Black Blood: Awakening

Chapter Six: No Longer a Secret

--

It was the day that she dreaded. It was the day that Emi was supposed to show off her skills for the first time. However...

'Oh, no! I'm late...!'

As she ran up the hill that led to her master's home, she slowly began to collect herself before opening the back door.

"Finally. Finally... I'm sorry I'm late."

Once she looked around the rather large wooden training room, she spotted a certain someone leaning against one of the walls.

"Hmph. Well, Emi, you're seven minutes--"

"I'm sorry--"

"Seven minutes early, you worrywart," Kyo said as he opened his eyes to look at her, "Wonder what clock is glitching up on you."

"I'm... sorry?" she asked as she reached into her bag and pulled out her watch, "It's... oh. 16:53. I think I need a new alarm clock."

"Uh-huh. Now what caused you to run here like your hair was on fire?"

"I just got through with a few errands that my mother gave to me. Um, I almost lost track of the time, so I had to hurry a bit."

"A bit? Nice understatement, lady. Now go catch your breath, get into your training clothes, and set up whatever dinner you brought over here. And don't do all of that stuff like a serial killer's coming after you."

"Oh. Heh... okay.

----

Before she could even begin, a little warm-up was needed first.

"One, two... again! Harder!"

"Um... if I go any harder, I might break your floors, Master Kyo."

"Oh, please. Don't worry about it so much. If these walls can handle me, they can handle you."

"I see," Emi quietly said as she glanced at the wooden floor, "I do have to admit that this is a bit different. Why the change of location?"

"You want me to be honest? It's because I'm pretty sure that your friend would hear the two of us outside. By the way, she already knows that we're going to do this, huh?"

"Uh... yes, she does," she replied as she sheepishly looked up, noticing a slightly exasperated look from Kyo.

"Eh. I should've figured. Anyway, are you ready?"

"Huh? But... that warm-up was only five minutes long..."

"I think that's all the time that you're gonna need."

Once she heard that, she could only make out a certain flustered reaction, "Are you... serious? Now that I think about it, we haven't mentioned anything regarding defense..."

"You'll figure it out."

To her, it was almost a callous response, but she couldn't bring herself to say a single word about it. Instead, she simply nodded and quietly said, "Okay, then. I'm ready."

"I can already tell that you're unsure about this. You're going to find out why that's a bad thing in a bit."

"Wait, what--" she said as she barely dodged a punch from her master, causing her to stumble and fall to the floor, "What are you even talking about?"

She didn't get an answer. Instead, she loudly yelped as she rolled out of the way from another attack.

"Come on, you're not even trying here. I haven't turned the heat on yet," Kyo said and sighed, "You are going to try, aren't you?"

"Um... isn't dodging a part of defense as well?" Emi asked as she slowly stood up and brushed herself off.

"Oh, please. Dodging requires a counterattack, and you weren't doing that. You were rolling around like you were on fire. Were you prepping yourself for that part?"

"You're so mean, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm not being mean, I'm just calling you out. Now, just relax. Get into your stance," he said and watched as she followed his actions, "Good. Now... defend yourself!"

Even though she was still hesitant, Emi managed to successfully block a few of Kyo's punches with a little bit of effort. As it continued, she began to remember a certain statement from a few days ago...

'Minute you start dreading is the minute you start messing up and losing. Just relax and you'll be fine.'

Unfortunately, as soon as she understood that, she suddenly found herself face down on the floor after taking a hard elbow to her back.

"Tch. Were you daydreaming again? You're never gonna hack it if you keep floundering like this."

"Oww... that... hurt a bit."

"Yeah, that's kinda the whole point of this stuff," the Kusanagi heir sarcastically said, "Now what's the problem this time?"

"I just remembered something that my friend said."

"That was clearly the wrong time to remember. What was it?"

"She said... if I started dreading this, I'd mess up and lose."

"Uh-huh. You clearly messed up. Come on, let's try this again."

As soon as he said that, the door to the training room began to open. After that, a certain someone poked his head through the opening...

"Hey, I thought that your new student would be here," Benimaru said as he walked inside and shut the door behind him, "I wanted to see what he's like before I head on that next trip, and... uh... wait, why's he on the floor like that? Are you being too rough again?"

"Fighting is rough, Beni. You already know that, despite all the times that you claim otherwise," Kyo calmly said as he leaned against the wall, "Besides, since you're here... I guess I can't hold up the lie any more."

"Wait, you lied? What are you talking about? Did you lie about calling Yuki and just fell asleep again?"

"No, it's not that," the brunette said before he properly stood up, "Hey, Emi. Did you get out of your dazed state yet?"

Upon hearing that name, something immediately clicked with Benimaru, 'Wait. Emi... is a girl's name. His new student's a girl!'

Of course, he couldn't resist to rush towards Emi and hold her hand as she slowly began to recover, "Ah, I can't believe that he would lie to me like that. Are you okay, mademoiselle?"

"Um... yes. Thank you," the young trainee sheepishly replied, "Honestly, you don't have to worry about me. By the way, who are you?"

"That's an easy question to answer. I'm Benimaru Nikaido, Kyo's former friend," the electric user replied, causing a certain someone to scoff at that response, "And you are? Well, he said that your name is Emi, correct?"

"Yes. I'm Emiko Tsukino. I'm usually called Emi for short."

"Emiko Tsukino? How fitting. Your name compliments your appearance... 'beautiful child of the moon'," he said, causing her to blush slightly, "So... you're the fire user that he talked about the other day."

"Y... yes."

Before he could say another word, he was instantly cut off by Kyo, "Hey, you wanna hurry it up here? This isn't a dating service, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, give me a minute," the blond said before whispering to Emi, "Ah, don't mind Kyo. He doesn't know how to treat a lady properly."

"I heard that. Now, then... are you gonna help or what? She still has a training session to get through."

"I wouldn't mind helping a lovely lady. At least I'll have something to do before I leave again. Before we begin, I would like to know about those flames of hers. What's wrong with them?"

"Let her tell you. I'm her teacher, not her mouthpiece."

"Okay... let's hear it, Miss Emi," Benimaru said as he gestured to her, "Perhaps I could be of some assistance."

"Um... they tire me out whenever I don't use them, and if I do, they kind of hurt me."

"Hmm. That is a bit of a lose-lose scenario. Maybe you're lacking the willpower or proper control to use them. Luckily, those are fixable problems. He can give you the training, but it'll mean nothing if you don't push yourself forward. I think you understand that, right?"

Emi simply nodded in response, "Yes, I understand. So, um... what's going to happen now?"

"Let's try something. Kyo and I will spar around for a bit, and you can watch us. Then you can practice what you know against me, and then you can go at it with him. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes."

"Kyo?"

The Kusanagi heir simply stretched after hearing his name, "Sure, why not? I haven't moved like this in a while, anyway."

"Sounds good, then," the electric user said as he made his hair stand on end in that familiar style of his, "I'm ready."

"You sure? I'm starting to wonder if you're really trying to help her or attempting to impress her."

"Heh, perhaps it might be both."

----

As soon as those sessions ended, the trio cleaned themselves up and sat at the table in the kitchen. As usual, Emi found herself sitting down and being somewhat fidgety again.

"So, uh... I know that this might be a dumb question," she started, "But... how would you two judge my performance?"

Before Kyo could even say a single word, Benimaru quickly interrupted him, "Ah... it was a pretty good start. However, I can tell that you're doing a lot of overthinking. Still afraid of those flames of yours?"

"A bit, yes."

"Still an understatement, Emi," the Kusanagi heir said as he sighed a bit, "I know that old habits die hard and all of that stuff, but this is one serious uphill battle here. You can't worry about this stuff forever, you know."

The young woman simply nodded at his words, then began to get out of her seat, "I know. Oh, and I'm sorry that I can't stay much longer. I still have to finish those errands."

"Yeah, go ahead. Least you managed to get here, anyway. You might be a worrywart, but you're a dedicated one."

"Heh. I guess that's the closest that I'll get to a compliment from you, Master Kyo. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and it was nice meeting you, Nikaido-san," Emi said as she left the kitchen.

"Oh, likewise!" the electric user responded with his usual smile that instantly faded as soon as he was certain that she was gone, "Okay, Kyo. Something's not right."

"What are you talking about? It's not her, is it?"

"Well... sort of. It's more like your actions are being the real problem when it comes to her. I swear, if Shingo acted like that, you'd dump him in less than a week. I mean, you are the one who keeps going on about everyone needing to show some backbone when they fight."

"It's not entirely like that, Beni. I already knew that she wasn't that confident, anyway. Besides, she's not going to magically gain that stuff in two weeks," Kyo said before getting up, "You want some of the stuff that she made for dinner?"

"Yep. Something's definitely wrong with you. You're even offering me food here. Are you making up for that tea that I bought for you?"

"Oh, please. I offer you one thing, and you act like the world's gonna end. Anyway, she left some shrimp and rice. Still want it?"

"Sure. It's too bad I couldn't share that with her. I wanted to know her a little more."

"Yeah, right. You just wanted to flirt with her all day," the young heir said as he handed a plate to his friend.

"Ah, it makes me wish that I wasn't so easy to read sometimes. Oh, well. Anyway, I guess I'll just get right to the point."

"What?"

"Remember the other day in the coffee shop when I asked you if something was bothering you and you just brushed it off?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's her, isn't it?"

Kyo simply scoffed in response to his friend's question, "No. Don't get me wrong, she's a nice girl and all of that, but... it's not her. I'm just taking the time to adjust a bit, that's all. I mean, what else are you gonna do after dealing with an organization that cloned you thousands of times, then you go into space to deal with a guy who thought that he was a god, and then... it just gets quiet after all of that?"

"And then Emi just falls into your life, huh?"

"Almost literally. Anyway, she's not the problem. Training her is just killing the boredom around here, and I can live with that for now."

"And then what happens later, hmm? It's probably going to snowball, and I can't believe that I'm saying this... it's too bad that I won't be able to see the beginning of it."

"Don't even start that, Beni. There won't be a beginning."

Unsurprisingly, the electric user chuckled at that before he simply said, "Yeah. You're saying that now."

"Whatever. Believe what you want," the young heir responded in an irritated tone of voice as he set his own plate and sat down.

"Okay, fine, I'll stop bothering you about that. How about this; let's go somewhere after we're done eating here. You probably haven't been anywhere in a while. Maybe that's also why you're so moody."

"What are you even talking about? There was the coffee shop--"

"Which you went to for about fifteen minutes. And it was because I called you to meet up there. Come on, you have a ton of free time. Might as well spend some of it before I have to head out again."

"Quick question. Do I have a choice in any of this?"

"You do. I technically don't. No pressure, really."

"Alright, fine," Kyo said as he let out a sigh, "Guess it wouldn't hurt... too much."

"There we go! It doesn't have to be anything that elaborate. We can just hang around the city for a while. I guess you can consider it to be, you know, a little walk and some fresh air. It's not going to instantly solve whatever problem you have, but it's definitely going to help."

"Yeah, I guess," the flame user said, barely ignoring the fact that his friend threw his words from a few days ago back at him.

Honestly, he had to admit that he probably needed to do something like this... though, he would admit that he was too proud to say any of it out loud.

--

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