Okay… I am new at this. This is going to be my first posted fic. I have written stuff over the years and they are stored here and there. I have never actually gotten around to posting something. So here goes…

And, by no means do I own Power Rangers...

Hunter

"It's Valentine's Day and I am not going to let you sulk all by yourself."

"Huh?" I blink back, unable to comprehend all that the woman who is now staring sharply at me has said.

She shuts the door to my apartment behind her, all the while facing me, fixing me with an iron glare.

"What is this about?" I venture.

Her gaze softens.

"What do you mean, what is this about?" she asks. "This is about me, Tori Hanson, saving one of her friends, you, Hunter Bradley, from dying of loneliness and boredom."

"Tori?" I ask. "Why are you doing this?"

Even to my own ears, my words sound cold; detached.

Damn.

Damn me and my communication skills.

I am about to open my mouth, try to clear the mess I have created yet again but Tori cuts me off.

"I told you," she says, brushing off my previous comment. "Today is not the day for you to brood."

"I wasn't brooding."

"And, what exactly were you doing then?"

"Nothing in particular."

She raises an eyebrow, locking her eyes on me, determined to force out an explanation.

But she is not going to get one from me. She won't come to know what I was doing for the last one hour. How I had come home early today from the Thunder Ninja Academy, because my students did not want classes on this evening. How I had reluctantly obliged.

Just because my life was hell did not mean everybody's had to be.

And then, how I had stumbled upon a dusty almost forgotten yet ubiquitous album. The album.

How in spite of not wanting to go through it, I had done just that, leafing through the soiled pictures of Mum and Dad.

"Okay," her voice cuts through the trance I have worked myself into. "Now that I am here, dress up. We are going out."

"Out?"

"Yup," she chirps, smiling at me.

"I'd rather stay in."

"Hunter," she says sternly, fixing me with a look.

I open my mouth to say no, to come up with an excuse, to push her away, shut her out, but I don't.

All I do is submissively whisper, "Okay."

I am as surprised at my answer as Tori is.

She masks her surprise with a smile.

"Come on, then," she says.

When I emerge into the drawing room, I find Tori standing with a picture of Blake that I had kept on the mantlepiece.

Shit.

I had forgotten to move that photo frame. That blasted photo frame.

I cannot place her emotions.

Not that I am the most gifted person when it comes to emotions.

Not knowing what to do, I stand there, seeing Tori silently staring at it. She seems upset; affected by it.

I do not want to barge into her moment and wait till she puts down the frame. I walk towards her with deliberately heavy footsteps.

"I'm done," I whisper.

She turns around with a smile plastered on her face.

"Let's go," she says.

I nod.

And, we walk out into the streets, together, haunted by ghosts from our past.

The silence in Tori's van gives me some time to think. Brood, as she would say.

I hate myself, my judgment, my thoughts, my feelings-

Darned feelings.

- for allowing myself to agree to come out with her on this highly overrated night.

I know this will lead to trouble, to mistakes, to blunders, that I will never be able to correct, that I will regret all my life. I hate how I get around Tori. I hate that me.

Because that, I know is the real me, the raw me, the exposed me. The one who does not think of the consequences and jumps headlong into doing something which mostly ends disastrously.

Catastrophically disastrously.

"Hunter?"

I turn around to look at her, shutting down my thoughts for the moment.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear from Blake?"

The question catches me off-guard.

"No," I lie, without blinking.

"I want to know, Hunter," she insists. "This is my decision, okay? Just let me know. Don't pull all that big-brother-overprotective-sham on me."

I sigh.

"He called me last night. He is seeing someone called Tessa."

"What does she do?" she asks instantaneously, not shifting her eyes from the road.

"I didn't ask."

This time, she believes me. Or chooses to believe me.

I am not sure which one but I am relieved at not having to delve into the details of my brother's girlfriend.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I ask, desperately trying to divert the topic.

I see a smile spread across her face; the glint returning to her eyes.

"It's a surprise, Sensei Bradley," she grins.

"Ah..." I sigh. "We aren't going surfing, are we?"

That thought, in itself, is intimidating.

"Nah," she replies. "As much as I would love that, no."

"Hey Tor?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" she asks innocently, eyes fixed on the road, not looking at me.

"Spending your Valentine's Day with me?" I ask. "Don't you have other plans?"

"I wanted to spend it with you," she whispers.

Shit.

"Tori," I start.

"Don't, Hunter," she cuts me off. "I know what you will say."

I shut up right there.

"Alright, we are here," she says as she brings her van to a stop.

I take in the surroundings before making my next comment.

"No offense, Tori, but I come to the track every day."

She rolls her eyes at me before opening the door and getting down.

She takes my hand and drags me out of the van, to a Storm Chargers van that is parked.

"Should I be alarmed?"

"Just open the door, will you?" she says as she slightly pushes me ahead.

"And, will something spring at me?" I ask sceptically.

She pulls a face.

"Now, that is something that you'd do, Hunter."

"Touché," I mutter.

"Open it," Tori cries impatiently.

"Fine," I huff and open the door precariously, half expecting eggs to be thrown at me.

Or something like that.

What I find instead is my bike. In one piece.

"You got it fixed?" I ask, amazed; incredulous.

"It was mostly Kelly," she shrugs.

I know she is being more than modest.

"Thank you," I say. "I don't know why you did this but thanks."

"That's an easy one," she smiles, stretching out her hands to ruffle my hair. "You've been brooding a lot more since you crashed your bike and you know how much I hate to see you brood."

I smile.

And, I know I am in trouble.

Proper big time trouble.

"I don't have a gift for you."

"Oh God Hunter!" she says. "Now don't start feeling guilty for that."

"It's actually my first Valentine's Day in a long time," I confess, my conscience screaming at me to stop. "And, I am not good at stuff like this."

"Did you ever have a Valentine?" she grins at me.

"Yes."

Screwed.

"Seriously?" she almost shrieks.

"Yeah, kind of, yeah."

"Who was she?"

"You wouldn't wanna know," I smirk.

I do not know why I am disclosing all this, inconsequential fragments of a life forgotten, telling her so much, giving her the weapon to hurt me.

It's just that I am.

And, I do not want to stop.

"That bad?" she presses.

"That good," I snicker.

"Did you get lucky?"

"Gee Tor," I cringe. "I am not telling you that."

She bursts out laughing.

I too find myself laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, I get it, it's hilarious." I retort. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your Valentine story?"

"I..." she trails off. "This is my first Valentine's Day."

Her words are soft but clear.

She does not look at me but continues.

"I haven't really been asked out, you know. Last year, there was a very good chance that it would happen with Dill, but saving the world somehow slipped into the equation."

"Didn't Dill ask you out, this year?"

Tori sighs.

"Yeah, he did but I turned that down."

She looks up at me, her eyes moist. I have never seen her so vulnerable.

I am tempted to cross the distance between us and put my arms around her.

But I don't.

Because I have not lost my entire sanity just yet.

So I ask her the most obvious thing.

"Why?"

"I did not want to spend it with him," she shrugs, blinking back her tears. "I had other plans."

Maybe I should have just hugged her.

And now, I am moving forward.

Before I can stop myself, I lean down and press my lips firmly on hers. Full and proper.

So much for not losing my sanity.

Tori's lips move against mine, her hands pulling me closer to her, removing whatever tiny, minuscule space there was between us, in the first place.

We pull back, resting our foreheads together. Her eyes are closed.

I don't say a word.

Finally, she looks up at me.

"We are in a lot of trouble, aren't we?" she whispers.

I cannot help but chuckle.

"Yes, I think, we are."

I know Valentine's Day is ages away but a little love never did hurt, did it? Do review...