With You, Under the Stars

XVI. Suspend Time

Several days ago...

Oof!

Yeonjun didn't think the wind getting knocked out of him could be so... suffocating? A hard kick to the stomach lands him straight to the ground. It takes several seconds of trying to gasp for air before his body begins to work properly again.

"Get up, Yeonjun! You need to be able to get up quickly."

"Yes!" It takes more strength than Yeonjun is used to to get back to his feet and into his fighting stance. His opponent and instructor, Jung Hoseok, walks towards him with sharp eyes. It's as if he can see his any and every flaw, Yeonjun tries not to show how affected he is by this daunting aura.

"Here," Hoseok says, tapping Yeonjun's back knee, "You want your knee over your second toe so that you don't hurt yourself. If not then you could blow out your knee, or twist it, or worse if it's too weak to support any landing, jump or hit." Yeonjun understands and makes the adjustment. "Shoulders down." In a flash, the teacher whips out his hand to, not too hard, slap Yeonjun's stomach. A  kind of dense sound is heard and Hoseok nods, "Good, at least your core is activated."

Hoseok turns to walk back, then a foot comes flying at Yeonjun. He flinches, but also feels a slap on his forearm.

"Huh, you blocked my foot but still ended up closing your eyes. Don't let that become a habit."

"Yes!"

Hoseok sends several more hits at Yeonjun's face, ribs, stomach, and even an attempt to sweep the legs. Yeonjun was keeping up rather well at dodging, Hobi even thought he saw him about to smirk, and that's when he decided to sweep his legs which sent Yeonjun tumbling down.

"Up." commanded the hunter, the vampire obeys, ignoring the dull pain on his hip that will definitely be bruised the next night.

"Now you try."

"Try... attacking you?" Asks Yeonjun nervously. Hobi nods, "Of course. Show me what you've learned in these past few lessons and come at me." Yeonjun swallows and nods. Might as well go big or go home, he thinks to himself and has a cool looking kick in mind he feels he's gotten pretty good at. Yeonjun brings his back leg forward and uses it to step and twist his body. Another step with the other foot and he lifts his back knee, the momentum spins himself into the air and the outside leg comes crashing into the side of Hoseok's face. Or, that was the plan. Instead, Hoseok catches Yeonjun's foot and the vampire falls on his shoulder and head, the lower part of his body still hanging in the air by the hunters' hand.

Hobi smiles,"Ok, that was actually kinda good!" Yeonjun scoffs disbelievingly. "No seriously! You almost had me there!"

"Really?"

Hoseok nas never been the best liar and his exaggerated, "Totally!" all too easily gave him away. Yeonjun frowns against the gravity then lets out a long grunt and sinks, hanging even more so like a rag doll in Hoseok's grip.

"Oh come on," the teacher says, and lifts Yeonjun's body up. The knuckles of the vampire's floppy arms brush against the matted floor. Hoseok rolls his eyes, letting the boy's foot slip a bit in his hand, ignoring the humor in his stomach when Yeonjun reflexively flip his hands out to catch himself like a scared cat. Yeonjun feels the release from his ankle and swings himself from the handstand back to standing.

"Let's go again."

"Alright." says an oh so eager Yeonjun.

Normally, Hobi wouldn't be going this hard this fast with a newb, but they don't have that kind of time. The moment he opened his eyes from the coma, Hoseok just knew something was off. Like when animals know an earthquake is about to strike, the hunter could feel the danger within the air. That's why he wasn't entirely all too surprised to hear about the ambush during the pureblood-hunter meeting at Moa Estate, but the memory loss was weird.