Chapter 2: Close to You

"Left! Right!" Chris yelled, as I threw a punch and a kick in each direction. "Behind you!" he yelled again. I did a roundhouse kick high enough to take a demon off balance. He threw a knife, and I caught it. I flipped it in the air, the blade reflecting the dim light as it fell in my hand. I zeroed in on a crack in the wall, and threw it , the blade landing landing right in the crack. Chris walked down the stairs towards me, gazing at the knife in the wall.

"Nice shot." he said, looking at me, then back at the knife. I went to the wall and pulled the knife out. I flipped it in the air again, the blade landing in my hand again like last time. I walked back to Chris and offered it to him, my eyebrows raised and my head to the side. He took it, smiling, and hung it on the wall.

"I'm impressed." he said. He turned back towards the wall and grabbed two swords. He threw one at me, and I caught it by the handle. I twirled it in my hand a couple times and looked at the blade. "Ready to go, Xena?" he asked, teasingly. I smiled, and raised my sword to where the point was right in front of me. Che crashed his sword against mine, and twirled his sword like I had done. He brought it up and back down on mine as I blocked his attack.

"Ahh, so we're playing rough, are we?" I said, attacking him back. He stepped back and I stepped forward. He blocked my every move. For awhile, it was all we could hear, the metal of the blades crashing. I spun around and attacked him again, knocking his sword out of his hand. I kicked him in the gut, and he fell onto his back, losing his breath for a few seconds. I brought my sword to his throat, but not close to the skin.

"I'll say it again, I'm impressed." he said, breathing heavily. Then I felt my feet come out from under me, and I landed right on top of him. His back arched with my weight coming down so hard. I hadn't seen that coming. "If I'd been a demon, you'd be dead." he said, looking at me. Besides all the heavy breathing, it was quiet. I looked at him, and he looked at me. I wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.

I stood up, and backed away, offering my hand to him. He sat up and took it, groaning as he bent over, holding his back. I bent over, and brought my head down to the same level as his. He looked at me like he didn't know me. He still had my hand, and he held it for a second, but then dropped it suddenly. He brushed past me, and walked to the banister where two towels were hanging. He grabbed one and threw it to me, wiping his face with the other one. I wiped my face with mine.

"I didn't know you could sword fight, or do martial arts for that matter. Why didn't you tell me? We could've skipped this part of the training." he asked. I shrugged.

"You never asked. That, and I wanted to see if I could beat you, which I technically did. See, I should've seen that trip coming, and if I had, I would've dodged it,and I'd still have a sword to your throat." I said, tossing my towel back at him. He smirked, and came closer to me.

"But the thing is, you didn't see it coming, so you didn't dodge it, so that makes me the winner." he said, looking into my eyes. I couldn't think with him this close. Nonchalantly, I backed away and walked to the base of the stairs that led up into the kitchen.

"Uhhh, all this fighting is making me thirsty, I'm gonna...go make some tea. Would you like tea?" I asked, not looking directly at him. He sighed, and shook his head.

"Ummm...yea. You go ahead, I'm gonna clean up down here. I'll be there in a minute." he replied. I nodded and went upstairs, unable to catch my breath. I didn't know what was wrong with me lately. I could only hope that I wasn't feeling what I thought I was feeling. I shook my head, and blinked, pushing the thought away. I went to the cabinet, and looked for the tea mix. I grabbed the pitcher from another cabinet, and began making the tea, not being able to stop myself from thinking about the boy downstairs.

The tea had been finished for a while now, and I was reading the paper at the table, when I heard Chris coming up the stairs from the basement. I could feel his eyes on me when he arrived at the top. He poured himself some tea, and stood at the counter, drinking it, not coming over to the table, by me.

All of a sudden, there was a crash and a scream coming from the attic. I looked at Chris with wide eyes. He grabbed my hand, and orbed us to the attic. We orbed in just in time to see Paige fly across the room, the potion sliding out of her hand, across the floor to stop at Chris' feet. Chris picked it up, but not before the demon hit him, sending him flying into the china cabinet, causing him to drop the potion. I waved my arm and suddenly the demon was sailing through the air. I gasped at what I'd just seen, and looked down at my hand in horror. I ran over and picked up the potion, throwing it at the demon. As soon as it bounced off his chest, he screamed and disappeared in a giant flaming cloud. Chris sat up, and looked at me, as did Paige. I looked at my hand, again, horror-stricken, and turned it over, wondering what had just happened.

"How the hell did I do that?" I asked, my eyes wide.