For Solar Sensei.

"Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep." went the alarm clock sitting next to me on my night stand as it  slowly and rather rudely aroused me from my nice peaceful nights slumber. "I gotta remember to stop setting this thing." I grumbled in my mind, slowly opening my eyes and rubbing the sleep out of them as I did so. I fumbled about searching for the alarm and turned it off, it was hard but I fought back the urge to go fall back to sleep again as I sat up and streatched. " 7:58, Who in the crag gets up at 7:58 on a weekend no less in Spring?" I wondered as I let out a yawn, I could see the golden yellow and orange rays of the sun starting to burn thier way through the darkness of the night, a warm gentle breeze was slowly wafting its way through my open window, it was a welcome change from the biting freezing cold of winter. I could hear the sounds of the birds high up in the trees chirping as they got ready to start the day Along with them were the voices of kids down the block playing in the vacant lot laughing as they had a good time.  Turning to my right side I smiled as I looked down and saw Jinja still sleeping soundly beside me from where she laid down next to me the night before.  I smiled as I brushed a stray strand of hair out of her slightly open mouth and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. She moaned and purred slightly as she curled up in her blankets. There was no need to wake her up, I'd just let her sleep a little bit longer and I was pretty much up to stay now. I very quietly exited my room after gathering some clean clothes for me to change into after I took a shower.

"Hemm Looks Like I'm the first one Awake, First time that's happened in a while." I said to myself as I stood down stairs in the kitchen sipping on a cup of coffee, I let out a sigh as I felt that nice hot liquid  sliding down the back of my throat, "Ahhh, Black gold." I said with a smile, Since there was probably another hour or a half before any of the others or my parents were awake I chose to spend the time outside  working on my kendo, It was a nice way to kill some time and it kept my skills sharp since I never knew what time I would need them in a fight. I grabbed my sword and a light weight jacket and very quietly started outside the back door into the back yard. I shivered slightly after feeling the damp chill of the night, there was still fresh dew on the grass, the drops sparkled in the  growing sun light resembling thousands of tiny diamonds scattered across the yard.  "Thunk, thunk, thunk." went a noise coming from down in the lower part of the yard. "Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk."  I started over to the edge and looked out below, there I saw Arabelle below working on her archery skills. You could see several of her arrows stuck in the targets across from her. I stood watching as she reached into her quiver on her back and pulled out three more arrows, her eyes were locked on the center target and released all three at once. Two of them hit into the upper right side of it while the third came a little ways from making a bulls eye, only missing by a hair's breath. "Damn it!!" I heard her cuss as she started to gather some of the fallen arrows around her. "She's off, her mind must not be in it." I thought. Sure a first timer would think she did good but I had known Belle for too long now and knew she was way better then that.  "Then again, after that arguement they had last night I would be surprised if she wasn't still a little shaken."  Things between Chase and Arabelle had kind of hit a rocky patch, I won't go into to many details but I will say that they had been fighting and arguing quite a bit and last night they got full blown flaming red eyed mad at each other.  Belle bunked in with Shea and Beyal for the night, she didn't even tell him good night or anything.   "Hey there! I see I'm not the only early riser." I called as I walked down the concrete stairs and over towards her.  "Morning Zak." Arabelle replyed once she saw me. I could see in her face that she was still tired, the poor girl hadn't really slept well at all last night. "So when did you wake up?" she asked me as she took aim again and fired. "Oh just a while ago. Jin's still asleep like the others so I guess it's just us this morning." I said un sheathing my sword and taking my stance then starting through my steps.  Arabelle never answered me she just cursed under her voice as she flat out missed her shot and went to grab up her arrows.

A few minutes passed and I was soon fully focused on my own training  when Belle chose to ask me something I didn't exactly catch. "Sorry I couldn't hear you, what was that Belle?" I asked. "Said, Do you think I made a mistake?"  she asked. "What do you mean a mistake, You're not really making a whole lot of sense."  "Did I make a mistake in picking Chase as my boyfriend?"  I slipped on a wet patch of grass and fell backwards onto the ground, my sword and sheath were sent flying. I did not expect to hear Arabelle say those words at all and honestly from seeing how normally happy the two of them were I didn't like hearing it either. "Wha, wha, what makes you say that?"  I asked her as I rubbed my sore rear end, "I've just been thinking is all, Thinking a lot lately about the how Chase and I just seem to be at each others throats for the past few days. Last night was really bad, you all heard it we weren't just  arguing." She said they weren't either there had been  screaming, cursing, several four letter words spat at the other namely the f word and b words.  "Chase said he thinks we may of rushed things, that we both jumped in with out really knowing what the other person was like." Belle said, Her arms were now slumped beside her and her head was hanging low.  "I'm sure he was just caught up in the moment and didn't mean it." I told her. "Maybe he's right. Perhaps we did make a mistake, I made a mistake."  Belle turned and walked towards me and looked at me directly in the eyes as I heard her say, "Maybe I should of chosen you from the beginning."  Once I heard that I felt like I was hit head on by an 18 wheeler pulling a load of steel beams heading for a demolition derby. My mind was instantly thrown back to when I first laid eyes on Arabelle, It wasn't that long after I had met the rest of team Coretech, She was the one who bailed us out of trouble when Charlemange had us caught in a ware house fight.  I couldn't tell you when exactly I started having feelings for her back then but sometime when the group was seperated she and Chase hooked up with each other. I was so mad at Chase that he had stolen her from me  he and I came to blows over her in a parking lot but because of that we both nearly lost her forever. After that I had a talk with Jinja and she helped me to not only see that the two of them were meant for each other but also that Jinja was the girl I was suppose to be with.  

After hearing Belle just now though I could hear two voices in my head now one of them was the younger version of me screaming for me to just scoop her up and  plant a kiss right on that mouth of hers right now but my older self the self that was in love with Jinja was  also saying that I would regret that action If I did it.  "Belle, Ugh, Listen. Don't start saying things  like that, you'll only regret it further down the road." I said  "I'm not kidding around Zak, I've thought about this all night and for the past few days and I've started to see just how blind I've been.  I think I was confused when I said what I did to Chase back then, You've never really hurt me like he has lately."  I'd never hurt her She had been over flowing with tears as she was forced to watch me and Chase fight over her like a couple of dumb asses, that was something I'd done right there to hurt her! I'd snapped at her many a time over how reckless she could be in trying to find her brother, I'd nearly caused her to leave our family because of my stupid blindness and jealousy.   "You're not thinking about what you're saying Belle, you're upset." I told her. She stomped on the ground and clenched her fists tight. "Don't tell me I don't understand what I'm saying Zak, I'm not an idiot!!" "I never said you were.  All I said was that you're not thinking clearly." I told her, I sighed as I gathered up my sword and sheathed it placing it back under my belt afterwards. "Listen Belle. I will admit that when I first met you I did have a crush on you for  a while and I wanted you to be with me so badly." I told her as we slowly started to walk back up towards the patio. "I wanted so badly that dreamt of it when I slept sometimes but After seeing how upset I made you I realized that I could never make you as happy as Chase can He is the one who is meant for you not me." I told her.  Arabelle was starting to cry, small streamers of tears were slowly flowing down her cheeks as I sat her down under the umbrella and laid her bow and arrows aside.   "Come on Belle, Please don't cry. I'm not trying to hurt you." I said,  My own voice was starting to shake now slightly, It was like forcing her to watch me and Chase beat each other up all over again.  "Arabelle, Arabelle Look at me." I told her as I gently took her hands down from her face and raised her face up to see me.  "If, If, you don't love me, then you can just come right out and say it." she sniffed. " I'm a big girl I can take it."  I could feel a sharp pain stab me right in the heart as I turned and grit my teeth tight, I could feel them beginning to crack under the pressure but that was nothing to my heart pain.   I felt like I had a cold steel blade of my own sword thrust into me, like I had just swung at her and Chase, and Jinja all in the same attack.  "Arabelle don't you get it, I'm saying all this because I do love you, Just in a different way then Chase does." I said.  Her face was full of confusion as I continued, "I've told you before I see you as a little sister, and one of my best friends. I consider myself blessed in having met you and  gotten to fight and hang out with you all this time. But I've woken up and I see that Jinja is my soul mate the one I share full hearts with."  "I can tell she feels the same way about you." she said. It was good she understood that, we were at least makeing progress.  "Then you should know that what you are saying about making a mistake in falling for Chase is wrong too. You've seen the way the guy throws himself into danger to protect you. You are his princess and he is your knight,  Why else would he spend so much time makeing sure that you were safe and out of harm even before himself."  Arabelle was starting to look thoughtful and nodded as she wiped her eyes dry.  "I will admit he does watch over me." she said. "Of course he does, I want you to know this He and I were at the arcade once and we had a talk, he said that he had been with a few girls before you, but when he started spending time with you he felt you steal his heart and then he just knew you were his only one." I told her.  Arabelle's hair blew in the wind as her lower jaw hung open shocked that he saw her in that way.  Very slowly she started to raise her hand towards her chest and smiled dreamily.  I could see all of the anger and hurt that had been caused by thier past arguements was beginning to heal, all of the harsh words were becoming forgotten, and that the connection they shared was starting to come back to her.  

" You listening to what I'm saying Chase? Or do I need to repeat anything?" I asked over my shoulder. Chase and Jinja  then came out of the house, Jinja was standing with her arms folded and a smerk over her face , she had more or less been talking with Chase about the same thing I had been with Belle, it was kind of funny really out of everyone on the team they chose us both to help them get through this. "Well go on you moron, go and see her." Jinja said as she nudged him with a slight kick in the butt. I just nodded to Arabelle and she stood up and began to walk towards him.  Chase was a little embaressed now that she knew everything I had just told her but it was all 1000% true. "Chase, Is, what Zak's been telling me true?" she asked him. "Ye ye, yeah it is Arabelle, I'm so sorry. I should of never ever treated you like I have lately. Anything I've said that hurt you I didn't mean I was just angry and stressed with everything. So I stupidly chose to take it out on you but  I mean it when I say that I love you, and I pray that you can find it in your heart to forgive me." he said.  Arabelle was crying again, but not out of sadness it was joy to know that what I had been telling her was true, that her fears were wrong.  The two of them then embraced each other gently before kissing the other on the mouth.  I couldn't help but be happy for them and smiled as they seperated. "Thanks guys, I can't tell you how much it means to us both that you helped us out. We owe you both a lot. " Chase said as he came up and gave me a high five.  "You're a good friend Dude." he said. Arabelle nodded as she gave me a slight peck on my cheek and giggled. "A really dear friend and great big brother."  The two of them then walked back inside clinging to each other and looking better then before.

Jinja chuckled as she walked over to me and grinned. "Well you got yourself an Arabelle kiss so was it everything you always thought it would be?" she asked. "It was nice, but Yours are on a whole other level. I can never get enough of yours." I said as Jinja did just that and took hold of my hand. "Come on Zak, Let's go back inside I'm getting Kind of hungry." she said. I nodded as I held the door open for her and she went inside. "After you."  I told her as I followed I couldn't help but feel blessed to have friends like Chase and Arabelle and a girl like Jinja  The three of them were people I would never forget and would be close to me forever.