'You do not kiss on the first date!' Baekhyun scolded her, making her shoulders slump. 'What did I tell you about appearing mysterious and alluring? Where's the charm if he can get your lips whenever he wants to, huh?'

Raina whined. 'But…'

'No buts. You're lucky I heard you'd gone out with him or who knows what might've happened?'

She might've been claimed, that's what. She pouted irritably as Baekhyun continued lecturing her before Chen took pity on her and stuffed a handful of crisps in his mouth.

'Shut up,' he said mildly, 'it's too early in the morning. At least wait until after breakfast before lecturing.'

Baekhyun coughed out the crackers that'd gone down the wrong pipe, glaring at the Legend, 'And where, might I ask, did you vanish last night? I wouldn't have had to resort to such drastic measures if you'd been here.'

'Just hung out with Kris and Xiumin,' he shrugged cheerfully.

'He didn't freeze you?'

'Almost did,' Chen mock-shuddered, 'but I charmed my way out.'

'.' Baekhyun ruffled his hair fondly before picking a handful of crisps and stuffing them into his mouth, ',' he growled irritably before running off, calling 'D.Oooo, I'm hungry!!!'

'Go away!' D.O's growled reply made Raina giggle. He was such a cranky Legend. Chen smiled when he heard her, 'So… how was your date?'

She was just telling him about the part where Tao had almost kissed her when Mei walked in, giggling as Luhan whispered something in her ear, making her laugh again. She shot them a teasing grin before her eyes landed on someone behind Raina and then, she was extracting herself out of Luhan's arms – Luhan didn't look too happy at that – and marching towards them.

'Tao, come here.'

Raina's head whipped around – Tao was here, she hadn't even heard him come in – but he was whisked out of sight immediately. She sighed, slumping against the table as Luhan slid into the seat beside her.

'Good morning,' she mumbled.

He smiled, 'Morning,' as Lay stumbled in, holding too many trays. Chen jumped up to help him and they set the table before Chen took it on himself to wake the rest of the household, yelling loudly enough to be heard by the deaf.

Tao didn't meet her eyes when he came back in, looking subdued, and took the seat furthest away from her. Raina frowned, not liking it. Why was he being like this?

Mei looked a lot like Baekhyun when she came strolling back in, superior and smug before she dropped into Luhan's lap, breaking out into giggles almost immediately.

She tried to catch Tao's eyes for the rest of the breakfast but he didn’t even glance at her and the moment he finished breakfast, he was out of the door.

'What did you say to him?' she demanded Mei when she'd kissed Luhan goodbye.

Mei wrinkled her nose, 'That's between him and me.'

'He didn't look at me!' she accused. Mei looked pleased, 'Great, he's learning.'

'Learning what?' she half-whined, half-snapped, 'Mei, come on! I thought we were friends.'

'We are but he came to me first, so I'll be taking his side.'

'What…?' Mei smiled that sappy smile she only wore when she was thinking about/talking/with Luhan and Raina rolled her eyes. She was useless for normal conversation now. 'Never mind.'

It wasn't hard to figure out what she might've said, though. If she was anything like Baekhyun – and given the uncanny similarities of thoughts and behavior between them, it wasn't that far-fetched – she'd probably given Tao a talking to about taking her out on a date. She'd been less than happy last night, anyway.

Did that mean he'd ignore her now? No, that was terrible.

'I want him to notice me,' she sobbed, ten minutes later, not caring Lay was right beside Baekhyun as they walked towards their classes. Her love life was on the line here.

'Ha, as if he can ignore you!' Baekhyun waved his hand dismissively, 'Don't worry about it.'

'But…'

'Baekhyun's right,' Lay spoke up, voice soft and gentle as ever. 'He can't ignore someone as pretty as you.'

Raina felt tears gather in her eyes because he was so nice – she had such good taste in men, really – and she sniffed at him, 'Really?'

He nodded with a small smile, the dimple in his cheek flashing and she felt her worry settle.

…………………………

Kyra was both anticipating and dreading seeing D.O today and her indecisiveness made her cranky.

She'd managed to convince herself that she hadn't been affected by yesterday's interaction but stepping inside the counselling center now, she couldn't help but feel a burst of anxious excitement.

Which was stupid because he was unlikely to show up anyway – and she was not disappointed about it. It was just that she'd thought about it and decided that these sessions could actually help her a lot, not only in jogging her memory but in actually getting to know the guy everyone insisted was her mate.

They'd told her that she'd had a vision about him and sought him out herself, triggering his fever and had run off immediately afterwards; he'd then found her at the hospital and stayed with her to her to the headquarters in hopes that she'd revive Chen and she'd apparently come along.

Funnily enough, she did remember going to the fair where she'd allegedly had the vision and sought him out, just like she could remember fighting with Raina about isolating herself but she certainly did not remember D.O coming up in their conversation. Just like she couldn't remember parts of her therapy when D.O had allegedly found her or even how she'd ended up at the headquarters. She remembered sitting by Chen's side to read him stories, befriending the rest of the girls and the Legends.

In fact, she remembered everything and everyone but D.O.

Trying to remember him was like trying to wade through a muddy swamp. It her into the muddied waters, got her entangled in the weeds so much so that she couldn't make her way across until she finally gave up.

All she got out of her efforts was the headache she'd thought she'd gotten rid of for good. She remembered Lay healing her the night Mei got attacked but she did not remember what she'd been doing before that – which was no surprise because she'd been with D.O by all accounts.

Strangely though – or perhaps not strangely – her lack of memories was not even her main concern when it came to him. They could make new memories.

It was just that she was… afraid. Afraid of how he made her feel so out of control, so unlike herself. Her body reacted to him like it did with no one else, even Chen though she genuinely liked the guy, and that scared her.

She liked knowing why she was doing something; it was the reason she'd chosen to be a psychologist – to rationalize why anyone, including herself, acted the way they did. Given her propensity to see things before they happened, she thought her choice was understandable. She could, in her limited capacity, effect some manner of change if she knew the how and why of people's behaviors.   

Yet with D.O, there was no reason, no logic, nothing. Just instinct, raw and needy.

She was completely in the dark about him and for someone who'd possessed foresight for as long as she could remember, it was a very scary situation. She had no idea why it was happening, what could go wrong and how she could be ready to deal with any of it and it left her wholly unprepared to deal with the inundation of emotions D.O caused.

After all that, she felt she was justified in trying to avoid him – or being a little , according to Raina but whatever.

Which was why it was foolish to feel so disappointed when the dean called to inform her that her previous cases were being put on hold so she could deal with Baekhyun and his gang.

So she wouldn't see D.O daily liked she'd hop-, er, thought. She'd be seeing Chen instead, so it was great. Really.

Forcing herself to stop thinking about it, she took out the case studies she'd bookmarked yesterday – when, you know, D.O had come in and pushed her into the corner like the beast residing inside him and no, it wasn't exciting in the least, nope; it was frightening, utterly so – she immersed herself in reading so she'd make some headway in understanding why she had developed amnesia.

And after staring at the same line uncomprehendingly for ten minutes, she gave up all pretense. Dammit, how the hell was she supposed to concentrate on a boring case when her mind kept conjuring up images of D.O stalking towards her, red-eyed and growling low in his throat, before he pushed her into the wall?

A shiver went down her spine as she tried, really hard, not to imagine what it would feel like to have those plush lips pressed against hers.

Dammit brain! She groaned mentally when her mind went in that exact direction. Was it her fault he had lips that looked like they were made for kissing?

What she really didn't understand, though, was why the hell had he stopped? Like that last time… He'd had her cornered like a prey and honestly, in that state – right after waking up, disoriented and more than a little scared about all the sensations exploding inside her at his proximity – she had been in no condition to resist. He could've just swooped in, claimed her there and then.

Yesterday as well – he'd had her cornered, she knew he wanted to kiss her, lay his claim and mark her as his – even if she hadn't know that she'd started his fever, it had been all too apparent on his face – but he'd stopped yet again.

From what she'd seen and heard, he was the most bestial – with the exception of Luhan, whose primal form was still talked about in hushed tones – amongst them, the result of too good a fit between his own nature and the beast residing inside him.

That he'd stop even then, giving her the choice, letting her decide… almost as if he cared…

Dammit, why couldn’t he just make the choice for her?

Okay, so maybe Raina had it right and she was being a little , being an escapist and shying away from what he made her feel. But really, he totally could do it. She knew for a fact that she couldn't fight him off – despite his small bone structure and slight build, he was anything but weak. In fact, he was the strongest amongst them, aided by the power of the Beast. So really, all he'd needed to do was press down a little, hold her still and claim her.

Simple as that.

And no, the thought of all that power directed at her, restraining her, claiming her, did not excite her in the least.

Denial is such an unsophisticated defense mechanism…

Sniffing a little at the unruly thought, she forced her attention on the case study in front of her. It was a fascinating case of amnesia caused by extreme emotional trauma and Kyra thought it was particularly significant in light of the events that had unfolded.

She had, by all accounts, died that exact moment D.O had stepped out of the portal. Was the thought of leaving him so traumatizing that she'd buried everything related to him? The thought of dying and losing him…

A sharp bolt of pain lanced through her head, shooting from behind her eyes and leaving a burning trail right to the back of her head. Gasping at the sudden ache, she buried her fingers in her head and squeezed, hoping to relieve it. It made her head throb even worse and strange images began flashing behind her eyelids.

A carmine fountain spraying forth, painting an unfamiliar face – a dead face, the face of Death – and then, D.O's face, ravaged with grief and denial…

Another throb, splitting her head almost in half it was so intense, and she retched, feeling dizzy and nauseous. Her chest ached as if it had been pierced through and the images behind her eyes began flashing even faster than before, glowing like negatives, white and brilliant and too bright, making her wish she could just wipe it all away.

The knock on her door was a blessing, giving her the incentive to drag herself away from the pain that seemed intent on dragging her down.

Standing up with effort, she paused to catch her breath and patted her face with a napkin to dry off the cold sweat coating her brow before straightening her shoulders and stepping in front of the desk, too weak to go farther.

She cleared and called. 'Come in, please.'

……………………………….Yhy

D.O stood in front of the counselling room, a sense of déjà vu swamping him. It was a repeat of yesterday's events except Baekhyun had gone down on his knees in an outrageous display of cuteness and begged him to go in his stead and apologize to Kyra for not showing up because the leader of the gang couldn't been seen complying to authority or he would lose all reputation he'd earned – Chen had snorted rudely at that, earning himself a kick.

D.O knew it was a bad idea, knew he couldn't trust himself around her. Yet he'd caved in, tempted by thought of seeing her, and he'd agreed. But not before he'd put Baekhyun in a headlock and glared warningly at Chen, who'd rolled his eyes and shooed him away. His Beast aura never intimidated his Shadow anyway.

So now, here he was, staring at the door and thinking he should probably go back and drag Baekhyun's here so he could apologize for not showing up himself.

Only, her scent was tickling his nostrils, pleasant and slightly addictive, inviting him to breathe deeper, take it in and let it take over his senses, locking his feet in place.

He didn't want to go in there because being in her proximity made him lose control and he ended up acting exactly like the beast she thought he was, concerned with just taking, sating himself and disregarding her wishes.

Still, his feet weren’t cooperating and moving away and he could stare at the door for only so long before he broke it down and pounced on her because her scent had overwhelmed his senses again. Better do what he came to do and get away before he could scare her even more.

He raised an arm to knock but something made his hackles rise and he stilled, alert for any sign of trouble. There was peaceful silence around him, though, and a moment later, he realized what it was. It was the slight change in her scent, the distinctive, musty layer of distress tainting her natural fragrance and alarm shot up his spine. Something was wrong.

His instinct, of course, was to knock the door down and rush inside but he somehow he suppressed it enough to just knock instead. It could be nothing, maybe she was just upset about fighting with Raina or something and he didn’t want to scare her again.

Still, a rush of relief went through him when her voice floated out, shaky but clear.

And he probably unhinged the door anyway with the force of his push but he had only one thought in mind – to make sure she was okay.

The sight of her, whole and intact, was a relief but it was short-lived.

'What's wrong?' he demanded, not caring that he was probably scaring her again by his abruptness.

'N-nothing.' She muttered, eyes wide as he advanced.

'Bull.' He was near enough to see the sweat coating her brow, to notice the slight tremor that went through her and take in the way she was leaning against the desk to support herself. She looked sick and he felt worry gnaw at his insides.

'Excuse me?' she sounded irritated but he ignored it, putting a hand on her forehead. It was cold. Low sugar levels? He was no doctor but he knew the basics.

'Sit down,' he told her, yanking on her wrist so he could pull her to the nearest chair and sit her down.

'Wha- I said it's nothing, I'm fine.' She protested, trying to pull her wrist away.

D.O narrowed his eyes at her and she gulped visibly before squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin defiantly. 'I'm fine.' she repeated as she tried to pull her arm back again. He let go reluctantly, eyes not leaving her face.

He arched a brow questioningly and she blinked, seemingly dazed, before her lips pulled into a small, somewhat confused smile. 'Thanks for your concern, though.'

He looked away because her smile, like her scent, made him lose sense. Instead, he patted his pockets, feeling around for the small stash he kept around for emergencies and tossing her a chocolate.

She caught it, a small, surprised sound leaving her lips. 'What… oh.'

He didn't look at her again even though his head itched with the urge to turn and look; he spoke to the wall beside them instead. 'Eat it.'

'Thanks.' Her voice was soft and sort of husky, like it got when she was particularly touched and he swallowed, nodding stiffly.

The silence that fell over them was heavy with tension. The urge to look at her was increasing, making him desperate. She probably had that soft, small smile on her face, like the one she had when he'd put the flower in her hair a million years ago and he so wanted to see it, see that adoration on her face instead of the fear and confusion she invariably wore around him these days.

He bit the inside of his cheek, hoping the pain would distract him and stared at the wall. Which was not helpful at all because it only reminded him that only yesterday, he'd had her against it, had almost claimed her and he was pretty sure his eyes were beginning to turn red. All his senses felt on high alert, so much so that he could hear every in drawn breath, every soft exhale from her and could even feel the soft ripples of air touching him.

He should probably leave. No, he definitely needed to leave because his brain was fast heading towards the shutdown thing it did around her. Best do what he actually came to do and leave before things got out of hand.

So he turned towards the door before speaking over his shoulder, 'Baekhyun said he's sorry but he can't come.'

Snapping his head back, he started walking towards the door, even though every cell in his body was protesting against it. But he barely took a couple of steps when Kyra's voice stopped him.

'Wait!'

…………………………….

A/N:

So... Baek and Mei have werid ideas and poor Tao and Raina just happen to get caught in between. Eh, well they'll have to take initative if they want things to happen their way. 

Also... the next chapter contains one of my favorite scenes involving D.O and Kyra - look forward to it :)