A/N: I got a couple mixed reactions to what I should do for this chapter, but I decided that the ninja boyfriend thing had to be written so this is what I came up with. Wally's POV! Enjoy :-)

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, none of these characters belong to me. If Wally West belonged to me, I would be the only one allowed to play with him ;-) Any dialogue or plot that looks familiar belongs to DC and Greg Weisman and other people who are not me.

Summary: This is the story of Artemis and Wally and their evolution from teammates, to friends, to boyfriend and girlfriend, to husband and wife, to soul mates and everything and anything in between. Please review! XD

Genre: Friendship, Romance, Action/Adventure, Humor

Rating: T (just to be safe, it might go up later if I'm feeling particularly ambitious)

Characters: Artemis Crock, Wally West

The EVOLUTION of SOUL MATES

Evolution: the gradual development of something, esp. from a simple to a more complex form.

Chapter 8: (Ninja) Boyfriend

He keeps looking at her out of the corner of his eye. They've been dragging Aqualad's unconscious body halfway across the desert, at least it seems that way to him, for at least an hour or so. And the whole time he's been sneaking glances at her when he thinks she's not looking.

He's just really…confused. Miss M had pieced back together their memories and now he remembers: he remembers how much of a pain she is, how she'd taken Roy's place on the Team, how she thinks she's so awesome. But he also remembers the vulnerability in her eyes when she first woke up, how protective of her he'd felt. How beautiful he thought she was. And she is beautiful, he thinks, looking at her again as she tugs Aqualad along. To be sure, Wally has never thought she was bad looking, he had just never seen her in that way before. He can't help but recall the way she felt in his arms as he held her or the look in her grey eyes when he'd almost kissed her.

Ugh, yuck! Get a grip, Wally, he tells himself. This is Artemis, Queen of the Harpies. She gets on your nerves and vice versa.

What had made today so different though? They had lost their memories and had no recollection of their first meeting, which, if Wally is honest with himself, was kind of hostile. And yes, maybe if they had met under better circumstances and he didn't think she was taking Roy's spot on the Team, he would have been a little nicer to her, probably would've flirted with her, but she had. And first impressions were everything in his opinion. This little…incident changed nothing. Nothing at all.

Involuntarily, his eyes slowly slide over to her, and this time she catches him looking.

"Would you stop that?" she snaps through gritted teeth.

"Stop what?" he asks, deciding to play dumb.

"Stop staring at me or glaring at me or whatever it is you're doing," she replies.

"Hey, I can look wherever I want," he retorts, well aware that this really is not helping his case. "It's a free country."

"Actually, it's not," she points out infuriatingly.

"Would you two quit it?" Robin asks, choosing that moment to interject. "I'm pretty sure all of Bialya can hear you."

Being chastised by a 13-year-old is the pits, he thinks before very maturely sticking his tongue out at Artemis, who scowls back at him in return.

Artemis really wouldn't be so bad if she didn't call him out on his crap all the time. No one else does it, (except for maybe Dick but that's what a best friend is for) so he really doesn't see why she needs to. Artemis never lets him get away with anything.

Unbidden, Kent Nelson's words come to his mind. Find your own little spitfire. One who won't let you get away with nothin'…Not for the first time Wally thinks to himself, could Artemis be that girl?...Nah. He pushes the thought to the back of his mind where he hopes it will stay.

In front of them, Robin stops suddenly. "Quick, over there!" he urges.

Wally and Artemis follow him around a huge sand dune and lay Aqualad against the sand carefully. Just in time, too. A car full of Bialyan guards drives right down the path of where they had been walking. It's just their luck that the guards stop the car and get out on foot.

Suddenly, a delirious Kaldur starts murmuring in Atlantean and Wally is sure that they'll be found out. The three of them look on in concern. Artemis rests a hand on the boy's forehead and Wally feels an inexplicable pang in his chest.

"Shh, Kaldur," she soothes. "Quiet now."

Robin peeks around their hiding place before crouching back down next to them. "We can't risk a fire fight with Aqualad KO'ed like this."

Wally let out a deep breath. "It's not just him," he admits, looking from Robin to Artemis. He feels so tired. And hungry. Hungrier than he thinks he's ever been in his life. "I'm way out of juice."

"And I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis says, showing them her nearly empty quiver.

They get no response from Robin who seems to have literally disappeared into thin air. "Ugh, I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing," Wally sighs. He realizes that the two of them are alone, if you don't count Aqualad, for the first time since they've gotten their memories back. One question has really been burning in the back of his mind ever since then. "Hey, you never said why you dad would want you to tchhh me," he says, making a throat slitting gesture.

She avoids his gaze. "I, uh, got confused by, some old movie that I saw the other night," she started, turning away from him. His eyes narrow in suspicion. She sounded…nervous. "About a ninja girl whose ninja dad ordered her to, kill her ninja boyfriend because he was from a rival ninja clan!"

That sounds like some stupid story I would come up with, Wally thinks, but grasps on to the important part of her flustered sentence. "Sooo, I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?" he asks, grinning.

The look on her face when she turns back to him makes him instantly regret his words. "Hey, amnesia, remember?" she reminds him, scathingly. "Completely forgot how truly annoying you are."

"Oh, like you're the Goddess of Congeniality!" he retorts. Their faces are close together and he can't help but think of that afternoon when all he wanted was to kiss her.

"Yeesh, get a room!" Robin says, suddenly reappearing like he hadn't even left.

"Dude! Where were you?" Wally asks, deciding to ignore what his friend had said.

Robin smirks. "Breaking radio silence."

Sure enough, static fills the air before they hear Rob's signature cackle. An explosion goes off behind the sand dune and Robin signals them. "That's our cue! Move!"

The three of them hurry away as fast as they can with Artemis and Wally pulling Kaldur's makeshift sled again. Wally tries to keep his thoughts off of how tired and hungry he is, so instead he sneaks more looks at Artemis and wonders about what she's thinking.

Later, when they finally find the bioship and get Kaldur settled into the med bunk, he finds himself alone with her again. He's gone over what he wants to say to her in his head the whole way back to the ship. He just hopes it comes out right.

"Look, Artemis," he starts, and then cowers like a child under her gaze when she turns to him. "Uh, I just thought we should, uh, talk about today?"

"What about today?" she asks him with an edge to her voice.

He gulps, the words stuck in his throat. "Just, you know, with the amnesia and everything, I wasn't exactly acting like myself."

"What, you mean your little crush on me?" she asks and she's smirking at him in a way that means nothing good.

"Crush?" Wally repeats. "On you? I was obviously delirious from lack of food and water. My actions can't be held against me."

"Don't get your tighty whities in a bunch, Baywatch," she says, turning her back to him. He thinks he can detect a slump in her shoulders but is unsure of what to make of it. "Today was nothing but a fluke. I get it."

"Uh, yeah, a fluke," he echoes. "That's exactly what it was."

He can't help but wonder though, at the small part of him that feels an emptiness inside of him at her words.

A/N: Kinda short. This definitely isn't my favorite chapter, but I hope you guys will like it and review! :-)

All right, Bereft is over and done with! I think I'll my trying to stray away from some of the episodes now. I mean, I'll do the important ones like Failsafe and stuff, but I really want to come up with some original material that isn't just based around dialogue that's already been written.

Thanks again for all of your reviews! You all are the best! Keep it up! XD