Sorry I didn't get to update yesterday. I was planning to, but eventually fatigue won me over. Huh...

Reviews:

kyofan101: Wow, 1st to review a brand new story. Cool. I'm excited for this story, too!

karynpervskite: I know right! I love feminist icons like Misaki.

ICCFOWIGSM: Exactly how I thought when I was writing that! LOL.

usuixmisaki: Originally, I planned the story to be set in the past. But I was never good with history... Well, let's just say that it's in the past but in a land not known to man, with a whole new system of leadership and all.

Ayachikari-sama: Thanks! Well, your wait is over!

Lost Grey Soul: I will keep that in mind :)

yuukuzuri: That, my friend, is how I felt when I was rereading the chapter. Oh, and have you read The Long Walk? I was planning to read it but was wondering if it would be another book on my shelf that I would never read.

arissamei-chan: Thanks! Hunger Games ftw. LOL.

"My, you're a work of beauty, aren't you?"

I snapped my head up, my eyes blinking so fast that I thought they were never going to stop. My heart was pounding against my chest, and I felt a sudden urge to stab an arrow into the person who woke me from my sleep.

But what I found when I look up wasn't what I was expecting.

"You," I muttered. "What are you still doing here?"

Usui was hovering over me, blocking the sun. His arm, holding a branch that looked oddly familiar, was on the tree bark to support his weight. And yes, you read that right. I was sleeping under a tree.

"That goes for you, too, dear," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and grunted, "I was sleeping. That is, before you came here and interrupt the few hours of rest I have."

I straightened myself and brushed off the pine needles and dried leaves that had been transported onto my lap by the wind when I was sleeping. The leaves and winds had been steadily increasing these days. Autumn was coming.

"What's wrong?" I heard Usui ask.

I turned to look at him, before asking back, "What?"

"You sighed. What's wrong?"

This surprised me. "I did?"

Usui chuckled before shaking his head. "You're not even aware of what you do? Wow, and you call yourself a hunter."

I clenched my palms into balls of fist, crunching the dried leaves on the ground in process. But I remained my calm when I replied, "I don't need your remark. And I never called myself a hunter, have I?"

Usui seemed to consider this for a while, before giving his head a dismissive shake. "Anyway, back to my question. What's wrong?"

I stared out to the horizon when I answered him. "It's almost fall. And then winter will follow after that. It's hard to hunt when you're nearly freezing yourself."

He remained quiet for a while, letting me enjoy the rhythm of the forest.

The wind, which was blowing softly that it was comfortable, made the branches sway and ruffle against each other. The chirping birds reminded me of the music class I used to have. That is, before my family's economy fell and I was forced out of school to earn a living for my family. Then a speeding eagle tore through the sky, its graceful wings beating in harmony.

"You have beautiful hair."

That ruined my sense of peace. I could practically hear that broken disc voice inside my head. You know, the one the they use in movies when something out of plan happens? Not that I would know anything about it. The only time I ever watched a movie was in school.

I looked up at him, one brow shooting up. "What lie are you sprouting, blonde?"

He sighed – about the way I addressed him, I suppose – but decided to leave it as it was.

"I'm not lying. Your hair is beautiful, and soft, too," he smiled down at me and I swear I could feel heat rising up my cheeks.

I looked down, trying to hide my flaming cheeks, and snarled in a not-girly manner, "O-oh yeah? How would you know that?"

He leaned down a bit before releasing the branch that he had been holding in his hand. It landed right on my open palm.

I lifted it up and observed it. It did look a bit familiar, but –

My hand shot up to my hair as I realized what the branch was. It was my replacement for a hair stick – or hair chopstick, I often heard from people in the Class – to hold up the bun I tie up every morning. I find that hairdo to be the best out of all that my mom had taught me to do, as it was the one that actually holds up all the hair away from the face, except for my bangs, anyway.

I touched my hair, trying to find the messy bun but finding my hair untied instead.

"Hey! Why did you pull it out?" I asked, my voice going higher like a whine.

He just chuckled. "Because I wanted to see your hair."

That was when something inside me snapped.

The guy in front of me was a stranger. He wasn't supposed to be here with me. He had no right to be messing around with my hair. Why hadn't I shooed him off, anyway? It wasn't usual for me to be talking to boys like this.

I sprang up to my feet, feeling rage boiling inside me.

"You," I stabbed my fore-finger to his face, "don't have the right to be messing around with me. I don't know you, you don't know me. So shut up and leave me alone."

To say that he was surprised would be a massive understatement. He was startled to be addressed in such a manner; that was evident. And he hadn't had a single person point him in the face before, apparently.

He stayed silent for a while I panted, trying to slow my heartbeat down. By this rate, I was going to have high-blood pressure before I was even legal to drink.

"But you do know me," was what Usui said after a while of staring at my finger with his huge green eyes. "I told you my name."

Oh, for goodness's sake. Can he stop joking?

I grumbled, fists clenching and unclenching in annoyance. I felt like punching him in the gut, but…

But what? I wouldn't hesitate to punch anyone's gut if they were to mess around with me, but somehow… I just couldn't bear to punch him.

In the end, I resolved to stomping him on the foot. It wouldn't hurt as much as a punch, especially with my awfully thin-soled shoes – but it would teach him a lesson to not play around with me. I hoped.

That was when I realized the awkward position that we were in. Usui's hand was still on the bark of the tree to lean on, and because I had sprang up so fast, he didn't get the chance to pull his hand back. So I was in the middle of his hand and himself, his nose only inches away from mine.

Just for a second, I accidentally looked into his eyes. His were green as mine were brown, and they sparkle like the evening sunset. So mesmerizing… So beautiful… So rare, like a chunk of emerald in the middle of a coal mine…

Yet so dangerous.

I shook myself out from the trance and pushed him away from me, causing him to stumble and fall onto a pile of dead plants.

"You stay away from me, and from this place. It's my territory to hunt, got that?" I used the most intimidating sound I could muster then, which wasn't a very intimidating tone at all, considering how heated up my cheeks were and how much my heart was pounding against my ribs.

I grabbed my bow and arrows and took off, leaving a spoiled brat on the ground, wondering how could he get intimidated by a girl.

Or, at least, that was what I hoped he was wondering, anyway.

Please review~