“So what’s your weapon of choice?” I ask as we walk back to the weapon’s house, “Oh that’s easy it has to be shuriken” he replies happily. I nod my head, he grabs 2 shurikens and we make our way back to the training ground. “Go ahead and throw them” I say crossing my arms carefully observing him.

Suho looks totally different now; all the smile and joy disappeared from his eyes just leaving cold emptiness as he gets serious. He throws the first and it lands on the target board and so does the second. They don’t land in the center but close enough that it would have killed the target. I walk over the board and yank them both out returning them to Suho.

“Again” I say and as he throws the first one, I stop him before he can step back. The shuriken hits the board again but not in the center, I walk over to Suho and raise his outstretched arm. “Keep your arm higher up when throwing, your aim is good but below where you want it to hit.” He nods his head acknowledging my advice, Suho throws the second and this time it lands dead center.

“Again” he continues to practice throwing for another half hour until I was satisfied with his consistency. He throws the shurikens to the side with a sigh and sits beside me. “That’s quite some training, I’m exhausted” he says and fans himself with his hand, I give him a look “That’s just the beginning, we still have to work on your power and combat skills.” He stares at me aghast “Can’t we take a break? I’m not as young as I used to be you know.”

I raise my eyebrows getting up “So what, I’m around 3000 years old and you don’t see me complaining now do you? And neither did Xui min now get up.” He sighs but gets up and stands in front of me, but a motion from the side lines caught my attention. I turn my head to see Baekhyun getting up and leaving with Jane, my heart contracts at the sight but I shake my head turning back to Suho. Who cares if he leaves now right? It’s not like he has to be here anyways, I think trying to console the feeling in my chest.

Suho must have noticed that I was distracted because he clears his throat bringing me back too reality. “So how are your combat skills?” I question, “They’re fair, better than Xui min’s though for sure.” “Alright then punch me” I say opening my arms wide welcoming him.  He starts from a walk working it up to a run and instead of punching my face he punches my chest with full force knocking me down.

I gasp to breathe as his punch knocked the wind out of me and roll over to my side from the pain. “Rose! Oh my god I’m so sorry!!” Suho exclaims while sitting on the ground next to me helping me sit up. I see Lay rushing over with a worried expression but as I get up he slows down his run into a brisk walk. I untangle myself from Suho’s arms which apparently he was determined to keep around my waist trying to support me.

 “Suho I’m fine” I say as the pain that lingered in my chest disappears “Lay you can go back” Lay hesitates for a moment before nodding and makes his way back to the side lines. I see Suho sitting on the ground with his head in his hands; I slowly approach him and lay my hand on his shoulder. He looks up and his eyes were filled with regret “Oh Suho” I sigh and sit in front of him, I cup his face with my hands and bring it up so he was looking right at me.

“You did nothing wrong ok. You did exactly what I told you to and I’m happy you didn’t hold back” I smile at him and he returns it with a sad smile of his own. Before I could move he grabs the back of my neck preventing me from moving away and places a soft kiss on my forehead. He chuckles at my shocked expression and gets up leaving me dumbfounded on the ground. I place a hand on the spot he kissed and my cheeks flush scarlet, I get up and quickly push away the thoughts of his soft lips until I see him and my face turns a darker shade of red.

He laughs out loud and I look down out of embarrassment, on the side lines Kris smirks while looking at Lay and Xui min was asleep in the grass oblivious to what’s going on. “My combat training Rose?” Suho asks while smirking. “Uh, right, so you have the strength and seems like you have the basic skills so now fight me” I answer nervously.

Suho immediately runs towards me about to punch but I doge it and kick him in the head. He lands with a thud on the ground but quickly recovers and tries to trip me but I jump up avoiding his legs and land a punch on his chest. He grunts and gets serious slamming his fist into my face, the impact throws me sideways but I catch my fall turning it into a cartwheel.

As I land on my feet upright he wastes no time in tripping me successfully this time slamming his fist down only missing my head because I turned it at the right moment. He moves away quickly as I jump up and fake a punch at his face, he raises his arms to block but I grab his neck pulling him towards me as I ram my knee into his stomach.

He grimaces from pain but recovers trying to kick me back but I doge it and kick the back of his knees causing him to fall forward. I sit on the ground next to him and watch as he paints for air, he sits up after a moment and smiles at me. “Wow, your sure are strong” I return the complement with a smile and begin giving feedback.

“Your combat skills are good so I don’t think we need to work on that but your stamina isn’t the best, but don’t worry I have a feeling that it will get better after we work on your power because you won’t have to try as hard anymore so you’ll be able fight longer.” He takes a minute to digest the information but gives me a thumbs up signaling he gets it. I giggle at his childish gesture causing him to pout.

“What’s your power” I ask and “Water” he replies demonstrating his power by creating a pool of water in his palm. We get into the correct position to begin his power training. I feel him tensing up getting nervous before we even start “Deep breaths Suho.” I say and he inhales and exhales a couple of times before I feel him relax.

“Good now let go of your attachments to this world” he squints his eyes and I feel his struggling to let go, he tries a bit more but lets out a frustrated sigh. “Suho, letting go of your attachments doesn’t mean to forget about them or not love them anymore, but to simply put them in the back of your mind for the moment” I guide.

He nods slightly and tries again this time succeeding getting into trance and I smile at his progress. “Now find your inner self, your true self you keep hidden from the others” I continue. It takes a minute but he finds and we can move on, “Now accept it” I say with a feeling that this would be difficult for him and it was. We stayed in that position for a good hour until he sighed in relief, I move away from him opening my eyes and see him with his eyes still closed.

“Suho you can open your eyes now” he slowly begins to open his eyes and what I see shocks me, they where no longer brown but swimming with dark blue swirls and the happiness was gone from them. Oh please don’t let what I fear happen I silently pray, “Suho” I ask and he shakes head and a smile appears on his face as the blue swirls disappear.

I sigh in relief and slump my head in my hands “Rose” he says concerned about me where as he didn’t know how close he was to losing himself to another. “Nothing, now show us your power using the same amount of effort as you used before” I command.

He nods his head and lifts out his palm wiggling his fingers a bit, instead of water appearing in his palm it appeared on the ground flooding it with over a foot of water. He looks around baffled and I turn to the side lines where Kris was floating above the water and Lay was in his arms. But a spluttering noise from below startled them as Xui min sits up in the water coughing as he was choking from inhaling to much.

Lay jumps down from Kris’s arms and places his hand on Xui min’s chest and he stops coughing. Xui min gets up and smacks both of them as they had left him sleeping on the grass. I chuckle “Ok Suho you can get rid of the water now” he tilts his head to the side and the water disappears into the atmosphere. “Well you’ve improved quite a bit” I say to Suho but turn to the others and address them as well “Now remember when using your powers now, use less effort than you normally would. It’ll take some getting used to but you’ll adjust easy enough.”

They each nod in turn and the giant clock on the castle chimes signaling 1 in the afternoon. “Ok, meet back here around 3 to continue with training” I say dismissing them for lunch. They all walk back together and I begin to put away the equipment, “Weapons manager my , just leaving and making me put them away” I mutter to myself as I place the targets back into house.

I finish putting the weapons back into their proper places in the house and walk out closing the door behind me. I slowly make way across the training arena looking at the ground lost in thoughts. I just get off the field and get onto the path back to the castle and “BWAHH” someone screams in front of me causing me to jump back and fall on the ground screaming “WHAT THE HELL!”

I look up to see Baekhyun laughing his off “That’s not funny” I say trying to get up but trip over a tree root in the process and fall down again. He laughs even harder wiping a tear from his eye as he stretches out a hand. “Need help?” he asks I reach up grabbing his hand and he pulls me up with more strength than expected. He pulled to hard and I ended up crashing against him, his other arm quickly wrapped around my waist to prevent me from falling again.

I look up to meet his eyes and a blush makes its way up to my cheeks, I was pressed up against him with one arm still in his grasp held next to his head the other on his arm that was encircling my waist. He stares intently at my face but as I clear my throat he lets go immediately, he turns around reaching behind the tree he jump out from while I try to calm my heart which as racing inside my chest.

He pulls a picnic basket and a blanket from behind the tree smiling at me. “I thought we could eat lunch together outside if you don’t mind of course” he asks while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck praying she doesn’t reject his offer.

“Sure” I say smiling unable to believe that he wanted to spend his lunch with me and a huge grin over takes his face “Great! I know this amazing place that we just have to go to!” he says dramatically and leads the way with me trailing beside him.