She didn't want to wait. Every time their arms brushed against one another, or their eyes locked, she could see her temptation reflected in him. Relying on logic and dividing up the office didn't solve the problem in its entirety either. Usually, it wasn't tough for her to be tight-lipped about things, she was a girl of few words. But Tsuru had broken through that ice, he was the only one who could get her talking. So far, she'd only kept things from him out of fear that it'd hamper their relationship. This was the first time, she had to keep a secret for duty's sake... and it wasn't easy.

The sun had begun its descent and then its eventual escape under the horizon, she had been keeping a wary eye on the clock, she'd rather not have the two of them working late into the night. As the sun ducked lower, she began working harder and faster to ensure that they'd wrapped up soon enough. It was kind of him to help her out, maybe she should've just been more responsible and at the risk of being rude, let him know that she was better off alone. He did help accelerate the process though and for that she was grateful, it'd have been far slower and by extension far more painful having to empty out her office by herself.

She surveyed the empty office one last time as they exited it, closing the door behind her and locking it had an unpleasant air of finality, despite it not really being the case. She wondered how much more intense this emotional upheaval would be, had her resignation been more than just a facade for her goals. Walking a pace behind her partner, or ex-partner rather, she was hoping that handing over her keys would be an uneventful venture. Unfortunately, Aki's hopes rarely became a reality. They ran into Pagni and Baldanti on the way.

Pagni was despondent as usual and in stark contrast to the one accompanying him. Absently, he almost ran into Akira, pausing he thanked her, much to Baldanti's befuddlement. The Shimada too, was left a tad confused. Does he know? she wondered. She simply nodded, not trusting herself to use words around someone as vile and despicable as Baldanti. He had been eyeing the keys in her hands with blatant greed, almost as though he was ready to just reach out and snatch it from her. Pagni however had other plans... other very surprising plans.

When the news was delivered by the fellow Commander, the Shimada had to do all she could to suppress the smirk that threatened to etch itself across her face. She pulled off her usual impassiveness, with a slightly detached bemusement at the unexpectedness of the circumstance. Baldanti was having none of it, but it would seem that Pagni was not really paying much heed to the protest as he confirmed the promotion. Noticing the fleeting malice in Baldanti's eyes made her blood run cold though. Baldanti followed his superior, muttering his dissent no doubt. Despite feeling pride bloom in her heart, the Shimada's usual skepticism chipped away at the moment.

When they were alone again, Tsuru held open his arms for a hug. Akira shook her head, her fingers clasping his wrists and gently forcing him to lower his limbs. 'Not here.' Her words were a strained whisper, if one didn't know better, they could assume she was salty about having to give up her post to her partner, it was unlikely that Tsuru would think of it that way though. It was Baldanti's apparent unhappiness that set her off. It couldn't mean anything good for Tsuru. Pagni's decision had just earned the Joyan man a target on his back. In an attempt to make light of the situation and to avoid dampning her ex-partner's joy too much, she managed a wry smile, looking into the distance she wrought a playful challenge of her own. 'He may have offered you my office, but you still have to earn the keys from me.

She cocked her head, when she realised that the import of the moment truly escaped Tsuru. She'd had no one to celebrate her own rank up with and she'd fallen prey to politics and lost that status in its official capacity too soon. She didn't want the same to happen to him. However, such wisdom had to imparted in bite-sizes rather than force-fed to a friend. Repeatedly announcing that she didn't think he was ready for what the job was going to entail, would only make him resent her company.

She was certain that he understood what she meant, but gleaned pleasure from stating other lucrative options. 'The last option could certainly feature, I'm serious though... You're really going to have to earn your keys and they're worth it, my office has the best view and everything.' she said, maintaining the jovial note in her voice. The forest had been the very first place that she and Tsuru had almost acknowledged the feelings they had for one another. It was also the spot that had forced Akira to make decisions that tore the two apart for two years. Maybe it'd help them come full circle, understand the gravity of their responsibilities but also rejoice in the joy of companionship, acceptance and forgiveness.

He seemed on board with them heading to the forest. 'I'm going to make sure that's a big if, my hugs are precious.' she teased. She asked him to meet her there in sometime. The Shimada didn't explain her reasoning to him, but it was because she wanted to avoid leaving the Rune Knight quarters by his side. He probably wouldn't see the issue with them being seen together, but she knew better. She knew that she'd gone out of her way to make enemies and that her line of duty allowed and encouraged it. But if he continued to fraternise with her, the friction would spill over and his newfound authority would be tarnished before he had a chance to exercise it. Fighting the plague of these burdening realities, she ambled towards the forest.

There was peace to be gleaned as the lush greenery thickened around her and the bustle of the town faded behind her. The very first time the two of them had trained together had also been amidst the trees, in a small clearing... Nothing much had changed in that aspect, except they may need a slightly larger clearing, or not... depending on Tsuru's mastery.

She sat on a mossy rock, plucking blades of grass. In these idle moments, she tore the blades lengthwise and then knotted them together, in an attempt to wrought something pretty, quaint and transient with them. While she managed to make something, it wasn't exactly what she'd envisioned, so she tossed it away with an impatient sigh. She was glad that the time between their arrival was long enough to prevent anyone suspecting their little escapade, but that didn't make it any easier for her to sit around and wait. Especially, because she too was looking forward to stolen solitary minutes with him. She hated to admit how much she'd grown used to his company and how much she enjoyed it regardless of whether the atmosphere between them was, tense or cheerful... or just silent.

There was a frame of time, when she wondered if he was going to make it to her at all. He had just been promoted, maybe the expected him for something, but if it was something of grave import, Pagni would've requested his continued presence at the headquarters when he gave Tsuru the news. With difficulty she pushed such thoughts away, even if he truly couldn't make it, he didn't really owe it to her. She'd asked him to wait and he did have his own duties to attend to, no doubt. Today, was just a bonus and perhaps a test.

Before she made her decision to get up and leave, she heard his voice. He apologized from a distance and as she looked up at him, she also raised her hand to cast a spell that targeted the ground right in front of his feet. 'Well, no point wasting any more time then, right?' she chided. Since this was the very first spell she shot, she wanted to make sure they broke each other into the training dynamics, she knew his magic was wonky and hers was unreliably destructive, the last thing she wanted to do was cripple him. Targeting him straightaway would've been more accurate in displaying what they could be up against, but it was too risky.

She reflected his smirk, but didn't respond with words. Speaking was a waste of breath and energy, she'd grown up believing that, simply because ever so often her words had fallen on deaf ears. That belief didn't change and in a way, it aided in adding weight to her words and suggestions when she did make the effort. Tsuru was still an exception, but she needed to imprint upon him the seriousness of this training. It was already tough trying to balance being a reasonable threat and yet not putting him into any real danger while he discovered his capabilities.

Over-confidently, she remained perched on the rock for the time being and merely held out her hand yet again. The Shimada took a moment to aim her spell carefully. She intended to unleash a beam, that'd narrowly miss his side, if he successfully nullified her spell, there would be no fallout behind him. If not, the tall blades of grass behind him were likely to be evidence of her wreckage. She hadn't begun channelling her mana into the tips of her fingers. But she noticed him brandishing his sword at her. She'd expected her role to be more of a guide and a teacher, she didn't consider the fact that she may have to put effort in evading his offenses too.

Her eyebrows rose, as a challenge. It still didn't prickle her enough for her to take any serious risks yet. Probably because he'd merely taken a defensive stance and not attempted attacking her. She stood up, in acknowledgement of the slight escalation in their training venture. Realigning her hand accordingly, she stuck with the original plan and attempted to direct a spell to his side, hoping to narrowly miss his ear. Let's see what he does with this, now.

She had nothing to witness as their spells interacted. However, as planned, she waited to see the fallout in the grass around them. She noticed that a part of her spell had been allegedly chunked away, while the rest slipped past whatever Tsuru did and left a neat crescent shaped patch in the grass. The tall blades were uprooted and destroyed but Tsuru remained unharmed. She'd deduced that his magic allowed him to simply disperse incoming spells, which could make him a considerable menace to mages like her, especially with the gift she'd given him.

She wanted to test the limitations of this magic as much as he did, which was made apparent from his next request. He wanted her to shoot two spells this time, of varying power. This was something she had already considered, and was about to perform next even without his appeal. It only seemed to be the next challenge in the natural progression of things. However, she also intended on eventually attacking in a more unexpected manner to see if he could channel his magic more spontaneously.

There was still a lot for her to glean and help him realize. She simply nodded and indulged his request. For the moment she slung the spells one after another, in quick succession, the weaker being followed up by the stronger. This time, she also aimed for him. They were relatively large spells, she knew this from her own training ventures. He could still probably dodge them, but she made sure that it would not be easy this time. She did so risking a little damage to him should he fumble with his magic, but also to test if it responded to him better in the face of potential danger.

She glowered out of concern. For some reason, she'd expected him to do better, was he not motivated enough? She chewed on her lips and tapped her foot. Mighty convenient for her to be so haughty simply because she had gotten lucky and had aid in getting her magic under control. Not to mention, her work and information gathering techniques put her at a constant risk and so she was bestowed with the gift that made it difficult for her to be taken down with ease.

Little did the Shimada realize that if she was stripped of all her recent acquisitions, she would probably find herself in a state worse than her partner and in a spot far more precarious and dangerous than the one he was in... and he was already pretty vulnerable, especially because of his recent promotion and his continued allegiance with her.

He had never been the impatient with her, though she knew he was capable of giving into his temper when people around him failed repeatedly. But she knew that he would probably have been far kinder if the circumstances were reversed, or even in general, if she was the one on the recieving end of this training. She wasn't too happy with the fact that her spell had hit him, but she knew she wasn't in the position to hold back and needed to continue motivating him and coaxing his magic to be forced to protect him.

Her annoyance melted when he showed resolve. For the time being, she cast similar spells yet again, except these were the explosive variety. So if they connected with something she'd be in the blast zone, but the Shimada had grown too reliant on her protective orb.

As he got bolder, so did she. When he mustered enough confidence in his ability that he simply volunteered to be a target for her to practice, she grew more and more eager to test her own limits. Perhaps she should have realized that no magic worked without a cost and that there had to be a pool of resource that he had been tapping into... a depleting pool. It was just that he showed no sign of struggle. While her attacks got more extravagant, he didn't so much as flinch... Till the last one.

She gasped, her usually narrowed eyes widened, with a concern that was much deeper than before. It felt like his body flew in slow motion before it landed in the soft tuft of grass. It left her horrified as he lay there motionless. She could no longer even recall which spell she'd used, so in that moment of peaking anxiety, it was impossible for her to gauge the damage he'd suffered. The only option was to survey his state in person. In just over a second, she had leaped to his side. Her fingers almost clawed at the chest behind the robes that lay in tatters. When she noticed that there was a prideful glimmer in his open eyes, her fingers clenched into a fist and she drummed his ribs in frustrated playfulness. 'You scared the crap outta me, why didn't you say you were fine?' she scolded.

Finally, when the relief that came with his well-being settled into her, she flopped into the grass besides him, opting to stare up into the sky too. 'You did good...' she said, softly, there was no condescension in her voice, nor authority, it was simply an observation. Something about the air around them morphed, the destruction around them lay forgotten and the tall grass that framed the magically-trimmed variety, had given them their own little haven.

It was as though the same memory tiptoed into their minds, she turned her face to lay her eyes on him instead of the inky sky overhead. Her hand acted out of its own accord as her fingers searched for the spaces between his. Soon, it wasn't just her hand, but she felt her whole body slide just a tad closer to his, so her chin was cradled by his shoulder, while her cheek remained buried in the grass.  

Just for a moment, she could afford to go easy on herself and just surrender to the shared intimacy... Couldn't she? She did. There was no reeling back once their desires had taken hold of them. This reflected poorly on her and not him, since he was never aware of the reasons Akira wished to wait, he had simply attempted being the gentleman who wished to play this by her rules. But no longer. Rules be damned. When he pulled away, she felt herself leaning into him, issuing the faintest note of protest as he spoke. She didn't waste her breath on words and punctuated his with a kiss that he returned with a newfound yearning...


He didn't know of the storm that was brewing and she'd just selfishly dragged him deeper into it. But those dark clouds fled, ironically, out of her mind and seemingly into sky above them. They became a curtain call to the serene show of the moon and starlight. The dark clouds billowed thickly over them, till a crack of lightning stole the thunder from the pin-pricks of light and the glowing saber in the distance. Reality was encroaching on their moment, for the time being shelter from the impending rain took utmost priority.

The undivided attention, despite the threat of the cloudburst was as flattering as it was unnerving. It reflected his oblivious reality. His regard for her rested upon her like a burden that her duty did not allow her to reciprocate. She pulled his hand closer to herself and returned his kiss yet again, tempted by the easy, ignoring the tempest. Finally, she broke the kiss and found utterance, as the first fat drop of rain splattered against her cheek. 'It is late enough... Let's go back to my place.' she said simply. Her actions probably didn't inspire the faith anyone in love would wish for... It was obvious their feelings were mutual and ran much deeper than mere infatuation.

Squinting and cowering against the assaulting downpour, to lone figures raced back into the city... Only for her to give into her weakness yet again... and then some more.