Dimitri POV

I woke up just as soon as my alarm clock went off. I hastily slammed it to keep it quiet and pulled on sweat pants and a t-shirt. I had to see Rose; I had to make sure that she was ok.

"Dimka, why do you get up so early?" Tasha moaned.

"Because, I have practice with Rose right now," I told her.

I let Tasha sleep over with me last night because her cabin wasn't done yet, and she accepted the offer. She was laying on my bed in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, with her black hair spilling every where.

"Couldn't you stay a while longer?" She pleaded.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, but I can't."

She sighed. "Alright, I'll be here, see ya Dimka."

I walked out of the door and down the stairs into the gym. I waited a few minutes until Rose came in; her hair was down today, which was odd. And she angled her face so that it never looked me straight in the eye.

We were practicing with the dummies again, and Rose knew what to do. She went through three of the dummies, with me occasionally criticizing her.

"You're hairs in the way," I told her at one point. "Not only are you blocking your peripheral vision, but you're at risk of letting your enemy get a hand hold."

"When I'm actually in battle, I'll wear it up," She said, grunting and shoving the stake into the dummies heart.

"Rose," I said, warning her to stop.

She looked pretty upset, and yet, beautiful.

"Rose, stop!" I told her, and she took the stake back and stepped away from the dummy, backing up slowly until her back hit the wall.

"Look at me," I told her, wanting to kiss away all the pain and grief she felt.

"Dimitri-," She began.

"Look at me," I said, with more force.

She couldn't refuse a direct order, I knew that much. Slowly, she tipped her head so that her hair covered one part of her face. The part that was where Janine had hurt her.

My hand reached up involuntarily and pushed that soft brown hair back, and gasped. Her eye was swollen to a pink around the edges, and it was bruised on the eyelid. It looked like Janine had taken a crow bar and slammed her daughter's face against it.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No."

I knew she was lying, but I didn't push on. I let my hand fall back down to my side.

"It doesn't look bad," It was my turn to lie.

"I hate her," She said, her voice full of venom. I was shocked that Rose could hate some one so much.

"No you don't," I insisted.

"Yes, I do," her voice was softer.

"You should make peace with her," I suggested.

"Make peace with that monster? After she gave me a black eye on purpose?" Rose cried out in frustration.

"She didn't do it on purpose, I saw her after what happened, and she looked horrible," I said.

"She's probably just scared that someone will sue her for abuse charges," Rose mumbled.

"You should forgive her, it's almost Christmas," I told her.

"Can you not sound like some sappy Christmas special?" She asked me, her anger only rising, "Miracles don't happen in the real world, it's all a bunch of fairy tall crap."

"You can make your own miracles," I told her, it was true. You actually could, if you tried hard enough.

"Oh my fucking god! Can you stop with all the Zen life lesson bull? I swear, it's like you just want to hear yourself talk! You don't treat me like a real person, and I know you're not always like this. With Tasha you're perfectly normal, but with me you're just stuck being a stupid mentor. Once you're hours are done, you don't have to care about me anymore, and you can just go and do what you want to do and not give a fucking damn what happens to me," She yelled. Her frustration had hit a breaking point. So had mine.

"You think I don't care about you?" I asked my voice dangerously low.

"I know you don't," She answered. Her hand reached up and her index finger was suddenly jabbing at my chest, "I'm just another student to you, someone that Kirova wants to be fixed into the perfect Guardian, and not the same trouble maker before she left. You just go on with your stupid life lessons so that-----

I couldn't hold it in anymore, the hand that I had used to touch her hair grabbed her hand and pinned it to the wall. I saw shock and surprise go through her face, but when I was pissed off, I couldn't stop.

"Do not tell me what I'm feeling," I growled.

I saw her flinch under my gaze and my tone, but I couldn't comfort her. My patience was all used up. And suddenly, I realized that this was all showing on my face.

"That's it, isn't it? You're just like me," She whispered.

Crap, she'd seen through the mask!

"What?" I decided to play dumb for a while.

"You're always fighting for the control, you're just like me," She repeated.

"No, Rose, I've learned my lessons on control," I told her, I was still pretty pissed off, but I had to keep my voice even.

"No, you haven't. You put on a good face, but inside, there's a war going on between controlling yourself and just letting go. And sometimes," She took a step towards me. "Sometimes you want to just let go."

"Rose…." I told her, trying to fight the emotions.

Suddenly, I felt her lips on mine, and I felt all my walls break down. I let the love and passion flow through me and I sighed in contentment. I wrapped my arms around her, the hand that had pinned her hand to the wall was now in her hair. She was clinging to me, but then, a coherent part of my mind finally realized what I was doing, and the walls were back in place. I pulled away from her.

"Don't ever do that again," I said shakily.

"Don't kiss me back then," She retorted.

"I give you lessons to teach you self control, not to hear myself talk," I told her, my voice icy. I never used this tone on Rose before, but I couldn't help it just now.

"You're doing a great job," She said, just as angry.

I sighed, and murmured something in Russian. In English, it translated to, "Rose, I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore. I can't. I'm letting you go. I'm taking Tasha's offer. Good bye."

I headed off to my room, where I knew that Tasha was waiting. I was going to say yes. I am going to forget Rose and leave her behind. She is no part of my future. Just my past. My heart ached, but I knew that I had to keep on going. This was the right thing to do.

I opened my door. "Tasha, I accept."

Those words sealed the promise.

OMG! OK, told you there would be a twist! God, my heart like broke when I typed the ending to this! Please review your asses off lmfaooo it would make me rlly happy! Oh, and don't worry, Dimitri isn't going to disappear just yet. Don't' forget to review! Love you all! OK since I can't put the next chapter up idk y but fanfic won't let me!!!!! i'm gonna make a book two for this ok???? PLZ READ THIS IT'S CRUCIAL IF U WANNA READ MY STUFF!!!!!!! srry to keep u guys waitin luv u all!!!!