" I need to be willing to combine my cards. I have a feeling that will help me learning how to be a better fighter."Sakura thought as she got the sword card ready again.

Kirito waited for Sakura to release the spell that held her sword in the card. 'That's something she should work on as well, others might take advantage of the time that it takes for her to release a spell card,' Kirito thought, which was why he was glad that he could rely on his sword skills.

Sakura made a note that she needed to figure out a way to speed up the spell process and finally had her sword in her hand. She knew part of the problem was because the card needed to rest before being used again.

"Ready?" Kirito asked.

" I'm ready." Sakura said and got in a fighting stance.

"Alright then," Kirito said with a grin. "First, I'll teach you a simple slashing technique called 'Slant'" Kirito said as he prepared his sword to demonstrate the skill.

Sakura watched as Kirito demonstrated and then tried the move herself. " How did I do?" She asked.

"Pretty good Sakura-chan," Kirito said as he watched the technique and nodded at it.

Sakura smiled. "What else can I learn?" She asked feeling eager.

"What else do you want to learn?" Kirito asked, hoping that Eve was okay with him training Sakura.

" I want to learn some offensive moves. "" Sakura said.

Eve was happy that Kirito was helping Sakura. It was nice getting to know Deanna and that their Bishies were getting along.

"Alright then, Sakura-chan," Kirito said with a small grin as he started to show her some of his single sword techniques.

Sakura was getting the hang of the offensive moves and hoped she was doing okay. These were much harder than she had realized.

Kirito watched as she slowly began mastering the moves that he learned over the years, glad that she was learning them all the same. 'She's acting just like Asuna-chan...no, you're not going down that road, not now anyways,' Kirito thought to himself as he continued watching, correcting her as best he could.

Sakura kept working on the moves she had been taught and hoped she was getting better. "How am I doing." She asked, between sets.

"It seems as if you got the one hit and two hit sword skills down, but you should probably work on those some more, and then I'll show you some of the three hit combo sword skills," Kirito said. "But you're doing very well for starting," he added.

" Alright. "Sakura said and was happy she was doing well. She liked it that she was learning things to be a better fighter.

Eve was glad that Kirito was having fun teaching Sakura though she noticed Kirito look sad for a few seconds. 'I wonder what that was?' she thought.

Deanna saw Kirito's look of sadness and wondered. She hoped he was alright with training Sakura.

Salem came inside after finishing the packet of papers that he was given to by Deanna and noticed that the two females looked confused about something. "What's wrong?" he asked.

" Just worried about Kirito. He looked sad for a moment and we're not sure why. " Deanna said.

Salem looked at Kirito and then Sakura for a little bit and winced lightly. "I know why," he said softly, knowing that Deanna would most likely be annoyed at him. "She looks like Asuna, the Bishie I killed."

" You killed a Bishie when you worked for the scientists?" Deanna asked feeling a little annoyed. She did understand that was in Salem's past.

"I did, and no, I'm not proud of it. And while Kirito may never forgive me for it, he's willing to work with me, for Eve's sake," he replied, glad that Kirito helped them out, especially when they were put on a deadline by the God of Dreams.

Deanna nodded. " I understand. I do think you will be a good trainer. " She said being honest. Deanna had seen trainers that she knew weren't kind to thier Bishies and didn't think twice about it.