Slice

Chapter 4 - Practice Makes Perfect

Hello Wonderful Wattpadders! UniquePeak here! Thanks sooo much for reading my story so far!!

I promised an update with 22 votes but you all got it at only 16 votes, lucky you!

You all have @akilcole to thank for this chapter. The next update will be when this story gets 25 votes so,

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[Picture is of Rupert]

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Sam ran to her room, changing from her old brown cloak with boy clothes underneath into her all black training clothing, before skipping happily out the door, running straight into Rupert.

"Whoa, watch where you're going, lady!" He said jokingly as he took a step back from where he was standing, right in front of the door.

"Rupe, what in the world are you doing here?" She asked. "You should be readying for the hunt!"

"Well, as you can see, Sammy, I'm already ready for the hunt," he said, gesturing towards his changed clothes, "and," he said looking up at the setting sun, "I figured since I have a few minutes before it's dark, I could hang out with you, since you're leaving and all."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine." She said, hopping down the front steps of her house. He stepped down after her and they made small talk on the way to the dojo.

"So why are you leaving?" Rupert asked, as Sam pulled open the heavy wooden double doors and they walked inside.

"It's a surprise." Sam said, giving him the same answer as the one she gave her dad.

"Aww come on, Sammy, I'm your best friend." He said, looking at her with puppy eyes as he held open the door for her and swished his arm in front of him. "You can tell me. Afetr all, I'm such a gentleman. Go ahead."

"My lips are sealed," she said with a smug smile and walked into the dojo with her shoulders back and head held high. "And I'm pretty sure that's not something you can just call yourself, Rupe."

Rupert scoffed and followed Sam into the building. "Of course I can call myself that."

Sam walked up to the tall mirror that covered an entire wall, with Rupert following behind her.

Rupert looked into the mirror. "Hey there handsome." He said to his reflection.

Sam laughed and rolled her eyes. She concentrated on her image being reflected back towards her and transformed into her boy form. She watched her shoulder length, dirty blonde hair became shorter, and her shoulders broaden.

"Do you really have to train in that boy form again?" Rupert complained from behind her.

"Yeah." She said. "You know that I have to get used to this body since I use it when I go out to get human food."

"Ugh, but why do you even use that form anyways?" He groaned. "It's just weird seeing you like that."

"I've already explained this to you before." Sam said, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time. "I'm notorious for getting into fights with the humans you know. I really don't want to ruin the experience with them going easy on me. I mean, they go easy on me as it is because of my age, and if I could, I would totally change it to look like I was older but you know I'm not on that level. But if they saw me as a little girl, there's no way that they wouldn't go easy on me." Sam walked into the supply closet, dragging out a wooden dummy with all sorts of deep slashes across its body. "And you know how I like a challenge." She said smiling slyly at Rupert before walking back into the supply closet, emerging a few seconds later with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Sam handed him the bow and arrows, and unsheathed her dagger.

"Training time, partner." Rupert said to her, pulling an arrow from the quiver he had pulled onto his back. "Let's show this wooden dummy who's boss."

"Definitely me." Sam said, charging at the dummy.

"Let's see about that." Rupert said, taking aim and firing the arrow just as Sam got to the dummy and sliced it across the torso, creating a new deep gash in the wood. The arrow embedded itself into the wood, dead center on its head, just moments after Sam had sliced it.

Sam stared at the arrow for a few seconds before saying, "Nice shot, as usual." With one hand she grabbed the arrow, and with the other, she braced the wooden dummy. "Almost too good," She grumbled under her breath as she tried helplessly to pull the arrow out of the wooden head. It stubbornly stayed wedged in the wooden head. "Ugh, Rupe, come and get this." She sighed and let go of the arrow, giving up on trying to pull it out.

Rupert chuckled and walked up to the wooden dummy, getting the arrow out with one yank. Sam smiled and laughed when Rupert turned to her and wiggled his eyebrows, arrow still in hand. "You see," he said in a mocking, deep voice, "it takes a true Shadow to pull out an arrow from a wooden head." Sam's smile flipped to a frown and her eyes widened in hurt. Rupert eyes widened as well when he realized what he had said. "Oh, I'm so sorry Sammy. I didn't mean it like that. I swear!" He said quickly.

"No. It's fine." She said, letting out a shaky breath and giving him a fake smile."I know you didn't mean it like that. It was just another joke, that's all. But keep talking like that and it's your head an arrow will be wedged in." She forced a chuckle, sheathed her dagger, and walked to the door. Sam opened it and poked her head out. "It's dark, Rupe. You should get going."

"Yeah." He said with a sigh, dropping off the bow and arrows in the storage room and walking to where Sam was standing, in front of the big wooden double doors. "I'll see you when you get back from your trip, okay?" He gave her a hug and walked out the open door.

"Okay." Sam said as she closed the door behind him.