Another old one, and the very first xXander one shot I've ever written.

Enjoy!

--xx Avanni Cinders

It was with a measure of apprehension that you stood staring up at the path that would lead you to the infamous dojo of the Sword Flames.

Last weekend your boxing teacher had took you aside and told you sadly that there was no more he could teach you, and so he had recommended you to this place.

You had had a meeting with the dojo owner three days ago. An elderly man you had informed you that it was his grandson, a boy your age, who ran the place.

But what could a sixteen year old boy teach you? You were worried this would end up being a waste of your time and you would learn nothing.

You took a deep breath and began the trek up the path.

_______________________________________

"What the actual bloody fuck?!" You roared, hanging upside down from a tree branch, a rope tied around your ankle. "Someone get me the fuck down!"

Your ears picked up a rustling in the tree and you felt a gentle tugging at the rope.

"No, wait don't-!"

You let out a high pitched scream as gravity took control and you fell to the ground.

As you hit the earth and rolled to spread the impact. You sprang up in a fighting stance, ready to hit someone.

The tree rustled and a large figure sprang from the branches. The figure landed in front of you, and when he stood, he towered over you.

"Nice technique," he praised with a grin.

The boy looked similar to the man you had met, you reasoned this must be his grandson so you lowered your guard.

"That wasn’t nice," you growled at him. You folded your arms and glared at him.

He laughed deeply. "I thought you wanted to be let down?"

"Not like that," you snapped.

The boy was built, and it was hard to believe he was only sixteen. His hair was a flaming red like his eyes, and spikey. When he grinned, he revealed two rows of sharp and pointy white teeth.

He leant down and shouldered your bag pack.

"You must be our new member?"

You nodded. "(Y/N)."

"Xander," he reached out and took your smaller hand in his own large one and shook it firmly. "Your bag's pretty light, you sure this is enough?"

"Yep," you confirmed. "I'm not staying permanently, it's just a during the day thing."

Xander grinned. "Well we're happy to have you."

"Yeah, I could tell by that unique welcome." You drawled.

Xander scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, we have alot of those kind of traps set up around here. You'll learn to keep an eye out."

You rolled your eyes. "I look forward to it."

_______________________________________

A month later, and you had been suprised at the amount of different things you had learnt.

Every day you were taught something different, and every day you found yourself going home with your muscles screaming at you.

You loved training with the Swordflames. Yugo and Ukyo were amzing. But it was Xander who caught your attention.

He was always laughing, having a great time and getting in there when it came to sparring sessions.

The two of you were always evenly match, and the outcome was as random as flipping a coin, always able to go either way. Hell, you were pretty sure the younger kids took bets as to which of you would win.

In the short span of a few months, Xander had become your best friend. But recently, your feelings for him had begun to develop, grow and change.

You were pretty sure you were three quarters of the way in love with him, that is, if you hadn't completely fallen already.

Which was why you had begun to distance yourself.

That day you arrived early and seeked out Yugo, asking if he wouldn't mind training you instead.

Yugo, who was much more perceptive than he let on, reluctantly agreed.

The two of you spent the next two hours running through the forest. Fine tuning your reflexes as you dodged the various traps set out and avoided Ukyo's attempts to startle you.

Finally, you emerged from the tree line, gasping and panting for breath.

"You. Are. Brutal." You managed to gasp out.

Yugo shook his head. "Xander goes easy on you."

You scoffed at this. "No he doesn't."

Yugo gave you a probing look.

"Does he?"

"What do you think?"

Your eyebrows knitted together and you thought back over the three months you had spent with them.

At first, you had been trained harder than anyone else, likely because Xander knew of your previous training at various dojos and kwoons across the city.

Then, Xander had begun to ease up on your regime. At the time, you hadn't thought anything of it. But now, you wondered.

It was this last month, you realised, that Xander had really began to cut you more slack than the others.

While they were forced to run twenty laps, you only got five.

Xander had said he had been worried about your ankle injury from a while ago and wanted to make sure you didn't strain and let it heal properly.

Then, while they practiced sword play, you'd work on blocking patterns.

Now that Yugo had pointed it out, you took note of all the times Xander had shown you better treatment then the others.

This realisation struck something deep inside of you, and rage rushed through your veins.

You spun around and fired a sharp round house kick into the tree.

Yugo gave you a look of mild concern.

"What the hell?" You snarled angrily, paying Yugo no heed. "Why?!"

"He-"

You spun around and pointed a finger in Yugo's face. "When I am angry I don't want a solution unless I ask for it!"

"But you-"

"What did I say?"

Wisely, Yugo kept his mouth closed while you began to pace and rant.

"Is he under the impression that I can't keep up with everyone else?" You demanded. "Does he think I'm no good enough? I always put in as much effort as humanely possible, so why am I not treated the same?"

You gave Yugo a pointed look. "Well? Answer me!"

He hesitantly opened his mouth, but you cut him off.

"You know what? Forget I even asked!"

You stormed off in a rage, leaving poor Yugo to wonder what he had said.

_______________________________________

You ignored the sound of the door sliding open, as you worked on making the boxing bag in front of you regret the day it had come into existence.

It was a Saturday, and you had taken to avoiding Xander unless absolutely necessary, choosing to glare at him when the two of you were forced to interact.

Last night when the two of you had sparred, you had not held back and you had given him hell.

The match had been over in five minutes, it would have ended quicker had you not wanted to draw it out.

It still made you smile to think that you had one upped Xander Shakadera and shown him that you weren't some dainty flower that needed protecting.

You could feel the presence of another in the room. But you ignored them in favour of working on tearing the leather that made up the boxing bag.

Already you had been forced to take a break so Ukyo could wrap you knuckles, having broken the skin.

Dimly you reistered you would need him to change the bandages again soon, as they were soaked with sweat and the knuckles were bright red.

Someone cleared their throat behind you.

"I'm fine Ukyo," you muttered, reasoning it was the shadow walker in the room with you. "You can fix my wrappings, just give me five more minutes."

"That bag will be torn in two." The person said, and you resisted the urge to jump when you realised it was not Ukyo in the room with you, but Xander.

"What do you want?" You asked him gruffly, not bothering to face him.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" He inquired, getting straight the point.

"I haven't been," you lied.

Before Xander could respond, you spun and fired a sharp elbow into the bag.

There was a loud tearing sound as the seams split and sand poured out.

With a frown you registered you no longer had an excuse to not look at Xander.

Reluctantly, you turned to face him.

"I haven't been avoiding you," you said forcefully.

"You're lying," Xander pointed out. "You always blink when you lie."

"Sand in my eye." You responded, wiping your eyes with the crook of your elbow so the red head wouldn't see you blink.

"(Y/N), what's wrong?" He asked softly. "Was it something I did?"

Your head whipped up to glare at him. "What do you think? Did you really think I wouldn't find out sooner or later?"

"Find out what?" Xander questioned, genuinely confused.

"Are you serious?" You asked incredulously. "You go easy on me! Whenever we train you find something else for me to do or you give me less work than the others!"

Xander tried to intervene but had no luck.

"You made me look weak!" You pressed. "I am not weak! I deserve to be here as much as anyone else and if you don't want to train me anymone than bloody say so so I can find someone who will!"

"(Y/N)-"

"Don't you (Y/N) me Xander Shakadera!" You snapped. "I am here to learn and I can't do that with you treating me like some porcelain doll!"

"That's not why you're here," Xander shook his head.

"What is that meant to mean?"

Xander shrugged. "You tell me. We all come here for a different reason, your's wasn't to learn."

You gave him a heated look filled with venom. "You're right, that's not why I'm here. I am here because of my family."

Xander's expression quickly became one of care and concern.

"Do they-" he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentece.

"Of course not," you rolled your eyes. "I have three older brothers. James loves to read and gets stright A's, Kevin has ADHD and Marcus can rock a dress and high heels better than anyone I've ever met. I wasn't about to let them take shit for any of that, so I've had to learn to beat up people who were bigger than me and older than me from a young age."

You finished your tirade breathing heavily and were promptly suprised when Xander swept you up in a huge hug.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into your hair. "I shouldn't have treated you like you weren't as good as the others, I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

In an instant, all of your pent up frustration seemed to melt away. Try as you might, you found it impossible to stay angry at Xander.

"Why?" You question muffled by his chest.

Xander pulled back and refused to meet your eyes.

"I like you," he admitted. "Probably a lot more than I should. Your focus, passion and dedication, the way you cuss like you could take one an entire navy when your angry and how you pour everything you are into whatever you're trying to do."

"Xander-"

"No, please let me get this off my chest  or I won't be able to say it again."

You nodded your head in agreement.

Xander took a deep breath before continuing. "Since I saw you hanging from that tree branched, red faced and swearing up a storm, I've found you interesting. And I know it hasn't been long and I doubt you feel the same way."

"Xander I-" you tried again, but it didn't seem like he had heard you.

"I've only known you for a few months, but these months have been great. You, (Y/N) (L/N) are a brave and beautiful person inside and out and I fancy myself in love with you."

You stood there in Xander's arms, eyes wide and your mouth hanging open slightly at his declaration.

"Xander-"

He shook his head and turned to leave, but you caught his much larger wrist in both of your hands and dug in your heels, forcing him to stop or slow down as the very least.

"Don't bloody walk away from me," you huffed as he turned back to face you, not daring to meet your eyes.

"Xander Shakadera, you are funny and kind. You are this huge bear of a young man but you are one of the gentlest people I have ever met. I feel safe with you, and for once I feel like someone else is the one keeping me safe."

Xander stood stunned, and you continued to speak. "I love your laugh and I love your smile, I love how you've taught me so much, not just in defence but in Beyblade and in life. But most of all Xander, I love you."

Xander was shocked, for lack of a better word. He stood there gaping at you for what felt like an eternity before you finally decided to do something.

You stepped forward onto Xander's feet with your own bare ones and stood on your tiptoes and stretched.

Still, you weren't tall enough so with a look of determination glinting in your eyes, you wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him down to you.

Finally, finally you could kiss him.

Your lips met his own tentatively, and you felt a spark jolt through your being.

At the first contact, Xander snapped out of his stupor and moved his lips against your own.

You ran your tongue against the seam of his lips, and he opened his mouth to allow you entrance.

As your toungue mapped out the inside of his mouth, Xander let out a small groan.

At the noise he emitted, the sounds of a few poorly masked giggles reached your ears.

Slowly, the two of you pulled apart, and turned to the doorway that was standing wide open.

There stood Yugo and Ukyo surrounded by a few of the younger dojo members, it was the smaller chidren who had laughed.

"I see the two of you sorted things out," Yugo said as Ukyo didn't bother to mask his grin.

Your face slushed bright red. "I'm, uh, sorry about the other day?"

Yugo nodded his acceptance and put his hand on Ukyo's shoulder.

Ukyo tried to resist but ultimately went along with his friend.

The smaller kids followed, complaining loudly.

You heard Ukyo shush them. "They've been dancing around each other for ages, give them this."

"I wouldn't call it dancing," Yugo muttered, and you couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"He's right you know." Xander muttered, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. "This hasn't been dancing."

"I'd say it's a messy waltz," you mused.

Xander snorted. "Sure. If a waltz is swearing, training, arguing and swearing."

"You said swearing twice," you pointed out.

"You swear alot."

"Shut up," you laughed, and pulled his lips down to your's once more.

This time, just to be safe, you kept the kiss sweet and chaste.

"I love you Xander," you whispered, resting your head on his chest.

"I love you too, my tiny warrior."