I apologise for the shortness of my last chapter but I must admit that I didn't think anyone would mind or even notice! Well to make up for it I think this is a bit longer.

Dedicated to Ari dark princess

I do not own beyblade

Sitting at her table with a cup of coffee Mariah tried to act normal as she pretended to listen to her boyfriend. She felt nervous, only a few days ago she had, had a simple life, she was a normal girl, good job, relatively comfortable home, fantastic boyfriend and an easy acceptance of the general world around her. Now she didn't know what to think.

How could a person just disappear?

It wasn't possible?

Or was it?

"Mariah?"

Tala was staring at her a confused look on his face, it was obvious that he had been speaking for sometime and she hadn't heard him, she smiled at him and apologised asking him to repeat himself.

"I asked if you were willing to come to Kai's parents charity event?"

"Oh yes…" Mariah nodded happily "I'm really rather looking forward to meeting them after all I've heard."

"Great, those things are ridiculously boring and I really didn't want to go there alone!"

"Aw so you reeeally want me to come?" Mariah asked in a wheedling tone

"Um" Tala gave his girlfriend a suspicious look before nodding "yes… why?"

"No reason I'm just thinking that if I come you'll owe me some thing."

"Oh god your going to use this as an excuse to drag me along to something I really don't want to go to aren't you?" he grinned as he leaned his elbows on the table and gazed into his girlfriends eyes.

"Maybe" Mariah tilted her head to one side smiling teasingly

"What is it?" Tala leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, she accepted the kiss

"Nothing… yet" she kissed him on the nose "but I'll be thinking of something."

"See you later" Grinning Tala turned and picked up his briefcase "I'm calling on Kai on my way home…. Hey you never heard from that Hilary again did you?"

"H-Hilary?" Mariah looked up stunned, Tala gave her an odd look, she was acting in a slightly guilty way and it confused him. "No haven't seen her, she seems to have just… disappeared" Mariah said the last word with a hint of confusion.

"Babe are you ok?" Tala moved forward and then immediately backed away as Mariah looked up with eyes filled with anger "Shit…sorry I forgot"

"What did I say about calling me babe?"

"That you hated it cos it sounds like I can't remember which girlfriend I'm with. Or it sounds like I forgot your name." Tala backed down the hallway keeping his hands up in a defensive gesture "I'm sorry"

"Good" Mariah patted him on the head patronisingly "very good. Now off you go to work and Tala…"

"Y-yes?" he winced noticing the slightly evil look in her eyes

"I've suddenly decided what I want you to do in payment for going to that party"

"What?"

"Oh you'll find out all in good time!" Mariah turned and practically skipped down the hallway leaving a relieved Tala sagging against the front door. He had forgotten how much Mariah hated being called 'babe' or 'sweetheart'. He supposed as he walked out the door that he could see her point, he'd hate to be called stuff like that and she did have a name.

Truth be told though this was the first time he'd ever actually learnt a girls last name as well as her first. He'd just have to be careful not to slip into that old habit of using nicknames, it was true that it stemmed from a time where he couldn't remember the girls name. It had been one of Kai's tricks actually, if Kai ever settled down with a girl he'd probably have as much trouble not calling where babe as well. Of course not all girls were as fiercely feminist as Mariah… actually Hilary looked like she might be.

--

Feeling restless Kai sat in his office with his mother looking over his fathers plans for the charity event. It was to be a black and white event which annoyed Kai, what the hell was it with people wanting just black and white?

"Kai?" his mother gave him a curious look

"Yes mother?"

"Something is troubling you?" she tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.

Sighing lightly Kai shrugged, yes there was something troubling him but he didn't know how to explain it to his mother after all she had her own problems the last thing she needed was to hear any of his.

Luckily for Kai at that moment there was a knock art the door and a very familiar redhead poked itself around the door.

"Yo Kai"

"Please stop saying yo" Kai grumbled only getting a cheesy grin from his friend

"Sorry but yo is my word" Tala grinned at the Ana Hiwitari "Yo Mrs. H!"

"Yo Tala" Kai's mother replied grinning at her sons reaction

"Oh God" Kai leant forward and pounded his head down onto the desk trying to destroy the brain cells that remembered that he was related to or best friends with the two people in his office.

"It's good to see you Mrs. H" Tala sat down opposite the two Hiwitaris

"Good to see you too and I was rather hoping to meet your lovely girlfriend sometime soon"

"She is lovely" Tala agreed seriously

"Well I wish Mariah was here, I might get some decent conversation" Kai muttered still facedown on the table.

--

Across town Mariah sat in her office looking over certain papers when a knock at the door looking up she spoke an impatient "Come in"

"Mariah?"

The pinkettes head snapped up and there she was, Hilary.

"Am I interrupting anything?" the brunette stood nervously in the doorway

"No" Mariah shook her head "um… what can I do for you Hilary?"

"Well Tala and Kai are over in Kai's office discussing the charity event and I'm willing to bet they could do with some help."

"Right" Mariah stared at the girl confused but nodded and stood up grabbing her coat followed Hilary out of the building. They only had to wait seconds for a taxi to arrive outside the building, it was like Hilary had summoned the car there with her mind (of course she had but Mariah didn't know that).

It was raining out and that was the reason Hilary calmly informed her friend that she would get them a taxi. It wasn't long before the two girls were in the taxi and off to there destination and it was when she sat there that Mariah wondered why she had so willingly come with this girl. Only yesterday she had seen her disappearing into thin air, but for some reason she had just felt this need to go with Hilary and see how the boys were doing. What was with that?

Staring scrutinising at her companion Mariah studied the girls choice of clothes. Once again everything looked right. She wore a vibrant blue skirt with a light lemon coloured shirt, on her feet her shoes matched the outfit perfectly as though she had taken the clothes along to a cobblers shop and said 'make me shoes to match this' and once again her jewellery looked perfect. A silver flower on a chain around her neck, light silver flower earrings and a chunky charm bracelet. The two of them had run through the rain to the car but Hilary's hair was still elegantly styled as though she had just steeped out from a hairdressers. Mariah ran a hand through her own dishevelled hair but Hilary's was intact in a neat French pleat that really suited her.

Hilary was uncomfortably aware of Mariah's stares but she was a little unsure as to the reason. Could it be that she was annoyed about her leaving the theatre the other night? She was pretty sure that Kai would forgive her for running off and she had been very careful in telling Mariah that nothing could happen between her and Kai so surely the girl would understand.

--

"Mariah we were just wishing you were here like five minutes ago… why did you come?" Tala asked bounding over to his girlfriend grinning like a lovesick schoolboy. He kissed her on the mouth but unusually for him her kept it light, Kai assumed it had something to do with his mother being in the room.

"No reason" Mariah lied smiling at her boyfriend, it freaked her out but for some reason she didn't want to say that Hilary had brought her and there was something odd going on. When they had arrived Hilary had stayed in the take saying she had somewhere else to go.

Oddly enough it wasn't fear of the girls freaky powers that made Mariah cautious, it was the look on Hilary's face when Mariah had asked if she would be coming in too. Hilary had stared up at the building before slowly mournfully shaking her head. There had been real pain in Hilary's eyes when she sat back in the taxi pasting a fake smile on her face and pretending she was fine.

"Mariah this is my mother" Kai smiled fondly at his mother as the pinkette bowed respectfully

"It's very nice to meet you madam" Mariah felt a little awkward as she looked at the dark haired woman with eyes that seemed to study you.

"Well I have to say I've been looking forward to meeting you" Anna spoke softly as she smiled at her son "The woman who can make Tala settle down must be something special indeed."

"Not really madam" Mariah blushed prettily

"Ok stop calling me madam it reminds me of how old I am and I don't need to b reminded of that"

"Hey now we're all here why don't we go out for lunch somewhere?" Tala asked receiving a glare from Kai "Oh come on Kai you can come back and sort out all this junk later" Tala urged.

"He's right Kai" Anna smiled at her son "lets go get something to eat and we can talk about the ball while we sort it out"

"Fine" Kai nodded unhappily and left his mother to gather up the papers, he walked over to the window where he looked at the real reason he hadn't wanted to leave the office. The weather outside was getting worse, it was hitting the windows with such force that it sounded throughout the office. He really didn't want to take his mother outside in this weather, it was stupid and he knew it but he had become very over protective of her now he knew she was ill.

"Kai?" Mariah walked to stand with him by the window "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah it's nothing really," he shrugged smiling at his friend "I wish it would stop raining for a few minutes" Kai muttered quietly, neither Tala or his mother heard the plea come from the tall mans lips but Mariah standing next to him at the window watched in awe as suddenly the heavy downpour slowed down until it was completely finished. The grey clouds broke apart and blue sky and bright sun over took the sky.

"Well that was lucky" Kai frowned to himself then shrugged the whole thing off.

"Come on you two" Anna smiled brightly "Tala's been telling me about the restaurant you usually go to, as we're all here we might as well go get some lunch."

"No lets not go there" Kai shook his head "We ought to go somewhere more…"

"Expensive?" his mother asked

"Posh" Tala suggested grinning, the two of them exchanged glances and laughed merrily

"Kai I'm sure it's fine to eat there, I'm not your father you know!"

Unnoticed Mariah who also stood at the window was quiet merely opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, just as Kai turned to walk back to the desk she grabbed his arm "Kai"

"Yeah?" He looked down at her serious expression with surprise

"Tala was saying earlier that you three were wishing um that I was here, were those words actually said?"

"Pardon?" Kai asked confused, "I didn't hear that"

"um…" Mariah knew it sounded stupid but she had to ask "How did you get onto the subject of me before I arrived"

"Oh…" Kai gave her an odd look "well Tala came in, mum mentioned you, she and Tala got talking. I said I wished you were here so I could have some decent conversation. Why"

"No reason" Mariah stood very still. As soon as Kai was out of hearing she whispered "I wish it would start raining" Nothing happened. Slightly embarrassed she blushed and was very pleased no one had heard her. Turning back to the group she ran forward and linked he arm with Tala's.

"It's stopped raining" Kai commented indifferently "You ready to go mum?"

"Ready when you are"

"Ready to go beautiful?" Tala teased looking down at Mariah

"Tala" Mariah frowned at him remembering their argument earlier and knowing he was just calling her beautiful because if she argued with it her would act all stupid.

"Come on" Tala grinned as he guided her to the door "Mariah and I will go find a taxi that way if it starts raining again it won't matter too much."

--

'One more gone' Hilary thought to herself as she sat in the taxi, she had asked the driver to take her to a nearby park. Sitting watching the rain hit her window she felt pretty low, she had wanted to go into the building to see Kai but… What would she say to him?

She had no idea how to act in situations like this, did you apologise?

Did you just walk up to the guy and say "Hi you know how I ran off after you kissed me and I kissed you back? Well I'm really sorry, lets be friends?"

"We're here, that'll be £12.80" the driver spoke as he pulled up abruptly in front of the park gates "but it's raining pretty hard, is this where you wanted to be?"

"I like the rain" Hilary said with a shrug as she handed over the money.

She climbed out of the black car and after slamming the door behind her made her way into the park. She walked slowly through the deserted area following a gravelled path for a few minutes until suddenly she heard it

"I wish it would stop raining for a few minutes"

Annoyed that he had called her enjoyment of the weather to an end Hilary looked up and placed her hands together. Summoning up her strength she closed her eyes before saying the name of the particular cloud needing to move "cumulonimbus" and then the rain stopped, the clouds moved across the sky and the sun began to shine.

"And there goes another one" she said to herself sadly "Two wishes and I didn't even get to see him."

Please R&R