With his strength completely drained, Liohime had fallen flat onto his partner's body, and couldn't get off of her immediately.

Deep breaths were taken in and out as he kept silent, waiting as he remained helpless on top of Shihon.

And for Shihon herself, who was smothered by his body warmth, his muscular form that held her body down with force, and his forced breaths that neared her neck…

"Master, I think I'm getting wet."

"S-Sorry…for having my sweat cover you like thi-"

"Not what I meant."

"-hk, what?"

"Nothing."

Liohime rolled off of her slender figure with haste, eyeing her with suspicion while she laughed.

"Anyway, Master, shouldn't we be brainstorming about things that we can do together? A few weeks have passed with limitations to our dates-"

"Outings," he corrected her, but she paid no mind.

"Dates. And all of our ideas have pretty much been exhausted for indoor activities, you know? It's gotten booooriiing!"

She got up and hoisted her Master up, holding his waist firmly as he regained his footing and continued, "Also, you've been working so hard that…."

Her voice trailed off faintly as she failed to finish her sentence, averting her eyes and casting her gaze downwards.

Following her line of sight, Liohime stared at the floor, pondering about something, and then answered as he gently removed himself from her grasp.

"I understand, Shihon. But…this training is very important to me, you know? I promise that we'll figure something out later….but, it's kinda hard trying to think of different things when I have a lot of stuff that I'm already preoccupied with."

Shihon sighed and turned to face him, but her ears perked up as she noticed him picking up a clean, grey t-shirt from a nearby basket of clothes near the couch and strutting off towards the front door while hastily wearing it.

Without delay, she grabbed onto the end of the short sleeve and stopped him, furrowing her eyebrows.

"W-Where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a quick jog around the block, okay? You can come with me if you want, but you'll have to transform into your beast form-"

She cut him off by waving her hands in front of her face, clearly dismissive of his plan.

"Master, you seriously need a break. All you ever do is work these days."

"Yeah, I wonder why, Shihon," Liohime replied sarcastically and tried to move forward, but Shihon did not loosen the grip of his shirt.

"Shihon."

"I'm being for real right now, if you couldn't tell, Master," she boldly answered in a much more serious tone while the young man in front of her groaned. "You've been pushing yourself too hard these days. It's time to rest, and not just for a day."

Liohime covered both of his eyes with his hand, before letting it slide down to right over his mouth. His eyes darted around erratically, and he fidgeted slightly before replying with a harsher voice.

"I'm fine."

"Like hell you fucking are. You're stressed out. I can tell-"

"Of course I am!!!"

"-hk."

Raising his voice, he stunned Shihon, and he instantly came to a realization that his emotions were finally getting the better of him and revealing themselves underneath the cracked mask that hit his true feeling bubbling inside.

Nevertheless, he had to ensure her that there was no going back, or taking it easy from here on out.

"This is for my future, hell, my life that I'm training for here," he continued. "I can't stop now. I can't sit back and relax. Not now. I'm sorry that I'm probably making you disappointed, but this is how I act when I'm dead serious about something."

Shihon gulped, staring him down with a lump in her throat, and Liohime turned to leave, but…

".....Shihon, please get out of the way."

--She had gotten between him and the front door, blocking his path, and she displayed a stern, determined expression that refused to break.

"Not happening. Not until you promise me to take a proper rest for a few goddamn days."

"Oh my fucking….why are you doing this?"

"Why? Because it's fucking counterproductive to your mental and physical state, duh?"

"Look…I know how my body works better than anyone else, okay? I'll be fine-"

"Why won't you talk to me, Master?" Shihon interjected, as a crack in her defiant voice formed, hiding a trembling shadow beneath.

".....Talk? A-About what?"

"You're clearly upset about something," she answered with a few more cracks, "And don't tell me that it's just because you're nervous about your upcoming mission. Ever since you came back home from your meeting on your birthday….no, ever since I saw your boss talking to you about that mission after I defeated those groups of thugs during the shopping incident, you always manage to show a look on your face that spells a deep fear for multiple things."

Liohime's pupils wavered, his eyes blinked faster than usual, and his face began to warm up.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're doing it again right now, Master. You think that you know my facial expressions well and can tell when I'm lying, right? We've known each other for almost two months now, and I can tell that by your excessive blinks, your fingers that nervously cling to the bottom edges of your shirt, and your slightly pulled-in lips that something's up."

Just like that, Shihon had exposed him, and before Liohime could say anything in reply, she tried to put the final nail in the coffin.

"I know that what you're getting into is insane, I truly get it. Still, I can see that your head is not in the right place and you're trying to work the stress away. I don't…want you to get hurt in that mission when you have a burden that you're keeping to yourself…"

And her confident tone finally broke down completely as her trembling voice completed her sentence.

"...So please, just talk to me…because I care about you, so, so much, damn it."

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