The Two
by acs
Training Days
[reviews]
TITLE: The Two (8/24)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@yahoo.com)
RATING: R (For future violence and Adult situations) - (though Parts 1 thru 12 just barely make it to a PG-13)
DISCLAIMER: This is a derivative work. All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. I don't own any of this, just the words and plot.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
[1] Feedback is always welcome, preferably the kind that improves my writing.
[2] [Revised: 11-Dec-2005][Minor Revision: 24-Jan-2006]
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Chapter VIII: "Training Days"
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She'd just finished her extended T'ai Chi routine when she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. It was accompanied by a slight tingling just on the edge of her senses that had what could only be described as a subtle, smoky flavor. It wasn't quite the same as the feeling she used to get around Faith but it had similar familiar overtones. She'd found only one other living person in this alternate Sunnydale whose presence tugged at her slayer senses in such a noticeable way and the mental 'flavor' she got around them was very different, somehow sweet and tart at the same time.
It could be only one person. Turning in the direction of the feeling she noticed that the sliding door that led to the library was open just a crack.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" she said loudly. The door slid open the rest of the way and Dawn cautiously entered the room.
"The teachers are doing something today." Dawn said, closing the door and leaning back against it. She grimaced and continued. "Some kind of touchy-feely thing. So they gave the rest of us the day off." She looked at Buffy curiously. "What were you doing? It looked sort of like T'ai Chi."
"It is." Buffy smiled slightly. "There are several different styles. The first one I was taught is one of the longer forms."
Dawn looked at her for a moment. Nodding in acceptance, she asked, "Where did you learn it?"
"An old boyfriend spent some time in China a long time ago." Buffy said. "He taught me what he'd learned."
"Oh..." Though she was obviously curious about the boyfriend comment, Buffy could tell Dawn was trying to not appear too nosy about her past. "Why do you do it?" she asked.
"You mean besides the obvious physical benefits that come from practicing any of the martial arts?" Buffy shrugged. "It's a form of meditation. When I do it I feel a connection with parts of myself that I don't get with other forms of meditation that I've tried."
"Oh..." Dawn said again.
"You're a slayer, so you must do something similar." Buffy said to her. "Anything that helps you improve your control and focus your strength should be high on your training list."
"I've been learning to meditate but nothing like that." Dawn said. "It helps a little."
"Well, if you want to start learning T'ai Chi while I'm here I can at least help you with the basics." Buffy offered.
"Okay. Thanks. You don't mind if I watch, do you?" Dawn asked hesitantly.
"No, that's fine. I can't guarantee any excitement." she told her. "I'm just working on the basics today."
"Great!" Dawn said, settling down against a wall where she had a good view of the action.
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Taking a break from a steady barrage of punches and kicks aimed at the sole practice dummy in the room, Buffy glanced over at the young slayer.
"Do you get a chance to spar with anyone?" She asked, trying to gauge her reaction to what she was saying without being too obvious about her interest.
"Some but not very often. Ms. Rosenberg works with me on different fighting techniques but I can't really hit her very hard." She looked slightly embarrassed. "I accidentally knocked her out once."
"Do you get a chance to train with any other slayers?" Buffy asked. She'd gotten the impression earlier from talking with Willow that there were several other slayers but the Coven's public library and the occult section in the bookshop had been empty of anything related to slayers or even more than basic information about vampires. This seemed to be as good an opportunity as any to find some things out.
"Not yet. All of the slayers in the three current slayer lines get together once every seven years." She said, leaning forward, propping an elbow on a knee, and resting her chin on a palm. "But I haven't been one long enough to have gone to the last meeting."
"What if one of the other slayers needs help?" Buffy asked curiously.
"We all help out then." Dawn said, playing with her shoelaces with her free hand as she talked. "But that hasn't happened in over a century."
Buffy filed that information away for later consideration, along with everything else she knew about this world's slayers. "If Ms. Rosenberg agrees I would be willing to spar with you once in a while. I can take a lot more punishment than she can."
Buffy knew she was partially changing her earlier decision to not involve herself in Dawn's training but she justified it with the thought that occasional sparring sessions weren't really the same thing. Also, the few vampires she'd caught stalking Dawn hadn't been enough of a challenge to satisfy her own need for close quarter fighting and she really missed working out with someone close to her own strength. And if that helped Dawn out at the same time it wasn't going to hurt her plans.
"I'll ask her tonight." Dawn looked up at her. "I can let you know what she says."
"She knows where to find me if she agrees to it." Buffy replied before going back to hitting the dummy.
"Great!" said an enthusiastic Dawn before she once more sat back against her chosen portion of training room wall. Buffy spent the rest of her remaining time working through an abbreviated series of the moves she and Faith had developed while training new slayers after the collapse of Sunnydale, well aware that Dawn was closely watching everything she was doing.
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"Ms. Rosenberg?"
"Yes, Dawn?" She looked up from the stack of papers she was grading between classes.
"Would you mind if I sparred with Buffy Summers?"
"When?" She looked closely at Dawn, wondering when jealousy had turned into interest.
"Several times a week?" Dawn said hopefully.
"I'll have to think about it. I haven't seen her in action yet. If you can learn something from it, sure." Willow looked closely at her slayer. "If you are just trying to avoid your regular training I would have to say no."
"Is that a yes or no?" Dawn asked impatiently, shifting back and forth in front of her.
"It's a maybe." She answered quietly. "I'll need to talk with her and check her out myself first."
"Thanks!" Dawn said and headed off to her next class, dodging the students who had begun to pour into the classroom.
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"Do you like her?"
Sitting behind the bookshop's counter, Buffy looked up in surprise from the book she was reading. The young slayer standing in the door seemed to exude an emotion she couldn't quite identify. She assumed it was related to the question which seemed to have come out of the blue. "Like who?"
"Ms. Rosenberg." Dawn said, the expression on her face telling Buffy that it should have been obvious to all concerned whom she meant.
"She does remind me of a former friend, except she seems several years younger. And much happier." Buffy answered, looking at Dawn thoughtfully, trying to discover the intent behind the question.
"Is that a bad thing?" Dawn asked.
Buffy didn't reply immediately, instead lining up the two Willows in her head and comparing what she knew about Dawn's Guide with her former friend. Other than the basic physical similarities, she wasn't able to do it to her own satisfaction. She just hadn't spent enough time with this Willow to compare them. She really didn't know her well enough to commit to more than the simple answer she gave. "No, it isn't. Why?"
"I think she likes you." Dawn told her.
"What makes you think that?" Buffy asked, gently closing her book, using a finger to keep her place.
"What has she been doing every night for the past week?" Dawn asked.
"What?" Buffy echoed, looking at her, slightly puzzled.
"In case you hadn't noticed it, this is a small town. People notice things and gossip. Rumor has it she's spent an hour or two at Tony's every night this week." Dawn leaned against the counter.
"So?" Buffy said.
"Everyone is curious." Dawn shrugged. "And since you seem to match the description of the person she's supposed to be spending that time with I thought you might have something to say."
"And why does this concern you? Isn't it her business what she does with her time?" Buffy raised an eyebrow at the younger slayer, who blushed a deep red before answering her.
"Why do I care? You mean other than her being my Guide? Or my responsibility?" Dawn took a deep breath and continued as fiercely as she could under the circumstances. "She's a friend. If you hurt her it won't matter how good you think you are. You'll pay for it."
"That's sweet. Sort of." Buffy grimaced at the protective young slayer. "But you're presuming a lot based on very little information."
"No? And the reason she's also been coming here, right after school all week?"
"She likes books?" a confused Buffy hedged in an attempt to avoid answering.
Dawn sighed in exasperation. "Are you this clueless all of the time?"
Buffy looked at her blankly, not quite sure she was really hearing Dawn say what she thought she was saying. And not willing to admit she understood her. She certainly didn't have any feelings for Willow other than possibly friendship.
"She doesn't know you're straight, does she?" Dawn said.
"Straight? That's an awfully personal question. And what does that have to do with anything?" Buffy looked at her, mystified. "The subject never came up."
"Okay, if you say so." Dawn frowned to herself. "And you know she isn't?"
"I had a feeling she wasn't but she hasn't said anything to me." Buffy said quietly. "I didn't think it was any of my business, unlike certain nosey teenagers. Why?"
"You don't think she might be interested in more than just friendship?" Dawn asked curiously.
"No." Buffy answered dismissively and, pretending to ignore Dawn, went back to her book in an attempt to end the conversation.
Neither of them said anything for several minutes.
Noticing Dawn still standing there and beginning to fidget, in an attempt to change the subject, Buffy asked her - "So, have you decided if you want to spar with me occasionally?"
"I do but Ms. Rosenberg wants to see you in action first. To see what affect sparring with you would have on my regular training." Dawn said with a slight shrug, no longer leaning against the counter. "I'm not sure how she plans to do it. She said she would talk with you."
"Okay. Was there anything else?" Buffy asked in a neutral tone.
"No, and I really have to go." Dawn said, heading towards the door. She slipped out of the bookshop with a slight wave to Buffy before heading down the street.
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Dawn hurried into the smaller training room, pulling off her jacket. She'd managed to get to the Coven house just barely on time, even with her slight side-trip across town to the bookshop and having to dodge her Guide on the way back. Her visit with Miss Summers hadn't been very successful but she'd had to try.
She preferred to not interfere in Ms. Rosenberg's personal life but she couldn't avoid it in this case. It was affecting her choice of a potentially valuable training partner.
"That was close." Ms. Rosenberg said, entering the room and smiling at her slayer. "What happened?"
"Umm... I had to run an errand downtown after school." Dawn shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant. She must not have dodged her as well as she thought.
"Okay. What's our rule if you think you're going to be late and it isn't an emergency?" she asked.
"Let you know and don't rush. You would rather I was late than an accident happen." Dawn said in a serious tone, imitating her Guide's voice.
"Correct." She frowned at Dawn. "And in this case I'm not flattered with the imitation. I don't sound like that."
Dawn grinned at her. "If you say so."
"Yes, I do!" Willow answered firmly. "Now, go change into something more appropriate."
"Yes, ma'am." Dawn said, curtsying in an exaggerated manner before running off to the changing room.
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After several minutes spent warming up, Dawn broached the subject currently most on her mind. "Have you had a chance to talk with Miss Summers about sparring with me yet?"
"What? No. When would I have time to check her out like I wanted?"
"Well, since you've spent a couple hours every night this week with her at Tony's you should have had plenty of time to 'check her out'" Dawn replied with a smirk.
"Hey! How do you know what I've been doing?" Willow exclaimed, not denying it.
"You've lived here your entire life and you don't know how much people like to gossip?" Dawn stared at her in feigned amazement.
"Oh.. oh! And I wasn't checking her out!" Willow sputtered.
"You weren't?" Dawn grinned at her. "People are saying you were getting awfully close. What were you doing then?"
"Not that it is any of your business," Willow huffed, "but all we've done is talk."
"It is my business!" Dawn told her firmly. "Anything that affects you affects me."
"I'm not that important. You would be a slayer whether I was helping you or not."
"I still need your help with things. And you were going to talk to her about helping me." Dawn said with a straight face.
"Okay... that was clever. But it still isn't any of your business." Willow shook her head.
"Do you like her?" Dawn asked.
"Would it bother you if I did?" she asked, tilting her head to one side as she looked curiously at Dawn.
"Maybe. I don't know!" she answered. "We don't know anything about her and you're ready to ask her to move in."
"Am not!" sputtered the blushing redhead. "And we know a lot about her."
"No, you and Tara know a lot about her. Which you won't share with me." Dawn grumbled. "You said it was all too personal."
"Yes, it is. And it has nothing to do with her being in Sunnydale."
"How can you be sure?"
"I just am." Willow said firmly. "And I believe you have other more important things to do than discuss my personal life."
"You do know she's straight? Right?" Dawn asked before taking a sip from her water bottle, giving it one last try.
"Yes. I know she thinks she's straight." Willow winked mischievously at her slayer. "Which means you have nothing to be concerned about. Your sister still has a chance."
Dawn coughed, choking on her water in surprise. "My sister? What does my sister have to do with any of this?"
"Isn't that why you are so concerned?" Willow grinned at the young slayer as she put her water bottle down on the bench.
"No! You with my sister is such an epically bad idea that I can't believe you said that." Dawn shuddered before grabbing the practice dummy and pulling it into the center of the room.
"Okay. I'll stop bringing it up if you'll stop trying to play matchmaker so you can have a sparring partner."
"What?" Dawn's jaw dropped.
"Yes, I do know what you are trying to do." Willow told her, shaking her head. "And it won't work. You should know better."
"Okay." Dawn muttered. "But if she won't spar with me because of you I won't be happy."
"You can't always be happy." Willow patted her on the back. "It'll work out the way it is supposed to."
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After her conversation with Dawn, Buffy was only slightly surprised when Willow joined her in the smaller training room several days later just as she was finishing her normal T'ai Chi routine. "Don't you teach during the day?"
"All of my morning classes are on a field trip." Willow answered. "So I thought I would come see you. If you don't mind the company?"
"No, you're welcome to be here. I'm not doing anything exciting." She noticed what Willow was wearing. She'd only visited Willow in her classroom once her first week in Sunnydale and she was pretty sure she hadn't been wearing anything resembling the outfit she was now in. "Is that how you normally dress when you teach?" she teased.
"Oh, this?" Willow rubbed her hands nervously against the legs of her pink sweatpants and tugged at the half t-shirt she was wearing over what looked to Buffy like a spandex body suit. "No. It wouldn't be appropriate."
"Ah, I didn't think so." Buffy gave her a slight grin. "Your hormone drenched students would be too busy looking at you to pay any attention to what you were teaching. I certainly would have at their age."
"Yes, well..." Willow blushed slightly at the implied compliment.
"Did you have anything specific in mind?" Buffy asked, pretending to not noticed how nervous Willow seemed to be in her presence. She didn't mind spending time with Willow. In fact, their nightly conversations at Tony's had become the highlight of her day. But encouraging anything more than friendship wasn't a part of her plans, especially after Dawn had spoken to her about Willow's apparent attraction to her. It would complicate things more than they were already.
"I really wanted to see what you do when you train." Willow told her. "Dawn has been bugging me to let her at least spar with you and I promised her I would check you out. Check out your training methods I mean. Not that there is anything wrong with the other kind of checking out... unless it bothers you... because I certainly wouldn't do that..." she told her before coming to an obviously embarrassed stop.
Buffy raised an eyebrow at her rambling comment. This was the first time she'd exhibited such a classic Willowism in Buffy's presence and she wasn't sure exactly how to characterize the strange feeling it gave her in the pit of her stomach.
"Okay, we can do that, though you aren't going to learn much just watching me hit things." she said, gesturing at the practice dummy in the corner.
"How else would I do it?"
"You did train Dawn, correct?" Buffy asked. "You've worked with her on her different fighting techniques?"
"Yes... and I still do. I just can't match her strength or speed so I focus mostly on demonstrating the different moves she needs to learn or practice." She waved her hands around to emphasize her point.
"Then you can spar with me. I promise not to hurt you." Buffy grinned at her.
"You? And me?" Willow gave Buffy a wide eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look at the suggestion.
"Yes. Us. Vampires and demons seem a bit scarce right now so unless you can think of another way that doesn't involve physical contact there isn't much choice." Buffy gave her a slight smile in an attempt to appear harmless, mostly. "And I don't bite unless invited." she said, pretending to not hear the small squeak that came from Willow at her comment.
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>Continued in "Part IX - Field Trip"
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