Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade nor do I own any of its characters

I am TERRIBLY SORRY for the long update. I hope this chapter is enough to make it up to you guys. Enjoy!!!

Chapter 2: Reminiscing and Dirty thoughts

"Hey Mariah" Ray smiled at her

"Hey Ray, Welcome back" Mariah smiled back. "It's been a while"

"You said it…I see you're wearing the dress I gave you" Ray approached the pink figure in the doorway.

"Wearing it? You should have seen her when she got it and learned it was from you…" Kevin put his hands behind his head "She was—oof!" Kevin was cut off as Mariah slapped his crotch…HARD! The green haired boy crouched down, never letting go of his aching manhood. "Never mind" he managed to say with much difficulty.

Ray simply chuckled at this. They've grown but they're still the same old White tigers. Gary would stand aside either eating some food or thinking about it. Lee or him would talk to Mariah and Kevin would come up with some smart ass comments that would insult Mariah in which she'll respond by hitting him at a certain body part.

"What's so funny?" Mariah questioned Ray.

"Nothing…" he replied "…Just pondering on how little has changed"

"Oh, little has changed alright…" Lee butted in the conversation "come on, let's all go to the living room and have ourselves a nice cup of tea" the others nodded in agreement.

"Mmmm, Ray, I don't know how you do it but you make the best teas around" Lee gave a satisfied smile as he took another sip of Ray's special tea. Among all five of them, Ray is the only one capable of cooking. Mariah knows a little, Lee…well….let's just say the man can't be allowed to stay within 2 meters in the oven. Ray recalled an instance when he tried to teach Lee to cook.

Flashback

"Okay Lee, remember, the first rule of cooking stir fried vegetables is that they are best cooked at high temperatures" Ray explained to Lee as he dumped some vegetables onto a bowl on top of the stove.

"You don't have to explain it to me like I'm a kid Ray" Lee retorted nearing the stove.

"You are when it comes to cooking"

Lee simply tch-ed at that.

"Okay, we need more vegetables. I'm just gonna get some in the backyard, keep stirring it. After a few seconds, you may put the seasoning" with that, Ray went to the backyard which is quite far.

Not even halfway there and Ray heard a huge bang coming from the house. Immediately, he ran back. When he got there, the whole stove was on fire…no…wait….the whole KITCHEN is on fire.

"WHAT DID YOU DO??!!!" Ray shouted at the lion-faced man who just got out of the house choking.

"I'm fine, thank you…" Lee spat sarcastically obviously talking about Ray caring more about what happened than whether he was alright or not"…and besides, it's all your fault"

"MY fault?"

"Yeah, you told me that stir fried vegetables are best cooked under intense heat"

"Yeah, they are"

"So, I did just that. I poured gas over the stove to make the fire bigger" Lee said triumphantly as if saying that it was the best thing one could do.

"YOU DON'T POUR GAS OVER A HOT STOVE OPERATED BY GAS!!!" Ray practically screamed at the man's ear.

"You don't?" was all Lee could say.

End of Flashback

Ray still shuddered at the memory. And then there's Gary. Ray tried to teach the man how to cook but the big guy just has no control over his hands. Ray recalled the instance where he tried to teach the burly man how to bake cookies. The guy practically held the red hot iron tray of the oven with bare hands because 'it smelled so good I can't wait'. They poured cold water in his hands for nearly two days.

Kevin, well, the kid had no interest in cooking. As long as he ate, Kevin is contented.

And then there's Mariah. Ray stole a glance at the pink haired girl who's currently sipping the tea contentedly. A smile made its way towards his lips. She wasn't one of the best students he had but she was very eager to learn.

Flashback

"Okay Mariah, now their ready" Ray said to the excited female neko-jin beside him.

"Yay!!" she jumped enthusiastically. She grabbed some mittens and took the cake out of the oven. It was good and golden in color.

"Now, you can add the icing" Ray instructed.

"Alright" she exclaimed as she grabbed the bowl that contained the sweet liquid and started pouring it over the cake. Then, she started adding some chocolate chunks. She had a lot of fun doing it.

Come dinner time and the time to taste Mariah's cake……..the moment his tongue touched the pastry…………………………….He turned blue!!!!

The others turned blue as well. All but Mariah who turned red. "I'm sorry" she said shyly. "Guess I'm not so good with cooking after all"

"Nonsense…" Ray gave her a shaky smile. His whole body is trembling just from the aftertaste "…this cake is very tasty for a first Mariah" he managed to say trying desperately to ignore the mushy, somewhat slimy texture of the cake. The super-sweet icing did nothing to compliment the bitter taste of the loaf.

"Really?" she beamed.

He gave a shaky nod.

"Then you'll teach me again?" Mariah went up to him and gave him puppy dog eyes.

Ray was about to say no. There's no way he'll taste this thing over and over again but he simply can't resist those eyes….no…scratch that…not only can't he resist her eyes, he can't resist her as a whole. So….he nodded.

It was a good twelve tries and 6 trips to the hospital before Mariah had the thing going on.

End of Flashback

The raven-haired boy smiled at the memory. He stole a glance at her again. He really wasn't paying much attention to what Lee is saying. Instead, his eyes roamed once more on Mariah's figure.

'So beautiful' he thought as he scanned her delicate curves, creamy skin and the round breasts that the dress is carving. Naughty thoughts crawled into his mind and he quickly tried to shake it off. 'Damn, what's wrong with me?'

"Hey, we're all out of firewood" Gary's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"Really?" Lee gave an exasperated sigh "…fine, I'm gonna go chop some" with that the lion faced man stood up.

"Wait Lee, I'll help you" Ray stood up. Chopping firewood would clear his mind.

"You sure? You're a guest you know" Lee said.

"Hey, I'm a white tiger too you know. Besides, I haven't had a workout in ages" Ray replied.

Mariah chuckled at that. 'Not with those biceps' she thought as her eyes fell upon Ray's naked arms exposed by the sleeveless Chinese shirt.

Lee nodded then smirked. "Bet you can't beat me in firewood chopping"

"We'll just see about that" with that, the two rushed to the backyard to chop wood.

Both Lee and Ray grunted as they chopped wood at full speed. Ray is in the lead 'As usual' Mariah thought as she recalled a time when they were kids.

Flashback

"Hah!! I beat you again!" a ten year old Ray said triumphantly to Lee.

"Ray, you beat Lee in practically anything" a 7 year old Mariah came up to them.

"Not everything, Mariah" Lee retorted.

"I wanna learn how to chop too" she said ignoring Lee's retort.

"Are you sure?" Ray asked concernedly. She nodded enthusiastically. So, Ray gave her the axe…..she fell immediately. Who would've thought those things were so heavy! How Lee and Ray manage to chop more than 35 fire woods in 25 minutes is a mystery to her.

"Careful!" both Lee and Ray exclaimed.

End of Flashback

She looked at the two men displaying their awesome physical strength. Each trying to out muscle the other. Gary and Kevin were also chopping since they thought it'd be fun to compete with each other, other than beyblading of course. She sighed as she looked at the piles of fire woods. Kevin got 6. Lee so far has 67. Ray has 72 while Gary has a whooping 89 fire woods—but that's understandable. After an hour and a half of chopping, Gary was proclaimed winner followed by Ray.

Ray laid on his back as he gave a huge sigh of relief. Lee and the others did the same except for Mariah.

"Hey guys, you must be thirsty" Mariah came up with a tray full of juice. "As reward, I brought you all—" she stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw.

There he is, Ray Kon, lying on his back. His shirt wide open revealing his sweaty form. She gulped loudly as some mischievous thoughts crawled in her mind. Her eyes trailed down his form. It's very hard to ignore his toned and muscular chest and perfectly sculpted abs. and the sweat only made the muscles seem more firm.

Although Ray wears sleeveless shirts, Mariah knew better. He's a rather conservative guy and hated being naked in public so she has rarely seen him without clothes. Maybe that's why he appears sexier than Lee and Gary—because his body is such a rare sight.

"Huh? Oh, thanks Mariah" Ray sat up and took a glass of juice and gulped it down.

"I'm hungry" Gary said in his usual dumb tone

"Yeah, me too…" Kevin agreed "…come on guys, let's eat. It's almost lunch time anyway"

The others nodded and headed for the kitchen.

to be continued

As a token of my appreciation for you reading my second chapter and to express my deepest apologies, I will upload the third chapter a LOT sooner than this. IF I get enough reviews

To all my anonymous readers (if there are any), I am sorry if your attempt to submitt a review was rejected. Apparently, I forgot to disable the system for blocking anonymous rebiew. However, the problem has been resolved and you may freely submitt your reviews to me!!!

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