Chie found herself in a clearing next to the Samegawa river, training with the last person she ever thought she would be: Kanji Tatsumi. She was afraid to speak to the guy less than a month ago and now she was letting him through punches at him! She would be forever grateful that he was on their side, however. And, even though he turned out to be a big softy at heart, he still hit like a freight train.

As they sparred, Chie dodged a punch and quickly swept Kanji's leg. He fell to the ground hard and Chie backed off, assuming he was going to back down. But then Kanji grabbed a handful of dirt, threw it at Chie's face, and jumped back up. Before her vision cleared, Kanji had her in an arm hold.

"OK! OK! I give!" Chie said and Kanji let her go. He looked pretty damn proud of himself, which pissed her off. "You cheated!"

"No I didn't!" Kanji protested. "I improvised. A shadow isn't gonna just give up because it looks like we're winning. They're gonna come up with a different way to come at us. You need to be ready for that, senpai."

"What shadow is going to throw dirt in our eyes?" Chie asked, feeling a bit embarrassed about letting him get the best of her. Kanji shook his head and made a face.

"You know what I mean! You have to stop thinking like an honorable kung fu master and more like a bare-knuckles brawler!"

"Soooo, like you?" Kanji smiled and shrugged.

"Hey, when you've got it, you've got it." he said, smug as hell. "Seriously though, what are you gonna do if you get jumped? Or have to fight an entire group alone? You can't always fight fair. And not just in the TV world. What if, I dunno...What if some muscle bound, half naked mad man in a cape jumped out of the shadows and attacked you?"

"A 'muscle bound, half naked mad man in a cape'?" Chie repeated, raising an eyebrow. Where did he get this stuff? "When is that ever gonna happen?"

"How do you know it won't? That's the point!"

"Whatever." Chie said, rolling her eyes. Then something occurred to her. "Well, you did take down an entire biker gang by yourself...maybe I should try to take some pointers from you."

"Um...thanks, I guess..." Kanji replied, clearly unsure whether or not she meant that as a complement. Chie laughed.

"Come on, let's stop talking about crazy caped men and try this again. Except this time, it'll be you calling it quits!"

"Bring it on!" Kanji said with a grin. Chie came at him with everything she had, determined to get him to concede. And, while she didn't beat him this day, she knew she was getting closer and closer with every kick, as well as getting closer to being able to protect all of the people she cared for. Including her newest friend, even though it was clear he didn't really need any help from her.

Kanji and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…