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Her soft moans elicited something in me, a desire burning within me, part of me wanted something more. Much more. But I wasn't quite sure what... my lips pressed against hers harder in response, and I did not want to stop kissing her even for a moment. My hand would move from her cheek, finding its way to the back of her head. My fingers would stroke her hair lovingly before gripping it lightly, pulling my lips even closer to hers. I just wanted to be as close as I could.

"Katsumi-chan..." I would mutter softly against her lips, coming out partially between kisses. Her name came out in a near breathless gasp, I was finding it harder and harder to hold back.

My arm around her waist would grip lightly at her clothing as I held her tighter. The sudden feel of her tongue had caused me to exhale sharply, and the way she played with my lip was driving me crazy. I leaned into her even more, my instincts now kicking in too as my tongue brushed along her lip slowly, sort of teasingly. And when the opportunity presented itself, my tongue would brush against hers as I started to kiss her much more deeply.

[[ I think the time you can say bow chicka bow wow isn't too far away, haha ]]

"Oh man, I should've brought my running sandals..."

I looked at the field. It was large, much too large to my liking. And I had to run around this thing ten times? In the pouring rain? I knew I was going to regret this, but it was the task requested of me, and I had obligated to complete it to the utmost of my ability. Making sure to stretch unlike most of the men around me, I wanted to make sure I was nice and limber so I didn't pull a muscle or anything. The rain made me wish I had brought a parasol, but there was no time to back out now.

The drill instructor would shout, and all of us would be off. Several men took off in a sprint, apparently thinking faster running meant faster completion. Idiots. To my sides, it seemed a few others had the right idea of jogging at a brisk pace. Conserving energy in order to keep up a constant speed the entire time. It would allow us to finish much faster than the sprinters... if we managed to finish at all, that is. We'd continue running, for how long I wasn't quite sure. I was just focused on moving my body forward. We'd pass by the guys eventually who took off on their sprint, standing to the side and panting heavily, right before completing the first lap.

Alright, this seems like no problem...

The second, third, and fourth laps passed without incident. A couple of the guys around me had begun to give out slowly. It wasn't until the fifth that I felt a burn starting to rise in my legs and chest. I steadied my breathing, in through my nose and out through my mouth, in an attempt to further conserve energy and to fight off the thirst that was building up. I had to ignore it. I had to keep focused on completing my task. Laps five and six passed, my breathing became heavy, my legs started to feel like dead weight. By the start of lap eight, my pace had slowed considerably. I know I had quite a bit of stamina, but this was too much. The rain beating down on me had soaked my robe and hakama. My sandals were practically torn from all the running, and trust me, it wasn't easy to run in these things. The water had me drenched from head to toe, and my wet hair was now becoming a problem of just staying in my face the entire time. At least it looked more silver than white when it was wet.

Somehow, I trudged through laps eight and nine, and was at the start of ten. My legs... THEY BURNED! But I couldn't allow myself to stop, it would serve to delay me further when I stopped moving and allowed the pain to kick in. By now, it was only me and one other guy, and not even halfway through, he collapsed on me.

"Ugh.. Ha-Haji.. go on.. without me.." he groaned, I turned around and looked at him for a moment. "Uh.. that was the plan.. and how do you know my name..?" I asked, to which he just started shouting. "GO ON, HAJI! YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN! GO! NOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!" Scared and confused, I just left the guy there while he screamed away at me, and I continued my run, using every ounce of my strength to propel me over that finish line. Once I finished, I just collapsed on the ground in a heap, panting like crazy. "Phew... I... did it..." Everything hurt. My whole body was practically screaming "What the fuck, man?!" at me, but I allowed myself some momentary rest. I found that it had taken me three hours to run those laps... so I still had another nine on my side, more than ample time to rest.

Giving myself an hour, I allowed my body to calm down a bit, though I still ached considerably. This hour allowed several of the other men to make it past the line too, and they seemed even more exhausted than I was. Some more were still pouring in when I started my push ups. I would knock out thirty push ups at a time, rest for ten minutes, and repeat. It wasn't too difficult at first, but it started to become more of a pain as I went on. The first couple of sets was no problem, but as I went on, it just hurt more even with the much needed rest. My arms would feel like noodles, the pain in my chest would rise, and my breathing became a bit pained. In about an hour, I had finished all one hundred and fifty push ups, still making sure I had gotten my rest. However, my chest was feeling quite a burn from this, and my arms were feeling awfully weak by now. The run sure did a number on me, more than I realized. I dreaded the third task... I gave myself an another hour of rest.

Soon, I started the push ups. Laying on my back in the rain, I realized just how damn sore I was. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but two hundred of these damned things were going to be the end of me. I steadied my breathing, bringing my arms up behind my head as I started to move my body back and forth, slowly doing push up after push up. Each one was painful, but if I was patient, possible.

I would do twenty push ups, stopping for ten minutes afterwards. I had a lot of time, I could afford to rest. I would keep this pattern up, doing sets of twenty with ten minute rest intervals repeatedly. My stomach would feel tight and painful, and my breaths would feel sharp, but the rest allowed me some time to relax myself before doing another set.

Nearby, the drill instructor was shouting at another one of the recruits. "GET ON THE GROUND, YOU OWE ME SIT UPS, SOLDIER!" The recruit merely looked up at him, anger in his eyes. "I owe you nothing!" He spat in the instructor's face, and the two of them ended up beating the crap out of each other, rolling around in the mud as they had one overly dude fight.

"Uh..." I did my best to ignore it, continuing my sit ups. Though painful, the sets of 20 with the ten minute rest periods allowed me to finish the sit ups in about two hours. Upon finishing, I saw that the two of them were still fighting, I didn't know how they could keep at it that long. I got up, soaking wet and dirty from the rain and mud, walking (or limping, rather) away very sorely. Hopefully this horrible day would pay off and I'd feel stronger at the end. That would be a reward in itself.

"Yeah... but I'm not afraid."

I really wasn't. The future didn't seem like it'd be so bad, not when we could have a moment like this. If something like this could be our life, maybe that was something worth fighting for. It was strange though. I had only known her a brief time, and yet, I felt perfectly content alongside her. It was like all of the pieces were slowly starting to come together. On most nights, I would find myself troubled by my own thoughts, but now... those troubles just felt so far away.

A smile turned to a blush as she kissed my hand before placing it near her chest. It wasn't something I was used to, though I was sure she wasn't thinking of the same thing I was at that time. I recalled how it felt to feel her heartbeat not long before this though, and it was just... peaceful.

Gently, I'd find myself kissing her cheek once more, before planting soft kisses down and along her neck. I'd stop there and hold her a little bit closer to me, practically nuzzled into her neck. She seemed so perfect to me, and I wanted nothing more than to give her happiness. The hand that wasn't by her chest would hold hers a little tighter, my fingers lightly caressing hers.

"I'll make sure that you smile... and when you finally do, I'll bring a smile to your face every single day."

It was a bold promise to make, especially when it wasn't guaranteed we'd be together every single day if anything. But it was what I wanted, what I felt. And the sight of her truly smiling had become a desire of mine in so short a time. I had a feeling that it'd just make me melt. And our fairy tale wouldn't have a happily ever after unless she was able to smile.

"OH MY GOD DO I TRY"

The pink-clad warrior would swiftly knock Takehiro off of him, standing up on the carriage and reaching to the sky.

"I TRY ALL THE TIME"

He leapt into the air, and with his arms extended, he seemed to just... start to glide away.

"JUST KEEP IT INSIDE... AND LEARN HOW TO HIDE... YOUR FEelings......"

His voice drifted away with him, and I just sat there, staring at him.

"I... don't know how much more of this I can take..."

I stared blankly at the space in front of me. This godly entity from another realm was about to kill us, and then he just keeled over and died himself. I had no words. What words could describe this. Perhaps I had seen too much for this life time. What other hell-ish deviations awaited us? I sat in complete silence, just trying to ponder what could wait for us. But hey, at the least the fog subsided.

And I sat there for a while longer, just lost in thought.

"... What's a slab?"

Climbing aboard the carriage again, I sighed in relief.

"I think just escaping with our lives was worth it..."

An eight-clawed maniac was now prowling the fields of Japan. I felt sorry for anyone who came across him, it was the greatest misfortune and even Izanami would be too cruel to make that happen.

I didn't have too much time to ponder our luck, however, as suddenly the air around us began to glow...eerie and dark.

"RETURN THE SLAAAAAB..."

"I, uh, um, what..." I looked around as that ghostly voice rang out. And soon enough, our carriage pulled to a halt. I looked forward, and there stood an extremely tall samurai wielding the largest sword I had ever seen. His helmet hid his face... in darkness. All I saw were two glowing blue eyes.

***FRUIT PUNCH SAMURAI G: 100 IN EVERY STAT.***

In a fit of strange anger, he raised his sword and began to walk towards us.

"T-T-T-TAKEHIRO TURN THE CARRIAGE AROUND!"

As the man walked away, he suddenly grasped all eight swords in his hands, drawing them all at one. Miraculously holding four in each hand.

"EIGHT CLAWS!!!" he shouted, sprinting away in a flash of random anger as he disappeared into the horizon.

I stood there in silence with my partner, the breeze blowing but not a sound came from me, wondering how to react to that.

"What... what the hell..."

I found myself standing in an arena, hearing word of a tournament being held in this region. It was being sanctioned by the Oda, and while I held no affiliation with them, I did hold an interest. I needed to get stronger, and there was no way I could do that without testing my mettle against other warriors. At least a tournament provided a safe means in which to do it, and yet, I'm sure everyone would be fighting their best.

"Round one!" A man of average proportions stepped into the ring, wielding a katana. He drew it, looking smugly at me. "My enemy is this kid? Easy." He stared me down, and I shrugged, placing my hand on my sakabato as I drew it without a word. The crowd seemed to send jeers in my direction as they saw the sharp end of the blade faced me. So I was a white haired freak upon being too scared to fight with a real sword, heh.

"Fight!"

The man dashed forward, as did I. Sword in my right hand, my left hand on my sheathe at my waist. The man slashed downward at me, and I stepped to the side to avoid the blow. His sword struck the ground as my hand arched back before slashing, striking the man directly in the torso. He reeled back in pain, dropping his blade as he did so and falling to the ground. He looked at me angrily. "Damn kid packs a punch..." The crowd roared in laughter that he was getting schooled so early on. I smirked, picking the guy's katana up and tossing it to him. He caught it and angrily charged at me again. He swung at me wildly, and I remained calm, blocking each and every strike. My final parry would have me jumping to the side, and the man tripped forward and nearly fell over.

"Anger is your enemy." I said amused. The man just took this as motivation to get even angrier at me and came charging at me again. I sidestepped once more, slashing at his leg and striking him in the knee. The blunt trauma cased him to fall, and I would spin, bringing the hilt of my sword to his forehead, striking him hard. This sent him falling back, defeated. Spinning my sword fashionably before sheathing it, I returned to my starting location while the man's friends came in to drag him out.

Alright, so I wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. But if my opponents were just average guys... well, it's not a good indicator of my potential in the slightest. After Takehiro just defeated me so easily... I looked over to see the second opponent waltz in, this one wielded a staff. Drawing my sakabato again, I curiously wondered how this guy fought. And at the announcer's declaration, the man was off in an instantly. Slamming his staff into the ground, he flipped into a cartwheel, bringing the staff down at me as he came down right side up. I brought my sword up to block the blow, but the momentum from it caused my leg to buckle and I fell to my knees, holding the staff up with my sword above me. My eyes widened as I had forgotten about the sharp end of the blade facing me, and here it was, inches from my face...

"Tch."

Steadying the blade with one hand, I brought the other to my spare sword. My sakabato neared closer to my face slightly, but with one swift motion, I withdrew my short katana from its sheathe and struck at the man's legs. He jumped away quickly, staff and all, and there was no pressure on me anymore.

"You attached your sword to your waist backwards so you could pull it out blunt-side first? Interesting..."

He took no moment to hesitate, running at me before spinning around, bringing his staff to strike at me from the side. I brought up both blades, blocking his blow and grunting. He used this moment to jump up and send his foot at my chest, kicking me squarely. I winced in pain a bit, stepping back before spinning around and striking him directly in the back with the sakabato. The man struck the ground, rolling into a crouching position.

"Damn, you really do hit hard..." He grunted, getting back up and running at me. He jabbed his staff forward at me, and I jumped up, landing my feet on his staff as I brought both the sakabato and the blunt end of my katana down on both of his shoulders with all of my might. This attack buckled the man completely, and he fell to the ground in a slump, groaning in pain.

"Phew... two down." I stood up, backing away from the downed staff wielder. No sooner had he been pulled from the arena than a new man stepped in. He was much larger and wielded a great axe, which he carried like nothing over his shoulder.

"W-what... ahh, fuck..."

Okay, so maybe I swore for the first time. It was acceptable in these odds, I felt. This guy was a frickin' beast. He grinned at me darkly before lifting his axe, charging forward at me. His axe swung down, and I jumped to the side, staring wide-eyed at the ground where I had just been. The impact of the axe had torn it asunder! "Jesus..." I had barely any time to react, as the man quickly lifted his axe once more and swung it horizontally at me. I ducked underneath it, feeling the wind as his axe passed. Swiftly, I charged forward, striking at the guy's abdomen with my sakabato. It seemed to have no effect, as the man quickly reached down and grabbed the back of my robe and tossed me over him. I sailed through the air before landed on the ground, and man did it hurt.

"Argh... damn..." I rolled over, rubbing my elbow as I winced. Looking over at the man, my eyes widened again. He was right above me, axe raised. As he brought it down, I quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being cleaved in two. I hopped to my feet and quickly charged again, bringing my sakabato down on his shoulder. He grunted a bit, bringing his hand to punch me square in the face. As I got sent backwards, he left his axe embedded in the ground, grabbing my robe and punching me directly in the stomach, and I felt like I coughed out blood before the guy lifted me up and tossed me over him again. Hitting the ground hard, I laid there for a moment, my blade out of my grip but it was nearby. Reaching over to it, I gripped it tightly, panting a bit. This guy was tough...

I picked myself back up to my feet, gripping my sakabato firmly. Pulling my other blade out as well, I stared the guy down. I wasn't going to last long without taking him down quickly. The man grinned, axe at the ready. He charged me down, swinging his axe at me horizontally again. I quickly jumped up, landing on his axe this time. As he stopped swinging, holding me up now, I would bring both my sakabato and the blunt edge of my blade to both sides of his head at the same time. This strike would deal a heavy blow to the man, and no sooner had he lost his balance did I jump from the axe to get behind him. I would turn around in midair, bringing the reverse-bladed sword down at the back of his head and striking him directly. This caused the man to get sent flying forward and unconscious.

"Ha...haha...I did it..." I laid on the ground exhausted, while the man was carried off as well. As the announcer was about to call for round 4, I quickly waved my arms.

"No! No no no! I'm done! I yield!" I grinned nervously. I got to go, much to the crowd's dismay. I think they really wanted me to get my ass kicked more.

I use my family name first in everything but my display name... for some reason I haven't gotten around to fixing that. >.>

"There's... probably a half dozen, at least."

I lifted another one up. It felt lightweight, but the blade was sturdy. It was a finely crafted weapon, to say the least. However, I imagined one fought with it in a completely different manner from a katana. I was curious about the ways of other cultures, someday I wanted to travel and see what it was like.

"Oh, uh..." I straightened up, clearing my throat. "Hello sirs, how do you do?" I said in an affable manner. One of the guys looked at me, merely replying with "Sup."

I scratched my head before continuing. "Uh.. well, we have a variety goods here, as you can tell. The item of the day are these blades, they hail from a distant land!" I held one up for them to see, which seemed to pique their interesting.

The Sup man from earlier placed his hand on his chin, eying the blade for a moment. "Hmm... I'll take eight." He said, looking directly into Takehiro's eyes for some reason, instead of at me.

I cheered alongside Takehiro, that sale went off without a hitch. It was a nice surprise compared to our last weird customers, but it made me glad. Maybe the night wasn't going to be so bad after all. I just hoped they didn't buy them for cheap just so they could sell them for a large profit.. but then again, that was us indirectly helping people still, right?

"Do you want me to get any of the weapons out for sale?"

The guys walked away all disgruntled and mumbling under their breath, I caught a couple of phrases such as "Stupid dog..." and "You made me look bad...", to which I just tilted my head in confusion. "Wha..."

I pushed the gunpowder and samurai pen0rz shields out of sight, covering them with the cloth on the carriage so that no more people would look at them first, and sighed. Looking down the road, a couple more people were on their way. "Let's hope they buy something."