3. jolt!

The sun was shining brightly and the skies above Aire hills were cloud free. The weather was warm and the air filled with the smell of spring flowers. It was the perfect day to just sit back and relax. A great day to go out with friends or maybe take a walk with that special someone.

At least that's what normal people would do.

Sophia pulled the energy around her staff back like a bow and fired an energy ball at Albel. He dodged quickly jumping to the side. He ran after her and swiped at her with his claw narrowly missing her side. Sophia swung her staff like a club just barely hitting Albel on his leg. He quickly sidestepped away from her. She was about to fire another energy ball when he held up his hand signaling for her to stop.

He called to her across the filed. "What support skills are you using?"

Sophia taped her staff against the palm of her hand. "um..stand by healing and increased HP damage. Why?"

Albel thought for a moment before speaking again. "Switch HP damage for MP."

Sophia tilted her head confused. "But aren't we training for physical fighting?"

Of course she would do what ever he told her to do. After all he was trying to help by training her for combat fighting as opposed to just casting spells. It was really surprising that he was being so patient with her let alone offering to train her in the first place.

Albel interrupted her thought "Just do as I say!" So much for him being patient. She must have flinched a bit when he raised his voice because he sighed deeply and immediately explained. "It would take you all day to dwindle down my HP but if you focused on my MP you would stand a chance. Now lets work on close range combat."

He walked towards her until he was about two feet away. "Well? What are you waiting for? Attack me."

This was the main cause of her problems. Albel had actually been the one to notice that she was struggling with close rage. When enemies were far away or distracted by the others she had time to cast a spell or do long range attacks. But when cornered she just wasn't fast enough to attack without being hit first.

Albel said he was tired of saving her ass. Which, although she hated to admit it, was true. Any time she was cornered he would come to her rescue beating off her attacker. She actually felt kind of flattered since he had to be paying close attention to her to come and help so often.

"Ok. Ready?" Sophia lunged froward with her staff about to attack when Albel dodged away. Suddenly he was behind her. She was surprised at how fast he moved and tumbled forward slightly almost falling. He reached out and caught her around her waist, bringing her back to her feet.

Sophia turned around to face him, nervously dusting off her skirt. "Oh see you're just too fast for me."

Albel shook his head "Your enemies wont slow down just for you. You need to speed up. There's nothing wrong with your reflexes, you just need to work on your agility. The more you fight close like this the faster you'll become. You've just relied on magic to long. You've got more speed up here" he said taping her head "than you have here." He then touched her arm.

Sophia giggled nervously and played with her hair. He seemed to be touching her a lot. She knew he was just touching her because of training but if she let her imagination run away she could almost believe that he had other reasons. "You really think so?"

Albel ran his clawed hand across his shirt and smirked. "Of course. You have the best teacher there is. If I can't train you to fight no one can." He walked around 'til he was directly behind her. "Now lets work on your stance."

It was then that Sophia felt a jolt of electricity run up her entire body. Her brain struggled to understand what was happening. Albel's hand was on the inside of her left thigh pushing her legs apart. In an instant her brain forced her to react. She spun around lighting fast and whapped Albel on the head. She backed away a few feet before yelling "What do you think your doing!"

Albel cringed and rubbed the sore spot on his head. "Damn it girl what the hell was that for?"

By this time Sophia had turned a bright shade of red. She stammered to respond. "You...you don't just go sticking you hand …. In-between a girls legs. It's not proper."

Albel was still rubbing his injured head. "I told you I was correcting your stance! You stand with your legs to close together and it hinders your balance. You're acting like I stuck my hand up your skirt or something." He stood back from her a bit looking her over. "You know if you hit that fast all the time we wouldn't need to be here."

Sophia felt her anger raising. "Don't go changing the subject." She yelled pointing a finger at him "You could have just told me to move my leg. You were just trying to take advantage of me." She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away from him in a huff.

Albel just scowled at her. "I'm just trying to help you. You're the one misunderstanding me." Then he jerked back as if he was suddenly struck with an epiphany. "Unless…" he leaned forward just a bit and narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't have those thoughts unless you were expecting it. Which means you're the one here acting like a pervert, not me."

Sophia turned back to him angrier than before. "What are you trying to say!"

"I'm saying that the thoughts were already in your mind. If you hadn't thought about me touching you, you wouldn't have jumped to conclusions so fast."

She stammered for just a moment before regaining her composure. "That's absurd!"

"Oh is it."

He quickly strode up to her. She tried to back away but he was just to fast. Soon he was standing right on top of her. "What are you doing?" He was looking her over very carefully almost studying her. She felt her blush deepen under his gaze.

"Just seeing what your reaction was. If you were truly afraid or offended you would have continued to back away and not stop like you did." He lowered his face 'til it was only a few inches away from hers. "You want me to make advances on you."

"Oh" she said backing away from him. "That is so not true. You're the one putting your hands where they don't belong Mr. You don't see me sticking my hand up your skirt."

He backed off a bit and through his hands in the air. "Arrr...this is getting us no where! It's just serving to distract you more."

Sophia balled her hands into fist and held them tightly at her sides. "Oh, if you didn't have such a big head you'd realize just how wrong you are. You couldn't distract me if you wanted to."

"Oh really!" he had his back turned to her and was looking in the other direction. "So now your trying to tell me your not attracted to me?"

She crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "Not in the least."

He moved closer to her and began walking in circles around her. "Is that a fact."

She kept her eyes closed trying her best to ignore him. "Nope not one bit."

He stopped when he was behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He bent down and whispered in her ear. "Care to test that out?" Before she could react his mouth was on her earlobe, nibbling softly. As nice as it felt she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing her react to his touch. She stood as still as she could trying to show him she was telling the truth.

He moved from her ear down her neck trailing searing hot kisses to her shoulder and back again. His hands wandered from her arms down to her waist. He dropped them lower, skimming down her hips. He moved his hands all the way down her skirt until he came across the back of her naked thighs. She couldn't hold it anymore and let a struggled moan escaped her lips.

As soon as he heard her moan he moved his hands back up her thighs, hiking her skirt a bit higher in the process. He moved his lips back up to her ear and lightly nipped at her one last time. "See, think how much easier things would be if you would just admit the truth to yourself."

She shuddered a bit as he pulled away from her but otherwise did not move. Once she caught her breath she spoke up. "Alright so I may find you a bit attractive. You sure play dirty don't you?"

Albel laughed slightly as he continued to walk away from her. "Let that be a lesson to you. You always need to pray on your opponents weaknesses."

She began to walk slowly behind him, not yet ready to face him. "So what's your weakness?"

He stopped and glanced at her over his shoulder. "Well since today's lesion has been thoroughly learned, I suppose that's your test." He then continued walking.

Sophia stood still for a moment thinking over what he had said. She adjusted her skirt as she watched his retreating form disappear around the bend. Determination filled her gaze as she began to follow him. "Alright Albel Nox lets just see what your weakness is."

A/N

Well I hope everyone liked that. Just a little tease. 