Copyright infringement not intended. T for language and violence.

And, it beginnss... Hope you enjoyy. (:

Prologue; Unsaid

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Suffice it to say
We're leaving things unsaid

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She was late.

Late for her training. Late for her period. Late for nearly everything in her life.

An arm wound around her stomach worryingly, she panted as she came to an abrupt stop in the training room. Her heart was pounding, faster and faster until she was positive it would burst out of her chest any moment.

"You're late."

Her ragged breathing hitched at the sound of his voice, azure eyes turning up to his. He arched a brow, waiting for her explaination.

What could she say? The truth?

That she'd been fretting for half an hour over her period and it's absence? No, that would just result in an awkward and unwanted silence.

"Sorry. Didn't feel good," she mumbled, looking away from his bright eyes. It wasn't a lie. Her stomach had been rolling sickly from the anxiety and she had been sure she would have thrown up if she had anything in her stomach.

Her mentor was silent for a moment, a disbelieving hush settling around them. He spoke after a moment, shaking off the quiet. "And how do you feel now, Ms. Harmon?" He asked softly.

She glanced up at him, a frown touching her young face. Her heart was still pounding, her stomach still churning from anxiety and she felt feverish.

Obviously, she did not feel any better than the morning. Stress and anxiety had never been her friend.

"Much better, sir." She answered firmly, her tone urging him not to push the issue. It was her body and if she felt that she could not take the beating then she would say so. As it was, she refused to appear weak from such a trivial matter.

The man nodded, accepting her answer, and turned away from her. Her eyes followed his every movement, watching carefully as he prepared the simulator.

It was one of the more important days of training she knew, finally going to attempt to take her mentor on in a fight. She would be damned if she left for some stupid thing such as this.

The harsh black walls of the training room disappeared slowly, a dark forest replacing them. She stiffened, a hand fluttering to one of the sheathed katanas at her waist. The cold breeze, partially blocked by the tree's foliage, skipped across her bare stomach, sending a shiver down her spine.

A twig snapped a few yards away, her opponent approaching cautiously but not quietly enough. Her hand closed around the hilt and slowly, she drew the glistening katana out of it's sheath, body crouching instinctively.

It would not be long now.

She controlled her breathing, keeping it slow and quiet. Her eyes scanned the edge of the forest, muscles and joints starting to ache from the prolonged crouch.

Impatience crept into her, fear bringing back the thoughts of her body's problem.

Cold metal sliced against her flesh.

She shrieked, losing her balance and toppling onto her back. Cereluan eyes gazed down at her, glowing eerily in the forest's moonlit darkness, a smug look about them.

Cursing herself for letting her thoughts wander, she rolled out of the way as the blade sunk into the grass where her chest had previously been. Breathing fast and hard now, she raised her own weapon, parrying a possibly fatal blow.

What was going on?

She had thought this was just for training, that he'd possibly go easy on her.

It seemed to her that he wasn't holding back at all, slashs and stabs flying at her, leaving her almost no time to defend herself from one attack to another. She spun, ducked and lashed out as vigorolously as she could.

This was not like her usual simulated and easy fights. This was an actual opponent that knew her every weakness, every crack in her guard exposed to him.

This was unfair.

His speed was not rivalled by her own, just as her agility could not be rivaled. Being smaller and lighter than he, she should have had the advantage.

Should have, had he not been an experienced SOLDIER First Class.

"Had enough?" Her mentor asked, his voice calm and steady. Nothing about him told her if he was tiring, not even his impossibly quick movements.

She shook her head, gritting her teeth as they met in a challenging stalemate. "Just getting warmed up," she answered tersely. Her muscles shook slightly in her attempts to match his strength, gloves tight and slipping on the hilt of her own blade.

He ducked, moving out of the way and allowing his rapier to slip out of the straining match. She stumbled forward from the momentum, catching her balance easily and retaliating quickly.

The glistening silver of her katana glowed an eerie red from the light his rapier was emitting, the screeching of blades filling the silent forest. She spun away at the promise of another strength match, unsheathing the second katana that hung limply at her waist.

Now armed with two glowing silver blades, she smirked at her mentor. She had three weapons on her person, not to mention her feminine power, to his one rapier.

There was no doubt to her who would win this fight.

She shifted into a fighting stance as he charged, parrying the slash with one weapon and lunging with her other. He moved away, too quick for her nearly blurred movements. Her heart was pounding in her throat, the thrill of the fight pushing out any doubt that maybe, maybe, this was going too far, nothing else on her mind..

Until blinding pain washed it all away.

Her heart was still pounding, but with shock and pain rather than speed and adrenaline, and her breathing was still hard and fast, but that was to stop her from crying out weakly.

Daring to look to her seemingly pulsating shoulder, she cringed.

Blood trickled in a crimson stream down her right arm, staining the pale skin it touched. It was coming from a thin gash on her bicep, long and deep and seemingly equiped with a never-ending supply of blood.

"Damn," she swore, taking off a leather glove, pulling irritably as it stuck to her clammy skin. Her muscle flexed when she pulled, her vision going black for a dizzying moment and extracting a gasp from her.

With a buzzing, the muggy air of the forest that had made her skin crawl was lifted, the hovering trees and their foliage gone. Replaced by the cold and dark training room.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes flickered up to her mentor's, a cheeky and cheerful smile on her lips, hoping that it would cover the way her jaw was set and how her teeth gritted together in attempt to not be affected by the pain. Her fingers dug angrily into her upper arm, avoiding the wound, nails biting her flesh.

"Fine. Just .. Just a cut." She answered, cupping the injury and holding her arm carefully behind her back. She refused to be seen as weak. It was just a wound, something that heal over time and become another scar.

He gave her a look of disbelief and concern. She looked away, face flushing at his scrutinizing stare, feeling feverish once more.

"I'm fine, sir. Can we get back to our lesson, now, sir?"

He was still eyeing her. "You're pale," he stated after a moment of tense silence. Her eyes narrowed at him accusingly. So what if she was pale? She couldn't help it. "You've lost too much blood, Katelyn. I'm saying this is as someone who cares about your well-being."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, gloved fingers brushing against her exposed neck, eyes boring into hers. "Please, tell me you'll go to Hollander and get it looked at."

She wanted to reply, to say that she was fine and she'd heal soon enough, but couldn't find her breath. He was so close, cereluan eyes incredibly bright with concern, too close for her liking.

On their own accord, her eyes flickered to his lips.

Her heart pounded, not with shock or fear or adrenaline this time. With something entirely different. Anticipation.

He was too close.

She couldn't think properly, couldn't form a sentence, even in her own mind.

His breath swirled in her face intoxicatingly.

Suddenly, breaking the intimate - too intimate - moment, she took several quick, frantic steps back, nearly tripping over her own feet as the room spun sickeningly.

"I," she gasped to keep her head above the depths of blood-loss-induced exhaustion, feeling frighteningly faint. "I have to go. I'll see you later.."

Turning quickly away from her mentor, she nearly fell with the momentum she had gained and burst through the wide double doors, gasping for the air that she was suddenly deprived of.

Maybe she had lost too much blood.

That could only explain the desire to kiss her mentor, the man she had been training with for two years.

It had to be.

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And we are leaving things unsaid,
And we are breathing deeper instead.

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So...?
A rewrite of another story I did that I didn't like much.. And the update for this one is coming soon, I swear. By tomorrow afternoon or early morning, or even some time closer to midnight tonight...
Well, what did you think? Horrible or okay?
Reviews are love. (:
Until next time,

xWhiteRainx