Skinny Love ▷ T'Challa Udaku

4 - NOTHING LESS

ZARINA NEVER FELT OUT OF PLACE DURING WARRIOR TRAINING. Whether she be with Okoye and the Dora Milaje, with T'Challa and his private lessons, or even with W'Kabi and the Border Tribe, she never felt as though she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. She was glad to just sit on the side and observe, or even just listen as she focused on her studies, waiting for her friends to be finished.

At this instance, she was waiting for T'Challa who was training with some of the Border Tribe, W'Kabi included, and was struggling to try and focus on her work over the sounds of fighting close by. She had gotten rather good at tuning out unnecessary noise, but the sound of T'Challa in pain always jolted her out of focus, her head snapping up and stomach jolting in fear; no matter how strong of a warrior he was, Zarina always worried.

At that moment, T'Challa let out a pained groan and she instantly looked up, eyes widening as she saw him on the ground, clutching his side, the others in the Border Tribe shouting for him to get up; everyone is equal in battle, and training was no exception.

W'Kabi caught her eye from his position in the sideline and jerked his head over towards T'Challa, continuing to shout with everyone else, yelling at him to get up and keep fighting, his opponent waiting, but not kicking him while he was down.

"Get up!" Zarina called out, glancing around at the others, "Get up, T'Challa!"

She tried to peer through the crowd, catching his eye, and her stomach jolted as he grit his teeth in pain. Nodding to him, pursing her lips, she watched as he nodded back, pushing himself up, narrowly dodging the blow that would send him back down, falling back into a crouch, continuing to spar. This match would not end until one yielded, no matter if they were already down.

As it proceeded, she found herself growing more and more interested, unable to focus on her book when the sounds of T'Challa fighting were now at the forefront of her mind and senses. Tucking her book underneath her arm, she made her way over to W'Kabi who caught sight of her and moved towards the back, keeping the match still within his sights.

"Hi," he greeted, smiling, and she simply rolled her eyes; always a charmer, W'Kabi was, though his infatuation with her in their younger years had turned to the care of a sibling, glad to simply poke and prod with no real bite, only care.

"Okoye is not happy that you interrupted her training," she informed, and the man sighed heavily, tilting his head to the sky and groaning. She tutted softly. "Don't complain, it is entirely your fault—"

"I know it is," he replied, slumping his shoulders slightly, "Will you tell her I'm sorry?"

She shook her head. "I only report what you did wrong, it is up to you to beg for forgiveness and accept that you even did do something wrong in the first place."

"Which I did," he added, and she couldn't help but pause, unable to keep from smiling at his interjection; he really did care for Okoye, even if he pretended that he didn't.