|Dead Heart| Reaper x Reader

Chapter Ten - Beating

Exploring readers character, and her training!! may do a big time skip over her training, as nothing interesting will really be happening in that time, juuuust so we can get to the juicy parts!



You groaned as you awoke from your slumber, every single muscle felt sore, and your brow knitted to reflect this less than great state of body. Whenever you'd exercise in the past, you never felt this sore, it must've been from the proper technique, and numerous workouts you had done.

Letting your mind wander for just a moment was a swift mistake, and a frown was placed onto your features. Reyes was one of your only, "friends," if you could even call him that, besides your best friend, the one who had just moved away. You didn't know why you didn't have many friends, were you just too hard to love? Too hard to care about?

You never had many friends, in both your youth and currently.  You'd like to say you didn't care, but it pained you to be so lonely, so isolated.  The bar would fight off those pesky feelings, but they would always inch back into your heart, slowly but surely.  You hoped your new instructor would be something that could just, maybe, fill the hole in your heart left by the man who you longed for. 

With a quick motion you stood from your bed, eyebrows knitting in a confidence to no longer push yourself down with your racing thoughts, instead, you decided to get an early start by heading to your new instructor. Secretly hoping you could vent your toxic thoughts through exercise.

Your jelly feeling legs led you into your kitchen, lazily opening the fridge you brought out a gallon of milk, and a few strawberries. You thought some cereal and fruit would be a good start to the day, as you usually only had an apple and some fast food for breakfast, this was a considerable step up.

You lazily poured your bowl of corn flakes and cut up strawberries into your bowl, pouring some milk in just after.  Yawning into a big bite of breakfast, you checked the time, noting you had ample time to head over to your training session for the day.  Unsurprisingly, you didn't have a single notification in your text box, of course you wished you had at least one, but the lack of messages wasn't anything new to wake up to.

Finishing your cereal, you placed your empty bowl into the sink, brushing your hands off as you decided on what to wear from the array of work clothes in your closet.

---

"Are you sure?" you mused, quirking your eyebrow at your instructor as you readied into position. 

"Of course," He posed himself, eyes narrowing at your amateur confidence, "I wouldn't suggest it if I wasn't."

Your instructor, who adamantly told you to call him John, had suggested for you to practice your fighting against him, even though you had just started, he insisted you were making quick progress.  You agreed with some level of hesitation, if you were sure about anything, it'd be that you'd almost surely lose whatever this so called match was.

John smirked, freckled cheeks creasing at the corners of his eyes, his form slowly moving towards you as a sign of the match starting.  

You chuckled dryly in response, now slowly circling him as he kept his eyes locked onto you, his senses seemingly intensified by ten fold, as yours were as well.

John made a quick move, going straight for your gut, somehow, you managed to dodge, jumping back at the last moment.  Your eyes narrowed as a few strands of hair fell onto your face, your stance widening and form becoming stronger.

Quickly scanning his form, you decided the best action would be to block his next moves, waiting for an opening whenever possible.  Arms coming up to your core in a defensive position, the man in front of you went for your side, which you quickly blocked, before jumping away.

"Gotta attack sometime, (Y/N)" he grunted, skidding across the mat from his overly exerted charge.

You sighed, face contorting into displeasure, of course you knew you needed to attack.  You were just waiting for- got it.

You smirked at him, eyes meeting his as you charged for him, hitting him directly on the temple, hearing an almost immediate grunt from the man, before feeling a left hook straight into your gut, easily knocking the wind out of you.

You gasped, falling onto your back as you hacked up your lungs, grimace clear on your features.

John smiled down at your form, hand reaching down to you as your coughing subsided, "You did good for a first match."

"What?" you half laughed half coughed, taking his hand as you now stood, holding your side, "I did terrible."

He laughed heartily, placing a hand on your shoulder, "Of course you did! But you had confidence, and you went for the defensive position right away," he praised, "Your form was sloppy, and your stance needs improvement, but you did manage to land a good punch!"

He expressed, eyes smiling as his voice sounded jubilant.

"R-Really?" you replied, eyes going a little wide.

"Would I lie to you?" he played, nudging your arm.

You smirked, hand now on your hip, giving him the once over, "I wouldn't put it past you."

He laughed, before his tone did a 180 shift, knocking you off guard, "10 laps outside, now."

Tensing, you quickly nodded, grabbing a bottle of water and already jogging to the gyms door with a wave, "See ya in 20, John!"

You ran out the door as John stayed inside, sitting on a bench with a towel wrapped around his neck, "What a kid.." he chuckled, shaking his head.

---

"DONE!" you exclaimed, finally finished with the fifty pushups John made you do.

He had been going hard on you today, maybe it was because he wanted you to train faster, or for another underlying reason you couldn't hope to place.

A chuckle, "You did good today," followed by a gentle gesture of the hand, urging you to take it.

You did, looking up into your instructors brown eyes, a faltering smile on your lips from fatigue, "Really?"

He nodded, sitting you down on a nearby bench, tossing you a bottle of water which you gladly took, finishing it in a second.

"I pushed you hard today," you nodded, brows furrowing, "But you exceeded my expectations!"

Smiling faintly, he continued, "You should be done with all of your training in a few months if you continue to improve at this rate."

"Only a few?!?" you exasperated, honestly surprised at the short time span, you would've thought a year, at least.

Nodding, he gestured thoroughly, "You're already very strong, didn't you break some guy's jaw with a single punch?"

You blushed out of embarrassment rather than a fluster, scratching the nape of your neck, "Yeah, not very proud of that, though."

"You should be!" he implored, looking at you with passion, "That is very promising, (Y/N), that's why I believe you'll be done in a few months, if you train like this every day, that is," a small smirk was painted onto his face.

You groaned, rolling your head back at the very thought of all the weapons training, fights, and laps you'd have to do.

"Are you in?" 

You smirked up at him as he stood in front of you.

"Of course."

Bit of a faster chapter, but I felt like it didn't really need much, plus it is more of a transitional text.  Hope y'all enjoyed!! and don't worry, we may be seeing more of reaper soon~

Word count: 1293