True to her hyperactive, bubbly self, my mother calmed down reasonably quick and was happily chatting away, easily holding both sides of the conversation while both myself and Zero nodded and occasionally provided the appropriate noises of acknowledgement.

Due to us having literally no food in our entire house now that collecting groceries had failed, we called quits and ordered takeaway instead.

That didn't stop my mother from bustling about to make us hot chocolate.

Perched on the counter, my heels were clicking against the cabinet doors as I swung my legs. Usually I would get scolded for this, but apparently almost dying gave me some kind of magical ticket to get away with absolutely everything. Zero was next to me, elbows propped up on the smooth surface, eyes half lidded, barely concentrating. He hadn't uttered a word in five whole minutes, which was usual for him.

In a rare moment of silence, he leaned in a little closer. "Is she normally like this?" He asked, his disbelief evident.

"Like what?" I whispered back, slyly.

"Like she's hyped up on a mix of red bull and crystal meth?" He offered reasonably, voice threadbare with exhaustion.

I tapped my finger against my chin as I considered this. "Pretty much."

Our conversation was interrupted by the appearance of two mugs of warm goodness, which I gratefully nursed in my hands. Zero took a lethargic swig. One eye slowly cracked open and focused on me as he burned his lips with another quick gulp. "Damn, this is good." He said, appreciatively, far louder than he intended.

My mother laughed warmly.

Zero blushed and disappeared behind his mug, stooping down to fuss over Tabby when she meowed indignantly and stubbornly wound herself around his legs. She quietened once settled in the crook of his elbow, nuzzling her face quite happily into his neck, her furry body trembling as she purred. I was forced, with much difficultly, to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling. They were both so precious; which wasn't exactly a word I thought I'd ever use to describe 5"3, brash, confident Zero. But, when that cocky jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold is snuggling so innocently with a kitten like it was the coolest thing in the world, there really wasn't anything else I could call it.

The boy in question glanced over at me, cheeks still flushed, smiled so tentatively I just wanted to melt, and lowered his gaze just the slightest amount so he was looking up through his eyelashes; thick, black lashes that some girls would kill to have. Not, that I'd especially taken notice of them. "What?" He asked, flicking his hair away from his eyes with a quick shake of his head. "Is there something on my face?"

"No, I just thought you looked-" Cute, was what I was going for. I swiftly avoided that trainwreck, though, with the eloquent wording which I am known for. "Hot." Nailed it. "In that jacket! Because you, um, didn't take it off. And it's hot in here." I was five seconds away from ending it all with the steak knife on the counter. Unfortunately, my mother saw the offensive weapon and subtly moved it out of my reach.

On the other hand, Zero, completely oblivious to my growing embarrassment, was halfway to rolling across the floor in his hysterics. Of course, he would find this hilarious. Moron.

Tabby pawing at his face was enough to sober him up.

He drained his mug, evidently enjoying it by the way I caught him discretely trying to lick the dregs. He pouted when I frowned, puffing his cheeks up childishly and placing the mug down on the side, using both arms to support Tabby as she roamed up to his shoulders. "That's a bad idea." He stated, with monumental understatement.

After letting him know on no uncertain terms that if anything happened to my kitten, I would break him, Zero's eyes were a little wider than usual as he plucked her from where she was attempting to scale to his head and cradled her in his arms.

Zero's expression softened. He lifted Tabby and rubbed his nose against hers, before gently handing her to me. "I should go. Ichii's probably worried about me."

I nodded slowly, pretending to be downcast. Zero slipped his hands under my arms and lifted me from the counter, grinning cheekily at the indignant scowl that said I could've done it myself. My mother collected him up in a hug and squeezed him a little too tight, before releasing him. "It was nice meet you, Zero. I've heard a lot about you," He smirked from the corner of his mouth and waggled his eyebrows at me while my mother was distracted with relieving me of Tabby. "Are you sure you can make it back on your own? I can take you back, it wouldn't be any trouble."

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'll be fine. I'm a fast runner, anyway." He offered one of his most charming smiles. "Thanks for the offer, though." He gave Tabby one last scratch behind the ear, which turned into a minute of petting when she shoved her head into his hand. He was laughing as he stepped away, shooting me a covert wink which I only just managed to catch. "See you at school, then?"

I nodded dumbly. He grinned, mock saluted, and left, jogging off into the darkness. I waved, because that was what was expected of me, and quickly shut the door. My mother was smiling fondly as I turned to face her.

"He seems like a nice boy."

"He is." I agreed, loyally, hurrying upstairs at a pace that was swift but would not cause suspicion. I was quite surprised to find Ichii sitting at the top, tucked just out of sight. He seemed to be just as surprised to seem me hurtling up towards him. Unfortunately, I was a klutz and promptly face-planted the carpet. Only I could manage that. Obviously.

If Zero had still been present, he would've surely laughed at my expense. Since it was Ichii, he merely face-palmed, briefly considered his life choices, and carefully pulled me back to my feet, his eyes assessing me for any injuries, aside from the huge dent in my pride. I reassured my mother than I was fine, which took her far longer to believe than I had anticipated, before thanking Ichii. He returned the gesture with a tight-lipped smile. Wordlessly, he followed me into my room. He remained a step behind me as I opened the window, inhaling sharply and grabbing the back of my shirt as I leaned out a little too far for his comfort in the search for the familiar mop of blue hair.

"Zero?" A shadow moved below me. Zero gave a lazy wave and shimmied up the drainpipe. I ducked out of his way, only he didn't follow me through. He was hanging just below me, a sheepish expression on his face when I poked my head back out. "What's going on? Aren't you coming in, Zero? It's cold outside."

Zero flinched and averted his eyes. Ichii was looming over my shoulder. I shifted uncertainly, as the bluenette wilted in his uncomfortable position. "Actually, I think I'm going to stay out here for a little while." He mumbled, eyes flitting up from a split second to asses Ichii's expression. Hanging his head even lower, Zero seemed to shrink considerably under one of the most furious glares I had ever seen. It was needless to say, I was quite surprised it was coming from Ichii, of all people. "On second thought..." Meekly, Zero crawled through the window and perched on the ledge, his eyes focused intently on his feet.

"Zero." Ichii extended a shaking finger to the closet and watched the boy with a smouldering glare as the blue-haired boy shuffled over and reluctantly entered.

Biting my lip, I grabbed Ichii's upper arm, holding him back. "Ichii-"

"You could've died." My hand dropped to my side. There was a certain tremor in Ichii's voice that was especially concerning. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, exhaled, and followed Zero into the room, the violence which he used to close the door the only sign of his anger.

I couldn't hear anything that was happening in there. Which, I wasn't entirely sure whether it was good or bad. Instead of worrying, I curled up on my window seat, all cocooned in blankets with my favourite book. I wasn't exactly sure how long I sat there for, with the only noise the quiet scraping as I flipped the pages. Very soon, it was too dark to read by the wan rays of light creeping in from the dying sun, so I closed my book and settled it next to me, my gaze falling to where the boy's unit was secretly held.

My mother called from downstairs.

The food had arrived.

After hesitating, I answered her and promised to be down soon.

Soon being the operative word, as I slunk across to make a quick visit to Zero, who I assumed would be sulking by now.

Leaning against the closet door, I knew I had to approach this delicately. The room had been unnervingly silent for quite a while. I had, at one point, wondered whether Ichii had actually gone ahead and killed Zero; it seemed to be the only logical reason for the unnatural silence. Thankfully, I managed to banish the ridiculous thoughts fairly quickly.

I knocked a couple of times, frowning when I received no reply. The door creaked in the most insufferably exaggerated horror movie style as I cracked it open. At first glance, the room appeared to be deserted. The faintest sound of running water was audible, but that appeared to be the only thing that was making even the slightest amount of noise.

I mentally reminded myself to approach the situation carefully and calmly as to not overwhelm him.

"Zero? Are you in here?" The lump on the bed shifted slightly. Zero propped himself up on his elbows, blearily blinking as he attempted to focus on my tentative form. After a couple of long seconds, he registered my presence, sighed, pulled the blankets high over his head and rolled over. Huffing, I crossed my arms over my chest and marched over. "Listen here you little brat."

Nailed it.

"Little?" Zero spluttered indignantly, furiously tossing the blankets aside. Apparently the fond nickname of brat was somehow less offensive than the accusation of being vertically challenged. "May I remind you that I am taller than you?"

"No, you may not."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zero exhaled loudly to collect himself. "What do you want?"

Suddenly shy, I shifted awkwardly and scuffed my foot across the floor. "Honestly? It's kind of stupid. I'm probably just being childish but... I just... Want you to look at me. To talk to me. Ever since you came back through the window, you've been avoiding me. I screwed up majorly, but it did work in the end, I suppose. You're finally looking me in the eyes." I twirled a raven lock around my finger, nervous from Zero's contemplative silence. "Ichii... He wasn't too hard on you, right?"

"He was fine." Zero slowly sat up, legs crossed neatly beneath him. "You don't have to worry, he didn't shout at me. He doesn't have to. Ichii has the remarkable talent of making people feel like absolute crap without ever raising his voice. Especially when it's me and I do something stupid and know that it was stupid... Today, was a whole lot of stupid on my part..."

"Zero?" He glanced up, his blue eyes locking on to my cerulean orbs. "You look a little pale. Are you okay?"

"No." He said, exhaling heavily. "I'm not. I feel like absolute trash and looking at you is making me feel worse. God, I screwed up, okay? I'm a screw up! It's not like it's anything new. I didn't listen to you, I thought I knew better and because of that you could've been seriously hurt." His hands were curling into fists around the blankets and expression was tight, pinched, more sombre than I'd ever seen. "Why aren't you yelling at me? It only makes me feel worse. You're still a little ray of sunshine after everything I just put you through. You're so concerned about me when I almost got you killed not even two hours ago. So why? Why is that?"

"Because you didn't mean to."

"That's not even a proper reason."

I tilted my head, thoughtfully tapping my finger against my chin as I crossed my legs beneath me. "Well, how about; I chose not to." I said, simply. "I could be yelling and screaming at you, I could throw things and try to hurt you, but I don't want to. Partly because doing it won't get me anywhere, but mostly because I know that you never intended to put me in any danger. It wasn't as though you'd walked in there having already planned for me to get hurt, was it?"

"Of course not," He said, sounding a little breathless as he awkwardly picked at the hem of his sleeve. "I'd never do that."

"Exactly. That's the reason why I don't feel the need to go berserk. Don't get me wrong, though, it's not as though I'm not mad at you. I'm furious. You were ignorant, you purposely ignored me and because of that you put us in a very tight spot. I could've been hurt, you did get hurt, those boys were most definitely hurt. All because you thought better. Do you understand that?"

Zero inhaled sharply and nodded, his eyes glued firmly to the floor. "Yeah. I get it."

"You're not the only one at fault though. I did follow you, after all. And I suppose I can't be too angry, you redeemed yourself in the end." He stared back, blankly. "You got us out of there, didn't you? You remained level-headed, saw your opportunity and you took it. You protected me from three much order, stronger men and even managed to swipe my card back without being spotted. You did all of that and more. It's natural to make mistakes. But not many people can crawl out of a situation like that relatively unscathed. Especially when you had me to worry about, too."

He smiled tentatively, a fleeting, hopeful action that melted my heart. Raking his teeth across his bottom lip, he mumbled an almost incomprehensible apology. I was tempted to test the limits of his patience, but a slightly embarrassed Zero was much easier to deal with than a berserk one, so I wisely decided against it.

"Apology accepted."

His eyes flashed with relief.

"You should go. Wasn't that Asahina-san calling you earlier?"

Damn! She's probably wondering where the hell I am. With sudden urgency, I bolted upright, already jogging towards the door. "And, hey, I'll get some paracetamol for you when I come back up." Zero's expression flitted to poorly disguised shock as he started at me in mild astonishment. My lips tugged up into a sly smile. "I noticed."

The next day was a Sunday. My mother usually had the weekend, along with Tuesday and half of Thursday off from work. I was very vigorous about her sticking to this schedule. When she was out of my sight, I knew for a fact that she worked herself to exhaustion. However, on this particular day, I didn't make much of a fuss as she whisked herself away to cover for a colleague. While I disapproved, this selfless action did present me with the perfect opportunity to disappear for an unspecified amount of time without having a nationwide manhunt initiated. All in all, it was a win-win situation.

After making a fuss of Tabby, I scooped her up and bounded up the stairs two at a time- which wasn't very sensible, considering the last time I did this I almost rearranged all my facial features- and silently slipped into the boy's until. Tabby was purring loudly and rubbing her head affectionately against my chin. I winced and shot a small, worried glance towards the still sleeping form of Ichii, who was cocooned in at least three different blankets of varying thickness. Thankfully he didn't stir.

Releasing a small sigh of relief, I made my way into the living room and closed the door soundlessly behind me, then promptly dropped Tabby- who hissed indignantly, took a small swipe at my ankle, and skittered onto the couch- when I turned and found Zero standing directly in front of me. Eyes widening, he clamped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing as I, showing an immense lack of grace, collapsed back onto my butt and clutched at my chest, heart thumping a mile a minute, mouth spewing a jumble of incoherent words.

"Don't do that!" I finally managed to whisper, in a sharp, breathless voice. "Are you trying to kill me? You scared me half to death!"

He bit this lip, iris' dancing with amusement and he nodded with a reasonable amount of seriousness. I gratefully accepted the hand he offered me and was very swiftly back on my feet, cheeks puffed up as I pouted, while Zero tried very hard not to grin under my withering glare. "Jerk." I said, crossing my arms over my chest with a loud huff.

He snickered and pinched my cheek. "I can deal with that." I swatted his hand away and glared harder. He only grinned in return. "Let's start, okay?"

Sighing, I nodded wearily. "Okay. But we have to be quiet, don't we? Ichii's still asleep."

Zero shrugged, with an air of complete nonchalance. "Not necessarily," He tapped his nose at my confused expression and gestured for me to follow him towards a door that I hadn't ever noticed before, possibly because it was hidden behind the stand where the boys draped their coats. Frowning lightly, I stopped in my tracks and studied him intently. However, before I could voice my question, Zero had already provided an answer. "Patience, grasshopper, all will be revealed soon."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "You know, acting all wise doesn't suit you." I teased and quickly ducked inside the room before he could pull me into a headlock.

Zero closed the door behind us.

I blinked in utter disbelief, slowly turning in a wide circle. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Zero asked, arms crossed as he fixed me with a level look. "So an entire apartment in your closet is cool, but as soon as you seen the gym, you're surprised? There's no logic to that."

I considered this for a moment, and then shook my head minutely. It was probably a good thing that I bit down hard on my lower lip to prevent myself from retorting that it wasn't even the norm for houses to arrive with a fully-functional gym equipped in the basement, let alone apartments. Instead, I snapped the band off my wrist and tied my raven locks back into a loose ponytail that swayed with my movements. "So, where do we begin?"

Zero grinned cheekily and cracked each knuckle in turn. The noise was sickening, but I forced myself not to cringe. "I figure we'll start on punches and work our way up from there. That sound good?" I nodded determinedly. Zero laughed and ruffled my hair, before nudging my feet into a more comfortable stance, his hand steadying me on the hip when I teetered dangerously.

I followed as well as I could manage as he demonstrated the punches with practised ease, making my clumsy attempts feel awkward and disjointed. His movements were swift and powerful, holding an effortless grace that I could only dream of possessing. Before too much time had passed, he was rocking back on his heels and studying me with a critical eye as I struck out at the air in rhythmic motions. When he stepped forward, I faltered. He made a disapproving noise in the back of his throat and I felt my face heat up with embarrassment.

"Here," His voice was clear and smooth as chocolate. His hands were raised, palms out, facing me. "Punch them. It'll help with your accuracy."

I frowned and eyed his palms in trepidation. "Are... you sure?"

Zero nodded. It was a confident, decisive motion. "Yeah. If you're worried about hurting me, then don't be. I do this with Ichii all of the time. Trust me, he packs a whole lot more of a punch than you do right now-" Zero stumbled at my suddenly downcast expression. "Not that you'll stay that way, of course. With time and effort, you could be just as good." I raised my fists and he immediately stopped babbling. It went on like this for more than half an hour. Me punching, Zero dishing out improvements. He didn't lavish me with praise, but I found that when he dished out even a few good words, they were honest and sincere. Because of that, I trusted him.

The door opened and Ichii stumbled in, Tabby in his arms, rocking the worst bedhead I had ever seen him with. He squinted, shook his shaggy head, and after realising that made little difference, blearily combed his hair away from his eyes. Zero had his hand clamped over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "Dude, you look like hell. Hold on, I'll go make you some coffee."

Ichii exhaled softly and slumped against the wall, muttering incoherent words of gratitude as Zero left. The bluenette poked his head back around the door approximately two seconds later, startling Ichii more than he would care to admit, with an infectiously smug grin in place. "Yo, keep practising, alright?" I acknowledged this by flashing him a quick thumbs up. While I did as instructed, Ichii watched with startling intensity from his position, and after allowing Tabby to roam freely across the floor, he never appeared to move once. It was more than a little unnerving, but after a little while, I tuned him out.

The brunette perked up considerably with the mug of steaming coffee nestled in his hands and chose to perch on the balance beam off to my left, sipping infrequently as he studied us with mild interest, while I silently cursed him and his abundant grace. How he managed to make that look effortless while being so obviously tired was beyond my comprehension.

"What?" Zero demanded, his voice sharp as he caught my fist in his hand.

Ichii raised a single eyebrow, looking like the embodiment of innocence. Tabby casually swatted at his foot.

Zero rolled his eyes and gave an aggravated sigh. "Damn, you're so annoying." He released my hand. "Continue." My eyes flicked to both boys in a moment of hesitation, before I obeyed. We stopped not two minutes later, Zero seeming to be far more tense than the first time. "Look, if you've got something to say, then say it. You know I hate it when you hold back."

Ichii considered this for a moment and took a very deliberate sip of his coffee. Setting the mug gently down beside him, he slipped silently down to the ground with catlike grace. "You're doing it wrong." He said, perhaps a little too bluntly. A muscle jumped in Zero's jaw, but he said nothing. "Her form is garbage. With a stance like that, any punch will be no more than a love tap." Guiltily, I adjusted my feet into what I assumed to be the appropriate stance. Since Zero hadn't looked at me once, I couldn't be certain.

"You haven't finished," Zero stated, which was uncomfortably accurate. "Keep going."

"You need to quit playing patty cake with her. That exercise may be good for us, but it's not for her. You can't use the same methods that you do to grow stronger, she's not going to become a boxer." Ichii had kicked off the beam and strolled closer while he was speaking, ruffling my hair, he finally allowed himself to shoot my a reassuring smile. "Zero, look at her. She's a women, very slim and petite at that. Her strength is in her core, her hips and legs. I agree that she can fight. Honestly, I think she'll be damn good in a couple of years time, but not if you train her like this. Punching utilises her weakest muscles and bone groups; it's a waste of time."

Contrary to what I expected, Zero didn't explode into a fit of rage. In fact, he took the news reasonably well. Flexing his arms behind his head, he laughed shallowly. "Damn it all. What do you suggest then, O mighty one?"

Ichii shrugged. "I'm not the one that's training her. You are." Zero growled low in his throat. I shot him a wary look and took a precautionary step to the side. He didn't seem to notice. "I'll only help if she agrees. Trust me, Hikari, it'll be hell. I don't go easy, Zero knows that much."

I jutted my chin out self-importantly. "I can handle it." The brunette raised his eyebrow in a small arch. "I can handle it." I repeated, icily.

Ichii considered this for a moment, accepting my words in casual silence. "You asked for it. Just try to keep up. Zero, first of all we need to improve her stamina. I'll take her jogging every few days, further each time until I can get her going every day. On Sunday she goes up on the balance beam with me. By improving her speed and agility, she'll be more able to dodge attacks. Every two days, she spars with you. Teach her kicks first and once she seems stronger, give her a couple of punches. She's not going to be as strong as us, no matter how hard she trains, but if she's fast, she'll pack a decent punch. Knowing her, she'll be resourceful and use her opponents strength against them."

"You're taking her, right?"

Ichii nodded swiftly, throwing back the rest of his coffee in one quick gulp. "Come on, Hikari."

"Taking me where, exactly?" I asked, scooping Tabby up tottering after him like a lost puppy.

"Jogging. Put on some comfortable trainers and wait by the front door." After leaving Tabby in my room, I did as I was told, wondering what circle of hell my soul would descend to. Ichii came clattering down some time after, changed out of the faded shirt and shorts he slept in, hair noticeably more tamed. He must have noticed me staring at the small bag slung over his shoulder, as he shrugged it off and opened it wide for me to see inside.

Medical supplies, high energy food bars and sports drinks.

He chuckled at the alarmed look on my face. "Don't lose your nerve, it's just a precaution."

That wasn't exactly reassuring. I tried to nod like I understood, but just achieved some sort of seasick look. He patted me on the head. "Ready?" I grimaced awkwardly. He smiled cheerfully in return. "Brilliant, let's go."

The first five minutes were tiring, but nothing I couldn't handle. The sky was fairly clear, it was warm and the air was fresh. Ichii said it was the perfect weather for running. I agreed with him. At first. Very quickly, my legs began to ache. Ichii didn't slow down. He merely spared a minute glance over his shoulder and ordered me to keep up.

Panting heavily, I stumbled after him. I could see the glint of his tooth out of the corner of my eye. He was gnawing on his lower lip. If I had enough breath, I would have informed him that he was about to cut said lip open. Since I was currently suffocating, I wasn't able to. Pain suddenly flaring up my side had me struggling to even take another step. It stung and stabbed like daggers of pure poison, leaving me gasping pathetically. Ichii sighed and slowed to match my pace. "Hikari, you haven't even been going fifteen minutes."

"Be quiet," I said, between breaths. "I can keep going."

And I did.

I imagined Ichii looked somewhat impressed, but then again, I couldn't summon the energy to even glance in his direction.

"Keep going. One step at a time. We'll get to the finish line eventually."

I laughed shallowly. "What goddamn finish line?"

"Good point."

I groaned. He caught me when I tripped on the pavement. I screwed up my face, took a deep breath and continued. My ankle throbbed horribly. Ichii must have realised, although he never said anything.

Twenty Five minutes.

Ichii, damn him, didn't even appear to be tired.

I, on the other hand, was the walking personification of death.

"Look at me. We'll stop when we get to that lamp post, alright? You can make it to there, can't you?" Was that a challenge? If so, I was totally going to win.

Ichii looked so proud. Too bad I was too busy dying to really bathe in that pride. I dropped to my knees, gagging for breath. I'd never felt quite that bad in my life, not even that time I'd broken my arm at seven falling out of a tree. It was like l'd cannibalised parts of myself to stay on my feet, and now the pain and emptiness flooded into me and swamped me, and I just wanted to lie down and die.

He crouched down, all smiles and said, "Ready to head back?"

I decided right then and there that he was first on my To-Kill list.

Ichii had me sparring with Zero once we'd returned. Zero looked utterly crushed at the prospect of doing so while I appeared to be half-dead.

I spent two hours clumsily trading blows with him, while Ichii watched for the sidelines. Thankfully, he wasn't a complete monster and called for frequent breaks. Now was just one of them. Both boys were sitting on the balance beam. I remained on the floor, contently sipping the drink Ichii had provided me with.

"Do you hate me?"

I angled my head right back to look the brunette in the eye. "No. Idiot." He seemed pleased with this, and smiled softly, dropping an energy bar into my lap. I nibbled delicately on the corner, my appetite still diminished from the huge lunch Ichii had prepared for us earlier. "Why would you ask something like that?" Ichii shrugged. "You think because today has been tough, I hate you now?"

"Pretty much."

I punched his leg. "Idiot. I said I could handle it."

He sighed. "I'm so glad you said that, otherwise I would feel really bad about this." I eyed the door in all seriousness. He noticed and laughed. "That's probably a good idea. Get up." Huffing, I climbed to my feet and crossed my arms. "Zero, you too." The bluenette's eyes widened comically. "Hikari, your aim is to get to the door. We have to stop you."

"That's it?" I asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

"That's it." Ichii confirmed.

I smiled and flexed my arms. Sounds simple enough.

"We're not going easy on you, though." I whipped my head around to face Ichii, alarmed. "Begin." I reeled back to avoid him, stumbling over my feet. He advanced, refusing to allow me to regain my balance. I ducked under his sweeping kick and rolled to the side, smacking straight into the wall. I released a pained cry which made Ichii visibly falter, but spotting Zero closing in on his right flank was enough to force him to regain his composure. "Focus, Hikari. Get aware of your space."

I threw myself forwards and slid across the floor, directly through the gap between the two boys. Zero quickly manoeuvred himself to be in the exact position to kick me over as I attempted to jump back to my feet. I used the momentum to roll up and over, grabbing the wall for support and ducking under Ichii's strike. I side-stepped him, eyeing the door warily.

Raising my fists, I failed to dodge his next attack. He hit me three times before I swung out of range and flicked my foot out to slam across his back. He didn't even flinch. I backed away, pirouetted on my heels and caught Zero around the neck with my foot. The momentum pushed him straight to the floor. Ichii swept my foot out from beneath me. Winded, I lay there for a moment, gasping pathetically for breath. "Get up," Ichii ordered. "People aren't nice. They're not going to wait for you to recover. Get up, Hikari."

I glared at him and did so, bouncing up and driving my head hard into his stomach. He slammed back into the floor, surprised, but unhurt. Zero picked me up from behind, arms looped under my armpits, leaving me flailing uselessly. I slammed my elbow backwards where it connected heavily with an especially fleshy area. He dropped me. I fell down into a crouch, turning quickly to retaliate. Zero's foot snapped across my chin. "Keep your guard up." He barked, as I fell back on my butt. I growled in frustration. He kicked me in the chest. I swerved to the side to avoid him, shakily standing once more.

Ichii slammed a palm into my back. I spun around, blocked his next strike, and punched him as hard as I could manage, right in the chest. It didn't even appear to startle him. Zero hit me from the side. I stumbled, clearly shocked. Ichii struck from his position in front of me. I wasn't sure which one to defend against and which one to attack. Several more strikes later and I was falling back against the wall after a particularly hard kick. I blocked Zero's rising knee with both hands and received an unblocked punch as a prize. Snarling, I punched him back, which seemed to surprise him.

I slid down and through the opening he had provided as he went to kick me. While he was off balance, I just had to worry about Ichii, who was circling me with a predatory glint in his eyes. Standing between me and the door, he lazily beckoned me over. Raising my fists, I took off running. He sunk lower into his stance, switching his weight to his back leg. That kick stopped me quickly. He struck thrice more, hard, swept my feet out and pushed me firmer into the carpet with a palm to my chest.

I instantly was struggling to my feet. Being on the floor was just about the worst possibly place to be. He put his foot on my stomach and forced me back down. I gasped and tried to wriggle out from under him. It worked, a little.

Until he hooked his foot under my ankle and forcefully pulled me across the floor towards him. He crouched down, straddled my waist and expertly caught the hands that I'd been grappling him with, pinning them against the carpet. I struggled, trying to free my hands, to do anything. But I couldn't. I was trapped. "Open your eyes." I peeked through my eyelashes. "Are you scared?"

"No." I replied, insolently, even though I was pretty sure I was shaking.

"Want me to get off?"

I flicked my hair out of my face with a quick toss of my head and made a self-important noise. "I don't care." Even though I did. Even though I was shaking. Even though I was scared.

"Don't accept it." He instructed. "Fight. Fight me, Hikari. Kick my ass. Do something!"

"I can't." I said, in a small voice. "I tried. I'm not strong enough."

"Do something." He repeated, firmly. "Don't give up. You're a goddamn fighter, so fight!"

I wasn't sure how long we were like that for. I valiantly doing anything I could to dislodge the boy, and Ichii never moving an inch. Until I was left lying there, panting, fighting tears and feeling utterly useless. "That's enough, Ichii." Zero took a step forward and put a hand on his shoulder. The brunette nodded and carefully climbed to his feet, lifting me up under the arms. The smaller boy chipped me underneath the chin as I hung my head in shame. "It's alright, Hikari. You did good."

"You did good." Ichii agreed.

"I wasn't strong enough." I mumbled, twisting my hands.

"Did you seriously think after training for one day that you could be anywhere near our level?" Ichii asked, softly. I silently shook my head. He ruffled my hair and brought me into a fierce one-armed hug. "You weren't meant to win, Hikari. Honestly, I didn't even think you'd do as well as you did. That test was merely to make you more aware of your surroundings. People aren't going to wait their turn in a fight, they'll ambush you all at once. You have to be prepared to work with what you've got and make sure you don't get hit. And you did. You dodged me a hell of a lot more than I thought you would be able to. You're a lot faster than I expected. How long have you been hiding that up your sleeve?"

I managed a giggle. "A while."

Zero twisted me into a headlock. I protested loudly while he affectionately rubbed his knuckles against my head. "Great job, Klutz. Pretty sure you landed a hit on me."

I tossed him off. "Of course I did." I said, smugly.

"You've got a long way to go, Hikari. You've gotta put a lot of work in. Are you prepared for it?"

My body ached all over. I could already feel the added pain from everywhere I had been hit. Despite that, I nodded determinedly. "I said I could handle it, didn't I?"

A/N: And that concludes my 10th chapter. It focuses heavily on fighting/martial arts and I know that doesn't interest many people but I really hope you guys liked it as it's my first arc outside of the usual anime/manga plot.

Moka: I hope you liked this chapter and that it met all your expectations. You seemed to have guessed what I've been trying to do for a little while now, hopefully this chapter will make it more obvious how they're all slowly changing each other?

LoveInuyasha22: I really hope you liked this chapter, thank you for showing your support once more. I'm glad you noticed the subtle changes in Hikari and how both she and Zero are growing and flourishing as unique individuals. Well, I did feel it was a little odd how Nina's mother was always missing without a stated reason, so I decided to add reasons where necessary and include her when I felt she should be present.

AJPJweallluvJJ: That's a good idea about Hikari's friends being jealous, it's already prompted many different scenarios, so thank you! Ah yes, I will probably put these two ideas together so you can see how they met during this jealousy arc. About Hikari's mother meeting Zero and Ichii, I hope this chapter explains it. I know I hadn't directly stated anything, so I hope that it's obvious that she and Zero were meeting for the first time then and that she still hadn't met Ichii before, but had heard about the both of them from Hikari.

Also, I'd like to give a very big thank you to everyone that has favourited and followed Hikari's Tale