A/N: Well... not much to say except... hope you guys like this one :) And hope you're getting as psyched as me, it's getting good right? Huh? Huh?... Or is it just me? lol. In any case, as usual, would love to know what you guys think, your fave parts, thoughts so far. Let me know. :)

Also: the song mentioned towards the end is, in case you didn't know; "Fallout - by Mariana's Trench". Fantastic band and fantastic song, highly recommend you check them out! (And hope knowing this doesn't spoil anything... though I have a feeling you'll still be surprised hehe... hopefully a good surprise! :P )

Well without further adieu, enjoy!

Disclaimer:I own my OC's and this story. This is all.


On a normal day, Kai Hiwatari would get up early, usually at the crack of dawn, start his day with a rigorous workout routine, grab a nice hot shower then a piping hot coffee, and find a window with a decent view so he could enjoy his solitude and black comfort; all to prepare himself for whatever life decided to throw at him that day.

Today was not a normal day. He'd still gotten up early, - before the sun this morning - and he'd still gotten himself his usual black comfort. But this morning he'd forgone the rest of his usual routine in favour of nursing the newly acquired thoughts plaguing his already over crowded brain. He couldn't even be bothered with his preferred view this morning, and today he simply starred at the wall across him from his place on the uncomfortable rock hard chair.

It was a rare occurrence for something to bother him so much he'd had trouble sleeping, usually sleep came quite easy to him. But today Kai's eyes were sticky, and his body was heavy thanks to the irritating thoughts that had kept him tossing and turning all night. These thoughts featured a certain brunette bombshell, and a deep frown creased his face as his mind wandered, running without his permission, all through particular memories from just the night before.

-;-

Kai furrowed his brows as he starred at the name in his text message queue. It was from a person he knew, but barely, and he couldn't help but wonder what she could want him for. Having just finished a bit of intense training, he mopped his face as he opened the text from the near-stranger. However, when he read the message, both his brows shot up in curiosity.

Hello Kai. This is Kage. I got your number from Rei, I hope you don't mind. I have a favour to ask. Are you free tonight?

Intrigued, Kai draped the towel around his neck before moving to reply to Villiokosto's silent blader.

I don't mind. Depends. What's the favour.

The reply was almost instantaneous, and the answer he received stunned him.

It's Victoria's birthday and she's asked the girls and I to go out and celebrate it for her. She wants us to spend the night with friends, and the rest of us all have plans. Demetra was "commanded" to go out too. She's all dressed up already but if I know her she won't ask anyone to accompany her... Can I convince you to take her out tonight?

Kai stared at his screen in stunned surprise. Eventually, he snapped himself out of his trance with a shake of his head, and once again moved his fingers to reply.

Yea I guess I can do that.

Once again, the reply was instant, and one message was immediately followed by another.

Great. Thank you Kai. Consider this an IOU

BTW don't let her know I asked you. If she knows we interfered she'll find a way to turn you down... Have fun! :)

He considered replying but honestly, what else was there to say? So, shoving his cell in his pocket, Kai stared ahead of him for a minute before smirking to himself and making his way to the exit.

-;-

Figuring he had a bit of time - surely Demetra wouldn't be rushing for the door to go play in the snow, no doubt she'd be dragging her feet as much as possible - Kai grabbed a quick shower before pulling into a simple outfit. Briefly, he debated on putting in a little effort right away, but he didn't want to miss her altogether, especially on the off chance Kage was actually wrong and she did go ask someone else to hang out with her.

So, Kai quickly dressed himself in a pair of casual jeans and sweater before heading out - though he couldn't help fussing with his hair just a little more than usual on his way out.

As he headed down the hall towards the staircase to the upper floor, head held high, Kai ran all his plans and ideas through his head. He knew tonight was a festival night and while he'd seen it all more times than he cared to count, and to him it was all mostly for the kids anyway, he still had little doubt the brunette would enjoy herself. And if the festival turned out not to be her thing, then it was a long night and Kai was a patient guy.

Smirking at himself and his confidence, Kai lifted his chin as he imagined Demetra's reaction when he showed up at her door. Convincing her to go with them to the village the first time had been the easiest thing in the world. He expected this time to be no different.

However, just as Kai was nearly upon the central staircase, he was surprised to see the Finnish beauty in question step off the bottom stair. Talk about timing.

His smirk widening, Kai called out to her, but the following few moments did not go at all anything remotely close to how he saw them going in his head.

"And where are we off to all alone in the dark?"

She was indeed dressed up, and Kai thought little of it at first; he'd seen her dressed up before, and while he was fully willing to admit the girl was a heart-stopper, he figured he was ready for it.

He wasn't.

When Demetra paused and turned towards him, Kai felt like his heart did indeed stop, and for hour-long minutes all he could do was stare at her in a speechless daze. He tried to swallow but his throat was constricted too tightly. He tried to breathe but his lungs refused to do their job. He knew it was shameless, but he couldn't stop his eyes trailing over the length of her.

As he stared in helpless silence, the only thoughts that came to the blunette now was how damn good she looked, and - for the first time in his life - how much he deeply regretted not putting more effort into his own appearance after all.

Finally, his brain seemed to kickstart itself again, and Kai forced a deep breath before plastering a smirk on his face.

He'd made a severe lapse of judgement on timing and attire, but he intended to make up for it now; he intended to convince her to let him take her out. Unfortunately, once again, things didn't go at all as planned, and Kai felt the situation - and her - slip through his fingers like dry sand just minutes later, while all he could do was stare helplessly after her.

-;-

Standing in his room, staring at his own reflection, Kai couldn't help being pleased with himself. Okay, so the night had gotten away form him at first, and things hadn't started out the way he'd hoped they would. But he was fully confident he could salvage what was left as soon as he tracked the Finnish beauty down - shouldn't be too hard, the village wasn't that big after all, and he knew it pretty well.

Tugging at the front of his coat, he lifted his chin as he gave himself one last look. He had to admit, he cleaned up pretty good. He'd decided to dress himself in a pair of dark jeans, black boots, a heavy handsome red sweater, and top it off with his own navy pea coat - women always seemed to be suckers for a man in a pea coat, though he never understood why. He'd even spent some time messing with his hair, and as far as he was concerned, the result was worth it. Glancing at his dresser, he recalled a particular moment during an outing with the guys, long before Demetra came around; one that had earned him a great deal of attention from a group of girls thanks to a new cologne he'd acquired.

Women were always reduced to putty when a man smelled good right?

Reaching out, Kai picked up the cologne bottle and gave himself a couple quick sprays, then gave himself one last look, deemed himself sufficiently ready, and finally turned away from the mirror. Snatching up his wallet and cell on his way out, he stuffed them unceremoniously into his coat pocket before making his way to the door and leaving his room behind.

-;-

There was an irritated tic forming in his head as Kai walked the road through the village in search of a certain brunette beauty. He'd been right about his appearance and, evidently, scent; he had indeed attracted the opposite sex, but it wasn't the attention he'd been hoping for. Doing his best to ignore the giggling girls he was well aware had been following him for quite some time, as well as the flirtatious glances they'd been sending him every time he turned to look, he released a heavy sigh of irritation through his nose as he stopped to look around for the umpteenth time.

As it turned out, tracking Demetra down was proving to be much more difficult then he'd originally anticipated. So far, he'd walked the entire length of the village twice, checked every stall and building along the way, and even asked several people if they'd seen her, all to no avail. How could no one have noticed a gorgeous knockout walking the streets alone? If he didn't know better, he'd swear the entire village was hell-bent on preventing him finding her.

Just when his frustration was at its peak, and he was telling himself he'd make one final sweep before being forced to throw in the towel and head back, Kai overheard a conversation of a group of young children nearby, and their chatter pricked his interest.

"Hurry up would ya! We're gonna miss it!"

"Miss what?"

"The competition!"

"So what, not like it's gonna be all that exciting anyway. Plus you know Sergio and his jerk friends are gonna win anyway."

"Nuh-uh! This time Tala and that girl from that all-girls team in America are competing! Together! Yaroslav said he saw them stand up to Sergio and his losers, cause they were picking on Natasha and Peter, and then they told him they were gonna kick his butt in the tournament!"

"What?! No way, I gotta see that, let's go!"

Kai watched the group turn and dart off towards the massive building in the centre of the village. With mixed feelings, he turned and stared after them, a deep frown on his face.

"Tala's here too..." He thought with a grim expression. "And they're here together..."

Feeling a knot of dread beginning to form in his gut, Kai did his best to swallow the sudden mild distress bubbling up, and made to follow in direction the children had gone.

-;-

With arms crossed so tightly across his chest it was almost inhibiting his breath, Kai stared with a steely cold gaze and a tightly set jaw at the screen before him. Watching the two fan-favourite competitors, there was a storm of thoughts and emotions brewing inside him - none of it any good. He'd thought seeing their interactions so far had been sickening enough; Tala's all-too-happy expression with her sidled up to him when they had to use the grappling gun, their sickly sweet interaction when they were being assaulted by the water in the brook. Not to mention the gag-worthy moment they'd shared while scaling the virtual cliff.

But all that was totally trivial as he watched the scene unfolding before him now. And it didn't help one bit that the host seemed to be having just as much fun stirring things up between the two, as the crowd was watching.

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!"

The deafening chant of the crowd around him was causing Kai's blood to boil, and although he wanted so desperately to turn away, he couldn't tear his gaze away from the two competitors. He didn't need to watch the screen now to know what was happening, because down on the floor below him, Demetra's perfect form was draped over Tala in very genuine, all-too-real reality.

"Oooo! This looks promising!" The irritating perky host said cheekily. "What's say we give them one more teensy weensy push hey guys?"

The crowd cheered deafeningly again and Kai felt a growl building up in his throat.

"Hehe! Well, majority rules!" The host sang playfully, lifting the tablet in her hands and making a show of pressing a few buttons. "Let's try this!"

Kai watched with a rapidly rising sense of anger, as a massive virtual boulder dropped from the air on screen, falling directly towards the pair tangled around each other on the ground. This time, when the pair rolled again, Tala was pressed very intimately on top of Demetra, and Kai felt something inside him snap.

While the collection of idiots around him went berserk, Kai abruptly got to his feet and whirled to the side. Having about as much as he could stomach, he let his legs carry him as quickly as they were able up the stairs, to the exit and out of the building like a bat out of hell.

-;-

As he trudged back to The Facility with a rage of emotions brewing inside him, Kai was sure his night couldn't get much worse. He instantly regretted this thought as soon as he stepped through the front doors and into the blinding sterile light of the main lobby.

"Hey look, there he is!"

"Finally! Come on!"

A scowl creased his face as Kai watched several young boys, their arms loaded with a random assortment of objects, run at him excitedly as soon as they spotted him.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like what's coming..." He thought morbidly as he stopped and waited for the boys to reach him.

When they all started to speak at once, Kai released an irritated growl.

"Stop!" He boomed loudly, instantly shutting the little mouths. He then looked down at one of the boys. "You. Speak."

Obediently, the little boy began to speak at him in a flurry of rushed words.

"Mr. Ivanov sent us here to deliver this stuff for him and his girlfriend-"

"She's not his girlfriend." Kai growled angrily through clenched teeth, abruptly cutting the boy off.

The boys exchanged looks before looking back at Kai again.

"Oh..." The boy who'd been speaking replied awkwardly. His words were slower and much more measured when he continued again. "Um... well... he asked us to deliver this stuff here for him... he said... he said you would...pay us..."

A dark expression crossed Kai's face as he stared down at the little boys, and the look made them all pale and take a step back with visible gulps.

"Did he now...?" Kai seethed angrily. "And how much did he promise you outta my pocket?"

He watched the majority of the group nudge and mutter whispers to one of them, until eventually the little guy looked back to Kai with another gulp before muttering an outrageous number. He knew they were telling the truth, he could tell by the looks on their faces. Besides, it was definitely well within Tala's character to do it.

Clenching his teeth tightly again, Kai reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet. Yanking out several bills, he distributed them between the boys. However, a few of them looked uneasy as they shifted on their feet.

"What now?" He asked irritably.

He watched them all mutter between themselves again, some seeming to be egging on the boy who'd spoken earlier, and some seeming to discourage him.

"Go on, ask!"

"No, dont do it! He's already so angry!"

"But we got here on time!"

"But he wasnt here..."

"That's not our faults! Do it!"

Kai felt a tic beginning to form in his head and had to force himself to keep his cool.

"Spit it out!" He snapped, making several of them jump.

The little boy who'd been speaking for the rest looked like he might wet himself with fright as he stuttered out his response.

"W-well... uh-um... M-Mr. Ivanov said you-you'd p-pay us..." He paused to gulp again, staring up at Kai with wide terrified eyes as if he expected the teen to squash him at any moment "He said you'd pay us d-double if we got here in half an hour... A-and we d-did..."

Kai felt his temper skyrocket and for the first time in his life he wished desperately Tala was in front of him - and not so he could admire his pretty face.

Muttering a string of violent curses and admonishments that made all the boys pale in fright, Kai yanked several more bills out of his wallet and reached out to slap them into the quivering hand that lifted before him.

"How much of this is hers?" He asked through gritted teeth.

Four of the little boys stepped timidly forwards with bowed heads and slumped shoulders, looking up at him from under their lashes.

"You, follow me." Kai growled at the four, then he turned to the remainder of the boys.

"The rest of you bring Tala's sh-... crap to his room."

After giving the boys directions to the redhead's room, he turned and began to stalk off towards the stairs.

"Um... What should we do with it Mr. Hiwatari sir?"

"Throw it in the garbage for all I care..." Kai muttered under his breath. Then a thought suddenly occurred to him and a wicked grin tainted his face. Stopping he looked over his shoulder at the boys with a purely evil look. "Just open the door and fire it all inside."

He glanced down and noted the muddy slush coming from the children's boots and his grin widened.

"Make sure you walk in far enough... to make sure you get it all in there."

The boys looked uneasy at this.

"Are-are you sure...? Shouldn't we just lay it inside?"

"No." Kai replied firmly. "Just throw it all... hard as you can."

He looked forward again and could barely contain his giddy pleasure at the thought of the redheads reaction when he returned to see the fallout.

"Trust me." He said as he continued walking. "Tala just loves cleaning..."

-;-

When they'd reached Demetra's room, Kai turned to the little boys and held out his arms.

"I'll take that. You can go."

"Are you sure, it's a lot of stuff...?" One of the boys protested. "We could-"

"Kid, if you value your life, you'll hand over that stuff and be out of my sight in the next ten seconds!"

Paling again, the four boys surged forward as one and shoved their loads into the blunette's arms.

"Yes sir!" They shouted in fright, and turning they lit off as fast as their legs could carry them - and it took them much less than ten seconds to do so.

With a heavy irritated sigh, Kai's face screwed up in anger before turning towards Demetra's room. It was then he realized his mistake, and cursed colourfully as he maneuvered the mountain in his arms. It took him quite some time, and by the time he managed to get Demetra's door open he felt like his temper was going to blow the top off his head.

Taking a step into Demetra's room, he paused a moment and looked around the mountain to the floor at his feet. Noting the mud and slush caked on his own boots, he took the time to kick them off at the door before proceeding into the room, making his way to the bed, and gently depositing the objects onto it. Stepping back, he eyed the goods with a sour expression for a long time. While he was fairly certain some of it was presents for her friends, it was obvious a majority of it was prizes. Kai felt he green monster inside him roar in fury, as he conjured up all sorts of images of the beautiful brunette being charmed by the redheaded devil, after he'd peacocked his way through countless games to impress her.

How cliche and lame!

Loser!

Snarling angrily, Kai whirled around and stalked back to the door. Reaching down to yank his boots back on, he grabbed hold of the door when he'd righted himself and made to slam it. But feeling it would be like a disrespect to the brunette - none of this was her fault - he heaved his greatest sigh of annoyance yet and instead closed it gently behind him.

-;-

As he paced the main lobby, Kai ran the events of the night over and over in his head. Although he would be the first to admit he had a bit of a prickly disposition, he wasn't normally a violent person. However, as he recalled specific moments in his minds eye, he couldn't help but wonder in mild concern just how he hell he was going to keep from throttling the redhead when he finally laid eyes on him again.

As if on cue, the main doors of The Facility suddenly blew open with a mighty bang as Tala appeared in an apparent rage - alone.

Abruptly halting his pacing, Kai scowled at the redhead. Noting the look on his teammates face - a tortured expression he was obviously trying very hard to hide behind a mask of fury - Kai briefly felt sorry for the guy. But the pity was fleeting. Where any other time, he'd feel sorry enough to want to try and help him out, this time his own feelings clouded his judgement - this time it was personal.

"Where's Demetra?" Kai growled at the redhead.

Halting in his beeline for the stairs, Tala's head jerked in Kai's direction, evidently not having noticed him until now.

"Probably exactly where I left her." Tala snapped angrily, turning around and continuing on his way again.

"You what?" Kai snarled furiously. "Why the hell did you leave her alone?! Especially at this hour!"

Tala released a heavy angry sigh and stopped again. Turning back to the blunette he gave him a scathing glare.

"It's the Village, what do you thinks gonna happen to her here?!" He lifted his nose in the air and looked down it at Kai as his lips curled back for a vicious snarl. "If you're so worried, why don't you go find her yourself, Prince Charming?... I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you."

It took everything in Kai not to close the distance between them and pummel the redhead.

"Maybe I should." Kai seethed, his fury tantamount now. "I obviously care about her a helluva lot more than you do, Tala."

Tala visibly tensed, his jaw clenched so tightly his teeth bared, and Kai watched the redhead's fists clench so tightly they shook. But instead of replying, Tala whirled away from the blunette and stomped towards the stairs. He'd made it up the first few before Kai's voice stopped him in his tracks again.

"By the way, you'll be pleased to know your delivery boys made it on time..." He goaded maliciously. "I know how much you hate people in your room, so I told them to just fire it all inside. Hope there wasn't anything breakable."

Admittedly, Kai wasn't hesitant to get under his teammates skin, but mainly he wanted to let the redhead know that whatever scene he came home to was strictly Kai's fault and not the boys; in his current mood, he knew Tala would be out for blood and he wanted to make sure it was His own and not theirs; none of this was their faults either.

Kai watched Tala bring up solid, and a feeling of sheer satisfaction enveloped him when the redhead turned slowly back to him with a murderous expression. It looked like Tala desperately wanted to say something, and Kai was admittedly surprised he didn't march over and swing at him - he'd fully expected it. However (to his mild disappointment), after glaring a hole through Kai's soul, Tala eventually turned rigidly around and this time made a hasty exit up the stairs.

Smirking with a deep satisfaction, Kai turned on his heel and made a beeline for the exit.

-;-

Coming out of his unpleasant recent memories, Kai made a face before chugging his now icy cold coffee, slamming his empty cup down on the table with a satisfying bang, then swiftly making his way to the door.


The sound of furious fists pounding leather was almost deafening, as the loud thunderous echoes resounded through The Facility's gym. In all his life, Tala couldn't remember ever having been so full of pent up rage - and with the life he'd lived so far that said a lot.

As his fists pounded the massive punching bag with lightning, thunderous punches, Tala couldn't help picturing a certain blunette's face. He'd never really been Kai's biggest fan, but over the years, they'd begun to at least develop a sort of mutual respect for each other. That respect was the farthest thing from his mind now as he continued to vent his toxic emotions on the regrettably inanimate object.

Like so often as of late, Tala's memories were plaguing him to the point of driving him mad. However, for once he was unable to drive them away with a simple workout - though that didn't keep him from trying. Nor did it keep the memories from welling up as he threw everything he had into each and every punch. Briefly, he thought if he was lucky, he'd pass out from exhaustion and get a reprieve. But he knew better - if that happened there'd be no escaping the torturing images.

Releasing a savage cry, Tala reared back and threw his entire body into one massive blow, which sent the bag flying. Coming back at him forcefully as if finally deciding to attack back, Tala lifted his fists to stop it. Once the bag was still again like nothing had ever happened, he leaned forward to rest his forehead between his fists against the cold leather. Closing his eyes, he released a heavy heart-sick sigh. His hands were throbbing and there were sharp pains shooting up his arms, but Tala barely registered them as the torturous memories assaulted him anew, much more potent now that he was still enough to give them precedence.

-;-

"I bet she's freaking out right now..."

It was nearly time for the competition to start, and all Tala could think about was Demetra's countenance, and how disturbed she looked about not being able to keep her bit beast on her. He understood the feeling, he hated the thought of letting Wolborg out of his sight too.

But still...

With a deep frown, Tala unzipped the front of his skin-tight outfit and pulled out the precious leather pouch around his neck. Opening it, he extracted two objects from inside and splayed them both across his palm. Staring down at the images of the completely opposite beasts on either one, his frown deepened.

After a lengthy internal debate, he eventually released a heavy sigh and closed his fist around them both.

"I must be losing my mind..." He muttered to himself.

The competitors were under strict orders not to speak to each other before the start of the game under threat of disqualification. With that thought in mind, Tala lifted his face and looked around. At first there didn't seem to be any employees around, but as luck would have it, Tala noted one turn the corner a moment later.

Looking the giant man over, Tala's brows creased in wonder. He thought he knew just about everyone in the village, or at least seen them before. However he'd never seen this man in his life. But, even though he was the sharpest dressed man Tala had ever seen in those mountains, he figured with the fancy equipment attached to his ear and the air of importance about him, the man must be security - perhaps a new high-rank hire of the tech brothers.

Brushing off his mild curiosity, Tala decided to address the man before he disappeared.

"Hey! You work here?"

The man stopped and turned towards him, and Tala watched a small amused smirk cross his face.

"Depends what you need my man." He replied with an impressively deep voice.

"I need to get something to my partner, but we're not supposed to see each other before the game... Any chance you'd deliver it for me?"

"Yea, I guess I can help you out with that." The man rumbled in response.

"Thanks." Tala said simply.

Reaching into the pouch again, Tala removed a few things already inside, eyed them reverently for a moment, then slipped them inside his suit before removing the pouch from his neck. As an afterthought, he looked back up at his companion.

"Don't have a pen and paper on ya do you?"

The amusement returned to the man's face again at that.

"Pretty needy for a guy looking for a favour." He teased with a mischievous grin.

"Uh.. yea. Sorry about that..." Tala replied awkwardly.

The man chuckled before reaching into his pocket and extracting an extremely fancy looking pen and small notebook, both of which he handed to the redhead.

"Thanks..." Tala muttered as he accepted.

His companion waited patiently as he scribbled a quick note to Demetra, hesitated a moment, then folded it carefully around Wolborg before offering both it and Trea's bit to the waiting suit, as well as returning the borrowed items. He expected the man to check the paper to make sure there was no cheating going on, but to Tala's relief he didn't seem to care - it would be a bit embarrassing if someone else were to read the words he'd written.

"Who am I lookin for?" The man asked as he tucked the objects carefully inside his jacket pocket.

"Demetra Nakamura." Tala replied simply before proceeding to describe his partner. To his surprise, his companion lifted an eyebrow at that.

"Would that be the same Demetra Nakamura from that beyblade tournament in America?"

Tala lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

"Uh... yea..." He replied dumbly, surprised the respectable and important looking man had heard of her. Tala then watched a strange look cross the suit's face.

"Heh. Ya don't say." He said cryptically.

Tala furrowed his brows at the strange response but decided to brush it off.

"Yea." He said simply, holding out the pouch too. "Can you give her this too?"

The man accepted the pouch and tucked that inside his jacket with the other objects.

"Yea, I'll see your friend gets these." He said with another strange look on his face. "Anything else ya need, my man?"

"No that's it." Tala replied, beginning to wonder at the man's strange reactions. "...Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Good luck with your game."

That said, the giant suit turned and headed off in direction of the other competitors. Tala watched him go curiously until he felt someone grab his arm, then looked to his right to see a familiar face gawking at him.

"Tala! You have any idea who that is?!"

It was the son of the guy who ran the trading post; Tala had spoken to him on several occasions while Ian had excitedly explored the kid's father's wares.

"The techie's new head of security?" Tala guessed uncaringly, he wasn't really concerned who the man was.

"No man!" The kid said with a somewhat wild expression. "That's Knight! My dad says he's the right hand man for this super rich and dangerous guy! He's like... mafia or something! They say he's made more people disappear than the Bermuda Triangle! He's like... the scariest man in the world! I can't believe you talked to him! Everybody's afraid of him!"

Tala felt a prick of amusement at that.

"What?" He asked with a laugh and his own smirk of amusement this time. "You gotta be kidding me. There's no way that's true. What the hell would a guy like that be doing around here?... And his name's Night? Come on!"

"Yea, it's totally true, my dad knows him!" The kid insisted enthusiastically. "And that's Knight with a K! They say it's short for Silent Knight, cause you never know he's comin for ya until it's too late!"

Tala sweat dropped at that.

"Seriously, kid..?" He muttered in disbelief, but the chatterbox didn't seem to be finished.

"My dad says his boss has been tryin to recruit the tech bros for something for a long time, but they keep refusing. My dad says they finally sent in Knight to get the job done. He says Knight only shows up to close the deal! He says he wouldn't be surprised if the bros disappeared any day now too!"

Tala wasn't sure if he should laugh or shiver. Naturally, his gut reaction was to laugh it off; after all, there was no way someone or something of that caliber was going down in this sleepy little mountain village. But the more he considered the giant man's countenance and recalled their interaction, the more he felt a little nagging in the back of his head and couldn't help entertain the idea.

Eventually Tala shook his head and brushed the thought aside, there was just no way.

"Your dad told you all this?" He asked the kid sceptically. Now the boy shifted on his feet and gave Tala a sheepish look.

"Well... no... I kinda heard him and his friends talking about it..."

"Uh huh." Tala said bluntly. "I think your over active imagination just heard what you wanted to hear. Eavesdropping can get you in a lot of trouble kid."

Tala watched the boy puff out his cheeks.

"It wasn't my imagination!" He argued indignantly. "That's what they said!"

"Sure thing kid." Tala replied sarcastically, finally turning away from him.

He tried to put the ridiculous accusation from his mind - it was simply too fantastical and movie-esque to be real. But all the same, he was unable to resist turning his head, and staring after this so-called Knight in wonder.

-;-

He felt like a fool for it, but Tala couldn't help feeling mildly relieved when he saw Demetra's face across the way while they waited for their team to be called for the competition. Whether it was true or not that Knight was a member of some super scary secret organization, Demetra had come out of their encounter unscathed, and Tala was pleased to see that the man had delivered the items trusted to him as well, because the heavy black chord was clearly visible around Demetra's neck. At least for the time being, that was good enough for Tala.

As he watched her, Tala couldn't help being charmed by her impatient fidgeting. Normally the brunette was the vision of patience and collective calmness, but he had to admit, it was taking what even he considered an extraordinarily long amount of time for the competition to start. Lucky for him, he had a pleasant supply of eye candy to keep him busy until it did.

No doubt feeling his eyes on her, Demetra turned a moment later to level an unimpressed gaze on him. Unable to resist teasing her, he lifted his chin a bit before mouthing a comment.

"Impatient Princess?'

Not unexpectedly, she merely gave him a sour expression for that and immediately turned away from him with crossed arms. Tala almost laughed at the uncharacteristic childishness of the reaction. But the next thing she did was much more uncharacteristic, and it actually surprised him, making a chuckle ripple from his throat.

"You're lucky you're all the way over there, Princess." He thought with a smirk. "Otherwise I'd teach you not to stick that out unless you planned to use it."

The girl was truly a never-ending supply of entertainment. Honestly, he was positively itching to give her a proper response to her playful antics, but the sight she graced him with immediately after quite literally stole his breath away.

"Well I'll be damned..." Tala thought with a sudden throbbing in his heart. "I'd kill for a picture of that... If only as proof it actually happened..."

He'd gotten a few smiles out of her since their meeting - though they were rare and maddeningly hard to coax out of her - but he'd never seen her smile like that, and he'd be willing to go so far as to bet no one except perhaps her sisters had either. For the first time, Demetra looked really truly happy; it was a stunning smile, a radiant smile that lit up her whole face, and even made it all the way up to her eyes. Dare he say, it might even have been classified as a flirty smile.

Forcing a hard swallow against his suddenly constricted throat, Tala was exceedingly relieved when their team's number finally came over the loudspeaker. He was also relieved she turned away from him then, because if she hadn't, Tala knew she would have seen the absolute loop she'd thrown him for, as well as the heady heart-throbbing emotion no doubt plastered on his surprised face, at seeing the soul searing look she'd graced him with.

Turning forward as well and stepping onto the platform before him, Tala lifted his chin, crossed his arms across his thundering chest, and did his damndest to patch up the massive hole in his armour, before the whole of the stadium could catch his distressing moment of weakness.

-;-

When he'd asked Demetra to accompany him earlier, he'd never dared dream or consider for a second they'd be in the position they were currently. But with her sitting - so very willingly - in his lap, with her fingers buried in his hair, with his arms wrapped so tightly around her, his face buried in the crook of her neck, Tala found himself wondering in disbelief second by second if the moment was real at all.

Sure, he'd had plenty of fantasies, and admittedly most of them were a good deal more R-rated then their current moment. But nonetheless he still found it surreally hard to believe what was happening. Of course, his disbelief didn't stop him from exploring the body pressed so intimately close to him, from testing how much he was allowed to have before either of them thought better of it.

It wasn't the first time Tala had had a beautiful girl in his arms - not by a long shot, but it was the first time he'd wanted one there so damn desperately. Part of him was dismayed they were in a crowded room with so many eyes to see them, and yet part of him was glad for it; he knew without a doubt that had they been alone, there was absolutely no way he'd be able to stop himself from going too far - unless Demetra stopped him, which judging by her own reactions to him was extremely unlikely. With that realization in mind, Tala felt a tiny grudging relief over the fact; after pining after this one girl for so long, and finally being offered what he'd wanted for so long, he was admittedly reluctant - for the first time ever - to push too far, to jump in too fast, to ruin a damn good thing by letting his hormones run the show.

Tala tried to tell himself to take it easy, to take it show. He tried to force himself to back off a little. But Demetra wasn't making it easy. He knew how these moments worked, he'd been in enough of them; he knew that when you were caught up in one, instinct and hormones did tend to cloud the judgement, he knew that as well as anyone. But the way Demetra was reacting to him, the way she was reacting to the tiniest caress and touch, was driving him absolutely wild. He'd known girls who faked it, and he'd known girls who were super-sensitive, and he figured he was pretty good at recognizing both.

After all night, after all the moments they'd shared, Tala was fairly certain Demetra had at least warmed up to him a little, and he thought maybe he'd even managed to win her over - if only just a bit. But he knew for a fact she was far from head over heels for him, they were nowhere near that zone yet. And yet, if he didn't know better, if he had to judge purely on her obviously reflexive responses to him, Tala would almost swear that this was a first for her; that no one had ever been where he was, had ever made her feel this way.

If he didn't know any better, he'd swear he was the first person to ever lay hands on her.

But Tala refused to allow this thought to take root, to let himself hope for something so impossible; there was no way in hell! Admittedly, the thought of another hand trailing over Demetra's perfect form, of someone else's lips coaxing such sweet sounds and tremors from this beautiful creature, made his stomach twist and blood boil. And yet, he still couldn't bring himself to think that Demetra Nakamura was untouched, that she'd never allowed herself that pleasure, never chosen herself a willing participant from the no doubt endless supply of choices.

Despite, or perhaps due to, these maddening thoughts, Tala felt his sanity quickly coming unhinged with each blissful sound and tremble he coaxed from his all-too-willing companion.

Tala's lips trembled as he pressed a tender kiss to her throat, but if his partner minded she made no show of it, and immediately after he pressed a second there, then a third. When he was rewarded with a tiny vibration through his lips, he had to swallow another humiliating whimper. She really was driving him crazy, even though he had a feeling she wasn't trying to; of course, that only made it so much worse.

He was basically on auto pilot by the time his lips made their way up her throat, to her chin, across her jaw and to her ear; though he was fairly aware of his actions when he experimentally parted his lips to give her ear lobe a hot little nibble. As expected, and to his absolute pleasure, Demetra's reaction was just as delicious as he'd hoped, and he felt a tremor vibrate down his spine when he heard her suck in a sharp breath. Part of him was screaming to cut off the moment there, to stop before things went too far and he ended up pushing them somewhere they'd both regret.

He was fully willing and prepared to kick that part of him to the curb, but as Tala moved to press a tiny, affectionate kiss behind Demetra's ear before making his way downward again, something familiar assaulted his senses and gave him pause.

"There's that scent again..." He thought, pulling back ever-so slightly. "Lavender..."

It wasn't as if the scent was unpleasant, in fact it was the exact opposite. What gave him pause was being suddenly reminded of a moment not so long ago; the memory of having the gorgeous brunette in his arms at The Facility, of a time when he'd smelled this same scent and was, as now, reminded of what he considered a very sobering fact.

They were from two completely different worlds. She was meant to be with someone more of her caliber. She was never meant for someone like him.

No matter how hotly her reaction to him was in a heated moment, Demetra Nakamura would be forever out of his reach.

Feeling suddenly like a kicked dog, Tala felt a pained sigh of defeat blow past his lips. He meant to pull away form her then and there, to finally put an end to a moment he knew he had no business partaking of to begin with. But as his face moved past her scorched skin, he was unable to resist dropping just one last tender kiss to what he'd quickly discovered was her sweet spot.

In an extremely bittersweet moment, Tala felt Demetra's fingers splay across his scalp, and he knew she was inviting him to stay. He knew he should pull away, knew he should put a stop to the moment before it became too hard and too painful to do so.

He knew it would end soon enough, and he knew it would be a rotten feeling when it did, but still he couldn't bring himself to let her go.

Another sigh escaped his lips as Tala leaned forward again to accept her invite, but it was a sigh of content this time. And he was contented indeed when he laid his head against her shoulder, when she gave him a squeeze and he reflexively returned it.

Yes, it would end soon. And Tala knew better than to hope for a second round. He knew he should be content with what he was given.

It would have to be enough.

-;-

It was absolutely maddening to think how such a surreally perfect night could go so damn wrong in literally minutes. Tala was scarcely able to believe how quickly it had happened. It killed him to think, but he couldn't help but feel like the entire night had been nothing but an unnecessary waste, especially as he recalled Demetra's conversation with his teammate, the all-too-perfect Kai Hiwatari.

"No, I assure you, it's nothing like that...Completely innocent Kai-Kun, no worries."

Tala made a face as he recalled the conversation. She'd even used an honorific for his bane; she had never used one for Tala, not even a nick.

"No worries at all. I can handle the big bad wolf."

He felt a stab in his heart at the memory. Not only was she unable to admit to Kai that she'd actually enjoyed her night with Tala - he knew she did - she also seemed unable to let go of her feelings for the idiot. In fact, she valued Kai's attention so much more than Tala's, that she'd even felt the need to make sure Kai knew Tala was still (and probably always would be), the bad guy in her eyes.

His face screwing up with the effort to keep the barrage of emotions at bay, Tala's teeth clenched painfully as he finally reached the door to his room. Feeling like his entire body was encased in solid lead, he reached out to push his door open with much more effort then should have been necessary.

From the pit of self-pity he'd buried himself in on the way to his room, he'd somehow momentarily forgotten about Kai's warning only moments ago. As such, a look of utmost horror took over his face at the sight that greeted him.

Indeed, all the items he'd given the village boys to deliver for him was scattered around his room like the aftermath of a hurricane. That fact alone was infuriating enough - it would take ages to pick it all up. But as if that wasn't bad enough, Tala noted the splattered explosion of color and unidentifiable liquids all over. Something thick and dark was splattered all over his bed, and Tala recalled a miniature lava lamp-like toy he'd won playing some kind of knock-em-down game; seeing it shattered on the floor by his bed, no doubt it was the main cause of the massive stain now coating his sheets. On the floor were the shattered and splattered remnants of messy, squished snacks and little trinkets that had once contained colourful liquids.

It was probably the time he'd spent under the harsh military-style rule of Boris and his minions, but Tala had developed a strict preference to order and cleanliness over the years, and seeing his usually pristine room now looking like a war zone, sent his admittedly probably OCD self into a mad panic. As Tala stepped into the room in a horror-struck daze, he made note of the muddy footprints all over - the perfect cherry to top off the already disastrous state of the scene before him.

As he stared at the mess, Tala felt what little sanity he'd managed to cling to that night snap, and a single deafening, violent scream tore from his throat like a wounded wild animal.

"KAAAAAIAAAI!"


Getting up and starting her morning wasn't usually a problem for Demetra, but that morning it had been a considerably much harder task. With a considerable amount more yawning than was usual for her, Demetra gathered her things and decided to bite the bullet. After her usual workout and shower, she decided to cool off this time in the pool. Once she'd sufficiently exhausted herself lapping around the giant basin, she paused to lay back and float on her back for a while. Staring up at the ceiling, a deep frown creased her face as events from the night before flooded back to her; no longer able to keep them at bay while she was laying there idle. And first in line were some of the lattermost memories from the night before.

-;-

Feeling in more foul a mood than she could recall ever being in, Demetra stomped her leaden feet back towards The Facility. Grumbling angrily, she hugged her bone-chilled body tightly as she trudged up the slushy path of the final stretch.

"Hey! You have any idea what time it is? It's way past your bedtime young lady."

Looking up, Demetra had mixed feelings when she laid eyes on the person making his way towards her down the path. Kai had a teasing expression on his face, and normally the sight of him would have quickened her pulse. However, as she recalled the conversation and scene that had just occurred, she realized that the usual pleasure she normally felt at seeing his profile, didn't come to her this time. Having said that, she wasn't entirely disappointed to see him either.

Demetra didn't reply, and she didn't look at the handsome blunette when he jogged to catch up to her, then turned and fell into step beside her as they both continued back towards The Facility together.

"You OK..?" Kai asked quietly.

"I'm fine." Demetra answered through clenched teeth. The response made Kai frown.

"Rough night?" When she didn't respond this time, Kai's frown deepened. "Who am I kidding, I'm sure it was no picnic. Tala's not exactly a barrel of-"

"I don't want to talk about him." Demetra cut him off firmly. And after a brief pause, she tacked on; "Actually, I don't want to talk at all."

Kai gave her a worried look.

"Fair enough... mind if I walk you back?"

Once again, Demetra considered the question, and the fact that the thought would normally have set her heart into a ridiculous flutter. But this time she felt nothing; nothing but cold emptiness.

"I couldn't care less what you do Kai." She replied coldly.

So with nothing more to say, the two made their way back in complete silence. But unlike usual, where normally she enjoyed it, this time the silence was a deafening discomfort.

-;-

The sound of the poolroom door creaking open snapped Demetra out of her memory, and looking towards the entrance, she watched with morbid weariness, as the blunette she'd just been thinking about, made his way inside and approached the pool. When he stopped at the side of the pool, Kai crouched down, not looking at her, and reached down to absently swirl his hand in the water. Once he eventually looked up, he locked gazes with her for a minute before a sly look crossed his face.

"Big pool. Must be lonely in there." He teased in what he obviously thought was a captivating tone - normally he'd be right. "Care for some company?"

Demetra released a heavy sigh and leaned back again to resume her floating as she looked back to the ceiling.

"I'll give you the same answer I gave you last night, Kai; I couldn't care less what you do."

Although she pretended to be completely uninterested, she couldn't stop her eyes from rolling to the side when the movement of Kai getting to his feet flickered in her peripherals. This time, at last, the familiar little annoying flutter returned as she watched him pull his shirt over his head, strip down to his boxers, then complete an impressive dive as he torpedoed his way towards her.

Swallowing hard in attempt to reign in her emotions before they got carried away as usual, Demetra returned her gaze to the ceiling once more. Soon enough she heard the sound of her companion breaking the water as he resurfaced, and moments later, he was floating beside her, staring skyward as he mimicked her position.

For a long time there was only silence between them, and although she wasn't really in the mood to talk, Demetra was actually grateful for Kai's presence this time - if only for the fact that him being there in person gave her somewhat of a distraction from the haunting memories of the night before.

Finally, after a lengthy silence, Demetra heard Kai sigh heavily before at last breaking it.

"Something's different." He said bluntly. Demetra made a face.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, mildly annoyed at the disturbed peace. She felt Kai's entrancing gaze on her but refused to look at him.

"You're not looking at me like you usually do... In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd almost swear you really couldn't care less if I was here or not."

Demetra sighed heavily again, this time in genuine annoyance. Righting herself, she turned away from the handsome blunette.

"I suppose you don't know better then." She replied icily. "Because since I obviously haven't made it clear; I really don't."

It wasn't entirely true, but what was true, was that she really wasn't in the mood to talk to him - or anyone for that matter - at the moment. To punctuate her point, Demetra kicked herself forward and proceeded to swim laps back and forth the pool again.

She figured she'd probably gotten through a dozen or so, and that Kai had likely gotten the hint, when suddenly, upon looking up, she noted the blunette standing directly in front of her near the middle of the pool with crossed arms.

With a loud gasp, Demetra halted abruptly and momentarily slipped underwater in her haste to avoid colliding with him. When she surfaced, she squeegeed the water out of her face and gave the blunette a nasty glare.

"What the hell?!" Seeing the serious look on his face, Demetra scowled at him.

"What?" She demanded in annoyance. "What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Kai didnt reply to her question, and Demetra narrowed her eyes at him as he wordlessly approached her. He was taller than Tala by a few inches; it was rare that she had to look up much to the redhead because her boots usually put them near eye level, but she always had to look up at Kai. This time the distance was greater than usual, due to her bare feet, and Demetra felt that familiar quicken of her pulse as he stared down at her with a heated gaze she'd never seen him wear before.

As if reading her mind, Kai stooped and gripped the back of her thighs, and Demetra felt her heart go up into her throat when he effortlessly hoisted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Reflexively, her hands went to his shoulders to steady herself as she stared wide-eyed at the blunette.

Kai's expression was intense and unreadable as he stared at her with a storm brewing behind his entrancing dark eyes. A moment later, his gaze dropped, and this time Demetra's breath caught in her throat when he reached a hand up to delicately trace the vicious scar on her chest; fingertips grazing the length of it until it reached the place where it disappeared into her cleavage. There he paused a moment, frowned deeply, then closed his eyes as a pained expression tainted his beautiful features. When he opened his eyes again, the hand he still had on the scar left her, and instead reached up to slip around the back of her neck, buried his fingers in her hair. The arm he had wrapped around her back squeezed her a little tighter to him.

"If you were mine, I'd destroy someone for doing this to you..."

The intensity in his gaze and the heavy emotion in his husky tone made Demetra's breath halt again, and for a moment she couldn't speak. When she finally found her voice again, she forced a playful look.

"You really think I need your protection, Prince Charming?" She said softly, though her own tone was much softer and timid then she'd meant or liked.

With no facial reaction, the hand Kai had buried in her hair, slipped deeper, cupping the back of her head. But he didn't pull her towards him. Instead, he dipped his face down until there was scarcely a space between them.

"No I don't..." He replied huskily. "I don't think Demetra Nakamura needs a damn thing from a single person in this world... I'd do it out of sheer pleasure."

Utterly speechless again, Demetra felt her body committing mutiny against her, and she knew with their bodies pressed so intimately close, that there was no way Kai couldn't tell. Unable to say anything, all she could do was stare, was to oblige him when he reached up to take her hands and put them around his neck, to simply sit there stunned and speechless as Kai reached up to cup the side of her face and lean down until their faces were so close, all Demetra could see were Kai's deep and beautiful dark eyes.

Suddenly, Demetra was assaulted with the continuation of the powerful memory they'd shared the night before, something dangerously close to the situation she currently found herself in.

-;-

A heavy, irritated sigh escaped Demetra as she entered her room and immediately spotted the pile of prizes and presents on her bed.

"Damn it... I forgot about all that..."

"I'm sorry for just piling it all there." Kai apologized gently. "I didn't know what else to do with it, and I didn't want to invade your privacy any more than necessary."

He then glanced around the room and smirked in amusement.

"Though... there's not really much to keep private." He teased before looking back to her. "You sure this is your room? Looks about as personal as a hotel room."

"I don't need much to survive and be content." Demetra replied in annoyance, weary of the continued joke. She knew people expected her to be more high-matinecne, but she wasn't in a joking mood - not that she normally had much time for it. "And I don't see the point in collections of junk with no purpose."

This seemed to amuse the blunette because he chuckled, but Demetra's face screwed up in irritation. Turning towards the bed, she eyed the mountain of stuff wearily as she contemplated on what to do with it all.

"Want some help putting it away?"

Demetra frowned, then sighed again.

"Normally I'd say that's unnecessary, but..." She looked to Kai then and forced herself to give him a polite expression. "Just this once, I'd appreciate it."

"No problem." Kai replied simply, moving to pick up an oversized cheesy rabbit keychain from the bed and eye it with a teasing grin. "So where do you want this?"

Giving it a weary, unamused look.

"In the garbage, preferably..." She muttered, wishing one of the little boys had chosen it for themselves. "I really don't care... stuff it in the closet if you want."

The next half an hour or so was spent finding new homes for the mountain of things Demetra had acquired over the night. Somewhere towards then end, when Demetra could finally see her bed again, she lifted the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle a wide yawn.

"Damn it... this is taking longer than I expected." She grumbled under her breath. "You can go now, Kai. I'm just going to shove all this in the corner somewhere until I find the patience to deal with it, then go grab a shower and call it a night. Thank you for your help... I really do appreciate it."

Kai looked at the remainder of things on the bed for a moment, then back at its owner.

"There's not much left, I'll put it in your closet for you. Go get a shower."

Demetra gave him a look.

"You don't have to do that..." She said with a frown. "You've done enough already."

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I minded." Kai argued, gesturing towards the bathroom door with his chin. "Go."

Debating internally for a few, Demetra eventually caved.

"Fine..." She agreed with a somewhat guilty expression. "I'll take you up on your offer..."

She debated on thanking him again, but her pride was too bruised to offer another one, so instead she simply gave him a grateful look and turned to collect her things.

Just a short time later, Demetra emerged from the bathroom in her pyjamas and the slippers Tala had previously made fun of her for - she dismayed when the memory came to her with bittersweet feelings. As promised Kai had indeed put away the rest of her things, and to her surprise, he was still there. When he turned away from her window to look at her, his expression softened.

"Not sure I'll ever get used to this look." He teased softly. "You almost look like a normal girl."

Resisting a frown at the again bittersweet feelings a similar sentiment brought up for her, Demetra had to force herself not to make a face at the comment.

"So I've been told..." She muttered under her breath. Thankfully Kai either didn't hear her reply, or chose to ignore it.

She figured he was referring to her fresh face and nightly attire. She'd also left her mane of curls simply because she didn't have the will or energy to deal with it at the moment; instead she'd simply wrangled it into a makeshift bun atop her head, sufficient enough to sleep, until she could properly take care of it in the morning.

"This would have taken me all night by myself. I owe you one."

"Like I said, it's no problem."

Feeling awkward for a moment, unsure how to properly end the conversation and dismiss the blunette, Demetra shifted on her feet before finally replying.

"Alright then... Goodnight, Kai..." She forced herself to say after a lengthy silence.

For a moment, Kai seemed reluctant to leave, and he hesitated, but eventually he gave her a small nod.

"Goodnight, Demetra..." He said softly, turning - seemingly reluctantly - to leave.

He'd almost made it to the door, when suddenly Demetra thought of something.

"Kai, wait." She called after him.

She watched her handsome companion stop and turn partially back towards her. Turning towards her desk, she reached for the coat draped over the back of the chair and extracted her wallet.

"I haven't repaid you for the delivery boys. It wasn't fair for Tala to put that on you."

To her confusion, a look of deep disappointment seemed to cloud Kai's face at that.

"Don't worry about it." He said bluntly, turning forward again and once again heading towards the door.

"I'm not worrying about it." She replied bluntly as well, slipping a few bills from her wallet. "But I'm not letting it go either. Here, take it."

Kai stopped in his retreat and released a heavy sigh. To her satisfaction, Demetra watched him turn back around and stride across the room towards her again. She lifted the hand with the bills towards him, and when Kai reached her, he lifted his own to take the offered paper. But to her surprise, he also reached out and slipped her wallet from her hand. Thoroughly confused now, she watched him place both the money and wallet on her desk, not looking at either as he stared into her eyes with an intense gaze.

"I don't want your money, Demetra." He said in a heavy tone she'd never heard him use before.

Swallowing hard, she stared at him transfixed as he took both her hands and slipped them around his neck before slipping his own around her waist, splaying his hand across the small of her back as he leaned down to close the distance between them.

"If you want to repay me... then give me what I've wanted for months..."

Completely unable to breathe, all Demetra could do was stare unblinkingly up into the hypnotizing dark eyes before her.

"What's that..?" She whispered dumbly, breathlessly.

Kai chuckled softly and reached one hand up to cup the side of her face.

"Come on... you can't be that naive..." He teased softly. "I've seen the way you look at me. I know you want this as much as I do... So take it..."

The hand on her face moved a thumb to brush her lips, a gesture that chased a violent shiver down the length of Demetra's body.

"Don't you think you've played hard to get long enough?..." He asked, leaning down to whisper against her lips. "Just kiss me already."

Demetra's eyes widened, and her throat constricted painfully as Kai's eyes began to lid, and the lips so dangerously close to hers began to apply pressure. She'd just felt the rose-petal softness against hers, when something snapped inside her and on reflex she turned her face away.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered breathlessly, unable to say anything else, and unable to look at her companion.

For a long time, there was only a deeply painful silence, and Demetra could feel Kai's gaze on her, but still she was unable to look at him. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kai pulled slowly away from her.

"Don't apologize..." He said barely audible, and Demetra picked up the faint crack in his voice. "... Goodnight, Demetra."

Still unable to speak or to look at him, Demetra listened to the soft padding of Kai's retreating footsteps as he left her room, followed by the soft click of the door when he closed it behind him. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there staring at the floor, but when she finally came out of her trance, Demetra sank into her desk chair with a stunned expression as she replayed the last few minutes in her head and wondered what the hell just happened.

-;-

Blinking herself out of her trance, Demetra forced herself to focus on the devastatingly handsome face at a nerve-wrecking proximity to her own.

"Stop wasting your time with someone who will never deserve you." Kai whispered heatedly; the movement of his velvety lips brushing hers rose goosebumps over her entire body. "With someone one who will never treat you right... Let me have you Demetra... And I swear to God, I'll make sure you never regret choosing me..."

Feeling more confused and more overwhelmed than she ever had in her entire life, Demetra felt a deep panic rise inside her. Forcing an angry expression - the only emotion she was sure she wasn't actually feeling just then - Demetra placed her hands on Kai's chest, uncoiled her legs from his deliciously muscular hips, and pushed against his alarmingly attractive chest, to force him to release her.

"I don't know if it's a Russian thing, or if you're both just that full of yourselves." She growled at him. "But don't pretend you know me and what I want... if I want something from you, Kai, you won't have to drag me to your door, because I'll come get it myself! Until then, keep your damn hands to yourself!"

That said, she turned away from the blunette and hastily made her way out of the pool. Snatching up her towel on the way past, she wrapped it around her waist as she walked, and all but flew to the door in her haste to escape.

As misfortune would have it, as soon as she swung open the pool doors, Demetra nearly collided into a very familiar form, and brought up solid just before the collision occurred. Reflexively, the person reached out to grip her shoulders to steady her, then hastily released her a second later.

"There you are..." Tala mumbled with a strange look on his face. "We need to talk..."

Absently glancing over her shoulder, he did a double-take when he saw something behind her. Knowing what he was looking at, Demetra couldn't resist looking over her shoulder as well, immediately noting Kai only just getting out of the pool. No doubt feeling the gazes on him, Kai looked up and a brazenly smug look appeared on his face - a look Demetra knew was solely for Tala's benefit, or rather spite.

"Hn... looks like you're already busy." He grumbled bitterly. "Don't let me inter-"

Demetra's irritated growl cut him off as she looked forward again.

"Shut up, Tala!" She snapped angrily, feeling her writhing emotions finally boil over now. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's not what it looks like, and not whatever the hell I know is going through that stupid, thick head of yours!"

She then looked up at him to fix him with the full brunt of all her mounted flurry of emotion.

"Besides, what the hell do you care?!" She snarled furiously. "You forfeited the right to your jealousy and your fake-ass concern when you left me alone in the cold!"

Shouldering roughly past the redhead, Demetra stormed away from the pool room, gut-sick and heart-sick and wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between herself and both Russians now as physically possible.


Tala watched Demetra's retreating form with a deeply troubled expression, until she'd disappeared around the corner leading to the upper floors. He'd come to try and reconcile with her, to attempt to fix his previous mistake from the night before. Of course, having caught her with Kai tore at his heart, and the smug look on the blunette's face made the green monster inside him rear its ugly head. However, Demetra's reaction was the last thing he expected, and as he replayed her words and the expression she'd left him with over and over in his head, a sickly pain churned in his gut to the point it made him physically ill.

"You forfeited the right to your jealousy and your fake-ass concern when you left me alone in the cold!"

Without a doubt, he'd hurt her this time, badly he knew. But what stunned him the most wasn't her anger or her reaction, really; it was the fact that what she seemed hung up on was that he'd left her, and the thought both assaulted him with guilt, and lit a dangerous spark of hope inside him.

Clenching his teeth tightly, before he could think better of it, Tala turned and lit off after the brunette.

Fortunately, Demetra had only made it to the central staircase by the time he'd found her. Bounding forward, he reached out to snag her wrist, successfully causing her to halt and turn towards him with a savage expression. Yet despite her no doubt forced mask of fury, Tala didn't miss the deep pain in her eyes this time, and it tore at his heart all the more.

"What?" Demetra demanded coldly. "I have nothing to say to you, Ivanov."

The use of his surname felt like a punch to the gut, and Tala felt a sense of panic building inside him, unable to resist the fear that his stupidity and severe lapse of judgement had inadvertently thrust them back to square one; back to a time when she could barely stand to look at him.

"Demetra... I-" The crack in his own voice made him wince, but try as he might he couldn't seem to force anything else out.

Seeing as he didn't seem inclined to add anything, Demetra's face screwed up in an angry scowl before yanking her arm from Tala's grip.

"Stop wasting my time." She growled icily. "I should have known better than to expect anything good from you."

Moving to turn away again, Tala once again snagged her in an attempt to keep her from leaving; this time her hand. Demetra looked down the length of her arm at their linked hands, and when she looked back up at him, the venomous expression on her face made Tala outright cringe.

"Let me go." She hissed through tightly clenched teeth.

"No." Tala replied firmly. "Not until-..."

He stopped, hesitated a moment, then swallowed so hard it was audible in the deathly silent hall, before reluctantly releasing her. To his relief though, Demetra didn't try to leave again. Choosing to take it as a good sign, he hurried to force himself to say something - hopefully something beneficial and pleasing for them both for once.

"I shouldn't have left you alone last night..." He told her, inwardly cringing again to hear the strain in his tone. "I-..."

It was so frustrating that he couldn't seem to make himself say what he wanted to, more so because Tala had a feeling that the truth was more crucial this time then it had ever been before. Unfortunately, truth had never been one of Tala Ivanov's closest friends.

It was a relief to find that Demetra seemed to be willing to wait for him to find his words, but he knew her patience wouldn't hold out for long. Resisting a heavy sigh, Tala did his best to kick his pride into submission and forced himself to plough on.

"Don't let one stupid decision on my part ruin... everything... everything else good about last night..."

Looking into her face, he searched it desperately for something, anything that might hint she hadn't sworn him off completely, that he still had some inkling of a chance to salvage the progress he'd made with her.

"I saw your face last night..." He said quietly, his voice cracking again. But this time he didn't allow hesitation time to settle. "Before the competition. I've never... seen you smile like that."

His pulse was racing now like it never had before, chest heaving almost painfully. Yet despite it, he took a step closer to her, felt a tiny jolt of hope when she didn't retreat. He lifted his hand hesitantly towards her face, but she flinched and he thought better of it. The sight clenched his heart painfully and Tala instead closed his hand in a fist and lowered it to his side again. Swallowing hard this time, a feat that was a much greater effort then it should have been, he adverted his gaze form her for a few moments to collect his thoughts, before eventually looking back to her again.

"You were happy, I know you were..." He whispered with effort. "I might of screwed up more times than I can count... but despite how hard you try to convince us both that you hate me... I know you were happy last night, Princess... and I know I can at least take credit for that..."

To his alarmed dismay, Tala watched a deeply dark expression cloud Demetra's face, darker than he'd seen in a long time.

"You don't get to take credit for anything good in my life!" She snarled savagely. "Last night was a severe lapse of judgement on my part, one I can assure you will not be happening again!"

Narrowing her eyes at him with a little extra venom, Demetra's teeth clenched as she hissed her next words past them.

"And the next time you call me by that hateful dub, so help me God, I'll shove it down your throat!"

Feeling like she'd already done so, all Tala could do was stare in stunned, painful silence as she whirled around and stormed up the stairs. He watched her go helplessly, completely at a loss of what to do or say this time, and unable to budge if he had anyway.

For the briefest of moments, Tala felt another prick of hope when Demetra stopped half-way up the incline, but it was a fleeting hope and was quickly dashed under her feet when she opened her mouth for one final barb that shredded whatever was left of his already tattered heart.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life..." She said coldly in a low tone. "But coming here... is becoming my greatest."

That said, without giving him so much as a backward glance, Tala watched helplessly and heartbroken as she finally ascended the remainder of the stairs and disappeared around the corner at the top.


When Demetra arrived at her room, she was nothing short of a bundle of toxic emotions and nerves. Never in her life had she felt so much at once, and the sensation of the multitude of emotions was overwhelming. She felt like a bottle of shaken soda, ready to explode. Her chest was heaving painfully, her throat was constricted so tightly she could barely swallow, and her eyes pricked with an uncomfortable sensation she hadn't felt since she was a child.

Just then, the sound of her cell chiming echoed through her room and Demetra turned to her desk to look at it. She had a feeling she knew who was contacting her, but at the moment, the last thing she wanted was to talk to another human being. Nevertheless, she approached the desk anyway and picked up the cell. As expected, she frowned deeply to see the barrage of texts from three of the four most treasured people in her world.

Hey Dem... just got the weirdest feeling I should message you... you doin OK..?

So how was your night, "Princess" ;) Didn't see any pics in my inbox this morning! You better get that report in missy, I'm waiting!

Hey just checking in to see how you're doin... OK, and I wanna know how your night went! Lol! Don't hold out on us Dem, come on spill the juicy deets! ;)

You better not be ignoring me cause you didn't go out! If I find you didn't actually go out last night, you're in big trouble ya hear!

I know you're probably busy, so I'll try not to bug you too much but... text me back OK...

Ok seriously, Demi, what's going on, I've been trying to reach you all day! Answer me damn it! Are you OK?

Demi, you're starting to scare me, please answer our texts OK? We're seriously worried about you...

Demetra released a heavy, frustrated sigh. She knew she couldn't hold them off much longer, and she also knew her girls were probably worried sick; she'd never gone a day without checking in, and she was well aware they'd all been looking forward to hearing how her night went. However for obvious reasons, she wasn't particularly inclined to discuss the night before - preferably ever. So, forcing herself to reply at last, she moved to finally send a single text to the three of them.

I'm fine. Busy. Talk later.

She knew it was minimal, and she knew it wasn't going to be enough to satisfy them, but it would keep them from going into panic mode and from doing anything drastic. Besides, she really wasn't able to manage much more at the moment. Before the girls had a chance to reply, Demetra moved to turn her cell off and carelessly tossed it back on the desk again.

Taking a few minutes to compose herself as best she could, Demetra took a long, shaky breath. Knowing the storm inside her wasn't going to subside on its own, Demetra turned and made her way to the bathroom. She took the time to quickly dry her hair, then twisted it into a hasty braid, got herself dressed in her training gear and swiftly left her room, and the facility behind.


Demetra yanked on her padded gloves as she eyed the set up around her. She'd made her way deep into the woods behind The Facility, to a place that had yet to be discovered by her Russian companions. It was an area she'd spent weeks clearing out and setting up when she'd first arrived in Russia.

Clenching her hands into tight fists, Demetra's bright silver eyes scanned the set-up with mixed feelings. The set-up she'd prepared for herself was a complex assortment of moving targets, dummies and traps; an impressive display by any standards, but paling in comparison to its original. The original had been a creation by her mother; Yua Nakamura's greatest masterpiece, and pure genius.

Demetra felt her nerves spike as she looked around at the riggings of the homemade machine. She'd finished preparing it at least a month ago, but she had yet to actually try it out. Admittedly she was terrified of it, and the thought infuriated her.

She remembered when Breal had first shown her the one their mother had made back at home, how he had explained to her that it had been her pride and joy, that Yua had fully and completely mastered it. She remembered watching videos of her mother taking the monstrous machine on (affectionately nicknamed The Beast) - always with grace and poise, and always blindfolded. Watching Yua dance in and out, around and through the objects as they swung violently around her, towards and past her, as if the machine itself was alive and doing its damndest to squash her like a bug, was nothing short of mesmerizing.

Demetra recalled how she'd itched to try it, how she'd had to practically beg Breal on her hands and knees to let her try for herself. It had taken months, but finally, one day, he'd given in. He'd done everything in his power to stop her going in blindfolded like her hero, but Demetra had been stubborn and stupidly prideful.

She'd gotten the absolute snot beaten out of her that day.

Glancing down at her hand, she clenched and unclenched it as she pictured the vicious scar on her palm; a scar that had been her worst until the one now marring her chest. That day, she'd come away from her hard learned lesson with a a shard of metal stuck so deep in her hand, it nearly protruded out the other side, drenched in her own blood, and with her pride bruised more than her black and blue body.

It was the last time she'd ever attempted the machine blindfolded. But that hadn't stopped her from trying again with her eyes open.

And again, and again. Yet no matter how many times she tried, she always got her ass handed to her by the blasted death device. And each and every time, she came away feeling like the utmost failure and disgrace to her mother's impressive reputation and memory.

Demetra's version was slower, its intimidating edges duller, and its construction was of wood, rope and cloth instead of reinforced hardened steel, razor sharp cables and virtually indestructible material. Though that didn't stop the gut-wrenching fear and anxiety from bubbling up inside her, as it always did when she faced down this terrifying beast. Though construction had been completed for a while, she had yet to give it a go; likely because the last time she'd attempted the trial at home, she'd cracked three ribs and messed up her knee so badly she hadn't been able to breathe or walk right for months.

Closing her eyes, Demetra took a long, deep breath through her nose. Each time she'd tried to master The Beast in the past, she'd had nothing on her mind, no desire except the deep and impassioned one to finally conquer what her mother had made look, not just so easy, but also so graceful it could almost be called artistic. This time though, her mind was full of such an array of distractions, she figured things were only able to go one way; either her distractions were going to be the key to her finally reaching her goal, or she'd get the ever-living snot beat out of her again. In the case of the latter, if she were lucky, at least there was a chance the physical pain would be enough to overshadow the mental and emotional.

So, before her self preservation had a chance to kick in and she chickened out again, Demetra took another long breath, reached into her pocket for her earbuds to stuff them in her ears, then reached up to give them a tap. Without giving herself a chance to reconsider, Demetra reached out to yank hard on a rope dangling beside her and sprang forward, just as the music began blaring in her ears and The Beast came to life.

She'd thought she was ready, she'd thought she'd at least be able to fend off the first few attacks. But when Demetra ducked to avoid one massive log, a cry of pain tore from her as another struck her from behind with a powerful blow that sent her to her knees. Rolling to avoid a gargantuan bolder, she forced herself to her feet quick as she could, this time only just missing a giant swinging log covered in sharp limbs and branches, which narrowly missed taking her head off. Before she could recover from this, she was struck with a whip-like branch that hit her full-face. Gasping at the explosion of pain, her hand reflexively flew to her nose. Pain wasn't the only thing that exploded, because when she pulled her hand away to look, it was covered in an all-too-familiar crimson fluid.

The momentary distraction cost her, and this time another sharp cry tore from her throat as she was again struck from behind, this time with enough force to knock the wind out of her and send her sprawling face-first into the cold dirt.

As she lay there gasping for air, Demetra felt the familiar tears of shame and humiliation prick her eyes like every time before. When finally she was able to breathe again, she gasped a greedy gulp of air and rolled onto her back, panting desperately as she stared skyward, and watched with distressing dismay as The Beast raged on over her head.

Reaching up to pinch her nose in an attempt to stem the steady flow of blood, her face screwed up furiously as she fought with all her might to hold back the onslaught of waterworks she hadn't allowed to escape in over a decade.

Against her will, the old feelings of self-pity and self-loathing began to consume her as they had so often before, and for a time Demetra began to entertain thoughts of getting up and setting fire to the monster, of slaying The Beast and putting it from her mind once and for all; she'd never be able to do her mother proud, she'd never be Yua Nakamura.

It was just about the time when those thoughts had nearly won her over, that a powerful memory assailed her.

"Anger is a weakness, imouto. It's no one's friend... It will always find a way to defeat you, long before your enemy does. Don't hand your enemy such an easy victory."

She'd stubbornly refuted her brother for his sentiment.

"What if I can control it?"

"You can't. No one can. Though there are many who will tell you otherwise."

His words had frustrated her, and she'd wanted to argue. But she knew better, she knew her brother's wisdom and intelligence extended far beyond his years. Even though that had never made his lessons any easier to swallow.

"I don't understand!" She'd growled in frustration. "So, what? If you get angry, you're as good as done for?!"

"Of course not." Breal had responded calmly despite her childishness, he was always so calm. "Plenty of warriors have won battles with anger burning their hearts. As I said; anger is no one's friend, but if it comes upon you, and you're unable to banish it, don't try to control it. Instead, ride it out, use it."

That lesson had been followed by one of the most intense and gruelling training sessions she'd ever experienced. But it had done its job; and it did its job now.

Eventually, having her gut-full of the self pity, Demetra mentally kicked herself for it, and an expression of determination took over her face. Turning her head, she spat out a mouthful of blood that had drained down her throat while she'd laid pitifully on the ground, then rolled over a few times until she was out of the danger zone.

For quite some time, Demetra stood and watched The Beast as it tore its way around the area. As she watched, she pictured a particular blade, an all-too-familiar white one. She pictured her own, and how the two had created just as much, if not more, chaos and havoc in a time that seemed a lifetime ago. She pictured her spars with Breal, with her girls, her training sessions alone. She pictured a certain redhead and blunette in her minds eye, and the moment she'd spent in the bar the night before during her playfight with the bane of her existence. She pictured all the times since meeting Tala that she'd ever wanted to punch his lights out, all the times he'd infuriated her so much she wanted nothing more then to knock him on his arse, teach him exactly why the mere mention of her name had gotten so many quaking in their boots over the years.

Demetra Nakamura wasn't exactly the definition of a proper young lady, and she sure as hell wasn't raised to fight like one. She was a Nakamura, daughter of Yua Nakamura, and she was a powerful force to be reconditioned with.

Feeling for the first time like the hunter instead of the prey, Demetra reached up and plucked out her earbuds. Walking over to her coat hanging in a tree, she deposited them in their case in its pockets, reached for her music player, and flicked through her song list until something jumped out at her. It wasn't one of her training songs, and not one she normally considered a good 'fight song'. In fact, it wasn't even a song she'd put on her player at all, it was one Keisha had insisted she download and listen to. Admittedly, she'd only ever played it through the one time, mainly because she'd only started to listen before deciding it was too slow and sappy for her tastes. She'd had every intention of deleting it, but had never quite gotten around to it. Now, for reasons she couldn't begin to guess at, it seemed to scream at her, demanding to be given a chance, until eventually she caved.

"What the hell..." She muttered to herself, moving her fingers to play it.

Taking another deep, cleansing breath, Demetra eyed the death trap before her one last time, while the intro to the song played, and when the first of the lyrics began, she stepped forwards.

-;-

A deep frown etched Tala's face as he looked out the window and made note of the setting sun. He'd been looking for Demetra all day, but try as he might, he couldn't seem to track her down anywhere. The guys all seemed completely unbothered by her disappearance, reasoning she was likely fine because Breal seemed to be completely unbothered by the fact. It was a fair point; if her overly-protective, intense brother didn't seem worried about his MIA sister (which he didnt seem to be, because he'd been squirrelled away in his room, clicking furiously on his computer for hours), then she was probably just fine. Still, it didnt help the deeply sickening feeling in the pit of Tala's gut.

Finally, not knowing what else to do, but needing to do something, Tala pulled on a heavy coat and made his way out of The Facility.

Initially, he'd only intended to take a walk in attempt to clear his mind. While he hoped he'd find a clue as to Demetra's whereabouts, he hadn't been particularly optimistic. For this reason, he was completely surprised when he noted a strange pattern in the snow which led, oddly enough, to the woods behind The Facility. Furrowing his brows, he turned away from the path that led down to the village (his original intended destination), and instead made his way towards the heavily dense woods.

When he'd reached the edge of the woods, Tala frowned into the near-darkness in thought. Glancing back down at the odd trail that had led him there, he considered it for a length of time. It was obvious someone had attempted to cover their tracks, and admittedly, they'd done an alright job. But he knew his team were much more proficient at the task, and besides, he knew they were still inside The Facility. That only left Demetra.

Working his jaw for a minute, Tala eventually made up his mind and headed off into the heavy brush.

-;-

Somewhere around the middle of the forest, Tala realized the trail was getting harder to follow, and was forced to admit that Demetra - or whoever he was tracking - was getting better at covering their tracks. Around about the time he made this realization, the trail went cold. He was just wondering whether he should turn back or just go in blind and hope he stumbled across her, when the sound of music reached his ears as if beckoning to him and encouraging him to continue.

By the time he'd reached Demetra's training grounds, he found he wasn't particularly surprised to discover he'd been correct about it being her he was following, nor was he surprised that she'd set up training grounds for herself in such a place. What did surprise him was the insane training course she'd apparently set up for herself, as well as the savage way she was attacking it.

"What the-" The end of that thought was abruptly cut off when Tala was forced to duck to avoid loosing his head.

Looking over his shoulder at the massive chunk of debris now laying harmlessly some feet behind him, he turned forward again with wide eyes as he watched the brunette in action. Completely mesmerized by her, Tala imagined watching her gracefully weave in and out of the intense course was like watching a seasoned ballet dancer on stage - albeit a much more violent and savage display then one was likely to witness at such a show. Still, in his opinion, it was a strangely beautiful display, and with the way she seemed to anticipate each and every motion of the machine, the way her own movements seemed perfectly timed and executed with the timing of the song, it looked as if she were a seasoned entertainer acting out a routine she'd gone through a thousand and one times.

"This is incredible..." Tala thought in awe, hunkering down in the brush to get comfortable. "She's incredible..."

It felt like he'd been watching for hours when the feeling of someone invading his space pricked Tala's senses. Looking to his left, he was immediately greeted with the sight of an unpleasantly familiar form. Obviously sensing someone's gaze on him, Kai turned to look at Tala. Immediately both their faces screwed up, clearly sharing the sentiment of not being pleased to see the other. Tala's annoyance was further piqued when he wondered irritably how he hadn't noticed the blunette approach.

That annoyance was brief, because both heads whipped forward when they noted a faint whirring sound, and only barely managed to duck to avoid the second chunk of debris that flew their way. Giving each other another brief glance, an unspoken agreement passed between them; a silent truce, before both turned forward again to watch the brilliant display they'd been fortunate enough to witness.

-;-

She hadn't expected her song choice to do her much good, but as it blared through her speaker, Demetra had to admit it was surprisingly helpful. To her absolute joyous astonishment, she felt a surge of pleasure course through her each and every time she landed a strike in time with the song. She really hadn't expected the song to help much, but as it continued on, it felt like a trusted friend in her corner. With its encouragement, she landed strike after meticulous strike, and with each explosion of splinters and debris, she felt her confidence and pride soar.

"It's easy to see, it's for the best, when you want more while you leave me with less... I know you're fine, but what do I do..."

It wasn't as if she was foolish enough to think the song was written for her, and she still believed, as she always had, that allowing the words to a mere song to dictate one's feelings was absolute folly. But that didnt stop her tortured mind from dredging up unwanted memories, which in turn brought with them unwanted thoughts and feelings, during particular segments of the unlikely song choice. Especially when some of them felt just so damn appropriate.

"I'm on the ledge while you're so, so damn polite and composed..."

No matter how hard she fought them, Demetra couldnt resist the images that formed out of the chaos of her mind when the lyrics of the song seemed to yank them out of the darkness like an experienced angler with a monster on his hook. She couldnt help but recall the far too numerous instances when Tala had backed her into a corner, all the time's he'd cornered her and thrown her entire self into complete chaos, all the while he stood there, basking in the glow of the fallout he'd created with nothing more than a knowing, condescending smirk.

"Fallout, Fallout, Fallout... You're the Fallout."

Demetra's face screwed up as those words echoed in her ears, and her teeth clenched tightly as a particularly sinister looking dummy lunged at her from the trees.

"You really are, aren't you Tala?" The dummy didn't stand a chance, and the sense of satisfaction was immense as Demetra watched it blow apart after a vicious roundhouse.

"Secrets you give and the secrets you keep. And nevertheless, it's never you get, the more that I give and the less that I get... "

She was reminded then of their conversations in he club, specifically the secrets the redhead had hinted at. She'd been completely honest with everything she'd told him - though looking back, she couldn't for the life of her figure why she'd divulged anything to him at all, never mind what she considered such important details about herself. Looking back now, she wondered if Tala had done the same, if he'd been truthful in anything he'd told her at all. The thought infuriated her all the more.

"I know you're fine but what do I do. I know you're fine but what do I do..."

Although he didn't seem quite like his usual confident, cocky self that day, Demetra couldn't help wondering if Tala had been as torn up over the unfortunate turn of events as she was - why would he? Certainly he'd never seemed much bothered by any of their combined experiences before.

"I'm on the ledge, while you're so, so damn polite and composed..."

She tried so desperately not to remember, not to give the thoughts precedence, but Demetra was unable to stop herself thinking of the terrible ending to what should have been one of the best nights she'd ever had. She'd thought the whole thing had gone so beautifully, surely even Keisha and Victoria, hopeless romantics that they were, couldn't have thought up a better ending. Surely Kage and her selfless heart couldn't have wished a more perfect finale for her Captain. But despite how perfect she'd thougth it was, how it should have been, Demetra couldn't figure for the life of her just how it could have gone so wrong. More precisely, she couldnt figure just what the hell had gone wrong.

Inevitably, her thoughts began to catch up with her, and Demetra felt the overwhelming flood of them begin to overpower her senses, and therefor her reflexes. Fortunately, as if her new encouraging friend was determined to see her through it, she noted a break in the song, and immediately decided to take the reprieve.

Leaping towards a swinging obstacle, she used it as a springboard to bound upwards, grabbed a thick limb of a nearby tree, and hauled herself up onto it. Getting to her feet, she stood at the top of the massive cracked giant and stared down at the carnage below her as her chest heaved, lungs searing, as she fought to regain her breath and bearings. She knew if she stayed there too long, the nuisance thoughts would overwhelm her and she'd be right back where she started. She didnt want to think too much about it, didnt want to admit that she was actually doing well, that she might actually beat The Beast this time, didnt want to allow herself to get cocky and screw it up. Most importantly, she didn't want to just hand Tala the victory this time - even if it was only the version of him in her head.

So, before she could think better of if, Demetra steeled herslef up to her full height, took a good long, deep breath, held out her arms, and closed her eyes as she allowed her body to free fall back into the fray below.

-;-

Having been thoroughly enthralled by the scene before him, Tala's breath stopped as he watched Demetra free fall as if in slow motion towards the deathly horrifying monstrosity again. To his astonishment, he watched her with bated breath as she picked up, seemingly effortlessly, where she left off.

For the most part, he hadn't really been paying much attention to what she was destroying, to what the obstacles actually looked like. But as the final notes of the song echoed through the now devastated clearing, and Demetra was suddenly faced with her final test, he was very acutely aware of this disturbingly familiar figure as the brunette came face to face with it. Eying her with a mounting sense of morbid curiosity and dread, a deep frown and sickly wrenching twisted Tala's gut when Demetra's own face screwed up into a savage expression, right before pulling back and roundhouse kicking the dummy (which distinctly resembled him), so hard its head was knocked clean off.

For a third time that night, Tala ducked to avoid the debris, but this time his eyes went to the blunette some feet away when he heard Kai scoff in obvious amusement.

"Bet she wishes that was the real thing." Kai snickered cruelly. Tala felt his blood boil.

"I lasted longer than you..." He hissed angrily. Kai gave him a cocky look in return.

"Her eyes were closed when she destroyed mine. Doesn't count."

Tala gave his teammate a viscious scowl, but didnt reply; he knew the blunette was right.

To his surprise, he watched Kai watch Demetra for another another few seconds before making a face Tala couldnt quite identify, then quietly getting to his feet and turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Tala hissed moodily. "This mean you're giving up, Hiwatari?"

Kai scoffed again, this time humourlessly.

"Doesn't count as giving up if the battle's already over."

Furrowing his brows in confusion, Tala looked back at Demetra, watched her thoughtfully for a minute, then turned, got to his feet and jogged after Kai.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked the blunette, trying to make it sound condescendng instead of letting the curiosity he actually felt show.

To his surprise once again, Kai stopped and turned so fast it made Tala jump. He furrowed his brows when the blunette gave him an incredulous look for several long seconds, before Kai finally scoffed one last time and turned around again.

"If you don't know, then I'm sure as hell not handing you the ammo." He said bluntly as he began walking again. "Actually, if you don't know, then I'd say the battle's not over after all. "

Thoroughly confused now, Tala just stood and stared as the blunette continued on without another word or backwards glance as he disappeared into the now darkness. He stared for a long time, long after Kai was gone, running the irritating guy's thoughts through his head and rolling them around. Finally, something clicked in Tala's head and he turned to look over his shoulder. Hesitating a moment, he turned and headed back towards Demetra.

He'd just reached her and noticed she seemed to be taking a break as she surveyed her handiwork - not that there was much left to train with now anyway, she'd basically wrecked the place - and after another hesitation, he'd intended to finally step out and make himself known. However, before he could accomplish this, Tala noted a movement in the corner of his eye and turned his head to note Breal stepping out of the trees some ways away. Cursing under his breath, he ducked back into the shadows again and watched, hoping desperately the surly blunette would make his visit quick and leave his sister behind when he did - though those hopes weren't high.

-;-

Demetra's head snapped to her left, immediately tensing, but she relaxed when she noted her brother's familiar face.

"You found me." She said tonelessly, not particularly surprised by the fact.

"You must have been pretty focused if you didn't notice you had an audience."

Demetra scoffed and turned away form him to fetch her water bottle.

"I won't beat myself up over that too much." She replied nonchalantly. "I rarely notice you when you're trying to conceal yourself."

Breal eyed her for a moment as she drank greedily from her bottle, then turned his head to stare into the woods. Unbeknownst to his sister, he watched a silhouette sink further into the shadows, and fixed his gaze there for several moments before eventually turning back to Demetra when she lowered her arm.

"She'd be proud of you, you know."

Instantly, Demetra felt a flood of emotion choke her, and her face screwed up with the effort to push back the onslaught of wetness in her eyes.

"It doesn't count..." She answered in a strained tone "It wasn't nearly as impressive as hers... I'm not nearly as... I'm still nowhere near her level..."

"Demetra."

She swallowed hard, forced back her weakness. Forced herself to look at him. Breal's expression was serious, it matched his tone when he spoke again.

"She'd be proud of you."

This time Demetra was unable to reply, and she was forced to close her eyes lest the emotional hurricane finally consume her. But among the hurricane, for the first time, she allowed herself to feel just the tiniest prick of pride for what she'd fought so hard to accomplish.

-;-

Ducking back as Breal passed by him, Tala felt like a frightened rabbit trying to avoid a starving wolf, and the cowardliness infuriated him. As such, the scowl he gave the blunette in return to the cold glare he received was fierce. But to Tala's relief, the brunette at her brother's side didn't seem to notice him, and instead continued on in silence as the two siblings left the clearing behind and headed back in direction of The Facility.

Knowing his chance had passed, Tala cursed inwardly, took one final glance over his shoulder at Demetra's destruction, then heaved a heavy sigh of defeat before reluctantly skulking after the siblings.


It wasn't unusual for Tala to have trouble sleeping; truth be told, sleep was a battle he fought near-nightly. However, for the first time, he was unable to decide what he dreaded more, the sleep that would inevitably bring more unwanted dreams, or the waking hours which he knew would be just as torturing.

A heavy sigh echoed through the room as Tala rolled over onto his back and glared up at his ceiling with a disturbed expression. Comparing the previous night to the day he'd had felt like a cruel tease. He felt like a starving dog who'd had a mouthwatering steak dangled before him, only to have it snatched away and tossed into the fire.

Feeling a sharp pain inside, accompanied by a gut-wrenching twist, Tala's head rolled to the side and his gaze was immediately greeted with a bittersweet sight. With mixed feelings, he stared unblinkingly at the jet-black plushie toy sitting innocently on his bedside table. Feeling the horrible stab at his heart again, he scowled at it before turning over on his side away from it with a moody flop. For several long minutes, he stared into the near-darkness of the room, but he swore he could feel the lamp-like amber eyes boring into him. Sure enough, rolling back over, he stared into the soulful eyes of the wolf plush he'd won the night before - the one that maddeningly reminded him uncannily of Demetra's Trea.

He wanted so desperately to reach out and grasp it, to rip it in half and fire the mangled pieces across the room so it wouldnt be able to torture him any longer. Intending to do just that, Tala's hand indeed reached out, he did indeed grip it tightly in his fist, and he did indeed grip it with both hands and give it a pull, fully intending to see his desire through.

But in the end, his hands relaxed, his eyes stared into those ridiculously realistic glass orbs, and his arms unconsciously pulled the plush downwards.

Sighing heavily now at his own embarrassing patheticness, Tala rolled back over, swearing to himself up and down that it was a moment of weakness he'd take to the grave. And with that thought in mind, he rolled back over on his side, the plush tucked under an arm and cradled to his chest, and did his damndest to keep himself from admitting just how much of a comfort the stupid thing actually was.


Having returned to her room, showered and gotten dressed for bed, Demetra eyed herself in her bathroom mirror with a grimace. Already there were dark smudges under her eyes, blackened by the wicked smack she'd taken to the nose earlier, and said appendage had a nasty gash across the bridge. Sighing, she dabbed at the tiny drops weeping from the wound, placed a butterfly stitch over the mark and turned away from her reflection.

Leaving the bathroom behind, she made her way back into the bedroom. On her way past the desk, she caught sight of her phone, and after a brief hesitation, she swiped it up and turned towards her bed. Once she'd crawled under the blankets and turned off the bedside lamp, she turned her attention back to her cell and, hesitating again, sighed before moving to turn it on. Squinting at the brightness in the darkness, she waited for it to power up, then groaned aloud when she was instantly assaulted with another barrage of texts. This time she decided not to check them - she knew who they were from, and although she felt extremely guilty for it, she knew she still wasn't in the right frame of mind, nor did she have the heart, to talk to her sisters just yet.

Instead, a thought came to her, and for the briefest of moments, she considered texting a certain redhead. She had no idea what she'd say to him, but she had a sudden desire to say something. Perhaps it would come to her when she actually opened the conversation. If nothing else, she was sorely tempted to demand just what the hell his problem was; perhaps she'd easier find the courage to ask him over cyber chat something she wasn't able to say to his face.

But as she opened her list of conversations, Demetra's brows furrowed in confusion as she scrolled past the names in her list. Reading through them, she noted that all her previous conversations were there except Tala's.

Kage, Keisha, Victoria, Breal, Kai, Spencer, Ian, Brian.

And that was it.

Staring at the cell in confusion, Demetra eyed the names on the list before scrolling back to the top and going down the list again. Sure enough, no Tala. Lowering the cell, she considered thoughtfully. She coudn't remember deleting their conversation, and she knew for a fact there had been one - brief as it was, they'd rarely texted each other, but there had definitely been an occasion or two.

Finally she was forced to admit that the conversation was gone, whatever had happened to it, and deciding to take it as a sign, Demetra frowned before turning to toss her cell onto her bedside table. As soon as the object had left her hand, and she'd heard the solid thunk as it struck the table, she stared unblinkingly at the considerably softer object that was already occupying it. For a long time she stared, and she was disturbed to think the object was staring back.

Eventually making a face at the disturbingly familiar white wolf, she reached out a hand to snatch it a up. Rolling onto her back, she fired the plush with all her might across the room and heard it hit her window with a soft thud.

Snorting indignantly, Demetra rolled over on her opposite side and closed her eyes, intending to will herself to sleep. But sleep refused to come, and from behind her closed lids, the sight of a pair of ultra realistic polar blues stared back at her. She tossed and turned several times, squeezing her eyes shut and fighting with all her might against the nagging in her gut, until finally she rolled again onto her back with an irritated huff. She resisted as long as she could, but eventually Demetra released a loud angry growl before throwing back the blankets, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. With a great deal of muttering and grumbling, she got up, trudged across the room, bent to snatch up the soft fluffy plush, then turned and stalked back to her bed.

Yanking her covers back over herself, she tried to ignore the plush she'd just placed beside her, but eventually the thought of those polar blues boring into her made her roll back over and stare at it again. She stared for some time, refusing to give in, until eventually she felt herself cave. Gritting her teeth, Demetra reached out and grudgingly pulled the fluffy plush under the blankets with her. She'd be damned if she'd ever admit it, even to herself, but its soft comfort was the main reason sleep, for once, came so easy to her that night.