The power of imagination

"What about you?" Yae asked Sara, the only sane person here. She didn't consider herself to be a sane person, not after signing the damned Contract.

"Well..." Sara had a bit of trouble imagining that scene.

"Gotchu" Kenshin materialized some invisible ropes and tied Ei.

Before she had time to react he hugged her from behind.

"My dear Ei, what do you say about finding someplace where we can deepen our bond? We can read more books about the Radiant Knight, we can meditate together, and maybe even train a bit" he whispered to Ei's ear, trying to let Sara know an example to let her sort her feelings about jealously.

"Unhand me!" Ei squirmed trying to get free, but she suddenly stopped with a stunned expression. "Did you say train?"

Makoto facepalmed.

"Of course" Kenshin used his finger to turn Ei's face so she was looking at his mesmerizing eyes. "As you know, I'm strong, even if it's only here. You can deny it all you want, but I know you found our last encounter here, exciting" his last word was nothing but a seductive whisper, one Ei didn't notice.

She was thinking about their fight. She couldn't enjoy it because of the circumstances, but thinking back on it, the fight had been something exhilarating.

The tenseness of launching an attack, the expectation of seeing it hit while fighting against the attacks sent her way, planning the next few movements, thinking about the weakness in the enemy, the feeling of improving with every attack she received...

"I agree" Ei nodded with a serious face.

"Uh" Kenshin had a surprised face. He could have given Sara an example with Makoto, but Ei was funnier to tease.

"Do you know what you have done?" asked wryly Makoto. "Ei was a fanatic of fights and training. She has no rival to train with now that Morax has retired and the strength of the inhabitants has drastically decreased".

"As Makoto said" said Yae with a blank face. "You are the only person she can fight now. You are stronger than her here, so she will improve and that's something she loves. You are near, so when you both feel like it, you will have your stupid fights. From what I got, you are more adaptable than her, so she will not get bored no matter how much you two fight. And lastly, there will be no damage to the surroundings if you fight here, so she will be able to go all out without anyone being in danger".

"And she can go all out, and be assured that you won't die" concluded Makoto. "You are the perfect training partner for her".

Kenshin looked at Ei, whom he was still hugging, who was looking at him with a fiery gaze.

So he did the only thing he could do in this situation.

Double down.

"Is that so?" Kenshin's smirk returned. "The exhilaration of battle, the feeling of giving anything you have, fighting for supremacy against a worthy opponent, your muscles screaming in pain, but you still need to move more, faster, stronger, smarter. The feeling of steel clashing and the 2 opponents trying to prevail over the other, a battle of ideals to show who is more determined to raise in an all-out battle".

Ei was quickly breathing, putting herself in that position. A battle like any other she had experienced since the Archon war.

She sometimes sparred with her friends, and they were strong but that was all it was. A spar. 

A disappointment for her, who thrived in serious battles.

And when some warriors ready to fight to the death appeared, they were weak.

So imagining the scenery Kenshin just described to her, she felt her blood boiling like it hadn't in 2 thousand years.

"And maybe" Kenshin made her look at the front and whispered in her ear. "I can make a sword as strong as yours. Imagine the earlier scene, but you are adding the feeling of steel clashing against steel. A fight without any limits or stops, and without end. A battle between 2 equals thriving for victory, a mess of sweat and blood, proof of the intense clash between 2 people ready to offer everything they have to a single battle".

Ei was hyperventilating now, under the shocked looks of Makoto, Yae and Sara, who couldn't believe what was happening.

"Imagine it" Kenshin kept softly whispering in her ear. His hand touched Ei's shoulder and started going down her arm slowly, just grazing her skin, but sending the stimulus to her brain. 

"Your arm, holding your sword, the trusty metal, your hand clenched against it" he slowly closed Ei's hand, a tender touch that made Ei immerse herself in what the soft voice that was whispering in her ear.

"Your arm, tensed and ready to receive the enemy's hit" Kenshin grazed her arm on his way up, pressed a bit stronger in the muscles she would need to exert strength in. Ei, with her eyes closed, immersed herself in the beautiful painting the voice in her ear was painting in her mind.

"You receive the enemy's hit" Ei's muscles tensed, but Kenshin continued. "But it's stronger than what you expected it to be. It's slowly pushing you back. No matter how strong you push, the enemy seems to grow stronger".

Kenshin hugged her tighter, making his chest touch her back, and he put his hand on her leg.

"You realize that merely pushing it's not going to be enough, so you decide to use your legs" his hand slowly travelled through Ei's firm and toned legs, but he couldn't reach from her knee downwards. 

Maybe sensing this, Ei brought her legs back, inviting him to continue such a wonderful tale for her.

Kenshin complied, and his hand slowly went down Ei's leg.

"You exert every single ounce of strength you have, but it's still not enough, as the enemy grows even stronger. The swords are colliding with each other, some sparks being created in the collision proof of your fight, of your effort".

Ei looked to be extremely concentrated but her whole body was trembling, because of effort, excitement or something else, not even she knew.

Kenshin's hand slowly travelled to her neck and then to her face. He softly slid his nail from Ei's forehead downwards.

"Your muscles are screaming in pain because of the effort, but you can't give in. This a duel you need to win, you will win. A drop of sweat appears in your forehead, and slowly goes down" Kenshin moved his nail to simulate the stimulus a drop of sweat would cause. "Down your cheek, and finally your neck. You notice it, but you are in a deadlock with the enemy, and if you take even a single step back, you will lose, so you have no other choice but to let it go. It goes down your neck until it slowly approaches your chest".

Kenshin stopped moving his finger near Ei's chest.

"Until it finally disappears, the contact with your kimono erases the droplet from your skin. But suddenly, the opponent pushes you even stronger, and you take half a step back".

Kenshin leaned back, and hugged Ei close to him, making her feel like she had retreated.

"For a second you feel like you have lost, but you realize. It was only a step back, you haven't lost yet. But you still retreated, you need to recover the ground you just lost, but it will be hard".

Ei was so immersed in this that she tried to lean forward, but Kenshin's hug was not letting her.

"It's hard, but little by little, inch by inch, you feel how your muscles are answering to you. What seemed to be a strong push, it's growing weaker by the second. But you know, you know the truth. He is not weaker, YOU are stronger"

Kenshin let her lean forward little by little.

"You slowly recover ground, and you decide that you are the stronger one here, he was a fine opponent, one that made you sweat, but you will prove with your actions that you are better. With all your muscles screaming, doing their best to carry out your will, you start pushing him back, but he grows determined, and you are in the stalemate again" Kenshin started sliding his 2 hands all over Ei's body.

Her arms, her hands, her neck, her belly, her legs.

"But even if you are in the same position you were in at the start, you know that you have defeated him. You tell your body to give more than what it can offer, and a screech coming from your sword moving against your opponent reveals that your body is growing stronger. You push him back, a quarter step, half a step, almost, almost...there, three-quarters of a step".

Ei was now leaning forward, Kenshin's arm under her armpits preventing her from taking that last quarter she needed.

"Your opponent is desperate, you can feel it. You can see it in his eyes, and he is going to grow too, just as you did. But now you are not afraid, you have already proven yourself to be stronger. So with a final push, giving all you had, your sword moves him, making him fall to the ground, looking at you in awe and admiration. You look down at him, but you don't feel respect or pity for him, you are jubilant, exhilarated, joyful. You have won".

Kenshin released her and sat on her side.

Ei was now lying on the floor panting in excitement and tiredness with a red face. But a smile of pure fulfilment was filling her visage.

"What happened?" muttered Makoto, looking at Ei. She couldn't be tired, so why was her body shaking?

Hearing Makoto's voice made Ei look at her, and she tiredly spoke to her.

"I won't let you steal him".

"Weren't you worried about him stealing ME?" asked a shocked Makoto.

Ei took a while to calm down, but she replied to Makoto.

"If he is talking or doing other things with you, he can't fight me. That's unacceptable" Ei said with a no-nonsense tone.

"Are you aware of what you just did?" asked shocked Yae.

"I won a hard battle" replied Ei with a straight face. And then looked at the 3 of them with a scrutinizing face.

"I don't like this" murmured Makoto.

"I want to join whatever this is" said firmly Ei. "I want to have battles with him".

"Hehe, you should have said it before" replied Yae with a smirk. Until she saw Ei start drawing her sword.

"You can't stop me" warned Ei with the Mussou Isshin in her hand as a testimony of her strength. "You said it, I'm the strongest one here. Admit defeat or face me in glorious battle".

"Ei?!" Makoto looked in shock at her sister. It looked like the stress of these 500 years was coming out now, and she wanted to have a battle like the one she just imagined. Truly, one of the weirdest ways to unleash the stress, but the problem was that Ei wasn't thinking now. She wanted duels, and she was going through the shortest path to get them.

Sara looked at this with dead eyes.

'I thought I couldn't win against Makoto, and now it's Her Excellency' Sara now knew as a certainty that she had no chance from the start.

"Agree or fight" Ei delivered her ultimatum to Yae, who suddenly didn't look that amused.

"O-Okay...." she had never seen Ei this way. Maybe it was because when she was born, there were already no opponents for Ei to fight seriously.

Ei nodded and stowed her sword, and looked at Kenshin, who was looking at his hands in wonder.

'I never knew I was so powerful' he marvelled at the power his hands had. He could still feel Ei's firm skin, her toned legs, her slim arms, her soft face...

"As you heard, I will participate in this too" Ei returned to the voice she used as the Shogun. "I don't care about whatever thing you are worried about. You will fight me, and that's it".

"Hmmm" Kenshin nodded absent-mindedly.

Makoto, Yae and Sara looked at each other with shock in their eyes.

"Suddenly, I feel that sharing with 5, now 6, it's not that bad" muttered Sara.

"Indeed, seeing how he 'conquered' Ei in a battle without any weapon or using his ability, I feel that letting him in the wild as he is now will bring nothing but disasters" mumbled Makoto, looking at Ei who had her eyes closed while sitting in seiza.

What was she doing or thinking was a mystery.

And Yae felt stupid for worrying.

When had Kenshin been a normal person?

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And 2 years passed peacefully.