Teach Me
Allura panted as she swung her staff around in complex attack and defensive positions around the practice room. Beads of sweat rolled down her face as she continued to fight her imaginative enemy when she heard someone walk in, disturbing her concentration. Stopping to catch her breath and wipe her face, Allura turned to see Keith walking in with his Bayard and dagger.
"Sorry to interrupt. I didn't know anyone else was in here." Keith stated simply as set down his Bayard and took a firm grip of his dagger.
Allura shook her head and gave him a smile. "Not a problem, I could use the company anyways. I was just thinking it would be nice to have a sparring partner."
"Really? You want to spar with me?" Keith repeated like she was speaking fluent Altean all of a sudden.
Allura tilted her head as she mindlessly shifted her staff from one hand to the other. "Of course I do. Is that a problem?"
"No. " Keith answered immediately without hesitation, "I was just surprised to hear those words come out of your mouth."
The Princess chuckled and started to twirl her weapon between her fingers like it was a baton. "And why is that?"
"No reason. Sure I'll spar with you, just let me warm up first." Keith responded as he took off his jacket and laid it next to his Bayard. He stretched out his arms first and rolled his shoulders, after that he stretched out his legs and finally cracked his knuckles.
Allura looked at him as he warmed up with a newfound playfulness. She never really paid attention to it before, but he had a lean muscular build that screamed warrior potential. She had to give credit where credit was due and in her opinion he more than earned his position as a Paladin.
Keith stepped forward and faced his Princess with the dagger in his hand, the sheath still covering up the blade. "I don't wanna use the actual blade on you so I'm gonna spar like this. That cool with you?"
"What a gentleman." Allura replied as she twirled her staff around and got ready to spar. "That's fine with me."
They held each other's gaze as a silent bell rung in the air. At the same time they lunged forward and their weapons clashed. Even while the dagger was in the sheath it still packed a nasty punch as the force almost made Allura lose her footing, but she recovered and pushed back. Keith was surprised with the amount of strength behind her staff and had to adjust his stance to keep her from making him lose his balance. They held that position for a few seconds before they pulled apart and started going at each other with full force. Allura was using her defensive skills to keep him from landing a hit on her body as Keith protected himself from her staff with his blade when she attacked. The match continued on for almost an hour until finally Allura landed a hit on Keith as her staff hit his shoulder with medium force. After all, she didn't want to hurt him too badly since it was a sparring match. Still the impact made him fall on his knees as he gripped his shoulder with his free hand in pain.
"Are you alright?" Allura asked with concern as she knelt at his side and laid down her staff on the ground. Keith looked over from his shoulder to gaze into her eyes as he nodded his head.
Gently, Allura slowly moved his black t-shirt away to see she had given him a nasty bruise from their sparring match. Wincing at the pain, Keith's skin tingled when her gentle fingertips moved across his exposed shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. I've had worse than this when I spar with Shiro. Heck I've had worse injuries when I spar with Lance sometimes." Keith reassured Allura when he saw the guilty look on her face. "Who taught you how to fight like that?"
Allura looked up from his shoulder and gave a small smile. "My father. He taught me everything I know and Coran helped me when he was too busy running the kingdom."
"I'm not much of a staff fighter, but do you think you could teach me some of those moves?" Keith asked as he saw her eyes grow wide with surprise. "I mean, if you're not busy with anything else."
His request took her off guard but slowly her excitement grew. Allura nodded her head and tenderly gripped his hand with hers. "Sure thing, but only if you teach me how to fight with a dagger. I could use a little bit of weapon variety as well."
"If Zarkon doesn't attack us on our free time, I'd be more than happy to." Keith chuckled as he tenderly squeezed her hand back.
They smiled at each other and the whole atmosphere around them grew warm with tenderness. Who knew a sparring match could create such a tender moment between two people.