A.N./ Mwahahahahaha! I have temporarily crossed over to the "dark" side of fanfiction (a.k.a., slash/femslash)! LOL, look, I'm a straight girl who is trying to write femslash. Somehow, I have a feeling that this isn't going to work out really well, but that's okay, because this is an experiment...of sorts. I seem to be doing lots of experiments these days. And before you ask, I can't write romance.

Yeah, okay, the song choices aren't the best, but I couldn't find anything else...ha, I've never even listened to any of them other than Love Me or Hate Me.

(Hopefully, my friends haven't discovered this account yet and won't think I'm totally weird for writing this...hell, I think that I'm going crazy).

Enjoy!

Arc I - Lights
Tori

"Love me or hate me, it's still an obsession.
Love me or hate me, that is the question.
If you love me then, thank you.
If you hate me then, fuck you."
—Love Me or Hate Me, Lady Sovereign

I never really had a taste for parties. I guess that I just never really saw the point in going to a wild gathering where all you do is (in the parties that I have been in, at least) dance, kiss, and eat. Oh, and drink. I've noticed that people drink quite a lot. Grey Goose and Red Bull. Fruit punch (which is harmless, but you never know what the hosts will put into it...then again, when Dustin drinks too much of it, he gets on a sugar high. You don't want to see Dustin on a sugar high...), and maybe Coca-Cola, perhaps laced with LSD or ketamine or something/whatever. The last one disturbs me greatly. I like soft drinks, don't get me wrong, but I just can't seem to get my head around date rape drugs dissolved in soda. In fact, I'd rather not get laid by some horny dude while inhibited on drugs and/or alcohol. In fact, I'd rather not let anyone see me in that state. Because, you know, who would?

So, I wonder angrily to myself, why do I end up going with the guys to parties every single damn time we all get invited to on?

Oh, yeah, that's right. To make sure the boys don't do anything stupid under the influence of alcohol. I thank my lucky stars that Hunter, like me, never really had a thing for parties and I am glad, for once, that Blake is away on the Factory Blue tour. Then again, and do trust me on this, you do not—and I repeat, do not—want to see Shane and Dustin ditzy in the head (well, ditzier than they normally are, if that's possible). They begin doing some very questionable things with each other.

Sneaky bastards, that's what we ninjas are. I'm drowning in shit at the moment, when my life is already defined by the word "shit".

Well, going back to parties, even if it's going to be hosted in a large mansion by a Power Rangers team, watch out. Oh, that's a lesson I learned the hard way.

And when the team in question is Operation Overdrive, that's bound to make things even more crazier.

Oh, and Kira's going to be there.

Kira Kira Kira Kira Kira...I am such a bitch.

Okay, inner self, you are not helping me at the moment.

Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention Kira?

...On a side note, I didn't know it at that time, but now that I think about it, I really damn wish that I would have let Shane and Dustin go by theirselves that one time, because what started with a secret of mine got out, and it blew up into a major problem.

Oh, yeah, guess how I spilled?

Two words: Intoxicated. Action.

— — —

To be honest with you, I really didn't know what to expect when I drove over to Dustin's house to pick up the two boys. No doubt they would be playing Xbox or Wii or whatever game console the dubbed "comic book geek" of our trio owned. Probably both of them.

"Shane, Dustin!" I call, rapping the door in a pitiful attempt to break the spell that video games have cast over the two airheads. (Well, yes, to call Shane an "airhead"—well, literally, he is one.) "Are you going to come, or should I just leave you to play Call of Duty or whatever game you're playing?"

The thumping of feet hitting the floor resounds faintly at the other side of the door, and the door is yanked open by Shane, whose eyes are red. He has an uncharacteristic crazy grin on his face.

"Um..." I lean forward, frowning at the sleepy state of Shane's look. "Are you okay?"

Dustin skids around the corner, sliding on the freshly polished wooden floor. His hair is sticking up in every direction, he has the same look in his eyes as Shane, and he is laughing hysterically. "Dude!" he exclaims. "Tor! Best night ever! Oh, man, you should have seen me busting the moves out there on Brawl!"

"Who are you kidding?" Shane retorts in a slightly baffled tone. "Did you see you launching me off of the stage? C'mon, Dustin, it was totally the other way around!"

I sigh, and cut in to their video game argument. "No, I saw neither of you kick the other's ass, as you two claim, because I wasn't there. But if you don't get into the car right now, we're going to be late, and somehow, I don't think that Mr. Hartford will really appreciate that."

"Yeah!" Dustin enthusiastically replies, hopping out onto the Welcome mat on the top step to stand next to me. "You've gotta introduce us to this Hartford dude and the newest team! Um, and I heard that the whole crew of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are coming, too! Like, all three generations! It would be an honor to meet the first Yellow!"

Shane smirks at Dustin and gives him a gentle punch on the shoulder. "Looks like someone's eager to get out of Blue Bay Harbor. Although," he adds a little wistfully, "I would like to meet Jason Lee Scott. And it would be nice to see the Dino Rangers again, yeah?"

And it would be nice to see the Dino Rangers again, yeah?

Oh, fuck, no. Not in my damn life do I ever want to see them again. Especially Kira.

"Yes, well," I mutter, turning away quickly and leading the two boys to my car, "you two aren't going to be the ones driving, and since Dustin appears to be on a slight sugar high—"

"What, like he normally is?" Shane teases as he and Dustin swing into the back seats.

I groan. "You know what, I think that I'm going to charge a taxi fare." I turn on the ignition and floor the accelerator, and glance at the two in the rearview mirror. "San Angeles is about three hours away," I tell them. "If you want to crash, do it now. But please, do try not to snore too loudly."

"We're not tired," Dustin laughs, speaking for both of them. "We had a lot of soda before this, so we could stay awake until at least when we get there."

I pale, almost failing to see the glaring red light in front of me. After slamming on the brakes, I turn around and stare at him. "You know that you two are probably going to crash when we get to the city?"

"Nah," Shane assures me. "We're all good." He nods at the window. "Green light."

I mutter an obscenity under my breath and continue driving.

Surprisingly, both Shane and Dustin manage to stay awake throughout the whole trip, talking their heads off, although by the time I pull up at the Hartfords' driveway, I am practically drooling on the steering wheel.

I make a mental note to kill Mack later for making the party time at nine at night when I just spent the whole day slaving my ass off, teaching a whole class of beginner water ninjas. It certainly wasn't on my "Top 10 Things To Do on a Perfectly Sunny Weekend" list. Basically, from seven in the morning to five-thirty in the afternoon, I was trying not to drown in the large quantities of water that my beginner ninjas "accidentally" commandeered into a bowl no larger than the one you would eat peanuts out of. When stuff like that happens, I always can't help but wonder if I'm cut out for the ninja-sensei lifestyle...

"Damn." Dustin squints at the mansion, whistling. "That place is sick. Is that the Overdrive Rangers' headquarters? 'Cause it makes Ninja Ops look like a bunny hole or something."

"No, the whole piece of property is their HQ," I say sarcastically, rummaging through the trunk of my car to haul out a few six-packs of Cokes. "I don't know; from what I saw, they used some underground bunker to monitor everything. And," I add, dumping a few packs of soda into Shane's waiting arms, "I think that they're one of the few Ranger teams who went public with their identities."

"Oof!" The former Red Wind Ranger grunts as I stack a few more packs of Coke onto the ones he is already carrying. "Tori! Can't you make Dustin carry at least some of the Coke or something? I'm gonna fall over..."

"No, you aren't, bro!" Dustin cheers. "Think ninja training! Think balance beam! Think doing a handstand on one of those branches of the big oak!"

"Argh!" Shane topples over into Dustin as the latter claps him in the back. The cans of soda clank to the ground. Some of them break apart, and the fizzling brown liquid sinks into the ground.

I open my mouth, a reprimand waiting on the tip of my tongue, ready to be used, when I hear the sound of a growling motor. My head snaps around to see a car puff its way along the road, and I know instantly that Dino Thunder has arrived. Mixed thoughts instantly run through my head:

Oh noes the Dinos are here oh fuck Kira what am I gonna do oh crap I am so screwed crap crap shit crap Kira crap Kira...

I really did not want to see the Yellow Dino Ranger again. Like, really really really didn't want to see her again. Damn the stupid...whatever, take hormones. To hell with it, I wish that I hadn't ever accepted the Once a Ranger offer...none of it would have happened, and I wouldn't be crushed under guilt.

Oh, it's never nice to cheat on your boyfriend behind his back. (Then again, if it wasn't behind Blake's back, it wouldn't be called cheating.) With a person of your gender, to add to the insult. At the moment, I just want to shrink into the size of a grain of dust and get stepped on. Because what I did was wrong, so wrong that I can't even fathom the magnitude of the wrongness, and I know it.

Ha, I keep on telling myself that I was drunk at the time, I wasn't myself, I acted on total impulse.

For god's sake, I am lying to myself. I know that I wasn't drunk; I had only consumed a small quantity of alcohol before the thing happened. I was totally myself, and I didn't, as much as I wish I did, act on impulse.

Oh, shit, if Shane and Dustin ever found out that I made out with a girl, and an international pop star at that, they would never let me hear the end of it. And Blake. Goddammit, I don't even want to think about what Blake would do if he found out about this. I really don't want to be responsible for someone throwing himself off of a cliff in a fit of depression...I know that Blake likes me a lot, and I like him, too, but this...this thing about Kira is eating me from the inside out.

The saddest part was that I liked it. Liked it.

I almost throw up right there and then.

I turn around in with a sick feeling in my stomach right when the black Jeep pulls up next to my car, and the Dino Thunder Rangers immediately burst out of it, even before Doctor Tommy Oliver has stopped the motor. Ethan James is the first to throw open the door and fling himself out.

"YOU KNOW, IF I HAVE TO SPEND ONE MORE MINUTE WITH YOU, CONNER, I'M GOING TO THROW!"

"Yo, Ethan!" Dustin wriggles a trapped hand out from where Shane's head is squashing it and waves to the Blue Dino Ranger. "Whassup?"

I methodically begin stacking the Cokes back up as Ethan bounds over and pulls Dustin up, giving the former Yellow a huge hug. "Hey, Dustin! Long time no see, huh?"

There's a commotion from inside the other black vehicle as a pair of hands push Conner out onto the ground, who just happens to be jabbering nonstop. I wince. It looks like Shane and Dustin weren't the only ones who got high on sugar before arriving.

"Fucking hellhole!" I hear someone moan, and Kira Ford drags herself out of the car, with Trent trailing her like a lost puppy or something.

"Kira!" A stern voice drifts out from the open door on the other side of the car. I edge to the right to see Tommy dragging out a large crate. The Dino Rangers' mentor stops and dusts his hands off, crossing over to glare at Kira. "Language!"

I pray to whatever deity is living in the clouds above, sternly gazing down at all of us insignificant human beings. Whether it be Odin, or Zeus, or Quetzacoatl who's listening, I really don't care. Although I can't see how a giant snake monster can help me with anything, I beg to them really hard.

Oh, damn...please don't let her see me even though I'm standing in broad daylight, so to speak, and I'm perfectly visible. Please? With a cherry on top?

"What?!" the pop star demands, waving a hand at a hysterically laughing Conner on the ground. "Dr. O, he's been driving us all, like, crazy! Um, you were literally driving crazily, and no offense, Dr. O, but I'm never getting into the car with you again if you just had a jar full of cookies beforehand."

Tommy sighs. "Come on, I had a whole stack of term papers to grade, so I needed to stay awake...uh, no offense taken, Kira. And, yes, I know, but you guys were the ones who decided that we should go to McDonalds and...how did you put it?" He makes quotes into the air sarcastically. "Oh, I remember, 'share' the pint tub of vanilla ice cream that you guys ordered."

"We did share it!" (Trent.) "Even though, like, all of us only had a spoonful, and Conner downed the rest, but that still counts as sharing!"

"Hey," Shane calls, waving at the arguing trio. "Hey! You guys gonna be too busy arguing, or are we going to have to beat the crap out of you again?"

That effectively breaks up the argument, and a heavy silence falls across us two teams.

I groan in exasperation. "That was when we were evil! And he doesn't mean it!" I turn to Shane, who is smirking. "You don't, right?"

Tommy abruptly closes his mouth, although is face is as red as a tomato. "Yes, well, in any case..." The Black Dino Ranger frowns down at Conner. "Honestly, I don't want our Red Ranger dancing into this Hartford place like a hysterical, un-suicidal kamikaze pilot from World War II, you know?"

"Translation: You don't want your original teammates to figure out how bad of a teacher you are," Ethan calls from where he is amiably chatting up Dustin. "Sorry, Dr. O!"

"Oh...for God's sake!" Tommy groans.

Trent and Kira leave Tommy to wallow in his despair and the walk over to us. I cringe as Kira's eyes flit over to me.

Thanks a lot, giant snake monster thingy. Nice knowing you.

Trent and Shane clap each other on the back in a "manly" way of greeting, and slip easily into conversation.

Kira and I just stare awkwardly at each other, not sure whether to hug or say "hi" or just kill each other. Er, to say, for Kira to kill me, although I might just go insane and get around to killing her.

Kira blinks and slowly waves. "Um, hello? Anyone in there?"

I realize that I have been staring quite blankly at her face for the past minute or so, and then snap out of my stupor. "Oh, uh, hi?" I say it more in a question form than a greeting.

I gesture vaguely towards the sky. "The stars are out tonight," I say in a pitiful attempt to make conversation.

"Uh huh," Kira replies without missing a beat, her voice nonchalent, although I can feel her burning gaze on me. "Orion. Canis Major. Cassiopeia. See, if you look to the west, you can see Ursa Major...you know, the Big Dipper."

I shift my weight from foot to foot, feeling my ears turn red as I stare at an extremely interesting rock on the ground. "I didn't understand half of what you said, but okay..."

I look up to meet Kira's hazel stare for the first time, and I flinch at the cautiousness in them, and the tiniest hint of concealed hardness. "Look," the Yellow Dino whispers heatedly, stepping in closer so that she's breathing into my ear and that no one else can listen in. "If you don't want to talk to me, then don't." She narrows her eyes. "And don't. Try. Anything. Got it? You don't exactly have an excuse this time." She's spitting the words out now. And I mean spitting: flecks of wetness actually hit the left side of my face. "You wouldn't risk your friends' lives by DWI-ing, right?"

Flinching at the mocking sound beneath her words in the last sentence, I make a very dignified squeaking sound at the back of my throat, and manage to choke out, "Kira...I didn't..."

"Don't!" Kira suddenly yells, completely killing my eardrum. All conversation stops, and I tumble back with a hand clamped over my left ear, startled, head-over-heels and knock against Shane's shins. My face totally red now, I scramble to my feet.

"Just don't, Tori! Stop denying it, because you know that you willingly did it, so why don't you just freaking admit it?"

"I..."

"Yeah!" Kira shouts, her face screwed up in anger. "You keep on telling yourself that, Tor, and maybe it'll come true. You are totally, completely in denial even after, what was it, six months? You manipulative little bitch!" In a fit of complete rage and out-of-character-ness, she stomps her foot onto the ground and gives me the finger, and then stalks away towards the mansion.

I stumble back into Shane, and he catches me, letting me lean onto him. He stares down at me in worry. "What happened?"

"What'd you say to her?" Trent demands, glaring at me. I push Shane away, but he simply steps in front of me with Dustin. I hate it when they go all "big brother" on me, but this time, I'm glad for the barrier.

"Whoa," Ethan whispers, "I've never seen Kira like that before." He fixes his gaze on me. "What'd you do?"

I open my mouth, but nothing seems to come out of it. Trent's eyes are narrowed into furious slits, and he takes a step forwards towards me. Shane glares at him like, Don't even try it, buddy, and I almost melt from embarrassment right then and there.

"Trent!" I hear a voice shout. I nervously stand there, shivering while Dr. O pulls back on the White Dino Ranger's arm.

"Stop it," Dr. O says lowly, a hint of quiet menace in his voice. "Trent, you're about to go way over the line. You do not attack one of the Rangers that was on the preceding team. You do not attack any Ranger, under any circumstance, unless you can't help it. I'm sure that it's nothing serious." But I can still hear the veiled question in his words as well.

A choked sound works its way up my throat, and I turn around so to make sure that neither team can see me squeezing my eyes shut, hot tears leaking out of them. I let out a noise that sounds like a cat hacking up a hairball.

"I didn't say anything to her," I reply after taking a few deep breaths to compose myself, refusing to face the Dino Rangers. I did something, though. I fucking kissed her six months ago. And it was totally, saddenly, undeniably my actions.

I'm screaming a single question in my head as I sprint up the driveway to the Hartford mansion, because I can see another trail of dus in the air produced by a car, and I really can't stand facing Adam and the rest of his goddamn team like this. I just can't, because I'm a coward, and I'm selfish.

And the question is:

WHY THE FUCKIN' HELL DOES LIFE HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED?!

"Tori!" I hear a voice call. Shane and Dustin race towards me helping me up and enfolding me with hugs.

"Stop it," I gasp. "Just stop it, please!"

"What's wrong?" Dustin demands. "Why did Kira freak out on you back there? Tor?" He shakes me. "Answer me! C'mon, Tori, we won't ostracize you!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I yell desperately, feeling my eyes blur again. I shove them both away.

The door to the Hartford mansion creaks open, and a few of the Overdrive team members barrel out of the door: Red, Yellow, Pink, and Mercury. Mackenzie "Mack" Hartford stares down at me kneeling on the ground, crying my eyes out with the two other Wind Rangers standing over me helplessly. His smile freezes on his face. It melts off quickly, and he kneels down next to me. "Tori? Are you okay?"

"No!" I shout, curling up into a ball on the ground. "Fuck it!"

Mack furrows his eyebrows. "Tori..."

Ronny and Rose both push him away. I feel someone (Rose, I think) gently pull on my arm. "Tori, come on. Follow us."

I have to spill it to someone. Maybe that will take off some of the weight...or maybe it will add to it.

So I allow myself to be led into the huge house by the Yellow and Pink Overdrive Rangers, still crying a river of tears. They lead me into someone's bedroom—probably Ronny's, because everything is yellow, although she does have a black teddy bear—and sit me down onto a chair.

"So..." Ronny breaks the awkward silence that has been punctuated by my broken sobs and sniffles. "Care to tell us what's wrong without all the muscleheads listening in?"

Rose offers me a tissue seemingly produced out of nowhere, and I blow my nose and throw the snot-covered piece of napkin into a little trash can (of course, it was yelow). "Well..." I hiccup, and then look at the Pink and Yellow Overdrive Rangers. "See, the problem is..."

Arc II - Camera
Kira

"You're in denial,
And that is final.
You're not admitting,
You should be quitting.
All these
Queens and fairies
And muscle Marys.
The rough trade boyfriend,
Who in his pathetic own way,
Denies he's gay.
Why can't you see?
This is a fantasy world."
—In Denial, Pet Shop Boys

I don't want to think about it, because I fear what will come out of it. That lingering feeling of her lips on mine just refuses to go away, and sometimes, I even question myself...that what I yelled outside is just a façade to cover up my real feelings.

No. No no no no no. Don't think like that. I hate her to the bottom of my being. She makes that move on me, pounces while I'm not looking, and she expects me to forgive her?

...Well, no, that look on her face did not expect forgiveness from me. She probably knew that I was going to blow in her face, and she was waiting for the exact moment when I would.

Ha. I did, and I wish I had "accidentally" Ptera Screamed as to break her eardrums. Then again, Dr. O would probably be yelling at me for a whole week, and then shun me for another month. That, I do not want to happen. I like the Ranger legend—in a non-I-want-a-relationship-with-him way, because that is just gross—and respect him so, but if I truly and honestly think about it, getting back on Tori seems really damn sweet. Worth Dr. O's anger, even.

So there I am—in the Hartfords' huge living room, on one of their sofas. The disco ball throws beams of multicolored light across the room, hazing across me like colorful Christmas lights in the place of LED lightbulbs on police helicopters. Yeah, like I'm guilty of something.

My arms are crossed, and I'm silently steaming in my place, trying to glare a hole into the wall.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Damn Tori and her excuses.

But, the tiny part of me that wants to forgive the Blue Wind Ranger, wherever it is, argues, you didn't exactly stop her from kissing you, did you? You weren't the one that broke away first.

Oh...my...god. Go away, inner self. You are not helping. One. Bit.

There's a commotion at the end of the hallway. The Overdrive team races from the kitchen, and Dax and Will do a double start when they see me and break from their group, and sit on either side of me. The other four Overdrives run toward the door to see what's happening.

"Oh, hey, Kira, didn't see you enter!" Dax smiles. "Although, I heard that you made quite an entrance—Spencer commented that you were steaming mad when you came here."

"Yeah," Will agrees. " Unfortunately, that's because Dax is very unobservant. The rest of us saw you, obviously. What's up, and what's wrong?"

I sink a fist into a couch cushion, wishing that it was Tori's face, and curtly reply, "Nothing."

Both male Rangers give me a patronizing look. "Oh, c'mon, Kira," Will sighs. "You've been glaring at the wall like you want to go one-on-one with it for the past five minutes. What's wrong?"

I roll my eyes in frustration. "Excuses!" I growl, my fists clenching. "Damn the fucking water ninja; it's Tori, okay! I so freakin' hate her—" I cut off abruptly, noting the confused faces of the Blue and Black Overdrive Rangers. I sigh, picking absently at the felt on the couch. "It's...it's complicated," I reluctantly admit, my anger fading.

"Go on," Dax softly prompts. "We're listening."

I put my head in my hands. "Six months ago, when we had that post-Once a Ranger outing...well, the short story is, I wasn't looking, Tori was on alcohol—no matter how little she had...like, she wasn't drunk or anything—she pounced, and everything else went downhill from there." I shake my head in exasperation. "She knows that Trent and I are together, and she's still with Blake Bradley, so why does she have business with loving me? What does she have to gain from that? And I never knew that she would ever even consider kissing a girl. I mean, she's dating a guy, so doesn't that mean she isn't a lesbian or whatever?"

Dax's mouth is half-open, but Will looks thoughtfully pensive about the matter. "You say that she wasn't drunk?" he asks. "Oh, and Tori isn't with Blake any more. Didn't you hear? Blake hooked up with some girl he met on the moto trail, and he and Tori agreed that they would be better off as friends."

I brush that shocking fact off, willing to ponder over it later.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," I mutter sarcastically a few seconds later. "Of course, she wasn't. Tori doesn't get drunk."

"Well, you have to admit that that was one crazy party," Will smirks. His smile slips off of his face. "If you ask me, I think that Tori just wasn't thinking clearly at that time. It probably wasn't serious...and you're right. I never thought that she would do something like this."

"'Wasn't serious'?" I nearly screech. "The fuck? Our tongues were practically down the other's throat!"

"Ah," Will smiles, his eyes glinting. "'Our'. Interesting word choice."

Dax's jaw snaps back up, and he yells, "What were you guys doing?"

"A bit slow, aren't you?" Will mutters.

I'm too much in shock to even hit Dax over the head for that, but Will shoots him a glance right after his playful comment. "Dax..."

"I—I made a slip of the tongue," I stammer, but I can feel my ears heating up, because...because...it was totally true.

Goddamn you, Will.

"Denial," Will tells me. "You didn't exactly dislike it, did you? You know that you don't hate Tori."

"I..." I manage to choke out, because no, no, this can't be happening, because I am not bi or lesbian. No, no, no. If this means I have to be in denial, than be in denial it is.

Even if it means "being in denial"...oh, what the hell, I'm just confusing myself now.

Will raises an eyebrow at me. "'I...' what? Spit it out, Kira, come on. Don't be shy."

I open my mouth to respond when Ronny and Rose descend down the stairs, dragging a horrified-looking Tori behind the two of them.

"You see," Ronny is saying to the stricken blonde as I shrink down into the couch, "all you've got to do, Tori, is let out all your feelings. All of them." She and Rose shove the water ninja towards me, standing their with the arms crossed, as if they weren't going to let Tori run for it no matter what.

Good luck to them. I am hoping with all my being that Tori would just ninja-streak the hell out of here and go die in a hole. Except, she doesn't run. She stays there, staring at the floor as if there is something very interesting on it.

Will pats me on the back and whispers something to me that I don't catch, probably "Good luck" or something, because where I'm headed, I'll need it. He pulls a still-babbling Dax out of the picture, also dragging a protesting Ronny and Rose along with him.

I sigh, opening up the conversation, because I know that Tori wouldn't in a million years. "All right, you have five minutes to explain yourself. Make it quick."

"Um..." Tori's eyes flick around wildly to view her surroundings, terrified and slightly crazed, like a caged animal. I squint at her, worried about her sanity no matter how much I hated her. "Are you okay?"

Tori flinches as if I had just punched her. "No..." she manages to choke out. "Kira, I'm sorry about..."

"I get it," I snap, my anger spiking again. "You've been trying to tell me that for the past six months. You left, like, eighty billion messages on my phone. Alone. And that's not counting my agent. But what I'm asking is, why? Why'd you do it?" My voice cracks, and I look down at my feet.

Tori rubs her eyes and looks at me directly, the first time she has done so in half a year. "Because I like you, Kira," she quietly says. "I really like you. There's nothing more to it." She shakes her head slightly, and then turns around to walk away.

She admitted it. She really fucking admitted it. I can't help but to let my mouth fall slightly agape, to stare at her retreating figure in a stunned silence.

I pull on her shirtsleeve. She swivles back around, a tired, sort of defeated and fractured look in her eyes. "What?"

"You really...like me?" I say slowly. A feeling that I can't describe has begun to bubble up in me, and I find myself waiting eagerly for her answer. And as much as I want to shake it off, I can't.

Oh, my parents were going to kill me. Because Will was right...

...I was totally, undeniably in denial.

Unfortunately, of course.

"Yes." Tori sounds a little surprised. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

I take a deep, shuddering breath. "Okay," I lowly say, "that's nice."

The Blue Wind Ranger hurriedly glances behind her, where her teammates and mine have begun to peek in cautiously at the scene very noticeably. All of them instantly pull back when Tori gives them what must have been a poisonous glare. She looks back towards me, a confused expression on her face. "And, exactly why is that nice? I mean, why are you...?"

"Because," I tell her, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips, "the worst kind of love is unrequited, you know?"

Arc III - Action
Tori

"I kissed a girl and I liked it,
The taste of her cherry chapstick.
I kissed a girl just to try it,
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it.
It felt so wrong,
It felt so right.
Don't mean I'm in love tonight.
I kissed a girl and I liked it."
—I Kissed a Girl, Katy Perry

Fireworks. That's what I feel right this second. But, still...

The hell is this? First, Kira yells in my face that she hates me for...well, kissing her. Then, she gives me the finger and stalks up the driveway because she wants to get away from me. But now, she's like a completely different person.

The fuck is with split personalities these days?

"Wait," I manage to stammer out, "what do you mean by that? Again?"

Kira raises an eyebrow, and then scoots aside, patting the spot next to her. I awkwardly sit down, chewing on my lip, wondering what will happen next.

"What do you mean, 'What do I mean'?" Kira questions me quietly. She has obviously noted the fact that Shane, Dustin, and the Dinos were trying to snoop in on us as well. "I guess what I mean is that..." She blushes a little bit, her hand closing around my wrist. I stiffen a little at the gesture, but then relax. "Well, I like you, too."

"No," I choke out, "I mean, yeah, I get it, but what about...Trent? How'll he react?"

Kira smiles brighty at me, gesturing towards Trent, who is standing at the doorway, his hands stuffed sheepishly in his jeans pockets. "What about him?" she asks. "'Cause it seems to me that Trent's not crying over the scene in front of him." She lifts her head up and calls to the former White Dino Ranger, "Are you?"

Trent looks slightly surprised, but he simply shrugs. "Maybe," he replies. Kira turns back to me with a sarcastic smile. "You see?"

I can feel the corners of my lips twitch, and then stretch out into a grin. "Yeah. I can definitely see. But," I say, stopping Kira, "one more thing. Why did you yell at me when I first saw you today?"

"I was in denial," Kira simply answers. "I honestly didn't want to believe that I liked..." She lowers her head again, her cheeks flaming. "Well, yeah. Do I need to get into more detail?"

"No," I answer quietly. "You definitely don't."

I can faintly hear the exaggerated groans of the other ninjas and Dinos as we lean in.

End Notes: I'm not sure if I left room for a sequel...maybe I'll do one. XD Like, Blake's reaction or something, finding out that his former girlfriend is bi. (LOL, don't take that wrong; I'm a strong supporter of Tori/Blake. I just wanted to try writing a femslash pairing...)

That was fun to write, actually! My first non-hetero pairing story, and I have this feeling that it turned out really bad. So...

...Love me or hate me? :)

Ahahaha, I think that I'm going to continue "Split Ends" after this. I published too many Humor/Parody/Friendship stories; I need some angst! :D I love angst.