Shrine Maiden vs The Runaway

A/N I have to give a shout out to Arai1986 who created this picture with the help of Shadowninja787844. Arai allowed me to use the pic and they both also ship Ryu x Momiji!

Ryu's POV

Training with Momiji has always been fun, but obviously has gotten harder over the years. I know that she has progressed quickly and effectively, but she still needs to control her ego. "Had enough yet, Master?" she taunted "I have had much worse than you, Momiji. The fiends, LOA, DOA tournaments, and Yaiba. Well... Yaiba wasn't much of a challenge." I blocked a punch and kick, sliding behind her under the cover of my smoke bomb.

"You seem to be having a hard time in sparring recently." I said. She turned around and that's when I tripped her.

She did a backwards roll and got into her original stance, "Well I'm not! I'm just going easy on you." She replied in-a-matter-of-fact tone. We both charged at each other aiming for a punch on the face. I moved out of the way, dodging her punch and then kicking her back. I gave it enough force to send her to the ground without being able to recover from it in midair. "I guess you were telling the truth, 'cause that was easy." I commented.

She seemed very angry at that comment, noting the fire in her eyes. I heard a noise off in the distance. I promptly motioned to Momiji that training has been interrupted and that we are not alone. We both jumped into the trees and waited. As the noise got closer, I could see Momiji reaching for her naginata ready to move in for the kill. When we saw clothing swaying in the wind, we jumped and stabbed into the intended area. I heard a little *shink* like we stabbed something and when I looked to see who it was, it turned out to be a Kasumi clone/dummy. "Whoops" I heard Momiji say. I kinda laughed on the inside because if that wasn't a clone, then we would have stabbed our friend; even after I promised to Hayate that I would protect her heh... "Kasumi! You can come out now!" We yelled, then she came out of nowhere in the leaves of a Sakura Tree. I was tackled to the ground all of a sudden...

Momiji's POV

Great... Kasumi's here. She came in her flashy entrance and now she threw herself onto Master Ryu, not even saying hi to me. "Hey Momiji. Hi Ryu." Ok, never mind. But I still get this really bad feeling from her whener she's around Master Ryu and I don't like it. "Hey Kasumi," Master Ryu and I said, "So why are you here?" I asked. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to come to the Lantern Floating Festival near my village? I was able to go back since I explained that I left to avenge Hayate."

I wouldn't mind going, but I wouldn't go if Master Ryu wasn't. "I guess I could come... Momiji, you want to go with?" He asked. I could feel my cheeks go red.

Master Ryu asked me to come with him to the festival! "S-Sure I can go." I stammered. I am so excited for this now. "Then we'll see you at the festival Kasumi." he said. I looked over to her and noticed a tiny glare coming from her. "Yeah ok. It'll be on the 13th of July, which is in 11 days. You best bring some lanterns for Kureha and Jo." she said. Well I already know that I'm going to bring one for my passed sister... She doesn't need to remind me. "Yeah we know." I said, "I was just reminding you incase you forgot." She replied. "Well I remember the significance of the festival, Kasumi." I shot back. Man I really don't like her right now. "OK, maybe we should start getting ready for the festival, Momiji. Something started early usually gets done early." Ryu entered.

I nodded and then left Kasumi alone. Ryu waved back and walked with me back to the village since we finished training for the day. I was kind of happy that he chose to walk back with me instead of staying with Kasumi. When we went our separate ways, I then remembered all of the things I need done... I need a kimono, a lantern worthy of my sister, and a gift for Master. This is going to be a long 11 days...

Ryu's POV

So I have 10 days to get ready for the festival. I need some clothes, a lantern for my father, train, and all these other things... So many things to do and take care of. Oh well, I'll just somehow get all of this stuff together.

"Momiji! Let's go do some more training! Last time we got interrupted." I yelled. The next day has already come and we need to do our early morning sparring. "But Master Ryuuu... I need to work on my lanteerrnn." She whined. "C'mon Momiji. How about I cut the training to an hour and a half instead of our usual 2? Sound good?" I offered. I was lenient on the subject because we both missed Kureha, especially her... "I guess that works," She accepted. We started walking to our sparring site in the bamboo area.

"So who are you going to go on a boat with?" she asked.

That was a question that was really unexpected, "I thought we were going on a boat together. Do you going to go with someone else?" I wasn't warming up to the idea of that being a possibility. "No. I was just wondering if you were going with Kasumi..." She admitted. "Why would I go with Kasumi? We are both from the Dragon Village, we both lost someone close to us, and I just thought that we could guide our family members return back into the water together." I said. It was common knowledge of the lantern floating festival's meaning... I guess my automatic assumption wasn't as on the 'bull's eye' as I had thought. "So does this mean that you will go with me onto the boat and send out lanterns out together?" I noticed that her cheeks became red. I guess she just doesn't feel well. Maybe I should cut the training to just an hour... "Yes, I will send out my lantern with yours." She agreed.

"You don't seem alright, so I decided that training will only be 1 hour today. But that means that the rest will be made up after the festival." I let out. "Yay! Thank you Master Ryu." "You know that you can just call me Ryu, Momiji. You are my closest friend, so there is no need for such formalities unless we're training." Being called Master was nice, but it got annoying eventually besides in training.

End of part 1