Well, here bee the final chapter. Not too bad considering that it was initially meant to be a one-shot ;

(Epilogue)

With his mind settled, Kai started as the sound of a door opening roused him from his dreams, more surprised by the fact that he had at some point drifted off, rather than the fact that the door to the room was opening. Still, he confronted the problem like a man- by blinking bewilderedly at the shape framed by the doorway, dully waiting for his world to come into focus.

"Morning boys!" The over excited voice cut into Kai's sleep clouded brain, bringing him out of his daze.

"Nrrghh," Rei moaned, squinting against the light and buried his head into Kai's chest. In automatic reaction, Kai tightened his grip on Rei's torso, and tried throwing a glare at the nuisance. Unfortunately, tired eyes seemed determined to undermine him on that one, leaving him blinking to try and keep them open.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Alexia asked, stepping into the room. Kai bit back a shout when she flopped onto the foot of the bed, grinning at Rei. The boy in question frowned and tentatively opened his eyes, shuddering suddenly when a yawn forced its way out of him.

"Yes, you did." Kai snapped, sitting up in bed. Rei was caught by surprise at the sudden action and found his head- previously pillowed on Kai's chest- now buried in Kai's lap. Both bladers froze, blushes erupting on their faces and Rei threw himself backwards, away from the offending lap, with a mortified squeak.

Rather then have the good grace to look away, Alexia burst into fits of laughter, unfazed when her red- faced son sent her a fiery glare. Rei occupied himself with playing with the corner of the blanket.

"I wonder how I knew that you'd end up in here, Kai?" His mother asked with a grin when she finished laughing.

Kai snorted and looked away. "Why did you wake us up anyway?" he questioned, seeking a different approach to getting through to his mother.

"Oh, I remember now!" She smiled, not bothered by the fact that Kai wasn't even looking at her. "It's about eleven, and I was wondering if you were planning on going back soon."

Kai glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Oh? You were so eager for us to stay last night, and now you want to get rid of us?" Kai's voice dripped with mock hurt.

Alexia's bright grin didn't fade, "Of course not! You can stay for as long as you want, I was just thinking about your team, is all. I figured that you'd want to get back to them soon."

Kai pondered this and found it to be a fair assessment. Nodding once at his mother, he stood up and stretched. "I'll be in the bathroom then." With that comment, he was off, padding towards the rooms en suite.

Alexia watched him go, before whirling her smile upon Rei. "So tell me, honey. How long did it take him to come here? Less than half an hour, or more?"

Rei met her gaze, eyes alight with faint confusion. He scowled, trying to recall about how long he had lain in bed pondering, last night, before Kai had entered his room. "Erm… I can't be sure, because I was dozing for a while, but I think it was about twenty minutes?" Rei figured that honesty was the best policy when dealing with potential mother-in-laws.

To his absolute surprise, Alexia let out a short cheer and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Oh, wonderful!"

Rei blushed once again and cleared his throat, "Erm, Mrs Hiwatari? Didn't you not want Kai in my room?"

"Well, yes, but dearheart, you know Kai as well as we do, and I think we all knew that Kai wouldn't stay put in his room, especially since I told him to!" Alexia smirked in a frightening reflection of Kai's own trademarked smirk. "So, his dad and I had a little…friendly wager on how long it would take Kai to loose his patience and stomp here. I said less then half an hour, he said, less then an hour, more then half an hour. It looks like I won!" She announced happily. Rei only gawped at her.

Kai of course, took great offence to this and stormed out of the bathroom. "What kind of parents place bets on their own son?" Kai raged, waving his toothbrush around in an almost threatening action.

"Ones that know their son well enough to win," Alexia grinned. Kai seemed ready to respond, but shrugged at the last minute and wheeled back into the en-suite bathroom.

Rei smiled and watched him, amused with the scene, before he started and turned to Alexia.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to make you jump," she said, her fingers delicately wound in a few strands of Rei's hair. "I just wanted to touch your hair. It looks so silky! And it feels it too. I never really had a chance to look at it yesterday, but it really is lovely." Rei blushed, causing Alexia to chuckle. "Ah, Rei. I am a woman. I cannot help, but to play with hair. Especially when it's nicer then my own." With that, she ceased caressing the jet locks and stood up. "I'll leave you to get ready." She announced, before leaning in close to Rei and dropped her voice to ensure that Kai couldn't hear. "You know Rei. My boy couldn't have found a lovelier girl then you, even if he tried. You really do know him. Don't you?" Rei gulped lightly, and nodded, taken aback by the compliment, surprised that Kai's mother was more then okay with him being male, rather then female. Alexia smiled and reached up, ruffling his hair in a maternal gesture. "Then my son is luckier then we had ever hoped he'd be." She leaned in again and placed a gentle kiss to Rei's forehead. Then, with an impish grin, she pranced out of the room.

Rei stared after her, unaware that he had lifted a hand to touch at the spot the women had kissed, until Kai walked back into the room.

"Why are you doing that?" Kai gave him a strange look. In return, Rei smiled to himself and rose from the bed, moving over towards Kai, who regarded him suspiciously. When Rei placed a soft, brief kiss upon his lips, he blinked in surprise. "What was that for?" he asked.

Rei simply smiled happily, looking as if he had found something special for the very first time. "Nothing. I'm going to get ready." He said and headed towards the bathroom.

An hour later and they stood ready to depart, stomachs filled with late breakfast- though Kai's mother had urged them to take packed lunches, complete with sporks with them- saying their final goodbyes.

Rei stood off, slightly to the side so that he would not impede upon his lover's farewell to his parents. He watched, feeling a tiny pang of pain as Kai –with no small amount of trepidation- shuffled towards his mother, and was immediately enveloped in her arms as she near threw herself at him, hugging him so tightly, Rei feared that he'd suffocate.

"You take care of yourself!" She murmured.

"I will mama," Kai replied.

"And call me more often! If there's anything you need, anything, you call me!"

"I will mama,"

"And don't leave it so long next time," All caught the waver of tears in her voice. To Rei's surprise, Kai smiled and raised his own hands, briefly returning the hug.

"I won't mama, I promise." As he pulled away Susumu stepped up behind him and patted him on the back. Though Kai tried to fight it, he couldn't help but grin as man and son clasped hands.

"You still owe me a Beybattle, Kai. We need to see if you'll ever be able to beat me with that turkey of yours."

Kai's grin didn't falter as he shook the hand once, "We'll see, Dad. We'll see." They relinquished their grip on each other and the family turned expectantly to Rei. Smiling despite himself, Rei stepped forwards.

"It was great to finally meet you, Mr and Mrs Hiwatari." He gave a formal bow, "thank you very much for having m-" The rest of Rei's words were muffled as he found himself nestled firmly in the arms of Kai's mother. Taken aback by surprise, Rei froze.

"Call us by our names, there's no need to stand on ceremony." Alexia whispered, "It was a pleasure having you here sweetheart. I meant what I said this morning." She rushed, her voice still laden with unshed tears. The sudden weight of a hand on his head cause Rei to whirl about- at least as much as he could in the confines of Alexia's arms.

Towering above him stood Susumu, smiling down at him and ruffling his hair, much like Kai's mother had done earlier. "Yeah, drop by whenever you'd like. Next time, we won't place bets on how long it takes for Kai to visit your room. Honest." Rei laughed and looked at the two, before shifting his gaze towards Kai. His heart swelled when Kai nodded, a happy smile upon his lips. Closing his eyes, Rei bathed in the new sensations, making his heart tremble within his chest. He hugged the slight frame of Alexia to him, revelling in the feeling of something new and wonderful- the love of parents.

Somewhat reluctantly, Rei pulled away. Biting back tears, he smiled at them both.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. Alexia and Susumu… I hope to see you soon." He bowed once again and allowed Kai to lead him away. They waved their goodbyes from the car and made their way back to the helipad. Once boarded, they sat mostly in silence for the majority of the journey, both reflecting upon the events of the past day. For Rei, his was a learning experience, and he felt that he had come out of this with a peace of mind he had not thought possible. Further more, the visit had given him new knowledge and experiences that -to him- were priceless.

The sound of Kai's mobile phone going off drew Rei from this thoughts and he glanced at Kai.

"Email." Kai stated. Rei nodded once.

"Who from?" he asked.

"Yuriy." Kai responded.

"Yuriy? Was he asking how it went?"

"Yes, and he was also saying that he would very much love to have my tickets to 'Dear Friends'."

Rei looked at the ground, not wishing for Kai to see his sadness. "Good idea, he did help me get those tickets after all."

Kai snorted and looked away, smiling. "Tch, you think I'd give him my good tickets? I'm not that kind hearted Rei." Rei looked back up at him, confused. "No, Yuriy can have my crappy box seats."

Rei's eyes widened what Kai had implied. "But, Kai! The box seats are-"

"-not the seats that I want. Simple as." Kai finished. Rei seemed about to speak, but thought better of it, knowing that Kai had made his mind up.

"Thank you." He whispered, a happy smile playing across his lips. Kai ignored the comment, but carried on smirking.

Twenty minutes later, they touched down. Quickly, they transferred from helicopter to taxi, since weather conditions were not good enough for the helicopter to land safely outside their hotel.

Once they were settled in the back seat, Kai drew Rei to him, wrapping his arms about his middle.

"So, was it as bad as you thought it would be kiddo?" Kai asked, nuzzling Rei's hair.

Rei beamed, though Kai could not see it. "No. it wasn't." An understatement, but the simple truth.

"Good. Now, how are we going to get the children out of the suite for a few hours? If I remember, you promised something about you being my personal slave and you wearing that special suit, kitty-cat."

Rei only laughed, snuggling deeper in his lover's arms and turning his mind onto plans to send 'the children' as Kai referred to them, to go and see a nice, long, epic movie.

Teh endo desu!

And there you have it. The conclusion. I dearly hoped that you enjoyed it! I'm considering doing an AU next, though it's taken me about a week to do one page, so I'm not too sure with how that will progress.

Oh and random, but my other fiction A couple to all but themselves, is actually a one-shot. Eheh, I thought that that was clear due to the fact that Mao pretty much spelled out an entire fanfiction in one of her tirades.