Buffing up

The night looked young and promising at first but as they talked and giggled after the second round on the kitchen, Cecilia started showing signs of being tired. She traveled on her own from another city just the day before and had yet to sleep. Even as an elite soldier, sleep deprivation would make the trip back dangerous.

Leonardo grabbed her waist and stood up with her legs still wrapped around his waist and slowly walked back to his bedroom.

Her satisfied squinting eyes never left him as they walked through the dark hallway and her smile was scintillating to his eyes, despite the lack of light.

He stopped in front of his mattress and gently laid her down. She sat on the edge of the bed, following him with her eyes.

Leonardo entered his bathroom and she heard the noise of hot water pouring down the tub.

She smiled and asked out loud. "You did that before when I was nearly unconscious, but I can walk now, why do it?"

"..." He kept silent.

Her eyes became more thoughtful as she added: "Is that one of the scenarios you pictured doing with me?"

"...Yes."

 She kicked her legs in the air with a smile. "How did it feel living it?"

Leonardo reappeared, took her up in his arms, and spoke while putting her down the tub. "Meh, It was okay overall."

"What!?" Cecilia looked at him in surprise but only saw a teasing smile. She snorted with a light blush on her face.

"...Do you have more sceneries in your head?" She asked, feeling the hot water relax her whole body.

Leonardo looked from the side of the tub without getting in. "I thought of enough scenarios that I created a 4 terabyte folder full of drawings about it. It also sold enough for me to open a couple of micro-enterprises."

Shock covered her eyes "You…. aren't you too much of a pervert?"

Leonardo looked away grinning silently. 'What if she knew there's way more there are a couple of more folders like that?'

[That's nothing to be proud of.] Azumi added from the side.

 Leonardo scoffed back, inwardly.

"Won't you get inside?"  Cecilia asked patting the water in front of her as an invite.

Leonardo wanted in, but thinking of what he has to do he stood up with a resigned sigh. His eyes turned a shade darker as he gently gazed down at her.

Cecilia had, for a moment, felt the sensation of something slithering around and softly enveloping her.

Leonardo spoke;

"I don't know what made you come back to me so soon, but I know you'll lie if I ask. Though I'll see through it if you do, and guess the true reason if I look in your eyes enough, I won't. You belong to me now, regardless of your own thoughts. And to assure the future for us, I have to grind. So I won't join you or sleep tonight."

As she gazed into his eyes through the vapor of the hot water and her own sleep riddled mind, she saw dark tentacles coming out of him and softly binding her body and mind.

But even as it constricted and bound her she felt nothing wrong and only smiled at him as her eyes closed from exhaustion.

Leonardo sighed, picked her up, dried her and laid her back down to sleep, kissed her lips gently, and silently gazed at her.

[What's the use of a gift if you're not gonna use it? If you read her you'll know exactly what to do] Azumi said.

Leonardo shook his head and looked out the window/.'I saw enough.' he retorted

[You saw her while emotional, you should try a more cold and critique view, you might be missing something important]

Leonardo looked at the geisha frowning, but bothered by something in her smirk, he gathered everything that happened today and did a review with Cecilia's background.

'Cecilia is an orphan that was adopted by a family that cared a lot about-face. They chose a girl of long and bright blonde hair because they needed a beautiful doll for the pictures and gatherings.

 Even though she tried, they never let her in on important or personal issues, she was never to become too personal with them, she was only to laugh along and be the perfect child they rescued.

She always sought a place to truly belong and found it in the army. She was happy… But that fiance of hers… he's a high ranking official and she's an exemplary soldier…

Leonardo's already dark eyes became cold and callous.

"More than half of the reason he wants to marry Cecilia has to do with their career...Something must've happened as she went out today, and she caught a glimpse of that reasoning in him. She must've tried to cross a line that he imposed, and was cut off, just like her parents did to her when she tried to be more of a daughter than a doll face… "

Leonardo gazed down at her cellphone

 ''That call earlier was probably him trying to apologize" Leonardo spoke aloud than suddenly opened his eyes in realization and slowly, a silent rage dominated his eyes.… 'The only place she ever thought to belong in the army if she sees through him completely…He'll be showing her that even in the army, she was not to belong, but only to be used."

He stood still as a statue, after half a minute he raised his head and gave the geisha a gentle smile. 'Thanks.'

The geisha smirked, feeling the excitiment inside.

He walked out of the room, then out of the house.

[Her fiance, your enemy, is probably stronger than your Cecilia, who can subdue and snap the bones of your current self with ease and there's also his subordinates and pals in equal standing. Oh there's also the vast and powerful family behind him. What will you do?]

Leonardo jogged through the gated community until he arrived in front of the gym for the people of the community.

'I'll grind.' He answered her.

His mana was abundant and of absurd high quality. Leonardo didn't want to lose the peak quality of the mana that he gained right after woohooing with Cecilia.

He kicked the lock and broke it. Since it was inside of the community it didn't set off an alarm.

Leonardo didn't lit the light and went right into the twenty kilo single arm dumbbell. He lifted it while only moving the forearm, all the way up to the chest.

[What are you doing?]

With a thoughtful expression, Leonardo spoke while letting down one and taking up the thirty-kilo dumbbell instead.

'Bodybuilding is the act of straining the muscle fiber so it can heal stronger and bigger. In a few words; destroy it, then feed it well so it can rebuild itself stronger.'

Leonardo took the heavy dumbbell. And lifted it up and down and only stopped when his arms could only twitch when he tried to move it again. He didn't grunt or screamed he endured the pain with wide, concentrated eyes. The mana inside circulated through the method he had practiced and five minutes later, his arm was normal again, nothing changed from how it looked before.

But Leonardo smiled and picked up the dumbbell. He threw it up, cached it and equilibrated on the tip of his finger

Smiling, he spoke: "As I grow strong the amount of mana needed to improve will rise and advancing will be nearly impossible through this basic method, but as of the present, with the mana left inside of me and the array of weight lifting machines here... By tomorrow, I'll have C class super-strength as my base strength. One class above Cecilia's." 

A blood-thirsty gleam of ambition shone on his eyes

"The base of all is balanced on power, and power lays ultimately in individual strength."

He said to himself and kept on destroying and rebuilding through the night.

*****

The morning rays shone through the window.

Bothered by it, Cecilia opened her eyes from the bed and saw Leonardo smiling while gazing at her and eating a sandwich with ham and mayonnaise.

Her sleepy eyes had yet to fully open before Leonardo said:

"I called your fiance earlier, he's coming for lunch. We'll discuss business, do you want to participate?"

Her eyes snapped open

"YOU DID WHAT!!??"