Doesn't Know She's Perfect
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Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, for no one could possibly fathom the utter havoc I would unleash within it...
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Chapter Two
How to be Unwittingly Romantic 101
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Mariah and Salima were in eleventh grade, and attended Hirashi High School as the two most sought after Juniors in the school district. They had been best friends since they were fourteen, and live in the same apartment complex. Mariah and Salima, though they were young women, were highly respected.

Neither came from wealthy families, and Mariah was Chinese, but they are worshiped by men who have seen them because they were beautiful, but not shallow or unintelligent. Strong, but not egotistical. Cheerful, but not overly-optimistic. The seventeen year olds were also on the honor roll and had the top grades in most of their classes.

Salima glanced over at her best friend, who was drumming her fingers on the desk, looking to be the epitome of the word "boredom" as she dully looked at the blackboard. The book she had been reading lay opened on her desk, on the same page it had been ten minutes ago.

Mrs. Cadence had given them the entire class to read, but Mariah had only made three pages of progress. "Mariah?" Salima whispered as she lay her head down on her desk and pulled her own book up, concealing her from the view of her teacher.

There was no response from her friend, so she tried again, "Mariah?" came the whispred query from behind the book. Still, no response came. Salima grinned as she to notice of her rubber eraser. She picked it up and quietly tore a chunk from it, flinging the nearly useless thing at the face of the girl next to her.

The pink eraser hit its mark: Mariah's cheek. This was enough to make Mariah jump in startlement and glare over at her best friend, waiting for an explanation. "You were zoning," came the whispered reply to the demanding look, "I had to wake you up somehow."

"You could have just whispered, you know." Mariah stated quietly, placing her book in the same position as the redhead beside her. "I did, you were just busy prancing around in your own little world." Her expression grew serious, "What were you thinking about? Wait no," she said as Mariah began to whisper, "The love letter, right?" Mariah nodded.

"Are you nervous?" Salima asked the pink haired Chinese, who shook her head, "No, just wondering about who wrote that poem. Another thing, my secret admirer's handwriting was very handsome, most men have sloppy handwriting." Salima's eyes widened, " I noticed that, too. No one in our grade has neat handwriting, and any lower grades are basicly kids out of the Junior High, but poetry workshops and English courses that include a poetry unit aren't taken by Sophomores or Freshmen."

"See, my secret admirer has to be a Senior, it's only logical." Mariah concluded. Salima nodded and began to open her mouth to say something, but was stopped by the sight of Mrs. Cadence standing behind Mariah. "Talking during class, again, you two?" she asked sternly, looking down at them through her thick-framed spectacles.

"We're terribly sorry, Mrs. Cadence, it won't happen again." Mariah assured the frowning woman. Charlotte Cadence's frown only deepened, "You are correct in believing that it will not happen again, as the two of you will be attending a thirty minute detention after school. And because this is your last class of the day, I will be expecting the both of you to stay in your seats once the bell has rung."

Both girls looked incredulously at the young teacher, though Salima was the first to speak, "But Mrs. Cadence, I have to ride the bus." The auburn haired woman nodded, "Then your bus shall be notified of your delay." Salima nodded and glared at the words on the pages of her book.

"Do you have a bus to ride, as well, Miss Wong?" the violet eyed teacher asked, but the younger woman shook her head. Silently despairing that she was going to be late for her meeting with her poetic admirer. Mrs. Cadence nodded curtly and made her way to her desk at the front of the class.

Mariah looked around to see many eyes focused on her, but they were drawn abruptly away as Mrs. Cadence called out to the class, "Eyes on your books, please." Mariah silently thanked her with a smile, glad to be rid of her embarassment.

Twenty minutes and five chapters in her book later, Mariah heard the bell ring, signaling the rustle of books being put away and chairs being set atop desks. Salima cursed quietly at their predicament, but Mariah just focused on the clock, her mind distracted once again.

The tangerine eyed Junior's head was filled with notions of sweet romance. She invisioned a strong, brilliant, and handsome Senior that would carry her books, walk her home, and call her every night. She pictured her older brother, Lee, meeting him and, for the first time ever, actually approving of her choice in a boyfriend.

Salima spent the thirty minutes of Hell with her chin resting on her hand and her fingers drumming against her desk to a tune that only she knew. So she glared at the clock, trying to make it move faster with her mind. Or that's what it would've looked like to a stranger, she was really just wishing that it would burst into flame.

The clock inched it's way along, though, and once it reached thirty minutes, Mrs. Cadence looked at the girls with a smile. "I will call your bus, Salima, and tell them that you are on your way. You may both leave now."

The red haired girl shot out of her seat and slung her backpack over her shoulder, looking to her friend. Salima sighed once she saw that Mariah had spaced again, and shook her best friend's shoulder, "Come on, it's time to get out of here."

The shaking of the joint snapped Mariah out of her romantic daze, so she grabbed her blood-red messenger bag, slinging it around one shoulder, and walked with her friend out of the classroom. "Have a pleasant evening, ladies." Mrs. Cadence said, bidding them goodbye as they shut the classroom door.

"I thought the thirty minutes would never end!" Salima spoke, exasperated. Her face then took on an apologetic expression, "She said that she was going to call my bus, so I don't have any time to spare. I'm sorry that I can't go with you to meet your knight in shining armor." Mariah smiled slightly, "That's alright. I'll come over later and tell you how it went!"

"No, I'm really sorry. This guy sounds like a real catch!" Then two friends laughed a little before parting ways, Salima heading toward the parking lot to catch her bus, and Mariah heading out to the main entrance to meet her secret admirer, and wait for her older brother, Lee.

Even though Mariah and her red haired best friend lived in the same building, they did not both ride the school bus. The neighborhood that the pink haired girl and Salima lived in was a very rough part of town, and most of the teenagers that road the bus were thugs. Mariah could have probably handled them, seeing as Salima puts up with them twice a day, but Lee, being the over-protective brother that he is, would have none of that. So, instead, he drops off and picks up his little sister from school everyday.

Lee was nineteen, already graduated from high school, and worked a steady job so he could support himself and Mariah, rather than send letters home every month to China, asking for money. They both came to Japan searching for better opportunities. Lee wanted a better job, and Mariah wanted to attend a Japanese high school.

'Here goes nothing...I hope I didn't make him wait too long...' the cat-like girl thought as she began to push open the first set of doors that led into the entryway of the school building.
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At the Flagpole
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Hiwitari Kai leaned up against the flagpole with his arms crossed and eyes closed, his black messenger bag at his feet, and a slight frown on his face. The frown was present because, in front of him, paced a very anxious Kon Ray. The Russian opened his crimson eyes and glared at the Chinese teenager pacing before him.

"If you must continue to do that, then I will be forced to beat you into the very path you have created with your pacing." he stated with a well-aimed glare. The raven haired boy stopped and put a sheepish hand behind his neck, "Sorry, Kai, I'm just so nervous!"

"Well, stop." Kai bluntly stated, closing his eyes, his arms once again crossing in front of his chest. Ray scuffed the heel of his foot against the ground, "But she hasn't shown up and it's been almost a half an hour! What if she didn't find the letter! What if I put it in the wrong locker! What if she stood me up!"

The slate and navy haired teen was becoming agitated. In fact, if Ray didn't stop ranting, and quickly, Kai was going to hit him. And if Kai hit him, he wouldn't be getting back up. Luckily for Ray, a twinge in his abdomen caused him to glance frantically at his best friend.

"Kai, will you stand here for a few minutes?" The man in question opened one eye to glare at the pony-tailed teen, "And what, exactly, do you think I've been doing for the past twenty-five minutes?" Ray had a slightly worried look in his orange eyes as he looked at his Russian friend, "I just need you to stand here and wait for Mariah while I go to the bathroom, I've been holding it for ten minutes and it's not going to wait any longer!"

Kai smirked, intending to prolong the urethral misery of the blue-jeaned boy, "What if she comes? What do I do then?" Ray looked desperate now, "Please, Kai! Don't make me switch to 'Plan B'!" Kai glared, "Fine, go take your piss." Ray took off, shouting a "Thank you!" over his shoulder as he ran into the school building.

If he hadn't been running so fast, he may have caught Mariah and Salima coming out of Mrs. Cadence's English class thirty minutes late. Alas, he ran around the corner and into the men's room too quickly to notice either girl.

'She's probably not even coming...I'm standing here, waiting, when I could be driving home. Soon as Ray gets out here, I'm leaving, whether she shows up, or not...' Kai thought in frustration, closing his eyes and resting against the flagpole again, waiting to hear the sound of the school doors opening so he could get into his black Mustang GT and drive home.

Soon, the woosh of air entering the building behind him alerted him to the fact that the doors had been opened. He stood there, waiting until the person approached him to open his eyes. When his lids had, at last, lifted, he was greeted by, not black, but pink hair.

"Wong Mariah." he stated, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight. "Hiwitari Kai?" she asked unbelievingly, "Do you know anything about a poem?" Kai smirked slightly, "'If she could see her beautiful wings, then she might understand...Why I am so eager to take my angel's hand...I wish that I could rest, wrapped in her arms, wish that I could believe...Wish, pray, and hope that my perfect angel would never want to leave...'...is it something along those lines?"

Mariah's expression brightened immensely after hearing him recite the ending of the poem. "That's exactly right." she looked him up and down, something Kai was used to people doing, and noted that his features, especially his dark crimson eyes, were all very attractive. He was handsome, even through the black, semi-gothic clothes, and was obviously strong. She had seen him at a few of the poetry workshops and knew, just from his poetic work, that he was brilliant.

He wore a black t-shirt that had the band name "Stone Sour" on it in thick, crimson letters, a red belt with black Jolly Rogers on it, and black cargo pants. He even wore a spiked necklace as a bracelet, wrapped twice around his arm. He wasn't a very gloomy person, judging from rumors she had heard, but he was anti-social. This only seemed to make him even more appealing to the gay men and ladies, because it had deemed him "unobtainable". This made him, his "fuck-off" attitude, pirate's belt, spiked bracelet, black clothing, and band t-shirts the most sought after things in Hirashi High School.

As she looked him up and down, Kai began to ponder just what, exactly, Ray found so special about Mariah. He wouldn't deny that she was attractive, but pink just wasn't a very appealing color to him. Her eyes were the same color as Ray's, but they both came from China, so maybe tangerine eyes were common in that country.

She also wore pink most days, but today, she had decided to go with black, slightly baggy cargos and a blood-red, skin tight t-shirt. In the back of his mind, he mused that the look worked for her. If it had been any other shade of red, then her bright colored hair would have clashed horribly with it. He also noted that she carried a messenger bag, and it was the same brand as his, only crimson. It surprised him that someone like her would have such a grimly colored bag at their waist, but that was all he thought of it.

Mariah blushed slightly, "I'm sorry that I was late, Mrs. Cadence held me in a thirty minute detention...I really loved the poem." He nodded gruffly and began to say something along the lines of "your secret admirer is in the bathroom", but was cut off when the window from a newly-arrived, beat up, pick-up truck was rolled down to reveal the dark haired and glaring face of Wong Lee. "Mariah, hurry up! I have to work tonight, so get in the truck!"

"I'm coming!" she shouted as she headed toward the truck, Kai followed and opened the rusted door. She smiled, and spoke after he shut the door, and before her older brother could try and run him over for talking to his little sister, "I'll see you after school at the flagpole tomorrow, okay?" And before Kai could explain the mistake that she had made, the truck lurched forward, and he barely had time to jump backward before his toes were met with the right rear tire.

"Shit..." he cursed as he watched the Ford truck speed out of the front parking lot. He reached into his large pockets and pulled out his car keys as he walked back to the flagpole to retrieve his messenger bag. "Goddamnit..." he cursed again, as he pulled the strap of the black bag over his head and onto his shoulder.

"What are you cussing for? If anyone should be swearing, it's me for being stood up." Ray said as he walked up, having just come out of the school doors, looking very relieved. Kai shook his head in frustration, "You weren't stood up. She walked up shortly after you left to go to the bathroom."

Ray brightened considerably, "And?" Kai glanced at him, "And she'll meet you here after school tomorrow. I'm going home now, as I've wasted enough time standing here." With that he walked toward his Mustang, looking forward to a silent drive home, and a quiet two hours to walk his pure black German Shepard, Ward.

His tranquil thoughts were soon spoiled as Ray called out to him, "Hey, do you mind giving me a ride home? I kind of missed my bus." Kai growled and flipped him off, but Ray followed anyway, knowing that the guesture, at least from the Russian, was merely an act of sarcasm. Kai grunted as Ray sat down in the passenger seat, and turned the ignition.

The mp3 player began to play "Bother" by Stone Sour, the slate and navy haired eighteen year old's favorite band, and Kai's bad mood diminished slightly with each note. Eventually, he tuned out Ray's words and drowned his senses, or at least the ones that weren't assisting him to drive, in the music.
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In Lee's Truck
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The ride was fairly silent except for the abrasive humming of the motor as Lee drove toward their apartment. Eventually, as Mariah feared, the subject of "Who was that man you were speaking with, little sis?" arose. The younger sibling sighed, "That was Hiwitari Kai, a Senior at my school, who just happens to like poetry as much as I do."

"So he's just someone from your 'poetry workshop' thing?" the lion-like brother asked. Mariah hesitantly answered, "I have seen him in my poetry workshops, but we've never really talked before." Lee's eyebrows raised slightly, but he knew how to corner his sister, "And why were you talking just now, if you've never really talked before?"

Mariah looked over at her brother and sighed, deciding that saying it outright would be less of a hassle, "We were talking just now, because he slipped a letter in my locker signed 'Your Secret Admirer', and I will be meeting him tomorrow by the flagpole, again."

She glared slightly as she saw the frown on her older brother's face, but cut him off before he could speak, "I'm not going to listen if you're about to tell me 'I forbid you to ever see him again'. I'm not a little girl anymore, I'm seventeen, and I'm the one dating him, not you."

Lee glared at the younger woman, "I will say that I like his shirt...but you will be required to arrange for him to meet me." Mariah smiled brightly, glad that, for once, her brother was not complaining so much about her taste in men.
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NOTE TO ALL REVIEWERS: Thank you so much! Your praise has inspired me, and I know exactly what to do with this story now. You are wonderful reviewers, and I hope to see a steady review or two from the lot of you! However, I will not be able to type up the next chapter for two or three weeks, because it is summer vacation, and I will be at my father's house. I will get it typed up and uploaded after then, though, I promise!

I very much like the title that I picked out for this chapter, I also enjoyed writing this! Do you think that I did a good job capturing the "over-protective older brother" in Lee?

Are there any Stone Sour fans out there? I will be placing one of their songs into a future chapter...

Yes, Kai is still amazingly wealthy, and Russian. I think I did better on getting him into character in this chapter, but I shall let you, my readers, decide!

As an answer to one of my reviews, I may place an angsty poem in a future chapter, but I know that there will be at least one more sappy love poem installed at a later date.

Requests for one-shots, poems, plotlines, and some character pairings are generally accepted, so feel free to tell me what you, as a reader or author, want! Please review, I need the encouragement!