A/N: thanks for your reviews...
Daichi staggered out of the airplane, his face completely green. He walked towards Tyson and Max, who were waiting for him. As soon as he reached them, he flopped down onto the ground and said, "Oh! Solid ground again! No more flying high in the sky." Laying his cheek on the floor, he made weird crooning noises. Tyson sweatdropped.
"Daichi!" he said. "You're embarrassing us. Get up!"
"I'm too sick to argue with you, Tyson," said Daichi.
"He does sound kind of tired," said Max.
They ended up carrying Daichi to the hotel, where he collapsed onto one of the beds and went to sleep.
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At the warehouse, Julia had just woken up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked at her watch. It was ten thirty. Throwing off the covers she got up and looked around. The place seemed to be empty.
Looking out of the window, she could see that in daylight this was really quite a cheerful place. But there was no place better than home… or in this case the hotel. So she made her way towards the door. As she approached it, Dave walked in, nearly bumping into her. "Woah," he said, stepping back. "Careful."
The dream came rushing back to her. She went red and said, "Uh, listen, about last night…"
"I didn't make fun of you with the others or anything," said Dave.
"I know," said Julia. "Er… thanks."
"You're welcome," replied Dave uncertainly. He was about to walk on when Julia said, "Look, can you just tell Raul the ransom and let me get out of here?"
"I'm having fun," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well I'm not!" replied Julia. "And Raul's not. Can you please just stop playing games? I just don't get why you're committing crimes. From what I've seen of you, you seem pretty intelligent. Why don't you devote your time to something better?"
"Because, as my father used to say, I can't be good at anything except petty crimes," replied Dave with unexpected bitterness. "I was never as good as my wonderful brother. He played football and rugby but I preferred games like cricket or baseball. I wasn't tough like him."
Julia stared at him. He sighed. "Sorry," he said. "But I have an aptitude for petty crime. I'm a criminal at heart." He began to walk away, but first said over his shoulder, "I'll settle the ransom with Raul today."
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Raul stood at the end of the street and watched Dave approaching him with dislike. As he came within hearing range, Raul said, "Hey you! Are you afraid to show your face or do you enjoy walking around with a cloth over your face?"
Dave laughed in reply. "I'm not stupid enough to give you a means of recognizing me for the police."
"I'll recognize you anyway," said Raul. "You're inhumanly tall."
"I've decided a ransom," said Dave abruptly. "After much thinking I've decided to… let Julia go for free."
Raul's jaw literally dropped. "You've what?"
"Decided to let her go for free," repeated Dave. "I like your sister, she's a good person." Then he smirked. "Besides, she asked me nicely today."
Raul stared blankly at him. Shrugging, Dave said, "I don't need your money. I have everything I need or want. Meet me here in two hours. She'll be here."
"You promise?" said Raul disbelievingly.
"Yes," he replied. Then, with a wave, he turned around and disappeared around a corner.
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"You what?" said Julia, staring at Dave.
"You look just like Raul right now," said Dave with a grin, taking off his neck cloth. "Yes, you're free… at least you will be in two hours."
"Thank you!" exclaimed Julia. "What made you decide that?"
He shrugged. "I was thinking about what you said earlier. And it occurred to me that I should let go of all this childhood bitterness. And…" he seemed to be struggling for words. "My sincerest apologies to you for kidnapping you." He held out his hand. Julia shook it.
"Apology accepted," she replied.
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At the hotel Raul was nearly beside himself with excitement. He couldn't believe that Julia was finally coming home. He was also relieved because they had just been informed that whatever had been wrong with the cruise had now been fixed and they were starting out tomorrow.
He announced to the whole room in general (which was full of people he didn't know):" My sister's coming back today!"
An old man in the corner smiled benignly at him and muttered, "Young boys today." Others merely smiled or looked at him with confused expressions. Raul grinned back at them, oblivious to the act that he was being incredibly weird. Then, with a wave of his hand, he walked out of the room.
A/N: My least favourite chapter sofar. but review anyway XP