Komeko and Rinku hung from one tree upside down while the others were paired off in different trees and Chu was in his own. They all had a cinder block tied to both wrists while their legs were swung over the branch. Painstakingly Komeko brought her arms up above her and raised her body in a crunching motion.

'Twenty.'

Around her, the others were doing the same and being careful to not swing the weights.

"Why's this witch having us do this anyways?" Suzuka asked after he completed his eighteenth crunch.

"To build up strength and maintain our balance." Touya answered when he finished his twenty-third rep.

"Twenty-six. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight."

"Chu, you're going to make me lose my place. Count silently!" Komeko yelled at him.

"Sorry, K."

'Twenty-four. Twenty-five.'

"How many of these do we have ta do again?" Jin asked.

"Five hundred." Shishi answered when he completed another crunch.

Chu cursed.

"Five hundred!" Komeko yelled when she finished hers just before Touya and just after Chu.

Feeling light headed and slightly dizzy, she carefully untied the blocks from her wrists and dropped down from the tree to lie in the grass. Around her, other cinder blocks smashed into the ground as the rest of the group finished. They assumed similar positions before they had to get up again for their next routine.

Komeko bowed gratefully to Yukina as she took her food into her room to study. She downed the delicious meal happily as she read and wrote out a few worksheets. A knock on her door brought her out of her concentration and she yelled for Kurama to come in. His sweet scent filled the room and he stood next to her. She patted the ground and he sat beside her.

"How are things going?"

"I'm doing really well, but I do have a few questions I thought you may be able to help me with." She answered.

He picked up the paper with one hand and let his other rest on her knee. The touch made Komeko hyper aware of exactly how close he was, but she made no move to separate. He looked over the paper, pointed out a few things that were wrong, then how to fix them. She scribbled on the page to fix her errors and he took the opportunity to pick through the books she had scattered around her.

The second one he saw, he picked up and leafed through before a section parted itself automatically. There, between the pages, was the rose he had given her on his mother's wedding day. He touched the flower with his finger gently and looked over at her. She noticed what he was holding and smiled in an embarrassed manner with flushed cheeks.

"You know, you're quite cute when you do that."

"Thank you, but, do what?" She asked.

"When you blush." He answered.

This increased the tint on her face even more and she looked down at her lap for a moment. Kurama tipped her chin up with his hand and placed a small kiss on her cheek. All of her emotions slammed her normally slow beating heart in her chest a few times before she calmed down. By that point, Kurama had stood.

"Good night, Komeko."

"Good night, Kurama."

Komeko lightly touched the spot he had kissed and smiled to herself.

After doing their recent morning exercise of running the stairs with leg weights, the group stood in the gorge with Genkai. She blasted a section of rock with her energy.

"You will take these boulders and toss them back and forth until I'm happy. Once we're done with that, you're going to run over towards the beach and there will be a pile of metal for you to bring back here. Well, what are you waiting for? Get started!"

Chu picked up a large rock, one more than twice the size of Komeko and threw it over to Jin. Following a broken circle, the rock passed from Jin to Touya to Shishi to Komeko to Rinku and ended on Suzuka throwing it back to Chu. Once they had several large boulders being passed through the circle at a decent pace, Genkai dismissed them and they took off towards the shoreline.

When they got there, they each noticed they had a pile of large-link metal chains to pick up. Komeko walked over to the one with her name in the sand before it and grabbed on to her portion. She pulled the heavy metal through the sand slowly and the others did the same. Rinku's chain seemed to be the smallest out of the group and Chu's the largest. More than likely, Genkai had probably matched them up to their own limit. Roughly an hour later, they each set their own section down at the base of the mountain.

"Alright, the next thing we're going to do is going to have a lot less movement. We're going to that cave over there and you'll do as I do." Genkai pointed over at an area to their right.

Once they were there, she stood in front of many stalagmite like spikes on the ground.

"This is where we will be for the next five hours. You will concentrate your energy in your fingertip and balance on the tip of these spikes. Being able to do this will allow you to bring out your energy later on when we work one-on-one to develop a few new moves for you all."

She got in front of the spikes and jumped up in a way that Komeko thought looked like she would land in a hand stand. Instead of that, she held her pointer finger out with a ball of her energy at the tip and balanced herself on the point with only her energy between herself and death by impalement. The guys looked nervous, especially Touya, but followed suit anyways.

Komeko's braid began to make the side of her face warm after the first hour, so she switched it over as carefully as she could. Shishiwakamaru's hair fell down in a cascade of purple that made Komeko want to laugh. She held it in, since it would certainly unbalance her. Another two hours passed and her arm really began to feel the strain. By the fourth hour, they were all feeling the pressure as they concentration started to wane. A few stomachs rumbled and Jin sneezed, but used his wind to catch himself from falling. Righted, they all managed to stay the final hour. Genkai jumped down first and congratulated them.

"Alright, Komeko. We're going to start this out by meditating first. You're going to let yourself go and then we will slowly pull you back in with a few different thoughts."

The two women sat across from each other with their legs crossed. Komeko closed her eyes, regulated her breathing, and then her thinking. Fifteen minutes later, Genkai spoke.

"Feel the flow of your breathing right now. Concentrate on it and let yourself wave in and out along with it. As you do that, picture your energy flowing beside you in a constant stream. Allow your energy to blend with your breathing."

Komeko's energy wrapped around her body, emitting a lime green aura. A few strands of inky wisps escaped her braid and lightly brushed against her skin.

"Very good. Now, maintain that flow, and think of something that makes you truly happy and free. Picture your energy enveloping it. Let the two mix together seamlessly and then allow your energy to dissipate."

Komeko's energy kicked up several levels and widened around them, but did not disturb things. It floated freely in powerful tendrils. After her mind wandered to what made her truly happy, her energy drew back into her body and she felt empowered.

"What do we do now?" Komeko asked as she opened her eyes and blinked several times.

"You are going to get up and we're going to practice a few new moves."

Komeko smiled.