Mako removed her boots and placed them neatly at the edge of the exercise mat. Next, she took off her military issued jacket and folded it precisely next to her boots. Now in her bare feet and a olive green tank top, she turned to face Raleigh.
He had watched as she methodically prepared herself for their match. He marveled at how much strength she had when sparring with him despite her petite frame. When he had first met her, he had incorrectly assumed that she was delicate and soft. After their first match, he had learned the hard way that beneath her ever polite demeanor lay a resilient and efficient warrior.
At first, he was just happy that he had found a drift partner that was compatible with him. He wanted to be out there in the Gipsy Danger fighting on the front lines. He wanted to prove to himself that he still had it in him and that Yancy's death wasn't for nothing. It wasn't until after he and Mako had drifted that first time when he found out about her family and her connection to the Marshall that he realized he started to care for her.
He admitted at first it was more pity than anything. How she had lost her whole world in a fraction of a minute. He could relate. Then, when he realized her resilience in the face of destruction, the pity was replaced by respect. She had bounced back with the Marshall's guidance and made herself an invaluable part of the Jaegar program. That was why it was so easy for him to beat the living daylights out of Chuck Hansen when he made disparaging remarks about Mako.
It almost broke his heart when Mako and the Marshall faced each for the last time right before their mission to close the rift. Mako had pleaded with the Marshall not to co-pilot the Striker Eureka but when the Marshall stood firm, she didn't rail or cry. She stoically bowed her head and accepted his choice even though he knew it all but killed her. Knowing all hope was lost, she had yelled, "Sensei, I love you" to Pentecost before the Striker Eureka self-detonated. It was then that his respect had turned to admiration.
When he himself thought all was lost, he had turned to look at an unconscious Mako and the first thing that came to his mind was that he couldn't, he wouldn't let her die if he could help it. So, he sacrificed his oxygen line and released her in an emergency pod praying that she would make it back up through the rift before he detonated the Gipsy Danger. It was when he awoke to her desperately clutching onto him that he realized his admiration had somehow turned to love.
"Raleigh?" Mako called. "Raleigh?"
He blinked and stared at her, subconsciously trying to concentrate on the match at hand. Being in the same room with her was making him seriously unfocused.
"Yeah, I'm ready," he replied with more confidence than he really felt.
Mako furrowed her brow at him but said nothing.
He turned and offered his bokken to her. She nodded her head in acknowledgement and took the wooden practice stick from him brushing her hands over his for the briefest of seconds.
It felt like a jolt of lightening had coursed through him when her hand had touched his. Memories of failing asleep with her in his arms pushed their way through as he tried to maintain his composure.
"Are you alright, Raleigh?" She asked brows still furrowed.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's fine." He was turning into a hormone filled teenager right before her eyes. He had to get a grip on himself.
"Because if you would like to forfeit this match, I would not be upset," Mako replied with a hint of challenge in her voice.
Raleigh stilled immediately. She was goading him, trying to throw him off-balance. She was playing dirty. Two can play this game he thought. "I was going to ask you the same. It hardly seems fair this match. I know all your moves already," he said with a playful tone.
"Hardly. It is you that is the predictable one," she countered. "You do not consider all avenues of attack before taking action. You often times rush into a move hoping that your strength alone will help you prevail. You are overconfident in your maneuvers sacrificing efficiency for showmanship."
"Is that so?" Raleigh said surprised and annoyed at the same time.
"It is," Mako replied matter-of-factly.
"OK," he said drawing out the word. "Why don't you test out your theory up close and personal?"
"I plan to," she said with a glimmer in her eyes. She swung her bokken 180 degrees and planted it firmly on the floor. She looked at him for a brief second and formally bowed.
Raleigh returned the bow and gripped his bokken so that it was at a 45 degree angle from him.
The next 10 seconds was a blur as Mako raised her bokken and swung it in a precise arc towards Raleigh's upper torso. He reacted instantly and blocked her blow. He took a step back and swung his bokken towards her ankles in the hopes of knocking her off her feet. She easily anticipated his move and sprang up to avoid his swing.
Undeterred, Raleigh began a fast and clipped attack forcing Mako to retreat backwards with each blocked blow. When she had run out of mat, she crouched low as if to roll over and hooked her bokken between his legs and flicked her wrist upwards knocking Raleigh off his feet. He landed on his back with a thud and an oomph.
Sweat had formed on Mako's face as she quickly positioned herself back in the middle of the mat while Raleigh picked himself off the mat.
"See?" Mako taunted. "Predictable."
More shocked than hurt, Raleigh sucked in a deep breath and repositioned himself so that he was facing her again. He raised his bokken and started to slowly circle around Mako forcing her to turn her body in sync with him. Their eyes locked with each other and the world disappeared.
Raleigh took two steps forward and dealt a forceful blow to Mako that caused her to involuntarily jerk back. He closed in on her and duplicated the same move she had executed on him and before she could recover, Mako found herself on her back staring at the ceiling.
"Predictable," he said in a bored tone.
Mako bounced back up and immediately raised her bokken in an offensive position. Before Raleigh could turn around completely, she had stepped to his blind side and rapped his left side with two neat and swift blows causing him to bend over in pain.
"What the ...?" He cried as he grasped his side. That was going to leave a bruise.
"Never take your eyes off your opponent," she said seriously as she repositioned herself again. Sweat was now freely dripping off both of them as their adrenaline went into overdrive.
Raleigh released his side and straightened himself despite the pain. He clutched his bokken with both hands and swung it in a fanlike motion as he quickly advanced onto Mako. She immediately took a defensive posture but the strength of his blows were too powerful for her to block so with every block, she involuntarily stepped back a foot until she found herself pinned to the wall with Raleigh's face mere inches from hers, their bokkens crossed between them.
Breathing hard and drenched in sweat, neither one of them was willing to budge so they stood there at an impasse so close that they could feel each other's breaths on their faces. There lips were inches away from each other.
Raleigh stared into Mako's eyes. "You mean like this?" He asked quietly.
Mako involuntarily blushed. She hoped he would mistaken it for exertion instead of what it really was. As much as she fought against it, she felt drawn into his eyes. For a brief second, looking into his eyes, it felt like she was drifting again with him. They were one. Their thoughts, their actions and their movements. In his eyes, she saw all his pain, all his frustrations and all his fears. She also saw herself. Alone and afraid. Is that how he saw me, she thought?
Before she could see more, she drew up her reserve strength and pushed Raleigh off her in an almost acrobatic move that sent them both flying backwards onto the floor, bokkens thrown across the room. She landed squarely on top of him in his arms. Despite the force of their landing and the fact that this was the second time he had landed hard onto the floor in less than thirty minutes, Raleigh had wrapped his arms around her to minimize her impact. Fortunately, it had worked and Mako looked more embarrassed than hurt. Unfortunately, he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him and it took a second to catch his breath.
"Are you OK, Mako?" He asked in a winded voice, his arms still around her waist.
Pushed up against his rock hard chest, she didn't know what to say or do. She nodded as she broke free from his embrace and pushed herself up off him. Once standing, she quickly smoothed out her hair and said in a clipped voice, "I believe it is I that has won this match. Do you agree?"
Raleigh looked up at her from his position on the floor. She looked beautiful at this angle almost like an angel. "Yes, I agree," he replied as he made no move to get up.
Mako nodded her head in acknowledgement and bowed. "I will let Dr. Geiszler know the good news."
He nodded back. "Wonderful," he dead panned.
"Thank you for the match," Mako said still flushed as she quickly turned to grab her jacket and boots before leaving the room.
Raleigh slowly brought himself upright and put his elbow on his knee. Winded and aching, he allowed himself a huge smile. It had worked. Other than being poked and prodded by Geiszler, his plan was perfect. He already heard about Geiszler's neural tracking system. What Mako probably didn't know was that he had already decided to volunteer to be part of the program the minute he heard that Geiszler need control subjects ... control subjects that preferably had already drifted together before to give baseline readings. It was just Raleigh's luck that he and Mako were about the only Jaegar co-pilots left in the world. Oh yes, he thought, the next few months were going to be very, very interesting.