Chapter 2: Sparring Partners

Kyoko awoke when she felt the light of the morning sun caress her eyes. She glanced down upon Sesshoumaru, taking a moment to remember the events of the previous day. She was glad to be, for once, not alone. [I wish that I could go on like this, waking up with someone else there, for forever. But… as soon as he has healed, if he does not show a reason for needing me to stay, I should probably leave. He will then… no longer concern me. I can move on with my wandering… maybe I'll find my brother.]

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Sesshoumaru snapped awake when he heard movement around himself. Without hesitation, he reached for the movement. He felt his claws grasp flesh before he was able to fully see what had disturbed his sleep. "Kyoko?"

"Well, you certainly are a jumpy one, aren't you?" Kyoko gently placed her hand upon Sesshoumaru's. She winced as she pulled his claws out of her shoulder, revealing a few minor cuts. Only one drop of blood came from one of the cuts, as her yokai blood had quickly mended the injury.

Sesshoumaru stared at his hand and his blood tipped fingers in mild shock for a few moments. [I could have killed her… As it is, my hands are nearly covered in her blood-just because of my own insecurities…]

"Sesshoumaru, were you going to eat?"

Sesshoumaru looked back up at Kyoko to see her handing him some type of cooked meat.

Kyoko smiled as he slowly took the food. "Don't worry about it, Sesshoumaru, I'm fine. It was just a minor couple of scratches, and they are already healed."

Sesshoumaru looked away from Kyoko. "Who said that's what I was thinking about? Don't act like you can tell what I'm thinking all of the time."

"Whatever, just eat, we have a long day ahead."

[A long day ahead? What is she planning now?]

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Kyoko and Sesshoumaru stood in a clearing in the forest, ready to spar, as Kyoko had suggested the night before.

"Alright, so you think that you'll be able to defend yourself with just the one arm?"

"I'll be fine, but perhaps you can show me what you can do."

"Fine then. Let's see if you can block all of this." Kyoko made a rush at Sesshoumaru, seeming like she was going to go for a head-on attack. As soon as she saw Sesshoumaru position himself for the attack, she propelled herself into the air, making a complete flip, right over Sesshoumaru's head. She thrust her hand forward and held Sesshoumaru by his neck. "You're still slow. Or, were you expecting that I have no skill?"

[She's a lot better than I thought she would be. The way she moved, I figured that she was no smarter in battle than my brother.]

Kyoko released Sesshoumaru's neck and walked back to where she stood before she had started. "Let's try again." Kyoko once again rushed at him at break-neck speed. She dashed over toward Sesshoumaru's left and stopped when she felt his hand tightly grasping her arm. "Much better."

"You underestimated me after the first time. You left yourself open for an attack."

"So I did… I suppose that I'll keep that in mind." Kyoko pulled away from Sesshoumaru and leapt into the trees overhead. She reached for a loose, dead tree branch and broke it off of the tree. She noisily jumped back and forth in the tree, making sure that Sesshoumaru could track her movements. She finally positioned herself to tackle him.

Sesshoumaru looked into the trees, trying to find Kyoko's form among the leaves. He could hear her just fine, her knew where she was, but could not see her. He finally heard her coming down through the branches; she would land about three feet in front of him and to the left. He readied himself to catch her before she would be able to hit the ground and move towards him. As he saw her finally, he realized that she had thrown a branch down through the trees as a decoy. Before he could listen for her again, he felt her entire weight bear down upon his shoulders and her arm wrapped around his right side. She smiled at him as he looked back at her in shock. "Checkmate."

[She's fast… smart too, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to fool me with that decoy like she did.]

"Do you want to continue?"

"Yes. Except this time, I'll be the one attacking, you try to dodge."

Kyoko grinned, ready for anything he had to hand out. She did not doubt his abilities, but she did not doubt herself, either. This was the first chance she had ever had to test her strength on someone similar to herself.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Five hours later-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Kyoko panted as she flexed her claws. What originally had been a sparring game turned into an all-out battle. She had torn the sleeves from her kimono some hours before so that she would be able to react quicker and because she had become annoyed with the mocking smirk Sesshoumaru gave her whenever he would catch her by her sleeves. Sweat ran down her forehead as she dodged yet another volley of his attacks. She jumped backwards several times before she leapt backward into the trunk of a tree, knocking the breath from herself for a few moments. She finally caught her breath as Sesshoumaru drew his sword and pointed it to her neck. "Are you done now, child?"

Kyoko growled in rage as she slapped the broad side of the sword and sprung into the air. "I'm not finished just yet-I've yet to begin!" Kyoko raged as she relaxed her tired muscles. Her hair lifted from her face, as though carried by an unseen force. Her blue eyes narrowed as they turned to a deep red. The blood-red diamond marking on her forehead widened as she felt strength return to herself and her power increased.

"That's enough, Kyoko."

Kyoko stopped her change when she heard his voice. The mark on her forehead returned to its normal size and her eyes to their normal color. Kyoko dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. Kyoko wiped the sweat from her forehead, as though to show that she was done.

"We're done for today." Sesshoumaru leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree to relax as well. His breathing was also heavy, his entire body covered in sweat. They were nearly equally matched, but Sesshoumaru could tell that she was holding back the full extent of her abilities, just as he too was. He didn't try to hold back either; it was a subconscious reaction. He tensed when he saw Kyoko approaching him. She smiled as she sat next to him. "For a guy who just lost an arm, you're not too bad."

Sesshoumaru grunted in reply as he relaxed. Kyoko sighed as she felt the hot afternoon sun on her face. She listened to the sounds in the forest; finally her ears caught the sound of flowing water in the distance. She stood and turned in the direction of the stream. She said nothing to Sesshoumaru, but he also stood and followed her as she walked to the stream. When Kyoko got to the stream, she thrust her hands into the water and threw a handful of the cool, refreshing liquid at her face. She then cupped her hands together again as she held the water to her mouth and drank it in. The cool wetness went down her throat all too quickly; she drank it in as quickly as she could bring the water to her mouth. She looked as though she were a wild creature, the way she was drinking the water from the stream would make one believe that she hadn't seen water for over a week.

Sesshoumaru knelt next to the water and faced a bit of a challenge. He hadn't yet tried to drink without a cup of some sort, using only one hand was not as easy as he had thought. Kyoko glanced over at him, then pulled her satchel from her shoulder. She reached into the satchel and threw him a pewter goblet. "Try that."

Sesshoumaru caught the goblet and dipped it into the stream. "Arigato."

Kyoko smiled as she sat back away from the bank of the little stream. [That was fun. But, if I had fully transformed, would he have been able to stop me? I know that we were fairly matched before I changed, but if I had continued, would he have been able to keep up? Or, would he have changed his form as well? He seemed like he was reluctant to do so… maybe because of his arm… I wonder what happened…] Kyoko yawned as she turned her gaze to Sesshoumaru.

It took Sesshoumaru several minutes to notice that Kyoko was watching him. "What do you want?"

"Nothing really… Sesshoumaru, tell me, what happened to your arm?"

"I got into a fight with someone and I had underestimated them. That's all you need to know."

"I see." Kyoko moved closer to Sesshoumaru. [I guess that now is as good of time as any to see if I'm still needed here…] "I was wondering, is there any reason that you may need me from here on out?"

[She wants to leave? She no longer wants to stay, huh? I guess I should let her go on then.] Sesshoumaru rested his arm on his knee and looked away from Kyoko. "You… you wish to leave?"

"I suppose I should. You seem as though you will be fine without me now."

"Where are you going then?"

"I'm not quite sure."

For a reason beyond his own comprehension, Sesshoumaru felt sad that she was going to leave. "What is it that I owe you for your help?"

"You owe me nothing, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru felt his face redden slightly. He was quite accustomed to his servants calling him by such a title, but never by a woman whom he considered his near equal. "Surely you would expect some type of compensation for having taken this time to tend to my needs…"

Kyoko could no longer look towards Sesshoumaru. "Perhaps I'll decide what it is that I expect later on. I'll remember to tell you when I next see you." Kyoko turned her head back to face Sesshoumaru again. He had been looking back at her as well. Kyoko stared deep into his piercing amber eyes. "I-I should leave now."

"Goodbye, Kyoko."

Kyoko took one last look at him, burning his image into her memory. "Goodbye, Sesshoumaru." Kyoko turned around and walked away from Sesshoumaru. She felt her lips tremble and she willed herself not to cry. [How is it that I became so attached to someone so quickly? Did I actually… fall in love with him? I couldn't possibly-could I?] Kyoko still felt Sesshoumaru's quite gaze on her back, and, fearing that she would turn back, she ran ahead.

Sesshoumaru bit his bottom lip as he felt a sting of regret hit him. [Should I have told her to stay?]