Author's Note: Hello all! In the spirit of Christmas, and since I'm doing this for all my other stories, I'll be updating on both Christmas Eve and Christmas as a gift to my readers. You get two chapters each day, so I hope you like them!

Le Me: I got all your reviews this time! =D First, thank you for reviewing every chapter! I appreciate it! -huggles- Second, sorry for the length of chapter nine. It was a bit too short for even my writing. And thank you for the way you put chapter ten. That was very sweet of you! Now, I hope four chapters over two days is a good enough Christmas gift for you! Thank you for all the positive reviews, darling, and I hope you continue to enjoy my works!
Elf10444: Thank you darling! I'm glad you're still enjoying the story. ^^


Chapter Eleven:
Confused

We were about to kiss... Then we were hugging. There was that one of me and him playing a game. There was Twister with the gang... There were sleepover pictures... Another one of me in his arms, both asleep. Here was the one where I had my hands in his brown hair...

Then there was the one. We were kissing in a beautiful setting...

It was amazing...

Now there He is. There was the one of me on his back, him dressed as a vampire on Halloween. There we were with me pinned against a tree and him smirking down at me adorably. There was one of me sitting between his legs with his back against a tree, staring up. Here was one where my chest was against the back of his head and we were playing video games, screaming at the screen.

And then there was that one where my legs were around his waist and he held me as close as possible. We were kissing so sweetly and romantically in the sunset that it was almost too good to be true.

I slid the photo album back in its place and flopped backwards upon the couch, covering my face with a pillow.

"RRRRRRR!" The object did wonders to muffle the frustrations spewing into in, despite being in the form of irate screams.

The pillow was pulled from me, my arm sprawled across my eyes, and I knew Serenity was staring down at me.

"Guy troubles?"

"Yeah." I did not dare lie to her. Though she had turned into a softer and sweeter person, she could still get down and dirty with her findings and could tell me what I had for breakfast a month and two days ago if asked. "I just have feelings I can't control, you know?"

Amazingly, she nodded, "I hate problems I can't solve. It's frustrating and makes me want to scream."

I handed her the pillow and she laughed out loud. I knew Serenity would never use it, but-

"RRRRRRR!" My eyes flew open and I saw her moving the pillow from her face, both of us beaming ecstatically.

"Feel better?"

"I like your methods." She picked my feet up and flopped down, the pillow covering her lap before my heels were set on it. "Have you opened all your gifts?"

"No, not quite."

Three days after my birthday and I was still too lazy to unwrap all of them. I had dragged all the gifts in the room and opened a fair amount, at least. Mainly it was chocolate, money, love notes, stuffed animals, and jewelry, depending on the social class of the attendants of Harrix School for Girls and Boys.

"Here, let's open up the rest so we can get everything cleaned." She meant the fact that our room was stocked with all types of different things, literally creating a clutter.

Ryo had gotten me a bouquet of daisies. It was amazingly sweet, plus a small stuffed animal to go with it. I had placed the flowers in a vase, along with various other flowers from people spread about the room, and put the stuffed bear with the large one in the corner. The large one had a tennis outfit on and was the oldest I had ever kept.

Wonder who gave it to me? I am sure you could remember it if you tried... Kirihara had been one hell of a best friend in Japan, after all.

"Fine," I sat up and she helped me rip open about a good twenty more gifts. The same usual things, every now and then I got something nonconforming, but it was rare.

"Hey, look at this." She pulled out a video game. "It's an internet compatible joint game."

"Dude, sweet!" I snatched it and allowed her to open the rest while I surveyed the box. "It says it's for the PS3. Glad we have one! Anyways, there's a loop-hole though. It seems that I can only play against characters that were programmed into the game, or against players when I know their serial number. Otherwise I have to just play alone."

"There's a number here," she handed me the silver bag it came in and I saw the serial number in a card on it, reading 'From: Secret Admirer'.

"Hmm, now I'm interested." I ran my hand across it. It was some type of adventurous game that looked pretty interesting. "Hey Serenity?"

"Go ahead." She watched as I leapt over the coffee table and started plugging up the things for the PS3. I grabbed the wireless controller after everything was set up and conformed into the bean bag on the floor right in front of the coffee table. "When are we practicing again?"

"Not until Halloween is done and over with. I still have to help President Anthony by being the prize for a deal I made him. He asked if I would go on a mock-date with whoever raised the most money from sponsors. Ty agreed to go on one too with the winning girl. And plus, Aylin and I have to dress up in whatever costume their fan club votes on for the festival."

"I've heard about that from Ty. He's told me Vance went undercover in the fan club and found out what you have to wear. It won't be flattering, but he wouldn't tell me more than that," she sighed. "Tennis and school are tying in to our other things even more now."

"Yeah." I had not heard her, honestly. The game was on. "Look! Look! I can design my own character! It's like Skyrim!"

"Oh, I want to help." She sat on the bean bag next to me, grinning. "It actually does remind me of a generic, awkward version of the Elder Scrolls series."

"Fine," I flipped through hair styles. "I'm making her in Japanese clothes. This hairstyle with this hair color."

"And have the light blue tips." She pointed towards the screen and what she meant.

I added it without hesitation, "And this outfit! What colors?"

"Black and red. Make the designs white."

"Weapons? Hmm, how about ninja stuff?"

"Yes, but especially have a katana with the kunai and shuriken."

"Definitely!" I smirked, completing the girl's ensemble. She was tall, thin, slightly muscular, and looked nothing at all like her creator.

And I had named her Keina...

"I'll leave you to play. I think I'll go and see how the play practice is going with Ty and them," she stood. "I might want to play that some time. Tell me if it's any good when I get back."

"'Kay," I waved over my shoulder. "Glomp Ryo for me!"

"Possibly," she closed the door behind her, though not before I caught her final murmur of, "Doubtfully."

"Now let's get this put in," I pulled up a screen while reading the instructions and programmed the number in. Immediately it showed the guy- I hoped it was a guy- was online, but it would not show me where since he was playing invisible. "Oh well." I entered the free-range story mode I wanted to play, picking the title Revenge [Normal Mode].

I shrugged, letting it run through the introduction of the village I lived in. The basic storyline was how my village was destroyed, burned, and each person maimed horribly, showing every gruesome graphic in anime-style, and told me of my mission: seek revenge. To do so, I had information I had to gather to find out the whereabouts to get to the person who ordered my family's death and killed my village. But in the process of getting information, I had little odd missions to go on, such as slaying monsters or things like that I had to do. This was a long game just by the manual.

"Good, now I have some reason to deny fan boys for my free time," I laughed evilly, grabbing some tea and getting comfortable. "Let's get started!"

Two hours later, I was completely involved in my game. It had my attention and my eyes were nearly glued to the screen with how large they were and how deeply focused I was into it.

I felt something weird was going to happen soon, but I let it slide. I was busy commanding my character to continue about her business.

Keina walked into a tea house and sat down. She was low on health after walking halfway through a forest called the Forest of Terror. Her clothing was slightly torn and there was no way of getting it repaired until she came across someone who would sell her new clothing. It was okay for her to walk around like this, but she could get sick easier and attackers had more likely chances of tearing actual flesh.

She ordered some tea and dumplings to eat so her body could finally rejuvenate and be at maximum health again. Random NPCs were in there, some talking, some alone. And then there was someone sitting in the corner. She noticed the red eyes watching her every move and instantly thought it to be a bad guy.

She quickly downed the food and slid out of the tea house to continue on her mission. Someone was gaining on her, though. Soon, a person leapt from the trees and she rolled out of the way. A guy with spiky black hair and red eyes, shirtless with a large sword, stood there. He had a tattoo across his exposed chest and seemed to be a veteran of the game.

I pulled up a wireless keyboard that was attached to the PS3, hacking away at it.

Keina: Who are you and what do you want?

Shi: I'm Shi. I gave you the game, Kimmy.

I blinked, gaping openly at the screen before a little twitch caught my eyebrow. Two hours and I finally found him?! Ridiculous!

Keina: Thank you very much for it. I'm addicted. Shi can't be your real name. Who are you?

Shi: Tsk, tsk. Not telling. His character smirked, as ironic as that was.

Keina: Fine, we'll play that way. I'll figure you out eventually! You just wait! Now I ask again... what do you want?

Shi: Everyone needs a traveling partner or a team in this game. You're the only person on my list so you make much more sense for a partner then a simulated game character.

Keina: You have a point, so why not! =] What game mode you have?

Shi: Revenge on Normal.

Keina: So do I. You have any leads?

Shi: Let's assess what we have thus far, shall we?

Keina: Let's!


:{On The Line}:

"Kimmy, I'm back." Serenity entered the room and saw me sleeping on the bean bag, Shi watching over Keina as the night fell and both of us had fallen asleep.

I felt someone brushing hair from my face and then lips lightly touching mine. I woke to see Ryo squatting next to the bean bag, smiling slightly.

"You're going to hurt your neck sleeping there, beautiful," he chuckled as I nodded with a yawn. I snatched up the keyboard, meaning to tell my game-companion farewell.

Keina: Shi, I'm off to sleep. We have that festival tomorrow. Let's get on tomorrow morning huh?

Shi: How's 11?

Keina: T_T Too early. How about 11:30 then?

Shi: 11:30 it is. Shut your game off now so we both leave off at the same time.

Keina: Kay... Night. Thanks for the game.

Shi: Night.

I clicked the game off and sprawled on the couch, my stomach facing down with one leg off of it.

"Up," Ryo prodded my side gently. "I haven't got to spend much time with you. Up, up."

"Babe, I'm so tired. What time is it?"

"Midnight. They had a late practice session. Mainly Paige and I kept making them show the final skit over and over. They had many, many flaws!" Serenity added hastily, trying to avoid the cross look she received from Ryo.

"How many times?"

"Fifteen," Ryo rubbed his lips, kissing me quickly and repeatedly. "Sixteen kisses to get rid of fifteen from Ty."

"Ah, did Ryo feel less manly?" I laughed, then yawned loudly.

"Very," he grumbled to himself. "What was that game?"

"Oh just some gift someone gave me for my birthday," I nuzzled into the couch cushions. "Mmm, this couch is so comfortable."

"I'll just come by tomorrow." He was still silently laughing. "I'm sorry I came so late."

"No, I haven't been able to spend hardly any time with you between our schedules." I rolled around and he leaned over me, a hand planted on the side of the couch as he kissed me hard. I kissed back before I heard Serenity cough to catch our attention. We broke apart, completely forgetting the dark-haired girl was still in the room.

"Tomorrow it is my dear." He gave a peck before standing tall and adjusting his glasses. Ryo headed out of our room and lightly closed the door behind him.

"Ugh, tomorrow I have to be up to try and weasel who Shi is out of him again," I dragged myself off the couch and up the little ladder to my bed. "Oh man, the couch doesn't even compare to this!"

"Good night Kimmy."

"Nighty night Serenity. Get me up around eleven would you?"

"Yes, I will. Thank God we don't have school tomorrow. I love holidays. It's a three day weekend in honor of the festival."

"Thankfully..." I did not remember any more of that conversation as I drifted into dream land.