WARNING: Well the comedy, the sugar-induced sweetness, and the tameness of the past four chapters stops here. From this point on, things will get a bit darker. The subject matter will get a bit more, well, mature. I would like to tell you what to watch out for, but I don't want to spoil anything so the best thing I can say is VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. But if it's still problematic then I'll edit this chapter to have a better warning. Don't forget to review!
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Early next morning was greeted by smoke and a pungent smell filling the air. Bit and Brad walked into the kitchen, coughing and covering their mouths from the awful smell.

"What died in here?" Brad wondered.

"My ability to cook," Doc said pathetically. He was at the stove and a charred blob rested in a frying pan. Who knew what _that_ was supposed to be.

"I hope you boys don't mind cold cereal for breakfast," Doc said aiming a fire extinguisher at the stove.

"It sure isn't the same without Jamie around. I hope he's okay," Bit said.

"What about Leena? She come out yet?" Brad asked.

"No. She's awake, but she won't come out until we go see Jamie," Doc sighed. "I'm beginning to worry about her as much as him."

"Me too," said Bit, looking down.

"We're here," said a familiar voice. Everyone looked up to see two people had made their way into the kitchen.

"I'm glad you came, Leon," said Dr. Tauros.

"Hey, Brad," Naomi said in that sultry tone of hers. Brad looked away, eyes closed, and slightly blushing.

"Naomi," he managed to say.

"Dad, I came as quickly as I could. I even had to cancel a Zoid battle I had today, to make it here as soon as possible," Leon said.

"I'm just glad you received my call," said Doc.

"Did you receive a call from the doctor concerning Jamie's condition? I'm very worried about him," Leon made his concern very clear.

"Yeah. I'm very sorry to hear about your strategist. A tumor is tough," Naomi sympathied. Everyone nodded.

"We've been through a lot, Jamie and I," said Leon.

"We all have," said Dr. Tauros, "The doctor says to meet him at Saith General at 3:00PM, today. He should have the stats on Jamie's condition by then and tell us if the radiation did well at all."

"Hey, where's Leena?" asked Naomi.

"In her room. Neither Doc nor I can get her out of there. She's completely bummed out about Jamie. Then again, who isn't?" Bit said.

"Perhaps she needs someone to talk to about it," Naomi suggested.

"We tried. She doesn't want to talk to any of us," Doc said.

"Maybe she needs a feminine ear," Naomi said winking at them, "You may kindly direct me to her room."

"Down the hall and to your left. It'll be the first door on your right," Brad answered.

"Good luck. I doubt you'll get anything outta her if Doc and I couldn't," Bit said. Naomi smiled.

"You'd be surprised," she said, giving them another wink and left.


Leena laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling, her arms folded behind her head. She really shouldn't have been so nasty to her father that morning when he asked her to come out of her room. But she didn't want to talk to them. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts of Jamie.

*knock knock*

"I said go away," Leena yelled.

"It's me, Leena."

"Naomi?" Leena sat up in surprise. What was she doing here?

"Mind if I come in?"

"Uhn, no, come right in."

Naomi opened the door and greeted her with a smile. She pulled a chair from Leena's desk and brought it near her bedside and sat down.

"Hey there, cowgirl," Naomi said in that sultry tone again, "How ya feelin'?"

"Why do you care? You don't like me," Leena replied. Naomi giggled a little.

"I don't like you? What gave you that idea? The boys are really worried about you and I volunteered to talk to you," Naomi explained, "So, the way you're acting...it's about Jamie, isn't it?"

"What was your first clue?" Leena said sarcastically. Naomi looked into Leena's purple eyes.

"You've got bags under your eyes. You didn't get enough sleep last night," she said.

"Wow, how observant of you! You should quit Zoid battling and become a detetective, because no one can solve such impossible mysteries and come to the conclusions you do!" Leena said with extreme sarcasm. Naomi frowned.

"Leena, I really want to help you. And I can't do that if you're sarcastic," she said frankly.

"I'm sorry," Leena apologized, "It's just that, one of the people dearest to me could die and I just can't be myself. You don't know how much Jamie and I have been through and what he's done for me. He's done things for me no other guy would have. He's even been with me through the darkest of hours," Leena said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Darkest of hours? Explain. What exactly was the darkest hour?" Naomi asked. Leena hesitated.

"I...haven't told anyone this before, but...it happened when I was thirteen and Jamie was eleven..."

*Flashback: 6 years ago*

Things weren't going so well. Dr. Tauros was working harder and longer hours and wouldn't get home until eleven 'o clock sometimes. He didn't even tell Leon or Leena what he was doing. Oscar's wife would constantly come over to check on them even though, they were old enough to watch out for themselves. But Leon was in a gang. Los Diablos, they called themselves. Leon had been in it for three years now. He started as a new recruit and slowly gained the respect of the pack. But one night, the gang leader got shot down by the leader of the rival gang called the Hellcats, named right after the Zoids. Leon was promoted to being the new leader and was constantly out and staying past curfew, doing who knows what. Of course, Doc didn't know, but he had vague ideas of what he could be doing. He would always bring his gang friends over when Doc wasn't around and they scared Leena greatly. She tried not to think about them.

That saturday night, she went into the kitchen to get a snack. A plateful of chocolate cookies and a glass of milk should satisfy her. She brought it out to the living room and felt a breeze. The door was open. She set down the milk and cookies on the coffee table.

"Dad?" she called out. She walked towards the door and closed it.

"Leon?" she called again. No answer. Who else had the key to open the door?

"Jamie? Mr. Hemerose? Mrs. Hemerose?"

Doc had installed a great security system so not just anyone could get inside. A chill ran down her spine. Maybe she should call someone. She decided to just go ahead and watch television. She proceeded to find the remote when a pair of hands reached from behind her and grabbed her breasts.

"Hello, Leena," said a raspy voice. Leena stiffened.

"W-What are you doing here, Rick?" she asked. It was Rick, one of Leon's gang members. She couldn't believe her brother had given copies of the housekey to them. Must be in case of emergencies. But why did it have to be Rick? Whenever he was over, he would grab and poke at her breasts and slap and pinch her butt. She told Leon about it, but he kept writing it off, not even caring.

"Just lookin' for Leon, babe," Rick answered.

"He's not here," she said, "And get your filthy mitts off me. Please."

"Fine," he said. But when he let go, he grabbed her shoulders instead and twirled her around to face him. His spikey black hair and rugged looks may impress many girls his age, but Leena didn't want anything to do with him. Out of all of Los Diablos, she hated him the most. He gripped her shoulders firmly. Like he wanted her to know his strength.

"I'll just see you," he said.

"Let go of me and--" Leena got cut off by a very fierce and hard kiss. Rick was forcing himself upon her. His hands left her shoulders and traveled down her arms and onto her waist. His hands slowly creeped under her shirt. Leena broke the unwanted kiss and tried to push him away.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded.

"What do you think? Now shut up and let me have my way," he ordered.

"NO!" Leena screamed.

"Shut up!" he yelled back. He began tearing at her shirt. She tried to run away. No, this couldn't be happening! Shouldn't be happening! Finally, with one mighty thrust, Leena's shirt was ripped off. She fell onto the couch with a plop. She sat there in her bra, and Rick smiled and the beautiful view.

"Now the fun part begins," he said evilly. He reached for her bra to unfasten it. Tears formed in Leena's eyes. No...this shouldn't be happening.

"HEY!"

Rick's head turned around. A young boy stood there, rage etched across his face. Jamie.

"Shit!" Rick cursed, "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Let Leena go," Jamie said through clenched teeth, ignoring the question.

"Beat it, kid, and you had better not tell anyone what's going on in here or else," Rick threatened.

"Let Leena go," Jamie said again.

"Dammit, kid, I said leave!" yelled the rapist. He took out a switchblade and flipped out the blade. "Don't think I won't hesitate to cut you a new smile." He started towards Jamie.

"Jamie, run!" Leena yelled standing up.

"Sit down, bitch!"

Leena sat immediatly. Now the waterworks had finally let out. They were both going to die.

Jamie wanted to run away. But he couldn't leave Leena alone with this cretin. But he could never take down this huge guy. Could he?

Jamie drew back his fist and slammed it against the guy's chest. Rick laughed.

"You're pretty stupid aren't you, kid?" Rick taunted, looking down on him. Jamie drew back another fist. He thrusted it towards Rick's chest, hoping to hit him harder.

Instead, Rick caught the fist midway. He took his blade and pressed it against Jamie's wrist.

"I warned you, boy, now guess what I'm going to do?" he smiled. "First, I'm going to slit this wrist," then he pointed his blade to Jamie's other hand, "Then I'm going to slit that one, and finally," he pointed at Jamie's neck, "Right there," he turned to Leena, "That wouldn't be fun for you, though, would it? Me screwing you hard while your friend here drowns in his own pool of blood. But we can't all have our way, huh? Fortunate for me, though, 'cause I can." Rick laughed.

WHAM!

Rick's eyes bulged.

WHAM!

Another one. Jamie proceeded to draw back his foot and kick again, but that was unnecessary. The damage was done. He had kicked Rick in a place men _really_ don't want to be kicked.

Rick dropped the knife and held both hands over his crotch. He dropped to his knees and crouched, with his stomach towards the ground. Jamie walked around him and kicked him in his side, hard. For what he planned to do to Leena, he wanted to make sure he _stayed_ down. Because no one was EVER going to get away with that. Ever.

Once he made sure Rick was out, he walked over to Leena, picked up the remains of her shirt and gave it to her to cover herself.

Then, in a soft and timid voice, he asked, "Are...Are you okay, Leena?"

Leena sat quiet for a moment. Slowly, she threw her arms Jamie and cried.
"Thank you, Jamie," she whispered, "Thank you......"

*End flashback*

"...later we called the police, but all we told them was that he tried to attack us. I couldn't mention what he almost succeded in doing. I was lucky Jamie had lost his key to the front door and used the back door. If he had come in the front door, Rick wouldn't have been surprised and would've probably killed him on the spot. That monster. He made me feel so weak, so inferior, so helpless! Ever since then I made sure no one ever treated me like that again. I would be strong and fearsome and nobody would dare cross me. I guess you could say Rick helped make me what I am today: a cocky, arrogant, confident that I'm number one type of girl. But I would have much rather learned that another way," Leena finished.

Naomi was speechless. She absolutely had no idea what to say. She was seeing a whole new side to Leena. Finally she cleared her throat.

"No wonder your taking his tumor so much more seriously then the others. Bit and Brad have only known him for what? A year? Two years? Yet you and Jamie have been together through thick and thin. You're closer with him then you think. You really have a history together. You love him," Naomi said. Leena raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a minute! I don't feel for him that way! I don't love him! He's like a brother to me!" Leena proclaimed.

"Uh...that's what I meant," explained Naomi, "I meant 'love' as in the 'love' a friend has for his friend or the 'love' a brother has for his sister. Not like as in lovers."

"Oh," Leena said, blushing. Naomi smirked.

"But the fact that that's the first thought that came to your head intrigues me. Maybe it is something more," she said.

"Are you teasing me again?" Leena demanded, still blushing, but mad. Naomi shrugged.

"Take it as you like it, cowgirl. But in the meantime, why don't you get some sleep? You wouldn't want to see Jamie this afternoon while cranky and grumpy would you?"

"You're right," Leena said lying down, "I should get some rest."

Naomi smiled.

"Sweet dreams, Leena," she said and quietly walked out the door.



End Part 5