Setsuna walked over to the hot spring after her fight with Kotaro. She had Konoka in tow as they both stripped and walked into the warm relaxing waters. Setsuna took her time relaxing as she waited for Evangeline to come and get them both to be sent back into the desert. She would enjoy the time in the hot spring. She relaxed as Konoka came over and started to wash her. It filled Setsuna with pleasure to be touched in that way again after all that time away. The bath soon became a little more than that as Setsuna kissed Konoka. The two soon were pleasuring each other as time wore on.

Half an hour later the two walked out of the hot spring. It was time to go back into the endless sands. Evangeline walked up to the two of them and spoke. "Alright Setsuna you've made it through the first four days of your training. Only eight more days to go, you have done exceptionally well. Even the boya had more trouble with this exercise than you have. As I said before I'm letting Konoka accompany you for the next three days. Have fun finding enough for the both of you to survive. That desert holds precious little. You will find it even harder to survive. You must have thought I was being gracious in allowing you to have your loved one with you when in fact I was looking for a way to make your little training exercise even harder. I hope you enjoy your time together while it lasts." Evangeline laughed maniacally as she sent Setsuna and Konoka to the desert area.

Back in the depths of another version of hell the two found themselves on the opposite side of the desert from where Setsuna had first been put. It would make thing harder having to start all over again from scratch but Setsuna persevered. Not too long after they had arrived she had dug out a shelter into a dune and had found a small source of water. Her main problem now was food.

The two of them spent the remainder of the day looking for any sign of life or anything that could be used as food. Several hours later and darkness was falling. They had no luck finding anything more than a small lizard which would barely be enough for one of them. Setsuna was hoping for better but she would have to make do with what they had.

Setsuna made Konoka eat the food they had gathered, it was easier for her to go without food than it was for Konoka to do the same. Night fell and the two of them needed sleep for the day ahead. Tomorrow they were going out hunting for food. The two of them went into the shelter that Setsuna had built and sat up for a minute. Konoka stared at Setsuna for a minute and then kissed her. Konoka spoke after she finished, "Se-chan I'm happy that we're together. I hope we find a way to survive out here. I know this is silly to say because you already know it but I feel like saying it anyway. I love you more than anything else and I don't think there is anything that could change that." Konoka stretched for a minute and kissed Setsuna as she did. The mood took over and they started to remove each other's clothing. It was not long before they were at it again.

An hour later found the two of them asleep in each others' arms. Day break found them looking at all the snow in front of the shelter blocking the exit. Setsuna used a fire spell to break through the snow. It seemed to her that this area had a lot more snowfall than the previous area. They both agreed that they should try and make it so that the shelter would not be covered in snow. That could wait until later though. Right now they needed to find food. That would take some time.

Setsuna spoke to Konoka although it sounded more like she was speaking her thoughts aloud. "What we need to do is find an out cropping of scrub grass that seems to be fairly common here. I doubt Evangeline would purposefully put us into a situation we have no hope of surviving but then again I could be wrong. We'll search until just before sun down. Stay within eyesight of me Konoka, I would hate myself forever if I lost you in this endless desert. Alright then let's get going."

Time seemed to crawl for the rest of the day. Setsuna had found a few lizards and one scorpion. It was enough to get rid of their hunger pangs but not truly enough to make them feel full. She walked back to the camp and then saw what Konoka had in her hands. She had come back to camp with her arms full of fruit. Setsuna stared in wonder at all of it. Konoka smiled and said, "Here we go Se-chan, this should be enough for the next two days right? I found a small tree that was full of these little fruits and they are edible. Well what do you think?" Setsuna could barely manage a response given how surprised she was. "That's way more than enough Kono-chan. I'm surprised at all the food you found. This proves that Evangeline was giving me more of an advantage than she thought. Well now we can relax a bit. We can survive easily with this much food." Setsuna smiled and after putting the food they had gathered in a safe place she gave Konoka a kiss.

The next day was spent in relative relaxation save for occasional trips to the small water spring Setsuna had found. The two of them spent most of their time laying out in the sun until Noon at which point, to avoid midday heat they went into the shelter. They waited until the heat had gone away before getting too intimate. Nearing sunset they were both deep in sexual bliss, both of them wanting the moment to never end but fate seemed to have another idea. It was at that moment that Evangeline decided to show up.

Setsuna barely had enough time to redress before Evangeline came out of nowhere to come get her for day spent training in combat. Evangeline spoke with a cold voice, "So sorry to interrupt you two but it is after all the third day for you two out here. Time for more combat training Setsuna, you remember our agreement right? You win again and I let you keep Konoka. You lose and you spend the last set of three days alone. Come along you two, get dressed. This time will be much more of a challenge I assure you." With that said the two dressed and followed Evangeline back to the castle. Training would be hell this time around. Setsuna was sure of it.

(This story turned out to be longer than even I expected, hopefully that's a good thing. Thanks for being patient enough to wait for this. Thanks for your continued reading. Enjoy. )

Shinobi of the Onyx Sands