Bridging Destinies

Chapter 32: A Surprise of Movement

The man that stood in front of me on the mat was a little bigger than I was. He was muscled and as I looked into his mind I knew he would be a challenge. He was trained in martial arts and possessed a black belt in at least two different disciplines, with some experience in others. However, I knew that I wasn't at a disadvantage despite this. While I knew many traditional fighting forms common to humans, my brand was native to my people and fashioned from our naturally quicker movements and lithe forms. It was also flavored with Light, which gave us leverage in combat. Having been in the human world for so long, I had experienced many forms of human styled fighting and often incorporated it into my own. Though this man had more than one black belt, I also had the advantage of being able to read his mind and movements, was quicker than he was, and had centuries of experience on him. It did not make me infallible, but it did make me highly skilled.

I settled into a fighting stance and observed him as he did the same. We began to carefully move around each other as we both assessed the other, looking for weaknesses. He moved first and came at me, and I quickly dodged his attempt to grab me, blocking his arm and twisting away and then around him, into a half circle so that I was behind him. I shifted my feet and used the momentum of the shift to push my palm flat into his back, pushing the force of my energy into the center of his back, which put him off balance for a moment before he recovered. At the other edge of the mat, I waited for him to face me again as he regained his composure, turning towards me.

The man I was sparring against reassessed me as he regarded me from the other side of the mat, made a decision to take the sparring more seriously and settled into a fighting stance once again. I grinned at him as I took his mental comments equally seriously and settled into my own stance, again, keeping my weight on my toes so that I would be able to move quickly in defense against his attack.

My opponent and I moved in a semi-parody of lethal dance through the rest of the match. Neither one of us intended to hurt the other, but we both wanted to win. As we sparred, I anticipated his movements and prepared my defense, light on my feet and quick. He caught on to my fighting style, as I knew he would, having the expertise he did, but with my experience exceeding his, I was able to match him. And though there was a point he came close to catching me out and winning our match, I was able to evade him at the last moment, using his weight and momentum to carry me into the next move. I leapt around him and landed nimbly on the mat, then raced at him, quickly, while he was still off guard, using the momentum to jump lightly onto his half bent knee, in a half run leap movement that allowed me to wrap my thighs around his shoulders and upper torso, skimming his jaw. With Light I temporarily increased my mass, making me heavier, which allowed me to bring him down to the ground. I did not hold him too tightly, not wishing to hurt him, careful both to keep the air in his lungs and not break his neck. I held him there on the ground until he tapped my outer thigh, conceding the match.

During the match, I had not paid attention to the cheers of the crowd of onlookers. I knew that the band would be in the crowd, yet was barely aware of their presence. When my opponent had tapped my thigh, signaling his concession, I had released him and jumped up in acrobatic flair, showing off a little and landing light on my feet, as if in recognition of their proximity. After the customary bows and good humored affirmations, I turned towards where I knew Namjoon and Sejin were standing.

The rest of the band had joined the two men and as I turned towards them and began walking to their side, they exclaimed their pleasure at my performance. In the midst of the congratulations, I heard a brief thought from Yoongi, which had escaped his tight mind in almost a whisper, 'Hardly fair when she isn't even human.' I turned my gaze to him sharply and caught his grinning face. 'Ah.' I thought. 'He knows but isn't bothered by it.'

I looked from Yoongi to Namjoon and mouthed, 'He knows?' to the man who had claimed me as his girlfriend.

His eyes went wide and his smile faded a little when he looked between me and Yoongi . He gave a slight nod and thought loudly to me, 'I can explain.' I looked back at Yoongi again and approached the group, who surrounded me with their praise.

Namjoon moved closer to me and edged his way past his band-mates to take my hand as if for reassurance. I looked down at our connected hands, then again at him, looking into his eyes. I maneuvered my hand and threaded my fingers with his. I knew I would understand more later, and I did not think that Yoongi knowing was an immediate threat. With my returned reassurance, he relaxed a little and joined in the praise for winning the spar.

I looked at Sejin with raised brows as if to ask him his opinion, but did not speak. He seemed to understand my gesture and said in a mildly surprised tone, "Well, I see you can fight, at least."

I laughed and nodded, responding, "I can and my other claims are valid, as well. But I would like to stipulate, that if I am with the security detail, I much prefer to be acting in support of them, if you can manage that. Perhaps, I could act as liaison and interpreter in conjunction with the security team as a consultant, as was suggested earlier?" I proposed.

Sejin seemed to consider my suggestion more thoroughly and nodded, answering, "I will speak with the Security manager and see what we can work out. If you can get me a list of languages that you speak that will help, too." He told me. I nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Namjoon who smiled widely at me. I laughed softly at the expression of excitement on his face as he regarded me and turned to all the men in the group.

Hoseok broached the main question on many of their minds, asking, "So will you be touring with us, Felina?"

"It looks that way." I responded and looked at Namjoon, allowing him to fill the men in on our plans.

He smiled at me and explained, as he turned to fully face the others, "She will be touring with us as part of the security team, so on staff, yeah." He gazed back at me as he continued, "And I guess you have worked out your niche."

I beamed briefly as I returned his look, "Very necessary. I assure you."