Author's Notes: Okay, they went fast, and then they slowed down. Sorry! My latest chapters have come up sort of short though, I should work on that. Here's Shot 5, guys!

5th Shot: Hello Again!

By the ending of the whole night, Alizé was about ready to pass up on the unmasking, and go straight to bed. But where was she?

"I have to say, for someone I've never met, you seem very familiar." Alizé smiled from beneath her mask, and Jing grinned back before he could stop himself.

"Never know, you may have met me before. But I'm not supposed to tell you my name, it's a masquerade, after all."

"I know…it's too close in here, let's go outside. The garden is beautiful at night anyhow."

She let him lead her out the glass-paneled doors and onto the stone steps, stepping easily down them and sitting on the bench. "Oh…it's nice out here…"

"It really is a lot cooler out here than it was in there…" Jing looked back in the window and saw Kir next to the piano, working the women of the room. With a little roll of his eyes, he turned back to Alizé. "So…why were you gone for so long…?"

Alizé looked up at the lights strung everywhere, fingering a rose next to her leg. "I'm trapped here, most of the time." She sighed. "My family expects me to act a certain way, marry a certain person…walk and talk and sit and live the way they train me to live. I just…" She pulled the mask off and blinked once. "I just can't stand it."

Jing looked at her. "E-Elize?" Alizé looked at him. He pulled off his mask, showing her his face.

"You're…Jing! What…" She stood up. "Why are you here!"

Jing felt his breath catch in his throat and he sighed. "I'm here to steal something form your family…and it's around your neck. I'm a bandit…the king of bandits…and I'm here to steal Blood Oath from you."

Alizé just looked at him for a moment before reaching up and unfastening the necklace, handing it to him and closing his fingers around it. "Take it. I have no use for it, and I certainly don't care if you take it from this family. They won't miss it…they've amassed enough to more than make up for it." She smiled some. "I don't consider myself a Cruzan. I mean…sure, it's my name, but I don't belong here. Galli, Char, Tequila, Xiantha…they choose to live the life here because they want to. I can't do it, and I won't."

Jing looked down at the necklace, and back at her. "Your freedom really means that much to you, doesn't it?"

Alizé looked at him. "It does."

"Then I'm more than happy to help you." He offered his hand, hearing the uproar of the unmasking. "Looks like we beat them to the punch. How about we go back inside?"

She smiled. "Sure."

The clock struck three o'clock in the morning all too soon, and people were clearing out of the ballroom at Rose Hall, slowly but surely making their ways to their separate modes of transportation. Jing and Alizé were clinging to the last few minutes, laughing and joking.

"So, I guess this marks the end of the night…it was nice seeing you again, Madam Shrew."

Alizé gawked at him for a second. "Oh, so I'm a shrew for life now, am I?" Jing laughed at her, and she whapped him. "I'll have you know my demeanor in that area is actually mild."

Jing laughed. "Oh, is it now? Listen, Alizé…can you meet me tomorrow during carnivale? I'd like to talk to you about…what I'm going to help you with."

Alizé looked back at where her family was. "I'm sure I can, I don't think they'd protest to me going to carnivale during the Light Celebrations."

"Good…then I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Alizé." He leaned forward, pressing his lips lightly to hers, smiling and walking away as calmly as if nothing had happened.

Kir popped up as soon as he'd cleared the gates to the estate. "Oh, now, what was that?" He grinned, feathers ruffling lightly in his excitement. "Puttin' the moves on the girl? I guess I finally rubbed off on ya…so'd you get it?"

Jing held the necklace up to catch the moonlight with a smile. "She gave it to me." He lowered it and the smile disappeared some. "You remember that girl form Stardust…the acrobat we met?"

"Ohh, how could I forget a pretty face like that? Those eyes…that smile…those legs…" he stopped. "Now wait a sec, Jing, what does she got to do with any of this?"

"Alizé Cruzan is Elize. That's her."

"You're jokin'! So…what? She run away?"

"Yeah…she did." He frowned. "She's…trapped there, Kir. I feel sorry for her. She doesn't want to be there, they make her do what she doesn't want to do…"

"Uh oh. Kid, you ain't trynna say…"

"I'm going to steal something else from the Cruzans. But this time…I have a much prettier accomplice." He grinned again, listening to Kir go on and on about his 'finally growing up some.'

Author's Notes: Well, there you have it! Looks like Jing's stealing people's hearts again…XD I suppose we can't complain, since he somehow managed to do it to us! I'll see you in Shot 6!