Summary: Mariam is considered 'rebellious' but Mariam herself considers it thinking for herself, which everyone says otherwise. What'll happen when someone finally takes her side?

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Joseph crossed his arms. "So what's your side then?" he asked the leader.

Ozuma smirked. "Fine, but don't say a word to your sister; she'll kill me and resurrect me…and kill me again, alright?"

"Okay, okay, I won't tell her." Joseph grunted. He hated using pronouns instead of their names in front of the other.

Ozuma shook his head. "You sure, little man?" he asked, sitting down.

Joseph, who was already crossing his legs, nodded. "Yeah, man, I'm her brother."

Flashback (A/N: hopefully, this one works)

Ozuma was pacing around in front of the park entrance. Mariam was supposed to meet him here; where the hell was she?

Ozuma looked at his wrist. "Oh yeah…I've got to remember to bring a watch next time." He sighed to himself. He'd just pace a little bit more; maybe it wouldn't seem so desperate if it was just a little while, right?

"Yeah." He nodded. Just a few more steps. Ozuma clenched his fist near his chest in determination; yeah, only a little while more.

"…forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine…" Ozuma counted, watching his steps.

"Ozuma!" he turned around to see Dunga running up to him, to his disappointment.

Ozuma blew his crimson strand of hair from his eye. "What is it, Dunga?" he asked dryly.

Dunga looked up in thought for a moment. "Now what was it…? Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. Ozuma raised an amused brow at him. "Okay, Mariam says that she can't go to your little date-y thingy… 'cause she has this weird thing to do."

"What thing?"

"I dunno…she just said 'some thing' to go to. She said she was just gonna walk around the streets for a while if you needed her." Dunga grinned.

"Uh…huh," Ozuma nodded slowly, "okay. Dunga, where's my cloak?"

Dunga pondered again. "Um…in your room?" he supposed.

"Right. Can you get it?"

"Wha?" Dunga fumed, "Why me?"

"Because I asked you to." Ozuma crossed his arms. Really, he could see why Mariam took so much joy in annoying this guy.

Dunga grumbled and walked off. Ozuma just sighed, shaking his head.

"Excuse me, but do you have the time?" he asked a stranger reading a newspaper on the bench.

"About, five to five o'clock, kid." The man answered, then lifted his newspaper back up.

Ozuma nodded. "Thanks…"

Dunga came back, two minutes later with Ozuma's cloak.

"Jeez, you take long." Ozuma grumbled, putting the cloak on, then lifted the hood over his head.

Dunga just walked off, ignoring the spiky-haired boy.

"Whatever." Ozuma sighed, then ran off, asking people on the streets if they'd seen a girl with indigo hair in a high ponytail with two strands and a red headband on her forehead.

"Over near the diner, kid." Another man replied.

Ozuma uttered out another 'thanks' and ran over to the diner the man said. And being Ozuma, he knew fully well that it would look suspicious if a person with a hooded cloak walked into a diner, just 'asking for water'. He sighed and sat down on the bench outside the diner, grabbing a newspaper, to hide his face in case she saw him. What was Mariam doing in a diner anyways? Maybe he asked the wrong question, or gave the wrong definition of her.

He slapped his palm to his forehead. A few minutes later, Mariam came out of the diner, with someone walking beside her.

Who the hell…? Ozuma wondered. The blond kid! She said she didn't…! I mean she didn't…! Eurgh!

Ozuma shook his head, then put the newspaper down and followed them. A while later, Mariam and her blond friend sat down at one of the tables outside near the park.

Ozuma eyed the tree nearest to them, and sighed, starting to climb. He found a nice branch that would support his weight and stood on it, watching them.

The spiky-haired leader finally got to see Mariam's blond friend. Tate! Ozuma thought, staring at them.

Mariam picked up a few sticks from the ground and set them on the table in front of Max.

What is she doing? Ozuma wondered.

Max chuckled. "Actually, Mariam…doesn't that go there?" he asked, taking her wrist and moving the hand with the thinnest stick over to the side.

Mariam flushed. "Oh…yeah, it does!"

The blond giggled. "See? Told ya."

Ozuma shook his head over and over again. If Ozuma wasn't supposed to be unnoticed, he would've stuck the blond there and then. But, he had to see why she just ditched Ozuma like that… She'd never mentioned Tate before, and maybe she… no! She couldn't like Max! Ozuma's liked her since god-knows-when and he worked so hard to be with her… he wouldn't go down like this!

Joseph's been telling Ozuma that he'd seen the anger in the leader's eyes when he saw Mariam walking or talking to some guy alone. Ozuma even lashed out at Joseph occasionally, because the boy refused to tell him where his sister was. Then Ozuma figured; yeah, he was the aggressive, jealous type, and he accepted that…and he hoped that Mariam knew that too.

Ozuma tilted his head to the side. Maybe Mariam used to like Max, then…something just made her stop after a while…maybe when the tournament was over and the Saint Shields had to say their good-byes to the Bladebreakers. (A/N: You sure that's their dub name? I liked BBA Revolution better…)

Maybe that was why he'd find Mariam crying in her sleep. Not like he intentionally went over to her room and watched her in her sleep… it was just this one time when Ozuma was passing by for a glass of water and he heard sniffling. And Ozuma wasn't an idiot; he knew Dunga rarely cried, so he looked at Joseph first. The boy was…talking about food. And Ozuma thought that was Mariam's job… whatever. So he went to her room. Oh, he was smart; she was crying. He'd never seen her do such a thing before, so he had no idea what to do. He asked her what's wrong, and all she said was something of a big turtle.

Big turtle, big turtle… Ozuma tried thinking of what that meant… Draciel! Okay, so Mariam had fought Max's Draciel a couple times… Crap! The 'big turtle' could've been killing Sharkrash in her dreams, for all he knew. But why cry about it? Ya win, ya lose…he knew that…Mariam knew that…Joseph knew that…Dunga even knew that.

Maybe Mariam just had a dream about the blond…that made her cry…? Oh yes, because that was before Ozuma told her that he liked her, so she didn't give a monkey's butt about what Ozuma thought at the time. And Mariam might've been crying…because she was separated from Max? Oh was it because of a certain thing in her dream?

Ozuma's eyes widened and he started to swat the air. Ah! Bad thoughts, Ozuma, bad thoughts… he scolded himself. Maybe he was just tutoring her… Ozuma smiled and nodded. Yeah, that was it, he was just tutoring her. Ozuma sighed in relief.

But what is he tutoring her in? he wondered. Not like it was any of his business, but she knew she could always go to Ozuma… Was it something he didn't know? That's why she went to Max?

But why Max, of all people? Why couldn't it be Tyson or Rei or Kai or someone who didn't have a crush on her? Ozuma practically screamed in his head; it was so simple! Kenny was smart! And he didn't have a crush on Mariam…why didn't she go to him, dammit!

If Ozuma kept building up these suspicious thoughts, he would've been very close to jumping off the branch and basically ripping the blond apart. He counted for a while; not working… he inhaled deeply, exhaled deeply…he felt better, but he still could've killed the blond.

Maybe he was just jumping to conclusions (not jumping off the branch). Yeah, that was it…maybe Max was innocent and Ozuma's jealousy just got in the way. Yeah…that's it. But everything Ozuma remembered contradicted the whole freaking analysis! Maybe Max was innocent, maybe he wasn't…but Ozuma's gut was telling him that that blond was gonna get it.

Why? Ozuma's…just like that.

He glanced back down at their table. Max had made a…right angle triangle? Ozuma thought.

He knew Mariam was smarter than that…he knew she knew that…Pythagorean Theorem thingy… maybe it was just an excuse to…no!

It's always 'maybe' with you isn't it, Ozuma? He asked himself.

The spiky-haired boy shook his head furiously. "No…Mariam wouldn't pretend to be stupid to spend time with Tate, would she?" he muttered softly.

Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't. Ozuma didn't understand anymore.

"Um…okay, so what's that one?" Mariam asked, pointing to the longer stick.

What the flip was this? It didn't matter which one was thinner or fatter! Why was Max telling her that the skinny stick had to go on the side! Why was Ozuma freaking about because of a bunch of sticks?

Baka! His mind yelled at him. Sad, jealous baka!

Ozuma disregarded that voice and continued to watch the pair.

"Er…that long one's the hypotenuse." Max flashed a smile, "it's always the long one…opposite of the right angle."

Mariam nodded. "Oh…I see."

Ozuma had started pinching his arm, perhaps to calm him down, perhaps to keep from attacking the blond. Mariam wasn't supposed to be like this! What was wrong with her? Ozuma turned to the side and started banging his head on the wood.

"What's that sound?" Mariam asked, looking around.

Max looked up. "Some kind of crazy…squirrel? Crazy, fat squirrel?"

"Squirrels aren't that tall, are they?" Mariam asked, looking at the silhouette.

Ozuma made a small sound of panic, but then squatted down.

Max smiled. "There, that's better."

"Oh." Mariam replied, then looked back at the sticks.

"Tate, you're an idiot for thinking that squirrels are seriously this big, and then they shrink down." Ozuma muttered to himself. He'd been doing that a lot lately…talking to himself. Great, he was going partially insane. Oh, that'd be fun…

"What're they doing now?" Ozuma asked.

Max stood up. "Hey, wanna go get ice cream or something?"

Mariam looked up at him, then nodded, standing up. "Yeah, I like food."

Max just stared at her, watching her struggle with herself.

"I mean…" Mariam pondered, biting her lip. Well, she did like food, but she sounded so stupid when she said it like that…or just when she said that. "Never mind."

Max just chuckled at her. "Well, come on then." He started off, taking her wrist.

"Oh? Ah!"

Ozuma sneered. He'd have to jump off the branch to follow them! Then climb up another tree later!

Perhaps Dunga could get his binoculars. But then he'd need the walkie-talkie. Maybe Dunga could get that, give it to Ozuma so Ozuma could use it to ask Dunga for the binoculars.

Ozuma tilted his head back. What kind of moronic plan was that?

"Stupid Ozuma! Stupid, stupid, stupid Ozuma!" he yelled to himself. And he didn't even know why he had started yelling at himself anyways… Do other people yell at themselves?

"Great…" he folded his arms. Ever since Tate came in the picture, Ozuma didn't know what's what and what's right anymore.

Ozuma glanced back at the table; the sticks were still there. They could be coming back, for all Ozuma knew. Everything was at a fifty-fifty chance now, and Ozuma needed to pick fast, if he picked the wrong one, bad things'll happen, and Ozuma couldn't afford that, and yet, he was gambling with these conclusions of his. But then, that's what people do…

Ozuma bit his lip, to prevent himself from going down there and doing something to Max's seat. Ozuma tried saying to himself that he wouldn't stoop so low as to sabotage Max…

It worked…for only so long. Ozuma resisted the urge to sabotage Max… only because the future victim of his plots came back, along with his girlfriend.

Ozuma hadn't really linked Mariam to him in such a way before. He wasn't a big fan of the whole 'she belongs to him' and 'he's her man' stuff, but it seemed appropriate in this position, right?

Sure. Ozuma nodded to himself

"Nu-uh, I'm not stooping so low." Ozuma reminded himself, watching the pair sit back down.

Ozuma then smirked, remembering Max's teammates. Sure, they didn't have crushes on Mariam, but they should know some vital information on their little blond friend.

Now, that's just sad…sad and desperate. His mind sighed.

Now that Ozuma thought of it, yeah, it was… He should at least let Mariam know that he still trusts her. Stupid Dunga. If he hadn't told Ozuma where Mariam was, Ozuma wouldn't be freaking out…

He sighed. "I'll just wait this whole thing out…" he smiled.

Sad little boy

Ozuma hated that voice.

Still, Mariam was acting like an idiot to get Max to be with her… if Ozuma does something there, what would that prove? That he didn't trust her to just go out to 'learn' something?

He'd make his move, when he cleared things up...

Yippee! Ow, fingers hurting… Well, that's the first bit…Ozuma's crazy and jealous (grins)

Yeah, later he'll go to the Bladebreakers and ask them some stuff on Maxie… then we bring Kai back in!

Okay, go review now please!