I have returned from my one day no-writey-writey to make something. Saturday was fun by the way. Thanks for asking. If any of you did that is. To those people, you are nice. This has gone on for too long hasn't it been. On with the notes!

0.1 Of 0.3: If some have failed to notice I will point it out now. Ahri POV is where most of the romance stuff happens and the Zoh stuff is whatever the hell I want it to be.

One less than 0.3 and one more than 0.1 Of 0.3: There are about thirty more chapters until I consider something lemony so if you are one of those kinds of people then you're gonna have to wait. (This is a god-damn lie. Damnit old-me!)

0.3 Of banana: Something I noticed while I was reading over chapter 8 for mistakes was that I can tell what kind of mood I was in while writing. It's pretty damn obvious when I'm in a random mood and it was also obvious when I was in a romantic mood. I find it funny for some reason. See if you can tell what mood I'm in while writing this. We can make a game of it. Wonderful.

Old-me needs to lighten up on the fucking short sentences. Jesus fucking Christ man, use a damn comma every once in a while!

Oh yeah and…


THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED RETROACTIVELY


Chapter 10: The Creation

After at the very least an hour, Zoh had succeeded in making a fancy-looking table. That was it. A table…

What the hell were we supposed to do with that?

I was sat on Zoh's armchair with my feet over one of the armrests and my head on the other. Most of my tails were squished between my butt and the sofa, but one of them was out in front of me, holding a drink. I did try to look interested whenever Zoh looked over at me, but he knew that I was bored out of my mind and wordlessly urging him to hurry up.

I was mid-way through dozing off when a small explosion jolted me up. Immediately following that, Zoh let out a cheer of joy.

My tail put the drink aside on a table as I got up from the chair, wiping my weary eyes and yawning. What stood before me was a wooden table with small, stubby legs but a thick and tall top. Patterns had been carved into the wood and it was embellished with delicately-crafted lengths of metal. Every corner had been sanded down and the edges rounded. The top of the table had a large indent on the majority of its surface that was covered in green fabric. It had holes in its four corners and two in the middles of the longest sides, one on each side. An assortment of plainly-coloured and striped balls were placed in a triangle shape.

I tried to figure out what Zoh had made for a few moments before I felt a nudge on my arm. When I looked over, he was holding two metre long sticks that were slightly thinner at one end than the other.

"I made billiards!"

"What is it and how long will it take for me to beat you?"

"Oh please, I've been playing this game for years. There's no way you're going to beat me."

"I don't know, I seem to remember specifically beating you at something you were vastly more experienced at not too long ago..."

He smiled confidently and leaned on the table while suggesting: "If you're so sure that you can beat me, then how about we have another bet? If I win, you no longer have any power over me what-so-ever."

"And if I win we do whatever I want to do for the rest of the day and you have to pretend to enjoy it. No 'if's', 'and's' or 'but's' about it. Also, I get to ignore the restrictions I've put on myself if I want to."

"Thankfully, I don't really have to care about a single word you just said, cause I know precisely how easy this is going to be. By the way, the only conditions are that we have one practice game before the main one and you are not allowed to use your tails. I don't know how they would help you here, but I'm sure it'd be bullshit and I'd get angry."

I took one of the sticks from him and turned to the table before giggling: "This is going to be a fun day."

Twenty minutes later (15:30):

"So, how about you go ahead and take a guess at what we're doing first."

"Something that I won't enjoy or will get annoyed at myself for enjoying."

"Definitely the second one. First off, we're going to have to break the limit on kissing."

"Do we really-"

"Ah, ah, ah! You're not allowed to argue."

"But I didn't use 'if', 'and' or 'but'. Technically within the rules."

"Oh shut up already." I ordered with a giggle, grabbing him by the neck and guiding him towards me. Our lips met, but it wasn't quite right. It was obvious to me that Zoh was grumpy enough to be refusing to put any effort into it. So, my tails pulled his hands onto my butt and I squished myself against him.

It didn't take long for my coaxing get him into it. I could almost feel his attitude lighten as he gave my ass a squeeze and started to kiss back properly. At that point I was pretty confident that I had him in the palm of my hand, so I carefully led him towards the bed. When I felt my leg graze the bed, I leaned over until I fell onto it, taking Zoh with me. Immediately, I rolled on top of him and I was about to undo his shirt when I got a feeling that we weren't alone anymore. When I looked to the door, I was not even remotely surprised at who I saw.

"Rengar informed me that there was something I had an interest in seeing. Is anything of note going on?"

I glared at Shen before answering: "Nothing that you should care about is happening, so can you go ahead and leave? Also, tell Rengar to not spy on us."

"Very well then. Come Rengar, we would do well to leave them be."

"Aww, but I was going to jump-scare them so hard." Rengar whined while appearing out of thin air in the middle of the room and going over to Shen.

"Please do endeavour to get back to the… how do the kids say it… copulation. We shall be leaving. With Nocturne."

The doors to the closet opened and Nocturne floated out.

"Why is everyone watching us?" Zoh questioned from beneath me, his tone making it clear he was not as bothered by the situation as I was.

"Me and Rengar were going to scare the hell out of you two but Shen ruined it by barging right in. You'd think a goddamn ninja would be able to realise when a situation requires some stealth."

"I did not realise your intent. I apologise for the inconvenience."

"Don't apologise for that Shen. You saved both of these guys from a beating."

"This situation is developing into quite a conflicting beast, so I shall be leaving now. Swiftly." Shen concluded before clasping his hands together and mumbling something, several blue rings appearing around his body. Moments later he disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving Nocturne and Rengar by the door.

"Well we can't scare you now, so I guess I'll go find Morgana or something."

A few seconds later Rengar was the only one left.

"I guess I'll go kill something. I wonder if there's any new void creatures stumbling around these days…" He pondered out loud.

"If you do find any, go ahead and use this if you want." Zoh offered while chucking a small, metal sphere to Rengar, continuing: "Just press the red button and throw it. I think it explodes."

"Ah, wonderful." Rengar grinned while clipping the small device onto his armour and stepping out.

I sighed and rested my head on Zoh's chest. All that had definitely achieved one thing the guy under me would probably appreciate.

"Well, I'm definitely not in the mood anymore. I guess we'll just have to do something else."

"Cool. Any ideas?"

"Not really, but I guess we could go shopping for cool stuff. You'll carry it all though. I gotta get something out of that bet."

"Sounds easy enough. I mean, how much can one person buy?"

Twenty minutes later (16:00):

"How much can one person buy?!" Zoh exclaimed, struggling to carry the enormous amount of things I had bought on a whim. I did intentionally buy some extra heavy stuff just to mess with him, including a set of weight I planned on never using.

"Let's think back shall we? There's about seven bags of clothes, six of things which I won't ever use but got anyway and three of things which will make life easier for me and harder for you. So, to answer your question, a lot. And we're not even done yet." I answered while inspecting everything on display in the windows of the shops we passed, hoping to find more to see how strong Zoh really was.

"And I bet I'll have to carry that stuff too."

"Yeah, of course. You don't have any wars to fight these days, so I've got to find some way of keeping you in shape. I don't think that other thing we could do would be enough on its own."

"I have thousands of ways to keep in shape if I feel like I'm not doing enough in my average day here."

"Like?"

"Well, there's-"

"Stop! Everything! What is that!? Oh my god look at it it's so fluffy and cute and small and we're getting one! Or a hundred! A hundred would be better!"

"This is going to be such a pain in the ass…" Zoh mumbled as I bolted towards the shop. I had absolutely no idea what those 'Poro' things were, but I wanted one.

When I stepped into the Poro shop I stopped in my tracks by the large glass animal-pen in the centre of the room. It was inhabited by a few dozen of the Poro creatures that were, essentially, smiling fluff-balls. They were about a foot tall and wide with big eyes, two tiny horns on their heads and big, wide mouths. Most had their tongues hanging out of their mouths and, when I leaned in a bit closer, I also noticed that they all had four tiny, stubby legs.

Zoh stepped up next to me and set down the shopping, prompting me to turn with the biggest smile I could pull off. He raised an eyebrow at me before asking: "You remember you won the bet, right?"

"Yeah, but I'd really like for you to not fire it into space as soon as the clock ticks over to one past midnight."

"… Fine. I guess I'll just have to find something else to do with my night." He stated, making my smile turn a bit seductive. He immediately added: "No."

"At least I get one of these adorable fellas. You can just go ahead and get the boring, necessary stuff."

"Ooh yay, more stuff to carry. I couldn't be happier."

"Less moaning, more buying."

He grumbled and picked up the shopping while walking off as I knelt down to get a closer look. Most of them shied away from me when I put my hands on the top of the pen's wall, however one didn't really seem to mind at all. It was too focused trying to balance itself while upside-down to care about what I was doing. I felt like we made a real connection when I reached a hand in and helped to keep it balanced.

I heard someone walking up behind me and, when I looked back at him, it was one of the employees of the shop.

"Have you come to decision on which one you want?"

"How much is this one?"

"It's free for Champions."

"How do you keep in business if it's free?"

"We get paid tons by the head honchos around here just for offering this service to Champions and Summoners."

"Cool. So, do I have to sign something?"

"Yes, but not that much. Just pick up the Poro and follow me to the counter."

I reached over the barrier and picked up the Poro in both hands. Hugging it closely to me, I followed the assistant who headed over to the other side of the room. After reading over some documents and signing stuff to confirm I wasn't about to make Poro soup, I was the official owner of an unfairly adorable ball of fluff.

"Just so you know, your friend is already done and waiting outside."

"Thanks. I better go find him before he gets bored and leaves."

I waved goodbye and picked up my Poro before heading to the entrance. I noticed Zoh leaning against one of the windows of the shop as I emerged into the shopping centre. When I stepped over to him I saw a hint of hope reach his eyes.

"Are we done now?"

"Yes Zoh, we're done. We can head home now. Accounting for corners and everything, it's only a mile or so from here."

Twenty minutes later (16:30):

We arrived back at the room in two completely different moods. Zoh was being very grumpy for the entire journey home, but I just couldn't stop smiling at our Poro. We hadn't managed to find a name for it and I was perfectly okay with blaming that fact on Zoh's bad mood.

I didn't expect to change that mood for the better, so I decided to compound the issue when we reached the door to our room. I stepped to the side of it and nodded my head at it, signalling for Zoh to open it for me.

He stared at me curiously before asking: "Do you really…"

"Yep."

"Uh, my hands are kinda full right now."

"Make them un-full."

He glared at me for a few moments, probably hoping I was joking, before dropping everything to the floor. After gripping the handle hard enough to bend it slightly, he threw the door open. He stepped aside and signalled for me to go in, the most obviously forced smile in the history of the planet resting on his face. I flashed a genuine smile back before heading in and sitting myself down on the sofa. I sat the Poro down on the coffee table as Zoh chucked all the shopping to the side of the room.

When he came over and sat down next to me, I noted: "It looks like a 'Bob' to me."

"Honestly Ahri, I don't care what you call it. No matter what you decide, I'm going to be calling it some variation of 'that thing' until I start liking it."

"Well then, that's settled. Its name shall be Bob."

We both stared at it for a few seconds before Zoh questioned: "What does this thing actually do?"

"I don't know. I guess it just sits there… Being cute."

"Huh… well, I'm a bit hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Yeah I guess. Shall we go look for a restaurant?"

"We could just make something here."

"Only if we had a kitchen."

"We do." Zoh corrected while pointing over to the wall with the button to the island. Right next to it was one labelled 'Kitchen'.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that thing. I'm pretty sure I've used it before, so I really am forgetful."

"Either that or extremely unobservant."

Thirty minutes later (17:00):

"Zoh can you make anything without explosions being involved."

"Yeah… I can make some stuff. Like, I made a fork once that didn't explode. It set on fire, but it didn't explode!" He declared proudly.

"But you can't make waffles without making this?" I queried while pointing a finger at the smouldering hole in the table.

"It wasn't the waffles' fault. The explosives were in the ketchup. You have to hand it to me though, that was a nice explosion."

"Yeah, it was. And I guess I'm pretty full anyway, so let's just go find something to do that won't explode."

"I can make darts."

"They better not take hours to make."

"No worries there. Five minutes at most."

"Great." I smiled before standing up and pressing the button on the wall. When I appeared back in the main room, I headed straight over to Zoh's. After sitting myself down on the same chair as the one I'd been on earlier, I laid back and waited as Zoh started digging through the piles of stuff. He grabbed a bunch of seemingly-random things and threw them down on a table.

After working away for a minute or so, he suddenly froze solid. I could hear a faint sizzling coming from the board he was working on and, I guessed, so did he.

In a flash of sudden movement, he grabbed the board and hurled it across the room. It slammed into a wall and dropped to the floor as Zoh ran over and dived behind my chair. After a few moments the board let out a small puff of smoke and the sizzling stopped, prompting Zoh to come out from his hiding spot.

"Well that was… disappointing."

He went back over to the board and picked it up. After only a few more minutes of work, he finished and went over to hang the board on the wall.

I got up as he returned to the centre of the room and accepted some darts as he offered them. When I turned to the board and took aim, he cautioned: "If the board starts smoking, feel free to take cover behind something."

"If you don't mind me asking, why would something as simple as a dart-board explode?"

"I don't know. It just happens."

"Oh come on, do you really think I believe that you don't know anything on the subject?"

"Yes. Sometimes it's best to not discover why something happens, and just accept that it happens. In some ways it's similar to a placebo. It works because you think it works."

"I guess that makes sense. Who doesn't love a little mystery, after all?"

I went to aim at the board before stopping for a second and grinning over at him: "Hey, we could have another bet-"

"Nope. Honestly, I'm utterly terrible at darts."

"Okay then. I was only going to make you feed Bob for a week, but I'm probably going to get you to do that anyway." I admitted before finally taking my shot.

By the time we were done, I'd won four of the five games we played. At least, we were pretty sure those were the results. Neither of us actually knew how the scoring system for that game worked, so we were just going by how close our shots were to the centre.

As Zoh went about cleaning up the darts, many of which had gone into the wall, I strutted over to the door. I wasn't sure how much help locking the door would do considering the kind of things that normally interrupted us, but it was worth a shot.

Zoh must have noticed the distinct sway in my hips as I approached him slowly, and he offered no resistance or complaints when I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled us together. I stared into his eyes for a moment before leaning in for a gentle kiss.

It took a few moments, but eventually I had the willpower to pull away. By then I didn't need any convincing that there was only one thing we could do to satisfy my desire for Zoh. The intense, animalistic need was what made me practically drag him over to the bed and shove him onto it. I crawled onto him and leaned in real close before asking: "Sure you're still okay with doing this?"

He gazed up at me for a few moments before a warm smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah, I think I can forget about the 'just friends' thing for a couple hours. Just so long as no-one else knows what happens here."

The next morning (08:30):

Zoh's POV:

It was hard to tell if they were broken… somehow… or just dim by design, but the magical flames in my room were not doing their job of illuminating the place very well. I could just barely make out the outlines of objects and the areas of walls directly behind the flames were pretty well lit up, but I really wouldn't have noticed a whole lot of difference if they weren't on at all.

Despite the lacklustre lighting, I could describe every single detail about the fox-lady snuggling against my chest. I had spent a lot of time the night before getting intimately acquainted with her and, despite a few lingering sensations that I should not have, it was impossible to feel that I made a mistake. I'd never felt quite as peaceful as the time I got to spend with Ahri cuddled in my arms, her gentle breathing against my stomach. Her ears flicked slightly every time my hands stroked just a bit too close to them. Often when she shifted in her sleep I would get a glimpse of the satisfied smile that seemed to be stuck on her face, quite similar to the one that covered mine. Of course, my expression was closer to what you'd expect from a guy who just had sex for the first time.

After a while, Ahri started to gradually awaken. I kept stroking her hair as she wiped her eyes and looked up at me. Goddamn she was beautiful.

She stared at me for a few moments before shuffling up to me and planting a short kiss on my lips, whispering: "Hey."

"Hey."

"I'm guessing that was as good for you as it was for me."

"What gave it away?"

"You're still here, for one, and you're still lovingly stroking me. Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep facing away from you."

"I woke up like this and I wasn't about to get myself out of a position this comfy."

She smiled at me and placed a kiss on my cheek before shuffling back down and placing her head on my chest. We stayed like that for a few minutes with the only movement in the room being the gentle flickering of the flames and my hand as it stroked Ahri's hair.

Seemingly out of the blue, she quietly asked: "You know, I think I'm already noticing some of the nicer benefits of last night."

"Anything in particular you're referring to?"

Ahri turned her head up to me and stared me directly in the eyes. At that point it felt like nothing could turn my attention away from her stunningly pretty, golden eyes.

"You're doing it right now."

I gave her a quizzical look before she continued: "I am lying here completely naked, but all you can do is look into my eyes and stroke my hair."

"Those aren't the only things I can do." I replied while ducking my head down to give Ahri a kiss, which she eagerly accepted. When we broke apart, I pulled her into a hug.

I had an odd feeling which irked me enough to open my eyes. I let out a deep, aggravated sigh when I saw Shen standing at the end of the bed.

"Shen, for the love of fuck, please tell me you just arrived."

"I was walking by a few hours ago and decided to pay you two a visit. When I discovered you in this room, I realised that you were clearly having some relationship issues and were attempting to settle them. I decided to leave you to it for a few hours but I must say I do not condone solving your problems with wrestling. A simple chat over some tea would be a better alternative."

"There's so much wrong with what you just said that I'm not sure where to start. Do you have any idea what people in relationships do with each other?"

"No. I must admit, I have no experience in the subject. There was not much time in my training schedule dedicated to relationship building. To think of it, there wasn't any... That said, I still don't see how fighting is the answer to your issues?"

I brought both my hands up to my face before dragging them down and sighing: "Okay, first off, we weren't wrestling. It was something entirely different. Secondly, today we're going to teach you the basics of privacy because her silence means Ahri's annoyed and, to be honest, so am I to an extent."

"Perfect. I had not a single thing planned for today. I imagined it was going to be rather boring and uneventful, but now we get to spend the day training. I do suggest we get to it post-haste. Best not let sleepiness impede our attempts at self-improvement."

Ahri's expression turned to a mix of anger and confusion as she mouthed: "What?"

"Listen, buddy, tone it down a notch. You sound like an over-enthusiastic teacher trying to convince his students that maths is cool. Plus, this isn't really going to be some sort of extensive training regime. We are just going to tell you about it then see if you can do it. We'll have plenty of spare time."

"It's gonna take weeks…" Ahri mumbled.

"Do not fear, for I am a fast learner. However, I sense Ahri's aggression and I do not wish to be on fire, so I shall take my leave for the breakfast buffet."

He gave a polite bow before teleporting away.

When I looked back to Ahri, she was massaging her temples with her hands.

"How can a person be so dim and so smart at the same time?"

"I justify it by reminding myself he's been a ninja since he was, at best, five. Not a whole lot of time for social development."

She shrugged before poking me in the chest: "Just know that you owe me for roping me into this."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We'll sort that out later when I'm not hungry. Speaking of which…"

One hour later (10:00):

Me, Ahri and Shen sat around a table in the middle of one of the leagues many gardens. Ahri was slumped over the table with her head rested on her crossed arms. Shen looked as emotionless as ever and I was slowly developing the kind of headache that makes you give up on life for a day.

"So then let's round up what we have learnt so far. If two people who are in a relationship go into a bedroom together and you hear certain noises what do you do?"

"At that point I leave them to whatever it is they are doing."

"Good, we are making progress. Next up: if someone goes into the bathing area, alone or with someone else, what do you do?"

"I don't follow them in and meditate."

"Correct. Now finally: do you, at any point, enter someone else's house or room without their permission?"

"Yes if the balance in the area must be corrected."

Ahri butted in: "No. If you want to get in just knock on the door and ask!"

"What if the owner of the housing space is my enemy, or what if they are not in?"

"If there is something wrong in someone's house you just ask a Summoner and if they are not in you leave and go back later!"

"What if I am trying to balance someone like Zed's house for example? Most summoners would not want to disturb him."

"With people like him you just don't bother. If you balance his room he's just going to put it all back again later. And you can't kill him so it's not worth the effort." I replied in a vain attempt to make Ahri leave the conversation again before she could set Shen on fire.

"I believe I mostly understand, so I shall go meditate over this. Before I go, I shall just say that you two make for an adorable couple."

He disappeared like usual, leaving me and Ahri alone at the table. She still had her head buried in her arms, so I patted her on the back and attempted to comfort her: "Just be thankful that is all the training we're going to bother with today. And, since I dragged you into this, I'll let you decide what you want to do today."

She pulled her head up and turned to me: "I suppose we still have all that stuff I bought yesterday. Speaking of which, where's Bob?"

"Last I saw, he was watching League matches. I don't know how he managed that, but he seemed to be enjoying it, so I left him to it."

"I can already tell that we're going to have an odd time with that Poro."

"Yeah, he seems fun. Now, let's go find those board-games you bought. I'm sure I can beat you at one of them at least."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll have a chance with the luck-based ones."

Thirty minutes later (10:35):

The sun shone through a thin layer of clouds down through the main room's skylight. Down below me and Ahri sat on the carpet with many board games strewn across the floor. A large amount of them were burned and others had been cut into many pieces by an axe. My one, to be precise.

At that moment myself and Ahri were playing something called 'Jenga'. I was not quite sure what it was or even who was winning but I did know that this was the last one and if I won either the board or me was going to be set on fire.

Just as Ahri was about to remove a piece Shen burst through the door.

"I need help!"

The sudden noise and burst of movement caused Ahri to flinch and knock over the tower.

"HAHA yes!"

"Aww come on, this doesn't count! And you, what did we say about knocking?!" Ahri asked while turning and throwing her arms in the air out of anger.

"I apologise but something has happened and I do not know how to react to it! I've not been so unsure since I was a child and it is freaking me out!"

I got up and stepped over to Shen before asking: "What happened?"

"I was meditating over our lessons when Akali came in and asked to join me. I let her and after a while we got into a conversation. We asked about each other's days and I told her about what I saw last night. From there things spiralled out of control and eventually she somehow ended up asking me on a date and I said 'yes'. What do I do? You haven't trained me for this yet."

I heard Ahri restraining laughter from behind me, much the same as I was. It took me a moment to regain my composure before I could ask: "So you and Akali, the female ninja we met in that forest ages ago, are going on a date?"

"Yes. What is a date? I only have experience in terms of calendar dates! And even then, I'm not a calendar, so I don't know much about how those feel either!"

"Wow, you do not make much sense when you're in a panic. Anyway, the basics are that the two of you are going to do something of your choice together for a few hours. Preferably something that you will both enjoy."

"Why would she ask this of me? What have I done to deserve this?"

"Couldn't tell you. One more question though: have your parents ever had 'that' talk with you? Has anyone?"

"I had many conversations with my parents when they were alive."

"So then, I guess the job falls to me… damn. Shen just… go ahead and take a seat on the sofa. I was hoping to put this off for as long as I could, but I don't think we'll get a better time than now."

Shen went to sit down on the sofa and I sat on the chair on the other side of the coffee table. Ahri sat down next to Shen, still trying to hold in her laughter.

"Right, so, this 'wrestling' thing…"

One incomprehensibly awkward conversation later:

"So you and Ahri were…"

"Yeah…"

"But I thought you said that this was only something you do with someone when you are more than just friends?"

"Me and Ahri are… uh… I don't know… honestly not sure. Let's just say we have a 'special' relationship. It's mid-way between best friends and who knows what."

"So that is why you…"

"Yeah that's why we did… you know… it."

"And Akali wishes to do a similar thing with me?"

"I would guess so."

"I suppose I could do that. Do you have any idea why she wishes to do this with me?"

"No, I don't. Has she even seen your face?"

"She is the only living person who has."

"Not even the squirrel thing?"

"Kennen has no interest in what I look like."

"Well, you may have to expand the list of people who've seen your face after tonight, because I don't think you can go to a date wearing a mask."

"People might judge me differently if they have seen my face."

"But if you don't act like you and wear some different clothes, then…"

"People will not know it is me."

"So all we have to do is get you something to wear and find you something to do with Akali and we'll be golden."

A sceptical look appeared on Ahri's face as she pointed out: "Sorry to say, but Shen, you're not exactly that good at acting casual. We're going to have to spend a lot of time teaching you how to act like a normal human being."

"And, we'll also have to keep an eye on you throughout to make sure you don't mess up too badly."

"I do not believe that will be particularly easy. Akali has a keen eye and will know if you're giving me directions from nearby."

I stroked my chin for a few moments before a solution popped to mind.

"I've got just the thing."

I got up from my chair and went through to my room. After digging around in the weapons pile for a moment, I found what I was looking for. A sniper rifle with a highly advanced scope and a pair of spotter's binoculars. I grabbed them and hauled them back through to the main room before setting them down beside my chair.

"We can use these to monitor Shen and Akali from a distance."

"You're not going to shoot us are you?"

"No, but I don't have another pair of binoculars and this thing will explode if I pull the scope off." I answered proudly while patting the high-calibre death-machine on its side.

I chucked the binoculars to Ahri, who put them up to her eyes. She jumped back in her seat while holding them away from her face before looking through them again and smiling. As she looked around the room with them pressed against her eyes, I started to explain the plan to Shen: "Okay you and Akali are going to dinner tonight. I'll give you directions to it in a minute and we'll reserve you a table. Me and Ahri will set up on the roof in a position that we can see into the restaurant through this massive window on one of the walls. If you mess something up I will tell you through this." I pulled an ear-piece out of my jacket pocket and passed it to him before continuing: "Put that in your ear and we will be able to hear everything that is going on and I will tell you if you mess up. It'll go invisible when it's in, so don't worry about her seeing it."

"I hope this all goes well. Akali has a habit of punching me in the arm if I do something wrong."

"Oh come on, you're supposed to be tanky. How can a little punch hurt?"

"She's got a lot of practice with punching things. A lot of it on me."

"Right, well, we better make sure that doesn't happen then. Best way to do that is planning and practice, so I will go buy you something nice to wear, after you've given me your measurements, and Ahri here will teach you how to talk to women. That is, if she ever gets tired of looking at lamps and paintings with binoculars."

Ahri pulled them from her face and nodded her agreement as I and Shen sat up to get to work.

Many hours later (18:00):

Despite how nearly-impossible it was, I couldn't help but feel like I recognised some of the stars that dotted the sky. It almost made me feel home-sick, staring at the sky and knowing that somewhere, deep in the endless sea of darkness above me, was my home planet. My childhood was up there. My family, what was left of them, were up there. A whole lot of things I desperately wanted to forget were up there.

I tried to pry my attention away from the stars and back to the task at hand. We'd set up on a roof opposite the restaurant, giving us a perfect view of what was happening inside with the two ninjas. Though, we weren't checking up on them much unless we heard one of the keywords.

"How's Shen doing?" Ahri questioned as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"He's actually doing well. You must have done a good job teaching him."

"Lesson learned: threaten him with fire and he suddenly learns a lot faster."

"That's not very nice but I honestly couldn't care with how well it's working."

"Thanks." She went silent for a second before going on: "Hey I was meaning to ask you, what are we going to do once this is over? As much as I'd like to, I don't think I can convince you to do the same thing we did last night."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. You do have a certain 'charm' to you."

"Ugh, stop! That was terrible." She groaned while shoving my arm.

"Hey, I thought that was the idea of puns. To be as terrible as possible!"

"You suck so much sometimes."

Just as Ahri stopped talking, the unmistakeable sound of kissing came through our earpieces.

I raised an eyebrow and asked: "Did they just…"

"Yeah."

"Huh…"

"It's barely been ten minutes!"


HAHA cliff-hanger!

Lots of fun stuff in this chapter including the almost-but-managed-to-avoid-it lemon and Shen getting to do some fun stuff. I enjoyed it.

I'll be honest the almost-lemon was just so that I could have some more awkward Shen moments.

Hope you all enjoyed and goodbye!