Review Feedbacks can now be found at the bottom of each chapter, kay? Just so you know I haven't forgotten you. (;

Disclaimer: Any misspellings, confused references or mixed up teammates are purely accidental and are a result of the author's new innocent fascination with the world of beyblading. Kira Ocelet, Mobekai Tart, Danika Woods, Colby Peterson and Trish ??? belong to me. The song below is 'Then You Look At Me" by Celine Dion. Via Que Lavasa is most closely translated as "The Road of Washing", or the "Road of Cleansing". Or so the Spanish translation goes, as Italian and Spanish are closely related.

Authors Note: I kind of made over my beginning so it's easier to read on the eyes!

This is an excerpt from a new story I'm working on called 'Angels in China'-it's kind of the sequel to 'Watch This', …but not really:

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"It's me, Mariah," he said, though he knew she wouldn't hear him, "C'mon, you can figure this one out."

He traced her name once more and she watched curiously, stepping forward, before calling out again,

"Please show yourself! I know there's someone there!"

He knew he'd caught her attention, so now he traced his own name backward. She stopped mid-sentence and stared, almost directly into his eyes. He traced his name again.

She found her voice again after he traced her name and his own together,

"Please stop! This isn't a joke anymore!"

"C'mon, Mariah!" Ray pleaded to her desperately, "Please believe. It's me…"

So instead of tracing their names, he began to trace White Tigers, Bladebreakers.

Again, she shook her head wildly,

"Lee! LEE! KEVIN!" she began to shout.

"NO MARIAH! NO! IT'S ME!" Ray shouted over her, "STOP!"

He traced STOP quite firmly and then when she had stopped shouting, he wrote,

It's Me

Ray

She reached forward into the waterfall as if trying to grab someone. She looked close to tears. He reached out painfully and took her hand though he knew she couldn't feel it.

"Ray?" She asked quietly, sounding pained.

"Yes, it's me."

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A/N: Sound good? Tell me what you think! (;

Italics are thoughts.

Bold Letters are songs.

WATCH THIS!

Chapter 17: Night Waltzing, Part 2

"Are you ready? For this dance, I want you to do the first basic ballroom dance: the girl puts her arms around the boys neck and the boy puts his arms around the girl's waist."

Trish turned around to face him and stepped forward. Kai wanted to step back because she had moved so close, but then he realized that she was supposed to come forward. He had to admit she was a pretty fast learner.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her touch made his skin tingle and his stomach twisted anxiously. He sucked it up and tried to ignore the feeling he'd had. It was the same feeling he'd received when they were doing the waltz positions.

He wrapped his hands around her waist and encouraged her to come forward more by pushing against her sides.

Trish was feeling slightly dizzy, but she was sure it was because she was tired. In any case, she enjoyed letting Kai lead her around with his muscular hands…He is pretty muscular, isn't he? She blushed and thanked heaven it was a little darker in the room. Kai was extremely handsome.

She closed her eyes,

Man, if Boris or Tala knew I was thinking about Kai this way, I would never be welcome back at the abbey. I've got to keep my focus. I can't become emotionally involved with my task.

But, yes, Kai was handsome. It ended there. She'd heard awful stuff about his personality and past. And she'd seen firsthand how rude he could be. But…she wondered briefly, could he be kind too?

Laugh and cry,

live and die,

life is a dream we are dreaming

Day by day, I find my way

Look for the psalm and the meaning

"Excusing your hostile attitude toward everything else, you certainly know how to find your way when dancing," said Colby lightly, glad that he wasn't stumbling over her feet.

"I don't have a hostile attitude toward everything," Lee protested, pulling back. He slid his hands off her waist, took her hands in his own and snapped his wrists up. She twirled for the music count and came back gracefully.

"Show off," he smirked.

"Thank you for the compliment, but that's really how I do it," said Colby.

"Oh, no! Not you, I was talking about Mobekai and Danika. He just dipped her."

"I don't see how that's showing off; we can easily do that."

"Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yes, let's try it!"

At the next 3/4 beat, Lee wrapped his arms completely and securely around her back and her left leg came up so that most of her upper body fell onto his arms. She gripped his neck tightly as he lowered her down. His face loomed above hers, screwed up in concentration as he supported her. She was sure, in turn, her own face was red from the blood flow. As soon as the next beat hit, he pulled her back up,

She smiled, a little flustered,

"That was fun."

Lee could see that her body language was telling otherwise. She was shaking under his hands and her palms were feeling sweaty against his neck, so he just smiled and pretended he thought so too.

Then you look at me

And I always see

What I have been searching for

I'm lost as can be

Then you look at me

And I am not lost anymore

Emily was feeling tired. She tried extremely hard to keep her head up, but she felt like she would collapse if Max had not been supporting her.

She sighed and looked away from his face, watching the other teams. Kai was staring into Trish's face; not lovingly, heavens no, Emily thought, but with mild interest and boredom. Her eyes were closed half the time like she seemed to be concentrating. Hilary and Tyson were talking in low tones with each other, their faces gravely close. Ray was trying to keep comfortable in his position with Mariah, but she was trying to keep as much distance from him for obvious reasons. She looked back at Max, who was watching her closely. She smiled to get a reaction from him, but he only continued to watch her. He turned away jerkily after a few moments and stared past her shoulder.

Emily sighed and gave up the struggle to keep her neck supporting her head. She laid her head against Max's chest lightly and continued to move her feet with the music.

Max stiffened slightly as she did so.

"Is this all right?" She asked hesitantly, her voice muffled by his shirt, "I'm just really tired."

"Yeah, you're fine."

She could hear his voice resonating through his body and smiled slightly. She could also feel his heart beating. She relaxed her position and settled in more heavily against his chest.

She could feel him slowly relax and after a few seconds, he also leaned his own head against hers, unconsciously guiding her freely throughout the dance floor.

People run…sun to sun

caught in their lives everflowing

Once we're gone,

life goes till it's gone

We have to go where it's going

Danika not only had her hands wrapped around Mobekai's neck, but she was resting her chin on his shoulder, so it looked more like they were hug dancing. She closed her eyes tiredly. She could feel Mobekai stiffen every couple of seconds and she had no doubt it was because he could see Ray and Mariah together. Honestly.

But still; she herself felt a little betrayed. She didn't know Mariah and Ray used to be close companions or that Mariah had/still had a crush on Ray. Truth be told, she was really jealous.

She and Ray were good friends because she could talk to him easily. Heck, she could talk to anyone easily, but she really liked hanging around Ray.

Ray would never see her as more than a good friend though. It was at these times that she envied Mariah, not only because she liked Ray and actually had his attention, but because she was in a relationship with a wonderful person and Danika hoped that one day she could have that.

Then you look at me

And I always see

What I have been searching for

I'm lost as can be

Then you look at me

And I am not lost anymore

Ray was extremely uncomfortable in his position with Mariah. She had her arms around his neck very lightly and he had his hands on her hips, but she had pulled out considerably far so both looked like they were reaching over to each other. He wanted to say something, but he didn't. He moved forward, hoping she would just let it be. Instead, she moved back as well. He groaned, not realizing he'd done it aloud.

"What's wrong?" She asked, trying hard to beat around the bucket.

"Umm…I'm a little uncomfortable in this position. If you'd rather, we could just do the second basic ballroom dance. Or sit this out till the end."

"No, that's okay. Here." She moved closer and his arms finally bent, the muscles slowly contracting.

"Thanks," he graciously replied.

"I totally understand. It's…just that I was worried about Mobekai--and you know."

"Why is Mobekai so worried? It's like you can't even talk with another guy."

She looked away and thought a little shamefully, Actually, it's really just when I talk with you, Ray. He's worried I'll still like you more.

"Yeah…" said Mariah.

"You know, I never really figured out how you got with him. When did you become friends with him?"

"Well, we kind of became friends after he realized I just wasn't going to get with him like that," she blushed.

"I see," Ray nodded and dropped the subject quickly. "Sorry," he added.

"You shouldn't apologize," she looked up and saw Mobekai closing his eyes in relaxation, "He's really very kind if you can get him to open up to you. And he's only protective because he's afraid of losing me."

Ray could see her loving and sympathetic piercing gold eyes furrow in guilt. A pain stabbed him as she spoke, angry and confused that she had such a fantastic connection to him.

And you say you see

When you look at me

The reason you love life so

Oh, lost I have been

I find love again and

Life just keeps on running

And life just keeps on running

You look at me and life comes from you…

"I have to admit, this was actually a pretty good idea," Tyson told Hilary.

"Well, I told you so," she smirked.

"Don't rub it in," he glared light-heartedly, "Why did you come out?"

"I'm still every part of this team. Besides, aren't you glad I'm not screaming at you like I used to?"

"Yes, I'm ecstatic."

"I'm not joking, Tyson. Seriously."

"I am being serious. But I still get a little frustrated when you say "Bleyblade". What kind of name is that?"

"It's very hard to say Beyblade. I'd like to see you say it over and over again."

"Beyblade, beyblade, beyblade, beyblade…"

"All right, Tyson. I get the message. At least, I also know and understand what a bit-beast is."

"Look, Hilary, you don't have to prove yourself to me. I don't care whether you understand or not."

From you.

The music slowed to a stop and Autumn turned it off. Lady Dukakis, followed by Kira and Kenny, the last couple to learn how to waltz, entered from the side room,

"I guess that's all for today. You can come back tomorrow; we'll put the waltz to music." She clapped her hands excitedly, "Gosh, I haven't had this many customers in so long. I swear I won't forget any of you."

"It was really a pleasure," Autumn smiled at her mother and then back at them.

Kenny and Hilary were going to split the finances, but the Mariah, Lee and the Wild Cheetahs offered to pay their own. Emily had also wanted to pay her own keep, but Max would not let her hand over the money.

The late night air was cool and the back streets of Austria had settled down.

"Have a good night!" Autumn and Lisel waved enthusiastically.

"See ya! Bye!" They waved back, heading down the streets. At the road, Via que Lavasa, they split ways, not as friends this time, but as enemies, ready to fight for the next day.

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"Haven't we done everything there is to do when it comes to waltzing? What the heck are we going to be doing tomorrow?" Tyson asked, yawning.

Hilary shrugged and opened her own hotel room across the way,

"I'll worry about it in the morning."

Max opened the Bladebreakers door and jumped back half a mile in surprise.

"Oh, it's you!" Tyson sighed in relief.

Cheese ran out of the room and scampered gleefully all over Max.

Ms. Rochelle Llewellyn got up from the bed she'd been sitting on,

"Mr. Dickinson wanted me to check on you. I'd arrived at eight and have been here since. You're lucky. Any minute later and I was ready to call the police."

"So I guess you're coming over tomorrow?" Kai asked begrudgingly.

"That's right, and I'll be at the match as well. I won't travel with you because I'm not allowed to side with one team or the other, but I will see you along the way. Have a nice night boys."

She walked past them and Tyson folded his arms angrily,

"Man, I can't believe we still have to have a baby-sitter."

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*flashback*

Ray giggled in his arms. The man, who called himself Tai-Ken, looked down with a smile, which quickly turned to an annoyed scowl. He rubbed something on his skin and then put the same stuff on Ray's head before smearing. It felt sticky.

"Show your mark stranger!" another man commanded as they approached a very elegant looking house. It looked strangely familiar in his mind.

"I am a White Tiger, can't you tell?"

"That's impossible-the only White Tigers left reside in this village. The rest have been destroyed."

"I hid, to save this child. His name is Raymond Kon. See? He wears the symbol."

He pointed at something on Ray's forehead. Ray giggled and reached up. He smeared the sticky liquid across his face more.

"Amazing," the guard leaned forward curiously, "We were told all the members of that family had perished.

"The Heavy Boars have cut part of my arm and my nephew is injured. Can't you spare us some sympathy?"

"The Kon child is your nephew?"

"Yes. My brother's name was Chai Kon."

"You may enter then…and I will introduce you to the court."

"Thank you."

They walked along a vast hall. Ray could only see dark and the bobbing chin of this "Tai-Ken."

"Elders?" Ray squirmed and saw a group of men sitting in a circle, talking quietly with a young warrior on the ground.

The men looked up,

"Tsuki? Is this important?"

"This man claims to be the uncle of this boy."

"Oh? Isn't that something the family magistrates deal with?"

"The boys name is Ray Kon, sir, son of deceased White Tiger Supreme Elder Chai Kon."

Silence filled the rest of the room.

*End Flashback*

Ray lifted his knees and leaned against the headboard. It was well into Saturday morning and he was not sleeping, even though he was really tired. He kept trying to sleep, but he could never get comfortable.

He heard it then. At first he thought it was maybe the floor or one of the headboards creaking as the rest of the Bladebreakers tossed in their sleep. But it sounded out again, this time it was a little louder. It was a knock at the door. Who would be up at this time? He got up quickly and opened the door. He was a little shocked to see Hilary standing there, tears flowing freely down her face. She had some bags in her hand and the door behind her was open. He could see a half-filled suitcase on the floor.

"Oh, good! You're awake," she croaked out and suddenly pulled him into a hug, "Bye Ray!"

"Hilary…" He pulled back and gaped at her, "What's wrong? What in the world are you doing?"

She choked and covered her face with her hands,

"You guys don't want me here so I'm leaving. I really want to stay though. And I don't want to go back because my parents will be working all summer and I don't want to be alone. But I'm alone here as well…" she sobbed.

"I--Hilary, do you need help?"

"Oh yes! Can you come help me pack some clothes and-?"

"No, Hilary. It's late. You need to go get some rest. You're anxious, you're not yourself right now. I meant, do you need help sorting--things out?"

"I'm not delusional, Ray!" she snapped.

"I didn't say that; I just said…"

"Will you help me pack, or are you just also going to let me do it on my own? Have even less to do with me?"

"I'm going to go wake the rest, Hilary. Can you just stay here for a minute?"

"No, I don't have time," she turned around and shut the door angrily on her room. She shut it so hard, though, that it popped open again and Ray could hear her furiously opening drawers before it became silent. Then she started crying some more. Waltzing was a good idea, but I think, especially before battling early in the morning, we shouldn't have gone at night.

He closed the door to their room slowly. He could hear her cry harder and he assumed she thought he didn't care. He felt bad and was about to turn back to try and talk to her again himself, but then he remembered trying to talk to her for a few minutes. Max rarely talked to Hilary. Kai was definitely not the person to wake up for her and Ray was extremely sure Kenny would get downright scared. Tyson wasn't the most pleasant person to try and wake and he and Hilary didn't exactly see eye to eye, but he seemed to understand her the most.

Ray tried shaking Tyson, but that didn't face him. He grabbed his pillow and started whacking Tyson in the face. Tyson began to moan but made no other move.

"Arrrghhh---" Ray went into the kitchen and filled a hotel glass with ice and water. He walked back in and dumped it directly across Tyson's face.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Tyson sat up, yelling angrily. He looked around at the rest of his sleeping teammates and then up at Ray. His eyes were barely open and he looked extremely mad,

"What's the big idea, Ray?"

"I think Hilary's lost it. I can't talk to her. And I'm afraid to get anyone else up."

"And you really think I want to deal with it…NOW, of all friekin' times of the day?" Tyson laid back down and turned around, with his back to Ray,

"I can't believe you woke me up this early for that."

"C'mon, Tyson. She's packed all her stuff already and I'm afraid she's going to lose all the moisture in her body if she keeps crying. I don't know what to do-you can't just let me handle it on my own."

Tyson's eyes narrowed. He groaned very loudly and pulled the covers off violently,

"WHY can't you people just go to SLEEP, like every other NORMAL person in this country-these countries?" he corrected himself.

He stopped only a quarter of an inch from the door when he could hear the sobs and whimpers.

"Told you," Ray put his hands on his hips.

"Gosh; I'll be back." He walked across the hallway and even though the door was open, he knocked very loudly on the door.

Ray leaned against their door frame, watching anxiously.

"So NOW you're going to help me pack, Ray?" She replied furiously.

Tyson pushed her door open and walked in, shutting it all the way behind him as he entered. Ray closed the door to the Bladebreakers room, but left it unlocked so Tyson could reenter.

Tyson walked up to where Hilary was leaning against her bed and stood there until she finally decided to stop and look up,

"I'm not Ray and I'm not going to help you pack. I'm going to help you un-pack in the morning, however."

"Go away, Tyson. Go get that sleep you probably want so badly?"

"Well, by the looks of it, you need it more than I do, so I'm not leaving till you do."

"I want to pack, Tyson and--" she tried to reach forward for some shirts, but he grabbed her hand,

"You need to get your mind off this, Hilary. You're obsessing!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Tyson! I never want to talk or see or speak to you again, okay? I want to go home and be alone, because at least when I'm alone there, I'm at home. And it was my choice to come here in the first place!"

"Yes, and it was also you're choice to stay here after we told you you would get bored! And now see what happened?"

"I'm not bored; I'm just tired, no not tired, just--just--UGH! I'm upset and angry and--"

"Why do you gripe so much? Why must you make such a big fuss-?"

"GET OUT OF HERE TYSON!" Hilary screamed shrilly, "You're always so negative about everything; you're never nice to me!"

"LOOK, I CAN YELL MUCH LOUDER AND MUCH MORE ANGRIER THAN YOU IF I WANTED TO, …but I won't as long as you listen to me! You're not alone. You came here to be with us, not to mope and wine at-" he swung around and looked at the clock, "Three in the morning. If you get some sleep and still decide you want to leave than you can. If you're going to say something worth my while then I'll stay but if you're going to complain all night, I really would like to get some sleep. We're not mad at you. We don't want you to leave. We never did."

"Yes, you do. You want me to go home. You even said it yourself. I could always just go back home. And you also said you don't care about me, so I figured, I wasn't wanted here."

She pulled her knees up and rested her chin in her arms.

Tyson frowned and sat down next to her,

"Is this about the Bladebreakers not liking you or about me not liking you?"

"Both."

"I never said I didn't care about you," he defended.

"Yes you did-you said 'Look, Hilary, you don't have to prove yourself to me. I don't care whether you understand or not'."

"You misinterpreted me then. I meant that you don't have to know everything there is to know about beyblading to prove yourself as our friend. It was supposed to be a compliment."

"Ha!" Hilary laughed, "Our friend; I don't think we've ever had a conversation where we don't argue."

"Hilary, why is this so important to you? Why now?"

"I don't have to tell you at all."

"No, you're right; you don't. But that's not going to help you."

"I don't want your help."

"Yes, well you need it. Look, you really need to get some rest. If you can, you'll probably make more sense of yourself. If you do something rash now, you might regret it later."

"I don't know."

"You don't know what? If you can get some rest? Hilary, I can't read your mind. You've got to be more specific."

"No, I don't know why it's so important to me. I can't sleep, Tyson…I can't get comfortable. I can't relax."

"Well, for starters, stop packing the crap out of this room. And just lay on your bed until you start to sleep. If you calm down, you'll maybe start to feel tired.

She got up and sat down on the edge of the bed. Tyson crossed his arms and continued to stare at her.

"Aren't you going to go?" She asked.

"I risk the chance of being woken up again. I'll wait till you're asleep before I leave, like I said."

"Thank you," she said quietly, "I'm sorry; I guess I'm just feeling really nervous."

"Yeah, I can tell."

She lay back on the bed and turned onto her stomach, holding her pillow against her head.

She let out a couple of deep gasps and sighed, before turning on her side and tucking her feet in. Tyson closed his eyes against the wall and lost track of time. He jerked awake an hour later and looked up. No sound came from Hilary. He got up and walked over and saw that she was asleep.

"Finally…" He whispered.

Something she'd said kept going through his mind,

"Is this about the Bladebreakers not liking you or about me not liking you?"

"Both."

"Sorry, Hilary," he apologized sadly.

He rubbed her back for a few minutes before walking quietly to the door. He turned the lights off and closed the door behind him.

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Final Note: AWWW…I know Hilary's attitude may have seemed like an extreme OOC, but that's what I'm usually like late at night on little sleep, so it's pretty darn close to the real thing actually.

And if I get 100 reviews for this chapter, I'll post the next two chapters at the same time this Saturday as well. Deal? I think that sounds fair enough. And I've already got 91, so it should be easy for y'all.

Thanks very much to the following reviewers:

Ice Archer Girl: Yeah, I've never heard Ivanov before either-that doesn't sound right. Well, someone did actually tell me that it was Valkov, but because of the Abbey and everything I wasn't sure. I really think it's Valkov then-Tala Valkov. It looks nice, sounds nice, so it's good enough for me. And, hehehe, you know who I'd be waltzing with if I could…(*wicked grin* RAY-KUN!) (*Ray*: Ray is not here at the moment, but he can take a message--) SQUEEZE! (*Ray*: Eggchh! Breath-I need--air--) I get so jealous of Mariah sometimes. BTW, I'll go back and change how Oliver is spelled~I'm glad I put that excerpt in before I really messed it up later. And thanks for correcting me!

kaz: Oh, thank you! Yeah, I think they look just fine too, but apparently my friend begs to differ-she insulted them further today by saying not only were they fat, but even chubby. She said Mariah-"that pink haired chick" looked fat as well! Hmmph! But when I told them they were thin in the second season, we joked about how Tyson, Kai, Max and Kenny had started a veggie diet for Weight Watchers. Hehehe…So I guess she didn't make me that mad. I had a really hard time writing that chapter, so I'm glad it turned out all right with the descriptions and the thoughts~(; Thanks very much!

Galux Kitty: You learned how to waltz at your school? That's awesome! I wish our school did fun stuff like that, but we're so pathetically cheap that we hold assemblies in the cafeteria. You're near the last day of your school? Gee, I just started! What's up with that? It must be the season change.

Cheril X: Hahaha! (wow…that laugh is a little scary looking; I should try something else

next time.) ANY-way! Thanks for the funny commentary! And now onto the fic! (Everyone except Kai: WHAT FIC?!!!) (*~sigh~*) They really are pointlessly stupid, eh, Kai? (Kai: -----Whatever.) THAT'S the Kai I love so much! (;

Cheril X: Don't you feel special? You get TWO of these. I thought my top feedback looked too silly and light-hearted to put this in. But since you reviewed twice, it's kind of a given that you get two feedbacks. Chapter 11 was totally new, not re-written or re-named. I always write the chapter and then post it. Were you confused because I added the title of the next chapter (which I had had enough time to pre-write)? Or did it just look different to you than what you remembered?

Kai-Hanmyo: YEA! (Squeezes Ray) She likes my story! She likes my story! And she was kind enough to stop and review 'wittle' me. Thanks!