Differences

Differences

Her mind was in a dark and cloudy state; this making her think that she should've really gotten herself checked out after her head had slammed into the ground during her match. She lay on the ground outside in the garden, the rain drops patting at her pale face as they fell gracefully from the darkening sky above her.

"I believe it would be best if we got you off the floor and into bed." A strong voice rumbled in her ear, causing her to stiffen.

Before she could even mull the thought over, and the person who was talking to her, she was hoisted up off the pebbles on the ground. Just as she grew shaky again due to the whole garden spinning around her, he put an arm behind her knees and picked her up. She opened her eyes slowly as the tip of her nose brushed lightly with his cold cheek and her whole body warmed up at new surroundings. She turned her head and flinched when he stepped into the hotel with her and the hall light shone brightly into her eyes.

She felt his hand run along her damp backside, alarmed at first, then seeing he'd pulled her room key out of her back pocket. She didn't know if he was serious but it looked like he was going to carry her up four flights of stairs. "Um," she stammered, her voice weak.

"Um?" He asked, almost mockingly.

"You're carrying me." She felt the need to say something a little more intelligent than that, though finding her mind was incapable of even that much at the present time.

"Yes." He agreed.

"Up the stairs."

"Your room is at the top."

"But you're not puffing or straining or breaking out into a sweat or something."

He raised both eyebrows at her, glancing at her as he continued to walk up the steep stairs, "Should I be?"

"Well I'm not huge or anything but in case you haven't realized, I'm 5"9 and probably weigh a bit more than I should." She sighed, resting her aching head against his shoulder, "Most men would collapse carrying me across a room, let alone four flights of stairs."

"I'm not most men." He stated, turning the second landing.

'You can say that again.' She was desperate to reply but bit the comment back. "Regardless of your obviously fit state, I'm too heavy. I'll give you a hernia or something. If you would kindly put me down carefully, I'll be more than happy to walk the rest of the way and be of less trouble to you."

"You're not too heavy."

"What planet are you from?" She asked in an almost cold murmur. "In case you haven't realized, I'm too tall for a girl of my nationality and age, and not to mention I'm more built…"

"I happen to think that a woman's shape looks better with some curves." He interrupted blithely, "Yours look good on you. Are you going to argue with an opinion?"

'Wow. A man who had enough muscle to haul me across the hotel lobby, up who knows how many steps and still managed to say something about my curves? If only he didn't seem like the living dead, maybe then I'd be tempted to propose marriage on the spot.'

"Um,"

"Are we honestly back to that again?"

"I apologize for the appalling lack of intriguing conversation, sir, but I have recently been unconscious one too many times today, and I find that some allowances for this are going to have to be made."

"That's fine."

"You know…bumping into you three times in one day, and we still haven't been introduced." She smiled softly at that startled look on his face, as though he hadn't realized just how many times they had actually bumped into each other in one day. "I'm Hitomi Takanori. I'd put a hand out for you to shake but I'm actually scared you'll drop me."

He stepped on one step to take a breath, looking down into her bright blue eyes, "Bryan and don't worry, I won't drop you."

"Just Bryan?" She asked, as he continued to walk up more steps of the old Russian hotel. He shrugged. "Usually people have two or more names, you know? At least a last name. I'm Hitomi Martina Takanori." she noted how uninterested he actually seemed, then mulling over his name, "Hmm Bryan. That's an interesting name. You never find it in Japan really, and it's not very common in America either, not where I lived at least."

"I hate it."

"E? Why? Bryan's a lovely name. It's different. It's interesting, it's…"

"Sounds like it belongs to a male prostitute." He interrupted with a sigh, walking down the short hallway to her room.

"I think it suits you."

He raised an eyebrow again, looking at her out of the corner of his eye and keeping his attention on the room numbers he walked past, "You think I look like a man that takes money to pleasure women?"

"I think a lot of women would pay you money to give them pleasure. I know I probably would if I had some spare cash lying around but then again, I'm not in the right state of mind today, so I may be a terrible judge right now but I am certain about your name being a nice one." She mentally kicked herself a little, 'Flirting with a man that seems like the living dead, Hitomi? What's next? French kissing a werewolf? Dirty dancing with vampires?'

"I think it'd be best if I just took that as a compliment."

"Well, regardless, your name is in fact very interesting to me, someone who has probably never heard it before. Now are you going to argue with an opinion?" She turned his earlier question back onto him, which quick enough, silenced him. He set her down carefully when they got to her door, holding onto her a few moments while she steadied herself and she opened her door. She walked inside, ready to thank him from the doorway until he picked her up again and moved her into the room, kicking the door closed behind him.

"Sit down, and try not to move too much. I'll call the hotel doctor."

"What? Why?" Hitomi asked, already going dizzy from the movement as she sat down at the foot of her bed.

"Because you hit your head really hard today, you've been passing out ever since and you can barely walk in a straight line." He picked up the phone from the nightstand, checking the number on the slip of paper beside it and dialing it.

"You really have taken quite a beating today, Bryan. Your match, then going around with friends, and then hauling me up four flights of stairs." She kicked her feet slightly on the bed, looking up at him with a dreamy look in her eyes as he spoke to the doctor on the other line.

"He'll be here in about fifteen minutes." He walked to the other side of the room, feeling her eyes on him the whole way as he pulled some ice out of the small hotel fridge and grabbing a cloth from the bathroom, "In the meantime, you have to remain awake and keep some ice on it."

She took the wrapped up ice from him, putting it to the small bump at the back of her head, "Thanks, Bryan." she smiled in his direction softly, just as he turned the chair of the desk to face her and sat down cross-armed. "You could go back to your friends if you like; I'm sure I can keep myself out of trouble for fifteen minutes."

"They're out getting some drinks across town; I have no place to be so why not remain here?"

She smiled widely, thinking of his team, "What would they say if they found out you were helping out a member of the opposition?"

"They'd do the same thing for you that I'm doing. Beyblading means a lot to all of us, but we're not stupid enough to let something like this get to someone's health. If someone lost their life to beyblading, and we could've prevented it from happening, the sport would have little to no meaning to us anymore."

"That's deep." Hitomi murmured softly, shutting her eyes momentarily.

"Hey, don't fall asleep."

"I'm not going to fall asleep, please give me that much credit." She opened her eyes again, tossing the ice beside her and peeling the soaked black jacket off her body and tossing it in a corner. "You're going to catch a cold if you don't dry yourself up." She proceeded wiping the rain off her skin, watching him as he didn't even flinch at her words, "Take a towel from the bathroom and clean yourself up. You'll get sick for your match tomorrow or is that right on top of there with your health which you think so little of?" those words got him walking to the bathroom, and he was slowly drying himself up when he got back into the room and sat down again. "That was rude of me." She admitted quietly, "And definitely a poor way of showing my gratitude."

"Don't worry about it."

"I'm still sorry about it."

"Where are your teammates?" He asked instead.

She sighed; she wanted to get some sort of emotion out of him, even if it was pity at her expense. "Downstairs at the bar; we don't have another match till next week so they plan on getting drunk, though I don't know why they plan on doing so at such an early hour. Seems like both our teams had the same idea."

He smirked at her statement, "Your teammates are going to be pissed off then. The alcohol in the bar downstairs is not that great."

"So that's why your team went all the way across town?" She watched him nod and she moved to sit back against the headboard, "So why didn't you go with them?"

"I'd ask you the same question."

"Isn't it obvious? Like I'd be irresponsible enough to go to a bar and drink my heart out. My head is already pounding; it's like I've been asleep for the drunken state and skipped down to the hang over." She rubbed her temples lightly for emphases, sighing and looking at him as he stared at the ceiling, "Your turn."

"It's not important."

Lucky for Bryan, there was a firm knock on the door and he was up in a split second to get it. The doctor was there and stepped inside, Bryan took his place in the doorway, keeping his eyes focused on her, "I'll find your friends, I'm sure they'll be concerned. I'll pass by to check on you later."

"Thanks again, Bryan."

He'd heard her, despite her thoughts that he hadn't. He went on a quick walk to the bar downstairs, informing the brunette's teammates of her condition and that the doctor was upstairs with her at the time. It wasn't even all that difficult finding them, all he had to do was look for three girls together. The fact that it was so early to be drinking and were the only ones at the bar, only made finding them easier. Once he told them the news they all ran straight past him, their leader just mumbling a quiet 'thanks' and rushing off too.

After that he went and lay down in his hotel room, waiting for his teammates to get back and for an appropriate amount of time to pass by so that he could go back and check on the girl that currently concerned him. Of all his teammates, he was the only one who had actually been watching when her head had come in contact with the solid ground of the stadium. His team had assumed that she was going to lose and were about to leave when she won her match, albeit the consequences of her health so he was the only one of them that really understood the hard hit that her head had endured, the sickening thud it had made against the solid ground, the wince of pain that contorted her young features.

It was about 8:30pm, he got a call from Tala saying that they'd be back at the hotel in about an hour. He explained to Tala the recent events of his day and that he was going to go back and check on the girl, knowing that she was still awake and had seen two of her teammates leaving the hotel. He went to her level, two floors up, knocking quietly on her bedroom door; the team leader opening and sizing him up with her sharp eyes. "Hitomi, that guy is here to see you." She called before he could even open his mouth to speak. She got approval from her friend seemingly, opening the door wider for him and letting him inside. "I'm going to join the others down the street. I'll try not to be out too long." She informed Hitomi, giving her a warning look behind Bryan's back for her to be careful.

"Have fun." Hitomi waved, watching her friend leave. She turned to Bryan, getting up from her lying position. She'd been lying across her bed, legs crossed at her ankles above her as she read a book, keeping her finger in the page she was reading. "I didn't think you'd actually come to check on me. If I knew maybe I would've remained a little more appropriately dressed."

He only understood what she meant after she said that. She was wearing a pair of plain blue jeans and a black t-shirt, as opposed to her more fashionable outfit of earlier. Still, clothing was nothing he ever focused his attention on so only realized this after she pointed it out. "I said I'd check on you, didn't I?"

"Yes, well, some people say they'll do things and then never do."

"I'm not one of those people." He stood beside the bed, almost at eye level with her due to her height even though she was just sitting. "How are you feeling?"

Hitomi smiled and shook her head, "Ah, I'm fine, the doctor said its nothing serious but he'll check on me after twenty four hours if it still hurts but I can't sleep for the next two hours so I thought I'd do some reading." She waved the book a bit before tossing it onto the nightstand.

"As long as you're alright." He nodded towards her, walking to the door already.

"You could stay if you like. I wouldn't mind the company." He turned back to her and she smiled sweetly, "You're a lot more interesting to read than some romance novel, in my opinion."

"Regardless, I don't think your teammate would like it if I stayed any longer than I should. She didn't exactly seem pleased to see me in the times we've met today."

"Ah she's like that with everyone. Don't let her get to you." She patted the bed lightly, "Please stay if you're not busy with something else. Even if it's just for just a little while." Bryan sighed and walked back to the desk to sit down in the chair he'd used earlier, "You can bring the chair by the bed, or sit on the bed, you know? I'm not scared of you."

Bryan moved the chair to the side of the bed, sitting down, "And why aren't you?" he asked with a sigh.

"You don't seem like that sort of a violent person, maybe you are violent but probably not with a woman. I can see it in your eyes."

"Those are some pretty big assumptions you're making of someone you've only known a day."

Hitomi shrugged and sat back, still keeping an eye on him as he rarely ever looked up at her, "I figure if you wanted to take advantage of me then you've had two chances already. A man with those sorts of intentions would've noticed the chances quickly. Besides, you're the one who warned me when in the bathroom."

--Flashback--

Bryan stepped into the men's bathroom at the arena, leaning against the door and blinking a few moments as he saw the girl sitting on the counter by the sink. "One of us is in the wrong bathroom." He pointed out.

"It's me…I know. It's just that if I go out there my team will drag me to the doctor and I'm not in the mood."

"So you decided to hide in the men's room? Sure, that'd work, who looks for a teenage girl in the men's room?" He mused aloud, turning back around to leave.

"Didn't you need the bathroom?" She asked, gaining his attention again and smirking childishly, "If it makes you feel any better I'll close my eyes and cover my ears." She laughed.

Bryan glared lightly and opened the door, "No, thanks." He grumbled, stepping back outside before moving half way in again, "And don't stay in here; men take advantage of women when they're in places they shouldn't be. It makes them easy prey."

"I'll remember that. Thanks."

--End Flashback--

"So see? You've had plenty of chances, that was probably the best one."

"You've established that I won't hurt you, that's a good thing."

"Do people not get that very far when they try to get to know you?"

Bryan exhaled heavily, shutting his eyes momentarily and sitting back, "What do you want to do?" he ignored her earlier question.

Hitomi hummed quietly with wonder, looking around the room, "Well I'd suggest we watch a movie but there's nothing good on. The only stuff in English are those sappy romance movies and I highly doubt you want to watch any of them. The rest is in Russian, no doubt, and I'd best not let me imagination run wild and try to interpret the story myself because it'll leave me to be a curious mess as to what actually happened." She looked at him again, "What do you want to do?"

"Whatever is fine."

"We could…talk." She lay on her stomach like she had been earlier, pulling a pillow up to her so she could rest her arms and head on it, "I know too little about you."

"You could talk and I'll listen."

"But that's not fair. I'm sure if you sit there and learn about me then I should have the right to learn at least a little bit about you." She moved closer, reaching out to him and lifting his chin so he'd look at her, "Please?" she begged, mostly with her bright blue eyes.

"Fine then we'll do it that way."

"Promise?" She asked, her eyes still pleading.

Bryan came close to choking on the word, probably not realizing how persistent she was going to be, "Fine, promise."

So the next hour or so was spent that way. Hitomi did the most talking like Bryan had originally insisted, after a while she'd just sit up and direct all her attention towards him, asking him little questions about him with connection to whatever it was she was just talking about. They spoke a little about family, that of which they both had none, their friends and teammates and where they grew up. All those subjects were ones that Bryan wasn't particularly pleased with, so he kept his answers short and to the point without giving too much away, and lucky for him, Hitomi chose not to pry at things he didn't want to talk about.

He had to admit that a part of him quite enjoyed talking to the girl. She was interesting to listen to. There was little room for him to comment, due to her being such a talkative girl but she always gave him chance to voice his opinions in the end, not that he ever really did though. Talking to her, laughing with her when it came to talking about a lot of the stupid things she'd done in the past; it was all great stress relief for him.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" She watched him choke slightly on his drink, putting it down and putting the back of his hand to his mouth, "That's attractive." She teased quietly, laughing as he recomposed himself after her surprising question. "It's a simple 'yes' or 'no' question."

"No then."

"Well have you ever?"

"No."

She moved a little closer to him, sitting opposite him and smiling even though he didn't see her, "Why not?"

Bryan still avoided eye contact her with her completely, staring off at a wall, "Who says that everyone should be in a relationship throughout their lives?"

"I didn't say that but everyone needs a little romance some time in their lives." She moved her face closer to his, lifting his head again so he'd look at her. "Bet you've never even had a kiss before." She murmured softly. She tilted her head to the side a little when he didn't answer, her thumb stroking his jawbone as she pressed her lips slightly to his stone cold ones. He had literally frozen against her and when she pulled her mouth away, he turned his whole face away from her, while she was sure she saw him turning red in the face. "Surely not a prostitute, they don't freak out so much at a kiss." She murmured, still trying to tug an emotion out of him. He kicked the chair out from underneath him, getting up to walk away just when she caught onto his arm with extreme force. "I did some asking around…of what I hear, you're not one to give up so easily."

Bryan didn't make direct eye contact with her again, focused on her face but never her eyes which seemed to nag at his soul to say something to her. His hand was on her arm as she started to pull him closer to her.

"What did they do to you that made you so scared of human contact?" she whispered, tilting her head so she could stare at his eyes again. She ran a hand along his back carefully till he flinched, "Let's try this again." she watched the red tint on his face brighten a little more so she tried a reassuring smile, hoping that some part of her would make him feel better, "You should try to relax you know?" she ran her fingers through his own that hung by his side. She leaned in a little closer, trying again and pressing her warm lips to his own frozen ones. Upon opening her eyes she saw his own startled ones, she smirked against his lips and covered his eyes with her hand, shutting them for him and pulling her hand away. She ran her tongue along his lip after a few more moments of a few series of movements from both of them. He made no real reaction to that last movement so she moved her hand up to his jaw and bringing him to open his mouth just slightly.

He opened his eyes again and pulled back, "Still not good, huh?"

"It was good. Just…try to relax more. You could probably bite my tongue right off just with the tension in your jaw." She smiled and ran her thumb briefly against his lips. She set him down in the chair again, sitting opposite him on the bed but still holding onto his hand, staring at his long scratched fingers, "I'm sorry if this bothered you."

"I'm not used to that." He smirked.

A tender smiled grew on her features, touching his red cheek before letting go of him completely, "I do like you Bryan; that seems to be what you're most worried about."

Once she'd let go of him he went to sit on the windowsill, staring outside to look over the gardens where he'd found her earlier, "I can't give you what you want. Best you search for it elsewhere and don't waste your time."

"How do you know what I want?"

Her phone interrupted the conversation, breaking the tension for a while. She picked it up, her best friend and team leader was on the other line, asking her if she was alright and if things were going well. Hitomi made her replies brief, in a hurry to get off the phone and get back to Bryan. When she turned back to him once the call was over he was standing by her nightstand, looking through the book she had been reading earlier that evening.

He caught her staring, looking up at her and raising the book a little for her to see the cover, "These were the sort of stories I could never understand." He told her with a smirk, tossing the book back on the nightstand at the end of his statement.

She laughed softly and lay down on the bed, patting the space beside her where he lay down, "You know, those stories are always complicated so maybe that's why you don't get them. But I think in the end, they're almost always worth the patience."

"I don't know…Those sorts of stories always seem like they came right out of nowhere. Like the writer didn't know what she was doing and the romance just sparked out of nothing."

"Romance doesn't spark right out of nowhere." She said, hitting his arm, "And don't be so quick to assume that it's always women that write these sorts of things."

"Aren't women more prone to these sorts of emotions then men?"

"I don't know, are we?" she asked teasingly. She shook her head a bit and turned over onto her stomach, forcing her upper body up on her elbows, "I think that any man can feel any emotion that a woman can."

"Don't you think that that so-called-spark of romance came out of nowhere?"

Hitomi put her head down on a pillow, staring at him intently as she thought about it, "Who knows? I liked talking to you today…I like how you were true to your word and came to see me, I like your character, I like that you don't let people change who you are." She shut her eyes, "Bryan, I don't expect a lot from people. And I'm not asking you to be someone you're not or anything like that, I'm not asking you to talk about what's happened to you all the time, I'm not going to pry at your past life…so, maybe, you could give me a tiny chance." Her heart beat faster, fluttering in her stomach when she opened her eyes again and was greeted with a blank stare in his eyes. She shrugged a little, even in that awkward position, "I can't feel everything a person feels; but I know you're not just here out of being protective of a person, or some sort of guilt or whatever. Maybe there's a reason that I met you when I did."

"There is."

She wiped at her eyes lightly, nodding and smiling delicately, "Then please tell me what it is. Because I swear, I've been trying to understand."

Bryan smiled at her, he actually seemed genuine about it. "You'll understand sometime, right? I think that if I'm going to be confused about all of this, then you've got to be left in the dark about something too, right?"

"That's not fair." She laughed, turning over onto her back. "Wait…so…does that mean that…?"

"I guess it does." He glanced at the clock beside him on the nightstand, "It's been long over two hours." He pointed out to her, getting off the bed, "It's safe to get some sleep now so get some and I'll speak to you some other time."

"Your team has a match tomorrow, don't they?"

"Yeah, block A too so we're up early."

"I'll come watch."

"No…you need some sleep. Don't bother; I'm guessing its going to be a quick one." He put a hand on her forehead and pushing away the long brown locks, "Sleep well." He exhaled and walking to the bedroom door.

"Bryan…"

"Hm?"

The brunette showed up beside him, light on her feet as she lifted herself a little more and gave him a peck on the lips, "Thank you for all you did tonight. Keeping me company is something that not even my own team could do."

"Likewise."

--Next Morning--

Bryan sat at the breakfast table by himself, staring hard into the white and blue pattern of his plate as he forked through his apple pie, randomly pushing apple to one side and raisins to the other out of sheer disinterest in his food.

"You look a little love sick there, sir." He looked up at the teasing voice, seeing Hitomi standing there with her own tray of food, "Mind if I join you?" She asked politely. He kicked the chair out for her from under the table, turning back to staring at his uninteresting, and now destroyed, piece of apple pie. "What did that poor piece of pie ever do to you?" she asked, leaning forward to inspect the mess.

Bryan tossed the napkin down onto the table, standing up hurriedly, "Sorry. I'll see you later."

"Bryan…" She called after him, watching him leave the dining hall.

He was long gone, even if her voice had reached him. He made his way leisurely up two flights of stairs, going to his empty hotel room which he shared with Tala during their stay in the area. He kicked his suitcase out of his way as he got up on the window sill and opened it ajar, inhaling the fresh air and watching the yard behind the hotel. A few minutes of relaxing like that only left him with a numb throbbing in his head, just a bit more throbbing once someone knocked hard on the door. He got up to get it, pulling the door open and ready to argue with whoever was on the other side.

Hitomi was there. And despite the fact that he did have some feelings for her, he wasn't about to let her off easy. He opened his mouth to ask her to leave but instead she pushed lightly against his shoulder and made her way inside. "Ever heard of asking for permission? Or just generally not pushing people?" he asked her, shutting the door behind her in a rush of anger.

She made some space on the messy desk, putting down the tray she had been carrying when she stepped inside. "This isn't me being some stalker girl who has some obsessive crush on you because I have realized that it looks that way. This is me being a decent and protective human being." She sighed, fumbling with her hands, staring at them like they were the most interesting thing in the room, "After leaving the dining hall, I saw your team waiting to leave for their match. I asked them why you weren't there and they said that lately you haven't been feeling well…and that they were going to let you on today but then you were sick again last night so that Spencer guy is taking your place. They said you were sort of pissed off about it… they said you'd cool down by the time they got back. I mentioned that you hadn't eaten anything…your friend Tala was going to get you something to eat and come up here but then he would've missed the bus and the match so I told him I'd do it."

"Wouldn't that make things easier on you and your team if he didn't show up?" Bryan lay down on his bed, his hands behind his head as the ceiling chose to be his own centre of interest.

"My team and I will win this tournament!" she exclaimed firmly, "I know that I will win this, but I'm going to do it fairly, which means I'm not going to mess with another teams chances. Your team would do the same thing. You did the same thing."

"Don't do this just to return the favor then."

"I'm not that stupid." She glanced at his lying form, then turning to the tray filled with food that she'd brought up with her, "Tala said your fainting spells will start again if you don't eat breakfast. I don't know what you like so I got a lot of different stuff." She grabbed at the door handle and turned it quietly to leave and not disturb him.

"You can stay." He stopped her, "If I know Tala…and I do know Tala, then I know that in his own gentleman sort of way he asked you to check on me so maybe I should save you the extra two flights in your condition." He sat up and watching her with that almost-suspicious stare of his, he couldn't say he trusted this girl yet but she's done no real harm so far, nothing to spark much doubt in his mind, "Where are your teammates?"

"They went with your friends; they wanted to check out the competition." She smiled as she replied, picking up the tray again and putting it in front of him on the bed, sitting up in front of him so the tray would be between them, "Maybe we could look after each other today? Considering someone has to keep an eye on you and your appetite."

"And someone needs to make sure you don't hit your head again."

Hitomi rolled her eyes as she picked up a fork and handed it to him so that he could start eating, "You make me sound like a klutz or something, like I'm going to fall down the nearest flight of stairs." He continued to stare at the plates in front of him, fork in hand as he tapped it against the tray. She began to wonder if he was always this distanced during conversation. The day before he seemed interested most of the time, he commented a few times but it always looked like he was paying attention. It was just some other times he seemed like he wasn't even there. She prodded his shoulder a little to get his attention again, more like just gaining a confused stare at which she smiled at, "Eat something, you'll feel better."

"Like that works." He murmured sarcastically to himself, forking some fruit salad.

"Well it does. A ton of people eat a lot because it makes them feel better, not saying that eating too much is a good thing but it does help a person out if they're upset sometimes. Besides, it's probably the not eating that got you in this position in the first place." She watched him glare at the plate with a great amount of hate so she extended her hand and put it on his shoulder to get his mind off what she'd said. He shook it off him, "I'm sorry…that was a stupid thing for me to say."

"You're full of saying stupid things, aren't you?" he asked her, smirking a little as he began to eat slowly.

She laughed and nodded, "Usually." She admitted shamefully. "Could I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He pointed out in a monotonous tone, still picking at some food. "But yes, you could ask another one."

"I can't remember a lot of things in the past. But I want to know, have you and I met before this tournament?"

"We have." Bryan replied, again avoiding all eye contact. "It was about a year ago. Your team didn't get into that tournament but you were watching. I bumped into you in the hallway underneath the stadium."

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

"Because I was stupid back then. We bumped into each other, you fell and hit your head against the wall, I did nothing to help and kept walking."

She got up and sat behind him instead, making him all the more uncomfortable as he didn't know what she'd do and wasn't ready to look back at her to see whatever her reaction was. She held onto his shoulders, not gently but she wasn't rough either, "If it makes you feel any better," she began in a whisper in his ear, "I wasn't hurt." She patted his back lightly and got back up in a hurry, "Besides, you seem like a completely different person. You didn't leave me when I fell in the garden, wouldn't that mean that you've changed since last year?"

"Maybe I have." He sighed.

"So why do you want me around? I'm sure you don't still feel guilty about what happened so long ago."

Bryan smirked, "You'd be surprised at what my guilt does to me."

Hitomi frowned at that, "Well don't tell any girl that, she'd think you were with her just to return the favor."

The Russian turned to her, still with that strong smirk on his face, "Despite what people think, I do enjoy company once in a while."

She laughed, jumping beside him on the bed, steadying herself when the tray jumped too, "It just so happens you've never had female company."

"No, that's a new one."

She lay back, still laughing, "And a cute guy who hasn't been kissed before. That's a rare finding."

"Yet you took little time making it more uncommon."

"Well someone needed to get through to you somehow." She ran her fingers gingerly over the back of shoulder, "Like your friend, Tala."

"What about him?" Bryan asked, looking back after shrugging her hand off of him.

Hitomi shrugged slightly, dropping her hand from him, "I expected him to be some sort of tough guy, some distrusting person who wouldn't let me anywhere near you. I was actually surprised when he gave in a little quicker than I'd expected. Don't get me wrong, I could see that he would have preferred it if it was him up here with you, but that's a friendship thing, but it wasn't real distrust of me. That surprised me a bit. But then that Kai person was looking at me like I'd maul one of them and was ready to kill me."

"Tala is slowly giving up a lot of his past so that he could fit in a little more, he was always one that was obsessive about what people thought of him, not that he'd admit it. Kai is not so compliant, as you've obviously noticed. Spencer…no body can really figure that guy out, he keeps changing."

"And you just need to learn how to relax."

Bryan lay back too, glancing at her, "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" he made her laugh at that, she shook her head at the question, a smile still on her face. A moment of silence past, she turned to look at him and pecked her lips lightly against his before turning away timidly. "That still feels strange."

"Strange is good, strange is different to what you're used to."

"That's true I guess."

A/N: Something different. I realized that I keep making Bryan really unlucky in love(Childhood Hell; Karina was in a coma. People Error; Tatiana died.) I had originally written out a first version of this, wasn't too pleased with it. I had made Bryan good at kissing, but then I preferred to make him a little clueless which I prefer. Hope some people liked this. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think.