Just Once, I'd Like to Know.

Part One.

The Bladebreakers are in China for five reasons, one for each of its members. First, the ever beloved-yet-hated-but-mostly-beloved-blue-haired-bottomless-pit know as Takao. He's here for the food. Simple. Second, Max. He's telling everyone that he's here to see his mother, who is working in China for the Spring. And certainly he is excited to see her, but he's actually here for Takao. Not as simple. Third, Mister Nerdatron himself, Kenny, is here for an illegal upgrade for Dizzi, as promised by Rei, who is here to see Lee and Mariah.

And Kai's here to get away from the fangirls. Not that there aren't any in China, but they don't know he's here and they will not fucking find him.

Basically, the team is on vacation. They are, however, still on contract until next Fall, so they need to do so together. And since everyone is here and Kai Hiwatari is an abusive captain, a workaholic, and a complete asshole, they're training.

Said slave driver stomps down the oak stairs with his typical 'doesn't give a shit' guise wafting out from his person like heat wafts from an oven. He's perfected the appearance of 'badass Russian with a complete lack of concern for anyone or anything that isn't himself or doesn't have to do with himself' to the point where it literally encompasses whatever room he's in. At least, he likes to think so. Really the only difference his team-mates have noticed over the years is that he's become more well-rounded, and will occasionally admit to being acquainted with them in public.

The fantastic smell of bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes smothered in hot butter and sweet syrup fills his nose as he descends from the upper floor, where all the bedrooms are, and enters the kitchen. His eyes are hardly opened because, while he's usually a morning person, he hadn't wanted to get out of bed on this particular one. He doesn't understand why. He just feels like something isn't right. Regardless, he doesn't need to have his eyes open to know that Max is cooking. Takao's too lazy despite his adoration for food, Kenny can't, and even without these facts, Max, by popular demand, always cooks breakfast. Kai very, very secretly enjoys at least one aspect about each of his team-mates, and for Max, it's his innate ability to make food that, when eaten, feels like it's having hot, dirty sex with every single one of his taste buds.

"Good morning, Kai," Kenny says, lifting his head away from his laptop and smiling. "Max made breakfast."

Kai sits at the table and yawns. "Really?"

A scoff is heard to his left. "You'll never know how much we missed your sarcasm, oh bitchy one." Takao shoves half a pancake between his lips, syrup dripping down his chin. "Or should I say Bitchzilla? Mister-Mc-Bitchesworth? Bitcharella? What do you like more?"

Kai's about to ask what's eating at Takao, but Max answers, beating eggs at the counter and saving the Russian some of his daily-allotted words. "Ignore him, Kai. He's just pissed because the dishwasher broke and I volunteered him to take its place."

"It's not fair!" Takao folds his arms, giving Max the cold-shoulder. "I didn't break it. So why do I have to do it's job?"

Ignoring the usual light bickering that Max and Takao go threw lately, Kai blinks his eyes fully opened. The first thing he sees is a box of milk. Oh.

"Well maybe if you didn't snore all night I wou–"

"Where's Rei?" The red eyed blader cuts in, forgetting that he's suppose to be portraying the image of 'badass Russian with a complete lack of concern for anyone or anything that isn't himself or doesn't have to do with himself,' because he's been around thee guys for nearly five years. He just sort of neglects his hard exterior sometimes. Barely ever, though, so he's not worried. It's not like they even notice. Right? Wait. Do they notice? Kai's going to have to start being more of a jerk. Or a 'sourpuss,' as one-currently-not-present team-mate puts it.

Takao snorts. "He skipped out on practice again." The bluenette digs into his pocket and hands Kai a torn piece of yellow paper. "He left a note."

Kai reads it:

Went to visit Lee! Back by six.

Rei.

"Why does he get to go hang out with Lee in town while we're stuck here, in the middle of freaking nowhere, in this little cabin, training our faces off–"

"Takao, would you stop complaining?" Kenny says, typing away. "Lee is Rei's best friend and Rei hasn't been home in nearly a year. We've got more than six weeks to train before the tournament, so relax."

"But that's just it!" He shoves a slice of toast into his mouth, chewing with enough intensity to shatter his teeth. "We're not even suppose to be training! We're suppose to be kicking it back at a nice hotel on a nice, sunny beach with beautiful women and food. But no. Oh no. Mister Bitchasaurous Rex has to keep us..."

Kai stops listening. He's good at it. Instead, he thinks. He's not sure how he feels about Rei skipping practices. This is the third time. And of course Rei's allowed to do whatever he wants, but the fact remains that the less he practices, the worse his blading is going to get. The worse his blading gets, the less the team wins, and the more pissed off Kai becomes. However the team leader feels about Rei playing hookey, though, has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is probably also spending his time with Mariah, the pink heathen from Hades, because Kai doesn't care that Rei has a girlfriend. Not one bit.

It's seven-oh-three in the morning, and Rei and Lee are trucking down one of the back streets of Taiyuan, a city which is a three hour bus ride from Rei's cabin and a two hour bus ride from Lee's house The sunrise is hitting their backs through what few spaces aren't occupied by buildings. Rei's been going on about beyblading, family, and their village for the past thirty minutes, and Lee's confused. Rei's never been one to ramble, not like this, and definitely not to to Lee. Rambling is something Rei only does when he's nervous, and Lee can't think of any reason for Rei to be nervous, especially around him. Except for one thing. And Lee's not entirely sure if he's ready to talk about it, but he thinks Rei needs to.

Lee stops in the middle of a busy street, the sound of people talking, buying, selling, eating, and generally being people surrounds them. Rei discontinues going on about how he needs a new launcher and looks at his friend.

"Why'd you stop?"

Lee stares at him. "What was it you wanted to tell me yesterday?"

Rei tenses, and tries to laugh it off, bright golden eyes shining with complete fear in the sunlight. "Aha, you know, nothing."

"Uh huh." The other boy folds his arms. "You've been acting funny all morning. And yesterday you were about to tell me something, but your bus came."

"What's your point?" Rei asks, not looking him in the face. People on the street are giving them annoyed glares for standing in the middle of it.

"You don't need to be babied, Rei." He smacks the other boy across the head, mostly lightly. "If something's wrong just tell me. Or go do something about it, because you're not fun to be around when you're like this."

The nekojin is hardly ever ashamed of anything, and he knows he shouldn't be about this, not even around Lee, but he hangs his head anyway. The first part is easy. "I don't love Mariah anymore."

Lee laughs a little. "Is that all? I already kn–"

"No."

The second part is a lot harder.

"I'm..." Oh god. How is he suppose to do this? He should've done it a long time ago, but he kept telling himself that Lee would take it better in a few years. Just one more year, after year, after year, and now Lee knows something's up. Rei's backed into a corner. He hates being backed into a corner. He needs a way out, a second opinion, another decision to make because there is no way he can tell Lee that he's gay. And after Lee, he'll have to tell Mariah; unless he's lucky and Lee hates him enough to go tell Mariah himself. Then they can both go hate him together.

"Lee, I can't..." Rei takes a deep breath. "Maybe we should go sit somewhere."

"No." He places a firm hand on Rei's shoulder. "You're always looking for another way to do something. It's great most of the time, but right now, you need to just tell me."

Rei looks over into green eyes. They're not judging him. They only ever had once, and they never would again. "Okay."

Lee moves his hand back to his side. "Okay?"

"Yeah." Rei takes another deep breath, tells himself to strap on a pair because he needs to get this off his chest, and says, "I like someone else."

"And?"

"It's not your sister."

"You already said that."

"It's not anyone's sister."

"Okay..."

"It's..." Rei looks down. "It's not even a girl."

Lee smiles, holding back a laugh. "Rei, for the love of god, just say it."

"I–" Rei feels his breath hitch. "I'm–"

"Yes?"

And he lets it go. "I'm gay."

A short pause. Rei keeps his eyes glued to the grass around his feet.

"Really now?" Lee finally lets out a small laugh. "And you didn't think I noticed?"

Rei's head snaps up quickly, staring wide eyed. "What?"

"I'm your best friend." A warm breeze flickers over them. "Of course I knew." Lee scratches his head. "I mean, it'd taken me a while to get used to the idea. It's not like we grew up around it, so..."

Rei can't stop staring. "You knew?"

"Yup."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Nope."

"And it doesn't bother you that I'd rather have another guy's d–"

"It doesn't bother me, but I still don't want to hear it," Lee says, covering his ears and making a face like he'd just swallowed rotten tuna. "Kind of like how I didn't want to hear about you making out with my sister."

Rei wonders if his knees are going to give out. "I can't believe you knew and didn't tell me. Do you have any idea how stressed I've been about you finding out?"

"Not as stressed as you are about Mariah finding out."

"No." Rei shakes his head. "Not even close."

Actually, he was much more worried about Lee — or what Lee would think of him, anyway. Rei could definitely handle Mariah judging him and never talking to him again, but he's not sure what he'd do without Lee. His opinion matters more to Rei than Mariah's friendship; meaning that Rei would rather Mariah hate him forever than Lee judge him for a second. The fact remains, however, the he's scared to tell her because he's going to end up hurting her, and he doesn't want anyone to feel hurt because of something he can't change.

"But she had better find out soon. You're my best friend no matter what, Rei, but I can't let you lie to my little sister."

He shakes his head. "I know. I'll tell her tonight."

Lee nods.

"But anyway, onto something I don't know..." The captain of the White Tigers grins wickedly at Rei. "Who's the poor bastard?"

Rei understands exactly what Lee's talking about. Having expected this to turn out much worse and being used to keeping his deeper thoughts to himself, however, he still feels the need to hide from his best friend. "What d'you mean?"

The green haired blader rolls his eyes, conversation getting a little too juvenile for his taste. "You know what I mean."

Rei sighs, telling himself to calm down. Lee doesn't care. He really doesn't give a damn. Rei's been beating himself over the head woth worry for his entire life because he thought for sure that Lee would saw his neck in half with Galoen if he ever found out, but Lee doesn't care. Hell, he already knew. He'd known for a long time, and he'd been waiting for Rei to just say it all these years. And now he's asking for the identy of the 'poor bastard' Rei has fallen for.

Wait a second.

"How do you know I even like anyone?" The raven haired boy asks, blocking the rising sun from his eyes.

Lee shrugs and says, "I'm clairvoyant."

"Oh of course." Rei begins walking again, wanting to get to the Fifth District before noon. "You already know who it is, don't you?"

Lee walks beside him, grinning. "Maybe."

"Bastard."

"Just tell me."

"But you already know!"

"That's not the point." Lee shoves his hands into his pockets and stares at the crowd walking in front of them. "I knew you were gay too, but I also knew that you needed to tell me." He smiles at the younger boy. "So, who is the poor bastard?"

Defeated and already well past the hard part, Rei gives. He looks to his left and mumbles, "Kai."

Another short pause. The people around them fill the silence with the low sounds of chatter and footsteps.

Lee gapes at his best friend. "What?"

"Kai."

"Kai?"

"Yes."

"As in the guy with the funny hair?"

"Yes."

"As in your captain?"

"Yes."

"As in the biggest asshole in the blading world?"

"Yes."

"As in the guy from Russia who stole all our bitbeasts?"

"Yes..."

"After betraying your team?"

"Yes!"

"Oh." Lee thinks for a minute, thoroughly surprised. For whatever reason, the idea that Rei might like Kai never crossed his mind — though everyone else did. Himself, Takao, Max, Kenny, Tala, Takao's father, everyone. He had eventually come to the conclusion that it must be Max, because the blond is so obviously 'that way' that it just had to be him. Lee couldn't look at the situation any differently. It never crossed his mind that a gay guy could fall for a straight guy, though he admits that it should have. Growing up cut off from the rest of the world has given him a large disadvantage in the whole Open Minded section of his soul, but he's working on it.

Still, Kai? Lee had always figured Rei would go after someone nicer, or at the very least sane, but no. Kai, however, is definitely no sweetheart, and while insane might be stretching it, he definitely has his moments of mental instability. Not that it really bother's Lee or anything. It's not like he knows Kai really well, anyway. There must be something to like about him. Maybe.

"Who did you think it was?" Rei asks, unsure whether he should laugh or run like hell in the opposite direction.

Lee shakes his head, a little rattled. "Max."

"Max?"

"Yeah."

"Huh." Rei looks up at a bird that flies over their heads. "Not really my type."

Lee looks up also. "Apparently." Then asks, "Does he wake up every morning and paint those blue triangles on his face, or are they tattoos? Because if he does, there's probably a good chance he's into guys too."

Rei punches his friend lightly in the arm, laughing.

Six feet behind them, hiding behind a tree, is a very pissed off pink little kitten.

Upon hearing that the Bladebreakers are in China, Emily, staying in Beijing with Max's mother, decided to pay them a visit. She had boarded the first available private jet and had herself flown deep into the mountains. She's three seconds from knocking on the front door of their wooden cabin, but she stops, hearing something interesting.

" –to talk about it?" Clearly Max.

"Nothing to talk about." And clearly Kai.

"You might be able to fool everyone else, but I know y–"

"I don't like him."

"You can't even say his name!"

Ohh. Kai likes someone? This could be worth thousands if she sells to the right tabloids! Oh lucky day. Grinning like a mad woman, she peeks into the window of the front door. Kai is doing the dishes, something Emily would never have bet her life on, and Max is sitting at the table.

"Fine." The Russian stops scrubbing, seeming uneasy. Emily can see his face perfectly from where she is, and he looks shaken. Well, shaken by Kai-standers, anyway. He just seems less aware of what he's saying. "I do not like Rei Kon."

"Come on, Kai. Stop lying. None of us care, you know that." The American pouts. "Rei wouldn't mind either. He might even–"

"Shut up, Max."

"But–"

"Stop." Emily watches dark lines draw under his red eyes. She's never seen him look so tired. "Just... stop."

So the cold-hearted bastard has fallen for his fellow team mate. And the stable, stubborn, spacey one at that. What happens, exactly, when you mix self-delegation with commitment issues? Calm radiance with rabid terror? Endless tranquility with eternal rage? Evident obliviousness with constant awareness? As much as Emily would like to stick around to find out, these two are very good friends of hers, and thus deserve some privacy.

So, she runs back to the jet. Someone else is a good friend of hers and totally needs to hear this!

Huh? Huuuh? =D I'm such a nerd. I can't believe I'm writing Beyblade fanfiction! (giggles). I rewatched the first season to de-stress my brain and... this happened. I'm writing this for fun, so don't expect it to do justice to the English language; but do tell me if I eff something up really bad =]

Review!

Inso.