Alright, my lovelies, I am so happy to be here. I updated only yesterday but I got five great reviews.

I would like to thank Akemi Tatsuyoshi, AhhMyLife, Thirsty4MoreBloodAndWords13, Miss Random Person XD, and EbonyPrincess22 for reviewing this and being so nice. I love that you accepted that chapter so well...I had my sister (Tori is her name, haha!) proofread it and she said 'it's too dramatic.' But...well, that's literally how I envisioned it happening, so I couldn't change it. Maria would have killed me, since that's what she basically told me. And yes, she talks to me in my dreams. She gets quite annoying at times.

Oh, and I never did tell you. My real name is Mareah. It sounds exactly like Maria, it's just spelled weird. My mother's curse on me. That's where the inspiration for my character's name came from, haha.

So, this is the next arc of the chapter. It's really slow, kind of pointless, but it leads up to something you guys are certainly looking forward to: Romance! I'm happy because today I got to write some cute fluffiness between Maria and Kyoya. Teehee. It's much farther ahead of you guys, but still, this writer is happy to be writing. I think my record so far today is 28 pages of written material since I got up until now. That's a lot but when you type at 100 to 120 words a minute it's not that hard to do. It's one of my longer feats, though, that's for sure.

So, enough of my babbling! Here is chapter 21!

{L.A.X., Los Angeles, California}

I step into the terminal of the L.A. airport and sigh. I see my mother standing there with open arms as I walk from the mob of people. She embraces me and I smile at her. Tori's standing there behind my mother and gives me a look behind my mother's back. She's clearly not convinced that I came home just because of what she told me.

She never is. She knows I lied to her. But whatever the case, I'm glad to be home. I missed my mama anyway. I missed the family. The next couple of months are going to be a great getaway for me.

"Shall we go? I suppose you're tired and hungry." I nod.
"For sure! I'm starving!" I tell her, and they laugh as we walk out of the terminal.

I get home, eat some of mama's home cooking—the best thing that ever existed—and head straight to bed. I don't even want to think about Japan or Ouran or Kyoya. No one, nothing, not my past, just the emptiness of sleep and the comforting peace it brings.

Man, it's good to be home.

~*A Couple of Weeks Later*~

"Alright, hun, that one goes in the master bedroom." I nod to my mama as I haul the boxes into her bedroom. I'm helping to move them into their new home in Arizona. My father isn't here and hasn't been for the past couple of weeks, which I'm glad. This move has helped me take my mind off of what's going on back in Japan. I haven't even had time to think by myself, only do what my mama asks of me. Tori hasn't even interrogated me yet. But that's all going to change once things settle down, I just know it.

She's just way too perceptive for her own good.

I go to bed that night, glad to relax after a long day, but just as I'm teetering on the line between restfulness and sleep, my door opens. Tori clicks on my light and shuts the door behind her, a serious look on her face.

"Maria, we need to talk. Now. And you're not going to evade me." I sigh. I knew this was coming. In all honesty I wanted to talk to her about it anyway...keeping it locked up inside me is killing me. I have to tell someone, anyone, what I'm feeling and what I'm trying to figure out. And who better to tell than my sister?

I run my hand through my hair as she sits at the foot of my bed. She crosses her arms and stares at me, a serious look on her face. I shrug.

"What do you want to know?" I ask her. She frowns at me.
"Why did you come back early?" That's an easy one.
"Because you said I needed to come back early."
"No, what's the real reason you came back so early?"

Haha, nice one, Tori. Nice one. Way to be more specific.

"...Kyoya and I had a...bit of a problem." I whisper softly. She sighs.
"I thought as much. What happened? And start at the beginning." I nod.

I tell her everything. How I was assaulted at the beach...how Kyoya stopped me from jumping off of the cliff. How I got a hold of Kyoya's handkerchief and avoided telling him about my past. How my past was bothering me the rest of the time I was there. What happened between Kyoya and Haruhi and how that made me feel. How I ran out into the thunderstorm in the middle of the night. How I started to feel like I was going crazy...the things that were coming back to haunt me. How Kyoya decided to stupidly toy with my feelings, and how I lashed out at him because of it. How I melodramatically blew out of proportion all of the things that I felt by lashing out at him, because I decided in my mind at that moment—out of ignorance—that he was no better than the guy in my past. How I felt so much regret and anger...how hurt I felt. How much I realized I was connected with Kyoya.

I told her absolutely everything. I'm crying by this point, feeling so guilty. I just want to run back and apologize, but my ego tells me no. Besides, what could I have gained anyway? It's not like things would have been serious even if I had come back and admitted how I felt. Nothing would have happened anyway.

She slaps me afterward. I look at her in shock. What did she do that for?

"Man, you really are an idiot!" Is the first thing that comes out of her mouth. I stroke my cheek as she continues.

"You really are an idiot, you are! I can't even believe we're related! How could you do that? You know how upset you get when things in your mind go haywire. You may be one of the most calm and composed people I know, but when your emotions get in the way you go crazy! You know this, yet you brought on more drama and more stupidity for yourself. Stop being a damn drama queen!"

I continue to stare at her. She's insulting me, but this time...I have nothing to say back.

"This guy likes you, and you like him! He's just a guy, Maria. He's not the end all and be all. Yeah, you were freaked out because you felt something romantic for the first time in a long time. I get it, alright? But really, did you really feel the need to get so violently angry with Kyoya? I mean, come on, he may be really irritating, but the guy is rational if nothing else. You could have calmly told him that you didn't like what he was doing. As for your past, well, he was just curious. He cares about you, Maria. When are you going to believe me when I tell you something? Why do you always have to be so stubborn? Just because you like someone doesn't mean you have to freak out! Chill out, okay?"

"Tori, I...I was scared. I didn't—"
"Don't make excuses! I don't want to hear them! When we get back to Japan you are going to apologize and tell him the truth, got it? Just grow up, man up, and deal with your problems! If he's sincere then he'll wait until you're ready to tell him why you're so afraid of being romantic with guys. You need to take a chill pill. You always were too much of a drama queen."

I'm in shock for a moment, and then I smile. Yeah, it's going to take me some time before I can legitimately say that I'm okay, but I guess...I guess it's not as bad as I made it out to be. We'll have to see how the rest of the summer goes. I have to give myself some time to let what she's said sink in. She's my sister, and she's only 15...but she's certainly much more mature than I am right now.

Only time will allow me to think everything through and come to a much more mature conclusion. Tori's right. I'm not usually like this...only when it's come to boys. I've only ever been a drama queen over boys. I need to just...tear myself away from the situation for a while and come back when I've settled down and forgotten about it. I need to think it through.

I just need to forget about it and enjoy the summer. I'll fix it when I go back to school, or whenever I see Kyoya next. I have to make sure this is really how I feel, though. I can't just assume I like him just because I got jealous. I have to really mean it, which means I have to just...forget about it.

Forget about it, then think about it. That seems to be the theme. Hopefully good things can come from this...temporary lapse of judgment on my part, once it's all fixed.

It ended up being so short. But that's the end! I think the next chapter is all filler, so I may upload it anyway without waiting for some reviews...we'll see if I do it or whether I get lazy.

Thank you all so much for the support and I'm glad you're enjoying this story. Keep the feedback (good or bad) coming! I love hearing it!

Much love!

~B-chan