Chapter 5

A/N: The beginning is for you Dan/Runo fans that may possibly be reading this...I feel bad for my harshness earlier in Chapter 1, and so decided to make it up to you in the form of the tiniest bit of DanRuno. Although you are all so great, at least those of you that review…I don't know what people who haven't reviewed think…Hn. The point is, you are all so great, and some of you even like the pairing! ^.^ AWESOME! But I am the original MasqueradeRuno-er…person. Yeah…I think…I kinda am, I guess…

But as you probably saw earlier, I'm still making Runo like Dan. Why? Well, because it adds…DRAMA!!!! Ooooooohhhhh…Ooohhh…Ooohoooohohoohohohohoooohhh…Plus, it gives me something to write about and to advance with. But it's still Masquerade/Runo/Dan…And mostly MasqueradeRuno. So…HA! …Roar. LOVE YALLS!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bakugan. I never will.

It was the usual dream, a dream that embarrassed Runo greatly. If her friends ever found out about it, especially Dan…Well, she'd never be able to show her face again. She'd hide out in Antartica if she had to.

The sky was branded with the colors of the sunset. Orange, yellow, pink, beautiful, pure colors that were reflected off the lake's still waters and imprinted themselves into her eyes.

She dug her feet deeper in the warm sand that tickled her feet, and wrapped her arms tighter around him. "Oh Dan, this is perfect…"

"Anything for you," he whispered back, kissing the top of her head.

She sighed as he embraced her, turning her head to his. He stared into her eyes, devotion written all over his face. Gently, he brushed his lips against hers…

Suddenly, her dream, her perfect dream, was interrupted by a blinding light that didn't belong. Irritated, she whipped out her hand, intent on punishing whoever it was that awoke. She was satisfied when she felt her hand smack against something hard.

"Ouch. What was that for?"

Her eyes snapped open, and then snapped back shut as she hid under the sheets. "What are you doing here?!"

"I said that I'd come over today, didn't I?"

Runo buried herself deeper into the bed, her face burning. "But it's Saturday, and I'm done my homework! You don't need to be here right now!"

"Too bad. Now, what did you slap me for?"

Runo poked her head out of the blanket to glare at Masquerade, who was rubbing his chin. She could see that the window curtains had opened; it must have been him that had done it. She didn't regret that hit at all.

"I was sleeping here! I was having a nice dream…"

Masquerade grinned slyly. "Oh yes, that was what you were talking about, wasn't it? Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

Yes she did. Alice complained about it all the time. Well, not really; Alice never complained. But she had definitely mentioned it. She felt her gut turn to ice as Masquerade pretended to think hard.

"Now, what were you saying? I think that I kept hearing Dan's name…"

Was he teasing her?

She bolted up into a sitting position and threw her pillow at him. It connected with a fwump and fell to the floor. To her utter disappointment, he barely seemed to care. "Now now, that was uncalled for. Now, why would you be saying Dan's name during a nice dream?"

"It's not any of your business," Runo mumbled, blushing furiously as she looked away. "Creep."

Masquerade let the comment slide. "Fine then, of course it isn't." He sounded sour again, like he had when Runo had said the Dan was coming over.

Runo looked around the room, wrapping her blanket around herself securely. "Where's Alice?" Masquerade had sat down on the red head's camp bed.

"Went to help your parents in the restaurant," he said casually. "They won't need you right now, it's pretty slow. They just want you to get some rest."

Business will pick up though, she thought. And then you'd have to leave, even if I have to kick you out myself.

There was a knock at the door; before Runo could say anything, Masquerade had disappeared, just as the door opened to reveal Alice, wearing her apron and with a platter of food. The girl smiled.

"It's nice to see you're awake, Runo," she said as she walked to the side of Runo's bed, setting the plate on her lap. "I hope it wasn't me…"

"Nah," Runo said, rubbing her eyes. "The curtains…ended up blowing open and the light woke me up."

Alice frowned. "But Runo, the window is still closed…"

Her heart crashed as she realized her mistake. "Er, well…maybe they opened some other way. I don't know, I didn't actually see it…"

The red head nodded uncertainly. Runo could see that she didn't actually buy it, but Alice wasn't the kind of person to press things.

"So do you guys need me in the restaurant?" she asked as she hopped out of bed, hoping that Masquerade was wrong and that the place was packed…

"No, it's okay," Alice said, unintentionally crushing Runo's hopes. "There isn't very many. Me and your mom are enough, your dad went out for groceries. They want you to get some rest, they know how stressed you are because of school. Your mom told me to bring you some breakfast."

"Right," Runo said dully as Alice left. "Thanks."

"You should never doubt me like that."

Runo didn't jump as Masquerade returned, only scowled.

"Someone's not in a very good mood, are they?"

"I wonder why," she snarled as she poked at her eggs with a fork. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the blonde sit back down on Alice's bed, looking at her. Or more specifically, the plate in her hands.

Sighing, she shoved the plate towards Masquerade, without looking at him. "Here."

"For me?" he said with fake surprise. "How thoughtful. But what about you?"

"I'm not hungry," she muttered, mentally warning her stomach not to make any incriminating noises. "And my parents will get mad at me if they find the plate still full."

"Okay then," he said, taking the plate from her with a grin. "If that's the reason."

She couldn't watch as he swiftly finished it off, too busy focusing on not letting her stomach growl.

She failed; Masquerade looked up from his empty platter with a frown as her stomach rumbled.

"You liar. You are hungry."

"No I'm not," she lied, wrapping her arms around her stomach. Yeah, that would make him believe her all right.

Masquerade groaned. "Great, and I just ate all your breakfast."

"I don't care," she snapped. "I told you, I'm not hungry."

"Of course," he said, standing up. "Just wait right here."

He had disappeared with the plate. Runo sat there for a few minutes, wondering what he was doing.

When he returned, it was with a plate heaped with fresh food. Graciously, he offered it to her and stunned, she accepted.

"What…where…why?"

Masquerade shrugged. "You do live right on top of a restaurant. Besides, my conscience would torture me if you were to starve, and I knew it was my fault."

From inside her dollhouse, Tigrerra snorted in disbelief, just as Runo did.

"Oh, you're awake, Tig?" Runo asked brightly, trying to hide her mood from her Bakugan. Trying, and most likely failing.

"Yes, milady." She was awake, but she didn't sound at all pleased. Three guesses why.

"Eat up," Masquerade said, leaning back against the wall behind Alice's bed. "Before it gets cold."

She didn't try to argue, she was too hungry for it. Instead, she focused her energy on the plate.

"Are you trying to give yourself heartburn?" Masquerade muttered as she shoved the food into her mouth. "What a lady."

She only spared him a glance as she swallowed.

Minutes later, the plate was scraped clean and Runo was brushing crumbs off of her bed, embarrassed. She hadn't meant to go so crazy over food in front of him.

"Okay." Masquerade clapped his hands together. "…What are we doing?"

"You're going to go back and leave me alone for the day," Runo said, pushing away the last of the crumbs. "And then you're going to leave me alone for the weekend."

"Really now? So rude, and after I got you food and everything."

Runo clenched her fists to keep from lashing out at him. "There's nothing for you to do here. Why do you want to stay here so much?"

"Would you rather that I go and send Bakugan to the Doom Dimension?"

Runo's eyes widened. He had a point; as long as he was here, it meant that he wasn't out there, leveling up his Hydranoid. But what had him so eager to stay here that he'd use that against her?

"Fine," she grumbled, setting her plate down on her bed and standing up, planning to get Tigrerra. Instead, the blanket somehow got twisted around her feet, and tripped her.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her, stopping her just before she hit the floor. Her imagination instantly leapt back to the dream, where Dan had his arms around her so lovingly…

"Klutz," Masquerade commented. She felt her face grow hot, and hoped that he couldn't feel the heat emanating off of her.

"Rule Number One," she reminded him snappishly. "No…"

"No touching. Right." He dropped her.

"You creep!" she shouted, pushing herself up and rubbing her sore face. "What was that for?!"

"Rule Number One." He smirked at her outrage.

"You didn't have to just let me fall!"

Masquerade shrugged innocently. "Just following the rules."