Hey, it's me! Sorry 'bout the delay, some of the reviews weren't so flattering, so it demoralized me a li'l bit. For you guys who didn't like my last chappie, I'd like to add that I am only 12 YEARS OLD!!! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME? Besides that, I loved the reviews. I'm glad you guys liked the extra scenes. I added a few more short ones. Plz R&R!

After two more weeks of stalking Rose, I started to get bored. I mean, all she did was socialize, flirt, talk smartass stuff, and hang out with Lissa; somehow, all staying within Kirova's terms. So, like any normal person, I got slightly annoyed at my useless assignment. I was on break at the moment, heading towards my room, when I passed by Alberta and Jake.

"Belikov!" I turned towards Jake. He waved me over. I backtracked and cocked an eyebrow quizzically. He lowered his voice. "How's it going with Hathaway? Got any info on her yet?"

Questions rose up last week about how I was never on duty anymore, so Kirova had finally decided to inform the guardians about my assignment. The council wasn't too pleased about their ignorance, but there wasn't much they could do about it, considering Kirova was the headmistress; and a Moroi one at that. And now, to make up loss pride, guardians stop me whenever they see my, hoping they could get some information to give to the council.

I gave Jake a tight smile, trying to contain my annoyance. "Nope. Sorry, but she's been acting like a smart–" I caught a glimpse of my watch. I swore. "Проклятый!" (Note: By the way, that means 'damn') The two guardians stared at me. "Sorry," I apologized, not exactly sincere, "I've got training with Rose." They nodded and I turned and ran towards the gym.

Rose appraised me with a resentful glare as I tumbled through the gym doors. She crossed her arms and deliberately tapped her foot, feigning impatience. "What happened to punctuality?" she asked. She deepened her voice, attempting to sound like me in my instructor mode. "On time is late. Early is on time. Now get stretching."

I scowled at her. Sometimes I had a hard time believing I could tolerate, let alone love her. Then again, I was still unsure about how I felt about her. Maybe I was just reading too much into my 'teenage' crush.

She cleared her throat. I realized that I had been thinking for the past few minutes. "So, Comrade," she drawled, "How 'bout those stretches?" I coughed, trying to buy myself some time.

After my little coughing fit, I drew up the rest of my shredded dignity and announced that we were going to start stretches. I heard Rose snort, amused at my awkwardness. Under her breath, she murmured something like, "You go, Comrade." I glared at her, but she simply smiled innocently and returned to her pretzel stretches. I decided to let it go, but I had to keep that nickname in my head. Comrade. Hmmm, not bad.

We finished our stretches in silence. I rose to my feet and began walking outside, planning on going for a nice, long run. I took a deep breath of cool, misty air. I was planning on enjoying the outdoors when Rose's complaints rose to my ears.

"C'mon, Comrade, not again!"

I sighed. This was going to be another long practice.

The next day, I walked into the gym and set up my miniature reading corner. I sat down and turned on an 80's song (When Doves Cry) on the CD player I brought along. Hey, just 'cause I'm only in my twenties doesn't mean I can't love Prince. Collapsing on the floor, I opened my Louis L'Amour western novel and dug in.

Soon after, Rose came sauntering in through the doors. She glanced at the CD player with slight disgust. She threw her bag down and bounced on the balls of her feet. "Whoa, Dimitri," she said, smirking, "I realize this is actually a current hit In Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"

Under her intense gaze, I couldn't move. It was like I was glued to the spot by her dark eyes. I swallowed and tried to act casual; flicking my eyes in her direction in an almost lazy glance. I met her challenging stare. "What does it matter to you?" I asked, daringly, "I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

I expected some snappy comeback, but instead, she wrinkled her nose at me. It was actually really cute. And really distracting. I came back to her complaining to me. "–moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice." I sighed impatiently.

"Maybe you should hit harder," I replied, grouchily. I mean, why are we even having this conversation? Any other novice would immediately do anything I told them to do, no matter how trifle it was. But this…this teenage girl a foot shorter than me was, instead, whining about her lack of abilities.

Rose gave me an exasperated look. "I'm serious."

So was I. "Hard to tell the difference," I replied, closing my book. I set it on the ground next to me, but didn't otherwise move. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?"

She shrugged. "Yup."

"So tell me this," I demanded, "Suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?" I use this situation to both to kill her complaints and to pry for any clue of 'kidnapping' Lissa 'again'.

Rose looked at me. "Depends what store we're in."

I stared at her. Really?

She took the hint and got serious. "Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake." I resisted the urge to burst out laughing. Where'd she get the stake from?

"Oh?" I asked, cocking my eyebrows and humoring her, "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?" I suspected 'no' to both these questions. She changed tactics.

"Okay. I'll cut his head off," she claimed, simply.

I rolled my eyes. With what? If she didn't have a stake, where would she get a sword/knife big enough to cut off a head? I voiced my doubts. "Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you?" I could see that she was touchy about her height. She straightened immediately.

"Fine," she replied, offended, "then I'll set him on fire."

"Again, with what?"

"All right, I give up," she said, throwing up her hands, "You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do."

I stared at her, forcing her to take my answer seriously. "You run."

Her face twisted into a sneer. She seriously looked like she wanted to stab me with something, but instead, she wisely calmed down by finishing up her exercises. Once finished, I started walking out the door. "I'll run with you." I wanted to see how fast she'd gotten since she'd been here. I was rewarded with her face lighting up mischievously.

It was October and was slightly cold. We ran together, the cold air brushing past us. I resisted the urge to shiver. After a while, I began to hear Rose struggle for breath. I slowed down to match her pace. It was faster than I expected it to be, but I didn't know how long she could hold out for.

Looking at me in the corner of her eye, she actually began to speed up. A lot. It was a fast pace and I was proud of her. She pushed herself harder, making it seem like she wanted my respect. I smirked. Yeah, right, Rose Hathaway wanting someone's approval. That's a laugh.

We had three more laps to go when I spotted Ashford and some other novices up ahead. Great. They watched us and as we passed, Ashford yelled, "Good form, Rose!" I scowled.

Rose's reaction was even worse. She grinned shyly and waved back. I turned my jealousy on her. "You're slowing down," I said, through gritted teeth, "Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

She stared at me for a moment before turning away and increasing her speed. I felt a little bit guilty at taking my anger out on her. I mean, it wasn't her fault. Well, not directly at least. I caught up to her easily, and we continued in silence.

After finishing our three miles, I checked the stopwatch. Wow. Two full minutes off of her time. Actually, it was really impressive.

Rose smiled proudly. "Not bad, huh?" she asked, smugly, "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

I could see she was still a little bit insecure, so I felt the need to reassure her. "If she was with you, she'd be okay." Rose stared at me in shock. Oh. I just realized this was first actual encouraging compliment I've given her since she became my student. I'm surprised that she didn't start jumping and clapping her hands in excitement. I watched her closely. She met my gaze and unconsciously smiled. I was about to grin back when her face suddenly twisted in pain.

She doubled over. I lunged to help her, but she was up and running by then. I chased after her. She was heading towards the Moroi dorms. There could only be one thing. Lissa.

I strived to catch up to her. It was amazing how fast she was going after our training. She ignored me and increased her speed. I followed her.

Lissa met us before Rose could get inside. Tears were streaming down her face. Rose stumbled to a stop and grabbed Lissa's arms, peering at her face intently. "What's wrong," she asked, frantically, "What happened?" Lissa didn't reply, she just threw herself into Rose's arms. Rose patted her hair and spoke comforting words. Her eyes flamed with a dangerous threat to whoever did this to Lissa.

While this was happening, I hung around, searching for the cause of Lissa's breakdown. I glanced at Rose again. This was the first time I'd seen Rose show a weakness, an actual worried emotion. It touched me and worried me at the same time. She saw me looking at her and gave me a grateful look. My heart soared.

Later, we were in Lissa's dorm. I hovered around with Kirova, Jackie the matron, and three other guardians. Moroi girls pushed and pulled, trying to see what the big deal was. Even my stern look wasn't enough to kill their curiosity.

Natalie tumbled out from the crowd and glanced around. All our eyes fell on Lissa's bed. I felt like throwing up and by the looks of everyone else, so did they.

Lying on Lissa's pillow was a fox. I've always been partial to animals, for some reason. The fox was a light orange color mixed with dark red, like a sunset, with white shadows over its body. It was really cute. If you didn't count that its throat was cut.

Blood had dried on the fox's fur in dark red streams. It ran down the fur and pooled on the bedspread. The eyes, wide and unseeing, were the worse. They were glassy and filled with fear and apprehension. It was horrifying.

I took a look around. Lissa stepped forward hesitantly. She put out a hand, as if to touch the dead animal, but Rose quickly grasped it and pulled her away gently. Rose's face was blank, as if recalling a faint memory. Worried, I stepped closer to them. I noticed that Natalie did the same.

"It was still alive when I got back," I heard Lissa whisper, "Barely. Oh God, it was twitching. It must have suffered so much." I looked at Rose's face. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"Did you–"

"No. I wanted to….I started to…" Something in their hushed tones caught my ear. I leaned in slightly, not too obviously.

"Then forget about it," Rose ordered, "It's stupid. Somebody's stupid joke. They'll clean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want."

Lissa turned to Rose in panic. "Rose…do you remember…that one time…"

Rose froze. "Stop it," she said, gritting her teeth, "Forget about it. This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows?..." I saw Rose dig her nails into Lissa's arm. She winced.

"No," Rose stated firmly, "It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me? It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well as Lissa. Lissa nodded, obviously not believing her.

"Get this cleaned up," I faintly heard Kirova say to Jackie. "And find out if anyone saw anything. And what is Hathaway doing here?"

I winced. "Belikov," Kirova snapped, "She's under probation. You know that. Take her back." She turned away. I glared at her back.

Turning around, I beckoned Rose to follow me. She scowled, but followed reluctantly. We walked in silence until we were almost at her dorm. "You know something," I began, choosing my words carefully, "Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

She turned slowly to face me. Her eyes burned with a determined fire. She dodged my question. "I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?" I persisted.

She shrugged and thought for a moment. "No. No clue."

My patience was running out. "Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious." Right when I said those words, I knew that it was the wrong thing to say.

Rose turned around, anger lighting her eyes up in hatred. "Yeah, this is serious," she said, her voice brimming with hatred. I knew it wasn't because of me, but I still winced under her furious glare. "It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! Teach me how to fight. I already know how to run away."

I kept my expression blank as I took in her wild eyes and clenched fists. I gestured her forward. "Come on. You're late for practice."

Everything was so confusing, but I knew that I would help Rose if it was the last thing I'd do. Too much relied on her for her to fail. It would be hard, but I knew she could do it.

I don't get the computer as often as I'd like, but I try! Sorry if there's a few delays, but the more reviews, the faster the posts! R&R!

~Leena