Chapter two;
A caring stranger

"Ok," I whispered. I was treated differently enough without this to add to my plate. Everyone wanted to be my best friend, boys still wanted to date me, but most of all, everybody just wanted the popularity that came along with knowing the last Hathaway princess. This was only going to add to that special treatment. "So who is this Über cool guardian?"

"That Princess, would be me." The voice was soft and mesmerising and his accent made me want to die and float away to heaven. It was godly. I turned around to face the man. Despite being in a formal meeting with Kirova about my new guardian, I let my eyes rake over his body. He was tall, his muscles were so well defined you could see them through his white t-shirt, his hair was soft and brown, tied back at the nape of the neck – even though most of his hair preferred to frame his face – and his eyes, were a brown so deep and warm I thought I could lose myself in them at any moment. And I thought his voice was godly... well I stand corrected. He was godly. Slightly blushing as I realised we were still in Kirova's office and I had not yet said anything to him while he watched me check him out, I reached out my hand for him to shake.

"Rose," I said shakily. "It's a pleasure to meet you..." The sentence dragged out as I realised I did not know his name.

"Guardian Belikov, but you Princess, may call me Dimitri. And trust me, the pleasure is all mine." He smiled brightly at me as he took my hand in is. There was a jolt of electricity that passed through me the second our skin made contact and I knew he felt it too. I quickly pulled my hand away unsure of what it meant.

"Please, just Rose. I don't want any formalities." His smile brightened as we both sat down, side by side, facing Kirova. She was only talking to Dimitri so I lost myself to my thoughts. I was definitely going to thank the Queen the next time she invited me to see her. Not only did Dimitri look capable of fighting off an army of strigoi by himself, but he was also the hottest thing I had ever seen (hey, I'm 16; don't judge).

"Rose?" Kirova asked. I blinked a few times before I focussed my eyes on her.

"Sorry" I mumbled as she sighed.

"It's quite alright. I just wanted to let you know that you are excused from lessons today in order for you and Guardian Belikov to spend some time together, you know, get to know each other." I nodded my head at her. "Alright then, you may go." Both of us stood up to leave and just as I was about to reach for the door handle, a long, tanned muscular arm shot out and opened the door for me instead. I noticed his bags were just sitting there outside the door. I wondered where he would be staying. I paused for a moment just looking at his bags as he picked them up. There were three of them and they seemed heavy, but he picked them up with ease. He turned around with a smirk on his face and I wondered why, until I realised I was just standing there staring at him.

"Sorry," I mumbled looking down. "So, where is it that you're staying? Those bags look really heavy." He chucked softly in response to this.

"The bags are nothing. And weren't you listening? I'm your full time guardian. Headmistress Kirova has ordered us to share a dorm." This made sense, however considering the academy's strict rules on male and female interaction – even though nothing would happen between us – I found it confusing that Kirova was insisting upon this.

"Uh, no, I, I wasn't listening actually." Without saying anything else I lead him up to my room, glad that I had kept it clean and it was not the mess it used to be. Actually, I spent quite a lot of time cleaning my room – it helped me cope after my parents die; it distracted me. The walk was silent, and the night still seemed cheery. The corridors were quiet as everybody was in classes, but I still felt as if everyone was looking at me. Tomorrow I was going to be the talk of the school, as usual, but I was going to be the talk of the school for a bad reason – not simply peoples sympathy and popularity conquests. I opened the door to my large bedroom and Dimitri walked in behind me. "I'm sorry there isn't a bed. I was unaware that I'd be having a guardian. I'll be sure to get you one."

"The floor will be fine enough" he said as he set his bags down at the opposite end of the room. I went over to the lounge I had and stared out the window as he unpacked.

"Nonsense." The room was quiet after that. I didn't particularly want to, how did Kirova put it, spend some time together and get to know each other. Though I was interested in getting to know him, he seemed different to the people I had been surrounded by my whole life, I didn't want him to get to know me. I wasn't ready to open up to anyone. My life was going fairly well no that I had at least learnt to pretend to cope. And I didn't plan on having a huge DnM with a man I had just met. (DnM = deep and meaningful conversation – just for anyone that didn't know). Bored with watching the trees sway in the wind, I turned to look at some of his belongings. He had a few pictures of his family and a few books that I couldn't read the titles of, obviously written in Russian. But that was it. He didn't have much, just his picture, books and his bags of clothes that were, I noticed, still in their respective bags. "There is some room in the wardrobe for your clothes." He turned to look at me, nodded and took his bags into my wardrobe. There was actually a lot of room in my wardrobe. After my parents died, I got rid of most of my clothes, deciding they were not appropriate for a princess to be wearing. Yes they were appropriate for a 16 year old, but I had other things to be concerned with and had to show my professionalism. I couldn't wear those clothes anymore; I had an image to show to the moroi world. Well, I had them still. I couldn't bear to throw them away. All of the clothes were just tucked away in boxes in a little storage room the school had given me.

"Rose?" his voice was soft, like he did not want to startle me. I realised I had probably been staring off into space for some time.

"Yes?"

"The school, they told me some things... about you. And I guess I just wanted to let you know, that I'm here, whenever you feel like talking." My head snapped up to him. No one, in six months, had ever said something like that to me. People just assumed what I was feeling, what it was like, and assumed they knew what was best for me. But here this random dhampir was, openly telling me he was going to be here for me. "I mean it... about anything." I was curious.

"What did they say to you?" it would be interesting to know who and what people were saying about me. He looked uncomfortable at the question and really awkward just standing there at the entrance of my wardrobe. "You can come and sit down," I reminded him. "I told you, no formalities." Tentatively he made his way over and sat on the lounge next to me.

"They didn't say much" he whispered. "It was just a debriefing about you and your family history. But I was watching you this morning, in Kirova's office. I can see that you've seen too much already and that you put on a good face for the people around you. I want to be your friend and I want you to trust me. So anytime you want to talk, about anything at all, I'm here for you." Dimitri didn't seem like a man of many words, and the little mini speech he just spoke seemed way out of character for him. But I could see that he meant it. I could see that he actually genuinely cared, despite meeting me all of twenty minutes ago. Before he could see the small tears that sprung to my eyes, I turned back to the window as I spoke.

"You know," I began, trying to compose myself so my voice didn't break. "You're the first one that has ever said something like that to me in so long." Both of us were silent for a while, just sitting there. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't turn back to face him. "It's been so long," I was whispering to myself, but I didn't doubt that he was listening. "You actually seem to care about me, and I can't remember the last time... the last time someone actually cared about me, instead of my status." A few tears tricked down my face, but I was fighting hard against the waterfall of tears that wanted to crash its way over the brims of my eyes. I knew that I had never fully grieved properly over my parents and I knew that I was not fully recovered from the scars their death and the scene had left on my soul. But after being forced into being 'normal' for the rest of the world, I'd come to accept the fact that reality was more important than my feelings. I'd learnt to bury my feelings deep inside me. They didn't matter – reality did. And then, all of a sudden, this man comes into my life for mere minutes and my composure seemed to be slipping from my grasps. I took a few deep breathes to calm myself before turning back to Dimitri. I was certainly not going to let him see me cry – not today, not ever. I was strong and I didn't show emotion. I just looked at him, and I saw nothing but compassion on his face. Neither one of us spoke. We just sat there staring at each other. I don't actually know how long passed before he finally spoke and I didn't care. Just sitting in Dimitri's presence made me feel relaxed and comfortable – like nothing bad was going to happen and the outside world didn't exist. It was a weird feeling to have, but I wasn't questioning it. It felt nice. I felt safe.

"Are you hungry?" His gaze travelled from my face down to my rumbling stomach. I didn't even know I was hungry until he mentioned it. All I wanted to do was sit here in this peaceful trance.

"Oh, yeah, maybe just a little." He stood up and offered me his hand.

"Come on, we'll go get some food." I took his hand and again felt the same tingling feeling I felt this morning but I didn't pull away this time. Still, there was that comfortable silence that wrapped around us as we headed down to the cafeteria and ate. With his presence I found it easy to ignore the stares of the other students we passed in the hallway. It wasn't lunchtime; it was just that period in-between class where the halls were filled with students. I was glad I wouldn't have to eat with their gaping mouths staring at me.

Aaw! Isn't Dimitri sweet? All nice and caring-like wanting to be Rose's friend? Ahahha

Anyway, Review guys and let me know what you think.
love JD xx