Chapter 11
Mizuyah: Well, if you remember what happened to Kevin and add the fact the others don't know... dropping hints. ;)
MyHeartBleeds: Yes, another date. And it was good too. Seems I have all three boys tagging along now. Quite happy I am. :D And I'll get around to sending you Mariah's POV. It's fairly early in the fic and if I edit it a little it won't give anything away. Her POV also contains what happened with Ray and Kev, but I'll omit them.
Koneko no Rei: Yes, a lot happened to the poor White Tigers... even Mariah, but I'm not getting into that. And Shina is cute. Just Lee hates her. :p
KaiWaiiRei: There's another 'w' in awkward, but fair effort. And to be honest I actually like Mariah, only she's the bad guy in the first two parts on the Honesty series. In another fic Mariah is actually one of the main 'good' guys, but I'm not saying what fic cause it's kinda stalled at the moment and not up. It'll appear when it's completed. And, of course, there is the Eclipse/Frozen/Believe series...
Bluumberry: Messed up? What happened?
Prozacfairy: Actually it doesn't. Remember the start of Honesty, or at least where the Blade Breakers enter the fic. Overture crosses over with Honesty.
Tariki Rania: There's a lot of connections through this fic to Honesty and Honesty II. See if you can spot them.
Ashla: Yes, you can't help but feel pity. And you wait til you see how messed up Ray really is.
dead yet a love sick puppy: Indeed.
animeandraia: What's missing? Anything in particular?
babymar-mar: Yes, it comes in handy to read the others, but if you haven't...
Chaco and Lily: OMG!!! Eiri Yuki is so hot!!!!!! Thank you so much for the link.
KuronekoHikage: She's not all bad....
GemGemJoo: Then here's more for you to read.
lilmatchgirl007: In my fic, miracles can occur.
TNTiggris: That's it all right. The Kevin thing.
Kappy Locks: Are you from Florida? And randomness can be good. Sometimes. Yours was good.
Zap Cannon: Too explicit? Um... how? And I update twice a week. Is that not enough?
keisan: Fair enough, wanting to wait. I promise not to give anything away, but I would advise you not to read what I write to the other readers.
Note to all: You won't believe it, but it would seem Ketsuron is going to be the second longest fic I've ever written, the longest I've written for Beyblade. It's already passed 108 pages, single spaced in Word. And that's after I cut out a sex scene. Not telling who was in it, though. The reason I cut it was cause it gave too much away... ((evil grin))
Ray's moving in and told his story, but do you think they believe him?
"I just can't believe Ray would do that."
Tyson and Kenny nodded their agreement to Max as they sat around Kenny's bedroom, Dizzi set up open on the desk.
"There's got to be more to it," Tyson said. "And to be honest I can't imagine Lee doing that either."
"It's called hormones, boys," Dizzi chipped in. "Something I'm sure you know all about."
Max and Tyson shot each other a quick glance before looking away, but it wasn't fast enough for Kenny not to notice. Behind his brown hair Kenny's eyes narrowed, looking from one to another and adding another piece to the puzzle he had been building for over the last month, and he wasn't liking the picture that was being revealed.
"I think there's something more to it," Tyson stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think that Mariah did something to them."
"Um, Ty," Max said. "It was always Kevin that manipulated things into his favour, not Mariah."
"So? Who says she couldn't if she wanted? Anyone can do it."
"Tyson has a point," Kenny admitted.
"For a change," Dizzi said.
Kenny shot her a look before continuing. "Mr D was very good at deceiving us on several occasions, and he's not the only one. Anyone can do it, especially when you trust that person, and we know the White Tigers are able to trust each other."
"Were able to trust each other," Tyson corrected, frowning. "And I don't think they ever really trusted Kevin."
"Despite everything, Kevin's loyal," Kenny reminded them. "If you recall everything he did was for his team. He put them before himself."
"And got Lee pissed at him."
Max looked at them. "Well, his plans did always backfire."
Tyson grinned.
"Don't be so sure, Max," Dizzi said. "Kevin did successfully make Ray lose Driger."
"Yeah, but Ray got him back." Tyson shrugged. "It was no biggie."
"Ray was lucky."
Max looked at Tyson. "She has a point."
"I think we really need to be there for Ray, guys," Kenny said looking toward the door. "He's rather upset. He needs his team more than ever."
"Well we're here," Max said with a grin.
Tyson stood, dropping his hat back onto his head. "Let's go help him settle in. What do you say guys?"
They chorused their agreement.
((-----------------------------))
Ray began unpacking his bag, dropping everything into the correct drawers. He paused as he came across the picture of the White Tigers from several years before, a picture that he took everywhere with him. He sighed. Back then everything had been perfect. They hadn't had a care in the world other than their blading. That and their school work.
Kevin forever had the teachers on his back as he always tended to hand his projects in a day late, and Lee was continually in hot water for not focusing in class and always just passing. Not to mention both Kevin and Lee spent half their lives in detention for fighting in class.
Ray smiled. Yes, those two just couldn't get along. Mariah had blamed in on the hormones, while Gary claimed it was because they were both very domineering. Ray tended to agree with Gary's theory more. Besides, Mariah blamed everything on the hormones.
She would this too.
Ray slammed a fist into the bed, squeezing his eyes closed. He should have known that something wasn't right. Mariah had been so carefree, so seductive. He had questioned her, wanting to know her reasons for a change of heart after she had once told him she would wait until she was married, but she had brushed the question off, telling him she was tired of being so old fashioned, that she wanted him to take her. Sometime during the act Ray had realised that she wasn't a virgin. Lee had admitted getting the same impression-
Ray looked up at the sound of the knock on the door. "Yeah?"
"It's us, buddy."
Ray smiled faintly at Tyson's voice, crossing to the door and opening. "Hey guys."
"Thought we'd come help you settle in," Tyson said, glancing over his shoulder. "Looks like you've got it handled though."
Ray shrugged, gesturing them inside. "We've lived in hotel rooms for so long it's become almost second nature to settle in easily."
"Know what you mean, buddy."
Max looked around, eyes falling onto the picture on the bed. "Hey, is this the White Tigers?"
Ray smiled faintly. "Yeah. Back before I first left the village."
"You guys were cute." Max picked up the picture, frowning. "Exactly how old was Kevin?"
"I think it was just before his 12th birthday." Ray frowned, glancing at the picture. "Actually, I think that was taken the day Lee turned 15. Kevin's birthday's only a couple of weeks later."
Max frowned, looking up. "Their birthday's are that close together?"
"Mm-hm. Kevin was born premature though, so he's older than he should be."
Kenny frowned. "That really depends how you look at it. If you take into account-"
"Let's leave it as is, Chief," Tyson cut in, not feeling like a lesson on human nature and birthdays. "Anyway, didn't you talk enough about data and stuff like that the other day with Kai?"
"I never get sick of talking about data." Kenny frowned. "And what did you two get up to while we were gone, anyway?"
Max shrugged. "We trained for a while then came back up the apartment, cleaned ourselves up, then I caught a move while Tyson caught forty winks."
Kenny narrowed his eyes as they returned their attention to Ray, helping him to unpack much to the 19-year-olds chagrin. I checked when Kai and I came home if they had been training, and the manager said no one had used the dish. Exactly what were they up too…
"Guys, I can handle this, I promise." Ray sighed, shaking his head. "You don't really need to-"
"Heeeey." Tyson grinned, plucking the book out of a side pocket. "What do we have here?"
Ray let out a yip, diving across and snatching the book away from his hands and cradling it against his chest, glaring at him.
Tyson waggled his eyebrows. "What's that, Ray? A diary? Got all your crushes in it?" The grin widened. "Can I take a peek?"
Ray's gaze narrowed further as he growled. "No you cannot peek, and I think you should go now."
Tyson went to let out a biting reply when Max grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the doorway. "Come on. Ray needs some time alone for a while, so lets find something else to do. If I remember, there was a movie on…"
Ray sighed as Max's voice was cut off by the closing of the door, Kenny having left with them. Groaning, he flopped back onto the bed, shaking his head before he laughed softly. As much as he loved his teammates, they could be as annoying and in your face as all hell at times. There were instances where he just wanted to chuck them out the door by their underpants, but oh well.
Sitting up, he looked around, finding a place to hide his diary. He sat for a moment… was he game enough to find Kai?
Poor Ray. There is nothing worse than help from Max and Tyson. And no, there is no more reference to Ray's diary in this fic, though I'm planning to reintroduce it in Ketsuron.