(sniffs) I'm so happy you people like my story. HeartlessDevil, don't get hung up with the guy on the mountain. It was just a random thought. SilverGhostKitsune…I love that song. Spirit Of Innocence, thank you for understanding.

BTW, I'm so sorry that I couldn't update sooner, but I was sick (out of school for a week). I had the flu. In fact, I still have laryngitis.

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Beyblade. There, I said it (wrote it, actually). I only own Aeris and anybody else that DOESN'T appear in the show.

Chapter 5

--A Few Days Later—

Aeris yawned as she watched the boys train. This was becoming routine. Wake up; wake Tyson up; eat breakfast; watch training; have lunch; do some other random activity; have dinner; sleep; wake up and do it all over again.

Aeris really wanted to go into the town and not be stuck in the dojo the whole time. If she left, thought, there would be a chance of them finding her…but…If they were really looking for her, they would have found her by now and she would be on the run again. Maybe…maybe they had finally given up… The odds of that happening were over a million to one, but if there was even the slightest chance, Aeris was happy. And hopeful.

With these thoughts on her mind, the girl leaned back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes, enjoying the warm sunlight on her face.

"Hey, Aeris! Helllooo. Anybody in there?"

Aeris opened her eyes to a hand in front of her face. She looked up at the hand's owner – Tyson. He and the others were standing around her.

I must have dozed off, she thought. Wow, haven't done that in a while.

"What's up?" she asked as she stretched.

"We were wondering if you wanted to go somewhere in town for lunch today. Since you've been cooped up here in the dojo ever since you came," Tyson said.

Aeris blinked. It was as if they had read her mind. A smile formed on her lips.

"That sounds great," she replied.

"Cool," Max said. "Let's go!"

They all left Tyson's house and began walking around the town. They examined all the shops and restaurants they passed, looking for a place to fulfill their enormous need for food, or rather, Tyson and Max's.

"Hold on a second, guys." Tyson suddenly stopped walking.

The rest of them stopped as well.

"What is it, Tyson?" Ray asked.

"I can't believe I forgot!" Tyson exclaimed, slapping his hand to his forehead. "The greatest restaurant in the whole town! Come on!" He began running in another direction.

The rest looked at each other, shrugged, and followed him.

;-"Stop the world, I want to get off"-;

'The greatest restaurant in the whole town' turned out to be an all-you-can-eat buffet. Tyson had assured them that this place had every kind of food you could imagine. The part that made it the greatest, of course, was that you could eat all you wanted to and still only have to pay one price.

Ray, Aeris and Kai finished soon. They watched as Tyson and Max stuffed themselves, trying to see who could eat the most. (I'm sorry if I make Max sound like a pig in the chapter, but someone had to compete with Tyson.xD)

"You know, if you guys eat anymore, you'll turn into balloons," Ray said, watching as Tyson shoved more food into his mouth.

"I have a pin," Aeris remarked innocently, holding up a random safety pin.

Tyson and Max froze and stared at her. They saw the glint of maliciousness in her eyes and gulped. Suddenly, Max swiped the pin away from her and put it in his pocket, leaving it safe for Tyson and himself to return to their food.

Aeris stared at her empty hand and blinked. She looked back up and sighed.

Well, she thought. So much for that…

;-"This is considered normal behavior on my planet"-;

A short time later, Tyson and Max were finally stuffed. Tyson won by a noodle. They walked around town some more.

As it got later, the group of five decided to go down near the lake for a while. They all sat down on the grass.

Max and Tyson were out cold. Eating a lot's pretty tiring, Aeris guessed, mentally snickering. Ray was just sitting, staring across the water in his own little world.

A little ways off, Kai was lying down with a piece of grass sticking out of his mouth. His hands were behind his head, one leg propped up on the other knee (hard to explain, but you know the position, right?), and his eyes were closed. Aeris knew he wasn't asleep, though.

She plopped down next to him and closed her eyes to the breeze. Kai looked up at her. The wind blew her long hair (which was down. She stopped putting her hair in a braid while she was staying with them.) back away from her pale face and neck, revealing something he had never seen before. He stared curiously at the girl before sitting up and taking the blade of grass from his mouth.

Aeris opened her violet orbs and turned to Kai, cocking her head to the side as her straight, blue locks fell back down around her face.

"What was that mark?" Kai asked quietly.

Aeris looked confused for a moment, before realization hit her and her eyes opened wide. She softly touched the far right side of her face – a little below her ear – and looked down.

"Can I see it?" Kai questioned just as quietly as before.

Aeris hesitated, looked up at him, and slowly nodded. She put her hair over her left shoulder and allowed Kai to examine the mark.

It was ice blue in color, with bits of lavender and silver here and there. There were a few swirls at the top, one of them curling further than the others to reach the edge of her right cheek. Kai rubbed his finger along it and felt Aeris shiver slightly. Her soft skin was warm, but the pale mark was cold.

Kai continued looking at the rest of the mark. The swirls became more elaborate and complex as they trailed down the right side of her neck. His crimson eyes followed them until they disappeared under the part of Aeris' shirt covering her shoulder (her shirt, thought no-sleeved, covers both her shoulders entirely).

Kai put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her eyes. They were staring intently at his hand.

"May I?" he asked.

Aeris slowly looked up at him. She stared into his eyes. Finally, she looked down.

"Uh huh," she whispered.

Kai gently pulled back the fabric just enough to expose the rest of the mark. Over Aeris' shoulder, the delicate swirls ended and became thicker, more jagged lines. The pattern altogether reminded one of the freezing winds and hard, rough ice of winter. Kai mentally shivered as he sat back and looked at Aeris.

She didn't look up at him, but instead continued staring down at the ground. The silence hung as a soft wind whistled around them. Aeris glanced at the other three (Ray, Tyson and Max for those of you who forgot.) and found that they were all sleeping peacefully on the grass. Then she looked back up at Kai. He stared back, crimson eyes burning holes right through her. She scratched her arm and shivered.

"Kai," Aeris began, barely above a whisper. "I know what you're about to ask, but…" she hesitated, then continued, "…but the answer is connected to the other question. And I don't think I'm ready to…" she trailed off and looked up at Kai pleadingly.

He gave her the same answer as last time: "When you're ready."

Aeris smiled. "Thanks Kai," she said. She gazed out across the river and sighed. "I always loved the sunset."

Kai looked, too. The sky was a light blue and the few puffy clouds were tinged with pale pink and lavender.

"It looks like Ice tonight," Aeris added.

Kai looked at her. "What?" he asked.

Aeris turned to him. "I know it might be thinking negatively, but I believe the sunset, which is the end of the day, is like the end of time – when the earth is destroyed. So you know how some people think the world will end in Fire, while others think it will end in Ice?" Kai nodded. "Same thing with sunsets. Some are like Fire – streaked with red and orange and yellow – and some are like Ice – pale, cool colors like this one."

Kai nodded. "I see."

Aeris smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. She didn't know why, but all her worries went away when she was with him. She sighed in contentment.

Kai blinked at her. He didn't expect her to do something like that, even though she did it all the time when they were little. It wasn't that he minded it – he certainly didn't mind – it was just…unexpected.

They both looked up at the sky and watched the sun as it sank below the horizon and was replaced by a silver moon.

"We should probably go back to Tyson's," Kai remarked after a minute.

Aeris nodded. They both stood up and went over to the others. Ray and Max were yawning and stretching. Max poked Tyson in the side.

"Come on, Tyson," he yawned. "Wake up. You can go back to sleep when we get to your place."

Tyson's eyes blinked open and he stood up and began walking back to the dojo. The others followed right behind.

Aeris blinked. "Tyson doesn't usually get up this quickly," she commented.

"It's just because he's gonna go right back to sleep when we get to the dojo," Ray replied.

"Oh."

They got to the dojo and, as predicted, Tyson went right to sleep. The rest fell asleep soon after.

End of Chapter 5

--Hmm. It's funny that every chapter I've written – except for Chapter 1 and the Prologue – ends at night. Interesting…I'm going to have to change that…

Anywho, sorry again for the wait. Please review. Pretty please with sugar and chocolate and more sugar and, um, lots of other good stuff on top! XD Thank you and good night! (Happy Easter!)