Kenichi: Not just her disciple
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AN: Hello readers. Here is the second chapter for this story. Thank you for patiently waiting. I would like to update this story more than once a month, but as I said before, my main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.
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Chapter 2
The Truth
Kenichi met up with Miu before leaving the school.
"Hey, Miu. Do you mind walking home by yourself today? I have an errand to take care of before I come home."
"I guess I can. Are you sure? What if you run into Ragnarok?" Miu retorts.
"I will have to take that chance. This is very important."
"Well can't I just walk with you?"
"No."
She gets a shocked look on her face.
'I wonder what is so important or secret that he can't tell me.' Miu wonders.
"This is something that I have to do by myself."
'I can't tell her that I am going to buy tickets to a movie for us. I am hoping that I get the answers I need if I can get the courage to ask her out on a date again. I just hope nobody messes it up again like last time.
"Okay Kenichi, but please be careful. I can't have my Kenichi getting hurt."
'Oh my god. She said 'My Kenichi'.' He thinks excitedly.
A smile starts to make its way to his facial features.
"The others wouldn't be very happy if something happened to their disciple, and my best friend."
Kenichi slows his stride for a moment and his smile quickly turns into a frown.
'Friend.' Kenichi thinks.
'Dang it. I said it again, didn't I?' Miu reflects on what she just said while she bites the tip of her thumb.
'She is so confusing, but maybe I still stand a chance. I can't falter. I need to do this.' Kenichi thinks as he tries to regain his courage.
"I will see you later." Kenichi says as he runs away waving.
'I really need to do something about this.' Miu thinks as she watches Kenichi leave.
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Sakaki stands in front of Kenichi in the dojo. Akisame is off to the side and Shigure is watching from the rafters.
"All right, Kenichi. After we sophisticatedly decided who was going to train you today. You have me to start with." Sakaki says to Kenichi.
"Didn't we just do rock-paper-scissors?" Akisame says to Sakaki.
"Who asked you?" Sakaki retorts.
He turns back to Kenichi and crosses his arms.
"Since you are still refusing to learn the advanced techniques, I am going to go back to basics."
"Basics." Kenichi restates.
"Blocking."
Sakaki throws a punch towards Kenichi's head.
Kenichi uses his right hand to do a sideways block.
Sakaki goes in for a low kick and Kenichi turns the arm he used for the first block downward.
"That was slow Kenichi. You can do better than that."
Sakaki's words ring through Kenichi's head, just like Miu's did when she told him he wasn't good enough.
His off-set mind leaves him too distracted from Sakaki's next punch.
The punch knocks him back.
"What the hell Kenichi?" Sakaki calls out.
Shigure stiffens up and is about to jump down next to Kenichi. She stops herself just before she is about to jump though.
'What am I doing? He is in the middle of training. Why did I have the sudden urge to protect him just now?' She thinks as she continues to watch him.
"Get focused or you are going to get your head knocked off. You're lucky I wasn't going full throttle."
Kenichi gets up and tries to shake off his confusion.
Sakaki goes back at it.
Shigure tries to deal with her own confusion while she continues to watch from the rafters.
'Was that because I just wanted to protect him like the other masters do?'
Tochumaru even notices her confusion and pats her on her shoulder.
'I have felt off ever since last night. What is going on with me?' Shigure wonders.
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"Okay Kenichi. Let's try this again." Apachai says to Kenichi as he slams his mitts together.
"Now remember to stay calm Apachai." Akisame says to Apachai.
Kenichi sweat drops.
Shigure is sitting on the deck. She's slightly leaning back and has herself propped up on her arms. Her legs are swinging back and forth as she watches Kenichi intently. Her head is also canted to the left and she has an ever so slight smile.
Akisame sits down next to her but doesn't say anything.
Kenichi gets into a Muay Thai stance.
"Let's start with kicks."
Kenichi nods and starts kicking the mitts.
While Kenichi is kicking the mitts, Akisame turns to Shigure. She is still watching Kenichi intently.
"You seem to be in quite a good mood today, Shigure. What is the occasion?"
She stops kicking her legs back and forth and looks at him.
"I . . . . am?"
He nods.
"I think that you were actually smiling too."
"I . . . was?"
"Perhaps you didn't even realize that you were doing it."
She shrugs.
"So tell me something. Is there something overly interesting about Kenichi today?"
"Mmmmmm. Why?" She says in confusion while tapping her chin.
"You haven't taken your eyes off of him this whole time. You were even watching him in the dojo."
She tries to hide a small blush.
"He is . . . my . . .disciple . . . too."
Her heart starts racing.
"Hmmmmm. Interesting."
He starts rubbing his chin.
'What is going on with me? Was I really smiling? Have I really been that fixated on him? All I was doing was watching him train.' She thinks.
"Okay." He simply says to her.
"Now it's time to start dodging too, Kenichi." Apachai says to Kenichi.
He starts to swing at Kenichi between kicks.
'Here he goes again. I hope he stays in control this time. If not, then I will have to make sure nothing bad happens to Kenichi this time.' Shigure thinks.
She makes a fist at her side as if she said something cool.
Akisame quirks an eyebrow.
Sakaki comes out and leans against one of the posts.
Kenichi kicks the mitt in a different style.
"Was that a karate kick Kenichi?" Apachai says as his tone gets more serious.
'Crap. I think that was a Karate kick.' Kenichi thinks.
Sakaki gets up from the post.
"Wait! Apachai!" Sakaki calls out.
"This is Muay Thai, Kenichi." Apachai says as he winds up.
His eyes start to glow.
Shigure gets up and starts running.
Apachai swings.
Kenichi tries to dodge but he wasn't quick enough. He gets launched by Apachai's punch and gets sent flying.
'Crap. Not again.' Kenichi thinks.
He closes his eyes and expects the worst.
Akisame's eyes go wide in shock as he watches Shigure.
She stops running and tries to brace herself.
Kenichi flies into her and she grabs ahold of him.
'Did I just hit something soft? And warm?' Kenichi thinks.
They both get sent flying backwards with the force, and they slam against the wall.
Shigure takes the brunt of it.
Kenichi opens his eyes and realizes that he is not indented in the wall and he has a set of arms wrapped around him.
Sakaki and Akisame start running toward them.
Apachai stands there in shock with the mitts against his face.
Kenichi turns around to see Shigure slightly embedded into the wall.
"Shigure!"
She slides out into his arms.
"Yes." She says to him.
"Why didn't you just let him take the hit like usual Shigure?" Sakaki asks.
"I . . . . wanted . . . . him . . . safe."
"He would've been fine."
"This is coming from the man that comes out to watch every time Kenichi trains with Apachai." Akisame says teasingly to Sakaki.
"Coincidence." Sakaki retorts while crossing his arms.
'I can't believe she did that. I wonder what possessed her to do that. I will say though, that it felt nice being held by her.' Kenichi thinks.
He shakes his head.
'What the hell am I thinking?' Kenichi tries to dismiss his thoughts.
"Are . . . you . . . okay . . . Kenichi?"
He smiles at her.
"I am. Thanks to you, but what about you?"
"I'm . . . fine." She says to him.
Kenichi walks over to a crumpled up Apachai and taps him on the shoulder.
"Apa?"
"It's okay Apachai. See. We are fine." Kenichi says to him.
He stands up and hugs Kenichi.
"Next time I try harder for Kenichi, okay?"
Kenichi smiles and nods.
"All of you masters sure are tough." Kenichi says defeatedly.
Sakaki smacks his shoulder.
"You'll just have to do more training kid." Sakaki says to him.
Akisame starts rubbing his chin.
"I do have another strength machine for you to test Kenichi."
Kenichi takes off running.
"Well, I guess I have a little more time to perfect it."
Kenichi goes to his room and writes something down in his book with the dragon on the cover again.
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Shigure sits next to Kenichi at the dinner table again.
Kenichi watches Miu as she eats.
'I need to find the right time to ask her out on a date. I have to ask her now that I bought the movie tickets. Maybe I can ask her after dinner.' Kenichi thinks.
Shigure notices his gaze over to Miu and gets a little slighted.
'He tries so hard for someone that doesn't even return his affection.' Shigure thinks.
She then gets a confused look on her face.
'Why did that just bother me right now?' She wonders.
Miu gets a troubled look on her face as dinner progresses.
'I need to talk to grandfather.'
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Kenichi decided to help with dishes.
'I wish I could be doing this with Miu, but she seemed troubled and left.'
He sighs.
"I guess it is all up to me." Kenichi says aloud.
Just as he says that Shigure happened to walk into the kitchen with her plates.
"What's . . . up . . . to . . . you?"
"Oh. Hey Shigure. Just dishes."
"No . . . Miu?"
He shakes his head.
"Want . . . me. . . to help?" She says as she points a finger at herself.
"What about your injuries? Are you sure that you are okay?"
She looks up and taps her chin with a finger.
"Akisame . . . said . . . I'm. . . okay."
"Are you sure?" Kenichi says out of concern.
"You . . . want . . . to check?" Shigure asks with a completely serious face.
Kenichi's nose nearly gushes at the thought, and his face gets beat red. He hastily turns back to the dishes.
"No. Akisame's diagnosis is good enough for me."
She smirks at his reaction.
She then points at the dish soap.
"What . . . is that . . for?"
Kenichi looks back to her and pauses a moment.
'Is she serious or is she joking? I better not take the chance.'
"It's used to cut the dirt from the dishes."
She draws her sword.
"Did . . . you say . . . cut . . the dirt?"
His eyes go wide and he nearly screams out when he notices the blade.
She raises her arm as if she was going to strike the dishes.
Kenichi starts waving his hands back and forth.
"No, no, no, no, no. Not actually cut the dirt."
She smiles and Kenichi gets a puzzled look on his face.
"Joke." She says as a smirk forms at the side of her mouth.
Kenichi starts laughing.
'Even if it was only a slight smile, she still smiled again. And she made a joke.'
"You had me Shigure."
"I . . . do . . . need . . . help . . . though."
The two of them start to clean the dishes after he shows her the way Miu does it.
"Thank you for what you did earlier." Kenichi says.
She nods.
"I was really surprised that you did that though. I . . . might have been fine if you wouldn't have intervened. What made you do it this time though?"
'Akisame asked me the same thing.' She thinks to herself.
She shrugs.
"Just . . . did it." She replies.
"I don't want you getting hurt on my account though."
"I'm . . okay."
While they clean the dishes, Kenichi starts to admire how beautiful she is.
'I can't believe that I have a master as beautiful as she is.'
Kenichi catches himself admiring her and tries to put his focus back on the dishes.
'There I go again. She is my master and I am her disciple. Why would she even date someone as week as me. Besides, Miu is the one that I have wanted to date this whole time.'
They manage to get the dishes done rather quickly as a team.
"Thank you so much, Shigure. You were a big help."
She nods and starts to walk away.
"You're . . welcome."
She continues to walk away while she hides a blush.
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After getting the dishes done so quickly, kenichi thought that maybe he could cheer Miu up by offering to take her to the movies.
He goes to his room to grab the tickets and heads down the hallway to try to find her.
'I hope she will like the movie I chose.' He thinks.
As he walks down the hallway he hears her voice from one of the rooms.
'I think that is Hayato's room.' Kenichi thinks.
Hayato notices that Kenichi is in the hallway by his footsteps but just dismisses it.
"I just can't do it anymore grandfather!"
Hayato gets a surprised look on his face from Miu's tone.
"What is wrong Miu?" Hayato asks while he strokes his blond beard.
"I can't lead Kenichi on anymore! I know that you wanted me to do this, but I can't do it anymore. I can't keep up this charade anymore just because you are worried that it might break him. It's wrong. I don't want the only reason for him to stay is the belief that he will be able to date me. I only like him as my best friend!" Miu starts bursting out at her grandfather.
After the initial shock from her outburst Hayato remembers that Kenichi is right outside of their doorway and he tries to wave his hands to stop Miu's rant.
"Wait. Miu."
Kenichi heard everything that she said and he stands there in shock.
"No Grandfather. I will not wait or delay this any longer. It's getting too hard on me to keep this up, and I don't want to set him up for an even greater fall by delaying it. Haven't the others except maybe Shigure and Apachai already figured it out too?"
Kenichi's heart skips a beat.
'This can't be happening. This can't be true. Please tell me that I am just imagining this.' Kenichi tries to deny what he just heard.
Miu gets up and runs for the door after her little outburst.
Hayato puts his hand to his face.
'The damage is done.' Hayato thinks as he watches what is about to unfold.
Miu opens the door just to see Kenichi standing there.
A look of horror comes over both of their faces as they see each other.
Miu holds a hand up to her face.
"Oh my god. Kenichi. . ." She says as she tries to reach out to him.
Tears start to well up in his eyes, and he clenches the tickets in his hand.
He darts off without even looking.
He slams into Sakaki.
Sakaki had just turned the corner down the hallway with a bag slung over his shoulder.
Kenichi bounces off of him and falls to the floor.
"Hey! What's up Kenichi?"
Kenichi shakes his head, gets back up, and darts back off to his room.
"What the hell was that about?" Sakaki says as he looks down the hallway and sees Miu.
Miu starts crying and heads off to her room.
Sakaki walks up to Hayato's room.
"I know that we aren't supposed to get involved in personal issues, but do you mind telling me what the heck that was all about?"
Hayato looks at Sakaki.
"He found out."
"Awww hell." He says to Hayato.
He pulls a bottle of beer out of his bag and walks off.
"It's going to be a long night. Poor kid." He mutters under his breath.
'Now what is going happen? Maybe I should let the others know what just happened. ' He thinks as he walks away.
Kenichi shuts himself in his room.
He collapses onto his bed in confusion.
"What the hell did I just hear?" Kenichi mutters out.
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A/N: Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter.
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