"Kai, are you feeling okay?"

Kai didn't even turn to his teammate; instead, he chose to ignore him and continued to watch the rain drops run like tears down the glass of the window. Ray looked away from the phoenix and back to staring at the seemingly endless road. He sighed, and leaned as far as his seat belt would let him and rested his arms on the sides of the passenger and driver seats.

"You know, Kai, I think we should invite the Demolition Boys to stay with us for a while." Everyone turned to look at Ray. Kai's brow lifted slightly in question. Ray smiled warmly at him. "Well I mean, I know Tala's your friend-" "Hn. He is not a 'friend'. Ivanov is merely an opponent who refuses to accept defeat." "But, I thought-" interjected Tyson, who sat on the other side of the neko-jin. "Let me guess. You thought that we were both raised in that hell hole and were on the same team we were close? We were raised to trust no one and make sure every one and thing is merely an obstacle in the race to the top. Nothing more." Everyone took him turning to look out the window once more as an end to that particular conversation.

As silence filled the small car once more, Hilary, who had taken to position as driver with Max in passenger, raised the volume to hear the end of a song just above the soft pit-pat of the sad rain.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore,
Only sadness...

The four boys and one girl ran to get under the hotel's over hang and out of the freezing rain. Hilary wrapped her arms around herself as Ray held the building's door open for her. "Thanks..." she whispered through shattering teeth.

A flash of red caught her eyes.

She turned to see a man older than she with red hair at the counter, saying something quietly to the woman across from him. She smiled at him, reached under the counter, and pulled out a plastic card the size of a credit card. She handed it to him, and he nodded his thanks.

"Come on, Hilary!" Hilary snapped her head forward to see the team standing in an open elevator with Max's hand on a button to keep the doors open. She rushed towards them and when Max was about to lift his finger to close the door he heard a shout for him to hold it. The red haired young man from before walked briskly through the waiting metal doors, and smiled at Max in gratitude who returned the gesture.

His red eyes scanned the younger teens in front of him, eyes lingering on Kai slightly longer than the rest, then turned to press the number only to stop as he saw it was already pressed.

"We're on the same floor, then. Perhaps we'll be neighbors, eh?" he said before standing beside Hilary.

The brunette raised her eyes to look at him starting at his feet. He wore regular black shoes, white pants, a shirt a fainter red than his hair, and a black jacket with fur on the inside of the hood on a bit on the cuffs of his sleeves. The color of his hair reminded her of Tala, and the eyes of Kai.

"Hm?" Feeling eyes on him, he looked slightly downward at Hilary. As their eyes met, he winked at her. She suddenly found her shoes quite interesting and her cheeks warmed.

The metal doors open once. Everyone in the elevator stepped out and looked for a second at the wall before them. As the Bladebreakers (which includes the petite girl) turned right, the man turned left.

As the boys walked into their suit to quickly claim rooms and beds, Hilary stopped just outside the door. She looked back the way they had just come, towards the elevator, and down the mystery man's hall just to see the last lock of his spiked, firey hair disappear into his own room.

'Who are you, and why do you make me feel as I do?'

If you want a pic of the guy, email me requesting it, or ask for it in your review.