Author: IdrianWatzon

Distant Hope

Leena couldn't help but stare. He was just so cute. Bright green eyes with floppy yellow hair. Not to mention that goofy grin plastered on his face as he teased Brad about Naomi. Brad and Naomi. She wished every day and night that she could be like them. But, even if she told him, he would never feel that way. Bit Cloud, that was his name. He was the zoid warrior that helped her team get to the top.

Now that Leena thought about it, she had never really learned about Bit's background. He had just appeared one day, scrounging for parts. Back then, Leena had thought of him as a pest, but now… Leena sighed. Maybe a little too loudly. Bit glanced her way, a smile plastered across his face. She turned slightly pink as she turned her eyes back to the book she was supposed to be reading.

It was some romance novel. She had never really glanced at the title, just grabbed it off the shelf. Leena never said so, but she was a sap for romance. They always led to happy endings. Or, at least, the books Leena picked out. She never touched Romeo and Juliet. Maybe because she had heard it ended with the two killing themselves. Oh well. Leena turned her eyes back to Bit, who had gone back to teasing Brad.

He looked so handsome, yet cute at the same time. Leena could never really choose. Either way, she knew how she felt. In the beginning, Leena had denied any feelings for the blond pilot. She didn't want them to be true, because it seemed like a fact that he would refuse and end up breaking her heart. So, she tried ignoring them. But it seemed hopeless. After all, Bit's room was just down the hall and she saw him every day. So, she had given in and admitted the truth.

Lately, Leena was having more fantasies of Bit sweeping her off her feet like in the books she read. He was her prince charming, yet he didn't know it yet. He probably never would. Leena glanced back at the words of her novel. Page 352, she was nearly done with the book. Too bad, it had been good. Leena glanced up again towards Bit and Brad, a dreamy look falling upon her face. He really did look good. There was no denying it.

Leena stood from the puffy chair she had been sitting on, shutting the book and setting it on the table. Bit and Brad looked in her direction, questioning looks on their faces. Leena almost drooled over how cute Bit looked when he was confused. She walked up to them.

"Guys, I'm heading out to the hangar to find something to do." She managed. "Bit, don't you dare touch those cookies. If I find one crumb missing…" she made a slicing motion across her neck with her finger. Bit cowered, agreeing to her terms. Leena almost broke down from threatening the handsome prince of her dreams. She turned and strode out of the room, leaving Bit to bug Brad again.

Halfway to the hangar, she ran into the Doc, A.K.A., her dad, in his room, door wide open. He was messing with some new zoid figures. She shook her head. It was amazing how he spent so much money buying those little figures. It almost made her laugh, but she didn't. She started to walk at a quick pace to the other end of the door, hoping to get past him without him noticing. No such luck.

"Leena!" Doc cried, jumping up from his chair and rushing towards his daughter. Leena held back a groan, turning towards her dad.

"Yeah?" she asked, trying to sound casual and resist beating her own dad to a pulp.

"Have you seen my new zoids? They are wonderful, if I do say so myself!" Doc bragged, motioning towards some figures. Leena nodded. She really wanted to leave. Pretty soon, he would start talking about IT. Leena defiantly didn't want him talking about IT, when IT would never happen… "Leena, when will you be getting hitched? Leon already is." Too late.

You see, ever since her brother, Leon, had become engaged to his girlfriend, Doc hadn't quit bugging Leena about getting married. Leena was getting really annoyed. She had really snapped when he had hooked her up on a date with Harry Champ. Not good. The whole time Harry had talked about his undying love for Leena and she had about died. In the end, she had punched him in the face and left, thoroughly annoyed.

Leena sighed, really not wanting to talk about marriage. "No, dad. I will not be getting married soon." She said quickly, trying to get away.

"But what about Harry? He's rich, loves you to death, and would pay all of our problems away." Doc said. Leena turned red in rage. Harry? As if.

"No, dad! Why would I ever marry Harry?" Leena cried. Doc almost cowered, but got a grin on his face.

"If not Harry, why not Bit? He's available."

This made Leena turn even redder, and not from anger.

"Dad! Why the heck would I marry Bit? Never mind, don't answer that. I have to go." With that, Leena rushed out of the room, leaving her dad. He shrugged, turning back to his collection of zoids models.

Leena slammed shut the door behind her, hoping not to run into anybody else, mainly Jamie, since she hadn't seen him all day, on the way back. There was no such luck. On her way down the final hall to the hangar, she ran into him. She had been about to activate the door, when it slid open and Jamie walked out. He looked up at Leena, a smug of oil on his cheek, more all over his clothes. She could tell he had been treasuring and fixing his zoid, the Raynos.

"Hi, Jamie." Leena greeted.

"Hello, Leena. What brings you here?" Jamie asked, wiping off the oil on his face with the sleeve of his dirty shirt. Leena's eyes narrowed.

"What do you think? I came here to check up on my Gun Sniper. Why else?" Jamie shook his head. He was a lot smarter than his teammates took him for. Which wasn't much since half the time they ignored his battle suggestions.

"Nothing, nothing." Jamie casually walked down the hall, grinning the whole way. Leena stomped through the doorway. She practically ran up to her Gun Sniper, stopping directly in front of it. Leena sighed, before climbing up and getting into the cockpit. Shutting the entrance, she sat back and let loose a long sigh.

"Man, GS, why can't I tell him? Why can't I tell Bit how I feel?" she mumbled. "Because, idiot, he doesn't feel that way." Leena answered the question. "But still, I wish he did…" some tears littered her cheeks.

"Look at me, crying over a boy." Leena laughed quietly, wiping away the salty tears. But they kept coming. But he's not just any boy, he's the One. My prince. Too bad he'll never know it. Leena thought. Hadn't she said that earlier that day? Ha, what a laugh. Yeah right, a laugh. She thought again. More tears flowed out down her cheeks. Leena rubbed them away again, but continued crying. Sniffling, she sank lower into her chair, rubbing her nose.

"I wish, he felt… the same…" Leena sank even lower yet, her breathing becoming calm. She had fallen asleep. Seconds, minutes, hours later, Leena was shook awake. Drowsily, she looked up into the eyes of Naomi. Shrieking, Leena jumped back, slamming her head on the top of the cockpit. Naomi grinned, eyebrows raised at Leena.

"Looks like I've found the little princess asleep. Amazing. She can stay calm for more than a minute. And here I thought you ran on coffee instead of sleep." Naomi remarked. Leena seethed.

"Look, did you come here to annoy me? Or is everyone looking for me? What time is it anyways?"

"4:23, why? Has Sleeping Beauty been asleep too long?" Naomi smirked as Leena clenched her fists.

"Shut up, Naomi. Don't you have Brad to make out with?" it was Leena's turn to smirk as Naomi turned red across the cheeks. "The color goes fine with your hair, Naomi."

"Oh, what about Bit? Shouldn't you be flirting with him?" Leena turned pink this time. "Oh right, I forgot, all you do is beat him up."

"I do not, Naomi!" Leena cried.

"Really? Oh, right, sure. Chasing him around with a bathtub in your hands is called not beating him up. Ha, yeah right." Naomi laughed.

"I don't… Do I?" Leena looked down, "He must hate me." Lena sniffed. Naomi stopped laughing and looked over at Leena.

"Oh, I wouldn't say he hates you, now." Naomi said. Leena looked at her, clearly doubting what she had said.

"What?" she asked lamely.

"He doesn't hate you. Really." Naomi seemed convincing enough, but Leena wasn't about to take a chance.

"Why should I believe you?" Leena growled.

"Because, if Bit hated you, he probably wouldn't have put up with you for so long." Naomi sounded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, go kiss Brad." Leena cried. "I know you'd have more fun doing that then making fun of me."

"I'm not making fun of you, Leena. As me teammates little sister, I'll give you a bit of advise. Tell Bit how you feel." Naomi looked thoughtful for a second, "Really, you should tell him. It'd get a lot off your back." Naomi turned to leave.

"Naomi?" Leena called out. The other GS pilot stopped and looked back.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." Leena smiled lightly.

"No problem. Anything for my teammate's little sis." Naomi nodded her head, "But this still doesn't get you off the hook. I'll still kick your butt with my Gun sniper. Don't expect anything less." Naomi turned and left. Leena leaned out of the cockpit and yelled back.

"Don't count on me being easy either!"

"Don't worry, I won't! Now, go tell him!" Naomi replied, leaving the hangar. Leena shook her head, before climbing out of the cockpit and leaving the hangar. She walked into the main room and found Jamie.

"Hey, Leena." Jamie greeted.

"Where is everyone?" Leena questioned.

"Naomi came in a minute ago and pulled Brad out the door, saying they were leaving. Doc's playing again. Bit's in the kitchen." Jamie said.

"He is?" Leena sounded alarmed.

"Yeah. I think he's trying to grab some cookies…" Jamie looked horrified. "Oops! Oh, no, Leena, don't tell Bit I told you!" Jamie stood up quickly and fled the room. Leena shook her head, before leaving for the kitchen.

Peeking in from the door, Leena saw Bit hovering over her jar of cookies. Grinning, and hoping not to get her heart broken, Leena snuck up behind him and coughed, grabbing the pilot's attention. Bit swung around, a look of horror on his face.

"Bit…"

"I didn't do anything! I wasn't trying to steal your cookies! Nope, not me." Bit rambled.

"Bit…"

"I wasn't about to eat your whole batch of chocolate chip cookies! Nope!"

Bit…"

"Even if they're nice, chocolaty, creamy, just baked, out of the oven fresh. Even if they're the best cookies I've ever tasted…"

"BIT!" Leena cried. He continued talking.

"Nope! I wasn't trying to eat them. Especially not without your permission. Nope!"

"BIT!" Leena roared, grabbing his attention fully.

"Y-yes, Leena?" Bit sputtered.

"Shut up and listen." Leena walked up so that she was facing him and looked him straight in the eyes. She nearly fell to a puddle. He looked so cute, all scared and afraid. Maybe that was why she always tried hurting him. He looked so cute when cowering.

She must have been staring because Bit spoke. "Um, Leena? I thought you wanted to say something…" Bit was cut off as Leena pressed her lips to his. His eyes opened wide before he smiled against the kiss. Closing his eyes, he kissed her back. Leena pulled back and looked down sheepishly.

"Sorry…" she mumbled. Inside, she couldn't stop jumping. Bit's lips had felt so soft. She couldn't help but touch her lips in remembrance. Even if it would only happen once, she wanted to remember it forever. "You can have the cookies."

"Really? I can? Great!" Bit cheered, almost like nothing had happened. He turned back to Leena and pulled her against him in a hug. Leena grew wide-eyed.

"B-Bit? You're not mad?" Leena asked. Bit pulled back, looking into her face.

"Why would I be?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, I mean, you don't like me that way, so I thought you'd be mad…" Bit shook his head.

"I would never be mad at you for kissing me, Leena. And who said I didn't like you that way?"

Leena looked bewildered, "Well, I, I always treat you so terribly." she spoke out, thinking of an excuse.

"I love it when you're mad. You look so beautiful. That's why I do all those annoying things to you." Bit grinned down at Leena. "Leena, I… I really like you." Bit contemplated his answer for a second, then looked more serious, "No, I love you, Leena. I think I always have."

Leena looked shocked. She looked up at Bit, before hugging him fiercely. "It must be a dream," she mumbled, "How can it be true?"

"It's not a dream, Leena. If you don't like me, well, that's okay, I guess." Bit's shoulders sagged.

"No, you moron. How could I not like such a cutie like you. I mean, I think I've loved you along time too." Leena buried her face in his shoulder.

"Leena, will you, will you go out with me?" Bit asked, gulping.

"Of course, you dumb head! Do you know how long I've waited for that sentence?" Leena sighed, happy to have taken Naomi's advise.

"Um, Leena?"

"MmmHmm?"

"Can I have those cookies now?" Leena pulled away, hitting Bit on the head.

"Idiot! Don't ruin the moment!"