With and Without You (AetherxAyaka)

Chapter 15: Raise Your Sword

Aether rolled out of bed, before the sun itself had decided to. Every fiber in his body told him not to, but he stayed awake anyhow.

His body told him to sleep, but his mind told him 'prepare to go to her Estate'

He yawned and after changing clothes before setting out for Paimon's room. Sure the Fairy had her own pocket dimension, but both Aether and Paimon preferred it if Paimon had her own room.

The room may have also been much to large for the fairy, same for her bed; but Aether didn't see any harm to it and she never complained about it.

One room was set aside as a guest room, although admittedly it had become Ganyu's overtime. She needed a place to sleep back when she traveled with Aether so she took up the spare room. Of course after such a long time Aether felt it was only fair that she has the option to customize the room she slept in. He hasn't been in there ever since, but he knew exactly what the room looked like.

There could have been more bedrooms if not for a kitchen and living room, but Aether never saw the need to remove such necessary rooms. He gave some thought of creating a room for Ayaka, but she wouldn't need one, considering that she had to return to her Estate. 

Today he was supposed to meet Ayaka at the Kamisato Estate, as per her request. He wasn't quite sure why, but it wasn't a big deal so he simply went along with it.

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"Ooof!" Aether made a noise he stumbled and fell downwards on his butt, dropping his wooden training sword.

Ayaka had perfectly parried one of his strikes, countering his blow with enough force to disarm him. In the tradition of dueling, it was not over until the opponent was in "checkmate". She walked forward and placed the tip of her sword underneath his chin.

"That was much better this time" she said before offering a hand to lift him up.

All of the seriousness in her face disappeared, replaced with happiness. She smiled at him as he accepted her offer and he got off the ground once more.

"Thanks, Ayaka. Your swordsmanship is truly remarkable you know." He replied.

She had been complimented by many on numerous occasions for a multitude of things. Elegance, beauty, wealth, intelligence, bravery, loyalty; the list was nearly endless, but sword skills was one of her highest skills.

All these praises she took very kindly, but she knew it wasn't a praise to anyone else, but Miss Kamisato, her position in power.

Aether's praise came from the bottom of his heart to Ayaka, something more of admiration to a friend than simply commenting the flawlessness of a noble.

Which is why she cherished such praises to come from someone as skilled as Aether. When he praises her it felt much more genuine. It was also a praise coming from someone she cared very much about, which is enough to make her heart flutter.

Despite that she was the Menkyo Kaiden of Kamisato Art Tachijutsu, she couldn't teach Aether the way of her Kamisato Arts. Her training for such skills were unbelievablely intense and took many years to accomplish.

Aether doesn't have that kind of time and she knows it; however she was still very diverse with the katana blade. She may not have been confident enough to teach Aether the Kamisato Arts; but, she was confident enough that she could hone his skills with the Katana.

"Ahh I'm sore all over" he complained as he rubbed his hip.

It was most likely true that he was sore. Ayaka had been very difficult on him during their training, resulting in many instances where he would be planted on the ground. That or her wooden training sword would make contact with his body, bruising it. While he still had yet to even hit her.