It was five in the morning when Ame felt herself roll off the bed and crash to the ground.

"Time to get up," Kid said. He threw a wad of fabric at her. "Put this on. We're going to the pool."

"But it's five in the morning," Ame whined. "Let's go later."

"We're going now; I rented to pool early for us, so no one will disturb your training."

Something suddenly clicked in her mind.

"Training at the pool?! But I can walk on water."

"So can the demon lord," Kid said. "Now you have to learn to swim."

Kid's a Mean Teacher! New Skills for an Old Wolf?

The sun had risen slightly by the time Kid and Ame had arrived at the pool. They were the only ones there; it was closed today, but Kid had paid the manager extra to let them train for the day. Kid waited on the edge while Ame got in. She didn't complain about the water being cold; she was a wolf, she could handle it. The water felt nice, actually.

"Used to the water yet?" Kid asked. Ame nodded. "Good. You should warm up a little. Swim the length of the pool, touch the opposite wall, and come back. Don't try to go fast or anything; this is just for a warm-up."

"Right," Ame nodded. She kicked off one end and began doggy/wolfy-paddling to the other side. Her head was tilted back, as if she couldn't let her nose touch the water.

"I guess that's a wolf thing," Kid mumbled to himself, making metal notes about her form as she went. "I don't think it'll be worth-while to teach her anything that she couldn't also do in her wolf form. I guess she can't breathe underwater, so she's going out of her way to keep her head above the water."

"How's that?" Ame asked once she'd reached the shallow end again.

"Go under," Kid instructed.

"Huh?"

"Hold your breath and go underwater. I want to see how long you last."

"Uh, I'm not sure that's a good idea…"

"Just do it."

Ame was suddenly aware of how empty the pool was. What if there was something on the other side of the pool? She wasn't good under water; her ink was utterly useless. She backed up against the wall and gasped before splashing down. Kid hit a button on the stopwatch around his neck. He watched her under the water. She moved as little as possible; her eyes were closed, and she was drawn in, as if she was in a small space. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to forget how vulnerable she really was by acting like she was in a smaller space.

It was only a few seconds before Ame freaked and lunged above the water again, gasping for breath.

"You can't be serious!" Kid snapped. "You have the lungs of a water flea!"

"I tried!" Ame shot back, putting her hands on her hips.

"And you've already regained your breath," Kid sighed. "Try again, and this time stay under!"

Ame sank under once more, this time waiting until her lungs began burning for air. She glanced above the water, but saw Kid shake his head slightly. She puffed out her cheeks self-consciously and looked down. She waited and waited. And waited. Her vision began to blur when Kid finally signaled with his hand that she could come up. She gasped for air, rubbing the water out of her eyes.

Kid glanced at his watch and sighed.

"Okay, let's work on your speed. Transform, if you must, just swim as fast as you can from one end to the other."

"Okay," Ame nodded. She tore across the pool with the speed of a water flea. Kid sighed.

"We've got a long way to go," he said. "Don't save that burst of speed for the end; this is swimming, not horseracing!"

Ame touched the opposite wall of the pool and spun around to kick back. She was slowing down.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Kid shouted after her. "You may beat Kazegami in the air, but you sure can't beat Nuregami in the water!"

Ame was panting slightly as she touched the shallow end once more.

"Do it again," Kid instructed. "And this time, swim harder!"

"Okay," Ame nodded, lunging into the water and kicking to give herself a burst of speed every so often.

"That's pathetic! Even Liz can swim faster than that!"

"Well, she's really hot and athletic and stuff!"

Ame hung onto the edge, panting slightly.

"Resting?" Kid asked calmly. He got down on his knees and reached out to put a hand over her face. He shoved her under and held her there for a long time as she thrashed around underneath him.

"Bleh!" Ame spat as she finally resurfaced. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Yes," Kid replied. Ame glared at him. "Oh, come on. You can do better than that. Now try again."

"Right," Ame nodded. She kicked off the wall and tackled the water.

"Try using your hind legs for power," Kid called after her. "If you're just using your front legs, you'll never get anywhere."

Ame was getting tired of this exercise, and Kid could tell. He changed it up as soon as she finished her lap.

"I want you to try to hold your breath and swim under water. I'm just going to watch."

"Okay."

"Just swim as far out as you can, and try to get to the other end."

"Okay!" Ame sank under and kicked off. She was getting faster. Kid watched her resurface about halfway down.

"That was pathetic! That wasn't even halfway!"

They were at it for hours. The sun was directly over the pool when Ame noticed others entering the pool area.

"YAHOO!"

SPLASH

"Blackstar!" Kid yelled. Said ninja had bounded right over the fence and canon-balled into the pool, making a huge splash and washing Ame back to the shallow end. "What are you doing here?"

"We heard you rented the pool today," Blackstar said. "What better time to swim than when we have it all to ourselves?"

"Ame and I are training, leave us alone!" Kid snapped.

"Oh, come on, I won't bother ya!"

"Sorry about this," Tsubaki apologized once she and Liz entered the premises through the gate. "I tried telling Blackstar not to come, but he does whatever he wants."

"It's alright, I don't blame you," Kid sighed. He glanced at Liz, who had dropped the bags she was carrying and began taking her clothes off. "…. What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know," Liz said, shrugging off her jacket to show off her revealing bikini top. "Since we're here, we might as well cool off, right?"

"Not you too," Kid sighed. "Did you bring the stuff I told you to?"

"Yeah," Liz began rummaging through the bags. "I got some diving batons and I brought some lunch for you two."

"Great, thanks," Kid smiled gratefully and glanced out at Ame. "Ame, you can take a break now; you've done well enough."

Ame resurfaced and lifted herself out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool.

"Here," Kid said, offering her a sandwich. "Eat slowly; we still have a lot of work to do."

"Thank you," she said.

"So how's it coming, you two?" Liz asked, sitting down with Kid, Ame, and Tsubaki. Blackstar was too busy enjoying himself to join them.

"Don't ask," Kid sighed.

"That bad, huh?" Tsubaki asked. "I thought you would be farther along than that."

Ame had finished eating and was lying on her side, catching up on what sleep she didn't get that morning. Kid watched her for a moment to make sure she was really asleep before answering.

"She's doing okay," Kid said. "It's just tiring. I couldn't find any human instructor in Death City that would help her. They'd take her in, but they wouldn't be hard on her. They'd let her slack off."

"Why?"

"They're afraid of her," Kid said. "After she attacked the representative for the government, everyone's been withholding with her. It's just that she's an animal and not human. She's been having so much trouble just learning how to use long-range weapons."

"I can talk to Sid about long-range training," Blackstar offered, suddenly deciding to pay attention. "There's a training room at the academy, remember? There's plenty of room for her to horse around in there."

"Thanks, Blackstar, that's probably the most helpful thing you've ever done."

Kid checked his watch and gave Ame a nudge.

"Come on, back to it," he nagged. Ame sat up and stretched her arms, slipping into the water.

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked, her eyes still half-closed.

"How about you retrieve this for me?" Kid asked, holding up a red baton. Ame perked up. Kid chose the color baton correctly; if the baton had been a different color, she might not have been so excited. "It'll sink when I throw it, so if you can't touch the bottom at the other end, you'll have to get it fast, okay?"

"Okay!" Ame said, jumping up in a splash of water.

"Ready?" Kid wound his arm aback and threw the baton across the pool. "Fetch!"

Ame shot after it, her body moving similarly to a dolphin in order to rush across the pool and dive under in time.

"That's much better!" Kid called after her. She curved under the water and spun like a corkscrew to go farther under the water. "She's actually moving at a good speed now. I guess she just needed to be in the water for a while before her instinct kicked in."

"She's almost like a dolphin," Liz said, kicking her legs in the water gently. Her voice lowered considerably as something crossed her mind. "Hey, Kid? I've been wondering about something."

"What is it?" Kid asked, taking notice of her change in tone. He kicked off his flip-flops and sat down next to her. Liz still didn't look at him.

"You know when you and Ame… fought Ninetails?"

Kid's shoulders sagged slightly. "Yes. What about it?"

"Well, Ame transformed into a bird, right?"

"She… grew wings, yes," Kid nodded. "I'm not quite sure how, though."

"You've seen it yourself, though," Liz said. "I was just thinking, what if she can transform into other things? Her body takes on a new form every time her soul evolves. What if she turns into, like, a fish or something?"

"Or a water flea," Kid suggested. Liz burst out laughing. "But no, that's impossible. Yuki blessed her next incarnation with that form. And now that Ninetails tore her wings out…."

Ame's upper body lifted out of the water as she dropped the baton on the edge of the pool.

"Good girl," Kid praised, rubbing between her ears. He threw two more to keep her occupied. "At this rate, we could go home early, but I'm not going to tell her that."

"You're so mean to her, Kid," Liz smirked. "Be careful about it; she's not tough like me and Patti. She'll get hurt."

"That's the kind of thing I'm trying to prevent," Kid explained. "She can be tough, I know it. If she is, maybe we won't have to deal with the Demon Lord again. She's just too good sometimes."

Another chapter is concluded with plot and comedy. Leave a review telling me what you think, and if you'd like to see any other special training scenes with Kid and Ame, or maybe another teacher at the academy :)