Note: Italics – thoughts

Long Chapter

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Everyone

A yawn escaped the tall girl’s mouth as the heat of the morning sun warmed the blanket sprawled over her body. Sooyoung tightened her muscles and extended her limbs completely in a waking stretch, getting her ready for what was going to be quite a day; not that she knew it yet. The girl rolled up into a sitting position, still with the covers hanging off her loosely as the rubbed her eyes. She blinked a few times to adjust to the light, but widened her eyes sharply when she looked outside to see the sun directly above her in the middle of the sky.

It’s already noon? I slept in late…

On the upside, she felt very refreshed when she stood up and started to dress casually to go down and eat. Sooyoung strode towards the kitchen and began to fix herself a brunch, only noticing partway through how silent it was. She peeked around the house as her bread was toasting, looking for her…

Roommate? Friend? Yeah I guess those fit… anyways, where is she?

"Jessica?" she called aloud, but didn’t get any reply.

The buzzer sounded on the toaster, catching more of the hungry girl’s attention since she assumed that Jessica had just gone out for a jog or something.

Sooyoung sat by herself at the island table, munching away and peering out into the garden in their back yard. It was midway through November now and the chill was setting in. Nothing had frosted yet, but the tall girl could tell that they would soon. In any case, the day was cloudy and brewing up a storm.

She yawned again and sliding door. Her eyes stared out into the vast land, land that she now owned. Her brows would still instinctively furrow at the thought. Things had been going rather well with Jessica, but deep down nothing had changed in Sooyoung's heart. It was fun to distract herself with a friendship, but when she thought seriously she remembered her situation.

Good intentions or not… good for me or not… I’m still being given a huge responsibility that I don’t want. I want a friend out of her, not a wife… I can’t take care of another person the way a spouse is supposed to… and it feels awkward to expect that of her too. After all she’s only a year older.

She sighed.

But if I have to go through this with anyone… I’m glad it’s her…

Sooyoung's train of thought was broken by a sudden crash coming from an unknown location. She spun around and immediately alerted herself to her surroundings. Her eyes darted all over the room but still couldn’t decipher the location of subsequent noises. Slowly she stepped forward, out the kitchen doorway alongside the staircase towards the living room.

Damn it where’s it coming from?!

She clenched her teeth and gulped as she listened intently. Even if she couldn’t figure out the "where", the "what" was evident.

Someone broke in…

Just then, she stepped back a little and was poked in the side by a blunt piece of metal on the side of the stairway.

A doorknob…? A door?

She heard the banging again.

Wait… downstairs? We have basement!?

Sooyoung shook the surprise out of her head, the fact that she only just found out they had a whole other floor could wait until after she dealt with the invader. Quietly as possible, she opened the door and looked down; however the way the basement was designed gave her little view of the area. Again there was the sound of contact and in the blink of an eye a figure appeared in front of the tall girl who immediately leapt into action literally.

"Get out of my house!!" she screamed, jumping down the remaining steps and spinning to deliver a powerful back kick to the person.

However she hadn’t expected to be caught in mid-air, ending up in a twist from the momentum. Sooyoung cursed out loud as she came to crashing halt on top of the person she had attacked, who was groaning sorely beneath her.

"It’s my house too…" Jessica said as she looked bewildered at the girl who was giving her a similar expression, given that their faces were almost touching.

"What are you doing?"

Sooyoung blinked, still stiff from the adrenaline, but moved away quickly once she became aware of her position above the other girl. She stood up and offered a hand to Jessica while using her other to rub the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"I uhh… thought you were a theft…" she chuckled as she lifted the other girl to her feet before looking around at what their basement consisted of.

"No, just me." Jessica light-heartedly laughed back, "Sorry if my training disturbed you. I might have been getting a little too intense."

"It’s fine…" she was still a bit in awe, "I just had no idea we even had this. And here I was practicing in my room or outside this whole time…"

What Sooyoung was looking at was a full size gym, one that took up the whole bottom floor of their house with everything one could imagine needing for training martial arts. She turned back to Jessica, in uniform and catching her breath.

“You were really going all out.”

“Not really, this is routine training… which I have to get back to.” She didn’t want to seem rude, but her break was over and if she waited any longer her heart rate would decrease too much.

“Mind if I watch?” Sooyoung asked as she took a seat on one of the steps, she wanted to see what it was that would make so much noise, especially for a defensive fighter like Jessica.

“Go ahead, though it might be boring…”

Without another word, the girl sprinted toward the dummy that was hoisted on a loose stick. Sliding down low, Jessica ducked under the extended arm as she ran, gripping its wrist and twisting it behind its body when she stood before forcing both of her arms outward to throw it a fair distance away; ultimately crashing into the wall.

Sooyoung winced a little on the contact, even if it was an inanimate object she could imagine how much it would hurt if a real person were caught by that. Silently, she observed Jessica repeat the process of getting the figure, setting it up and charging. If anything it was her fighting style that interested her the most, but there was something awkward about the training.

She isn't attacking... she's using defensive techniques while running to mimic someone else's striking speed. Even if it is effective, it could get her in trouble later since she isn't going to be fighting something immobile like that...

Sooyoung continued to stare intently at the way Jessica moved until she stopped briefly for another break.

"Hey, why are you training now anyways?" the tall girl asked casually to the one approaching her.

"I'm entering this," Jessica handed her a leaflet for a tournament, "Even though we aren't required to work until after the marriage, I've had my eyes on this trophy for a while now and finally the competition is coming here. Plus I feel it would be good to get out there again. Nine months out of the scene could be bad for business. I need to win something to remind people that our dojo is the best."

"Hm..." Sooyoung continued to inspect it.

"You should enter it too…" she stretched to pass the time, "... If you want to that is."

"... You know..." she grinned, "I think I will."

Sooyoung said as she placed the sheet next to her on the step she was sitting on.

"It sounds like fun... and like you said, I need to re-establish my name in these circles."

Jessica giggled a little.

"Shall we train together then? Although I wonder if I should trust you if we are going to be competing against each other," she joked.

"We'll call it a friendly rivalry, it's more effective for the both of us to train with partners so whatever I gain from it you will too." the tall girl stood up, about to head upstairs to change into her uniform as well.

"Does that mean we'll be helping each other so that we both get to the top?"

Sooyoung smiled proudly.

"Sure... But I'm still going to win."

"How can you be so certain?" again Jessica was becoming intrigued by the girl.

"Because... I have a secret!"

And before she knew it Sooyoung had disappeared up the stairs leaving Jessica to wonder by herself what such a thing could be. Sure, she had dueled the girl once before, but that was much different; in a time when they couldn't even be considered friends. This was going to be a real competition with many other people they would fight against. It was in both of their best interests to get as far as they could, but as for first place...

To be honest, I hadn't thought of out of the two of us who would get it...

She sighed and shrugged to herself.

That's if either of us even gets to that stage, maybe some prodigy will show up...

A few minutes later, Sooyoung came down the stairs clad in her gi and stretching her arm across her chest. The sight of which took Jessica's breath away like an immature schoolgirl, causing her to start blushing at the sleek brown locks hanging down from a ponytail. The elder girl finally got herself to blink and look away by the time Sooyoung got to the ground floor. She had to stay focused. This wasn't only for a competition but a plan of her own.

"So, what is this secret you have?" Jessica asked again with a sly grin.

"Well if I told you it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Sooyoung replied with her own version of the expression.

"Mou... we're supposed to be on the same team here... a friendly rivalry remember?"

"Still, this isn't something I tell people." Sooyoung smiled confidently.

She walked past the brunette and onto the matted area of their gym. As expected, there would have to be some trickery involved to open the girl up, something that Jessica was quickly getting used to.

"Fair enough." she followed.

"How about we make a bet? Best two out of three, if I win you tell me what your secret is."

Sooyoung raised her eyebrow.

"And if I win?"

"Whatever you think is equal to me knowing it."

She thought hard on it, though not for very long.

"You get Tiffany to quit hating me!" she smiled, satisfied.

"There's only so much I can do..." Jessica chuckled nervously, "But I'll try my best."

"Just as well…" Sooyoung her heel to face the other girl, "I'm gonna win anyways. What counts for a point? Contact or floor?"

"Hm... how about both? That makes things interesting, don't you think?"

She waited for the tall girl to nod in reply.

"Good... And again, don't be so sure of yourself!"

"Ahah! Whatever, go!" Sooyoung commanded, sending them both towards each other at full speed.

Switching up her footwork at the last second, Sooyoung moved into a horse stance, getting ready to use a backhand strike into Jessica’s side. To her surprise though, she hit nothing but air, and saw only a glimpse of her opponent back flipping away.

I didn't even know she could do that... No time!

Just like Jessica, she could be quick on her feet, extending her bent knees at an angle to soar after her target. She may be fast, but Sooyoung was stronger if she got the right amount of momentum behind a hit. That was her art after all; she was a striker, so a match against a deflecting type was perfect training for her. That said, the tall girl her fist outward in a basic punch, but quickly retracted it, knowing that if she were to get caught she would meet the same fate as the training dummy.

She felt it connect with the fabric of Jessica’s uniform, but judging by the obvious fact that the girl was still standing the force hadn't been enough, and so she followed with another in conjunction with a side kick. Despite the fact that this left her in a vulnerable position, Jessica wasn't able to take advantage of it; she was the first of the two to fall.

While she was swift enough to raise her arms to block the pain, Jessica was thrown onto her back. The older girl shook her head as she got to her feet, seeing that Sooyoung was waiting for her.

I can't let her get the better of me... If I get her twice in a row, quickly, I'll win!