"You look like you're going to faint," muttered Kai out of the corner of his mouth.

"I might," hissed back Anastasia. "They're all looking at me."

"Because you're talking."

"I'm talking to you!"

"I don't look like I'm talking."

"So it's my fault I can't whisper with my mouth shut?"

"You need to shut up."

"I hate you."

"I know," she felt his fingers brush against her knee. "And nobody is looking at you anymore."

"How do you know?"

"Tala just tripped on a chair and went down at the back."

Anastasia resisted the sudden urge to laugh. She leaned to the side slightly, letting her shoulder rest against Kai's arm. He didn't try to move away. In fact, he didn't react at all, continuing to stare ahead stonily at the man giving a speech at the front of the gathering.

It was unlike anything they had ever attended before. The whole idea had been that of distant relatives Anastasia didn't know very well, but half an hour into the function both Tala and Kai had understood what was happening. The Nikols were wealthy and powerful, though exactly how neither of them had been able to figure out, and Anastasia was curiously tight-lipped on the subject. Her sister had been disowned years ago, but their parents had died before they could do the same to Anastasia when she turned 21, which made her appearance all the more note-worthy; she was now the sole heir to whatever business her parents had run.

And the memorial was clearly an occasion to talk about this business more than anything else: Natasha was being hounded by people every time she looked as though she had time to breathe, along with a man with dark hair and the same bright blue eyes as Anastasia, whom the boys assumed was another close relative of hers. They had no idea who else was in the tent; Anastasia had made no move to introduce them to anyone, and other than a few people who gave her nods, nobody outright acknowledged her, preferring to stare and whisper instead. She sat in the front quietly, forcing Kai to sit next to her, even though he had attempted to stop and sit next to Tala at the back of the tent when they had entered. But Anastasia had looked like she was about to run away at the last minute, so Kai had allowed her to drag him along, only pausing long enough to give Tala a look that told him to keep quiet about it.

Surprisingly, Tala had even been behaving. Other than the eyes he was making at a girl about their age with blonde hair and a dress that was inappropriately short for such an event, he had avoided making himself noticeable. Until he had tripped, of course, but Kai wasn't complaining. He wasn't sure how many times he could hold Anastasia back from running before he had to give in and let her do what she wanted.

The man finished his speech to polite applause and a few sniffles from women hidden behind thick black veils, and Anastasia stood up. Kai heard a few other chairs scrape around them and followed suit, shadowing her as she zig-zagged her way through the crowd towards the exit.

Tala was waiting for them outside. He whistled when they finally approached. "Damn, Anna, when were you going to tell us you were loaded?"

"Shut up," Anastasia grimaced. "When my sister got cut off I thought the same thing would happen to me, but clearly it didn't."

"You didn't know?" asked Kai.

"No," she shook her head and fidgeted uncomfortably. "They stopped sending me money when I started earning, I told you, but the lawyers told us I would have had to sign something, and I'm not twenty-one for another two years. Tatiana did sign something, though, which is also why she didn't bother coming."

Sympathetically, Tala patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Anna. We've all got shitty relatives. At least you got money off them."

Anastasia attempted to smile, but it was pained. "Honestly, I really don't know how much more of that I can take."

"We could just leave," Tala shrugged and fished out a pack of cigarettes from his suit pocket. He offered one to Anastasia, who made a face of disgust. Rolling his eyes, he tossed the pack to Kai, who made no move to open it. Tala raised an eyebrow, but ignored him. "There's a sweet Jag out front I'd love to see you break into."

Anastasia snorted. "You mean the silver one?" Tala nodded. "Why would I hotwire it when I have the keys, jackass?"

Tala's mouth fell open. "That's your car?"

"For all intents and purposes," Anastasia shrugged, and then looked at Kai questioningly. "Can we actually leave?"

Kai shrugged. "Shotgun."

"Not fair!" protested Tala. Anastasia smiled and gestured for them to follow her, heading towards the garage a few feet away from where they were standing. The driveway was blocked by the cars of guests and relatives, but she merely slipped between the gaps without batting an eye. Tala grimaced and followed her, trying to keep his suit from touching the dirt on the tires and the bonnets. Kai was stuck behind him, and they had to manoeuvre their way between cars slowly.

Anastasia had beaten them to the Jaguar, and was already sitting in the driver's seat flipping through her phone when Kai and Tala finally showed up.

"Where are we going?" asked Kai, nudging Tala aside as he tried to squeeze into the front seat.

Anastasia shrugged. "I don't care. Where do you want to go, Tala?"

Tala looked thoughtful. "How fast can this thing go?"

Kai narrowed his eyes as Anastasia replied. "I'm not sure. Why?"

Tala grinned. "Want to find out?"

!

"Only you would know about an illegal racetrack in the middle of New York, Tala," said Anastasia dryly.

"I've never had a car fancy enough to drive here," said Tala, bouncing in his seat excitedly. "Kai wouldn't let me bring his car last time we came for a match."

"You trashed the last car we rented, moron."

"That wasn't here!" protested Tala.

"Where was it?" asked Anastasia.

Tala grimaced. "I don't remember. Mexico?"

"I don't even want to know," Anastasia sighed and pulled into the dirt-road that Kai pointed out to her. "You know I'm not driving this thing on a track, right? I failed my test three times."

Tala snorted. "You know how to hotwire a car and you can't drive one?"

"I can drive, I'm just a shit driver," Anastasia shrugged. "You can take it if you like, only if you promise you'll pay for the damages."

"I won't damage it!"

"Tala!"

"Fine, fine," Tala rolled his eyes. "I'll have my accountant call you, happy?"

"Mostly," Anastasia put the car into park and undid her seatbelt. "I see a tree stump with my name on it. Have fun, boys."

Beaming, Tala got out of the car and switched seats with Anastasia promptly. She leaned against the open door as he readjusted the seat. He glanced up at her and smirked. "Did I mention Kai's too much of a control freak to sit still while I drive?"

Anastasia quirked an eyebrow at Kai, who hadn't moved from his place in the front seat. "You going to let Tala trash my car alone, Kai?"

Kai merely grunted in response. Tala rolled his eyes. "You up for it, Hiwatari? If you're not, get the hell out and keep Anna company."

Kai undid his seatbelt wordlessly and got out of the car, and Anastasia caught Tala's knowing look just before she slammed the door shut, and he zoomed away immediately. She swore, and followed Kai a few feet away off the tire-beaten track. He was already sitting on a tree stump, looking bored.

She stood next to him, folding her arms across her chest. "Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?"

"You gave Tala your car keys," Kai raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you think?"

Anastasia sighed. "You think he'll come back?" Kai shrugged. Knowing she wouldn't get more of an answer out of him, Anastasia nudged him with her shoe, indicating for him to make room. He scowled, but moved nevertheless, and she sat down, leaning her back against his shoulder. She was glad of the support, and was closer to him than necessary; there was a perfectly comfortable tree stump a few feet away, but she didn't see the need to use it. If Kai hadn't wanted her to sit with him, he'd have said so.

"You alright?" his voice interrupted her thoughts suddenly. She tilted her head back so it was resting on his shoulder, and quirked an eyebrow at him. He scowled at her.

Anastasia smiled. "I'm fine," she righted her head and stretched her legs out. The dress was much longer than she was used to. "Thanks for this."

"Don't get used to it."

"Too late," she nudged him teasingly. "When I go back to working for you, will you still be this nice to me?"

Kai snorted. "I'm never nice."

"You're nice to me," Anastasia pointed out.

"You're annoying."

"Is that how I get you to be nice to me?"

"Shut up."

"Clearly not," she muttered. Silence fell again, and she dug her cell-phone out of her dress pocket. "Hey, want to see something funny?"

Kai grunted. Despite his expression, however, she felt him move so he could see her screen over her shoulder. His shift caused her balance to give out, and for a moment she was leaning against his chest. The sensation of being so close to him caused a strange warmth to shoot through her body, even as she tried to ignore it. Almost involuntarily, she felt herself blush; and then he moved again so she was leaning against his arm, and she let out a quiet breath.

"What am I looking at?" his voice was flat and uninterested, but it was practically in her ear. His face was much, much closer than she had anticipated.

Anastasia cleared her throat and opened an application on her phone. She could practically feel Kai's disapproval as she hacked into the BBA's records and pulled up a particular file. When she opened it, however, he swore. Anastasia giggled. "Hey, I only promised I'd stop hacking into your life, you didn't say anything about the rest of them."

"Where did you find these?" Kai sounded faintly annoyed, but also a little amused. Without taking the phone from her hands, he reached forward and flicked through the series of photographs on the screen. They were all from an archive a few years old, from the first year of the Bladebreakers' reign as the World Champions. There were a few official shots of the team, some solos, and quite a few from matches and training sessions in various arenas around the world.

"I was looking for some data on your old matches through media archives and found a folder dedicated to your old team," said Anastasia. She smiled when Kai paused on a particular picture. "Well, isn't that precious?"

"Shut up," Kai growled into her ear, but there was no venom in his voice. The picture was of all the Bladebreakers holding aloft a trophy, in various stages of celebration. The camera had even managed to capture Kai mid-smile. "And I told you to stop hacking."

"This doesn't count as hacking. It made you smile."

She heard Kai grunt. "That wasn't the reason you did this."

"How do you know?" she shot back.

"Because I know you, smartass."

"Don't comment on my ass, perv."

She felt Kai pinch her side. "Admit it, you hacked to find pictures of me." The smug note in his voice was unmistakable.

Anastasia laughed. "Yeah, right. I was bored. There's nothing to do here. That does not mean I hacked into the classified documents of the company I work for just to stare at your face. I could have just googled you if I wanted to do that."

"You'd be wasting your time. I never get pictures taken," he sounded even more amused now.

"Liar, there were pictures of you and me in those magazines!"

"They weren't official ones," said Kai dismissively. "Tala's the only one who likes the posing stuff the BBA makes us do."

Anastasia snorted. "I know. Have you seen the pull-out poster of him in the weekly sports magazine they sell at the grocery store back in Japan?"

"Yeah. He has three in his room," said Kai humourlessly. Anastasia dissolved into giggles again, and he smiled when he was sure she wasn't looking.

"I would pay for a swimsuit calendar of the Bladebreaker boys, though," said Anastasia slyly, when her giggles had subsided. Kai raised an eyebrow, and she grinned. Flicking through pictures with a practiced ease, she came upon one that made Kai groan. She laughed again. "You forgot about this one!"

"That isn't a pose," protested Kai. "I didn't know there were cameras!"

"You took your shirt off and decided to do a mini-training session in the middle of the day in Beijing, what did you think would happen?" cackled Anastasia. "I might just make that my screensaver."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Subtle, Anna."

"I'm not being subtle. This –" she held up her phone, where the screen was showing a picture of Kai in the middle of a sit-up, eyes hard and bare chest glistening with sweat. "– is quite possibly the hottest thing I've ever seen. Do you still look like this?" without invitation, she twisted around and poked his chest. Kai caught her hand before she could do it again, and she widened her eyes. "What, you're telling me no girl has ever asked you that before?"

Kai frowned at her, and then smirked wickedly. "I don't give them much of a chance to talk."

Anastasia rolled her eyes. "So why can't I see you shirtless?"

"Because you'd be too attracted to me for us to work together."

"You think a lot of yourself, don't you?"

"Don't you?"

"Honey, if I wanted to seduce you, I'd be a hell of a lot better at it than you could ever be," Anastasia smiled sweetly and scooted closer, noted with a small level of satisfaction the way Kai's eyes immediately clouded over as she invaded his personal space. The area between them was practically crackling with electricity now – she could feel it, and she knew Kai could too. His eyes were confused, but they were also dark and unreadable, whereas hers were clearly reflecting the strange need to close the distance between them. She could act on it… "But I choose not to," she tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned around so she was leaning against his arm again. The shift was immediate; the electricity fizzled out, and they were once again just friends who happened to be sitting slightly too close together.

Kai didn't answer and they were quiet for a while, the only sound the distant rumble of an engine that may or may not have been Tala finishing off his lap. Anastasia continued to flick through random photos on her phone idly until Kai spoke again. "Didn't know your hacking told you that much about me," his voice was even.

Anastasia shrugged. "You'd be surprised what a bunch of numbers can tell me about a person. I know you don't like it," she added. "But my options are limited."

Kai sighed. "Why do you hack when you could just ask me?"

"Hacking is easier than getting you to open up," she turned back to give him a sly smile again.

"You never shut up when I call you."

"That's because the more I talk, the more you talk."

Kai grunted. "Why do you want to know so much about me anyway?"

Anastasia's eyes softened. "Because you like to pretend you're not a good guy, when you so obviously are."

"I don't –"

"You're pretending again," her voice was so gentle that Kai didn't have the heart to snap at her. Instinctively, his hands clenched into fists. Anastasia didn't notice. "I'm not on a quest to save your soul, Kai. But we're friends, and you're a good friend to me. I'm trying to be a good friend too, and this is the only way I know how. Plus, I like talking to you and I know you don't call a lot of girls in your spare time just to check up on them," she was teasing him again, and the sudden intensity of the moment was gone.

Kai snorted. "I don't call any." He played it cool, but his head was spinning. Anastasia's changing moods and tones were enough to give someone whiplash, and Kai knew he'd be in trouble if he allowed himself to actually consider pursuing her romantically. But he couldn't. They were friends, good friends, and she was a good person.

The screeching of tyres broke the silence again, and Anastasia rolled her eyes. Springing up with the energy of a child, she tugged on Kai's jacket and began to pull him out of the clearing towards the track, where Tala has just fishtailed the car and was waiting for them patiently. The tyres were smoking, but other than that the vehicle didn't seem damaged. Kai raised an eyebrow, even as Anastasia snorted.

"Give me the keys back," she demanded flatly.

"Why?" protested Tala. "I didn't even get a scratch on it!"

"I don't trust you," Anastasia snatched the keys from his hand and tossed them to Kai, who caught them reflexively. "You can drive back," she added to him casually. "If the steering wheel explodes, I don't want to be anywhere near it."

Kai snorted quietly, but got in the front seat anyway. Anastasia, to his surprise, got in the back and allowed Tala to ride shotgun, which made his sulking slightly more bearable. "Where to?" asked Kai, revving the engine.

Anastasia shrugged. "I'm hungry. Tala, you pick."

"Sweet. I know where we're going," easily appeased, Tala began to bark out directions, and Kai glanced up at the mirror, just in time to catch Anastasia's eye as she winked at him and returned to playing on her phone. He tried not to smile.