“That was fun,” Cecilia said with a laugh, dropping bodily onto the couch.

  “It was,” Sara agreed with a yawn, arching her back and pushing her chest out as she stretched.

  “I wish we didn’t have to go through such hard training before we get to do that though,” Jun said tiredly, her cheeks a bit warm with embarrassment, but after months living with the two, she was finally feeling a bit more comfortable. Though she couldn’t help her eyes tracing the delicate-looking curves of Sara’s body as she stretched. Even though they’d bathed together dozens of times before, it was a sight she still hadn’t gotten tired of. As her eyes moved up Sara’s body, lingering on her chest for a moment, she saw the elf move and Jun tried to look up, only she’d done so too fast and froze as she locked eyes with Sara. Oh no. No no no no, she thought to herself as she looked into the verdant green pools that were Sara’s eyes. She caught me. She’s going to think I’m a pervert. She’s going to hate me. She—

  One of those mesmerizing eyes closed for just a second as Sara winked at her with a smile, sending an inferno raging across her face and down her neck to surround her heart. She could feel her blood rushing through her veins, hear her heart pounding in her ears as Sara smiled at her for a few seconds, casually continuing her stretch until it seemed almost obscene.

  “Baths are better after you’ve actually worked up a sweat. They feel so much better. Earned,” Cecilia said as she ignored Sara’s teasing pose.

  “Mmm…” Sara moaned, fanning the flames in Jun’s chest even higher as she slowly came out of her stretches. “Ceci’s right. A doe tastes so much sweeter after a long hunt.”

  “I, uh…” Jun trailed off, her mouth dry. She desperately tried to think of something to say, but the inferno ripping through her body burned every word to ash before it could make it to her tongue.

  Casually, Sara closed the short distance between them and Jun felt soft lips press against her cheek for a moment before nails lightly scratched the top of her head, sending sparks of lightning down her spine. “We should get to bed, we have more training in the morning.”

  Jun stood there dumbfounded as Sara and Cecilia casually went to their rooms as if nothing had happened. Even as the flames inside of her slowly cooled to embers, her imagination went wild as she thought about what just happened, what it all could mean. Sara was friendly, really friendly. She was also active, having had a few flings here and there in the months since they’d started living together, so she couldn’t help but wonder what the elf meant by that kiss. It was a chaste one on the cheeks, something she’d seen friends do before, both in Merinthia and in her past life on Earth, but Sara’s words echoed in her mind and made her feel like there might be another meaning behind it. “A doe tastes so much sweeter after a long hunt.”

  Confused, embarrassed, excited, and feeling other things, Jun stumbled to her own room and climbed under the covers, barely noticing that her room was empty as she slid beneath them. Unconsciously brushing her fingers against her cheek where Sara had kissed her, Jun squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on going to sleep.

  Sitting unseen on the Academy district wall, Shiori and Inari casually spied on their charges. Most of their students were even now collapsing into bed, claiming what sleep they could before the next day’s training. The only outliers were Gareth and Lane, the pair headed towards the Academy’s library, Jun’s friend Aya who was arguing with the girl with whom she shared a suite, and their kittens.

  The two beastkin women watched through their aura perception as Jun, Sara, and Cecilia made their way to their suite and talked quietly, though not so quietly that the two didn’t perceive every word. Quietly, they watched as Sara stretched in a teasing manner and felt Jun’s heart race as the two leaked out pheromones their noses were too weak to truly notice and understand. As the elven girl closed the distance with her kitten and pressed her lips against Jun’s cheek, Shiori couldn’t help but sigh. A very human and unnecessary action, but useful for communicating her disappointment in the development.

  “It seems your kitten’s taken too long to seize the initiative,” Inari said with a chuckle, raising a glass of potent alcohol to her lips, her tails swishing mockingly.

  “So it seems,” Shiori said flatly, raising her own cup to her lips. “Your winnings.” A gleaming white sword appeared above the fox’s head and thrust down at a speed that would ensure the destruction of half the city should it hit. The air around it started to ignite as it moved, the beginnings of a shockwave forming around its point.

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  As if the weapon were being casually handed to her, Inari carefully wrapped one of her tails around the sword’s hilt, the weapon vanishing as she stilled the air with an idle thought. “You’re a sore loser,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure my kit will appreciate this gift in a few hundred levels. It should only be a few years.”

  “My kitten will get there first.”

  “Jun hasn’t been integrated a year yet. Sara’s been integrated for nearly twenty.”

  “And yet my kitten’s growth has far exceeded that of yours.”

  “Shall we make another bet?”

  Jun wasn’t sure how long she tossed and turned in bed before sleep finally took her, but the next morning found her groggy in the morning sunlight streaming through her window, images of half-remembered dreams dancing through her mind and threatening to reignite the smouldering embers of last night. Sleepily, Jun dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom where she splashed some water on her face, the ice cold liquid seizing her heart for a moment as it washed away the dancing images from her brain and woke her up. Wiping her face with a towel, she looked at her eyes in the mirror and saw them bloodshot, shadows under her eyes. Suppressing a groan, Jun started to lower the towel when she saw movement in the corner of the mirror and started to turn around, only for a hand to grab her by the neck, sharp claws faintly brushing against her skin.

  “Good morning kitten,” Shiori said smile. “Now that you’re awake, we have more training.”

  Before Jun could do more than yelp, the world around her changed, and she was back in the Forest again.

  “Breathe in. Like the ebb and flow of tides, feel your breath enter your body and fill you with energy. Breathe out. Feel as the tide recedes, taking the energy with it. Breathe in. The tide nourishes you, bringing new energy to your body. Take your thoughts and, one by one, acknowledge them, then cast them into the tide, letting them go. Breathe out, letting the tide take your thoughts away. Feel as all of your fears and worries float away with the tide, leaving your mind clear. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

  Inari’s voice seemed to echo through the Forest clearing as Jun followed her instructions. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. She pictured her fears and anxieties as little pebbles that she could throw into the rushing tide. Her fear that she’d never be accepted. Splash. The looks of disgust she saw on Ash’s and Aya’s faces when they learned who she was. Splash. The blood on her hands. Splash. Embarrassment. Shame. Anger. Loneliness. One by one, Jun thew everything weighing her down into the tide and let it go. Like a waning tide, she breathed out, and some of the dirt and blood on her soul washed away. The pebbles she threw into the tide still remained, still weighed on her, but with every breath in and out, they felt just a bit lighter, just a bit cleaner.

  And then she felt it. Something demanded her attention. A feeling of warmth, acceptance, love. Her instincts urged her to open up, to embrace it. So she did. Warmth washed over her as something settled in her hand. A comforting weight. Breathing out, Jun opened her eyes to see the shield from that place faintly glowing in her hands. It felt light, nearly insubstantial, like smoke given form, but sturdy. Strong. There was no doubt in her mind that the shield could resist the sharpest blades and turn aside the heaviest of blows.

  Marveling at the weapon, Jun quietly rose in the clearing of the Forest and began to move through the forms she’d learned. Imagined foes surrounded her. Hungry monsters. Screaming goblins. People who wished her harm. The shield in her left hand warded off imagined blows and became a weapon itself. The face of the shield was bulwark and bludgeon, standing strong against her foes’ attacks and then crushing them. The edge and points were claws to slash and rip through attacks and defenses both.

  Jun danced through the Forest clearing as she sparred with foes from her past. A goblin’s spear screeched as it slid off the surface of her shield as she used the face to knock the humanoid monster down. Her claws raked across a wolf’s face, ruining its eyes as it howled in pain. Fangs broke, venom splashed, and blows were turned aside as she moved, first in the forms she’d been trained, and then others as she followed her instincts. She wasn’t sure how long she moved through the horde of unseen enemies before she found herself in the center again, heart pounding and dripping with sweat as she held her shield extended out and above where it’d deflected hungry fangs before her claws buried themselves in a reptilian monster’s throat.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. Jun heard the rustle of fur brushing against rock and frozen blades of grass and whirled around to see Inari smiling at her, the foxkin’s tail lazily sweeping against the Forest floor.

  “Well done, young kit. Congratulations on summoning your Soul Weapon. What is its name?”

  Jun stared at the foxkin for several seconds, her chest heaving, before she looked at the weapon again. The memory that formed it came unbidden to her mind, sending a new wave of warmth washing through her, nourishing long famished parts of her soul. A name seemed to whisper out from it, tickling at her mind, and she knew it was the shield’s name. “Jizo, the Protector.”