A/N: "Forever Young" was written and performed by Janis Ian.

Chapter 3: Forever Young

/ Her memory haunts his heart. Her body burned its mark. Her soul has flown from his embrace, no more to tear the dark. /

Lee was thankful that it was a chilly day, since that gave him more of an excuse to pull her closer to him. A little apprehensive at first, Nina relented. It was nice to actually walk with someone for a change, and no, ten-meter trips to the gym with Raven didn't count.

"I really am glad to see you again, Nina."

"For a playboy, you're awfully clingy," she remarked, glancing sideways.

Warning bells went off in his head. He instantly let go of her, folding his arms defensively. "I am not! I just happen to like you, that's all."

"Relax, I didn't mean that in a literal sense."

His arm found its way back around her waist. "I knew that," he huffed. Lee silently reminded himself that he shouldn't pour out all his feelings at once. Things will never go well for me if the ball's in her court. If this progresses, I may become the textbook definition of "pussy-whipped," and ugh, I can NOT let that happen to me. Again.

Silence passed between them until Nina finally spoke. "Listen, Lee -- "

He grinned. "Wow, you actually got my name right this time."

"I'm sorry I bailed out on you last night. I just suspected that you might've been, well, insincere."

"I usually am," he half-joked. "I don't blame you for thinking that." They walked in silence before Lee started on small talk. "So how old are you?"

"About twenty years younger than you, that's for sure," she laughed. In her head, however, Lee just looked like a thirty-year-old with silver hair. Whatever age he was, he looked pretty darn sexy.

"Seriously? I'm sure I've seen you a long time ago...although I must admit, your looks haven't changed much."

Nina shivered at the memory of being frozen in an oversized test tube, not to mention the side effect of total amnesia. Memories were starting to come back to her little by little, but she still wished that it had never happened. "Err, it's a long story."

"Plastic surgery?"

She glared at him, clearly insulted. "What? No!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything...it's just that you look exactly the same as you did several years ago."

"How do you even remember?"

He chuckled at the memory. "I thought you were stunning, and I wanted to talk to you, but some black-haired woman led me away before I had the chance."

Nina cringed. Damn that Anna. "I don't think I want to hear the rest of it, Lee."

"Care to suggest another topic?"

"Hmm," she mused, rubbing her bare arms to warm herself against the chilly night wind. "Why were you competing in the tournament?"

He took off his coat and put it on her. "Ah, some prick was messing with my stock. I took care of it, though. Had to take back what was mine. And you?"

"I plan to exact my revenge on that black-haired woman who led you away from me."

Lee grinned ear to ear. "Gee, I didn't know you dug me that much."

"Oh, absolutely," she deadpanned. "Seriously though, she's my sister, and we're kind of at each other's throats right now about personal matters."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not right now." She glumly looked on at the brown leaves flying in the wind before them, and at the stars gleaming ahead. Nina was definitely not in the mood to discuss her father's tragic murder with someone she'd only known two days.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, you gonna tell me why you look exactly the same as you did about twenty years ago?"

"Let's put it this way: technically, you and I are only a few years apart, but if you consider the circumstances, I'm twenty years younger than I should be. And so is my sister."

In a weird way, that seemed to make sense to Lee. "Uh...would you happen to have been cryogenically frozen, by any chance?"

Nina stopped in her tracks. "How did you know?"

"My stepfather, Heihachi...he likes to dabble in silly experiments. Listen, I don't even really talk to him anymore, so let's just drop the sub -- "

"Hey, we're already here," she interrupted, looking up at a large white building. Since she didn't want to discuss or even remember Heihachi Mishima either, she feigned not paying attention to the last sentence.

They shared an awkward ride up the elevator, before making it to the level of her apartment. "Are you sure you don't want to give me your number? I'm still interested in taking you out, you know."

She looked down at the floor, blushing for the first time in a very long time. "Well, I'm flattered, but I don't think it will last, Lee. You and I...we're not that kind of people."

He opened his mouth to protest, but realized that she was right. Neither one of them wanted commitment or baggage. But true as that was, he hated that this was the last time he would see her.

"So I guess this is goodbye, then?" Nina started fiddling with her keys.

"Yeah. Be seeing you." He silently hoped that he would find someone really, really pretty in the club that night.

Instead of walking away though, he cupped her delicate, oval face in his hands, stared deeply into her blue eyes, and kissed her. It was different from the first time they did. When in their first kiss there was an emotional disconnect between them, this time Lee kissed her with a strong sense of desperation.

Nina pulled back, looking at him with shock. She broke away from his intense stare, turned the key and opened the door.

His face reddened. "I'm really sorry..."

But she didn't say anything. Instead, she took him by the wrist and pulled him into the apartment before closing the door behind them.

Thank God I don't have any match scheduled for tomorrow. It was barely dusk when they arrived at her place, and way past ten when they were through. Lee was fast asleep on the soft white bed, completely exhausted. While she was tempted to just roll over and go to sleep herself, Nina reluctantly got up and shrugged on an oversized T-shirt, exiting the room to see if Raven had returned.

The whole place was dead quiet. Her roommate arrived home at odd hours, so she decided that she shouldn't worry. She poured herself a glass of water and brought it with her to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face.

Lee was still asleep, a white blanket covering him from the waist down, when Nina returned to the bedroom. The dim white light coming from the open doorway softly outlined his muscles and illuminated his face, half-covered by his feathery hair. He looked nearly angelic in that light, but Nina knew he was more devil than angel. Wondering how she how she would kick him out of the apartment before Raven arrived, she leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. Strangely, she couldn't help but smile. He looks so cute when he's asleep.

She spent minutes just watching him and pondering her situation before his eyes fluttered open. He smiled sleepily at her. "Hey."

She decided to take the straightforward approach. "Hey," she returned, smiling. "Get out."

"Can't I just crash here? I'm crazy tired." He looked pleadingly at her with puppydog eyes.

Nina hated that he was so charming -- she'd easily have thrown him out of the apartment otherwise. Instead, she locked the door behind her. "Okay, fine. Just stay on your side of the bed. I don't like to cuddle."

"You are every guy's dream girl," he chuckled as she approached. Once on the bed, she faced the side opposite him and closed her eyes, slapping away his creeping hand before quickly falling asleep herself.

Nina Williams had always been an early riser.

Looking to her left, she noticed that apparently, Lee was an even earlier riser, because he wasn't there. She buried her face in the pillow. "How typical," she muttered. All this time, he'd just chased her to get her back for ditching him the other night. Fucking pig. This is EXACTLY why I don't do dates.

The sound of a familiar, deep voice resonated from the doorway. "Jesus, I get back at 3AM and I still wake up earlier than you. Rise and shine, roomie, we're training today."

"Mmph."

"By the way, I found this on the TV. I think it's for you."

Nina felt a piece of paper being pressed into her hand. "What the..." She rolled over and blinked open an eye to unfold and read it: Call me...pretty please:) Below it was what she supposed was Lee's number. "...Oh."

Would she call him? She was still unwilling to get into a relationship requiring commitment with anyone, that was a given. But those nights with Lee were simply mind-blowing! And in addition, he's super hot. She would love to have all the fun without the chains of commitment, and baggage, and emotional investment, and anniversaries, and invasions of privacy, and awkward mornings after. Who needed that?

A-ha! In a flash, Nina conjured up the perfect way to have her cake and eat it too. She smiled at the piece of paper in her hand. Yes, she would definitely call him.

Raven eyed her curiously. "Friend of yours?"

"You can say that."

A/N: Okay, I still have a few extra chapters ready for uploading, but I've kind of hit writer's block -sniffle- so all storyline suggestions are welcome. One-shot requests are welcome, too!

Much loveto all the reviewers -- Aki Ronin, Maidengirl, Scarlet-Child, and Robot Dog. I'm still writing this thanks to you guys!