Cards and Keys

Chapter Twenty One: Teardrop To A Star

Lucy POV:

I awoke with a frown, feeling an empty space beside me on the bed. The previous night, we'd fallen asleep almost as soon as a conversation had concluded, emotion and physical exhaustion overtaking us. Hisoka hadn't even bothered to change out of his towel, so I'd been looking forward to seeing that sight before me in the morning. That made his absence even more so disappointing.
I pushed myself to my feet, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Hisoka?" I called, wondering around the apartment.
"Out here darling~" His airy voice drifted from behind the balcony curtains. I pulled them back, wincing as the sunlight met my eyes. Hisoka was before me, his fists repeatedly hammering into a punching bag and wearing only his baggy pants, leaving his chest exposed. His hair was still down and his face was lacking it's clown themed makeup. "What are doing this early?" I mumbled, still waking up.

"I'm training~ And it's 11:30 my dear, so I don't know about early." He chuckled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Hah? No way..."  My eyes went wide as I realised just how long I'd slept. I wasn't usually one to sleep in, but that was the comfiest bed I'd had in a while. Or maybe it was who I was sleeping next to that made me so at ease. Whatever the reason was, I felt refreshed and ready to take on the day. "Can I join you?" I gestured to his training gear, which included the punching bag, some weights, a target and some other things that I wasn't quite sure of.

"Of course~what did you want to try?"

"Ah, I was hoping you could teach me how to use this stuff. I've never really done proper work outs before." I bashfully admitted. I'd always wanted to improve my physical strength, not that my Lucy kick wasn't already a force to be reckoned with, I just felt that my lack of basic training was holding me back. My magic had been improving rapidly as of recent, with me discovering my star dresses and such, but I wouldn't be able to fully utilise it if I didn't master hand to hand combat.

"I'd be glad to teach you my dear~ what are your punches like?" He moved away from the punching bag, gesturing for me to hit it. I inhaled deeply, then struck the bag with my fist, trying to put as much strength behind it as I could. The punching back shook at the force.
"Hmm, good, but try punching with your whole body this time~" He placed one hand on my arm and one on my shoulder, walking me through the  movement. I nodded at his instruction, using my whole body to propel the hit. This time, the punching bag swung from the collision, swivelling back and forth. I smiled proudly at Hisoka, happy with the small improvement. He smiled back, giving me a small kiss on the cheek as affirmation.

I kept going at the punching bag, absorbing every peace of advice Hisoka gave me. The general gist was that I had a good amount of power behind my blows, but I just needed to improve my technique. I kept at it for half an hour and my arm felt as if it would fall of by the end of it.

"Try this one." Hisoka pointed me towards the metal target.
"What do I do? Punch it?" I winced, not liking the idea of hitting my already battered fists into solid metal. Hisoka shook his head.
"No no~ this ones for nen, or in your case, magic attacks. To help improve aim and such."
He then launched a card at the target and as I focus my aura, I was able to see that bungee gum that propelled it. It hit the target dead centre and I couldn't help but clap.

"Your turn my dear~"

"You got it." I grinned, ready for the challenge. "I have been wanting to try something."

"Oh?~ do tell."

"You'll see." I winked, gathering my magic and aura together. "You might want to move out the way though."

Hisoka gave me a skeptical look, but moved aside anyway.

"Star dress mix! Sagittarius x Leo form!"
Starlight engulfed me, transforming my pyjamas into a yellow and green leotard, with black armour covering various parts of my body, and a great crossbow placed in my hands.
Hisoka grinned at the sight.
"I'll never grow tired of watching that~."