Please forgive me! I know I've delayed. Thing is… I was with a guy for a month and well.. when it was time to update we broke up so it's very hard -believe me- to write love stories when your love life is not good at all.

Thank you for all your support and all your reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's extra long for you :) and next one is coming soon!

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Last Vacation

Chapter 21: Unexpected Feelings

"And the winner is… -shouted DJ, waiting for the white smoke that was on the dish to disappear- Kane!!" the people cheered, it was obvious who was going to win.

However the applauses soon faded, because of another voice shouting in one of the sides. "YOU HAVE TO LET ME DO IT! Listen, hey listen Garland, who's the leader of the team huh? It's me, ME! so? I want to fight! I won't fail, Garland, I will win against any of them!"

"You have never fight Jade!"

"Neither YOU did! What makes you think you're better than me huh??"

"Tyson, please control your temper. I will fight. If I come to a tie, what won't happen, because it's obvious that I will win against a girl, you go and win the next battle. But Tyson… come on guy think it this way, you have to hold on until our round against Kai or Brooklyn's team, those are the best and if you hurt yourself in this battle… we need you for the finals."

"OKAY! -the navy haired said, sitting back on the bench.- but then don't come crying to me when you lose it." Then he lowered his voice, and mumbled, "yeah as if he's gonna lose it… anyway you know Jade's stronger than what you're thinking…"

Tala smiled in the place where he was sitting, right next to Kai. they both knew what the result of the battle was going to be, but non of them cared at all. Or at least Kai didn't, because Tala knew that those unexpressive, crimson eyes revealed an urge of battling the best team, something that he had never seen so clear in his friend's facial features. It didn't matter who was in which team, the only thing that was in Kai's mind was that he was going to take his team to the top, friendly or not.

Besides, Tala watched how the redhead girl advanced with such determination to the dish, determination that resembled his own leader's expressions. He shook his head and smiled to himself. He couldn't keep his eyes away from her figure, sometimes he felt a kind of attraction towards her that he had never felt before, he needed to hold her tight, to kiss her lips… and sometimes, to have her.

For a minute he imagined himself holding her slim waist close to his own, pulling away her cloth and untying her hair, which was usually up in a ponytail. Kissing her neck and descending to her chest, immersed in some kind of feeling that was so strong that maybe could be called love. He let out a long and deep sigh, and opened his eyes.

Cold and incommunicative eyes stared at him awkwardly. Kai didn't need to ask "what were you thinking?". Tala got the message before his friend opened his mouth to say a word. The redhead felt how a pinkish and, in his opinion, out of place tone colored his cheeks. He shuddered trying to seem indifferent, but Kai returned his eyes to the dish without paying attention to him.

When Tala's mind came to Earth, he focused (or at least tried to focus) on the battle. Jade, unsurprisingly, was advancing easily through the match, besides, Garland was facing some difficulties.

"Many of you underestimate me. Just because I'm a girl. But you know what? I was brought up between boys, I was trained in a boy's school and apart from that I have four brothers."

"Who cares? After all you're a girl, a weak, frail, and pathetic girl." He stated, smirking still.

Jade frowns. "And do you say the same if a girl kicks your ass?" many people in the room gasped at this comment, including Mr. Dickenson. However those who knew the girl, also knew that the battle was coming to an end. A favorable end for the Inner Strength team.

Effectively, Jade's blade took a great amount of strength from the nowhere and attacked Garland's, who, shocked by the fire that lit her green eyes in that moment, couldn't change to defend mode and smashed against hers.

A cloud of grey and black smoke covered once again the dish, she smirked and turned around, but Garland repeated her movements. Actually, both bladers were acting as if they believed themselves winners, but, who was the real winner?

DJ answered the question as soon as the smoke disappeared. "WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!! APPLAUSES TO THE (best I've ever known) GIRL, JADE!!!"

She couldn't suppress a smile that showed relief, glory and pride in her lips. Tala stared at her and forgot about everything else. That smile fitted perfectly, it was the best picture of her he could have ever seen.

"THE WINNER OF THE MATCH ARE THE INNER STRENGTH TEAM!! THE HAPPY BLADERS ARE OUT!!! Good luck to the girls, and au revoir to the boys!!"

"WHAT?!" Tyson jumped from his seat, where he had been sitting and almost sleeping through the whole battle.

Garland, who was sitting next to him with an unpleasant face, replied coldly, "We lost the match, idiot. We are out of the tournament kid."

"HEY HEY! Don't call me that! I didn't fight! I TOLD YOU, I TOLD YOU!!! See? Everything's your fault: you didn't let me fight, and you lost your match." Tyson grabbed his belongings that were on the floor and walked away.

"Okay… he can't always be the winner can he?" reasoned Ozuma. But it was too late, Tyson was already mad with all of them.

On the other side of the room, Mariah and Hilary cried while they hugged and laughed, something that, from Kai's point of view, was physically impossible. He walked towards his girlfriend and rounded her waist when Mariah got apart from her.

Tala watched Jade hugging one of her friends for the first time. Julia gave her a warm embrace, while Jade just rounded her with her strong arms and smiled. Tala waited, but suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned round. "Bryan?"

"How do you do it, Tala? She's falling in love with her, and I can't even make Julia look at me for a second. You and Tala have got a girl around, I only get the fans and I don't want them around.."

Tala laughed slightly, almost inaudible laugh that he could hide with a cough. "Well… you… why don't you go and take her around? Maybe you get a moment and kiss her.."

"What? Kai and Hilary were in the same team once ago, you know Jade from before, I've met Julia at the beginning of the month! I don't know how to go and talk to her, what I should talk about with her, how… how I should behave!"

Tala couldn't help laughing again.

"Are you making fun of me? You know my secret Tala, you know why I tell you this. So… do you get it or not?"

Tala paused for a second. Then he realized what Bryan was talking about. "Oh. I have just remembered about that. umm… little problem if you want my opinion. Why don't you ask Spence to give you some tips on how to go about it?"

"Don't! I trusted YOU with this, if I tell it to anyone else they might find out that… well that, and what's worse, SHE might find out about it too!"

"It's not that bad. Maybe she didn't k--" Bryan interrupted him pushing his shoulder lightly. Tala frowned and turned around, there were Jade and Julia was with her.

"Hey girls. Nice match. Congratulations." Said Tala, smiling to Jade.

"Thanks Tala.- She said, walking towards him and rounding his neck with her arms. - I didn't trust us to be sincere. Actually, the facts that Tyson wasn't in the battle and our victory, were a pair of satisfying surprises. Why don't we go and celebrate?"

"Great idea! I'm gonna ask the girls if they wanna come too…- but Julia paused when she noticed that both Hilary and Mariah were immersed in their own -and boyfriends- worlds.- okay why don't we go us four?"

Tala smiled at her sentence, when he noticed the other girl's attitude. "Fine for me"

"Okay.." agreed Bryan, trying to sound indifferent. They left the hotel at quarter past three, walking. When they were about two blocks from the building Jade pulled out of her pockets some leaflets she had grabbed from the hotel reception table. "Hey look Tal. This sounds interesting." She said, hanging him the papers.

"Um.. what… dancing? A dancing party? Come on you know I don't like parties and…" but he stopped when he noticed Jade's glare. "You'll have to do better than a sad-puppy face to get me in."

Julia smiled. She was walking between Jade and Bryan, who was more silent than a stone.

"What if I convince the cold-and-not-emotional guys in your team to go? Will you?"

Tala raised an eyebrow. "You think you'll convince the cold-and-not-emotional Kai Hiwatari to go to a dancing party?"

"Well he has a girlfriend huh?"

"You won't do it. But if by chance you do, you have me." Tala said, and Jade rounded his neck with her arms. Bryan smiled to himself and stared at the floor, while Julia laughed with a soft laugh that was like music to the Russian's ears.

They walked for about ten minutes, then Julia grabbed Jade's arm and they ran together to the front, sitting ahead on the san, facing the sea.

Tala smiled and got closer to Bryan. "Take the chance."

"T-"

"No "T", no "But", no nothing. If you really want her, kiss her when I take Jade in some minutes. It's six days and the holidays are over."

"…fine. I do want her… but…"

"Just follow your instinct! We can all learn new things!"

"Not that sort of things… it's… maybe she…"

"She will nothing. Come on let's get them. We sit down and in a while I'll take Jade with me okay?"

"…fine.." They walked to where the girls were sitting and Tala put his hands on Jade's shoulders, who smiled at him as he sat down next to her. Bryan took a seat too, and stared blindly at the horizon. He was trying hard to ignore the will inside of him, that pushed hard to go out.

…twenty minutes after…

Jade sat down on the grass, her back against a tree. Tala sat in front of her, resting his back on her chest. She rounded his neck with her arms and caressed his shoulders. She kissed his head and smiled to herself.

"You wanted to leave them alone right?"

"Aha.. Bryan really likes her… but there's something that stops him each time he has a possible opportunity.."

"What's that?"

"Umm… Bryan… never kissed any girl… and he know Julia did, he saw her kissing a guy on a tourney last year…"

"Yeah actually… she has had two boyfriends and has kissed many guys but… I don't see where's the problem in that?"

"Bryan's afraid she'll reject him… I mean… he thinks he doesn't 'know' how to kiss… or stuff like that…"

"You don't… you don't need to know how to kiss… it's… it's all instinct… if you love the person then the kiss comes along, it's just a consequence of a feeling, not a beginning of something itself, but the consequence of both person's desire… well that's … that's what I think.."

Tala smiled, and reached Jade's cheek with his hand. Turning his own head round, he pressed his lips against hers, soon pushing with his tongue and parting her lips. She opened her mouth and kissed back, running her hands through his back and shoulders.

"Jade…" he started, when they parted apart. She smiled and stared into the light blue eyes that captivated all her emotions.

"…yes?" she answered, almost inaudible voice after a long silence. Then he turned around and faced her, holding her small hands with his bigger ones.

"Do you… do you want to be my girlfriend?"

She smiled, both at his question and his cheeks, that were now tinted pinkish. She nodded undoubtedly, and hugged him strong, rounding his neck with her arms. His stronger arms rounded her slim waist and held her close, Tala took a deep breath when he realized how strong his desire to have her was.

Tala found himself some minutes later in the same place he was at the beginning, his back against her chest, her hands clutched on his. He started by questioning himself if it had all being a dream or illusion.

"so you think Bryan will be fine?" he asked, trying to find out if he had already talked about that. Everything seemed so perfect right then, that he needed to know if he was imagined it all, or it had truly happened.

"'course he will… the fact that Julia has more… um… let's call it experience, doesn't mean anything wrong for Bryan… Heh, it's curious, I thought he would choose a girl faster than Kai."

"No… Bryan is much more reserved than Kai… you see… Kai and Hilary already made it… I guess Kai knows how it goes after all, he's reserved but he has his hidden things…"

"Kai always hides things from us… when did Bryan tell you this?"

"A couple of days ago I guess… now I'm wondering… what about Julia? It seems you talked to her about these things… did she already have her first time?"

Jade blushed. "Yeah, I think so… yeah guess she told me something like that had happened. Why?"

"I actually was wondering what was your answer about that." Tala said bluntly.

Jade blushed even deeper, and smiled to herself. She pressed her lips against Tala's head, and shook her head. "nu-uh" she said, in a very low voice. She could see how her boyfriend closed his eyes and sighed, saying just above a whisper, a soft, "me neither".

…meanwhile…

"I wonder what those are doing over there.. he seemed very interested in taking her alone for a while."

Bryan laughed softly. "Yeah … same thing I was thinking."

Then again, the silence that had been hanging over them for the twenty minutes that had passed since the other two had left.

"How has your month been?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence only interrupted by the sea and the light wind sound.

"Fine, I guess. I never lost any of my battles, I've been able to relax and train, I've made new friends and… what about yours?" she asked, pausing for a moment before her question.

"I didn't lose any battle either as well… what surprised me the most was the battle between The Night Warriors… in the second round, when I fought side by side with Rei, it was a battle in pairs and we managed to win it."

"Yeah you were… amazing." She said, smiling.

'She thinks I was amazing…' repeated Bryan in his head. He slowly moved a hand closer to Julia's, which laid on the sand. In the exact moment he was going to do something, he felt steps coming, and when he turned around he saw Jade and Tala arriving back, hand in hand.

The Inner Strength team seemed to get on very well with the Blitzkreig WC, at least that was what Tyson told Hilary when he saw them at the party's entrance. Hilary was coming with Kai, Jade and Tala, Mariah and Rei, and surprisingly for everyone, Bryan came with Julia, as friends, but after all, together.

Kai was holding Hilary's waist, she was wearing a light pink, knee-length dress, with a necklace of white pearls resembling diamonds. She was wearing high-heeled shoes but Kai was still half a head taller.

Mariah, next to Rei with her arm around his, was wearing a white dress. She seemed happy, a smile was on her face with no intentions of fading away. She was having a great time.

Jade was dressed with a lilac skirt and blouse that she had agreed to wear after a conversation she had had with her boyfriend: he was going to the party only if she was going to wear those clothes. Both Tala and her, holding hands, seemed very happy with their deal.

While Julia had dressed in order to impress someone. She had clearly noticed the look in Bryan's eyes showed more than plain and simple friendship. So, if he found her beautiful, then he'd find her even more beautiful if such thing was possible.

Music was playing softly. They sat around some tables that were perfectly arranged on the room, the four together. Then they started noticing that many people had found a couple in the hotel, at least to go to the party.

Dinner took place in about half an hour, and after one hour more everyone had finished. Someone turned up the music volume, it was time to dance. Tyson and his couple, apparently he hadn't got any on his own so he decided to take Kenny's for a while. He was dancing with Emily, who was too shy to go back to the table that just stood there trying to follow the boy.

Minutes later, many other couples joined them, Kane and Salima, Rei and Mariah and even Miguel and Mathilda, who weren't officially dating yet.

Bryan stood up suddenly, Tala couldn't help smiling and narrowing his eyes to see what he was intending to do. He stood in front of Julia and grabbed her hand, gently indicating her the dancing place.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" asked a blue haired guy who was sitting next to Tala, in Russian and in a low voice so the owner of the actions wouldn't notice.

"Have you watched the forecast? It's going to rain and I haven't watched it, I just know that this can't be something usual." Replied the redhead, in the same language.

Jade laughed quietly, but Hilary remained still because she didn't understand. She studied Bryan's movements and knew Julia's answer immediately; he was doing it good. God knew where he had learned to use that instinct of his for his own benefit.

Minutes later Bryan and Julia were dancing in the middle of the room, and most of the people's eyes were on this couple. "Russian Soldier." Stated Kai.

"Russian Soldiers have our love sides, Kai. You know it better than me." sentenced Tala. But while he spoke, a strange, but now known feeling, started to bother in his throat. Again, the need to hold his girlfriend close and… 'Maybe I could get to know what it means to… love.' Was the only thing Tala could think about, when he stood up with Jade's hand still on his own, and staring at her green eyes he said, "Would you come with me tonight? I want you to… I want to tell you something." He said, his confident and persuasive smile convincing her immediately.

Kai and Hilary both knew what was on their minds when they watched the couple leave the room…

YAY

Another chapter finished!

Now on with the next one I'm gonna update for you!

NOTE: Before August 22nd, all my stories will be finished except from the translation.

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Thank you! And promise I won't delay this much again!

Mikaera.