“Again!” Sanemi’s muted violet eyes bore down at you with that familiar scornful look, devoid of any respect while the tip of his bokken nearly touched your forehead with the closeness.

Those who couldn’t beat him? They didn’t deserve the light of day— at least that’s what he told himself. But with you, it was different. There was a mild difference large enough for him to notice, large enough for those eyes to linger on you for just a moment too long- for those eyes to dart away when he thought your gazes locked. Though, it seemed he was a master at disguising his emotions— his temper, however and the subtle flush in his cheeks whenever you looked at him? Not so much. Or maybe he was just running. Running from the truth of what he was feeling.

He didn’t have time for love nor fondness. Love meant having something to lose. So? He resisted it with anger, denial and distance. But even these efforts didn’t stop his heart from yearning. Didn’t stop his temper from flaring whenever somebody got too close to you or whenever you made the move to leave first.

He didn’t care. He couldn’t.

His eyes continued to glower down at you as you remained sat on your rump on the ground after being knocked down, once again. The other trainees watched with a consistent dread for their turn, and if you looked hard enough, you could see the subtle tremors in their hands.

But even through their timidness around Sanemi, even they could tell. They could tell how his voice, while short-tempered towards them, dropped when he was with you. Not by a lot. But it was noticeable when he thought it wasn’t.

“Get up. Again.” Sanemi repeated with a scathing look in his eye, his chin jerking upwards slightly with a flick of his bokken. “Your ass would be dead in a heartbeat if you were out there battling an Upper Rank!” he chastised spikily, the veins in his hand popping a little.

For a second, in response to his own words, his throat bobbed. Like he physically fought the urge to shrink back at the thought.