Chapter Nine

Fluff and Songs

"Rei! Stop it!" she called over her shoulder.

"Aw, come on!" Rei called to her.

"Rei!" she cried.

"Just this once!" he called. Carmen continued to run, with Rei right behind her. She actually enjoyed being chased by her love, on the beach of all places! The two love birds continued to run around the beach, then Rei caught Carmen.

"Don't even!" Carmen said. They both tried to push each other to the ground, but they both ended up on the ground together.

"Just this once!" Rei pleaded. Rei was lying on his back, Carmen leaning over him. She smiled a slightly drastic smile. She placed her hands on his chest, their eyes looking into each others'.

She slowly opened the clasps on Rei's shirt. Their faces loomed closer. Carmen's hands stayed where they were, on Rei's chest. However, Rei's hands were settled on the sides of Carmen's rib cage. Her hazel eyes were very soft, and had an innocent look in them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than two love birds under the shade of a tree at the beach, male lying on his back and female leaning over him while undoing his shirt, about to make out.

After this wondrous time at the beach, Carmen couldn't help but giggle. Rei was calm, now that the drastic action was out of his system. Carmen, however, continued to giggle. Was it the way things started off? Was it because she couldn't contain herself? Did she want to make out again? Or was it because Drzazga, Javlonski and Gagnier were driving Alex up the wall, which made Carmen go up the wall as well?

Whatever it was, she was at the beach with Ray. There was a bit of freedom, but not much.

"Carmen… Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah… I'm... Alright... Don't worry…" she said between giggles. A small drastic smile crept across his face. Carmen didn't even notice the smile on his face, for she continued to giggle. Rei tackled her, pushing her to the ground. Instantly, for some reason, she stopped giggling.

"So... That's why you're giggling." he said.

"What d'you mean?" she asked innocently. Rei smiled.

"Before I tackled you, you were giggling. And once I tackled you, the giggling stopped."

Warmth and blush raised to Carmen's cheeks.

"Erm..." she mumbled. She lay in the sand, with Rei leaning over her.

-X-

Later that day, after going back to his team, Rei was calmer.

"Where'd you go, Rei?" Max asked.

"The beach. I ran into Carmen, too.." Rei said simply.

"Ooohhh.." Tyson and Max chorused.

"Shut it." Rei muttered.

"She said that her team was performing in the park later on." he added.

-X-

That afternoon, The Bladebreakers walked into the park.

"JAAAAVLONSKIIIIIII!" they heard a girl screech.

"HELP! SHE'S AFTER MEE! IT'S THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST!" Aaron yelled.

"I'LL GIVE YOU WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST! NOW WILL YOU FUCKING GET OVER HERE!" the same voice bellowed.

"Three guesses, who that is." Max muttered.

"I only need one," Tyson mumbled, "Carmen." Sure enough, Tyson was right. She was inside a closed off area of the park, chasing Aaron around.

"GIVE BACK THAT PAPER, JAVLONSKI! OR I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD MOUNTED ON A PLAQUE ABOVE THE MANTEL OVER THE FIRE PLACE!" she yelled. Aaron waved a piece of paper in the air.

"NEVER! MAX, NICK! HELP ME OVER HERE!" he yelled.

"You're on your own!" the two boys called. Aaron stopped in his tracks.

"WHAT!" he yelled. What he didn't know, was that Carmen was heading straight for him. Carmen collided with Aaron, throwing him off his feet. Tyson was chuckling.

"He's right, Carmen really is the Wicked Witch of the West!" he said quietly. Rei didn't hear.

"JAVLONSKI! DON'T MAKE ME HURT YOU!" Carmen shouted. Aaron clutched the piece of paper to his chest.

"Never! For the pride of Poland!" he cried.

"PRIDE OF POLAND, MY ASS! GIVE THAT BACK!" she yelled. Aaron kicked Carmen in the shins, even if he was down.

"AARON!" she hollered. Aaron stumbled to his feet, then took off again. Alex and Sandra grabbed Carmen's arms and put them behind her back in a lock before she could dart off after him.

"JAVLONSK! I'LL GET YA, AND I'LL MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A FUCKING MURDER!" she yelled. Aaron was howling with laughter.

"That'll be the day!" he said, then noticed the others.

"Oh, hey! So, Carmen told you about us performing?" he asked. Rei nodded. Aaron looked at Carmen, who was still held in a lock by the two other girls.

"Erm… Well, about the W.W.T.W..." he said.

"W.W.T.W?" Kai asked.

"Wicked Witch of The West," he answered, then caught Rei's look. "no offence, Ray." Carmen continued to struggle, occasionally yelling, "JAVLONSKI!"

"What's wrong with Carmen? Why is she chasing you?" Kai asked. Aaron shot a nervous look at Carmen, then looked back to them.

"I took the comic that she drew, it's actually quite amusing.." he answered.

"Oh? Mind if we take a look?" Kai asked.

"DON'T YOU DARE, JAVLONSKI! OR I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD MOUNTED ABOVE THE MANTEL OVER MY FIRE PLACE!" Carmen warned. Aaron showed the comic.

The characters were basically small, in their chibi forms The characters were all of them. The Carmen character was clutching the Rei character in her arms saying, "He's my Rei! MINE! You girls can have the others, BUT REI ISH MINE!" Tyson and Max let out howls of laughter.

"JAAAVLOOOSKIIIII!" Carmen yelled, finally out of the lock Sandra and Alex had her in.

"SHIT!" Aaron cried, now on the run again. They all sweat dropped.

"Well, apparently Carmen's not herself right at the moment. She's Riley..." said Max Drzazga, walking toward the others with Nick behind him. Everyone stared at him.

"Something to do with Yin and Yang, so she says.." Max explained.

"Yeah...Yin and Yang, two souls.." Rei said. Carmen continued to chase after Aaron.

"HEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP! SHE'S AFTER MMMEEEE!" Aaron yelled.

"GET BACK HERE JAVLONSKI!" Carmen yelled.

"NEVER!" Aaron called over his shoulder.

"GET BACK HERE DAMMIT!" she yelled.

-X-

After awhile, Carmen finally got her comic back. They continued to set up.

"No no no! That's not how it goes!" Alex called to Aaron, who, while being sure to stay away from Carmen, was doing the lighting.

"Let me do the lighting!" she hissed. Aaron shrugged, giving up on the lighting. Carmen was setting up a drum set, which looked bran-spanking new.

Rei watched his love bird. She carefully placed each piece together, being sure not to scratch the paint. He smiled at her, remembering what they had done at the beach earlier that day. Carmen looked up, and smiled. She got up and gracefully walked toward Rei.

"Hey.." she said softly.

"Hey.." he replied.

"Come on Carmen! We've got to finish setting up! You can go all sexy later!" Max yelled from the sound system. Carmen burst out giggling.

"Alright!" she called, walking back to the drum set. She quickly put the set together, then went to help Max with the sound system.

The performance was great, and the last song performed was Spinnin' by Keshia Chante. Carmen was the one singing, and she was dancing with Rei.

"Me and my girls hangin' out tonight. We decide we gonna step in line for the club, to see what's up. Didn't know if we were getting in. No ID - we don't got anything to show, oh no. Oh my God! Tell me, what do I see? A hunny right in front of me, and he's clockin' me," - she was rather close to Rei - "He steps through, I hope that I do too. Then the bouncer takes one look at me, "What? Are you fifteen?"

"You know you had me spinnin', right from the beginning'. When you put that record on, you know I'm bout to get my groove on, And I can't even imagine, if this thing didn't happen. The night is just beginnin', and I'm already spinnin'. I tell the bouncer, "I'm here all the time." Didn't believe me, said he heard that line before, and many more. I try to tell that I'm 21. Come on man "I just look real young!" I say, "Please, you gots to be cool wit me." Then he smiled and said "Okay, alright! But just for tonight." I step inside, and right there before my eyes. He's in the DJ booth with headphones on, and he's playing my song! Oh my God!"