Awakening

Chapter 21: White Rose

Chapter 21: White Rose

"Hurry up! I don't want to sit down all day like a lazy slob!" Rina barked out, "Stand and fight!"

Lorenzo was completely beat after three hours of intense training of getting his butt kicked around. Each hour consisted of her hellish warm up of mixing of running, arm and leg exercises under the hot sun, training with a lance for a full hour doing combinations and sword training. This was the final hour of Rina's so called "work out" and to test out his skills with the sword and lance, she always had him to spar with her.

He hated it. Every time he had to spar with Rina, she always ended up victorious and Lorenzo always ended up getting hurt, badly. He still couldn't understand why she wouldn't go soft on him but he did not dare ask her that question, fearing another beating would ensue.

However, the beatings were less intense than the previous ones. Lorenzo has noticed a couple of things with Rina. It seemed that her hits have become softer as time went by, her yelling didn't seem to be too effective and once in a while, she would credit him of doing "well" at the end of some training sessions. He didn't know if he was being trained to be a masochist or if he gotten used to the treatment, but he was happy to see some change with her.

Maybe Tanya was right... maybe I do have a chance with her? He thought as slowly got up readying his sword. Looking at Rina, he suddenly felt his face turn a little red as he stared into her eyes. Can I really be the one to help her? I can't imagine myself doing such things... holding her hand... listening to her problems...

"Why are you staring at me for?" she yelled out interrupting his thoughts, "This is a fight! Not a staring contest!"

Seeing how beautiful she was and the thoughts of just holding her hand caused him to lose focus. Just thinking about it made him feel all fuzzy inside and he didn't want to strike her.

Rina couldn't wait any longer and she caught Lorenzo off guard. Wielding a lance, she thrust it with such force that he felt some wind coming to him. Lorenzo fell to the ground and the lance was aiming at him between the eyes. He could see his own reflection off the metal spike.

"What the hell are you doing?" Her eyes stared him down, "I told you countless times, this is a fight! If I didn't give two damns about you, you would be dead!"

He shook off and refocused his attention to the battle. He stood up and readied his sword for a strike despite being fatigue from his earlier training routine.

Both were stepping side to side in a circle, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Lorenzo knew it would be suicide to rush in front of a lance, knowing full well that the length of it was naturally longer. There was nothing he could think of and became frustrated as a result.

For some strange reason, Rina had lowered her guard and the intimidating look she emitted had suddenly disappeared. Seeing that this was the only chance he had, Lorenzo pounced on the opportunity. He slammed her lance to the ground and quickly leapt forward trapping Rina with the sword at her neck, restricting her movements.

Wow! I actually did it! I actually caught Rina off guard! He thought happily. I will now get the praise that I so deserve!

"Get your hands and sword off me!" she yelled at him. She gave an angry face and kneed him in the stomach. Dropping the sword, he used both hands to remedy the pain. W-what? But why? Isn't this what you wanted?! He looked up and saw she was staring at the door.

"I'm going to finish the class early today, there is something that I need to do." She said picking up her lance and strapped to her back, "Consider yourself lucky that something came up. If it weren't for this interruption, you will be seeing darkness."