"Ai-ya!"

Swish

Whack

The sound of wood hitting wood echoed across the training grounds as the two combatants pushed away from each other before lunging again and meeting once again in the center, their wooden training swords crossing the middle of their bodies as they struggled to make the other lose their balance and fall back.

Kayami stared furiously into the eyes of Kouen, who had decided to spar with Kayami who had been stroked into a fighting anger by Judar...again.

She gritted her teeth at the mere memory of it...

Poke

Poke

Twitch

"Okay! I think that's enough with the cheek poking, Judar!" Kayami said as she slapped his hand away from her face.

Judar pouted and rubbed the abused limb, she didn't hit him that hard but he liked to act like that she did to see if she'll give in and let him keep poking her cheek...it doesn't work.

"Why are you even poking my cheek?"

"Because it's so squishy," Judar said as he placed his palms of her cheeks and squished them, making her do a fish face. "Bwahaha! You look so stupid right now!"

"Shut up! Just who do you think is making me make this face, you bastard?!" Though it didn't sound as clear as that but he was able to figure it out.

Judar smirked at the angry older girl before him as he continued to squish her cheeks together, her eye brow was twitching in anger before she slaps his offending hands away.

"Stop it! Gah! Why are you so annoying today?!" Kayami flailed her arms angrily as Judar pointed and laughed at her funny reactions.

"Because I can't find the old hag so you're the next best thing for curing my boredom." Judar said smiling.

"Stop calling Gyoku an old hag," Kayami said poking his ribs sharply. "And you really need to find something better to do when you're bored."

Judar scoffed and slapped her hand away before he crossed his arms over his chest and said, "No way, you and her are by far the most entertaining people here...your reactions are so funny."

"Damn Sadistic Magi..."

Pinch

Pull

"Ow! Let go, you bastard!"

"That wasn't very nice, Kayami...you should apologize before I pull your cheek off." Judar threatened as he pulled her cheek.

"Okay! I'm sorry! Now let go!"

Judar released her cheek with a smirk and Kayami rubbed the poor abused flesh, gah even she didn't pull that hard when she was doing the same thing to Koumei.

"See? You're so funny~"

"Seriously though you need to find better things to do when you're bored," Kayami said as she kept rubbing her abused cheek. "And no killing puppies or kittens."

"Why did you have to add that last part?"

"Because that's something you would do."

"You're so rude...why do I let you live?"

"Because, and I quote, 'You'll be bored without me with just Kougyoku relieving your boredom'." Kayami said making air quotes with her fingers as she spoke.

"Ah, that's right." Judar said snapping his fingers when he remembered saying that to her once when she had asked him why he only threatened to kill her for her rudeness and not actually carry it out.

They were silent as Judar went back to poking Kayami's cheek, she allowed him to do it without complaining as she thought about their relationship...which was really weird, they had this weird older sister and younger brother bond...if the young brother was a homicidal, sadistic war loving brother like Judar.

"Hey, Judar?"

"Hm?"

"Am I your toy or friend?"

"I don't have any friends so you're my toy."

Kayami hummed at that but doesn't respond any further, she knew that he would say that but in reality he most likely did view her as a friend but he just didn't want to admit it out loud.

"Why?"

"Nothing I was just wondering..."

Judar just shrugged and goes back to poking her cheek before she got fed up with it, she reached down to the basket next to her and proceeded to shove a cooked peach slice into his mouth...something she had cooked before for Gyoku and Kouha once because they wanted to try the sweet treat from her homeland but Judar had stolen some and tried them and ever since then he had been nagging her to cook them for him.

He ate the fruit that she had shoved into his mouth, "Hey! That hurt! You could have choked me!"

Kayami stared at him before she said, "You couldn't have choked with that small of a slice, Judar."

"Whatever...just don't do it again!"

"Fine, fine...just eat your peach slices before they get cold and I have to hear you complain about them getting cold." Kayami said as she hands him the small basket.

"I don't complain." Judar said before he started to eat the slices.

Kayami choose to ignore the comment, she didn't want him to go back to poking her just because she didn't agree with his 'I don't complain' comment...which was a lie and they both knew it, or at least she did, Judar would, like the thing about Gyoku and her being his friends, not admit it and deny it until his dying day.

Of course he had to ruin that peaceful moment by almost freezing her after he ate all the snacks she had made for him...ungrateful bastard.

Nobody else wanted to spar with her so Kouen had volunteered to help her cool her anger down by having a aggressive sparring match. So they both donned Kou sparring clothes and grabbed wooden practice swords because sparring with really swords was just asking for trouble...either of them could afford fighting with only one arm.

Kayami leapt back and got into a ready stance, Kouen doing the same before they lunged again but this time they kept at each other. Striking and slashing at each other but they were able to block most of the blows though there were a few that got past their defenses. But they didn't let that stop them, the goal was to disarm one of them and to knock them flat on their back.

Kouen was surprised on how well Kayami could fight with a sword, of course he had seen her fight on the battlefield before but to actually have her as an opponent was something else entirely. She fights with swift and precise strikes, with constant shifting in her body stance, similar to a gymnast. Through this, she is able to keep up a continuous attack that leaves little time for countering.

But since he had seen her fight countless times, he had memorized her fighting pattern so he can do this!

He lifted his sword just as she was lifting her and smacked the wooden, solid blade against the back of her hand causing her to drop it because the pain was too great for her to continue holding it before he grabbed her wrist in a firm grip and flipped her onto her back. He then kneeled on top of her and held his sword at her neck in a vertical position.

Kayami panted heavily, her chest straining with each breath she took before she was finally able to speak, "I yield."

Kouen removed his sword and stood up before he gave Kayami a hand getting up, she picked up her sword after she dusted herself off and straightened her clothing.

"You want to continue?"

"Nah, I'm calm now...thanks for helping me, En," Kayami said smiling at him as she took his sword and goes to put it away along with hers. "I really needed that."

"How's your wrist?"

"Eh, it's stings at the moment but there's no broken bones...there'll be a bruise there." Kayami said as she looked at her wrist and rotated it.

"Good, I don't want you to use a broken wrist as an excuse to get out of training our soldiers." Kouen said.

"It would have been your fault if my wrist was broken, Tyrant King." Kayami muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! I have to go now! Bye!"

And with that she took off running, knowing that if she stayed he would find a way to get it out of her and then he would proceed to punish her for opening her mouth before thinking...they were alone after all.

"Oh! Thanks for the sparring match, En! We must do it again sometime soon!" She had stopped to yell that at him when she was at a screaming distance then she waved bye then she ran off towards her chambers to take a much need hot bath to ease her sore and tired body, humming a happy tune now since she was now in a good mood.

As she walked she thought back on the first time she had met Judar...they were children..

Kayami was minding her own business when she was almost impaled by a icicle...for real! She barely dodged the deadly missile though the skirt of her kimono wasn't so lucky and now she had a tear that she was sure Kaisei would lecture her for even though it wasn't her fault.

"Hey, that was a good dodge." A voice said from above her causing her to look up. Floating, really like floating in mid air, above her was a small boy who looked to be a year younger than she was. He wore Kou robes of fine, expensive quality.

"Oi! Be more careful where you aim that next time! You could have killed someone!" Kayami yelled up at the young boy, shaking her fist at him.

"But I didn't kill you so it's fine."

"That's because I dodged it at the last minute!"

"So they better dodge it as well."

"Not everyone will have reflexes like I do, kid."

"Who are you calling a kid? You're a kid yourself."

"And? I'm older than you are so it's my job to make sure you stop this!"

He stared at her silently for a few minutes before he started laughing as he started to float down until until his feet touched the ground in front of her.

"What's so funny?" Kayami asked even more annoyed.

"You are...you're really interesting, not many people talk to me like that...or have the guts to." The boy said with a smirk.

"Who are you that makes everyone act like that then?"

"I'm the Kou Oracle, Judar...who are you?"

It sounded like he could have cared less about knowing her name, it sounded like he just asked because he had been told to or something to that affect.

"Kayami Kishii." Then Kayami tilted her head to the side as she stared at him, "Aren't you a little too young to be treated like that?"

Judar shrugged his shoulders at that and said, "I don't mind...I like it since it means that I can do whatever I want."

And as soon as he said that, they both heard someone calling either his name or addressing him as Oracle.

"Tsk...and just when I was having fun with you too." Judar clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Kayami gave him a look at that but she doesn't comment on it. What fun? They were just talking now..did that mean he was going to do something else to her? She was happy that he was leaving now if that was the case and she hoped that she wasn't going to see him again.

"Hey, girl...I'll see you later, okay?" Judar said with a smirk before he walked off as soon as two cloaked men walk around the corner and took him somewhere else. Leaving Kayami standing there as she thought about what he had just said.

"And there goes the happiness that I felt when I thought that I wasn't going to see him again..." Kayami muttered as she headed back to her room, hopefully she would be able to fix this tear before Kaisei found out about it.

And ever since that day, Judar had been harassing her keeping Kayami on her toes because he wanted to keep her in shape...seriously though throwing really sharp icicles at her wasn't keeping her in shape, yeah it helped keep her agile and flexible but still it was dangerous and would kill a normal person.

Which she thinks is why he does it in the first place...