Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Ten | The First Rule of Fight Club

T E N 

I wouldn't have pegged Suah for a fighter. I guess it was the fact that she worked in a bathhouse that made her seem like so much more of the healer type. Then again, as soon as I saw her weapon, it made a lot more sense.

Suah stood across from me in the circle that was the training ring. Her weapon? A fan.

"You'd better prepare yourself," she said, and raised it like she was getting ready to swat a bug.

It probably would have been comical if it were anyone else. The first time, I'd laughed, and then she'd hit me with a rush of air so hard it hurt. Or maybe it was just the metal frame of the fan itself that caused my bruises. It was hard to tell.

"You're lucky this is just for training," she'd said, "The real ones have blades that will cut you like butter."

It was safe to say I did not want to be on the receiving end of one of those attacks.

Ren, whose wounds were still healing, was leaning up against the wall, watching. He seemed to take way too much enjoyment out of Suah training me--if you could really call it training.

"Either I enjoy this, or I get angry that I can't teach you myself," he'd said when I complained.

"Look this way," barked Suah when she caught me glancing at him. "Now focus!"

I turned back just in time to get hit with another blast of wind from the swing of her fan. I'd moved out of the way of the metal itself just in time. We'd been at it for hours, and honestly, I just wanted to take a break.

"Don't you want to get good?" said Suah, "That way you'll be all set to beat up Ren here once the wimp is finally ready to take you on."

"Hey, hey," he said, pushing off from the wall. "I'm hurt, remember."

"Whatever," said Suah. She sure talked differently when she wasn't working. In fact, everything about her changed as soon as she stepped in the ring. There was a sharp glint in her eyes that told me this was exactly where she preferred to be.

Yaro, too, was different. "Let her rest a moment," he'd said when he walked in, carrying with him a wooden training sword. I wouldn't have expected him to join us--after all, he wasn't the least bit supportive of Ren's decision to teach me how to fight--but if I didn't know better, I'd say something changed when he found out it was Suah who would be doing the teaching.

Watching Yaro and Suah face off was like stepping into an alternate universe, one where someone had transplanted their personalities with street-fighting gang members. Or maybe kids. I think 'gang members' would imply something a little more threatening and less entertaining.

"You gonna just stand there, or are you going to actually hit me," said Suah, dodging another swing.

That's the thing. They were actually quite good, but they were so evenly matched that it seemed neither could get the drop on the other.

"Perhaps if you stopped talking, you'd be able to think. Then you could anticipate my moves," said Yaro, but it seemed he was the one failing to focus. Or maybe it was both of them.

"You have to actually want to hit your opponent," remarked Ren, "Otherwise you're both gonna keep missing all day."

"Oh, you'd better believe I want to hit him," said Suah, swinging her fan again. This time, Yaro ducked and stepped to the side, turned again, and pulled his sword around her neck.

"I've won," he said. But it was clear to see Suah had her fan poised against his stomach.

"Maybe, but I'm taking you with me," she said, and gave him an extra jab to the gut for effect.