A/N: Hey everyone! Guess whose back from the dead? Jk. I have a lot of ideas for this story and I plan to finish it soon. Sorry for the long hiatus. Please don't forget to leave a review once you finish reading. The frequency of the updates depends on your reviews!

A big shout out to those who hit that review button already: SatellaNews, yo (thanks for the DianaxMaxima idea!), fia3striker, CyberHyperPhoenix0252 (also, surprise for you in this chapter XD), Raquel the writer, Guest, and finally arandomguestguy!

Here we go~

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the drill.

II. Getting Hitched

"One, two, three, four," the choreographer moved effortlessly, doing twists and turns like it was a joke. "Five, six, seven – Jesus!" He stopped, sighing loudly in frustration. "Miku-san, where's your arm going?! Aoi-san please straighten your legs! Everyone, follow Athena-chan," his tone softened considerably, earning a frown from Athena who didn't like the obvious favoritism. "Here we go again, one, two…"

After three hours of straight practice with six five minute breaks, the dancers in Athena's crew exited, some of them crawling on all fours, some of them being carried outside. "Good job everyone!" Athena clapped her hands together in encouragement, sweatdropping when someone cried "I'm too young to die!" in the distance, somewhere down the corridor.

Sighing, she looked at her reflection in the mirror, panting. She was sweating head to toe, her limbs aching from practice. She was opening the concert for the KOF introduction event a couple of days later and the whole practice routine was beyond exhausting.

"Eh?" She blinked as her cellphone vibrated.

"Mush Mush?" She answered warily. Too many fan calls these days…

"Athena-chan~!" An old voice croaked from the other side.

"Ano… Chin-sensei?" She blinked. "You finally converted to using a cell phone!" She beamed.

"No no! Well yes I'm using a phone but I'm speaking in your head."

Athena blinked, focusing for a moment. Indeed, they had been using telepathy. "Etto…" Sweatdropping, she pouted, shrugging. "Then why did you call?"

"I WANTED TO SHOW YOU HOW USELESS THIS MACHINE IS BAHAHA!"

With that, he hung up.

Before her frown could turn into a scowl, the voice spoke again, this time distinctly in her head. "Have you decided on partnering up with Kensou for this year's tournament?"

"EH?" Athena exclaimed in surprise. She glanced over to her bag, lying open on the floor. Inside was the silver and pink invitation. She shook her head and even though she didn't say anything, she heard a frustrated grunt on the other end.

"Yes yes, you are not a couple…" Athena winced at the mere mention of the word. "BUT you are the psycho soldier team!" The old man chastised for the hundredth time.

"I have to practice. BYE!" Athena deliberately cut off the telepathic connection.

Sighing deeply, she looked at her reflection in the mirror again, zoning out to her thoughts. Yes, Kensou had expressed her interest in her throughout the years, not missing a single opportunity. He made it so obvious. She smiled as she thought this in an endearing kind of way. But she didn't feel that way about him. She never had.

Only one man made her heart go all 'doki doki'. Her unrequited high school –

"Sir, this man tried to enter the premises without permission!" She heard the panicked voice she recognized as the security guard.

"What do you mean tried? I'm already in, geez," she heard that deep, masculine, husky voice that was none other than—!

Snapping out of her thoughts, she made a run for the entrance of the studio.

"Excuse me, do you know—" her manager began but was interrupted shortly after.

"Do you like barbeque?"

"Huh? No. Why?"

"I do," the frown on the handsome man's face turned upwards into a smirk as he lit up one of his gloved fingers.

"What the—"

"Kusanagi-sama?" The girlish voice dropped the tone of curiosity and sweatdropped, mentally extinguishing the flame.

Putting on her cutest smile, she turned to the manager. "This is my high school friend. I know him very well. Sorry for your trouble!"

Both the manager and the security guard had seemed to melt into a pudding.

"Ah yes yes, I apologize Athena-chan! Then we'll leave you to your friend…" The manager sweatdropped, eyeing Kyo with both jealousy and fear, before disappearing at the end of the corridor with the security guard following closely.

Athena took a moment to examine Kyo. She hadn't seen him since the last tournament, except on the news. Her heart did a back flip just watching him smiling politely, but not without a marked arrogance. The faintest blush appeared on her cheeks when she saw Kyo eyeing her from head to toe, which didn't go unnoticed by the man.

The silence was filled by his laugh, which broke the ice. Athena herself let out a small chuckle.

"What brings you here, Kusanagi-sama?"

"Seriously, Asamiya, you have to stop calling me that," he scoffed, running a hand through his silky, chocolatey hair.

"Ah, gomen gomen~" she nodded before looking up at him again with her cute, big, dough like eyes.

"Oh right," he pasued, looking at her seriously. "Do you have time for coffee?"

"E…."

"E….hh…"

"EHHH?!"

"Men, seriously…" King twitched an eyebrow in annoyance as she kicked the last of the drunkards out, shouting at the top of her lungs to kill the drunken laughter outside, "WE'RE CLOSED. GO HOME. YOU'RE DRUNK!"

Murmuring something that seemed to be a chain of hushed curses, she returned to the bar, polishing glasses. When she heard the door open, she stomped over to the gate, ready to kick the intruder in the face.

Recognizing the orange training clothes at once, she sighed, lowering her hand holding the glass cup which had been raised in the air to slam it into said-intruder's skull.

"Easy!" Ryo yelped, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

I picked a really shitty day to ask… he gulped, tensing. However, much to his surprise, King chuckled loudly. "That would have been a funny sight…"

Ryo smiled when his eyes met hers. "Tired?" He asked rhetorically to which she nodded casually. "The same."

"Want to get a drink?" He teased to which he earned a scoff. "Drinking this late? Should I give Takuma-sensei a call?"

"Hey…" he had been cautioned.

King just laughed. "Still daddy's boy. What can I getcha?" She pulled up two glasses.

"Wine please!"

Nodding, she poured the wine expertly into two glasses, leaning on the bar counter as she slid the glass over to him. "So, what is it?"

"Ummm…. Nothing. Why?" Ryo tried his best to mask his obvious anxiety.

"You're going to ask me something. Just do it," King scolded, taking a sip from her wine. "Delaying makes it worse," she coached him, placing her hand on his shoulder and patting it three times.

"We women like you men to be all confident and stuff," she continued to tease, close to breaking into a full-fledged laughter attack.

"Alright, alright, that's enough," he narrowed his eyes threateningly at her. "The tournament…" he began, averting his eyes from her.

"Yes, what about it?" She pressed, knowing full well what he was going to ask.

"Are you going with someone?"

"I don't know. Maybe~" she teased again, testing his limits.

He looked up instantly, meeting her eyes with surprise. "Really?" He looked slightly taken aback, but also disappointed. "Who?"

"You, if you ever manage to ask me properly," she took another long sip, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Oh…" it took a minute to sink in. "OH."

"Mmhmm~" she sighed, having stated the obvious. "So are you going to ask me or what?"

Her footsteps were so quiet, had he not been intuitive enough, her presence would have totally slipped his notice.

"Leave us," he ordered the two women by his side who snapped their head in the direction of the entrance.

"Sure," Mature smiled sadistically, grabbing Vice's hand as she led her out. On her way, she turned to whisper in the blue haired woman's ear, "you look delicious today."

Not bothering to respond, Leona waited for them to leave before she turned her eyes back to the purle flames' wielder.

"Have a seat," he said in a soft tone. He seemed to have relaxed with her just being here.

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking a seat. She also seemed to have relaxed from her army-like posture into a more comfortable 'slump'.

"How have you been… Iori?" She asked, her gaze genuinely concerned.

He smiled, but only so slightly. No one ever called him by his first name, except Leona and that Elsa girl who was addicted to sorbet.

"Not so good ever since the recent KoF invitation," he scowled, slumping in his own chair.

"Right…" Leona winced, remembering her father's preposterous suggestions from before. "So are you entering?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Are you?" He returned her question with one of his own.

"If you are," she replied, nodding.

"What are you saying?"

"We know each other. More than we ever thought we would," she began, looking out the window in the dimly lit place. "I feel connected to you in a way I can't put into words, others don't understand either."

"Then fuck others," he added after a long pause, smirking. "Don't expect any romantic crap from me," he chuckled, looking her in the eye.

"Affirmative. You don't have a romantic bone in your body," she added as a sort of confirmation and both formerly Orochi-possessed fighters shared a silent moment of mutual comfort – a kind of comfort they only found in each other.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I'm having midterms this week. T_T *sniff sniff* Next up is the opening ceremony. Some people are in for a real shock. More funny scenarios to happen! XD Make sure to leave suggestions for pairings in your reviews.

P.S.: I know there are some diehard YukixKyo fans out there but I really ship AthenaxKyo so I'm gonna give it a try. Please don't hate on me! *hides from wrath of fans*

Until next time!