Cool Quote:

"I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy!"

-Dory from Finding Nemo

A/N: Ahaha! I LOVE that line! Dory rocks ~ she's my favorite! I think it's a little safe to say my characters are maturing. Either that or I'm just detracting from their original personality (not from the show, heck no-I clarified that in the beginning; I'm talking about how they were in the first ten chapters. They're acting differently, neh?) Well, you choose anyway.

Disclaimer: The author has only seen half of Beyblade 2002 (VForce) and has not seen G Rev at all, so incorrect information or misspellings about characters that might appear in the context are innocently accidental. Zen Tai-Ken, Renlee Brown, Tehran Chang, Brittney Loveless, Annelise Parker, William (Will) Trenton, and David and Rochelle Llewellyn belong to me as well as any other additional character not associated with Beyblade. Kira Ocelet, Mobekai Tart, Danika Woods, Colby Peterson and Trish rightfully belong to me as well.

Italics are thoughts.

Bold letters are songs.

WATCH THIS!

Chapter 23: Caught in the Act

Tala had taken off the ring on his left finger and was twirling it around absently in his hand. It was a very…interesting ring. He was sure he'd gotten it from his deceased grandfather, but he also thought he'd gotten it in a pawn shop. Either way, he thought it was really pretty.

Bryan was sitting at the desk, flipping through some magazines, and Spencer was sleeping on the other bed. Ian was flipping through the cable channels in the connecting room.

The ring, he'd found out, was made of Amethyst, a common, but valuable gemstone, known for it's deep purple color among royalty and majesty. He let his hand drop tiredly on top of his muscular chest and he closed his eyes.

"Tala?"

"Umhm?" He asked groggily.

"Tala? It's me."

"Who?"

"Don't you remember? You promised not to forget me. Don't you still have my ring?"

"Your ring?" He asked.

"I gave it to you, Tal. Don't you remember your Lise?"

"No, no I don't. Who are you, Lise, is it?"

"Your best friend and your companion! What's happened to you? Where did you put your nice personality? I need my friend! Remember, Tala, please remember!"

"REMEMBER WHAT?!" Tala asked frustratedly.

"HEY!"

Tala opened his eyes and turned his head to where Bryan was leaning back in the chair looking annoyed,

"Stop talking to yourself."

"Was I?" Tala looked confused, "I was talking aloud?"

"YES. Duh. Tal, Sometimes I swear your head is screwed on too tight."

Tala stared into space suddenly.

Tal. Annelise used to call him that, he suddenly remembered.

Annelise? Yes, Annelise…Annelise. She had magnificent blue eyes and delicate curly blonde hair that he was afraid he would break. He'd spent most of his childhood with her. At such a young age, he didn't think he knew what love was, but he remembered thinking every day that she was very beautiful. And Lise and he grew up and they had separated and she'd given him that Amethyst ring to remember her by. It was pretty, like her.

Like Annelise. Lise. Annelise Parker. The name of the girl he'd just seen outside the hotel. The one that had been staring.

Tala's eyes widened suddenly as more memories of the girl he once knew came rushing back into his memory. It was like seeing her had joggled all of those suppressed memories.

But the important thing was, he remembered.

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"Let's see; what would everyone like next?" Hilary walked in and set the empty plate down.

"Are you still playing maid, Hilary? Look, if they want food, they'll come get it. And if they don't, then they're being lazy bums," Tyson looked around at the table choosily, "Hey, do you want to get me some water?"

"Boy, that sounds like no one that I know," Hilary muttered sarcastically, opening the fridge.

"What the heck is this?" Tyson asked curiously. She spun around, leaving the fridge wide open.

"Tyson! That's the last pig in a blanket!" Hilary rushed forward to get her hands on the platter.

Tyson laughed and picked it up jokingly, throwing it just out of her reach,

"Gosh, what a funny looking pig. Didn't know they made this color of a blanket? Wonder where I can get one…"

"It's not funny! That's what they call it because it looks like a pig wrapped in a blanket…"

"Gee, I would have never guessed," he brought it up close to his mouth and she gaped impatiently. He grinned and sniffed it. She sighed and tried to reach forward again. He jumped aside and she tripped on the chair and landed on the ground.

"Smells more like a corn dog if you ask me…"

"Well, that's why the inventor didn't ask you…he would have been insulted," She jumped up and tried to grab it from him, but he only maneuvered away.

"What's your problem?" He leaned against the wall and looked at the corn dog, "Someone's eventually going to eat it. Why not me?"

She grabbed his hand, trying to pry the corn dog in a blanket from his palm. He laughed as she clawed his knuckles. He lifted his hands above his head and switched hands. She jumped up and down in front of his face,

"TYSON! It's not funny!"

"Yes it is," he said quite coolly.

"You've already eaten HALF the platter!"

"Unless, of course, you wanted to eat it yourself…" He thought aloud, still trying to answer his question.

"So what?! I still want it!" She jumped up one last time and didn't bother to land on the floor. She pushed him down onto the floor. He turned around and hid his fists underneath his stomach. She wrapped her hands persistently around his stomach and tried to grab pieces of it from underneath his palm,

"You'll squash it!" She gaped, "How hard are your fists clenched?"

"You're squashing me!" He complained back, crouched in the corner between the wall and the counter.

"Good!"

"Stop! Stop! I'll give it to you, kay?" He said finally. She slowly let go of his hands and backed off. He turned around and got up, brushing himself off. Then he leaped for the fridge. Hilary was quick. She grabbed his pant leg and brought him down with a *thud* onto the kitchen floor.

"TAKAO KINOMIYA!"

He laughed quite abruptly,

"Speaking blunt Japanese? I didn't know you were that mad, Hiromi."

"It's HILARY, TYSON GRANGER! And you BETTER keep your word!"

"Just a moment, kay?"

He turned around and grabbed her hand, prying her away from his leg. He got up on one knee before Hilary tried lunging for him again. He pulled himself to his feet and jumped back one step. Hilary swiped air and cursed, before pulling herself up. Tyson grabbed something from the fridge, slammed it shut and turned around to find Hilary directly in front of his face.

Her palm was stretched out,

"Pig?" She demanded, "I'm hungry."

He grinned and dropped a bunch of ice cubes into her hand,

"There's your water."

She shrieked at the coldness and dumped the cubes on the floor, causing a few heads to lift up in the family room.

"All right?" Michael called.

"YES! Everything's peachy keen!" Tyson yelled merrily, trying to go out into the living room.

Hilary stepped forward to grab Tyson around the neck angrily, but she stepped on her own ice cubes. Her eyes widened in momentary shock. She reached forward and grabbed Tyson's shirt to pull him down with her. Her feet flipped forward and she landed hard on her back. Her eyes scrunched together in pain.

"Are you all right?" His voice resonated within her ears. It tickled a little bit. She thought at first that she had succeeded in pulling him down and that he was lying next to her. Then she realized that there was something heavy on her. She could feel breath on her neck. She opened her eyes slowly and the first thing she saw were his concerned blue eyes looking down at her. Then she noticed how extremely close they were. Her hand was still tightly gripping his shirt just above her own chest. She noticed that he had also seen their predicament as he looked a lot more serious than he had minutes ago.

Think of something else, okay? Okay, thinking, searching for something…

"Heh…um,…hi." Tyson smiled embarrassingly.

"Erm…can you get off me?" Hilary asked, trying to sound as polite as she could manage.

"You haven't let go of my shirt yet," he pointed out.

"Oh!" She let go quickly and dropped her hand.

He didn't move though and she coughed.

"Just a moment, kay?" He asked.

"A moment for what?!" She asked incredulously.

"Gee, aren't you in a hurry?" He frowned.

"Well, duh!" She rolled her eyes as if the thought that they weren't in a very comfortable position hadn't occurred to him.

He pulled himself up on one hand and fiddled in his pockets with his other. His left foot slid forward to her side and rested on the knee cap to distribute weight more evenly.

"What are you looking for now, of all times?!" She asked, watching him.

He turned his head, so that he was again very close to her face and she tried to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks,

"Oh, stop your whining. I'll show you in a minute."

"Can't you wait and do that when we get up?"

He turned, grinning,

"Uncomfortable, eh?"

She blushed,

"Oh, shut up."

"Open your mouth."

"What?!" She asked disbelievingly, suggesting the obvious.

"I'm not going to kiss you, Hilary," Tyson rolled his eyes.

She blushed, quite embarrassed at his blunt remark and came up with a lame excuse,

"I never said that! I just don't like the idea of opening my mouth what with everything else you've done this evening! I'm afraid you'll stick worms down my throat or something."

Tyson sighed and rested his hand on his chin, thereby moving closer to her,

"Just open your mouth, Hilary. I swear I won't stick worms down your throat or anything else."

She opened her mouth slowly, a little curious as to what the heck he was doing. He took whatever it was he'd been searching for out of his pocket and stuck his hand into her mouth. At first, she couldn't believe that his hand was in her mouth until she tasted hot dogs. He'd put the pig in a blanket in her mouth!

"I told you it would only be a minute," he leaned back and grabbed her hand to pull her up, "And I always keep my word."

"Sometimes you do," she corrected, and then, chewing quietly on the pigs, "Thank you."

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Ray grabbed Mariah's hand and whispered into her ear,

"Can I steal you for a minute?"

Mobekai looked over disapprovingly. Ray shrugged as if suggesting the obvious. They were watching the rest of a card game being finished between Max and Emily. Both had already been disqualified and Ray found the calm moment the perfect opportunity to just give her the present. She blushed and got up quickly,

"Yeah. What's up?"

He pulled her off to the side hall and pulled out a small hand wrapped package which he handed to her,

"I just wanted to give you your present. I wanted you to open it while I was still here, cause I want to see your reaction. And I figured, what with Mobekai and all, I just better do it over here."

"Oh, that's nice."

She opened the box inside the paper and stared at the item inside. It was a silver-chained necklace with a carved red rose dangling from the bottom. The petals were separated by silver and in the middle of the rose was a single red ruby.

She dumped it out of the box and just stared at it's sparkling reflection. Rubies were extremely expensive…and Ray had gotten one for her just for her birthday? Yep, this just about proves it. Fate really hates me.

Ray fiddled nervously at her quiet reaction,

"They last forever. Like friendship, you know? Look, I had actually planned on getting you something else, but something came up. I'll get it for you someday though, okay?"

"Oh, no! No, Ray! I love it! I just couldn't think of anything to say. Thank you. This is--really nice. I can't believe you got this for me…," she rubbed her hand once over the ruby.

"Do you want me to--?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"Oh, yes! Thank you!" She handed him the necklace and turned around, pulling her hair up.

He wrapped his hands around her head and then pulled back around her neck, pulling the clasps together at the nape of her neck. She could feel his hands against her neck and her back tingled every time he touched her skin. Did she ever feel that way when Mobekai touched her?

You won't ever be able to have him though, Mariah, so stop fooling yourself girl. Ray just doesn't see you that way.

"So, have you had a good day so far?" He asked in a concerned tone as she turned around and dropped her hair.

"Yes, actually, it's gotten better."

"Did we surprise you?" he asked, grinning.

"I wouldn't have looked so remarkably like a guppie if I'd known otherwise."

"Nah, you were just speechless."

"And you could tell from behind 5 kids and a couch?"

"I was underneath the coffee table. If I turned my head three quarters to the left, I would avoid St. Mary's wind swept statue hair and I could see your face."

She laughed,

"Very cunning plan you had there."

"I know," he smirked, "I have another plan too."

"For what?" She asked, a little surprised.

"C'mere, I'll tell you," he had a wicked grin on his face.

"I don't like that look," she said slowly and backed away. He only shook his head once and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her toward him. He started tickling her under the arms,

"One…two…three…four…"

"You can't do that!" she grabbed his arms and tried to pull him away, but he only tickled her under her other arm as well. He laughed,

"Ten…eleven…twelve…thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…sixteen!"

He let go and she smacked him lightly on the shoulder in response.

"Good thing we walk in China. Can you only imagine having to face you on the road?" Ray laughed.

"I'll be a great driver! You haven't even tried."

"I will," he corrected her.

"What are you planning to do after this tournament, Ray?" Mariah asked.

"Just Beyblade some more, I suppose. Go wherever the rest of my team happens to go."

"Do you think you'd ever stop beyblading?"

"I'm not sure. I hadn't ever thought about that. Why? Are you planning to stop beyblading?" He looked extremely worried.

"Not for now, no," she shrugged, "It was just a thought."

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Trish saw Kai sulking in the corner, as usual, and she suddenly got very angry. She'd always liked being the loner, staying by herself in the corner and never talking to anyone. Ever since she'd met Kai, all she could see was competition. She was much more open to everyone than she thought she wanted to be and she blamed all of it on him. She wanted to get to know him because she thought he felt and acted the same way she did. Instead, she opened up and he kept closed. He was still the loner. And she had undergone miraculous changes. She stormed up to him and threw her cup in the bin beside him very forcefully. He raised an eyebrow but did not move at all. She continued to stare at him for a few minutes, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"Something wrong?" he asked casually, leaning back a bit against the wall.

"Yes, I'll tell you what's wrong. You are what's wrong. You and your whole attitude. It's quite annoying. For once, could you just, lighten up or something?"

He finally turned his head,

"And where did this come from?"

"I'm angry cause no one fears me anymore!"

"Why would you want that?"

"Because---because they don't bother you with stupid questions!"

"Hmm. And, ironically, you don't have an attitude?"

"I did! I used to be a great sulker! And then you came along! Compared to you, I suddenly look like Ms. Sunshine! Ms. Come Talk To Me Whenever You Darn Well Feel Like It! Can't you please just take that position for a day?!"

He stared,

"Sorry."

She waited and he rolled his eyes and turned his head again,

"Anything else you want to throw at me?"

"Sorry? That's it? That's all you can say?"

"Look, I'm not the one with the spur of the moment anger casualty. If you want to sulk, sulk. I haven't done anything to your personality. Maybe it's just because you really are Ms. Sunshine and you never had anyone to compare yourself to," Kai's eyes narrowed briefly, angrily. His eyes turned a darker blue that she hadn't seen before and she was briefly a little shocked that she had managed to make him upset.

"You know, you're a lot nicer when you open up to people," she pointed out.

"How would you know?! I haven't opened up to you! And I still can't figure out why all of sudden you're choosing to attack me for my personality! Why do you care whether I'm nice or not?"

"Maybe because I'm choosing to care about you! That's why I'm mad! You make people so angry when they try and do something nice for you! But you're really nice! I've seen it! Why can't you open up?"

"For the same reason that you hate the fact that people think you're Ms. Sunshine. Why do I care what people think about me? I care only for myself. And if you're quite finished, I really just don't feel like talking anymore."

"That's right, Mr. Hiwatari! It's always about you, huh?"

"Trish, what's wrong?"

"I just said what was wrong!" She raised her voice, "And I thought you didn't want to talk anymore!"

He suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. Her eyes widened in surprise. He spoke quite calmly still,

"I haven't said anything to you since we got here--"

"Exactly!"

"And yet you are suddenly attacking me so strongly without any good reason!"

"I do have good reason! I just told you!"

"You never brought it up before!"

"I'm mad…I'm just mad at you, okay? Just for everything you've done!"

"Which would be?" He asked.

"Everything!"

"That's real specific, Trish. I can't change anything if you don't tell me."

"I can't tell you, all right? But everything changed when I met you! I was no longer an outcast, I'm questioning my beliefs and---"

"How are you so sure it's me that's doing this?"

"Because everything I do concerns you."

A dark shadow crept across his face,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Her hands flew to her mouth as if she had let slip something important. He let go of her shoulder,

"Does this have something to do with why you were following me this afternoon? Do you work for someone that hates me Trish? Is someone using you to get to me?" He stopped and looked very closely into her eyes, "You're not lying, are you? Do you still work for Boris?"

She backed off quickly and turned around,

"Bye Hiwatari."

The truth was, Trish couldn't tell him that she was angry because Boris wanted her to lie to and hurt him and she was starting to doubt whether she could do that or not. She was upset because she really and truly wanted to be his friend, but she didn't know how to get him to open up.

"Trish! You can't do that! You can't spur angry comments at me and then walk away! Trish!"

He tried to grab her wrist, but she shrunk away quickly. She walked up to Mariah, hugged her briefly and grabbed her bag. She opened the door angrily but shut it quietly. There must've been no need for her to slam it.

ARRGH! Why did she have to be like that? Kai thought angrily. He'd been perfectly fine and she'd been perfectly fine until she'd started to throw daggers at him one by one.

She was the first person to leave that night.

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"Three Queens," Emily set three cards down.

"B.S. You're lying," Max chuckled immediately.

She gaped and turned the cards over. There were two queens and one king,

"How did you know I had a king?" She asked amazingly.

"Because I have two queens. And there are only four cards per deck."

"Ah!" Emily caught him suddenly, pointing a finger. Max shut his mouth embarrasingly and Emily continued tauntingly, "Oh, shouldn't have done that, Maxy-poo. Now I know how many queens you have."

"Two queens," Max set the cards down and Emily frowned. He laughed,

"Now you don't have any advantages, eh?"

"Oh, contraire," she set her last two cards down, "Three kings."

"B.S.," he said immediately.

"Nope!" she cried triumphantly, throwing the cards over.

"Shoot," he combined his cards with the deck, "Good job, Emily."

"Thanks," she leaned her back against the couch. Mobekai was sitting above and to the side of her. He also leaned back into the couch and sighed. He really wanted to get up and pull Mariah away from Ray, but he remembered that she wanted him to give him space. And the last thing he wanted was for her to be mad with him.

He just had to try and trust her. Trust her.

Oh, shoot. Who was he kidding? Trust Mariah around Ray? He restrained himself, however. He was being immature if he did otherwise. I mean, if she doesn't like me, she doesn't like me. She likes Ray. But he doesn't like her. And I can't get her out of my mind. Why can't she just wake up and smell reality?

Mobekai didn't want her to be upset. He didn't want her to hurt. If she wanted to pretend Ray liked her, she could. She'd see it soon. She would.

"Hey!" He felt her familiar arms ruffle his hair and he looked up. She came around the couch and sat down next to him,

"Thanks."

Mariah smiled down at him as if she was somewhat pleased that he had left her alone; that he had trusted her. See? This'll pay off eventually.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't come after me. I appreciate that."

"Oh," he suddenly noticed the very nice ruby necklace she wore around her neck, "Your welcome."

Ray must've given that to her. For her birthday? How can I compete? Mobekai suddenly felt shamed. His present wasn't even something he'd come up with on his own.

"So, who won?" Mariah rubbed his neck, which suddenly made every other thought he'd had about jealousy disappear.

"Emily. Max accused her wrong."

"That's a shame. For him, at least. Definitely not for her."

"Hey Mariah? Do you want your surprise now?" He turned his body to face her and took her hands in his own.

"Yes!" Her face lit up excitedly, "Gee, I was thinking you were never going to bring it up."

"Best for last," he winked, "Besides, I just wanted to wait till not everyone was watching. I'll be back, okay? I put it in one of the back rooms."

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Ray was pleased that Mariah had liked his gift. He was still a little upset that he hadn't been able to find the original gift he'd picked up for her. Max and Emily were talking at the table. He noticed that when Max talked, he would always hold both of his hands toward Emily on the floor as if to grab her hand. He hadn't seen Tyson for a while. He looked toward the hallway and noticed him and Chief talking quietly in the corner. Hilary had also curled up into a ball on one of the blow-up chairs, sleeping very soundly. Kira was turning so often she kept whacking him in the leg.

Then some other voices passed through his mind and he turned around.

Danika and Colby had been staring boredly into space and Michael began to laugh at them,

"So, how long do you think you can hold those pupils open?"

"For a very long time," Colby looked up, "I happen to be an expert."

"For staring off into space?" Lee asked, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"More than I can say for you. You're eyes are always so narrow I can't tell whether they're open or not," she retaliated.

"Staring contest!" Danika said excitedly.

"It must be the highlight of your life when you can announce staring contests with such excitement," Ray commented mildly, looking at them from over the couch back.

"Ray! Come join us!" Danika waved excitedly.

"No thanks. I know I'm no good. I'll just watch from here."

"Right, tell us who wins, okay?" Colby asked.

They then proceeded to just stop talking and stare with wide eyes at each other, boy vs. girl.

Danika stared at Lee first, but Lee was determined to outlast Colby, so she turned and stared at Michael. His wide red eyes were very alarming and very discouraging, but she kept her eye sockets open as if they were glued to her brow line. Her head began to hurt tremendously.

Lee raised his eyebrows defiantly and even dared to lean back against the wall in a relaxed position. She decided to look for something on his face and just stare at it for a while. She chose to watch a small patch of yellow below the iris in his eye. It flickered up and down and then settled in on the side. She could feel the pressure mount on her eyelids and forced them to open a little wider than she kept them.

He grinned, keeping his eyes completely open. He didn't even appear to struggle with the concept,

"Uncomfortable?"

Her head burned with anger. She was going to win this. She answered by narrowing her eyes briefly.

Danika, whose eyes had been torn open like baseballs, closed her eyes quickly.

"Danika's out," Ray said quite calmly, "Sorry," he added.

She brushed her hand against her cheekbone,

"I'm sorry, Colby. I can't do it anymore."

Michael continued by staring at Colby as well. Colby turned to face him for a moment, resting on watching a strand of his hair. Lee still watched her from the side, but she could see that he was beginning to struggle. His eyes danced nervously and his fists were beginning to clench. Michael was even worse. His eyes were very wide like Danikas had been.

She knew that if she stared at him any longer she was going to end up losing. She turned back to face Lee and more determination surged through her veins.

Lee was trying hard to act cool and calm, but he also felt like he was trying to hold the rest of his head with his eyes. That's how much it hurt. He, too, had decided to just stare at something on Colby's face. So he'd chosen to watch her eyes and saw, with pleasant delight that she was struggling not only to keep her eyes open, but to also look as calm and collected as she did.

"Michael's out," Ray commented again, leaning over the couch. Lee didn't dare look over, but not he knew he didn't have the advantage he'd had a minute ago over Colby.

"Colby vs. Lee," Ray laughed quietly, "Now this oughta be good…"

"Hurt, didn't it?" Lee could hear Michael ask Danika.

"Like Hades. I need eye drops so badly. I won't be able to walk well if I can't see straight."

Lee pursed his lips and his face became extremely taught with the effort it was now taking. His eyes would drop a few inches and then he'd force them to shoot back up again. Colby would smile triumphantly every time he did this, but he noticed that her eyes were turning redder and redder. Something wet formed around the brim of her eyelid and several flew down her cheek.

"You're struggling," he noted quietly.

"So are you," she pointed out quickly, reaching up to wipe the tears away without so much as flinching.

"Still so determined?" he laughed, crinkling his face, "How sad."

"Shut-up. I'll win this. I know it."

As he stopped laughing, he struggled to concentrate on keeping his eyes open. Colby's brown eyes looked so determined and proud. He decided to stare at the mole on her cheek. It was really pretty and round and pretty and round and…

His eyes suddenly went really cross-eyed and he tried to focus without closing his eyes. He tried lifting his eyes to watch her hair, but as he did so, he blinked once. And then he regretted ever moving.

"Lee's out," Ray commented, "Nice try, though."

Colby closed her eyes satisfactorily and lay back on the hotel floor, sighing.

Lee rubbed his eyes and stretched.

"Good job Colby," he congratulated kindly as she sat up.

"You too."

Ray turned away from their conversation and looked over once again at Mariah and Mobekai. She was opening a gift bag with his present in it. He leaned back against the couch pillows and watched with interest when she pulled out a purple shirt.

A light maroon blouse with an elastic chest band and extra long loose sleeves. She pulled it out fully and gaped, her expression one of shock mingled with ecstatic elation. Ray's had suddenly clenched the pillow beside him quite angrily. When Mariah finally dropped the blouse in her lap after running her hand throughout every fabric, Ray could make out three yellow flowers at the bottom.

When he'd lost his blade, he never told the others he'd also lost his original birthday present for Mariah.

*Flashback*

"We have about--10 more minutes," Max looked at his watch. They were sitting on a bench in the L'Ocean Mall in Aix-En-Provence, France.

"That's not enough time to go looking for anything."

"Yeah, I know," he leaned back.

Ray looked in the shops across from them. A certain pink ribbon caught his attention in Roswell's and when the girl appeared around the rotating clothes rack, he knew that it was Mariah.

"Hey, isn't that--?"

She was looking covetously at a maroon blouse and holding it, but her face fell when she looked at the white tag attached. She set it aside and went to purchase her items. A woman walked over and looked at the blouse Mariah had been looking at quite interestedly. Like she was going to buy it.

"Hey, can you excuse me for a minute?" Ray got up and stuffed his bags under the bench.

"Sure! Where are you going?"

"Just going to get a jacket."

He walked into the store and up to the woman,

"Excuse me, but I saw that first."

She laughed,

"And what are you planning on doing with it?"

"I'm going to buy it. What else would I do?"

"Ah! I see! It is for you girlfriend, neh?" She laughed and winked.

"Heh…" he smiled weakly, "Yeah. For a girlfriend."

"Here you go!" She pushed the blouse into his arms. He walked up to the register as soon as Mariah had left the store.

*End Flashback*

He'd kept it in his bag. He'd tried searching for it some more. He could see before why someone would steal his beyblade. But why would anyone want a purple blouse?

He knew now who had taken both.

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Final Note: Sorry about all the gemstone references (ruby, amethyst) . We just finished learning about gemstones in Earth Science and I'm kind of addicted to them now.

It's my birthday next Tuesday; I'll be 18 on the 18th of November. Cool, huh? That only happens once in your life. I expect lots of reviews! Again, thanks for all your support!

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Thanks very much to the following reviewers:

Lisa Oceans Potter: WOW! So many compliments for so little me! YEA! Patience is a virtue, one that I have a great deal of; the Ray/Mariah will come, it will! Like I said, I'm not even halfway through. I have SO much more to do-I was predicting 30 chapters from the start and now I'm thinking more like 50 since I've already reached 23, so just hang tight for a while. And you're the only one that mentioned the 'sequel' for this fic-YEA! AGAIN! That really made me happy!

Cheril X: I DID! I DID UPDATE! Thanks for the compliments! Sometimes less noise from the peanut gallery (Ray: HEY! SQ: Oh, have you finally decided to show up again? Ray: I'm not responding to that.) is better. Wise words from someone otherwise not very wise.

Kai-Hanmyo: THIEF! Okay here's my Yoda talk (my friends thought this concept was hilarious): Yep, Ray/Mariah this story shall be. That's it. Hehe…Okay, here's the rest of the doo: I'll be doing more "romantic" scenes between Mariah/Mobekai, b/c their relationship so far hasn't been that great and they *do* like each other…but don't become too attached to the idea of them together.

Ice Archer Girl: New Ideas! Those things just sneak up on you, huh? I think I've had like 20 different story ideas in the past week and sadly, I've jotted down none of them. But they'll all come back to me eventually. And don't worry about the whole boyfriend thing, cause I don't have one either~never have had one, which is why Mariah/Mobekai's relationship is a little pathetic since it's not supposed to be that romantic. It is the only one on your favorites-I checked! ;) And I like writing about Tala/Annelise, so you'll like that. I had actually thought about not putting Will in because that would've been too many OCs. But I need him in there for two reasons: 1) All my OC teams have one boy and the rest girls. I decided to give Tehran a break. And….2) I need him for a pairing. So anyway, he's back in the picture now! I'll have to repost the original bio I had for him on my Authors Information. And I'm SO jealous-I want to go to Ottawa, Japan! Where's my money?! Where are those tickets?!

HimitsuKokoro: Do you really think I made Mariah make up with him so soon? I thought it was taking forever for them to get back together and I probably wouldn't be so forgiving if that was all he did, but I didn't feel like making her rude or having to try and put another romantic scene in. (*sigh!* What a long sentence…) So--how's life going? ;)

Galux Kitty: HAH! Did you really bend the spoon in half? Gosh, that would have been a gallon of laughs to see! I go to your site as often as I can! One of the downloaded pictures is actually my background-Ray is hugging Mariah in a cuddle position. Cue: Aww! That's how I discovered Yu-Gi-Oh. Just flipping and "Oh! Hey, he's kind of cute..." Turned into my second anime boy obsession: Seto Kaiba. But, I know you hate Yu-Gi-Oh, so onto more important matters. Whenever I associate December with something, it's always snow and christmas and cold and such, so it's weird to hear that for some peoples it means summer break. Culture shock, we should call it. Hah! You and Hikari-Tenshi both brought up the fact that the Saint Shields are reminiscent of the White Tigers. How weird! And I totally agree! Who's Foxy Guy? Dare I ask? Careers people thought I was going to be an Engineer. I hate work. I hate dirt. I hate math. I hate thinking about problems I can't solve. Fat chance. And I have AIM-same name. I can't ever figure out how to change, but I'll put you down and try to catch you online here sometime!

Hikari-T3nshi: I added you to my address book! Now I have to write you sometime! More friends! Hey, I'd never thought about that! *shudders* Kevin and Joseph together…the terror, the horror, the beatings. Yeah, Mobekai is really nice when he and Mariah are together. Or he could just be the stereotype for what I want in a guy. (sigh) Don't we all? I kind of have an idea for what happens to him though and you'll like the ending for both Mariah and Mobekai. AND I'M SO MAD! I can't get that site to load that you sent me! And it's eating me alive! I want to know who the heck Mistel is! Any relation to Shippu no Jin? Or the Paldez Soldar team? So…have you seen G-Rev too? Darn. Like I said, we are ALWAYS the last to receive anything.

Suzuran: Ha! I was getting online to update these chapters and your review appeared telling me to update! Must be your lucky day, huh? You'll get your wish granted sooner than you thought! Again, who the heck is Mistel?! Must be a pretty kawaii guy huh? Salima, Saliva, no difference: Yes! I like that analogy very much. (Ray: Oh no…twisted ideas are beginning to form in her mind…run! Run Away Very Fast!) bOnK! Anyway…YEA for the long review and for being first on your list of favorites! Thank you!