You wake up alone

As your eyes open you know Edin hasn't returned. The room feels empty. You'd been alone in it before but this time you felt lonely. Climbing out of your bed you look Edin's empty one. Hoping he and Anastasia will get to the academy for breakfast at least you get dressed in you causal clothes, your uniform isn't loose enough for your sword forms. You look at your sword, your damaged sword. With the metal weakened after Asune chipped it you aren't sure it is going to last through your forms.

You put it back down. Stephanie will probably let you use one of the academy swords. She might even have something ready for you to practice your imbuing with. At that thought you feel an rush of excitement. Training something you thought you were useless in took away some of your loneliness.

As you hurried down the stairs towards the front door you look for Wilfred. He was in the attendant office and you waved at him.

"Good morning Christopher." He said with a small bow.

"Good morning Wilfred." You replied slowing your walk to talk briefly.

"I hear you've made something of a name for yourself among the students." Wilfred grinned at you and raised an eyebrow.

At this point he could be referring to a lot of things. "Well it's nice to be thought of." You say as you walk past him.

"So long as you appreciate that attention brings attention." Wilfred sound a little ominous and you slowed further.

"Meaning?"

"Among the nobility it is easier to take someone else attention than earn your own." He still sounded ominous but there was something of a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." You say feeling vaguely concerned you had been stupid without knowing precisely which stupid thing you did was the stupid thing you had done.

"Always happy to assist Christopher." Wilfred smiled as you walked outside leaving a lingering sense of unease. You shrugged off the feeling as you hurried to the training field. The sound of metal clashing was kinda of comforting. The maintaining of a routine outside of your own.

As you rounded the viewing stands you saw Asune and Stephanie. They were mid spar and at this point the rule about not interrupting Asune seemed kinda redundant so you lingered at the edge to watch.

Unlike the last time you had seen them spar Asune was moving much more deliberately. Taking care to place her feet and avoid Stephanie's blade. You watched as Stephanie left an opening in her defense, it was a trap and unlike the last time Asune didn't fall into it. Instead she backed away and watched carefully.

The pair circled each other until Asune had her back to you. "Take a seat Christopher." Stephanie called out. Once she finished she stepped forwards to attack.

Asune had turned slightly to look at you and Stephanie was hoping to capitalise. But it didn't work. Asune hadn't turned enough to give Stephanie a blind spot to attack to but the shift had Asune a confident attacker swinging with their shoulder.

As Stephanie swung her sword at Asune, Asune flicked hers with her wrist. The tip of her sword ran along Stephanie's stomach leaving a shallow cut. As you watched you reconsidered the first sparring match between them. You had thought Asune wouldn't have dealt a fatal blow but since people weren't as strong as you maybe it would have done more damage.

Stephanie stepped back lowering her sword, "Well done Lady Asune." She looked over at you. "I gave explicit instructions regarding disturbing Lady Asune's training Christopher."

"Oh I ah," You felt embarrassed at being called out by a women with a still bleeding stomach wound. She looked down and saw the wound. It closed quickly leaving you staring at her torn open top leaving a view of her skin. She cleared her throat and you looked up. "Sorry."

She shakes her head. "You don't have a sword. If you want to practice imbuing you shouldn't have disobey my instruction."

You shifted on your feet. "My sword was," you looked at Asune, "damaged. I can't use it without it breaking."

"Then you should have brought it here for repairs or replacement." She walked over to the weapons storage and pulled out a wooden sword. "Use this." She threw it at you. The tip of the sword shaped stick flying just past your head. You grabbed the hilt as it moves past you.

"I shouldn't." You say recalling the last time you tried using a wooden sword, you didn't have eyebrows for a week. "They kinda, burst into flames." You rub the back of you neck suddenly feeling like you are bragging.

"You can use mine." Asune said lifting up her sword for you. Her's looked much more like the sword of a noble than yours, an intricate etching along it's hilt that formed words in a language you didn't recognise. You didn't take it since you had a bad history with swords and didn't want to accidentally break Asune's.

"I think I'll practice unarmed." Now that you know your stronger than average you might be able use unarmed combat with reasonable effectiveness.

Asune shrugged. "I'll watch then we can have a bath together." You looked at Stephanie worried she might not be happy since the spirit of her instruction was to not involve yourself and Asune. Stephanie looks at the two of you and can see a hint of worry in her aura, if that was because you were involved with Asune, or because you were involved with Asune you weren't sure.

"Sure." You say walked around the back of the viewing stand. You thought about Vatarie's forms and started to run through them. Moving faster and faster until you reached the limit just below spontaneous combustion from air friction.

You ran through all the forms a few times. There were less of them compared to your sword forms so you finished them very quickly. If nothing else it did feel good to move faster. With just your own body you didn't need to worry about breaking a sword and creating a projectile.

When you finished you looked done to see the dirt has been slightly cratered by your efforts. You turned to look at Asune watching you with curiosity. "Are you ready for a bath now?" She asked, not seeming to care about your display. That kinda disappointed you, you had gotten a little used people having some sort of a reaction to watching your display.

"I guess." You say then wonder if a being naked with Asune was a smart idea. She walked over and looped her arm into yours the same as Anastasia had done with you. That didn't seem entirely accidental.

The two of you walked to the dorms in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable which was weird, everything about Asune was kinda uncomfortable yet being so close with her felt almost normal. Her aura wasn't touching you even though she was so maybe that was it.

When you walked into the Dorm building you looked to the attendant office. Wilfred smiled at you and bowed slightly. Asune didn't slow and together you got the baths very quickly. Being awake while everyone else was asleep had its benefits.

Asune opened the upper class bath door and you walking in together. She opened a changing room door and looked at you expectantly. You walked inside and were surprised she didn't follow you. Stripping you put your uniform in the cleaning cabinet and wrapped a towel around your waist. With a little trepidation you walk into the corridor to the bath. Asune wasn't there waiting for you so you walk to the bath. When you reach it you see her in the pool swimming. She changed a lot faster than you had. As she reached the end of the pool she flipped and swam the other way.

You saw her towel by the side the pool and put your towel down next to it. Jumping into the pool you joined Asune in her laps. She was moving with some decent speed and you had to put some effort into keeping up. The two of you kept swimming for what felt like a long time. It ended when she reached the pool edge and didn't turn.

You joined her floating staying apart from her but not so far that you were out of reach. "Do you want to have sex with me?" She asked making you cough in the water a little.

"W-what?" You asked clearing the water from your mouth. "I ah." You hesitated not sure what the correct answer would be in this situation.

"You don't have to pretend with me Christopher. Remember." She sounded totally indifferent as she said it.

"Right, ah it's just with the courtship thing." You say trying to delay this so you can think.

"We'll be together no matter what. I like pain." She floated over to you and ran a finger along your chest. "I like when people acknowledge that I'm better than them, I know that we can share that." She moves her face just before your lips almost touching. "The woman who disrespected you," the finger on your chest went to your stomach, "I want to make her beg with you, together we can make her see how weak she is and how much better than her we are."

You feel her finger getting lower and back away from her. "That's not –"

"You're not ready yet." She floated backwards. "I'll teach you how to take off the mask and we'll make her our pet. Now I've found someone like me I don't care how long it takes." She smiled as she said the last word then pushed herself out of the pool. Out of the water you can see her body. She was slimmer than you had thought. Her chest only slightly more than a pair of bumps. Her muscles were misguidingly slim, you'd taken a pulled hit from her so you knew how strong she was. Something else you noticed was that was that she had a piece of cloth or something similar between her legs covering her sex. If she noticed your staring she didn't comment on it.

You were about to try and say something but she walked off waving her hips as she did. Like her body her hips were slim her ass however was sculpted, two wonderfully formed globes that you found hard to look away from. When she was out of the corridor your brain was able to form coherent thoughts, such as 'what the fuck was that?'. You hopped out of the pool and grabbed your towel. As you did another thought came, 'was she right about you?'.

You dried off and willed your erection down. Going to the changing room you got dressed and thought about if you should avoid Asune, it would be impossible and you knew it but you could try to avoid being alone with her. If it turned out she was wrong about you, she might not take it super well.

You make your way to your room keeping a look out for Vatarie or Edin or any of the other people you've attracted. When you reach your room you are actually glad to have not run into anyone. You had a bad history of making poor decision when you were horny and despite yourself Asune had made you somewhat horny.

Entering your room you note that Edin still isn't back. You are starting to get a little worried but you can't really do anything right now. You pull on your uniform and walk down to get breakfast and probably run into someone ... it had been a while since you were alone to eat, maybe for once you'd be just that.