"I hope you can too. " Thalia said and went into the shadows. She didn't want Kirito to know about her being here at the moment.

Kirito smiled lightly when he saw Sakura in the training grounds, hoping that he was able to keep the look of sadness off his face today. "Good morning Sakura-chan," he said when he got within hearing distance.

" Morning Kirito-sensei. " Sakura said with a smile on her face.

Kirito noticed that Sakura didn't have her sword out like she usually did before he arrived and wondered if something was up.

" Have something that might sound odd but is the truth. " Sakura said and told him what Asuna wanted her to say to Kirito. She hoped this would help him.

(sorry about today, had some errands to run and then killed an hour reading by the pool)

Kirito listened to what Sakura said, surprised to hear that she had met Asuna. Though he did believe her, especially since he never spoke of Asuna around Sakura, he was a little surprised all the same. "That...actually happened?" He asked, surprise evident in his tone.

( That's fine. Been bust myself. Cleaning up after having guests over for the weekend.)

" It did really happen. I could tell how much she loves you still." Sakura said.

(*sarcasm* fun)

"Wow..." Kirito said in surprise as he felt tears leaking out of his eyes. "Thank you Sakura-chan...thank you," he said before wiping his eyes softly.

( I hate doing it, but it needs to be done.)

Thalia was happy that this had gone well and quietly left the room. She would let the two be alone now.

Sakura was glad that she was able to help Kirito and that he now knew what Asuna said to him.

(same here.)

Kirito composed himself after a few minutes and even though the tear stains were still showing, a small smile was starting to appear on his face.

" I'm glad you had someone like Asuna." Sakura said and gave Kirito a hug. She didn't know if he would mind, but she felt he needed one.

Kirito returned the hug with one of his own, hoping that she didn't mind.

Sakura smiled not minding the hug. It was good that they still were friends." Do you want to train a little bit today?" Sakura asked after a while.

"I would like that," Kirito responded, hoping that he didn't mind adding the "-chan" suffix to her name, and would stop if she wanted him to.

" What should we do? Are you going to teach me anything new or can we practice what I already know. " Sakura asked.

"Actually, I have a question for you. How quick is your summoning time when it comes to your magic spells?" He asked. While he knew that his sister was the better when it came to casting spells while he was the better swordsman, it was because of him that she was able to cast within seconds.

" It's about 30 seconds though some take less time. " Sakura said.

"do you know which spells take which?" Kirito asked. He knew that thirty seconds, while good, wasn't going to cut it in a battle. She needed to cut that time down to at least ten seconds, if not less.

" I do know which ones. " Sakura said and listed the ones that only took her 15 seconds.

"Sword and the more passive cards seem like they take fifteen seconds, while the more battle oriented magics take closer to thirty, am I right so far?" Kirito asked.

(you may have to be officially say which cards are at what limit, just to make it easier on the both of us)

" Yep you are right. "Sakura said.
( okay. I can do that. )

"Well then, how about I help you quicken your summoning speed when it comes to one of your passive cards? You can pick which one," Kirito said, truly wanting to help the girl. After that, if he could give her some tips when it came to the individual cards, then he would do so after she got the speed down.

" Okay. I'll start with The Wood. It's a gentle card that's easy to use " Sakura said.

Kirito nodded as he watched her summon it. "Interesting..." he muttered to himself as he noticed how the wood in the forest seemed to be leaning towards the spirit. He was quite curious as to what each of her cards could do overall. While it seemed as if this one could control the forest at will, he was curious about it's abilities.

" The Wood card can control things made of wood. It also can turn objects into wood as needed. " Sakura explained.