"More to the right. There! Hold it. Don't lose it! Don't lose it!" I could practically here the pride in Han's voice as the smirk spread across my face. My muscles screamed from overuse as I tried to correctly balance my weight to accomplish a particularly difficult tight turn. A light laugh left my lips as stopped the board in front of Han, who was lounging on his board under a big tree.

"I got it." I whispered breathless; as if the fact that I had just expertly maneuvered myself through the most difficult obstacle course I had ever seen was going to go away if I said it out loud.

"The tight corners and the balance was all you needed to really work on; the straight lines you have down perfectly. You still need a lot of work, but I think you're about as good as you're going to get tonight. I'll teach you some of Takashi's tricks tomorrow." Han stated professionally, but I was imagining a tight smirk on his lips covered by the darkness.

"That's good, because I don't think I could take falling off one more time." I joked.

Without replying, he leaned further back on his elbows and gazed up at the stars.

I tugged nervously on the sleeve of my dorm jacket when he didn't respond. I felt like a littlie waiting to be dismissed by a teacher. Han wasn't as scary as most of the Crims, but he was still easily intimidating. While most of they had surges or clothing choices to a least make them more frightening than they were, it was just Han's attitude; I think I could be intimidated by him if he were an ugly.

"How old is Hayate's board?" Han asked without looking away from the sky.

"Hayate knows I was the one that challenged Takashi; he wouldn't give me his." I answered quietly.

"Why?"

"To preserve his precious face rank. He didn't want anyone to know he helped me." I muttered bitterly. "I stole this one from Kaede and got him to help me do the mods, but he was especially frustrated with me so I think he didn't want people to know he helped me either."

"Did you tell Hayate you were going to Kaede for help with the mods?" I frowned at the seemingly innocent question.

"Yeah, why?" I put my arms out and let the wind pull me away from him like a sail.

"He's jealous of the way you idolize Kaede." He answered simply. I almost fell off my board.

"He hates me!" I reminded. Han snorted.

"He hates that someone else has your undivided attention. He's doesn't like to be second place." He explained in a bored tone.

"Than life in the Crims must be absolute hell." I quipped quickly. I didn't exactly agree with Han, but his assessment of Hayate's personality wasn't exactly far off.

"It didn't used to be. Things have changed a lot since the reputation economy." Han replied. His voice sounded far off. I had never heard Han mention anything even remotely personal like that. I floated over in front of him and sat down on my board.

"What was it like when you were ugly?" I asked straightforwardly. I watched Han's Adam's apple bob with a swallow before his chin tilted down. He focused his dark eyes on me for a moment before answering.

"We had something to challenge. There were rules, we were monitored, and we had a deadline to make our mark." He sounded very frustrated. "We wanted to make the best of our ugly years before we went on to endless bashes and champagne."

"You could still pull some of the same tricks now." I suggested lamely.

"For what? Now it'd be nothing but a publicity stunt. When it gets broadcast to the entire city, we gain face points, new followers, and attention from the wardens, but that makes it so—"

"Worthless." I filled in. He nodded. "That's why I hate the reputation economy; it takes away the meaning of things. Now people calculate every action so they can be famous. Nothing's real anymore."

We sat in a companionable silence for a while, listening to the crickets. I wrapped my jacket tighter around me as the wind slipped through the trees. It carried a nice, earthy pine scent that really liked. Han was leaning back on his board staring at the stars. Deciding I wanted to see exactly what was so amazing, I leaned back against my board.

I was shocked by how beautiful they were. As much time as I spent in the sky, I hadn't really paid them any attention, but after seeing them out here without the city lights to dull them, I wasn't going to be able to look away.

"I want to show you something." Han broke the silence after a little while.

"What?" I asked, broken out of deep thought.

"Come on."

Z

"Where are we?" I asked as Han slowed to an almost stop so I could fly beside him.

"You'll see." He replied as he shot off again. With a laugh, I followed after him.

We raced through the trees for a long time. I was hesitant to fly at top speed after my dip in the waterfall, but Han wasn't. He bent his knees to drop closer to the board and leaned forward into the wind. He wove through the trees like he knew this place. It wouldn't surprise me if he came out here to get away from the cameras.

An ancient ruin of what was probably once a temple came into view beside a stream. I hovered above it as I took in the crumbing steps and concrete floors. Pieces of the walls and ceilings were still intact, but it was mostly just a crumbling skeleton. Han landed on the bank of a stream and stepped off his board. He motioned for me to join him on the ground.

"We found this place years ago. This is where the Crims used to have their meetings to plans the next trick." He told me as he led me down up the steps into the building.

"How far is this from the city?" I asked as he put his hand on the middle of my back and pushed me down another hall.

"About an hour." He replied. We fell silent until we reached an overgrown garden. He sat down on some steps that were still pretty intact and pulled me down with him.

He let his arm drape across my shoulders. Not knowing what else to do, I laid my head against him. Before I realized what had happened, his lips were on mine. I returned his kiss greedily as he moved to pull me closer. I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt his hands on my waist, pulling me towards him until I was in his lap, straddling him. I started getting uncomfortable when his lips moved to my neck and his hands started roaming. I realized I need to stop him now before he pushed to go further.

"Han." I pushed back against him. He didn't stop. "Han. Stop!" He let the tip of his nose trail along my neck until he got to my ear.

"Why?" He asked sultrily.

"I want to stop." I answered. He sighed in annoyance and let me go so I could get off him.

"I shouldn't have brought you here." He muttered.

"I'm one of your best friend's little sister; it's an awful idea." I agreed as I stood and moved away from him. I felt really used. I should have known that his offer would have strings. Maybe he wasn't different from the rest of them after all.

I started walking back towards my hover board without waiting on him to reply. I heard his feet scrape in the rubble as he pulled himself up and followed me.

"Rin." He grabbed my arm. "I'didn't—"

"Didn't what?" I asked after he trailed off. I was so embarrassed that I naively let him drag me out there. I was the one that always said people planned their actions so they could get something in return.

"I'm sorry. I'm used to the other wannabe Crim girls." He apologized. Anger flared up in my chest and I yanked my arm away.

"I am not one of those girls. I thought I'd made that clear." I snapped.

"You aren't that different." He pointed out.

"You don't know me." I reminded. He looked down and pressed his lips together; it was clear he thought he did, but didn't want to fuel the fight. "Thank you for your help, but I'm going to do this on mine own." I added professionally, even though I was seething inside. I definitely didn't feel like being the bigger person, but he did save my ass.

"You don't stand a chance." He told me bluntly.

"That's not your concern." I spun on my heels and stalked towards my hoverboard.

Z

Tears of absolute fury burned my eyes as threw myself on my dorm bed. I knew better than to trust a Crim; they were all nothing but conniving bastards.

I sighed and forced my face into the comforter. I hated all Crims. I was going to shame Takashi so bad he would never be able to show his face again. Having their fearless leader get his name dragged through the mud should be enough to hurt the other Crims. I almost chuckled at the thought of Hayate losing face rank.

I let my head turn to the side and caught a glimpse of the foot high numbers displayed in the corner. They were at least 4,000 higher than when I left.

"Room, pull up the feed." I snapped.

The first think to fill my vision was Airi's face.

"Play it." I said with a sigh.

"Speculations have been flying about who challenged the city's reigning king," I rolled my eyes at the narrator; that nickname was the last thing Takashi needed. "I think it's about time they stopped." Images of Airi's hoverball games game up along with the clip where she was joking about having a few too many and challenging Takashi.

"I mean really people? Yuuki Tsukino? Mitsuko Minami?" I grimaced at the scoff in his voice. Both of those girls had Crim brothers like me. "I think the worst of all is Rin Nakamura." A clip of me being told to leave a party by Hayate because I was an Ugly played.

My jaw dropped as the narrator slammed me. Various big faces popped up adding in to the discussion for their three minutes of fame. Then Airi popped up. She painted herself like she was defending me, but cutting remarks towards me kept slipping out.

"And what are your thoughts about her and Han?" A clip of Han and me leaving the woods together played. I looked drunk because I was shaking so hard from the cold.

Airi forced a laugh. "If she did get with Han, then she's just one of many girls that got a little cocky over a face rank bump and went for one of the big dogs. He just took her because she was a sure thing. I don't think that's what happened though; Han never goes for someone with that much of a face rank difference. I know from Hayate that she is the extremely awkward and an extra for a reason." She half sneered.

"No wonder the Nakamura brothers are so ashamed of her." The narrator finished.

Angry, hurt tears spilled over. Slam feeds just like this got kicked all the time. Everyone knew my brothers wouldn't associate with me because I was extra; it was only a matter of time before one got kicked of me. It hurt so much to hear other people say it though.

As I sat there glaring at Airi's face, I promised myself I was going to shame her so bad she wouldn't be able to walk around in public again.

AN: Re read this story and it was nothing like I'd originally planned. I swear this is the worst thing I've ever posted on fanfiction. I really want to go back and fix it later when I actually have time.