A/N: Well it might have taken a whole lot longer than I have hoped, but here at last is the next chapter. I'm pretty sure I worked harder on this than anything else in my whole life! Lol. So, this one will either be totally genius, or a complete disaster :P In any case, I know it's super long and possibly confusing at times, but I hope it's not too hard to follow, and I really hope you guys are able to pick out and appreciate what I tried to accomplish and set up with this one :) As always, I anticipate you guy's feedback, especially if its more than a few lines... lol. Much love and happy reading!

PS:I'd like to send out a HUGE thank you to some very special readers, without whom I don't think I would have had nearly as much desire to continue this story. So, thank you so much: Emerald Vivienne Ramira, Cerulean Musings, and CyberInsanity! I can't say enough, and you can possibly imagine how much your support and awesome reviews mean to me (and your reviews are truly awesome!). Again, although it feels woefully inadequate, thank you so much! :)

And to everyone else, the same goes for you too; your support is what keeps me going! Now without further ado, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I own my OCs and nothing more.


Tala's face was so close to the window his breath was fogging up the glass. He wasn't a slacker and he didn't normally mind school - truth be told; he knew he wasn't being the least bit cocky to say that he was a pretty damn good student. However, that particular day, the last place on earth he wanted to be was in a big clinically sterile white room - so hollow and empty and institutional, that it echoed, and so permeated with strong chemical scents that it had once made his head swim nauseatingly.

He'd gotten used to that over time.

What he hadn't gotten used to was the single addition to a class, that had not so long ago, been simply him and a handful of his friends. Now, sitting to his immediate right, mere feet away from him, was the stunning brunette he'd almost come to dread the sight of.

"I keep having those dreams..." He growled in his head. "I'm starting to miss the boogeyman..."

Even though he knew the latter wasn't true at all, Tala decided to pretend it was all the same. Lately, he'd been having disturbing dreams, but for the first time in years, none of them involved the hated Boris. They were however full of a certain brunette, and certain events that had occurred since Tala's having met the girl - namely each and every occurrence since their fated introduction. And the memories he didn't recall in his dreams, haunted him during the waking hours of day.

Try as he might, Tala couldn't keep his mind from drawing out those shared memories; usually at the most inappropriate times. Like at that very moment; when he would much prefer to be listening to what their Professor was saying, rather than recalling another nuisance of a memory. This one happened to be the first time he'd ever laid eyes on the brunette.


"This is a joke." Tala thought with a mix of amusement and offence. "I can't believe the American BBA actually agreed to this; a tournament request from a bunch of nobodies! If I didn't care that we'd immediately be pegged as cowards, I would have refused this ridiculous excuse for a tournament..."

He had to resist a snort of disgust as he led his teammates into a familiar, and yet unfamiliar, building.

"Hmph, it never ceases to amaze me what rich people with too much time and money on theirs hands can buy."

He'd been to America to beyblade before, but never at this particular venue; the last one had been in a different state. But, with the good ol' BBA, you could always count on their buildings having basically the same layout no matter what country or place you were in.

It was probably for this reason, that Tala both looked and felt so confident, as he and his team entered the building and immediately made their way towards their assigned locker room. However, only a few steps into the building, Tala felt an intensely familiar and unpleasant sensation - the certainty that he was being watched. More than used to 'eyes in the sky' watching him through lenses and a wall of screens, he had grown accustomed to the feeling. But that didn't mean he wasn't still able to tell when someone was observing him. As such, completely on reflex, the redhead stopped in his tracks and looked up. Instantly his eyes locked on four girls looking down at the Russians from a high walkway.

He'd expected to see four much younger children, but Tala was more than a little surprised to instead see four teenaged girls looking to be about his age staring down at him. To his credit though, his face remained expressionless.

"Those are definitely not the faces I remember." He observed thoughtfully. "Looks like those pictures were more than a little outdated."

Tala then recalled gathering around the computer with Ian and the rest of his team a few short weeks before, and was almost amused to note that they had been very seriously misinformed about this new team.

-;-

"Let's see... I think this is how you spell the name."

Tala stood looking over Ian's shoulder with crossed arms, as his friend searched up this new so-called team who had so recently issued them an almost laughable invitation.

"I might have spelled their name wrong..." Ian said thoughtfully as his eyes scanned the screen. "But I can't find anything at all on these guys."

Tala snorted as he too stared down at the screen.

"Or they're total nobodies." He replied in disgust. "Who've got no business inviting seasoned beybladers to any tournament, never mind one they proposed."

"I'm sure they're not nobodies." Spencer spoke up thoughtfully.

"I doubt the BBA would bend over backwards for some random request." Bryan agreed as he turned away from the screen. "Especially so soon after the whole BEGA thing... Maybe it's a trick from another baddie like Boris?"

After listening to his teammates go back and forth for a while as Ian searched, seemingly in vain, Kai eventually spoke up.

"You'd be surprised what old money can buy." He said with a deadpan voice. Tala gave him a look mixed with emotions.

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you Kai?" He said in a low, challenging tone.

Kai didn't reply but his expression was one of extreme annoyance. With a soft snort, Tala turned away from the blunette and back towards the screen when he heard Ian's voice again.

"Hey, funny you should say that, Kai." The smallest teen said with a grin. "Actually, looks like you might both be right; I found something on this local Finnish website and it took me a while to find a good translator."

The rest of the Blitzkrieg Boys all watched as Ian clicked on a simple community website, then a link to some of the local headlines, and waited for him to translate.

"Apparently, they belong to a really old and really rich family - good call Kai. And of course they're local favourites." Ian said aloud in a somewhat bored tone. "Typical. There's a bunch of news articles about their hometown victories, some local competitions, events. Tch; charities..."

Several eyes rolled at that before Ian continued.

"Heh, apparently they're regional champs, though they didn't take it farther than that, and it seems like the last few years they kinda dropped off the radar after a pretty long winning streak."

"Well, is there any information on the bladers themselves?" Tala asked, furrowing his brows as he stared at the foreign words on the screen. "How many there are for one thing. Blading styles, beyblade types?"

"Hmmm..." Ian hummed as his eyes scanned the website. Eventually his gaze settled on a link and his eyes lit up. "Oh hey, there's this article about a past local competition, and they've got postings of the stats of everyone who competed. Let's see... Vilikosto, Vilikosto... Oh, here they are."

It took a few moments to translate, but eventually Ian filled them in on the stats of the, apparently four, beybladers known as Vilikosto.

"Huh... should be a picture of them around here somewhere, especially if they were supposed to be regional champs! If I didn't know better, I'd say it's almost like someone purposely removed any evidence these people existed from the net... In fact, I'm kinda surprised this much info was on this one website, even if it was pretty hard to find."

"Hey, there's a link at the end of the team info." Tala observed when Ian had finished talking.

"There is?" Ian questioned in surprise. Looking for himself, he realized Tala was right. "Oh yea, there is. Let's see where it goes... Bingo! There's more info on the bladers, and at the end there are four names and a recent picture of them!"

Four bodies leaned forward a little as Ian skimmed through the the information, then scrolled down the page to the picture at the bottom. All five expressions were a combination of reactions, but each of them was at least mildly surprised to see the faces staring back at them.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tala said with a scowl and an unamused expression. "They're four little girls."

Indeed, other than the obviously older guy with them, whom they took to be the coach, the four bladers themselves looked like they couldn't have been more than eight to ten years old.

"Heh. Well, this should be easy." Bryan said in amusement with a cocky expression. "Not only are they just kids, the whole team is a bunch of girls!"

"Looks like the BBA finally cracked under the pressure." Spencer said, mildly amused. "All those demands for more girls in the circuit. Guess all those feminists finally got what they wanted."

"I hope they don't expect us to go easy on them cause they're little kids." Ian said wearily.

"I just hope they don't cry like little girls when they loose!" Bryan added with a laugh.

This got snickers from Spencer and Ian, but Tala and Kai both had intense expressions as they stared at the screen.

"I don't think we should underestimate them." Tala said seriously. "We were kids once too, and when we were that age, we could destroy most any opponent shoved in front of us; including ones twice our age."

He gave his three friends a look then.

"Besides, are you prepared to say that Daichi is a wimp? Cause he's just a kid too, remember?"

"Yea, but come on Tala!" Bryan argued towards his friend. "Look at them! They were obviously raised in the lap of luxury. There's no way they went through half of the stuff we did! I bet the worst day either of them ever had was not getting candy for breakfast!"

"They don't look very tough..." Spencer added uncertainly. "I think I'd almost feel bad going all out against them..."

"Maybe that's the idea; to catch us off guard and mess with our heads." Ian suggested.

For a few minutes, the three went back and forth with their thoughts and ideas again, until eventually Kai snorted his opinion of it all.

"You all seem to enjoy reminding me that you think I grew up in the lap of luxury too." He said coldly. "And yet, are any of you prepared to say I'm weak?"

The three previously chattering teens hushed up as they avoided the blunette's gaze.

Tala frowned. As much as he hated to admit it, Kai was right.

"Well anyway..." Ian said awkwardly, attempting to ease the tension. "Their names from left to right are; Demetra Nakamura, Kage Kohn, Victoria Reid, and Keisha O'Keefe."

"Wait, did you say Nakamura?" Kai asked suddenly. His teammates all turned to look at him.

"Uh, yea?" Ian replied in confusion. Kai snorted with a small frown on his face.

"I don't know if they're related at all, especially since they seem to have lived in Finland for a long time, but the name Nakamura was a powerful one when I was in Japan." Dark eyes narrowed on the picture on screen, and Kai stared with crossed arms as he studied the girls for a few moments before continuing. "In fact, word on the street was, some of the families even had powerful ties to the Yakuza... One thing was for sure, no one ever spoke a bad word against them, and people who opposed them, or somehow got in their way, always seemed to strangely disappear."

There was another silence, this one shorter than the last, and eventually Tala broke it this time.

"Guess that explains a lot." He said, narrowing his own eyes on the four small faces in search of any sign that they were in fact more dangerous than they appeared.

"They just look like four pretty little pampered princesses." Tala thought as he scrutinized the picture. "There's no way those four could pose any real threat... What the hell kind of stupid games are we getting pulled into this time?"

In then end, he decided that; while the tallest brunette looked like she might have a little more weight on her shoulders than the average girl her age; there really didn't seem to be much to be scared of.

So far, he was not impressed.

Snorting his disapproval, Tala leaned back from the screen with a look of displeasure on his face.

"I don't know if this is some kind of joke, or if these little girls are more powerful then they look, but I'm not exactly shaking in my boots."

"Neither am I." Bryan added, taking one last look before leaning back as well. "I doubt they'll be much of a challenge."

Tala remained silent for the rest of the conversation, contemplating, as his friends passed their opinions around between them.

"Just what we need." Tala thought with a frown. "The whole world against us again, this time for beating up on little girls."

-;-

Coming out of his memory, Tala focused on the faces above him again and let his gaze trail over each of them one by one. Even though they were older than he expected, and even though he was forced to admit that they were certainly a collection of some of most good looking girls he'd ever seen, from the look of them, he still didn't think they looked like much to write home about.

Except the tall brunette.

A shiver ran down Tala's spine when he locked eyes with the entrancing silver orbs above him. They reminded him of polished mirrors, capable of revealing all the truth anyone who stared into them tried to hide. Something about them, something about her, shook Tala to his core. It wasn't often that he found himself so drawn to anyone, but for some reason he was drawn to this girl; and it was more than her unnatural beauty that drew him in.

More than a little disturbed by the rare betrayal of his own body, and extremely annoyed by the sudden race of his pulse, Tala forced himself to believe he was merely caught off guard by her almost unnatural stunning physical beauty, and that the complicated collection of depth and defiant strength he thought he'd seen in her face, was nothing more than an illusion.

"Hn... So they're older than we thought." He mused indifferently. "I bet they're still just a bunch of pretty faces; probably the only way they've ever been able to win a battle. Only thing that's changed is that we don't have to feel bad about wiping the dish with a bunch of kids."

Forcing his previous ludicrous thoughts out of his head, Tala set a confident and amused smirk on his face before turning towards his team, who had all stopped to observe their observers as well.

"Well, the little girls obviously grew up a bit, but I'm still not shaking in my boots. Maybe if I still believed in cooties, they might stand a chance."

Unsurprisingly, everyone had a laugh at the girl's expense except the ever-serious Kai, but Tala wasn't bothered by the blunette. Feeling more confident than he had in a long time, he turned away from the new team, and continued down the hall with barely another thought towards the so-called team he couldn't bring himself to take seriously.


The frustrated growl that rumbled from Tala's throat was inescapable, but he didn't realize how loud it had actually been until he felt the Professor's eyes on him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ivanov." The deep, accented voice of his Professor rumbled sarcastically. "Are we boring you?"

Slightly caught off guard, Tala blinked at the tall, middle aged man for a moment. When he'd managed to shake off the dream-stupor he'd been constantly falling into lately, Tala fixed an emotionless expression on his face as he finally focused on the hulking man.

"No sir." He said respectfully.

The Professor gave him the stink eye, and Tala willed his expression not to change until the man had finally looked away again. Tala sighed quietly in annoyance when he heard the deep voice resume the lesson. He could feel other eyes on him too, but he couldn't be bothered to look at them - especially if one set of them was an unnervingly captivating pair of silver dollars; ones that just so happened to belong to the girl whom was the present root of all his current frustrations.

Well as it happened, he didn't need to see Demetra's eyes, because as soon as Tala thought about them, he saw them in his minds eye just as clearly as if they were actually floating right there in front of him. And with the thought of those haunting eyes, came more matching haunting memories. They came over Tala in a flood like a mighty tidal wave - all the most prominent memories he'd shared with the brunette in question since their fated introduction - and unable to stop them, they once more dragged him in, as they too began to replay in his mind; so clearly it was like he was reliving them all over again.


Tala sat with crossed arms and a complicated expression garnished with a scowl, a look he was directing towards a particular team in the room, as Stanley Dickenson droned on about the usual tournament rules. Part of him was taking in what the old man was saying, and he was storing it for later use (if there was one thing Tala Ivanov was good it, it was dividing his attention - the skill had served him well over the years). But the other part of him was focused on the four unfamiliar new faces - five if you counted their tall blunette coach.

"I can't believe these girls are sitting there so casually, and confidently like they own the place." Tala thought with disgust.

Vilikosto was sitting at the very front-right of the room, and to the immediate left of Mr. Dickenson - confidently in front of everyone and seemingly not the least bit ashamed or shy. The other teams were scattered around the room while the Blitzkrieg Boys had chosen the very last table towards the back. From there Bryan and Ian were sitting and leaning their elbows against the table, and Spencer was sitting straight with crossed arms, while Tala remained half-standing; partially sitting-leaning a hip against the table with crossed arms. Of course, Kai was in his usual stoic position against the wall. The spot gave them a perfect, inconspicuous vantage point of everyone in the room, but it didn't seem to matter, because everyone seemed to have the same idea as Tala and his team - all eyes were on these obviously brazenly bold girls.

"I can't tell if they're oblivious or cocky." Tala thought, and he felt his expression darken the longer he stared at them. "They must feel the eyes on them, but not one of them seems to care one bit. They're completely ignoring us!"

To be honest, it was a little infuriating - Tala Ivanov wasn't used to being ignored. And the longer Tala spent in the presence of these girls, the quicker he found more reasons that he decidedly wasn't going to be one of their biggest fans.

"They added their own rule?" Tala thought, exceedingly annoyed now. "Who the hell are these girls?! How rich and spoiled can you be?! I'm beginning to feel like a lab rat... or like I'm on one of those stupid reality shows!"

His face screwing up in disgust, Tala looked over the four girls one by one for a second time, this time more closely. He knew they belonged to the same family, and he was well aware that members of the same family often had different surnames, but he couldn't help but notice that they all looked completely different as well; even the coach and brunette, who actually shared the same last name.

Eventually deciding it didn't matter, Tala discarded the thought and moved on. He watched the little redhead sitting on her hands in her seat, swinging her legs back and forth.

"That one still looks like a child." He thought wearily, furrowing his brows. He found he still had trouble believing that a face that innocent looking could pose much of a threat.

Next to the redhead was a pretty little brunette, who looked like she just stepped off the photo shoot of some teeny bopper fashion magazine. She was sitting ahead in her chair and casually resting her arms on the table, and both girls looked like they hadn't a care in the world.

In the middle of the line-up was the raven-haired girl, and Tala thought she looked a little more like she might be able to handle herself; not just in the dish, but in most any situation. She was sitting straight in her seat with crossed arms and a totally calm expression.

Second-to-last between the ravenette and their coach, was the brunette he'd come to learn was Vilikosto's Captain. She was sitting back in her seat with crossed arms, closed eyes, and an expression that clearly said she knew how many eyes were on her, and yet she deemed every last one of them unworthy of acknowledgement. It was on her Tala's eyes lingered the longest.

OK, so it was obvious the girl was exceptionally attractive, but that wasn't the thing that drew Tala to her - he'd seen many a beautiful girl and women in his lifetime - though for the life of him he couldn't exactly pinpoint what that something was.

It could be the way she carried herself; with the confidence and commanding presence of actual royalty - even though that one was a double-edged sword, because it was also another reason Tala found for not liking the Captain.

Or it could be the impression he got, that told him she was someone who not only knew what they wanted, and knew how to get it, but who also was willing to do whatever it took to make that something happen. He had to respect that.

Or maybe it was that haunting look Tala remembered seeing in the Captain's eyes the first time he'd laid his own on her; eyes that held a thousand wisdoms obtained from a thousand sad stories, and a look that belonged to a much more complex, and battle-weary sort of soul then the pampered princess he thought for sure she must be.

Before he could ponder these thoughts much further, something hijacked Tala's attention as the previously statuesque form of the brunette moved. He watched her turn her head to look over her shoulder, and to his mild astonishment, in a room full of people staring at her and her team, the Captain almost immediately locked eyes on Tala - though he was proud to admit he did a damn good job at masking said surprise.

However, if he would have had any thoughts of flattery, they were quickly squashed by the cold glare the brunette was pinning him with. Tala forced himself to hold the attractive Captain's gaze, and for effect he lifted his chin to look down his nose at her with a malicious sneer. To her credit, the brunette's expression didn't change much, except to lift an eyebrow at him. But Tala was pretty sure he saw the corner of her lip curl down slightly in disgust. Her own chin lifted slightly then, and she turned slowly and deliberately forward again.

An amused and cocky smirk spread across Tala's face upon seeing this.

"Hope you don't lose that confidence in the dish, princess." He thought spitefully. "Or should I say; hope you can back it up!"


Two heavy red brows lifted in mild surprise as Tala stared down at the opponents in the stadium below them.

"Well that was unexpected." He thought, unable to deny he was more than a little impressed. "Looks like these girls are a bit more skilled than I expected."

A small smirk spread across his lips, as Tala watched the Nakamura girl confidently step down into the dish after her brutal victory, and collect her blade without so much as batting an eyelash.

"And their Captain is apparently a lot more ruthless than I gave her credit for."

The entire stadium was dead silent, but Tala barely registered it as he continued to observe team Vilikosto with interest; the way a child might watch a bug they'd captured in a jar with mild fascination.

Vilikosto had just finished battling the Majestics team, and while the first two matches had been impressive - the ravenette girl and other brunette were also an interesting surprise - it was the Captain whom had shocked everyone with a victory that had seemed to have been over in a blink. If that wasn't impressive enough, she had not only beaten her French opponent without calling out her Bitbeast, she had also completely destroyed his blade.

Tala watched along with nearly everyone else, all their ears straining, to try and hear the apparently heated argument that had suddenly erupted among the girls as soon as their Captain rejoined their ranks. He was only half paying attention while Vilikosto finished their argument, and most of them left, leaving only the redhead behind. He watched with only the slightest fascination as she won the crowd over with a sickeningly sweet, almost staged-looking, show of sportsmanship.

As the crowd went wild, Tala tuned them all out and replayed the last battle over in his mind.

"Looks like their Captain is the one to beat." Tala thought with a smirk.

And as he recalled the brunette's brutal victory, something unfamiliar stirred inside him. For the first time in a long time, Tala felt the potent pull of attraction towards someone, more specifically; towards this Finnish beauty. And although he tried to tell himself it was just the thrill of a possible new challenge, he was hard pressed to deny that the anticipation of facing her across the dish was so much more than that.

Or perhaps that was just it; he was hoping for a challenge - and not just with beyblade.

"Hmph. Maybe this ridiculous tournament won't be such a waste of time after all." Tala thought with a cocky grin.


"I don't get it. Why wouldn't they use their star blader against the ranked champions...?"

Tala couldn't help but agree with Spencer's observation as he watched the happenings below with crossed arms and a deep frown. The whole thing was confusing.

"Yea, it doesn't make sense..." Ian added with furrowed brows and a confused expression of his own. "Demetra seems to be their strongest blader. Just what are they trying to prove?"

"Maybe they thought they were better than they are." Bryan snickered with a smirk.

Tala ignored his teammates, and both him and Kai remained silent as they watched the final match between Villikosto and G-Revolution. He'd intended to have been there when the match started, but it hadn't worked out that way. As it happened, they'd just made it in time to to catch the end of the battle with the Keisha girl versus Kenny. Kai had gone on ahead of his team and arrived to see the whole thing, so he'd filled them in when the rest of the team finally joined him.

"They're right." Tala thought with a frown. "It doesn't make sense... I'm sure they thought they had a good reason, but it was obviously a mistake not to put her up against Tyson."

He considered and discarded thoughts in his head as he half heartedly watched the last match going on below them.

"Maybe there's something wrong with her, or her blade..." He pondered thoughtfully.

Certainly, the brunette looked like she could be in pain, as she too watched the match happening in front of her with crossed arms, clenched fists and jaw, and an expression that made her look like she'd swallowed something extremely unpleasant. For all looks and appearances, it looked like she very much wanted to be up there battling.

"Unless there's a tie..." Tala thought optimistically.

And then something happened that had never happed before in his life; Tala actually found himself hoping to see someone other than a friend or teammate win.

"It's just because I want to see how good she is for myself." He tried to convince himself.

But way deep down, he knew that it was more than that; he wasn't exactly sure what that something was, but it didn't matter, he was determined to ignore it anyway.

The match lasted longer than Tala expected, but not entirely surprisingly, Keisha won the battle and Vilikosto advanced to the next round.

A look of disgust took over Tala's face, accompanied by bitter disappointment, as he got to his feet as soon as he saw both Kenny and his blade soaring away from the dish. He'd really wanted to see Vilikosto's stunning Captain battle, and not getting what he wanted turned his mood very sour. Tala tried to tell himself it was because he was hoping to finally get a look at her Bitbeast, and was sure she'd have used it against the reigning champs, but once again he knew it was just an excuse. He'd actually enjoyed watching Demetra's last battle, and if he were totally honest with himself, Tala would have admitted that he was nearly as attracted to this foreign girl as he was irritated by her.

"Where are you going?" Bryan asked him, slightly surprised, as Tala left his seat and made to leave.

"I've seen enough." Tala growled angrily.

"Yea I guess it is pretty much over." Ian agreed, getting to his feet as well.

After watching for another moment or two, Bryan and Spencer soon followed him. Kai stayed much longer, but eventually he too got up and followed after his team.

-;-

"Man, what is your problem?" Ian asked Tala as he hurried to keep up with his redheaded teammate.

Tala was cutting a straight line through the crowded hall, paying little attention to anyone around him, with a dark and angry look on his face; a look that was making people cower with fear as they scrambled to get out of his way.

"Yea, you've been nothing but a dark cloud since we left the arena." Bryan said with an annoyed frown.

Tala ignored them both as he glared straight ahead and continued without missing a beat.

There was silence after that until the Blitzkrieg Boys reached the main entrance. They were headed towards the exit when something caught Tala's attention, causing him to come to an abrupt halt.

"What now?" Kai asked wearily with an irritated expression.

Ignoring him too, Tala turned towards a group of voices; some familiar, some not; and instantly his gaze locked on a certain face.

"There she is." Tala thought absently, and immediately his face screwed up as he mentally cursed and corrected himself. "There they are... Looks like they all know the Kage girl's language. I was right though; she's the mute one, not the Captain."

He told himself it didn't matter either way - why should it? - but that annoying little voice inside scoffed at him, calling him out for the bluff and the admitted slight relief he felt at the knowledge.

"Where are you going?" Kai asked, looking extremely irritated now as he watched Tala make a beeline for a large group nearby.

"Time to introduce ourselves." Tala said with a smirk.

Behind him, Tala heard Kai heave an overly annoyed sigh, but he ignored that too.

Looking confident on the outside, and not showing any sign of weakness, was something that came natural to Tala - it was a skill he'd been forced to master a very long time ago. But it disturbed him to realize, that for the first time in his life, he was hesitant to approach someone. More accurately; he was hesitant to introduce himself to a person who had been so thoroughly dominating his thoughts ever since he'd first set eyes on her.

Finally however, the crucial distance was closing, and Tala knew it was now or never. So, having finally gone as far as he could go, and too far to turn back, Tala came to another stop, forced his mouth to open, and said the first thing that came to his mind. After that, he simply let the words flow as they came and decided to worry about the repercussion of them later.

"Congratulations, Vilikosto."

-;-

"So what do you guys think?"

"Agreed. We already know what we need to know about the other teams. That just leaves them."

"OK. So what are we gonna do about it?"

"What do you think Tala?"

It took a few moments, and a few times calling his name, before Tala eventually blinked himself out of his thoughts and realized he was being spoken to.

"Hm?" He questioned absently, taking a moment before finally looking towards the other occupants of the room. "What?"

Seeing his teammates looking at him, Tala frowned at them.

"What?" He asked again, rougher this time. "Why are you staring at me?"

The Blitzkrieg Boys, minus Tala, were all sitting around a table in their hotel room. The redhead was leaning against the wall beside the window with crossed arms, and had been staring absently through the slightly foggy glass, as his mind ran wild with a chaotic storm of thoughts and emotions he'd never felt before.

"Seriouly dude." Ian said, leaning back slightly in his chair to level his friend with a look. "What is up with you today?"

"You've been totally out of it since the end of the battles today." Spencer said with a frown of his own.

"I'm fine." Tala muttered, pushing off the wall then.

To his teammates' surprise, he headed towards the door.

"I'm going out." He said simply without looking back at them.

With nothing more to say, Tala left his friends behind, quickly put the door between them, and swiftly made his way towards the exit.

-;-

It was mildly entertaining to watch all the people, hugging themselves and rubbing their arms like they were freezing to death, as Tala passed them on the snow dusted streets. For a while this distracted him as he scoffed at them for being so pathetic - sixty seconds in the harsh Russian climate he grew up in and they'd be running home to mama. But soon enough his thoughts returned to their previous track.

"Why can't I get that girl out of my head?" Tala thought with a good dose of irritation and a deep frown. "She's just some nobody who showed up out of nowhere, and there's nothing special about her..."

Despite his trying to deter himself from his ludicrous thoughts, Tala was unable to keep them at bay. Whatever it was about Vilikosto's Captain, she seemed to have taken up a semi-permanent - if not entirely permanent - place in his head. Ever since having first laid eyes on the Finnish blader, the majority of Tala's thoughts consisted of her face, her blading, those entrancing eyes, and a mountain of maddening, miscellaneous thoughts assaulting him at the worst times which he really wished he could control. It was during the seizure of some of these increasingly familiar thoughts, that Tala realized his feet had unconsciously carried him to a local harbour.

That could have been why he was both so surprised, and yet so pleased, when he spotted a face that was quickly becoming as familiar to him as someone he'd known half his life.

Stopping several feet away, Tala took a few moments to watch Vilikosto's Captain, and for a moment he wondered if his vivid imagination of her had made her materialize out of his mind.

Obviously, he quickly brushed that aside.

Demetra Nakamura was bent slightly at the waist and casually resting her elbows against a tall railing overlooking the harbour below. She could have been watching the happenings on the docks, or the scattered ships coming in and out of the bay, but as Tala studied her face, he thought it looked more like she was a million miles away as a dozen emotions at once splayed across her stunning features.

Tala watched Demetra for a long time, and eventually he decided he might as well approach her and strike up some sort of conversation. He was about to do just that, when suddenly she straightened and reached her hand into her pocket, making him pause. Tala watched as she pulled out her cell, simultaneously answered it, and lifted it to her ear without looking at it.

"Breal." She said simply.

There was a pause, and whatever the person on the other end said; seemingly her coach, it made her sigh and frown slightly.

"I thought she might come after me." She said lowly, gazing out over the water again and casually sticking her free hand in her jacket pocket. "I'll text her when I hang up from- I see... I'm alright, Kage... I just needed some air."

There was another pause, this one a little longer, and eventually, Demetra took a long, deep breath before continuing.

"I'm fine." She assured her contacts. "I won't be gone long."

This was followed by another short pause, and this time the tension and harsh lines in the Captain's face eased ever so slightly at whatever was said.

"I make no promises." She responded seemingly jokingly. "Don't worry about me. I'll see you soon... goodbye."

Tala watched the brunette for another few moments, and eventually decided he'd better make up his mind before she disappeared. So, with only a slight hesitation, he forced his feet forward and toward the Finnish beauty just as she was replacing her cell back into her pocket.

"I see you're not cowering in the cold like most of the locals."

To his mild distress, Tala's breath hitched when those bright silver eyes turned on him. He'd forgotten just how beautiful they were, and it was the first time he'd been so close to them. He didn't mean to stare; particularly to stare into them so long, or intently, but to her credit, she held his gaze firmly.

Tala was suddenly reminded of how he used to feel before one of their 'Abandon' jumps - drills he and his team had been forced to perform back in the day. He remembered the first time they'd had to jump out of an airplane; his heart had been thundering in his chest, loud enough in his own ears to rival the roar of the plane's engine, and there was a nauseatingly sickening churning in his stomach. His throat was dry and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, while his palms were so sweaty he had to keep wiping them in his pants.

Seeing Demetra Nakamura's big, lamp-like silver mirrors staring at him so intensely, made him feel a lot like that first jump.

After eying him somewhat suspiciously for a while, Demetra turned away from him to lean back against the railing and stare out over the water again.

"Yes, well." She said bluntly and tonelessly. "The locals are pathetic."

Tala actually cracked a small grin at that as he heard her voice aloud exactly what he'd been thinking earlier.

Moving to rest an arm on the railing beside her, Tala's body was partially facing her as he too turned his head to look towards the sea. There was silence between them for a long time until eventually Tala found something to break it with.

"You sure stunned the hell out of a lot of people today." He said casually, not looking at his companion.

"How so?" She responded tonelessly, not looking at him either.

"I think just about everyone expected you to go up against Tyson."

Out the corner of his eye, Tala saw Demetra tense, and her gloves strained across her knuckles as her grip on the railing tightened. Still, her face remained nearly expressionless - all except for the fire in those brilliant eyes.

"We felt it was for the best." She replied lowly, almost seeming forced.

Tala turned his head to observe her for a moment and noted the war that seemed to be going on behind the windows of her soul. After a while he looked forward again.

"Is that so." He stated more than asked. "Seems like that lie is more for you than for me."

Tala could feel her eyes on him again, but this time he forced himself not to look - he needed a chance to regain control of his traitorous body.

Since Demetra didn't respond to his comment, Tala waited until he was sure he had control of himself again before looking back at her. As soon as he did, she turned away from him with a deep frown. He waited a few more minutes to give her another chance to reply, but realizing she wasn't going to, he spoke again.

"Unless you're not as good as you tried to make us believe." He taunted with a cruel grin. "Maybe we were all wrong, and you just weren't good enough to face-off against the world Champs. That it? You weren't good enough, so you decided to hide behind your girlfriends? Let them fight your battles for you?"

This time when Demetra turned on him, the sight of those silver eyes on him nearly made Tala's heart stop in his chest. This time, that fire in her eyes was directed at him; but it was a much bigger blaze then he'd seen in them earlier.

"You wouldn't be the first fool who thought we were an easy win because, we're a bunch of girls... And you wouldn't be the first who lived to regret it."

Tala watched with bated breath as Demetra narrowed those beautiful eyes on him and turned to fully face him now. To his surprise, she took a wide step closer, and glared threateningly up at him.

"Let me make a few things clear to you, tough guy." She said in a low tone that sent a shiver down Tala's spine - and not because he had any fear of her. "First off, I've seen your kind before, and your bark is always bigger than your bite; you don't frighten me, Ivanov."

She lifted her chin slightly now before continuing.

"Secondly, I don't need to hide behind anyone, and I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me. Obviously, I trust my team enough to let them handle a simple challenge, which is more than you can say, isn't it? Pay attention, boy, you might learn something."

Tala's heart went up into his throat now as, to his astonishment, Demetra closed the distance between them until she was so close her warm breath brushed his face and tickled his nose - which funnily enough, smelled like his favourite chewing gum.

"And lastly." She whispered threateningly. "You don't need to wonder about how good I am; you mind your own business, win your own battles, and we'll meet across the dish in a few weeks so you can see for yourself."

It took a few seconds to regain control of his haywire emotions again, but eventually Tala snapped out of his stunned stupor and smirked.

"Don't worry, princess." He replied cockily. "I know I'll be across that dish in a few weeks. Time will tell if you will."

Tala watched Demetra's face screw up and almost laughed.

"Princess?" She repeated with a note of disgust. "Why are you calling me that?"

For a moment, Tala was caught off guard. He hadn't entirely meant to say it, but since he had, he knew he had to come up with a decent answer, and fast. So, once again, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I think it suits you, don't you? Pampered little princesses, thinking themselves more important then they are. I bet you grew up used to people scurrying at the crack of your whip..." He leaned down slightly until they were almost nose to nose, and it was his turn to speak lowly, mocking her. "Just because you've seen war from the safety of your high, guilded bedroom tower, doesn't mean you stand a chance in a fight against seasoned warriors."

Something flickered on Demetra's face but it was too quick for Tala to identify. However, even though it was so easy to miss, he was barely able to catch the slight pinkish dusting on Demetra's cheeks before she took a measured step back from him with a cold expression. Glaring at him for a few moments, she crossed her arms and turned back towards the sea again.

"This world is full of fools." Demetra said calmly, bluntly. She looked out the corner of her eye then, and Tala was sure he could actually feel the sting of her glare this time. "And the biggest ones are the ones who underestimate us. But you will be among the last of them to make that mistake."

Normally, Tala wouldn't hesitate to lash out at someone for disrespecting him so, but he was momentarily speechless again, and all he could do was watch as Demetra turned away from him once more.

Turning forwards again himself, Tala took the time to process everything she'd said so far, and as he did, there was another long silence between the two. Eventually the sound of a deep and irritated sigh from Demetra broke it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly, her brows furrowed with a deep frown on her face.

Tala's brows furrowed as well.

"What do you mean?" He asked with a frown of his own. She couldn't be talking about the tournament.

"I mean right here." She replied simply. "Talking to me. It's clear you don't think my team and I are worth much of your time, and I rather enjoy spending any extra I have in sweet solitude... In fact, if I had to guess; I'd say the only reason you agreed to come to this tournament at all was because your pride got in the way; you were too worried about what people would think of you for backing down from a challenge from a bunch of unknowns."

A red brow lifted at that, and Tala turned his head to observe his companion again. It was more than a little both unnerving, and impressive, that she'd basically hit the nail on the head. After a moment, another smirk spread across his face before turning fully back towards the brunette.

"And it's clear you don't give a damn either way." He replied, avoiding the question. To his secret delight, a look of mild amusement graced Demetra's features.

"Is it that obvious?" She replied sarcastically.

"Painfully." Tala replied with a smirk, pleased again when she turned back towards him now as well. Before she could speak again, he decided to make the next move. "Why are you here?"

Surprisingly, Demetra knew what he meant and replied without missing a beat.

"That's just something you're going to have to keep wondering." She said lowly. "All you need to know is that, one; I will be the one across the dish in the end, and two; I fully intend to win."

Tala smirked again, and this time he was the one who closed the distance between them, leaning in so close to Demetra's face there was scarcely room to slip a paper between them.

"You seem pretty confident, Captain, so I'll be expecting to see you in the finals." He said softly with a crocked grin. "But there's only one problem with your intent."

Demetra lifted an eyebrow at Tala, but her gaze never left his.

"And what's that?" She asked bluntly with a note of sarcasm. Tala's grin widened slightly.

"You're going to have to go through me to win. And I promise you, princess; that is not going to happen."

This time Demetra smirked too.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, tough guy." She replied without missing a beat. "I can assure you; you've never faced an opponent like me."

Tala snorted in amusement as he considered her words - he already knew he'd never met anyone like her before. Though he fully intended to give her a response she was more than likely expecting, something in the way the brunette was looking at him gave Tala pause. Demetra was eyeing him strangely, and he couldn't quite place what sort of look it was. He was ready to brush the thought aside and let it go, when he noticed that ever-so slight flush stain her cheeks again, right before she stepped away from him.

Lifting an eyebrow with interest, Tala had to fight back another smirk; this time a cocky one.

"What's this?" He thought smugly. "Is her royal highness a bit shy?"

Tala knew he wasn't in any way the flirtatious type, but seeing a girl like this one getting so flustered, seemingly simply because he was standing close to her, was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up.

"A girl with her looks must be more than used to guys falling all over her." He thought in wonder.

Still, the Captain was obviously flustered, if only a little, and Tala intended to take full advantage of it.

"What's wrong, Captain?" He asked with a smug smirk, taking a step closer to her again. "A little too close for comfort?"

Demetra snorted indignantly and looked like she might have a really interesting response lined up for him, but before Tala had a chance to hear it, the interruption of her cell phone making sounds again cut her off.

For a moment, Demetra didn't move, she simply held Tala's gaze without a blink. But eventually she stuck her hand into her pocket, pulled out and lifted her cell, stared a little longer, then finally broke the stare-down to look at her screen. Whatever she saw made her lift an eyebrow and swipe the screen a few times before sighing in annoyance and closing the phone. She stuffed it back into her pocket before finally looking back up at Tala again. To his delight, she stared at him again, this time studying his face for a long time. But eventually a small smirk of amusement crossed her face, and something strange and unidentifiable shone in her silver dollar eyes. Before Tala could wonder at the look, he watched the Captain turn completely away from him.

"You're a little pathetic yourself, you know." She said almost teasingly over her shoulder.

Tala furrowed his brows and gave her an annoyed expression, though the look in those eyes got him again, and he couldn't quite manage the venom he wanted.

"Excuse me?" He demanded, meaning it to sound much more dangerous then it did.

Demetra expelled an amused snort and her smirk widened as she faced forward again.

"Coming here to, what? Fish for information? Pretend to be a friend to catch me off guard...? Intimidate me perhaps?"

Tala smirked now too.

"Did it work? Are you intimidated?"

This time Demetra actually laughed - a short bemused laugh, but a heart throbbing sound all the same. She didn't look back when she spoke again, and she was already walking away when she did.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Without him realizing it, the corners of Tala's mouth twitched upwards, and he did his best to pretend his heart didn't do some extra weird little jumps. He also tried to pry his gaze away from the brunette's retreating form, but couldn't quite manage until she'd reached the end of the dock and turned left to head down the street. It was only after this, and the disinclination to be caught, that Tala finally turned and stared out over the water once more.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled - a real, genuine smile. But as Tala stared out over the water and saw only heart-stopping, silver moon eyes staring back at him, one of those so rare smiles graced his lips.

Leaning forward to rest his elbows against the railing and dangle his arms over the side, much the same as the brunette in question had been doing earlier, Tala was reminded once again of that day long ago, when he'd successfully performed a jump from thousands of feet in the air. Only this time he was reminded of the powerful adrenaline rush, the feeling of complete weightlessness, and the totally elated euphoria, that overcame him when he'd finally mustered up the courage to take the dive.

Kind of like how he was feeling at that very moment.


On the outside, Tala looked as cool and calm as a cucumber.

On the inside, he was a raging ball of fury.

"NO!" His inner voice screamed savagely as he clenched his teeth. "How dare you send me this little runt?! This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

Tala's icy blue eyes narrowed furiously on Vilikosto's Captain, as their own redhead stepped up to face him across the dish.

"You promised!" He mentally accused the brunette. "All that talk about being on the other side of the dish in the finals! First you pass on a match against Tyson and his team, now you're bailing on me?! Or is it because you think that I'm such a poor challenge, even your little shrimp could beat me?!"

Tala didn't know why he felt so cheated, but sending Keisha to battle him, instead of Demetra facing him herself, felt like the ultimate insult and spit in the face. Especially since, as far as he was concerned, he'd considered it an unspoken pact between them; a sort of silent understanding after all the push and pull they'd been giving each other the past few weeks.

"Fine." He snarled in his head. "If you're not going to face me yourself, I'll make sure you regret sending a little girl to fight your war for you!"

He knew his opponent wasn't the only one expecting a few taunting words from him, but Tala was far too angry to trust himself to speak just then. So, wordlessly, he lifted his launcher and stared down the little redhead across him with a vengeance.

"Let it rip!"

It didn't take long for the battle to heat up, but Tala knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would win, and it was partially for this reason that he enjoyed toying with his opponent so much. The other part was, of course, strictly to punish the girl's Captain.

Soon enough however, Tala felt his vicious anger reaching an almost explosive level. After unintentionally attacking the petite blader a little more forcefully then he'd meant to, and watching her go down hard, he knew he'd better put an end to it before his temper got the better of him.

Tala waited until Keisha got to her feet, stuck a few more verbal barbs for good measure, then looked past the girl to her Captain, who was watching with a storm of emotions in her eyes. Admittedly, the look pleased him.

"That's right, princess!" He thought smugly. "Do you regret it yet?"

Just to rub a little extra salt in her wounds, Tala lifted his chin as he called to the brunette.

"What kind of Captain lets her teammate take such a sacrifice?" He taunted cruelly. "...Whatever happens now is your fault."

Demetra's face paled, and Tala watched with brimming satisfaction as her eyes widened, a wild, panicked expression took hold of her face, and suddenly she looked like she was going to be sick.

Now completely satisfied the brunette would feel the full extent of his anger for snubbing him, Tala drew up his full strength and his hands clenched at his sides as he prepared to put the cherry on top.

"Don't worry, Keisha." He taunted menacingly with a wicked grin. "You never stood a chance against Russia's finest."

The attack that followed was invariably one of the most ruthless ones Tala had ever delivered, and admittedly, he hadn't entirely meant it to be so savage; even he knew it was overkill. But as he considered his vicious rage against his opponent's Captain, Tala knew that the obscenely brutal attack had been intended to hurt Demetra more than her youngest teammate. Looking into the Captain's eyes just then, and seeing the tortured look in the normally fiery gems, he knew he'd succeeded.

He just expected to feel a lot better about it than he did.

The following moments seemed to happen in slow motion; and as Tala watched Demetra's attractive face contort in agony, bolting towards her fallen comrade, something unpleasant twisted his gut.

Tala swallowed hard as he watched the scene unfolding before him. He really hadn't meant to be so brutal with the little thing, and the sight of Keisha cradled in Max Tate's arms, while the brunette he'd meant to spite seemed to be coming unhinged before his eyes, he felt a sharp stab of guilt, and regret of his own, not so deep down.

But that uncomfortable feeling was nothing compared to the feeling he got when those normally beautiful silver eyes finally snapped up to level him with a look of pure and raw hatred.

Although his face was a practised mask of cool and collected indifference, Tala's breath hitched at the sight of the brunette across the dish - and for once, it wasn't because of her breathtaking good looks.

"She's looking at me like we all used to look at Boris!" Tala thought with a mix of alarm and horror.

When Demetra approached the platform and called him out, the response he gave her was almost robotic confidence, nothing at all like what he felt like on the inside.

On the inside, he was a mess of emotions, most of a sort he wasn't used to.

"Just look at those eyes..." Tala thought in mild distress, disgusted with himself for feeling it. "There's no mistaking it, I'd know that look better than anyone - that's pure hatred..."

The battle between Demetra and Kai commenced, and a deep frown etched itself onto Tala's face. It was like a switch had suddenly gone off inside the brunette; and it was watching her go completely ballistic against the ever-popular Kai, that Tala realized something; whatever there might have or could have been between them, it was gone now. Be it a good-natured rivalry, sparring partners, or something more; Demetra no longer found Tala simply annoying, irritating, or even arrogant; now there was real emotion behind her feelings towards him, and none of them were good.

Almost in an instant, those feelings had become ones Tala never wanted another person to ever feel towards him - especially not this person.

"Who cares about her!" He tried to tell himself. "I was getting tired of Ms. Spoiled Rotten anyway. Like it matters what she thinks!"

But when Demetra pinned him with another savage glare after an embarrassingly quick defeat, the nauseating twist in Tala's gut was enough to actually make him physically sick.


Normally, Tala enjoyed the spotlight. It wasn't so much that he liked being in the limelight, or had any desire to be some sort of celebrity or anything, but he did like to be recognized for his accomplishments - and if a little applause and admiration came with that, then who was he to complain?

However, as icy blues locked onto a disturbingly familiar form in the low lighting of the room, attention was the last thing on Tala's mind.

Near the back of the room, Demetra was standing rigid with arms crossed so tightly, and fingers digging so much into her arms, that Tala almost flinched at the sight. Her expression was one of utmost disgust, and the look in her eyes was indescribably of a dark nature.

"So what?!" He growled in his head. "Who cares what that pampered princess thinks of you?!"

He'd mostly convinced himself her new feelings towards him didn't bother him one bit, but a part of him knew that it bothered him a whole lot more than he was willing to admit, even to himself.

During the entire closing ceremonies, Demetra glared at the platform at the front of the room, looking by all looks and appearances like a statue. And during that entire time, Tala could practically feel her sharp gaze piercing him. It wasn't until Mr. Dickenson took out a box, and started handing out medals, that the brunette finally moved.

Being the Captain of the winning team, Tala was the first to get his medal. And as the short little elderly man reached up to pace the medal around his neck, Tala watched with a sort of morbid fascination, as Demetra's face suddenly screwed up - seemingly with a mix of disgust, fury, and what looked like a considerable amount of pain - before whirling around and storming towards the door. To Tala's slight surprise, her two youngest teammates grabbed her arms to stop her and tried to gently tug her back. Unsurprisingly, their Captain easily shook them off, before tossing one last scathing glare over her shoulder and nearly blowing the door off it's hinges on her way out.


Icy blue eyes were narrowed as Tala watched a pair on the other side of the room with a complicated scowl. He was sitting in a chair, around a table with most of his teammates and an assortment of other bladers they called friends, with crossed arms and a look of disgust.

It wasn't bad enough that - other than glaring at him like he were some sort of disease on the earth whenever she saw him - Demetra was ignoring Tala like the plague, but now she had taken up place beside the only other person in the world whom irritated him more than she did.

"Well apparently she doesn't have a problem with my whole team." Tala grumbled in his head. "Looks like it's just me."

He scoffed at this and tried to tell himself it didn't matter; he was bored with the spoiled princess anyway. But watching the brunette almost smiling at whatever stupid thing Kai was saying, seeing the sickening look in her eyes as she looked at him, and noting how she looked totally and completely relaxed in his presence, was enough to make his stomach roll nauseatingly.

Tala wasn't paying attention to his friends at all as he watched the pair, and he was working himself into such a foul mood doing so, that he figured he'd better relocate before his temper got out of control again.

So, about to get up from the table and excuse himself, Tala stopped suddenly when he saw Tyson approach the two across the room, saying something to Kai as he gestured over his shoulder. Curiously, Tala watched as Kai talked to his ex-teammate for a minute, before the Champ walked away after a grin and wave to Demetra - who of course merely gave him a semi-polite nod in response.

When Tyson was gone, Kai turned back to Demetra and spoke to her for a minute. She nodded and Kai seemed to excuse himself. Demetra watched him depart for a few heartbeats before turning away and looking around. Her gaze scanned the room, and her expression eased slightly, as she located whatever she'd been looking for. Following her gaze, Tala too located her three teammates, and noted that they all seemed occupied and happy elsewhere.

Looking back to Demetra again, Tala watched her watching her team for a while, before she eventually closed her eyes, and a whisper of a smile graced her lips. Opening her eyes a few minutes later, she eventually turned with a flurry of billowy skirts and walked away. Tala watched her cross the room and exit the back door before finally getting to his feet.

"I'm gonna get some air." He said simply towards the people at the table.

"Okay, man." Ian said absently, pausing in his conversation with Eddy of the PPB All Stars about something Tala hadn't the slightest interest in. "See ya later."

Tala said nothing else as he left the table behind and followed after the recent escapee.

Exiting through the doors at the back of the room, Tala came out into a long, deserted hallway and paused. There was no sign of Demetra, but that wasn't entirely surprising; she could have covered a lot of ground in the time it took him to go after her. So, moving forward, Tala headed with swift steps to the end of the hallway. Once he'd reached the end, he stopped again and looked both left, then right, but still saw no sign of the brunette.

With a deep frown, Tala turned to head back the way he'd come; figuring the brunette had clearly escaped and could be anywhere by now. But, just as he'd taken one step back towards the ballroom, Tala paused for a third time, as this time he heard an irritated curse echoing through the hall to the right.

Stepping backward again, Tala lifted an eyebrow and looked down the right side corridor. Narrowing his eyes in the low night time lighting, he made note of the elevator bay near the end of the stretch. Hesitating a moment, he turned around again and headed in that direction.

Sure enough, as Tala emerged into the semi-circle of heavymetal doors that housed the lifts, he immediately spotted the person he'd been looking for. Demetra had a hand braced against the wall with her leg lifted as she massaged the bare foot she was holding. Beside her on the floor was an extremely uncomfortable looking shoe with a broken heel.

Tala tried not to focus on the lovely view of her long, tantalizing bare leg visible through the split in her very flattering dress, but it proved quite difficult.

"Damned useless, bloody heels!" Vilikosto's Captain muttered furiously. "Exactly why I don't wear these ridiculous torture devices!"

Tala lifted an eyebrow at that. He'd seen her wearing heeled boots easily as tall, or nearly at least, since he'd first met her. What the hell was the difference in those and the ones she had on now?

Tala shook his head. He'd never understand women's clothing and the things they put themselves through.

Drawing his attention back to her, Tala watched the brunette place her bare foot back on the floor before lifting the other one and removing that shoe as well, then hooking the shoe on the ground up with her other foot. Both heavy red brows shot up this time, and an amused smirk cracked his gloomy expression, when Demetra suddeny drew back her arm and lifted one of the shoes over her head. Without the slightest hesitation, she fired it across the room with all her might, causing it to land in a garbage can across they way, with a mighty crash that made the metal vibrate and ring loudly through the empty halls. This was quickly followed by the other offending shoe.

This time Tala was unable to resist a small chuckle under his breath, and when he looked back to the brunette again and noted her look of complete satisfaction, he couldn't help but grin. Admittedly, her comical actions and obvious childish spite were extremely endearing.

Now barefoot, Demetra took the time to roll first one foot, then the other, before finally turning and pressing a button beside one of the elevators. It was when the doors beside her opened, and the Finnish Captain was about to disappear, that Tala finally snapped out of his trance and forced his body forward.

"What's wrong princess, this ball doesn't meet your high standards?"

Demetra whirled around, and Tala felt a small prick to his heart when he caught one last glance at her calm expression, right before it instantly evaporated, to be replaced with that new look she seemed to have reserved specifically for him.

"You." She seethed dangerously. "You've got some nerve showing your face to me after what you did..."

Ignoring her comment, Tala smirked cruelly as he came to stop a few feet away from her.

"See, that's the difference between you and me, Captain." He rumbled in a low taunting tone. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win; even if that means going through a little girl, with no business challenging blading pros, to get it."

Demetra's teeth bared as she growled at him with a vicious look, but before she could respond, Tala continued, cutting her off.

"I saw you at the ceremonies today." He continued to taunt her. Lifting his chin, his cruel smirk widened before speaking again. "It wasn't very polite to leave before seeing the winners get their reward. Didn't your mother teach you to be a good sport?"

Demetra's fists clenched tightly at her side, and Tala could see her fury rapidly bubbling to the surface. Yet he was still unwilling to let her speak.

"I guess things didn't go quite the way you planned, did they?" He added in a low, spiteful tone. "Bet you're not used to that, hm? Not getting your own way. First time for everything, right?"

Tala laughed cruelly then.

"Must be pretty embarrassing too; to have proposed a tournament, and then completely bomb in the finals - and the Captain, no less! Guess you're not as tough as you thought you were."

"Why don't I show you just how tough I am, right now?!" Demetra growled.

Her hands shot towards her waist, but when they were met with only the fluidly silky material of her dress, Demetra cursed colourfully under her breath as she realized she didn't have her beyblade or equipment on her. This made Tala laugh again, and the smirk on his face was purely the look of a full-bellied tiger eying a mouse.

"What? No room for extra equipment under that fancy number?" He continued to goad her.

Tala moved forward until he was merely a few inches away from Demetra, and grinned down into her face with a malicious expression.

"Probably for the best." He said lowly. "You're clearly not blader enough to blade with the big dogs anyway... But hey, you clean up pretty good, so maybe you should just stick to playing dress up; that's what princess are supposed to do, right?"

Demetra's expression turned dark then, and Tala had to resist another shiver as she seemed to glare straight through his soul.

"Keep talking you arrogant fool." She whispered threateningly. "I promise you; there will be a next time. And when that next time comes, you'll find out just how much bite this princess has got."

Demetra pulled back from him and turned around, and Tala let her take a few steps before opening his mouth for one last rub of salt in her wounds.

"I don't think your promises are worth much." He spoke after her. "After all, I'm pretty sure you promised to be facing me across the dish in the finals; but instead you sent a little girl to fight your battle for you."

A dangerous look darkened Tala's face then before he continued with the final blow.

"But hey, it doesn't matter to me either way." He growled softly with a wicked smirk, and his eyes narrowed on the brunette. "The look on your face when I took down your little pipsqueak was well worth it."

Tala knew he'd strike a nerve - he'd meant to - and he figured he was prepared for it. But Tala didn't expect the reaction he got, and he certainly wasn't prepared for it.

With astonishing reflexes, moving so quick he didn't have time to react, Demetra whipped back around and caught Tala by the front of his shirt, slammed him against the wall with enough force to rattle his brain, and momentarily knocked the wind out of him. With Demetra's hands fisted in a death-grip in his shirt, and having been completely caught off guard, all Tala could do was stare down at the brunette in nothing short of stunned shock as she glared at him with a look akin to an unstable, ferocious beast.

Normally the Finnish Captain was almost exactly Tala's height, with just a few inches to spare, but without the added height of her heels, the top of her head barely reached his nose. However, this didn't take away from her fierceness, and Tala was sure if he wasn't so damn attracted to her, he might have actually been intimidated.

"If you ever come near either of those girls again, I will make you regret the day you ever saw my face." She hissed dangerously low, with a dark and savage expression. "I swear on my life, I will repay you tenfold for what you did to her... And when I do, not only will it be a lesson you won't soon forget, I promise you; it will be a lesson you won't be able to forget."

With one last furious scowl, Demetra pulled Tala off the wall a little, only to violently slam him against it one more time for good measure. This time, all Tala could do was watch speechlessly as she whirled away form him, crossed the aclove, jammed her fist on the elevator button, and stepped through the doors to disappear as soon as they were open.


"Hey look, it's Demetra..."

Hearing Ian's muttered words, Tala looked over his shoulder. Immediately his gaze locked on Vilikosot's attractive Captain, and he turned partially away from the hotel's reception desk to follow her with his eyes.

Demetra was cutting her way straight through the foyer of the hotel; a swift pace to her step, and completely ignoring everyone on all sides. Tala watched with mild amusement as she completely snubbed off several people and their attempts to either shake her hand and/or congratulate her, or start a conversation with her.

"Cocky little thing." Tala thought, unable to resist a small smirk.

Not really surprising him, Demetra didn't look past her efficient tactical shades long enough to acknowledge anyone as she made a beeline for the door and quickly disappeared.

"Probably the last time I'll be seeing her for a while." Tala thought, trying to convince himself to feel smug about it. "If she ever gets over this embarrassment enough to ever beyblade in public again!"

It was easy to pretend he was glad to never see the stuck-up girl's face again, and he could probably even manage a laugh if he wanted to.

But the fact was; the thought of not ever seeing Demetra Nakamura again felt a lot like his first 'Abandon Ship' drill; that sickly feeling he'd get in his gut as soon as he stepped off into the freezing waters.

"Sorry for the wait, boys. How can I help you today."

Staring for another long moment, Tala eventually forced himself to turn away from the doors the Finnish Captain had disappeared through and back towards the hotel clerk. With practiced ease, he wiped his expression to appear his usual calm and indifferent self, even though it was the polar opposite of how he felt on the inside.

"We're checking out."

-;-

It was almost laughable how easy it was to predict Demetra Nakamura's movements; no doubt she thought she was so hard to read. As Tala considered this though, he eventually had to grudgingly admit that maybe she wasn't actually quite that easy to read; maybe he had just spent a great deal of time studying her over the past few weeks.

Nonetheless, however he'd gotten so good at it, Tala wasn't the least bit surprised to see the brunette in question strolling down the airport with luggage in tow, as always without a wayward glance towards another soul around her.

With his head bowed, Tala was pretending to be reading the book in his hand, but he was actually watching the new arrival under his lashes as she passed some feet away, making her way towards her gate - which just so happened to be the one directly next to his.

"Hey look, there's Demetra again!" Ian observed aloud. "What are the chances their flight is going out the same time as ours!"

"Yeah. What are the chances." Kai said sarcastically as he turned to give Tala a suspicious look.

He stared at the redhead for a moment before leaning towards the Blitzkrieg Boy's Captain.

"Say Tala." He said quietly.

Tala's eyes instantly darted back to stare down at the pages in his hand.

"Hm?" He sounded absently.

"You've been reading the same page for the last twenty minutes." Kai said suggestively with a smug expression. "The way you read, you should be through a few chapters by now."

Tala felt the heat creep up his neck, and his face screwed up in a mask of irritation and annoyance as he clamped the book shut with a firm snap.

"That's because it's a lousy book." He growled in response. For effect, he gave the book a toss and heard it hit the small table in front of him with a loud thump.

"Right..." Kai said with a knowing smirk as he leaned back in his seat. "By the way, why did you choose this flight anyway? You usually like to travel at night."

"Yeah, that's right, Tal." Spencer said thoughtfully. "You always say night flights are better because there's less people."

Tala closed his eyes now, and this time he really did feel annoyed.

"What's it matter why I picked it?!" He snapped irritably. His team watched in surprise as he got to his feet and began walking away from them.

"Uh...where ya goin man?" Ian asked, blinking after the redhead.

"To the can." Tala growled without looking back at anyone. "You all OK with that, or do I have to fill out a report for that too?"

No one said anything as Tala's team looked after him in confusion while he walked swiftly away from them.

Tala continued walking until he reached a corner and rounded it before stopping. Waiting a few moments just to be sure, he eventually turned back around and peered around the wall. To his relief, not only was his team talking obliviously amongst themselves again, he also saw Vilikosto sitting around chatting together as well. To his astonishment, they didn't seem to have noticed the Blitzkrieg Boys - that or the girls were completely ignoring them.

"I wonder how well little Miss Thing holds a grudge?" He thought with a small smirk.

Telling himself it was purely for reasons of spite, and not for self interest, Tala considered in his head how best to get the brunette's attention and draw her away from her team - he was brave, not stupid. After checking his watch and realizing that it was quickly approaching time for his plane to board, Tala frowned deeply and finally decided to just cut his losses and approach the attractive Captain before it was too late.

So, rounding the corner, Tala took a few steps in direction of the brunette, but paused when he watched her stand up, say a few words to her team, then turn and head down the hall. Curiously, he followed Demetra with his gaze as she walked a good distance away to eventually stop at a magazine vendor. He waited for her to select and pay for her purchase, then turn in direction of her seat again.

"You make it too easy, rich girl." Tala thought with a sly grin.

With swift strides, Tala cut through the foot traffic with ease and came out of the crowd just a few steps in front of the brunette, planting himself directly in her path, and effectively cutting her off.

"You should watch where you're going, princess." Tala taunted as he crossed his arms and lifted his chin. "The weak ones always get picked off when their guard's down."

Demetra had been walking with her gaze slighty lowered while she skimmed through the magazine in her hand. However, she came to an abrupt halt when she heard Tala's voice. Her gaze snapping upward, those silver eyes Tala had come to look forward to seeing narrowed on him. A sickening churning stirred in his stomach as he watched the expression she'd most definitely reserved for him turn dark.

"You must have a death wish..." She growled lowly. Tala's smirk widened in amusement.

"If I did, you wouldn't have any part of it."

Demetra snorted indignantly, though she looked anything but amused.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Ivanov." She growled under her breath as she shoved roughly past him. "The next time we see each other, I'll let my blade tell you just what I think of you."

Knowing she fully intended to leave, Tala's hand shot out when Demetra was beside him and pressed itself to her stomach, making her halt in her tracks yet again. Demetra looked down at Tala's hand, then up at him with a withering look.

"Take your hand off me." She seethed at him through clenched teeth.

A wicked gleam shone in Tala's eyes before he leaned in close to the Finnish beauty.

"Now, now Captain, not going to make a scene in public are you?" He taunted lowly.

There was fire in Demetra's eyes, and her lips curled back in a small snarl as she glared at the Russian before her. For a moment Tala almost convinced himself that the flame that used to be in those eyes was back, but he was soon forced to admit that it was completely different this time; this time the fire was cold and hostile instead of warm and inviting.

"What do you want, Ivanov?" Demetra growled under her breath.

Shaking his head free of such ridiculous thoughts as best he could, Tala lifted his chin a little as he spoke again.

"Just wanted to say goodbye until next time." He said softly with a wicked grin now. "And leave you with a few parting words."

Demetra tensed and scowled at him and Tala actually chuckled. When he leaned in now, he leaned forward so his face was next to hers over her shoulder.

"The next time we meet, we will get that battle, and I'll make sure you don't break your promise again - I won't let you..." His voice was low and rumbling, almost a whisper, and when Tala spoke again there was a dangerous edge to his tone. "And I'll make sure you have more to remember me by than a few whispered words in a crowded place."

Almost before Tala had a chance to finish, and with astounding speed and reflexes, Demetra's arm jerked up and smacked his hand away from her. Then, most impressively, that same arm looped around and flicked upward before thrusting forwards and slamming hard into Tala's chest. The combination of sheer force, and having been caught off guard, was enough to make Tala actually stumble back a few steps.

It all happened so fast that it took Tala a few moments to gather what had happened. Reflexively, he lifted his hand to the place Demetra had struck - which was now throbbing painfully and making breathing a nuisance - and looked up at the brunette with a look of genuine surprise on his face.

Not giving him a chance to recover, Demetra took a few steps until she was just one step past Tala. Turning her head slightly, she spoke lowly and threateningly over her shoulder, and her almost hissed words were so venomous and hostile, that it actually chased a shiver down the redhead's spine.

"Don't ever touch me again." She threatened darkly. "Next time, I don't care how many people are around, I won't hesitate to put you on your back; and I assure you, they'll be nothing like your fantasies."

The implications of that tickled Tala's funny bone and he very nearly actually laughed; if only she knew some of his fantasies, she might not be so quick to make jokes like that. However, the true meaning behind her words eventually sank in, and a deep frown etched itself across Tala's features.

"I guess that answers that question." He thought ruefully, trying to lighten his own mood as the Finnish Captain finally left him behind. "Looks like her highness can hold a grudge pretty well."


At first, Tala had only wanted to finally get the battle he'd been craving nearly since having met Vilikosto's Captain, and maybe glean back a little of the respect he was sure she'd once held for him while he was at it.

And if he managed to impress her in the process, then bonus.

If he were honest, Tala would admit that he was fighting for that last one just a little more than he was willing to admit.

His plan was to give his opponent a close match, but to ultimately win. As far as he could tell, the Finnish Captain seemed to have a thing for his blunette teammate (go figure, what girl didn't have a thing for Kai Hiwatari?!), and Tala knew Demetra respected him. It was a well-know fact that Kai Hiwatari always poured his soul into each and every battle, no matter who he was fighting, and he wouldn't let himself lose to some amateur nobody - no matter how good they were or how long they'd been blading. Tala also knew that being who she was, and with her personality, Demetra would never respect anyone who was too much weaker than her.

Realizing what he was thinking, Tala scowled in spite of himself.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" He demanded of himself. "I don't give a damn what Demetra Nakamura thinks of me, and I sure as hell don't want or need to be anything like Kai Hiwatari, of all people!"

But still, if he did, this was certainly the way to do it...

Shaking his head free of such irritating thoughts, Tala forced himself to focus on their battle. Looking up at his opponent, he felt the corners of his lips curl upwards ever-so-slightly as he watched her. Demetra's eyes were glued to the battle with a dark expression and a concentrated look. She seemed completely unaware that Tala was watching her as her brilliant silver eyes darted in all directions while she followed the blades.

As his gaze moved on, the look on Tala's face darkened as well as he looked the brunette over, and when he did, a deep frown creased his face when he made note of the physical effects the battle was having on the Captain. Demetra was covered with an array of harsh cuts, scratches and forming bruises - much like his own, though as always, those were easy to ignore. Seeing her in that state, Tala felt a sickly churning in his stomach as he was instantly reminded of a promise he'd made himself so long ago.

"She might be one of the strongest opponents I've ever faced..." He thought with a deep frown. "But she's still just a girl..."

For a moment, Tala debated on backing off on his attacks, on going a little easier on her. But those considerations were quickly dissipated as he was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts by another vicious attack from his opponent, one that actually made him flinch. After taking a few moments to fend the brunette off - with a great deal more effort then he'd expected - Tala allowed himself to admit that Demetra was more than capable of handling an intense battle. Not only was she without a doubt the toughest girl he'd ever met, he was also forced to admit that she was an extremely talented blader, and every bit a worthy opponent. What's more, she would easily be able to tell if Tala, or anyone, wasn't giving her their all - especially after having seen him battle - and she would not only not be impressed, she would see it as the ultimate insult.

"Trea! Pillar of fire!"

Once again, Tala was shaken out of his thoughts as Demetra mounted another violent attack; only this time, it was much more powerful than any of others. Momentarily caught off guard, Tala stared up at the swirling pillar of flame with a mix of awe and dread. His pride told him to stand his ground, but his brain told him not to be an idiot and just back the hell up already - especially when he smelled the hair-raising, acrid smell of singed hair and fibres.

Releasing a low growl, Tala's arm shot up to shield his face as the pillar came closer to him, and his brain won out as he was grudgingly forced to take a wide step backwards.

"You think you're God's greatest gift to this world don't you?!" Tala flinched when she struck him with an attack much more fierce than any so far, but he groaned internally when she began to talk. "You think you're the best thing that ever happened to beyblade!"

"Oh great, she's a ranter..." He thought wearily, and slightly amused, as Demetra continued to rant on.

Sure, he was hearing what she was saying, but the seriousness of her words was stolen by the fact that it took so many of them to get her point across.

There was a grin of amusement tugging at the corners of Tala's lips, and it was awfully close to surfacing. However, when Demetra struck him yet again, the amusement quickly washed away when the force of this one actually made him stumble.

As Tala observed the brunette, he quickly realized something very important. The way Demetra was fighting reminded him of the way he and the rest of the boys from the Abbey used to fight back in the day - like it was life or death. While Tala was fighting for respect and perhaps, just a little, to impress the Captain, Demetra was fighting for an entirely different reason. To her it seemed to be an all out grudge match.

The look on the brunette's face was a look Tala knew all too-well, and it was one he'd seen too often as of late - the same look he'd seen and felt on his friend's faces, and his own, in the days of the Abbey.

"She really does hate me, doesn't she..?" Tala thought grimly, and as he did, his face screwed up as a nauseous feeling suddenly rocked him.

Tala figured his question was answered, when the Finnish Beauty punctuated her rant with her most savage attack yet. His eyes widened slightly, as an enormous ball of fire erupted from the brunette's blade and shot towards him. The intensity of the heat was so surreal Tala was mildly surprised his very skin wasn't melting. Even his eyeballs were stinging painfully in protest, and Tala's eyes began to water, causing him to blink rapidly in reflex to the awful burning sensation.

Feeling the beast inside him whimper, Tala pictured his earlier thoughts of impressing the brunette going up in her blaze of flames, and burning to ash like his current surroundings. Clearly, Demetra's hatred was too all-consuming for her to ever be able to get over it; unless of course he apologized or begged her for forgiveness. And the probability of that happening any time soon was laughable.

It was just when the massive fireball was nearly upon him, and the heat was so intense he totally expected his clothes to burst into flames any second, that Tala received his moment of clarity.

And that's when he finally snapped.

A wild and wicked look coming over him, Tala's teeth clenched, and his hands formed fists so tight they shook. Suddenly, he wasn't nearly as concerned with Demetra, or with being careful not to be too rough with her; if the little puppy wanted to play in the dogfights with hardened junkyard dogs, then she'd better expect to get bitten, and it was past damn time Tala started using his teeth!

"To hell with trying to impress that spoiled little snot!" Tala growled savagely in his head. "It's time her royal cockyness learned she's not nearly as tough as she thinks she is, and make her regret ever thinking she was even close to my league! When I'm through with you, princess, you'll never have the stomach to pick up a beyblade ever again!"

His fury paramount, Tala lifted his hand and made a slice through the air with a vengeance. His blade mimicking him, he watched in satisfaction as Wolborg shot out and cut through Demetra's inferno, splitting it down the centre like hot butter. The look on the brunette's face was truly the most satisfying of all however, and Tala felt more than a little smug as he watched her. However, there was admittedly a twinge of respect, and a feeling of being deeply impressed, mixed with the disappointment when Demetra, seemingly easily, repelled his attack right before it struck her full-on in the face.

"Anyone ever tell you you talk too much?!"

Tala's rage was already savage, but when he heard her complaining about a lack of respect, he felt his mind unhinge as both it and his body went completely berserk.

"Respect?!" He demanded internally as a wildly violent look took hold of him. "How DARE she?! Respect isn't a right, it's a privilege! It's something you EARN, princess! And you've got a long damn way to go before you get any more of mine!!"

"You want respect?!" Tala heard himself roar, feeling more violently furious then he could ever remember being in his life. "COME AND GET IT!"

The following moments seemed to happen in a blink, and yet whenever Tala looked back at them from that day after, he could see it all happening in full clarity as if in slow motion.

Tala looked up in shock at the black nightmare that was Demetra's bitbeast as it loomed over him, its soul-piercing eyes boring through him, with lips curled back in a viscious snarl to reveal nine-inch fangs that practically glowed. Fully expecting the beast to reach out and slice him in half, Tala was admittedly shocked again when it instead leapt over his head. He didn't have time to turn around, and only managed to look over his shoulder, before a searing and violent pain, the likes of which he'd never felt, erupted behind him and actually drove him down on a knee.

A gut-wrenching cry exploded from Tala's throat as the vicious attack tore his back open from shoulder to tailbone. Clenching his teeth so hard his jaws hurt, Tala's vision swam as he willed himself desperately not to pass out. He felt like his whole back was on fire, and he knew he'd never felt anything so violently painful in his life; the shocking agony of it was so surreal, it was sending electric tremors through his entire body, and making his standing knee tremble. Truth be told, Tala was amazed he was still conscious.

Panting heavily, and feeling like he was receiving the wound all over again with every breath, Tala's head lifted to look at his opponent and fix her with a murderous expression. For a moment, Tala was horror-struck as he laid eyes on the mind-blowing effect his attack had on the brunette.

But that moment was fleeting.

Finding it surprisingly easy, Tala blocked out the image of Demetra's shredded torso, and with it, all the thoughts and feelings he'd once harboured for her that didn't relate to his own hatred for the Finnish Captain.

"No more!" Tala screamed wildly in his head. "You'll regret ever making an enemy out of me, princess!"

Determined to put her in her place once and for all, Tala felt nothing but enraged loathing for the Finnish Beauty; and he forced himself to hang on to it, to continue to hang on to it. With it, Tala held on to the oath that he would never let anyone get past his defences the way she had ever again.


There was no light on in the room, and only the tick of the clock on the wall for sound. And yet still, as Tala laid on his back with his arms behind his head, staring at the safe house ceiling, all he could see were bright colours and a certain devastatingly gorgeous face floating before him, all he could hear was the sound of her voice.

And all he could feel was how it felt to see her so flustered and subdued because of him.

With the clarity of a movie, the memory played before him, and Tala watched as Demetra's eyes widened, watched her face heat up.

Unlike a movie, Tala still felt the heat rolling off her body in waves as he pressed himself close to her.

Perhaps most distracting, he could still smell the intoxicating scent of her, and it was driving his senses completely wild; a heart-throbbing feminine scent that made the beast inside him howl feverishly.

Tala closed his eyes, but it was impossible to block out the images that refused to leave him alone. Now with his eyes closed, his senses seemed to be overloading as he felt like he was reliving the moment all over again.

Demetra had only touched him two other times; first when she'd had him pinned to the wall after the tournament, her hands fisted in his shirt; and second, when she'd pushed him away at the airport so very recently. But when Demetra placed her hand on his chest this time; even though Tala knew she meant to push him away; that beast inside him roared much more fiercely.

Waiting until she applied a little pressure - feeble an attempt as it was - Tala reached a hand up to wrap around Demetra's, and the heat of that hand made something stir inside him. But it was nothing compared to the heat in her eyes, as Tala lifted her hand over her head.

Without really realizing what he was doing, Tala's hand lifted into the darkness as he remembered the feel of the Finnish beauty under his fingertips while they explored her body; probably a lot more brazenly than his mother would be proud of.

Admittedly, Tala found he was enjoying the look on the proud Captain's face as she stared up at him a little more than he'd expected to - perhaps more than a little if he were completely honest with himself. And if he continued to be honest, he'd also admit that when Demetra closed her eyes and turned away from him, that beast inside roared again; this time with a strange mix of fury and something else...

Something that felt unpleasantly a lot like jealousy.

As such, it was almost a reflex that made Tala reach up and snatch Demetra's chin, jerk it back towards him, and succeed in shocking those big beautiful eyes open again.

"...You will not block me out."

Tala hadn't really expected Demetra to have been so receptive to him, especially after all the venom she'd been trying to poison him with as of late. He was also surprised that she hadn't forced him off her yet - it wasn't like he was going to force himself on anyone, he wasn't that bad! If Tala genuinely thought he was hurting her, or pushing too far, he'd stop. After all, it wasn't like she couldn't defend herself or easily push him off - there was still a bruise on his chest from the heel of her hand that proved that quite well. If he didn't know any better, Tala would have sworn his hands were the first ones ever lain on Demetra Nakamura's stirringly gorgeous body.

The thought crossed Tala's mind ever so briefly, but he quickly discarded it with amusement. A girl like her, there was no way! He was willing to bet she was more than used to hands all over her. He'd just caught her off guard was all, probably the first person to have ever been brave enough to come on to her instead of waiting for an invite.

So, knowing he was probably treading on dangerous ground, Tala pressed on. He didn't expect it to be long until the lovely vision pinned under him finally got a hold of her wits and fought back. Tala figured in the meantime, he might as well see what he could get away with; he was sure such a moment wouldn't soon arise again, and he knew Demetra would be much more guarded after this, so he intended to gather as much gold as he could before the cave collapsed.

Much to Tala's surprise however, it didn't seem like the brunette was in much of a hurry to escape, though she was obviously trying exceedingly hard to make him - and probably herself - think otherwise. Originally, Tala had simply meant to teach the Captain a lesson, prove to himself that he was so much stronger than her in every way; that he could make her want something she couldn't have, and keep the carrot in front of her face for later use.

But when he heard an extremely unexpected sound murmur from the brunette's lips, Tala felt many of the restraints holding him back snap.

"What's this?" He asked lowly, almost sounding like a pur even to his own ears. "Enjoying ourselves are we?"

Almost instantly, Tala felt a wave of heat radiating from Demetra, and a few more of those restraints snapped. He knew that when he leaned in to press his cheek against hers, she would see it as another invasion - and Tala counted on it. In reality, he was actually concerned that she would see things on his face and in his eyes that he didn't want her to know were there.

Tala felt for a moment like he was a boiler ready to explode; his following whispered words acted like a pressure valve, which released some of the steam to hold off the explosion just a little longer.

"Liar."

It was impossible to miss the violent tremor that vibrated through Demetra then, especially with his hands gripped so sensually on her hips. Once again, Tala's body reacted on reflex when it pressed itself as close as possible to the one in front of it.

Seeing as Demetra still didn't seem particularly inclined to get rid of him, Tala let his hands roam freely. To his complete shock and blissful delight, the irresistible brunette before him didn't make a single protest as he trailed his hands all over her; and indeed it looked like she was enjoying herself immensely.

"Her skin is like pure silk..." Tala thought, resisting a growl of pleasure.

The feel of the Finnish beauty beneath his fingertips almost made him whimper; he hadn't expected his own reaction to her to be so powerful. This time, Tala felt like a starving wolf with a fat, juicy steak dangling in his face.

He'd meant to make the torture session short and sweet, but with each new thrilling reaction he earned himself, Tala found himself more and more unable to resist dragging it out.

Soon enough, vivid and wildly inappropriate images began assaulting him, and Tala's own eyelids lidded slightly with the vicious heat that rocked him because of it. This time, when he noticed the added pressure to Demetra's lip biting, Tala felt the remaining remnants of those restraints snap until they were only hanging by a thread.

"Just do it!" His inner self egged him on. "She's clearly offering, so just reach out and take what's clearly yours for the taking!"

The temptation of it was overwhelming, and so all-consuming, Tala knew he wasn't going to be able to hold himself back much longer. The only concern was; was he going to be able to walk away, or was he too far gone for that now?

"You think you know what it's like to want something?" Tala found himself saying without entirely meaning to. He could hear the heat and desire in his own voice, but he also knew it didn't matter; if Demetra noticed, she was clearly too far gone herself to think on it anyway. "You think you understand what it's like to want something so bad... you can taste it..."

For a moment Tala thought; restraint be dammed! Mainly when he watched those stunning silver eyes flutter mostly closed as she stared up at him, begging him with those kiss-me lips.

But once again, Tala wrangled in his emotions and tried to swallow the intense desire, along with the mild panic, at his own loss of control.

"I need to wrap this up and get out of here.." He thought wearily.

And yet he was still unable to resist moving in to brush those lips, to tantalize both her and himself with something neither of them could have. In fact, Tala found he was unable to resist teasing the brunette for quite some time after that. Admittedly, he was paying more attention to Demetra's reactions than what he was actually doing, and as such Tala's hands were wandering of their own accord. But he was suddenly extremely aware of his digit's actions, when they slid around the backs of Demetra's thighs and earned him another tantalizing reaction.

The sound of Demetra's sharp inhale spiked Tala's senses and provoked the beast inside him again. But the heated look on her face drove it wild, moreso when she reached up to dig her fingers into his shoulders.

Tala knew the ice was getting thinner the longer he toyed with the brunette, but stopping what he was doing was much easier thought than done; particularly when this vision of desire before him was standing there like an open book, waiting to be read - and Tala wanted so badly to explore each and every page until he could find his favourite one blindfolded.

Several times Tala's mind tugged at him to quit while he was ahead, but he couldn't seem to pull himself away from Demetra's mouthwatering form. Taking his time and thoroughly enjoying himself, it was all Tala could do not to just let his animalistic instincts take over. He wasn't sure if tempting her with the promise of a kiss was strictly to tease her, or torture himself, but it didn't matter. When Demetra reached up and gripped his biceps, the look on her face succeeded in snapping the last of Tala's restraints, and the beast inside him howled possessively.

For a moment, an image flashed in his mind, and Tala was painfully and sorely tempted to reach down and grip her thighs again, to hoist her up and pin her against the wall, to toss all logic and common sense out the window, and to just take what he knew was his for the taking - she was clearly enjoying herself and Tala doubted very highly she'd give much protest.

As he watched Demetra bite down hard on her lip, with a steamy look that he was sure no man alive could resist, Tala knew he'd taken the little moment much farther than he should have - mostly because he knew that pulling and walking away from her was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever done.

"Damn it...." Tala cursed, clenching his jaw tightly as he looked down into Demetra's flustered face. "What the hell is wrong with me? And more importantly, just who is it I'm torturing here, her or me...?"

Of course, he wasn't about to admit the truth, but Tala was forced to admit that if he didn't cut things short right there, he wouldn't be able to pull himself away from her even if he wanted to.

-;-

Tala growled softly as he pulled himself out of the memory. Lifting his head a little, he stared into the near-darkness at the silhouette of the brunette in the bed across the room, facing away from him and seeming by all accounts to be fast asleep and completely unbothered by their heated little moment earlier.

Plopping back down on the pillow and lifting his arm to drape over his eyes, Tala clenched his teeth and growled again as the self-inflicted torture of the images continued to plague him.

"This is going to be a long damn night..."


Pulling her against him had been a reflex. But as Tala sat in the tree, with Demetra practically cradled against his chest like he were her lover protecting her from harm, his heart began to thunder so hard in his chest it actually hurt - and there was no way the brunette didn't hear, or at least feel, it with the side of her head pressed so closely to him.

However, if Demetra noticed his heart threatening to beat itself into an attack, she didn't say anything. In fact, to Tala's surprise, she wasn't resisting him at all.

Tala thought he'd finally managed to calm himself down, but when Demetra leaned into him a little, placed her hands on his chest, and leaned ahead to press her cheek against him, he thought for sure his heart would beat itself into an attack. He was so sorely tempted to lean down and nuzzle his white scarf aside, to bury his face in those silky brown locks, to pretend for just one moment they weren't unspoken sworn enemies.

It would be so easy to just wrap his arms tighter around the body in them, to pull away and look down and hopefully see that flustered look Tala had come to crave on that beautiful face, to devour those lips the way they always seemed to be begging him to.

Somehow though, he resisted the temptation, and Tala waited in anticipation for the brunette to pull away any second and break the moment. But Demetra didn't pull away, and soon enough Talas mind began to race.

Tala wondered what it would have been like; if they had met some other time, or in some other place, would things have been different between them? If their first encounter hadn't been rivals and almost instant enemies, where would they be now? What would they have been to each other?

These thoughts and more echoed in Tala's mind until he was sure he would go insane from them. He was just craving a reprieve when Demetra's next move halted all his own thought and movement.

A small sigh emitted from the brunette pressed against him; a sigh that could easily have been one of annoyance or content, and therefor made Tala frown. But it was when he felt her entire body relax and lean a little more into him that Tala thought his heart would explode in his chest. Without entirely meaning to, his arms reflexively tightened a little more around the girl in them, and Tala closed his eyes as he leaned down just a little closer; tempted to rest his chin atop her scarf-covered head, but eventually decided against it and simply let his cheek hover over the spot instead.

He hated to think it, but Tala couldn't deny that the brunette felt so good in his arms, he was almost able to trick himself into thinking this was proof she was meant to be his.

Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to actually believe it.

There was silence between the paintball partners for a long time, and several times Tala felt the urge to move. However, afraid to break the little bubble they'd both found themselves in, he forced himself to resist the temptation. Eventually though, he began to feel a tingle of pins and needles and knew he had to move. Reluctantly, Tala shifted a little and he felt Demetra pull back from him ever so slightly. Afraid she'd pull away completely, Tala struggled to think of something to say that might preserve the little moment. So, like so many times lately where this girl was concerned, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"You really are a pretty good shot." He said quietly. "You said you and your brother have shooting competitions. What kind?"

It was only meant to be small talk, but Tala was both surprised and pleased when he felt a shiver run down the brunette's spine. He had no idea what had caused it, but the thought made the corners of Tala's lips twitch upward slightly as he allowed himself to think it had been a shiver of pleasure; obviously due to the sound of his voice, or some thoughts going through her head concerning him, or both!

Hey, it was possible.

Mentally shaking his head, Tala focused on Demetra's voice as she replied. And as they transitioned into a comfortable conversation for a few minutes, Tala felt his heart lighten at the ease of their words and the almost playful nature of it. For just a moment, it was easy to forget that he couldn't stand her - that she coudln't stand him - and that they were just two (mostly) normal teens getting to know each other.

Tala'd just gotten used to the feel of the girl in his arms, to the feel of her pressed so closely and intimately to him, and was actually beginning to really enjoy it, when finally the bubble broke.

"Anyway..." Demetra said quietly, pulling back from him. "What now?"

Tala felt a sharp stab of empty loss and bitter disappointment at the absence of her contact, and proof of it flashed across his face for a moment. He was so damn tempted to tell the brunette that there was no rush, nowhere to be, that they could stay there all night if they wanted to - he was completely satisfied to. But, knowing the little moment was over, Tala resisted a heavy sigh when she looked up at him, and forced himself to pull completely away from her before he was no longer able to.

After a brief exchange, Tala turned and leapt from the tree. Turning around to look back at his partner and lift his arms in offering of his assistance was another reflex, but he found he was sorely disappointed again when she turned the help down to jump down on her own.

Tala knew their chances of winning the game now were pretty damn good, and even though he also knew Demetra was still a little weary of being alone just yet, he had to find a reason to part ways for a while.

"I need a few minutes to myself to think and clear my head..." Tala thought, trying to keep the chaos of emotions going on in his head from showing on his face. "And cool off while I'm at it!"

For a moment, he thought he'd done a pretty good job of keeping a straight face, but as Tala watched the doe-in-headlights expression appear on Demetra's, he realized that some of the emotions he was trying so desperately to bottle up were leaking out, because he could tell his expression was a lot softer than he'd meant it to be.

Just like his tone was a lot quieter, and almost soothing, when he spoke to his partner with a lot more honesty and meaning than he ever intended to let slip.

"Don't worry, there's absolutely nowhere you can go in these woods I won't find you. Promise."

Tala knew she was studying him when Demetra's bright silver eyes locked on his, searching; and for once, he had little trouble keeping her gaze - they truly were captivating and it gave him the perfect excuse to watch how they shone in the moonlight.


Tala came out of the assault of memories with a small start. For a moment, he half expected to see the other occupants of the room staring at him again, but to his surprise, everyone was staring intently at the professor. He had no idea what had suddenly jarred him out of his thoughts so forcefully, until the professor spoke up from the front of the room.

"Yes. Very good, Ms. Nakamura. Now I want to hear -"

Seeing as the man didn't seemed inclined to call on him, Tala tuned the Professor out as he observed the brunette a short distance away. Obviously she'd correctly answered a question, and Tala realized that it had been the sound of her voice that had shaken him from his troubling memories - ironically enough.

A deep frown etched itself onto Tala's face. Without even meaning to, the girl was slowly, yet completely, upending his whole world.

Doing his best to finally focus on the lesson, Tala heaved a long, deep sigh of relief and tried to keep it as silent as possible, sure that he was getting a small reprieve from the memories. He'd almost managed to get a grasp of what was being said when, much to his displeasure, Tala felt the hazy drag and pull of yet another recollection. Soon enough, he found himself immersed in yet another vivid memory; this time of a certain event not so long ago.


The look on Demetra's face was well worth his momentary recklessness, and with her boxed in around him yet again, Tala took the time to study her her expression. He had to admit that he liked the looks he'd been getting from the brunette as of late. But there was a considerable amount of disappointment too. In the beginning, when they'd first met, she would have tossed him off her long ago. While he did like this side of her too, Tala found he liked her fiery and passionate side much more.

Wondering if it was possible to bring out that fire again without getting burnt, Tala decided to try his luck.

Tipping his head up to look down his nose at her, a crooked grin appeared on the redheads lips as he reached up to take Demetra's chin between his forefinger and thumb. Tala tipped her face a little to the left and pretended to size up the big white patch on her cheek.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, princess." He said teasingly. "I think I did a damn good job patching you up."

Not really having expected it to, Tala was a little surprised to see that his plan had worked; he watched as Demetra seemed to come out of whatever trance she was in, and her expression shifted to one of extreme annoyance mixed with - Tala was pleased to see - a little of the old her.

"It doesn't count if you're the reason for it in the first place." She grumbled at him.

Tala wasn't entirely disappointed when she reached up and knocked his hand away with her arm - though a lot gentler, he knew - than she was capable of.

"And you seem to either have a very short memory, or no common sense... Unless you really do have a death wish." Demetra said warningly with a small glare at him. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't so long ago, that I told you never to touch me again."

Tala's grin widened.

"I didn't see you putting up much of a fight, princess." He taunted lowly, leaning down into her face now. He almost laughed as he watched her face screw up in a mix of emotions.

"You're right, I haven't been." She said a little darkly. "Allow me to make up for that right now."

Before Tala could react, Demetra's hands shot up and thrust against his chest with a mighty shove that momentarily took his breath away. Thanks to reflexes honed to almost superhuman over the years, Tala was able to keep his balance, but still slid back a few feet on the slippery balcony. Another reflex was to reach a hand up to his chest where the heels of her palms had struck him hard enough, he was sure, to leave another bruise - it had actually hurt!

Looking up at the brunette, Tala's face was a mixture of emotions himself; mainly amusement, as he watched Demetra close her eyes, take a big, almost theatrical breath, and sigh heavily as if in content, before finally opening her eyes again.

"Mmm, that felt damn good." She hummed, indeed looking much more relaxed now.

"Feel better now, princess?" Tala asked teasingly as he rubbed his chest where she'd pushed him.

"You have no idea." She said bluntly. "Or how long I've been wanting to do that."

The corners of Tala's lips twitched upwards when she crossed her arms, then pinned him with a defiant expression and narrowed eyes.

"Mark my words, Tala." She said warningly. "That will be the absolute last time you ever back me into a corner."

A violent shiver of pleasure ran down Tala's spine at the sound of his name on her lips again - would he ever get used to hearing it?

Finally breaking down, Tala was unable to hold back the amused grin as he relaxed again and approached the brunette. For a moment, Demetra tensed, but she relaxed slightly when Tala stepped past her to lean against the railing beside her. Eyeing him suspiciously for a few moments over her shoulder, she eventually turned around and moved to mimic the redhead.

For a long time, there was silence between the two as they both stared at the diamond-strewn sky, each lost in their own thoughts, until finally Demetra's heavy sigh, tinged with annoyance, cut through the otherwise soundless night.

"What are you doing here, Tala?"

Tala looked to the side at her with furrowed brows.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, slightly confused. "You really need to learn to explain yourself."

Rolling her eyes at her companion's sarcasm, Demetra turned her head now to to pin him with an an unamused expression.

"I mean right here." She replied, looking greatly irritated now. "On this side of the complex? And on the balcony directly beside mine no less; and don't try to tell me you didn't know it was my room; give me a little credit."

Tala snorted with an amused expression.

"Fine, I'll give the devil her due." He replied, cracking a small grin again when she pinned him with a glare. "If you must know, that room is a common room; that balcony and the one beside it are both connected to the same room; and as it happens, it's one of my favourite places in this building. And I've been coming here long before you were around."

He lifted his chin slightly at her then.

"But if it makes you feel better; I didn't think you'd be up again after you went to bed. You were snoring pretty loudly on the couch."

Demetra rolled her eyes at him again.

"I do not snore." She argued in a low grumble. "And you're one to talk; did you know you talk in your sleep?"

Tala flinched slightly at the question, though it didn't seem like Demetra noticed as she was still staring out over the scenery. Grateful for the small blessing, Tala forced himself to appear calm and uncaring.

"Did you pay attention?" He asked sarcastically. "Everything I say is golden, even what I say in my sleep."

Demetra lifted an eyebrow but she still didn't look at him.

"Wow." She said bluntly. "And here I thought you couldn't get any more full of yourself."

Tala smirked in amusement.

"It's not full of yourself if it's true." He replied without missing a beat. "And anyway, how do you know I was asleep? Maybe I was just talking to myself."

"I'd take the time to answer that." Demetra countered uncaringly. "But honestly, I really don't care."

A small smirk came to her face then too.

"But I will say one thing." She said teasingly. "You must really have some interesting dreams."

"And why's that?" Tala asked a little wearily, trying to ignore the sudden knot in his stomach.

"Because you always say the most interesting things." Demetra told him. Noting the silence, she looked to her companion, and seeing the look on his face, her smirk widened, almost to a smile.

"Relax, tough guy." She said, looking away form him again. "You didn't give away any of your deep, dark secrets or anything. To be honest, I have no idea what any of the stuff I've heard you muttering is about."

"And what did you hear?" Tala asked, trying to sound casual instead of letting his nerves show.

"Well, at the safe house during the night, you were muttering something about broken glass and someone not killing you." She said with a hint of amusement. "The next day you were saying something about monsters and demons."

Demetra looked out the corner of her eye then and the amusement on her face was quite evident.

"And then there's the sledding trip, that was a good one. Sounded like you were having some kind of dream about soldiers and paint... I chose to assume it was due to our game."

It was everything Tala could do not to let the hot wave that flooded through him show on his face. While the first two instances Demetra mentioned had been about Boris (although she had been featured in them), she had actually starred in the third one; and as it happened, it had been an extremely vivid and disturbingly inappropriate fantasy, indeed no doubt brought on by their paintball game and his obvious attraction to the brunette and her skills.

"Better count my blessings I didn't say too much during that one." Tala thought in embarrassment.

Feeling like he'd dodged a bullet, Tala heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Forcing himself to remain calm, he set a cocky grin on his face when he looked back to his companion again.

"I thought you didn't care." He said tauntingly. "Sounds like you care an awful lot to me."

Obviously not having gotten the reaction she'd been hoping for, Demetra looked away from him again with a bored expression, mixed slightly with disappointment.

"Not really." She replied bluntly and honestly.

There was another silence for a few minutes until eventually Demetra spoke again.

"Thanks for bringing me back to my room by the way." She said casually.

Tala might have been able to dismiss the comment as completely off-handed, but he was able to pick up a slight hint of something in her tone, though he couldn't quite identify it. Honestly, he was a little surprised she had taken it so well. Deciding to let sleeping dogs lie this time, Tala looked out over the scenery at the lights of the village below.

"No problem." He said absently. After a moment, he smirked again. "You're actually a lot lighter than you look. And in that getup, I could almost mistake you for a normal girl."

Demetra turned her head to pin Tala with an unamused expression that actually made him chuckle.

"What are you saying, Tala?" She asked sarcastically. "You don't think I'm normal?"

"No. I don't think you're normal." Tala replied with an amused expression. "But I will admit; I could get used to seeing you in casual wear. In fact, your casual girlyness could almost be called charming..."

"Oh shut up." Demetra grumbled with another eye roll, fully believing the redhead was poking fun at her again. "If I ever start to worry about impressing you when I get dressed for bed, just go ahead and ship me off in a straight jacket."

Tala cracked an amused grin at that, both relieved and disappointed that his attempted compliment had been completely missed.

"Right, noted." He replied in amusement. After a pause, he looked back towards his companion with a cheeky expression this time. "But seriously, what's up with those boots? I mean are they boots or are they slippers? I'm not going to lie; those things have got to be the most ridiculous looking things I've ever seen."

Demetra sighed and rolled her head to the side to pin him with a droll stare this time.

"You done?" She asked dryly. "What about my lounge pants? My straight-laced hairstyle? How about my over-sized shirt? Why don't you tell me how ridiculous those are, hm? Come on, Tala, don't stop now, you're on a roll."

This time Tala actually chuckled. Lifting his chin and tilting his head slightly, he took his chin between his fingers as he eyed his companion thoughtfully.

"Nah. I actually kinda like the hair and shirt." He said with a sly grin. "Makes it easier to read your face."

It was obvious he'd caught Demetra off guard, if the look of surprise she levelled him with was any indication. After a few minutes, she finally scoffed.

"Well, damn." She said bluntly. "That sounded like a compliment if I ever heard one. And here I was hoping I'd get to see the pyramids of Egypt before hell froze over."

She lifted an eyebrow at him then.

"Although I fail to see what my shirt has to do with my face."

"Nothing." Tala thought in response. "I like the shirt because the view isn't half bad."

He wisely kept that to himself.

"Anyway." Demetra said suddenly, straightening and pushing off the railing. "I've wasted enough precious time on you for one day. You should consider yourself lucky, Tala."

"Oh I do." Tala replied sarcastically without missing a beat. "I consider myself so lucky that her highness considers me worthy enough to use my given name."

Although he made it sound sarcastic, Tala did his best to hide the truth behind the statement as well; that everytime she said his name in that velvety smooth, sultry voice of hers, it chased hair-raising chills down the entire length of his body.

Obviously only picking up on the mocking sarcasm he'd given her, Demetra turned towards Tala and made a face at him.

"Your father must have been a comedian." She said sarcastically herself.

"Actually, my father was a mean old drunken ex-soldier." Tala thought. Though he decided to keep that to himself.

Since the redhead didn't offer her a verbal reply, Demetra turned around and headed back towards her room.

"Goodnight, Tala." She said simply. "Don't slip and fall to your death on the way back. If people are going to think I murdered you, you might as well do me a favour and make it impressive."

Smirking in amusement at her crude joke, Tala didn't reply to the brunette this time either as he continued to stare absently at the stars.

Demetra had nearly made it to her door when something occurred to Tala. He straightened then and turned partially around to look at her.

"Demetra?" He called after her questioningly, causing her to pause in her step and look over her shoulder at him. "How did you know it was me who brought you back to your room earlier?"

Demetra turned her head forward again and remained silent for a long time, and Tala stared at her expectantly as he waited. He'd thought it was a simple question, and he was simply curious - mostly because she seemed completely nonchalant about the whole thing. Finally, she replied without looking back at him, and Tala was more than a little surprised by her soft tone. But he was a whole lot more surprised by her actual response.

"I could smell you on my clothes..." She almost whispered. "You have a very distinct scent Tala... I'll always know it's you..."

Caught completely off guard by her words, Tala's jaw slackened, and all he could do was watch Demetra disappear with slightly wide eyes and a shocked expression.

Long after Demetra had put the glass doors between them, Tala still heard her voice ringing in his ears. It wasn't until her voice finally began to quiet, and whatever had frozen him in place disappeared, that Tala finally moved. With furrowed brows, he lifted his shirt and lowered his head for a sniff.

"I don't smell anything..." He thought with a frown as he lifted his head.

He didn't understand how she was able to smell him. Sure, he happened to like smelly body wash, and he obviously wore deodorant, but he wasn't exactly a cologne guy, it was just something he rarely wore. All things considered, he figured she either had one powerful nose on her, or he was completely nose blind to his own smell.

Then another thought occurred to him; did he smell good or bad?

After considering the thought, he quickly decided that if it wasn't good, then it definitely wasn't bad either, because he was sure the Finnish beauty wouldn't hesitate to tell him if he smelled bad.

That thought made Tala smirk for a moment as he recalled the brunette's words yet again, this time willingly.

"A distinct smell huh?" He thought cockily. "Sounds like a good thing to me."

The smirk was quickly wiped away then to be replaced with a scowl as he recalled the end of her parting words.

"Just what the hell does she mean she'll always know it's me?" He grumbled in his head. "I hope she doesn't think I'm going to be carrying her around all the time!...Unless she meant something else.."

But what else could she have meant?

Tala's thoughts cycled through a seemingly endless supply of questions and answers until eventually he thought he would go insane. Feeling like a hornet in a soda can, Tala's face screwed up in an array of emotions as he instinctively and reflexively moved forward towards the glass doors. Without really thinking about it, his hand reached for the handles, but something about the sight of his own digits snapped him out of it.

"What am I doing!?" He snarled to himself, pulling his hand back as if burned.

He'd intended to go into her room and demand an explanation to her maddening words, not really considering that it was her bedroom and he really had no business intruding on her.

For a few minutes, Tala struggled internally as he debated with himself; one half of him telling him to go in there anyway (maybe she'd surprise him again and welcome him in...), and the other half screaming at him to turn around and jump back where he'd come from.

Ultimately, the second half won.

With a long and heavy calming sigh through his nose, Tala hesitantly reached up, paused a moment, and gently placed his palm against the glass. Closing his eyes, he then leaned forward and rested his forehead beside it.

"You're a sucker for punishment, Tala..." He thought ruefully.

Remaining unmoving for a long while, Tala eventually forced himself away from the door and to turn around without looking back. Without any hesitation whatsoever now, he leapt up onto the railing and bounded back across the balconies with ease, once more landing in a practiced crouch. When he got to his feet again, Tala made it all the way to his own glass doors, and managed to get one open, before the urge to look back overwhelmed him.

Giving in finally, Tala looked to the side at the door so close and yet so far from his, and immediately he felt an unpleasant pang of longing. Making a face, Tala pushed back the current urge; a nagging desire to find out what would happen if he'd changed his mind. With everything he had, he forced himself to look forward again and put his own glass doors between him and the maddening brunette he'd just left behind.

Not that it helped any.


This time when Tala's troublesome thoughts faded, he was relieved when no more bubbled up behind them - probably because he'd all but ran through their entirety; from the day he'd met the brunette in question, to that very moment. However, the fact that the memories had ceased was a short-lived comfort, because in their wake they left a pent-up, chaotic storm behind.

His thoughts were driving him to the brink of insanity, and he'd been in a pretty sorry state ever since their sledding trip, which had been why he'd been in such a bad mood when he'd unintentionally attacked Demetra yet again. But ever since their little moment on the balcony a few short weeks ago, Tala's thoughts had nearly driven him mad; namely because even though he was constantly haunted by those accursed memories, the final words Demetra had left him with that night had been running through his head non-stop like a skipping record stuck on repeat with no way to turn it off.

"I'll always know it's you..."

"How can a few simple words mess me so badly?!" Tala raged furiously in his head.

Ever since that night, Tala had barely been able to sleep a wink, he'd been little more than a bundle of nerves and emotions, and if he didn't come up with some way to release his pent up frustrations soon, he knew he was going to snap.

His teeth and fists clenching tightly on his desk, Tala found himself wishing for the first time that he could speed up time, to when the class was over, and he could put some serious distance between himself and the person who seemed to be completely unhinging his very sanity.

"Tala. Define the word; psychosomatic."

Shaken from his thoughts yet again, Tala looked up for the second time in the past hour at the hulking man at the front of the room. Seeing his professor looking at him expectantly, Tala glanced out the corner of his eyes to see his fellow students and friends - including a certain brunette - all staring at him as well. He tried to convince himself that Demetra was giving him a smug and cocky look, but he knew it was just his mind attempting to find something to latch onto; to give him a reason to loathe her again. Truth was, she was simply looking at him expectantly like everyone else. If anything, the brunette looked almost completely uninterested.

Looking forward again, Tala let his Professor's words sink in and couldn't help but release a slightly cynical and unamused smirk; he barely had any idea what was being discussed, but it didn't matter; he knew the meaning of the stupid word.

"It's when your mind is so messed up, it starts to affect your body."

Oh yes, he knew the meaning of the word alright; mostly because he was sure his current stresses, caused by a certain Finnish temptress, were actually making him physically ill.

At the front of the room, the huge man sighed wearily as he reached up to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Close enough." He muttered in annoyance.

Before anything else could be said, a loud annoying ringing sound erupted from the Professor's desk, signaling the end of classes. Walking over to clap a huge meaty paw down over the alarm clock, the Professor looked round at his students.

"Alright you worms, feeding time." He rumbled deeply. "Memorize that chapter this weekend, and I want a full written report on my desk Monday morning sharp! Fifteen pages, one for every topic! And no double-spacing you lazy scums!"

There were a few groans as Tala's fellow students collected their things, but as usual, he wasn't among them. Unlike usual however, Tala was the first one out of the room this time, as he all but flew from it like a scalded cat, desperate to put as much space between him and the source of his troubles as possible.