~ROSE~

"So, what would you like me to do?" After everything that happened yesterday, I decided that it would be better if I wasn't parading myself around high-class Moroi in public. Perhaps it was better to stick among my own, if you will. That, and Dimitri had mentioned wanting to see how much of my training had stuck despite the memory loss and I was eager to see him in action. Thus, we were here in one of the guardian gyms. The place was fairly empty as it was late morning and most guardians were either on shift or enjoying their off time. I had an odd sense of safety and security being here, though there was a bit of nerves concerning the fact that I was pretty much alone with Dimitri and my more than friendly thoughts about him.

"Warm up first. Why don't we start with some laps?"

"I actually just got off the track," I pointed to the open set of doors leading to the track outside and allowing a slight breeze to cool the gym.

He looked stunned and I couldn't figure out why.

"You ran...willingly? On your own?"

Apparently that wasn't something I did before. From the shocked look on his face, my guess is that he had to force me to run when I was his student.

"Yeah. I've been running nearly every day for as long as I can remember. It seemed...important."

I thought back to when I had started running, shortly after I was released from the hospital and moved in with Marie. I didn't have any other responsibilities at the time, so I was planning a full day of Netflix, broken up by phone calls between my social worker, various doctors, and some personal research of what I was supposed to do to get on with my life.

It didn't take long for me to feel overwhelmed. Like I was trapped and completely out of options. Hopeless even. I didn't remember actively making the choice, but five minutes later I had my shoes on and I was running up and down the neighborhood. While it may not have made my problems disappear, it did give me an odd sense of clarity and I felt more confident in taking on whatever challenges came next. I did the same thing day after day until it was a habit. The days that I didn't run always seemed more difficult.

"I found the track a few days ago" I admitted. "I've been using every evening – I mean morning – since then. I hope that's okay."

He didn't exactly smile, but there was a small quirk in his lips as he stared at me. "Well, I had been planning on running with you to warm up, so I'll need a few laps on the track before we start. If you want to..."

"No, it's fine. I'll run with you. I can take a few more laps."

"Don't over exert yourself too much" he warned needlessly. "Let's do three and next time we can warm up together...if you'd like, that is."

I gave a gentle laugh at how careful he was trying to be with me. This man apparently trained me. He's already fought me in that alley. Yet still, he seemed to be handling me with kid gloves as if I'd break.

Dimitri shortened his stride to match my pace on the track. By the third lap – or his third lap, it was my tenth – I was starting to feel the unpleasant sort of burn in the muscles of my legs. My pacing must have falters just slightly, because I noticed Dimitri pulling back to stay beside me. Finally fed up with his excess caution, I let my competitive nature take over.

It stung like crazy, but I put everything I had into that last quarter lap. I didn't beat him, but I came close. I guess that's the best I could ask for when I was already a bit worn out and my competition had a full extra foot of height on me.

I heard his laugh again as we both tried to catch our breath, one more successfully than the other, and my heart skipped a beat in its rapid pace.

"Still competitive, I see. That always was the best way to motivate you."

I tried to offer some witty reply but nothing came out except my heavy breathing and small cough, so I just nodded instead.

"Here" he said, offering me the water bottle he had been drinking from before. "Drink. I'm sorry I don't have a spare. I've gotten out of the habit of carrying extra water for you. I'll remember another bottle tomorrow."

I hesitated only a moment before drinking, relishing in the fact that he had been in the habit of taking care of me, even if it was in just some small way. As I wiped the excess from my lips, I tried to remind myself that his mindfulness had probably been more brotherly rather than romantic in nature. I shouldn't read into it so much.

"Thanks. You'd think I'd remember my own bottle by now though. They always had to keep extra one on hand at the club for me, and I nearly always forgot them when I went to the gym."

"No problem" he replied with a shrug, smiling more with his eyes than his lips. "You and I can share one today...or there's a water fountain inside if you'd prefer." Dimitri spoke the last part hurriedly, like an afterthought.

I made a face and stuck out my tongue. "No thanks. I think I'd rather share the bottle with you than the fountain with every other guardian in Court."

He turned away and started back towards gym, shaking his head and giving a sigh as if I was already pushing the limits of his patience, but the brief look I got of his face before it disappeared from view reassured me that he was holding back some laughter. It seemed like making him smile and laugh was my new goal in life, and coming from someone who was searching for clues to the first 18 years of her existence, putting it all aside to see a guy smile was saying something.

–DIMITRI–

When we were back in the echoing four walls of the gym, I reached for my bag and pulled out some hand tape for Rose, setting my own hand wraps aside.

"I was hoping we could do some pad work first. Need help taping up?"

She flashed me a smile and dug inside her own bag, pulling out two small black bundles. "Better yet, I have my own wraps. I also have some gloves if you want to take me on today."

I knew she was only speaking sarcastically, but fighting her in the alley had been surprisingly difficult all things considered. Rose had also been getting fairly close to beating me regularly before her accident, and if she somehow retained everything I had taught her and continued training, it would be interesting to see exactly how we matched up.

"Wraps for now" I called back and picked up the strike pads from the supply rack. "Maybe I'll challenge you later."

We worked on basic strikes and combos for nearly an hour. Her technique was nearly perfect. It was a little different than what we had practiced at the Academy, but it was more of a stylistic choice than an actual error. I was immensely grateful that she has followed her intuition to keep practicing her combat skills, even though she didn't understand how they came to be or why it was important to do so.

After working on combos, I pulled out the mats for some actual sparring practice. I ended up pinning Rose more often than not, but she gave me a run for my money. After getting a feel for my own fighting style, she was able to adjust her own to fend me off easier. It was the tenth match, the third "last one" that Rose had begged for, when she was finally able to get the upper hand.

I had barely dropped my guard for a second. I started with me accidentally kicking Rose and little harder than I had meant to and knocking her back. From the small gasp I had heard, I assumed that I had knocked the wind from her. It didn't matter if I did or didn't, because she used that moment to take advantage of my distraction and pounced.

As I reached forward, anticipating to catch her fall, she knocked my arms aside, kneed me, and pushed me down to the ground. I barely had a chance to put together what was happening before she was straddling me with her hands placed above my heart.

"Dead!" She looked at me with enthusiastic attention, seeking my approval. Her forehead was littered with strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail and her cheeks were flushed pink from excursion. Her breath came in struggled pants but her eyes were bright and alive, the way they always had been when we trained. She was gorgeous, and I was entirely too aware of every inch of her body, especially where it touched mine.

Perhaps in another life, one where we hadn't been separated by fate and circumstance, I would have flipped her over and encouraged a whole new form of exercise between us. As it was, I simply nodded my surrender and let my head fall back against the mats in an effort to collect myself.

Rose sprang up from her position over me, letting out a joyous shout at my defeat and throwing her fists in the air in triumph. "Are you not entertained?!" She bowed to and reveled in the applause of a nonexistent crowd, before turning back to me.

"You got lucky" I insisted, giving her a small smile to reassure her that I was only teasing.

"And you're apparently a sore loser." She extended her hand out to me, countering my weight as she helped me off the floor.

When we were both standing, we were much closer than anticipated. I steadied myself by holding her hips, but made no effort to put distance between us. Her hands rested against my abs. Any of the efforts I had made moments ago to control the urge to kiss her were suddenly gone as I realized her chest was close enough to brush against me.

"You are amazing, Roza. You did very well." I brushed one of the wayward locks of hair behind her ear and I allowed myself to memorize every facet of the way she looked up at me, in no more rush than I was to step away from one another.

She was so close. All it would take was a small dip and my lips would be against hers. I had missed her kiss for so long, and being so near without doing so now was torture.

"Thanks" she replied, slightly breathless. Her eyes flitted down for a moment before meeting mine again. "So…um... anything else you'd like to try?"

"Yes." Oh God, yes. I closed my eyes, catching myself a moment before I has started leaning down towards her. Focus, Dimitri.

I pulled away, feeling a slight chill when the draft from the overhead fan was able to finally pass between our bodies again. I took a few moments longer than necessary as I searched my bag for what I was looking for. My hand had found the stake immediately, but I needed to calm my racing heart before I faced Rose again.

When I finally felt like I could breathe again, I turned around, stake in hand. Rose was looking away, probably confused and maybe even upset that I had been so close to her. It was entirely inappropriate and I was lucky that she hadn't called me out on my behavior. Honestly, I was lucky that she was still willing to be in the gym alone with me.

Purposefully not looking me in the eye, she stared at the stake in my hand instead. She stared at it curiously, like she didn't quite recognize it though it seemed familiar.

"Is that...?"

"A stake" I finished. "A charmed silver stake to be precise. This is the guardian's weapon of choice. We had just started training before you left."

I knew this would be the best test of whether or not she had retained any of our training sessions. Boxing and sparring could be taught anywhere and while she fought with a style that certainly hinted towards my own, it wasn't impossible that she could have learned to fight after her accident with someone else. Working with a stake though, that was something she could have only learned from me.

I handed it to her carefully, watching her every moment and looking for signs of her training. She gripped once, incorrectly at first and then immediately readjusting her hold to the one I had showed her years ago. She twisted her wrist, watching the light bounce off the point and becoming reacquainted with the weight of it in her hand. Finally, she looked up and smiled.

"It feels good, like this is...right."

Still fearful that this was all too good to be true, I led her towards one of the practice dummies on the edge of the gym. I positioned her about three feet in front of it and then stepped back. I took a deep breath, trying to settle my nerves before I spoke again.

"Rose, where's the heart?"

She looked at me questionably before focusing on the dummy and furrowing her brows in concentration, puzzling out my odd question in her mind.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. Time had stopped as I waited for her. She must have stood there for a full minute, though it felt like a full hour, and just as I was losing hope and about to tell her to not worry about it...she leapt forward.

In a flash, her stake pierced the dummy, just left of center chest. It was difficult to see in such a quick motion, but Rose angled her attack upwards, coming under the ribs before twisting at the last moment so that the silver found its mark.

The action was over within seconds, and when she stepped back, Rose almost looked surprised at what she had done. The uncertainty was evident on her face. "Was that correct? Did I find the heart?"

I nodded, half in agreement and half in amazement. She remembered. Anything after this would only be a further confirmation to me that she remembered her training. Somewhere, hidden deep in the recesses of her mind, where even she couldn't consciously find them, she remembered everything I had taught her. More importantly, somewhere...she must remember me.

Author's Note

I love the training sessions between these two! Especially when it involves close calls :) The good news: there's another one coming up in the next chapter. The bad news: I don't know WHEN I'll actually be able to post said chapter.

You all know that I pride myself on keeping to my schedule but unfortunately my computer has all but kicked the bucket. If you follow me on tumblr, you saw my notice about it today. I do plan on replacing it as soon as possible, but I don't have an exact timeline for that. Thankfully, I was able to upload this chapter moments before it died, and I was able to back up all my other stories to an external, so once I have the new computer in hand, we'll be good to go! Until then ALL stories (including Shadow Kiss DPOV) will be put on hold.

I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience and I hope to be back up and running soon! Oh, and I apologize for the crazy formatting in this chapter. I'm finishing the edits on my phone and it is a whole lot less user friendly.