Hello there and welcome! :3 I have come with a rather one-sided KarinaxKotetsu Fan-fiction~ Now, I will hide from all the rabid KotetsuxBarnaby fans... nonetheless, I think this pairing is fairly cute. Which is why this little idea dawned on me one day and I thought, "YES! I shall write my first fanfic and not be the lazy person that I usually am!" So yeah, I kind of imagine that Kotetsu doesn't have many female friends which is why this entire event led to having to spend the day with Karina. Enjoy.

It was a pleasant early spring morning. The snow had already thawed, the birds were singing and sunshine was shyly peeking from behind the clouds. Karina adored the springtime, especially on this particular day. How she loved walking outside! How she loved the world!

A broad smile played on her lips. Her face took a slightly rosy shade, especially her cheeks and the tip of her nose, no doubt from the slightly chilly winds that were blowing in her direction. Of course, she didn't mind a single bit.

After waking up at about eight that morning, she had gobbled down her breakfast, hugged her parents, and taken a bus to downtown Sternbild. One would clearly be confused and dying to know as to what had gotten into the crazy teenager – waking up early on a Saturday, going outside... eating?

Ah, but the answer was much simpler than they would think.

Dressed in a long sweater and stockings along with a beanie on her head to match, Karina strolled down the city streets fashionably early (mind you, just in case). She excitedly searched for the particular location that she had arranged to visit the night before.

The scenario yesterday that had led her to this place had certainly been an odd one.

She had taken her usual Supplementary Friday class the night before, and had begun to walk home with her friends. The day had been, for lack of better words, complete shit. Homework and tests thrown left and right, along with a party that she realized she couldn't attend to the following week due to the fact that she had an interview on some celebrated talk show - as Blue Rose of course.

She dolefully swung her backpack, feeling a stab of jealousy for her friends. They didn't have to lead a difficult double life, stuck between being two people at once. Although, when Karina really thought about it, she wouldn't being a hero for the world.

She had been nodding off because her chatty friend, pretending to listen, when a sudden phone call had jolted her from her trance. Debussy's Claire de Lune resonated in her jacket pocket. She had casually said hello, thinking nothing of it, to find that the reply was coming from a voice that belonged to a male… specifically (and very surprisingly) Kaburagi Kotetsu. She almost blurted out "W-WILD TIGER?" at that very moment… but luckily caught herself in time as her friends were eying her rather expectantly.

She had to admit, it was absolutely the most unsuitable time to call... but she couldn't bid him goodbye just yet. After all, Wild Tiger was calling her. For some unknown reason to man, but still! Feeling giddy inside, Karina had hurriedly excused herself, telling her friends that they could go on ahead of her and that she had some business to take care of.

They obviously noted the faint blush that colored her cheeks, as one of them giggled before turning away. Boy, would she have some explaining to do do! Finally being a good length away from them, she was able to respond.

"Geez, what is it?"

"Oi, were you with your friends? I'm so sorry Blue Rose!"

"Ah… that's alright. What do you need?"

"Weellllll…" He had started, rather apprehensively.

She swallowed nervously. It felt like an eternity before he answered.

"It's Kaede's 11th birthday in two days, and I have to bake her a cake."

"A what?"

"A cake! She said that's all she wanted from me, no embarrassing toys or clothes, 'just a cake from daddy'!" He said, attempting a feeble imitation of Kaede-chan.

"And…? Why would you need me?" Karina asked incredulously.

"Nathan told me that you knew how to bake cakes. I'm sorry if I caught you at a bad time. You see…" He laughed uncomfortably, though it was slightly muffled by the phone. "I want it to be home-made! Though, I don't know how to bake a cake."

He then added a little quieter, "I just don't want to disappoint my daughter, and I don't know many people who can make cakes either. I never thought I'd say this but… I need your help Blue Rose."

Karina was slightly speechless. He needed her.

She'd never seen him talk so seriously in her life.

Almost at once, the teen grinned from ear to ear. She'd never really spent time with Wild Tiger outside of her job.

He was always out with Barnaby or Antonio or even Nathan for goodness sake!

She tried to formulate words, but she found that her mouth wasn't letting out any sound.

"… S-sure."

"R-really?" She could hear him exhale noisily from across the phone. Had he been holding his breath?

"Tomorrow."

"Alright! You're really a life saver, you know that? This old man here owes you big time!"

"Yeah, yeah." Karina held the phone close to her ear and continued talking with Tiger for another good five minutes, before hanging up.

Moments after their little chat, she had found herself hugging her cell phone and then stopped, disgusted with herself. What was wrong with her?

Nonetheless, tomorrow afternoon, Tiger was going to be completely hers and a certain blonde haired glasses-eyed someone was not going to butt in between them.

She almost skipped her way up the driveway to her house.

How a simple phone call could magically lift her spirits was beyond her.

So that left a rather hesitant Karina Lyle at his doorstep, 11 o'clock sharp. She tightly squeezed the already crumpled piece of paper that she had hurriedly scrawled his address on the past evening.

Checking at least a hundred times to make sure that she was actually at the right place, she came to the conclusion that indeed, this was the house.

Wild Tiger's house.

She gingerly rang the doorbell, unable to stop the blush that was spreading across her face.

Calm down, Karina – for the love of God, you're just baking a stupid cake!

It wasn't just a cake though. She had been searching for ideas up until midnight, and had somehow managed to abandon her pile of schoolwork in the process, when a thought had hit her like a train on a track.

According to Tiger, Kaede loved strawberries. Karina had recalled the cake she used to eat every time that she visited her Nana. Just thinking about the sweet taste and soft texture of the strawberry dessert made her mouth water. She had snagged her Nana's recipe for strawberry and white chocolate cake from the family recipe book that night. Kaede-chan was certainly going to love it!

"Just a second!" She could hear him yell from the inside, followed by loud footsteps.

He opened the door with a grin, and stepped back.

"Hey, come on in! Let's see… what can I say to my rival…? Don't make yourself at home?" He joked lamely as she stepped inside.

Karina rolled her eyes. That wasn't funny at all.

"Good morning. Nice bed head you got there, Mr. Hero."

"O-oi!" He exclaimed while patting his hair down. "I just woke up five minutes ago, you know!"

She couldn't help but laugh at that.

His usual green shirt was slightly unbuttoned and his black tie was unevenly tied. He must have bolted to get the door without a second thought about it. Yet, even with that chaotic and messy look of his, she couldn't help but find that it suited him almost perfectly. It was kind of… cute.

She flushed, hoping that it had not appeared as if she had been staring.

Finally tearing her eyes off of Wild Tiger, Karina took in her surroundings while pulling her boots off. His house looked kind of… standard. Everything was modern and spacious, yet still somehow cozy-looking. She shook her head and almost laughed out loud. What had she been expecting in the first place?

Once she was finally settled down on the couch in the living room area, Tiger had gone off into the kitchen. The house appeared large with a high ceiling and all. Everything was very open concept.

"What can I get you? Coffee? Juice? Ah, I guess I really have no idea with what teenagers drink anymore in the morning."

She pouted. He made it seem as if she was a different species or something.

"Hmm. Water is fine."

She could hear Tiger making coffee for himself and no doubt pulling ice from the fridge for her. The news was on and the typical announcer blabbed about boring day-to-day issues such as politics and crimes. She twiddled her thumb, anxiously waiting for him to return to the couch.

Everything about her appeared completely at ease, yet her heart was beating a hundred miles per minute. She could barely sit still. Once Tiger had arrived, she pulled out the recipe she had from her bag, eager to explain her idea for Kaede-chan's birthday cake.

He had seemingly dozed off whilst listening to her explanation, only jump up when she loudly placed her glass of water on the table after taking a sip.

"So, that sounds okay, right?"

"Eh? Ah. Yeah, it sounds great." He said with a cheery grin before stifling a yawn.

Karina felt as if she was a teacher talking to some inattentive student, not a man who was well into his thirties.

Really, he was such a child! She heaved a sigh and stood up with her arms crossed.

"I don't have all day you know!"

She stalked off into the kitchen, noticing Tiger scrambling to his feet with a confused expression on his face. Grabbing the elastic that had been secured around her wrist, she tied her hair up and ordered him to fetch her an apron.

"As you command!" He joked, marching off like a soldier.

He had returned with a plain navy one and a pink one that had a gigantic picture of Barnaby Brooks Jr on it. Her mouth had automatically dropped wide open when she saw the Barnaby one.

"...The pink one is Kaede's, I swear!" He explained, waving his hands in the air.

Poor guy! Just like the rest of Sternbild, it seemed that his very own daughter liked his partner and not to mention rival, better than him.

She surveyed the cloth once more, before covering her mouth in attempt to contain her laughter. What an embarrassing thing to own!

"I… call dibs on the blue one then!" She said between giggles.

"O-oi! That is not fair!" He yelled, though it was too late. She had already grabbed the apron and was tying it on. Tiger sighed and muttered, "Here I was hoping that you would wear it."

For a moment she thought that he would actually put on the pink apron.

Instead, he tucked the cloth back into the drawer and merely rolled up his sleeves.

With the recipe placed on the counter, Karina began to open the cupboards to obtain the basic dry ingredients. After opening and closing dozens of cabinets and opening the fridge not once, but twice, she barely managed to find the sugar and flour. Nevertheless, there seemed to be a lifetime supply of one particular thing…

"Why is it that you only have rice in this house?"

Tiger peeked over at her from behind the three mixing bowls that were stacked up in his hands, puzzled.

"I don't only have rice."

"Oh? What else is there then?"

"There's mayo in the fridge!"

Wah~ Chapter one is complete! Stick around for the next one. I'm going on vacation for a week so I won't be able to write, but once I get back... who knows!

Read and Review!