Yoness! I would apologize for my lateness, but you guys must be used to that already... Yeah, sorry about that... In any case! So... I'm glad I still have fans out there, and I love you all and stuff! I'll just continue on with the chapter for ya.

11

It was, of course, at that point that he decided to teach her after all. She had been determined enough to follow him this whole time, regardless of the fact that he could have killed her at any given point in time. Determination was important in anyone who wished to fight for any reason. Made them useful.

She hadn't noticed them yet. So, he and Daniel sat and waited. She was very good, and had gotten all the basics. It was when she kicked so hard at one of the dummies that she broke the arm off it that it surprised him and made her uncle laugh. In the middle of frantically trying to find how to put the thing back on, she heard that, and spun around. She looked shocked. "Um, uh, I can fix this." She pointed at it. "Uh... Got any duct tape?"

"Don't worry about it, it's been broken before," said Daniel, moving aside and revealing who was behind him, "By him."

"Impressive. Have been following me to learn all that?"

Her mouth opened and partially shut several times before she could speak. When she did, it was in a resigned tone. "Sorry..."

"What for? Managed to hide from me very well. Might as well say I'm surprised. Where did you learn that?"

She blushed, although she did seem to feel better now that he hadn't yelled at her. "That's kind of weird..." When all she got was a look, she said, "It comes from playing hide and seek with the little kids all the time back in Maine. When you've been doing that most of your life, you learn something."

"Hurm. Alright. Will try to teach you, but don't think I would be very good at it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, there you go," Dan said, having remained silent the whole time simply to see what conversation would take place. She had mentioned it to him, but she had just said that he had said no. It did make him feel a bit neglectful, though, since this whole time he hadn't once noticed that she had been going out at night.

It was almost immediately after this that he and Rorschach were both surprised very much, because she was so glad to be taught by the man that she hugged him. Seeing this Dan winced, waiting for a shove that didn't come. Huh.

#

Rorschachs' journal, August 10, 1983.

Have gotten myself in a predicament. Have agreed to teach Dreibergs' niece how to fight. Am worried about why she wants me to, though. Can't think of any reasons why a person would want to be around me this much. Awkward. Not used to the attention.

Also, have begun to suspect that she is aware of Walter. Is aware that I am Walter during day. Can't figure out how I know this, but have begun to wonder. Thus far, however, she has made no move to disclose the information to anyone, not even Dreiberg. Has not tried to blackmail me, and has made no hints that she knows it. Am very confused. If a person were to have that information, why not disclose it? Ruin me? Would have thought that was what one would do. Perhaps she is waiting for something? Can't believe that it wouldn't matter to her. Am probably right all the same. It might not. Why, though?

Have closed down the sex trade ring. Have more time left to rid the streets of lesser scum. Have time to teach for a bit. May as well, or I might never find out if she knows, or why, if she does, she hasn't said a word to anyone, or even why she wants to learn to fight at all. Am unnaturally curious about this. That worries me. I should not be curious about her at all. Need to be careful, so as not to ruin myself.

#

Alex was clearly very anxious to start, and was waiting eagerly for Rorschach to show up. Dan laughed. She couldn't sit still very well. "Excited, are we?"

"I can't help it. I think this should be fun."

"Fun? How much have I told you about him?"

She smiled at him. "I know what to expect. I think it'll be fun."

"Whatever you say. But I'll warn you, he is kind of stubborn."

"How nice of you to say so, Daniel," said a voice from the door.

"Rorschach! Can't you ever come in less quietly? One of these days you're gonna give me a heart attack!"

This statement was carefully ignored, and instead, he returned the greeting he got from Alex. "Are ready to go?"

"Yup."

"Alright. Follow me. We'll go onto the roof. Less likely to be seen there, and have more room."

"'Kay." She got up and followed him out. "Bye, Uncle Danny!"

"See you." He didn't like being happy to see them leave, but he was. Adrian was coming over for coffee. Normally, he would have no problem with Alex being there, but Rorschach did not get along with many people, and Adrian was one of them. Come to think of it, Adrian had been inviting him over a lot lately, and if Alex was home at the time, she would come to, but even though that was odd enough on it's own, it was even more odd for Adrian to come and see him. It was very rare that he left the place Dan had dubbed his 'safe house', and even more rare that he came out to places like this... Should he be worried?

#

"Here," said Rorschach, stopping over what would probably be Daniels' living room. After the attic, of course. "This will be fine." They hadn't gone very far, only far enough away from the stairs that they were still within sight, but just smaller. It was best to remain near any possible exits, just in case. Normally, he would simply have gone wherever he felt like, and grappled down or up as needed, but he was with Alex, and it was best to stick to ways she would easily be able to go. He would teach her how to disappear quickly later.

"Okay." she said, and stood waiting, wondering what he expected her to do, or if she should do anything at all before he said something about it.

"Left or right?"

"Huh?"

"Your hands. Are you left-handed or right-handed?"

"Oh. Right. I'm right-handed."

"Then that will be your offense. Left, defense."

"'Kay."

"Show me how you think you should stand."

"Um... Okay..." She stood in the best defensive pose she could do. She hadn't really payed any attention to the posing...

He walked around her. "Hurm. Straighter."

She straightened herself.

"Put your legs a little further apart. And move your left one a little in front. No, too far. Too obvious. Closer than that. Good. Lift this arm here, and lower this one." He stopped walking around her and stood in front of her. "Now. How fast are your reflexes?"

"I'm... Not sure. Average, I think."

"Let's see, then."

He didn't know why he did it. He really didn't. Since he was not experienced as a teacher, he supposed it was simply his nature kicking in. He threw a punch. It wasn't a hard punch, he had enough control over it so that it wasn't particularly dangerous, it was just enough to knock her back and leave a bruise. But it was still a punch. She went sprawling. "Not fast enough."

"Guess not," she said, and, to his surprise, she simply stood up and did nothing else. She had a bit of tears in her eyes, but he was sure it was just because they were watering form the pain, not because she was crying or anything. He hadn't expected her to cry, in any case. And she wasn't. She simply waited, placing herself into the position he had told her to stand in again. That was surprising. It meant that she had fully expected him to be more physical in his teaching than anything else. She had gotten so used to him that she knew what to expect. And he thought she would be mad at him...

"Hurm. That will be easy to work on. Will be faster soon enough." She smiled. "But your defense was off. Wrong move to use in that case. Here." He moved into his own defensive position. "Try to punch me."

She hesitated, not really wanting to hurt him, although she knew she wouldn't be able too, no matter where or how hard she hit him. She wasn't strong enough. But, she tried. She took a breath, moved, and swung, mimicking the punch he'd just used as best she could. It was blocked. "Don't think. Just do. Don't worry about me, just punch. And watch how I block it." She swung again. Her fist slammed into his arm. "Harder than that." She swung again. "Still not fast enough, or hard enough. Again." She rolled her eyes, and went to hit him again. "Still not good enough." Again, she punched, and again, he told her it wasn't good enough, or fast enough. Three more times and she really wanted to hit him. It was blocked again, but the block was immediately followed up by another swing, which... She ducked under. And her fist hit his stomach. What shocked her most about this was that it had been entirely reflexive. She hadn't thought about it at all.

He stood. "Good. Now you've got it."

"I do?"

"Not all of it."

"I know that..."

"But it still isn't hard enough, and it's still too slow."

#

When Alex came back inside, she was a bit bruised up, and tired. Rorschach didn't even look like he had broken a sweat. "You didn't have to actually hit her, did you?"

"Didn't injure her badly. Her block is off."

Alex was sitting in the middle of the couch, annoyed at her uncle for insisting that he put something on the cut at the corner of an eye. She now knew why it annoyed Rorschach so much to be babied, it wasn't very pleasant. "I'm fine, Uncle Danny."

"You are bleeding," said Adrian, who was still there. He was standing nearby, looking mildly amused at the scene before him. Jerk.

"Has picked up the moves well, but she still isn't strong enough to do any major damage. Can work on that."

"Yeah, yeah," Alex said, pushing Dans' hand away for the umpteenth time.

"I'm almost done, hold still..." He started on the cut again, and she knew it didn't need as much attention as he was giving it. She was pretty sure he was just annoyed with the fact that Rorschach had hit his niece, even if he was only teaching her how to fight and hadn't meant it to be anything more than educational. This was true. He was annoyed. However, it was best not to get into a fight with him, he could easily win, after all.

"Well, since I see you're all quite busy, I suppose I should be going back, now, lest anyone worries..." Adrian finished his coffee, and, as politely as he could but still managing to look like a dick doing it, put the cup down on the table and proceeded to the door. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay later... I hope you feel better in the morning, Alex, nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too," she said, trying to put on a polite smile while her uncle was still fretting over her face. He got up, though, to see Adrian to the door. After telling her to hold a cloth on that while he did so, of course. She rolled her eyes, but held it anyways.

"Rorschach," came the late farewell.

"Veidt."

They walked out of view, and once they did, Alex took off the cloth. "You know, now I see why you think being babied is annoying. He does this a lot with you too, huh?"

There was actually a chuckle.

And, you know what? She liked his laugh.

AN/ Yay! Happiness and stuff! Anyways, that's all I have to give you for right now, I'm glad you read it and all, and good night! ~NS~