The training room was one of the largest rooms in the castle, the stone walls were stripped bare and heavy blackout blinds had been hung over the windows. The floors were padded end to end with large blue mats, to prevent injury. This room was only used for hand-to-hand combat (and the odd stake) so the weapons were in another room. The team had made the executive decision to split the two after Faith and Buffy had been sparring and Faith had thrown Buffy against a wall, accidentally sending an axe down after her. Around seven inches of Buffy's ponytail were lopped clean off.
The wall at the front was taken up mostly by a blackboard, which Buffy was leaning against, scrawled across it was 'Rules Of Fighting Vamps'. Around 30 girls were huddled together on the mats, chatting in hushed tones.
"So girls, as you know, Faith left us a little over a week ago to set up a base on the Cleveland Hellmouth. That left us down a trainer."
A murmur went through the training room as the girls argued in hushed tones about who the new trainer would be.
"This is Spike."
Buffy beckoned him inside and Spike strolled causally into the room. Awkwardly he raised a hand in hello, and gravitated to Buffy's side.
A girl raised her hand and Buffy called upon her. "Is this Spike? As in the Spike?"
"The Spike?" Spike raised an eyebrow at her.
Buffy blushed. "Yes, it is."
"I thought he died." Another girl piped up.
"I did." Spike nodded. "I got better."
Buffy rolled her eyes and continued. "He was trapped inside the amulet he wore. A friend of ours released him and here he is. You girls should know by now that in our line of work no one stays dead for long. He's just come back from another apocalypse funny enough."
"Where did you go when you died?" A younger girl in the front row asked.
Spike met Buffy's eyes and they shared a subliminal conversation. Buffy hurriedly said, "Let's not talk about that! Today we're gonna begin with a little demo from me and Spike. Right, Spike?"
"Anything for you, Slayer" Spike flashed a grin.
Buffy got into her fighting stance, fists raised already smiling. "I've missed this."
Naturally, the pair slipped into fighting. Buffy threw a punch from each arm, both easily deflected by Spike. The vampire ducked, swiping at Buffy's legs, who leapt over them easily. She forced a foot into his chest, sending him stumbling backwards.
"Clara, what's the first rule of fighting a vampire?" Buffy panted, not taking her eyes off of Spike. For these few minutes, they were their original selves, Slayer and vampire, enemies.
"Umm...don't always expect attacks, expect defences too." Clara recited.
"Defences, huh?"
"That one's from you." Buffy laughed, ducking a swing. "You were always good at deflecting punches."
"Don't flatter me, luv. I'll get a big head."
Buffy leapt into the air, spinning a flurry of punches from either arm across his body. She followed through, grabbing his shirt in her hand and pressing him against the wall.
"Ronnie! Rule 2?" Buffy winked at Spike as she threw him back down to the floor.
Once he was on the floor, Buffy settled on top of him, straddling his body with her thighs.
"Careful, Slayer, you're turning me on." Spike sneered.
"Never think you've got the upper hand?" Ronnie tried.
As if on cue, Spike clasped Buffy around the back and pushed back against her body. Forcing them so that he was on top, trapping Buffy beneath him.
"Too right, pet." Spike snarled into his fangs at Ronnie who gasped.
Spike leant down, pretending to try and bite Buffy's neck.
"And that brings me on to Rule 3." Buffy strained as she bent her neck away from Spike.
Swiftly, Buffy pressed her hands hard into the flesh of Spike's face. With as much force behind her palms as she could, she shoved him backwards, sending him sprawling to the floor.
"Anything, any way is a weapon." Buffy breathed.
Buffy spun around the room, guiding Spike back into their well versed dance. She hopped over to a broom propped against the door. Buffy spun it through her fingers like a baton, mimicking Spike's movements when he killed Nikki Wood.
Spike reached out to grab it, attempting to wrench it from her grip. When she was sure he had a firm hold on it, Buffy spun it around, slamming Spike against the wall.
"Bloody hell." Spike rubbed the back of his head. Buffy cackled, snapped the broom over her knee and advanced on him.
"And the final rule?" Buffy asked aloud as she skipped over to the exhausted vampire.
"If you win, you're lucky, not perfect." A girl at the far back called across the room.
"Exactly, Priyanka."
Buffy plunged the snapped wood into Spike's chest. The slayers gasped loudly. Spike looked down at the wood sticking out of his body.
"Now that was just unnecessary." Spike rolled his eyes.
"I'm still pissed at you." Buffy reminded him.
"Why didn't he die?" Vi asked, Spike remembered her from Sunnydale.
"I missed the heart." Buffy shrugged.
"Only just." Spike grumbled.
"Deep breath in." Buffy instructed.
Spike took a sharp intake of breath just as Buffy yanked out the stake.
"There we go, good as new."
Spike glared at her and pointed to a pool of his blood already collecting on the fabric of his t-shirt.
"Just head down to medical, they'll patch you up." Buffy patted him happily on the shoulder.
"Remind me not to fight with you again." Spike said as he wandered towards the door.
"You couldn't, it's too fun."
"Got me there, pet."
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"Okay! Great work today, girls. Check the rota on your way out for patrol tonight. But overall good job! Any questions before we go?" Buffy called to the sweating and panting girls. A few hands were raised, surprising Buffy.
"Ayuko." Buffy pointed to her.
"You and Spike fighting was just...woah. Do you really enjoy it?" Ayuko asked somewhat excitedly.
Buffy chuckled. "Yeah actually, I do. As messed up as it sounds. We've always been pretty similar fighters. Our techniques just...gel I guess."
Ayuko nodded and Buffy gestured to the next girl. "Do you think we'll ever find that? With someone I mean? A perfect fighting partner?"
"I can only hope yours is less annoying than mine, but I assume so. When you fight with someone, against them or with them, as long as me and Spike have...you just find a rhythm. You know?" Buffy searched for the right words. "Like I know by the way Spike moves his pinky which direction he's gonna go in. If he twitches his eyebrow I know he's in pain and he's gonna take a step back. You just learn each other's little...quirks. We're quirky." Buffy shrugged.
She brought herself back to reality to see the raised eyebrows of the girls in front of her. A lot of them were giggling and whispering about Buffy and Spike. Great.
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"How you feeling, Gramps?" Spike asked Angel as he grabbed for the bandages on the shelf above his head.
"A little better I guess. It's so boring being cooped up in here though. I feel so..."
"Helpless? Comparable to a waste of space?" Spike sarcastically offered, peeling off his blood soaked shirt.
Angel glared at and pointed to the hole in his chest. "Who stabbed you?"
"Buffy." Spike wrapped the bandage around the span of his chest, cut it and secured it in place.
"Buffy stabbed you?"
"Staked me would be more accurate."
Angel didn't even try to stifle his laugh. "What'd you do?"
"We were just sparring. Sometimes she likes to remind me a little more obviously if she's pissed off at me."
"Really? I don't remember me and Buffy really sparring that much. She definitely never staked me."
"Girl likes not holding back. Sometimes she's done with the talking, just needs to express her frustration in the simplest way possible." Spike gave a light tap of the bandage. "With stakings."
Angel scoffed. "Yeah you understand her. Well on your way to getting her back, William."
"How do you know I want her back?"
Angel raised an eyebrow at this, not even dignifying it with a verbal response.
"Hey don't do the eyebrow! That's my thing!" Spike protested.
"All I'm gonna say is, I'm human now. I figure that puts me back in the running." Angel grinned proudly.
"Bring it on, old man."