Disclaimer: Soul Calibur and all its characters belongs to Namco Bandai and NOT GrimGrave. GrimGrave does not make money out of writing fiction.

Methods of Teaching

It was an early winter morning in December, London, the year of 2014. The snow had already begun to sprinkle itself calmly over the large city, its white powder creating a blanket over structures, ground and objects alike in its wake. The busy city was packed with life, going to work or school, just another day in their lives.

The sky remained concealed in the thick, white mass of snowy clouds. It was still dark outside, enabling the need of streetlamps to glow in the shadows of early morning.

Hazel eyes glared out from the window. They narrowed as they peered around at the people that walked by in the distance, the cars that drove by and the thick snowflakes that fell to the ground. Long, black straight hair cascaded over the girl's shoulders and back as she groggily stared out her window from the second floor of her house in mild aggravation. It was Monday. Her least favourite day.

It was the first day of the tiresome week ahead. The first day of the week that meant she would be stuck reading, studying, remembering, all those horrible acts that would lessen the time she would otherwise be able to spend on fun things. She got out of bed, still wearing her loosely fitted t-shirt, and headed towards the shower to get herself clean and fresh.

With a new set of clothes, consisting of a better fitted t-shirt of black colour with jeans, she marched down the stairs to the kitchen. She was about to greet her parents a good morning, only to find the house to be deserted. No mother standing near the sink or otherwise wanders around the kitchen, no father to grumble and try and get himself ready. All that was left was a note on the table.

Good morning sweetheart!

Your father and I had to leave for work in a hurry, so you have to fix your own breakfast! There's dinner from yesterday in the fridge that you can reheat, or you can cook the rice and pork we haven't used yet; your father and I will probably arrive home late again so don't wait up honey!

Love

Mother & Father

The girl cringed. "Great… Just what I wanted..." She muttered as she slowly began to set the table for her breakfast. Before she knew it, she was eating her yoghurt with cereals, chewing on the toasted bread with marmalade on and drinking her glass of milk. All while retaining her scowl that darkened her face.

"Another Monday, another pain…" She muttered. "… At least it's worth it." A content sigh left her throat. "I wonder what she will teach me this time. More math? English adjectives? … Shit, I didn't have any homework right? Damn it, she's going to kill me!"

The doorbell rang loudly, startling the young raven-haired girl. "Damn it! Okay, here goes nothing then..."

She made her way to the door; with a hand on the handle, and another on the lock, she took a deep breath. And another one. She unlocked the door and opened it up, revealing to her sight a tall woman, with hair white as the snow, full lips clad in a purple lipstick, clad in a greyish trench-coat. She felt all giddy on the inside, but tried to remain calm in the presence of the older woman.

"G-Good morning Miss Valentine!" She said meekly in order to hide her butterflies that excitingly fluttered around her stomach. The older woman chuckled softly, her breath becoming misty in the cold air. "It's been a few months now Taki. You can call me Ivy you know."

"Y-Yes.. Of course! Please, s-step right in Ivy!"

"Thank you Taki…" Ivy said. "Awfully cold weather we're having. I'm glad to be back inside…"

"I can imagine…" Taki replied, shyly tucking a few black, loose strands of hair behind her ear. "W-Would you like anything to drink?"

"Perhaps later. For now..." Her purple lips curled upwards to a smirk as she waved her bag in front of her. "I brought a few new books that we have to start on. Also, you didn't forget about the English homework did you?"

Taki whimpered. ´Fuck.´

:::::

An hour into the torture of private tutoring, Taki let out another whimper. While Ivy sat on the comfortable bed, sipping some cold water Taki was burying her nose in various books of English grammar and spelling over at her desk. Endless texts and questions about how you pronounce words, examples of sentences after example, and even more so as she tiredly read on. She glanced back at Ivy who sipped on her water while checking her cell phone without a care in the world.

"Not fair..." Taki muttered. She was angry. Ever since her family had moved to England, they had talked about getting her a private tutor since she otherwise would have to join a class in the middle of the semester. A hassle they thought. It would be better if she studied at home with a frequent tutor every day, every week. She loathed her parents for that reason, but at the same time, she was glad. She wouldn't have met Ivy otherwise.

The alluring woman, Ivy Valentine. At only the age of 24, she was already a certified teacher in both math and English amongst other subjects. How her short, messy whitish hair framed her face so stunningly, and her eyes just held an enchanting allurement to them, dragging you in the longer you stared. Taki had never showed much interest in boys, nor girls either, but Ivy just made her knees weak with excitement. She adored her body, the full breasts that bounced with every step she took with her delightfully long legs. Sex on legs, that's what she was in Taki´s eyes. Was it perhaps envy of her body that Taki felt? No. Envy wouldn't result in fantasizing about Ivy in the middle of the night, during the day, and everywhere in-between.

But she hated the god-awful studying. The endless mass of books, the homework she had almost every day, and the tests! Studying for tests was one of the most terrible things Taki knew of. In the end, she had mixed feelings for Ivy; a hateful lust, or a lustful hate. Or Hate-Love. Something of the sort.

All she was certain of was that she wanted to throw away her current book and just push Ivy down on the bed, take control and go wild.

"You're doing it again Taki." Ivy suddenly said. Taki blinked, bewildered. "W-What?"

"You're staring at me. And not at the book."

"Oh... Oh! S-Sorry! I didn't-"

"I know my clothes are to die for, but please don't slack off. I'm here to educate you, and that won't be possible if you don't open up and learn. So get cracking."

The raven-haired girl sighed in annoyance. "Yes Ivy…" She replied, scribbling down answers for the questions on page 210. She felt a hand be placed on her shoulder, prompting her to look up at the caring eyes, and the sincere smile.

"Tell you what, keep it up for another 25 minutes, and I'll go and buy us some treats. Would you like that?"

"Y-Yes! Yes thank you!"

Ivy smiled. "Then keep up the good work my darling student." She said teasingly, patting Taki´s head with a giggle as she went back to sit on the bed, occupying herself with the cell phone. A mocking sight for Taki, but she grinned. She would show her, she would definitely show her. Motivated and reenergized, she put pen to paper and wrote until the pencil tip broke.

´You just wait and see Ivy… I won't let you down, and have you spoil me for my great efforts… Who knows, maybe I can try and get a better view of your assets as well.´

:::::

"Impressive…" Ivy said as she looked over the papers. "A few minor errors here and there but overall better than usual." She threw a glance over at Taki who beamed in joy, throwing a small smirk in the same direction. "But it would've been perfect had you only done your homework." She couldn't help but to chuckle at her student's expression.

"I couldn't help it! I was busy with other chores so I forgot-"

"You're just being lazy. Don't think I don't know." Ivy interrupted. "Besides, I bet you just watched those TV-shows again, or got stuck in front of the computer."

Taki, who was about to interrupt her teacher, fell back into silence as Ivy grinned. "I knew it. When your parents informed me of your habits of slacking, I thought they were exaggerating. I was wrong." The taller woman eyed Taki with her wicked smile. "You really don't like homework do you."

"Can't say it's something I'm eager to get to work on…" The raven-haired girl said bitterly. "But I did good, no? So you owe me a treat!"

Ivy stared at the girl puzzlingly, before letting out a boisterous laughter. "You certainly are single-minded! But, a deal is a deal. I´ll be right back then." She said, walking out of the room to get her coat and boots.

"You don't want me to come with you?" Taki asked. Ivy grinned back at her playfully. "Of course not. You still have to study another 5 pages in English and 3 pages worth of math until I get back. Don't slack off now!"

She head Ivy continue to laugh until the front door slammed shut. Her jaw hung open in her baffled state for a few seconds until it closed, her teeth gritting in anger.

"Bitch! And to think that I actually like you!"

She slumped back on her chair, her dire expression collapsing along with her body as she sighed in discontent. She glanced back at the window, snow still falling from the equally white sky. "I like you…" She hugged her knees tightly, burying her head into her lap as her dark locks of hair cascaded down in front of her. "I like you…"

She hesitatingly looked back at her notes and books, and grabbed the pen with a light growl.

::::

Ivy stepped back into the house, covered in the recently falling snow which she shrugged off with a discontented frown. The weather had only grown colder since last time she was out, much to her frustration, but it had been worth it. Safely tucked away in her coat-pocket was a small plastic bag of expensive chocolate, each bon-bon wrapped in its own plastic cover with a tied end consisting of a yellow-blue coloured bow.

It had been more expensive than she would've liked, but it was worth it. After all, it was for Taki. Her adorable student who, despite being stubborn about not getting into studying, had made some great progress regardless. She deserved some slack every now and then.

Ivy chuckled to herself as she stepped out of her boots and hung the coat away, hiding the bag of chocolate behind her back. "Taki, I'm back! I hope you are studying!" She called out from downstairs, but she received no response.

Puzzled, Ivy arched an eyebrow. She cleared her throat loudly. "Taki! You better not be playing that damn fighting game again! Taki!" She began to ascend the stairs, her steps becoming heavy stomps upon the wooden surfaces. Her eyebrows knitted together in a dark scowl the higher she got the stairs, with still no reply from her raven-haired student. She stormed into her Taki's room.

"Hah! I busted you now, you little-" Her words stopped at her throat, her eyes widening at the sight.

Taki was leant over the table, asleep. She shifted with a light groan amidst her equally light snores, but she remained dormant. Ivy eyed her with a slight surprise at first, shocked over seeing her student asleep in the middle of the day. But her stern and solid expression slowly softened up into a warm smile as she stepped up to her student, watching her sleeping form.

´How cute…´ Ivy mused. She reached out to the creamy white cheek, carefully pulling away a few loose strands of hair. ´She can be quite adorable when she doesn't make a fuss about studying- Hm?´

Ivy glanced over at the mess of papers and books in front of the sleeping Japanese. She carefully slid them from underneath Taki's arms, observing each and every one of them. She saw the severely shortened pencil, the overly used eraser, and the folded edges of the pages. The white-haired teacher couldn't help but to smile greatly.

Her eyes averted to her watch. It was just past lunch, but it was alright. She could afford to give her student a free day every once in a while. With another smile grazing her lips, she picked up the pencil along with one of the papers containing Taki's homework. She tucked it over near the sleeping girl, placed the bag of chocolate next to it, and bent further down to the pale white face.

With a low chuckle, she got out of the room afterwards, eventually grabbing her coat and put on her boots, and left the house, leaving Taki alone in her dream-world with the small note.

At the bottom of the note was a kiss mark of Ivy's lipstick, as well on the white cheek of the sleeping student, who still shifted ever so slightly in her seat, her fingers lightly brushing against the note.

Dear Taki

I commend you for your hard work. I quickly scanned the papers you obviously worked hard for, and I am proud to say that these are worthy of at least B grade, if not A.

I should also chastise you for falling asleep, but I will let it slide this time, sleepyhead. These chocolates are for you. You've earned it for a job well done. Continue like this and I just might treat you again.

See you tomorrow sleepyhead.

Love, Isabella.

Not my best work, but something I just thought of and wanted to put into text. =)

Hope you folks enjoyed it!