A/N: Well, I got this out sooner then later, so hope you're all happy! :P The poll has come to a close with Cathyl taking the win, and by the time you see this there should be a new poll up for Arc 5 with Ms. Smith and Papi being carried over to the next poll as they came in second and third respectively. Hope you all like this, and as always, like, hate, see something you think could change, leave a review. I feed on your reviews! Also no A/N 2 this time, and there will not be an epilogue this time, if I started writing one it would end up becoming a whole nother arc on its own.

Content Warning: There is a Lemon in this chapter, it is marked.

Disclaimer: Don't own DLWMG, though Crabman might be happy because cow girl's coming up.

Arc 3, Chapter 3: Stallion Suitor

Another day, another challenge. Just another hurdle to jump over with grace, poise, and skill. She'd show this challenge just how inconsequential it was in the grand scheme of things, for one does not simply stand before Centoria Shianus' goal and get away with it.

It was with this mindset that the resident centaur of the Kurusu household tackled her latest problem, preparing a dinner that wasn't just a salad. As a herbivore her tastebuds were to a humans as a humans were to a rock, a carrot gave her a hundred different flavours, and a salad was a veritable cornucopia of mouth numbing bliss.

Unfortunately, Kimihito was not a herbivore, so he lacked the incredible ability to taste that she had, and as such her carrot and lettuce sandwiches were...unsatisfying for a full meal for him. Meanwhile his own meals that he prepared for her had more than once nearly caused her to have a shameful incident while she ate they tasted so heavenly.

So now she'd show that she could cook just as well, and as such she needed to branch out into things that she normally wouldn't use in her cooking. Things like spices, and sauces, and rice and the like. Indeed, she was currently using all of those to try to make some sort of vegetarian curry. It seemed to be going well so far though, the kitchen wasn't on fire, she was following the instructions to the letter, and it smelled pretty good.

All in all she was happy with how the result was going so far, and she had been smart enough to wear one of Kimihito's aprons, so her clothes weren't covered in sauce. She had been a bit surprised at seeing Kimihito in one of the aprons before, but despite his exterior appearance, at home he did not seem to worry about appearing in such clothes.

Cera did wish though that the apron didn't seem quite so...bursting against her chest. The thought brought a blush to her face, and she couldn't help but scrunch up the apron a bit in her hands. While she would have been much less happy about her figure a few days ago. Ever since she and Kimihito had formally stepped up their relationship, she was starting to appreciate her own figure instead of considering herself to be plain and her breasts to be just in the way.

Kimihito seemed to love everything about her body. While they still hadn't gone any further then they had that first night, just rather intense makeout and petting sessions, Kimihito had made his appreciation of her well known. Everything from teasing her ears, much to her surprised delight, to spending the time to brush her horse halfs hair. It was rather difficult for her to reach those spots so it was quite helpful to have him around to help with it, but when she wasn't holding the brush it made it feel...much more sinful almost. It made her blush, and her mind slipped into memories of it all. She was so used to treating herself as a warrior that the new feelings were threatening to overwhelm her and make her go back to the room and wake him up for another round.

Then Cera realized the curry sauce was starting to burn and broke out of her little memory trip to stir it before she ruined her meal. Stirring it with a bit more gusto than required just to be sure. Now that she was certain it wasn't going to burst into flames, she sighed. She was having a fair bit more difficult a time keeping her attention focused these days as well. Whenever she wasn't distracting herself her with important things like training, her mind would wander, either toward her regular knightly fantasies, and more recently toward things nearly in red dream territory. Mostly taking memories of what happened and extending them a bit further…

Shaking her head again, Cera looked over at the wall calender, and saw that the full moon was coming up. That would likely explain most of her problem, every day closer to that full moon made it harder and harder for her to keep her more base emotions in check. She was nervous, nervous about what would happen on the full moon, and nervous about whatever did happen between them would mean. She'd have to warn Kimihito about it today at the very least so that he could properly prepare.

Soon enough she finished cooking her meal, and called out to Kimihito, who was resting upstairs in his room after she had given him a rather severe drubbing in their training that morning. He'd seemed a bit distracted, even moreso then she had been, and she had taken advantage of that to knock him six ways from sunday. She heard the man practically roll off his bed upstairs, and pulled himself down to the main floor. "Haaaah... Smells good Cera." He chuckled, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Curry?"

"Indeed. I used one of the recipes in your cookbooks." Cera returned with a small smile as she saw the ragged boy shuffling into the room. She had gone quite tough on him, it was rather hard not to with how strong the two were, but she was sure he'd recover by the end of the day. Dishing out a bowl for him and a fair bit larger one for herself, she watched him intently, scrutinising for a reaction as she waited for him to take his first bite.

Kimihito meanwhile looked down at the curry for a moment, it smelled good, it looked good, generally things Cera made were at least fairly good if bland. Reasoning that it looked like a duck, and quacked like a duck, with perhaps more confidence than was justified, he tucked in with a large spoonful, and then a second before the taste of the first hit.. 'Exactly as I'd expect from Cera,' He thought with a hint of satisfaction. 'Conservative, moderate… Spicy? Actually quite spicy... Sweet merciful Kami above, was that spicy!'.

He reached out with perhaps more urgency than was polite to take a drink of the milk that Cera had set out, having read that milk was better for dealing with spicy food. After a few large sips, and a moment for his tastebuds to stop screaming at him, he chuckled.. "It's good! Next time I'd go with less spices, but other then that; good. You might be in for a bit of a treat though when you try it."

Cera, having been on a rollercoaster of emotion and tension as she watched Kimihito try her first semi-successful venture into curry, now looked at her plate with apprehension, the chuckle he'd punctuated with only making it worse. She was too proud to turn her nose up at it, but was clinically aware of just how much she'd probably overcompensated for her sensitive pallet. A moment, and a spoonful later she was swallowing milk and curry in alternate rushes of burning and spice was blowing out her tastebuds and, glass empty, she reached for the fridge and pulled out the milk jug. She rushed through the rest of her portion as fast as she could and washed it down with the milk afterwards, she lost most of the taste but at least she finished her bowl without killing herself with the spice.

It was only once the milk was actually doing its work at the end that Cera caught Kimihito's now full blown laughter, the man having practically rolled out of his chair from the sight of a centaur, red in the face, spoon like a coal-shovel tossing food into her burning lips, punctuating each desperate-for-it-to-end gorging with a fresh, chugging swig from a milk-jug. Face burning red from something other than heat now, she took her sheathed sword, and bopped him none-too-gently about the head with it. "It is impolite to laugh at a lady."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it." Kimihito giggled from the ground, and pulled himself back into his seat. "You looked socute doing that I just had to laugh!" The black haired man grinned at Cera's renewed blush at being called cute and started to work his way through his own meal. The woman was too easy to tease, and the look she'd get on her face when she got embarassed was nothing short of adorable so he couldn't help himself there either.

Cera took a while to calm down, and Kimihito was halfway through his meal when she collected herself enough to speak out. "On a more serious note, there is something I need to tell you about Kimihito. In two days it will be the full moon, and I don't know if you have read about it, but I will be...different during it. Though...there might be a way to avert it..."

"Ohh?" Kimihito said with a raised eyebrow. If he knew, he wasn't making it obvious, "What would that be? And different how?"

"Well…On the full moon, the baser emotions of liminals tend to come to the surface, and usually it's ones that...Are most neglected." Cera said with a bright blush, after all, her mother never had that issue after she had married and they had started...going at it. "So we may be able to avoid causing an...incident…if we...go...astepfarther."

Kimihito was practically leaning over the table trying to hear what Cera was saying, with each pause she got quieter, until the last words came out as a barely perceptible squeak. Still he managed to catch it, and couldn't help but blush a bit herself. "I...see...Well, if you want to, Cera, I'm not going to say no." Indeed, if he could, he'd push hard for it, but he was trying to be more polite in accord with their little bet.

Cera herself practically lit up like a christmas tree, and she didn't realize it but a small smile came to her face as well. She had to admit, she was worried about Kimihito not wanting to go forward after he had learned that her...parts...were on the horse side, not the human side. Then she realized that he actually had said yes, and her voice nearly caught in her throat. "Okaythenmaybewecanthisnightjustcometomyroom!"

If it was English or Japanese she didn't actually know, and she didn't manage to stay to see if he had heard. The girl barreling out of the room and unknowingly damaging a few things in the hall on her embarrassed sprint to her room.

Kimihito shook his head, and couldn't help but feel nervous himself. Many a man was a bit nervous when he had a first time with a girl, and while Kimihito was not a virgin, he hadn't had relations in that way in some time. Not to mention, he really didn't want to fuck this up, and well...she was a horse. He had some pride in his body, but he wasn't a horse. Though when he was doing…research…he thought he had seen something about liminals adjusting to their partners so maybe he'd be okay.

Better do a bit more...research...just to be sure. He wouldn't want to let Cera down.

-ISoaN-

Cera was frantic as the sun dipped over the horizon. She wanted this but she had no idea what 'this' really was! She had seen some things that let her know what was expected of her but those included only human females. She was fairly sure she wasn't able to contort her body to make some of those positions possible. It made her worry that she wouldn't be enough…

Then she slapped herself on the cheek, getting down on herself over something like this. What kind of thinking was that. She would take this like she took everything, she'd do her best and it'd work!

-ISoaN Lemon Warning-

"...This isn't working." Cera said to herself as she bowed her head and bit her lip. She couldn't help it, she was nervous! It was her first time! What would it feel like, would it hurt? It apparently did for humans. Would she regret it? She didn't think she'd regret it. While she and Kimihito only knew each other for a bit more than a month so far, they were by centaur standards…married… She mulled the word over in her mind before feeling slightly unwell with anxiety. This was going to happen eventually, she determined, and tried to push her trepidation down.

Should she wear something different to start? While she didn't like to admit it, and had made sure to hide them from her housemate, she did have some clothes that could only be called indecent. Standing up and heading over to her closet she dug into the back, behind her normal wear, and pulled out one of her favourites for sleeping. A negligee that was so see through it might as well have been non-existent, but it was so comfortable. It only covered her human half but that was how more or less everything but her regular skirt was like.

Taking off her button-up shirt, she slipped on the nightware, and revelled a bit in the soft feeling against her skin. It helped to calm herself down, and she wandered into the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom, looking at herself in the mirror and blushing. Even before Kimihito was here she felt indecent in the silky garment, and couldn't help but touch her breasts lightly. They were so much more sensitive than they were just a short while ago, Kimihito's playing with them having brought her some new sensations and her light, massaging touch made her sigh with subtle satisfaction.

When she opened her eyes again, an idea coming to her as she remembered one thing that has stopped Kimihito dead before. She reached back and let her ponytail free, her hair cascading over her shoulders. Hopefully, the centaur reflected, that might give her a bit of an edge back.

She heard a small rap on her door and 'eeped' quietly. Taking a moment to swallow down her nervousness she surprised herself with the tone of her voice, bearing more confidence, and indeed, sultry allure, then she was aware she was capable of. "Come in Kimihito."

She heard the door slide and turned away from the mirror, stepping back into her room. The sight of Kimihito standing there in a rather standard set of pajamas was only glazed over as she focused on the look on his face. The man was once again stunned, staring at her with wide eyes as she stepped into the room entirely. She couldn't help but giggle, and, riding her newfound confidence high, she kept up the bewitching tone. "See something you like Kimihito?"

"Y-Yes I do, everything really." His dumbstruck reaction made her flush; even more so when he nodded and gave a grin that sent a shiver through her. Her facade dropped quickly and her nervousness came back, though at the very least she saw hints of the same nervousness in her boyfriend. Perhaps he was just better at hiding it.

"T-That's good…" Cera came a bit closer, and couldn't help but clasp her hands at her waist, unknowingly emphasising her chest and nearly causing the poor Kimihito to bust a few blood vessels. "U-Umm, m-maybe we should s-start slow?"

"That w-would be for the best yeah." Kimihito said with a nod, and Cera met him halfway across the room. The man helping her sit so that he could actually reach her mouth to give her a kiss. The centaur responding with even more eagerness than Kimihito had much to both of their surprise. Pushing her lips against his as her hands wrapped over his and brought them to her chest. She wouldn't admit it but she was eager for his touch, just as she was as eager to start to run her hands over him as soon as he started to play with her breasts. Her hands following his muscles through his clothes, teasing him in turn.

The minutes would pass by, and both lovers felt their libidos rising by the moment. Kimihito was quite thankful he was wearing pajamas instead of something more constricting, and Cera realized it was a good thing she had her horse half facing away from Kimihito, she had taken off her skirt earlier and she could smell her own scent wafting through the room. Her negligee, along with Kimihito's shirt were tossed away somewhere in the last few minutes and both were feeling each others skin directly.

Breaking off their most recent kiss, Cera pulled back, voice breathy and soft as she spoke. "I...I think I'm ready…" It was an understatement, her body was burning with wanton lust, and her breath was coming in rapid pants. Not that Kimihito was any better, and Cera's eyes couldn't help but drift south, looking at the bulge Kimihito was creating against his pants, though she had no real frame of reference to go off of.

She didn't even realize it, but she had the urge to see what was under those clothes, and the next moment one of her strong hands had torn Kimihito's trousers squarely down, popping seams and stitches with contemptuous ease as instinct guided her, leaving him standing bare before her, and down one pair of pajamas.

"Hey! Well, I guess t-thats fine." Kimihito said with a small laugh, and it was obvious he felt rather nervous. Though Cera was a bit more focused on what her instincts were pointing her to, and watched Kimihito as he walked around behind her before her mind snapped back to full function.

Her nervousness back in an instant as she felt his hand on her flank and she looked away, taking a few deep breaths to try to calm herself before looking back to Kimihito and felt him pressing up against her. "O-Okay, please be gentle."

A moment later much of her worries were blown away, as she felt Kimihito enter her. There wasn't any pain, and while it felt...odd to say the least, that odd feeling just as quickly gave away to pleasure. While Kimihito did feel small compared to her, it didn't seem to matter to her body as when he started to thrust pleasure would radiate through her, her upper body quaking with each bolt of feeling that went through her. The longer they went, the more her body seemed to adjust, and the more pleasure she'd feel with each of his movements. If she was to take a guess by her look at Kimihito over her shoulder, she could tell he was feeling more with each movement as well.

Then she suddenly felt something quite warm flowing into her and she blinked. A few more blinks later and she realized what had actually happened, while Kimihito was looking quite embarrassed. She went to say something but he beat her to it.

"S-Sorry! It's been a while and you feel so good…" He looked to the side, but Cera would notice that he was still quite hard inside her, and she'd push back against him a bit.

With a lustful grin she didn't realize she was capable of, the centaur kept pushing until Kimihito got the hint. "That's okay, but the night's still young, and I have the stamina of a horse you know."

Kimihito grew a grin of his own, and a moment later was thrusting against her once more, just the second round in a rather long night.

-ISoaN Lemon Ended-

Cera blushed heavily as she came back from her morning run. It was the day after her and Kimihito had taken their relation up to the next level, and to say she had been embarrassed when she woke up this morning sweaty, naked, and clutching an equally naked Kimihito to her chest like he was a body pillow. It didn't help that she could feel how she was sticky inside.

She must have worn Kimihito out, as she was able to get away and give herself a quick shower without waking him up. Escaping out into the dark morning to go for a run that she had hoped would help clear her mind a bit and wake her up. Unfortunately it had done the opposite, the rhythmic exercise just gave her more time to think about what had happened the previous evening.

Thinking of the previous night brought two different emotions to her. The first being love, for it had been amazing. It had been everything she could have hoped for after they both slipped into the mood after the first round. He had been caring, and eager to please her and she didn't regret a moment of it. What she could do without though was the rising lust coming through her body everytime she thought about it. She didn't expect to be so...insatiable, but she was, much to her embarrassment. She had ridden Kimihito until he practically passed out from exhaustion and she could have still kept going.

Now here she was pushing open the door back to the house and she was pondering waking Kimihito up to continue. She had to stop herself, otherwise she'd end up bringing him harm! Foresight and concern like this was what all those years of discipline training were for. Well, not really, but they could be applied. Deep breaths, calming thoughts, soon enough she managed to center herself in the hallway, driving the spectre of lust from her body. Checking in to see that Kimihito was still asleep, she went to wash off and prepare them some breakfast.

When her boyfriend woke up and stumbled into the kitchen he was looking much like he had yesterday mid day. His body was rather sore but he was quickly recovering, and after some food he was back up to full strength. The man seemed to consider what he was about to say for a moment. "Going to be honest, I hope yesterday isn't a one off thing."

"It's not going to be." Cera said with surprising determination, before realizing that and blushing. "I mean, if you want. You could move into my room?"

"Heh, yeah I think I will. Now we'll be getting twice the exercise I guess. On that note, ready for the morning training?" Kimihito had his bokken already at the side of the room. Her embarrassment melting away at the normal routine, Cera walked with him out to the back yard, ready to keep up her well earned skills in tip top shape.

-ISoaN-

Kimihito sighed as he lay back against the couch. He wasn't currently at his home, instead he was at Daizaborou's. The police officer was currently fishing around for some sake for the two, along with Ryuko, who was practically draped over her own chair. The reason for the relative laziness right now was the insane heatwave outside, that had left the poor airconditioners around the town a complete wash. Cera was currently assisting the government agency in charge of settling liminal homestays and the like with dealing with the heat.

Well, 'assisting' was more like 'jumped at the call when a female monoeye agent showed up to conscript her' and while Kimihito didn't realize realize it, but 'dealing with the heat' was 'hauling blocks of ice like pack horse because the agencies hauler truck was already overfilled.'

So the three friends were more or less trying desperately to manage the heat, and Kimihito had to thank the gods that Daizaborou was tainted by that american co-officer of his and had started chilling his alcohol.

"So." Ryuko started from her chair. Bringing up the first words that weren't 'drinks please' of the visit. "Haven't seen you in a few weeks, how's life with horse tits?"

"Yeah, I see you on my patrols walking with her. All the way up to holding hands and think I saw you riding her around a few times." Daizaborou came back with the drinks and took his own chair. "Woulda thought she'd knock you six ways from sunday rather than let you do that."

Kimihito sipped the sake, looking a bit embarrassed. "Yeah she's actually started the riding her around thing. Apparently it's something centaurs do if they get a human boyfriend or girlfriend."

"Still only a boyfriend? Would have thought you'd have put a ring on her already with how you kept going on and on and on about her over the years." Ryuko chuckled.

That chuckle was joined by Daizaborou. "Yeah, and you've only heard half of how long he was going on about that Ryuko. Only time he stopped was when he was going steady with Natsu. Though think I saw something while doing some...research. Isn't the riding thing more 'significant other' then boyfriend or girlfriend?"

"Hah! So boss already married the girl." Ryuko cheered. "Nice one boss, thought you'd never get a girl after bossette left. Though guess we didn't even rank an invite Daizaborou, and I was sooo looking forward to being a bridesmaid."

Kimihito had the urge to go over there and knock that tone out of Ryuko, but it was too hot, and he couldn't help but grin a bit instead. "Technically yes, Daiza, but we're not counting it, or well, we weren't counting it. I'm not exactly sure if that's still the case though."

It really didn't help that Cera was getting more amorous with every passing day. Outside the house she was prim and proper and easily flustered, but as soon as the door was closed she was turning into a real firebolt. Kimihito had started to keep his ground floor blinds closed most of the time just to help hide when the centaur girl couldn't wait till bed time to get down to the fun. Not that he could say he minded in the slightest; this was good for his heart in more ways than one.

"Well, guess we're going to have to do without boss soon enough. He'll have to be chasing after kids and get pulled around by the ear." Ryuko sighed as another wave of heat hit the room. "Well, I'm starting to be able to handle sis and her minions better so I might be alright."

"A bummer; having you around made cleaning up those new gangs so much easier, but I think we can do without." Daizaborou shook his head and took a deep drink. "But how can I get in the way of love?"

"Might be able to still help with the last one, as long as Cera thinks it's a noble enough cause I can still help." Kimihito said with a wave. "So if you can actually bring us something that points toward them hurting others I should be able to get her onboard."

"Heh, well I'll take that then." Daizaborou nodded, and leaned back. "Haaaah, well I might have to ask you for tips soon enough Kimihito, there's a rather interesting wolf girl that's moved into the department. Think she's been eyeing me up."

"More like you wish she's eyeing you up." Kimihito chuckled, and noticed a small flush come to Ryuko's face. "And what's this? Got yourself a 'good friend' too there Ryuko?"

"K-Kinda boss, her name's Mako. She just moved into the school cause her family moved here." Ryuko admitted with her blush growing even further.

The two boys both whistled, and then Daiza asked. "Think you can send us pictures if you take it out of highschool?"

One bottle to the forehead later, Daizaborou was going out to try to get some more for everyone to drink. While Ryuko was fuming a bit as steam came out of her ears from embarrassment.

Kimihito meanwhile was just laughing, most of the group might have scattered to the winds, but he hoped at least the few friends still left from the old days still hung around. He'd miss stuff like this otherwise. Though then he felt his phone buzz, and he took the old thing out of his pocket and checked the message.

"You okay over there boss? You went real pale suddenly." Ryuko raised an eyebrow.

Kimihito closed his phone and groaned, colour coming back to his face as he rubbed her nose and said. "Cera's mom's coming to town, this is going to be great."

-ISoaN-

Kimihito sighed as he finished cleaning the upstairs. Ever since he had moved down into Cera's room, the upstairs was more or less left untouched, and as such dust had accumulated everywhere. He was fairly sure nobody was actually going to be up here, but Cera could navigate the stairs with only a bit of difficulty so he wasn't going to rule out her mother wasn't going to put the place under examination.

Not that Cera would have let him actually ignore the upstairs. To say the centaur girl was panicking was an understatement. The poor woman was positively frantic as she moved around the house trying to make sure it was all in good shape, and she was wearing a somewhat more dressy version of her normal top as she did.

Kimihito meanwhile was in his regular clothes, as he wasn't going to wear a damned loaned suit around the house and he didn't own anything better. The only bit of effort he had made to looking better than normal was combing his hair. The unnatural feel of his hair being in order had been bothering him all day, but at least he could probably get away without it tomorrow. He wasn't sure how long Cera's mother would be staying here but he was hoping it wouldn't be very long.

"Are you done up there?" Cera called out from downstairs, and Kimihito sighed.

With a shake of his head and a small grin at Cera's worries, he'd call back. "Pretty much, I think we've cleaned up enough. Unless she's going to go live in the furnace room or something."

"Ohh no, we forgot the furnace-"

Kimihito cut off his panicking girlfriend. "We aren't cleaning the furnace room, Cera. I'm putting my foot down there."

Further argument was stopped before there was a chance though as a knock on the door took both their attention. Kimihito making his way down the stairs as Cera freaked out and started muttering to herself about how things were "Unclean."

Reaching the door he'd open it and blink for a moment. It seemed much of Cera's figure carried in the family, but not quite everything. The centaur woman that was standing before him looked quite similar to his girlfriend, the same long blond hair, well toned arms, and the same bright blue eyes. The differences was that this woman that could only be Cera's mother had a much more stern expression, a bit of signs of age around her eyes, and somehow, even larger breasts than the younger centaur.

Seriously, he didn't think that last one was actually possible, and he briefly wondered if Cera hadn't finished all her growing yet somehow.

"You must be Kimihito Kurusu." The centaur woman said as she stared at him. "I am Aldreda Shianus, pleased to make your acquaintance finally."

"Yeah that's me. Nice to meet you as well. Feel free to come inside, Cera's in the living room." Kimihito nodded his head toward the mentioned room and stood to the side to let her in.

The woman stepped through, and Kimihito noticed the sword at her hip, just like Cera always seemed to have, and he could tell with a glance as she walked by that she was quite adept at using it, scarily so. For some reason a small bit of his mind clicked.

"Mother! I wasn't sure when you'd get here." Cera's voice shook Kimihito awake and he'd head to the living room to see Cera's mother panning her eyes around the room. Seemingly taking in every minute detail as she looked. Before wandering into the kitchen, and then into the hallway again. The centaur woman wasn't even trying to hide her appraisal of his home. When they passed the door to the backyard, she saw the now well worn out patch of dirt where they did their regular training matches and nodded. Returning to the living room, the two homeowners still in tow, the woman sat on the centaur chair they had gotten. Calling it a chair was a bit of a stretch, it was more like an extended footstool, but still.

"Your house seems suitable. And you have acquired things to see to my daughter's comfort." Aldreda assessed as she turned her attention to Kimihito again. "I was worried when I saw your scruffy appearance that you were just some kind of thug."

Kimihito and Cera both blinked. It was the latter that spoke first. "By my honour, mother, I assure you this man is no thug. And even when he kinda was, he still did everything he could to ensure I was comfortable."

Aldreda gained a small smile. "I know daughter, but I was wondering how he would react at being called a thug. Judging by his lack of reaction he either fully embraces such a mentality, or he has calmed down since then."

"Can we please stop talking like I'm not here?" Kimihito growled. "Or if you want to keep talking like that I can go out into the backyard and get some training in."

"Training? My, so devoted to practice. You and my daughter have seemed to have done quite a fair bit of it judging by those ruts." Aldreda said. "Though do you really think you need it today? I would have thought you'd be much more intent on making a good impression with me."

Kimihito's growl turned into a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, I think Cera can make my case good enough there. But judging by that sword on your belt, and the fact that Cera had to get some of her personality quirks from somewhere, I'm fairly sure you'll be challenging me to a duel or something before the day's done."

"How perspective." Aldreda chuckled into her hand. "I guess I may as well drop the pretext. You are indeed correct. I need to ensure that you and my daughter are able to co-operate like a proper centaur couple should. We must ensure the centaur bloodlines remain strong."

Cera chewed in her lip and said. "D-Do we really have to do this mother? Kimihito was able to fight me to a draw."

"Yes, for all I know you may have thrown the match to make that happen." Aldreda said as her hand dropped from her face and she was back to looking serious. "I say we get this out of the way sooner than later so that we can properly enjoy what time I am here for."

"Yeah I agree. Rather get this done now then have to worry all day." Kimihito agreed as he grabbed his bokken from the corner of the room and gave Cera a grin. "Let's go show your mom that we're good enough then."

Cera returned the smile to her boyfriend, though hers was shaky, and nodded. "Yes, let's."

-ISoaN-

Outside the pair of lovers stood on one side, side by side, while on the other Aldreda stood with stoic poise. All three were carrying training swords, and were taking a moment to collect themselves.

"Kimihito, I will hold her attention, you try to get around to her sides." Cera whispered, hoping she wasn't overheard.

Unfortunately, she was, and her mother commented. "No, he will try to hold my attention. This is at least in part to ensure he is strong my daughter."

"That's some good hearing you've got there." The man blinked.

Damn her mother and her sensitive ears. Still she had a point, and she sighed. "Well, good luck then Kimi. Watch out, I've never even managed to bring my mother to a draw."

Kimihito nodded, and they all seemed to take that as the starting gun. Cera starting to circle around Aldreda even as Kimihito moved straight at her, his bokken raised as he looked for any kind of weak point.

Unfortunately, he found none.

The woman didn't have any openings, and she didn't seem like she was planning to initiate. Deciding to improvise, he struck forward, not trying to get past her guard but just trying to see how she'd react.

It was only thanks to years of training that he managed to yank his bokken back in time to block the woman's counterstrike. If Cera had the strength of a horse behind her strikes, Aldreda bore the force of a herd. He heard his bokken creaking as he tried to keep her at bay. Then she pulled back to swing again and he moved his grip, one of his hands coming up from the hilt to the back of the blade so that he could get some extra strength behind his blocks.

Aldreda's next strike turned into a block of her own as Cera tried to strike her from the side. The woman easily fended off her daughters strike though, and her counter attack forced the younger centaur back. Kimihito attempted to strike himself but once again Aldreda fended him off and struck back, his new position at least helped him hold her back this time.

It kept going like that; it was all the two could do to keep Aldreda from taking the offence. For all their attempts to hit the elder Shianus, she was practically untouchable. Kimihito felt that sinking feeling in his gut quite early on that they were doomed. He didn't quite know how Aldreda managed to get this strong or skilled, but she was definitely a master of her art and the two of them were damn near children trying to flail at her.

Eventually the woman decided to end it, one strike caught Cera as the younger centaur was mid swing and sent her tumbling with its sheer force. Immediately after the woman hit him hard enough that his bokken cracked and broke as he tried to block, and a moment later he was skidding across the ground until his feet stopped.

"Hmmm...you able to still stand, Kimihito?" Aldreda's tone was neutral, giving away nothing of her judgement.

Figuring the loss was not a good thing in her books, he tried to at least put up something of a good effort. Forcing himself to his feet as he saw Cera doing the same he said. "Yes, I am."

Silence hung in the air for a bit, before he heard a few claps, followed by some laughter.

"Good." Aldreda's voice brought Kimihito's attention back to her. The centaur having struck her sword into the ground and was laughing into her hand. "Centorea, you have my blessing with him. A lesser human would be nursing multiple broken bones right now, but he seems more than fine." The older centaur's face broke into a bright smile. "I am happy for you my daughter, you've found a strong husband."

Well, Kimihito wasn't expecting her to be so happy sounding about it, but he didn't mind. Not when she said it, and not a moment later when he found himself in a near bonecrushing hug that was softened by two rather nice cushions, and followed by a rather deep kiss by his...wife, he guessed? Did this count enough as a marriage? He didn't want to have to go through one of those ceremonies, they looked hideously boring.

When the kiss started to drag on the two heard Aldreda cough and Cera dropped Kimihito with an 'eep' and a bright blush. "S-Sorry mother I was just so happy."

"It's fine my dear, but it is impolite to do that in front of guests. Save it for the bedroom!" The centaur woman's attitude had done more or less a complete about face now that she had given the two her agreement. The serious expression was replaced with a jovial, motherly one. "And by that I mean get going you two. I'll make something to eat but I want you two getting started on grandchildren sooner rather than later."

Kimihito noticed the smile had a rather...sinister tone underneath it. Maybe not sinister, but with the promise of motherly wrath if they didn't do as she was saying. Knowing that she had the skills to back it up, Kimihito would pull an equally confused and mortified Cera out of the room.

The next hour they spent in their room before dinner was ready was filled with initially awkwardness, followed by a burning out of some built up tension. While Aldreda was smiling from ear to ear just a few rooms away. Finally she'd get grandchildren to spoil even more! She was worried Cera would never get a boy, she had so little interest in the other centaurs, always talking about this boy from years ago.

But now, grandkids! And she didn't even have to wait for one of those silly human weddings. Now maybe she could listen in and make sure her new son-in-law was doing his husbandly duties...

-ISoaN-

A few weeks later, Kimihito and Cera had come to a conclusion. First, they now were husband and wife as far as centaur custom went, and called eachother such in public and in their documentation now. Secondly, both of their warrior prides had been badly stung by their easy defeat to Aldreda. The elder centaur had gone home only a few days after she had arrived and the two had been stewing on their loss since.

It was the second that was spurring their current course of action.

"Do you have to go, boss?" Ryuko said with a sigh as she watched Kimihito attach a bag to Cera's side.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon enough. I wouldn't miss out on your graduation after all!" Kimihito ruffled the younger girl's hair in a brotherly manner, Ryuko growling non-threateningly at the action. "We just need to go do some serious training. Cause even if we were the top of that tournament Aldreda kicked our asses six ways from Sunday. Who knows how strong the competition really gets? We gotta level up!"

"We are also counting this as our honeymoon, I hope we will be able to see much of the sights around the country, maybe we'll even make it to Okinawa somehow." Cera said with a nod and a smile. "But yes, as Kimihito said, we will come by every once in a while, and we still have our phones. Though if we don't pick up immediatly don't call back to soon, we'll probably be...indisposed." The centaur girl's face broke out into a bright blush at her own words but the smile was still there.

Daizaborou nodded and gave Kimihito a hearty pat on the back. "Yeah we'll keep in touch. And I'll check by the house on my patrol, make sure nobody breaks in."

"Better make sure boss gets back in one piece horse tits." Ryuko said to Cera, the centaur just giving a bemused sigh at the nickname for her.

"Thanks Daiza, and Ryuko, keep calling her that and I'll be giving you a lesson in manners when I get back."

Kimihito hopped onto Cera's back, and they started off. Kimihito waving back to Ryuko and Diazaborou until they passed out of sight of them. When they were on their own he'd turn to face back forward and hugged Cera from behind, ready for their coming journey.

To adventure!