Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned below, except for Kristen Hiwatari. And in the next chapter, I will be owning more characters, mainly girls. Those girls that I am about to mention in the next chapter will be joining the BladeBreakers, recommended by Mr. Dickensen. (Is that how you spell his name, anyway?)

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Reasons

Ray tossed and turned in his bed. It wasn't that it was too hard to be comfortable. It was just that he couldn't shake the image of Kristen out of his head. From that little brawl in the afternoon, Kristen couldn't help but glare at Ray's direction about every five minutes. Ray didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed at that little gesture.

Then, when it was turning dark, he had laid on his bed, arms under his head, acting as a cushion, Ray had asked Kai about her.

Flashback

"Why does she act the way she does?" Ray couldn't help but ask, curious at Kai's girlfriend, and it surprised Ray that this term irritated him so much.

Kai had looked up at the white, almost flawless ceiling for a few quiet moments, and when Ray poked him in the ribs gently, as if to prompt him, Kai finally turned to face Ray.

"She has her reasons," Kai said simply, and then turned over on his other side, leaving Ray to stare at his back, confused.

End Flashback

It was turning dark, and Ray slowly drifted into sleep. But his sharp ears thought otherwise, as he heard a soft creaking of the wooden doors. He turned around to face the doors slowly, and saw a dark silhouette approaching the beds. He caught sight of long hair flowing behind the figure's back and realized that it was Kristen; the other girls who were supposed to meet them postponed their flight here, so they would arrive tomorrow instead.

What is it she's looking for? Ray thought to himself, in all curiosity.

Kristen seemed to be mumbling softly to herself that Ray wondered if she was sleep-walking and talking at the same time.

But as she approached his bed, he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

"Kai," came a fervent whisper. Ray recognized it to be Kristen's voice. The problem was… she was shaking his arm, instead of Kai's.

He sat up straight in his bed and leaned against the wall. But there was no moon that night, to illuminate his face enough.

Moreover, his hair must have looked like Kai's in the dark, as Kristen took him by surprise as her arms wrapped his neck tightly.

Ray's mouth gaped open, not knowing how to feel; whether to be enraged by it all or what.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, maybe to scold Kristen, she suddenly hiccuped softly and shivered against his chest; and Ray realized that she was actually crying. All words and thoughts escaped him as she heard him mumble softly. Words that he heard but did not understand.

"It's the same dream again – jumped down – couldn't stop it – no help arrived-"

Ray couldn't help but pat her head softly and awkwardly. What else was he to do?

Suddenly, he was pretending to be Kai, yet he couldn't say a word, for if he did, she would surely recognize his voice.

But she noticed the quietness in him.

"Kai?" she finally prompted, as her sobs began subsiding.

Uh-oh, Ray thought. Cover blown. He could feel Kristen feeling the long tail of hair behind his back tentatively at first, then yanking it harder, when she finally realized it was Ray.

"You!" she hissed. Even in the dark, Ray could sense that she was about to scream, so he put a hand over her mouth.

"Sh… don't scream-" he whispered. "-please," he added as an afterthought.

Kristen thought about it for a while. Idiot, she thought angrily. How could he pretend to be Kai all along?! Please? Kristen snorted mentally. Who did he think he was, huh?

She bit his fingers. Hard.

Ray took his hand away with a soft "Ow".

Kristen grabbed him by the other arm and practically dragged him forcefully outside of the room, closing the door behind them. Ray was glaring at her as she pulled him to the overhanging balcony.

"What was that for?" he asked, still glaring.

"What was what for?"

"Don't feign ignorance with me. Why did you bite me for?" Ray snapped.

"You didn't ask me not to; you only said not to scream, didn't you? I was merely following your instructions," Kristen said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ray sighed. She had a point. He didn't say anything about her not supposed to bite his fingers, but how was he supposed to know she would be so… vile??

"Fine," he said softly and he was about to turn back to return to his room when Kristen stopped him again by standing in front of him.

"How dare you pretend to be Kai?" Her anger was unmistakable at that instant. She wasn't shouting or anything to that extent, but the soft and dangerous tone in her voice was enough to make anyone back away from the anger.

"I didn't pretend to be anything! You were the one who just came in to-" he stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly embarrassed.

Kristen was also feeling awkward, she wondered why. She found this new embarrassment ridiculous.

"You two switched beds?"

"No."

"But Kai's bed is the second one from the right! You were in his bed!"

Ray seemed to think about this statement for a while, before he did something totally unexpected, which also took Kristen by surprise. He smiled.

Kristen raised her left eyebrow.

"Why are you smiling?"

Ray shrugged. "My bed is the second one from the left."

Kristen's face flushed. Damn it, she thought.

"I- sometimes have problems with my lefts and rights," she muttered under her breath.

Ray chuckled softly, not wanting to embarrass her further by laughing out loud.

"I thought so," he said slowly, as he inspected her face over again. He was surprised to find that he liked this new Kristen. Very much, indeed. Her head low, eyes directed to the tiles on the ground, face slightly flushed, bringing lovely color to her cheeks. Her hair wasn't tied up now, it was loose around her shoulders, with soft tendrils framing her face that Ray was longing to touch. His eyes traveled down slowly as he inspected her body more closely.

Wearing her usual home clothing, Kristen was only wearing a pink tank top and a pair of white shorts, which accentuated her long legs. Ray thought that they seemed to go on forever, like the Great Walls of China.

When she finally looked up, she saw Ray staring at her closely.

"What are you staring at?" Kristen asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious under Ray's sudden 'inspection'.

"You," Ray said, then immediately regretting that he was too blunt in his answer, for Kristen seemed to be looking for a hole to crawl in. A soft strand of hair escaped from behind his ear, as he wasn't wearing his head-band. Ray was about to reach out and tuck it behind his ear when Kristen did it for him.

Millions of thoughts were racing in Kristen's head as Ray stood there, staring at her intensely.

Oh, shit. I've gone mad.

Yes, you have.

That doesn't help.

Why did you do that for, anyway?

I don't know. Maybe I really have gone mad.

Maybe you should go home tomorrow.

You're right. Maybe-

Too late. He's going to kiss you.

And Ray did. It started out so briefly, but the process was long and sweet. There was no tongue involved, it was plain for all to see that Ray was taking it slowly, not forcing Kristen to do anything she didn't want. Ray figured that he was going mad, since he sensed something behind those closed doors of Kristen, but didn't know what it was. But whatever it was, he's going to find out. (A/N: Nice resolution.)

When the kiss ended, Kristen realized that her arms were around Ray's neck and his were hanging loosely by her hips.

She was about to let go when Ray held her closer. He hugged her, quite tightly as well. Kristen liked that feeling. In fact, she loved it. So she hugged back, with just as much strength she could muster, at that time of night.


But Ray stopped all the flow of warm feelings, just by saying…

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*to be continued…*

A/N: Ta-da! Sorry about the cliffhanger. But I had to do it! My reviews are sort of suffering, you know? Sorry again. But if you want me to continue… review!