The next chapter! I seem to be getting good reviews.

I know-- action comes in next chapter! I'm sorry! We have to establish background! And that can be a bit boring.

THANKS FOR REVIEWING-- if you did...

Disclaimer: Standard

And onto the next chapter.

Rachel and Jimmy stared up in awe at the massive building before them.

"That's huge!" Rachel exclaimed. "And this is where it's held?"

"Yep," Jimmy answered her. "They needed a place big enough for all the TV equipment,"

Chapter 3

Jimmy and Rachel were in Osaka, home of their dance competition. They were now at the address of the competition: a huge auditorium with hotel called Booker Stadium.

"Nothing to do with your dad I suppose?" Rachel had jokingly asked on their way there. Jimmy had just smiled.

Now, Rachel hung her head slightly, causing Jimmy to ask, "Is something wrong, Rach?"

"It's really nothing... just-- If we win something, Jimmy, wouldn't you feel kinda bad?"

"How so?"

"Like if we came in first, and won whatever prize there was, wouldn't you feel bad that you took the chance for a win away from the people who should have had it? I mean-- we're not even supposed to be in this competition! We've only been dancing for a month! We'd have beginner's luck, and we'd be taking away the years of hard work that others have put in! We're even decieviing everybody with this dyed hair and contacts!" she said, brandishing a hand at her now green eyes and light brown hair.

Jimmy paused a moment, opening the door to the place, then looked at her with his brown eyes and dark brown hair, and said, "Maybe, but I'd also know that if we won, we'd deserve whatever prize we got. We've been working just as hard as anybody else that made it here, if not harder. I don't expect to win anything here, but if we do, I'm saying we'd deserve it,"

Rachel didn't know how to reply to that statement, so she just stayed quiet and slipped through the door into the stadium.

The first thing to greet the couple as they walked in was electrical equipment and lights-- lots of them. People were bustling about, plugging things in, pulling things out, and even talking in hurried voices. JImmy and Rachel were left staring, wondering what to do or where to go. They finally decided to walk to their right where they spotted some men carrying in dance costumes.

"Uh, excuse me?" Rachel called.

Either they didn't hear her, or they ignored her.

"Something wrong, dollface?" came a voice.

Looking to their left, Jimmy and Rachel spotted a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes walking toward them.

Rachel didn't know whether she should talk to him or not, but since he was actually willing to talk to her, she risked it, "Uh, sorry. Hello, I'm Rachel and this is Jimmy. We don't exactly know where to- er- go,"

"Oh! Is that all? Well then, you must be the new competition. Hey everybody!" he called over his shoulder, gaining the attention of a large group of people who seemed to be hanging around a desk drinking coffee. "This is the new meat! Meet Rachel and Jimmy, the newest members of our elite band of dancers,"

"I see you've met the resident ladies-man," a woman with dark brown hair said, stepping forward. "Michael's my partner. My name's Elizabeth Montague, call me Liz,"

"Aw, Lizzy! You take all the fun out of meeting new people!" Michael said, faking disappointment.

"And you take all the fun out of life, now let's go to our rooms, Jagan said he wanted to see us there," Liz said, grabbing Michael by the arm and dragging him off.

"Always the same, those two," another tall blonde said. "I expect you know that they've won every competition that they've been in, right?"

"Uh, no," Jimmy said.

"Well, Lizzy and Mike will never change. I'm Gary Cooper, and this is my partner Jessica Bloom. Pleasure to meet you," he said, coming up to Rachel and kissing her hand. Rachel blushed. Jimmy scoweld unnoticed.

Jessica came over to Rachel and whispered, "Don't mind him, Rachel. He's more of a ladies-man than Mike is," she turned to Jimmy. "And you were-?"

"Jimmy Ikudo, at your service," he said, kissing Jessica's hand. She, in turn, blushed, and sent Rachel scowling.

"A very well mannered young man," she said, absently. Jimmy smiled that contagious smile of his, sending both Rachel and Jessica into a dither.

"My name's Zoey," a blonde woman said, stepping in front of Jessica and right in front of Jimmy.

"Enchante," Jimmy said, faking a French accent and kissing her hand.

Zoey just smiled dreamily up at him and seemed to go into a stupor. Behind her, she had two scowling girls, one of whom leaned over to the other and whispered, "You sure know how to pick a partner,"

"Thank you," Rachel whispered back. They then returned to glaring at Zoey.

"Excuse me," one of the other men said, "This is really quite entertaining. Would you mind if I go and get some popcorn?" The man behind him laughed, and Jimmy laughed too.

"Your name, sir?" Jimmy asked the man who had made the joke.

"Oh, Christopher Rolley. Call me Chris. Partner to the girl you just hypnotized," he said, coming over and waving a hand in front of Zoey's face.

"Terribly sorry about that," Jimmy replied.

"No problem," Chris said, shaking hands with Jimmy.

"And you?" Jimmy asked, leaning over to look at the man with red hair behind Chris.

"I'm Ronald Jackson. Call me Ron. My partner's in the bathroom 'freshening up'," he told Jimmy, "I expect she'll want to introduce herself to you, and possibly go into a stupor, like Zoey here,"

"I'm still sorry about that," Jimmy said.

"Don't blame yourself, kid. It's not your fault that you have nice features," Ron said. Chris nodded. Jimmy was at a loss for words.

"So where are our rooms?" Rachel asked, trying to change the subject.

"Who is this?" a feminine voice called from down the hallway. Everybody turned to look.

A girl with crimped long blonde hair was gliding down the hall toward them. Her piercing blue eyes were focused on only one person. And to Rachel's dismay, that person was Jimmy.

"Pleasure, madam. I am Jimmy Ikudo and this is my partner, Rachel Wetmoore," he said, taking her hand and kissing it ad he had done with all of the other girls.

"The pleasure is all miine," she replied, taking in his appearance. "You must be the new ones,"

"You would be correct," Jimmy said, holding his hand out to Rachel, who took it almost greedily.

"I am Mariah Sharp. I expect my partner didn't introduce me during my absence,"

"No, he said that you would probably like that honor yourself," Jimmy relayed.

"Really? Well, he was correct, as usual," she said, stealing a glance at Ron, who turned the color of his hair.

"So... Where are our rooms?" Rachel asked again.

"Well, dancers are staying on the second floor of the hotel. I suppose you got two rooms, right?" Ron said.

"I think so," Jimmy said, volunteering himself to be the one that sounded like an idiot.

The girls giggled.

"Then, you check in here and then go pick out the rooms you want," Ron said.

"Perhaps you'd like the room next to mine, Jimmy. I could show you around the hotel and have fun," Mariah said.

"Er- thanks, but-"

"Or maybe you'd like the room next to mine, Jimmy!" Zoey suddenly kicked on.

"I appreciate that but-"

"Or, you could have the room next to mine, Jimmy," Jessica said.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat as the girls started arguing. "I think Rachel should be in the room next to me because she's my partner,"

Rachel smiled gratefully up at him. He smiled back, causing Rachel to melt inside.

"Oh,... right," Mariah said. "Well maybe-"

"Come on, Rach! Let's go get rooms," Jimmy said, pretending not to hear as he grabbed Rachel's hand and they walked off to the elevator.

"What was that all about!" Rachel shouted once she got into the elevator.

"What?" Jimmy asked innocently.

"Don't you 'What?' me, Jimmy Kudo! What was with that flirting!"

"Flirting? I was just trying to be nice!"

" 'Nice' goes to a , 'Hi, I'm Jimmy, how are you?'. 'Nice' is not, 'Enchante, mademoiselle,' with a kiss on the hand!"

"Well maybe I overdid it a little-"

"A little! Jimmy! They don't even know who you are! You can't expect to have fans everywhere!"

"Well maybe after I'm put on TV-"

"Don't even talk about being put on TV, mister! You're not even you! You'll have a fan following and you're not even you!"

"...I see. You're jealous!"

"Jealous? Me! What on earth are you talking about!"

"Well, maybe I'll accept one of their offers and take a room next to-"

"Don't you dare even think about it!-" Rachel cut off, a hand over her mouth.

They paused, an awkward silence coming between them. A random bell followed as the elevator doors opened.

"Aw, come on, Rach. You know I'm not interested," Jimmy finally said, stepping off the elevator.

Rachel siletly stepped off behind him. Then she spoke, "How should I?... Wait- why aren't you!"

Jimmy froze. 'Should I tell her how I feel? Has she figured it out? Man, I'm in a tight spot,'

"Have you found someone, Jimmy? And you didn't even tell me! Is she from the U.S.? Who is she? What does she look like?" Jimmy could tell she was beginning to cry. She sniffled.

He turned back to her, "Rach, I-" he paused. She was looking at the round, trying hard not to show her tears. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "I don't have anyone else! You're my best friend- well, best girl friend, anyway- and I would tell you if I found my someone," he paused. Then he said in his mind, 'Unless, of course, it's you,'

Rachel started to laugh, "I really got you that time, didn't I, Jimmy?"

Jimmy wasn't laughing. He knew this was just a cover. She really had been crying, but why would she pretend she wasn't? He knew she loved him... well at first anyway. She had openly admitted it to Conan, who was his alter ego. But now, he wasn't sure if her feelings had changed. He had hurt her so many times. He didn't deserve her, but that wouldn't change the way he felt.

"Let's go get rooms, shall we?" Rachel said, acting like she'd been joking. She started to walk down the hall, looking at the bulletin board for rooms that hadn't yet been taken. "There's two at the end of the hall. Come on, Jimmy!"

They walked toward Rachel's chosen spot. It was at the end of the elegantly furnished hallway. There were two right next to each other. One however, didn't have another bedroom next to it. Jimmy smirked, he should have known.

"How about I take the one next to the stairs?" Jimmy said, making it easier on Rachel to make him get that room. "After all, I'm the one with the fan following," he teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him, then opened the door to what she claimed as her room.

"Oh, Wow! It's pretty!" Jimmy heard from next door as he opened his door.

He had to admit- the room was very nice. A queen-sized bed with down comforter greeted his eyes. Opposite that was a big television. A bathroom was to his right and two chairs and a table were at the back of the room near the window. All-in-all, it was just a hotel room, but it seemed nicer than most. He took the passkey from the desk and tried the door, locking it firmly.

"Jimmy!" Rachel shouted.

Coming out of his room, he saw Rachel with the baggage in a luggage rack.

"When did you go get the luggage?" Jimmy asked, taking a few suitcases that were his.

"Just now. Help me get these in here, would you?" she asked.

Jimmy grabbed the other side of the cart and wheeled it into Rachel's room.

"And how much stuff did you bring?" He asked.

"Hey! I had to pack all of those dresses as well as practice clothes and regular clothes. There's shoes and purses and toiletries and-"

"Okay! I get it!" Jimmy said. "Then I'll leave you to it," he said.

"Oh! Jimmy!" Rachel called once he was at the door. "Here!" she tossed him a passkey to her room. "Just in case,"

"Right," Jimmy said, fishing in his pocket and taking out one of his extra passkeys. "Catch!"

Rachel did, and then said. "Would you mind checking the locks?"

"Sure," he said, going outside and checking the door locks.

"Oh! Jimmy!" a call came down the hall. "Is this your room?" Mariah asked when she arrived.

"Uh, no-"

"Oh! How delightful! This is my room!" she said, pointing to the one next door. "And Ron's is the one next to mine. Maybe we could-"

"Jimmy?" Rachel asked coming out of the room. "I think this is yours- Oh, hello Mariah,"

"Thanks, Rach," Jimmy said. "Mariah was telling me that her room is right next to yours, and Ron's roomo is after that,"

"Well isn't that nice!" Rachel said, clearly sardonic.

"I know!" Mariah mimicked, with equal sarcasm. "Tataa," she said, waving. She turned around and left.

"I don't like her," Rachel said through clenched teeth.

"Why not, Rach?" Jimmy asked, teasing. "Is it because she flirts with me?"

"Of course not!" Rachel said defensively, and shut the door in Jimmy's face.

"Aw, come on, Rach! What was that for!" Jimmy shouted through the door.

"For teasing me!" Rachel's reply came.

"Aw, jeez Rach! You know you love me!" He joked.

He didn't get a reply.

TBC

I know, kinda short... well not really, compared with other fics. Anyway- Action to come next chapter!

Next Chapter: Competition and... MURDER!

HEHEHEHEHE! YAY!

animebookworm