Disclaimer: I don't own Halo. Nor do I own at Halo. Really and truly, Halo is not mine. Nor do I claim it to be.

A/N: I know this update severely overdue, but I just never did come back to this fic. Anway, read, review, and hopefully you won't have to wait forever for the next update.

Chapter 2: In Too Deep

Master Chief found himself buried in a hail of punches, his Spartan reflexes keeping him dodging just fast enough to keep from catching a small fist in his face. He grabbed the outstretched arm as yet another punch sped for his jaw. Even as he spun to throw the girl to the opposite side of the boxing ring they were fighting in, she somehow reversed his throw, sending him hard into the corner. Pain burned his back and air was forced from his lungs when he so ungracefully fell into a heap in the corner.

"How the hell is this little girl so damn strong?!" he growled after he wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile, the slim teenager bounced lightly on her toes on the other side of the ring totally undisturbed. So far the Spartan hadn't managed to land a single blow and was beginning to tire slightly. Nimori still looked fresh, lacking a single bead of sweat and didn't even appear to breathe heavy. But since most of the shots she'd managed to land were counters, John decided that he'd been expending all of his energy against himself thus far.

"Come on Chief! You don't have to hold back anymore," Nimori said happily. The Spartan grunted in response and pulled himself back to his feet. His opponent's face lit up with an eager grin as she settled down into a more stable stance.

Okay, so she has more than a passing knowledge of martial arts, he said to himself as he cracked his knuckles. She had proved herself to be beyond the tricks he'd learned to easily upset the balance of inexperienced fighters. Furthermore, she was faster than any human he'd seen. Not as fast as a Spartan of course, but much more than he'd expected. Her reflexes were beyond anything he'd seen, which was bad considering that she seemed to have a fixation on painful joint locks. He didn't care to count the number of useless limbs he would have if it wasn't for his reinforced bones and augmented muscles.

"You're better than I expected Nimori, but still not quite good enough," he said confidently as he walked towards her. A slight chuckle came from the girl.

"We'll see about that."

She dashed forward and sent a roundhouse kick at the Chief's face. He easily leaned back and let the blow sail through the empty space just in front of his nose. Once the kick had passed, he reached out and gave her a shove that put her on her backside.

"Try again." She glared up at him indignantly before a smile reclaimed her face again. That was certainly a beautiful smile she had. Wait a minute … what're you thinking you pedifile?!

The Chief's thoughts were interrupted as Nimori went back on the offensive. The teenager leapt high into the air and came down aiming to hit the Chief with her knee. Raising his hands over his head, John caught the lower half of Nimori's leg, but she wasn't ready to be countered just yet. She flipped back, planted her hands on the floor of the ring, and sent the Chief flying into the corner as she brought the rest of her body around to complete the backflip. At least, that was what she tried. The Spartan let her leg go and she ended up slamming it down into the floor, leaving a leg sized hole in the canvas. He was about to attack, but paused as the girl began pouting over her apparently hurt leg.

"Owwie! That really hurt!" she whined. She appeared to be on the verge of tears, but as she looked up at the Chief, her brilliant smile returned to her face. "You're just as good as I dreamed you would be!"

He blinked. That comment just seemed a little … awkward to him. Her smile was still just as genuine and innocent as ever, but he couldn't help but think that there was some sort of mischief behind that statement.

"Are you ready to give up yet?" he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What're you talking about? I haven't started yet!" And with that, she disappeared.

"Damn! Where'd she-!" Her uppercut jammed his mouth closed forcefully as it slammed into his face. The experienced super soldier ignored the pain and tried to retaliate, but the agile teenager was gone again before he could react. He spun around and caught a flash as she sped by. She was literally running circles around him, a mockery in itself. Suddenly she jumped up in his face from the side.

"HI CHIEF!!" she yelled merrily with a huge grin on her face. The Spartan, took a startled step back. The girl merely stood there and was apparently trying to blind him with her bright smile. Suppressing a curse, he sent a punch to her face and hit nothing but air. She was gone again.

"Dammit… If you're gonna fight then fight me!" Master Chief yelled with pure anger making his voice harsh. Something told him he would regret saying that.

"Well, if you say so…" The girl's voice seemed to come from every direction at once.

There was a pause for a moment before the beating commenced. She darted in, dashing by like lightning and landing quick strikes that hit like thunder. The force of her attacks was augmented by the high speed she was moving at, slamming into the Chief like a freight train. It was all he could do to keep his footing under the torrent he was getting hit with. He knew that if he did nothing, it would be lights out in maybe a minute. Leaving his body on autopilot, his mind ran through dozens of plans.

Chances were the inexperienced teenager that was so youthfully dashing around him was moving in a set pattern so as to keep her speed up. At the speed she was moving, even her reflexes would be too slow to evade any attack he directed towards her. If that attack connected, the results would be devastating. So all he had to do was figure out her pattern, then attack when she dashed in to hit him and the fight would be over.

He covered himself with his arms and tightened all the muscles in his body to minimize the damage being dealt to him. As he stared forward, he let his eyes become unfocused. When she dashed by, his unfocused eyes snapped to her. She appeared to be moving in short leaps, landing in one spot then using all of the strength in her legs to launch her towards her next destination. Luckily, one of the spots she landed at was straight in front of the Chief. Ignoring the dizziness that accompanied a particularly strong blow to the back of his head, he began counting the interval between when she landed in the spot in front of him. Naturally he didn't count using any numbers, but developed a sense of timing for the leap. His fine tuned ears picked out the other spots and soon he had her entire course mapped out. Now all he had to do was wait for the right time. A hard hit to his spine sent a spasm through his body that nearly saw him sprawled out on the floor. The experienced wardog realized that it was now or never. Letting his feel for the girl's timing guide him, he waited for a moment, then sent a sidekick in the direction that his back was facing an instant earlier.

The teenager doubled over his leg and blood spewed from her mouth as her dash brought her midsection straight into the Spartan's hard sidekick. He brought his foot back and Nimori dropped to the floor rolled into a ball and holding her middle. She coughed up some more blood onto the canvas and writhed pitifully on the floor. Her miserable groans penetrated the Chief's conscious and he began to wonder if he overdid it when her breathing slowed.

The soldiers that he'd totally forgotten had surrounded the ring were deathly silent. He didn't know why he noticed their silence, when he'd been ignoring their yells all fight long.

"Someone go get a doctor!" he yelled to the frozen soldiers. They remained where they stood, staring at the broken teenager on the floor of the ring. "NOW!" Marines scattered about, sparing the Chief and Nimori scared glances. Once a few runners had been sent to get help, Johnson climbed into the ring as the Chief knelt beside Nimori.

"I didn't think your old ass would be able to track me," she coughed, though that smile shone through her bloodied lips. Why couldn't she ever look at him without smiling?

"Are you okay Nimori?" the Chief asked worriedly. She began to laugh, but cut off abruptly as her body coughed more blood onto the canvas. "Calm down! You need to relax so that you don't hurt yourself any more than I've done for you."

"Wow Chief. It seems the cold hearted killer has a soft spot for sweet young pu-" Johnson cut off and raised his hands apologetically when the Spartan fixed him with an ice cold glare. The man was definitely wiser than anyone the Chief knew. He was always knew how to cheer him up when it was possible, and knew to stay out of the way when it wasn't.

Turning his attention back to his admirer, the Chief reached out and pushed the hair back out of her face. She gasped slightly and looked up at him. Her expression softened and that damned heart-melting smile returned to her face.

"I'm sorry Nimori. I didn't mean to hurt you like this," he said softly as he tried not to look into her deep brown eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself Spartan." His eyes snapped to her's. That voice was that of a grown woman, not the girl that lay before him. "I'll be eating dinner with you tonight. If you don't mind of course." The last she tagged on with a soft chuckle.

Johnson took a breath to make a comment but the Chief tensed and that was all it took. While the Sergeant was quick to back down, it bothered the Chief that he was being so persistent. That would have to wait though. There were more important things to deal with.

"I think you should rest up before you start making plans to be up and around," he responded seriously.

"Chief, did you not hear me? I said that I'm just fi-!" As she tried to sit up, the super soldier's strong arm pinned her back down to the mat. Her eyes locked to his and that blasted smile got bigger. "Okay. Just don't be surprised when I come to see you later on."

Finally the doors opened to admit the medical personnel. They quickly gathered the teenager up and placed her on a stretcher before taking her off to the infirmary. The whole time she was staring straight at him with a … mischevious look in her eyes. Once the door shut behind the medical crew, Johnson came up behind the Chief and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen here son, you're over fifty, she's under twenty," the dark skinned man said gruffly.

"I know that Johnson," Chief answered more defensively than he'd intended. That wasn't a good sign and Johnson picked up on it immediately.

"That girl is nothing but trouble, and I don't just mean she's thirty years younger. I would tell you not to go getting involved with her, but that's just too much for you to handle." The Chief grunted dryly at the Sergeant's comment. Johnson went on as if he didn't notice. "Now, you're gonna come with me and I'm gonna teach you everything I know about dealing with women." The shorter man put a friendly arm on the Chief's shoulder and began heading towards the door but the Spartan shrugged his arm off.

"That won't be needed. I know what I'm doing."

"I don't remember giving you a choice Marine!" Johnson snapped, and for some reason, Master Chief went to attention. It was like boot camp all over again, and for some reason, Johnson was the superior in this situation. "Now, you're gonna come with me and learn how to deal with those devils called females! First thing you need to know…"

As they walked out of the gym, the Sergeant began pounding in things into the Chief's head that the Spartan really wasn't comfortable hearing.