Wednesday, February 9, 2000; 4:25pm – Hilo Farmers Market; Hilo, Hawaii

Ana peered over the large pile of green apples in search of five perfect, or nearly perfect, ones. Picking one of the larger, spotless ones located towards the back of the pile, she inspected it closely before dropping it in the oversized tote that hung from her left forearm. She repeated the process four more times until the annoying chirp of her phone in her jeans pocket interrupted her. A cell phone, though expensive and underused, quickly became one of the other terms her parents set for her continued stay in Hawaii. Travis, unfortunately, took advantage of it.

"What do you want, Travis?" she answered without hesitation as she moved onto the peaches.

"You know, most people would consider that to be rude."

"You're not most people," she replied, slightly annoyed that she was apparently predictable enough that Travis knew she was shopping at the largest fresh produce market in Hilo, her usual Wednesday afternoon chore. "What do you want?"

"Can you pick up some of everything for us? We'll pay you back."

She was practically the fire department's errand runner, so, as usual, she agreed. They always conveniently waited for her to run her errands, using the excuse that they needed to be ready for a call to keep them lounging around the station. She still had yet to figure out their true motive behind having her get their groceries more often than they themselves did.

Once the phone was securely back into her pocket, she moved onto the vegetable section before quickly finishing her shopping. Predicting that Travis would call, she had already gathered a tote full of fruit for them alongside her own and paid for both sets of fresh produce before snatching up the worn longboard and backpack that the cashier had been keeping an eye on for her.

"See you next week, Kapua," Ana added over her shoulder once she had managed to shove her tote full of produce into her backpack and sling it onto her back. The young woman smiled in response before moving on to the next customer in line. But Ana was already weaving through the parking lot on the longboard, the backpack filled with fruit, vegetables and two folded up totes shifting her center of balance.

Longboarding was both a lot and a little like surfing, and when the weather was nice, Ana preferred it over driving. There weren't very many hills near all the usually places she traveled, unfortunately, which were all conveniently within a ten block radius. Her apartment, the fire station, the university, the beach, the market, etc. The market itself was barely two blocks away from her apartment. Not only did it save her gas and the environment, but her balance on land had gotten better once Travis had made her the board she rode now.

Though the whole idea of better balance was thrown out the window when a tourist pulled through the wrong lane in the parking lot, sending her balance suddenly sideways so she could turn the board. But in avoiding an unpleasant experience with the front end of a rental Audi, she slammed straight into someone, her board shooting off through the parking lot to be lodged underneath a car while both Ana and the person she ran into hit the ground, hard. Her backpack kept her from hitting her head back against the pavement, but as for both her produce and Travis's… This week's paycheck was going towards groceries.

Her jaw clenched more out of annoyance than out of pain as she sat up, brushing off the stray bits of asphalt. She'd scraped all the skin off her right elbow and half of her forearm; it'd take forever for that to heal, especially with her lifestyle. But she didn't need to look at her elbow to know that. She knew how she landed. Instead, her bright eyes darted towards the person she had hit.

But in that brief moment she had taken to sit up and brush herself off, he was already on his feet, waiting to see if she was alright.

"Are you alr—"

"Are you oka—"

They both stopped and Ana grinned sheepishly while the man shed a handsome smile. He offered her his hand to help her up, and as she stood, she finally fully recognized him. She'd seen him at Reuben's a couple days before.

"Thank you," Ana managed first. "I'm sorry I plowed straight into you. Lost my balance."

"Blame the tourist," he replied with a nod towards the now parked Audi. Through the windshield, it was far too easy to see an elderly couple still looking over a map, completely unknowing of the fact they had almost ran someone over.

Ana shook her head slowly, a cynical smirk easily making its presence known.

"So, are you alright?" he said again, making Ana glance back towards him. His blue eyes hidden beneath his long, dark bangs were directed towards her bent arm that she kept close to her side.

Her own blue eyes quickly followed his and she shrugged as she brought up her arm to examine the damage. Sure enough, there was more red speckled with bits of black than the tan skin of her arm. "I've had worse. Besides, I think the groceries I landed on probably suffered worse damage."

His brows rose underneath those bangs. "I can replace those for you, if you'd like."

Now it was her turn to look surprised. "Oh, no, that's fine. I was kidding," she lied as she turned to find her missing board. It had lodged itself underneath an old Volkswagen bug a good fifteen feet away, the end of it just waiting to be run over by some passing car. But as she walked, she could hear his footsteps behind her. "Are you alright? I didn't cause any internal bleeding or anything, did I?" she commented over her shoulder as she slowed to a stop in front of the stuck piece of wood.

"I'm fine," he replied simply, slowing as she slowed.

Suddenly she bent over and with a wince for her board, pulled the thing free. Her eyes quickly examined the wood, instantly spotting the black line conveniently between two of the grip pieces. Ah well, it was only a scratch, right?

Ana spotted the man frowning out of the corner of her eye, causing her to glance up at him. "What?"

He shrugged, seemingly caught off guard. "Nothing. Are you sure you don't want any free groceries? I really wouldn't mind, especially since it was my fault that you fell."

She stared at him incredulously. How was it his fault? "Did you rob a bank or something and are trying to make your guilty conscious feel better?"

He looked dumbfounded. "What?"

"Well, I've never had anyone want to buy me groceries."

"There's always first, though, right?"

Ana paused, her bright blue eyes scanning him over. He seemed just as harmless as he had in Reuben's. "I'll pass," she replied as she tucked her board under her arm.

"Alright, then I'll go get you some myself. Though I can't promise they'll be what you like," he said with a defiant expression clear in his icy eyes.

Ana blinked. "What?" But he'd already turned and was headed back towards the market. She jogged to catch up. "What are you doing?"

"You have to be the first person I've ever met who has said no to free food."

"So?" she replied stubbornly, taking longer strides to keep his pace. "There are plenty of charity cases out there. I'm not one of them."

"Uhuh," he muttered as he slowed to enter the market.

He headed towards the first thing he saw and scooped up a couple of oranges before handing them to her. She watched him blankly for a moment with two oranges in her hand before waking up and grabbing his arm before he picked up a grapefruit. "Alright, fine. Let's at least see what all I did smash first, okay?"

The man glanced to her with a smile.