The answer to the last poll...em...actually, I don't know! Lol. Typical me. I didn't expected it to be around 30 chapters, but I guess I might actually have around 45-50...Anyway, I have no idea, so yeah, don't ask!

Dutchie: Yeah, I do always come up with new things, and that delays the plot...well not delay...it gives me a chance to reflect what the characters are feeling about (cough) certain people. The diary will play a pretty big role in the next story...plus you'll find out what happened to Dawn, so why would I forget such a great idea?

Kanilla: It is so nice to have such a supportive fan like you! Heh.

Raymond: From your review I can just see you as a person who never stops talking...

Clio: Uh...how exactly did I torture you?

Eden: Harsh on Nowak...well I didn't really think of that when I wrote the chapter...but I feel sorry for him. He's old!

Absolute-Darkness: Stop reminding me of Kai/Jewels stuff please. I know my fans love them, and I do try to put some, even if it's a little, in every chapter. I'm sorry if there aren't enough. I mean, this story was meant for Ray/Zarine, but I will put as much Kai/Jewels stuff in as possible.

Chapter Twenty-Nine – Family Talk

Carrie rushed around the house, trying to get everything packed for her one-week trip to England. "You were supposed to be all packed last night," Jewels remarked, watching her sister stuff her underwear into the suitcase.

"I fell asleep, okay? Besides, I'll get it done, I still have a long time," Carrie said distractedly. "Anyway, you're like perfect except for your manners. Why do you always have to have an attitude, anyway?"

Her sister smiled. "I need a trademark. I would rather be known as the Girl Who Have an Attitude than be called, 'one of the twins.' If I don't have an 'attitude' like you say, then you wouldn't be known as the Nice Twin."

"Yeah, thanks," she said with sarcasm and rolled her eyes. "Now get out so I can pack quickly and we can go to Kai's."

"I can't believe Kai let us have a party here," Hilary said to Zarine as they were carrying bowls of chips and candy to a long table. "It's the first time ever."

"I kept on bugging him about it. He got sick and tired of me asking him every time he turned around," Zarine giggled. "It was fun to see him annoyed. Ray's always around so Kai couldn't really do anything to me."

The brunette told her, "Oh, well he doesn't hit girls so you have nothing to worry about."

"I suppose he tells Jewels to do it for him," Zarine said. "Probably," Ray said from behind.

"Hey," Zarine greeted him brightly.

"I don't get why I had to do the decorations," he grumbled. "Why couldn't I take care of the food instead?"

"Quit whining," she told him. "I would help, except I'm too short to hang streamers on the ceiling." She looked at the room. Streamers of every color were hanging from the ceiling, and balloons were attached to the long strings of colors. "You did a good job."

"It better be, it took me hours to do it," he said.

Carrie and Jewels were totally surprised when they saw the dark blue banner with silver words that said, "We'll miss ya lotz, Carrie and Jewels," the moment they walked into the house. "Wow! This is for us?" Carrie exclaimed.

"Let me guess," Jewels said. "Zarine did this, didn't she?"

"Who else have an unhealthy obsession with blue?" Mariam said, rolling her eyes.

Zarine protested, "It's a perfectly good color!"

"Yeah, but you love it too much," Jewels said. "I think you love it more than you love Ray..."

"Of course I don't! I love Ray more than...more than a color," the petite girl said, blushing. Oh my gosh! I was just about to say that I love Ray more than anything! she thought wildly. Do I really? The girls turned to look at Tyson when they heard his voice.

"FOOD!" Tyson yelled joyously before rushing to the table. Bowls of chips, cookies and candy were there, as well as plates of muffins and cupcakes. He immediately began to stuff his face.

"So does anyone want to join me in the pool?" Zarine asked cheerfully, moving onto other subjects.

"You bet!" Carrie answered, while Hilary and Mariam nodded. Jewels smiled at the thought of relieve of the heat. It had been getting hotter as July is nearing.

Max, Kenny, Ray and Kai watched the girls leave. "Why don't we go and join them?" Max suggested.

"Nop thinks," Tyson declined thickly through a mouthful of cake.

Kai threw him a look of deep disgust and wondered, Why did I let him come into my house in the first place?

"No, you're not,' he told Tyson icily. "If you keep on eating, there will be no food left. The girls will probably be very upset with you."

Tyson took a minute to digest Kai's warning. He shuddered at the thought of the females being angry with him. He sighed regretfully, "Maybe you're right."

Kenny followed the others out to the pool. His face flushed a bright red as a certain short redhead came into sight. "Are you guys going to jump in or what?" she demanded.

"Uh sure..." he replied, still blushing furiously.

Tyson nudged him with a smirk. "Can you make it anymore obvious that you like her?"

The brown haired girl, who was close by, heard the comment. She frowned. "What are you talking about, Tyson? Get real, Kenny wouldn't like Carrie. She has a boyfriend."

"Well I say he totally has a thing for her," he said smugly.

Kenny was spared of thinking up something to say when Zarine poured water over Tyson's head. She laughed as Tyson chased her around the pool.

At the moment, the only thing on Tyson's mid was to get revenge on 'the brat.' Not minding how slippery the side of the pool was, he slipped and fell head first into the pool.

Everyone burst into laughter. Zarine jumped in and she was the first thing Tyson saw when his head broke through the surface.

She questioned with mock sympathy, "You alright there?"

"Never been better," he replied with sarcasm. Without warning he forced her head into the water, causing her to swallow a mouthful of water.

"So how are you now?" he asked when he let her breath again.

"Really, really annoyed at you," she answered crossly before jumping onto him.

The others watched them fight with amused smiles. They were all too used to Hilary and Tyson's yelling matches, and Zarine's playful and sometimes physical fights with Tyson.

Mariam was quiet as she watched Tyson and Zarine fight. "What's wrong?" Max questioned.

"I was just wondering if running away was the right thing to do," the emerald eyed girl replied.

He said thoughtfully, "Hmm...well I don't know if it was the right thing, but I suppose it'll give you and your family to think things through. Look at how happy Zarine is, she left her family to be with us."

"That's different though. I left without telling anyone, apart from my team," she sighed.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be fine," he assured, putting his arm around her shoulders.

As the party ended, the twins were saying good bye to the others. "We'll miss you," Hilary said, hugging Carrie.

"Things are sure going to quiet down here without you," said Zarine. She made a face. "Hopefully it wouldn't be too boring."

Then a honk of a car could be heard. "Guess our ride is here," Tyson said. Mrs. Satsuki had volunteered to take everyone home.

Kai realized that he wouldn't be seeing Jewels for a week. Sure he knew that she was going, but it had never really hit him how used to her presence he was. His heart felt empty as he watched the car pull out of his driveway.

"You are really going to miss Jewels, aren't you?" Zarine asked him quietly.

"Aren't you?" he questioned with a smirk.

"Of course! They're my friends...you know what I mean, Kai," she said.

"No, I don't," he told her coldly before pushing her aside to leave. He stopped when he heard her voice.

"I think you do and you should stop denying about your feelings for her," she said just as coldly as he did. "Why are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," he said through gritted teeth. He turned around and glared at her. He was a little taken aback when he saw her stare back calmly. If he glared at Tyson like that, he would be looking for the nearest rat hole to hide.

She said softly. "We'll see. It isn't a bad thing to open up to people, you know?"

He ignored her and left. She sighed. 'He'll come around eventually,' Xeora said comfortingly. 'He just needs time.'

'I hope you're right because I'm getting really impatient here. I really want them to get together,' Zarine told her bit-beast.

"Had you talked to Kai about the diary you found yet?" Ray asked later.

Zarine looked down at her feet, her face burning up with shame. She had been putting it off because she was really unwilling to share it with anyone. "No, I haven't."

"Zarine! We talked about this a month ago!" he scolded. "You have to tell him!"

She sighed, "I'll talk to him now if you want me to so badly."

She poked her head back in when she was about to shut the door. "By the way, don't be such a dad! You're my boyfriend, not my father!"

Kai answered the knock on his door with a grumpy, "What do you want?"

Zarine opened the door and told him in a very serious manner, "We really need to talk."

"If this is about Jewels, you can forget about it," he told her, hoping to get rid of her.

She snorted, "Get real, like I would come at midnight to talk to you about her. This is about something else. Really, just admit that you like her, before it turns into a tragic romance or something."

"I thought this visit wasn't about her," he said, feeling annoyed.

"Oh right. I know I should have told you about this earlier..." she began hesitantly.

"Just go on," he said, gesturing for her to continue impatiently.

"Um...do you remember anything about your parents at all?" Zarine questioned timidly, remembering how irritated he was when she mentioned his grandfather.

He answered, "No, I don't know a thing about them. Does this have anything to do with what you're here to tell me?"

"I found this box on the night table in my room...there's a diary in it and it's about twins sisters named Dawn and Laynie Hiwatari," she said. "There's something else I should tell you too...Ray found a key at the bottom of the box. It's bigger than the average ones."

Kai told her coldly, "I don't know why you told me about this at all."

"Don't you want to find out what happened to your parents?" she asked incredulously.

"Not particularly. I don't know a thing about them. They left me here with Voltaire," Kai said.

Zarine felt quiet anger radiating from him. She said desperately, "What if they didn't leave you? What if they died or something?"

"It's the same either way. I was left at the mercy of my grandfather. He sent me to the abbey and let me, his own grandson, to be tortured like every kid there was. No, it was worse for me because I'm a Hiwatari and I was supposed to be better than everyone else," he said, anguish appeared in his eyes as he opened up more to the girl in front of him. "Why am I telling you? You wouldn't understand."

"WHAT?!" she yelped. "I wouldn't understand? Get this straight in your head! My parents were killed because the Dark Force wanted me more than anything! Do you know how that feels? To have your loved ones killed because you were stupid enough to defy people who were stronger than you no matter what you do? No, I suppose you don't, because you're just an emotionless freak that wouldn't admit that you can love someone!"

"Leave," he said simply, refusing to argue with someone like her. To him, she was just a little kid.

"Kai..." she started to say.

"Leave," he repeated in a firmer tone.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, but you will realize that I am right. I'm always right," she ended with a maddening flair.

Kai scowled at her but couldn't help but feel his anger and irritation lessen.

When she went back to her room, she found that Ray was asleep on the bed. She quickly got changed and got her stuffed tiger before jumping into bed with Ray. She burrowed her way close to him. Studying her boyfriend's face closely, she concluded that he was in a deep sleep. Gently, she shifted his arm so that it was around her waist instead of by his side.

"What are you doing?" he chuckled.

Zarine blushed furiously when she heard his voice. Oh my god. Oh my god. He was awake??? she thought. "Nothing..." she answered innocently.

"Do you know how cute you are?" he teased, hoping to embarrass her more. She was adorable when she blushed.

"Of course! And you better know it too," she said.

"I'm going out," Ray told Zarine, three afternoons after the party.

"Ooh, can I come?" she asked brightly and looked at him with puppy eyes. "Please?"

Why does she have to be so damn cute? he wondered. "I'm sorry, but you can't...it's...I can't tell you what it is, but you'll find out soon, okay?" he told her awkwardly.

She pouted, "Alright. You have to tell me very soon though."

He kissed her lightly on the lips. "I promise."

"So you're sure you're willing to pay for whatever we decide on?" Ray asked Kai downstairs.

"Yeah, I got too much money on my hands. I told you this already," Kai answered.

They left the house and walked into the bright sunshine.

They met Hilary, Tyson, Kenny, Max and Mariam at the mall. "Let's get this party started!" Hilary exclaimed eagerly.

"I'm so pumped to be doing this for Zarine," Max said. "I think it'll be a great present for her birthday and I bet she would love it."

(I know...another surprise...but surprises make things interesting!)

Zarine sighed as she hung up the phone. Everyone had gone out to somewhere, and she was all alone in the house. She wondered what they were doing. Her eyes filled with disappointment. It was summer, she want to hang out with her friends and not be alone.

Suddenly the phone rang and scared her. "Hello?" she said, trying to breathe deeply to return her heart rate back to normal.

"Hey, beautiful. Are you busy today?" Leo asked. "I thought maybe we could watch a movie together or something."

"Um...I don't really feel like watching a movie," she lied. The truth was, she didn't feel comfortable with him to sit in a theater together. What if he tried to hit on her again? "Maybe we can do something else..."

He sensed the awkwardness in her answer. "We can just get a drink or something. I just want to hang out. Let's go get some ice cream."

"Sure!" she responded enthusiastically. "That would be awesome!"

Leo almost laughed in spite of himself. She sounded so much like a kid. "Let's meet at the ice cream parlor then. I would come and get you, but Ray doesn't like me, so I think it's best if I don't see him."

"Oh, Ray's not here right now. He went out with Kai a while ago," she told him. "You can come if you like, maybe we can swim in the pool?"

He declined, "Nah, your boyfriend wouldn't like it if he sees me at the place that he lives. I have a pool here at my place. You should come over."

"Of course, as long as it's after my ice cream," she said, looking at the portrait above the door.

"I'll see you soon then," he said before hanging up. He congratulated himself for luring Zarine out so easily. Hopefully, Shea wouldn't have too much trouble with Ray.

After they finished the ice cream, they decided to walk through the park because Zarine felt like going onto the playground there. They were strolling down a path when...out of instinct, Zarine turned her head to the right. What she saw shocked her very existence.

Ray and Shea were kissing. They had their arms around each other...and the worst thing was, he wasn't pushing her away or anything.

Tears poured out of her eyes rapidly as the sight tore her heart apart. What did she do wrong? Why was he cheating on her? Was this the 'surprise' that he was talking about? Replacing her with someone else? How long had they been going out behind her back? Hundreds of questions popped up in her head.

Leo couldn't help but feel sympathetic for Zarine. He saw the shock and hurt and confusion on her face. He turned her to face him and hugged her. Slowly, he leaned down to kiss her. She was in so much shock, she didn't even care.

Ray pulled away breathlessly, recovering from the surprise. He looked ahead and saw Leo hugging Zarine. Wondering what was going on, he walked towards them. When he saw Leo was going to kiss Zarine, he lost it.

Leo's lips barely brushed against Zarine's before he was jerked away. A punch landed on his eye, causing him to fall backwards on his bottom.

"You bastard," Ray hissed, glaring at his enemy on the ground.

Teenagers were looking at them with interest, while parents of toddlers were covering their children's eyes, or hurrying them away. He heard people say something like, "Call the police," or "Kids these days."

The small girl planted herself in front of Ray, beside herself with anger. She slapped him across his face as hard as she could and yelled, "What right do you have to punch him when you were...kissing...that slut?!" She pointed to the blonde who was watching this with a neutral expression on her face. In truth, Shea was jumping with joy inside.

Ray touched his stinging cheek gingerly. Did she just slap him? He couldn't believe that she would do that considering how much she dislike violence. I've never seen her so mad...since she found out that her brother got brainwashed. he thought sadly.

Zarine dropped down onto the ground beside Leo. "Are you alright?" she asked with concern.

"Wait, Zarine! I can explain, please!" the Chinese boy said desperately.

She helped Leo off the ground. Her eyes were cold and angry when she looked at her boyfriend, and her hands were clenched into fists. "There's nothing to explain! I saw what happened with my own eyes!" she said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Shea...she..." he had barely began before Zarine cut him off again.

"No, just shut up! Go away!" she cried, covering her ears. "I don't want to listen to you! We are over, Ray, you hear that? We are over! I don't want to be with someone who can't even be honest with their feelings for me!"

Guess what?! I don't have writer's block anymore. Yay! Hm...poll........lemme see...

Okay here we go...

Do you think I'm evil?

Of course. I mean, what's with all the cliffies and surprises?

No, everyone's like that...it's only human to have urges to torture others.

No opinion.

My comp is screwed right now...so I'll update as soon as possible! Hopefully that's soon!