Well I'm on a roll! I'm very determined to write this out finally, with the time I have now I can :3 I'm just writing for one person basically but that keeps me going :3 So thank you Shadow Realm Triforce, wanna one shot? I can write you one if you'd like for sticking with me so long, but anyone here's the chapter!
"Again." Shuichi said and Chu started to circle around Naota. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on his energy. She dealt a swift round about kick towards her back but only caught Chu's mirage before he appeared at her side and did a quick straight punch. She barely caught it with her arm before he sent her flying towards the wall. She walked away from the hole she left behind, and put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"Not bad Sheila, I didn't knock your lights out that time." Chu said with a laugh.
"But she still wasn't able to do a counter." Shuichi sighed. They have been training Naota for about 3 months now. During that time her evasiveness has gotten higher but her reaction time to attacks only improved slightly. Shuichi was wondering whether or not her level really can go higher.
"I can do it, we just need to keep training." Naota said, trying to brush off all the dust on her training clothes. She had a few scrapes and her back will probably bruise bad by tomorrow, but she was on a time limit and could not afford to just sit back and let a few bruises get to her.
"Chu, keep on training her. I will go mix some herbs for her wounds, remember do not go easy on her." Shuichi said with a glare and walked out. He heard them start again while he went down a small hallway into his room. He had a few pots set out with various plants used for medicine, the only thing he can use for Naota's wounds. As he plucked a few leaves he felt Touya's energy behind him.
"We got some new info on some of our comrades." Touya said. Shuichi looked at him and nodded. "Jin has been recruited into the Revolutionaries, Inugami wiped the floor with him apparently, so we now we know why he hasn't been responding to us. Any demon that associates with any of the former spirit detectives and his friends that have been recruited are not allowed to communicate with them. If they do and are found out, they are killed."
"Has anyone else been caught?" Shuichi asked, setting down his herbs.
"Rinku, Natsume, which is probably why Chu isn't fighting this time around, Hokushin, and Suzuka. That's as far as we know, there could be more." Touya said and Kurama let out a deep sigh.
"Thank you Touya, right now Chu is training Naota on her counter and evasiveness, you will duel her once she's done." Kurama said, taking his herbs.
"Are you sure? She's always pretty spent after she trains with Chu." Touya remarked.
"Her level won't go up if we continue to go easy on her. She needs to train as if she's fighting for her life, otherwise she will die in the upcoming tournament. She will always have enough time to recover after her fights." Kurama said coldly. Touya stared at him as he walked out and he let out a breath he didn't know he had. Shishi appeared beside him staring at Shuichi as well.
"You've noticed?" Shishi asked.
"It's hard not to. I don't know why but he's training her harder than he trained us, she doesn't need to go that far. She's progressing very quickly." Touya said.
"Chu has an interesting theory about why." Shishi chuckled. Touya looked at him confused. "Love makes you do crazy things."
00000
Naota groaned in pain. It's been a long day and the herb bath was helping work out all the kinks she had worked in during her training. She got in a scrape finally against Chu, much good that did her when he keeps flinging her against the walls. Touya is a worse opponent, she can't stand the cold for too long and often has to use her own energy to try to keep herself warm. 'I can't even get a good hit on him either since I'm focused so much on not freezing to death.'
She sinks deeper in the water, letting the herbs help heal away her various cuts and scrapes. Unfortunately they don't work with bruises, she is gonna have a super sore back tomorrow. She blew out bubbles in the water, thinking about Kurama's sudden personality change. 'He rarely has a conversation with me, doesn't look me in the eye, and just cares about my training, it's like I don't even exist to him anymore. What happened?'
She kept wondering until she realized her bath was starting to get cold. She sighed heavily and lifted herself gently from her bath, she's gonna have to wear her back brace so she won't have any future implications. She walked out with a groan, a towel over her shoulder so she wouldn't dampen her shirt. As she walked slowly towards her room she found Chu waiting on the wall.
"Hey there Sheila, can't believe you actually got a hit in." Chu chuckled, pointing at his small cut on his cheek.
"Doesn't really matter if its just that, Shuichi won't be satisfied until I fully destroy you I think." Naota said and Chu let out a loud laugh which made her feel slightly more relaxed.
"So Sheila, I have a question, if you don't mind me asking." Chu said and she shook her head.
"Are you in love with Kurama?" Chu asked and Naota felt her face immediately heat up. She looked away in embarrassment when Chu started to laugh.
"Is it really that noticeable?" Naota said.
"When you're looking at him like it might be the last day you're with him, it gets noticeable 'sides, I have that same look in my eye when I look at my girl. The real question is this, why haven't you told him?" Chu asked and Naota's eyes fell.
"I'm afraid Chu, that he'll reject me. I've been living with these feelings so long, I don't really know how to explain it to him without making a fool out of myself." Naota confessed.
"Well as long as you get the message across, I think he'll get the idea." Chu said. "It's best to do it before the tournament. We don't know if this is gonna be the end of the world or not."
"You think we might lose?" Naota asked as Chu walked away.
"I've already lost my friends to those freaks, I just hope we can all be strong enough to stop them before they do further harm." Chu said before finally walking away.
Naota entered her room and leaned against the frame, thinking about what Chu said to her. 'As long as I get the message across, huh?'
Shuichi surveyed the damage done by the training that day. Several holes in the walls and some ice still clinged to several columns. 'If this keeps going then we might destroy the training grounds first, maybe we should move outside.' He leaned against one of the columns away from the center when he heard someone's feet shuffle. It was Naota, she had her hair down reaching past her back. Shuichi never noticed how her hair has grown. She ran her hand through her hair, grabbing her ends.
"Split ends, maybe I should cut it, can't do anything with it long." Naota thought out loud. "This place is a mess, I think I might end up destroying the place with the way I seem to be thrown all over the place." Shuichi chuckled at their shared thought. Naota turned towards him startled.
"Oh Shuichi, geez you scared me." Naota lightly chuckled.
"Sorry, I was just thinking the same thing. We might have to move our training sessions outside, if not Genkai will likely kill me if the training room gets ruined more." Shuichi said.
"It's so cold outside, the breeze always picks up around night." Naota said walking towards him, her hands around herself. "It's still cold around here, even without Touya." She stood next to him, both silent. She sneaked looks at him from her peripheral vision. She tensed up, trying to gather the courage for what she was about to do.
"Shuichi, are you ok?" Naota said, coming in front of him, her eyes furrowed deeply. He looked at her in surprise, she caught him off guard.
"I'm fine." Kurama said, looking away.
"No you're not, why won't you look at me? You've been acting very strange ever since we came back from Demon world. You won't look at me, or talk to me in a real conversation, you push me to my limits every day in training ever since we started, is something wrong? Did I do something?" Naota exclaimed.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong." Shuichi said.
"Then why won't you look at me?" Naota said silently.
'Because if I do...' Shuichi thought to himself, letting his eyes meet hers, 'I might lost control.'
'This is it, if I don't do it now, I might not get another chance.' Naota thought.
"Shuichi, there's something...I've been meaning to tell you. All these years being with you, knowing you, writing letters to you, if I don't tell you now, I might regret it later. Shuichi I'm in lo-" Shuichi cut her off by suddenly embracing her. She felt his strong arms wrap around her frame, felt his hot breath in her hair, her head resting on his shoulder. She was confused.
"Please don't say those words. If you do, I won't be able to control myself anymore. Listen closely Naota, we cannot be together. I'm sorry, but I cannot accept your feelings." Shuichi whispered. Naota felt a dagger strike her heart. She felt something break inside of her, shattering into pieces. She forced herself out of his grasp, she couldn't see straight for the tears welled up so much in her eyes. He reached out to her but she flinched away.
Show no weakness.
She ran, and kept running until she hit something hard.
Show no pain.
"Woah! Hey you ok?" Chu asked, looking at her tear streamed face. She got up and ran some more. "Hey!"
You are not worthy.
She finally reached her room, she grabbed the door and slammed it shut, her breath coming in short. Hyperventilating she goes to her bed, grabs the pillow, and wails in despair into it.
Not worthy to see these tears.
00000
Shuichi sat outside, the breeze tussling his hair in all directions. He looked down on his hands, feeling empty inside. The world has turned black and white. He heard the double doors slam into the mountain.
"Oy! What the hell is going on? I just saw a crying Naota scrambling for her room! What did you do!?" Chu exclaimed, Touya and Shishi watching from the door, forced to be there by Chu.
"I did what I had to." Shuichi said.
"And what's that eh?" Chu said crossing his arms. Shuichi stood up and looked at him.
"I rejected her, it's as simple as that." Shuichi said, his eyes fogged over.
"You little-" Chu grabbed him by his shirt. "Don't you understand how much that girl is in love with ya?! Everyone here can see that! Why would you go and do a heartless thing like that!? Do you want her to become strong? That isn't the way you stupid little bastard!"
"Chu! That's enough! Let him down. This is between Kurama and Naota. We're only here to help him train her that's it." Touya explained.
"You didn't see her face. I've been knocking her out flat on her back for about 3 months now. We talk when we can, she's a sweet one alright, I can't imagine anyone hurting her like that." Chu said.
"Chu, Kurama already made his decision, you can't take it back." Shishi said. Chu furrowed his brow and let him go. Shuichi rubbed his neck as Chu started down the path.
"Chu! Where are you going?" Touya asked.
"Leave me alone, I need a breather." Chu said.
"I apologize for Chu's behavior Kurama. I told him not to get involve in your personal affairs." Touya said.
"Although a touch of drama did make this training exercise interesting." Shishi said into his robes.
"Shishi!" Touya remarked.
"It's alright Touya, you do not need to apologize. I also need time alone, if you don't mind." Shuichi said, sitting back down.
"Let's go back inside Shishi." Touya said.
"You ruin all the fun Touya." Shishi remarked and Touya smacked him over the head.
Shuichi went back to contemplating on what he just did, and he still wasn't sure if it was right or wrong.
00000
Naota woke up from a frightening nightmare, one that she couldn't even remember or more like she didn't want to. Her eyes felt very swollen. 'It's all the crying I did yesterday, how embarrassing ' She thought. She left out a loud sigh and got up from bed. She washed her face, her eyes were super swollen and red. She decided to go out to try to clear her head.
The why was on her mind. In her mind she knew, she saw the signs and Shuichi partly confessed to her.
'So then why would he reject me?' Naota thought. She felt a pang of sadness but it quickly turned into rage. She felt her blood boiling and decided to put this to good use.
Chu got up from where he was laying. The grass having his imprint from him laying down for a long time. 'It's about time I got back I think.' Chu thought. He started to go up the mountain trail when he noticed an energy spike nearby in the forest. As he got closer he recognized the energy. He came to a clearing with a lot of fallen trees. He sees Naota and her energy surge, practicing her techniques.
Chu smirked to himself watching her train. He noticed the tear marks on her face and assumed she'd been crying while doing this. 'There is no best way to fix a broken heart, but at least she's taking out her anger on the trees instead of the training room.' She stopped her training, her breath coming out hard.
"I know you're there Chu, are you gonna stay there or are you gonna train me some more?" Naota said.
"You sure? You know you're not in the best condition to." Chu said.
"I don't care, if I'm gonna be strong enough by the next tournament, then I need this." Naota said.
"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you." Chu said, getting into stance. "Come on girly! Show me what you got!"
"Where are they? They've been gone all yesterday." Touya said, waiting in the training room.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine." Shishi said, sitting down on the floor, his sword resting in his arms. Shuichi remained silent and then the door opened. Chu came in carrying Naota on his back, both of them looked like they were ran over with a car.
"Chu! What happened?" Touya asked.
"You looked like you fought with Yusuke at full power." Shishi remarked and Chu gave out a weak laugh.
"I might as well have, this girl packs a wallop." Chu said.
"You know, you could let me down. You didn't need to carry me this far." Naota said. Chu let her down and she stumbled slightly, but she got back her footing. She had a determined look in her eye. "Hey Shishi, can I borrow your sword?" Shishi lent it to her. Shuichi looked at her wondering what she might do. She unsheathed it and whistled. "Not bad." She bunched up her hair and with a quick swipe, cut off her long locks to shoulder length, uneven but still looking good. Shuichi gasped a little, Shishi smirked, Touya looked on confused and Chu gave out his famous loud laugh.
'Naota?' Shuichi thought as she came up to him with the sword. She pointed it at him, various emotions showing through her strong golden eyes.
"Kurama, you better start training me like you mean it or this sword is going up where it hurts. Do not baby me anymore, I'm not a child, I can take care of myself. Now let's get started shall we?" She had a cocky smirk on and left Shuichi in awe at her sudden personality change. She sheathed the sword and tossed it to Shishi. "I'm gonna get changed, time to take this seriously."
"You heard the little lady time to step up our game!" Chu said before falling flat on his face. Touya and Shuichi ran to his side, while Touya was more concentrated on Chu, Shuichi was still focused on Naota.
She called him Kurama
Naota leaned her frame against the wall, wanting to disappear but at the same time, wanting to be strong. 'I'll be fine, I'll be fine...I'm fine...I'm fine...'
And so a year's time passed, and the second Demon World Tournament has begun.
And so things have changed but is it for the best or for the worst? Will Naota finally be strong enough for the Demon Tournament? Will Shuichi be able to fix their relationship? And will the good guys win the war or will they lose to the extremists? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of Someone I can Love!
p.s. (On the whole hair cutting thing, truthfully in Japanese culture cutting your hair means the end of a relationship, now re read the chapter and you'll be able to get the significance.)
