Continued from last chapter... Working on You Don't Know Me! :))
She felt her adrenaline level rise in the controlled chaos that was their fight as they stuck one another at the same time. He was obviously bigger than her, weighing less than him she figured she should stay low attacking him at his core defending herself against his attacks. He wasn't using all of his strength that she could tell from his grunts but she was.
For the first time since she got here she was afraid of losing a match keeping her feet steady she remembered her foot work. He knocked her on her back she shut her eyes as she landed on the soft spongy ground she opened them finding him waiting for her to get up. "Again," he commanded as she lifted herself up from the floor.
She waited with a smile baiting him her eyes telling him to come forward to meet her on another level, "You're sure then?" he asked with a crooked smile she blinked and he moved forward. Klaus moved into her space his chest barely grazing hers when she finished blinking, "You are not ready," He told her as she felt her muscles begin to ache from exhaustion. "Your fighting skills leave little to be desired."
She saw blood on his mouth a cut coming from the corner of his mouth and the bone of his cheek she could only imagine what she looked like her hair in array parts of her body already sore or throbbing. She had scratches on her arms as did he, "I fight better than anyone here," she responded to his critique catching her breath as she used his attention on her face as a diversion.
Her right leg came out hooking behind his ankle making him lose his balance as he came forward dropping on his knee his hand came out catching his fall. "I know when to pick my losses and I know when to keep fighting because it's worth it," Caroline moved quickly her leg reaching up and down landing on his spine.
"Plus, I'm a dirty fighter." She told him after he grunted his hand reaching out to grab her ankle she was lighter than him that was obvious. He tugged knocking her on her back just above him as he crawled over her his own breathing just as hard as hers. He had a smile on his face and she realized he was testing her, pushing her buttons on purpose like he had been before on the speaker.
That night she showered wiping of the blood stains from her body satisfied with the notion that Klaus was doing the same at this moment. Her cheeks blushed in realization. She hoped he wasn't thinking of her as he showered. Not that she was well she was but not in an odd way she shook her head under the sprayer getting rid of any other lingering thoughts.
Leaning her forehead against the cool tile she shut her eyes and listened to the water her slow breathing and the silence that filled the community shower. She didn't think to wonder where everyone was tonight she just kept focusing on her breathing. On the image her mind was playing from years ago the one memory that always followed her.
The day before her life changed, the day before her sixteenth birthday she could recall it at a moment's notice, what she wore how the kitchen smelled as she came home from school. The way her dad smiled as he hugged her when she finally got home, he was baking her birthday cake, her favorite. "Hi Daddy," she said cheerily as she pulled away from with a big smile.
She took a deep breath in the present her lungs beginning to hurt from the pain, "I miss you," she said a loud without meaning to. She felt tears prickle her eyes but she knew if anyone where to walk in and ask she would say it was from her shower. She pulled back from the tiled wall and began rinsing her hair out humming out an incoherent tune as she did.
"Did I say we were done with today's lesson?" Klaus voice rings out from the empty shower room behind her making her body stiffen. She was naked, was her first thought panicking she pushed her hair to one side slowly walking to where her towel was at the end of the frosted clear shower curtain glad that for the moment her face and body was hidden from her instructor.
"It's an assumption I won't soon make again," she responded keeping her voice steady as she wrapped her towel around her body covering up. Just as she did she saw his silhouette on the other side waiting for her to come out. She internally groaned at his need to prove he was the alpha male as she reached for the foggy curtain.
She pulled it open his eyes promptly met hers his face was red and she thought maybe it was because he had never thought about her actually being naked when he came into to bother her in the shower. She looked down trying to hide her smile as she turned her back on him, "Sir?" she asked as she began collecting her things into a small bathing basket she had been given.
She moved out of the stall leaving him to make his reply as she waited her hair still drenched and his eyes focused intently on her own as soon as he could. "Be ready to go in five minutes," he said before leaving again. Before her reply could come she was stalking towards the shower room door as fast as his feet could carry him leaving her with a painful smile.
"Don't call me Sir." Caroline heard him say before she quickly rushed to her room taking another set of work out gear from one of the drawers in there. She dressed hastily running her towel through her hair. She had just managed to get it into a low ponytail when she heard a knock at her door. Her body was on guard even though she had an idea of who was on the other side.
