A/N: I LIVE! -Again-. Anyway sorry for my massive hiatus on this fic but life came up with college and family. We've all been there am I right? Anyway no delay for this chapter, let's get on with the show!
Chapter 4: Sharp Minds (Ren x Asami) Part one. Soaking Springs
"Well it only took about three hours but we finally have come up with a strategy for the Floor 55 boss fight." Ren reported to Heathcliff, handing him the papers that contained all the details of the upcoming fight. "Spread that around to everyone in the front lines and have them memorize the plan."
The commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath nodded his head in appreciation to the head tactician of the front lines. It certainly wasn't an easy job being the one in charge of a group of players and leaders with differing ideas and strategies but Ren seemed to always come out on top with his ideas. "I thank you for your time Ren. I hope Shino hasn't been giving you a hard time."
"Well sorry to say that hope is lost cause all he did was moan like normal." Ren said with a shoulder shrug. "I'll never understand why that guy is so vocal against me."
"Perhaps it's because of your gilded reputation as a warrior coupled with your brain. Most players tend to be one or the other."
"I thank you for the compliment but I'd rather not waste my day thinking about why Shino hates me. Have a good day commander Heathcliff." Ren said with a wave farewell.
The man returned the gesture in kind. "And you as well."
Closing the door behind him, Ren let out a long sigh of relief at being freed from his prison. These meetings were always mentally exhausting one way or another as both finding out a boss's attack patterns and how to circumvent them is something that took hours of careful study and planning. Not to mention the fact that some of the other tacticians of the front lines tended to butt heads most of the time on how to plan things. Too bad argumentative planning couldn't be weaponized to use against bosses. They'd have enough to kill every boss in the game and then some. He moved past the members of the guild who gave him greetings and farewells as they often did. With how often these meetings were held, all five of the tacticians were on a first name basis with the lowest and highest members of the guild.
Of course being a good friend of the Lightning Flash Asuna is also a good way of getting notoriety.
As he was about to make his way past the front gate of the guild's enormous base of operations, a pair of hands covered his eyes followed by a soft giggle from behind. "Guess who Reny-kins?"
"Come on Asami I'm too tired for the guessing game." Ren sighed.
The hands retreated back to the fellow player's side as she bounced in front of him. "And how did you know it wasn't Eve or Mako?"
He rolled his eyes and continued his walk with Asami walking close to his right. ...Ahem very close to his right. "Eve or Mako doesn't call me Reny-kins and aren't friendly enough with me to play the blindfold game. Also do you mind not standing so close to me Asami? Kinda impeding on my personal space here."
"Oh come now Ren, we're friends and fellow tacticians. There's nothing weird about us being so close considering what we do." Her face adopted a mischievous grin as she leaned even closer to him. "Or are you just getting flustered that a cute girl is so close to a handsome guy like yourself?"
Ren managed to pull away from the tenacious tactician with a soft blush on his face. "Asami knock it off, I like to keep my personal space unpenetrated thank you very much."
The blonde girl gave a quick walk around Ren as she observed him up and down. "Man you sure are stressed out. These meetings are doing a number on you huh?"
"It doesn't matter if I am stressed out or not Asami. I just can't let everyone down when they are depending on me and you all to make these fights easier." He sighed.
Asami stopped in front of him and gave him a hard frown. "I don't wanna hear that excuse Ren. You're no good to anyone if you're killing yourself over it. If we lose you we're screwed six ways from Sunday." She pulled up her menu and sent a message to her fellow tactician who received it in less than a second asking him to party with her. "Now listen here. You ARE gonna party with me. You ARE gonna follow me where I go and you WILL be relaxed by the end of it. Are we clear Ren?"
The teen felt that he was trapped against the wall in this situation. Asami only ever used his actual name whenever she was serious or in the meetings with the others. Coupled with the fact of the kinda scary glare she was sending his way, Ren had little choice in the matter. "Fine Asami I'll go with you. But please don't do anything weird during this alright?"
She gave a mock salute to the teen with a playful giggle. Giggles from girls could be either good or bad on the situation and Ren was willing to bet it was the latter. "Great now follow me Reny-kins. We gotta loosen you up."
He barely had time to send a message to Alice and the others telling them that he would be late before being dragged off via his collar. Asami may have looked cute and fragile but Ren knew from personal experience that she could be just as terrifying as Helios. That in of itself was a scary thought.
Soon enough the duo found themselves on the fields of floor 52 staring at the entrance of a cavern with hot moist air coming out of it. By the looks of it this area was a monster free zone as no creatures were even remotely near the opening.
"I found this little sweet spot a few months ago after a meeting." Asami said pulling Ren with her as they entered the cavern. "It's a place of rejuvenation that just melts the stress straight from your bones."
"And why is it so steamy in there? Feels like a blast furnace with the heat it's producing." Ren asked while waving his hand in front of his face to part the hot air away from him. "It's like a hot spring in there."
The female tactician giggled while giving Ren a thumbs up in confirmation. "That's because it is! The ultimate form of relaxation to melt all that pent up stress away Reny-kins!"
"Wait what!?" Ren's face grew blazing red at the implications of what Asami dragged him to. "Y-You dragged me over here to bathe with me in a hot spring?"
"Why Reny-kins you know I'm not that sort of girl and I am actually offended you would think that. I only want to help you to relax and enjoy yourself without the stress of your duties for a day. Can't a friend do that for another?" Asami argued.
Ren groaned internally at the situation he was in. In truth he knew that Asami, while eccentric, wasn't some sort of pervert trying some bold move. But the thought of bathing with a woman who he wasn't directly related to made him slightly nervous. Hell back when he was young he hardly did that with his mother or sister so to do it with a girl he only met a few months ago? Boy that was sure sending some confusing signals he wasn't used to.
Not to mention denying Asami of her wish to help would only make things even more awkward between them and that's the last thing he wanted with the other tacticians being either insufferable or just indifferent to him
With a reluctant sigh, the leader of Wyvern's Inferno resigned to his fate to the hot spring trip. "Fine I'll do it but you must promise me you won't try anything funny, okay Asami?"
"Scout's honor!"
"Well then… Let's get going…?"
Asami smiled as grabbed his hand with her own. "With pleasure."
With a bit of dungeon crawling and avoiding some sharp rocky outcrops the duo found themselves looking at a glimmering pool of steamy crystal clear water. The pool looked to be around stomach deep sitting down and smooth bottomed so feet getting cut wasn't an issue of any sort.
"Here we are Reny-kins! My secret little hot spring of relaxation and comfort." Asami said in introduction. "Now you're gonna need one of these to bathe in here so open your trade menu real quick."
Ren did as he was told and brought up his trade window to accept the incoming request from the girl. The item he received spoke volumes on how intimate this experience was going to be with her.
Bath Towel (Male)
As he was about to voice a very reasonable complaint at bathing next to a woman, Asami brought up her hand and placed a finger on Ren's lips. "Now before you get up and arms with your adorable arguments, I already thought of a solution to that dilemma. You get in the spring first and face away from me then I'll get in and face away from you too. That way we can both relax without having to take turns."
"...I dunno about this Asami…"
"Oh don't be such a baby and get changed already." she said whilst pushing him behind a tall rock. "Change into that towel over here and I'll be waiting for you in the spring. Don't keep me waiting Reny-kins!"
Footsteps echoed away from Ren and a soft splashing noise was heard behind him, signaling that Asami entered the water. This was incredibly awkward for him right now if not the most awkward he has ever felt in a situation like this. No matter how much he wished he could just melt into the floor and disappear from this situation, his hands were tied. Should he leave then he loses Asami's friendship and support. But should he stay then he would be subjected to the girl's wild teasing and painfully awkward reminders of their situation. "Might as well get this over with…" He muttered to himself while taking off his equipment minus his boxer shorts. He put on the towel around his waist to cover up his undergarments and also had it reach down past his knees.
Walking out of his hiding spot Ren saw that Asami was indeed already soaking in the hot spring with her towel wrapped around the top of her breasts down to the middle of her thighs with her hair tied up into a semi neat bun. She hummed a small tune while enjoying the warm water coat her body in its relaxing hold. As he gazed at his fellow tactician, Ren felt his cheeks heat up red hot. Not only was seeing a woman bathing semi nude was working to overload his brain but the fact that Asami was quite attractive also made this all the more troubling for him. It also made him want to run away and try to forget his embarrassment but he said he would relax with Asami. If Ren could say anything about himself, it was that he was a man of his word.
"Asami I'm ready."
The blonde girl turned around with a small smile on her face to see Ren in his towel clad glory. "Well what are you waiting for Reny? The water won't bite you y'know." she invited playfully while patting the surface of the water. "Don't worry I'm not gonna be facing you like I promised." Holding true to her word Asami turned around backside to Ren to avert her eyes.
Ren gulped hard and slowly placed his left foot into the water. It was hot as he expected it to be causing him to shrink back slightly but continue to dip his left leg into the water. Slowly but surely Ren managed to get inside the hot spring and submerged his body up to his chest into the water. Almost instantly the relaxing feel of the water began to take effect as the teen felt hard knots of stress he didn't even know existed within him began to untie and relax deeply causing him to let out a sigh of pleasure. He felt the world melt around him slowly as the stress that froze his body stiff sunk into the bottom of the spring.
"Feels wonderful doesn't it Ren?" Asami suddenly asked, forcing Ren away from his reverie. "All the pent up stress and worries you felt all day long just bleed away from your body in a single purging moment. As the waves of relaxation and tranquility wash over the shores of your body soft and comfortingly, right?"
"Wow… Asami that was beautiful."
"Thanks, I just thought of it, but I am right though, right? Feeling super mellowed out?"
Ren nodded his head and relaxed even further, sinking his body up to his neck into the warm blanket of water that surrounded him. "Yeah it does make me feel stress free. Like they're no troubles in the world right now."
"I know a way to help that even further you know? Close your eyes Reny-kins."
Ren frowned a bit and spared the girl a single glance. "Asami I don't wanna play games."
"Relax, you know I gave you my word not to do anything funny. I promise this will help okay? Trust me."
Perhaps it was the euphoria of being liberated from the ungodly amount of stress of being the head tactician on Aincrad but he decided to humor Asami's request and close his eyes. He heard water splash and move behind him, meaning that the blonde girl was moving closer to him. Before he could question what she was doing, Ren felt a soft pair of hands rub at his shoulders in a circular motion. It was at that moment that Ren fully realized the situation he was in at the moment.
He was, in fact, getting a massage from an attractive girl clad only in a towel in a hot spring. Alone.
"Asami! What are you-!?" Ren's cry was cut off by a relaxing moan as Asami managed to loosen up a knot in his shoulder that hid from the hot water.
She giggled lightly, continuing her ministrations onto her comrade. "My mom does this for my dad all the time whenever he came home from work tired. She taught me how to do it so I could help my dad and any of my stressed friends. She's a professional masseuse after all."
"I can see she taught you well." Ren said clearly pleased at the treatment he was getting.
"Hehehe, I'm glad to help Ren. I hate to see you have to deal with the stuff you face constantly." she began. "Fighting on the front lines, coming up with strategies to help an entire army, boss rooms with dangerous monsters, your rabid dog of a friend Helios."
"Hey now, he isn't that bad." Ren defended. "He might be a bit chaotic but at least he isn't killing anyone. Plus he's not all that bad if you know him like I do."
Asami rolled her eyes. "Somehow I seriously doubt that Reny-kins, I really do. Anyway so long as I can help in some way, even if it isn't that much I'll do it. I care about you Ren… You mean a lot to me." She stopped with her massage and slowly hugged the teen from behind, causing him to stiffen a bit. "I want you to be able to lean on me when you need support, even if it's something small. I need you to know for sure I'll always be here to give you a boost."
"Asami…" Ren softly removed her hands from his chest and turned around to look at her. "I promise that I'll come to you if anything bothers me but I want you to do the same. If anything bothers you be sure to come to me for help. Can you promise me that?"
"Mmhm."
The two of them continued their soak until the glimmering of red twilight began to reflect in the cave's light. Asami took notice of the light and got up from her spot. "Well I think that's enough hot spring soaking for one day don't you Reny-kins?"
He nodded, rising up from the water and stretching his arms over his head. "Yeah. Thanks Asami I really needed this."
"Hehehe well I'd like to think I know how to read what you're really feeling at times."
The two of them got changed back into their normals clothes away from each other as Asami handed him a dry towel to clean off. Once all dried and dressed the two of them exited the cave feeling refreshed and renewed and began their trek back to town. With no monsters standing in their way they made it back without incident and teleported back into the safety of floor 52's town.
"Well this is where we part ways Reny-kins." Asami said with a small curtsy. "I must be taking my leave or my friends might think something happened to me."
"I better do the same. God knows if Alice hasn't tried to hurt Helios for his antics or not." Ren agreed.
In a swift motion, the blonde tactician gave a small peck to the dark haired teen's cheek causing him to instantly blush red and sputter backwards a step. "I look forward to our next soak together Ren. Until then I leave you with that. Goodbye!"
Ren stood dumbstruck with a hand on his right cheek as Asami gave a wink and ran away with pink cheeks. Moments passed before he gained hold of his senses and shook away the redness from his face.
"If the boss monsters don't kill me, Asami and her closeness will… That girl is something else entirely." he said aloud as he returned to Wyverns Inferno's base of operations.
A/N: Annnnnd scene! Hope you all enjoyed this and were able to put up with my absence for so long. With the dawn of summer break upon me, I will be able to update more frequently so I won't keep you all in the dark for so long. Anyway now with this ship done I have one more request from one TichePotato before I go freelance it again. Looking forward to the reviews to come in so please drop one to make my night! Hope you all enjoyed it and goodnight to those who read this chapter