*~Beach Bums~*

A/N: I can finally see! Ha! No more blurryness! No more repetitive questions to teachers and friends on what's on the overhead! NO MORE BLINDNESS!!! I am the all powerful ruler of sight! And not to mention, I don't look too shabby in these things...

Hehe, sorry for the long wait guys. There's a thing going around called the "end of the school year finals and last minute make-up tests/quizzes/homework". Ah... the life of a highschool sophomore. Who's also a slacker. Who's also sick, again. Who also needs to hurry up and get to her schoolwork and stop writing useless junk on the computer! ;D Lol. So... enjoy the chapter while you can! Read/Review :P

!!!*!!!*!!!

Chapter Seven: Put One Foot in Front of the Other!

!!!*!!!*!!!

Danielle paused at her task in sweeping the floor and sighed deeply. Kaz, seeing her stop, set the dirty dishes he was picking up from the floor onto the table nearby. Wiping his hands on his pants, he walked up to her. They were cleaning up the wreckage the terrorists made the other day. Much to Auntie Kim's annoyance, she had no choice but to close down her restaurant for a while until the mess was cleaned up and the gun holes in the walls were fixed.

Acting brotherly, Kaz settled his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you all right?"

Danielle was startled that he was there and would've squealed in delight that he physically contacted her. Would've, if Ko was there to roll her eyes at them. Instead, she smiled at him tentatively before looking back down and sighing.

"I just hope Ko's okay... I mean, I know she's real strong and can take care of herself like Mike Tyson can beat the crap out of just about everybody, but..." She gulped. "...she really doesn't have a chance against guns and terrorists. It's not like she goes to the police academy to train and prepare herself for things like this. What if she's hurt?"

Kaz shrugged and looked out the glass windowpane. "I doubt it. Besides, that guy in the Armani suit kinda helped her get outta there. If anything, she's probably safe with him."

"He didn't help her out." Danielle argued. "She was pulled along and most likely was taken as hostage for those shooters."

"Really? For being one of those arrogant and egoistic celebrity offsprings, he seemed like good enough guy."

Danielle looked up at her life-long crush in dismay. Ko was her best friend and Danielle cared about her just as she would a sister. How could her own brother say things like that? Now Auntie Kim, she would understand, but Kaz? For a slight moment, Danielle narrowed her eyes at the man she claimed to be in love with. Was she, really?

Kaz started picking up more plates from other tables. "Believe me, if I thought the 'kidnapper' really was an evil bastard who would do things to Ko, me and Grandpa Zig would be rampaging all over Hawaii to look for her. Not picking up dishes and cleaning this place up,"

"You mean he hasn't yet already?" She looked at him skeptically.

Kaz sweated. "Well, that's just... Grandpa Zig. He'd tear apart the whole city in fury if his granddaughter gets even a little scratch on her pinkie."

He grinned at her. "But I mean, really; you know Ko. If he really was dangerous, she'd already have pushed him off a cliff or something and is on her way back here."

Nevermind being unsure about her feelings about Kaz. Danielle was still in love.

Giggling slightly, she smiled up at him and resumed her task at sweeping with a more definite brightness. But still, even if Ko was safe, they never knew when she would be in real danger. And besides, Danielle missed her. She felt sort of empty inside when Ko wasn't by her side all the time. It scared everyone when the gunmen broke into the restaurant. It shocked everyone even more that Ko had been "kidnapped" by Lucy J. Gray's son during the whole shebang.

~!~!~Flashback~!~!~

"I'm so very sorry about this inconvenience for Miss Konami. I knew he had been associated with the wrong group of people a while back but I never knew it was THIS bad," Lulu apologized to Auntie Kim, Grandpa Ziggi, Kaz and Danielle.

They were all standing outside the restaurant while the police and investigators searched through the restaurant for any evidence of the mysteriously masked shooters who were noted as, in Grandpa Ziggi's words, very stupidly dangerous for a bunch of idiot assassins who were obviously amateurs at the way they were randomly shooting at everything in the restaurant that looked suspicious.

Police and investigators also noted that it was stupidly dangerous to throw around heavy unidentified objects at anything that moved while during a shootout also. Especially canisters of car wax, cocktail shakers, and extra large vodka bottles.

Lulu J. Gray, who had to push/beat/kick away many newscasters, live reporters and journalists before facing the Young family, stood in front of the immensely disgruntled group with her husband at her side and explained what exactly was going on. Or at least, as much as SHE knew.

"...it was the year before he decided to break up with her. He didn't say much to us about it... just that it was a really good corporation and he'd be as good as a businessman as his father in no time. He joined right after he graduated from highschool." Lulu cocked her head in wonderment. "Ever since he joined up in that company he had become very detached. In fact, we haven't heard from our son until just three months ago. That's when we found out he was 'on the run' from those people and broke up with Sophie."

She sighed in disappointment. "I was betting on those two to get married. They were highschool sweethearts for god's sake! Who wouldn't want to marry their highschool sweethearts?!"

Her husband eyed her. "If I wasn't your highschool sweetheart, then why am I not still single and enjoying my life as a bachelor?"

Lulu punched his arm in a mixture of playfulness and seriousness. "Silly goose, I married you because I found out my highschool sweetheart was a jerk-face and a dumbass. And god bless his rotten soul in Texas or wherever the hell he moved away with his stupid, flat-chested girlfriend." She thought hard for a second before coming up with a rightful conclusion. "Oh, and the fact that you are the most wonderful human being, besides David Beckham."

Kaz cleared his throat. "Um... I'd hate to interrupt your lover's spat but, what does this have to do with your son kidnapping Ko?"

Everybody else nodded in agreement.

Lulu snapped back to attention. "Oh right. Well, I think perhaps the most reasonable explanation is that he wanted to get her safely somewhere since they probably identified her as his girlfriend. He probably thought it was the best idea to bring her along for the ride."

While everyone rolled this thought in their heads, Auntie Kim stepped up to them tentatively. "So... that means my restaurant has gotten nothing to do with this whole ordeal?"

Kaz and Danielle swung their heads at her in disbelief. Why that conceited, greedy -- the rest of the thought broke off with many curses, swears and several terms like that preferably special name for a female dog.

Lulu didn't seem to notice the incredulity of her question and said, "At this point, nope. Just Konami, the dear child."

But instead of looking sad and tearing up, the super model/actor smiled and winked at them. "You know, if I were you lot, I'd actually be happy for the two of them."

Everyone looked at her. "Huh?"

Mr. Gray dropped his head into his hand and shook into it, muttering, "Oh for the mother of all shenanigans, not this again..."

Ignoring all the strange and confused looks they were casting at her, Lulu brought a hand up her to face and blushed. "I mean, now they have the perfect excuse to get together ALONE. It must be so romantic..." She sighed dreamily. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had started working on my grandchildren - oh my! How scandalous."

A cold breeze blew by outside the restaurant. A lone, newspaper rustled past the standing, frozen group's feet. Everybody stared at her as her words sunk in. When realization hit, Auntie Kim, Kaz and Danielle's eyes cautiously shifted over to Grandpa Ziggi who was situated at the very edge of the small crowd.

"What...?"

Everyone backed away from him as his whole figure began to shake. But it didn't seem like he was the only one shaking. The ground was doing strange reactions also. Like... maybe shaking?

"Shit, is this an earthquake?"

"No, I thought that was Grandpa Ziggi..."

"Uh-oh, this don't look good. This don't look good at all."

Sure enough, it wasn't. The retreating newscasters who didn't have any other interesting things to talk about their current location looked around them in confusion and fear. A brunette lady, fathoming this as a perfect live coverage story, ushered the camera men to get back out of the van and shoot the scene. She slicked back her hair once and plastered a serious expression on her face for the camera.

"This is Becky Doyle reporting here at the front of the Mahi Mahi Sunset Hotel restaurant, Le Divine, here we have some sort of strange earthquake--"

Grandpa Ziggi, who looked liked he increased in size to the others, growled loudly, bearing his teeth. Auntie Kim and Lulu J. Gray were the only ones holding ground as the Mr. Gray, Kaz and Danielle hovered near the wall of he restaurant, cowering in fear.

Then, as if God was waiting for the precisely exact moment, two fire hydrants, one on each side of the hotel, exploded, shooting water up in the air as another explosion emitted from the garden in front of the restaurant just as Grandpa Ziggi emitted all his anger out in the open.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT FUCKING BRAT!!! IF HE TOUCHES A HAIR OF MY ANGELFISH OF THE PACIFIC, I'LL KILL HIM AND KILL HIM AGAIN!!!!"

"--there seems to be a very furious man, who's giving death threats to a serial rapist possibly from the age of fourteen to eighteen who has callously and heartlessly taken his granddaughter, as the misfortunate victim--" the newscaster motioned towards Grandpa Ziggi.

"Someone! Call the plumbing department! There's something wrong with the waterpipes!!!"

"Can't! My cell isn't working either!"

"That's only because you don't have any batteries in it, you dolt!"

With a concerned face, the brunette turned back to the camera. "--possibility of a mob here in this scene of chaos... Wait, the fountain.... it's shifting!"

Sure enough, there was a grand finale for this whole fiasco.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM.

The huge fountain at the front of the hotel bursted in a final consummation, spewing out a Mt. Vesuvius like explosion of water. Auntie Kim, the Gray's, Kaz, and Danielle all silently and traumatically stared at the chaos that decided to detonate at the front of the hotel, not knowing what to do but stand there and gawk at it. Auntie Kim was the first to move.

Though, she wasn't sane at the moment.

She began laughing slowly in, "Ha... ha... ha..."'s and then burst out cackling hysterically. She started dancing and prancing around the Hawaiian-version-of-Old-Faithful like a doped up hooligan singing, " I'm Singing in the RAA~AAA~AAAIIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!!!"

"--also reporting a very insane lady who appears to be the lunatic that appears every time the rain falls. Here is a local citizen who talks about the rainy-day-lunatic." Becky brought her mike to a shaggy, homeless man who was carrying a large brown cardboard box with something brown and suspicious in it.

The special brownie maker stepped up to the mike. "Yeah! She's so crazy, man, just crazy. Always running around screaming like she has an ulcer every five seconds. I keep telling her to eat my brownies but she won't--"

The brunette cut him off abruptly and swung the camera forcefully on her, "That was the local citizen. This is Becky Doyle, reporting live, at Mahi Mahi Sunset Hotel. Further details will be filled in later on. Now, back to you Dicky."

Sirens wailed loudly in the air and the fire truck was soon up the driveway. The fire department all shuffled out, prepared their special fire extinguishing gears and froze at the sight. The chief studied the scene in amazement and confusion. "What the hell?"

Ah, yes. The perfect phrase for a situation like this one.

After a moment of chagrined silence, one of the firemen said out loud, "So... where's the fire?"

An old lady with cataracts walked by them and studied the erupting water. She squinted at the mass destruction sight and held up her cell phone. "Whoops, did I say fire? My mistake, Mary was right. It IS water." She cackled then coughed.

"Whoo, my eyes ARE getting old. I wonder if the fire department can extinguish water?" She wobbled off with her cane, cackling to herself.

The firemen tapped their chief on his shoulder. "So... what are we going to do now? We're firemen, not WATERmen."

The chief shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his cell-phone. "Who knows? I'll call Midge, I think he knows a thing or two about pipes."

As he dialed the number on his cell-phone and waited for the said Midge to answer, one of the firemen whispered to the others, "I thought Midge specialized in tobacco pipes..."

~!~!~End of Flashback~!~!~

You know, now that she thought more about it, the last few days in Hawaii had been pretty crazy for her. Danielle snapped out of her daze and started brooming once more. Purposely brushing towards Kaz so she could get closer to him, she wondered if Ko's side of reality was as crazy as her's. She spotted Kaz pop the first few buttons of his button-down shirt, and ogled at him.

Hmm... Since Ko was currently "enjoying" her position as being the girlfriend of a very handsome boy who also happens to be the son of a super actress-model, Danielle couldn't find any reason why she shouldn't be enjoying her position as the only company for Kaz. She giggled to herself secretly. 'Ko, you've got to come back sometime, but it can wait....'

Kaz felt shivers run up and down his spine. Why was he getting the heebie-jeebies? Was it just him, or was it kinda chilly in the restaurant all of a sudden?

!!!*!!!*!!!

Ko groaned out loudly. The first thing she noticed when she gained her consciousness was the fact that she had the mother of all headaches and couldn't move. All her senses were groggy and her stomach was doing very strange and sickly reactions. In all the terrible mornings she ever had, this was one she would probably never forget.

When she was became strong enough to lift herself off from the bed, she realized she made a small drool stain on the pillow her head had currently been occupying. What was wrong with her? Her brain felt like it had repetitiously exploded to pieces, then automatically glued itself back together, only to explode once more. Her back was achy and her stomach felt a little bruised. What in the name of Betty Crockers happened to her? Did she get hit by another motorcycle?

No, that couldn't be it since this was the hotel room and not another hospital.

"God... I feel like a steamroller ran me over a few times and T-Rex chewed me to death and spat me out. Why do I feel like... like... CRAP?" Ko moaned in agony as another sharp pain pushed its way into her head. "And if it weren't for the fact that I knew how it felt like for my friends, I'd say I was having a hangover," Her stomach gurgled.

But it wasn't the "I'm hungry so feed me" kind of gurgle. It was one of those, "I feel like emptying the contents of my stomach so be prepared" kind of gurgle. With enough warnings and signs to let her know what was going to happen in three seconds, Ko jerked away the bedcovers, sprung out of the bed and sprinted to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her with a loud slam, anemic and uncultivated sounds emitted from the bathroom and soon after, the flush of the toilet was also heard.

After a few rounds of this ever-so-disgusting cycle of barfing, Ko emerged out of the bathroom. Paler and probably a few pounds less on her than the day before. She rubbed her stomach to ease the sickness and felt her head for a fever. Even if she couldn't really tell. "I hope this isn't some sort of deadly virus or something. Dying while your puking isn't a lovely picture to think about as the last memory of Konami Young.

Nick walked into their room and looked startled at seeing Ko up and by the bathroom. His surprised expression was soon replaced by one of more disgust and amusement. "Whoa, I take it you aren't the morning person,"

Ko glared at him. "Butt off, craphead." She rubbed her forehead. "I suppose you don't know why I feel like shit now do you?"

He snorted. "You look like shit too; not to mention frightening." Seeing the look on her face, he also added. "Nope, I have absolutely no idea why you feel like dog poop today. Nosirree, not a clue at all."

Ko narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously but decided to take care of him later. Right now, she just wanted to get rid of this stupid ailment and sleep. Although she did find herself in bed, she was sure that she almost didn't get any sleep last night.

Spying the white paper bag in his hand, she hoped it wasn't some sort of food. She'd start vomiting again. One trip to the bathroom was enough for her this morning. Pointing to it she asked him, "What's that?"

Nick looked down at it as if he just noticed it for the first time. Lifting it up and showing her the contents, he said, "Oh, this is just a couple of donuts I got at the coffee shop next to the hotel. Are you up for some food or--" He stopped when she slammed the bathroom door in his face, cursing him and his stupid bag of donuts.

After a minute of gagging sounds and a couple toilet flushes more, she came out of the bathroom looking even more sickly. Avoiding the dreaded donut bag, she hobbled over to the "love" seat and slumped down into it. Nick didn't say anything to her. Just watched her out of the corner of his eye and happily chomped on his pastries.

'I swear, he's eating those things only to spite me...' Ko thought and scowled at him. While he sat there, eating his donuts, Ko studied him. Why did he look so damn cheerful? Was it a sign of bad luck? Is there going to be a huge earthquake, sinking Hawaii and every person on it into the Pacific? She was tempted to grab those donuts and mash it into his lofty and sunny face.

"Someone looks happy today," Ko noted, indicating it was him she was talking about.

He turned to answer her cooly. "What, is it illegal for me to be happy once in a while?"

Ko rolled her eyes at him and sarcastically remarked, "Well let's see now, we have assassins after our butts; you're stuck with me in a sick, nasty love hotel; your motorcycle was stolen by some punky kid off the street; and we managed to go through two shootouts for two days in a row. I just can't see why we all can't have a party under this roof."

At the word "party" Nick's left eyebrow twitched and something clicked at the back of Ko's mind. Wait a second... party... macarena... Nick and the pretty blond... the weird guy with the punch... Ko gasped. 'That's right, the punch! The guy shoved the drink down my mouth and I blacked out after that,"

Slowly, she turned her head towards Nick's direction. She spotted him just as he was about to slither himself out the room.

"Ni~ick," Ko called after him in a falsely sweet tone.

Nick froze halfway to the door at her voice and answered her in a high-pitched voice. "Yes--" He coughed and cleared his throat a little; answering her in a deeper voice this time, "I mean, yes?"

Ko stood up and sauntered over to him. "You don't happen to know if anything happened to me last night, do you?"

"No." He answered a little too quickly.

"Nick," She said in a warning tone. When he refused to meet her gaze, she grabbed his ear and forced to make him look at her. "Nick, what the hell happened yesterday?!"

Nick glared at her hotly and sighed. 'Might as well tell her before she claws my skin off...' He gave her a shrug and promptly said, "You got drunk."

Ko swore. So the guy did spike the drink, the asshole! "Okay, so anything else happen?"

'You jumped on stage and began stripping in front of the whole crowd,' The voice in his head reminded him. Ignoring it, he made a quick overview of the drunk strip-tease episode yesterday.

He shook his head in innocence. "Nah, all you did was dance around so I carried you up here,"

'...where you decided seducing me was part of wrestling,'

"...and you went to bed."

'...which then you had the nerve to sneeze in my face after I had to haul your ass up to this room.'

"Thus, resulting with a symptom called, 'Hangover.' End of story."

Maybe it was just her... or the air-conditioning in this room... or her hangover, but something was telling her this was a very highly edited version of last night when she was drunk. But then again, maybe it was best not to know what had happened.

She opened her mouth to ask him another question when a knock at the door interrupted her.

"Room Service."

They looked at the door, then turned, pointing to each other in question.

"You asked for room service?" They both said at the same time.

Studying the door with a mixture of confusion and skepticism, the two approached the door and opened it.

A stout, salt-and-pepper bearded man was revealed at the door. Seeing the two of them together, he grinned and held out a pair of shoes and socks to Ko. "Here you are ma'am, you left these down at the dining hall yesterday."

Ko took one glance at the shoes and socks, then looked at her feet. Bare. Looking up at the man again, she took the shoes from him gingerly. "What happened in the dining hall yesterday?"

Nick, seeing the suspicion rising in Ko's eyes, suddenly coughed out loudly and began pushing the man out the door. "Hey man, I'm sure you have a lot to attend to so..." As he started closing the door on the man, Ko stopped him abruptly.

"Hey, that's a rude thing to do. He brung my shoes and socks all the way up here nicely. The only thing we can do is to let him in and thank him." Turning to the man, she let him in and smiled at him. "I'm sure you have enough time on your hands for us to give you some coffee or something..."

The man thanked her gratefully but declined her offer. "I'm afraid I can't stay ma'am. So the only thing I can give you is this." He handed her several business cards. While Ko took the cards and scanned over them, he grinned and told her in a low voice. "All those people were amazed at your performance last night. The hotel managers were especially thrilled. They told me to ask you if you could do an act every Saturday evening for a very nice sum of money,"

Nick paled and set his eyes on Ko who was staring at the cards.

The man winked at Ko and said, "Have a nice stay," He closed the door with a quiet shut.

The room fell silent as the man's feet pattered away down the hall. Nick tried his best not to take one glimpse of Ko. He did anyways, and the odds didn't look so good. Ko stood there, staring and staring at the cards. Soon her whole frame started to shake.

'Oh God, here it comes...' Nick braced himself for a one-sided boxing match. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut and prayed that it would be over soon. When nothing happened, he tentatively opened one eye.

"Hm, it's kinda cold in here... did you put the air condition on high or something?" She said, shivering.

When he didn't answer, Ko peered into his face. "Stop doing that. You look like you're constipated." She sighed and threw the business cards over her shoulder. "I don't know or even want to know what the hell I did to make these weird casino bar people to want me to 'perform' for them every night."

She sat down back into the love seat once more, oblivious to the bewildered looks Nick was giving her. "But whatever they want me to do, I'm not doing it. I hate casinos and their stupid cigarette smells. And I don't know the difference between polker, blackjack and crap besides the names,"

Nick breathed out the air he had been holding in. So she wasn't going to hurt him. Out of prurient curiosity, he gathered up the business cards she had so carelessly thrown aside. Quickly flipping through them, he suspected that Ko apparently did not look over each of them. One was a card from a strip club. He ripped that one up immediately.

The others, like she said, were from well-to-do casinos in Hawaii and even in California. As he sorted through the cards dully and without much more interest, one name caught his eye and his breath.

Valkeries Casino

Assistant Manager, Dave M. Ingrid

77865 Grand Avenue

Los Angeles, CA

Phone #: (457) 887-1938

*A/N: Please note that I have just chosen a random bunch of names and numbers for this fake address. Anything related or exactly similar to this address is purely coincidental since I have never been or heard of this place. Therefore, you will not find this casino at this address, nor the assistant manager Dave M. Ingrid. The phone number is fake too. Now, back to the story.

"Fuck!"

Ko jumped slightly at his sudden outburst. She was on the way to prepare herself for a nice long shower to ease her headache. Picking up her new change of clothes she had dropped, she gazed at him in surprise. She became even more confused when Nick started running all over the room and gathering his stuff.

"We're getting out of here," was the only thing he growled when she asked him what the matter was.

"Why? I mean, I'm desperate to get out of here as much as you are but why now?" Her eyes followed him as he darted back and forth across the room.

"Just pack up your stuff, I'll tell you later."

He saw her just standing there staring at him. Nick scowled at her in frustration. "Just do it!" He yelled.

Without another word, Ko started collecting all of her clothes and belongings. She went into the bathroom and eyed the shower longingly. Knowing the things Nick could do to her, she forced herself not to take a quickie. Instead, she found herself observing all the small bottles of shampoo lotion and soap. People would use it for free anyways so why the hell not take them? She gathered as much as she could into her arms and strode out of the bathroom, looking slightly more satisfied.

But they soon discovered that they had nothing to pack their belongings into. Ko checked the closet to see if they had anything like those plastic clothes protectors so it wouldn't get all dusty. She found something far more useful however.

Laundry bags. King sized baby!

Stuffing all their clothes inside the bags, they stumbled out of the room. As the pair herded down the hallway, other couples and onlookers watched them with only one thought in their minds. Strange. Especially their oversized laundry bags.

Ko wanted to use the elevator but Nick wouldn't have any of that. She would have suggested a race to see if the elevator was faster than using the stairs if it weren't for the menacing looks Nick was giving to everyone around him. Silently she followed after him, not knowing whether she should question about his behavior or not.

As they threw the bags in the back of the porsche, Ko gave one last lingering look at the hotel. She waved to it without much thought. "Goodbye, you lovesick hotel. I hope you don't drown in all the mushy-gushy-ness you have to endure,"

Nick pulled her into the car roughly. "Stop blabbering nonsense to an inanimate object and get in the car. We have to get out of here pronto."

Ko narrowed her eyes at him. "What's wrong with saying goodbye to buildings? And what's with you in getting out of here so soon anyways?"

"So you want to stay here longer?"

Ko gave the love hotel one last glance. She grimaced.

He took that as her answer. "Good. Then stop complaining. I have enough on my mind right now and I don't want YOU wedging your way into it either."

Ko sat in her seat sulkily and stared up ahead of her. "I wasn't trying to." She muttered.

As Nick started the car, Ko sullenly looked out the window and absentmindedly watched a group of teenaged boys surround something. She didn't say anything when she recognized the punk who stole Nick's bike from under their noses, nor did she do anything when she saw his bike right there in the midst of the boys. But when the thief hopped onto it and started making rude gestures, Ko put two and two together and said slowly, "Hey... Nick?"

"What?"

"Are you annoyed right now?"

"Are you saying this just to irritate me even more? Cause its working and you're working your way in getting ditched here,"

Ko's eye twitched but she didn't say anything mean back to him. Rather, she said, "Would you feel better if I told you I'm seeing your bike?"

"What?"

"I said, 'I was seeing your bike.'"

"I know what you said!" He said loudly. "I meant, what the hell do you mean?"

"Um... remember that punk who stole your bike?"

Nick growled. "I try not to,"

"Well, I don't know if this makes you any happier because..."

"What? Spit it out already."

"Uh... well, he's right there, showing off his new prize to his friends." She pointed to the group of teenagers.

Nick leaned over to her side and squinted through Ko's window. When his eyes widened, that confirmed all of her suspicions. Then his eyes held a mad glint in them and once again, Ko saw the hellfire burning inside. All at once, she felt sympathetic for the punky kid. Even if he was a stupid jerk-thief. She was almost tempted to yell, "Run, punk, run!!!" but wisely kept her mouth shut.

If this were to be THE day, then it was the day that Nick Gray, son of Lulu J. Gray, turned into a crazily insane lunatic. And Ko just happed to be the witness who had a chance to have a close-up front-seat view of this whole phenomenon. She silently willed herself to live long enough to tell her grandchildren this story.

Nick, on the other hand, had only two words running through his crazed mind and it was: MY BIKE!!! And it would be most usual for him to destroy and kill everything around him to get his precious motorcycle, that cost him two years of working as bagman at K-mart, back.

So here's a trivia question: When you (the crazily insane lunatic) are in a car (doesn't matter how nice it is) and you see something you so dearly love that had been snatched away from your hands in front of you along with the thief, what do you do?

Answer: Start up the engine and mow over the thief.

Which is what Nick attempted to do. Notice the word, attempted. Before Nick could get anywhere near the kid, the punk noticed the two (it was kind of hard to ignore two people when one was bellowing, "I'm gonna kill you!" and the other was screaming, "Nick! If you kill him, we'll get arrested for sure and I won't be able to go to college!" anyways) and raced off.

Nick speeded his way to the group of teens who swore and jumped/hurdled out of his way and bounded down the street a hundred miles an hour after the punky kid. This sort of situation would have amused Ko, if she were watching this in a movie. This wasn't a movie however and she was right in the middle so, all she could do at this point was scream and cover her eyes.

Nick swerved this way and that, blind and oblivious to everything around him. All of his attention was focused and fused directly to the boy and his motorcycle. The boy kept glancing back and tried to go faster without killing himself. They were on the highway right now, that took them who knows where on the island.

Spotting an exit sign, the boy made a sharp turn. Nick, seeing the boy make the turn to the exit, turned the wheel frantically to follow after him, screeching the tires. Occasionally, Ko would look out the window to make sure they weren't heading toward a cliff or anything. The surrounding looked a little familiar but she didn't have time to study it any longer since they were a mile ahead than they were a second ago. Soon, she found herself staring at the Honolulu Airport sign.

"Nick! Nick, we're at the airport now."

Nick didn't say anything. He ignored her and continued towards the airport. The boy, thoroughly scared now, parked at the entrance as quickly as he could, ditched the bike and ran for his life into the airport. Nick parked beside the bike and ditched the car too. Only he ran to end the boy's life.

"Get back here! You still haven't met my fist yet!"

Ko, knowing that it probably isn't smart to leave the bike alone again, got out of the car tentatively and smiled a little at the bystanders who stared at Nick with their jaws dropped. "No worries people, he just needs his coffee. He'll be normal enough when he has his caffeine running in his system." She said.

Some gave her the, "he's crazy and you're crazy but you don't want to admit it" looks. A couple of girls whispered to each other in disbelief. "Why that man looked exactly like Lulu J. Gray's son," A dark-haired girl said.

"Oh come on Lila, it can't be him! Nick's sexy, cool and collected." Another red-haired girl countered.

"Yeah, I mean, that guy was just plain freaky. Honestly, I don't know where you get these ideas..." The brown-haired girl followed.

If it weren't for her hangover and breathlessness, Ko would be rolling on the floor and laughing her butt off. Nick sexy, cool and collected? What a load of laughable crap.

One lady exclaimed, "Why, that's how my husband is all the time! It's like coffee is his sober-drug. Like this one time where..."

Everybody went along with their business, soon forgetting about the mad killer out to get some coffee. Seeing no one around to listen to her story, the lady glared at the security man as if it were all his fault and stomped off with her nose in the air. The security man shrugged and went back to reading the home gardens magazine.

Figuring the only thing she could do at the moment was wait for Nick to return. Quietly, she sat on the curb and watched cars stopping and going, picking up and dropping off people. She glimpsed at the security guard and thought that they must have a dull and boring life. Letting the smell of cigarettes and gasoline fill their sinuses and watching cars go by. Now she could see why they would read home and garden magazines. There was really nothing for them to do but wait for some action to happen.

A small, purple van drove to the entrance and parked next to Nick's bike. A bunch of cheerleaders in their uniforms hopped out and studied the porsche. One of them surprised Ko by going up to her and asking if she knew the man in the picture they showed her.

Ko took the crumpled up picture that had a lot of holes punctured into the man and special names like "asshole" and "jackass" etc. all over him. Evidently, they did not like this man. She studied his face a little longer.

"He looks a little familiar..." Ko finally said truthfully.

The pretty blond helped her with another clue. "If I'm not mistaken, I think that porsche is his."

Ko stared at the picture. She wasn't mistaken. This was the man they had taken the car from. She looked up at the blond cheerleader fearfully. "Yeah, yeah, that's his car."

She smiled at Ko sweetly. "Thank's girl." Then, "Everyone! Gather your gear!" She addressed to the rest of the squad.

They all did a small cheer and then went back into the van. Ko stood up and watched them as they moved around. Some got out of the van armed with spray-paint cans while others came out carrying metal bats, chainsaws, hatchets and sledgehammers. Ko almost bolted at the sight of them. The only reason why she stayed where she was, was because she was curious as to what they were about to do to the man's car, even if the answer was obvious.

That's when she remembered they left their stuff in the car.

"Wait, WAIT! My stuff's in there! Stop!"

It was either too late or they just ignored her. But whichever reason, it was hopeless.

First, they began beating the crap out of the car. The security guards were either enraptured by them or terrified. They did nothing to stop the girls as they pounded, sawed, chopped and smashed the car until it was barely recognizable for a vehicle at all. Then with a grand finale, the girls with the spray cans painted colorful words like "player", "cheater", "sick bastard", "dick-breath", "man-whore" and just about every nasty and unkind word in the world until there was no more space on the use-to-be-nice car.

Finished with their task at avenging for female pride, they hopped back into the van with pleased looks in their faces and rode off, throwing their pom-poms in the air while shouting, "Eat that ya pile of shit!"

Ko and everybody else that witnessed this stared until they disappeared down the road. Their eyes roved back to the demolished porsche and wondered what the owner of the car would do if he ever found out who did it...

Just as the cheerleaders had left, Nick came back, looking immensely happy with himself. He took one look at the wreck next to his bike and whistled. "I'd hate to be that guy."

"Nick, I hate to break it to you but that IS our car."

"Wha--?" He went up to it and studied it closer. "Shit, you're right," He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows at her. "What IS it with you in losing and ruining cars when I leave you alone with them?"

Ko shrugged. "I don't know... I must be cursed." She looked around him. "Hey, where's that kid?"

Nick smirked. "Oh him? Well, let's just say I found a nice spot for him to have a great view of the planes,"

!!!*!!!*!!!

The lighting crew and the flight crew stared up at the new cause of the delay for the plane to Canada. This was a slight problem since they didn't know how to get him down without hurting him or how he managed to get stung up by his toes on the underside of the airplane.

The punk was hanging upside down, suspended in the air only by his own shoelaces. He was crying and wailing and his nose was running into his eyes. He kept screaming, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! I'LL NEVER STEAL ANOTHER BIKE EVER AGAIN! I'M SORRY SO LET ME DOOOOOWWWNNN!!!"

They cringed at his pitiful and agonizing cries. They all gasped at the same time when his shoelaces snapped and he began falling... on them!

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'MMMMMMMMMMMMM SOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!" He screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" They screamed.

Well, at least they solved the problem. But now the flight was delay yet again for another reason. The pilot broke his arm from the collision and the assistant pilot passed out when he saw the captain's arm in a weird angle. Now the punk had to feel sorry for the Canada passengers.

"I... I'm.... so...rry...." And he fainted.

"Someone! Get the medics! And a new pilot captain! We can't afford to have another riot in this airport!"

!!!*!!!*!!!

"...so you're not mad about me leaving the clothes inside the car?" Ko asked him hesitantly.

"Annoyed, but not mad." Nick said. He was too busy fawning over his motorcycle and whistling a happy tune to care about his mushed up and trapped belongings in the flattened car. That annoying song, "Put one foot in front of the other~" Great, he was singing it now.

She interrupted his karaoke performance. "So, can we get new clothes?"

Laughter was in his face when he turned to her, along with a mischievous spark in his eye. "No." He said in a sing-song voice.

Ko scowled at him and crossed her arms grumpily. This was crap. Just when she gets the chance to be able to wear new clothes - and not just any clothes but expensive, designer clothes - she ends up losing all of them in one stupid incident, thanks to the highschool-cheerleader-groper. Now it was back to square one with the itchy, old, cursed restaurant uniform.

She couldn't bear to see the overly cheery state Nick was in at the moment so she turned her focus to the crowd in the airport. Suddenly, she saw a flash of pink. Blinking, Ko looked harder into the crowd. There it was again. Pink. A pink straw hat.

That was weird. The only person she knew who would wear colorful straw hats was Grandmother Su. She squinted at the crowd, looking for the straw hat once more. She figured that it was only her imagination. And besides, Grandma Su can't be here in Hawaii. The idea of even thinking of the thought was ludicrous.

"Koooo! Yoohoo! Kooooooo!"

Strange. Now she was hearing voices. Has the heat finally come to her? Is she hallucinating things now?

"Konami! You better be answering me right now or else I beat you with my walking stick!"

No! Desperately, she prayed to Buddha that it wasn't her. It couldn't! She wouldn't! Slowly, Ko turned her head in the direction that the shrilly and grandmotherly voice was coming from. "G-Grandma Su?"

Sure enough, there she was. The small, old asian lady who wore a oversized pink straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt with white flannel pants and straw flip-flops. Her sunglasses filled half her face and you had to have to live with her in order to recognize her.

Ko paled. She open and closed her mouth but no sound came out. On the inside, she was screaming in despair and falling in a tornado of darkness. She was doomed.

Nick appeared beside her. He pointed to Grandma Su, who kept waving at Ko while she hobbled towards them. "Who's she?"

Grandma Su, hearing him quite clearly, pointed a knobbly finger at him. "You be patient to wait for formal introductions, boy. Your mother not teach you that when you little?" She faced Ko and hugged her.

"Ah, my mago, it's so good to see you."

"Grandma, that last time we saw each other was just a couple days ago,"

The old lady shrugged at her helplessly. "I miss what I miss. I can't help feeling empty right here," she patted the place where her heart is. "But you came faster than I expect. I just came off pay-phone for someone to pick me up. Ah, that is my dear mago, always there to help old obaasan like me,"

"Grandma, does dad know you're here?" Ko asked, eyeing her grandmother carefully.

Grandma Su waved him off. "Bah, I'm a grown woman; I can do what I want with or without my son knowing about it. And I left them small note anyway, just to be on safe side."

Ko dropped her face into her hands. Oh why must the gods torture her so? Wasn't dealing with Nick bad enough? By now, her parents would be calling every police station to find Grandma Su.

"Ko?! KO! You're alive! You're really alive!"

"Huh?" Ko looked up and turned around. She didn't have enough time to confirm who shouted her name and proclaimed her to be alive. Danielle crashed into her, giving her the Hug of Death.

Kaz came out of the limo which had just driven up to the entrance. "Easy Danny, you'll give her a concussion."

She turned back to him tearfully and screamed shrilly, "She deserves to have a concussion with all the worries she's been giving everyone!" Whipping her head back to Ko, who was a little dazed, she said while hiccupping. "Don't EVER do that to me again! I don't care how cute he is! You're never running away with a man without my permission!"

Ko was about to tell her that she didn't "run away" with him. Grandpa Ziggi's form filled her vision and she was given the hug of death numero dos. And Grandpa Ziggi wasn't a withering old man, mind you. Ko thought, he squeezed all the air out of her lungs and that her eyes literally popped out.

"Oh thank the lords Ko! That sick evil bastard didn't do anything to you did he?" He held her by the shoulder and looked at her straight in the eye. "Tell me the truth Ko, he touched you didn't he? I'm gonna kill him!" Grandpa Ziggi roared and went after Nick who stuck his tongue out immaturely at him and began running around the demolished car.

Danielle and Kaz turned to Ko who was backing up from them. Heck, anyone would if they seen the menacing looks they were giving her.

"Ko... tell me the truth..." Danielle said darkly.

Ko gulped. The truth? The truth about what? That they were really running from a bunch of terrorists? Or was it the one where they were part of the bombing of the ice cream shop? Or maybe--

"Is he really your BOYFRIEND?" Danielle asked with stars in her eyes.

Kaz piped in as well. "I'd like to know this as well Ko,"

"Me too!" Grandpa Ziggi declared.

Nick called out to them quietly, "Do I have a say in this?"

"NO!" Everyone yelled at him. They all began talking to her at once. Things like how it felt like to be swept off your feet by a really hot guy and where they've been all this time or did he DO anything to her while they were away together ALONE. Soon, they began fighting about who got to ask her a question first.

"I get to ask first because I'm the oldest and wisest and her GRANDPA!"

"No, ME! I'm her best friend!"

"Hey, cut some slack for her bro! I've been by Ko's side longer than all of you all!"

"No, me first!"

"No, me!"

"ME!"

"I get to ask!"

"No, I get to ask!"

"No, me! I deserve to ask first!"

"No, I deserve to ask--"

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Everyone quieted. All eyes turned to Grandma Su who was huffing and red in the face from yelling. She breathed in deeply to calm herself down and not overreact so she wouldn't get cardiac arrest.

"NandaKanda itteruka wakaranaiwa. Dareka ittai dounattiruka oshiete kudasaina." *I don't know what mumbo-jumbo you people are saying. Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?*

Before anyone could answer her question, the sound of screeching tires pierced the ears of everyone in that area. A beaten up blue van screeched to a mighty stop in a parking space next to Nick's bike. It had to climb its way over the pile of metal that used to be praised for such fine quality of machinery.

Ko and Nick stood there and swore. "Oh shit,"

Kaz squinted his eyes at the people behind he wheel. "Hey, that man driving looks like president Ronald Reagan, and is that... Winnie the Pooh Bear?"

Ko slapped her forehead. "God not this again. When will I ever have peace in this world?!"

!!!*!!!*!!!

A/N: Thanks for being so patient. No flames for my extreme lack of inspiration and laziness. I have such a wonderful audience.... *sniff* *cough* ACHOOOOO! Ugh... but a terrible flu. Stupid flu shot, work! WORK!

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is... keep up the great reviews! I luv them all!

And my birthday was great. One of the best sixteenth birthdays I had. Lol. Well, yeah, so I had to go to the dentist at eight in the morning; then rush off to the Armed Forces Parade where my younger bro was in the jr. highschool marching band; have a small family birthday bash; then finally off to the Charlie Brown musical at the local theater w/ moi best friend. So you see... busy but grand. But wait! There's more...

I got a cell-phone! Yay! And it's a pic-phone too! Now I can take pics of all the hotties in the real world and not get charged for it. Heeheehee, hohoho, hahaha! Okay, I'll stop before I get all crazy on you guys and scare everyone away like LAST time.

Next Chapter: Walking on Water, Literally