Page 34 of The Scars of Us

She nodded, but I could see the anxiety in her eyes. As I walked closer to her, I assured, “Hey, you know I’m not going to hurt you, right?”

Her response was muffled by her mouthpiece, “I know.” She nodded once more. “I’m just nervous.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“I want to,” she replied with confidence, a determined gleam in her eyes.

That’s my girl.

Moving back a few steps, I gestured with both hands for her to come to me. “Let’s see what you got.”

Hesitantly, Kaiya advanced towards me, keeping her hands in front of her face like I had taught her. She threw a few punches that I easily blocked, but she nailed me with a roundhouse to my thigh. “Nice hit,” I praised.

She attempted to hit me with another roundhouse, but I deflected it with my own leg, causing her to stumble slightly. Recovering quickly, she came at with more jabs and punches, but I was able to block them. She lowered her hands from her face to her chest, obviously tired from the constant movement—sparring was exhausting for anyone.

Jabbing her lightly in the forehead, right where her head gear went across, I reminded, “Hands up! Always protect your face.”

Her hands shot back up right before she swung at my stomach. I jumped back to avoid her hit. “You need to get closer for shots like that. Get some water and I’ll explain more about your technique.”

After we both got a drink, I sat with Kaiya on the mat to let her catch her breath before we started the next round.

“You’re doing great. The only thing I noticed is that you’re not close enough for some of the hits you’re attempting.” I took a long swig of my water and watched as she brought her bottle to her mouth. I quickly looked away, not wanting to focus on her plump lips and remember how they tasted. “You’ll tire yourself out by throwing and not landing them.”

Sweat dripped down her face as she nodded. “Got it.”

“Hey, loosen up. Have some fun—I’m giving you a chance to beat the crap out of me. I don’t let just anyone do that.”

“I feel so special,” she remarked sarcastically, fighting a smile.

I tugged on her ponytail and nudged her playfully. “Smart ass.”

Slapping my arm away, she laughed and pushed me back. “Jerk.”

I chuckled before taking another swallow from my bottle and standing. “Ready for round two?”

When Kaiya nodded, I reached down to help her up. We took our defensive stances, and I motioned for her to come at me again. She came in closer before executing the basic one, two, three combination of jab, punch, jab to my stomach, but I blocked with my arms before pushing her away.

Her eyes narrowed in determination as she advanced towards me again, throwing an elbow to my face that I batted away with my forearm. She threw a jab to my chest and kicked me below the ribs with a roundhouse.

Grabbing her leg, I trapped it against my side before stepping closer to her, bringing our bodies together. Ignoring the feel of her against me, focusing on how to help her technique, I said, “If this ever happens, you need to start punching anything you can to make them let you go, but don’t pull away—you could break your leg.”

Kaiya’s breathing was ragged as I kept her trapped against me, enjoying having her pressed against me. Reluctantly, I let go before backing away slowly. Kaiya took advantage of my lowered hands by throwing a hook to the left side of my face.

“Nice.” I grinned.

A smile lit up her face, showing her pink mouthpiece. Bringing my hands back up, I waited for her to attack me. After she threw a few punches, her hands fell to her chest again.

I threw a back-fist to the side of her head. “Hands,” I reminded. “One good hit, and you’re done for. Remember the first thing I taught you: never get knocked out.”

We went a few more rounds before I decided to work with her on defending against standing attacks. I had Kaiya remove her equipment, but I kept mine on so she could use more force when hitting me during the escape techniques.

“Many times, an attacker will come up and grab you from behind, trapping your arms and putting you in a bear hug. I’m going to show you some ways to escape while disabling your attacker. Come up behind me and wrap your arms around me.”

Doing as I instructed, she grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms to the side.

“First thing that you want to do is crouch down, leaning over a little so that it’s harder for them to lift you up. Most attackers will try to throw you or slam you to the ground—you can’t let that to happen.”

I bent down. “Now, you’re going to stomp on their instep then shift to the right side, giving you some space to throw a hammer-fist into their groin with your right arm, like this. This should cause them to either completely let go or at least loosen their grip on you, allowing you to throw some back elbows into their stomach.”

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