"Aren't you going to join them?" You asked your boyfriend, who was currently sitting with you by the mattresses at Sano Dojo.
"Nope," He replied with a smile, throwing an arm around you. "Gonna spend time with my girlfriend."
You sighed, leaning into his arms. "Shinnn, you should though. You literally can't even fight for shit."
Shinichiro pouted at your remark. "Don't worry, even if I'm shit, I'll always protect you no matter what."
Your lips curved into a smile as he hugged you into his chest protectively. You looked over to where Mikey was sparring with Baji. Mikey had the upper-hand and was continuously throwing in punches and kicks at Baji, who you had to give credit to, was actually managing to block some of them. They were both scary good.
"Mikey and Baji with no doubt could single-handedly wipe the floor with you." You teased, planting a quick kiss on the tip of his nose.
"Ha! Those two little punks?" Shinichiro laughed, though abruptly came to a stop when Grandpa Sano loomed over him.
"I think you're the punk here," Grandpa Sano said with a stern face. "Always messing around and never coming to the dojo."
"I'm here, aren't I?" Shinichiro joked.
"Then get your ass over here and come spar!" Grandpa Sano replied.
You laughed and got up, extending your hand out. "Your Grandpa's right. Come on, Shin!"
He let out a laugh and grabbed your hand as you hauled him up.
A small smile tugged at Grandpa Sano's lips but it disappeared just as quick. "Y/n, you should join us too."
"Sure," you said, then looked down at your outfit. "Wait, but my clothes..."
"Come with me," Shinichiro said, pulling you along in the direction of his bedroom.
"Ehh?"
"Can I look now?" Shinichiro asked as he laid on his bed, his arms covering his eyes.
"Wait there," You replied, hopping on one leg to pull up the pants. "Okay you can look now."
Shinichiro immediately sat up and looked over to you. "Hmm, not bad. I like it." He commented as he looked you up and down.
"Not bad?" You repeated, looking at yourself in the mirror as you wore a spare set of Shinichiro's judogi, "I look ridiculous, not gonna lie."
He grinned, "Ridiculously cute."
You snorted, flapping your arm as the sleeves were just a bit too long.
"Now, now, pretty girl. You look adorable, I swear." He replied, hand over his heart.
He stepped closer to you and brought your arms up. "Here," he said, rolling up the sleeves for you. Then he bent down on his knees and did the same for the bottom of the pants.
Out of habit, you stroked his hair as a sign of gratitude, "Thank you, Shin."
He grinned, looking up to you. "You're welcome, my angel. Now let's go kick some ass."
"The only ass getting kicked is yours," You grinned as he took your hand and led you out his room.
"I wouldn't mind if it was by you,"
"Idiot," you sighed, though not before you let your head rest on his shoulder. He planted a kiss on your head and smiled. You smiled back, flowers blooming within your stomach as your heart softly fluttered.
"Come on, lovebirds!" Grandpa Sano shouted, shattering the romantic atmosphere as he waved you over.
Shinichiro kept your hand in his, swinging them as you two walked over to where the others were.
The truth was, you already knew how to fight - a little. Shinichiro had taught you in the previous timeline. For a shitty fighter, he was surprisingly knowledgeable when it came to fighting. So why exactly he couldn't fight was still a mystery to you. Anyways, thanks to him, you considered yourself pretty decent and could probably hold your own in a fight.
"Before you actually start throwing punches, make sure to get into a stance first." Shinichiro guided, turning your body to the side as he positioned you into the correct stance.
The dojo was empty in the evening save for you and Shinichiro. Earlier, you had asked him to teach you how to fight - even though you knew he was a pretty shit fighter. But, he had to at least know some moves, right? After all, he was a delinquent - Black Dragon's president to be exact, he must've witnessed numerous fights and have a basic knowledge on how to fight.
"Make sure you keep most of your weight on the balls of your feet and bend your knees slightly so you're able to move around quickly and easily." He instructed.
You did as you were told, your feet light as you kept most of your weight on the balls of your feet.
Shinichiro put a hand on your shoulder. "Relax, sweetheart. Avoid tensing your body." He said from behind. You could feel his warm breath down your neck and his fingers that lingered on your shoulder for a second too long. You bit down on your lip and turned your head to glower at him.
"It's a bit hard when you're so close and touchy." You retorted.
Your remark instantly brought a grin to Shinichiro's face. "Why, are you falling for me, Y/n?"
You immediately denied his claim with a furious shake of your head. "No way,"
"Uh-huh. And denial is the first step of acceptance."
"And you're crazy,"
"Yeah. Crazy for you."
You rolled your eyes. Here we go again. "I'm not interested."
"Yeah, I'm aware." He replied. "But you'll change your mind. I'm sure of it."
"You sure do have a lot of confidence in yourself."
"It's one of my traits, charming isn't it?" Shinichiro grinned.
"Very," you replied sarcastically.
"See, you're already becoming interested, aren't you?"
"Interested in finding ways to beat the shit out of you," you muttered under your breath and raised your fist to punch him in the arm.
You didn't even mean to punch him that hard - honest, but he let out a genuine groan of pain.
"Jheeze, looks like I don't need to teach you how to throw a punch." He winced, rubbing his arm. You nearly reached out to console him, feeling bad, but then remembered how much he infuriated you.
Whoops. Sorry not sorry.
You threw him a saccharine smile. "Less talk, more work, please."
True to your words, you kicked Shinichiro's ass. Every. Single. Round.
"You're ruthless. You know that right?" Shinichiro groaned, spreading across the dojo mats like a starfish.
You joined him, taking a gulp of water from the bottle that Emma offered you when she came to the dojo after hearing you were here.
She often came to the dojo to practise some judo but now that she knew some basic self defence, she came less often. Instead, like any other little girl she preferred to play with her plushies and read girly magazines.
"But you still love me," You grinned, lying down next to him.
"Always have and always will," He replied, turning his head to face you. "Say that you love me too, Y/n."
"I love you, Shinichiro." You said, pulling his face towards you so that you could kiss him lightly on the lips.
His heart clenched, eyes gleaming with warm euphoria. He kissed you back unhurriedly, wanting to savour the moment and appreciate how soft and sweet your lips were; how good they felt against his lips.
He brushed his lips against yours, and you let out a small gasp when he tugs your lips softly.
It was the way that you completely melted into him that made his head spin and his heart thunder like crazy. You were the cause of his euphoria; his reason to look forward to every day, his source of motivation. You were his everything.
You tug his lips in retaliation and he lets out a moan, kissing you harder until you were the only thing he could feel, smell and think about.
Regrettably, he pulls back and places his hand over your cheek. Brushing your hair away from your face, he pulled you closer to him so that you were nestled in the crook of his neck.
"You'll be the death of me, pretty girl." He murmured.
You clenched his shirt, "Don't talk about death..." you whispered. "It's unlucky."
Don't chance it.
"Superstitious much?"
Superstition had nothing to do with it.
"Fuck, I'm sorry." Shinichiro apologised, panicking a little inside as he sensed your worry. "I didn't mean to-"
You lifted your head and used your fingers to pull his lips into a smile. "Hey, stop it. You didn't upset me or anything."
"Are you sure? Seriously, Y/n, if I did anything wrong, just tell me."
"Shin, seriously. You didn't do anything wrong." You smiled, shaking your head.
He let out a sigh and smiled back. "Okay,"
But in the back of his mind, there was a niggling feeling nipping at him. He couldn't explain it but he felt like he was missing something. Something important. Something that you were keeping from him.
Something had flashed across your eyes when he said 'death' and your voice felt so vulnerable, so sad when you told him not to speak about it. He didn't miss the way you stiffened in his arms either, as your hands fisted his shirt. Of course, he was no body language expert and he could've totally misinterpreted everything, but it was those niggling feelings, his gut instincts screaming at him that something was not quite right.
Shinichiro shook his head, banishing his thoughts. Now was not the time. He was probably imagining things, or his brain was tricking him into misery because everything seemed too perfect.
But everything was perfect with you by his side.
"Come ride with me tonight?" He asked, intertwining his fingers with yours.
"Do I have a choice?" You teased, looking at how your hand fit perfectly in his.
He grinned, and nuzzled into your hair, inhaling your comforting scent. "Of course not."
