F O R T Y-F I V E

Iris almost knocked over his tea when he stood up from his chair.

"I get to train with you?" The excitement was vivid in his voice and Kai found himself smiling at it.

"Yes. I talked to the King about it and he agreed that it was about time you start properly learning."

Kai said properly because throughout their time together they would often find themselves watching the guards practice. Kai rarely interacted with them and only watched with Iris, but when they did he would describe to the prince the certain moves the vampires were doing. Iris was a quick learner and he always said how he wanted to started training, now finally he could.

"You'll be training with me personally until maybe, maybe, you can practice with the other guards." Kai told Iris when the sparkle in his eyes grew.

"That's fine." Iris grabbed his tea and started walking towards the door. It was clear to Kai that Iris wasn't completely inexperienced with fighting, which interested him because he was still such a mystery and more of the unknown kept pilling up.

Right when he heard the idea, Iris was already feeling better, physically that is. His headache still lingered but his lack of memory from the night before helped ease his mind.

Instead of going to Iris's room to relax for a while they went straight towards the training building. Kai kept asking if he was feeling okay to train and Iris kept dismissing his worry. Iris was very excited, and even he didn't know why.

When they stepped inside the building the chatting died down to a complete stop. Then the vampires erupted, which made Iris widened his eyes.

"Kai!" Cyrus threw herself at Kai for a quick hug before smacking his arm. "It's been too long!"

Kai rolled his eyes, "It's only been a few months since we talked."

"No, it's been a few months since you waved at me," Cyrus corrected while angling her finger at him. He put his hands up to admit and Cyrus chuckled.

Kai was greeted by a few other guards but since most of the vampires in the building were not the first class, they kept to themselves and talked.

They ventured towards the side of the building were less guards were. Kai aimed his attention on the rack of wooden weapons while a few others stood near him.

"So, are you going to train with us today?" A girl with long red hair inquired with a hopeful tone.

Kai turned around holding two wooden sticks. "Not exactly. I'm training him." He used one of the sticks to point at Iris.

The other guards glance at him with unreadable expressions.

"Huh," One of them acknowledged. He walked closer to Iris and examined him with narrowed eyes. "Why would a prince need to learn to fight?"

"Yeah, aren't you his body gaurd, Kai? Isn't that your job?" Another chirped.

"Well, not forever." Kai eyed the boy hovering next to Iris.

"That's kind of weird," The male guard pushed on. While he circled around Iris, Iris just kept a blank face. "I mean, no offense, I don't think he could learn much."

"No?" Iris finally spoke up. Something flickered in his hazel eyes and Kai became intrigued rather than wary.

"No. You're a human, let alone a prince, I doubt you carry out a simple attack–" When the boy laid his hand on Iris shoulder, that glint in his eyes shined to the point where Kai could decipher it as something mischief.

He and the other guards watched with gaping mouths as Iris grabbed the boy's arm, and in a swift motion, pulled his body over his shoulder and slammed him on the ground. However, he wasn't done.

While bystanders made low 'ooo' sounds, Iris had turned the vampire over while holding his arm behind his back, his knee pressed sharply against his spine.

The boy froze before wincing at the discomfort put on his body. Through his eyelashes he saw Iris smirking down at him.

"You know, when someone who has been alive for a couple hundred years gets beaten by a small, little teenage prince, their pathetic effort really starts to show." Iris stood up, releasing the vampire, before walking away with a proud smirk on his lips.

The vampire's face was red with frustration and embarrassment, but everyone else got a total kick out of the scene. Iris thought he even heard someone clap.

When Iris walked towards Kai, a grin hung on Kai's face. His fangs shined and his eyes showed acknowledgment; he was impressed.

Iris stood next to him with a huff and crossed his arms. He looked at Kai with a raised eyebrow and his body guard chuckled.

"Well, this should be fun."

"I'm sure you had your own doubt."

"Actually," Kai handed Iris one of the sticks, "I came expecting to be impressed."

"And?" All of a sudden his heartbeat raged in his chest while his fingers curled around the stick. Seeing Kai give him such an overawed look made something stir inside him. It made him feel happy.

Kai just smiled at Iris before beckoning to follow him.

He told Cyrus and the other guards around her that they were going to train elsewhere. While they frowned  they waved cheerfully at him.

Iris stayed silent while they walked out of the building, the cold hitting their faces, and wandered to the side of it. In the back, Iris took in the scenery of a group of trees hovering over a certain spot. The way the trees were shaking their leafs away, most of the area wasn't shaded like it was supposed to be, though the building helped with that.

There was nothing special about the place, just a small area that the trees happened to form around and give shade to. So Iris wondered why they left training inside to come out here.

The whole yard was free to train on, but they stuck near the shaded areas. Finally when they stopped, Iris placed both of his hands on top of they wooden stick and leaned on it as it stabbed the soft ground.

"Why exactly did we come out here?"

"I thought it would be easier to observe you if we're alone, if that's okay?"

Iris perked his head up. "Alone?"

"Yeah. Is that okay...?" He asked again.

"Oh, mhm! I mean I–I don't care. Sure," Iris spun the stick slowly and pursed his lips, "It's whatever."

Kai chuckled, ignoring his awkwardness, and took off his coat. It took a lot for the prince to not watch his every move; not stare at the muscles moving under his black shirt. Iris closed his eyes and smacked the stick against his forehead lightly.

Stop. Being. Weird! He ranted in his head.

"Okay, you clearly have experience with some sort of fighting, yes?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yes."

"How?"

"Well...I don't know. By many different things. I read a lot growing up and there were a lot of books consisting of fighting, then I got interested in watching our guards train whenever I could. But most of what I know is self taught."

Iris trailed his eyes up from the grass to Kai's narrowed eyes when he realized he stood right in front of him. He had the same look as he did when they were talking about the party, when Kai leaned in, made Iris's sense spike. That deeply studying look he couldn't escape from.

"What?" Iris asked.

Kai hummed and glanced around Iris's face. "You do look experienced. Let's see what you can do."

Before Kai walked away, Iris made his stick bump into Kai's to catch his attention.

"You can't possibly tell if I'm experienced just by looking at me."

"Maybe. But it's a special talent of mine."

"That's a weird talent to have."

"You seem to like it," Kai smirked as he turned back around and Iris felt his face flare up. He raised his stick and whacked it against Kai's side, more playfully that serious, but it made a loud noise.

Kai flinched and grabbed the end of the stick, pulling it while he turned around. Iris gasped as he fell forward into Kai's chest and he felt arms coil around his body, squeezing him like a snake would do to its prey. His breathing became strained and both his hands were squished between his chest and Kai's. He had already dropped his weapon, and Kai did too.

"Attacking the opponent when their back is turned is such low leveled, sir."

Iris wiggled as he looked up. His eyebrows were lowered and he had a deep frown curling his lips, however the expression was from the discomfort of being squeezed so tightly. He glared at Kai, that discomfort blocking the realization that their bodies were the closest they've ever been, and their faces were close enough to feel each other's breaths.

"Let go." Even his voice sounded strained. He couldn't wiggle anymore. He felt stuck. And warm. And..warm? Iris held his breath as the situation hit him. Kai raised a single brow, as if he noticed. A small grin was on his face and Iris tried his hardest not to stare at it.

"Let go," He repeated. This time in a smaller voice. Like he didn't actually want him to let go.

Kai hummed again, "You know, this isn't the most common defense/attack method, but it does confuse the opponent and intimidate them. You seem more worried than intimidated. I do wonder."

Iris shuffled on his feet. He looked away from Kai and tried to free his hands but he was completely trapped in his arms. He cursed at himself for being so small. Kai easily wrapped his big arms around him, and as much as Iris wanted to hate the closeness, the weakness he felt, the warmth creating between them..

He liked it.

"If you get out of this, I'll let you go."

"That's not fair," Iris growled, "I'm not as strong as you–clearly. It takes strength to get out of this."

"Does it? Just try."

Iris wiggled but any solid movement made it harder to breath.

He sighed, "I can't."

His chest rose and fell rapidly while Kai's felt like it wasn't moving at all. Kai titled his head at the tense prince with interest. Frustration didn't look good on his face. Or anger. Or sadness. He slowly loosened his hold, but kept his arms around him. He didn't know why, but he too, found himself liking their close proximity.

When Iris felt the constricting feeling around his body weaken, he took in a deep breath. His shoulders dropped and he shook his body.

"Ow."

Kai chuckled and grabbed Iris's shoulders, moving them in a particular motion.

"Sorry, that tactic does hurt a little."

Iris closed his eyes, liking how Kai's hands loosened up his muscles. He extended his arms, loosening them himself.

"Maybe we should start now." Kai's deep voice made Iris's eyes part open, but neither of them moved. They gazed at each other, the blank staring familiar to each other now.

But for one, small split second, Iris thought he saw Kai's eyes wander down to his mouth. He curled his fingers, his nails causing faint crescent shapes in his palms, and he yelled at himself to stop getting his hopes up.

His mind, heart, or both, clearly didn't want to listen.

As he stared at Kai, his ocean eyes, pale face, hauntingly handsome features, he gave up on trying to tame his heart. Tame his fantasizing mind. Tame his feelings

The feelings that hit so quickly it was like a snap of a finger and so suddenly it was almost unusual. Iris knew he was kidding himself, though.

Despite the argument, Iris knew enough about Kai to know where his feelings stood.

Kai was stern with rules, praised them even though he found some stupid. One of the biggest rule, law, regulation, for a vampire and a human is that the two could not have anything more than a friendly relationship, if that wasn't rare enough. And if Kai respected even the most pointless of rules, he sure as hell was going to respect the biggest one they had.

So Iris knew where his feeling stood. They stood alone and they stood one–sided.