"Can you let go of me? I can walk on my own," I mumbled, the words falling out of my mind sloppily.

Kyoya looked over his shoulder, eyes darting down to his hand, tight around my wrist. "Are you gonna smack into a pole?"

"Me? No."

He let go of my wrist, and as I looked down to check for any imprints left, my forehead smacked into something metal. I stumbled back with a curse, one hand at my forehead.

"Oh my god, Tess," he sighed, brow furrowing.

I tried to pass it off with an uneasy laugh, picking myself up off the ground and wiping the palms of my hands on my pants. The gravel stuck to my palms, embedded in my skin and leaving red marks.

Kyoya sighed, taking one look at my palms and gesturing behind him. "C'mon."

I followed behind him more quietly this time, instead keeping my gaze out, lowered, and forward. That way I could see in front of me (kinda), hear the careful crunch of when he stepped, of when I stepped. After several minutes of walking in complete silence, I shuffled so that I walked next to him inside of behind.

"Y'know, even though we've met a couple of times now, we don't really know one another," I said, craning my eyes to look at him. "Like, know, know. You follow?"

"I guess," Kyoya lifted his shoulders into a shrug. He wasn't looking at me yet, which set a fire in my stomach.

I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to know I was serious, and that I was supposed to be taken seriously.

"Your media- I mean, what do you like? In terms of like, music, movies, books, shows..."

Silence. I caught him biting his lip, as if considering his answer, eyes moving to his left, to where I walked alongside him.

"... music ranges, I guess. I'm not a big fan of the modern day music. I prefer guitar," he shrugged again. "That stuff's crap to me. I don't care about it. Reading's okay too, it just takes up some time."

"I like reading. Kinda awesome, you know. It's basically staring at some pieces of a tree for a couple of minutes, maybe hours, and hallucinating."

Kyoya smirked. "Never heard someone put it that way.

Pointing to a tree of the forest that we were quickly approaching, I nodded. "I mean, look at that. That could be the new Harry Potter in two years or something. Anyways, keep talking. Movies?"

"Marvel. My mom was a big fan when I was a kid, so I grew up watching Captain America punch Iron Man's face out."

"Team Cap or Iron Man?"

"Iron Man. Just for the fun of it."

His lips twitched, the starting of a smile on his face. I studied his face carefully, looking for any sign that I was going to get a better one, but nothing came.

My mind screeched to a stop. "Wait- Iron Man?! How could you choose him? Cap is so much better."

"Because I wanted to. Get over it."

We finally reached the forest. Kyoya's attention moved from me to the forest, gaze jumping across rocks, stones and grass until it landed on a small, winding path that was almost hidden by the dirt.

"That where we going?" I scrubbed at my eyes and spared a quick look at the path.

With no response ringing in my ears, the two of us walked to the path, Kyoya ducking under a branch.

"We're starting early with conditioning," he said. "For the first few days, anyway."

"Conditioning?" I asked, trailing behind Kyoya.

He didn't respond, instead pushing a branch out of the way. As it swept clean of his hair, it drew back and slapped me square in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"You're fine," the Leone user said without looking back.

"I appreciate your concern."

We walked in silence, feet ghosting over the ground. It was deep into September, so there were no leaves on the ground, but I liked to imagine them crunching under my feet.

"Do you like fall?"

Kyoya paused in his steps, looking over his shoulder at me. Raising an eyebrow, he didn't say anything of the actual question, instead silently nodding.

"I like fall- it's so cool, you know? Like, it's perfect between freakin' hot and freakin' cold, and it's just... you know. Gorgeous.

Lifting his shoulders in a shrug, Kyoya lifted another swooping branch- the green leaves wavering. As he looked over at me, he jerked his head. "What, you coming? It's through here."

I blinked, taking a look at the tanned forearm that held up the branch. "Uhhh.. thanks, I guess."

"You're so much more mellow when you're confused. Makes you a little less insufferable."

The ground beneath us started to change as we walked. Dusted red clay changed into crumbling rocks that set bits and pieces of gravel in my shoes, then sand. The forest around us widened and broke away, leaving us with about... I dunno, a reasonable distance on either side.

Shuffling over to one side, I put at least a table's worth of distance between us. He didn't seem to care.

Up ahead, the forest gave away to the open area of the beach.

"A beach!"

I started to run, leaving Kyoya behind me. I could hear him coughing from the sand that scattered underneath my sneakers, but instead, I laughed and flopped down in the sand.

"I haven't been to the beach in ages!"

"It's not for your pleasure," Kyoya said from behind me, but I rolled to the side anyway, sending white sand flaring across the area. I swished my fingers through it, then patted the area next to me.

"Tess, no."

"Tess, yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Kyoya sighed and rolled his eyes. In what seemed to be a compromise, he sat, but in the spot that he was standing instead of next to me. With a huff, I started to roll, spinning over and over until I reached him.

"Party-pooper."

"You're the childish one," he retorted. Was that a bit of sharp, childish pride in his voice?

I snorted in response, then dug up some sand, sending it scattering across Kyoya's pants. With a growl, he tossed some back at me, sand flecking my hair, clothes, skin, everything.

I rolled, sending some particles everywhere as I flicked my dark hair in his direction. He was tossing more sand at me, face contorted into one of necessary revenge. Instead, I shrieked, butting my head against his arm.

"D-Damn you!" Spluttering, laughing, my chest hurting, the things I didn't expect to happen with Kyoya Tategami and god, it was great.

I stood, my feet sinking into the sand because my shoes were kicked off somewhere along the side. Kyoya did the same.

"If I make eye-contact with you, are you going to attack?"

The Leone user smirked.

I brought my eyes to his. He ran forward.

Turning on my heel, I shot away, sand sent flying up behind me. I didn't care, I didn't care, I didn't care- all I could feel was spirit, heart pounding and head pulsing (or the other way around, I can't tell) and an incoming headache, but I'm laughing, my feet hit wet sand, where the water washed up.

I didn't know how far behind me Kyoya was, but I kept running, feet thudding and slapping against the water-filled sand. Everything seemed to spin by me but I kept my gaze locked on the trees, not the Leone blader behind me.

"What, can't keep up?" I teased.

The wind got knocked out of me as Kyoya lunged, tackling me to the ground. I release a sharp, "oof!" and go rolling, intent to try and get revenge on Kyoya for freaking tackling me.

"Damn you!" I spat out again, but Kyoya probably wouldn't take it seriously, seeing how I was, quite literally, trying to get the taste of salt water in my mouth. The back of my clothes was damp now, and I could feel the arms of water trying to grasp at my hair.

"You're an idiot," Kyoya repeated, shifting so that he wasn't basically putting all his body weight on my arm (looked like he had landed a bit awkwardly- guess cats don't always land on their feet).

I rubbed my arm, looking at the red imprint that was beginning to rise to the surface, then propped myself up on my elbows. "Dammit... now my clothes are all wet. It's only like... five in the morning or whatever."

Kyoya didn't respond. He had shifted into a crouch, sharp eyes watching the sky. Following his gaze, I saw the beauty he saw.

It wasn't just a sunrise, no. It was a sunrise with water at our feet and the world coming to life with a hum. Birds started to chirp as if on cue, with no worries or doubts or fears trying to reach for the people of Japan, and it was beautiful.

For a moment, my eyes craned towards Kyoya.

I never realized how different someone looked when they thought no one was watching.