Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 12

"Oof!" I hit the ground with a thud and groaned. "You don't have to go quite so hard on me, you know?"

Riku smirked and twirled Soul Eater around in his hand. "If I don't, then you won't get better. Now come on, let's go again."

Pulling my feet up under me, I used my free hand to push against the ground and stand up. I had lost count of how many times I had fallen on my butt within the first couple of days of training. Now, a week and a half later, it was pretty much just one giant bruise, as was most of the rest of my body. When I tried to get out of bed in the mornings, every muscle was so sore that I could barely move. Occasionally Riku would let me take a potion, if things got too bad, but most of the time he just told me that it was 'making me tough'.

I don't know what exactly I had expected when I had first asked him to train me. I certainly never imagined that there wold be quite so much hard work involved. We were up every morning much earlier than I would have liked, heading straight to our little clearing behind the mansion that had become the training arena. Not only did I have to learn all the right stances and maneuvers for using the Keyblade – which had the tendency to get heavier and heavier as the day wore on – I also had to build up strength and stamina, which meant running laps, lifting weights, push-ups, chin-ups, you name it. Riku didn't mess around when it came to training.

No matter how much I might have complained, though, I could already tell that I was making progress, and it made me pretty proud of myself. I had never really been able to say that before. It was a weird feeling, being proud of myself, but a good feeling. I was a quick study when it came to the basics of Keyblade use, so we had soon been able to move on to sparring, which is where most of the falling on my butt took place. It was still fun, even if I wouldn't have admitted that to Riku. I enjoyed the way it made my brain work, the powerful sensation of the weapon in my hand, and also actually feeling like I was getting to know Riku. He may have been a bit of a drill sergeant, but sparring seemed to have the tendency to loosen him up and bring out the real Riku.

"Ready?" He held his sword up next to his head and pointed it straight at me.

Drawing in a deep breath, I took my own two-handed stance with my Keyblade to my right side. "Ready."

Riku made the first move, leaping in toward me and swinging his blade down in an arc. I moved quickly to block, then pushed his sword up and away from me and came right back in with a swing of my own.

"Nice," Riku called, jumping backwards to avoid the blow. He sliced across from the right, causing me to arch back and stumble a bit. I was still able to block his next move, but then our weapons were locked mid-air, and I didn't quite have the strength to best him at a shoving match. I hit the ground again.

"Ugh," I complained. "Why do you keep doing that to me?"

Riku smirked again. "You know, in a real battle, you'd have to keep fighting even after you hit the ground. Just because I knocked you down doesn't mean the fight is won."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved a hand at him dismissively as I pried myself back out of the dirt. "Okay, so next time we don't stop. I'll try to block you after I'm down."

"Or you could just...not fall down."

I glared at him playfully. "You could just not knock me down! How do you think I feel, being beaten so many times by a blind guy?"

Riku laughed. "Well, not exactly blind. And I've been doing this for a really long time," he pointed out.

"Where did you learn all this stuff, anyway?" I asked, partially out of curiosity, and partially to kill time so I could catch my breath.

"Sora and I were always sparring for the heck of it," he shrugged. "It may have just been play back then, but I still learned a lot from it. The rest I just had to pick up as I went." He smiled. "See, you're lucky to have a teacher like me."

"Oh, yeah, I feel really lucky," I shot back with a grin. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Nah." He dismissed his weapon, and I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's enough for now. I want to teach you something new."

I immediately perked up. "Ooh, like what?"

A playful smile crossed his lips. "Magic."

Gasping, I did a little happy jig. "Yes! I've been waiting for this day!"

Riku laughed again, a sound that I was hearing quite a bit these days. "Okay. What I'm going to teach you is called Fire. It's one of the most basic spells. It's really simple to do, but like all magic, you have to feel it in your heart in order for it to work correctly."

I nodded solemnly. "Gotcha. I think."

"We're going to use that bush over there as a target," Riku said, pointing. "So raise your Keyblade in front of you, and point it straight towards the bush."

I complied, keeping the Keyblade as steady as I could between both my hands. Riku circled around behind me and brushed his hand underneath my arm as he passed. It was something he had done often to check my stances, but it still threw me off guard a little every time.

"Stretch your arms out straight," he instructed. As I did so, he leaned in close to my shoulder from behind. A shiver raced down my spine, and I blinked in confusion. Where did that come from? It must have been his breath tickling my neck. He was awfully close, closer than I thought we had ever been before.

"Now, make sure your aim is correct," Riku continued in my ear. "Then when you're ready, say the command, 'Fire' in a clear, loud voice."

Forcing my thoughts back to the task at hand, I cleared my throat and narrowed my eyes, focusing on the target. Okay, I had to feel it in my heart. I could do that. Probably. I sucked in a breath, then yelled, "Fire!"

I guess I should have expected actual fire to explode from the end of the Keyblade, but I didn't, and the shock combined with the kick of the weapon nearly made me fall over backwards. Riku caught me, though, and pushed me back upright, which left me feeling strangely distracted and bewildered again.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "That was great! I'll be honest, I didn't expect much out of the very first try."

Shaking my head, I looked back to the bush, which was now engulfed in flames. "Uh, yeah! Neither did I. That was...crazy!" I laughed, letting myself forget my confused emotions from a moment ago. "It was fun, too. Can I do it again?"

"Sure." Riku summoned Soul Eater and shot an icy blast at the fire, quenching it. "There you go."

I was grateful when he stepped to the side to watch this time. Taking aim again, I shouted the command, careful to keep my balance, and watched the fire erupt with a big, cheesy grin. "Yes!" I cheered.

"Out of curiosity," Riku began, walking up to me, "Let's have you try to put it out, too. Same stance, but the command word is, 'Blizzard'."

Readying my Keyblade, I let myself breathe and focus for a moment before calling, "Blizzard!" Immediately the ice shot out from the end of the weapon and enveloped the fire.

Riku crossed his arms and nodded, obviously impressed. "Well, it seems like magic just might be your thing. Two spells on your first day is pretty good."

"Thanks," I beamed. I wasn't used to accepting compliments, because I rarely got them. But something about the way Riku gave them out always made me feel really happy.

"And don't worry about me beating you in sparring, either," he added. "You haven't been at this for very long. Trust me, you're doing great." He turned his face toward the mansion and sighed. "I should go see what DiZ needs me to do today. I'll see you inside...after you've done fifteen laps."

I groaned in protest, but Riku just grinned and waved as he jogged back inside.