He remembered it quite clearly. The day he had started seeing Hilary differently, that is. He remembered it a little too clearly, in fact, and the mere thought of it still sent shivers down his spine from time to time. It hadn't been her fault, really, and if there was anyone to blame… then Tyson had concluded it was Kenny and his damned strawberries.

It had started as normal as any day in a forest clearing could; woken up by Hilary's screams as a monkey had somehow rolled into her tent while asleep, a startled Tyson ready to launch his Beyblade, his solution to every crisis before realizing it was just his friend's fright, and Kenny dazedly asking if someone had stolen his laptop.

After the not so out of the ordinary morning commotion, and after the ape had been securely taken care of by Tyson while Hilary hid behind Kenny, the three BBA members realized that they had gone out of everything for breakfast unless any of them was willing to eat canned food, which was highly unlikely.

"I ain't eating that expired food in a million years…" Tyson scoffed while rolling up his sleeping bag.

"Count me out too," Hilary agreed.

Kenny offered to search for some fruits, probably some sour wild berries Tyson thought bitterly, while the two of them rolled up the tents and got ready to finally head back to the city where decent food awaited them after so long.

"Guys! Look what I found!" their engineer friend returned almost an hour later with his once empty basket now filled to the top with something red that Tyson realized, as Kenny walked closer to them, were big, bright red strawberries piled one on top of the other, almost falling off the basket and making the young trainer's mouth water.

"Ooh," Hilary looked up at the basket, also impressed by not only the size but the deep red color of the fruits that had been brought "look at those!"

He didn't say anything, afraid that his accumulated saliva might drip off his mouth if he spoke, so instead he let his own brown eyes widen as Kenny placed the basket on the ground, just between him and Hilary who were sitting cross legged on the grass across from each other.

Tyson extended his hand without hesitation, taking the strawberries without a second thought and stuffing them savagely in his mouth, barely fitting. His stomach had been begging for food for the past hour, so he didn't really care about Hilary raising her eyebrow disapprovingly at him or Kenny's comment about finishing three people's breakfast all by himself.

He could feel her staring at him for a few seconds, and she held an expression in her face that could mean either disapprove or slight amusement, or maybe even a mix of both. Either way, he didn't pay much attention to the brunette and kept eating one whole strawberry after the other, the juice dripping off his chin and fingers.

But then, for a reason, his attention averted from his incontrollable stuffing and now focused on his friend, who had now extended her own hand over the basket, her thin fingers hovering above the fruits, hesitating on which one to choose. Somehow, everything seemed to go in slow motion, or so it felt for Tyson whose stomach suddenly jolted for a reason that wasn't really hunger.

She picked out a particularly large one, holding it up from the bright green stalk delicately between her thumb and index finger before her face. Her red eyes ran along it, examining it as if in detail, wondering just how delicious it would be to taste it. And then, slowly, her red irises were hidden behind her eyelids and her face got closer and closer to the fruit, her lips parting slightly in the way, her fingers gripping the strawberry more tightly, no longer delicate. She opened her mouth, prepared to bite. The smooth skin of her lips brushed softly against the bright red surface as they opened wide. Her teeth were white, and they bit into the fruit, and the juice that was spilled ran between her pale, slender fingers, leaving a red, sweet trail behind…

His own half-eaten strawberry fell from his hand to the ground with a dull thud.

"Tyson, what the hell are you staring at?"

She had done something back then, whether in purpose, he didn't really know what to think. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if she had done anything out of the ordinary, but whatever it was that had happened, he would remember it as the day his hormones finally showed some sign of existence.