I woke up the next morning, so ready to go. I knew I was starting combat today and I was super excited. I threw on some workout clothes, did a little make-up, and threw my hair into a messy bun before starting downstairs. Landon was lacing up his shoes at the table when I walked into the main room. He smiled up at me as he stood.
"Goodmorning sunshine."
"Morning." I said, smiling as I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. He raised an eyebrow.
"Someone's in a good mood." He noticed. I shrugged.
"I guess I am, huh?"
"You seem to be. It's a good look for you." He teased. I smiled.
"Any look is a good look for me." I retorted simply. He laughed and nodded.
"Touché." He said, before walking towards the gym. "Have fun training."
"You know I will." I told him, before walking out the back door. When I walked out, Dimitri had one of the practice mats set up on the track. He was sitting on it, stretching his legs. When the door shut behind me, he looked up.
"Good morning."
"Morning comrade." I said, as I stepped on the mat. "It's good to see your preparing yourself."
"Be quiet, and stretch, Rose." He muttered, shaking his head. It was obvious that he was in a good mood too, which was always a good thing. You never got in between with Dimitri. It was either one or the other. I sat my bottle of water down on the ground, and started stretching. While mid-stretch, I turned to Dimitri.
"Why don't you want to train inside? In the air condition, you know?" I asked. He chuckled and shook his head.
"Because odds are, any strigoi you meet in your lifetime, you aren't going to meet them in an air conditioned and padded room." He told me. I rolled my eyes.
"So, you're going to make me train out here, and pour sweat, just to teach me that?" I asked. He nodded.
"Pretty much, yes." He said, nodding. "And also because it's funny to hear you complain about it."
"You love to torture me, don't you?" I asked.
"I got stuck with you, so I have to entertain myself somehow." He said. My mouth was gaping open at this point. The light chuckle that came from him caused me to smile. I couldn't help but be happy when he was in a good mood. It was contagious around him. "I was kidding, Rose."
"Yeah, sure." I muttered, smirking at him. I stood up. "Let's do this."
"You sure about that?"
"I'm positive. I'm not afraid of you. I have a feeling you're not as big and bad as you look." I said, placing a hand on my hip. Before I knew what happened, my feet were flying out from under me, and I was on my back, staring up into a set of dark chocolate eyes. I was completely out of breath, and I hadn't even moved. He smirked down at me, causing my heart to skip a beat.
"Not so big and bad, huh?" He asked, staring down at me. I was kind of left speechless for a second. I just kind of gawked up at him like an idiot, before my open mouth turned into a smirk. I tried to shift my weight and roll us, which would put me over him, but he guessed my move, and pinned my arms above my head, and used one of his legs to cover mine to make sure I couldn't move. I growled.
"Damn you." I muttered. He chuckled.
"I could tell what you were thinking before you made the conscious decision to do it." He told me.
"How?" I demanded. He shrugged.
"I don't know… You're just easy for me to read." He said.
"I'm not your book, Belikov." I said, trying to wiggle my way out of his grasp. I wasn't succeeding though. He laughed, obvious finding this amusing. I finally gave up, and sighed. "Let me up, please."
"Nope… take back what you said." He said.
"No… I'm not afraid of you, Dimitri." I said.
"Take it back, or we'll stay like this all day."
"That'll be awkward when someone comes out and see's this. I'll scream rape." I threatened. He released my hands. I laughed as I caught him off guard. I pushed myself up and shifted myself out from under him. I stood up, and turned on him, going to attempt to take him to the ground, when he took me down again. "Damn it." I said. He stood up, helping me up. He smiled.
"You're not as good as you thought, huh?"
"Shut up." I muttered, as I brushed myself off. He smiled.
"Alright, now… are you ready to actually train, or do you want to continue on this unforsaken path you've started down?" He asked me. I growled.
"Teach me, master." I said, mocking a bow. He shook his head at me.
"Alright, let's go." He said, crouching down.
"What?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.
"You sound scared." He observed.
"Scared? Never. You're not going to… I don't know, teach me something first?" I asked. He smiled.
"I wanna see what you can do first? Come on… I'll go easy on you." He tried.
"Liar. I can see it in your eyes that you're lying." I snapped. He sighed.
"I promise." He said, meeting my gaze. I groaned.
"Fine, let's do this." I said. I crouched down and took a deep breath, before we circled and I threw a punch. He dodged it and kicked my calf, causing me to stumble. He tried to grab me and take me down then, but I wasn't going down that easily. I caught myself and moved under his arm, landing a punch to his stomach. He took the full force of my hit, causing him to flinch a little. He didn't falter though, and kept coming with his attacks. We exchanged blows for the longest time, before my body finally started getting weak. He landed a kick to my stomach, causing me to stumble back and off the mat and onto the track. I didn't realize I'd done it until I felt my head smack the pavement.
"Rose?" Dimitri exclaimed, but I was already fading in and out of consciousness. I grabbed my head, the pain echoing through my skull. "Rose… come on, Roza… Stay awake." He begged.
"Fuck… It hurts." I screamed, causing my head to throb even more. I felt him scoop me up into his arms, as the ground disappeared underneath me. Tears were streaming down my face as he ran back to the house with me. The more he moved with me in his arms, the more my head throbbed. I tried not to scream and moan, but I couldn't help it. I'd experienced pain, but never anything like this. It was like death all over again. I wondered if I was dying. The moment he got me inside, I started fading into unconsciousness.
"Roza… Roza, stay with me." He said, his voice barely registered with me. I'd barely understood what he'd said. Before I knew it, I was being laid down on something soft. It was then that the blackness swallowed me.
When I woke up, I wasn't sure where I was. I was confused, and sat up far too quickly. The moment I did, I grabbed my head and screamed in pain as the horrid throbbing returned.
"Rose." A Russian laced voice said, before I felt a hand pushing me back down onto the bed I was on.
"God, my head." I cried.
"Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay, damn it. My head is killing me. I think I might have an aneurism." I said, half jokingly. With the pain I was in, it wouldn't have surprised me though.
"I'm serious, Rose." He said, voice hard.
"So am I." I snapped, rubbing my head. He sighed, obvious realizing that with my smart mouth, I was alright for the most part.
"Here, take these." He said, handing me to red pills and a glass of water. I did as he asked. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I remember training, and feeling myself get tired, and-." I stopped realizing I didn't really remember.
"You stumbled back off the mat and when you fell, you fell on the concrete." He said.
"I told you practicing outside wasn't a good idea." I snapped, wincing at the pain that caused. He smirked.
"It would have hurt just as much if you would have been in the gym, on the hardwood floor." He informed me. I sighed. I guess he was right. "And we'll still be practicing outside… Maybe just using the bigger mat." He told me. I sighed, and slowly tried to sit up. He started to push me back down, but I slapped him away.
"I'm fine… stop." I said. I lolled over a little bit, but eventually got myself into a sitting position without screaming. He smirked.
"Maybe you weren't as ready for combat as you thought you were since you couldn't even make it through the first day." He teased.
"Shut up, it was an accident. I didn't mean to step off the mat, and I damn sure didn't mean to fall and bust my head on the concrete." I told him. He nodded, but his teasing banter faded.
"You had me worried. You hit your head really hard." He told me.
"I'm hard-headed."
"I know that… but I heard you head smack the ground, Roza. I didn't think you were going to make it out of that without a trip to St. Vladimirs to the medical unit." He told me. I sighed.
"If only I'd known I could use that as another trip to St. Vladimirs." I said, smirking. "You wouldn't get in trouble for that one."
"I guess not." He said, looking down. "I'm going to go. I've got to talk to Eddie. Is there anything I can get you before I leave?"
"Uhm... A bottle of water?" I asked. He nodded.
"I'll be right back." He said, standing and disappearing from the room. It was easy to see on his face that he was genuinely worried for me, although I probably would have been the same way if things were reversed. A few moments later, he returned with a bottle of water and an unidentified bag of chips. He smiled.
"Here, I figured you need to eat something too seeing as how you've been out for two hours."
"Where did these come from?" I asked, taking the bag from him. There was Doritos, and I'd looked everywhere in the kitchen to find these and there weren't any. He smirked.
"In my room." He said, chuckling. I laughed.
"You have your own little stash in there, don't you?"
"Maybe I do." He said, chuckling.
"Get some rest, Rose. We'll hold off on training tomorrow to make sure you're better."
"What? No." I said, all too quickly. He raised an eyebrow, causing me to narrow my eyes for a second.
"You need to get better. I can't have you falling out on me again." He said.
"I'll be fine. I can't afford to miss any more training time, Dimitri. I'll be out there tomorrow, whether you are or not." I said.
"You going to train by yourself?" He asked me, smirking.
"No, If you're not there, I'll run, I'll find something to do, but I'm not going to waste a day laying here in bed, when I could be doing something useful or productive." I told him. He sighed.
"Fine, we'll train tomorrow, but only light stuff. I can't have you broken down on the second week of being here." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm a Hathaway; we don't 'break down'." I told him. He smiled.
"Get some rest, Rose. I'll see you in the morning." He said, grazing a finger across my forehead. I just nodded as he turned and disappeared. I was sort of confused by the gesture, but I didn't say anything, none the less. I curled up in bed, hoping to fall asleep, but I couldn't. If I'd already been out for two hours, there was no way in hell I was going to be able to go back to sleep. I cracked open the bag of chips Dimitri had brought me, and ate a good portion of the bag. He'd probably be angry, but he'd get over it. I lounged around my room for the longest time before I got up and got a shower. After I got dressed, I went downstairs, looking for Dimitri, going to return his chips. I knocked on his bedroom door, but he didn't answer. I opened the door, and laid the chips on his bed, along with a note that said thanks for dinner, comrade. I smirked as I laid it beside them. It was then I noticed a book on his bed. It looked old, and crusty and it was bent to hell wouldn't have it. I picked it up to see it was a western novel. I giggled a little. I couldn't see Dimitri reading something like that… ever. I turned and walked out, shutting his door behind me. As I walked into the main room, Landon came down the stairs.
"Hey… I was looking for you. How are you feeling? I heard you hit your head pretty hard."
"Yeah, I have a little bit of a headache, but I'll live." I told him.
"What happened?"
"I was getting tired, and I stumbled back a little too far, and fell… smacked my head against the concrete. No big deal. I'm still kicking, that's all that matters." I said, smiling. He nodded.
"I'm glad you're alright."
"Thanks. I'm hard-headed. It'll take a little more than a bump on the head to take me out." I said. He laughed.
"Well, you got the hard-headed part right." He said. I growled, and pushed him playfully.
"Watch it, Landon." I said. "I might just be tempted to kick your ass again."
"There will be no ass kicking going on in this house unless it's training." A voice said, behind me. I turned to find Eddie. He nodded at me once. "How you feeling, Hathaway? Heard you took a bit of a spill earlier."
"I'm fine, Guardian Castille. Thanks for the concern." I said. I knew he secretly hated me, even when he tried to be nice. An awkward silence arose between the three of us, so I broke it.
"Yeah, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight guys." I said, smirking at Landon before starting for the stairs.
"Goodnight Hathaway." He called. I smiled as I reached my room. I went inside and cuddled up in my bed, falling into unconsciousness.
