Chương 36: One Day At A Time

"You have to be quicker and more decisive, Kira. Your hesitation is what got you hit there..."

I raised a brow as I rubbed just below my chest, the sight of the Dogkin punching forwards still engrained into my mind, her speed and precision astonishing to see in person.

It was something that was both refreshing and dejecting to experience; refreshing because I was seeing that height that I wanted to climb again, dejecting because I needed to climb back to that level once more... and then some, of course.

"Are you sure it wasn't your heat that caused me to get hit there? That seemed... rather targeted, did it not?"

Coughing, Alessia turned and continued to lecture me, ignoring my question as I rubbed beneath my breast, feeling the tender flesh and alleviating the pain from her sudden jab.

"Your guard was wide open, so I took advantage of it! If you don't want to be taken advantage of, you need to perfect your guard and protect yourself! This is training, after all!"

"Yeah... sure..."

Giving Alessia a pointed stare, I watched as the Dogkin coughed again and wrung out her hands, before she took a deep breath and lowered herself into a stance again, staring at me with clear eyes.

"Alright... again! We only have another day to train, so let's get you in better shape!"

I raised the wooden weapon and stared at the Dogkin across from me, who was letting me once more make the first move, something that she had remained adamant about this entire time; she claimed it helped me get a better understanding of fighting if I was the one initiating the battles for now, and she also claimed that the next part of our training would be me reacting to her attack to start...

"Some would say that was rather insensitive, Alessia~! Was I already not in great shape, hm~? Do you not like my body the way it is~?"

Smiling at the Dogkin, I remained stationary and watched in veiled amusement as her clarity faded, each blink clouding them over with slight lust as she looked me over, giving me the opening I wanted.

Lunging forwards, I stabbed the wooden sword straight at her chest, opening with a classic thrust that allowed me to flow into a multitude of different fighting styles that I had dipped my toes in over the years.

Alessia was caught slightly off guard by the sudden thrust, but she still managed to leap back and to the side, keeping herself away from the weapon as best she could, though as I stepped into my attack, I pulled my arm back and thrust forwards again, chasing her.

Opting for an aggressive opening, I stabbed towards Alessia three times as I moved her around the training grounds, before taking a step back and putting up my guard, gauging my opponent and her positioning.

A low stance, balancing on the balls of her feet and with her arms raised slightly in front of her, Alessia was in a variating of a grappling stance as she too gauged my position, staring at me for a few brief moments before lunging forwards.

Only, instead of rushing forwards to tackle me, Alessia dug her feet into the ground and bounced backwards, smirking at me as I tried to catch her in the midst of the lunge and instead rushing towards my side, catching me off guard.

Using my momentum, I threw myself forwards into a roll and dodged the swift jab that she sent flying towards where I was, giving me yet another opening, though one I couldn't capitalize on immediately, which closed the door on it.

Effectively having reset our engagement, I took a deep breath and focused my mind, raising the wooden sword once more and stabbing it towards her chest, before bringing the blade around and slashing down towards her skull, trying to catch her again as she leapt back from my attack.

Twisting her body to the side, Alessia avoided the slash and reached forwards, grabbing at my collar and yanking me towards her, only to grunt as I head butted her on the way into her arms, surprising the Dogkin.

She released me and stumbled back, the blow to her nose robbing her of her immediate sight thanks to the tears that naturally sprung to her eyes, whilst the blow disoriented her for a brief moment, allowing me to chop the blade down on her neck.

"Well, it would seem I got a win after all~!"

Blinking away the tears, Alessia rubbed at her nose and pursed her lips, the hit spreading a slight blush across her face that almost suited her perfectly...

"Yeah yeah yeah... that's what, one of ten? Still... quick thinking on that one, huh? Damnit... fucking stings."

Her hand was illuminated by a golden light, before she let out a sigh of relief after healing herself, the muttered incantation hidden by the sigh.

"Well, I'm getting a tad peckish, and we needed a break anyways. Wanna get something to eat again? Stretch our legs and take a walk around before grabbing a bite?"

"Sure, why not. Let me change first though... and wash off."

Handing her the practice weapon, I headed inside and began to clean myself off, wiping away the sweat and taking this time to look over my increased stats; I could actually increase them through hard work instead of leveling, but it took a long, long time to do so...

[STR : 9 -> 11

CON : 6 -> 7

DEX : 12 -> 13

INT : 5

WIS : 5

CHA : 12]

Not a lot of improvement, and only to my physical stats, but progress was progress, and I was never going to be angry about getting a free point in any of my stats, least of all if it felt earned like these ones.

Pulling on a clean shirt and pair of pants, I tied my hair back in a loose ponytail and made my way back outside, finding Alessia leaning against the door waiting for me, already changed and ready to go.

Alessia slipped her arm around my waist and walked me outside, chatting with me casually and smirking as she said "A nice walk, a bite to eat, some raunchy sex in an alley, perhaps? Get back to training, then have some more sex~? Sound like a good night to you, Kira~?"

I rolled my eyes at the ever horny Dogkin, though I answered "Sounds like a great night, Alessia...", thanking my luck once more at having met someone like her to help keep me sane over this last week.

Having something to occupy my mind where I otherwise might be allowed to think about everything until I fell asleep; that announcement still haunted me every night, the thoughts about home and about the people left behind squeezing my heart in ways that I had never been prepared to feel...

Sometimes, it felt like too much, and I can't imagine what it would have been like without Alessia's antics to occupy my mind.