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Sparring

Gunn had an uneasy feeling as he watched the group move towards the basement training area. It wasn't that he doubted El's abilities, but she had recently been in a rather significant fight that had almost killed her. But, she was stubborn and he could see that no one was going to change her mind.

El actually wished that someone would. She didn't think that she would get hurt but she was absolutely terrified of being humiliated. Her front of arrogance was just that… a front. She wasn't feeling particularly drained after her fight but a little humbled. She set her jaw. Nothing was going to let Buffy Summers take her down. She would rather fight till she died of exhaustion.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she took up her fighting stance immediately, not wanting to be caught offguard.

'Okay,' said Buffy, taking the stance herself, 'No weapons, just us all right?' The dark haired girl nodded and began moving from foot to foot, preparing herself for a dodge. She knew that she should probably take the offensive, and so she took a deep breath, feigned to the right and sent a perfect left hook straight into Buffy's jaw. And with that the fight began.

For a while, to the group on the stairs it seemed as though the fight was in fast forward. Both girls were extremely quick and pretty much equally matched in height and strength. Buffy's experience, though, was obvious – she was blatantly the superior fighter but El was certainly giving all she could. In fact, thought Faith, given time this new slayer had serious potential asEl executed an incredible scissors jump catching Buffy's jawline under her chin and sending her flying to the ground. El stood there, breathing heavily, as Buffy shook herself out of her disorientation,

'Okay, okay, we get the point,' she said from the floor, 'You're good. Now will you please go easy on me?'

'Not gonna work Blondie,' replied the Brit, 'I ain't falling for that false sense of security crap,'

'Damn,' muttered Buffy as she flipped herself upright and brought her left leg round to catch El's side. The younger girl gasped and fell to the floor clutching her side. Buffy suddenly realised that that was where Caleb had stabbed her and rushed forward… into El's fist. The young slayer stood up grinning,

'That… was too easy!' Buffy scowled,

'Hey, I had genuine concern issues there,'

'Aw ain't that sweet – I'm touched I really am. Now can I get back to kicking your ass?'

And the fight continued… and continued. The group on the stairs diminished until there were only two people left… Spike and Gunn. They both looked at each other knowingly, half embarrassed and half conspiritorial. They would never say it out loud but watching their lovers fighting was… well… inspirational, you might say!

Finally, a sharp right kick to El's knee, at the same time as she punched Buffy's jaw again meant that the two girls ended up on the floor. They both just lay there gasping. After a few minutes the two guys were a bit worried and began to move forward to check that the slayers were all right. At that moment, Buffy began to laugh and soon El joined in,

'Wow,' said the younger slayer, 'that was the most fun I've had in a while. Can we go again?'

TBC