SUMMARY: Kai Hiwatari just turned of age. A family heirloom awaits. Responsibility forcing him to step out of the Beyblade world and into one with completely different set of rules. Life expected him to come unarmed and alone. Life was wrong. And Ray expected he had no choice but to go back home to China. Ray was wrong as well.

UPDATED: up to you and life

RULES OF A DIFFERENT GAME

[Chapter 4]
Wolf's Arrival

Ray looked up at the clock, gritting his teeth at its ticking. How can something make so much noise without giving any wanted results?

This was the fifth personal meeting this week Kai had, and it was only Wednesday. And the current client took more than the usual hour they got. Ray didn't even keep to his room anymore. Migrating from kitchen to the the hall where the renovation begun yesterday. He wasn't allowed on the plastic cover. Not that that stopped him though. Naturally curious about what they were doing to the unoccupied bedrooms. Two bedrooms and the office were the only untouched spots in the upstairs area.

What if he took that sledgehammer to the wall? Would that cut the meeting short? It should. He finished cooking half an hour ago. Fed Ivan - the butler or manservant or whatever he was. The old guy was politely showing his appreciation by basically inhaling the food and discretely burping after it was gone.

But there was one person in the house wasn't seen eating today yet, and it was almost four in the afternoon.

If he was the leader - CEO, Kai-voice in his head crankily reminded him - wasn't he allowed to say enough to the man and the girl in there? Who brings a daughter to the very-serious, probably-boring meeting anyways? She looked twenty, way too much make-up for Ray's taste, but he's seen older women wearing worse. That tomboy from yesterday was cute though. Maybe Russia had some bring-your-daughter-to-work week. He didn't know a lot about its customs.

"If only Master Kai would ask one out, already," Ivan sighed at quarter past four. "Maybe then others would give up."

"Huh?" Ray asked, glancing from the kitchen clock. "Say what?"

"The girl, seveda," the older man still carried heavy accent, but Ray's brain clicked at the butchered sentence.

"Girl? Is that what they are talking about for so long?" This somehow worried Ray. Kai wasn't a mean person, but he also wasn't the gentleman Ray was. If something annoyed him, he took action that wasn't for the faint of heart. Hillary had an attitude problem and three other boys that she could focus on, efficiently staying out of Kai's way. Emily and Kai had that unstoppable object meet unmovable wall moment - where the object soon decided to find a less stubborn detour.

Kai never treated girls like girls or boys like boys. Kai treated people the way a normal person treated germs: they existed, it was best avoiding them, but sometimes you just had no choice in the matter.

"Not officially. But one does not bring a daughter to a meeting with a young bachelor for any other reason."

Kai? Bachelor?

These people were doomed. And by the look on Ivan's face, the butler/manservant knew as much.

The unexpected doorbell sound made Ray jump as it echoed throughout the house.

Ivan sighed and stood up, fixing his fancy coat. "That would be our visitor."

"What, another one?"

The ringing sounded again. This time not once, but twice, three times, until a person seemingly leaned full onto the button. Then silence. Then twice more.

Ivan hurried towards the door with an expression of hurt and opened it wide, stepping aside for the guest. Or guests.
"Welcome, mister Ivanov. We have been expecting you."

Ray stared from where he stood.

"Been watching 007, bud?" A mocking voice sounded. Cold and hard, yet musical with amusement at the same time. "You need a cat and a large chair for the scene. And what's with the English?"

"Tala?" Ray squeaked in wonder, grounded on the spot at the kitchen doorway. His cat eyes became slits as he was ready to react in self-defense.

"Oh, you already have a cat!"

He should react to the insult. It was a familiar face, however. And in real time and real life, not just a web call from one of his teammates. Seeing was Tala Ivanov was as intruding as it was terrifying.

Tala Ivanov.

Here.

Did he come to kill him? Or did he come to mock him to death?

"Mister Hiwatari requests the language -" Ray sighed in relief, remembering that Tala was most probably here because of Kai. "... due to the international -" The words that followed broke his mind. Not having any clue what Ivan said, but it seemed to include the word company.

"Business handling, Ivan. It's not that hard," Tala told him with a tired look. "Get a web connection. Type in Duolingo or something similar."

Stepping inside, the visitor looked up and down, as if searching for someone. Cold icy eyes barely glancing to where the tiger was standing. Drops of rain streamed down the wolf as if deflected by a force-field of something worse.

Suddenly, Tala decided to yell for Kai. As if they were on the opposite sides of the beydish. The name echoed just as the bell did a few minutes earlier. Ray stood his ground this time and just glared at the disturbance, his lips in a snarl.

A door opened and closed somewhere, making all three of them look up to where the second floor ended.

Sure enough, Kai and the man he was receiving finally left confines often the office. The man chattering while tired looking Kai just nodded along. His and Tala's eyes met and they glared at each other. Kai's look saying: shut the fuck up and Tala's replying in a negative.

Something stomped down the stairs and Ray came to as a girl shoved him out of the way, even though he was nowhere near her route to the door. Huffing and muttering under her breath, Ray thought the meeting didn't go as she planned. The gentleman part of him wanted to comfort her, while something more primal felt pride for Kai.

Tala continued to combine the looks of mock and glare expertly. Aimed at everything in the room - mainly the host - whilst some official sounding farewells were said.

Not getting the reaction he wished for, the newest guest dumped his soaking cloak on the floor with a wet thud. Ray was offended, Ivan sighed tiredly and Kai just lifted his eyebrow in a "seriously?" manner.

Saying the last goodbye to the monkey-suited man and his glamorous daughter that was beginning to look more like a twelve-year-old who didn't get the right colored pony, Kai stepped away from the door as Ivan gently closed it. The phoenix just stood there, dazed, tired... Cranky if that was possible.

Ray swallowed expecting another beybattle of doom to follow up soon enough. This time, he's making sure to show Kai a thing of two of being pushed around.

The crazed guest was right in the host's personal space. Hand over the shoulder, pulling him close. "So, how are you enjoying the leadership, Great CEO of Hiwatari Enterprises?"

The man of the house was either deeply offended by the words or didn't approve of the actions. Probably had a problem with both. And glared in return. He reached up, physically lifting the hand off his person.

"Oh come on! Is this how you treat your favorite guest?" Tala yelled after him.

Ray snorted as he saw the long suffering look on his friend's face. Tala is either going to be ignored or beheaded. His personal religion promoted peace, so he bypassed that and voted for the second one.

But Kai trained his patience with the challenging surroundings of Tyson's dojo and rose up from it an expert.

"You can dump your stuff in my room."

"What about ten other guest rooms you have?"

"There are five and four are being renovated. So unless you feel like sleeping on ten inches thick layer of dust, I suggest you do as I say."

"What about the fifth one?" Tala asked, a bit surprised if not scared of invading Kai's personal room.

"Taken," Ray spoke, trying to hide a cheeky grin.

Tala stared him down, more than a head taller. Ray didn't flinch away. He'll be damned if he didn't go through enough adaption to be here. He deserved his own room until Kai decided to personally kick him out. The wolf was annoying his host, not to mention a good friend that had a rough beginning of the week.

Tala's initial surprise at Ray's forwardness was soon outlived. A crooked smirk that worried a regular person with emotions and a pain-threshold replaced it.

"Kai, buddy ... I know you're a fan of cats. But you've been here for a month and you're already letting in strays?"

"Ray is not a cat," Kai simply stated under the growl that meant he was in worse off than Ray first thought. "He's my team-mate."

Not a friend. But a team-mate. Ray's mood was getting sour as well.

"Ex-team-mate," Tala corrected him. "So was I at one point."

He followed Kai who was already heading up the stairs. Each step holding enough force to stomp out a rat.

"And you're here as well, aren't you?"

Tala stopped and closed his eyes. "Heh. What got your panties up in a bunch?"

Kai kept ascending. Ignoring Ray's feeble attempt to draw attention. "People."

"Hate to break it to you, bud, but there's around 8 billion more where that one came from!" Tala yelled after him from the bottom of the staircase.

"Please, Mr Ivanov. Lower your voice," the manservant pleaded, worriedly looking after his retreating master as well.

Tala ignored him. "And more than half of them are female!"

The door to Kai's bedroom slammed shut.

Silence.

"Yeah … I'm not going in there now." He looked at Ray and shrugged. "Someone had to tell him the ugly truth."

Ivan excused himself fast. Grabbing Tala's backpack and dragging it to the closet beside the main door.

"What about you, little fuzzy-one. Been deported?" Tala seemed to get some of his sadistic cheer back into those ice-cold eyes of his at the sight of him.

"I'm not fuzzy."

"But you are little."

"I am not."

Tala looked down at him pitifully. With his posture it seemed quite a way. "Yes, you are."

"You Russians are just freakishly tall!"

"And you Chinese kitty-cats are small."

Ray opened his mouth to retort with the same kind of childish comeback, but then figured he had better ammo in his arsenal. "What are you even doing here?"

"Needed a place to crash. Have a train to Ufa tomorrow evening to see Ian. How about you?"

At that kind of logical explanation Ray's teeth clicked shut so fast he almost bit his tongue. What was he doing here? Kai invited him, sure. But Kai was being his grouchy self lately. And Ray was trying to be useful, with little proof of succeeding. Perhaps he should go out and meet new people, new opportunities. That was why he accepted the offer, wasn't it?

"Ah, you're the fall-back." Tala finally nodded, as if Ray just answered his question.

"Fall-back?"

"Someone he can return to and be his emo self around. Safe and familiar."

"I doubt I'm …"

"You two never had a match after you came here?"

"Sure we did-" Ray cut off at Tala's snort.

"Stopped blading, my ass!" he yelled up the stairs.

There was no sound from Kai or Ivan.

"I knew he couldn't handle it without letting out some steam."

Ray shrugged. He knew what Tala meant. When Kai dragged him out in the cold that evening, there was something in him snapping the wrong way. But as they bladed he got his control back. Went crazy in his usual manner. Using that known outlet. Ray didn't believe that one should just cut off blading. Maybe lessen in during the years, but not going cold-turkey about it.

"What was with the girl?" Tala asked.

"The people he meets with keep bringing their daughters. Ivan said that he is a suitable bachelor."

Tala laughed. Not just chuckled, but downright howled like a maniac. "I'd say! Rich and famous. But man, are they barking up the wrong tree!"

Eyebrows knitted in confusion, Ray waited for an explanation. Sure, Kai had never shown any interest in anybody. And they never talked about it at any point. But what Tala was implying so openly still came as a surprise. "You mean … Kai is …"

But how would Tala know? Sure, they were team-mates at one point, and supposedly had history from the Abby. But BladeBreakers were family. And if Kai never talked about it with them, why would he share it with Tala? Still, Ray kind of wanted to to know. He didn't understand why, he just had to. "Is Kai gay?"

Tala shook his head, laughing again. "Lord no. Boy, girl … Kai doesn't discriminate. He hates everyone equally. He's asexual."

Well, that made sense. But Ray couldn't imagine what that would be like. Not finding anyone physically attractive. He had a few carnal thoughts about certain people. He really liked some. Asexual people never had a romantic relationship, right? Or did they? It was something alien when you grew up in a small village where kids were necessary to continue to work the land few decades later. No one there even thought about being alone. Gay was frowned upon, but if an offspring was produced, no one really cared what you did after with whom. If you didn't mind being the gossip of the village. Usually there were some tears and hard-feelings involved, but you weren't as outed as a person who refused to let anyone near.

"How does that work?"

Tala bumped into his shoulder as he went to raid the kitchen. "Imagine going down a busy street."

"Yeah?"

Ray wasn't even as concerned as he should be about the food he made for Kai.

"Does it happen that you eventually come to see someone physically attractive to you. A girl that you wouldn't mind touching or being touched by."

Ray shrugged.

It obviously wasn't clear enough for Tala that was watching him over the brim of the prepared bowl of soup. "A boy?"

"A girl," Ray corrected fast and loud. "Yes."

"Congrats, you're heterosexual. Or you're lying and you're a closet case. I see both genders. Making me bisexual."

"I know how other sexualities work," Ray grumbled.

"Kai doesn't see anyone like that."

Yeah, sure. Ray can see how that could complicate things a little when it came down with meeting future dates. "That isn't hating everyone," he told Tala.

"No. Still a sad, sad world to live in."

He was dramatizing, Ray could see it. However, one more important question bubbled up. "How do you know he's asexual?"

"I asked him."

That didn't seem like something you could do to Kai. "You asked him?"

"Yeah, he's pretty straightforward with things he doesn't feel strongly about."

"How did you figure to ask him in the first place?"

Tala shrugged, putting down a spoon and lifting a fork, examining it for any possible stains. "Demolition boys can hold their liquor. We like to hang in bars. We're not monks, we're soldiers," he clarified at the look he was receiving.

"Except for Kai. We could convince him to sit and drink, but when the fun started, he put the money on the table and left. Happened one too many times and I asked. Asked if it was the girls. Brought him to all-male bar myself. Turned out it wasn't just the girls."

Ray had to sit down for some reason. In some state of shock by the information and the openness of Tala's sharing it.

"He didn't even know a name for it. Just that 'no thanks' thing he does when some lowlife asks to beybattle him."

"And that was it?"

Tala nodded, mouthful of cold lasagna that made him moan in appreciation. At least someone was eating it, Ray thought guiltily about his still hungry host.

"Except for the time when I kissed him."

Ray spluttered. "You WHAT?"

Tala swallowed and shrugged with ease. "I was drunk and couldn't drop the subject. Kai was right next to me."

"You kissed Kai?"

Tala bit into the meat part of the dish. "Oh, yeah. Got my lights punched out for it. Woke up half an hour later. My jaw was blue for weeks."

Ray stared.

"Kai doesn't like being pushed," Tala explained further.

"It took knocking you out to figure that?"

"I'm used to his cold shoulder. Abby was full of kids who did the same."

Ray pondered that. Pondered what he knew about Kai and his history in Russia. Not much. Except that The Pits were a dark place and couldn't compare to the desolation that was the Abby.

"I can't believe Kai punched you," he said dejectedly.

Tala pushed the mostly empty plate away from him. "I went too far. I sometimes do that."

Ray didn't know if he was wisecracking or not. So he didn't laugh and he didn't glare. He just blinked at the memory of the frozen-over stadium and all the over-the-line situations that Tala pulled in the games two years ago. Did Tala ever do anything within borders of normal?

Tala got up with a groan, stretching. Going back into the entry hall to dig something out of his backpack. "Well, Kai is pissed. It's raining outside. How about I show you how FPS games work?"

A/N: No, I do not update as often as you would like. Hell, I don't update as often as I would like.
I have a regular job (9h/day), finishing my graduation (12h/week), muscle pains, moving pains, a cat that demands my attention more often than not, a diet that makes me weak, an original work I'm rather working on (because there are lots of fanfics and these stories are already told, whilst there are two worlds expecting me to write their own) ... oh, and my Mum died from cancer.

Congrats, Darakna, you do not win at life. Make a day last 30h and we can deal.

I write because I love to write. And as aforementioned, when my wrist lets me write, I'd rather do so with my original story. So sorry, not sorry. When you order a person to do something they were planning to do anyways, there is 90% chance that it won't get done, coz you just took the joy out of it.

You can thank for this update from my last reviewer of The Pits with the epic name of AloeWera, she was very nice and told me that stuff is intriguing and she would like to read more stuff like that. Trust me, does wonders for motivation to be appreciated. You can leave that pushy tumblr/fb-stuff on tumblr/fb.

I have some dialogue for the next part already written (from so long ago I can't remember the date). But as my wrist hurts like a mofo right now, and my job requires me to have a functional wrist to the end of the week we shall see how it goes. No promises, although as mentioned, nice reviews help.

Tala comes to bring gifts of brutal truth and bitchy attitude. And also, notice why I say this is a slow build and something MIGHT happen. Asexual characters are not easy to work with when there is 'romance' involved. Trust me, I tried before (questioned an asexual at length to find a loophole, and there are some, but they're hard to work with at speed).

REVIEW FOR MY SOUL AND ANY ADDITIONAL READING! TELL ME ABOUT MISTAKES!