Short of time

By Cat

Chapter one

"Come on Kevin!" I called. "What's so special that we have to be late for team practice and make Lee mad at us?" We are climbing over the huge rocks at the foot of the East mountain.

"Because I wanted to show you something and plus, don't you think that your brother is working us too hard?" The large, blond-haired boy called back as he helped me climb over a particularly large rock.

"Well yeah, but he will murder us if he finds out we came here. The East mountain is forbidden remember?" I say.

"You aren't scared of Lee are you Mari?" He teases.

"You are too." I point out and blush slightly.

"Trust me Mariah; he's more afraid of you than you are of him." He says. "He is terrified that you'll tell your Grandfather who isn't in love with Karla."

"What do you mean?" I ask him; this is something new.

He is surprised. "Oh haven't you heard yet?"

I shake my head. "No." I say, "as a matter of fact I haven't."

"OK then, you know how Lee's engaged to Karla? Well Lee loves Alessandra Folker Alessandra: Hey." He sounds embarrassed now.

I laugh slightly. "You mean your idol." I tease. He has always seemed embarrassed at this, after all; Alessandra is the best looking to all the guys. Even Rei, she doesn't even look that good. I guess that is my jealous half talking. She used to be my best friend, well one of them. She was so how shall I say this? She seemed so slutty and was such a bitch.

"Now Mariah," He gets all stern and I snicker. "You know that Alessandra is a very good Beyblader and team leader of the Crescent Moon Cats my team, no one can use them without my permission too, her stats are perfect and she is regional champion. Her team have been ranked world number two on the BBA's official Blading ranks. oh hell, I just gave away the winner."

"Drigger only knows what will happen when Karla finds out." I mention with a sigh. "Too bad for them both if I black mail Lee." I smirk as I say this. I already have an evil plan to punish my brother and it is only the first day of the month of the tiger more on this later.

"I talked to her last night and she said that if Lee even dared to love someone else, he would have to face the consequences. Never mind hearing her voice over an earthquake, she could start one. She was furious that I even suggest the idea." Kevin shook his head in disbelief and sat down for a rest.

Kevin's POV

Flashback

"Hey Karla, what's up?" I ask the blond girl.

"Oh nothing Kevin." Karla answers. "Guess what?" And without waiting for an answer; "It's only eleven months until mine and Lee's wedding!" Not this again; ever since the elders told Lee about him and Karla getting engaged, Karla has been so hyper and excited. Lee doesn't want to marry Karla though; he wants to tie the knot with Alessandra Folker, a Beyblader that ran away from our village just after Rei left. Alessandra was one of Mariah's best friends, obviously not anymore though; now Mariah is oh so jealous of Alessandra's good looks and figure. But when I talked to her after the tournament two years ago, she seemed so bitchy and didn't seem like she wanted to be around us or especially her former friends.

Mariah's pretty too but she at least doesn't think she's all that and more; she may have her moments but never for two hours straight.

"Karla, what would you do if Lee liked someone else other than you I mean?" I asked her.

"Lee would never do that to me!" She yelled at me. "But if he did, he would die from the consequences!" After this last sentence, she stalked off angrily. She and Lee were meant to be together I guess.

end flashback

Mariah's POV

I sat down next to him and took a drink bottle out of my back pack. I drank some of the warm, sweet water before Kevin grabbed the bottle out of my hand and drank some. "Hey!" I yell at him before I grab it back. "Get your own." I tell him angrily and punch him in the arm.

He laughs and brings out his own drink bottle. He smirks evilly at me and sips some of his own water. I turn away from him. He annoys me sometimes.

It's not that I mind him drinking from the same bottle as me because we've shared before and I wasn't afraid of getting some strange disease, but if Lee saw, he'd probably murder Kevin or something. I don't want that to happen because Kevin is the best friend I have, if not only friend. He would take all his anger from the pranks Kevin and me play on him and the anger from when Rei left and push them both into punishing Kevin.

Lee has the worst temper and I think that another reason Kevin hangs out with me is because of the advantage I have on Lee. I know that he would never physically or emotionally hurt me or any other girl on purpose but he has his moments. And if Grandfather heard about it, he wouldn't leave the elder's temple alive. It was just as well that I have this advantage on him.

"Come on Mariah," He says as he gives me a hand up. I put away my drink bottle and stretch. "We'd better get going." He says before helping me climb up more rocks. The rocks this high up are sort of sharp and pointy and once I hear the ripping of my trousers getting caught on one of the edges.

I think that in a way, he likes me but won't do anything because he knows that I like Rei and he is supportive of my decision and respects it. He's been out with about a million girls but the funny thing is that he's always asking me for advice on what to do and all that. I can't say no to him because he's my best friend and best friends are always there for each other. It's funny because with all the experience he has, he still relies on me for help. He likes most of the things I do all except girls, I am not gonna make anyone gay. . . Well maybe one of the rude, annoying, fat ass Blade Breakers whom everyone except me like, called Tyson and does the sort of things I do, not like put on make-up and that but BeyBlades and sport things.

We hang out a lot too, despite the fact that Lee doesn't want me to go near him. But Lee's ignored it a lot since the tournament and he has started to talk to me a lot, and to tell you the truth; he even helps me to beyblade. It's starting to scare me. I guess he's ignoring it because he knows he can never separate us, we're so close that Kevin is almost my other half not brother, because that would just be too weird and it won't go in if I do end up making it a Kevin/ Mariah smiles evilly.

I guess that I started hanging out with Kev because I never did really get on well with the other girls because I didn't like make-up and clothes and care about boys and read Dolly and Girlfriend magazines and all that. I do occasionally dress up in nice clothes and put on make-up when I need to and I care about Rei and occasionally read the magazines but you wouldn't catch me doing it every day.

It's because I grew up with boys. They had too much influence on me while I grew up and it kind of affected my future. I used to Beyblade with Lee and Gary and Rei when I got my first Beyblade and then I started hanging out with Kevin. It went on from there I guess.

We climb to a cave about halfway up and he leads me into the darkness. Beneath my feet are rocks and it is slightly damp. I can here dripping and the slow trickle of water near the side of the cave. I trip over a rock and land on the cold, wet, dirty floor of the cave and Kevin comes over to help me up. "Kevin, what is this place?" I ask him.

But instead of answering, he stands up and turns a corner and disappears behind the rocks. I can hardly see in the darkness but I see a little light, it helps a little that I can see into darkness, well sort of; I may be half tiger but my eye sight in the darkness isn't very up to scratch. Lee always said that I was going to be bouncing of walls one day; must be today. I try to follow him and gasp at what I see.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .

Angel: I think I'm gonna leave it there; I'm way too lazy to continue this chapter at the moment. Please review and make sure it's nice. By the way, it won't end up as a Kevin/ Mariah, unless I'm aggravated by a certain PrissAsagiri41 who keeps on harassing me.