Dark Waters - Chapter 6A - Memory Kiss

About an hour later Amanda turns away from her writing on the blackboard, wishing she could see everyone’s reaction. She had drawn diagrams of the buildings as best as she could without seeing them but she wasn’t sure they were that great.
"So until we can get more information that’s it," Amanda says, finishing up the meeting. Chairs squeak against the tiles of the floor as her squad members get up. Quick and light footsteps move toward Amanda before Marissa’s high and sweet voice speaks.
"I think we should all go to the training room and get to know each other before going out for a nice little dinner," she says in a sweet and innocent tone that makes Amanda imagine her smiling.
"I agree, Marissa. That sounds like a grand idea," Alicia says, moving with slightly heavier footsteps to stand next to Marissa, "What do you think, Amanda?"
"I think I should say yes," Amanda laughs, amazed that already she had good friends. Rhiannon walks over to them as well and suddenly they begin chattering.
Hunter chuckles at the sight of Amanda being overrun by other woman until the other guys circle around him and Azriel raises one eyebrow at him.
"What’s with the goofy grin?" Azriel says, looking toward Amanda and the other girls and seeming to not notice anything funny or special. He turns back toward Hunter and crosses his arms over his chest. Hunter frowns at the other guys and shrugs,
"Its nothing. So Markus you’re a hand-to-hand master?" Hunter asks, quickly shifting the topic. Markus grins,
"Yeah. You thinking to challenge that title?" he asks, rolling his shoulder and cracking his neck, "Cause if you are I think we should take the girls up on their offer for training and then dinner," he says laughing even as Scott rolls his eyes and Maxwell punches his brother in the shoulder.

Finally everyone decides that Marissa’s idea is good and they all move into the training room which is filled with fighting rings, obstacle courses, dummies, weapons, and everything else imaginable.
"So Hunter, you want to try me?" Markus laughs, swinging over the ropes into the fighting ring, putting his fists up immediately. Hunter shakes his head and grins, his hair swinging into his eyes as he, too, swings into the ring.
"Human forms only?" Hunter asks, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"Sure," Markus says before suddenly shifting his weight and kicking at Hunter’s head. Hunter snaps his head back just in time, Markus’s foot passing about an inch from Hunter’s face. Hunter’s eyes widen and Markus laughs,
"You sure you still want to do this?" Markus asks, receiving a nod from Hunter as they suddenly start going at each other with everything they’ve got. Marissa cheers them on while jumping up and down, her colorful wings bobbing up and down with her as she squeals in delight. Rhiannon sits down quietly and watches, trying to see how it was all done since she didn’t have any experience with fighting. Alicia nudges Amanda gently.
"How about you come practice with me. Your going to need to know how to at least protect yourself," she says, grabbing Amanda’s elbow and pulling her over onto the mats.
"Well the first thing to know is that just because your blind does not mean you can’t be a great, or even master, fighter. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking fighting depends on your ability to see. But in reality fighting depends on your skill and all of your senses. You must use your senses of sound and touch to tell where your opponent is and what they are doing. Feel the air moving against your skin if you can and hear the movements of your opponent. Even the smallest movement creates some sound, even if it doesn’t seem like you should be able to hear it," Alicia says, continuing her lecture for a few more minutes before taking up a fighting stance. She throws slow punches at Amanda, trying to be as quiet as possible, and seeing if Amanda can hear where they are and dodge them accurately.

A few hours later Hunter and Markus were still going at it, fighting furiously with their hair damp and hanging down into their eyes. Amanda and Alicia were now actually sparring, Alicia still taking it easy on Amanda since she was new at it but she seemed to be learning pretty quickly. After getting hit a few times Amanda finally figures out what certain techniques sound like and she begins dodging faster and more accurately until Alicia calls a stop, chuckling.
"You’re a quick learner huh?" Alicia asks, walking Amanda back toward where Markus and Hunter are fighting. Amanda chuckles and nods, listening to the smack of punches landing and the footsteps of Markus and Hunter. Alicia narrates the whole match for Amanda until Amanda puts her fingers up to her lips and whistles shrilly. She hears a loud thud and suddenly laughter bursts out as Hunter starts coughing and then begins laughing.
"Thanks Amanda. I was just on a come back and then you have to send me over the side of the arena," Hunter says, jumping up and dusting himself off, brushing his hair out of his eyes impatiently. Amanda smiled just a little, her eyes sparkling with held back laughter. It made Hunter extremely happy to see those sparkles in her eyes. He stood up and walked over to her, walking closer than he had intended so that he loomed up in front of her. Amanda only noticed because she could literally feel his presence right there in front of her and she lifted her head, about to speak when suddenly she felt Hunter’s hands framing her face and his lips on hers.