"You're trying too hard," Kenshin said mildly. "Forcing it will only frustrate you."
"I know! I know!" Kaoru snapped back and pushed a lock of damp hair away from her eyes. Her head ached, her shoulders were screaming with tension and muscle fatigue, and her stomach pointedly reminded her that dinner had been several hours before. Hiko and Kenshin had been relentless the past few weeks, and Kaoru felt like she was running on fumes.
Despite the gusts of wind she was able to summon with a will, the elusive zephyr remained elusive. Her wind gusts occasionally shimmered in a way that made her hope a zephyr would suddenly materialize in front of her, but so far all her efforts had remained fruitless. The frustrating thing was that Kaoru had a feeling that she was so very close to mastering the Basic Summoning spell and that a corporal zephyr was just around the corner.
Suddenly, Kenshin was behind her, strong fingers massaging her shoulders in a way that was friendly and comforting. Kaoru jerked a bit in surprise; ever since their abortive makeout session a few weeks ago, Kenshin had been a trifle wary around her and things had gone back to being slightly awkward. Kaoru had done her level best to ignore the Soul Bond between them since probing it clearly unleashed issues she was more than a little nervous about confronting. Kenshin was always so restrained and controlled that Kaoru had been completely flabbergasted by his passionate, aggressive kissing attack. Not that she had minded it that much, it was just that it had taken her completely by surprise. It certainly wasn't like the few awkward, sloppy kisses she had received in high school. College had been a dating desert; most underclassmen were interested in chasing after the perfect cheerleaders and trendy hipsters, not an overworked, impoverished sophomore who hit people with sticks for amusement. All told, Kaoru's kissing experience had been decidedly limited, and Kenshin's frontal assault had opened up a new realm of exciting knowledge.
Almost makes me wonder what happened that first night, Kaoru thought idly to herself, then reddened. Oh hell, don't think about that now, not while Kenshin's trying to be nice and giving you an entirely friendly and non-sexual shoulder massage. Shut up, overwrought imagination, shut up, shut up, shut up. But soon all thought melted away with the tension Kenshin was gently easing out of her taut muscles. As he kneaded away, Kaoru whole-heartedly abandoned herself to it and felt her entire body relax and melt into a happy puddle of gooeyness.
Warmth brushed against her chi, like a cup of hot chocolate on a wintery night and oddly it felt like something was massaging her exhausted inner being. Mmmm, she thought, feeling her inner self reach towards the source of comfort. It was so relaxing. Something hot but not unpleasantly so rubbed against her knee, and Kaoru looked down to find a salamander skittering up and down her leg. Air feeds fire, she thought to herself, looking at the salamander fondly.
Suddenly it gave a twitch of excitement and raced forward to greet a shining white object that had entered the room. Kaoru looked at it and suddenly bolted upward. "Kenshin!" she blurted out excitedly. "A zephyr!"
"Yes, indeed," Kenshin responded, clearly pleased.
The zephyr seemed intent on playing with the salamander, and Kaoru watched in excitement as the two elements twirled around each other, racing back and forth like squirrels. She had done it! Happily, she snapped her fingers and called out, "Come here, zephyr!" in a voice usually reserved to call dogs to heel.
The zephyr paid absolutely no attention to her. Kaoru tried again. "Come here," she said with more emphasis. The zephyr gave a shimmer of energy, then raced out of the room with the salamander.
Kenshin laughed softly at Kaoru's confused expression. "The Basic Summoning spell merely calls the element to your presence, Kaoru-dono. Commanding it to perform certain actions is entirely different. But," he said brightly, "You summoned one! That is wonderful, especially since you have only been practicing the spell for two months. If I recall, it took me nearly seven months to summon a fully corporal salamander. It is quite impressive that it has you only two months to summon your element."
Kaoru blinked her eyes. "But, but I have absolutely no idea how I did it. What happened?"
Kenshin smiled, "You were relaxed and attuned to your natural magical ability. Rather than fighting it and trying to wrestle it into submission, you started working with it. That is half the battle. Try again. Summon it back."
Kaoru squashed a tremor of frustration that rose up in her and tried to move back into the happy place that she had been in just a few minutes ago. Calm, breath, relax, she ordered herself. Slowly, she reached inward and found that ripple of magic force. Time to come to Momma, she chided mentally.
A cool breath of air wafted against her face, and Kaoru opened her eyes to find the zephyr frisking across her shoulders, its tiny wings beating and glossy eyes examining her with interest. "Kenshin! Kenshin, look!" she squealed and reached out her hand to touch it. The zephyr shimmered away from her and swirled over to investigate Kenshin.
"Good God girl, you shriek like a four year old," Hiko rumbled from the doorway, his ever-present jug of sake dangling from his hand. Casting a glance at the zephyr, he sniffed. "So you managed to summon one, eh?" Kaoru beamed at him, so happy that she forgot how much Hiko's presence usually irritated her. However, she knew enough about her new master to not expect praise and Hiko did not disappoint her.
"Well, you managed to summon one in a safe, controlled environment, but that won't do you much good on a battlefield or in a magic fight, girl," Hiko frowned. "You've got a lot of work to do before you can say you have completely mastered Summoning."
Hiko was right; over the next week, both he and Kenshin took turns surprising Kaoru in various situations and demanding that she summon a zephyr. She would be in the middle of a fierce sparring match with Hiko when he would snap out, "Summon!" while trying to bash her head in with his sword or Kenshin would hand her a full plate, drop it, call out "Summon!" and wait for her to both summon the zephyr and catch the plate before it hit the ground. Once or twice, Hiko came galloping into her bedroom in the dead of night bellowing "Summon!", waking Kaoru out of a dead sleep and sending her flying across the bed in a furious scrabble for her sword. By Day Six, Kaoru was able to summon her element nearly effortlessly. She still couldn't do anything with it besides calling it to her presence, but Kenshin assured her that the next set of magical training would involve learning how to bend her element to her will.
"You are doing so well with your training," Kenshin said warmly as he and Kaoru cleaned up the kitchen. It had been a week since the zephyr first materialized and currently it was finding the air vent in the kitchen fascinating. It kept creeping up on the vent to pounce and letting the warm air blow it away in a twirl of energy. Late fall was approaching and nights were starting to become chilly, so Kenshin had turned the heat on. Kaoru was baffled as to why a Fire Master needed central heating in his house, but there were so many oddities in her new life that she had simply stopped asking a lot of questions. She also barely noticed the weather anymore – Kenshin and Hiko kept her restricted to the house and the grounds, but she was so busy with training that she hardly had any time to go outdoors.
"It's hard to believe that you've been training only two months," Kenshin continued. "It took me seven months to summon a salamander for the first time and another month before I could do so consistently. Even then it was quite some time before I could conjure up one with complete ease. However, you don't seem to need to think much about summoning anymore, you just do it, correct?"
"Yes," Kaoru replied, trying not to sound boastful. "It really isn't that hard, is it? I can't wait until I can start ordering this goofy little bird around." The zephyr clearly understood English because it abandoned the heating vent to twirl around her in what seemed very much like a protest, then flittered out of the room.
Kenshin laughed, "I don't think it likes that prospect very much."
"Too bad," Kaoru grinned as she put a serving dish back in the cupboard. Kenshin's earlier words stuck in her memory. Two months, has it really been that long? It seemed like both an eternity and merely a few days. As an orphan, Kaoru had no parents to worry about her and only a few friends that would miss her absence. As far as the world was concerned, Kaoru Kamiya could drop off the face of the planet without there being hue and cry for her return.
After two months, I wonder if there's a missing person's report on me, Kaoru wondered idly. The thought made her giggle. You'd think after two months, I'd....she stopped, frowning. Something was nagging her and she wrinkled her brow in puzzlement. There was something missing, something she was forgetting about. Something to do with a month. What was it?
Oh, no. Kaoru froze, one hand still gripping the cupboard handle. Oh shit, shit, shit, not that. She closed her eyes and exhaled loudly.
"Kaoru?" Kenshin looked at her in concern. "Is something wrong?"
Kaoru jerked her hand away from the handle, "Nope, just a little tired. All the excitement, you know." She pasted on a bright smile. "More torture after dinner?"
"I believe we have a movie date," Kenshin smiled. "Death Note?"
"I'll get the popcorn. Maybe my zephyr can make some air-popped corn?" she joked, feeling her stomach churning. Go watch anime, she ordered herself, You're fine. Nothing's wrong. But the sick feeling of dread was hard to squash, and Kaoru found herself wishing that she had an evening of hard sword practice to look forward to. Later on that night, sleep was difficult, and she tried to sooth her rattled brain by conjuring up the zephyr. It seemed to sense her distress for it curled up underneath her chin, cuddling there like a puppy until Kaoru fell into a troubled sleep.