HAT: Third chapter, woo-hoo! I feel like this is gonna be kinda cliché, but... might as well! Hope that you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I barely own this, just to let you know. The plot goes to Let's Read with Nella! Tiger's Curse. Also Tiger's Curse goes to the rightful owner (I don't remember her name at this second, leave me alone)... though if I did own Tiger's Curse, there would've been a lot of changes, like giving Kishan a fighting chance or making Lokesh more likable to give some conflict or something or more Mr. Kadam interaction, or things that make sense... Anyway, I'm just gonna let you read.

"I hate you," Kelsey grumbles after sparring practice in the forest.

Mr. Kadam laughs, but pays her no mind as he searches the refrigerator for something for the both of them to eat.

"Hey, Kelsey!" A certain dark haired man with unique colored eyes says as he plops himself right next to the American girl.

"Hey Kishan," Kelsey says with a bright smile.

"Hello Kelsey," Ren says behind her, but it doesn't send the familiar shivers down her spine like they used to.

Perhaps I'm too tired to react, she thinks as she guzzles down her second bottle of water and gives a lazy wave.

"How was training with Mr. Kadam," Ren asks with a teasing tone.

She removes the bottle from her lips and points at him. "Watch it."

He holds his hands up in defense and chuckles. "Yes, ma'am."

Kishan smirks. "I bet my training's easy in comparison."

"Got that right."

Mr. Kadam walks out of the kitchen and sets a plate of food and sets it in front of her. "Chapatti and Lauki Ki Sabji. Enjoy."

Kishan frowns. "Why did you never make us food?!"

"I did when you were younger, besides, she just got started," Mr. Kadam explains as he settles down to eat.

Kelsey smiles shyly and digs in, eating as quickly as she can when she finds out how hungry she actually is. She's sure that if there were curry she'd not mind at all and still devour the meal with as much enthusiasm as she does now. Upon finishing she feels energized, but still tired and unwilling to move.

"Don't get too relaxed," Kishan murmurs.

Before Kelsey could open her mouth Mr. Kadam has her upper arm in his grip and is dragging her. "W-where are we going?"

A smile- one that could almost be called mischievous- forms on his face. "We're not done training! We've still got to do more for your stamina and work on your form, but that can come later. You've had enough rest."

Ren at least has the decency to attempt to not laugh... at first. Soon both brothers are guffawing at Kelsey and she glares at them before she's pulled out of sight. She makes a silent vow to spit in their food next time she makes it, but for now she focuses on getting enough air in her lungs to at least cool her down a little more.

Upon entering the gym she remembers that night, but she quickly discards any such thoughts and focuses on what she's here to do. She's here to train and work on her stamina. Even for some Americans, she has to admit, she's done little to maintain herself and it's only lucky for her she hasn't had her metabolism drop yet. Before taking self-defense classes and this, she could do very little to protect herself, let alone others, but now she'd rectify that.

Boy, I sure wish I'd gone with Mike and Sarah all those times they offered to take me jogging, Kelsey can't help but think as she goes through warm-ups.

"For now we'll focus on your upper body then work our way down," the man informs as he glances around. "I think starting you out on weights will help a little since I know you can't do that many push ups."

Her mouth opens to defend herself, but she thinks better of it and merely says, "Okay," like the obedient girl she is.

"Go get the ten pound dumbbells and lift them," he says, taking some that are larger and holding them at his sides like they weight nothing. She picks one up and knows that she can survive- for now- with this. "Good. Now do as I do."

Don't focus on flexing muscles, she insists and then copies him.

Before long her arms are on fire and he's telling her to put them away. Then- much to her horror- he holds up wristbands that she knows are weights. She gives him an incredulous look and quickly puts her hands behind her back and clasps them in hopes that at least her fingers have the strength to keep them there when her arms don't.

"Miss Kelsey," he says with a scolding tone.

With a sigh she holds out her hands only to immediately drop then when the weights are put onto her arms. "Gosh!" She hisses harshly before looking up at her trainer. "How much do these weigh?"

"About... thirty pounds each... about the weight of a child," he assures before smiling. "It only weights that much right now because your arms are tired... Now for the legs."

"So these weights are strengthening my limbs?"

"And making you faster. When you take these off not only will you be stronger, but your limbs will move faster with lighter weights."

"That's cool," she murmurs, mentally scolding herself for sounding uninterested as he puts the last weight on her legs. "So what now?"

"We're going to spar."

Kelsey groans and glances up at the heavens to beg for mercy, but obviously she is getting none as Mr. Kadam gets into the starting position and waits for her to get into her own.

Needless to say she ended up on the ground multiple times and made to get up again. She was forced to act as if her weights weren't there and kept getting hit because of the delay in her movements. Several minutes later she's allowed to walk- more like trudge- to slow down her heart rate and have the rest of the day to herself.

She moves to take the weights off put gets her had slapped- which reminds her of getting her hand slapped when she tried to sneak cookies from the cookie jar when she was a child. "What was that for?"

It didn't hurt, but it was offensive enough to call for the question.

"You are to keep those on until I say so. You may take them off when you shower, but otherwise those stay on all day, every day until you get used to them," he orders.

"You're such a slave driver," she mumbles.

He chuckles. "You asked for this."

She can't deny it so she merely trudges to the living room and falls onto the couch over the back only to put her hand on the edge and keep herself from falling onto a sleeping- or it could be napping- Nilima despite how tired she is.

Kelsey carefully brings herself to her feet and goes to the loveseat and curls up on it. Never before has something as uncomfortable as the fetal position (to her anyway) been so comfortable before. The boys- who went unnoticed by her- purr in amusement in their tiger forms and she sticks out her tongue childishly because she can't bring herself to think of a coherent retort to get back at them in her exhausted state.

Kishan is the first to turn back into a man and sits on the arm of the chair near her head. Normally she would complain and whine about a few strands of hair being pinned underneath his rear end, but currently she just glares up at him.

"Awww, is Kelsey-hime tired?"

"Kelsey-what?" Said female demands.

"Our mother was Japanese," Ren explains (A/N: Because I'm into anime hardcore at the moment and "our mother is Asian" just doesn't do it anymore). "Hime means princess."

"I'm not used to you two using anything, but Hindu," she mutters, remembering hearing hime being said in a few anime that she's watched when she had to switch to subbed. "So have you ever called Mr. Kadam, Kadam sensei?"

"Not really, I suppose, but we mainly stuck with our father's language," Ren shrugs.

"Besides, most of our kingdom wouldn't understand us if we spoke our mother's language," Kishan adds as he begins to play with her hair.

Kelsey doesn't bother batting his hands away and lets out a yawn. "Wake me up when the food's done."

"Okay," the brothers chorus.

-These are the Breaks! Break it up, Break it up, Break down!-
(A/N: Hehe, I like that song... I might use ^that^ more often...)

Kelsey opens her eyes after ten minutes and glares into blue eyes. "You know... the food could have cooled down a little before you called me... right?"

He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry..."

"No you're not," she grumbles as she pushes herself up and goes into the dining room. After several minutes she finds that three men and one woman are all staring at her in disbelief as she chews her food and she quickly swallows to ask, "What?"

"I thought you said you didn't like curry?" Ren muttered.

"I don't."

Kishan raises an eyebrow. "Apparently now you do."

Kelsey's eyebrows come together in confusion. "Why?"

"You were using it like it was your favorite salsa dip," Ren answers.

She looks down at the chip she was about to consume and blinks. "Huh? That's weird."

Mentally she prepares a list of possibilities: 1) She was too exhausted to care what she ate (which was a good possibility), 2) Her body needed more food so her tongue didn't care, and 3) (and this was far fetched) Some magic was used. She didn't quite think that the last one would work, but after her adventures she wouldn't completely count it out as a possibility.

With a shrug she continues to eat to give her body energy for her late night practice with Kishan and Ren in the gym. She remembers their reluctance to help her get in some extra training because "it might put a strain on your body," but after thoroughly confirming that she will stay within the perimeters of her body's capabilities they agreed. She can't help, but think of the surprise that will come on Mr. Kadam's face when she's better able to hold her own against him.

Two opponents will make fighting one much easier, she thinks as she gets up and washes the dishes.

"Miss Kelsey."

She turns around at the feminine voice. "Yes, Nilima?"

"You're planning something, aren't you?"

"Why do you ask?"

A knowing look crosses the woman's face. "You act like I'm not a Kadam."

The young American's face turns pink. "I'm gonna get some extra training in with Kishan and Ren."

Nilima shakes her head. "Rest is important for the body, Miss Kelsey. Maybe you should spend time with me."

"You know how to fight?"

"Well, of course. I also know a few things about the human body that may be useful like pressure points and such. You could study that so it won't feel like you're wasting time on your break days outside of the quest."

Kelsey smiles warmly. "Thank you, Nilima, it's much appreciated."

"It's no problem."

HAT: It took forever, but I'm starting to get into the swing of this. After reading a lot of Naruto fanfics I've gotten some ideas on some things that Kelsey will learn what to do, one of which learning about the body's pressure points. I won't bore you with any other things like that.

Lokesh: I think they might be interested.

HAT: *shrugs* Maybe, maybe not.

Lokesh: *rolls eyes* You're an interesting young lady.

HAT: *grins* Of course!... aren't you gonna say it.

Lokesh: No.

HAT: *jumps on his back for a piggy back ride* I'll force you to be my horse for the rest of the day if you don't say it!

Lokesh: *growls* Get off!

HAT: Nope!~

Lokesh: *sighs* Review... Why am I a character you like?

HAT: I can do a lot of things with you in fanfics and not only that, but you annoy me a lot less than Ren and Kelsey.

Lokesh: Touche.