Part 7 Sparring Session
read some disclaimer somewhere, then apply it to this story.
Dawn stood stiffly in the gym, watching her classmates with a small frown. They were all stretching and waiting for Logan to show up. Dawn gave a sigh and wandered over to the wall that was mirrored and began her stretching. The stretches she did seemed simple in comparisons to the ones that the other students were doing, but she did more of each, and while they seemed to be only doing for or five stretches, Dawn was doing fifteen. She finished her stretches just as Logan entered the gym and glared at them. Following the other students, Dawn joined the tail end of a line that formed in the center of the gym. Logan glared at them, scratching his chin.
"Laps." He said shortly, "15 of em." Bobby groaned, but from the way the others reacted, it was part of a routine. Dawn enjoyed the run, which seemed like the first in a very long time where nothing had been chasing her. BY the time the run was over she felt refreshed, and was grinning happily. They reassembled before Logan, who had done laps with them, and had been done all fifteen before most of them reached 10. "Pair off." He grinned at them, "Now we've got a new student among us, but I'm sure she'll fit right in." He winked at Dawn. "So she'll start off with St. John." Dawn yawned and grinned at Logan. "Now start off easy." Logan added, apparently for Dawns sake. "Just gentle sparring, no blood, no hard throws." Logan waved at them and Dawn walked over to St. John.
"Now you'll get to see a fight." St. John informed her happily. "I'll go easy on you, like Logan said." Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes.
"You do what ever you like." Dawn said. "I'm sure I can muddle along just fine." She looked around the room and waved him over towards the mirror. "There's more room over here."
"You can begin when you please." Logan called out.
"No we can't." Rogue called back to him. Logan blinked and Rogue sighed. "We won the bet, we get to have music." Dawn raised a questioning eyebrow at St.John. Logan sighed and stomped over to the side of the room and popped in a cd. "Is that good music?" Rogue asked him, Logan grunted at her.
"Guess you'll find out in a moment." Logan replied with a wry grin. Soon a harsh beat was pounding from the tiny cd player and Dawn grinned, delighted with Logan's choice.
"We can start with the basics." St. John offered, Dawn accepted with a smile.
"What is this?" Rogue was asking as Dawn and St. John bowed stiffly.
"Nine Inch Nails." Dawn stated with a dark grin. This she got, the music and the movement and the fighting. This was the part of her that came from a slayer. It was the darkness in Faith, it had been the darkness in Buffy, and it was very much so the darkness in Dawn. She traded a few easy blows with St. John, blocking easily, seeing his movements before he went. "You know," Dawn said easily, feinting for his face and scoring on his upper thigh, "Your very easy to read." She was sliding, back and forth, twirling out of reach then darting back into strike. St. John looked startled.
"What are you talking about?" He asked awkwardly avoiding a blow to the head. Dawn slid past him, poking him in the side as she did so. No one else was talking.
"Its your eyes, your face your entire body language is screaming at me." Dawn said rather flippantly as he whirled to face her. "I can tell where your going to turn, kick, strike," She said confidently as he feinted at her face, only to hit for her side, where her tiny hand easily deflected the blow. "I can also tell when your setting me up." Dawn closed her eyes and he scored twice, while she still pushed away two more strikes. When she opened her eyes Dawn noted that he was all out glairing at her.
"No formal lessons, just picked up self defense here and there." He snapped at her. Dawn laughed and caught him as he rushed at her, flipping him expertly into the floor.
Behind the mirror Three figures stared at the fight in the gym. Scott Summers, beaming with pride. Jean Grey annoyed and almost frightened, and Charles Xavier deep in thought.
"That's Dawn." Scott said un-necessarily.
"She's very good." Jean comment, "almost too good, especially for someone whose never had any formal training." Scott shrugged.
"Her sister got into some trouble her last year of jr high, lots of fighting, burned down the gym." Scott said. "When they moved, there was always trouble with fighting and violence. Its not hard to see that Dawn probably picked up some moves from her sister."
"Sunnydale has a high crime rate." Charles put in. "But that's not what bothers you Jean." Jean sighed.
"When she got here yesterday, she unpacked a carving, wooden, pointy, twisted, it reminded me of a stake from a vampire movie." Jean said, Scott opened his mouth, but when she shot him a glare, it shut quickly. "But when I asked her what it was, her first thoughts were that it was 'just Buffy favorite weapon for vampire destruction'." Charles and Scott said nothing for a long moment.
"And," Charles prodded. Jean sighed, and crossed her arms.
"She just feels wrong, in my head. Like I'm seeing and feeling 3 separate things. One dark and old, one so dark and ancient, and then the rest is just Dawn." Jean said softly, pouting.
"I know what you mean." Charles said, "but Jean, from all that you've seen, does it bother you to know that vampires are real?" at this, Scott's mouth dropped open. Jean just sighed.
"I don't like it." She said firmly. "The students here have enough to worry about as it is." Charles shot her a look and she caved. "It sounds like something out of a book, or a movie, or some stupid TV show." In the gym, Dawn and St. John were fighting each other seriously now. Logan and Rouge were watching them fight with guarded eyes, in fact aside from the fact that one was a tall man and the other a much smaller girl, they screamed alikeness. They stood the same way, and had the same glint in their eyes and the same tremble and flare of lips and nostrils. It was the stance of a professional fighter who had just seen someone worth fighting, not to beat, but to have fun fighting.
"She's staying." Scott said, "Stupid book and movie knowledge aside, she's my family." He shot Jean an odd look. It took Charles a moment to assess it, then realized that it was a look of pure and utter 'I dislike what your doing'. Scott had never used it on anyone besides Logan.
"Her place here is not contested." Charles said firmly. "She has a lot to teach, and a lot to learn."
"Who will she teach?" Jean asked.
"Everyone." Scott said simply. Jean laughed and swept from the room. As the door clicked shut behind her, Scott turned to look at Charles. "Really vampires?" He asked, and was rewarded only with the professors nod and slow grin. Scott sighed and went chasing after his errant girlfriend, leaving Charles Xavier behind to watch the scene in the gym.
Dawn was on the floor, with St. John trying to hold her down. They grappled for a few moments before Dawn rose swiftly with a disdainful glance for the now groaning boy on the floor.
"I didn't mean to kick you there." She said shortly, "But you shouldn't have twisted what you twisted." St. John, moaned something in reply.
"Nice moves." Logan said shortly. "You ever spar with Faith?" the other students blinked.
"Watched, not sparred." Dawn said shortly, helping ST. John up. "Buffy wouldn't let me."
"Sisters are like that." Logan said gently, glaring at the rest of the class. "Aren't you supposed to be sparring?" The class moved back into pairs and went back into gentle sparring. "Marie," Logan said gently. "You pair up with her first." Rogue stepped forwards and grinned at Dawn.
"We are going to have a large amount of fun." Rogue said. "He wants to spar with you, so he sends me in first."
"Why does that matter?" Dawn asked, stretching her arms slowly.
"I know almost as much about fighting as him. I learned it from him, I use his resources, his instincts, and I react the same way." Rogue replied, eyeing Dawn easily. "Who taught you?"
"Mostly my sister. Some of its instinct." Dawn replied, bowing swiftly.
"So who's Faith?" Rogue asked, as she and Dawn moved around each other with ease.
"She was, she's.." Dawns voice trailed off. "Its complicated." She ended firmly, tossing her fist, then all her weight at the other girl.
End part 7
things seem to be moving along nicely don't they.. well things seem to be going well. You'll have to see.
As for the highlander crew, Conner ( from on the plane) is the main character of a string of moves called highland ( 1 through 4) Duncan, the cousin of whom he speaks was the lead character of the highlander spin off show, as well as being in the last highlander movie. The movies are good, I loved the show, and that's why I added them.