Hello again!! Longer chapter this time.

Ok quick note about this, the two profile names used (smiffyizdabest and actress4eva07) are real people on youtube. They have made many funny and sweet amv about Kaihil and other things beyblade. I haven't asked their permission but I am adding them to the disclaimer. I love their videos they make me laugh so hard sometimes!!

I do not own Beyblade, or smiffyizdabest or actress4eva07.

Now we all remember what happened last time:

"Lee I think something's going on with her and Ray" this got Lee's immediate attention, Kevin stared at his feet "I don't know for sure but… I don't like telling on them but Mariah is like a sister to me and I guess I'm just worried about her"

"Go to bed Kevin" Lee hissed, Kevin looked into his friends eyes and gasped there was an anger there that he hadn't seen for a long time. In fact the last time he had seen Lee this mad was just after Ray had left the village

"Look Lee… I'm sure it's nothing but"

"Go to bed and promise me you won't leave that room"

"Lee!"

"Promise me"

"I promise" Kevin nodded unhappily as he said this. Lee made his way to the elevator, Kevin knew he was going to check his sisters room the younger boy sighed but obeyed his captain a sinking feeling in his chest.

Heh heh heh

"Hello Ray!" as Ray opened his door he was surprised to find a familiar team-mate looking incredibly angry.

"Lee! What are you doing here buddy? It's past midnight" Ray rubbed his eyes as he glanced at his watch,

"I went to Mariah's room a minute ago and she's not there" Lee's eyes were furiously angry, Ray had never seen him this mad and he felt goosebumps up and down his arms.

"Oh well she said something about staying with Matilda" Ray grinned in a reassuring way

"I already checked she's not there either" Lee said darkly, for a spilt second Rays face showed the panic he was feeling but he quickly covered it and smiled in a clueless way.

"Really, well I wonder where she could be?" he seemed to be pondering the situation but his amazing acting skills weren't as convincing as he wanted them to be.

"That's exactly what I was wondering!" Lee was getting even more riled up he knew just what was going on and Ray's pretence of ignorance really angered him.

"It's a real puzzle" Ray grinned even harder starting to inwardly pray that Lee wouldn't kill him. He suddenly saw why Mariah had insisted on secrecy for so long.

"Ray where is my sister?" Lee gave Ray a murderous look, Ray knew that there was no chance of getting away with this one, he decided to try being honest.

"Lee look, calm down" Ray didn't have time to say anything more as a fist came flying towards his face, Ray's head snapped back and he fell through the door into his room. Lee charged in after him jumping over his team mates fallen body in his haste.

"MARIAH?" he yelled, there was a figure on the bed hearing his voice the figure jumped up drawing the blankets around her.

"Oh shit" Mariah was shocked "Lee look, calm down"

Lee charged forward and pulled her from the bed, she shrieked and grabbed the blankets again trying to cover herself, Lee stopped just long enough to let her pull on a bathrobe and dragged her out of the door.

Ray managed to push himself up from the floor but he was seriously disorientated as he called after them.

Mariah felt mortified as she was being dragged back to her room, Lee yelled all the way saying things that were insulting and cruel. He was angrier than she had ever seen him before and she actually felt a little afraid. Doors on all sides opened and sleepy heads poked put to see what the commotion was. Lee's shouting was so loud that Mariah was pretty sure everyone could hear what was going on.

--

It was six am and Kai was enjoying the silence that came with being the only person around, he was on his way to awaken his team for training when he spotted a magazine. There was a large front page spread about Mariah and Ray, Kai smirked secretly amazed at how quickly gossip magazines could be printed.

He reached Tala's door and knocked.

Kai couldn't help but sigh as he looked at his team mates, they all looked more than a little worse for wear and he knew why.

It wasn't hard to work it out, they had all slept in and from the way Bryan Ian and Spencer had snuck quietly out of their rooms Kai could tell they had no intentions of being honest with the girls they had obviously left behind or letting them down gently. Tala had taken longer and Kai was relieved that at least this team mate had some idea (however vague it might be) of how treat girls.

"Have fun last night?" Kai asked sarcastically

"Chill Kai" Bryan said running a hand through his hair

"Yeah and stop talking so loud" Spencer held his fingers to his temples and gently massaged them

"Hung-over are we?" Kai spoke a little louder, he was obviously enjoying his teams suffering

"Kai can we just go train?" Ian moaned dry swallowing a couple of pills.

Kai sighed, he had heard the commotion last night and now his team were going to be in bad shape. It was going to be a long day

--

Mariah awoke early the next morning, for a moment she felt fine, then it all came crashing back she lay in her bed groaning, she didn't want to get up, she didn't want to have to face the world. She would lie here all day no matter what happened, she would lie in this bed she wouldn't eat or drink and soon she would be dead. Yes that was the plan just lie here until she died from dehydration, it sounded much easier than facing the world. She wouldn't answer the door she wouldn't answer the phone she would just lie here.

On the bedside table her phone began to ring, she jumped up and grabbed it, and then groaned again, so much for staying in bed and doing nothing, caller ID said Hilary.

Well Hilary couldn't know what had happened could she? The grapevine didn't stretch to Japan, so she answered. "Hey Hil's"

"Mariah is there something you want to tell me?"

OK that was odd, how had Hilary found out already? Unless Ray had called her.

"Not really, dare I ask why?" she asked as cheerfully as she could, there was a laugh on the end of the line

"OK put your computer on and go on the internet, go straight to you tube and search for you and Ray" Mariah did as she was told "are you on youtube?"

"Yes why what's go…. Oh god" there it was, the most popular video of the day, a video of Lee dragging her down the corridor shouting the odds. The footage was good and the sound excellent Lee calling her a slut, telling her she would never see Ray again asking her how many other guys she was sleeping with.

"smiffyizdabest says that you and Ray are 'a really sweet couple' isn't that nice?"

"Stop enjoying this!" Mariah moaned

"Wait there's another good one actress4eva07 gives it 5 stars and says 'Take a chill pill Lee!!' Mariah I told you two to be careful"

"I thought you meant protection!"

"I meant that I'm not there to cover for you this year."

"Yeah well that's the last time I use Matilda as an alibi!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Well I have a sort of plan" Mariah told Hilary what she had decided lying in bed this morning,

Hilary laughed "Well as fun as eventual death by dehydration sounds, Mariah honey you have no option but to just let this whole thing play out. Go out there and just do your thing."

"Hil I need a friend"

"You have a lot of friends there with you,"

"I know, but I need a good friend" Mariah sniffed again

"I wish I was there I really do"

--

Hilary sighed as she hung up the phone, she was sitting at the dining room table, her eldest cousin Shane sat across from her calmly eating breakfast.

"Problems?" Shane brushed his long brown hair out of his eyes and smiled, the other cousins had all gone home now, back to their families and jobs.

"Nothing you can help with" Hilary took a sip of coffee she didn't need to be awake yet really, she was due to start work in five hours and had nothing to do all morning. She mentally cursed Kai and Hiro, both boys had always insisted on having her there for early morning practices, why she would never know, but now she always seemed to wake automatically at six every morning no matter how late she had gone to bed.

"Hilary come on, I always help you!"

"Like when you told Grandpa that me hanging out with beybladers was causing me to be a 'tomboy' or how about when you decided to tell him I wanted to be a doctor."

"Hilary Grandpa cares about you and he wants you to have a job that's safe"

"And being a doctor is so dangerous? Oh yes I forgot being a doctor is a lot more dangerous than being a...a grand prix race car driver was it?" Hilary's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she said this

"Hey I didn't crash!" he defended himself "and it was just a one time thing!"

"I just want to be a doctor Shane, I want to help people."

"You can help people without being a doctor, your teachers said that you could have a great career in law"

"Oh yay!" Hilary stuck her tongue out at Shane "perhaps I could help some nice rich person get a divorce, what a great way to give something back"

"You don't have to be a divorce lawyer, you could specialise in tax law or land law"

"Helping the rich again, look I'll become a lawyer if I can be a public defender helping the poor when they need me."

"That's not how it works Hil, not with grandpa."

"I know and that's why I'm not at the championship this year, I need to make some serious money for next year"

"What do you mean?" Shane gave her a worried look

"I mean that I will not become one of Grandpa's drones just doing what he tells me to, I'm saving up so that next year I can start to put myself through med school"

"You'll never save enough"

"Then I'll get another job, Shane can you honestly tell me you like being part of the family company, you're unable to do what you want, you're controlled by Grandpa. And don't get me wrong I love grandpa but I want to be my own person... Is it true that he gives you guys a house when you get married?"

"Yeah, his way of ensuring the family line, god knows why he wants more family but he does! He even has a thing that when you have your first child you get a sort of grant a payment to 'help you pay for what the baby needs' he loves his great grandchildren."

"Shane it feels so imprisoning sometimes, I'm sure he doesn't see it that way but that's how it feels. I want to do all this by myself"

"You always were brave and independent." Shane gave his cousin an admiring look he was thirty three and she was seventeen, already she seemed to be stronger than he was, more zealous than any other member of the family. No one in the Tatibana line had ever tried to leave the family company, there was no real need to. The business covered many aspects and there were many fields of work. Their grandfather Horatio Tatibana by keeping his sons and grandsons working in the most prominent positions had managed to keep the company united and exactly the way he wanted it.

"You know me Shane, I've wanted to be a doctor ever since I can remember, I took every first aid course that I could, when I was ten I already knew what all of the bones in the body were called, I studied degree level books when I was thirteen and understood them." Hilary sighed "I was always obsessed with studying, then I met the guys and well my studies kind of took a back seat but thanks to the many dangerous situations we got into I still managed to practice my first aid."

"It can be a dangerous job depending on what department you want to work in"

"I'd be in the emergency room, that's the kind of work I'd love"

"Well that's the worst place, Hilary do you know how many ER doctors get attacked?"

"Shane the ER in real life is nothing like the TV show ER, first off there are very few hot doctors"

"You're not taking this seriously"

"Shane I'm working over fifty hours per week this summer, trust me I'm serious about it"

"fifty hours a week?" Shane was shocked, "Hilary come on I'm sure Grandpa would pay for your fees if you asked him properly"

"You mean if I signed my soul over to him"

"Hilary!"

"You and I both know that Grandpa would only give me the money I need if I signed an agreement to work in some private capacity, connected somehow to the company,"

"That's not true!"

"Even Dante and Mac's dancing stuff is funded by Tatibana Inc."

"I guess you're right, even my racing contract was with a car sponsored by Tatibana Inc."

"And now you work where exactly?"

"In the motoring department at Tatibana Inc" he admitted, Hilary smiled sympathetically at him and took another drink from her mug.

"Shane I have to do this, the only person I'm really gonna hurt asides from Mariah right now, is grandpa and he'll get over it."

"As long as he doesn't have a heart attack over you working in the ER" Shane gave her a glimmer of a smile as he considered her future.

"If he does I'll know how to give him CPR until the ambulance arrives"

--

"Mariah?" Matilda was standing outside Mariah's room, she was knocking on the door and had a newspaper folded under her arm "Mariah please open up!"

The door opened and a sadly tearstained White Tiger stood at the door

"Hi Mattie" Mariah sniffed biting into a bar of chocolate, Matilda decided to let the use of her least favourite nickname slide.

"I am so sorry" Matilda gave the girl a hug "You should have told me, I would have been more careful"

"It could have been worse" Mariah sighed

"How?" Matilda asked as she handed Mariah the paper she had picked up that morning.

Mariah took the paper and looked at the front page, it was a picture of her and Lee, inside there were various grainy pictures of her and Ray.

"Good point" Mariah walked back into her room and pulled open her mini bar, she took out another bar of chocolate and began to eat. Matilda followed the girl in and was about to shut the door when Ming Ming and Julia came running in.

"Oh Mariah!" Julia exclaimed "how come you didn't tell us you were with Ray?"

Mariah finished her chocolate in record time and grabbed another bar

"Mariah put down the chocolate and walk away" Matilda joked

"You have so much to live for" Ming Ming said with a grin

"Not any more I don't!" Mariah threw herself face down into the pillow, the girls looked at each other and then sitting around her began to comfort her.

--

Voltaire sat in his cell, in front of him rested a half finished game of chess. He contemplated his next move, if he moved his knight and continued on the course he had intended, in a few moves it would leave his queen in a vulnerable position.

"Hey Hiwatari" the guard slammed open the door "your visitor is here."

Voltaire didn't bother to look up, he only ever had one visitor so he knew who was coming.

The guard moved aside and a tall man with long grey hair and ruby red eyes, the man wore a charcoal grey tailored suit. Voltaire smiled as his guest sat down thought their outfits were a similar colour they couldn't be more different, Voltaire Hiwatari wore a scruffy grey shirt and ripped trousers but he sometimes got the feeling that his clothes were only grey through their constant wear and tear. He couldn't even remember what colour the outfit had originally been.

"Hello Voltaire" the man ran a hand through his hair and looked at the board, checking that nothing had been moved

"Horatio Tatibana" Voltaire watched as his old friend started to consider the board "my move I think"

Voltaire's hand hovered over his knight for a moment and then picking up his rook he moved it across the board and then crossing his arms sat back smiling. Horatio leant forward and surveyed the game carefully

"How's it been?"

"Oh the usual, the food and bathroom facilities are quite below par but I'm almost used to it now. How's you family?"

"Growing" Horatio sounded proud "My grandson Dante's wife had a baby last week"

"Let me guess a boy" the two men laughed

"Yes another boy"

"It would seem that, the Tatibana curse has continued, very few female members."

"As yet only Hilary" Horatio nodded "and she has become the most independent of all my grandchildren"

"How so?"

"She wishes to become a doctor and when I didn't approve and threatened to cut her off she just didn't care. She's working as a waitress in order to pay for it all."

"You sound proud?" Voltaire was curious, he knew his friend liked the control he had over his family.

Horatio thought about it, why was he so proud that his granddaughter openly rejected all he offered her? In a way Hilary was stronger than the others, she had opinions on everything from beyblading to sweatshops. She voiced her opinions and refused to be told anything, not that she disobeyed the rules she was a good girl obeying her parents, but always seeming to get into things he didn't like. He had always taught her that beyblading was a waste of time, but now she was best friends with the worlds top players.

Hilary was also the smartest of the grandchildren with good grades at school, she had rarely gotten anything below a B. Not to mention being class president and student body president.

"Strangely enough I am proud of her, the boy's were all willing to take my money but she wants to make it on her own" Horatio sat back a strange smile on his face "I know she doesn't remember what we did to her as a child, but she has an independent streak. Rather like your grandson only a little less destructive. Anyway on with the game" He made his move, sliding his pawn forward

"A rather pointless move" Voltaire sneered at the board

"Not really, and actually I've been wondering about how it would be if we were to play this game in a different setting"

"A different setting?"

"Somewhere outdoors maybe"

"You know I'm not allowed to leave this cell unless I'm taken by a guard"

"What if that wasn't the case?"

"Meaning?" Voltaire moved forward and listened intently

"Meaning that the police are after Niall Barnes"

"Niall? What for?"

"He had some dealings with some pretty dodgy people and now the police need something on him. We can give them that something in return for getting you out of here"

"They can't want him that badly!"

"He's wanted in connection with three murders, one on a police officer. They'll give us anything if it means taking him down."

"So I could get out of here?"

"You and I could be sitting playing this game in your wonderful gardens by next week" Horatio sat back and looked his friend up and down "maybe with a slight change of wardrobe as well."

Ok so Hilary's grandfather and Kai's grandfather are friends, and Voltaire could be about to get out of jail.

I'm sure we all know that means trouble for the beybladers.

I'll update as soon as I can! Wish me luck with my exams!

Please R&R!