Disclaimer: I still don't own Tales of Vesperia.

.—.

Day Three

"Here sir, I hope this is enough to repay you," I say as I put down the bag of gald. The grocer looks up at me, a troubled look on his face.

"Oh no, you saved us! I couldn't possibly take this—!"

But before he can give it back I'm already walking away quickly, ignoring his calls. Minutes later I'm at the gate, and to my surprise, Yuri is already there, leaning against the wall.

"Finally got here, did you?" He says as he catches sight of me and gets off the wall, dusting himself off. He opens his mouth to say something when he pauses and he looks over my clothes with an odd look. I stiffen up self-consciously.

"What are you looking at?" I say defensively, crossing my arms.

"Nothing. Just," He chooses his words carefully. "You were wearing a dress yesterday as well. You don't seem the type."

"I don't seem the type?"

"Well, I hadn't expected you to be this...girly." He gives a slight smirk. "It doesn't really suit you."

I fume, but stay silent. (After all, who was he to call someone girly? His hair was longer than mine!) Instead, I stalk past him, him following. Within minutes we have climbed over the ladder and are out of the city, having not said a word. It's something I'm used to—Wticher was never the most talkative person on missions. Unless Flynn was around to instigate some conversation, most of the missions passed by without a word.

And that's how the next few hours pass by—complete silence.

.—.

By the time we reach Deidon Hold, the morning is long past gone and the sun is well over the sky. I take no notice of the passing of time, having gotten into a habit of losing myself in my thoughts, of sort of meditative state as I walk after so many journeys in Flynn's brigade. It's now that Yuri decides to break the silence, stopping the both of us as he brings up his arm.

"Hey, let's take a break," He says. "Let's meet up here in about an hour or so, okay? Restock a bit."

I give him an odd look, as neither one of us is that tired or low on supplies and I couldn't think of any other reason why he would want to stop. But he's already gone, striding off into a distance and only when he has disappeared into the crowd does it actually occur to me to go after him, though obviously by now, it's far too late to try.

So for the first few ten minutes I just wander around awkwardly, browsing random shops that I don't care much for when I find myself in front of a bookstore and decide that it wouldn't be too bad to lose myself in a book for a half hour or so.

The clerk barely glances up from his newspaper as I enter, and there is an eerie sense of silence within the place. Trying not to feel so self-conscious in the quiet, I begin to look around a bit, my eyes roaming the sight of all the books around me. It doesn't look like they're arranged in any particular order, my hands gliding along the spines as I skim the titles.

One particular title catches my eye and just I'm reaching out towards it, my hand collides into another. I draw back, politely murmuring to the other person, "Excuse me" when I catch sight of the person and gasp.

"Captain Schwann!"

The man mirrors my look of surprise, evidently recognizing me as well. "Well if it ain't the Lieutenant! Actually, I've given up the name Schwann—it's Raven now."

I nod in understanding as I recall the reports on the late Commandant Alexei's doings. 'Captain Schwann' had probably never even existed in the first place, if the man in front of me was any indication. "So what are you doing here?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just wandering around," He shrugs. "I've had some time to waste ever since I quit the Knights and the guild. But it's not bad though! I've finally gotten the retirement I've been waitin' for my entire life!" He pauses and gives me a curious look. "But what about you, Lieutenant? What are you doing around these parts? … And in a dress, no less."

I cringe a bit, wondering if it was really is that weird that I'm wearing a dress. Usually I would wear my uniform everywhere, but whenever I take a day off, my wardrobe actually mostly consists of dresses from my teenage years as I never had cared much for shopping and they were easy enough to move in. Suddenly self-conscious, I cross my arms and ignore his last comment, replying, "I'm escorting your friend, Yuri Lowell. I'm waiting for him to finish some business before we move onto to Aspio."

He cocks his head, mulling it over. "Huh, so Yuri's going to Aspio too...?"

At this I feel myself perk up at the thought of gettin some information. "Is something happening in Aspio?"

"Huh? Oh no, no no, nothing bad at all. Brave Vesperia is just going to have a reunion... of sorts," He scratches his head, seeming a bit pensive about his wording, before shaking out of it and turning his attention back to me. "Though I can't help notice what book you were reaching for. Do you know it?"

"No, I just grabbed the first book that looked interesting." I look at the book and and catch sight of the title. "Tales of Vesperia'... Speaking of which, your guild was called Brave Vesperia, right?"

Raven nods. "Look at the author."

I pull it out and look down, my eyes widening as I read the name. "Estellise Sidos Heurassein—You mean the princess wrote this?"

"Yup. First thing after we defeated the Adephagos, she locks herself up and writes up the whole thing. She wanted the world to know what happened.... or something like that."

"So this is an account about your journey?"

"Well, eventually, she ended up changing all the names and some events to the point where it's just fiction inspired by what happened—she realized it was probably better that some events but left... unknown to the public, ya know?—but it mirrors it rather closely at some parts." Raven sighs. "Though it's a shame, really. Yuri deserves far more credit than he actually gets, but it's the Knights and the Princess who ended up getting most of it."

"But his Highness, during his address, didn't he reference Brave Vesperia and its members?"

Raven gives a wry grin. "Well... Yuri's too modest for his own good. If people ask him about it, I'll bet he downplayed his part.'

I snort. "Modest? Him?"

"Haha, well most of the time maybe not, but he has this thing where he doesn't let people pay him back. In fact, I remember Estelle telling me about this time when he had went through the effort of making the potion that saved Halure's tree but refused to take any reward even though the mayor kept insisting."

I raise my eyebrows in disbelief. "He was the mercenary that saved Halure's tree?"

"Yup. Wouldn't believe it from the looks of him though, would ya? He seems tough on the outside, but he's a real softie on the inside, don't let 'im fool ya." As he talks, he gives me a wink and I'm about to ask him more and get more information when Raven catches sight of a clock and cringes. "Sorry... I just realized I've gotta get somewhere real soon... Give Yuri my regards."

And then he's rushing out in a flash, and I can't help but stare after him curiously, thinking about what he had just told me when I look down and realize I'm still holding the book. As I go up to pay for it, I mull over the past few minutes, feeling somewhat dazed by what the ex-Captain had told me. Even though I had more information with which I could flesh out my profile of Yuri, I only felt more confused with the picture I was getting. Just like Raven had said, Flynn had told me several stories about Yuri, recollections of how he would rush to save another person without regard for his own safety yet I was always hesitant to believe them. His descriptions of a kind, gentle friend never seemed to connect with the cold, aloof person that I had come to known. But as I thought about it, I remember how just yesterday he did save me outside the gates.

With a rather conflicted mind, I set about the remaining minutes reading the book in an attempt to find an answer to the question that now plagued my mind.

Just who are you, Yuri Lowell?

.—.

"Alright, let's go."

I jump, not having noticed him approach. Quickly, I put the book in my bag, not wanting him to know that I had been researching him and luckily, he doesn't ask or seem to be suspicious. "O-okay."

Over the past hour, I had read the novel in search of more information and had gotten up to the part where the main character (obviously Yuri) had gotten to the blastia thief—so far, it had seemed to be sticking mostly with the main story, correlating with the reports I had read upon the events and just like Raven had told me, Yuri had indeed helped with saving Halure's tree. It was weird, realizing just how much I had misunderstood him, realizing that half of the reports that I had read on his criminal record were wrong and then wondering why he never made the effort to rectify it.

I just didn't understand this man at all.

"Did you take care of whatever business you had to?" I ask as I follow him out of the gates, still curious and wondering if I could get an answer out of him though I know I won't.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. That."

We pass by the next few minutes in silence, but this time, I can't help but feel rather impatient. His non-responsiveness suddenly irks me in a way it hadn't before and suddenly, the silence that we had built up between us in the past few hours seems stifling. I just want to break it, want to get him talking, I wanted more out of him—I want to know more.

But he would never initiate a conversation, so it's up to me.

"I met your friend Raven while waiting for you. He tells me to give you his regards," I say, not sure where I was going with this. Still, I can't help but hope it'll lead somewhere, anywhere. At the very least, I seem to have caught his attention for just a bit as Yuri turns, attention on me.

"Really? Hmph, figures that the old man would be too lazy to wait to actually say hi." Yuri lets out a snort. "That's just like him. What was he doing here?"

"I... don't know. But he did say he'd be going to the reunion at Aspio as well."

"Reunion? Is that what he called it?" Yuri scrunches his face into a thoughtful look before grinning. "I guess you could call it that. Though I don't suppose we'll be getting to Aspio tonight... We'll probably have to stop at Halure."

At his words, my heart seems to stop beating. My mission to squeeze information completely forgotten, I can't help but feel a sense of dread settling in my stomach. I try not to let my anxiousness show as I talk in the most level voice I can muster. "I don't see the need to make unnecessary stops—I think we'll get to Aspio just fine."

However, it looks like my calm facade didn't hold up because Yuri stops to look at me suspiciously, before his face blooms into a smug little smirk. "But didn't you want to visit some relatives? That is, unless you were lying to Flynn..."

"I would never lie to the Commandant!" I say, gritting my teeth as I try not to let my annoyance get the best of me. Yuri just seems to feed off this, his grin growing wider, finally able to get his revenge at having me foisted on him.

"You're not some kind of fugitive, are you? Hiding from the law? Because it's only fair you tell me this beforehand, considering how I'm stuck with you..."

"Because you could give me tips on how to handle that type of situation, couldn't you?" And as soon as the words are out of my mouth, I immediately regret it, wishing I could take it back. Yet to my surprise, instead seeming of seeming insulted, he laughs and grins.

"Don't worry, I'll help you out. We criminals have to stick together, right?" He chuckles again. " Man, who would have thought that Miss High and Mighty was a crook after all... So what did you do?"

"I—what? No! I didn't do anything!" I protest, now embarrassed about how my insult had utterly backfired on me. Now I almost wish that it had hurt him, cut him deep into his sulking little silence. "I'm not a criminal!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

With a groan I walk faster as to get away from him, my annoyance only growing as I hear laughter from behind me. Yet as soon as I leave his company, I suddenly feel regret, belatedly realizing that we had an odd sort of camaraderie going in those few moments. I almost have half a mind to go back, engage him in conversation again, see if maybe I can get him to talk about himself again. I wanted to know more, to figure out how he could himself a criminal almost as if he's proud of it, but my pride as well as lack in topic stops me. After all, how would I be able to manipulate the conversation in that direction? So when he does eventually catch up to me, I decide to just ignore him and he does the same.

However, the atmosphere is different, more comfortable to the point that when I sneak my glances at him, I actually see him looking back at me sometimes.

Though I really wish I could just wipe that smirk off his face.

.—.

After another few failed attempts, it's only when Yuri finally points to an ash sky that I resign myself to my fate as Halure's gates come into sight. Yuri turns to me, a mock sad look on his face. "Well, doesn't look like we can sneak in. Guess you'll just have to spend the night in jail. I'll bail you out tomorrow morning."

"I was actually thinking that I could camp out here."

Yuri stops and gives me an incredulous look. "You'd be eaten alive."

"I can protect myself."

"While you sleep?"

"I'll manage," I say defensively, despite knowing how idiotic the idea was. Really, I just wanted to stall going into Halure, wait just a bit longer before I have to face the inevitable. Yuri continues to stare at me and I can see him calculating something in his mind, and for not the first time today, I wished that I could read his thoughts.

A few seconds later, he seems to have made up his mind. "Wait here, I'll be back."

And then he goes in, without a word as to what he's going to do. I feel somewhat nervous as I wait, standing awkwardly against the wall as I try to blend and not feel too conspicuous. Fortunately, Yuri holds true to his word and within minutes is back carrying... a scarf scarf. A very flashy rainbow scarf.

"What's that?" I say, giving the scarf a rather apprehensive look. He holds it up with a cheerful grin.

"It's your disguise."

I eye it with disbelief. "A scarf is going to hide nothing."

"Yeah, well it was either this or some ugly hats. At the very least, you'll get to cover the lower half of your face," He says and then starts to dig into his pockets. "Plus, I also just happened to bring along...this!"

After a few seconds, he produces the item and I stare at it, wondering if he's kidding. "Sunglasses," I deadpan. "It's practically night."

"You only have to walk to the inn and you can hole up in there until tomorrow morning," Yuri reasons and I have to admit that he has a point. "It's either this or have people recognize you."

(Well, when he puts it that way.)

With a disgruntled sigh, I wrap the scarf around my nose and mouth and put the shades on, trying not to feel embarrassed. Though that doesn't really work too well when Yuri bursts out into laughter at seeing my disguise.

"This is one picture I hope I never forget," He says in between chuckles, only further incensing me but I know that I'd take this stupid outfit over getting recognized in Halure any day. Instead, I just keep repeating in my head Yuri's words: I only have to get to the inn and then I'm free.

"If you're done, can we get going?" I say impatiently, my voice muffled by the scarf. "I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible."

He grins that utterly amused grin of his in response and says, "I just can't wait to see people's reactions when you walk in dressed like that."

Settling on giving him a dark glare, I stalk past him. As if I'm not already awkward and anti-social enough in my regular clothes, but wearing this just made me feel like a fool. And of course, it didn't help that I could hear Yuri's sniggers from behind me. Instead, I just try to ignore it all, try not to make eye contact with other people or even look at them, just keep walking just keep walking, head straight ahead....

And with what seemed like the longest six minutes of my life, I'm at the inn. Yuri decides to be nice and book the room, preventing me from having to talk and the ordeal's over soon enough and I'm in the confines of the room, safe from unwanted eyes.

With a sigh of relief, I take off my ridiculous disguise, dreading when I'm going to have to don it again to get out of Halure. But for now, I'm safe and decent-looking.

"What did you do?" Yuri asks curiously. "I mean, to go as far as to wear that. And besides, surely you've been in Halure before? With the Knights?"

"I always had my helmet that I could wear to cover myself," I say and I longingly think of my uniform, wishing I had figured to bring it along. But no, all I had were dresses that made people look at me weirdly. Just my luck.

He looks at me weirdly, an almost curious look in his eyes but he doesn't say anything. It's just as if he's thinking, pondering over something and it makes me nervous. After a few seconds pass, all too aware of his look, I self-consciously cross my arms and say, "What?"

"It's nothing. It just sounds like you're rather used to the whole hiding thing."

He has an odd tone to his voice and in that moment, I would have given anything to figure out what the emotion was. But this was Yuri Lowell, the epitome of apathetic—all I saw was a guarded, distant face, and maybe a hint of... understanding? But then the moment passes and the odd look is gone.

Instead, he is back to his smirk and leers, "But I still can't figure out what you did... Does Flynn even know?"

No, Flynn didn't know and I sure as hell wasn't going to be telling Yuri any time soon either, if I could help it. So I just pointedly ignore him and set about taking my change of clothes out of my bag before turning to him. "I'll be taking a shower. What do you plan to do for the night?"

He gives me a knowing grin, but doesn't comment on my blatant evasion. "Well, I was planning on going to eat... care to join me?"

I give him a biting glare, not saying anything.

"... I figured. I guess I'll have to bring something back."

He leaves me alone to the room and somehow, I can't help but feel rather paranoid. No matter how many times I had come back to this town, I never seemed to feel like I belonged, at least not the way I had when I was young.

I try to shake the feeling and set myself to my shower—I'd only be here for a night. I just had to last through the night and then it'll be alright. Still, as I take my shower, the feeling of paranoia just grows—had anyone noticed the odd-looking girl who entered town? Had anyone become suspicious? But then as I get out and am putting my clothes on, I hear someone enter. Thinking it's Yuri, I quickly put on my clothes and go out to meet him.

"Hey, Yu—Oh! Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

Instead of Yuri, it had only been a maid. I grin embarrassedly and the maid gives me a reassuring smile. "Beg your pardon, I was expecting your shower to take longer and I was hoping I could clean up—I hadn't the time to fix up the room earlier."

"It's quite alright—you wouldn't mind if I stayed here though?"

The maid shakes her head. "Oh no, I'll have this done in a jiffy—ah."

The woman stops and gives me a curious look. I only have a few seconds to wonder what the look means before her next words stop my heart cold.

"Why, is that you Sodia?"

I freeze. Oh no, this couldn't be happening, not now...

But the woman bustles to me, her eyes now shining with excitement as she look me down over, confirming her suspicion before I even have a chance to deny it. "Why, yes it is! Sodia Lynette Almans, why, you've grown! Last I saw you, you were what, fourteen? But my lord, you certainly are the spitting image of your mother! I don't suppose you remember me, Annie? I was your mother's friend, and your nanny as well in fact, when you were a small babe! Oh, how have you been, what have you been doing? Just wait till I tell your father you've returned!"

"No!" I protest immediately. "You can't tell him I'm here!"

But just as I'm about to attempt to convince the woman to keep quiet, I hear the door creak open and my head snaps around to the intruder—whether for better or worse I don't know, but Yuri's come back. He looks at the scene and I can see the realization flash in his eyes as he sees what's going on.

"Am I... interrupting?"

The woman—Annie, that's her name—shakes her head emphatically. "Oh, not at all! I just haven't seen Sodia dear in almost five years since—well, it's been quite the long time! Sodia, who's your friend? A boyfriend, perhaps?"

I can feel my face flame up as the horror fills me and I dare not look at Yuri as I reply. "N-no! He's just a friend I'm... traveling with."

Belatedly, I realize I just called Yuri a friend but before I can think more on it, Yuri comes forward and offers a hand. "Yuri Lowell, nice to meet you, miss...?"

Annie takes the hand and eyes him with approval. "Annie, thank you. And I hope you've been taking care of our mayor's daughter?"

And I can I feel myself inwardly groaning as Yuri glances at me with this look of disbelief and amazement at the same. He wasn't meant to find out that—he shouldn't have found out anything at all, but somehow, everything just seemed to be against me today.

"Yes," He says rather slowly. "Of course I am."

Annie nods. "Very good. You've chosen a good companion Sodia. And how long are you planning on staying?"

Hesitantly, I answer, "We head for Aspio for tomorrow."

Her face falls, the disappointment obvious, but she merely nods understandingly. "Well, maybe you can visit again some other time? When you're not on such a tight schedule? It really has been too long."

And then she leaves, apparently having forgotten about cleaning the room and I'm not going to be the one to remind her. Instead, I sink myself onto one of the beds and let out a groan.

"She's going to tell people, isn't she?" I ask rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

"At the very least, you won't need the disguise anymore."

I glare at Yuri for his less-than-reassuring comment and for a brief moment can imagine myself running up to him and stuffing the overly-tacky scarf down his throat to see how he likes it. The image provides relief for a brief split-second but then I'm immediately reminded of the situation at hand and is once again hit with the feeling of dread. And she was going to tell my father, oh god.

"Well at least you know I'm not a criminal now."

Yuri snorts. "No, you're practically nobility. Mayor's daughter? I wouldn't have thought that of you."

I narrow my eyes at the insult. "Well, since you know now, as mayor's daughter, I guess I'm going to have to uphold my responsibility of paying you back for saving Halure's tree, aren't I? At this rate, with the list of debts I owe you, I'm just going to have to follow you for life then."

Yuri raises a challening eyebrow. "Not if I ditch you first."

"You wouldn't dare."

But the look on his face is all but saying 'watch me'. "Not on this trip; Flynn would kill me. But after this, I assure you, I will get rid of you one way or another. You're just going to have to deal with owing a criminal some favours."

I can't help but let out a snort at this, empowered with the knowledge I had gotten from Raven as well as the princess's book.

"Criminal? Really? You know, you try to act like the bad guy but honestly, the term doesn't even apply to you. Half of your criminal record are just false reports." At this I can see his eyebrows rise as he looks at me suspiciously but I continue on. "I've actually been wondering about this for a while though—why don't you ever let people pay you back? I know it's not just me, because you wouldn't take the reward from Halure either. Do you just like the power of having people in your debt? Or..."

I stop, suddenly unwilling to say the words just on the tip of my tongue. But he's eyeing me, eyes slicing into mine and I can't help but feel uncomfortable at having his attention wholly focused on me. Suddenly, just like that, I lose all the momentum and nerve I had built in the conversation.

"Or?" He repeats.

Or do you feel like you don't deserve to be paid back?

But no, I don't dare say the words out loud—nor could I. He was a stranger to me and I barely knew him.

I wouldn't cross that line.

"...Nevermind." And before he has a changer to pursue it further I hurriedly look for something to change the topic with when my eyes fall onto the bag in his hand. "So you brought back something for dinner?"

He takes my change in topic in stride and puts the food onto the table. "Yeah, I just got some sandwiches for the both of us."

"Great, let's eat."

And for the rest of the evening, we don't say another word.

.—.

Day Four (part one)

So lost am I in my thoughts as I stare out the window that when Yuri wakes up, I don't even notice.

"Good morning."

With a small gasp I jump, startled out of my reverie before turning to see a still rather sleepy Yuri push himself out of bed.

"Good morning," I reply, watching him rub the sleepiness out of his eyes. It takes him a moment for him to fully awaken but he does, his eyes zone around until they find mine and zero in.

"You're up early."

"Yes." I pause, figuring he probably was waiting for me to elaborate. "I was hoping to leave as early as possible."

For a few brief seconds, he has that same unreadable look that I had seen the night before but it's gone in the blink of an eye and he just nods. "Give me a few minutes and then we can leave."

And then as he goes off to take a quick shower, I return to looking out the window. I had woken up rather early and had taken the time to just walk around Halure without anybody around. In the clear morning air, I almost felt like I was home, fourteen and safe. It was a feeling of serenity that I had wished would last forever, but I didn't indulge in the fantasy for too long and instead had eventually returned to the inn, waiting for Yuri to wake up. Staring out the window now, it felt almost cowardly just leaving like this—somehow, I couldn't help as if a better person would be walking up to my father's door and knocking on it, demanding to talk. But I had already done that act and it certainly had not turned out well. No, I knew this was probably for the best, but some hesitation still remained in me no matter what I told myself.

"Alright, let's go."

At the sound of Yuri's voice, I nod and turn, standing up as I gather my stuff. After leaving the payment on the desk and a note of our departure, we leave walking towards the gates and I couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time I saw Halure in a long while, if it would take another five years before I exposed my face to this town again.

"We don't have to go, you know."

At the sound of Yuri's voice, I turn and face him questioningly. "Sorry?"

"We can delay our trip if you have any unfinished business."

His hint was clear and blatant, and my heart nearly skipped a beat at the almost concern. Perhaps he was more considerate than I had thought. But nonetheless, I shake my head.

"I'm fine. It's for the best we leave."

"Alright."

And so we continue our trek in silence, almost at the gate when I see a figure standing by it. Upon coming closer, the figure becomes clearer until I can see the face and—I gasp—it's a face I recognize very well.

It was my father.

"Hello Mr. Mayor," Yuri greets, though not after giving me a side-glance. Even though I hadn't told him anything, I could tell that he had probably pieced together enough from what he had heard in my conversation with Annie to get a sense of the truth.

My father turns to Yuri and nods in acknowledgement. "Hello there Yuri. I'm glad to know my daughter is in your capable hands."

He then turns to me and for a few brief moments nothing is said. I take the chance to look over him and can't help but notice just how frail he looks, just how old he suddenly seemed in this light. Yet even despite the aging and wrinkles, his eyebrows still had that harsh line to them, his mouth was still drawn into that pensive frown. We had all grown older but it was as if nothing had changed on the inside. I decide to be the first to break the silence.

"Hello Father."

"Sodia..." He pauses, deliberating his words carefully. "It's been a while. You look... well."

And then it's quiet yet again. I'm wondering why he's here, obviously having waited for this chance. Did he want to talk to me or did he just want to confirm that I was alive? Yet he doesn't say anything, just continuing to look at me, as if searching for something.

I can't help but recall Annie's words from the previous evening—had I really grown into the image of my mother? However, I doubt he would see the same in me. If anything, I was probably just the failed copy in his eyes.

But then he doesn't say anything. It's probably only been seconds, but it feels like a millennium has passed within those moments, only to end up with nothing at all. I felt disappointed, yet I couldn't figure out why.

He turns to Yuri and says, "Take care of her."

And then he's off and I don't dare turn to look back at him. I just want to get away as soon as possible.

Yuri follows, never saying a word.

.—.

Author's Note: I apologize for the length of the chapter. I had planned it to be much longer, but I'm going off to camp in like twenty minutes and I would feel utterly guilty if I didn't update at least one story before I left (haha, chinese camp = no english allowed). So I had to cut this chapter short since I obviously don't have enough time to finish writing it. Please forgive meeee. That and the lack of thorough editing and proofreading. I'm on time constraint. xD

But please tell me what you think! Sodia is becoming really fun to write but it's hard keeping Yuri in character--I mean, I know with someone like Estelle or Judith he'd be more relaxed and open, but with Sodia, I have to keep him all uptight and cold because he's not too fond of her just yet. Though he's getting there. I feel like I'm rushing it though. Am I? Haha, I knew I should have attempted to outline/plan this story out beforehand but let's just see where the it'll end up...

Thank you to everyone who reviews and/or reads! I appreciate it. =D