Fooling Me
Division X: Love is Blind
By EclipseKlutz
A/N: I'm so, so sorry this has taken so long. But things have been incredibly complicated recently, and I'm grounded so updates may take longer. Bleh… Anyways, looked through some of the fanfics, and this is the first Tori/Hunter fic! Okay, okay, you can start reading now…
"…Dance with me, it can't be so hard,
Time to reveal what's in your heart,
Desolation, grief and agony…"
--Lacuna Coil: Daylight Dancer
Unbroken waves slapped against the rocks, then drew back so another wave could take its place. Every now and again, the water would spray across the girl sitting upon the uneven surface of the rock but more often then not it retreated to break across the sandy shores of the beach.
This though was not the girl's main concern as she sat there, staring at the horizon under which the moon was slowly, almost reluctantly retreating to. A strand of blonde hair tumbled over her shoulder as it freed itself from the confinements of her messy ponytail, drawing out several purple and blonde locks along with it.
She ignored this, as well as the footsteps approaching her behind. The figure sat down beside her, stray brown strands of his hair falling across his eyes and shading them from view as he did so.
"Kit?" he asked, after a few minutes of hesitation and contemplation.
She didn't acknowledge his greeting either, and merely stared out at the waves coming their way.
He took a breath, looking downwards at his feet, which were dangling over the sides of the rock, "I'm sorry about what… what he said to you, but I forgive you."
"No you don't," she whispered after a moment, though still not facing him. "You've no reason to."
"But he was wrong to accuse you like that," he protested.
"No, he wasn't."
He stared at her for a moment, his eyes watching her carefully. There was something wrong about the dazed expression etched into her face, the way she sat there, and the fact that for the first time in a month she didn't seem to be even partially willing to talk to him. And then he realized why.
Grabbing her hand, which had been resting on her lap, he turned it over to confirm his suspicions. There was a long, deep slash across her wrist that beads of blood were rapidly crawling from.
"Kit, you're bleeding," he stated, tearing off a strip from the sleeve of his shirt and wrapping it around her wrist before reaching for her other hand.
She glanced over at him, but her pained expression made it obvious the action took a good deal of effort, "I suppose I am…"
"Dust," Shane said yet again, this time a bit louder as he was getting aggravated by the lack of progress he had in waking the future version of his best friend.
The ranger in question jumped, startled awake at the sound of his voice. Bloodshot eyes met Shane's irritated ones as the red ranger slapped him across the face, not noticing he was awake until after the fact.
Rubbing his cheek, Dust sat up, glowering at the ranger, "And I have deserved that since when…?"
"Since I've been bored out of my mind, not to mention worried… if what you said is true then Dustin may not be coming back at all," Shane replied looking away and around the vast space of nothingness as though hoping something had changed.
"If? What I told you, it's real and that's a fact," Dust informed him as he pulled himself into something that just barely passed as a sitting position. "The problem is that you don't want to believe me. You don't believe it happened 'cause that just might burst the happy little bubble you surrounded yourself with by convincing your gullible mind that you and your friends are immortal—and that's what got Cam killed."
Shane stared at him for a moment, his vacant expression hiding the guilt that flowed beneath. It'd been so painful for him to hear the recounts of all their deaths, to know that they hadn't gotten to Tori in time to save her and that in trying to avenge her death, Hunter murdered seven innocents; to know that he made the decision to leave Cam alone in Ninja Opts, something that had ultimately gotten Cam murdered… That thought train stopped as he realized something he'd skipped over before.
Tossing Dust an odd look, Shane inquired pointedly, "You never told me who set up the bomb in the hotel."
"That's because I don't know," Dust replied bitterly, meeting Shane's eyes as he did so—neither of them flinched.
Shane shoved him backwards, thoroughly angered that Dust dare be so bold as to lie to his face, "You know, so why don't you damn tell me? Was it me? That'd explain why you resent me so much—or maybe it was Cam, maybe that was-"
He was cut off as Dust slapped him hard upside the face, "You shut the hell up."
"WHY?!" Shane cried back, "I just found out that in your warped future, everyone is dead—and so am I! Just tell me who set the freaking bomb already! You know who did it, we both know that!"
Dust shook his head somberly, "I know, sure. But I promised I wouldn't tell—it was the only requirement to killing her… that I didn't mention who set off the bomb."
"Was it me?"
"Possibly."
"Was it Kit?"
"Possibly."
"Are you going to give me any other answers?"
"Not if you keep asking the wrong questions," Dust returned with a frown.
An exasperated groan escaped Shane's throat. "How do we know she'll bring Dustin back alive?"
Dust looked at him with hesitation, sighed, and looked away, tilting his head to the side as he stared off at a distant space. Fingering a silver chain around his neck, he finally answered, "Because I love her."
Hunter stared at her in disbelief; his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open as he managed to choke out, "Wh-what did you say?"
She gently moved his elbow so she could finish strapping up his bandages, keeping her face strictly unreadable. Tori busied her fingers fastening safety pins through the bandages, watching her own quick movements carefully as though to watch for mistakes… and to keep herself from looking at him.
It was odd. She wanted to repeat what she'd said, wanted to scream it and throw something—anything—at him, wanted to tell him that she knew. But then she couldn't—it wouldn't be safe, it could endanger her situation. But hadn't she already gone too far?
Tori inhaled sharply and without looking at him stated quietly, "You heard me."
Instantly she felt him tense beneath her touch, felt his eyes watching her warily; she could almost hear the gears in his brain turning as he tried to decide what to do now. Again, everything lapsed into silence.
But she didn't mind it. Somehow, even after she'd said what she said, even now that he was judging what to do with her, she felt oddly safe in the motel room. Even with the incredibly dim lighting, and the mass amounts of needles beside her, she was strangely at peace. The prospect seemed weird even to her.
As she struggled to piece together her own jumbled emotions, Hunter broke the silence with caution edging every bit of his voice, "How long have you known?"
It took all of her self-control not to slap him right there. Instead she finally tilted her head just enough to look him in the eyes. "I'm not sure… Some of it came at that gas station… a little more at the restaurant… Why'd you lie? At the hospital… why?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He sighed, realizing that she just needed to hear it. "You know what, the way it looks is vain. I get it. But what you're thinking isn't it. I didn't just lie to get you to come without a fuss—truth is Tori, you saved my life. I don't know why, but you did, and how do you tell someone who saved you that you've kidnapped them and plan on using them to tear apart their friends? Really, how?"
Tori nodded, accepting it as she placed spare pins into the first aid kit and shut the lid. Sinking down to the bed beside him she said, "So you didn't, and that seemed alright?"
Hunter frowned, "I don't know what it seemed. But… You know what: I'm sorry. There. Satisfied?"
She allowed a small laugh to escape her throat, "I wasn't looking for an apology, and you didn't mean it."
"Well… it has been nice not tying you up everywhere we go, and I am starting to get fond of that Evanescence group," Hunter admitted, laughing slightly also.
Silence took over them once again as light, pointless laughter died down, only to be replaced by the sounds of their breathing. Outside, only a handful of cars drove by the motel, and all threats of Arjaunt seemed to evaporate as they stared at each other.
"Um… Tori?"
"Uh-huh."
"If I completely humiliate myself will you let me live it down?"
"Depends."
Hunter exhaled nervously and leaned over, then without much hesitation pressed his mouth to hers. He'd been wanting to kiss her since the events of the restaurant, but why then of all times? He didn't know, and probably never would.
She was stunned, if anything. Of the thousands of things with possible humiliating outcomes he'd chosen that one. Apparently he didn't know what had happened to the last guy who'd tried to kiss her, but then…
He pulled away, sensing her shock. But before she could manage a reaction, the door splintered and collapsed into millions of wooden shards, and in stepped a modern-day gladiator, Arjaunt.
The travel through the dreaded tunnel wasn't so terrible this time, he was slowly becoming accustomed to the queasiness and actually managed to almost land on his feet when they were dropped off.
Snow covered everything as far as he could see, the pavement was thick with ice, and red and green lights were strung across the trees and between light poles. A few people were out walking or watching the sunrise; a man stood on the street corner nearby with a bell and charity box, joyfully saying to all who passed him, "Merry Christmas!"
Dustin turned to Kit, and found her smiling slightly, watching a couple walk down the sidewalk towards them. He looked them over and realized instantly who they were: them.
He had one arm slung over Kit's shoulder, and a bag of random toys his cousin had grown out of under the other. Kit was opening a package; careful not to tear the paper up too much as she did so. A box lay underneath all the packaging. She tore it open with much less care and pulled out another box.
"Are you trying to confuse me?" She inquired, playfully hitting him in the shoulder before opening up the box. This time, she pulled out a blue velvet case, with rich gold embroidery along the edge bearing her name.
Kit inspected it for a moment or so, turned it over, stared at the embroidery as though the elegance of the case was enough to satisfy her.
The Dustin he was watching rolled his eyes, saying lightly, "Would you open it already? I bought more then a little case."
"Really?" She returned sarcastically, yet smiled and opened the case. Her eyes widened as she saw what lie inside. "You didn't…"
"Yeah, well… you were kind of drooling when you saw that at the store, so, Merry Christmas," He responded, grinning. "Here, let me help you put it on."
She carefully lifted the elegant silver necklace from the box and twisted her hair over the shoulder. After a few seconds of fumbling with the clasp, he gently pulled her hair back and announced, "There you go."
Kit's smile widened as she grabbed him and nearly suffocated him in a bone-crushing hug. As she finally relaxed her grip, he leaned over and kissed her gently. She kissed him back, slightly harder, before moving her head to his shoulder and hugging him again.
"Thanks," she whispered. "You know that's the first Christmas present I've ever gotten?"
"Well, Ms. Scrooge, you're living with the 'Rangers, expect more when we get back," he responded, and slipping his arm around her waist they continued on their way.
Dustin watched it all in silence before turning back to spirit-Kit who apparently had been busying herself making snow angels. Offering his hand, he watched the couple leave in obvious interest.
As he helped her to her feet, he inquired awkwardly, "So you and I are… were… will be… whatever, a couple?"
She avoided his eyes and changed the topic all together, "I'm going to miss the winter, and Christmas… I love snow."
"Uh-huh… so what happened to the necklace?"
Kit stared at him, long and hard, before she answered in an oddly calm voice, "You have it."
Shane half-choked on his own saliva as Dust said his words. It took him a moment to regain enough composure to stutter out, "You… you what? Her? Why?"
Offering Shane a simple, small smile, Dust tucked the silver chain under the collar of his shirt and said quietly, "Love is blind."
And he'd say nothing more until Kit and Dustin returned.
A/N: There you go… And Merry Christmas to all of you in case I don't get to update for a while!