Disclaimer: All music belongs to whomsoever wrote it

"You're not going to want to eat that much," Ha-Ya-To said as he sat next to Akira.

The dark-haired girl gazed at her platter, filled to the brim with food. She had gotten back from endurance training the day before and was ready to eat everything in sight. So she had piled her plate high. "Why not?"

"Because your stomach is about this big at the moment," Ha-Ya-To held up his two fists and brought them together. "You'll eat about four bites and not be able to eat any more."

Akira gazed down sadly. "Well, how does it get back to normal?"

"We don't want you gaining too much weight back," Hikaru said, handing her a paper covered with a massive chart. "This will be your diet for the next few days. We'll keep on working off all those calories and get your stomach back to its normal size."

"In the meantime, I'll eat it!" Takeshi grabbed her platter and started helping himself to her food.

Akira sighed. "Did I really do that much change?"

"Does your flight suit feel looser?" Hikaru pointed to Akira's waist with his fork.

The dark-haired girl nodded slowly. She noticed that in the morning when she had been getting dressed. In fact, she had noticed a lot of things. She had paused briefly in front of the mirror, inspecting the muscles that had begun to form in her abdomen, the thinness of her waist, and the definition she had added to her arms. One week of living rugged had toned her quite a bit. And when she had stepped on a scale, she had found that she had lost almost ten pounds.

"Good," Hikaru said, "We'll have them fitted again so they actually fit your body. Now that you've worked off a lot of your baby fat and toned your muscles, our training can get even more intense."

Akira groaned. "Wonderful," she glanced down at the paper and picked up an apple, sinking her teeth into it. "Did we miss much when we were gone?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Oh, the usual, Ha-Ya-To singing over the loudspeakers until Sensei screamed at him, Ryo yelling at his techies, more minor robot attacks, stuff like that."

"Speaking of music, Ha-Ya-To," Takeshi shot the redhead a glance, "isn't it your turn?"

Ha-Ya-To's eyes sparkled. "You bet it is! And Ryo has generously offered to let me use the workshop, right Ryo?"

Ryo's expression darkened. "Only if you clean up and put everything back where it's supposed to be. That was the deal."

"What are you guys talking about?" Akira blinked her dark eyes.

Knowing grins spread across the table. "Let's just say that tonight should be interesting," Hikaru said.

"Why?"

"Tell you what," Hikaru said, "how about you meet me down the hallway in your dorm at…oh…say ten at night."

"In the girl's dorm?" Akira felt her face flush, "Why? What's going on?"

"I'd take you myself," Hitomi said, "but I have to help Ha-Ya-To set up early."

"Hold on!" Akira held up her hands, "Isn't curfew at nine? What's going on?"

Ha-Ya-To clapped a hand over her mouth. "Keep your voice down! You'll see what's up tonight, okay? Just be prepared to have fun."

Akira glanced at the five pairs of eyes all looking her way, some excited and others slightly worried. Slowly, the dark-haired girl nodded and resumed eating.

Akira walked down the hallway between dorm rooms. She picked up her feet with every step, making sure not to make any noise. The rubber soles on her boots tipped lightly on the carpeted ground and she winced even at that sound. She had to be absolutely silent.

"Hey, you're awake!"

Akira whipped her head to the side. Hikaru's tall, slender figure slid out from the shadows of the perpendicular hallway. His electric blue eyes shimmered in the limited light. "Shut up!" Akira snapped in a whisper, "Someone will hear us!" The shock of hearing a normal tone of voice after trying very hard to be quiet was startling.

Hikaru snorted lightly, as though talking loudly in the middle of the night in a building, fully surrounded by rooms of sleeping people was not going to get him in trouble at all. "There's almost no one in here anyways."

Akira flicked back her long hair in annoyance. Her heart pounded nervously, not necessarily because she was with Hikaru…alone…in the middle of the night...well that was actually most of it. "What's that supposed to mean?" she hissed, "And why the heck did you guys ask me out here anyways? I'm supposed to be asleep."

Hikaru smiled and motioned to her. "Come on, I'll show you." He immediately took off down the hallway. Akira sighed and followed at a brisk pace, hurriedly catching up. She turned and glared at him. "We're not even supposed to be out of bed, Hikaru! It's lights-out, and you're in the girl's dorms! Where are you taking me?"

Hikaru turned to her and smiled. "You'll see soon enough!"

Akira huffed slightly. Just being awake was totally off limits, and her being alone with a guy, walking though the girl's dorm level with him, and going to sneak off somewhere were all probably rule breaking actions as well. She mentally slapped herself for her stupidity. If they were caught, she was a goner for sure. She could just see Sensei's face if he found them! She shivered and hurriedly shoved the image from her mind.

Hikaru led Akira out of the dorm building and across the large dirt clearing used for training to the middle-left edge of the city. Akira immediately recognized the building, despite her short time living with the Exo-Force. It was Ryo's warehouse-slash-workshop. She remembered that the seniors had been talking about Ryo's workshop before, but it still felt odd being there in the middle of the night. Were they supposed to be helping him work? How was working with a grumpy Ryo going to be at all fun?

"Hey, you coming, Akira?" Akira rushed to Hikaru, who was now standing in front of the huge doors. He tapped lightly against the metal and paused listening. Akira focused her hearing as well, but even her well-tuned ears could not pick up any out of the ordinary sound.

The door before them inched open. A dark eye suddenly appeared in the crack, looking Hikaru up and down. "Password?"

Hikaru's eyes glimmered, the moonlight causing his electric blue hair to shine silver. "The Contrast of White on White."

The eye blinked and disappeared.

Akira crossed her arms. "It's like a club or something."

Hikaru shrugged. "Anyone can get in really. It's more to keep out any of the older, sterner people who might shut down the fun."

"And 'the contrast of white on white'?"

"It's a line from one of our favorite songs," he shrugged again, "It sounded cool."

Akira opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, the sound of shrieking metal alerted to her the opening of the doors. It was like a void ripping apart. The darkness in the warehouse seemed to be even darker than the midnight outside. As the door opened, the standing warm air from inside flew out and buffeted Akira, her hair floating back behind her gently. But it didn't feel like it had been heated by a machine. No, the air was more stuffy than fresh.

As soon as the door was open to about a foot, Hikaru slid in. Akira followed close behind. The doors immediately began to close as soon as she stepped into the room. With a quiet snap, they closed, throwing the room into pitch black darkness. Before Akira could even begin to worry about her now impaired sight, she felt Hikaru's slender fingers gently touch her shoulder. "Just walk forwards until you feel the wall." Akira didn't even question him, but immediately walked to the other wall.

She heard a grunt come from Hikaru next to her. A sudden sliver of light appeared and Akira watched as Hikaru dragged open a door that, though it was much smaller than the first ones, was still rather large.

The light wasn't the only thing that came through the crack. A blast of sound resounded through the room, filled with music and clapping and cries of laughter. Hikaru motioned for her and she came up next to him. He threw open the door and jumped through. "Come on, Akira!" He shouted over the noise.

Akira threw herself into the room and gasped. Lights and sounds came from everywhere. The large, normally white lights on the ceiling had had their bulbs replaced with bright neon colors, turning the room into a rainbow. The cherry pickers used for reaching the highest points on a Battle Machine had been strung with what looked like Christmas lights, and the speakers hung around the room that were used for announcements were blasting out dance music. Someone had even strung up a disco ball. The Battle Machines had been placed against the walls, leaving a huge open space in the middle. And in that space looked to be most of the Exo-Force teenagers. Whoops and cries arose from the crowd as they circled around the center, obviously watching something interesting.

Hikaru appeared next to her after he had finished closing the door. "So, you like?"

Akira gaped. "This is so against the rules!"

The blue-haired teen laughed. "Yeah, Ryo's been telling us that for a long time, but he's usually up secretly working on his own projects when he's not supposed to be, so he has no room to talk."

"How many people are there?"

Hikaru mused for a few seconds. "Maybe…I don't know, two hundred or so? We never counted. It's kind of whoever shows up is in." He looked around the room. "Looks like Ha-Ya-To is leader tonight."

Akira looked with him. "How can you tell?"

"The lights, the music, the crowd surrounding a circle? It means tonight is Dance-Off night!"

Ha-Ya-To threw down another move to the beat and the whoops erupted from the crowd. Hikaru couldn't help but clap along as well. Whenever Ha-Ya-To hosted their little gatherings, he always did something very classic, like dancing or something artistic like that. And now was no different. Everyone who thought they could dance leaped onto the ring and started busting out moves, but Ha-Ya-To beat everyone. As always! Hikaru grinned as Ha-Ya-To began to break dance and danced another person out of the ring. Ha-Ya-To is obviously going to pick the next contest! That was the way it worked. Whoever won an activity got to pick the next one. But Ha-Ya-To always won all of his, so his nights were mostly filled with futile challenges and epic fails.

"Wow, how did he get so good?" Akira yelled above the noise. She stood next to him, her dark eyes gleaming and her lips upturned in a smile. So far, she seemed to have really enjoyed herself. Hikaru hadn't wanted her to miss her first party night while everyone else was out enjoying themselves. Akira watched Ha-Ya-To break out into a coffee grinder then spin on his head and do a splits before actually turning to Hikaru for an answer.

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. He's always been like this."

"I wish you guys could do this somewhere else," Ryo murmured grumpily, "We had to move every single spare part out of here to set up for Ha-Ya-To. It'll take us forever to put it all back together!"

"Chill out, Ryo!" Akira said good naturedly, "Why don't you go out and dance?"

Ryo's face immediately flushed red and he looked down at his toes. "Um…no thank you."

"Come on, Ryo," Takeshi grumbled from behind him, "It's just a stupid Dance-Off."

"You're just mad because no one liked your dancing," Hikaru laughed.

Takeshi growled, his green eyes flashing. "Oh yeah? Well, no one liked yours either!"

"I was in the ring longer that you were!"

"Were not!"

"Was too!"

"How about this?" Akira suggested mildly, "You both suck and Ryo should try instead!"

Ryo's face went from the color of his headband to nearly white. "But I can't dance! I have no sense of rhythm!"

"Sure you do," Hikaru said encouragingly, "Just move your arms around, and jump up and down and you're dancing!"

"That's not dancing!" Takeshi snapped, "That's acting like a jellyfish or something."

"Great! Jellyfish dancing! Cool!" Akira grabbed onto Ryo's arm. "Come on, I'll dance with you!" She dragged Ryo out, much to his apparent dislike and immediately started her jellyfish dance.

Ryo stood stock still, his face now the exact shade of his headband. His eyes flickered back and forth, his lips pinched together tightly. Slowly, ever so slowly, he moved one of his feet and gently tapped on the ground with it, as though trying to feel the beat. It looked more to Hikaru like he was trying to tap-dance, though. His face, if possible, grew even redder.

Akira seemed to have been pulled away from her jellyfish dance by Ha-Ya-To, who was showing her how to do basic dance moves. He watched the girl's face as she laughed and smiled, her dark eyes glimmering. They were focused solely on Ha-Ya-To, who she seemed to be paying extremely close attention to.

"She seems to be enjoying herself." Takeshi nudged into Hikaru gently. The motion was enough to break Hikaru's gaze.

"Yeah," Hikaru nodded, "it's good for her to get out and enjoy herself. She's been working her butt off."

Takeshi looked around the room. "Did any of the other trainees come?"

"I think Olivia did," Hikaru said, "but Taiki and Kiku weren't interested. Ryo flat out refused to invite Kouta; he said he's too young to be out so late."

"Well, we do stay out for hours on end," Takeshi rubbed the back of his neck, "Looks like Ha-Ya-To's moved on from dancing."

Hikaru turned to face the circle again, where Ha-Ya-To stood, bowing. Akira and Ryo joined the Hikaru and Takeshi and the four of them waited as Ha-Ya-To shushed the crowd.

"How is everyone tonight?" Ha-Ya-To held his microphone to his lips, his voice booming out over the speakers. The crowd erupted into cheers and whistles.

Ha-Ya-To laughed. "I keep telling Ryo every time we use this place how glad I am that the walls are sound proof." The crowd laughed as he continued. "So, who's up for a little…karaoke?"

Again, the crowd shouted out their approval. Ha-Ya-To bowed and leaped up onto the makeshift stage the group had set up, mostly consisting of old crates used for packing spare parts in. The redheaded teenager bowed as the crowd continued to clap and scream for him to begin. Slowly, he raised his hands and they quieted.

"Okay," he said, "first of all, I'm going to need a partner…how about you, Hitomi?"

Hikaru turned to focus on the black-haired trainer, who rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Are you kidding? No way!"

The crowd booed, but Hitomi didn't look upset, merely shaking her head and crossing her arms to state her place.

Ha-Ya-To scanned the crowd. "Alright, fine! How about…Akira! Get up here!"

The dark-haired girl flushed bright red. "What? Me?"

"He said your name, didn't he?" Takeshi laughed and pushed the girl into the ring. "Go on up!"

"But…but I—."

"If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to," Hikaru said loudly. Akira shot him a grateful looked before Ha-Ya-To leapt down from the stage.

"But of course she wants to!" the redhead said with a grin. He dragged a still rather stricken looking Akira onto the stage after him, where she stood with eyes wide in nervousness.

"Let's hear it for Akira!" Ha-Ya-To raised his hands and the crowd burst into cheers. Hikaru clapped rather half-heartedly. He didn't like having to watch his apprentice look so uncomfortable, even if it was all in good fun.

"Okay, Akira, this is how it works," Ha-Ya-To said after the crowd had quieted, "This isn't a competition, unlike the dance-off. This is us working together, because that's how karaoke works. First, you take this," he handed her a microphone, "and then I'll pick a sing for us. Okay?"

Akira nodded slowly, her knuckles whitening around the handle of the microphone.

"Good!" Ha-Ya-to looked positively ecstatic. "Alright, now, I'll start singing first and you come in when I point to you. Hey, Naoko, play track number five, will you?"

Immediately, acoustic guitar music filled the air. Hikaru cocked his head slightly. He had heard Ha-Ya-To playing it at times in their room, but never actually listened to it himself. Slowly, Ha-Ya-to brought the microphone to his lips and began to sing.

"Don't remind me that some days on the windshield and other days I'm just a lucky bug as cold iron rails leave old mossy trails through the countryside. The crow and the beanfield are my best friends but boy I need a hug," He pointed at Akira, who followed with a confused "Boy I need a hug". Ha-Ya-To nodded encouragingly and continued with his song. "Cause my heart stops without you. There's something about you that makes me feel alive."

"If the green left the grass on the other side."

"I would make like a tree and leave," Akira smiled as she sang back.

"But if I reached for your hand would your eyes get wide," Ha-Ya-To sang.

Akira grinned, "Who knew the other side could be so green?" She swallowed and continued onto the next verse. "Don't remind me; I'm a chickadee in love with the sky, but that's clearly not a lot to crow about, cause when the stars silhouette me I'm scared they'll forget me and flicker out. I taste honey but I haven't seen the hive. Yeah, I didn't look, I didn't even try. But still my heart stops without you cause there's something about you that makes me feel alive." Her grin widened as Ha-Ya-To started his part of the chorus again.

"If the green left the grass on the other side

"I would make like a tree and leave."

"But if I reached for your hand would your eyes get wide?"

"Who knew the other side could be so green?"

Ha-Ya-To's voice grew quiet. "We are honey and the bee." And then, in typical Ha-Ya-To style, it grew louder as the music did so. "Backyard of butterflies surrounded me!"

"I fell in love with you like bees do honey!" Akira nearly laughed as she sang. Hikaru frowned slightly, almost confused.

"Swept up and leave the weeping to the willow tree."

"And pour our tears in the sea."

"I swear," Ha-Ya-To's voice rang out, "There's a lot of vegetables out there that clop up for air. Yeah, I never thought that we were two peas in a pod till you suddenly blew, then I knew that I'd always love you."

Akira's eyes shone. "Oh, I'll always love you too."

"If the green left the grass on the other side

"I would make like a tree and leave."

"But if I reached for your hand would your eyes get wide?"

"Who knew the other side could be so green?"

"If the green left the grass on the other side

"I would make like a tree and leave."

"But if I reached for your hand would your eyes get wide?"

"Who knew the other side could be so green?"

"But if I reached for your hand for the rest of my life?"

"Who knew the other side could be so green?"

The singer's voices rang out over the crowd at the last note. The teenagers burst into applause, voice their approval. Hikaru pinched his lips together and clapped quietly. For some reason, he didn't feel like celebrating any more.

Ha-Ya-To and Akira bowed on stage, laughing and smiling. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ha-Ya-To brought his microphone to his lips. "Well," he said with a grin, "I've been doing a lot tonight, so I'm going to pass on the microphone. Akira here has been amazing and I'd like her to sing one more song for us, but she's going to need a new partner. Any volunteers?" Immediately, hands were thrown into the air, cries coming from the crowd as people begged Ha-Ya-To to pick them.

Ha-Ya-To narrowed his eyes and looked around, finally focusing on one person. "Hey, Hikaru, you look like you could use a song!"

Hikaru blinked. "Wait, what? No!" But Takeshi had already grabbed him and thrown him forwards to the stage. Hikaru pinched his lips together. "No way! I can't sing, and you know it!"

Ha-Ya-To rolled his eyes. "Come on, you don't have to sing to do karaoke!"

"That's kind of the whole point of karaoke, Ha-Ya-To."

"Pshaw!" Ha-Ya-To waved the comment away. "It's to have fun! Just get on stage and enjoy yourself! I promise you won't have to sing Taylor Swift."

Hikaru let out a rather annoyed sigh, but pulled himself onto the stage. Ha-Ya-To and rest of the crowd clapped wildly for their leader. "Alright, Akira? You start this one because I'm sure you know how it starts. Hikaru, you come in halfway on the verses and you alternate on the chorus. Alright?"

"Fine," Hikaru grumbled, holding the microphone.

Hikaru was barely able to hear the music before Akira started singing.

"I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me. I still feel your touch in my dreams." She motioned to Hikaru to go.

I am going to kill you, Ha-Ya-To! The blue-haired teen swallowed and sang quietly. "Forgive me my weakness but I don't know why: without you it's hard to survive."

"Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling and every time we kiss I swear I can fly. Can't you feel my heart beat fast? I want this to last. I need you by my side."

Hikaru's voice was still quiet and rather self-conscious. "Cause every time we touch, I feel the static, and every time we kiss I reach for the sky. Can't you hear my heart beat slow? I can't let you go. I want you in my life."

The beat of the song caused Akira to start jumping and clapping, the rest of the crowd doing the same as they cheered. She looked over at Hikaru, pulling her microphones away from her so her words were not blasted over the speakers. "You can sing louder than that, Hikaru!"

Hikaru swallowed, feeling his cheeks flare with color. "I don't sing."

"Well, you're not half bad!"

Hikaru shot her a smile as the break in words came to a close and Akira pulled the microphone back towards her.

"Your arms are my castle, your heart is my sky. They wipe away tears that I cry."

Hikaru sighed. "The good and the bad times we've been through than more. You make me rise when I fall."

Akira drew closer to him, laughing at the expression of embarrassment on his face. "Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling, and every time we kiss I swear I can fly. Can't you feel my heart beat fast? I wasn't this to last. I need you by my side."

"Cause every time we touch, I feel the static, and every time we kiss, I reach for the sky. Can't you hear my heart beat slow? I can't let you go. I want you in my life."

Akira shot him another smile as the crows bounced around, clapping during the purely instrumental parts. "See? That's it! Only one left." She smiled. "Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling, and every time we kiss, I swear I can fly. Can't you feel my heart beat fast? I want this to last. I need you by my side."

The crowd roared their approval and stamped their feet on the ground while whooping out their answer. Hikaru let out a sigh of relief. It's all over…calm down…

Akira stepped up next to him, handing him the microphone. She nudged into him playfully. "Hey, you're no Broadway star, but you can sing pretty darn well."

Hikaru felt his cheeks redden as his heart gave a little jump. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"No sweat. Give that microphone to Ha-Ya-To for me, will you?"

"Sure."

Hikaru watched her bounce off happily. Her hair bounced with her, which he realized now was not in a ponytail. He didn't care. It was rather pretty hanging down.

"Hey, awesome job singing!" Ha-Ya-To clapped him on the shoulder from behind. "You can really carry a tune!"

"Cascada? Really?" Hikaru sighed and handed the two microphones to him. "Of all the songs you could play, it had to be that one?"

Ha-Ya-To blinked in confusion. "What's wrong with it? A bit of kissing and love is good for a guy and girl singing partnering!"

"It's just…never mind," Hikaru snapped, stalking away into the crowd, leaving a thoughtful Ha-Ya-To behind.