Spikes day wasn’t as nice as Buffy’s had been. The King had offered him a chance to train with the guards of the castle. He was already an excellent fighter, but even for Spike, the techniques that the guards used were extremely difficult. Their fighting style was of one he had never heard of or seen.
The King had his guards set up in five units. There were enough guards, in each unit, to fill every position that was required by the castle. Some guarded various doors, others guarded the fortress’s walls and grounds, and others guarded the walls. The King had five units because the training was rigorous and required, sometimes, weeks of healing.
This was the second time that Spike was placed in a mock battle. He was certainly not enjoying the day. He almost enjoyed the first part; running, punching, kicking and other attacks on a stationary training bag. After the first part, there was a short interlude where the guards broke for food.
Once back, the sparring began. Buffy and Spike were so evenly matched that they rarely hurt each other. It had been a good long while since Spike had been in a real fight. The opposite guard was out for blood and wouldn’t stop until the opponent was unable to get back up and therefore ‘out.’ It was required for the sparring to last a minimum of ten minutes. You must be heavily ducking or kicking the shit out of your opponent. The only thing that mattered was to last the ten minutes. Ten minutes may not seem like a long time, but when two people are in a match so vigorous or getting beat, it can be terribly hard.
A spell was cast on the arena that prevented any deaths from occurring. The phrase: ’It’s amazing what you can live through’ continued to echo in his head as he was fighting. The hardest part was that after the ten minutes, if you were still standing, you had to fight until the other person fell. Once the other person fell, you had to continue to fight more battles. Each person in the training was required to battle against five people. This meant that each guard was required close to an hour of battles, even if they were injured seriously in the first minute of battle. That was the major reason that made the spar-battling so tough.
Spike was tired and couldn’t wait to finish the last battle. He swore it was the hardest guard in the entire unit and he was chosen to be against him. He had won the other four battles and came out of it with barely a scratch, while Spike had some bruises and cuts over him and a limp. The injuries were nothing to cry home about, but things would surely change fighting that specific opponent.
The horn blew and the battle began. Spike tried his best to dodge and block the guard’s advances but he was good-really good. The last guard had told him that this man had trained since he was 4 and was the champion of the area. That encouraged Spike to fight hard and long because he wanted to be a champion. He finally managed to land a kick on the guard, which took him down to the ground. Spike immediately leapt on him and punched the man until he kicked Spike off him and got back to his feet. The guard landed a few lucky shots, cutting Spike in a few places with his armor, before Spike jumped over his attempted trip and, instead, landed a hard two foot kick to the guard’s chest, taking him back down again. Spike punched the man repeatedly in the face because it was the only place uncovered. After the punching, Spike, landed a few kicks to the guards side. Again, the guard finally was able to roll sideways, knocking Spike to the ground and both stood up ready to battle again..
Spike wiped the blood from his head that had leaked down into his eyes and took the fighting stance again in time to block a few punches from the guard. The guard still managed to land one in Spike’s stomach, breaking a rib before Spike dropped to the side, leaning on his elbow to swing his leg under the guard, making him fall to the ground. Before the guard had a chance to get up, Spike leapt on top of him, kneeling as to keep good balance, and proceeded to punch the guard again. The guard managed to punch Spike twice before Spike stood up to quickly pin the guard’s arms to the side and punched him twice to knock him out.
Spike then stood up, covered in bruises that were already beginning to form, and new blood that had been flowing to his eyes as the King slapped him on the back, making his broken ribs rub against each other.
Spike winced in pain as the King spoke.
“You did well. Go rest up for tomorrow. You and your mate are invited to a Ball and dinner. I hope you are well enough to attend. You can visit your mate’s sister after if you would like. Nice battle…” He called Spike something but Spike didn’t understand it. He hoped it meant something like champion or warrior but was satisfied with knowing he won and would be going home to Buffy in one piece. He heard Engina’s words behind him and knew he could return home, as he felt empty once again.
He pondered the word ‘home’ as he walked to their room. He wasn’t sure when he started thinking of their room as their home. He figured it was because they were actually living together. They were sleeping, eating and showering together every day so therefore it was home to them. He wondered, briefly, if Buffy considered it home, as well.
Spike hoped that he could manage to have Buffy wrap up his ribs enough to make love to her. He doubted she would let him just take care of her enough to feed, although it would be easier. He sighed as he opened the door to find Buffy sitting on the bed playing with Fuzzball. She looked beautiful in her dress and for a moment, he just watched her, memorized by how happy she really looked.
She felt his presence and looked up at him and smiled, then frowned because of how hurt he was. She rushed over to him and helped him to the bed. She gently removed his clothes, trying to see where he was hurt.
She frowned and whispered, “I think you need a bath.”
He nodded and she helped take him to the bathroom, taking special care to remove his clothes without hurting him.
“Going to join me, pet?” he leered.
She grinned and nodded, quickly removing her clothes as well. He had nursed her back to health so it was her turn to take care of him. She watched as he carefully lowered himself into the tub and she lowered herself into the tub, leaving room between the two of them until she was able to make sure she wouldn’t hurt him with her body. She took the furry washcloth and Spike turned around to lean his head back towards her, resting it gently against her knees, which she raised to keep his face out of the water. She gently used the washcloth to wash away the blood from his face and from the wound, noticing it wasn’t as bad as it looked, but was still pretty deep. She hoped it would heal naturally.
She placed a gentle kiss on his lips, despite the fact that his lips were swollen, and he returned the kiss. She gently broke the kiss to help him get back into the sitting position so she could access the rest of his injured body. She was silently cursing the King for this kind of treatment.
Her brows furrowed together, causing Spike to bring his hand up to cup her cheek.
“It’s not so bad, pet. It’s good to know what I’m up against in two weeks and to get some practice.”
Buffy still frowned. “Yeah, but you keep getting beat up. Is this what happened the other night as well?”
Spike nodded and whispered softly as he dropped his hand into the water, “Only one more time of this and not for another six days, sweetheart. We get five days of reprieve to do as we wish. Only we have a ball to attend tomorrow. I need to teach you to dance in the morning when I’m feeling up to par again.”
Buffy smiled as she continued to gently wash the crusted blood away, still upset by the bruises and cuts that marred his body. She wished she could have helped but knew that was out of the question. She tenderly washed his torso and he groaned as she touched his ribs.
She frowned. “I think you have a few ribs broken.”
Spike nodded. “I heard them break as the last guard kicked me in the torso and then punched me a few times.”