumbles back, gasping.

"Lucky I didn't cause internal damage, aru," Yao says, snatching the hair tie off of the ground. By this time, Ivan has recovered, and he glances at Yao. "Leave, please." Ivan nods.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning."

--

Poznai sebia - Discover yourself, another name for Systema

I feel like I should give an explanation of Systema. It's a form of Russian 'martial art', and it deals with psychology, biochemistry, physics, and a wide variety of other sciences when learning it. Each person tends to have their own style of Systema, and it's motions - while small - can be comparable to Tai chi. The reason it's also known as 'poznai sebia', however, is because of the way it is taught, it is also considered a form of 'self-meditation'.