Sixteen

Samuel Gardner held his weapon parallel to his leg. The girl's stance was wild and unlike him, who gripped his blade with a standard confidence, a firm grip, he could tell she had hardly ever touched a weapon before in her life. Her sword was much different than his own, yet a bit alike. Its blade was as thin as his, similar to that of a katana's. His was double-edged and hers was single-edged and held down, but the orange hue it gave off told him that getting slashed by either side still wouldn't be good.

"Just attack whenever you're ready," He said. Calm. Beginners in swordsmanship always needed patience and collected goading—and that was his job.

She nodded and came in with a wide arc. It was child's play.

He dodged it and allowed her to drive forward, almost falling over herself, then touched his blade to her neck. She jumped in place when the gleam of silver caught her eyes.

"Too wide, easy to dodge and limits your movement after the fact. You're not controlling your body well enough, we can't even spar in that state," He said, shaking his head.

The girl breathed out and turned around. "Could you show me how you would make the strike?"

He obliged, took his weapon up, stepped forward, and struck down. Its speed was palpable, almost cutting through the air, and he expected he would have to stop its descent before it touched her skin.

Yet—

A clank rang and his sword stopped at the orange hue of Rose's weapon.

"Oh?"

She stepped back, then forward, and slashed down.

'Interesting,' He thought, effortlessly blocking the strike.

She had perfectly replicated his swing. It lacked the ease in which he did it but it had been done nonetheless. The firmness in his grasp. The strength. The speed. He felt it all ricochet off his own weapon as she copied his exact action to the minute details.

He smiled and spun his blade, driving hers out of her control with his circular motion and forcing her off balance. She tried to block again, but he bent his body, and drove his weapon straight to her neck—once more.

'What interesting eyes. . .'

Defiant emerald eyes stared back at him and her body circled, driving his blade back. Of course, he didn't lose his balance, but a sword still came towards him.

He laughed.

"What are you laughing for?" She asked.

He answered with his next attack.

His blade left his zone and advanced towards hers, piercing from the right. She looked towards it—the weapon jumped to her left.

She reacted this time, moving her upper body before it could touch her neck. Then, she replicated his attack again. A feint came to his left, an attack came to his right—no, it jumped again—and headed from atop his head.

His smile deepened as his weapon blocked hers. She had added an extra feint.

The girl sighed. "This is going to take me a while. . ." She seemed exasperated. "I haven't touched you even once."

"Swordsmanship isn't an easy thing," He said, "But it should be simpler for a homunculus of your caliber, shouldn't it?"

Her eyes jumped and he watched as she backed away from him.

"How do you—how did you figure that out?!" She was like a frightened cat. Lost to the idea that he knew.

He thought it interesting with a smile.

"When the mana in the air rolled over you, I did not hear your heart beating. Combined with the fact that you don't seem tired even though this should be your first lesson in swordsmanship, ever, and you perfectly replicated my strikes, meaning you have at-least a near-perfect memory—you could only be an homunculus."

She raised her weapon with uncertainty and backed away even more, she was defensive. He shook his head and stared her down.

"I don't know what happened, and I don't care if you're a doll or not. Don't hold your weapon with the intent to fight me, however, or I will kill you."

She glared into his eyes.

"Don't call me a doll," She replied back.

There was a noticeable warmth in the air at that moment.

He shrugged. "Fine."

"And. . ." This time, her voice was softer, "Could you not tell anyone?"

"Of course. You're my paying student."

He held his weapon up.

"Let's complete the first lesson, then? Do you mind if I speed things up?"

"Please."

A homunculus does not forget. A homunculus does not tire. Samuel smiled as he sparred and trained her, mixing in words to correct her knowledge of the sword, and wondering what sort of beast would come about with an untiring fighter that learned fast and also wielded a Gear. He didn't know how she had a soul, but he knew she definitely had more prospects than the Soldier Series he had trained in Alos.

Rose soaked up every last beating she took and every last pointer he gave. The boy held nothing back. Defeat after defeat followed defeat for an hour. She could not best him at all, but she didn't need to, she simply needed to steal and learn his swordsmanship and he willingly obliged her.

In fact, he seemed all too eager to push her forward. By the time an hour had passed, he was sweating more than she could ever hope to do.

"Come again," He said as she departed.

Rose learned two things that day. Very basic swordsmanship, which she mostly stole, and that nothing was fool proof, with the right set of skills and attention to detail, and if she wasn't careful, it was still possible for someone to find out about her identity. That was a problem she couldn't fix. If she were caught. . .her core could be reset, she could lose herself, and she could be sold.