take my heart like a criminal

There was something about the most abandoned places that drew him there. He did not know what it was called, and had no desire to know either. All he did know was that it was a few hours away from his grandfather's house in the muggle streets.

He flopped down on the grass filled grass and took out his blade. It had been weeks since had last seen Hunter, and he had to admit, he was missing her. Which was why he needed to feel something else.

Blaze hadn't done this in a while, but he needed to do this now.

Staring at his blade for a moment, his grip tightened and he made a slash across left arm, the one without the tattoo.

Hunter was in the middle of nowhere. She did not know where she was, why she was there, or who was to join her. She just needed to get away from everything. She needed to get away from the house that left so many memories, so many nightmares in her mind.

She shook her head quickly and faced the road ahead of her. She couldn't think about this now.

"Oh look! It's lover-boy!" Her brother, Gabriel's - or more commonly known as Gabe - voice echoed in the streets. 'Lover-boy' was what Gabe liked to call Bla- no, Kristian all the time. But she did not know why, because Kristian didn't care. He had no emotions.

Her eyes widened in alert when she saw him with a blade, slashing his forearm. She sprinted to his spot, carefully making sure to make no noise whatsoever.

"And just what, exactly, are you doing?" She hadn't seen him in a few weeks, mostly due to her avoiding him, but now she regretted it deeply. It seemed as though is she doesn't see him, he might... harm himself. Hunter wouldn't wish this kind of harm on anyone. Well, anyone apart from her father.

Blaze glanced up at the source of the voice and rolled his eyes when he saw the Ravenclaw. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow and only looked down when he noticed the blood dripping onto the grass. Throwing his blade next to him, he watched the blood flow with a frown on his lips and finally took a piece of cloth from his pocket and wrapped it around the wound.

As though forgetting Hunter's presence, he didn't say anything else as he picked up the knife and wiped off the remaining blood on his sleeves. He nearly wanted to punch something in frustrationat the fact that he still felt no physical pain at the injury.

What the fuck was wrong with him? Then again, maybe this was common for a heartless bastard like him.

"What are you doing here anyway, McCoy?" The Hufflepuff finally asked, in a bored tone.

She frowned slightly at his retort and sat down next to him. "That is a waste of blood, and it never helps anyway. You never actually feel the pain," she murmured, mostly to herself than to him.

Hunter raised her eyebrows at his question. "What? Am I not allowed to wander around on the streets?" She then shrugged, her eyes trailing to the blood on the grass, and her fingers subconsciously softly running up and down her forearm, where her own self-inflicted scars were located.

"I want to get away from the house for a bit, too many memories." She grimaced, still not taking her eyes off the blood on the grass. "No one wants to buy it off me. People seem to think it's haunted, due to the screams my mother us-used to make w-when my father used t-to hurt h-her."

"Waste of blood for whom? For me? I don't mind," the Hufflepuff muttered with a shrug of his shoulders. His shirt clung to his muscled chest and moved lightly against the breeze. The black sleeves were still intact and folded till his elbows, exposing his lean forearms. "You don't," he agreed with a sigh. "I wonder if I ever will."

Blaze smirked and his glinted their dangerous mirth for a moment. "Oh, I don't really give a fuck where you wander off too, free will and all." He was a bit disappointed that Hunter had shown up, though. He was still having mixed feelings, though majority were negative and he really intended on keeping it that way.

If only he would stop resisting the fact that he actually did give a fuck about her.

The brown eyed boy kept quiet, not knowing what to say or even wanting to. He didn't really feel sorry for her, but did feel a twinge of guilt and relief that it was finally over for her. "Where're you staying now?" He asked, his gaze easily slipping onto hers. "I'm just....curious."

"Still a waste. I don't want you to waste your blood," she murmured back, but her words were unheard by a sudden wind that passed by. She glanced at his forearm, where his newly formed scar laid. "I never did, either," she mumbled, "And you wouldn't want to, anyway. I'm sure it fucking hurts anyway."

"Good. Because I would've come here anyway," She replied, shrugging. Truth was, it kind of hurt her that she could tell he didn't want her here. It made her feel weird. Something inside her felt weird. But she couldn't tell what it was, not yet anyways. It couldn't be that silly 'fancy him' idea, could it? No...

Or maybe it was?

She looked up at him, surprise flashing on her features for a moment. "Me? Just... here and there, I suppose," she shrugged, locking eyes with him for a moment. She wasn't about to tell him that she's been staying in an alley, and only coming back to the house for a couple hours to make herself look presentable. That would be a stupid idea if there ever was one.

"Hm, and what's it to you that I waste my blood?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Last time I checked, you really did not give a fuck about me." Sure, he was the first one to say he did not care, but she had said it back as well. If only his complicated mind would stop getting in the way, he would be able to move on completely. "But I want to feel the hurt. Sounds sadistic I know, but it's a moving step."

Blaze had a feeling that the Ravenclaw had more stuff going on that she was letting on, but he did not want to or need to pry; it was none of his business. "Why, got no where else to go?" He asked in a dry tone. "Glad to know that we seem to have a similar thinking in the most depressing and tragic of things," the brown eyed boy murmured with a humourless smile.

"Here and there? Where exactly is that?" He mentally slapped himself for all the questions that seemed to be slipping out of his mouth. "I thought you had some inherited fortune or some bullshit like that. Don't tell me you decided to become a fucking saint and donated it to charity."

She shrugged at his words, "You make interesting company," She paused for a moment, before adding, "Don't let it get to your head though, because I know it will." She paused to hear what he had to say, then feeling reckless for a moment, she took his forearm and pinched him as hard as she could. "Did that hurt?" She blinked mock-innocently.

"I fail to see how that is any of your business. But since you're so desperate to know, no. I don't have another place to go," she replied sarcastically, covering up the fact that she felt... weird... because he seemed to care about her. Even if it was only slight. She offered him her own humourless smile and shrugged, not commenting on the fact that he was right. Hunter would never admit that someone was right.

She shrugged again. "Just... places. You don't really want to know," she assured him. The Ravenclaw froze for a moment at his words. She nearly slapped herself for not thinking of such a thing, but she couldn't let him see her mistake. "I can't use it until I turn seventeen," she invented, sounding convincing. But she knew that Bla- no, Kristian - was smart enough to see through her lie. Not that she would ever admit that, of course.

Blaze laughed at the Ravenclaw's admission. "Oh sweetheart, I know I make interesting company, though I am surprised you would say something like that." Why would she say something like that? Clearly she was just kidding and had better company around with her. Whenever around her, he was just pathetic and heartless, nothing special. He growled at her in anger, and pulled his arm away. "No, that did not hurt. Did you just do that for fun?"

"Small world then," he muttered with a roll of his eyes. "We should really stop running into each other like this though, it's getting a bit outrageous, don't you think?" He found it incredibly unusual how he could end up in different places with the same girl, as it had never happened before. But really, he supposed things could be worse yet for him, this was as worse as it could get.

He merely glanced with a raised eyebrow again, but shrugged his shoulders as well. "Okay, I don't want to know." Watching her reaction, his lips curled into a smirk and he shook his head. "You are a terrible liar McCoy, you know that? So what is the truth?"

She flinched at the term 'sweetheart', but then scoffed at the rest of his sentence, "Don't get a big head about it, you're the only company I have." Even though she would never say it to him, Hunter predicted that he would still make better company than anyone else she may have met. A smirk formed on her lips at his growl. "What? I thought you wanted to feel pain? I was just helping..."

"That's not my fault, you know!" She retorted, shrugging. "Maybe fate has something in store for us. Or maybe fate's just a twisted person who wants us to kill each other. I'd expect either, actually." Did he not want to see her? It wouldn't matter anyway, since she didn't fancy him or anything...

"Don't try to deny it! You looooove him!" Her brother taunted, but she ignored him, as usual.

She looked up at him once again, locking her eyes with his. "Me? Lying? Why, I would never!" She exclaimed, innocently. A moment later, she dropped her act, because it was clear he wasn't buying her lie. "I forgot I had money..." She kept her gaze on her lap, and for the first time ever, a dark shade of red erupted on her face, a blush. This hasn't happened to her before, and she hated the fact that Blaze Kristian was the person to give her this uncomfortable experience.

"If it makes you feel any better McCoy, you're the only company I have as well," the Hufflepuff muttered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Two lost souls, huh? Maybe that is why we keep running into each other like this." He moved closer to the brunette, his lips inches away from hers and murmured, "I don't nedd your help, okay?" and pulled away just as quick.

He let out a laugh at Hunter's assumptions, though the sound was pretty much hollow. "Killing each other sounds probable," he said, his tone sarcastic and teasing at the same time. "Why, would you have a problem in murdering me?" Because I really would have a problem murdering you, he thought.

"You forgot you had money?!" Blaze exclaimed with another laugh and shook his head. "Oh McCoy, who the fuck forgets they had money, especially when they're homeless?" His fingers reached over to stroke her blushed cheeks, the sensation being a good one and smirked, "Maybe your mind forgot cause you were too busy thinking about me."

She frowned slightly, the frown nearly invisible on her face. "My soul isn't lost," she scoffed, "My soul's just too stubborn to ask for directions." As he got closer, Hunter had to remind herself to breathe, as the Hufflepuff's breath made contact with her skin. "You can't just do everything on your own," she argued back, neglecting to mention that she, for the most part, hadn't gotten any help from anyone. But that was only because no one was offering to help.

She nodded absentmindedly at his words, but his question took her by surprise and she had to stop to think about an answer that won't reveal too much. "You're not that bad, Kristian, I wouldn't want to murder you. So I guess... I guess my answer is yes. I would have a problem murdering you," her words spilled out quietly, barely audible. But the words flooded in her ears and her eyes widened in horror. Deciding that she wouldn't be a coward, the Ravenclaw didn't look down at him, but she did avoid meeting his eyes.

His laugh's nice, she thought to herself, before mentally kicking herself. She didn't really think that... did she? It was her brother messing with her head, even though he hadn't said anything to her all day... "Honestly, Kristian, it's not that hard to forget I had money. I never got any money in the first place, and I've never been to Gringott's before. It's quite easy to forget about something you never had before," she mumbled, her face growing darker by the moment. She finally managed to weakly swat his hand off her cheek, eventually.

"I've always been homeless," she muttered, "I've just only been house-less for a few weeks." She looked up at him once more and glared, "I have more important things to think about."

"LIEEESSS!" Her brother's voice flooded into her ears. "You were thinking about him all the time! Don't deny the truth!"

"Stubborn to ask for directions? Which means your soul does not want to admit it is lost, right?" Blaze questioned with an amused smile. "I'd say you can ask me for directions, but I may lead you down the wrong path. Unless you want to get lost...." He trailed off suggestively and gave the Ravenclaw a wink. "No, you can't," he agreed. "But somehow, we both are managing just fine, huh?"

He looked at her half in surprise, as though a part of him already knew she would not want hurt him or kill him. That freaked him out; how could he know such a thing? "Since we both'd have a problem, I suppose we do not worry about killing each other then," he muttered sarcastically.

"That's not an excuse, and you know it," he stated and smirked at Hunter once more. "Especially for someone who's had a fucked up family life, I highly doubt they'd forget about a big fortune left behind for them." He shrugged his shoulders, "Now that I reminded you, you can go get a house for yourself somewhere far away from your stupid relatives or whatever."

Blaze raised an eyebrow and moved closer. "More important things than me?" He asked in a whisper into her ear. "Like what? Our kisses? Or how we almost completely gave in to our desires? And yes McCoy, don't even bother denying it because you and I both know the attraction is there." he murmured.

"Question is, what exactly are we going to do about it?"

"My soul is not lost," She denied again, crossing her arms over her chest. The Ravenclaw raised an eyebrow at his words. Was he... flirting? Why was it that she had no problem with his flirting when they first spoke to each other in the Hogs Head? Why did him flirting now make her feel... weird? She mentally shook her head vigorously and raised an eyebrow at him. After she got over the fact mentally that he was flirting... ish, his words struck her properly. "You wouldn't lead me down the wrong path. Even if you did, my life's so fucked up a few wrong turns and paths aren't really going to matter," she stated confidently, shrugging her shoulders. Hunter's shoulders shrugged again at his rhetorical question. "Guess so," she mumbled.

Fate must have something bigger in store for us, she thought to herself subconsciously, before mentally shaking her head again. She always believed in fate, but also always believed that Fate had it in for everyone, at least at the start. Her experiences had never given Hunter a good impression of the thing. "But we may have to try and prevent ourselves from hurting each other," she mumbled to herself. Sometimes, honestly, she would feel as though in slight danger whenever he was angry and felt the urge to protect herself, like she would protect herself from her father. The Hufflepuff really was scary when he really was angry.

"Yes, more important things than you. My life doesn't revolve around you, no matter how much you would like it to," She said, but her words sounded slightly weak. She could barely handle not reacting to the closure between the two, it was harder to fight down the goosebumps, but speaking was much harder. "We haven't kissed since that time in the forest clearing. That was ages ago, do you honestly think I'd still be thinking about your kisses?" She pointed out, but in all honesty, she was thinking about them a lot. But why, exactly, she didn't know. "Desires. Lust," she said softly, "what y-we feel is lust," Her eyes widened a small fraction at her slip-up and could only hope to God that he didn't notice it.

His question took her by surprise, and her eyes went blank for a moment before a determined expression plastered on her face. She was looking at him determinedly, or more accurately, his lips. They both knew what was going to happen next. She pulled him closer to her and crashed his lips on hers.

"You know what your problem is McCoy? You analyze too much," the Hufflepuff stated. "Just let go of yourself and admit the truth at least once. It's not like I have anyone to whom I'll reveal your secrets." Really, if there was some shame in admitting to feeling lost, Blaze sure didn't have any. "Believe it or not, I think I can be your right turn," he grinned. "Especially since you obviously admitted I was your 'only company.'"

He shrugged his shoulders, an almost twisted smile on his lips. "If I feel like I care about you enough, I'll make sure no harm comes to you," he muttered. He already felt like he cared about her, but it was not enough. No one, not even someone like Hunter, could win over his feelings that easily. The Ravenclaw would just have to try harder if she was really interested in him.

He was a heartbreaker and he knew it.

"Your life and mine are interwined in a cruel way," he murmured with a shake of his head. "Again with the denial, can't you see it is of no use?" Blaze smirked at her, "Oh please, my lips are so fucking good that you'll be thinking about the kisses no matter how long it has been." His eyes glinted, brown orbs almost sparkling. "Right answer McCoy, lust it is," he whispered before placing a kiss across her neck.

His response was immediate and rough, his hands going into her hair. "This is not what I meant," he said in a harsh whisper against the girl's lips before kissing her again, the action almost desperate and hungry. "We cannot end up snogging every time we begin to have an actual conversation," he growled.

Though he really did not mind skipping the talks. Actions always speak louder than words anyway.

"I don't analyze too much! I analyze just enough to help me understand what's happening, and that's it," she crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "And you already know mo-all my secrets, as they all tend to revolve my family," that was partly a lie, but it was convincing enough to convince even her brother, who can get into her mind at any time he wanted. She shrugged at his next words, but her answer was serious, "I have no other available paths," she retorted, her voice emotionless for a moment.

"That makes me feel sooooo special," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, but inwardly she was thankful. Not that she was about to tell him or anything. That would be suicide. Telling him she was thankful he cared, and that he protected her was like admitting to herself that she was a weak person. She faced him once more and rolled her eyes at him, scoffing, "Oh you wish. But whatever helps you sleep at night, I suppose." It took all of Hunter's willpower to stop her from reacting to the kiss he placed on her neck, but she somehow did.

Her words shocked her for a moment before she did something so unexpected, she pulled with a shrug, as if his words didn't affect her, as if the snog didn't affect her at all. "If that's what you would like, then fine. I will not force anything on you, just as many men have tried with me," she couldn't help but notice that her voice sounded completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

Her gaze darkened when she mentioned her father's old friends, as she remembered the last time she saw them... which was only a day before, but again, she wasn't about to tel him that. It was unimportant anyway, the Ravenclaw didn't need to tel him about every little thing that happened to her. That would just be selfish.

"I don't give a fuck about your family secrets anymore, McCoy. I just want to know your own secrets," the Hufflepuff murmured huskily with a smirk. "I have a feeling they are much more worth listening to." His eyes flashed dangerously for a moment. "We all have two paths to choose from. What, you think I'm like this by force? Oh no, I choose to be a heartless bastard because it's easier for me."

Blaze grinned, "Yes, you should feel special actually. I don't say such nice thing to people usually. I'm not wishing, by the way. That was just me stating a fact," he added with a roll of his eyes. "But I can understand why the truth is hard to accept, especially something as complicated as this. Whatever, this is." He gestured between them both.

"And I won't force anything on you," he muttered, though it was mostly to himself. He sort of wanted her, but he was sure it was just physical. How could he actually want anyone's heart? And who would give it to him? He wasn't worthy of such a prize.

"I hope you find someone that actually likes you, because you deserve it."

"I don't have many secrets. And besides, you know most of them. You know I'm going mad with hearing my brother's voice in my head, you know you took my first kiss, you know I'm living alone, you know I've been abused until recently, you know you took my first kiss, you know I was nearly rap- ah, never mind." she stopped herself when she noticed what she was saying. Hunter never told him she was nearly raped recently. Gotta be careful with what you're saying, McCoy, she scolded herself. Her emotionless stare wasn't gone even when his eyes flashed. "Nothing's easy in life. You think it was easy for me when I stood up for my family? You think standing up to my father was easy? I was scared at first! I was going to step down! I would have died if I did!" Her emotionless expression went to anger and without warning, she gripped his hand and rested it on his chest, where his heart was clearly beating. Her hold tightened on him in case he tried to pull back. "You have a heart! Both physically and mentally! You proved this to me in that graveyard! You. Can. Change." Her voice got quiet, almost inaudible, "what happened exactly, that made you act heartless?"

The Ravenclaw ignored his previous comment. "You want me to not deny the truth? Fine. I think you're a damn good kisser but I wouldn't know because I've never compared you to anyone else. Next time we meet - and I'm sure that'll be soon, considering Fate hates us - I'll have practiced with other people so I can be sure to give you a definite answer, okay?" She rolled her eyes at him, not exactly sure what was making her say the things she said, but the girl wasn't exactly complaining, either. She raised her eyebrows at him, "I have no problems accepting the truth, I have problems inflating your ego even more, though," She retorted hotly.

Her gaze softened on him for a mere moment, and she hoped to Merlin that he didn't notice it. "Thank you," was her short response, but she knew that the last time she ever said that you was... never, really. She couldn't remember a time she had ever said 'Thank you' to someone... and that worried her. It worried Hunter a lot, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Hunter blinked at his words. "I... thanks? I'm fine with my position right now, though. Caring for someone right now isn't something I can handle right now," She stated, her mind thinking, I already care about you, and that's more than enough.

Blaze was barely attention to the Ravenclaw's rant, but his gaze snapped to hers at her last almost confession. "You were nearly what?!" He hissed in anger, glaring at her and running his hands through his hair, as though trying to pull it out. "What the hell, McCoy? I thought you said you were taking care of yourself." His fists clenched in anger, almost desperate to just hit something.

"Let go," he demanded quietly, though his voice could not mask the surprise at Hunter's action. He stared down at the contact of their hands, her words nearly going above his head. "What if I don't want to change?" He growled. "What if I prefer to stay like this? Maybe one day, by some miracle, I'll end up harming myself and go to hell. Or you know, somwhere like that." He shook his head, not sure whether to tell the brunette anything else.

He raised an eyebrow at the Ravenclaw's statement and shrugged his shoulders. "Have a fun practice, then. It is of no use though, because you will never find anyone as good as me."

"You're welcome," the Hufflepuff muttered once more. It was no big deal to him, really. "Caring for someone sucks, doesn't it? It is so much work and you find yourself worrying more about them than about your damn self."

That's how it was for him, with Hunter.

"I was... er... nearly raped?" She looked down, knowing he'd be glaring at her. Her gaze snapped up to his an her own glare was quite apparent on her face. "I am taking care of myself! It's not my goddamn fault my father's friends decided to pay a visit to me! And anyway, they can't cause me anymore problems now, so it's fine..." She watched his fists clench and desperately wanted him to calm down. Damn slip-up. Something made Hunter always put down her gaurd around Blaze, and that wasn't a good thing. At all.

"I won't let go," she stated firmly, tightening her hold on him further. A scowl etched on her face when he spoke. "It's not an option," she growled back. "I won't let you stay like this! I don't want you to die, and even though you've made your mistakes, I know you won't be going to hell!" She paused, letting out her breath, before continuing, her voice dangerously quiet. "For some damn reason I care for you! I care for you so damn much and thinking so fucking low of yourself is not a good thing. I don't want you to think so low of yourself. I want you to feel - for once in your life - happy! You deserve it!" She took another deep breath, calming herself once more and finally realizing that her hold on Blaze had gotten so tight she was pretty sure she cut off blood circulation from his hand. She finally let his hand down. "You deserve happiness."

She scoffed at his arrogance, "I will! And I bet you I will find someone who's a better kisser than you are." She highly doubted it. But again, as if she was going to inflate his ego even more.

"Caring for someone does suck, and it feels exactly like you just pointed out," She replied, her eyes avoiding his, due to her earlier confession. "And considering I never really cared about myself, caring about someone a hundred times more than you've ever cared about anyone in your life and you continuously worry about h-them. You continuously feel as though h-they are your responsibility because you feel as though they don't- they don't know how to take care of themselves, because they don't care about themselves either."

The words were spilling out of the Ravenclaw's mouth before she could stop them, and she distracted herself by picking at the grass.

"What do you mean they cannot cause problems anymore?" Blaze muttered darkly. "If they trouble you once, they can do it again." A part of him just wanted to take her somewhere away from all the horrific shit that seemed to surround her. But how could he do that? They don't really trust each other, and it's not like he's any better than those bastards. He was worse in a few ways here and other.

He couldn't help but stare at the Ravenclaw in something like near wonder, as he listened to her words. Did she really just those things? But that was impossible, she couldn't....she was not supposed to. Shaking his head, he barely registered the fact that his fingers felt numb from her hold.

"You actually care about me?"

The question came out in a hoarse tone, roughened with the surprise and lack of humour. Hesitating briefly, his eyes still fixed on hers, his hands reached up slowly to place on her cheeks. He did not know what to say, and even if he did, he probably would not have said it, simply because he did not want to ruin the silence.

Taking in deep even breaths, Blaze's hold on her tightened and he leaned his forehead against hers. "I don't deserve anything," he mumbled, his thumb stroking the skin under her eyes.

"I am not your responsibility," the Hufflepuff replied, already knowing she was talking about him. "I've been able to get along without anybody laying a finger on me, but you? Even now there are people hurting you. It's yourself that you should be worried about. Because at the end of the day, nothing else is going to matter."

His question caught Hunter off guard. What was she supposed to tell him? "I...erm... may have... cuttheirarmsoff," her words were rushed, and her head was fixed to her lap, determined to not look him in the eye. The Ravenclaw realized that she was probably not clear enough, "I cut their arms off. I maimed them. They are literally unable to cause problems for me." She finally looked up at him, her eyes boring into his.

Her jaw nearly dropped at his question. Take that back, her jaw did drop, in shock.

"Of course I do!" She cried out, "I care about you so much it nearly hurts! I mean, I don't want to care about you, I don't want to care about anyone, really. But I couldn't help it..." her voice trailed off when she found Blaze's hands resting on her cheeks and a blush threatened to sprout on her face. "I... yes. I do care about you. A lot."

The closure between the two made her not look him in the eyes, but his words made her look up angrily. "You of all people deserve it. You lived a miserable life and you deserve some happiness. Any sort of happiness!" At every 'you' she would poke his chest, unaware that they were hard pokes. Hunter's forehead still laid against Blaze's, close enough so she can find his eyes easily.

"You really are my responsibility, because if I don't have my eye on you, I find you harming yourself in some way, and that's not good at all!" She retorted hotly, not bothering to hide the fact she was talking about him. "I'm not worried about myself. I'm not worried if I bleed, I'm not worried if I die, I don't care about myself. At all. And I told you, no one could hurt me anymore." Her voice was dangerously calm at that point.

The Hufflepuff's eyes widened in shock and if not the seriousness of the situation, he might have actually laughed out loud. "That's..." He shook his head, unable to formulate a proper thought at her confession. "How did you...?" He wasn't disgusted or put off; he was sort of glad, as twisted as it sounded. Glad because now, at least they would leave her alone.

Blaze didn't have it in him anymore to be surprised. At the brunette's words, all he could was let out a little smile, perhaps with a twinge of feeling but he himself wasn't sure. Was he dreaming? Did someone really just admit they cared about him? That they gave a damn?

"Why?" The word came out before he could stop it, and he realized that he genuinely was curious. They were still sort of strangers, right? Sure they confided in each other's misery,but that did not necessarily mean they had to 'care'.

He chuckled softly at her actions,but his hands would not leave her face. "Maybe you're right," he finally said, placing a finger under her chin so she would look at him. "Despite what I say, I do want to feel good, even if I think I don't deserve it, I still want it."

Just like how I don't deserve you, but I still want you. He thought.

"I won't harm myself anymore," Blaze promised. "But only if you stop wandering around getting hurt and injured. It's about time someone told you what you're doing wrong and made you see that you can't let any more bastards cause you pain."

Hunter's cheeks burned with embarrassment, not so much as shame, because she was not ashamed with what she did. "I... well, I paralysed their legs, laid them on the ground, and... well, cut their arms off, I guess..." The memory of her sitting on their stomachs to keep them from struggling against her flashed in her mind for a moment but she decided against telling Blaze. She somehow knew that he might react... oddly... if he found out she sat on someone. "My favorite part was using their arms to hit themselves, as twisted as it sounds," she admitted, a small, nearly non-existent smile on her face. "But getting rid of the arms without getting into trouble was fucking hard."

Her lips followed his lead and smiled back. This seemed to be the most emotion he's ever shown her, besides anger, as far as she remembered anyway. She nearly mentioned that his smile was the first bit of emotion she had ever witnessed from him, but decided against it once again.

Her smile dropped at his question, seemingly innocent enough. "Why?" She repeated. "Because... because... because I just can't explain it. You've been through so much, like I have, but there's something about you..." She shrugged, "Maybe it's the fact that you're the first male I've met who hasn't actually tried to hurt me in one way or another. Maybe it's the fact you're one of the first people who actually cared for me. Either way, I care for you, a lot. And that's all that matters, in my opinion."

And because I might just love you, something in the back of her voice said, making her nearly jump out of her skin. Love? Love?! She never even used that word before! She couldn't... love... Blaze. No way. No way. No way. It was... impossible.

"I'm always right," she replied, a smirk on her face. The smirk fell off her face at his words. "You deserve it. Don't tell yourself otherwise, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise," You want something, you get it. Because it's not going to be there forever."

"Good," she nodded in approval, interrupting him for a moment, before letting him continue. "I don't let them cause me pain! The only pain I let happen is when deliberately cause myself pain." Which has been often, these last few weeks, She silently added in her head.

Blaze literally had no words to say just how he felt at the Ravenclaw's narration. All he could about was how much she did not deserve to go through such lengths to survive or take care of herself. "Please, let me help you," he told in a rough voice. "I know they won't bother you anymore, but still, I'd rather you be somewhere in a place I know you're safe at."

Maybe it was a pathetic request, but he couldn't help it. It was the first time he was meeting someone he genuinely had some feeling towards and he didn't want to throw it away.

Not at all thinking about it, the Hufflepuff leaned forward and captured her lips in a frenzy, feeling the pressure and the heat. He didn't know how to go slow, this was all him. Putting everything out there, all shard of emotion without hesitation. His clothed fingers tangled in her curls and he pulled away with a deep breath. "I think I like your opinion," Blaze chuckled, his eyes having a little of brightness.

"What if I am not sure if I want it?" He questioned. "What if it's temporary? When I hold onto something, I'd like for it to be forever. Contrary to what I portray, I do want something constant in my life."

He had a fleeting thought if Hunter might be that constant person in his life. But did he even like her like that? Wasn't all this just physical? Maybe the brunette was misguided by her attraction to him, and took that as care.

"No more causing pain to yourself, then," he demanded in a sharp tone. One of his hands trailed down and rested on her neck. "Enough is enough, McCoy."