Chapter 1. The Introduction
Inadvertent clumsiness is what finally earned me that kiss. Let me explain. I study Tae Kwon Do as a sport, hobby, recreation, and self defense with a local instructor. He's one of the best in the area, and after years of instruction, I was his principle student. That is, I was the last person he'd ever teach from start to finish at my current rank, and the only one left in the class to sponge up any kernel of knowledge he might have left to offer before fully retiring.
As such, I had a rather privileged status as head student. Sometimes his other high ranking students would stop by, but usually every other week I was the highest rank. As such, I was often left with the lower belts, to instruct them while my instructor offered the upper belts more one on one training. This worked out well because I was relaxed and fun loving when practicing anything physical. This was important of course, because the lower belts were usually the new people, and thusly the most tense and nervous. After several sessions though, I could have everyone relaxed and moving more like veterans, and having a good time at the same time. Many of us ended class with large smiles, even after the hardest workouts.
That was how I got to meet Amber. She was a slender blonde with a petite frame, not much past eighteen. She had studied somewhere else and had come to us from a different school. Which was evident in her belt color. It wasn't white, and it wasn't a color we used. So I was sent to introduce her to our class and find out what I could about her. A double edged sword, you might say.
My instructor normally used me in this way. Get to know them, get them to know the class. At the same time, relax them and make it comfortable for them to join in with the rest of us.
I was happy she was in class, really, and was extra vigilant to make sure she'd stay with us. No, it wasn't just the fact that she was a good looking girl. It was largely that she was the person closest to my age that had joined us in a long time. She was close to graduating high school, while I had just finished junior college a few years ago. Sure, we weren't exactly the same age, but we were close enough to count.
We finished the first class together splendidly. She said she loved the way we did things and looked forward to coming back. I told her I was happy she thought so, but was careful not to get my hopes up. You hear that crap a lot, but then come next week, they never show.
Chapter 2. Learning to Fight
To my surprise, the next week she did show up. Fifteen minutes early. To work on free sparring, of all things. It kind of surprised me, really. Usually women want to stick to forms only, and skip the more physical and 'macho' fighting.
"Free sparring?" I asked, letting my surprise shine through.
"Yep. You picked me apart last week. I want a chance to get even." Her voice was what I would consider feminine. It wasn't too high or low pitched, but carried with a fluid confidence.
"Sweet. Well, I'm more than happy to spar any time. You do have to understand that I was holding back last week, though."
"Don't hold back this time, then. I want to learn fast."
Before long we were swapping techniques. We started slow. I let her throw most of the strikes at first, content to simply block and evade. That was usually the way I liked to start. It gave me a chance to watch my opponent move, while learning their favorite combinations and balance shifts. It also allowed me to find most of the holes in their fighting style.
We were only a couple of minutes into the sparring before she got a funny look on her face. I had started throwing techniques back, and was scoring quite a few clean single hits. I hadn't really started into combinations yet, so she wasn't really defensive. As I landed another left to the side of her head she called for a breather.
I knew we hadn't been fighting long enough for her to be tired yet, and I certainly hadn't hit her hard enough to stun her. Her gloved hands moved in exasperation. "Okay, okay. Before you bruise the side of my head completely, how do you keep hitting me?"
I laughed. It was an obvious rookie mistake, but since she was still a rookie it wasn't that obvious for her. She seemed a little hurt at my laughter so I had to explain. "It's a simple rookie mistake. And we've all been there done that. Every time you throw a kick, you drop your guard. All I have to do is twist sideways to let your kick brush against me. You think you're scoring a great hit to my torso, while my punch is knocking your head into next week. If we were going full tilt, I think we both know that the punch to the head is definitely worth more than an indirect kick to the torso."
She nodded, we touched gloves again, and away we went. She'd mostly fixed her guard dropping tendencies before we had to stop for regular class. Mostly.
That had begun our friendship. We would often arrive early before class or stay late afterwards to fight. One day, when we unrolled the mats for class and I led them through some grappling techniques I'd picked up from wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I discovered she liked that, too. Before long we were including the mats in our pre and post class exercises. She was even more aggressive at ground fighting than she was on her feet. I was doubly surprised. Not only do females usually not like fighting, they especially don't like grappling. Particularly with males. She was an exception though, because she definitely enjoyed the ground fighting. I knew she was a diamond in the rough.
As time passed, we became close comrades. We talked as much as we fought, trading funny stories as much as punches and sweat.
Summer was just passing its heat apex when she could finally fight for over fifteen minutes without me forcing her to tap out. On the other side of the coin, I was hard pressed to keep her from tapping me out. My size was about the only advantage left to me. At one hundred and eighty pounds, it wasn't much of an advantage. Slowly, she was beginning to learn that for some techniques I was just too big, and she could find immunity to some holds and slip others that I could've forced on a larger opponent. Conversely, she discovered that what worked for me, didn't always work for, as her limbs just weren't long enough to apply the holds to me.
Chapter 3. Sudden Changes
And so I begin again at my starting point. We were sparring after class when I slipped on the mat. I stepped in a puddle of sweat the same time I threw a kick. The sweat was just enough to cause me to lose my balance and Amber pounced on the opportunity. She flew into me shoulder first, easily passing my legs as she tackled me. And that's all it was. Not a pretty takedown. Just a brutal body tackle.
