Hello! I'm back! Yet again for another chapter, I had an interesting plot ready for this, and I just couldn't wait to come to this. It's one of those things that can (amazingly) stay in my head for a VERY long time! Yay! Anyway, here's the next chapter! Under The Mask! It's longer then most of the chapters. I wanted to make it long, cause in the next chapter something's going to happen!

Disclaimer: Bakugan belong me to not. (?)

-XxXxXxX- Mari's POV

Nothingness…I felt like I was floating on air…this was a dream it had to be…there was no way I could feel so free in my life…absolutely no way…I was in a fancy ballroom, wearing an elegant white gown. I felt a mask cover my face.

The room was empty as I looked around until, I saw someone. A man. He was dressed in an expensive black tux. He wore a black and red mask that looked as if it was made of rose petals. He extended a hand to me…but the vision faded away as I felt myself returning to consciousness.

I moaned and rolled over on my bed, I could barely keep my eyes opened since I cried so much last night. I remember that last time I cried like that it was because my brother died…I remembered that so well. It was burned into my mind.

I rolled again and tumbled off the bed.

"AH!" I screamed and my head hit the nightstand in a loud 'THUD!'

"Eh…Mari? A-are you okay?" Alice asked me groggily as she looked down at me, still half asleep.

"Ow." I said in a monotone.

"Why all the noise? This is early even for you." Alice groaned and walked into our kitchen to grab a glass of milk, what she normally did when she woke up.

"I just had a dream. I fell asleep late, but I guess sleep won't do me any good with the situation I got myself into." I sighed and got off the floor. The black tank top and gray baggy sweats I wore to sleep were wrinkled I sighed…I always got myself into awkward positions when I slept, I guess this night was worse…Alice remained silence after I said that. I guess she didn't want to remind me of it.

"Sorry about waking you up Alice." I told her. She seemed a bit more relaxed after that.

"It's alright. Even if you woke me up at 5am, I know you didn't mean to." She smiled at me.

I groaned, it was so early, but the night made me feel more relaxed then I'd have been since last night. I sighed and thought of my dream…that boy…why did I dream of that though? I never paid much attention to my dreams, but this one was different, it burned in my mind and wouldn't step replaying, over and over again.

"What was your dream about?" Alice asked as she sat on her bed across from mine.

"I was in a ball gown, and I had a mask on, in a huge ballroom, but there weren't any people, only me…then I saw this boy who was wearing a tux, he reached his hand out to me like he wanted to dance with me or something, and that's all before I woke up. The weird thing is that I felt so free, so relaxed." I sighed.

Alice giggled. She seemed to be more and more relaxed and comfortable after that.

"Mari…you need to relax more." Alice told me. "I'm sure that dream meant something."

I sighed…after a morning of a nice long breakfast in our dorm we walked to class; I was ready to falls asleep at any moment.

"M-Mari…you look…tired…are you alright?" Dan asked me as me and Alice walked to the cherry blossom tree where we ate lunch.

I nodded and sat down, too tired to make a snappy comment at Dan…I sighed and managed to wrestle the strength to climb into the tree so that I could lay there…the sun was blocked by the flowers, but something ruined my view, Ace's face. Glancing curiously down onto my own.

"KYAH!" I screamed and almost fell of the tree, if Ace hadn't grabbed me in time.

"Weird…normally you would have kicked me by now…" Ace said. But he propped me back up onto the tree. I didn't face him instead I covered my eyes with my arm pretending to cover myself from the shade.

"Ugh…what do you want? I'm tired…" I sighed.

"HA! YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T TIRED!" Dan shouted at me, I heard Shun hit him with a very reassuring 'thump'.

"An invitation." He said and slid it into my other hand.

"Another party already?" I asked as I opened the invitation. But it was in a fancy envelope the delicate paper with golden swirls written in calligraphy. I opened it.

"It's not a party really…my dad's hosting a ball. He asked me to invite some of my friends. He said 'I especially want Mari Mizumi to attend, if you know her could you give this invitation to her?'" he said quoting his dad, my name was unscripted with pure black ink, it was so beautiful.

I stared at it blankly.

"It's more like a masquerade ball, fancy dresses, masks. Alice, Dan, and Shun came last year, apparently my father finds you interesting." He said to me, I still couldn't face him so I looked at all the information. "He said that he's sending you a dress and a mask…but I bet you just want to modify your clothes."

How could he act so nonchalant with me, I hit him really hard yesterday, I swear I saw blood from his nose, and I punched the back of his head. I yelled at him…and I finally realized that I liked him…Ace was really nice to me, and he was really cute too.

I cried myself to sleep because of him…now he was asking me to go to some fancy party? I doubt I'd know the first thing to do there.

"Are you coming Mari? It was so much fun last year." Alice told me.

"I guess I have nothing better to do…" I sighed.

"There'll be a limo waiting for you and Alice then." Ace told me and jumped from the tree seeing that I wanted to be left alone. I couldn't help feeling guilty…after what I did to him, and he was going on like that never happened…great now I was guilty AND tired…

I sighed, staring at the cherry blossoms while tuning out everything else, sighing contently. At least the flowers listened to me.

At the end of the day I was ready to throw myself off a cliff.

"If you don't want to feel guilty, then ask him yourself!" Alice said. "If Ace really is your friend then it won't be such a big deal to him!"

"I can't!" I almost screamed. "Sorry…I feel frustrated…"

"It's alright Mari…" Alice said. "I know it's hard on you."

A knocking on the door snapped us both into reality. Alice went to get the door and returned with a package wrapped in fancy paper.

"It must be your dress. Ace did say that his dad would cover that for you." She said as I tore it open, not caring about the expensive paper.

I never really cared about dresses or anything; I don't even think I owned one…but when I opened shock covered my face, and my body felt numb, a long gorgeous white gown…the exact same one I was wearing in my dream, my mask made it look like a layer of white feathers was covering my face.

"It's so pretty, but it's not like the black clothing you normally wear is it?" Alice asked taking into consideration my shocked face.

"Same dress…" I stuttered.

"Is something wrong Mari?" She asked me.

"The exact same dress as the one in my dream…" I stammered.

"WHOA! Really?" Alice asked me.

I just nodded. She pulled out a pair of white shoes, and long white gloves.

"I never expected that, I guess your dream did mean something." She giggled. "It's cute."

"Yeah…it is really nice." I said, stroking the silk.

"Hey there's a note too." Alice said and gave it to me I read out loud.

"Dear Mari, this dress is a token of my appreciation for giving us so much inspiration from your work. Please wear this to the masquerade ball. We look forward to seeing you there."

"Ace's dad must really like you. His dad donates double what most of our family donate." Alice giggled. "Ace's dad is probably going to make him wear something super fancy too."

I sighed. What had I gotten myself into?

-XxXxXxX- Ace's POV

God, I hated my dad's ball, but he made me come to show off his son, I never had anything against my dad, I just wish he wouldn't show off some times. I also knew that he used Mari's work to help his scientists with research on the human brain. He really seemed to want to met her what with the fact he himself made a personal invitation.

"Ace, you're fidgeting, are you cool?" Shun asked me

"The tux is uncomfortable." I said.

"Think about it this way. You get to see Mari in a dress she didn't chose." Shun told me, and my mind immediately turned to the possibilities.

"I won't know which on she is then." I said, sliding on my mask.

"Then just take a random pick." Shun suggested. "Didn't you say that you could tell Mari from anyone in the crowd?"

"You know that was a joke and now your just using it to piss me off." I told him.

"Whatever…I don't' really care. I'm only going to dance with Alice." He said.

As we both walked out we met Dan outside. He was dressed up nicely, the only reason he came was to eat. My dad always had a lot of cool foods laid out; he just sat there and ate for most of the party.

"I wanna get this over with already!" I growled and got into the limo.

On the whole way there, Shun was pissing me off by saying how I should tell Mari that I sent her to rose and stuff, while Dan was shouting things to agree with him. It ended with me kicking Dan and Shun finally shutting up when we got to my house.

The ride had been long, and so not worth what was happening to me.

-XxXxXxX- Mari's POV

The limo was cool.

I liked it.

Alice looked pretty.

I'm just saying random things.

As soon as I got to the party someone pulled me to the side. A butler? Who still had one of those, that was so Victorian era. He took me to a room inside the house. Inside a man with pale blue hair like Ace stood in a tux, he was taller then Ace, and his gray eyes didn't ripple like Ace's. But he looked a lot like him. Around him I recognized some of the worlds most famous physiologists.

"Mr. Kaname. I have brought Mrs. Mizumi as you asked me to." The butler said. (Still confused by that) He turned from his conversation and smiled. It reminded me of Ace, but then again I think that's his dad…

"Mari, it's so nice to met you." He told me.

The more I thought about Ace the guiltier I felt like I was ready to faint. So I smiled.

"Me too." I managed.

"I'm Ace's father. Cain Kaname." He told me. He then turned to the others in the room. "Gentlemen, this is Mari."

"So this is the prodigy you're telling us about?" One of them asked. Seriously? Was it cause I was a girl? Was it cause I was only 19?

"I've seen her work it is fairly high end for one so young." Another noted looking at a sheet of paper, probably a few of my notes.

"I've been funding her, and my son also agrees that she is a very interesting person." He said to them.

Seriously? Ace said that. That I believed.

"However didn't your very same son beat her in the Cross school wide exam?" The first one said again.

I finally reached the courage to speak up, and to my amazement, it was clear, and the same cold logical tone I used to speak in.

"Wasn't that only for writing, reading, and math? Just like the EQAO? We're studying two different things, if we'd been studying physiology; I have no doubt in my mind that he would have ranked under me. Vice versa if we'd been studying what Ace is studying." I said. "It was boring. I can't do things wholeheartedly if I find it boring. Aren't people with sharp minds all like that?"

They seemed to be at a lose for words.

"Mari…why don't you take some time to enjoy yourself?" Ace's dad asked me, and led me outside, he also was at a lose for words.

-XxXxXxX- Ace's POV

A few minutes into the party I saw a girl come out of my dad's room, he was having some people over…what could she have been in there for? She looked really small, a petit figure. She had long blond hair that fell down to her waist, it was straightened out and it looked like silk, she was wearing a flowing white dress with light frills, a v-neck, and a white wrap. Her mask was like white feathers were covering her face. She looked really cute, and she reminded me of Mari. Before I knew I has willed myself to approach her.

Upon closer inspection, she looked about my age, and was almost the same height as Mari.

She seemed to take a small step back as she saw me. Her heels made a small click as they hit the ground.

What was I doing?

I extended my hand to her.

"W-would you like to dance?"

-XxXxXxX- Mari's POV

As I exited the room a boy came up to me. To my utter shock he looked exactly as the one that had been in my dream. He was wearing an expensive tux, he was tall, and lean. His mask was red and black and seemed to be made of flower petals.

I took a small step back in shock.

He seemed unsure of himself.

What was going on?

Was my dream coming true?

He extended his hand to me, I looked at him.

"W-would you like to dance?" He asked me. I didn't want o be rude and say no, as this wasn't like one of Ace's parties.

"I don't see the harm." I told him, unsure of myself.

I took his hand, and he squeezed it gently. He reminded me of Ace. He was polite and gentle with me. It was a waltz; it had to be a waltz…luckily though I'd learned how to dance the waltz before, I didn't want to step on his feet, I tried my best to be graceful…but it was harder then it looked in these heels.

But he didn't seem to care; he simply went on to the next move if I screwed up.

"Are you not used to dancing like this?" He asked me.

"N-no…" I admitted, a light smile played on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't know." He told me.

"I-it's fine." I stuttered, I couldn't help myself, how much he reminded me of Ace made my heart flutter.

After the dance, I noted how close we were to the garden, there was a magnificent fountain there, it was to pretty and the water glistened against the moonlight.

"Would you like to go see?" He asked me.

"Uh…sure…" I said, he brought me to the garden, and I sat down on the rim of the fountain, careful not to fall in and he sat down next to me…

What was I doing?

-XxXxXxX- Ace's POV

What was I doing?

I didn't even know who this girl was, she seemed to be nervous when she was dancing, but she was graceful, even in those heels of hers.

As we sat at the fountain in silence, she seemed to be staring at the moon, she was really cute, I wonder what she looked like under the mask. I couldn't help myself. I knew what I asked was rude but…

"I don't mean to be rude, but can I see what's under the mask?" I asked her.

She turned to look at me.

She waited a little bit like she was thinking. Then she raised her hands to her mask and took it off, a light snap from when the string came undone from her hair. A pair of emerald green eyes that I knew all too well looked at me.

I came face to face with someone I didn't expect.

Mari.

Sorry it's so long, I couldn't help it. I put a lot more effort into this chapter, because it more my forte. Drama. I can't wait to do the next chapter, you can expect another long one (Probably not as long as this) with a lot of AcexMari. I can't wait to write it up. It'll probably be up really soon!

-Death Loves Chocolate