Corporate Prince

Chapter 64: Training

Seto was feeling rather frustrated. He hadn't seen Ana all weekend, and he really didn't want to spend time with her and her grandfather. Stupid book. He'd done as the councilor said and looked over the book. It had made him blush, and he almost threw it away. But one chapter was about kissing and not just sex. He read over the different types of kisses and wanting to try, well, all of them. Training with the old coot is not what I want to be doing right now.

He said nothing, though, as they walked into the dojo. Dai looked up from his spot at the shrine and stood.

"Good. You're here. There is a gi in the changing room. Go change." He ordered him around and Seto could feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Dai seemed to notice his irritation, but didn't correct his demanding speech. Pissed, Seto went through a small door, where he found a changing room and a spare gi. He was annoyed that the gi was his size. Has that old man been spying on me? How did he get my size? I should let Inu-san know there's a leak. When he returned, Ana came out of another room in her gi. Seto stared for a second. It really would be interesting to see her try on different types of clothes. Hmm, is there a way I can get her to agree to that?

"Good, let's warm up." Dai started the first warm up. "Kaiba-san, stretch your shoulders more."

Seto paused and felt like he could taste acid in his mouth. It took everything he had not to retaliate at the command. He stretched his shoulders a bit more, and they moved on.

"Legs out further." Dai barked. "Bend down more."

This old coot. Seto stopped stretching and glared at him.

"Grandpa, perhaps it would be better if I led the stretches and taught him falls? You can check on us after." Ana intervened before Seto could shout at the old man.

Dai looked thoughtful. "Very well. I'll be at the main dojo checking up on the other students."

He left and Seto resisted spitting in his direction.

"I should have figured it would be hard for you to follow directions, Amin-chan." Ana teased him. "I wonder if you can follow mine or are you not even that capable?"

He glared at her, annoyed that she was trying his competitive spirit. "As long as I don't have to listen to that old coot."

Ana chuckled and then led him through the stretches. She did correct him at points like Dai, but she was explaining it calmly and logically. It didn't feel like she was commanding him. After they finished stretches, they did some warmups. It was his first-time watching Ana work out, and he was surprised to find out just how physically fit and strong she was. She easily did fifty pushups in five minutes. He wasn't unfit, and he'd been doing a lot better since he was sleeping and eating properly, but he didn't have her stamina or muscles. Yet, he thought to himself.

Sweat dripped down her forehead and dropped from her nose. It was very distracting.

"Amin-chan, you're losing focus." She pointed out, and he went back to the warmup. After they finished the warmup, they took a quick water break. Ana lightly tugged at her gi to air it out and Seto couldn't help but notice the curve of her color bone as she did so. He blushed when she caught him staring, and he glanced away. Stupid book. It wasn't even that helpful. How am I supposed to know what I want to do with Ana if I haven't done it before? Imagination wasn't his strong suit. He was more technically minded.

"Great. The first thing is Rehio. The proper way to bow." Ana explained, and he looked at her exasperated. "Amin-chan."

"Fine." He followed her instructions and did the proper bow. It didn't take more than one time watching her do it to get it.

"OK, good. The next thing that we start with is the proper way to fall."

Seto scoffed at this. "Fall? You really think anyone is going to knock me down?"

Ana smiled at him as she pulled out a mat and set it up on the ground to practice with. "I've knocked you down multiple times before."

Seto blushed when he remembered her knocking him on his back and then straddling him. He recalled how her lips felt against his forehead. Stupid book!

"Fall breaking is called Ukemi. There are different names for each fall. Today we'll practice Ushiro Ukemi. It's a backwards fall." Ana stood on the mat and demonstrated. She showed him first how to fall properly, with her leg starting on the ground and behind her other. When she fell backwards, she slammed her hands against the mat to help propel her back up. Seto tried it and found it awkward with his long legs, but he quickly got it. There were basically three steps to learning this fall until it was the last step where one fell from a standing position. Seto quickly got bored, but Ana seemed to notice.

"Amin-chan, if you don't pay attention then you can end up hurting yourself." She frowned at him.

He groaned but focused on mastering the fall. There were other falls to master as well. When Seto had done the backwards one enough that Ana seemed satisfied, she moved onto showing him a different fall. He frowned. This is boring. I was hoping to learn how to throw people or something. Ana paused in her instruction. She smiled at him, drawing him out of his thoughts, but before he could ask what she wanted, he found himself flat on his back. She'd knocked his feet out from under him. Unintentionally, he did the correct fall and jumped right back up.

"Good, you were paying attention, somewhat." Ana grinned at him. He scowled.

"Yes, but it's still boring." He grumbled. "I thought there'd be things like flipping or tossing in this class, but there's only falling."

"Ah, are you talking about how I said if you best me that I give you another kiss?" Ana smirked and Seto felt his ears grow warm. "I never said it was going to be this class though, did I?"

He didn't like that at all. She'd tricked him. Ana chuckled and went back to teaching him the falls. He felt ticked. While she was talking, a smirk crept across his face. When she turned her back to him, he slid his arms around her waist. A second later, he felt himself being lifted and tossed onto his back. His ears and head were ringing as Ana looked down at him.

"Oh, that looked like it hurt. You didn't break your fall. Oh, wait. You haven't learned that one yet." She bent down and smiled at him, but her eyes narrowed. He got a sinking feeling that he'd done something he shouldn't have.

"Uh... sorry." He didn't know why he felt the need to apologize.

"You should be. Grabbing someone from behind without their permission isn't a good thing. Especially, during a judo class." Ana's smile was a little tight.

Crap. Now that I think about it, she was grabbed from behind when she was abducted. He sighed. "Sorry."

"Learned your lesson?" Her smile softened.

He growled a bit. "Yes."

She gently kissed him on the forehead, making him blush. "Good. Maybe if you can focus throughout the rest of the lesson, I might just still give you that kiss."

He sat up, annoyed. Well, at least that's something worth paying attention for.

Author Announcement: This chapter was a bit short. This weekend I had my first sell and sign event. I've been extra busy this time of year. Anyway, next week is Thanksgiving and work is going to be nuts! So, I'm going to take a two week break from posting to enjoy time with my family and to take care of some things. I'll resume posting on the 30th. See you all then! Have a happy Thanksgiving and eat lots of good food!