Jaheira1000: I'm back! You probably thought I was giving up on this fic right? Well I'm glad I can prove you wrong. I just had a few new ideas that I had to get down. I'm currently working on about five different fics at once.

Disclaimer: It's like they're trying to rub it in our faces. It's not mine already!

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CHAPTER EIGHT: REVELATIONS

After their little session alone, relations between Kia and Ray improved while those between Ray and Tala deteriorated. That Tala was getting jealous of the amount of time they spent together, was obvious. He just refused to admit it. Kia meanwhile, was in a quandary. She had agreed to go out with Tala, but was finding herself increasingly attracted to Ray. This was confusing the poor girl since the feelings she had towards the two were entirely different. She loved them both, just not in the same way. She, however, did not realize this because, as was mentioned many many times before, she wasn't exactly very good with emotions. She couldn't distinguish between the two types of love, and so had decided to go out with whichever one managed to ask her first, which happened to be Tala.

So that's were she was now, and boy was it confusing. She had a date with Tala that evening. They had decided to go clubbing. After deciding on a decent outfit, Kia had nothing to do. She had given the rest of team the day off training, and was currently attempting to hide from Enrique who was becoming much too persistant for her liking. She had retreated to the roof of the hotel for a bit of silence. She hadn't gotten much sleep that evening as a result of too much stress. The situation with Ray and Tala was taking it's toll on her. She closed her eyes, deciding to take a nap right where she was. After a few minutes she was fell into a deep slumber.

While she was there, the rest of the team was watching television, while the demo boys were doing goodness knows what. Ray had been trying to think up a truly brilliant way to get Kia to date him. So far, he was only drawing blanks. He decided to go for a walk. After a few hours he returned to find the two teams in chaos. According to the little scraps he was able to decipher from the shouting, Kia had gone missing. Tala especially was going crazy. Apparently they had arranged to go on a date, but she was nowhere to be found. After calming the others down enough to get an explanation, Ray nearly started panicing. He got them all together and had them search through the hotel one floor at a time until they had systematically worked their way through the whole hotel. He was about to check the roof as a last resort when his way was barred by none other than Tala. He sneered at the tall chinese boy before snarling.

"Now what genius? Any other bright idea's?"

"Tala, I think..."

"What are we supposed to do now? Don't you even care that she might be hurt somewhere? You just act that way so no-one suspects you."

"Tala, listen..."

"No! You listen! I've seen how you act around her. You just want her for yourself. Why don't you do us all a fovour and go jump off a bridge?" By this time, Ray was getting very upset. Of course he was worried and upset and all that, but running around screaming like a psycho wasn't going to help Kia. The best thing for her was someone who could take charge and actually do something about finding her. Those were his feelings in the matter, and he wasted no time in informing Tala of that. After letting him blow off his steam, Tala tried to interupt, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Ray's fist made contact with his face. The others all watched in shock as Tala toppled to the ground. They couldn't believe what they were seeing when Ray downed Tala. As he struggled to his feet, they were surprised to see him smiling. Tala had suddenly realized something and was feeling down about his decision, but he knew it was for the best. 'It was probably just a stupid crush anyway' He thought.

"If you had taken any longer about it I would have given you the same treatment." Tala lied, smirking. By now, everybody was beyond confused. Tala enlightened them, the smirk never leaving his face. As he spoke, he realized the truth in his own words. He had know all along that he wasn't really in love with Kia, but he had always been one to make sure about something first. He had fallen for her looks and nothing more. She was like a younger sister to him, and he wasn't into incest.

"I only asked Kia out so that she could sort out what she felt about you, and to find out if you were good enough for her." Ray was furious.

"What the hell gives you the right to test me on her behalf?" The smirk vanished and was replaced by a faintly menacing look.

"Listen kitty-cat, we grew up together. I have seen that poor girl being torn apart day in and day out. Even though she was a guy at the time doesn't make any difference. Emotional pain doesn't discriminate. Me and the other Demo Boyz are like her brothers, and no matter what, we will always look after her. And if we can't, we'll make sure there's someone around who can." All this took a moment to sink in, but once it did Ray grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry about hitting you earlier. If I had known you were trying to help, I wouldn't have hit so hard."

"Oh, so you would still have hit me?" Rei gave an evil smile.

"Of course! It's not every day I get the chance to floor the captain of the Demolition Boyz without dire consequences." The rest of them laughed, and the tension was broken.

"All joking aside Tala, where did she go." Tala's face begame grave again.

"I don't know. Even though it helped our cause, I still don't know where she is." Suddenly it occured to Ray that he still hadn't checked the roof of the hotel. Mentioning this to Tala, the two boys decided to go together. As they made their way up, they discussed Kia.

"Hey Tala, what do you think is gonna happen when you break up with her?"

"Well, I think she'll be relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yeah. I could tell that she beginning to get uncomfortable with the whole relationship thing. I think that after the novelty of it wore off, she realized she had picked the wrong guy. Everyone could see it but her."

"I hope you're right Tala. I really do." With that, they reached the roof and were suprised at what they saw. Kia was lying asleep on the roof, but that wasn't what was bothering them. The strange thing was that Mariah and Emily were also there, and they were quite obviously up to something. Hearing the two boys approach, the two girls straightened up from their crouched positions before running off. Ray looked at Tala and stated.

"Well that was weird."

"Yeah, no kidding." Tala shook his head absently. Making their way over to the sleeping girl, they noticed an envelope clenched in her fist. Leaning down, Tala tried to extract it silently, but the movement caused her to wake up. Her fist closed on the envelope instinctively as she looked around dazedly. Yawning widely, she asked.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ray snickered slightly.

"When you didn't show up for your date with Tala, we naturally began searching for you. The others thought you were kidnapped." She chuckled slightly before noticeing the envelope in her hand. Seeing how Tala's hand was clenched over hers, it looked like he had given her the letter. She opened the envelope, sliding out a letter. The two boys watched her face as she read the letter. Seeing the emotions flickering across her face, Ray was worried.

"What does it say?" He was amazed when she just ignored him, glaring at Tala before crumpling the letter and throwing it at the surprised red-head. After she had the satisfaction of seeing it bounce off his forehead, she shot up and ran into the hotel. Looking over at the equally stunned neko-jin Tala asked.

"What just happened?"

"I have no idea." Seeing the discarded letter, Ray hastily picked it up and smoothed it out. His eyes widened at what he read there.

"Tala?"

"What's wrong Ray?"

"You might wanna read this." After handing Tala the letter, Ray counted to thirty before blocking his ears. He was not a moment too soon as Tala's voice exploded with a fury wirthy of his red hair.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

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Jaheira1000: Ohhhhhhh, a cliffy! What did the letter say? Tune in next time to find out! (Sorry it was so short. The next chapter will be much longer)

P.S. Please leave a review on your way out.