The Knight and The Strawberry

chapter 6

Inside a cave near Onibus City.

Erza was light on her feet as she jumped to the side to dodge the incoming fireball from the large drake in front of her. Seeing and opening, the young knight rushed forward and closed the gap between her and the beast. With a grunt of effort she brought her large blade across the large lizard's leg.

The drake howled with pain and turned 180 degrees to flee, simultaneously bringing its tail around to swipe at Erza. Being forced to back off to dodge, Erza quickly shouted.

"Ichigo, it's coming to you!"

Ichigo quickly rushed in from his position further down the cave, brandishing his sword. Just as their foe was almost on him, Ichigo jumped high in the air and, with a fierce battle cry, brought his sword down across its body. As the beast fell and skidded to lay motionless, Ichigo stood up straight as Erza approached

"Thanks for setting me up with that opening." Ichigo said with a smile holding his hand up in the air expectantly.

Erza returned the smile "Glad to help." She said as she stood next to him. Ichigo didn't drop his hand and just kept staring at her. Erza could only roll her eyes "Fine." She huffed as she brought her hand up to the high five.

Ichigo's grin only grew as he turned to look back at the fall creature. "Well I'd say we did a pretty good job with this one."

"Yes I agree. The mayor had made it sound like there was an actual dragon down here. I at least expected it to put up a decent resistance." Erza spoke as she requiped into her usual attire.

Ichigo likewise sheathed his sword and rolled his arm a bit to stretch his shoulder. "Yeah I know. I mean I didn't evena really get warmed up from that."

"Well I suppose we should be glad that things went this easily." Erza said as she began walking back toward the entrance of the cave.

Ichigo quickly fell into step behind her. A comfortable silence fell over the two as they started the trek back into town to collect their reward. While it was true that the mayor had exaggerated the threat just a little bit, there were actually a couple reasons why all of their missions seemed easier. Ichigo and Erza had gotten much stronger as their respective growth spurts from puberty began to kick in.

While they had both gotten much taller, Ichigo had grown to be several inches taller than Erza, who now stood at about his nose. It was also clear that Ichigo was starting to put on some muscle. His chest and shoulders had broadened and his arms were thicker.

Erza on the other hand was growing away from her boyish shape into a well-developed young woman. Her bust had begun to grow and her hips now had more curve to them. Ironically this comes as a complaint to the young woman since, in her eyes, she is going to have to get all of her armors re-fitted soon.

But physically maturing was not the only reason for their new strength.

11 months had passed since Erza had challenged Ichigo to a duel, and over those months the two teens had spent a majority of their free time training, when they weren't out on jobs or otherwise preoccupied. Ichigo's power seemed to constantly be growing and didn't show signs of peaking any time soon. Erza on the other hand had gotten much faster at switching between her armor and weapons, and her skill with a variety of weapons made her a force to be reckoned with.

As the two collected their reward and headed home they started to make plans for what they would both be doing

"So when we get back, feel like helping me go house hunting again?" Ichigo questioned casually

Erza raised her eyebrow and turned to the boy "I thought you already had your heart set on that apartment down by the river."

Ichigo just shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "Well I dunno... It just doesn't feel right. I was thinking about maybe finding some place just outside of the city. Ya know that way we would have some place to train still."