Thanks for the reviews as usually. Nothing much to say here, but as usual, neither I nor Mystic_Water own anything here except the plot and our own characters, and we hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to Read and Review please!!

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"Oi!! Any of you guys know where Street is?" Alex shouted in the apartment that he shared with the other Alleyblades. Kiki who was eating at the table shook her head as she continued to read. Raleigh and Kiara were playing crazy eights and also shook thier heads. "Last time I saw her, she went out again. I think she might've gone to the Shadow Blade's apartment." added Raleigh.

"WHAT!?" shouted Alex shocked. Even though he knew that Street and Vincent were friends, he still couldn't help but feel a bit angered that Street always seemed to leave them to go to the Shadow Blades's apartment. Kiki raised an eyebrow at the fuming silver headed boy. "If I didn't know better Alex, I would think you were JEALOUS." she said.

Alex turned swiftly towards Kiki, with a hint of red on his pale cheeks and replied growling, "I am NOT jealous!!" and stomped towards the door and slammed it. Kiki, Kiara and Raleigh looked at each other and sighed. Then they said in unison, "He is SO jealous.". Then went back to what they were doing.

Meanwhile

**Back to Kristy**

Krsty sighed heavily, as she settled her head down on her pillow, with no intention of sleeping on her mind. Too much was happening for her to be sleeping. She was worried about Vincent,

and it made her worry more witht eh way Street was acting, something must have beens aid between

them before he fell ill...something had disturbed Street...

something he had said..but what?



Hell, Stree was even being reasonably...no way more than reasonably nice and tolerante to her..after all, Kristy was always usually mocking the ice queen, not respecting her. Kristy turned over,so seh

was facing her balcony.

"Hmm. I suppose I could use some fresh air."



Kristy stood, and opened the doors tot he balcony letting the fresh air wrap itself around her.

Kristy leaned on the railing, as she looked down up on the alley's..the Northside alleys. Part

of her wished, Vincet would storm into her room, and yell at her like he usually did when she did something mischevious (like that time she replaced his shampoo bottle with a bubble bath bottle- she giggled at this, his hair was all weird for a week) and after he yelled at her he would triple

her training hours and drag her out side to "teach her a lesson.". She never did learn, for she did those

kind of things on a weekly basis. But now. Kristy sighed heavily. But now he was weak, sick...and even

Street was worried for him.

Kristy was a good observer, and often found things out that she wasn't suppose to know, which she used to ehr beniffet of

blackmail. But Street, she could not read, not like the others. Anyone else she could have sought out anything she wanted... ...not Street though, she remained firm, and unbreakable.

Perhaps thats why she annoyed Kristy to no good end, and why she enjoyed annoying the Street Blader the most out of anyone. It frusterated her that she couldn't figure it out- that she couldnt help Vincent...that she was actually left in the dark this time, about the situation at hand.



A sudden yelp shook Kristy from her thoughts, she glanced down and gasped loudly. A younger boy was

staring up at Rayden, and he looked frightened. Rayden? Why was the Red Raider int heir territory? Kristy frowned and leaned over the edged to get a better look.



"Tori-kun??" She gasped out loud, as she watched Rayden advance on him.

"No.." she exhaled, as she suddenly found herself jumping over the railing.



Both Rayden and Tori looked up, to see the agile neko girl, jump from her balcony, and land on her hands and knees beside them, but she fell to her butt, clutching her ankle. "itaii.." Kristy gasped in pain, "Kuso..I landed wrong."



Rayden frowned a the girl, "What are you doing you, baka koneko??" He rushed to herside before Tori had the chance to, slowly helping to her feet.



"Rayden.." She groaned, "Leave the kid alone." She muttered.



Rayden frowned, as he glared at Tori, who was staring at the two alley kids in awe, and fear. "He's a city kid you baka!!" Rayden growled.

"BAKA. I know he is. But he's my friend!" Kristy hissed dangerously, giving him her usual death neko glare, "And don't you even think about hurting him!" she growled in an after thought.

"But-"

Kristy suddenly pushed the Red Raider from her, shifting her weight onto her good ankle, as she glared at him, "No! No 'buts', Clyde! I'm serious, if you want to fight him, you are going to have to fight me instead!"

Rayden raised an eyebrow, "With your ankle in THAT condition?" he snorted, "You can hardly stand, let alone fight me."

"If you remember correctly, baka, I fought you when I first received this," Kristy growled, as she referred to her large scar on her shoulder, "And i was still able to manage to kick your sorry ass, before i passed out from lack of blood! I'm not as weak as you may think Rayden, a little injury can never stop me, and even you should know THAT." she hissed dangerously.

Rayden smirked at this, "You truly are stubborn, aren't you, koneko?"

Rayden then adverted his gaze to Tori, and glared at him ominously, causing Tori to step back in fear, "You're lucky, Maxell was here. Next time, you wont be as lucky if i catch you in the allys again!" He smirked at Kristy, "Later koneko." and with that he stalked off towards his parts of the allys

Kristy sighed heavily, before she walked up to Tori, "YOU BAKA! you could have been killed!!"

"Why are you here??" She snapped angrily, seh was worried about him, really..but..was he really that thick to venture intot he allys knowing that city kids were killed for it! oh, what if arcos or his black thunders found him insetead..Tori would be dead!!

"Do you realise how dangerous it is here?"

"Hai.." Tori muttered in an apologetic tone, "When Eri-chan told me about you, I had to come find you. I want to learn about your territory, since you've already seen mine." he said softly

"I knew the Eri and her bitch of a friend would tell you who i was." Kristy muttered in malice.

"Mako?.." Tori correctly softly.

"What were you thinking Tori? Thank god you didnt come searching for me after dark! The Night Gangs would have killed you for sure...I mean even now, the alley kids could have easily ripped you up with their beyblades!!" Kristy vented, she didnt mean to sound angry, but she was frusterated, her worry was just comming out in spurs of anger and frusteration.

"Gomen Nasai.." Tori said, "But you lied to me, Kristy-san! And I just wanted to see if Eri was telling the truth, besides," he said a little more sternly, "I can protect myself."

Kristy frowned at this, "Not in the alleys you can't! You're lucky it was Rayden who found you and not Arcos, or any other ally kid int he northside's! I'm sorry to break it to you kid, but you might be able to beyblade too, but it emans nothing when you're a city kid in the alleys! they dont just beyblade, they fight too!" Kristy huffed, "You could have been killed..Rayden would have been more merciful, and would have beaten you badly, but then he would leave you int he street, to most likely die, or seek help on your own. Anyone else, you would have your own grave here in the alleys!"

Tori frowned, "I can fight too you know!" he sounded a bit upset, but he knew she knew these alleys way better than he did, and he knew it was dangerous to come here…and that Rayden kid sure did give him a scare, he sighed heavily as Kristy gave him a stern look,

"Gomen.." he whispered.

Kristy sighed heavily, rolling her eyes, placing a hand on her hip, "Well, I mise as well escorte you out of here, and get you back to Kaze."

As Tori helped Kristy walk out of the alleys, he couldn't help but feel a bit responsible for making her worry about him and making her ankle hurt. He bowed his head down sadly.

'I must be such a nuisance to her. She's right. I was lucky this time, but what happens next time.' he thought.

Kristy stared at the saddened Tori and shook her head.

'What now? He knows my real name and who I am.'

'So what' going to happen now. Damn it. I hate it when I get all confused. It's already bad enough when I don't even know what happened to my leader and now this!' Kristy thought.

As they neared the exit, Kristy shook Tori out of his little world.

"Oi. Tori-kun. We're here at the exit of the alleys. now don't come back here and try to look for me!! Especially at night." Kristy said.

"Hai." Tori replied still depressed.

Kristy was about to leave when she suddenly fell down. "Itai...damn. I forgot my ankle." she grumbled. Tori didn't say anything as he bangs was still covering his eyes. He bent down and opened his palm and Kristy felt a warm aura healing her injured ankle. When she looked up she saw that it was Tori!?

"Tori what....when..." she stuttered.

As she got up. Tori didn't say anything except for "Gomen. I promise. I'll never come and see you again in the forbidden Alleys. Neko....I mean Kristy." he replied.

Kristy felt her chest tightened in guilt that she had lied to him, and when he looked up Kristy gasped as she saw a small tear fall down his face, but he turned quickly turned away and ran before Kristy could say anything.

As Tori's retreating figure disappeared, Kristy didn't know why, but her heart tightened everytime she thought of poor Tori's face and how she had coldly and angrily yelled back at poor Tori. She quietly walked back to the apartment thinking.

'Is it my fault for lying and getting angry at those city bitches and telling them who I really am? Am I still friends with Tori-kun? I'm so confused.'

A gentle feeling comforted her from her beyblade and she smiled sadly as she looked at her pocket.

"Thanks KitteFae for trying, but I still feel awful. First I come back and Vincent's sick and weak and now my only city friend may hate me, even though its the same day we met." she replied.

She suddenly saw a drop of water fall on her beyblade and she looked up. "Huh? But its not raining?"

"So why is there water coming down?" Kristy asked herself as she continued to try and figure out where the water came from. As her hand touched her face, she suddenly gasped as she felt where the water was coming from. "I.....I'm crying? But....why?"

Meanwhile Tori had ran all the way home. As he neared the front gate of the dojo, he was still quiet and still thinking of what happened.

'Now she probably thinks I'm a freak, because of my power.' Tori thought darkly. As he climbed over the gate and onto the yard.

He walked quietly to a Sakura tree planted there and started to climb it until he was close to the window there. He leapt across and landed on his balcony and quietly opened the window and crawled in. Once he was in he closed it and locked it.

He turned around and took off his jacket and changed into his pjs. He went to his desk and opened the light and took out a sketchbook. Whenever he felt depressed or sad, he always took out his sketch book and just starts doodling. He opened it up and smiled gently at a couple of past drawings.

'Here's the one where I first met Kaze. Its funny. When we first me he kept helping me get to know the school and when he was being chased by a hord a girls, I saved him. Now ironically he saves ME from them.' He truned the page and looked at each sketch, each bringing back a certain memory.

When he got to his last sketch he was working on, he sadly stared at it. He just then took a pencil and added a few more lines and shadowing here and there and when he looked at his clock that read 11:47 pm, he sighed and turned off his light and put away his pencil. He slowly dragged himself to bed and as soon as his head hit the pillow he fell into a dreamless sleep. He had left his sketch book open and if you look closely, you could see a familiar figure.

It was Kristy Maxell smiling and it was titled "My friend Neko-Chan"

Kaze was in a pretty good mood the next morning. He had actually finished his homework and didn't need to copy off of Tori like usual. He walked to Tori's house and knocked on the front door. He was greeted by a young man with dark brown hair and red eyes.

"Ohayo Youko-san. Here to pick up Tori?" he asked letting him in. Kaze nodded.

"Yep!! Where is the little kotori?" he replied grinning.

But he lost his grin when he saw the face of the man. "Ummm....Tokiya-san, what's wrong?" he asked. Tokiya sighed.

"That's the problem I don't know. Tori's acting a bit weird." Kaze stared. "Weird? What do you mean?" he asked. "He says everything is fine and he's well, but it just seems....so fake." replied Tokiya returning to the breakfast table and drinking his coffee silently.

Kaze was still confused, but got his answers when Tori came down. As Kaze looked at him he saw that he wasn't his usual genki self. In stead of being in high spirits like he usually was, he was withdrawn and sullen. Tori looked up and plastered on a fake smile.

"Ohayo Kaze. I'll just grab my breakfast and we can go." he said walking to the table and sitting down and started eating. "O....kay....".

He replied as he watched Tori. Tokiya was right. There was something wrong with Tori. Even though he had a grin on his face, his eyes gave away his wavering emotions, but it was too cloudy to actually read them. As Tori finished and cleaned up he gave Tokiya a look that said I-get-it-now. Tori returned to Kaze's side with the fake smile plastered on and said, "Alright Kaze!! Let's go."

"Right Tori-chan...." he said and waited for a reaction, but he didn't get one as they were walking towards the school. "Hmmm? Did you say something Kaze?" he asked.

Kaze shook his head. "No...is everything alright with you Tori? You're acting a bit out of character." he replied. Tori looked at Kaze and replied,

"Everything is fine. C'mon we better hurry if we wanna make it to class in time." laughed Tori as he ran ahead of Kaze.

It surprised him, but he started running after Tori while thinking. 'Tori. Does this have anything to do with the forbidden alleys? Did something happened to you that you must plaster on a fake grin or force yourself to laugh? What is going on with you?' he thought as he ran through the gate of the school after Tori.

**Apartment**

Kristy had been in her room, since she had gotten home, it was now early morning, and she could hear the faint voices of Street and her teammates.

Vincent's fever had eased up, and he was no longer in danger, but he was still resting, he needed it.

"Maybe I was a bit hard on him…but he would have been killed..." She huffed more less to herself, as she sat up. She had slowly made her way to the door, and swung it open, with a loud 'THUMP'.

//Oh shit..// she thought worriedly, as she heard someone stumble back, graoning from the impact of the door, //Please dont let it be Vincent..please not Vincent!!// Kristy peered her head arpund the door, and paled, //Shit.//

Well it wasn't Vincent....

Street glared up at the neko girl, holding her throbbing forehead, "YOU IDIOT!!" she screeched, causing Kristy to stumble back in her room.

Street stormed into Kristy's room, as she backed away, "Did you HAVE to slam it open so HARD?!?!" she hissed dangerously.

"H-Hey!!" Kristy finally found her voice, once most of the intial shock wore away, Street pushed Kristy onto her bed glaring intesntly at her,

"It wasn't MY falt you happened to be walking by MY room!!!" she yelled back with equal volume.

Street was furious, Kristy would have been laughin at the bruise formin on her forehead, but Street had swung a punch at the neko. "EEK!!" Kristy rolled backwards off her bed, causing Street's attempt to punch her to fail, and she landed face first on Kristy's bed fromt he force of ehr own swing.

"Baka!" Kristy taunted, "You have no balance!- huh? ACK!!" Kristy was suddenly hit with full force of a pillow, at her head, and she fell to her back.

"Look who's talking you dirty neko!" Street hissed back, before storming out of Kristy's room in a huff.

Kristy growled in annoyance, and only winced slightly when she heard the front door slam shut.

"Baka.." she muttered.

"Maxell, what did you do THIS time?" Trista peeked her head into Kristy room.

"Nothing!" Kristy snapped back stubbornly.

Trista sighed heavily, letting it slide, "Vincent is doing better, but he wont wake up..." Trista frowned, "hoi (hey), Maxell? Are you felling ok?"

Kristy shook her head, trying to sound convincing, "I'm fine, Trista."

"Maybe you should go for a walk, no use staying in your room all day, me and Aerus can ahndle Vincent, why don't you go bug, Chidori or Rayden..go for a walk, clear your ehad." she said softly.

Kristy smiled back, Trista always knew when Kristy needed to clear her head, they were like sisters, maybe thats why the always fought.

'Hai.. tell AverusIll be home before dinner."

As Kristy walked out of the apartment silently, she just stared at her feet as she as they just started taking somewhere as she was just staring at the ground. She was deeply thinking of what happened last night. 'Maybe I should go apologize to Tori-kun. It was partly might fault. Maybe if I did tell him who I was, maybe he wouldn't have gone looking for me.......but....' thought Kristy.

//What if you did tell him and he STILL went after you and he had met Street,Arcos or even Vincent?// questioned KitteFae.

Kristy shuddered to think what those three would do. 'I don't even want to think about. As she coninued walking she was thinking on what she should do about Tori when she suddenly bumped into a rather warm wall. 'Huh, rather warm wall?'

She thought as she looked up and then sighed. She had crashed into Rayden who was smirking cheekily at him.

"Hello Rayden." growled Kristy as Rayden helped her up.

As she dusted off the dirt on her Rayden narrowed his eyes at her and Kristy caught the stare.

"What?" she asked and glared back. Rayden pointed to her ankle and at first Kristy was wondering why he was doing that.

Suddenly she remembered why, 'Crap!!' she thought, 'I twisted it last night when I landed wrong, and now its suddenly healed!! What now!?'

"Care to explain koneko?" he asked folding his arms.

Kristy just stuck out her tongue and ran past Rayden, "Nyaaa.!! Not telling Rayden!!" she shouted, "As if you deserve to know!!" and left a speechless Rayden sweat-droppuing. "BAKA KONEKO!!" he shouted.

As she left Rayden confused, she slowed down and sighed. //what should I do KitteFae? Should I apologize to him?// she asked. //I belive that would be good. Maybe a gift too?// she added with an after thought.

"Sounds good. I do have some money I could use. Alright let's go KitteFae." and she ran outta the alleys and into the city.

Meanwhile, back at the school with Kaze and Tori.................



Kaze was really worried about Tori. He seemed like he was in a daze. He wouldn't yell at him when he used the usual nicknames he said to him to tease, he was silent all day and ignoring the girls, of course, the last one was the same but everything else was just weird.

When it was lunch time, Kaze had found a spot where the girls wouldn't find them and the two of them could just talk and believe me, when he meant talk, he meant finding out what was wrong wtih Tori's attitude today. They were sitting underneath one of the Sakura trees in the back of the school where no body really goes to and they each took out their lunches and started eating quietly.

Suddenly when Kaze couldn't take the silence anymore he was about to say something but Tori beat him to it. "Kaze would you hate me if I did something very very stupid?" he asked quietly.

Kaze shut his mouth and stared at Tori. "Not really if you had a good explanation." he replied as he munched on a riceball.

"I went to the forbidden Alleys to look for Neko."

Kaze's eyes widened and he started to choke on his riceball and spat out some. When he was done he stared at Tori who was still staring at his food. "ARE YOU CRAZY!! WHAT THE HELL GAVE YOU THAT'S ITS A GOOD IDEA TO GO RUNNING AROUND IN THE FORBIDDEN ALLEYS!! THEY'RE CALLED FORBIDDEN FOR A REASON!!" he shouted and started ranting.

"I can understand why you'd want to go and all, them being forbidden and all and SURE even I was tempted to explore them, but I knew better and so....." he ranted off.

"I wanted to see if Eri-chan and Mako-chan said was true." Tori added.

Kaze stopped his ranting and stared at Tori as his shoulders shook.

"I thought what they were saying were just lies they had made up, but they were true. She even said it herself and then once she got over her intial shock she scolded me and told me never to come looking for her and we had slight arguement. Not only that but I.....I...." Tori said shaking. Kaze felt sorry for him and sat down next to him as he continued " I showed her my ability to heal."

"Now she probably hates me and thinks I'm a freak and never wants to see me again." cried Tori finally looking up at Kaze. Kaze was shocked to see tears falling rapidly down his face and then Tori launched himself towards Kaze when he clinged to him and cried. Kaze hugged him tightly and sighed.

"And its strange that I never ONCE felt this for another girl..." Tori added as he continued to weep.

"Was I so wrong, to check if she had actually lied to me Kaze?" Tori asked as he had calmed down a few mintues later.

"I was....just really curious about Neko...." he added as he sighed and quietly ate his lunch. "Am I too trusting Kaze? Do I trust people a bit too easily?"

Kaze shook his head. "Its just your nature to do something like that. So don't worry. Now eat your lunch. The bell is going to ring soon." he added grinning, making Tori grin too. "Thanks Kaze." "No problem." he replied.

Meanwhile, Kristy was doing some window shopping trying to figure out what to get Tori as a gift.

"I really have no idea what he likes, so looks like I'm going to have to think a bit." She muttered.

//Don't think too hard mistress, you might hurt youself.// smirked KitteFae. //Okay. I.....OI!! THAT IS NOT FUNNY YOU BAKA CAT!!// Kristy mentally shouted back at her laughing bit-beast. Kristy huffed continued walking until something caught her eye in a nearby store. She grinned and said to herself "Perfect!! He'll be sure to love it!!" and ran in and purchased it.

"OI!! Tori pass it here!!" shouted Kaze as he waved his arms and running along side Tori. It was after school and Tori and Kaze were both on the school's soccer team. Even though it wasn't a game it was getting late and there were girls watching them.

"OKAY KAZE!!" shouted Tori as he kicked the ball towards him and sprinted to the end field where Kaze scored.

Tori grinned as he was feeling better after the convesation he had with Kaze at lunch. "GOOD JOB KAZE!!!" he said as waved and Kaze ran over to him and gave each other a high five. Then their coach called them in. "Great practice everyone. I think this is our best practice yet. Okay now everyone change, shower and get home. Same time tomorrow we have practice" he said.

"HAI!!" the team replied.

Soon after the team had dodged the rapid girl fans, the team managed to get back to the locker room in one piece and get a good shower and change in. Once done the team headed for the gate and then went their separate ways.

"You wanna come over for dinner Kaze?" asked Tori.

Kaze shook his head, "Nah can't. my mom's having friends over and making me and my dad stay." he replied laughing.

Tori nodded and waved good-bye as they went their separate ways. As he walked away he sighed and shifted his soccer bag on his shoulder. 'I'm glad Kaze helped bring me back to normal. It was getting almost too painful to continue plastering on those fake smiles, grins and forcing myself to laughl. Oh well....but what am I going to do about Neko?' he thought as he continued to walk home.

When he looked up he was near a custom made clothing store and suddenly an idea dawned onto him. He ran inside and quickly made an order. Even though it was late, the person behind the counter was a good friend of Mizuki's so she was happy to help him.

An hour later Tori left happily with the item in his backpack.

"I hope Neko....er...Kristy likes it." he said to himself. As he continued walking he was passing some alleys that and he suddenly heard some yelling.

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DISGUSTING MEN!!" sounded a female voice. Then he hear two gruff voices.

"No way little girl, we haven't had any fun for a long time and you're just the sort of entertainment we need. right?"

Tori was disgusted by the way the two gruff voices were acting and continued following the voices ahead of him from the sidewalks. "YOU TWO ARE DERANGED AND DISTURBING!! GET AWAY FROM ME!! GO KITTE FAE!!" But before a sound of launching could be heard, a loud "SMACK" echoed and soon a tiny moan added, making Tori rush ahead and slid to a gasping halt. 'No....it can't be....' thought Tori.

"KRISTY-CHAN!!" shouted Tori catching the attention of the two men. Both of the men were ragged looking and drunk too. They looked like they haven't shaved in days. Tori was staring at the site of the limp Kristy. She was a crumpled heap on the ground and leaning against the wall. Her head was lying limply on her shoulders as there was a small trail of blood trailing down her forehead.

He looked down and saw that a turquoise beyblade was lying by her feet. The two men stared at Tori for a moment and then said. "Hey, let's get rid of the brat so we can continue." said one. The other nodded and took out a gun aimed it at the Tori. As he was about to fire, something snapped inside of Tori and he started to glow blue. "Eh, what's wrong with the kid?" the one with the gun said.

The other shrugged and replied," Who cares, just get rid of him already." . "Sure." and he fired, but Tori had dodge and when he reopened his eyes they were a light blue and he had dashed forward and knocked the guy out. The other man stared in disbelif at the sight. Tori had raised his hand a muttered something, "As the burning sun with the strongest fire, lend me strenght.....FLARE TURRENT!!!"

A rush of fire came to his hand and he launched it towards the man who screamed and was burned and unconcisous and still alive. ((Since Tori isn't fully Azul, he can't get the full power out of his spells)). He sighed and went over to the weak Kristy who had started moaning. "Kristy-chan are you alright?" The last thing Kristy had remembered was she was getting Tori's gift and then it was dark and she was trying to get back to the Shadow Blades before the night gangs came out.

But before she could even make it to her alleys, she got pulled in from behind and had met those two 'men'. When Kristy opened her eyes her thoughts were a bit fuzzy and when she looked towards where the voice was coming from she blink. 'Huh? Who are those people behind Tori?' she thought. She was right.

Behind Tori were two ghostly figures. One was a tall blue-headed, blue eyed angel with white silk shirt and pants with silver and green armor on with white wings pulled in and a sword strapped to his back. The other figure was a young boy about Tori's age with red hair darker than hers and teal eyes staring sadly at her. She blinked again and the disappeared. She turned towards Tori and muttered, before she passed out,

"I'm sorry Tori-kun, I was just worried about you. I got you something for the apology." she said and passed out.

Tori looked to the discarded bag he had missed and opened it. He gasp. Inside was a little replica of a red phoneix. He also saw a card with Kristy's apologie. He smiled gently at her and picked her up bridal style and carried her home, with their stuff.

'Well, might as well go through my balcony. No telling what Mizuki-san and Tokiya-san would say if they saw me carrying in an unconcious girl' he thought and inwardly at the reactions of his household. Since Tokiya ran the dojo, he'd probably have a fit and run around with a bokkan in his hand. ((Bamboo sword)) and Mizuki would faint. He's suddenly glad he could defend himself with a bokkan.

He silently made it to his room in the dojo and managed not to disturb Tokiya and Mizuki as he closed the balcony door quietly. He set his stuff and Kristy's on the floor and then laid her on his bed.

"Tori-chan!! is that you? Come down and eat your dinner!!" shouted Mizuki.

"OKAY!! BE THERE IN A MINUTE!!" he shouted back. He covered Kristy up and then he left the room.



As soon as dinner was finished, he ran back upstairs and saw that Kristy was still asleep. He took his pjs and went and changed in his bathroom. Once out he took out his homework and worked on it.

"There done." he said an hour later. He looked at his clock and it read 10:57 pm and yawned. "Might as well get some sleep." he muttered.

He turned off his light and pulled out the extra blanket and pillow he used to give to Kaze whenever he decided to sleepover. Just as he was about to lay them on the floor, he heard Kristy muttering in her sleep.

"no....get away please...don't come near me...." she muttered and started getting a bit hysterical and started to worry Tori.

So he abandoned his pillow and blanket, putting them back. he hesitated at first but he crawled in the bed with Kristy and wrapped his arms around her calming her down. He sighed as he fell asleep and started having weird dreams about a certain blond boy and his illness.

**************************

"Averus I'm starting to get worried. Even Kristy isn't this late." Trista said as she looked at the mantle piece. She was right. It was almost past 11, and the neko girl hasn't shown up.

"You're right. Here. you wait for Kristy while I take a quick look at Vincent alright?" Averus said and Trista nodded. He got up and walked up the stairs and into the hallway where the rooms are. He quietly made his way to Vincent's room and opened the door. For some reason the room gave him shivers down his spine, but he still made his way towards Vincent. When he finally got a good look at him

He frowned. Vincent was shivering slightly and was muttering things. "nooo....please don't go....stay with me please I don't want to be alone again don't leave me!!". Averus put his hand on Vincent's forehead and quickly removed it. His head was burning again!! " I thought we cooled him down enough for his temperature to be normal!?" Averus said outloud. So when Averus touched Vincent's arm he was

Shocked!! Vincent's body was almost ice cold. This was just plain bizarre!! "TRISTA!! COME IN HERE AND BRING BLANKETS AND THE WATER BIN WITH A TOWEL!! ITS VINCENT!! HE'S ICE COLD AND HIS FEVER HAS COME BACK!!" shouted Averus. He heard running footsteps and nodded that it was Trista.

Meanwhile in Vincent'ts dream.........



Vincent was alone. All alone in a dark void as he sat there hugging his arms around his knees.

"Where is everyone? Pops? Mother? Nanashi?" he asked. "WHERE ARE YOU!!?" he shouted.

Then a deep voice rumbled. //They left you, everyone one of them. No body cares for you. You're all alone// it said.

"That...that's not true!! I know someone cares about me....." Vincent replied.

The voice laughed //I don't think so...take a look//.

And so images of his team, his family and Street appeared and it showed lies of how the voice said that nobody cared. In the family one, his parents Squall and Kari were laughing with Nanashi after the fire burned and saying that they were glad he was gone. *Crack*. Another one showed his team giving up on him and leaving him to just lay there and not even try to wake him up and electing Averus as leader. *Crack*.

And finally it showed Street walking along the alleys with Alexander and kissing him lovingly. that was it. *Crack!!* *SHATTER!!* something from inside Vincent left him and just shattered like broken glass. Vincent's arms left his knees as he suddenly fell backwards, his eyes deprived of all emotion as the darkness carried him away deeper. It was not just his feelings that were gone, but his soul to. Vincent had given into the lies of darkness and slowly leaving everyone behind.

Averus looked very worried, there was nothing more they could do but wait. They had tried to make him as comfortable as possible, with bowl of cold water at his bed side.

Trista sighed heavily, as she dabbed the wet cool cloth over his face, he was sweating cold, but hot to the touch. Occasionly he would shudder in is sleep, but that was the most they got out of him.

Now nearlt midnight, she sat down on the floor beside Averus, leaning on his shoulder, the day had been very exhausting, she and Averus hadn't really left Vincents side all day. Not only that, now their neko-girl was missing, which worried her more.

Averus settled his head on hers, as she leaned more on his chest, "He'll be okay, give him a few days,Tris'." he said softly.

Trista sighed, 'And if he does get better, what about Maxell? Do you think maybe I shoul go ask Rayden? She and him are alwys quarreling, but they are also clsoe friends despite it all..." She trailed of suddenly before Averus could respond she gasped, "What if the Nigh Gang's have her? OR what if they hurt her, and she's at Rayden's? Rayden wont let her get killed, will he? will he?" She sat up suddenly.

"Calm down! You know we can't go see Rayden, the Night Gangs will get US. And even if she's with Rayden, I know he'll protect her, she may be annoying, but Rayden isn't one to abbandon her, they have known eachother as long as her and Vincent have remember? She nearly became a Red Raider instead of a Shadow Blade." Averus reminded her softly.

Trista nodded quietly, "I hate to admit it Averus, but im worried about her...and im glad Vincent took her in and not Clyde.." she muttered, calming down slightly.

"Mee too." Averus smiled, as her rest on his shoulder.

**Back at Tori's house**

Kristy woke suddenly from a dream she could no longer remember, she would have bolted up right, but noticed that a gently, warm, weight around her waist was holding her down.

Kristy turned her head, and nearly gasped, "Tori-kun..." she whispered, "He doesn't hate me...chotto...how did i get here?-" Kristy looke around the room, but suddnely remember the incident before she blacked out. "Oh.." Kristy sighed softly,

"I hope he wasn't hurt int he process of protecting me..."

"I wasn't." came a small quiet voice from beside her.

"Tori-kun!" Kristy gasped, as she sat up, his arm still firmly wrapped around her waist as he sat up too.

"How's your head?" he asked softly, his blush hidden in the dark.

"I'm so sorry.." Kristy whispered ignoring the question, as she found herself wrapping ehr arms around his neck,

"I was worried when Rayden was chasing you, my worry just came out in anger..I didn't mean-.." she trailed off into soft sobs.

Tori sat there wide eyed for a moment, beofre her slowly hugged her back, "I jsut wanted to see if Eri-chan was right..."

"I'm sorry for lying to you..." She whispered choking on another sob.

Tori smiled softly, he knew she was really sorry, "I know why you lied to my Kristy-chan... But I'm not like Eri-chan and

Mako-chan. You are who you are, no matter where you live." he whispered, as he slowly pushed her away, so he could wipe away her tears with his finger.

"I know that now, Tori..." She looked down and suddnely blushed, "Anou...did you like my 'sorry present'?"

Tori nodded, "It was wonderful Kristy, domo arigatou!"

Tori laughed as he handed her a bag too, "I got you one too."

Kristy blinked, "But why?"

"Because I scared you, and I shouldn't have gone into the forbidden alleys." He said softly, pushing the bag into her hands.

Kristy gasped softly as she pulled out a choker with two small bells on it and a winter hat with cat ears on the top.

"Oh Tori-kun..." she was speechless, "..Arigatou..." well almost speechless.

"Anou... Kristy-chan?" Tori asked softly.

Kristy glanced up at him, "Hai?" as gave a light gasp as Tori leaned forward. //W-hat is he doing? Nani..?//

Her hert beat raced, her breath quickened, her stomach churned and tingled in ectasy, while her throbbing heart had some how manged to settle itself in her throat and stay there, no matter how hard she tried to swallow it back down.

Thier breath's mingled, and she found herself slowly shutting her eyes as he drew nearer.

**Back to Street Blader**

Street sat in her room alone, she was greeted in the alleys by a fuming Alex, Kiki, Kiara and Raleigh kept saying he was jealous, but Alex of course kept denying it. She had formed a large bruise on her forehead from, that baka neko-girls door, she touched it gently, "itaii..." she hissed, "Maxell is so dead." she muttered.

But the bruise wasn't the real reason why she was uneasy, it was Vincent, everything he told her, she had kept from the people he was closest to, his team. They were trying to bring him back, without knowing the real reason-why he was acting strange. And now he had a fever, and was sick. Street didn't like worrying, but she couldn't help it.

When Vincet came to, she would have to question him on somethings, but until then she decided it was best to try and foget about Vincent's state of weakness, before her worry controlled her completely.

*back to Tori and Kristy*

Mou, he was so close, she could almost feel his lips on her's, before, they both suddenly jumped apart, from the sound of footsteps. Both blushing brightly, Kristy hid herself under the covers, while Tori pretended to be sleeping.

Mizuki-san peeked her head in Tori's room queitly trying not to wake him, she glanced around, then as silently as she could, shut the door again, and return to her room.

Tori opened one eye to make sure Mizuki was gone, whent he coast was clear, he pulled back the covered to reveal, a very funny looking neko-girl. Her hair was a complete mess. Tori lightly quietly at this,



"Nice hair."



Kristy scowled at this, as she sat up, "Funny." She muttered sarcastically.

Kristy's eyes suddenly widened, "Kuso!! I was suppose to be home before, dinner!" She crawled out of bed, ignoring her wild hair, "I really need to go.-huh?"

Kristy blinked and glanced down to find Tori holding her wrist,

"You're going no where! Have you forgotten about the Night Gangs?" he frowned.

"I know how to handle myself in the alleys, I can move stealthfully and quickly like a cat, I can avoid them!" Kristy hissed back in a whisper.

"I wont let you chance it!" And witht hat Tori pulled as hard as he could on her wrist, forcing her to fall ontop of him on his bed, despie the two blushing tomatoes, Tori managed to whisper, "You're staying here."

Kristy blushed brightly, Tori still hadn't let go of her wrist, "Tori-kun..." she whispered as he inched closer, though their faces where already nearly touching, "My team will be worried...."

No matter how much Kristy wanted to struggle, and yell excuses at him why she should leave, she couldn't bring herself into doing it, she just lay there ontop of him, letting him get closer.

A sudden spark jolted Kristy's body, as Tori placed his lips on hers //Oh my god.... We're kissing...//

//No Mistress, I thought you were tickling eachother.// Her KittieFae said sarcastically.

//Shut....up....// She blushed brightly, as she slowly she allowed the ectasy of the kiss take her over. even if she wanted to fight this sudden feeling and gesture, there was no way in hell taht she could. She was drowning in the kiss, letting everything go. //Stupid Cupid...//

Tori pulled away slowly, the neko-girl was still on top of him, and they were both blushing brightly, he was almost positive his face was glowing in the dark.

"Tori-kun.." Kristy gasped outloud, as she finally came back to reality, her breath slightly fast.

"G-gomen nasai..." Tori muttered, instantly letting go of her wrsit, so she could roll off of him, "I don't know what huh?"

Tori was silenced by Kristy's lips on his again for a breif moment.

"Don't apologise." She giggled softly.



"Kristy-chan?" Tori blinked, as she giggled slightly, "You didn't mind?" he sounded a bit..well..shocked.

Kristy shook her head timidly, "iie." she smiled softly, as she slowly rested her head on his strong warm chest, "I'm just glad you're not mad at me anymore." she blushed, "And I think that pretty much tells me, we're fine."

Tori laughed lightly trying to hide his blush, "Then I guess we are even"

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End of Chapter six