Kai stared at the piece of paper sitting on his dashboard before looking up at the tall apartment building. He was parked in front of it, debating with himself. He had called Anastasia earlier in the day, as usual. She had picked up on the fourth ring, as usual. Except this time, she hadn't been cheery. She had sounded hesitant and uncomfortable and had spoken faster than normal. She hadn't cancelled on him, instead she had said she would be late and he should wait for her at the BBA.

Normally, he'd be glad, but these days he found himself without much to do if she wasn't around. Granted, it was rare that she wasn't texting him ridiculous things – "These people keep bowing to me and then I bow back but it's a never-ending cycle, what do I do?!" – or hovering over his shoulder as he tried to read. The only time she willingly left him alone was when he was training. The first prototype she had made him had broken a week after he had mastered it, and Anastasia hadn't even flinched. She had merely thrown together another one and told him to work on it as well. Fortunately, she hadn't switched the core, instead adding a lighter defence ring which made it much easier to ward off attacks. However, he hadn't lasted long against Max's bitbeast.

He knew he should be enjoying his alone time, but he wasn't. Having a crush was supposed to be fun – at least that's what Tala kept telling him – but it annoyed Kai more than anything else because, suddenly, he constantly found himself wanting to do things for her. She had been cold one day on their drive back into town since they had gone about two hours away to search for a store which sold the exact parts she needed, and he had automatically turned on the heating, disregarding the fact that he would be sweating bullets in a few minutes. He let her put on her annoying pop songs in his car because she pouted if he didn't and that made him… upset. He paid for her food, carried her bags and opened doors for her, because he liked the way she wrinkled her nose and tried to insist she could do it herself

So, now when she was telling him to stay away from her, naturally, Kai was not going to listen. Especially since he had a strange feeling he knew why she was avoiding him.

He picked up the paper and frowned. It was a cutting from a magazine that Hilary had shown him just before he had left Tyson's house to pick up Anastasia. It was a picture of Anastasia coming out of a café across from where she lived, her face partially turned back to speak to someone behind her. She was smiling brightly. The person was him. It had been five days ago. Under the picture was a long article detailing their lives and speculating as to how they knew each other. There was even a poll underneath asking whether or not they were a good-looking couple. Kai had resisted the urge to smirk when he saw that ninety-seven percent of the people had said yes.

He had assumed she hadn't seen it, but he did know her well enough to see that, while she acted like absolutely nothing phased her, and she was willing to tease and flirt with him on her own terms, the article had probably thrown her off balance. And, if by some miracle she hadn't seen it, he intended to show it to her so she wouldn't have to deal with it by herself.

And he wanted to see her reaction to them being called a couple.

He switched off the engine and made his way to the building. He went up to the fifth floor and knocked on the third door right off the lift; Anastasia had vaguely described it to him once. She had about four room-mates, all visiting from different countries by invite of Mr. Dickenson working on different projects for the BBA, so Kai assumed one of them would answer the door. He wasn't wrong. It was a blonde girl with glasses and wide eyes that went even wider when she seemed to recognize him. He cringed when he saw the familiar magazine clutched in her hand. Had everyone seen it, then?

"Is Anna home?" he asked bluntly. He wasn't interested in hearing her speak.

The girl blinked. "Umm, no. She went out for a run, hours ago. I think she's due at the BBA in a while, you should check there." American. Typical. They were probably friends.

"I'm supposed to meet her there," Kai folded his arms across his chest.

The girl's cheeks went pink. So she had recognized him. "Umm, you could try the park across the road. She usually goes there to cool off."

Kai nodded wordlessly in thanks and made his way out again. The park was close enough that he didn't need to take his car, so he walked towards it slowly, trying to understand what he was supposed to say to her. He knew she liked him, that much was obvious. The strange feeling he got every time he was around her made him feel like he liked her too, but he had liked way too many girls and it had never felt like this. Getting involved with Anastasia was more complicated than anything he had ever tried before. He didn't date, and he definitely didn't date long distance. She wasn't the type to give up her life, and neither was he. They were a disaster waiting to happen.

But he wished they weren't, he realized reluctantly. He turned a corner and saw her, automatically coming to a halt just to look at her. Fortunately, she couldn't see him yet. She was lying down on one of the benches near the pond, her legs hanging off one side and her head resting on the other. Her hair was naturally curly as it lightly brushed the grass; she had obviously run out while it was still wet from her shower. She was dressed in a pair of worn tennis shoes, a navy blue tank-top and a matching skirt.

She had gone running in a skirt?

"You're going to get a cramp if you keep sitting like that," said Kai quietly as he neared her. His eyes raked across her bare legs, but only fleetingly.

Anastasia jumped, almost hitting her head on the metal of the arm rest as she squinted up at him in confusion. Her cell-phone was clutched in her hand, as if she had been reading something off the screen. "Kai?"

He grunted in response. She blinked in surprise as he lifted her legs off the bench with his arm and sat down in the vacant spot, allowing her to drape them across his lap. They were warm from the exposure to the sun. His hand lingered on her knee before he draped one arm across the back of the bench and, almost unconsciously, rested the other hand on her ankle. He knew he was doing it. He doubted he had done anything unconsciously since he was a child, but it was a surprisingly pleasant feeling to find that he could let his guard down in front of her.

For the first time though, she seemed surprised by his attention. Considering how often she made excuses to touch him, it was strange. Kai raised an eyebrow at her expression. "You do it all the time without asking me anyway, Anna, what's the problem now?"

He shouldn't goad her, but he couldn't resist. She scrunched up her nose in that oddly appealing way and went back to playing with her phone, but Kai wasn't in the mood to deal with her silence. He snatched it from her easily, ignoring her annoyed huff and scrolled through the page she had opened. It was the magazine's online website. He pretended to read it.

"I'm not hacking into your personal life, don't worry," she said finally when he didn't comment on what she had been reading. "Alice told me there was an article about me published in the magazine this morning and I wanted to see what it was."

So she had read it. "I know," Kai handed the phone back to her and took the paper out of his pocket. "Hilary showed it to me this morning."

Anastasia immediately lowered her eyes. "Look, Kai, I know you don't like this stuff and I don't blame you, I'm not as famous as you so I don't have to deal with it, but I'm really sorry that article got published. I'm usually very careful about where I go and how I act and that picture does make it look really strange and I just-"

"Huh?" Kai was caught off-guard. She was apologizing? "What are you talking about?"

Anastasia blinked. "You're not mad?"

"Mad?" Kai ran a hand through his hair. "No, not mad."

Anastasia let out a breath. "Thank god. I thought you'd yell at me."

"Why would I yell at you, Anna?" she could be so dense sometimes. He was trying hard to control his temper.

Anastasia sat up, but didn't remove her legs from him lap. "I know you hate publicity," she said, fiddling with the ends of her hair. "I didn't want you to get the wrong idea. I've probably been mentioned in one magazine article in my life and that was probably because I made the beyblades of whatever team they were writing about. I hate attention like that," she wrinkled her nose again. "I thought you did too."

Not when it's with you. Reflexively, he shrugged. This was the perfect time. He could practically hear Dranzer in his head, urging him to confess his feelings for the girl, but he couldn't. A quick glance at her showed that she was chewing her lip, an anxious habit that he knew she only did when she was utterly terrified, though the only time she had done that was when she had thought one of her files on him was corrupted. He could tell her he liked her, and that he had liked the primitive feeling of possession that the article inspired in him, but that would be unfair. She wasn't here forever, and even if she had been, he couldn't promise her forever. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the bench. "They're stupid rumours, and you get used to them eventually. Don't worry about it."

And just like that, they were normal. Anastasia giggled. "They called you the hottest beyblader in Japan."

"And Russia."

"And Russia," conceded Anastasia, lips twitching. "I knew you secretly liked the attention."

"Yeah, I'm a complete attention-whore."

Anastasia snorted a laugh at that. "You're anything but that, Kai Hiwatari," she snatched the paper out of his hands and shifted so her legs were folded across his lap. Kai raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. She tapped the picture with her nail. "I kind of like the picture, though."

"Do you?" Kai asked, reluctantly amused. She looked completely serious.

"Yeah. Maybe I should frame it. Should I add the poll too?" she rolled her eyes and scanned the rest of the article. "God, they make me sound like such a geek."

"You are a geek."

"Can it, Hiwatari. Your math is better than mine, you can be the geek in this fictional relationship."

He almost laughed at that. She was good. "I'm not the one staring."

"You stare at me all the time," she shot back.

"You have no proof."

"I've seen you do it!"

Kai snorted. "Denial."

"Denial of what?" she asked exasperatedly.

"I know I'm good looking, Anna, I don't blame you for looking at me like that."

"Hey!" Anastasia glared. "I am not looking at you like anything!"

"You're smiling at me."

"I always smile at you!"

Kai's lips twitched at her defensive tone. "Are you done hiding out now?"

Anastasia rolled her eyes. "I wasn't hiding. I just wanted to read that article in peace. How did you even find me?"

"Your room-mate told me you might be here."

She grumbled. "Can't trust that girl with anything."

They didn't speak for a while after that. She lay back down on the bench, and when Kai glanced at her from the corner of his eye he saw that she was looking at the sky thoughtfully. The small crease between her eyebrows meant she was thinking about something he didn't want to know. He finally poked her leg, causing her eyes to shoot towards him questioningly. "We should be getting some work done."

"It's a nice day," Anastasia shrugged, but lifted her legs off of him willingly. "You can go if you want. I might just sit here for a bit."

Kai rolled his eyes and tugged her legs back down. "I don't know what to do with myself without you, remember?" he asked sarcastically.

Anastasia grinned. "Oh, honey, I know."