AN: Welp!  Since you guys were so nice with your reviews in the last chapter here is this one early ;)

This is a HUGE chapter you guys, like as for plot development.. and after this there is only three chapters and an epilogue left.  I personally love this chapter *sniff*  The only warning I have is that it contains a bit of sap ;)

I'm really glad you all like my ficcy so much ^^ It makes me happy =)  And I'm glad it makes you laugh as much as it did when I was writing it ^^ Happy reading =D

Liika approached Bryan silently, an air of nervousness surrounding her.  They had never been so completely and utterly alone with no prospect of being interrupted before.  The incident with the bear didn't count because they might have escaped at any moment…and she hadn't felt the way she did now. 

She had a feeling Tala had set it up purposely –after all he wouldn't let her or Bryan come on the hunting trip as he said that someone had to stay with the cave—just to see what would happen.  Ha!  Well he would be wrong if he thought anything was going to happen between Bryan and herself in the other three's absence.  She wasn't like that.  Besides, Bryan hadn't even so much as looked at her in the month since she had admitted to herself that she liked him.  She had also started treating him differently, and was constantly edgy around him.  Something the other three picked up almost instantly and snickered about it.  When Bryan was not around they would tease her mercilessly, delighting in watching her blush, scowl and storm away.

Nope nothing would happen.  She could get through this two-day adventure of being alone with Bryan and her feelings.  And she could do it unscathed.  After all, Bryan was just Bryan.  She had been dealing with him for six months.

So it was with a lightened heart that Liika sat down on the bed mat next to the large teen, looking everywhere but at him. 

What was she supposed to do with herself?!  All of her chores were done, they'd eaten an early dinner before Tala, Ian and Spencer had left, she had no sewing to do, and she was completely and utterly bored.

Bryan glanced at the blue haired girl that fidgeted quietly beside him as he ran a whet stone repeatedly over the edge of his hunting knife.  What was her problem?  She was practically jumping up and down in nervousness.  He didn't see what could possibly be agitating her; they had been alone before.  He chalked it up to another of her oddities.

Damn woman.

Finally he couldn't take her fidgeting and sighing any more and growled, turning a sharp eye to the top of her head.  "What?" He snapped, lowering the knife and stone to his lap.

Liika jumped at the sudden noise.  She looked up at him with wide innocent eyes that were nearly his undoing. 

"What?  What?"  She asked frowning.

He glared at her.  "What is your problem?"

She scowled, narrowing her eyes to glare back.  "Nothing!  I don't have a problem.  I'm just bored."

"Then find something to do."  He growled, picking the knife and stone once more.  Damn annoying…almost cute woman.

Silence lapsed over the two of them once more, leaving Liika to brood on her companion.

Sure she had admitted to herself that she was more than likely in love with the burly Demolition Boy, but that didn't mean she had to like his bad attitude.  He was such an ass sometimes!  She continued to brood, trying to think up ways she could get him back for the trouble he had caused her.  That's when it hit her.  What better way to fight annoyance than with annoyance?

Too bad she didn't realize how much her plan could backfire.

"Ne Bryan?"

He grunted, acknowledging her.  "What."

"Have you ever been kissed?"

At the unexpected question Bryan actually fumbled the knife in his hands and cut himself, swearing violently in Russian as he did so.  Blood began to well on his cut thumb.

Liika bit back a giggle and jumped to her feet, scrambling across the cave and retrieving the first aid kit.  She sat back down, setting the white box beside her.  Then with a click of her tongue she took Bryan's injured hand in her own and pulled it into her lap.

"Stupid."  She murmured softly, taking a piece of cotton and dabbing at the blood gently.  She couldn't help but notice how nice his large hand felt cradled in her own tiny ones.

As she was bandaging the appendage her question resurfaced in her mind and suddenly she was extremely curious.  "Well, have you?"  She prodded.

Bryan jerked out of his half-relaxed state.  He had been enjoying her soft ministrations a bit too much it seemed.  He scowled.  She was getting close again…something he had been fighting viciously and was failing miserably at.  "No."  It wasn't really a secret.

"Oh."  She looked sad for a moment, biting her lip.  "That's too bad."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  Why did she look sad?  It was his life.

"I have."

Bryan listened immediately.  He wanted to know just whom she had allowed such intimate contact.  The thought of anyone kissing her angered him.

Liika smiled nostalgically.  "A boy back in second grade kissed me on the cheek…and earned a punch in the stomach for his efforts."  She laughed.  "Then there was Michael, who stole my first kiss during the first round of a tournament when I was eleven."

At this Bryan growled.  "You let him kiss you?"  He demanded in disgust, snatching his hand away from her.  He could just picture the American with his paws all over his little woman's body.

Liika shot him a dry look and turned to face him, crossing her legs into a cross legged position.  "Not let, I told you he stole it.  However, I don't really consider it my first kiss anyway."  She giggled.  "He just missed my lips."

Good, the slimy American had gotten nothing.  Served him right.  "Hn."

Liika grinned.  She could have sworn he looked jealous when she told him Michael had kissed her.  He certainly looked angry, which pretty much equaled jealous in her books when related to Bryan.

Suddenly she got an idea.  A very risky idea, but a good one nonetheless.  If it worked, then it might just save her the trouble of telling him how she felt, also trying to worm it out of him how he felt about her.

Well here goes nothing…she thought taking a deep breath.  "Bryan, close your eyes."

He raised an eyebrow, his gaze flickering over her as he paused in the knife sharpening he had resumed.  "Why?"

"Because, I want to give you something."  She answered semi-truthfully.  If he only knew…

He paused contemplating it before exhaling loudly and setting down his tools and closing his eyes.  "Fine.  But make it quick."

Liika swallowed nervously and shifted so that she sat on her knees and scooted in front of him.  "No peeking!"  She scolded quietly while leaning forward a bit.

"Hn."

Her hands came to rest on each of his knees and he had to fight not to open his eyes and see what the hell she was doing.  However, he didn't want to hear her whining if he 'cheated' so he kept them shut.

Suddenly just as he was about to voice his annoyance at her taking too long, something warm and soft brushed his lips once before pressing fully against them.

An electric current shot through his body at the contact, and a heat began to build in his blood.  The little wench was kissing him!

Eventually Liika pulled away, quite aware of his unresponsiveness.  Well she had gotten her answer anyway.  Her heart nearly broke with the pain.  Sighing, she moved to with draw.  She suddenly felt the need to take a long walk.

However, before she could even move her hands, one of his large hands grasped her left wrist, preventing her movement.  Liika glanced up and met his darkened ice colored eyes.  They were, as usual, unreadable.

"Do that again."  He commanded roughly, tugging on her wrist so that she tumbled towards him.

She caught herself just in time before she came in contact with the knife.  "Move the knife and I'll think about it."  She replied saucily, attempting to pull away.  He was not going to hurt her twice.

The knife and whet stone were gone in a flash, and Liika found herself being hauled into the large teen's lap.  "Do that again."  He repeated hoarsely, his eyes running over her flushed face.

Liika gulped, bringing her face closer to his, slowly to make sure it was really what he wanted.  Though she was bound determined that he would not hurt her again, she found she couldn't deny his command.  It was impossible for her to escape.

Her heart raced with excitement though.  Bryan actually wanted her to kiss him!  She tried not to get too excited, as Bryan was notoriously fickle.

Her lips brushed his in a hesitant, shy kiss, not really sure of herself.  It was after all, her first time as well… well second time.  Liika's free hand (the other was still trapped by Bryan) moved up to run over his collarbone as her lips attempted to coax a reaction out of him.  Why did he demand a second kiss if he wasn't going to return it?

He was…overwhelmed.  He had never experienced this kind of depth of feeling before and so didn't really know what to do.  Oh sure, he had listened to Tala brag about his conquests, and had ever been present a couple of times when some of the other boys at the Abbey got a hold of some porn, but that was the extent of his experience.  Hearsay and videos.  However, that didn't' stop him from almost liking the sensation.  Her supple lips felt so compliant as if they would do anything he guided them to do.  It gave him a feeling of power, and he liked it.

Before either of them knew it Bryan had deepened the kiss, tilting his head to fit their lips more closely together.  His unoccupied hand slipped around her waist to the small of her back, while his grip on her wrist tightened.

Liika gasped as she felt Bryan's tongue graze her lips, obviously seeking entrance to her mouth.  She should have known he'd move quickly.  And when he decided what he wanted he'd go straight for it.  He was like that.  He hated wasting time.

Bryan growled ferally when she opened her mouth and allowed him to pillage the sweet cavern.  Male pride surged when she mewled quietly and leaned into him, her body and actions becoming completely compliant to him.  He smirked mentally. 

If he had known this was all he had to do to shut her up and make her obey him he would have done it a long time ago.  Of course this method of persuasion had definite advantages for him as well.  She tasted like berries and sunshine, as well as something unnamed and just her.  He might just get used to having her around, she was entertaining, in more ways than one.

"Ha!  You lose Ian!"

The busy pair froze, tearing their lips apart and panting.  Liika felt her face begin to burn with humiliation.  What the hell were they doing back so soon?!  She moaned biting her bottom lip as her head fell into the crook of Bryan's neck.  Her hand clenched the fabric of his shirt.  She wanted to melt into nothingness.

"Aww man!"

"Stop that."  Liika snapped, pressing particularly hard against the deep gash in Tala's leg.

It turned out that only a half hour into the hunting trip, Tala and Ian had been fooling around when Tala had mistook his footing and put his foot through a animal burrow.  His ankle rolled over and a sharp rock sliced though his pants and skin of his calf.  Spencer and Ian had to drag him back.  They were ill equipped to deal with such injuries.

Liika was now slowing the bleeding to a stop—shuddering while doing so—and preparing to disinfect the wound before Spencer inspected his captain's ankle.

"Stop what?  I'm not doing anything."  Tala replied, his smirk growing even wider.

She growled, her cheeks a flame (they still hadn't returned to their normal color).  Bryan had done nothing more than shove her away and storm from the cave, leaving her to deal with the snickers, smirks and knowing looks.

"You know exactly what you're doing.  You're laughing, so stop it."

Tala snickered out loud, his eyes twinkling evilly.  "I never made a sound!"  He exclaimed.

"You didn't have to, I can hear it in your mind."

"Oh?"  He arched a red eyebrow.  "So you're psychic now?  Interesting, I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh get bent."  She grumbled grouchily, her cheeks burning brighter.

"Actually, I think that's what Bryan was doing…" Ian intercepted, snickering quite loudly.  He was joined by both Tala and Spencer.

"Good one Ian!"  Tala laughed.

She wanted to die again.  How was it that the mouthy midget always managed to embarrass her so badly?  It was like he had 'embarrass Liika' radar.  Whenever she had a weakness his radar went off and he jumped all over the opportunity.  Tala was much the same.  Spencer, thankfully, had a bit more tact, and generally said nothing.  This time, however, it seemed the opportunity was too good to pass up, even for Spencer.

Haha.  She was laughing sooo hard.  Damn them for walking in when they did.  Things were just starting to get good.  Bryan was opening up to her, and her senses were on the brink of explosion.

He was an amazing kisser.

Slightly too dominant, but that was to be expected, it was Bryan.  He didn't know the meaning of the word submissive unless it was applied to someone else…that he himself was dominating.  She wondered where he learned to kiss like that.

"So Kit…how was he?"  Ian asked, breaking her silent, embarrassed, contemplation.

"And how did you manage it??"  Tala seconded, barely flinching as she applied to anti-septic to his leg.

It was the straw that broke the camels back.  With a defiant screech, Liika hurled the first aid equipment at Tala's head and stormed out of the cave.  The loud, riotous laughter followed her out into the late summer night.

She sighed, dropping down onto grassy creek bank.  Some ten minutes from the cave there was a meadow, where the creek that ran by their cave ran through the middle.  It was pretty in the summer, when there wasn't snow covering the ground.  Wild flowers danced with in the grass, reflecting the pale moonlight that beat down from over head. 

It was late—the sun had set some hour and a half before—but Liika didn't feel tired at all.  All she could think about was Bryan, and the incredible feelings his kiss had stirred up within her.  If she thought she loved him before, she was absolutely sure now.  Didn't they say that you could tell from kissing someone if you were compatible with them?

Her mother had once told her that the most important indicator in finding a suitable husband was if his kiss stirred anything in you.  If it did, depending on the amount, it meant that person was your soul mate. 

At the time she had laughed at her mother, thinking the logic completely foolish.  I mean who really can tell their soul mate just by kissing them?  But now…now she understood what her mother had been trying to say.  She understood far too well.   She had felt it as soon as Bryan had responded to her kiss.

"You shouldn't be out here alone."

Liika jumped at the sudden interruption to her mental reflection.  Snapping her head upwards she saw Bryan standing over her, looking down with flat blue eyes.  She sighed, pulling her knees up against her chest and wrapping her arms around them.  "Yeah well, I didn't really want to stay in there.  You have no idea what they're like when you're not around."  She muttered, staring pensively at the gurgling creek.

Bryan raised an eyebrow and dropped down beside her, his body only inches from her own.  He wasn't going to mention it, but he did know what they were like when he wasn't around.  He knew his teammates very well, and after overhearing that first round of teasing the month before, he knew they more than likely hadn't left her alone.  However, he hadn't really known why the teased her relentlessly until she had kissed him earlier that evening.  Then it all became clear.

They must have known she liked him.

He wondered just how long they had known, and why they kept it a secret from him.  Especially Ian, whom couldn't keep a secret to save his life.  How could the little midget not have opened his mouth about something this big confounded Bryan.  Maybe Ian was more loyal to the wench than he gave him credit for.

Yet, now that he knew…he was just as lost as before.  Even more so.  No one had ever liked him before, hell, most people couldn't even stand him.  He was just a tool, a tool used by Voltaire and Boris to attempt world take over.

And he couldn't even do that right.

That bloody pretty boy had beaten him, though how he was still unsure, and then his team had lost the world title.  Boris and Voltaire had been imprisoned, and they had been pardoned on grounds of temporary insanity and brainwashing. 

Then she had walked into his life, a vision of blue and spitfire.  She had hated them all at first, snapping and growling, but eventually…eventually she became…part of them.  She got them to laugh, they got her to laugh, she helped them as they helped her.  They became a whole…a family unit so to speak.  Something he, nor the other Demolition Boys, had ever had before.  It was disconcerting to think that one little girl—a former enemy nonetheless—could do all that in six months.  And with out even trying it seemed.

But how did he feel about her?  It was something he didn't even want to think about, and so didn't.  He ignored the urge to pull her against him and kiss her until she couldn't speak anymore.  To hold her and ward off the others obnoxious laughter that was obviously bothering her. 

He growled inwardly.  She had a deeper hold on him that he thought. 

"Hey Bryan, can I ask you something?"

He grunted, tilting his head slightly towards her.  "Can I stop you?"

Liika sighed, she should have known that it all meant nothing to him.  Or at least that he'd make it appear that way.  She wished that for once he'd actually show what was going on inside his mind so that she wouldn't feel so alone and in the dark.

"What really happened…you know…to you and the others in the Abbey?  What happened to your family?"  She asked him because she wanted to understand him.  Loving him meant loving everything about him, but how could she sympathize and love something she didn't know?  She wanted desperately to know his past.

When he didn't answer her Liika glanced up at him to find him staring at the creek with narrowed, angst filled eyes, his lips pressed into a thin line.  She could tell he was thinking, and she could also tell that whatever memories were surging, where not very pleasant ones.

Not wanting to scare him away or anger him, Liika didn't press the matter, however, she did reach over and take his hand in hers, threading her fingers through his.  She said nothing, merely content with showing him that she was there—whether he wanted her or not.

When he felt her slip her tiny fingers between his all his resolve melted away.  He didn't want to tell her anything, didn't want to remember anything, but her quiet support—the very fact that she was quiet astounded him—unnerved him and he found himself telling her things that he had never told anyone else.  Dark things that would horrify her.

"I don't remember my family, if I even had one.  The Abbey is my only memory."

She remained silent, listening to his low voice as he related his horrible excuse for a childhood.

"I was told I was three when Boris brought me to his Abbey to start training.  My younger years were spent in a laboratory, locked away from everyone else, as a genetic experiment.  I didn't see anyone, I didn't speak to anyone and I didn't feel for anyone.  I didn't feel at all.  That's what I was programmed to do.  Like Tala was programmed, so was I.  We are nothing more than genetically enhanced tools."

Liika wanted to cry for him.  What Boris had done to them was horrible and unfair!  They never had the chance to live as normal children.  It was cruel, and she found herself hating Boris for it.  How could someone deprive innocent children of something as important as love?  Every child needed love.  But she couldn't help thinking that perhaps they hadn't completely been devoid of love in their childhood.  That perhaps before they were sent to the Abbey they had had loving parents.  After all, how could they care about each other and possibly her if they had no example to base it on?  They must have had some experience of caring…even if they couldn't remember it.

"We heard a rumor….a rumor that the scientists who trained you…disappeared."  She whispered, looking at the ground, rather than him.

Bryan snorted, his fingers tightening around hers subconsciously.  "Boris had them killed after my training was complete.  So that they couldn't talk later on."

The silence stretched between them.  Both lost in their own thoughts.  Bryan suppressed the feelings that were clenching his heart, feelings that had never bothered him before.  He blamed the little blue wench.  Before she came along he had never even thought about his childhood—or lack there of.  He was a tool, nothing more, nothing less.  Why did he now want to be more?

"I lost my parents too."  She said suddenly, breaking Bryan's angry thoughts.

He raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look down at her.  She was staring at the water, tears glittering in her turquoise eyes.  He felt the now familiar click in his chest as he watched her sniffle and sigh.  What was she doing to him?

"My mom was drunk and drove into the side of a building with my dad in the back seat.  Both were killed instantly.  I was eleven…that was the same tournament where I first met Michael."  She said softly, rubbing at the tears that gathered in her eyes.

Suddenly she had her arms wrapped around his chest and her face buried in his side. Bryan's eyebrows shot up as her tiny frame began to shudder and shake.  He felt very uncomfortable and lost when he realized that she was crying, on him.

Liika couldn't take it anymore.  The sad memory of her parents combined with his painful past was too much for her and caused the normally bright, unshakable girl to sob and latch on to the only thing near her.  Him.

The longer she cried the more uncomfortable and agitated he got.  Her tears did strange things to him and everyone that knew him knew, anything strange was also anything hated.  Finally, he could take it no longer and reluctantly wrapped one of his arms around her shaking shoulders and grumbled, "Stop it."

And for once she actually listened.