15: battle training.

"let's see..."

My fingers brushed over the books as I stood in the school library, I was looking for books on the American revolution, my eyes scanned the bookcase.

"Hmm... "

"Hi there." A soft voice called behind me.

I turned and saw a blonde haired girl, she had on a white top and a skirt. It was Miranda. "Oh. Hiya Miranda."

"Whatcha doin'?" She walked beside me and gave me a smile. "Just looking for books on the revolution, mr Andrews wants us to do a report on it."

"Oh. Well there's one up there." She pointed up to the shelf above us. "Oh, thanks." I reached up and grabbed it.

"How'd you know it was there?" I sed skimming the pages.

"I'm the gal' who put it there duh."

"Oh."

She grinned. "Actually I've read through most of the books in this section to be honest, I guess I'm a bit of a history buff."

"Really?"

She tilted her head. "What? Did you think I was some dumb blonde?"

"No. I'm not one to perpetuate stereotypes."

"Good. Most people take me for that, but I'm actually pretty smart. While I'm not a straight A student. I mostly get A's and B's."

"Man really? Geez..."

"What's wrong?"

"I get mostly C's and D's... Honestly If a graduate it would be a miracle."

She gave a nod then took one more step closer. "You know... I could tutor you if you'd like."

"Thanks for the offer, but I kinda already have something going on after school... "

"Oh?"

"Yeah..." I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "It's um... Well, Lisa Elwood's been tutoring me. Plus we sorta go to the same youth group on Wednesdays so..."

"Oh... Lisa Elwood huh?" Her expression dropped for a few moments, she took a step back. She was silent for a second or two. Then her smile came back.

"Well, she's a much better student then me. So I'm sure you'll end up getting better grades for sure..."

She walked backwards a few steps.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go check out some books over here, I'll see you around Jack."

She turned and walked away, I went back to the book. "Oh and jack-"

I turned my head in her direction.

"Yeah?"

"Tell Lisa I sed hello ok?"

"Yeah, I will." She walked out of the history section, heading to the opposite end of the library. That was odd... Well. I'll think about that later. I grabbed a few more books and went to check them out.

* * *

It was six o'clock. I arrived at her place just in time, I knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.

Creeeek.

Lisa opened the door and smiled.

"Well, well, well... Hehe. You followed instructions well. You came the exact time I asked, right on the dot too. Your racking up some major Brownie points." She grinned.

She had changed her outfit from the one she wore this morning, so did I. I was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and track pants. She was wearing tight black leggings and a black sports braw. It perfectly hugged her curves, I could also get a look at her stomach. You could tell she worked out a lot from the sheer amount of definition in her stomach, but not to the point that she had abbs.

It seemed that she worked out her legs the most, sure I always got a glimpse of them when she would wear skirts. But damn they looked really really good in leggings.

I couldn't help but stare.

'I'm being such a creep'

Lisa saw my eyes wander over her body. She flushed and grinned. "Heh... Your such a pervert."

"S-sorry!"

She looked at me a few seconds, then she smiled. "You know what, go on and stare."

"H-huh?"

"Stare. Stare all you want... Your more then welcome too."

"Uhh... Ok."

She gesterd for me to come in, and so I did.

* * *

We entered her basement, it was a huge library filled with just about any kind of book you could think of. It looked like it was ripped straight out of Hogwarts.

There were several tables and statues in the middle of the colossal library, and right at the far end of the library was a large stained glass window depictingf a rose. You could see through the glass the garden outside the window.

We walked passed the library and headed down a flight of stairs, there at the end of the steps was a room filled with weapons and armor. And in the middle of the room was a ring.

To the far end of the room was a practice dummy.

She walked over to a table at the far end of the room, she picked up a strange looking silver gauntlet. "See this?"

Walked up beside her. "This is my favorite gadget. Watch-"

She put it on and locked it to her arm.

She walked to the middle of the room, took aim at the dummy and then pressed a button with her middle finger near her wrist.

Tak!

A cable shot out and attached itself to the dumby, suddenly it retracted and the dummy

Was thrown into there air and was coming straight for her, she leaped into the air and kicked it so hard it slammed into the wall and broke.

!!!!

She landed and flipped her hair.

"Whoa-!!!"

She looked back at me and gave me a confident smile. "Impressed?"

"Vary."

"I wasn't even using arc-craft with that."

She gave me a wink and walked over to the dummy, she stretched out her hand and blue energy escaped her arm and went into the broken pieces. And it reassembled itself it seconds.

"Now, it's time to get to training..."

She took off the gauntlet and put it on the table, then walked to the ring.

"We should spar first, in order for me to see how good you really are."

I smiled and walked into the ring.

"Alright, but I'm not holding back."

"Why Jack Turner, I would take it as an insult of you did."

We went to the opposite side's of the ring, we assumed are stances.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

"... Let's go!"

The two of us came at each other, we traded blows. She threw a kick at my side, it was so strong I felt as it my hip was gonna be knocked out of place. Yet somehow I was able to take it, We continued are clash.

I held my own for a while, but...

Pow!

She struck me right in the torso, I fell to the ground. Lisa had defeated me with little to no effort at all. "Ohh... "

Lisa stood there a few seconds then leaned down. "Jack are you alright?"

"Yeah... I'm fine... "

"Geez... I'm sorry. I thought you could handle me going all out." She was trying to apologize but it felt more like an insult.

"Yeah, im a weakling I guess."

She placed her hand on my back and shook her head. "Your not weak, you just need to improve your skills... "

She gave me a reassuring smile.

"And lucky for you, you have me as your teacher. I'll make you into a world class hunter, I swear it."

I smiled back at her. "If anyone could do it, it's you Lisa."

She blushed a bit. "Suck-up."

"No, I'm telling the truth."

I got up, so did she.

Lisa walked over to the dummy and gesturd for me to come over. "Let's work on some combos ok?..."

"Right."

* * *

It had been a few hours, by the end of it I was drenched in sweat, so was Lisa.

After we practiced combo's on the dummy she taught me some sword play, in total it had had been two hours, one hour practicing hand to hand combat, and one hour practicing kendo. She also had a pair of wooden rapier's to practice fencing.

But we only practiced kendo. Though she sed that she'd teach me that style once I had mastered kendo first.

We laid next to each other, breathing heavy.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..."

"Huff... Huff... Huff... "

Lisa looked over at me, she whiped the sweat off her brow. "I think... That's enough... For today."

"Yeah... Good call."

She sat up. "Wanna go get a drink?"

"Sure."

We got up and walked out of the room, through the library and up went upstairs.

We walked into the kitchen, Lisa opened the door of the refrigerator and grabbed two waters. She threw a bottle over to me. I clumsily caught it.

She walked over to a stool and sat down, I took a seat next to her. She opened the bottle and took a sip, I opened mine and drank it down.

I looked over at her and let out a sigh.

"Tell me the truth, I suck don't I?"

She shook her head. "No,no, you don't suck... I'm just... More experienced then you. Plus I've mixed the skillsets of multiple martial arts together, you've only learned one. But like I sed, you'll be a world class hunter by the time I'm done with you, you'll be able to keep up with me in no time, if you put in the work."

"I hope so."

She leaned a bit closer to me.

"I know so."

I smiled a bit.

"Thanks... "

"Hey. Um... Your pretty cute when you smile."

"Oh... Thanks... Again."

"Your supposed to give me a compliment back idiot." She grinned.

"Where's did all the confidence you had yesterday huh?" She teased.

"Whatever." I looked away flustered.

"Oh my gosh, are you blushing?"

"N-no."

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. "You are!"

"Ok, I am."

"Hah! You admit it."

"Can you blame me when such a pretty girl is teasing me and calling me cute?"

She smiled and leaned her head on her hand, her face seamed to flush. "No, no I can't."

Lisa took another drink of her bottle of water, so did I, then I put my drink down.

"Man... I'm so sweaty. I look like a mess don't I?" She asked.

"No... Well yes... But you still look good, even when your all messy and sweaty."

She smirked.

"Perv."

"Wha-! Huh? I didn't mean it like that!"

"Suuuure."

"If anyone's got the dirty mind it you... "

"Hehe..."

We sat there a while, not really saying anything, Then the girl spoke up..

"So Jack, tell me about yourself."

"Oh. Uh... There not much to tell."

"Come on Jack, tell me what you like-

What are your hobbies? What do you wanna do with your life? You know we've known each other other sense we were kids, yet we still know so little about each other, this is a chance to get know each other."

"Well... Im... Pretty boring actually, I'll admit it.

I don't do much besides working out and watching anime."

"I see... So what about a dream? you must have a dream? Something your passionate about."

"I... I like helping people."

I decided to open up a little. Not to much, after all I couldn't say I wanted to be a hero. That sounds just plain weird, like I've read to many comic books.

But I could let her know a little bit about my dream. "I love helping people actually, because well... I wanna make sure that others can smile. I know that sounds cheesy."

"It does." She sed point blank.

"And you've already told me this, that's your reason for becoming a hunter right? To protect others and help them?"

"Yeah... helping others, it's my reason to live, I guess. And it brings me a lot of joy. So yeah..."

"I see... Well, it's a good thing you've decided to become a hunter. Because we do more then just protect the innocent, we also help those in need."

"Yeah..."

I looked down for a moment.

"So um... What about you? Do you have any dreams?... "

Then I facepalmed.

"God I'm stupid, you probably wanna be a really good hunter right?"

"Yes... I wanna live up to my family name."

Lisa looked at her palm, her expression turned thoughtful. "I wanna be a great hunter like my father, and maybe someday join the council of seven, like my mother and my great, great, grandfather."

"I see... Well I'm sure you'll make it, after all your extremely talented. Your good at just about everything you do Lisa."

She looked back at me, her expression became more soft. "I wasn't always this good, back when I was first starting out I was pretty bad actually. But I wanted my father to be proud of me, so I trained for hours and hours, and studied everything there was to know about arc-craft. I was determined to live up to the Elwood name-"

She continued.

"When my father disappeared, it left a hole in are family's Heart, my mother was broken for a while. But she had to pick up the slack and take my Father's place at the council. I was left alone here... But I swore I'd become the greatest hunter in are family. That's why I work so hard."

As I heard her speak, the more I realized Lisa was under a lot of pressure, either put on by her or her family, pressure to become the best at everything, especially a hunter.

And somehow she was able to live up to those expectations. I envied that...

'Could I ever be like her?'

I wonderd.

Just as I thought that, Lisa turned away from me. "Can I tell your something?"

"Sure."

"Sometime's... " She hesitated.

"Sometime's I feel that I'm not worthy of the Elwood name."

"Why's that?"

Why would she feel that way? She's Lisa Elwood. She's perfect in everyway.

"Because... Jack... Nevermind."

"No, Lisa tell me."

"I.... " She looked down, she seemed to be struggling to find her words. "My father... He loved me... I know it-"

She sed with a clearly faked smile.

"But..."

"But?"

"He never once told me he was proud of me."

There was another silence.

"Lisa... "

She looked back at me, her eyes were filled with vulnerability once again.

"Listen... I never knew your father, but. I know if I were him, I'd be proud of you, you can do things that most people dream of, and there's not a thing that you wanna uptain that you cant achieve if you put your mind to it... remember when we were little? The third grade spelling bee? Before that you could barely spell at all. I remember before that I was able to get better grades then you at that time. But you were able to win in first place, and from there you ended up going to the all city spelling bee and won first place there too... "

"Yeah but we were kids-"

"So? Ever sense you've always been the best at everything, you not only did that but you've won every track meet you've been on, and you barely break a sweat, I know it because I've seen it."

"You've been to my track meets?"

"Every one sense junior high."

She flushed a bit and smiled.

"What are you a stalker?"

"No. I just wanna see my friend doing what she does best, being the greatest."

"Your really good at flattery, you know that?"

"Yeah, well... I like seeing you blush."

She became even more red in the face.

"Your Such a tease."

"Your one too."

"Idiot."

She muttered to herself.

"So... "

"So... "

After a few seconds, Lisa got up.

"I'm gonna change, I really hate being all sweaty like this. I'm gonna take a shower ok? No peeking, or I'll beat the crap out of you got it?"

"Alright."

"Be right back."

She got up and walked out of the kitchen, and wherever the bathroom was, ten minutes passed. Then she came back, she had changed into a red crop top, with a short black skirt, and blue thigh highs.

I've noticed she tends to wear them a lot, she must really like thigh highs, I know I do. Especially on her... Ok I sound really creepy.

"Hey Jack, wanna come up to my room?"

"Huh?" My face turned red.

"Don't be an idiot, were not gonna do anything naughty. I just wanna show you something."

I hesitated a moment, then stood up.

"Alright."

She grabbed my hand and gave me a smile.

"Come on..." She pulled me along with her, out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the stairs, God feeling the warmth of her hand in mine made my heart race.

We entered the first room on the left, she let go of my hand and took a few steps forward.

The first thing I noticed was the walls were pink, bright pink. Not only that but her blankets were pink, and her bed looked like it belonged to a Disney princess, the bed frame was black, as well as the rest of her furniture.

And it was filled with plushies, there were also plushies on shelves, plushies on her desk. Plushies here, plushies there, plushies everywhere.

She also had a few figurines scattered in different places in her room.

She had poster's of her favorite boy bands and singers, as well as a picture of the Eiffel Tower, she also had a lot, and I mean A LOT of pictures of Levi from A.O.T.

She also had a huge bookcase filled with manga and light novels.

I walked over to the bookcase and took a look at what she had. "Wow... You have the entire monogatari series?"

"Yep, I've read through the whole series."

"Ive read up until Hanamonogatari, I haven't read the rest of it yet though."

"Well I won't spoil it for you."

"Thanks... "

I looked a little more. "You have urusei yatsura too?"

"Yep, I once cosplay'd as Lum..."

She pulled out her phone and pulled up the picture. Damn she looked good.

She must have died her hair blue, because it looked way to real. Had on a golden tiger striped bikini, gold boots and yellow tiny horns on her head.

Her body looked really really nice, God how curvy is she?

"Oh. Um... Cool cosplay."

"Hehe... Try not to drool boy."

She grinned.

"Geez... "

She leaned forward with her hands behind her back, giving me a cheeky little grin.

"So... What do ya' think about my room?"

"It's... Really pink."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"No,no,no... Your a girly girl, I like it....

And besides, you should see my room. It's pretty empty.... I have no sense of style so I never decorated it."

"Oh, I see... Well maybe I can help you decorate it one day huh?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

She walked over to her desk and pulled out a scrapbook from her drawer, she took a seat on her bed and patted beside her.

I walked over to her, when I sat an aroma filled my nostrils, I think it was perfume. It was a different one then she usually wore.

It smelled like cotton candy.

That, her outfit, and just how pretty she looked, plus the fact that she scooted closer to me, close enough that her thigh touched my leg was giving me the shivers.

"This is my memorie book, I keep all my favorite photos and stuff in here."

She opened the book and turned the pages, passing pictures of vacation trips, dried flowers, charms, and stuff. she turned the pages until she stopped at a pink letter with crappy looking writting on it. The kind that an eight year old child would write, I recognized it.

"Uhh... "

"Oh, that's from a secret admirer I had as a kid. I never found out who it was, but it was sweet so a kept it. That's not what I wanted to show you though."

"Oh."

Thank God she didn't find out it was me.

"This is what I wanted to show you."

She turned the page, stopping at a photo of a little chubby brown haired boy wearing a spider-man T-shirt, and little girl with an angelic face and ocean blue eyes, with hair as dark as night. She was wearing a fancy white dress, the boy had an embarrassed book look on his face, meanwhile the girl had a big Bright smile and was clinging to the boys arm and was giving the peace sign with her other hand.

"Remember this?"

"Hmm?... When did we take this photo?"

"Huh? You don't remember?" She looked confused and a bit hurt.

"Remember that one forth of July, back when we were ten? Your parents let me and my mother and Grandmother join the barbecue your family was having?"

I shook my head.

"Oh." She looked really disappointed.

"Im sorry."

"No,no, don't be... We were kids back then so... I don't expect you to remember."

She looked back down at the picture and pointed at me. "You were so cute back then, like a little teddy bear."

"Yeah? You looked like an antique doll."

"Again, are you trying to make fun of me?"

"No. Geez... Your so defensive. I meant it as a compliment."

"Oh. Good... So um... Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you avoid me all these years?"

My eye's widened, she was so direct.

"Oh. Um.... I wasn't-"

"Don't lie Jack, tell me... I mean I tried so many times to reach out to you. You never gave me a chance, you kinda hurt my feelings you know."

I rubbed the back of my head. "It's nothing you did, it's a long story."

"I have time."

I let out a sigh.

"You know how I was bullied when I was younger right?"

"Yeah, it was horrible... I wish I could have stopped them."

"Well, one time when we were kids, I guess when I was seven or something, one of the kids found out I wanted to hang out with you, and well. He um... He basically told me that you wouldn't want to hang out with a "fat slob" like I was."

"What? But- Jack I wouldn't be like that, you didn't believe that did you?" She sed with her eyebrows knitted together.

"No... I knew you were to nice too be like that, but... I couldn't help but feel you deserved to have a friend who didn't look like me-"

That's half true, I actually did think that she was only being nice to me because she didn't want to be rude, And in actuality she was annoyed at my presents.

"You actually thought that?"

"Yeah... Kinda, and by the time I lost all my weight it was already pretty awkward between us... So-"

Once again, that was only half the truth.

I still felt unworthy to be in her presence, not because of my appearance but because of my actions in the past.

"You idiot... Jack, that guy was a jerk who needed to be corrected by his crappy parents, let me guess it was tony?"

"Yeah."

"God, I swear if i knew how to fight back then and I found out what he sed to you I would beat the hell out of him."

"Geez... Your acting as if I'm some damsel in distress, I'm a guy. I can handle stuff like that. But... Thank you."

She smiled.

"Jack, you did something like that for me once, remember?"

"... Yeah." I remembered, when she was pushed down by Tony. I couldn't just stand there and let her get hurt. But... Like with the man in black, I was too weak to help her. And in the end I was beaten to a pulp.

I wish... I wish I was stronger. Back then, and now, not just for others, but for her.

I wanna protect her.

"Anyway... " She closed the book and put it on her nightstand. "Let's watch something.... How about we watch a romance anime huh?"

"Sure." She grabbed her remote and turned on crunchyroll. "Let's see... How about my dress up darling?"

"Isn't that pretty fan-servicey?"

"It's not like it's some trashy harem anime."

"I guess not."

"Hold on... Let me go get some snacks ok?"

"Right."

She put down the remote and walked out of the room, she came back a few minutes later with two glasses of green tea and a candy box. "Here."

She sat the box down and grabbed the remote, she opened it up. It was filled with macaroons. "Try one, I made them myself."

She grabbed a white one and held it close to my mouth. "Say ahh..."

"Uhh.... Um-"

"Come on, pleeease?" She gave me puppy dog eyes. "Mmhm... Alright."

I opened up my mouth.

"Ahh..."

She fed me the macaroon, then smiled.

"Good boy, is it good?"

And I melted right there.

"Y-yeah."

"Darling, your blushing again."

"D-dont call me that!... Not yet."

"So I can call you that in the future?"

I have a shy nod.

"Good.... Hehe... "

She leaned in closer to me.

"Im glad you've excepted that you'll be mine eventually, but Im gonna call you a good boy and darling as much as I want anyway. No but's... Got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am."

"Good boy."

She gave me a peck on the cheek and giggled. She grabbed the remote and pressed play, after a few adds the show started playing, she eventuality leaned her head against my shoulder.

The whole time I barely spoke a word, But I was enjoying it.

* * *

After hanging out with her for a few hours, it came time for me to leave.

Lisa walked me to the door, I stood in front of her with my hands in my pockets.

"Well... I'll see you tomorrow Lisa."

"See you Jack, and by the way, take this-"

She walked over to a chair in the foyer and handed it to me. "This is the book of bathazar. It's basically a handbook for the church, it goes deep into church history and stuff, there's a lot about the classes of members. Read through it. You'll need to know it..."

"Right, thank you.... I had fun tonight."

"Me too... "

I walked out of the door and walked down the steps, then I looked back. "Goodnight Lisa."

"Yeah... Goodnight Jack-"

She was about to close the door, but...

"Wait-"

"Hmm?"

"Hey.... Um... Lisa, would you... Wanna like-"

Lisa's eyes widened a bit, a big smile filled with joy came on her face. "Would I what?"

"Um... Maybe, this Saturday.... Maybe we can go on.... Like-"

"A date?"

"Y-yeah."

She froze, she didn't say anything for a good ten seconds. "Um.... If you don't want to it's fine."

"No! I um... Id love too.. did you have anything in mind?"

"Um... You like Greek food?"

"Yeah."

She was blood red in the face, she looked so cute! My face was red too.

"There's one in the city, on south Street... I can come pick you up on Saturday early if you want."

"Yeah, that sounds great! I can't wait!"

She looked so so excited, it was as if she was gonna let out a cry of joy and hop up and down. Though I felt like I was gonna do the same thing.

"Me either.... Also, you should give me your number, so we can you know, talk and stuff..."

I sed nervously.

"Sure."

I walked up the steps and handed her my phone, she put in her number and looked at me with giddiness. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah see ya." She closed the door giving me a cute little smile.

I walked down the steps again and took a few steps away from the house, when I heard a high pitched sqeal coming from inside the house.

"Eeeeeee!!!!!!"

I smiled.

When I walked far enough away from Elwood manor, I leaped in the air and let out a cry of Victory. "Yeeeeeeaaaahhh!!!!!!!!"