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"So... what is this called again?"

We were in Kasanoda's house once again, after he'd convinced me that for my safety I should begin to learn some sort of martial arts. Especially after being attacked by a member from another gang. So here we were, in the spacious and empty lounge room, void of anything but a single futon in the very center of the room and the rug beneath it. The walls were made of the thin white paper of traditional Japanese houses, with small paintings of fish or a cherry blossom here and there. I shifted nervously on the soft, plush rug on the floor, trying not to sounds too ignorant. Kasanoda sighed and closed his eyes, a smirk on his face. "It's called Jujutsu. It's a martial arts focused on redirecting the force of your attacker to use it as against him. So even if you're weak and have no upper body strength, you can still attack and defend yourself, without even breaking a sweat." He opened his eyes and looked me over from the over the futon. "And... no offense meant, but you're not exactly a body builder."

I blushed and stared into my lap, fiddling with my jacket sleeve. "Yeah, well... I don't do much exercise I guess." This is embarrassing. I could feel his brown eyes on me, probably laughing at me.

"Well let's begin." He stood and pulled me up off the ground by one hand, leading me to one section of the room. I noticed his red hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail that looked really good on him, accenting his features. Especially his eyes. I realized I was staring, and then that he had realized that I was staring too. The heat crawled across my face as I glared back at the ground again. I'm such an idiot sometimes.

He chuckled and took several steps back from me, facing me head on. "We start first with balance. Try punching me in the face."

I shuffled over to him uncertainly. No way am I going to hit him in the face! He must've seen my thoughts in my eyes, because he chuckled again, putting me at ease. "You won't hurt me, don't worry," he said, smiling warmly at me. Well yeah... I should've known. He's part of some big gang that's all about fighting. And I'm the stick that skipped gym classes and ate popcorn for dinner.

So I pulled my arm back and took a swing into those brown eyes, only to find myself toppling to one side, my balance completely off. Woah. I regained my posture and turned to face him, amazed. He was still in the exact same spot! Like, the same position! How the heck did he do that?

"You see, your balance was what you would describe as normal, right?" he asked. I nodded, shuffling my feet. He's a ninja. "Well mine was more than normal. If I had been at 'normal' level, you might have made contact with my nose. But the stance I was in prevented that from happening." He's got super powers. "So now I'll teach you the stance." He strode over to me, and I felt him position his body against my back. "Now you spread your feet shoulder width apart, like you normally would." I angled my feet as he said. He's really warm. His presence was very prominent behind me, and I could feel his breath on my shoulder. "Then bend your knees slightly." His knees bent into the backs of mine, so that I did as he said. "Great, now you move your right foot slightly further forward than your left." He slid his foot against mine, so that I moved my right foot forward about an inch. He's so close that I can almost feel the muscle in his body against my back. Am I gonna be as ripped as he is? I thought, trying to distract myself from the blush that creeped onto my face as he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Perfect," he whispered, his breath flowing over my ear.

And suddenly he wasn't there anymore. I turned to find that he'd taken a few steps back, and immediately noticed the blush on his face. He averted his gaze, staring at the walls, and then the ground, then the ceiling, anywhere but me. "You did very well for the first time. Try to remember that pose in everything you do, so that it becomes habit. That way it will be easier to use instead of having to think about it."

Don't worry, I thought, the flush increasing down my neck. I won't ever forget it.