A/N: wow…I'm already getting good reviews for this fic! Yay! Unfortunately, the story's seeming shorter than expected…yikes…I like to keep my chapter fics at least with seven or more chapters in each completed story…oh well…
Raven woke up, his eyes fluttering open. The first thing he saw was a girl pouring some green tea and some syrup into a teacup. She looked at him and smiled. "I never thought you'd wake up, but you did. I'm so happy. Maybe you should think twice before getting yourself blasted by Schubaltz' assaults. Here, drink this tea. I added some honey to make it sweet." She handed the cup to him. He then realized that the girl talking to him was Maru.
Raven took the cup and sat up, but just stared at its contents. "Why did you do this?"
"Come again?" She sat right next to him on the bed.
"Why did you do all this and give yourself some trouble to protect me, even though I destroyed your village, your parents and your overly happy spirit, not to mention abuse you a lot?"
She smiled at him, not saying anything for a while. "Well," she looked up at the ceiling. "It is kind of hard to explain…but to put it simply…I love you. Even though you don't have any feelings for me, it still keeps me going just to see you again."
"How could you love others so easily?" He was confused by that word. In fact, he's been intrigued by it since his parents died. He never knew the meaning of it since.
"Because even though people treat me badly, I can still sense just a little bit of love and care in their eyes. Just like you. You may seem rough on the outside and most of the inside, but I know you have someone in your heart that's looking for the perfect soul mate."
"How would you know?"
"Because I guess that's how us ancient Zoidians are."
"Huh? You? An ancient Zoidian?"
Maru then began to explain her past, and that the people he destroyed weren't really her parents. "Reese told me all of that."
"Well, she's surely done her homework!" he spat out loud.
"So tell me…why did you stop loving Reese?"
"Why do you want to know?" He took a sip of the tea. Yum!
"It's just that she's been meaner ever since you destroyed my village. She said so herself."
"Because she's just become a dirty little slut who happens to be a bastard."
She cocked her head to one side. Oh…
"I hope you get better…" Just then, Shadow came out of nowhere, scaring Maru to death. She screamed and clung onto Raven.
"Shadow, just leave us alone for a while," Raven commanded. Wait…why did I do that? No, wait, stay, Shadow! Damn, too late; he left…
Raven looked at Maru, who was staring at him, blushing. He could feel her warmth. She could feel his.
She then realized what she was doing, snapped back into reality, and softly murmured a "sorry" from her mouth. "Look, I'm going to go get some coffee at the coffee shop (A/N: coffee good! Soda good! Water good! Me high on caffeine and sugar: bad, but still make fanfic better!). I'll be back by lunch time." And she left.
Raven sighed. Reese then appeared out of nowhere in front of Raven. "I told you. You like her. You have feelings for her. You love her."
He growled. "That's not true!"
"Yes it is. Don't hide from the truth. Admit it." Reese started to lean closer to him, their faces meeting. She got closer and closer, when…
"Whoops, I forgot my wall…et…" Maru saw an interesting sight. Reese was kissing Raven on the lips for a long time. Maru smiled slightly, but then frowned as she quickly took her wallet. She smiled again when Maru and Raven turned to look at her. "I-I just went to get m-my wallet. I'm…I'm going to leave now."
"Maru, are you okay? You're stuttering," Raven observed.
"She'll be fine, but for now, let's just have fun, shall we, my love?" Reese said seductively.
Damn, why did I say that? Raven thought. "Yeah, sure, anything," came out of Raven's mouth before he had any control of what he said.
Maru smiled even more, then said, "I'm glad you found your soul mate." Maru felt tears well up slightly in her eyes; so she ran off, saying, "Have fun, you two!"
At the coffee shop, she threw herself in one of the walls. Tears came out like no tomorrow. A blonde girl noticed (actually, she was the only one in the shop besides the shopkeeper) and walked up to her. "Are you okay Maru?"
Maru recognized that voice. It belonged to no other than Fiona Elise Lynette herself. "Yeah, it's just that…" she couldn't handle it anymore and broke into sobs. "Raven…!"
Fiona walked her to a chair and asked, "What about Raven?" She really cared about her for some reason; she felt like her best friend, and she as willing to give her support.
Maru explained the whole story to Fiona.
Fiona was a little confused. "Why do you care, though?"
"I love him! Don't you get it!?" she yelled unexpectedly.
Fiona looked at her, shocked. "So that's why you placed those detonators on the Zoids."
"How did you know, and why didn't you tell?"
"I saw you, and I tired to tell Van and Thomas, but they wouldn't listen."
"I smiled at the two, but I didn't want to trouble them, so I just ran out and started crying." She got up, bought some coffee, then ran out.
Fiona looked at her leave sadly. "I can't help but feel sorry for her. She loves Raven, but we have to destroy him. What should I do?"
Maru walked to her room in the hotel and started packing up some things in a backpack she bought. She also ignored the pile of clothes that were piled right next to the bed. They belonged to Reese and Raven. Raven came in and looked at her. "Where are you going?"
Maru choked back tears. "N-nowhere."
"When will you be back?"
"Never." And with that, she walked out the door, but Raven was partly blocking it. "At least you found your soul mate. You'll be better off without me." And with that, she started out the door.
Raven just stared at the door in which Maru just left. He fell to his knees. Tears were slowly running down his cheeks. "She's not my soul mate. Don't leave me behind. Please don't. No!" He took his stuff, checked out of the hotel, and started walking around the village a few times.
Van and Thomas spotted him along the way. "Raven, freeze!"
Raven looked up. "Huh? Oh, it's just you guys." He walked past him, but not without Thomas slipping handcuffs behind his back. "You're under arrest. You're days of destroying are over."
"Go ahead. Take me away," Raven said bluntly.
Fiona ran up to Thomas and Van. "Don't put him in jail!" she pleaded.
Van looked at her strangely. "Why? He's an offense to everyone on planet Zi!"
"Please, don't!"
Thomas blushed. "S-sure thing, Miss Fiona!" He took out the handcuffs, and Raven went running for his life to the forest.
"Thank you Thomas," Fiona told him.
"Why, your welcome, miss Fiona."
Van shook his shoulders violently. "Why the heck did you do that?!?!"
"Because Fiona said so, and there's got to be a man to do a few jobs for a lady, right Fiona?"
"Well, too bad, because I've done much more for her, and not to mention she's no longer a virgin!"
"Wha-!" Thomas was flabbergasted.
Fiona blushed. "Well, it's true."
"For how long?" Thomas asked desperately.
"Less than twenty-four hours," she replied sheepishly.
Thomas fell anime style.
Raven stopped in the middle of a forest and slammed himself into a tree. How could he just let her go that easily? He liked her, no doubt, but one thing he was scared of was that he was actually starting to love her. He didn't want anything harmful be done to her, and yet he knew that he was falling for her. "Maru…" He then heard someone crying. There was a girl in a pink outfit, and her hair was a total mess, and she was sobbing. All her tears were making her clothes wet. "Are you okay?" Raven asked.
She looked up. "Raven?"
"Maru?"
Maru looked away, ashamed to even look at his clothing. "Why aren't you with Reese?"
"Well, why are you alone crying?" he retorted.
"Because."
"And that's the same reason."
"You should be with her. You did, after all, love her."
"But I want to be with someone else."
"Well, then, why aren't you with her?" She stood up and fixed his hair. It was a mess.
"What are you talking about? She's right here!"
Maru looked around. "Where?"
"I'm looking at her."
Maru turned to look at him and he was staring straight into her eyes. "But, you're supposed to be with Reese. Don't give her up just because you pity me."
Raven leaned a little closer to her. "I don't pity you. I enjoy your presence."
Maru felt her legs turn to jell-o. "Why?"
He leaned forward to her even more. "Because."
"Why?" She was now blushing.
"Because." He leaned closer to her. Their faces were only inches apart, then it came close to just centimeters, then millimeters. "I love you. I can't deny it…" Then Raven's lips touched hers.
Maru felt like she had died and gone to heaven when he did that. She felt so warm and secure, so…happy.
Raven, too, felt like that. He loved her more than Reese. Reese only took advantage of him, and he was under a lot of pressure and torture.
They parted about a minute later. "Why don't you love Reese anymore?"
"She took advantage of me. For years and years, I've been put under bondage from her, and it was torture. When I met you, I thought you would be just the same: annoying and hungry for guys to toy around with. But you're different."
"How?"
"You're pure. Your name even says it all. Maru – it means full. To me, it would mean full in purity. You're prettier than all the other girls, inside and out. You have compassion for other living things, including Zoids, and you love others easily."
"And you call that a good trait? People take advantage of me."
"I, too."
Maru didn't know what else to say. Raven really did love her. She hugged him tightly.
Raven wasn't bothered at all by it. He was happy. He pulled her into a hug, then all in one move, he pulled her up in his arms, and carried her back to the village.
Reese, however, saw the whole thing. "Prepare to suffer, Raven." And then she smirked and laughed evilly.