Chapter 2

After the last training exercise of the day and dinner, Omi went straight to bed (upside down) and Kimiko was STILL ranting to her friend on the phone. Clay however, was nowhere to be seen.

Rai collapsed on his bed and moved to the side of his pillow in deep thought…about stuff…random stuff like the last training exercise (they were supposed to fight each other in a small space blindfolded. That's when Kimiko decided to kick his ass. In fact, she took some of her anger out on Clay and Omi too.

Even if defeating all three of your opponents was the whole point of the exercise, Rai still couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Not the deal with Kimiko's PDA, I mean, he did that almost on a regular basis. But when Clay and Omi came to his rescue…they didn't have to do that…

Rai got up and walked out the door. He didn't feel like sleeping. There were too many thoughts on his mind. He decided that he was hungry and he was going to raid the kitchen for something to eat. Maybe some cookie dough (but he wouldn't go overboard like Omi…)

When he reached the kitchen, he realized that someone had already beaten him to the kitchen. The American cowboy was already eating spoonful upon spoonful of a small bowl of cookie dough.

"Hey partner."

"Hey." said Rai, waving a little.

So this is where Clay went every night…

Before he could even ask, Clay was faster than him once again, which was a bit surprising!

"Care to join me?"

Rai nodded and grabbed his own little bowl of cookie dough and started chowing down. Mmmm… cookie dough….Rai almost couldn't blame Omi for having a cookie dough obsession…it was so good…

Rai broke the silence that they had while eating the yummy cookie dough.

"So is this where you go every night?" he asked.

Clay shrugged.

"Pretty much. But I always eat something new every night. This time it's cookie dough! I feel like Omi right now." he laughed.

Rai laughed with him.

"Heh, yeah! Me too!"

The two friends laughed until it was too awkward. Then they kept eating…well…at least Clay did…

Rai was too busy staring at him, almost in admiration and curiosity.

Clay almost looked like one of those cool Texas cowboys in a saloon or something. It gave him an accelerating sensation to look at Clay. He didn't know why, but Rai was beginning to look at Clay from an entirely different perspective.

He started to notice his beautiful blue eyes…so deep and light…then the broad shoulders and the strong arms and legs…but under that strong and huge figure was the gentlest person you'd ever hope to see…

"Rai? Hey! Rai!" Clay exclaimed, immediately snapping Rai out of his daydream (even if it was in the middle of the night)

"Huh? Wha? What up?"

"You ok, partner? It looked like you were in a trance. You didn't even finish your durn cookie dough."

Rai looked down to see that only half of his bowl was finished.

"Oh I'm fine. I'm just…not hungry anymore. You wanna finish it?"

"Sure!"

Clay eagerly grabbed the bowl of cookie dough and started chowing down again.

Rai was entranced once again…

"Damn…how could I not notice Clay like this before? How could I have been so blind? Man, I feel like I could stare into those oceanic eyes all night…he's so sexy..."

"WHAAAAT!"

Raimundo screamed in real life and slapped himself.

GOD! WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING! TO THINK THAT COOKIE DOUGH COULD HAVE THE SAME EFFECTS AS CRACK!

"Rai? What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

YES SOMETHING'S WRONG! EVERYTHING IS WRONG! I'M NEVER EATING COOKIE DOUGH AGAIN!

Raimundo was twitching and slowly backing away.

"Y-Y-Yeah! Everything's f-fine! I'm fine! I swear!"

Clay got up from his seat, sheer concern in his sparkling blue eyes. So pretty…

"Sure you don't wanna talk about it, Rai?" he asked in a soft voice.

Rai almost winced. Clay was showing so much concern…so much affection…

All these feelings were too much for the young Brazilian to handle. He almost felt like jumping into Clay's arms into a tight embrace, but he couldn't. Clay would never speak or look at him again.

With a huge lump in his throat, Raimundo shut his eyes and ran down the hall telling Clay that he was going to bed.

Clay's affectionate look never left his face, he even thrusted his arm out to his friend, but he knew that he would never be able to catch up with the Dragon of Wind.

"Raimundo…"

When Rai got to his room, he slammed the door shut and locked it. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM! MAKING CLAY WORRY LIKE THAT OVER AN UTTERLY WRONG THOUGHT HE HAD?

But the look on his face…imprinted in Rai's mind as he was torn apart inside by so many mixed emotions.

"I should apologize tomorrow…" he said, collapsing on his mat and pulling the covers up sinking his head into his pillow.