A/N: this was requested by @brain-empty ! I hope you like it!!

"Come on! Please?" You pleaded to your girlfriend, who wanted to hear absolutely none of it. "You never know! Maybe I'll be the one to beat you into a pulp and you won't even feel bad for hurting me!"

Karren looked the other way, absolutely refusing to listen to you. It was almost as if she were pouting, like a child. She didn't even dare to answer you; you probably had more excuses and reasoning in your mind that you could use against her, and she would rather avoid the argument rather than lose it.

You knew Karen's technique all too well. It's not like you didn't know her; no, on the contrary, you knew her better than most of the other servants (aside from Matsumae, who seemed quite close to her). You wouldn't accept the turn of her head as an answer. "You know Matsu's not available today, right? The only training you could squeeze in is with me!" You nearly sang, just to get to her. You were speaking facts, too. And Karren had a weakness for facts, apparently.

She made the mistake to cast a glance your way. A part of her brained asked 'why not', to which she struggled to find opposing arguments. "I categorically refuse to hit you." She stubbornly spoke, causing a large grin to manifest on your face. It wasn't devious per se, but that's because she knew you. For others, you might have looked demented just about now.

"That's great! You do need to work on your defence a bit more anyways! I noticed you were lacking a bit in that sector." Your answer coaxed an insulted expression from your girlfriend. You giggled, but didn't take back your words. It's not like you were lying when you said that. "...just a tiny bit, you know? It's just some fine tuning, really." You tried to soften the blow, just for her.

"Go get ready before I change my mind." She then took off in the direction of your usual training grounds without giving you another look. Okay, so she doesn't like being reminded that her defence is weak; it happens, no? She wasn't pissed at you, and she knew that you knew that.

"I love you!" You giggled when the only answer you received was a dismissing wave of her slim hand. You then bolted after her, since you didn't have much 'getting ready' to do. It's not like you brought your mask and battle suit everywhere you went, and you certainly didn't want to be caught with it when you were pretending to lead a human life.

As soon as the two of you were in place, you casually started warming up, thinking it might be the smart thing to do rather than to get into intensive training first thing. Your girlfriend, on the other hand, had a different idea. She lunged at you, kagune already unraveling from her back. You barely managed to counter her attack, for she had caught you off-guard. "I didn't know we were sparring like, right now!" You exclaimed, causing her to grin.

"It's quite foolish of you to think that the enemy is going to let you warm up beforehand." She replied with a smug tone of voice. "I'm doing you a favour, you know." Ah, there was Battle Karren. You admired her ability to switch mindsets and personalities so quickly. It was very useful when you lead a double life, after all.

"Fair enough," you shrugged, dodging yet another attempt to bring you down. Your own chimera kagune erupted from your back. Seeing as you were not only using a bikaku to get at her weaker points, but both of your kagunes, her smug smile was wiped clean off her face. "Since we're pretending this is real combat, how about we pretend you're fighting the Yotsume girl from Aogiri? A non-chimera would be too easy for you." Why yes, two could play at that game. And Karren was too prideful to whine that it was unfair.

"Cheeky, as always." She muttered before getting down to business. You soon got the upper hand within the combat, fulfilling your promise of working on her defences. You struck, and struck, and struck while she was trying her very best to push her limits and hold out against you. To outsiders (or even the Tsukiyama family), it might have looked like a legitimate fight to the death, but without the blood. She was doing quite well today though; usually, she would have collapsed by now.

"Your training is paying off," you praised when she knocked you back a few feet. A proud smile appeared on her face. "You held out longer this time."

"Oh, so you think we're done?" She replied. "My dear, we aren't done until there is only one of us standing. And it will be me!" She then tried to tackle you to the ground. Whatever happened to her promise of not harming you? We may never know. You weren't insulted, though. It's not like she'd win, not when you used your entire chimera against her, anyways. Besides, you were as competitive as she was, so you refused to go down without a good fight.

With an amused battle cry, your kagune clashed against hers, trying your hardest to push her away. There was a slight moment where the two of you made eye contact. Karren watched as a smirk slowly etched its way onto your face. Her own expression of effort fell when she noticed your second kagune in the air, looming above you like a threatening shadow. She tried to pull away, but you had a tight grasp on her. The organic weapon struck down on her, making her crash into the (luckily) soft ground beneath the two of you.

You placed your foot on her chest and immobilized her by keeping your bikaku to her neck. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but there's only one of us standing, meine liebste." Her face contorted in disgust at your terrible attempt to speak German while you laughed. You then let down your guard and freed her, offering her a hand to stand, which she accepted. All this despite being a sore loser. Karren really made some progress since you first met.

You both knew that the fight was hardly fair, but it was a great way for her to get stronger. Training against someone who's above your own capacity is much better, and although she would never say it to your face, she knew you had great potential that she could never reach on her own.

"You weren't going all out, were you?" She muttered, dusting off the dirt on her clothes. A few green patches of grass had stained her shirt, causing her to sigh. At least this distracted her from her ruined pride.

"No, but we're getting there! Besides, I heard you're making quite a name for yourself amongst the CCG, Rose." You teased before frowning. "About that, it means we should be more careful, okay? I've heard rumours that they're trying to trace you back to an organization. They're trying to dig out the Tsukiyama family, and possibly the group."

"Are they onto anything?!" Your girlfriend cried out, the fight already completely discarded within her memory. Her hand reached for your upper arm as she tugged onto the material of your shirt, as if she were begging for something like a child would tug at their parent's leg. "What do they know? Where did you get your information?"

"I don't know much," you sighed. Yes, the situation was pretty bad, but your source was very reliable and she said that they didn't know much yet. "I just know that they've made some connections between you and me. Well, between Rose and Scorpion, but still. You be careful out there, okay? I love you, and I never want Matsumae, or Yuuma, or anyone for that matter to come to my doorstep to announce that... you know..." You trailed off, obviously not wanting to visit the possibility of the inevitable just yet.

Karen's heart twisted within her chest, causing emotional and even physical anguish. "I... I put you at risk?" She muttered, almost as if she had said it so that she could believe it. The smart choice would be to break things off to scatter the doves a bit, but she couldn't bare to do so. What if it didn't help, and you'd leave this world thinking she didn't love you? It was not right and it surely couldn't be done. She'd be as loyal to you as she was to Shuu. Running away from either of you would be a sin.

Seeing the obvious turmoil swimming in her eyes, you gently took hold of the hand that was almost ripping apart the sleeve of your shirt and held it in your own. "We'll be alright, Karren. I'm glad that I got to tell you now, so that you may inform everyone to stay on their toes, and maybe hunt less. I want everyone to be safe." Your lover wordlessly nodded while you sighed. "And no matter what happens, prioritize yourself over others. Do it for me, and for Shuu, alright? You're more valuable than you can possibly fathom, and I couldn't bear to lose you." With that said, you leaned in and gently kissed her, to which she responded with the same sweetness. Give it a few seconds and tears would have been included in the mix.

Luckily, it didn't have time to happen as Matsumae called out for your girlfriend. The two of you separated and turned your attention to the servant walking over with a disappointed look in her eyes. "Look at yourself, Kanae!" She exclaimed while obviously pointing at the woman's stained shirt. "You're barely presentable, let's get you inside so you can change." She didn't have much of a say in what to do; the ravenette dragged her back, waving goodbye at you. Not wanting to go against Matsumae's wishes, Karren simply gave you a sweet and apologetic smile before following her inside, limping just a tiny bit.

Yeah, you were both going to be sore tomorrow.