A/N: Sorry for the slow updates! I'm not really sure what direction I want to take this story in, so everything is taking a while. I'm not quite sure what's happening in this chapter, but it felt like it kind of fit?

When Yuuri met with Victor in the lobby, she could sense the change that had come about him. Playboy Victor was back, evident in his smooth gait and careful flicks of hair. The life and energy that was always evident in his eyes was hidden by a pair of sunglasses. She paused and adjusted her own posture, drawing herself up to her full (and rather unimpressive) height. Ice Queen Yuuri was here to play. If the press was involved, it was her favorite coping mechanism. Cool, calm and collected, it banished every hint of her true personality and anxiety behind a polite veneer. Most of the pros had developed a PR strategy for whenever the press showed up, and it had been a godsend for Yuuri, to be able to hide in plain sight. Yuuri chafed behind her smile, feeling worse when Victor casually strode over to where she stood near the glass doors to the rink. He grabbed her hand, planting a quick kiss on her cheek. He acted like it was nothing, where only the day before they had been dancing around each other like school children. How many times had he done this that something like that was so casual for him? Did everything he did mean so little?

She sensed a ripple of energy through the crowd waiting outside when he did this though. Yuuri tried to pull herself from her paranoid musings. How could she forget? They were just putting on a show.

Yuuri had always been a good performer.

As they walked out of the door, she was hyper-aware of where they touched. But she couldn't truly appreciate the warmth of Victor's hand when the waiting cameras started to flash. The fleeting brushes of their hands yesterday had somehow been more satisfying than this. Reporters cried out all around them, and she only caught snippets of their questions. She and Victor casually strolled down the sidewalk, parting the mob like the Red Sea. They were untouchable. Yuuri stared ahead impassively, trying to look cooly unapproachable despite her sneakers and messy bun. She felt her skin crawl as a multitude of eyes focused on her.

She didn't like being the center of attention without a good reason. Feeling emboldened (she had nothing left to lose here, did she?), she leaned closer to Victor, turning to whisper something into his ear. That sent off a series of shouts and a flurry of activity.

"Having fun yet?" Her voice was lower than it normally was, more sultry and sophisticated. Exuding control that she only wished she had. Victor's returning laugh sounded warm and real, but Yuuri could feel the chill underneath the surface. They walked with their guard up all the way to the hotel, where Yuuri gladly parted from Victor and nearly ran to her room, sagging against the door as she slammed it behind her.

Without giving herself too much time to think about things, she gathered up her ballet things, putting on a leotard and pulling a pair of sweats over. Yuuri threw on her jacket as was out of the door almost as quickly as she had come in. Her feet continued on steadily to where she thought the ballet studio was, and they gratefully ascended the stairs up to the studio before she remembered that this wasn't Hasetsu anymore, or even that place in Detriot where she could dance if there weren't any classes. This was Lilia's studio and she had no idea if would be able to dance. She peered through the window into the room that she and Victor had been in yesterday. It was empty.

Though it was probably locked anyways, Yuuri still tried the handle. There was resistance, but as Yuuri jiggled the handle just a little bit, the door swung open easily. Hardly believing her luck, she shut it carefully behind her, sitting down to put on her ballet slippers and taking off her sweats. Yuuri started her stretching and barre movements, delighting in the distracting demands of the actions. But the repetitions soon grew mindless, and Yuuri felt herself start to think and feel again. She took a deep breath and moved to the floor. Time for some combinations, then.

There was a point where Yuuri stopped her pretense of practice and did what she always came to a studio to do. Dance, if it could be truly called that. It was more of a rage against herself until she was utterly spent. She lept and spun to a rapid (if silent) tempo. Her limbs burned and her lungs begged for air. She starved her brain of the energy required to think.

She nearly fell when, as she turned, she noticed someone else in the doorway, managing to catch herself just in time. The damage was already done. Yuuri recognized the harsh gaze of the former prima ballerina. She was angry that Lilia had seen something that was so private to her. The older woman offered a few claps. Yuuri wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Now I finally see what Minako saw in you."

Lilia was gone almost as soon she had appeared, leaving Yuuri wondering if she had imagined the whole thing. Try as she might, she was unable to regain quite as clear a head as before. Resigned, she stretched out her legs, wandering to the hallway to put her layers back on. She slipped a sweater over her leotard, preparing to take off her ballet slippers, when she heard vaguely familiar music coming from another room. Odd. That hadn't been playing earlier, had it?

Her traitorous feet started down the hallway before her mind could catch up. It was probably just Lilia anyways, or maybe another student. But her mind couldn't let go of the idea that it could be Victor. Maybe he danced away his troubles like she did. She crept closer to the window.

Her heart dropped when she caught a flash of blonde hair, not the silver that she had been desperately hoping to see. Then again, that would have made it all too easy for her. A lithe and willowy figure was dancing, and she realized with a start that it was Yuri. He had transformed with this smooth and calming music. His free skate, wasn't it? There was still so much tension in his limbs though, the wrong emotions behind his movements.

The song ended and Yuuri found herself trying to duck away from the glass before she was seen. She heard a shout from within and knew that she had been too slow.

"Katsuki?" he hollered, voice filled with more surprise than anger. Yuuri smiled. Maybe he was warming up to her.

"What the hell! Why are you watching me dance? Are you some kind of pervert?"

Ah, never mind. Same spiteful skater.

She considered his questions an invitation to enter the room. Evidently the look in her eyes shut him up pretty quickly. Yuuri would not be easily cowed by teen angst.

"Do it again. You looked so tense."

Yuri's expression was entirely dumbfounded, but as Yuuri walked over and turned on the CD player, he began moving almost reactively. His movements became less stilted as the shock wore off, but they never became as free and innocent as she knew the song demanded. Yuuri turned off the music.

"If I remember right, this song is supposed to be about the gentleness of unconditional love. It represents simplicity and purity. They way you're moving, it's like someone just cheated on you. You need to find a way to let go of that anger."

Yuri just glared at her in response to that.

"Look, is there anything that lets you feel love instead of hate? A crush on someone from school, maybe?"

"I don't even go to normal school. This probably won't ever make it to the ice anyways. Victor promised me that he would choreograph something for me though, so Yakov told me to go see if I could make it work on my own if I wanted to skate it so badly. I just want everything to be perfect for my senior debut, and I know that this routine has the potential to be a winning one!"

Yuri looked a little surprised at how much he had ended up saying, cutting off his rant by snapping his mouth shut into the pout that always seemed to grace his face. She nodded at him encouragingly.

"In Regards to Love: Agape. But then, what is agape?" she wondered out loud, turning away from Yuri as she began to move, testing out words and movements to match.

"Boundless," she began, sweeping her leg forward and around.

"Innocent." She continued with a sissonne pas de chat.

"Selfless." Yuuri lifted her hands up to the ceiling and arched her back in an echo of the ending pose that she thought she remembered from the other day.

"Is there anyone in your life who would do anything for you? Someone that you would do anything for?" Yuuri saw a flash of understanding pass through the Russian's eyes. He said something in Russian quietly and almost under his breath, but the way he said it caught her attention. He finally had managed to put aside his arrogance and brash nature. His face was relaxed, and with his flowing blonde locks, he looked almost angelic.

She started the music quickly, hoping that he would be able to retain this newfound calm. A shiver went up her spine as he started to dance again. He wasn't able to completely banish his anger, but where it lingered, she saw only a fierce devotion instead of overwhelming hatred A beautiful monster.

Yuuri called out small corrections ("Leg higher! Watch the arm!) but they didn't seem to phase him. The boy worked onwards, continuing his spins and leaping higher every time. He fueled himself no longer with just emotions, but with a piece of his true identity. Yuuri saw the difference as clearly as she had felt it in her programs from the past season. She felt touched that he was sharing this with her. A sense of guilt crept in; she surely wasn't the one who deserved to reap the benefits of all of his hard work present in this performance. It wasn't meant for her eyes, just as the light of angels blinds the beholder.

Yuri finished his dance, and Yuuri was startled by the change that came over him the moment that the music stopped. The peaceful expression instantly melted away, and his eyes regained their cold glint, somehow jaded despite his youth. But they didn't look at her with the same enmity as before. He stood, panting, before turning to her again.

"Don't think I've forgiven you for this morning," he said quietly, but Yuuri could tell that his heart wasn't into it. They stood awkwardly for a moment. Her presence might have been helpful, but now it would only hinder him. She looked him dead in the eye and gave an almost imperceptible nod, an unspoken agreement not to mention this again. As she walked through the doorway, she turned.

"Thank you," she spoke quietly before heading back to where her things still waited in the hallway.