[Un]Shakeable

- Nine -

Once Tsuneo and Rika were gone, you finally began training Ayato. Letting out a sigh, you tossed your jacket aside and waited for him to prepare himself.

Ayato had thrown his own dark hoodie off to the side, revealing a plain black t-shirt. Now he was currently cracking his knuckles and stretching his back, letting out a satisfied moan as he warmed up for training. As soon as he finished, he turned to you. "What's up first, shithead?"

You raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I've been upgraded from little shit to shithead now?" You teased, circling him to survey out his body type. Ayato was lean, but you noticed that his stature was a little on the short side. That had its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages: he was swift and could probably dodge easily, especially with his kagune.

Disadvantages: if he got caught, he would easily be pummeled. This would be a problem.

Ayato shrugged, a dirty look on his face as his dark eyes followed you. "I'll call you what I want. Don't question it." The ukaku-kagune boy crossed his arms with a scowl. "So are we going to train or what?"

You let out a laugh and waved it off. "Of course we are." You stopped immediately after the sentence to arubtly move behind him, yanking his arm back to twist his wrist between his shoulder blades. Luckily he was an ukaku ghoul; this position would prevent him from bringing out his kagune.

You brought your face up near to his ear, your lips barely brushing his shaggy, wild locks. "First off, the moves I'll teach you are to only be used defensively. Don't ever use them to start a fight." A moment of silence passed before you pulled away, slowly releasing him from your grip.

The indigo-haired boy let that slowly sink in before nodding. "Okay, sure. I guess."

Nodding, you stepped back, then crossed your arms. "Next thing. What I just did there? It's called deceit. I took advantage of the fact that we're acquaintances and used it against you. Just because you know someone doesn't mean you know what they're thinking." You smirked. "That's lesson number one. Be wary of everyone, whether it's jokingly or seriously."

Your acquaintance scrunched his eyebrows together, soaking in the information. Then he looked back up to you. "Alright, got it. Cliche, but got it." He pursed his lips. "But when do we start actually fighting?" The tone of his voice revealed impatience, but you held up a hand.

"Calm yourself, Ayato. You're getting ahead of yourself. We're starting with an easier lesson first." You held up a finger to count. "In order to control your body movements so they're not sporadic and all over the place, you have to get used to your mind first," you lectured. "This means that you've got to control yourself." Your stared intensely into Ayato's indigo fluorite pools, trying to make sure that he actually understood what you meant when you said that he needed to learn how to control himself.

Ayato pursed his lips, but he didn't argue or retort. Giving him a nod of confirmation, you lowered your chin, facing him head on. Your fingers curled into fists, and you raised them up near your face.

"Ayato, I want you to come at me. I wanna check out your offensive moves. I'll need to see out flaws and holes in your movements, and then I'll help you out with your actions," you stated, quickly formulating a plan in your head. But you paused before adding, "Although, I'll only teach you the basic, non-kagune moves. Kagune attacks are custom to each person," you explained before any questions could be raised.

With a smirk, Ayato raised his arms, preparing to fight. "Alright... But don't blame me if I break your bones. You asked for it!"

And with that, her leapt to your prepared form to tear you into pieces.

ıllıllı ×××× ıllıllı

You stayed in the underground all day. You had to help Ayato with his technique, his force, his aim... He was worse than expected.

He wasted too much energy doing flashy maneuvers. You needed to fix that, which took up quite a bit of that day. But towards the end of the session, you two both had to pause your training when the loud noise of something hard banging against metal tore you away from your focus. You averted your gaze from Ayato's pose, transferring your gaze toward the source of the noise.

Behind the bars of the training room was a familiar silver-haired female, holding a clear plastic box filled with colors of pale pink and red. Kanon waved to you both. "Having fun there, you two?" The female ghoul asked teasingly, taking note of your current positions.

Ayato's leg was lifted up as if he were prepared to kick forward, his arms bent for balance. His fists hung before him, ready to swing in case anything happened. Your position hovered a bit over his lifted leg (which was between your dark, jean-clad thighs). Both your hands were currently positioned on his biceps, trying to properly show him an easy way to move his shoulders and arms so that he wouldn't waste his precious stamina.

Suddenly realizing the awkward position you were in, you quickly shoved Ayato's leg down, then forced his arms away. Contradictory to your original thought, you had quickly discovered that Ayato actually had a lot of muscle in his arms and legs; there was more in his upper body than his lower.

You cleared your throat as you took a step away from Ayato. You waved to Kanon. "Kanon! What're you doing here?"

Ayato let out a huff and bounded away to grab his jacket, but you slowly jogged to the corner of where your jacket lay. Kanon followed you along the bars. Your friend let out a low chuckle. "Well, it's already seven. I figured that I could give you guys some dinner, and then we'd go out for coffee or something," she offered. "I know some really great ghoul-friendly cafes." Kanon singsonged as she handed over the plastic container. "That's the back flesh of some suicidal forty-year old. Pretty good if I say so myself."

A smile made its way onto your features as you graciously took the container of food from Kanon after throwing on your jacket. "Thank you, Kanon. I bet he'll taste delicious," you enthused, starting to feel your appetite growing.

"He probably won't if he's not fresh," you heard Ayato's voice gruff from behind you. The lion-maned boy made his way out of the training room, into the main sewer system. "We should go hunting." Your face paled at the mention of hunting.

Kanon let out a purr of laughter. "Really, Ayato-kun? Hunting tonight?"

Ayato shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets as he led the way down the sewer hallway. "Why not? What's the problem, Jackass?"

Kanon laughed again, a smile gracing her lips as you listened carefully. "Well, we were planning on eating dinner soon, and then heading to one of the cafes for some coffee later," she said to him. "Plus, I'm sure [Name] wouldn't feel comfortable hunting in such an unfamiliar area, would they?" She casted you a knowing look.

But it was true.You didn't like the sound of hunting in such an unfamiliar place. What if you ruined things for everyone? The CCG could dash in immediately, and maybe sooner than later, your kagune would be the powerful weapon for their quinques. But if Ayato and Kanon wanted to go hunting for fresh meat... You didn't want to stop them and ruin their night.

You shrugged. "I don't mind if you guys want to go," you told them both politely. "If you guys wanna go hunt--"

"Let's go," Kanon stated assertively. "Stop at home, grab our masks, and then we'll head out to hunt, right?" She grinned.

Your silver-haired friend grabbed your wrist half-leading, half-dragging you down the sewer path, out to the Ueno Club, and then into the alleyway.

Ayato kept pace right next to you-- your other hand was occupied by the indigo-haired boy's pale, callused hands. You hardly even noticed that his hand had taken yours (or maybe you took his hand? Neither of you were quite sure), except for the warmth. Besides the warmth, it felt as if there was nothing there-- it felt so natural, even when he squeezed your hand to let you know he was there.

Secretly, you thanked Ayato for taking your hand. You felt as if Ayato was trying to comfort you (even if he wasn't). And you highly doubted that Kanon would be the type of person to squeeze anyone's type of hand.

Thank goodness that that lion-maned, indigo-haired boy was there to comfort you -- even if you didn't realize it until the end.