The blue arena was signed out when she checked the arenas on the school’s web page, and Kaguya remembered Samantha saying she was going to be going through forms with Emmett this afternoon since he was afraid he would get rusty if he only did them by himself.

“I hate it that he feels like he has to keep his skills sharp,” Samantha had admitted, “but I’d rather he did on the chance that someone realizes he’d be an easy target for recognition.”

“I wonder if she’d be mad if I showed up,” Kaguya mumbled to herself as she stared at her screen, the timesheet for the arena still up. She closed the screen and put the phone away, and then tied her katana on her waist before walking to the door, pausing when her hand was on the doorknob. “Maybe she wants to spend time with her brother alone? I mean, I’d probably just be in the way.” She dropped her hand and turned away, almost untying the katana before she shook her head. “No, if she didn’t want me to be there she’d tell me.” She nodded and turned again, opening the door and leaving the dorm.

The path to the blue arena was occupied by several students, but they were too busy dealing with the latest gossip to pay her much attention. Or rather, they made sure to look busy as soon as they saw her with her katana. Kaguya was aware that most of the students were afraid of her, and normally she’d be hurt by their avoidance but today she was focused only on making her way to the blue arena where Samantha likely was training Emmett.

She entered the arena’s lobby and, with the lack of audience, heard the clanging of metal hitting metal. “I hope I wasn’t mistaken,” she murmured, picking a challenger waiting room and walking through to see who was in the arena. Luckily she was right, and saw two blades flashing from the light coming down towards a gleaming, ornate staff held above Samantha’s head as she knelt on the ground. The staff moved swiftly, and she saw the young man jump over it and make another attack with a sword.

“There’s no intent behind his swings,” Kaguya mumbled as she watched, frowning a little before she shook her head. Of course there was no intent, since Emmett hated hurting others and was only doing this because he didn’t want to worry his siblings. She focused her sight and saw that his aura was full of fear, probably of hitting Samantha and hurting her badly.

“Don’t falter, Emmett,” Samantha told him, slamming the end of her staff into his abdomen and rolling away from the sword swing. He doubled over and lowered both swords. Kaguya watched as he sighed and dropped to a seat. “I can heal from anything short of a one-hit KO, bud. That’s why you’re practicing with me, right?”

“Yeah, but I still don’t want to hurt you,” Emmett answered timidly as he looked down at the twin swords.

Samantha sighed and rubbed her neck before turning to the waiting room where Kaguya was standing in the shadows. She had seen movement there earlier. “You may as well come out, whoever you are.” Her face changed from a frown to a broad grin when she saw who it was. “Hey, you. What brings you out here?”

“I thought I could help,” Kaguya said softly as she approached, but then she sighed. “But, I’m not sure how I can if Emmett can’t get over being afraid to hurt someone.”

Samantha thought for a moment and then nodded. “Then, spar with me and let him see a fight up close. Don’t pull any punches, okay?”

Kaguya frowned and shook her head. “I will have to go easy on you, Samantha. You aren’t using a blade, and I am.”

“Don’t look down on me.” Kaguya was amazed by the confident smirk Samantha tossed her way as she swung the staff around. “Come on, show me what the Kazegami First Decum can do, yeah?”

Kaguya was still hesitant, but sighed and slid her foot into a draw stance for her katana. Samantha rushed her, swinging the staff along the ground in an easy to predict motion, allowing Kaguya to dodge it with quick feet to close the gap a little between the two of them. She drew her katana and swung towards Samantha’s chest, and was actually surprised when the blade hit the staff instead of cloth.

They moved in a flurry of motions, and neither of them really landed a hit. Kaguya found herself actually getting serious after several minutes, her rigorous training and competitive nature surfacing. A sharp pain jolted through Kaguya’s side and a groan escaped her lips as she was struck by the pole. She swung back even harder, completely focused on her opponent. She attacked again, this time the strike cut into Samantha’s side. She yelped from the sharp pain and blood began gushing immediately. The sound of Samantha’s cry mixed with the red of blood dripping from her blade knocked her back to her senses.

Kaguya dropped her katana to the ground and rushed over to Samantha’s side. The other girl was kneeling on the ground, a blood soaked hand covering the wound. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Kaguya exclaimed, coming close to see the wound and getting waved off. “We need to make sure that gets treated, immediately.”

“‘Tis only a flesh wound,” Samantha joked, holding up her hand that had covered the wound. There was a lot of blood, more than what she would have thought given the size of the wound. Emmett joined the fray with a roll of gauze in hand. He wrapped the bandage tightly around her abdomen so as to conceal her secret. He frowned at Samantha and sighed as he cut the bandage with the blade of one of his swords and secured it in place.

“Hey, you should probably sit down, Kaguya. You’re really pale.”

Unable to find a reason not to, Kaguya dropped to the ground. “I can’t believe I actually hurt you,” she mumbled, holding her knees to her chest.

“I’m going to go on ahead,” he told his older sister, who nodded and watched him go before she dropped to the ground next to Kaguya. She reached out, placing her hand underneath Kaguya’s chin making her look up at her.

“I’m fine, Kaguya. I’ll heal, okay? It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise.”

Kaguya shook her head. “That’s not the point! I-I… You’re important to me, and it was so easy to forget all that, letting myself get so lost in the fight that I hurt you.”

Samantha shrugged. “I get like that sometimes too. Emmett has walked away from training with broken ribs before. Thea has had a concussion once because of me too. And that’s not including all the bruises in various locations. On the other side, Emmett has cut me up a few times, and Thea regularly gets me just as good as I get her when we train together.”

Kaguya shook her head, but didn’t say anything else. Samantha slid to a seat next to her and gave her a kiss on the temple. “This is what it means to wield weapons. If I’d known it would bother you so much, I wouldn’t have suggested it.” The green in Samantha’s aura brightened as she put an arm around Kaguya, and the latter was surprised to find that her unease over the fight slipping away. She smiled and leaned into Samantha’s shoulder, enjoying the feeling of Samantha’s arms wrapping around her when she did.