Dimitri woke up with Rose molded to him - pressed against him in all the right places. Her back was firm up against his chest, her bottom nestled against his crotch, and at some stage in the night his hand had worked its way under her shirt and was currently cupping one of her smooth, warm breasts. His fingers lightly teasing her nipple, Dimitri could feel Rose stirring in his embrace – pushing her hips back against his with a soft moan, feeling the start of his arousal. Smiling to himself he started kissing her, running the tip of his nose along her neck before giving her open-mouthed kisses, stopping at the spot behind her ear that sent her crazy. Opening his eyes to check the time, so he knew how long he could devote to pleasuring the Goddess in his arms, Dimitri was momentarily confused. As his eyes lighted on the pink alarm clock on the nightstand beside him he remembered – they were in the spare bed in his sister's dorm room.
"Milaya, hold that thought. It's five am, and we're in Vika's room. You have a choice – we can get up and go train, or we can get up and go back to our room and workout there…" Dimitri whispered into her ear.
Rolling towards him with another moan, Rose brought her lips to his. "Definitely our room."
Returning her kiss, Dimitri rolled over and got out of bed – carefully keeping his back to where his little sister lay in her bed facing them in her sleep. Rose looked up at her man with amusement. He might not have been fully aroused, but his boxers did little to conceal his semi-excited state. "Put some clothes on, Comrade!"
"I'm trying!" Dimitri whispered back, pulling his pants on and following it up with his crumpled uniform shirt, finally pulling his duster on over the top. With his hair out and unbrushed, and his clothes obviously having spent the evening on the floor, he looked like a guy about to sneak back to his own room after spending a night in a girl's dorm room!
Rose followed Dimitri out of bed, pulling on her discarded sweatpants. She couldn't be bothered putting on a bra under the TShirt she'd worn to bed – and at this time of the morning, they were unlikely to run into anyone in the hallways. They sat side by side on the bed putting their shoes on before Dimitri did a rough job of making up Vika's spare bed. Then Rose picked up her gym bag, and the two of them soundlessly slunk out of Viktoria's room.
Moving quickly along the corridors, laughing the whole way quietly, they were soon back at their room. Unlocking their door, Dimitri picked Rose up and carried her inside as she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him ferociously. "I'm sorry, Comrade. I…"
"Shhh, baby. Later. Let's just be together now." Dimitri carefully lowered her to the bed, looking at her with covetous eyes as he stripped off his duster and uniform. Rose discarded her own clothes, reaching out her hand to pull his naked body down on top of her. She kissed him deeply with as much love and affection as she could. Dimitri looked happy but tired, so she rolled him on to his back, climbing up his body to put her lips to his ear.
"Lie back and enjoy, Comrade. The next hour is all about me making you feel amazing in every possible way!"
"I want to make you feel amazing too, Roza."
"Don't worry – I will," she promised with her man-eating grin, slowly kissing her way down his body.
Curled up in Dimitri's arms, Rose looked at the clock. Almost seven. They'd have to be in class in an hour, and they still had to have breakfast.
"I really dislike her. But I'm willing to come to Baia for the weekend. You need to understand she makes me feel seriously insecure and stabby… I don't want any talking in Russian in front of me, no casual, flirty touching, and you need to make sure she understands I'm your girl now," Rose said out of the blue, interrupting their post-coital reverie.
"Are you sure, Roza?" Dimitri asked testingly. He didn't want another Hathaway explosion on his hands.
"Yeah. She's an old friend of yours. She just needs to know that while she's part of your past, I'm the one who's part of your future."
"Thank you, milaya. I promise I'll make it crystal clear who I'm crazy in love with," he said sincerely, pulling her lips to his. "And I am crazy in love with you," he growled, nipping Rose's neck and running his hands across her breasts.
They headed to breakfast at 7.30, Dimitri intentionally leading them to sit deep within the Guardian section to avoid her fellow Novices.
"You're looking very pleased with yourself," Rose commented, looking at Dimitri where he sat smiling and humming as he ate.
"I am. It's nearly the weekend, and I'm eating breakfast with the beautiful girl who was just doing seriously hot things with me in our bedroom," he said softly, looking up and giving her a cheeky smile. "Now how's the darkness feeling – do you need some more time on the mannequins today, or are you up for a different challenge?"
"Depends on the challenge?" Rose said, her curiosity piqued.
"I bumped into Demyan when I was looking for you yesterday, and he's asked me to continue with the aerial work with the girls. I explained you'd demonstrated that area, so he asked if you could do some more work with them. I thought you might want to start on it with them today?"
"Ohh! Yeah, I'll be up for that! They've already got the basics sorted – they just need to work on getting their height up, now. And I know just the way…"
"What are you planning, milaya?" Dimitri asked with an amused grin.
"Just my lesson, Comrade," Rose replied innocently. "I'll need the stereo, though."
"Fine. Just no Divinyls this time. I don't think my poor heart could take it!"
They walked into the gym together smiling and laughing. Rose dumped her bag beside Dimitri's before heading to stand in line with the other Novices, making eye contact with Vika and giving her a big smile.
"Someone's in a better mood today. What was yesterday all about?" Leo asked curiously. "I can't believe you told Belikov to fuck himself!"
"Oh, he's used to it. I was much worse when he first started training me. We could barely go a day without me shouting something rude at him!"
"Bet if anyone else said that to him they'd be doing sit-ups for a year!" Leo grumbled.
"Yeah probably!" Rose giggled.
The stragglers now inside the gym, Dimitri started the class. "Good morning everyone. Today we'll be dividing the class into guys and girls. Guys will be working with me on blocking. Girls will be working with Hathaway on aerials."
Rose nodded to Dimitri. "Girls over here, please," she said, motioning them towards the combat mannequins. "You already know the four most basic aerials from last time, but today I want to work on getting your height up. The whole point of an aerial is to get it nice and high so you can kick a taller opponent in the gut, chest, neck or face. Just like any other fighting technique, the way to do this is practice."
"I don't think any amount of practice will help me do a seven-foot aerial," Ksenia murmured despondently.
"Why not? I couldn't do it when I started, either. But with practice, my height and accuracy improved. It's a worthwhile tool having – especially if most of your opponents are likely to be taller than you."
Ksenia nodded, still looking unconvinced.
"Now there is a little secret to getting them nice and high," Rose said teasingly. "It sounds strange, but I promise it works. And you'll be pleased to hear it involves me controlling the stereo system today! Start your stretches please."
Grabbing her phone, Rose walked over to the stereo dock. "Belikov? You don't mind if I really crank it today do you?"
Dimitri turned from where he was working with the guys, eyeing her distrustfully. "No that's fine. Just keep it clean, ok?"
"Yeah yeah – you know me, Comrade," she laughed, putting her phone on the dock and grabbing the remote control.
Walking back to the girls she laughed. "Now girls – the secret is to relax! I want you to really loosen up. Have some fun. You'll find once you're relaxed it's easier to get the kicks higher."
Inna was looking at Rose derisively, and even kind-hearted Vika was looking like she didn't like the idea very much, sneaking a glance across to where the boys were watching on with interest.
"Oh, don't worry about them," Rose laughed. "I'm sure they're going to love watching you girls – not to mention the music we'll be playing today!"
She hit play, a Britney Spears megamix pumping through the speakers. "Come on girls! Let's dance!" Rose grabbed Vika and pulled her to feet, starting to swing her hips in time to the music, pulling her towards a mannequin. "Give it a shot, Vika," she ordered, getting Viktoria to try the simplest aerial against the mannequin, marking the height on the surface with some boxing tape she'd grabbed from her bag. One by one she did the same with the rest of the girls, marking their starting points.
She kept the music coming, and slowly the girls loosened up, dancing around and practicing their aerial kicks. The guys at the other end of the gym were looking on admiringly, although Rose thought it was more at the girls dancing around in their gym gear and less in admiration of their aerial skills. At one stage Rose grabbed Vika around the waist and was dirty dancing with her as the rest of the girls watched and laughed. Catching Dimitri's eye from the other end of the gym she could see his amused look.
Towards the end of their session, Rose went over to her phone and picked a song, really turning up the music. "Now girls I want to see your best kicks. Let's see how much you've achieved today!" With a wicked grin, she started the music. "I hope you find this inspiring!"
A recent re-release of a disco classic came on - 'It's Raining Men.' Dancing around and singing along, Rose got out her boxing tape again. "Come on Vika – let's see it!"
Obediently Viktoria did another aerial – easily kicking her mannequin a foot and a half higher than her initial attempt. Still singing along, Rose marked it out. One by one each of the other girls did likewise, Rose documenting the difference with the tape. Looking up to show Dimitri what they'd achieved, Rose was embarrassed to see him standing watching her with Demyan – both of them laughing.
"Hello, Rose. I heard the music and wondered what Dimitri was up to," Demyan said with a laugh. "I didn't think 'It's Raining Men' would be quite Belikov's choice of music."
Rose chuckled. "Hey, Guardian Sokolov! Come look what the girls have done with their aerials! Every single one has added at least a foot to their kick height in the last hour and a half. Ksenia added 26 inches!"
Looking at the boxing tape on the mannequins, Demyan was impressed. "That's outstanding work, ladies. If you can get your accuracy up, you'll be able to use this to your advantage fighting Strigoi."
The girls looked pleased. Praise from Guardian Sokolov was rare, and as a group, they thought they'd done well to improve so much in one lesson. Even Inna looked happy – which given her temperament was nothing short of a miracle.
"Also Rose – a few Guardians are getting molnija at lunchtime in the Guardian Lounge. If you're free, I thought you could get the four you're owed?"
"Sure thing," Rose replied happily. If she had to see bitch-face at Baia this weekend, she'd rather do it with four new molnija to show off! Hitting the showers with a smile, Rose thought Dimitri was right. It was a Friday, and she was in a good mood.
Climbing into the car later that afternoon, Viktoria was ready and waiting to quiz the two of them.
"So, are you two good now?"
"Yeah, we're good," Dimitri said tenderly, running his fingers across the back of Rose's hand where it rested on his thigh. "We're really good."
The trip was uneventful – much of it spent discussing the upcoming dance next Friday night. Originally Rose wasn't going to go, but Viktoria had convinced her to attend, and Dimitri had agreed that they could stay at the school for the evening driving to Baia on Saturday morning instead.
"And the Friday after that is Rose's birthday," Dimitri said. "I've arranged for the day off, so we're going to go to Novosibirsk and stay a couple of days. We'll come to Baia on Sunday and then go back to school on Monday morning as usual."
"That's the week you leave, isn't it?" Viktoria said sadly.
"Yeah. I need to make some calls to St. Vladimir's to arrange everything, but we're due to fly out Thursday night," Dimitri confirmed.
Everyone stopped talking after that – each wrapped in their own thoughts. Pulling in to the outskirts of Baia, Rose started to feel nervous. She had a terrible feeling about this weekend. She had no idea how Tasha was going to react to hearing she and Dimitri were together.
Dimitri had said she was due to arrive late this afternoon. Same as them. Pulling up outside the Belikov house there were no other cars out the front, but maybe she'd caught a cab.
"Come on milaya. Let's get this over with – it will be fine," Dimitri promised, reading Rose's agitated state. He got out of the car and came around to open her door. The two of them were opening the boot to get their luggage when the front door opened, and a raven-haired woman squealed "Dimka!" racing down the pathway and launching herself into the air. Dimitri had two choices – catch her or let her fall flat on her ass on the concrete.
Ever the gent, he caught her, and Tasha wrapped her legs around his hips, aiming a kiss at his lips that he turned just in time to instead catch on the edge of his mouth.
Great thought Rose. When she'd thought Tasha was going to spend the weekend throwing herself at Dimitri, she hadn't thought it would be literally!