It's so peaceful when no one's around…Just me…

Hilary smiled to herself as the thought ran through her head. What she was experiencing was nothing short of sheer bliss: a warm, sunny spot by the lake with a light breeze blowing through, completely silent with the exception of a few chirping nightingales from the nearby trees.

Reaching into her bag, Hilary pulled out a portable fishing rod and unfolded it to its full size. Of course, one just couldn't expect her to pamper the boys all the time. She needed some time for herself as well. And when you are travelling from country to country, carrying your personal stuff wasn't just impractical, it was impossible. Like you have to pack as light as possible, and nobody knows what a girl goes through when she has to choose between her makeup. That's just torture!

But it wasn't like she was presented with such choice. There just wasn't anybody else on the team she could trust with supplies and medicines, hence her bag was half-filled with those. With all the tantrums she faced, a little quite time was no less than a vacation…

There was things she could do that naturally nobody else would do better than her. Go shopping, try out new clothes, cycling by the canals, pick up fresh groceries, watching romantic movies…there was a long list and fishing in tranquillity was definitely one of them.

She coiled her fingers around the rod, and all she had to do now was attach her lure to the end of the rod. Once the lure was all set up, Hilary held the rod with just the right amount of pressure and gave it a small toss forward, casting her line into the still, clear blue water before her. The lure bobbed for a moment before sinking beneath the surface, and with that, Hilary was fully in fishing mode. The process was worth waiting for. It was an art in itself. So much better than Ray just dipping his hand into a water and miraculously pulling out a reluctant fish. When fishing, the sun was the clock, keeping all the time ever needed. Lungs of fresh air and the sounds of nature, all set in as much space as any heart could ever ask for – that's what called fishing. She let out a soft, content sigh and closed her eyes, waiting for the first tug at her line to bring her back down to Earth.

"Hey, there you are!"

Hilary winced. Unfortunately for her, that plan was ruined rather quickly.

Hilary's eyes snapped open into a sharp glare, which she immediately directed over her shoulder. Upon seeing who had disrupted her peace and quiet, Hilary was anything but surprised, and the expression on her face changed a degree in order to reflect that.

"Tyson," Hilary hissed. "What are you doing here? I told you I'd be back in a little while!"

"Yeah, but I got bored," Tyson replied effortlessly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Hilary asked, directing her gaze to the path Tyson had followed.

"There's no killing time with them anymore. As always Kai's nowhere, Ray's on the hot pot duty, and Max is baby sitting Daichi again. Kenny excused himself to scan our blades, but I am pretty sure he's collecting Ming-Ming jpegs." Tyson drawled, starting to move closer to Hilary.

"And I'm you last choice to be a hangout-buddy? How thoughtful of you, Tyson!" Hilary laced her voice with sarcasm.

"Hey, don't bite my head off. Spanning out with you still better than anything!" Tyson whined, before tilting his head to take a better look. "What're you doing?"

Just like that, the irritation returned, although she tried to keep her voice level. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Um…sitting by the lake?" Tyson lamely suggested.

Hilary narrowed her eyes and nodded her head towards the fishing pole in her hands. "I'm fishing, Tyson."

The boy's face lit up. "Fishing? That sounds like so much fun!"

"Yeah right," Hilary scoffed. "Every time you fish, you complain about how boring it is!"

"Only sometimes," Tyson grumbled, his exuberance twisting into a begrudged pout. "Besides, anything is more exciting than just sitting around the campsite while Kenny tuning his Ming-Ming playlist non-stop."

Hilary giggled, covering just half of her mouth with a hand. "She made quite an impression on him, huh?"

"Yeah, she really did break him," Tyson muttered.

"If you keep him distracted long enough, I can slip away with his Ipod. No one has to know," Hilary suggested, closing her eyes as she tilted her head back. It was out of amusement, but the sun hitting her face certainly relaxed her. In that single, solitary moment, it was like all the peace she had felt before had returned.

"So…can I fish with you?"

And just like that, it was gone all over again.

Hilary opened her eyes and tilted her head down, finding that Tyson had sat down beside her. His mahogany eyes were pleading, and they seemed genuine. Then again, nothing about Tyson really ever seemed fake. He was about the most truthful person Hilary had ever met.

"Fine," Hilary groaned, earning a victorious fist pump from the boy next to her. "But you can't bug me! I do this for fun, and relaxation. I nary get a break chasing all the guys, so please keep your mouth shut for a little while and let me have this time to myself!"

Most people would be put off by such a comment, but Tyson expected nothing less from Hilary. In response, he lightly shrugged his shoulders and quipped, peering into the empty bucket besides her. "Well, good job so far!"

Hilary scowled, but chose not to retaliate. Tyson knew that when thathappened, it was because she couldn't come up with anything better to fire back with. He liked to take those small victories and roll with them. He was soon being handed a portable fishing rod identical to Hilary's own; it was a spare that she kept in her bag alongside the original.

"Don't break it," Hilary warned him, her tone more serious than before.

"Come on, Hil," Tyson whined, taking the rod. "I know I can be kinda clumsy, but you can cut me some slack!"

"Slack is the reason you turned out this way," Hilary sassed. Now it was Tyson's turn to scowl. Hilary smirked and handed Tyson a lure; a regular one, far less distinguished than her own. "Just be careful, okay? It's not exactly easy to find these things."

"A fishing rod?" Tyson questioned, taking the lure and examining both tools in his hands.

"A portable fishing rod," Hilary stressed. She stopped to think for a second before adding, "I had to cycle to the other side of Tokyo to get these. Ironic when you think, Tokyo just has one mini-Japan store…"

"And these are good, huh?" Tyson asked, looking from his rod over to Hilary's after attaching his lure to the end of the line.

"The best," Hilary proudly confirmed. "I bought them! I have excellent judgement!"

Tyson smirked. "We can't argue about your judgement!" And with that, he cast his line into the lake. Her competitive streak flaring, Hilary looked right ahead and re-cast her own line, watching as the two lures bobbed beneath the water, right next to each other.

XXX

It took Tyson less than ten minutes to become painfully bored.

He turned his head towards Hilary, who, unlike him, looked like she was in heaven. Neither of them had caught a single thing yet, and Tyson was starting to think that maybe the lake didn't actually have any fishes in it.

"Hil?" Tyson prodded.

She ignored him. Tyson sighed and tilted his head.

"Hilary?"

Still ignoring him.

"HILARY!"

The brunette growled and snapped her head around. "What did I say about not bugging me?!"

"Are you sure there are fishes in this lake?" Tyson questioned, ignoring her own inquiry.

"Of course, I'm sure," Hilary grumbled, turning away from him.

"How?"

"Because whenever we travel to a new place, I make it a note to learn everything about it!" Hilary growled. "So when I tell you this lake has fishes, you better believe it!"

"What kind of fish?" Tyson pressed.

"If you're getting hungry, then go see if Ray is done with the hot pot," Hilary deadpanned.

"That's not what I meant!" Tyson shot back, "What kind of animals kick back inside this lake. Fishes, ducks, swans, palyplotypos…"

"Platypus!" Hilary corrected, in a dissing way. "And no!"

"Seals?"

"We are not at the arctic!" Hilary's vein popped, her concentration fading.

"Dolphins!"

"I really wish you studied a little more about marine biology!" She slumped her shoulders.

"Crocodiles?"

Hilary's eye twitched. "Cro…Crocodiles?"

Now Tyson had hit the bulls-eye! It was a marginal possibility that crocs could have inhabited this lake. After all, the guide book did say crocodiles would migrate from nearby river.

"Yeah, how cool would it be to find one of those?" Tyson marveled, his excitement overflowing.

"Not cool at all," Hilary muttered under her breath. Her hands suddenly jerked forward, catching both her and Tyson's attention. "Hey, I think I got something!"

"Maybe a crocodile?" Tyson breathed, leaning forward on his knees.

"Would you quit it with the crocodile?!" Hilary shouted, tugging the rod backwards while simultaneously attempting to reel in her line. The handle was fighting against her, however, and Hilary was finding it pretty difficult to move. "Ugh, it won't budge!"

Tyson blinked and inched closer to Hilary. "What'dya mean?"

"The reel," Hilary grunted, sharply tugging at the handle again to try and spin it. "It's stuck!"

Whatever was at the end of her line yanked again, this time dragging Hilary forward. Tyson gasped and jumped up, wrapping his arms around Hilary's waist without a second thought.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Hilary yelped. If the back of her head hadn't been facing Tyson, he would've seen that her face was tinted bright red.

"Trying to help you!" Tyson grunted as he dug his feet into the ground in an effort to keep himself steady. "You want to reel that thing in, right?"

Hilary let out a shuttered breath before smirking and nodding her head. That Tyson could see, and his own smile returned upon the simple action.

"Try pulling back again!" Tyson instructed.

Hilary hummed affirmatively and dragged her arms back, guiding the rod over her shoulder. She gave a small peek back, making sure she wasn't about to hit Tyson in the head with it. Unfortunately, that quick glance loosened her stance, and she started tumbling towards the lake once again. This time, however, Tyson was holding her, and she stopped short.

"Careful!" Tyson warned her. It wasn't said angrily or even in a chastising manner, however. In fact, he said it in such a way that Hilary was almost convinced he cared about her.

"Right," Hilary breathed. She set her body rigid, tightening her grip on the rod and once again pulling it back, her hand cranking hard on the reel's handle. The tension in the reel started to lessen, and it suddenly became much easier for Hilary to turn the handle. She went as quickly as she possibly could, not wanting to lose the momentum that had built up.

Before she could process it, her line emerged from the water, the sudden loss of the weight pulling her forward instead sending her toppling backwards. She collided with Tyson, both of them falling to the ground. They both lay there stunned for a short moment before Hilary popped back up, her eyes set wide.

"My rod!" She gasped.

She got to her feet and scurried over to it. Tyson sat up and rubbed the side of his head, but quickly recovered when he remembered just why exactly he and Hilary had hit the ground in the first place.

"What was it?" Tyson cried, scrambling to get to her. She was leaning over the rod, standing completely still and not responding to his question. "Was it a Crocodile like I thought?"

"Um, no…" Hilary squeaked.

"Oh," Tyson murmured, only a little disappointed. "Alligator then?"

"It…isn't an animal."

Tyson was about to ask what she meant by that, but had the question answered for him when she stood back up holding an old, deteriorating boot in her hands.

"A shoe?" Tyson deadpanned. "All that struggling…over a shoe?"

"Technically it's a boot, not just a shoe, but yeah," Hilary coolly replied.

Tyson blinked and tilted his head. "What's the difference between a shoe and a boot?"

"As much as between a crocodile and an alligator!" Hilary snapped.

"How'd a boot end up getting in the lake?"

"I don't know," Hilary grumbled, a distinct whine intermixed.

"Do you catch a lot of junk like that?" Tyson questioned, pointing at the boot.

"No!" Hilary stormed, quickly becoming reanimated as her face lit up red. "I never catch anything worthless like this!"

"…but you just did…" Tyson plainly stated.

Hilary loudly growled and tossed the worn-out boot over her shoulder. "Whatever, it was just because you messed it up. I would have caught something rare if it wasn't for you!"

Tyson looked confused, but suddenly, it all seemed to click for him. His lips bent into a sly smile, one which Hilary didn't like the look of at all. It wasn't anything like his normal, genuine smile.

"What?" Hilary grumbled, folding her arms.

"So…you wouldn't want me to go back to the gang and tell them how you fished an old boot out of the lake?" Tyson asked theoretically.

Hilary held her breath before rushing out, "Don't you even think about it, Tyson!"

Tyson's wicked grin widened, and before Hilary could stop him, he bolted forward and grabbed the boot off the ground, running a few more strides before spinning around and holding the boot above his head.

"Try and stop me!" He teased.

Hilary blinked before deeply narrowing her eyes, and dashed behind him. "You'd better not let me catch up to you, Tyson! Not unless you want my fist making contact with your skull!"

The threat made Tyson nervous, but he'd never let Hilary know that. So with a cheeky smile and bellowing laugh, Tyson whipped back around and started to run as fast as he could, tightly gripping the boot as he hurried to get back to campsite as quickly as possible with only one thought running through his head.

Yep! Driving Hil crazy is the best thing to do on a vacation!