Almost as if he could feel her gaze, he turned, emerald eyes boring directly into her. She resisted the urge to look away, no matter how hard it was. Perhaps it was the more effeminate then most features that led to her foolish mistake, or the long auburn hair now trailing down his back. But her mistake was only confirmed further as he fully turned around.

No girl could ever look like that. Nice chest. Wait, what am I thinking?

Slowly but surely, the crowd began to scatter, until she was the only remaining person standing around the water's edge. Wringing out his hair, finally he opted to speak to her.

"Good to see you again. What brings you to Kyoto?"

Odd. He seems so different to the way I've seen him before. Of course, that was a more formal, more… competitive environment, but he seems so much more relaxed. The way he's talking to me as if I'm an old friend, as opposed to some girl… it's… nice.

"Same to you. Basically, I decided to go on a holiday, and a friend told me that the sakura trees are beautiful this time of year," she shrugged in what she hoped was an offhand manner. "And what about you? Do you live around here or something?"

Truth be told, she had never envisioned a place of permanent residence with the enigmatic man standing before her now. He seemed to simply exist, without having any further story. But here he was, shaking his head. "Much the same reason as yourself, actually. I came here on a vacation… of sorts,"

Of sorts? What does he mean by that? Boy, he is so mysterious at times… she smiled, ignoring her mental confusion.

"Kyoto certainly is a beautiful place. And I cannot get over the size of these fish! They're huge! Look at them!" Her eyes averted to the water, where, sure enough, several large carp were swimming happily under the surface, occasionally surfacing for food. "I know the Japanese like their fish raw, but this is ridiculous,"

He smiled gently, a small yet priceless smile. And I've never seen him smile before. Even though I've hardly known him, it seems he's changed immensely in the time that I haven't seen him, or he just changes a lot around other people… I get the impression he doesn't smile like that too often. Shame. He has a nice smile… "Not quite that raw. What do you think of the Kyoto-style food?"

"Err…" she paused sheepishly. "There's a difference?"

The smile lingered for a moment, before fading. "Of course,"

For some reason, the 'of course' reminded her unpleasantly of him. Darn him, spoiling my holiday like this! Jann-Lee, I will never forgive you! No matter how much I would love to live in your world, see everything the way you see, I never could. Why is that? Because I think that other people are worth more then nothing. Your arrogance blinds you.

"Is there something wrong?"

She blinked, returning to reality, which were emerald eyes looking at her questioningly. "Yes, Ryu, I'm fine. Sorry, just thinking about…" Even the thought made her eyes narrow. "…other matters," She dropped her gaze to the grass, as emerald green as the eyes which were looking at her. There was a pause, before he spoke.

"I understand. I was told that you had… how do you say it, broken up with Jann-Lee not so long ago. Assuming that was who you were thinking about, of course?"

She looked up sharply, only to come face to face with an almost apologetic expression. "I hope that my words didn't offend you. They were not intended to come across as such,"

"No. Yes. You were right. I was thinking about him. And don't be sorry, it was for the best. Although, broken up is probably an understatement. Put it this way, if we speak again, then we're doing better then expected,"

For some reason, that was harder to say then it should have been. Did she, in some dark part of her heart, miss him?

No. He's in the past now. Our relationship, that is. I'm still going to defeat him eventually.