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Whatever it was, it made her nervous.

So she jumped up.  “I must be off.  School starts soon.”

“Wait for me,” he called after her as he too gained his feet and trotted after her rapidly departing figure.  “Has anyone ever told you that you walk ridiculously fast for a woman?”

She turned her disbelieving gaze upon him and queried, “And just how fast is a woman supposed to walk?”  Her lips were twitching, but she finally got them under control, managing to seal up any smile attempting to escape.

He had no such qualms.  He loosed his engaging grin on her.  “Like this.”  He began to mince delicately down the street.

And she dissolved into a bevy of giggles.  “You are absolutely absurd!  No woman walks like that.  What you just demonstrated was a duck.  Waddling.”

It was his turn to burst out laughing.  “Fine,” he sniffed after a moment.  “I shall cease criticizing the way you walk.”  He cocked one dark eyebrow at her.  “But be prepared for me to critique your footwork tonight.  Footwork is very important when you’re fencing.”

“Oh, ho.  Is it?” she asked with a quirk of her own eyebrows.  “I promise to be all ears.”

“No,” he shook his head.  “I would definitely not want you to be all ears.”  His gaze slid down her slender frame before his eyes found hers again.  “I like all your parts.”

He had the pleasure of watching her flush a very pretty shade of pink.  But then she turned her face away from his, and he frowned. 

“Please don’t hide from me,” he murmured.  “I want to see your face.”  He refrained from using the word pretty on purpose.  Instinctively knowing that she wouldn’t like it.  He wished to avoid an argument today.  At all costs.

She glanced his way.  “Where are we meeting tonight?”

“Isn’t there an open field behind the school?”

She bobbed her head.

“Then I shall meet you at your school.  You just tell me what time.  I’ll bring two swords.  We can practice in the field behind your school.”

“All right.  Hmm.  Seven?”

He nodded.  “Will you have eaten dinner by then?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t eat dinner till I get home.”

“Hmm.  Then I shall bring you dinner too.”

Surprised, she opened her eyes wider.  “You will?”

“Mm-hmm.”

A smile crowned her face in pleasure.  “I shall look forward to it.  Thank you.”

“You are welcome, my fair lady.”  He bowed his head and shoulders to her before falling into step beside her once more.

They accomplished the remainder of their walk peacefully, both of them smiling when he headed back the way they had come.

She hadn’t admitted it to him.  But she was looking forward to seeing him tonight.  Much to her own surprise.

––

He encountered a problem.  And missed their seven o’clock deadline.  When it became apparent to him that he was going to be late, he pressed Ban Ryu to help him escape the hwarang house.

“Fake an illness,” Ban Ryu suggested.  “I’ll have them call Ah Ro for help.  And you can convince her to assist you in leaving the premises.”

“Not a bad idea.  I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that.”  Soo Ho narrowed his eyes at his friend.  “Are you becoming me?  And am I becoming you?”

Ban Ryu merely shot him a cold glance.  “Not on your life,” he finally enunciated.  Right before he parried.

They had been commanded – ironically – to practice their swordplay tonight.  Which was why he was going to be late for his very important date.  And he had no way of warning Jung Sook.

“Injure me,” he hissed at Ban Ryu.

“What?”

“Not for real,” he whispered.  “Just so I can call the fair doctor.”

“Ah,” Ban Ryu acknowledged his plan.  And prepared to damage his friend. 

But before he could, Hwa Gong approached them.  “You two are in fine shape tonight, and I need a couple of errand boys.  I want you both to run to the palace.  With this missive for the king.”

He handed it to Ban Ryu.  Who asked him a question.  “Can we stop in town for a drink when we’re done?”

Hwa Gong eyed them both suspiciously. 

Ban Ryu sighed.  “There’s this girl that Soo Ho is trying to impress.  She’s a teacher.  He wants to say hello to her.”

Soo Ho’s gaze shot daggers at his supposed best friend.  Ban Ryu just shrugged.  His expression insisted that the truth was going to get them further than a lie.

Hwa Gong glanced from one to the other.  “All right.  But be back by ten.”

Ban Ryu’s face stretched into a wide smile.  “No problem.”

The two boys raced off to do their commander’s bidding.

“You go see your girl.  I’ll take the letter to Jin Heung,” Ban Ryu generously offered.

Soo Ho frowned.  “But he told us both to go.  I’ll go with you.  I’ll head her way when we’re finished.  I know where she lives, so if she gives up on me before we return, then I’ll just go find her.”

But as it turned out, he found a young lad to take his note to her.  So it was that Jung Sook was waiting in the field for him when he arrived at eight o’clock.

“‘Tis a good thing that it’s still summer, sir.  Else we’d be fencing in the dark,” she remarked as he approached her carrying his sword and Ban Ryu’s.  Thankfully, at the last moment, his friend had reminded him that he needed to borrow his.

“I still can’t believe that girl is willing to let you teach her how to fence,” he’d asserted with a shake of his elegant head.  “She must be truly clueless as to your level of skill.”

Soo Ho had grinned languidly at him.  “I’m telling you.  The girl is half in love with me already.” 

Of course, he knew that he was bluffing.  She rebuffed him at every turn.

“Ha.  We’ll see.  I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The icy glare that’s slipped from her eyes each time her face turned your way early in the morning over the past three months.  You know, when she passed by on her way to the school.”

Soo Ho had peered at his friend in surprise.  “How did you know that she was headed for the school?”

“Everyone knows she’s a teacher.”

“I didn’t.”

“You don’t count.  You’ve always lived in your own world, Soo Ho.”

He had frowned at Ban Ryu.  “And when did you see her glaring icily at me?”

“Several times.  When I came looking for you.”

“Huh.  I never knew you were there.”

“Like I said.  You’re clueless most of the time.”  Ban Ryu had paused then admitted, “I waited a few minutes.  I didn’t want to disturb you.  I knew you had a crush on the girl.”

“A crush?  What absolute nonsense!  A crush on that plain, little thing!”

“Careful.  If she hears you saying that, she’ll know you’re just messing with her.”

“I’m not just messing with her!” he’d sounded affronted.  “I find her…intriguing.”

“I know you do,” his friend had nodded his head sagely.  “It’s not every day that you find a girl willing to thrust a blade at you.”  Ban Ryu’s normally impassive face had been disturbed by a ripple of humor as his eyes met Soo Ho’s.  “Then again, that’s probably quite a common occurrence for you.”

“Oh!  Go on with you!” Soo Ho had shoved him.  “I’m already late!  Enjoy your drink.”

“You know very well I’m not going to drink.”

Soo Ho had quirked a dark eyebrow at his friend.  “You’ve reformed, eh?  I remember the old days.  When you used to drink for hours with your buddies.  Though, come to think of it, I don’t believe I ever saw you drunk.”  Soo Ho had eyed him speculatively.

“That’s because I wasn’t.  I never get drunk.”

“Hmm.  Yes.  That fits you.  You like to maintain control, don’t you?  As much as you are able.” 

Soo Ho well knew that Ban Ryu hadn’t been able to control one iota of his life for a very long time. 

Suddenly, Soo Ho had squinted at him suspiciously.  “You better not be seeking my sister out again.”

“What are you going to do?” Ban Ryu had asked coldly with one quick quirk of his midnight eyebrow.  “Run me through with my own blade?”

“Don’t think I haven’t considered it!  You are unarmed now, you know.”

“And just how are you going to explain my early demise to Soo Yeon?” Ban Ryu had shot back with an icy stare.

Soo Ho had shaken his head.  “You got me there.  That girl would run me through with my own sword if I laid one finger on you.  She’s fierce where it comes to you.”  He had then pushed out a long breath.  “Fine.  Just…be good to my sister.  No more teasing her.”

“Teasing her?” Ban Ryu had breathed in astonishment.  “You thought I was teasing her?”

Soo Ho, headed for the road to the school, had glanced back at him.  “Weren’t you?”

“No.  I was trying to convince her to have nothing to do with me.”

“How did that work out for you?”

Ban Ryu had grimaced.  “Not well at all.”

“Why not?”

Ban Ryu had simply stared at him.

“You couldn’t get her off your mind, could you?” Soo Ho had been thinking about a particular woman whom he couldn’t get off of his mind either.  So he had suddenly found himself commiserating with his friend’s struggle.

“She deserves better than me,” Ban Ryu had muttered a moment later.  Then he had chewed on his lip.  A sign of weakness that he almost never displayed.

“Of course, she does!”  Soo Ho had exclaimed.  “But she chose you anyway, didn’t she?  You must simply become worthy of her.  Which, by the way,” he had glanced around before meeting his friend’s gaze again, “I think you have already done.  You pledged your allegiance to Jin Heung, maintained your loyalty to the hwarang, and separated from your father.  What more can you do to make amends?”

“Be born of a different house.” Ban Ryu had released a heavy sigh.

Soo Ho had just looked at him.  “I know, my friend.  I’m sorry.  I just don’t see any way that my father will ever accept you.  Unless you suddenly become rich.  Or achieve a higher status through some act of God.”

“Or the king,” Ban Ryu had muttered.

Soo Ho’s face had lit up.  “Indeed!  That would do it.  You must simply get in Jin Heung’s good graces.  He can elevate you.  Then perhaps my appa would look favorably upon your request.”

Ban Ryu had sniffed.  “I doubt very much that’s ever going to happen.”

After all, he suspected that he was the one who had revealed the existence of the faceless king among the hwarang who had visited the crown prince of Baekje a few months back.  So the blood of those villagers wasn’t just on Jin Heung’s hands.  It was on his too.  And he would never forget it. 

All because he’d lacked the courage to thwart Minister Park.  And because he hadn’t wanted to see his father humiliated by the man again.

Ban Ryu had been correct when he’d told Soo Yeon that he was a bad man.  He had urged her to stay away.  To forget him.  To stop caring for him.  But the silly girl hadn’t listened to him.  And he was too weak to resist the appeal in her beautiful eyes.  Or the sweetness in her lovely countenance.  He was also powerless to overcome the tenderness in her character or the bliss in her kiss.

So…he was headed to see her tonight.

He fervently hoped that her father wasn’t home.

––

Soo Ho grinned down at his new friend.  “There is no way that I would fence with you in the dark, Jung Sook.  You’d probably kill me.”

She released another delightful trill of laughter.  Soo Ho beamed down at her.  He could happily live the rest of his life listening to that beautiful sound.

“You should laugh more often.  It suits you,” he murmured as he reached his hand down to help her up.

Without thinking, she slipped her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet.  It was only after she was standing that she realized that she’d just allowed a man to touch her.  And she hadn’t felt one iota of fear.  She cleared her throat.

“Well, don’t get used to it.  I don’t laugh that often.”

“I know,” he sobered.  “But I wish you would.”

Her eyes collided with his then.  And her heart bent oddly in his direction. 

She sought a distraction.

“So…what’s our first step?”

He spent the next hour showing her.  And discovered that she was a natural.  She had a fluid grace that few of the hwarang possessed.  And she seemed to anticipate each of his moves. 

After half an hour of such foresight, he pulled back, gasping, “How do you do that?”

Perplexed, she frowned at him.  “Do what?”

“Know exactly where I’m going to move next.  And how I’m going to move.”

“I have no idea.  It just seems…obvious.”

“I think I don’t need to worry about your safety anymore.  I just need to outfit you with your own sword.  You’ll be just fine.”  He flashed his pretty teeth at her.

She laughed.  “And I think that my arms are going to be terribly sore tomorrow.  This sword is monstrously heavy.  How do you swing this thing around every day?”

He flexed his biceps.  “Well, I do have impressively huge muscles,” he bragged jokingly.

She poked one with the tip of her sword.

“Ouch!”  He grimaced at her.  “That hurt!”

“Just your pride.  I didn’t even leave a mark.”

He rubbed his arm.  “You don’t play fair,” he pouted.

And she laughed again.  “How old are you?  I can’t decide if it’s eight…or eighteen…or three.”

“Three?” he cried in outrage.  “Three?!”

“You already said that.”

“I know.  It’s just that it was so ridiculous that it bore repeating.”

She giggled.

He studied her.  “You need a lighter sword.  These are made for men.  I should have realized that this was going to be a challenge.  Still, it hasn’t interfered with your ability to second-guess me.”

“Maybe not.  But I am wearing out.”

He dropped his sword.  “We can stop for tonight.”

She sent a sweet smile his way.  And it tugged oddly at his heart. 

“All right.  Thank you so much for showing me how to fence.”

He grinned effortlessly at her.  “Can I show you some more tomorrow night?”

“If I can lift my arms,” she retorted.