After the meal, Sari thanked him and left to go home.

Kyle stood at the entrance of the eating place and watched as she left. When he got back to the convenience store, Alia was there waiting.

"So … how was it, huh?" she asked, smiling.

"It was a nice lunch," Kyle answered before going back to work. Alia sighed and shook her head.

Kyle didn't use her money, and made a mental note to take Alia out for a meal as a return gesture. He knew she wouldn't take back what she gave, so that was the least he could do.

[Are you not done yet?] came the impatient voice of Kay.

[Done] Kyle replied.

[So why didn't you get back to me once you were done? Are you hiding things from me now?]

Kyle detected the hurt in Kay's voice and he quickly assured her.

[No, no. I just finished. I just got back to the store and was talking to Alia earlier]

[Oh. Now, spill. What happened during the date?]

[Nothing to spill]

[Seriously, brother? You're doing this to me now?]

Kyle sighed [No, I'm serious. Nothing to report really. We didn't do anything other than eat. We hardly talked]

[You're pathetic, you know that?]

Kyle groaned.

[I know]

[So who is this girl? What is she like? Why didn't you tell me anything about her earlier?]

[Sari. Nice. Not sure]

[KYLE!!]

Kyle laughed at that. He missed all the teasing and horsing around with the Elite Five. Still, a small sacrifice for what he needed to do.

Kyle then told Kay about Sari. The little bit that he knew, and the fact that he was having a bit of a crush on her.

[This is big news indeed] Kay said after he was done.

[Oh please] Kyle said in exasperation [It's just a crush]

[What is it about her that you like?]

Urgh.

The dreaded question.

Kyle had been thinking of this for quite some time and he had yet to come up with an answer. He didn't know Sari well enough to actually formulate any sort of opinion, right?

Even knowing how kind she was, was only after he had already been affected by her.

[I don't know. I don't even know her. It's just a crush. There's just something about her that appealed to me but I don't know what it is yet. I guess she's pretty?]

[Oh please. You've been around gorgeous girls before and had never been interested. Why now?]

[Like I said, I don't know. I'll figure it out slowly]

[At the rate you're going, I'm most likely going to be a grandmother before you're even going to get together with her]

Kyle grimaced.

Kay was probably right about that.

✿.✿.✿.✿

Things changed a few days later.

Earlier, Sari had come like normal to buy cat food. The progress between the two after the lunch 'date' was that they talked more now at the cashier.

That's it.

The normal, perfunctory 'How are you?' or 'How was your day?' sort of question by Sari and a one-syllable answer by Kyle.

"Fine", "Good" and occasionally followed up by a "You?"

To which she would answer, "All's good."

Alia, at the side, was ready to tear her hair out. The two kids were utterly hopeless.

After Sari left, the sky turned dark suddenly.

This was quite common at Country M. Thunderstorms could happen at the drop of a hat. It could be very sunny one minute and the next. BOOM.

Lightning, thunder and heavy rain.

It was just like that now.

Kyle became very worried as the rain this time appeared to be quite bad.

An umbrella was placed right at his face.

"Go," Alia urged, "See if she's alright. You know her route home, right?"

Kyle nodded sheepishly.

He knew. He knew where she lived, her routine and the route she takes. He even knew her schedule - she was like clockwork. Doing everything exactly the same.

It was all to learn more about her, you see.

Kyle thanked Alia profusely, tucked the foldable umbrella into his pocket and ran off into the rain, following the route she always took. It would be too troublesome to use the umbrella now, and much faster to just run.

It didn't take long for him to see a sight that caused the anger to rise within him. Something that hadn't happened since he left home.

There, he saw five figures hitting and kicking a small figure on the road, who seemed to be hunched over something.

There were shouts and laughter, as they continued their 'game'.

Kyle could see that the punches and kicks were not that strong but that was not the point. The point was, it was Sari that they were using as a punching and kicking toy.

With a roar, he dashed over, grabbing one guy at the back of the neck and giving him one solid punch on the face, causing teeth to shatter, before flinging him aside. He grabbed another into a chokehold, squeezing tight as he did a side kick to the face of the friend beside him.

It took all of his will power not to twist the neck of the boy he was holding in his arms, as he only squeezed tightly and the boy fainted due to lack of oxygen.

The remaining two, seeing how three of their friends were downed in seconds (and not getting up), did the one thing they knew best.

They ran.

Kyle resisted the urge to chase after them, and bent down to the huddled form of Sari.

She flinched when he put his hands on her shoulder, not daring to look up. He could hear her mumbling, "Please, stop. They're innocent. Go away. sssssshhh ... I'll keep you safe. Hang on."

"Sari," Kyle said, "You're safe now."

Sari stopped trembling. She lifted her head in surprise and relief.

"Rex?" she said softly, then brought out her hands, showing two badly wounded kittens, "Save them, please?"