This scene has been sitting on my computer for AGES. And I finally get to post it, hurrah!
Shaundi grunted and swung another kick against the pad I was holding against my leg. It made a feeble slap and she scowled, pushing a renegade dreadlock from her face.
"Your foot's still hitting the bag, aim with the knee, strike with your shin. Don't forget to pivot your hips. That's where the power will come from," I said, shifting my weight to be more comfortable.
We were in the range, a large portion of which was now dedicated to being a make-shift gym; some boys had brought in equipment but it was all fairly rudimentary. Some weights, a pull-up bar, some punching bags. A little further up a small crowd of Saints were gathered around two bench presses and starting to make noise; Carlos was laid back on one, one of his shirtless friends on the other (Jack, i think his name was), pressing equal amounts, both straining as more weights were piled on. Johnny had clearly been mid workout himself but was now spotting Carlos, and Pierce had his friend. They were both yelling at the boys, who I now realised were in fierce competition with each other. Ten to one Pierce had something riding on this; he'd bet on anything that moved.
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Shaundi. Ever since her little encounter with Veteran Child I had her working daily on shooting, self defence, and now hand to hand. Her punches were improving and she was actually gaining a little muscle on her petite frame, but she was still kicking like a ballerina. Shaundi grunted and tried again, her shin striking but no real impact being made – if anything she bounded back. I sighed.
"Use your hips." I corrected. She tried again, making a little more impact, but had dropped her guard, arms waving like Mr Miagi. I slapped her on the head.
"Watch your guard." I teased, smiling darkly at the annoyed look she was shooting me.
"Why don't you show me Boss? Seeing as you're such an expert at kickboxing." I sighed and pulled back.
"Not expert. Knowledgeable, sure, but my specialty is in fighting dirty," I said. Shaundi folded her arms, clearly fed up. I rolled my eyes, a roar of cheers erupting behind me. I glanced over my shoulder seeing, an exhausted Carlos grinning as he sat up, white singlet stuck to his skin with sweat, gluing onto his muscles, Johnny grabbing his hand and holding it high. His opponent was lying back on the bench, breathing heavily and receiving a few consolation pats, having been the first to give up and Pierce was shaking his head, looking like he'd just lost a lot of money. The small band of Saints began to disperse, some slapping money into other's hands. One girl clad in purple sat down on the bench next to Carlos, sliding up to him batting eyelashes and receiving a bashful smile from him. I found myself annoyed at that, but wasn't one to cock-block.
"Johnny!" I called out across the range-come-gym. He glanced up and indicated briefly to Carlos with a smile. I nodded with a little exasperation and beckoned him over, unable to help but perve a little as he approached. His shirt was off, track pants low on his hips. I forced my eyes up to his face; he wasn't wearing his glasses and his dark, exotic eyes were bared. They were narrowed at me. I waved a hand in front of his face as he reached us.
"Flying blind?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow, mouth terse with a small smile.
"I'm workin out Boss." He said.
I thrust the kick bag to him, "Hold this," I said, settling in to a fighters' stance. Johnny rested it against his leg.
"That's all, seriously?" he said, clearly expecting something more important than being a punching bag and wondering why I hadn't grabbed someone else. I was going to call for Carlos but... well. he looked like w=he was making a new friend. Again, I didn't cock-block. Johnny grinned slyly at us, "Oh, right, you girls just wanted a ticket to the gun show," he teased and I noticed he was actually flexing a little, veins rising on his arms. Shaundi gave a small laugh and was unashamedly checking him out; I rolled my eyes and punched him playfully on the arm which was unnecessarily hard.
"Actually, just wanted to congratulate you on finally getting some chest hair." I teased, "Or do you wax?"
"Just kick the fuckin bag Boss."
Done needling each other, I looked over to Shaundi.
"Right, watch my feet," I said, settling into position, knees relaxed. "I step out, front foot points to where I'm kicking, bring my back knee out and up to put it in position," I said, moving very, very slowly through the kick, pausing at each stage to show her how my body was moving, "Right arm drops back for balance, left comes across to guard, then snap out and drive the kick," I said, placing my shin against the pad and then stepped back. Shaundi was nodding intently; Gat was staring at me incredulously.
"That is what you dragged me over here for?" he said. I shot him a sly sidewards glance.
"No. This is what I called you over here for." I said, stepping forward and landing three, heavy, consecutive kicks, SNAP SNAP SNAP the loud heavy thuds of my shin against the kick pad echoing around the gym. Gat grinned and nodded in approval, having moved about as much as the Rock of Gibraltar would have; most people would have faltered.
"Now that's more like it." He said, and then nodded at Shaundi, who was carefully mimicking my movements. "Your turn."
Shaundi's face screwed up with determination, she carefully planted her foot, and then with a mighty swing, struck the pad, a satisfying thud replacing the usual slap sound. Johnny glanced up at me and nodded, and we looked to her, smiling like proud parents.
"You got the feel for it now?' I asked, and Shaundi nodded, eyes bright. I stepped up in front of Gat.
"Once you got that, you just sort of move with it, feel the flow," I said, "Throw in a switch,"
My feet quickly jolted to south-paw and I threw my left kick, Gat only just having the sense to swing the bag around to his other leg before it impacted. From that I moved easily and threw another right kick, Gat ready for it this time and swung the bag back into position, then lifted it higher up to his side. I threw kick after kick, mixing it up a little with a knee or two, enjoying the flow of movements. Gat watched me intently and moving the bag quickly to wherever my shin was going to land. Eventually, getting a little enthusiastic, I swung my leg high, only to find instead of hitting the kick bag, Gat had grabbed me by the ankle, my foot almost in line with his chin.
"No headshots Boss," he warned, an eyebrow raised. I hopped a little.
"Let go now," I said. I saw his mouth twitch playfully, but after a moment he released my ankle. I gave a deep breath after my small burst of exertion.
"I… don't think I can do that just yet," Shaundi said, eyes wide after watching my performance. I shrugged, turning towards the short table sitting along one wall to grab a bottle of water. Behind me I heard Gat talking to her,
"You shouldn't. Boss there really should be teaching you some more basic self defence, how to get outta situations."
"I can hear you Gat," I drawled, unscrewing the cap off a bottle and pouring the water down my throat. He continued regardless.
"For example, how do you get out of a hold when someone grabs you from behind?"
I was vaguely aware that he sounded closer; then suddenly a hand was in my hair, bunching into a fist and pulling me back. I coughed out some water in surprise, and then turned; forcing myself towards him as he dragged me back, my hair twisting and I rammed an uppercut into his stomach. He gave a heavy grunt when I did, and we paused in that position for a moment, his torso crumpled over the top of me.
"See, at this point she'd usually have a knife, stabbin' me up under the ribs and into the chest," Gat informed our student with some strain, and I felt myself grin, "Lucky for me she don't, cos now I can do this,"
He released my hair and suddenly two thick arms were around my waist, lifting my body up and with a wave of inertia I felt myself flip and the world inverted, my knees slinging over his shoulder, my back pressed to the front of his abdomen. His arms were secured around my waist and I hung upside down like a rag doll. "Drop her down, crack her head open." He said to Shaundi, who was staring at me, gaping.
I sighed, not particularly impressed with my current position with the floor as the ceiling, but not annoyed enough to actually do anything about it. "Gat, what are you doing?"
"Playing." He purred, and I could hear his grin, "A man can only be used as a punch bag for so long."
"Sixty seconds is your threshold?" I asked incredulously. He just laughed. Fine. If that's what we were doing, I was happy to play along. I swung one of my legs over to his other shoulder and heaved myself up, curling up over his head and clambering onto his shoulders – he struggled quickly but I was glued to him, hands gripping around his head and turning his neck tightly – he froze – a little more pressure and I could probably have snapped a few vertebrae.
"Or," I said, looking over to Shaundi who had a hand over her mouth, unsure if she should be laughing, "You can choke them, or break their neck."
"Though I gotta admit, getting killed by a woman with her thighs wrapped around my head don't seem like such a bad way to go."
"Gross, Johnny."
I felt Gat's hands on my hips again and he attempted to pry me off, leaning forward like he was shaking bugs out of his hair. I grinned, and aside from feeling one foot slip down his back I stuck to his shoulders like a limpet. He sighed and straightened,
"What the hell are you two doing?" I heard Pierce's voice from behind. Johnny turned us to look at him and I realised we must have looked… odd. He stood there with two other Saints, one of them the girl Carlos had been speaking to, she seemed disgruntled. Carlos himself had disappeared…
Pierce gestured with his hands as if to hurry our explanation.
"… Sparring?" I offered, and felt Gat's laugh match my own. Pierce just threw a look past us to Shaundi.
"Last chance Boss," Gat warned. I was feeling a little too cocky at that moment.
"C'mon Johnny, what opponent will let you go if you ask nicely? We're supposed to be teaching her." I said, nodding to Shaundi, who was still watching us with bright eyes and shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.
She piped up when I indicated to her, "Yeah but I don't think any of this is really a practical way of fighting," she said with a slight giggle.
"Yeah, practical ended a while ago," Johnny said. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. "Ready Boss?"
"For what?" I asked, a little too late. He lurched and threw his weight back; I felt us falling and let out a small surprised sound, knowing what was coming next. I landed flat on the mat, the air being slammed out of my chest as Johnny's head impacted my belly. I heard a collected "OOH!" from our small audience and I curled over, for all the world feeling like I was in the middle of a WWE wrestling match. Johnny sat up and threw a grin over his shoulder.
"Ugh, asshole." I groaned "You head butted me in the freaking uterus."
We both got to our feet and stood next to each other, me still hunched over a little with my hands on my knees and trying to breath, the wind having been knocked out of me - dammit, he'd just about paralyzed my diaphragm. I glared up at Johnny who was speaking to Shaundi with a great deal of bravado, Pierce and his couple of friends actually clapping the bastard.
"And that's how you - OOPH"
He buckled over as I flicked a backhanded punch into his nuts. Not enough to cripple but enough to punish. The few Saints gave another pantomime-audience reaction, some loud "OOH"s or sympathetic groans and winces from the guys and a very hearty laugh from Shaundi.
"If I'm not having kids neither are you," I said with a breathless laugh. He put a hand against the wall and leant there for a moment taking a few deep breaths, finally looking over his shoulder to me.
"You are goin' down boss." He warned. I felt myself grin.
"Any time now guy," I teased, but really wanting to sit down and nurse my insides a little.
"Oh sure, any time," he said, managing a dangerous smile, "I just ain't gonna tell you when."
I laughed, though it hurt to, and nodded. "Shaundi, I think that'll do it for today," I said, straightening myself up finally. Gat pushed off the wall, chin held high as he tensely walked back to the small group, slapping a hand onto my shoulder. I was still smiling; it had been fun, if painful.
"Beer?" I offered him.
"Make it a scotch."
Teehee