CHAPTER SEVEN

The weeks passed by as the rigorous training set by Kurosu continued for Shiro.

Early morning: twenty laps around the forest, then sparring, and then agility training

Mid Afternoon: thirty laps around Ryoko, hand to hand combat, and fifty push ups.

Evening: ten laps, stretching, and then a full hour of meditation.

That was the routine set by Kurosu. Every Day. No exceptions.

"The people we face won't stop for a sick day. So keep training, snowflake" Kurosu would tell Shior any time he wasn't feeling up for training.

It was grueling. Shiro would go to bed some nights aching and feeling so drained of life.He had trouble eating full meals as his stomach hurt so much.

He wanted to give up on some days but he would quickly put those thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't give up.

Not now when he was so close.

Four weeks would pass before Shiro would see any improvement in his body.

His muscles hurt less during spars and his lungs didn't burn after running so many laps.

"Don't get cocky yet" Kurosu reminded Shiro after one sparring round, "you must keep going for this to matter and you have to keep at it."

"...Right." Was all Shiro could say at that moment.

By eight weeks, Shiro could feel some tightness around his abs. Muscle was starting to show when he lifted his shirt up as he faced the mirror.

By ten weeks, Kurosu would finally allow him to use a real weapon; Of his choice for once.

The red dragon that Shiro was introduced to, Kade, was a blacksmith conveniently.

"I want to use a polearm. I feel more comfortable with it." Shiro told him as they sat down for dinner.

"Is that the weapon you wish to have?" Kurosu looked at him with no expression, leaving Shiro a bit nervous,

"Polearms are difficult to wield for some dragons as they don't do well in open range combat but are good for one on one." Kurosu explained flatly.

"I feel most comfortable with a polearm. I just need a good one." Shiro doubled down on his choice. He wanted this weapon.

Kurosu relented. Shiro is stubborn, if he wants something, he'll get it. He wasn't about to fight the other dragon when he had a knife in his hand.

"I won't argue with you on this. Will go to Kade in the morning after training. Make it cheap." Kurosu finished the conversation but let out a soft groan when Shiro came up behind him and hugged him.

"I'm going to get my own weapon! I hope it looks around cool as your sword!! Thank you so much!" Shiro shouted excitedly

Kurosu felt a swell in his cold chest. This feeling of warmth from a hug was foreign to him still and normally he would reel back in disgust. But this felt fine, almost comforting.

Like such a thing was normal for him.

Shiro then realized what he did and pulled away quickly.

"Oh-! Uh! Sorry-!" Shiro awkwardly apologized while brushing Kurosu off before going back to cooking.

Kurosu looked at him stunned but not upset. This didn't bother him as much as he thought it would originally. He felt….nice.

Kurosu turned his head away, his dark hair hiding his eyes.

"...You said you had gone to Academia correct?" Kurosu changed the subject, wanting to avoid more awkwardness.

Shiro nodded, "yeah, I'm surprised you remembered."

"What did you study?"

"Eh…Alchemical Studies. Why?"

Kurosu sat down at the table and contemplated a bit before speaking

"If you can, I need you to do something for me."

Kurosu had a serious tone to his voice, which made Shiro shiver. Thankfully Shiro had stopped cutting the leaks for dinner.

"W-what is it?" Shiro inquired nervously.

"...just answer me a question. Honestly"

"Well then…?"

Kurosu paused a bit, suspense gripped at Shiro as he waited for him to break the silence.

"If it is possible…" Kurosu looked up to face Shiro but his gaze wasn't serious…

It was sad…and almost…hopeful.

"...Can you regain memories that have been lost?"

Shiro stiffened a little, shocked over such a thing.

Shiro thought for a moment, "it's not impossible but it depends on how much memory was lost. The most common memory jogging elixirs take years to master and they can maybe restore small gaps in a dragon's memory…why do you ask?"

Kurosu didn't seem too pleased to hear this answer. His face became unreadable again for Shiro.

Kurosu got up from the table and left.

"I'm not eating. I'm going to bed. Be ready for tomorrow." Was all he said as he walked out of the kitchen. Leaving Shiro alone.

His footsteps were so quiet it was hard for Shiro to tell if Kurosu even went to his room as he couldn't hear him go down the hallway.

The morning went by too slow for Shiro's liking. Kuro was back to his usual self. Cold and near impossible to figure out what he is feeling.

He didn't say much but Shiro could feel something was wrong with Kurosu.

"We're done for this morning. Prepare to leave" Kurosu stated as he began to pack up.

Shiro didn't have a chance to speak up before Kurosu walked away from him.

The pair walked in silence as they made their way back to Ryoko. Leaving Shiro alone to his thoughts.

"Ever since last night, he's been cold with me." Shiro thought to himself.

"I honestly don't know where I stand with him. It's not like we're friends but I thought we were tolerating each other well enough"

Shiro felt weird around Kurosu.

"These past 2 months, I felt like we would get close and then he would get weirdly distant with me for a week or two." Shiro remembers the few times Kurosu would come out of his shell.

Once, Shiro had convinced him to play Shogi

When Shiro got bored one evening and snooped through some of Kurosu's things. Kurosu won every round even though he claimed to not know how to play.

Kurosu didn't speak much at first but in the last round Shiro could see Kurosu change a bit. He looked more relaxed. Even his eyes reflected his mood, they were slit but much bigger than his usually fully slit pupils.

With cat behavior, it means the cat feels at ease. Shiro felt like this was an ice breaker for them as they didn't speak outside of training.

But Kurosu went back to his usual distant self by morning.

Another instance Shiro found some tea bags and mentioned it to Kurosu.

"...those are chamomile tea bags. I don't like them so throw them out"

"Chamomile? they taste great with honey if you ask me. Have you tried it?"

"Honey is too sweet for me. I don't like it"

"Then just add ginger or lavender. Both are good for flavor you know"

"You seem to know about this then."

"Well yeah I like tea! Don't you?"

"...perhaps"

The conversation ended there when Kurosu just left abruptly.

Any opportunity for something to develop, Kurosu would cut it short.

"It seems like he wants to avoid any relationship altogether." Shiro took this to heart mainly because he's never met another dragon who acted like this.

Shiro was a dragon who had never met a stranger. Everyone in his village was a friend to him in one way or another. Even if they didn't appreciate it like he did, he still went out of his way to act the part of a friendly village boy. It has its perks.

"I guess I'm still not over it like I thought I was"

Shiro just shook his head,

"No! No! No! I won't give up easily. I need to make friends! I won't die of loneliness when I have come this far!"

Shiro's resolve was strengthened.

"If Kurosu won't be my friend, Kade or Azalea are my next best bet! Besides, I can't force him like me! That's his problem! Not mine!"

While Shiro was boosting his self confidence, Kurosu kept moving but sneezed suddenly

"Someone is talking shit about me, I'm sure of it" Kurosu thought to himself