Vampire Academy = all Richelle Mead

Katya was fast, but he was faster, flipping her over his shoulder as she charged him from behind. Though she wouldn't thank him for it, he helped her land softly.

She flipped herself over onto all fours and was standing, facing him, just a second or so after he'd straightened himself up. She shook her head, making her short blonde curls bounce. "One of these days that's going to work."

He smiled. "Never."

He stepped around her and kept walking. She fell into step easily with him, despite his longer stride.

"What do you think about the Strigoi?" she asked.

"I think they're being too cautious. They've trained us, they know what we're capable of. Why wait for the Strigoi to attack? Why don't we hunt them down?" he surprised himself; he wouldn't ordinarily have said that out loud. But this was Katya.

"Care to say that to Nikitin?" she had a mischievous glint in her eye.

"No, thanks," he grinned. "How about you?"

"Still gathering information," she answered. "Speaking of - what did Malina want at lunch?"

He hadn't really thought any more about her. "I'm not sure."

She laughed. "Right. You've been working 'tall, dark, and mysterious' since we all hit puberty.

He laughed, too, only a little embarrassed. "I don't do it on purpose."

She elbowed him, which he expected, but he let her. "I know you don't, that's one of the reasons it works so well for you. So are you going to ask her out?"

His smile turned wry. "Somehow, unless I flat out tell them to get lost, they find me anyway."

"And you're too much of a gentleman to tell them to get lost so…"

He grinned. "It's a good thing my mom taught me to do my own laundry so I always have clean sheets."

"Ugh!" she tossed her head and rolled her eyes at him, and he could see her calculating if she could get a full hit in. He positioned his arm slightly, ready for the block, but she apparently decided to let it go. She was one of the best novices, next to him of course, and their sparring – both verbal and physical – was standard interaction between them. He thought he'd won this round until she added, "Well it's not just Moroi girls who get to have fun. Did you see the new Zeklos? Ivan?" She fanned herself with her hand. "Hot."

She'd gotten him, but he didn't care. His voice turned hard. "Stay away from him."

"Excuse me?"

He'd caught her completely off guard, but he wasn't playing now. "I said stay away from him."

"You can't tell me what to do!" She was shocked, offended, and very confused. "When did you turn Neanderthal?"

He couldn't explain so he stayed quiet, his mood dark. "Seriously!" she went for an open-handed smack to his stomach and he let her, he just but didn't give her any indication that he'd actually felt it. He knew better, he did – he'd been raised by and with strong women – but the thought of Zeklos with his hands on her made him see red. "Are you – jealous?" she threw out, completely lost. "I thought we were past that!"

He shook his head irritably. He had liked her, as more than a friend, and they'd hooked up a few times sophomore year. She wasn't quite his type – Malina definitely held more surface physical attraction - but Katya had a confidence and spark that he'd found irresistible. She, however, wasn't into him, and could never explain to his satisfaction why not. She'd done her best to let him down easy, though, and in the past two years had followed through on her promise that she wanted to stay friends. Now they interacted more like siblings or affectionate rivals, and he rarely thought of her in romantic terms any more.

He wasn't thinking of her in that way now, really, he wasn't. He took a few quiet, deep breaths and got himself under control. "You're my friend. I don't want you to get hurt."

She narrowed her eyes at him, still keeping pace as he stalked his way across the commons. She seemed to debate her response, and finally settled on an intentionally lighter tone, "I appreciate the big brother act, but you can let it go. I might not be able to kick your ass, but I can take care of myself."

He bit back his response and nodded tightly. He knew she was right, but childhood memories were burned in at a less-than-rational level.

"Will you be my partner at monitoring if they have us pair up?" she asked, still studying him. They were almost at the station doors.

He sighed. The last thing he wanted was to alienate Katya. "Sure."

No Spirit Bound yet! Amazon is making me cry!

Just a note about my characterization / thought process for my story so far. Rose thought Dimitri was - um - "skilled". Yes, he was her first, but he wasn't the fumble-around type either. And the guys I know like Dimitri - good looking, quiet, and in general decent people - have girls throwing themselves at them, and they don't exactly object. I figure Dimitri probably got a lot of action, then Ivan died and he got much more serious about everything in his life. I also think it's really possible that he liked some other girls a lot - maybe even loved them - before he fell in love with Rose. So I've tried to split Rose's personality between Malina and Katya, to set the stage for how easy it was for him to be tempted, and fall in love with Rose. (Especially, as her teacher, he should have been on guard against developing any feelings for a young student...)