~Chapter 18~

Still staring into the direction where Bass had just flew away in, Lei was lost in her thoughts.

'His eyes just now..' She thought to herself, her expression turning sad, 'They were so.. Distant.'

Why?

What could have happened to make him attack Dean and just fly away with barely even looking at her like that?

She shifted her blue eyes down to look at her male friend.

Dean was still sitting on the ground next to her, slightly coughing while rubbing his aching neck, where Bass had just grabbed him.

"Dean.. Are you okay?" She asked him, her voice soft.

The male Navi lifted his brown eyes to her.

"Yeah.. Somehow.." He confirmed, his expression turning angry, "That asshole, how dare he?"

Lei stared at him in silence for a few moments.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting herself down on the ground beside him, but the male Navi kept silent for the longest time, shifting his gaze to stare at anything but the girl next to him.

Lei's expression turned confused.

"Dean.. Please tell me what happened between you and Bass." She pressed, moving a little closer and causing her friend to slightly jump in response.

The male Navi suddenly turned to look at her.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said, his expression unreadable, "What's going on between the two of you?"

His question caught Lei off guard, causing her to blink with surprise and keep quiet for a while.

'I told Mea..' She thought to herself, clenching her hands in her lap into fists, 'I guess It's time to tell Dean too.'

She swallowed hard.

"I've gotten to know him.. and I.. Enjoy his company." She started, biting her lip at the discomfort she knew the next sentence would cause the male Navi, "He's really not that bad, Dean.. For him to attack you like that.. I just don't-"

But her words were suddenly interrupted by her friend;

"Lei! He's a killer!" He said, suddenly raising his voice, his expression turning angry, "You've heard the stories about him just like all of us! He only lives to fight and obtain more power, the dude doesn't know anything else! He's dangerous!"

Lei's brow furrowed at his words.

"That's not entirely true, Dean!" She protested, slightly raising her voice as well, "While I understand where you're coming from, there are things about him that stories don't tell. You can't always rely on rumors alone to form an opinion about someone!"

Dean gritted his teeth.

"He almost killed me, Lei!" He yelled.

The female Navi went completely silent at his words, her expression turning sad as she shifted her blue eyes to the ground.

"That's why.. I asked you what happened." She said with a quiet voice, then raised her blue eyes back to him, "I can't believe he'll just attack you without any reason like that." Her voice turned confident at her last sentence. She refused to think otherwise.

'There's just no way.' She thought to herself.

Dean said nothing for a while and simply stared at the girl next to him.

Neither of them spoke for a solid minute.

"I told him to stay away from you."

Lei's blue eyes widened as she processed his words.

Her chest suddenly felt heavy, causing her brow to furrow at the unwanted sensation.

"Why would you do that..?" She asked, her expression turning confused.

Dean sighed heavily.

"I wanted to.. Protect you." He said, shifting his gaze away from her as his cheeks turned slightly red.

Lei's confusion only grew.

'..Protect me?' She ran his words again in her mind.

"Thank you, Dean, but I'm fine.. You really don't need to be so worried about me all the time." She explained, watching him closely.

The male Navi let out another heavy sigh, then with a swift movement turned at her direction.

"I want to be worried about you!" He suddenly said, unintentionally raising his voice.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his sudden outburst.

The heavy silence made him realize what he had just blurted out, and his expression shifted into pure shock as his whole face turned as red as a tomato.

He quickly shifted his brown eyes away from her, only to eventually turn them back at her direction.

"I meant it." He confessed, making his voice as confident as he could at that moment, "I.. love you, Lei."

Neither of them spoke as the words were left to hover in the air.

Lei's expression was now a mixture of confusion and surprise, and she just stared at the male Navi, sitting on the ground before her; his face completely red, and his brown eyes fixed on her, desperately waiting for her answer.

To think that one of her best friends, who she knew for a few years already, would suddenly confess to her like that..

She suddenly blinked.

'Was this the reason he was acting so strange lately..?' She thought to herself, 'Did Mea know about this..?'

Realizing what that meant, Lei started feeling the familiar prick of guilt she most certainly did not miss.

Snapping back into reality, she noticed the silence was getting too heavy, far too fast, and each passing second only seemed to make it worse.

She had to answer him. To say something.

But she found it hard to form the words.

Words that would surely hurt him.

Her expression turned sad as she hesitantly opened her mouth;

"I'm sorry, Dean." The harsh sentence finally escaped her lips, breaking the silence.

The male Navi continued staring at her for a few more moments, his expression slowly shifting into a defeated smile.

He sighed deeply as he looked away from his female friend.

"Yeah. I guess I saw this coming." He chuckled bitterly to himself.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Dean.." She said softly, grabbing back his attention.

He was important to her. No doubt about it. After all, they were good friends for such a long time, He was always there for her, and she felt like she could really trust him.

But those feelings were not 'Love'.

"Thank you for telling me.. " She said, smiling sadly at him, "I value our friendship, and I love our conversations together.. But I can't.. return your feelings."

She felt guilty.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

Both Navis sat and stared at each other for a few more moments, completely silent.

Then, Lei suddenly floated up to her feet, causing Dean's expression to turn confused at her actions.

"I have to go." She said, only confusing her friend further.

"To where?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lei smiled at him.

"To find Bass." She answered.

Dean stayed quiet as he just stared at her for a few moments.

"Do you love that guy?" The male Navi suddenly asked, watching her closely.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his sudden question.

"Why are you asking me this..?" Confused, she felt heat starting to radiate out of her cheeks.

Dean went quiet for a few moments.

"Lei.. I don't want you to get hurt" He said, his expression serious.

The female Navi only smiled her widest at him.

"I'll be fine! I promise." She said, "Don't worry."

And with that, she flew once again on her way to the UnderNet, to seek out the most fearsome NetNavi of them all.

'Bass.. Please be easy to find!' She thought to herself, picking up her speed.

Flying through the darkest depths of the UnderNet, Bass clenched his hands into fists as his expression turned irritated.

He was angry at himself.

For being so stupid, so trusting, so gullible, so wishy-washy.

He knew this was a bad idea from the start, so why the hell did he have to follow this stupid yearning?

This damned attachment he had grown for her..

How did he even let himself end up in this situation in the first place?

How did he somehow, without himself even noticing, formed a damn bond with that girl?!

"Pathetic..!" He said to himself, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists even harder.

But the saddest part, the most undeniably pitiful part that made him the angriest.. Was the fact that after all that had happened, after he was proven that he should just stop with everything involving this subject, and after how much he tried to terminate every useless notion he had left in him..

He just couldn't stop thinking about her.

A girl who's only feeling sorry for him due to his tragic past.

Why did he have to get so involved? This wasn't like him. After what happened with Cossack he should've known better than to open up this easily. Even MegaMan took long before he could earn his respect and trust.

Then why? What made him so.. taken with her?

That stupid delivery girl somehow managed to enter every part of his mind, everything reminding him of her.

And it was driving him crazy.

His brow furrowed as he stopped, then raised his hand out of his cloak and fired a powerful energy shot to the ground below him, causing a massive explosion which thundered through the whole area, completely destroying whatever was unfortunate enough to get caught in it.

He stared down at the remains and growled.

"Damn it." He cursed to himself, narrowing his red eyes, then continued flying.

He didn't even know where he was going, but he did know he had to keep moving.

To occupy himself with something.

Anything.

Just to keep himself from thinking about her.

Because these thoughts were nothing but poison.

A/N: Please review! :)