My library senses are tingling!

Alice peered from the corner at one edge of the hallway with a nervous look on her visage. Her brown eyes, which changed hues depending on how much light there was, locked in on the library doors. Taking one last look around she did a sort of brisk walk and a dash inside. Seeing as school hadn't started yet, Alice thought it would be a great time to soak in the books before attempting to "venture" out into the social world. Fortunately the library was completely empty except for that one staff member.

Giving a quick nod to the librarian, Alice made a beeline towards the fiction section of the room. The book she was longing to read has got to be here.

Kyouya rounded the corner just when Alice thought is safe to dash through the hall. Thankfully, the corner was in the opposite direction from which she dashed. Kyouya thought it curious that she had ran in such haste into a room he did not notice before now and so, went to see what was so great about this room. Kyouya pushed open the door, the girl no longer in sight, and saw the vast amount of books. Kyouya's military espionage training kicked in and he was compelled to start reading in order to submerse himself in the culture of the land. However, Kyouya fought the urge to simply read as a means of gathering information and instead quelled the urge by moving into the fiction section of the library. He heard shuffling from the other side of the stack he was on but, ignored it for the time being. Instead, he quickly grabbed a book and sat down to read it at on of the tables that were scattered throughout the library.

Too focused on skimming through the spines of the books, Alice didn't hear the shuffling of another person nearby.

"No, not this one. Or this either. Ugh. Wrong one," she kept muttering to herself as her finger tapped the books. For a moment's pause she stopped looking to glance which part of the fiction section she was in. Th-Sa it read. Alice felt like banging her head against the bookshelf. She was in the wrong aisle, obviously.

Comfortable with the knowledge that she was the only student in the library Alice didn't bother to hide her presence anymore. She was free to do what she wished, and there was no one there to taunt how much of a bossy "Bookworm" she was. With a bright smile on her face she entered the appropriate aisle and began her search again. Unfortunately, there was an empty space where the book was suppose to be in.

Figuring that it was probably in circulation Alice snagged another book, one that she already read and was all too happy to read it once more. Even though she had already begun reading the book, her legs moved with confidence and grace as she maneuvered through the lane and started to make her way towards the sofas in the nearby corner, passing by an occupied table.

Kyouya had just read the famous line, "As you wish." when a girl whisked by him. It was the girl from earlier so, he made a comment, "Hi there. I'm pretty sure the books would have waited for you to comfortably walk to them. They're not exactly going anywhere." he said with a slight laugh. It was then that he took in the girl's full appearance. The first thing he noticed was her hair, it was long and flowing like a waterfall that catches the light just so. The next thing was her face, it swooped down in gentle curves coming to a gentle chin. Kyouya next noticed the inevitable, her breasts. Her breasts were the perfect size, not too large that you lost your hand in them but, not to small that they were no fun to play with. Kyouya then jumped back up to her face, he bright and intelligent face that had been secluded from the world by the book in her hands only a few seconds ago. Kyouya's jaw would have dropped save for his training to never show emotion. He was glad that he had said something before really looking at her cuz he would have been speechless otherwise.

..."Don't give me that kind of crap," Peter said.

"It says, I didn't die a natural death. Peter killed me, and if he hasn't already killed Andrew, he will soon. Not enough to convict you, but enough to keep you from ever getting elected."

"You're his monitor now," said Peter. "You better watch him, day and night. You better be there."

"Ender and I aren't stupid..."

Alice eagerly read, mouthing the words as she went with the flow. Now, she wasn't much into the Sci-fi genre, but Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was beyond amazing. She could never get tired of reading it over and over.

And just before Alice could continue an unexpected voice called out to her, causing her to squeak, spun around in place to face her intruder, and then accidentally tripping stepping on her own foot.

For a moment she bit her lip to keep from groaning out in pain before forcing an uneasy smile on her lips.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Alice tried to discreetly hide the small book behind her back.

She didn't want anyone's first impression of her as a lonely bookworm.

Kyouya gasped slightly as he had not expected to send the girl falling to the floor. Kyouya jumped up from his seat and offered her a hand and an apology. "I apologize for startling you so, I did not intend to frighten you." he explained. Then, in response, "Oh, I said nothing of consequence. Just that the books weren't going anywhere and you needn't rush. My name is Kyouya." He said after she was firmly back on her feet, "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kyouya took her hand and as he bowed slightly, kissed the back of it before returning her hand back to her.

Alice shook her head and used his hand as leverage to pull herself up.

"Yeah... Don't worry about it. I'm kinda of a klutz when people surprise me..." she purposely tapped her stinging foot onto the floor so the pain would come quicker and then go away just as fast.

And for the few seconds he spoke Alice then took the time to really look at boy. He was absolutely tall and had an overall handsome air to him with his lean frame and golden brown hair. Very handsome indeed.

"O-oh! And I'm Alice," she stuttered, clearly uncomfortable with her hand still wrapped in his. "Nice to meet you too..."

Her face heated up as he bowed and kissed her hand. What the hell is she suppose to do now? Alice hadn't planned on meeting anyone (at all) until the school term started. And her books, oh, her books didn't say anything about what to do when encountering a boy after embarrassing yourself. Alice tried to look everywhere but him.

Kyouya saw that she was embarrassed and smiled. She was cute with the color in her face. Though, he needed a way to ease the tension. "You don't have to worry. I don't bite, hard." Kyouya gave her a playful wink. "Anyway, that must be a good book to have captivated your attention so fully." he motioned to the book she was attempting to hide behind her back.

If it was any more possible her face would have turned dark red when he winked at her. Alice forcibly calmed herself down by reciting the periodic table - starting from Hydrogen - before effectively turning down the heat on her cheeks.

"Oh, this book?" She held up the paperback book, then stated proudly, "It really is a good book. Third time reading it."

Damn it! Alice thought. So much for trying to NOT look like a damn bookworm. Whatever... Looks like another school career with no friends. Typical. Without meaning to her body tensed; waiting for that inevitable name to come lashing out at her.

Bossy Bookworm Alice.

Know-it-all Bookworm Alice.

Alice "The Bookworm" Walker.

Kyouya opened his mouth to praise her accomplishment, having never been able to read a book more than once himself (he found it to be less enjoyable the second or third time through), when her face turned even redder, something he didn't think possible. She then tensed up as though expecting some form of bantering or lashing. Kyouya's face turned a light red as he started to have questionable thoughts about this girl. It was a strange feeling to him though, not too unlike his urges to be a good soldier. It was as if he had been trained to feel this before he could remember anything. As though, it had been ingrained into his neural programming while in the womb. Before Kyouya had a chance to realize, his lips met hers. It was a few moments before he realized this and when he did, he jumped back a bit. "I'm so sorry. I-I don't know why I did that." Kyouya's face was wrought with shock and confusion, "Not that you're not attractive, you are extremely so it's just that, I-I don't know what's happening to me right now."I'm sorry. I-I-" Kyouya turned on his heel and quickly walked away, his face a bright, rosy red.

She had waited for that indescribable feeling of self-worth dropping to the ground - that feeling of wanting to disappear from the world. Alice licked her lips nervously as he stared at her for a few awkward moments. Then finally wanting to break the she stepped forward... into the kiss.

And she froze. Alice didn't dare move as a weird but pleasant sensation tingled down her body - the complete opposite to what she had been expecting. His lips felt right against her own, and she wanted to push back, and then he unexpectedly pulled away. But that was a good thing!

"No, no! T-That's completely alright. I a-absolutely understand," Alice replied, speaking at the same time, as she shook and nodded her head.

Then he was gone before she could tell him that it was fine. Wait! No it's fine! He was a complete stranger! The heat colored her cheeks again before she dashed off and tried to find a hiding spot in the huge library. Second floor looks good.

Once on the floor above Alice went to far side end of the library and hid under one of the corner study tables. She was going to sit there, calm herself down, and think about what happened.

Kyouya walked out the door and then leaned his back against the wall. He slid down into a crouched position and wrapped his arms around his legs and was shaking uncontrollably. He tried desperately to stop but, could not find the strength in himself. Kyouya didn't know what was going on with his body and mind. He was shaking, his heart racing, his body pumped full of adrenaline. Thoughts of her whizzed through his head as he sat there, even as terrified of his condition as he was. Stranger still were the nature of these thoughts. They weren't the usual, lusting thoughts of sex with her. They were of them at a picnic, at a beach, holding hands, kissing with a smile on his face. Strange thoughts indeed. Kyouya was almost whimpering he was in such terror from his ignorance of the situation.

After taking in deep long breaths, Alice rested her head on her knees.

"Okay. Let's be calm and rational, Alice," she began to talk to herself. "Kyouya is a random guy you just met, that you just randomly kissed. No biggie. Yeah... That's it."

Then she groaned and began to bang her head on her knees softly. She could not be doing this! She could be feeling like this! Not from the first guy she met only a few minutes ago. What she needed and wanted from this school were friends, not some guy to get attached to then have her heart ripped out.

"Okay! So... Alice, your goal is make friends!" She encouraged herself before crawling out and then straightening out her clothes. "Make friends, got it. And I'm starting with Kyouya."

Alice descended the stairs two steps at a time, causing the librarian to give her a stern look before pointing to the door. "If you're looking for the boy, he went that way."

She hurriedly walked towards it, but slowed down as her delicate hearing picked up whimpering. Her long hair glided behind her form as she quickly crossed the floor and yanked open the door. Alice took a few seconds to noticed that he was on the floor, leaning against the wall just to the side. Immediately she was on her knees and looked at him with concern.

"K-Kyouya?" Hesitantly, she placed a hand on his shoulder just after the door closed quietly. "Are you okay?"

Kyouya hadn't been paying a lick of attention to his surroundings so, when Alice placed a hand on his shoulder, his body went limp as he was trained to do when captured by the enemy. Making any method of training less painful and a lot easier to repair later. Thankfully, this relieved him of his shaking. Kyouya looked at Alice's face then quickly looked away again. He didn't know why he was speaking but, it was happening so quickly, he couldn't stop it. "I don't know. I seem to be experiencing a feeling I've never trained for but, I seem to have extensive knowledge on what to do. It's strange I do but, I don't have any idea what I did in there. Even now I know I should be thinking of all the many ways I could please you sexually but, I'm not."

Her first thought at the end of his sentence was, Huh?, and the second: What the...? Shaking her head, Alice tried to put on a smile for him. It was something that her mother always told her: smiling always make people feel just a tad bit better.

"Okay," her hand traveled down to his hand and gently tugged at it. "Well... Let's make sure you feel better instead of 'I don't know.'"

Then Alice stood up, not letting go of his hand until she knew he was going to go with her. Something about him being 'trained' and pleasing her? This was a puzzle waiting to be solved!

Kyouya wasn't looking at her face. He didn't want to revert back to the way he was before. He shivered and goose bumps rose up on his arm when she slide her hand down to his. Kyouya didn't fight it. He let her take his hand in hers, in fact, he welcomed it. It actually did make him feel better. Closer to normal. He nodded to her suggestion and rose up with her. It was strange but, Kyouya felt safe with her. Like, the war that had been haunting him all this time was a million miles away. Kyouya liked this feeling of being carefree. He then understood why the American kids all acted this way all the time. It was quite uplifting. Kyouya walked with her, not sure where they were going and, quite frankly, totally uncaring where, as long as he was with her.

Her smile turned genuine as he stood up with her, though him not looking at her made her heart sink a bit. It must be a blow to his pride to have some girl walk in on one of his weak moments. Alice squeeze softly at his hand before she started walking to her favorite place on campus (after the library, of course).

((Er... Can we close this topic? lol))

Here's the continuation: The Flawed & The Flawless