Hello Everyone! This chapter took me longer to write than I anticipated. I kept putting it off, worried that I wouldn't do the couples first conversations justice. But I sat down tonight and finished it. I'm happy with the result. It even turned out longer than I anticipated! My longest chapter yet, coming in at just under 3000 words!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Please Read and Review!

xoxo

Chapter Five:

It was after ten in the morning when Arya awoke, a smile on her face. She was very excited to see what The House of Black and White had in store for her. She didn't know what to expect, but she knew that it could only go up from here.

She thought it best to shower that morning, to make sure she could give the best first impression when she went to the gym for the first time. She quickly hopped out of bed, noticing that the pain in her ribs was turning more to a dull ache than actual pain. She smiled at the thought that this would soon be just a horrible memory.

She showered quicker than she normally would, skipping over shaving completely. She wasn't planning on starting her training today; she just wanted to check the gym out and possibly get a membership, if she ended up liking it. After getting out of the shower, she put on a clean bra and some clean underwear and went about blow drying her hair. She decided that keeping it down was the best decision, since she planned on riding her bike to the gym.

Once her hair was dry she went back to her room to pick out the clothes she thought would make the best first impression. She wanted the people at the gym to know that she was serious about what she wanted to learn from them. She thought black pants would look nice, so she picked out a pair of slim fitting black jeans. One of the only pairs she had that weren't ripped. She knew it was a little cool outside today, so she thought that a sweater would be best. Looking through her closet, she decided on her white pull-over cable knit sweater. Giving herself one last look over in the mirror, she thought about putting some make up over the bruise on her eye. Seeing as she was going to a gym and she was sure that they had seen their fair share of bruises, there was really no point. She grabbed her bike keys off her dresser, slipped into her black riding jacket, grabbed her helmet off the back of her door, and headed off to the garage to grab her bike.

She always loved the sound of her bike when it started. Lots of people liked their Harley's and their choppers, but Arya always loved the speed and handling of a street bike. When she brought home her black, Kawasaki Ninja, her brothers looked like they were going to kill her. They repeatedly told her how dangerous they were, and that they were sure she was going to end up hurting herself, if not worse. She never listened, and eventually they stopped trying to warn her. She had yet to crash her bike and she was more than confident that it wasn't going to happen. She looked at her phone one last time to memorize the address, turned her bike around and headed downtown to The House of Black and White.

xxxxx

Sansa was just bidding her last customer goodbye when a large, familiar looking man walked into the shop. She noticed he was so tall, that he had to duck when he walked in the door. The first thing she noticed about him, were the horrible scars that covered one side of his face. She blushed at the memory that this man had caught her staring at them just two days before. She waited beside Myrcella to learn what her brothers' coworker could possibly want at the Lion's Den.

"Hello…uh…ser. What can we…um…do…for you…today?" Myrcella managed to get out. Sansa struggled not to roll her eyes at her 17 year old coworker. She knew that the only reason she got the job here was because her uncle owned the shop. She was a good enough receptionist, but sometimes she acted younger than she was.

"I'm here to buy a bucket of chicken. What the fuck do yah think I'm here for? A tattoo obviously." He said to her, clearly unimpressed with the question. "Do you have an appointment?" Sansa asked, unsure why she even opened her mouth to this aggressive stranger. He turned to her and she thought she saw a look of surprise cross his face, but it was gone within a second. "Um…no, I don't. I wanted to look into making one." he told Sansa. "Well, what kind are you interested in? So I can point you to the right artist." Myrcella asked, apparently gaining her senses back. "Back piece. Black and white." he barked. "Well then you need Sansa here! Black and whites are her specialty!" Myrcella said, gesturing to Sansa, in a tone that was far too perky for a normal person to have. He turned and looked towards Sansa with an expectant look on his face.

"Right. Follow me." she told the large, angry man, as she gestured for him to follow her into her work room. "Please, take a seat." she said as she looked for her notebook.

She always took copious notes when she had someone coming in for a custom piece. She always wanted to make sure she had as much detail as possible. Once she found her notebook and her lucky pen, she sat on the stool across from the tattoo chair that her new client was now occupying.

"So, first off, my name is Sansa. What's yours?" she asked, trying to sound friendly. "Hound." he replied. "That's not a name." she blurted out, without thinking. "Well that's what they call me. That or dog." he said, with a smirk on his face. "Well, I don't know who they are, but I'm not them. I'd prefer to call you by your actual name. It'll set me apart from everyone else." she told him, smiling. He seemed confused with the tone of conversation they were having. He wasn't use to anyone, let alone a beautiful woman, talking to him without staring at his hideous scars, or avoiding looking at him altogether, but Sansa seemed completely comfortable around him.

"You can call me Sandor, then." he said to her. She was pleased that he wasn't angry with her request to learn his name; she smiled at him and simply said "It's nice to meet you Sandor." Her parents had always raised her to have good manners and even though they weren't around any longer, she would always remember what they taught her.

"So what were you interested in getting? I know you mentioned that you wanted a back piece and you wanted it in black and white. Did you have any ideas of what you wanted it to be of or how much of your back you wanted it to cover?" she inquired, curious as to what this man, who seemed to radiate aggression, could possibly be interested in. The answer he gave surprised her.

"A woman. I want a woman." he told her.

"Umm…just a woman?" she asked, with a hint of nervousness in her voice, although she wasn't sure as to why. "No. A woman, and a dog or two." he told her. She had noticed the other tattoos he had visible in this moment. He had a snarling dog on one forearm, a pit-bull if she had to guess, and the words "WOOF WOOF" on his knuckles. She looked to his neck and saw that he had what looked like a thick chain, tattooed around his neck, a collar she was guessing. Dogs, most if not all his tattoos had something to do with dogs.

"Following a theme, are we?" she questioned, with a smirk on her face. She hoped she didn't offend him with this comment. She already knew, this was not the kind of man that you would want to make angry. He laughed then. A full deep laugh, which seemed more like a bark if she had to be quite honest. She smiled then, knowing that he wasn't angry with her for her remark.

"Yes girl. I live up to my name and these dogs are my pack." he informed her. He was looking Sansa over, trying to understand how she could possibly not be afraid of him. He was admiring her tattoos as well. He saw that she had pink ribbons tattooed on her calves, as if they were laced through her skin, ending in pretty pink bows. Following her long legs up, he could see what looked like the barrel of a gun on her right thigh, peeking out from under her shorts. He saw the blue, watercolor, wolf tattoo on her inner left forearm and the black lace piece with a large pink jewel, decorating the top of her right forearm. Finally, his eyes landed on the striking red bird she had flying on her neck. It was a cardinal, a northern bird. It was beautiful, just like the woman it was tattooed upon.

He remembered then her wolf tattoo, and the two boys from work that also had wolves. "So you're the sister of those twin idiots that work for Jaime Lannister?" he asked her. She laughed, and he wasn't sure that he had heard a better sound in the world. "That sounds exactly like Jon and Robb. Yes, they are indeed my older brothers." she answered. "You have your pack of dogs, and I have my pack of wolves." she told him, with a look of sadness suddenly on her face.

Quickly getting off the subject she asked if there was anything in particular that he wanted in his piece, as she looked back to her notes. "Maybe a skull, I guess. I don't fucking know. I'm no artist. I'm sure ye can figure something out." he told her. "Of course, when did you want to come in again?" she asked, looking up from under her lashes at him. He swallowed hard. "Friday." he said, silently cursing himself for answering so quickly. He thought he was starting to sound like some pathetic green boy. "If that's not too soon." he added. "No…it shouldn't be. I don't have anything big that I have to draw up anytime soon, so I should be able to get a couple drawings done by then." she told him.

"Alright. Can I go now? I need to get to work." he said, as he stood up from the chair. She noticed then how tall he really was. She was taller than most girls she knew, and he still came almost a full head taller than her. She got up then as well, only to realize how close they were standing. She attempted to back up and before she realized her stool was behind her, she bumped into it and started to lose her footing. She barely had time to fall backwards, when she suddenly felt large hands gripping her tightly, preventing her from falling. She gasped, raising her eyes to look into his. "Th-thank you, Ser." she stuttered out, unable to compose herself after their physical contact. She thought to herself that she was going to really need to work on that, if she was going to be tattooing this man. He quickly took his hands off her, as if she had burned him. "I ain't no Ser." he told her before walking out the door. She quickly followed him out to the front desk, and relayed all of the information of his forthcoming appointment to Myrcella, so that she could write his appointment into the shop calendar. Sansa copied all of the information for his appointment onto one of the shop cards that had her name on it, and she handed it to the man.

"So, I'll have a few drawings done that you can choose from and then hopefully we can get started on Friday." she told him, handing him his appointment card. He took the card from her then and walked to the door, pushing it open. Just before he walked out, he turned to her and said "See you Friday, Little Bird." He smirked at her and walked out the door. It wasn't until the door closed that she let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

xxxxx

When Arya arrived at The House of Black and White, she couldn't help but marvel at the sight of it. The building was beautiful. She could tell that it was very old, and it almost looked like it had previously been a sept of some sort.

She parked her bike in the parking lot that was across the street from the gym and walked towards the building's very large, wooden doors. She noticed that one was painted completely black and the other was completely white. She thought it was brilliant. She grasped the handle on the black door and pulled, thinking to herself that it was heavier than she had expected. She walked in and found herself in front of a large wall that was covered in mismatched planks of wood, and in front of that, a large, wooden counter that had a handsome man sitting behind it.

"Hello, and welcome to The House of Black and White. How can I be of service?" the handsome man said to her. "Hi…uh…I was looking at maybe joining your gym?" she said to him. "Certainly, what kind of membership were you interested in?" he asked her. "Uh…I don't really know what you offer. I just wanna gain some strength and maybe take some kind of self defense classes." she told him, hoping she didn't sound like the idiot she thought she did. He laughed. "Of course. It sounds like a gold membership would be perfect for you. It gives you unlimited access to all of the equipment we have, free access to all of the classes that we offer, and it includes sessions with one of our trainers. Does that sound alright to you?" he asked. "Sounds perfect." she replied.

After she paid for the membership, he rose from behind the desk. "If you'll just follow me this way I can take you on a tour of our facility." he said to her, gesturing to the doorway on his right, that obviously lead to the training areas.

As they walked into the training areas, he told her of the operating hours, upcoming classes and such. It was all in the welcome package he had handed her, so she didn't really pay attention to what he was saying. He stopped in front of her and allowed her to come to his side, so that she could see the rest of the gym. The moment she looked away from him, her eyes found a pair of deep, blue eyes that were looking into hers.

"Gods." she whispered to herself. For this was a pair of eyes she never thought she would possibly see again.

Pulling herself from the daze she was in, she noticed that this man, Jaqen H'ghar, her brain told her, was coming over to her.

"Shit." she said, louder than she intended. This caused the handsome man beside her to notice and ask if she was alright. Before she could answer, Jaqen had reached them

"Hello girl. A man did not expect to see you again." he said to her, smiling. "Hello Jaqen." the handsome man said, "This is Arya Stark, she's just started a membership here with us at The House of Black and White." "A man has met a girl before." Jaqen informed him. Arya stood beside both men, unable to speak. There was an awkward silence among the three of them before the handsome man spoke again, "Well…we should be getting back to our tour. Arya?" he said, beginning to walk away from Jaqen. Arya's feet wouldn't move. Then, Jaqen spoke, "A man would be happy to show Arya Stark the noble House of Black and White." He bowed to her. 'What a strange thing to do.' she thought to herself. "That's really unnecessary, Jaqen, I can do it-" the handsome man said, before he was interrupted. "A man insists." he told him, smirking. Arya was beginning to grasp who had more authority here. "Fine." the handsome man said curtly, before turning on his heel and disappearing behind the wall once more.

"So, a girl seeks out a man from the House of Black and White." Jaqen said to her, pulling Arya out of her stupor. "N-no. I didn't come looking for you." she told him, "I want to get stronger and learn how to defend myself so this doesn't happen to me again." "A girl wants to learn to fight?" Jaqen asked her, clearly surprised. "I can do it, if that's what you're thinking. I'm tougher than I look!" she exclaimed, standing straighter. Jaqen laughed at her then.

"A man does not doubt that. If a girl wishes to learn, a man would be honoured to teach." he said, bowing again. 'What is with all this freaking formality?!' she thought to herself. He was a very strange man. "You really don't need to. I'll just take the classes that the House offers." she informed him, wanting to get away from this strange conversation."But a man is the best teacher in the House, wouldn't a girl wish to learn from the best?" he asked of her. "Well yes, but-" she said before he spoke again. "Then it's settled. A man will see a girl tomorrow for her first lesson." he said before bowing, one last time, turning and walking away from her.

'What in the Seven Hells just happened?' she asked herself.

She turned to leave, walking out the front door and across the street to her bike, she wondered if she should be scared or excited for what was coming tomorrow.

"Both" she said. Both were good.