Legend of the Elemental Beasts

A/N: Beyblade and all recognizable characters and situations are © TAKARA / Beyblade Project / Hudson Soft.  I do not claim them in any way, shape, or form, though I wish I did own Kai.  Fictional characters such as Korudo, Kire, Rise, and others that will be appearing later are © Finni and cannot be used without my permission.

Onii-chan is Japanese for "older brother", in case you didn't know.

Enjoy!

Prologue

"Onii-chan, we've finished all the bread!  Should I go out to find some more?"  A young girl about the age of 9 looks up at her older brother. 

He nods back at her and stares blankly into the sunset sky.  "Yeah, just be careful, Korudo.  Don't want ya getting' hurt, now would I?"

An hour later, the full moon is high up in the sky, illuminating the darkness of the night.  Droplets of rain start to drop as more rainclouds gather close.  The girl, Korudo, is carrying a large basket in her arms and running through the rain.

One arm around the food that would last them the next week, she runs to the shelter of a flimsy wooden plank shack.  Though it leaks badly, it still protects the basket of stolen bread from becoming wet and soggy.

"Onii-chan!!  I'm back!" she yells, only to find that no one is around. 

"Kire?  Onii-chan?  Are you here?"  Looking around, she spots a note on top of an old wooden box.  The rain had smeared the ink, but the message was still readable.  She picked it up and read it to herself.

"I've had enough of your little birdie games, Kire.  Meet me and the TigerEyes gang tonight in front of the old fish cannery on pier 18… or else you won't have a sister by daybreak tomorrow."

She drops the basket on the wet ground and the week-old bread spills out and soaks up the water like sponges.  Korudo crumples the note and stuffs it in her pocket while dashing off outside, despite the rain.

Thunder roared and lighting flashed, but Korudo kept running.  Onii-chan!  Where are you? She stops in front of an old building and looks around.

She cupped her hands by her mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs, "KI-RE!  ONII-CHAN!"

Tears started to well up in her eyes as the rain soaked her from head to toe.  Korudo sat down in the middle of the pier and looked down to see the rain had washed down a trail of blood.  Curious yet frightened, she followed that trail to its source.

Her brother, Kire, was on the ground, blood still leaking from virtually every part of his body.  His stomach was flat on the ground so that the cuts and tears on his back were clearly visible.  One hand outstretched, another still in a fist.  In his outstretched hand was a silvery-red and black BeyBlade. 

Korudo walked up to him and felt his pulse.  Nothing.  She looked down in disbelief and carefully rolled him over on his back.  Kire's face was bruised, cut, and caked in blood.  His clothes were all battered up as if he threw them into a paper shredder. 

Droplets of tears fell onto his face like the rain that was falling from above.  "Onii-chan…  you can't die… you promised me – that the TigerEyes gang would never get you," she choked through the tears that were now streaming like rivers.  "You promised!!"

She sat and cried the whole night over her brother's dead body.