Kiroyuki's POV
"Come on Ryu! You can do it! Just two more push-ups!" I cheered encouragingly at the tired and struggling yet determined boy. He slowly finished his set of push-ups and dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back. His breathing was more like panting for his lungs to breathe in air easily without obstacles.

"That....was...so.....tiring..." Ryu barely even managed to say that in between his even panting. I giggled and patted his left shoulder in encouragement and praise.

"You did wonderful! You did two sets of thirty push-ups, twenty-five sword swings, two laps running around the perimeter of this huge room, and learned the basic positions of defense!"

".... Yeah..... I guess I did..... Heh! Thanks Kiroyuki!"

I blushed at his compliment of thanks and pouted. I pinched his left cheek and pulled it outwards.

"Ow ow ow!" I giggled in enjoyment and let go of his soft and squishy cheeks. "What was that for?!"

I pouted again and felt my cheeks heat up as I too questioned my own actions. I patted his head as a topic change and went to grab myself another wooden sword.

"You have some squishy cheeks Ryu...." I blankly turned my head to face Ryu from a distance and did not fail to notice the hint of red everywhere on his face. I gave a short giggle and played with the sword in my hands. I walked closer to Ryu's awed form of the wooden sword and tapped the tip of the wooden sword to his forehead to gain his attention.

"Hey Ryu.... I want to dual you!"

"...."

........

'What's with the silent atmosphere?.......' I simply thought to myself and waved my hands in front of Ryu's face before pinching his cheeks again.

"Ouch!" I let go of his adorable cheeks with a sigh and took two steps back and swung my sword within a kilometer away from his face.

"So Ryu... Would would kindly take on this dual?" I teasingly winked which made Ryu blush in embarrassment and stutter in his words.

"I u-um.... N-n.... Yes....... I accept the challenge." I smiled in delight and cheered in joy as I jumped into the air a couple of times.

"Yay! Ryu's actually going to dual me! Yay!" I stopped cheering around and cleared my throat. Sighing, I lowered my head down and gave a deep breath before looking back up into Ryu's determined aquamarine eyes.

"Are you ready Ryu~?" Ryu flinched but grunted and nodded his head in approval of the starting of our first dual against each other.

"1, 2, 3, and BEGIN!"

I saw Ryu flinch in surprise of the staring but I didn't show mercy to his shock state. I quickly dashed forward and struck a blow to his sword that defended himself from my sword with a horizontal block. I smirked in an impressed expression and struck again to attack his wooden sword on purpose.

"Gah!"

Ryu stumbled backwards and so I took advantage of his weak spot in this situation. (Not the balls! Oh dear god no! It is NOT the balls of the cinnamon roll!) Quickly, I got into a form where I would speedily land an attack on Ryu to make him fall onto his back. I saw the shocked look on Ryu's face and grinned to only apply a ton of force onto his form of defense and brought him to the ground. I pointed my sword's tip at his throat and smirked in victory.

"Looks like I won!" Ryu sighed in exhaustion and I immediately dropped my seriousness and smiled brightly and giggled in delight pleasure.

"Here. Let me help you up Ryu!" I reached out my right hand to Ryu and he accepted as I pulled him back up to his feet.

"Wow.... You're way too strong..... I can kinda feel like Zen when you dueled him...." I gave a short snort at the fond memory and punched Ryu's shoulder lightly.

"Well, I think you did excellent! Your form was sturdy and you manages to defend yourself the best you could of have! I saw the determination in your eyes too! You were beyond amazing Ryu!" I gave a cheeky grin and placed the wooden sword over my right shoulder.

"Thank you Kiroyuki. I'll remember this day." I felt myself blush and I once again....pinched his squishy and soft cheeks. He grunted in pain and I was laughing my head off.

"Stop thanking and saying such funny things Ryu! I'll only pinch your cheeks more!" I let go of his cheeks to let him rub the red swelling and chuckled to myself.

"Aww~! Look at you two being all cute together!" Ryu and I both jumped at the same time and I felt like my face was on fire! It was burning hot like a dragon's fire breath!

"SAY THAT AGAIN AND ILL STRIKE YOU WITH THIS SWORD!" I was ready to launch at Obi but Ryu tried his very best to anchor me down from attacking Obi.

"I said you two were cute together!" I exploded even more with embarrassment and anger to where I was let go of Ryu's grasp and dashed up towards Obi with only a small given space in between us.

"I propose a hand-to-hand dual you!" Obi gave me a shock and confused face and stumbled for words. I smirked and tapped my foot onto the marbled ground while I didn't fail to see Ryu sighing on the sidelines.

"What are you?... A pussy cat? Usually the Obi I know wouldn't pass a challenge like this!" I stuck my tongue out and winked to try to annoy Obi.

"Fine. I accept your challenge miss Kiroyuki!" Obi grinned lightly (like a cat :p) and I threw my wooden sword next to Ryu and making him jump.

"Since this is a hand-to-hand dual, feel free to use any kind of fighting style!" I smirked and saw the determined yet unsure look in Obi's golden eyes. I smirked back even greater and had Ryu do the countdown.

"1, 2, 3, and BEGIN!"

Immediately I flew off to Obi's left side and tried punching his side to make him unbalanced, but he barely managed to dodge. He scooted backwards shortly and back flipped away to have a good distance between us. I smirked and decided to have Obi come to me instead so I taunted him by simply sticking my tongue out and blew a raspberry.

"Seriously Kiroyuki...."

I ignored Ryu's comment and successfully taunted Obi to dash towards me. Smirking, I dodged his swinging hand by ducking below and giving light yet sturdy punches while dodging his counter attacks. With a split second of open space, I punched his gut with around.... 1/5 of my strength(?) and flicked his forehead for fun and games.

"Oof!" Obi stumbled backwards with pain written all over his face and fell onto his side. I blinked my eyes a few times and was frozen in my spot. Ryu too looked shock to see Obi lying on the floor in utter defeat.

"......." Silence........

"Pffffttttt!.... Bwhhahahhahaha! T-that was s-so pr-priceless! " I bursted out laughing and fell onto my bottom and rolled onto my stomach while pounding my fists onto the marble ground.

"....." I snorted at their reactions and calmed myself down with the help of Ryu pulling me back up to my feet. I dusted off my training clothes and smirked.

"It was nice to dual you evil cat writer!" Obi sweat dropped in silence and chuckled nervously. "So... Why did you come so late?"

I saw Obi's eye twitch a slight bit in hesitation and thought but still made a quick and obvious comeback that I would be able to detect.

"I was running errands for master because I had to send some schedules for the ball to the guards." I scoffed and punched his stomach again lightly.

"OW! Your punch earlier is still killing me here miss Kiroyuki!" I chuckled in an evil tone and held up my fist again.

"Should we go for another round?" I asked with a grin as Obi and Ryu both sweat dropped in unison. They both looked at each other blankly and then backed away three steps. I scoffed and shrugged my shoulders and heaved out a sigh. I looked out towards the opened balcony and was in awe of the beauty of the bright and clear sky.

"Kiroyuki..." I stopped staring at the sky and turned my head and body properly towards Ryu and nodded my head with a high pitch hum.

"Thank you for teaching me swordsmanship.... It was my first time...." My face was a bit shocked in my eyes but calm physically as Ryu bowed his head before me. I slightly gave away a blush and cough to clear my heat and to signal Ryu to stand.

"N-no biggie.... It was an honor actually! You have determination and passion to thrive for the best! You're actually pretty strong to begin with!" I jumped into the air and land with my legs spread apart shoulder-length and gave a thumbs up with a cheeky smile.

"T-thanks...." Ryu got up with my help and smiled back.

"Well thanks for the sparing and the punches, miss Kiroyuki!" I sweat dropped and turned my head to Obi's in hesitation.

"Um.... Is that a good thing that I punched you?...." He shrugged and pulled out his creepy notebook that I gave him for Christmas. I have a feeling that I shouldn't have given him a notebook and rather a punch.....

"SERIOUSLY! WHAT ARE YOU WRITING YOU EVIL CAT WRITER!" He gave a side eye and shocked face with a couple of blinks before bursting out into tears of laughter.

"I haven't heard that nickname in awhile!.... Its a secret~!" He winked and quickly placed the notebook back into his jacket's inside pockets. I growled and was about to launch towards Obi but Ryu was grabbing hold of the back of my training shirt to make sure I won't kill Obi.

"Let go of me Ryu! I must know what he is hiding!" I ended up dragging Ryu across the room, giving him a fright of my strength, but.....we both ended up tripping which led Obi to laugh at the two of us.

"BWHAHHAHAHAHA!" I pouted and sat up with a sigh.

"Ryu....."

".....Y-yes Kiroyuki...."

"Let's attack obi!"

I quickly got up and started punching Obi while Ryu lagged his actions to join. He starting by playfully hitting Obi with the wooden sword. We both weren't technically killing him but rather giving in a fun and less intense battle. I mean, I'm hurting the tops of his head while "pulling" his hair out. Ryu was jabbing the sword lightly onto his sides and lets just say that..... Obi.... He well..... "Died" from our silly actions.

"Yay! We defeated the evil cat writer! I shall too someday read the notebook for another adventure! Off we go Ryu! Away!" I so ever made a childlike pose and pointed my forefinger into the air.

"Yay! Let's go!" Ryu shyly raised his hand up and played along with me.

'Why does this seem so nostalgic?..... I'm reminded how miss Nani would play along with me and my adventures....... I still wonder what is made of Hyoushou right now......'

"Kiroyuki?" I snapped and flinched away from my nostalgic thoughts and hummed in questioning in response.

"D-do you want to study t-together?... It's to thank you for teaching me too...." I nodded my head with a smile and heard Obi's groan from behind us.

"We should run.... LIKE NOW!" I grabbed Ryu's collar and dashed out of the door, but not before grabbing hold of my father's sword.

"I'M GOING TO GET PAYBACK! YOU LITTLE SQUIRTS!"

Giggling to myself, I let go of Ryu's collar as we ran through the castle halls and to the herb garden for sanctuary. How wonderful is it to have such great times with friends.... It's lovely..... Somehow.... I feel like Ryu is similar to miss Nani is some ways..... I feel the same comfort and warmth from them....

A/N
Hey guys! Sorry for not publishing daily! It's just my schedule is a bit messy... I have track, work, and home stuff so it's a hassle. Plus, I've enter a young author's fair just today and well... I joined late because I just heard of it and my deadline to create a story is nearing..... I might not publish any sooner but hopefully, my schedule might clear up a bit more! Have a lovely day! (Unedited)

Advice for the day: Talk to a trusty friend, adult, teacher, or counselor to relieve some bottled up feelings. It will help even the tiniest bit!