They arrived back at the castle. Setsuna was waiting to see how training would go this time around. Evangeline was standing in front of her and spoke. "Here is some incentive to win Setsuna Sakurazaki. Should you win I will allow Konoka Konoe to spend the next three days in the desert with you. In fact, that will be your reward each time until the twelve days are up. Lose and you will be by yourself again." Evangeline smiled. The survival training would be made harder with two people involved. It would ensure that Setsuna would not hold back at all.

Setsuna's heart leapt at the thought. She had to try her best to win at whatever challenge Evangeline threw at her. Her getting to see Konoka would be more than enough incentive to win. Setsuna spoke to see if she could clarify a few things. "Evangeline-sensei, I thought you had said I would spend the entire time without seeing Konoka. I am grateful to you for allowing this chance for me to see her. I am ready for whatever training you have in mind."

Evangeline smiled at Setsuna's words and spoke. "The training for you today is this. You must defeat Kotaro in hand to hand combat. Here's the fun little catch. You have to do so without the use of sight. You must win only using your ability to sense chi, you know what's at stake here so I hope you give it everything. I will blind you temporarily using magic for the duration of the fight." Evangeline smiled and motioned for Kotaro to come out into the area they were going to use for an arena. The large courtyard was surrounded by all sorts of small structures. This was going to make things complex. It was going to be a challenge that was for sure.

Setsuna had been using chi to track another individual for quite some time now but had yet to truly perfect it. This was going to be rough going. Kotaro smiled but did not say anything. Setsuna searched the area again for details to keep in her mind's eye for the upcoming fight. She finally decided she had all she needed and spoke to Evangeline. "I am ready for this challenge. Let it begin."

Setsuna went immediately blind as Evangeline cast the spell. Her other senses started to kick in. She had her mental image of the courtyard and could see the outline of Kotaro's chi when she focused on it. This might not be as hard as she thought it was going to be. She relaxed and fell into her normal fighting stance. She was going to end this as fast as she could.

Kotaro had a plan to make that task even harder. He started out by suppressing his chi making it harder for her to see him. He used a Shundo to get within striking range and he snapped out a spinning kick aimed at her torso. Ordinarily Setsuna would have been fast enough to see this and block it but all she saw was the finish of his Shundo and the kick coming in much too fast. She just barely blocked the attack. Her next move brought her around behind him and she aimed for where she believed his back to be with her elbow. She followed this with a knee to a lower spot on the spine. Only the second blow landed. Her first one had missed as Kotaro had ducked the blow. The knee ended up at mid-spine and had sent Kotaro flying backward. She used his direction of travel to Shundo toward him and pressed her attack. A wall next to her provided her with an object to jump off of to accelerate her next series of blows only a few of which actually landed.

Kotaro had felt backed into a corner. Setsuna was coming at him with everything she had. Even though she could not see her opponent her use of chi detection was keeping her right on target. Kotaro desperately defended himself from Setsuna's chain of attacks. He was sent flying backward once more as a powerful kick to his mid-section connected. He realized then that he was steadily losing this fight. Setsuna had found something that drove her to be a better fighter. It was her will to accomplish anything for the one she loved. Kotaro finally realized this right as he looked up to see Setsuna use shukuchi and the next thing he saw was stars as he fell to the ground.

Setsuna had landed a punch to Kotaro's solar plexus. It had dropped him where he stood. Evangeline was pleased with the outcome of the fight. Even though it had only lasted about two hours, it had proven that Setsuna was willing to fight with everything she had when it counted most. Evangeline smiled, released the spell blinding Setsuna and spoke. "Well done Setsuna Sakurazaki. You have won this time around. As I have promised here is Konoka. You have her company until three days from tomorrow. This day has not ended yet so you may take this day off here. At nightfall here though I will send you back to the desert. At least this time you will have some company."

Konoka was standing near the area in which the fight had taken place. Several of the smaller structures had been destroyed during the fight and now the place looked like a wreck. That did not matter however, Setsuna was just happy to be able to see the one she loved for the first time in what felt like forever. She ran over and gave Konoka a hug and a passion filled kiss. It had been too long and now this time the kiss had felt even better than before. Setsuna spoke to Konoka, staring at her with a loving look in her eyes.

"I've missed you so much. I'm glad that we'll have some time to spend together before the wedding. First things first though, you want to come take a bath with me?" Setsuna smiled slightly at her offer. Konoka smiled as well and replied, "Of course Se-chan. I'll take a bath with you, and while I'm at it I'll heal whatever I can of your injuries." The two of them walked off towards the baths, holding each other's hands. Setsuna knew the next few days in the desert wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as those first few.

(Sorry this one took so long to be posted. I was stuck wondering how to make the fight between Kotaro and Setsuna play out. Hope you liked it. As always keep reading and enjoy. Thanks for reading this and all the comments.)

Shinobi of the Onyx Sands