Unreal

S/N: This is my first fic for Beyblade, so I'm pretty nervous as to the response its going to get. Any constructive criticism or creative advice and/or help are greatly welcome. As for flames…you flame me, I flame you. It's a vicious circle. Take your chances if you like, but I can be damn evil when I want to be. Enjoy!

One

It's like some kind of nightmare

That I can't escape from

Is this all a dream?

Please let it be a dream

So I'll wake up and be safe

And not have to hide in the shadows of my mind

Forever…

Russia.

Incredibly cold at this time of year. Cold at a lot of times in the year, but it wasn't like the weather really bothered Tyson. He had just been crowned World Champion, and he could be standing in the Arctic for all he cared. He was on top of the world. Though technically the Bladebreakers were no longer a team, and the amount of relief that gave Kai was endless, Tyson insisted on doing a few things with them before they went home.

"How about the World Champ buys us all dinner?" Max suggested cheerfully. Tyson looked aghast at the thought of having to pay for his friends to eat, but he smiled all the same.

"If I had the money to, Max, I would. But I'm broke…" Tyson's gaze fell on the unsuspecting Mr Dickinson. Mr Dickinson blinked, and finally caught on to the reason Tyson had been glaring at him for the last five minutes.

"Don't worry boys, I'll pay," Mr Dickinson said, with a heavy-hearted sigh. He knew exactly what he was in for now: an All-You-Can-Eat buffet line. And considering the amount Tyson ate, Mr Dickinson wouldn't have been surprised to have been filing for bankruptcy months ago. Tyson leapt up and down, punching the air.

"Oh yeah!" he cheered. "Dinner's on Mr D!" he then proceeded in running off down the road to find a good-quality All-You-Can-Eat buffet restaurant. He was followed by Max and Kenny, with Ray following slowly behind, as he was still on his crutches after his run-in with the Demolition Boys. Kai followed on behind Ray, not seeming too excited about the thought of eating. In fact, Kai never seemed to think a lot about eating. He didn't really do it a lot either.

"Come on Ray! There's a great restaurant just up here!" Tyson called from up ahead. Ray smiled and picked up his pace a bit, but as he started to stumble, Mariah put his arm over her shoulders and walked with him. This made it a lot easier on Ray's part, and for her help he was grateful. Ray looked back every so often to make sure Kai was still following them, and sure enough, their cold former team captain was still behind, not really paying much attention to anything or anyone.

'Typical of Kai,' Ray smiled, returning his focus back onto Tyson, Max and Kenny, whom he and Mariah were now closing in on.

"Check this place out!" Tyson beamed, ushering his friends inside. He even waited at the door for Kai, which did surprise the older teen, but he chose not to show it. It was another All-You-Can-Eat job, and they all knew Tyson was going to be the happiest here. Mr Dickinson got a table and the six of them sat down to eat; Tyson, Max, Kenny, Ray, Kai and Mariah. Mr Dickinson decided it would be best if he sat on a separate table, as he had seen the speed at which Tyson ate before, and he didn't want to see it again. They all went to the buffet line and got large platefuls of food, save Kai, then they all sat back down and began to eat.

"This stuff is great!" Max cried, showing some manners by waiting until he'd finished his mouthful before he spoke.

"I know! Talk about awesome!" Tyson agreed, displaying is apparent lack of manners for all to see. Kai frowned, looking down at the glass of water in front of him, and said nothing.

"Aren't you hungry Kai?" Ray asked, as he was sat beside Kai and had noticed his companion's icy expression.

"No," Kai replied monotonously. "Watching Tyson eat is enough to make me lose my appetite." Ray looked over at Tyson, and in a way agreed with his friend. Tyson was eating like he hadn't seen food in years. It was off-putting, and Ray now understood why Mr Dickinson hadn't joined them.

"Kai just doesn't like eating, do you Kai?" Tyson said, finishing his mouthful before doing so, which was a first for him. Kai shot Tyson a death stare, and Tyson shuddered, returning back to his eating. Kai had his reasons for not being hungry. He hadn't really eaten a decent meal for a few years now. He really didn't see a point in winding up like Tyson.

"So what's next for you guys?" Mariah asked once she had cleaned her plate. "Are you all just going home?"

"Hmmm…" Tyson thought for a few moments. "I'm not really sure! Well, the Bladebreakers aren't a team anymore, so I can't really speak for the team here, but I'm planning on hanging around here for a while, then maybe going home. There's so much of Russia I still want to see, and I'm sure there's still a lot I can learn!"

'Hyne…' Kai thought. 'I don't want to stay here…'

"Yeah! That sounds like a good idea!" Ray agreed. He looked over to Kai. "What do you think Kai? We could learn a lot by staying here a little longer." Kai didn't want to answer. He knew that if he did, he'd be forced into staying, although he really didn't want to. Because in Russia was the one place he wanted to leave behind him: The Abbey. He wanted to forget that dreadful place, and leave it as just a bad memory in the back of his mind. Hadn't these people ever heard of moving on?

"I'd rather just go home," Kai replied, not even looking at his friends.

"But Kai! Max is going to stay! Right Max?" Ray said, beginning to plead his case. Max nodded.

"I'm staying too," Kenny added. "You don't want to fly back to Japan alone now, do you?"

'Oh, the temptation…' Kai sneered to himself.

"Of course he doesn't!" Tyson replied for Kai. "He's our friend! He's one of us now, so he's not flying back alone! I say the whole team stays here for a few extra weeks!"

"Totally!" Ray agreed. "What about you Mariah? Where are The White Tigers headed?"

"We're on our way to southern Europe. The Majestics have decided to give us a tour around Europe, so we'll be hitching a flight with them tomorrow morning," Mariah replied.

"Oh yeah…this is the first time your team have been allowed out into the world! I forget that sometimes!" Kenny said. Mariah nodded.

"We wanna see as much of the world as we can, so we can become better Bladers," Mariah added.

"So it's settled! All the former members of the Bladebreakers are staying here in Russia for an extra three weeks!" Tyson stated, lifting up an empty glass and banging it on the table three times. "Notion passed!"

'Great…an extra three weeks in Russia, oh I can hardly wait,' Kai's sarcastic remarks were now creeping into his thoughts as well.

"Say…" Ray began. "I wonder what happened to Boris and that creepy training centre?" Kai froze. They just had to bring it up.

"That's a good question," Kenny replied, opening up Dizzi onto the table, brushing his clean plate aside as Tyson went back for his seventh helping. "The Demolition Boys and Boris just vanished once the tournament was over. I know that the Biovolt leader, Voltaire, was caught and arrested by Russian authorities as he tried to escape the stadium, but that still leaves Boris…" suddenly a huge commotion erupted at the front desk.

"Listen, lady, I have orders to deliver this message to Kai Hiwatari, and unless you know who he is, then you'll get out of my way!!" a man's voice yelled to one of the waitresses. Upon hearing his name, Kai got out of his seat and made his way over to the irate man.

"I'm Kai Hiwatari, so why don't you just stop causing such a racket and give me the message," Kai demanded. The man looked at Kai and sneered.

"Here ya go sport," the man said, handing the envelope over to Kai. "Have a nice evening now." and with that the man left. His departing words seemed too satanical to be normal, and this worried Kai. He opened the envelope and read the note inside, not noticing that something dropped out of the envelope and onto the floor.

'Get out of Russia?' Kai thought as he read the letter. 'Who the hell wrote this?' he flipped the piece of paper over several times, but still there was no name or address so that he could locate the sender. Just the words "Get out of Russia you are being watched" were written upon the note. This had to be some kind of joke. Who would want Kai to get out of Russia so badly? Who cared enough to keep Kai out of harm? Obviously the sender had some idea of Kai's history in Russia. He made his way back to the table and said nothing as he was bombarded with questions.

"What was that all about?" Max asked first. No response.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Tyson asked. Still nothing from Kai.

"What does the letter say?" Kenny asked. Kai continued to deny them an explanation.

"Are you going to answer any of our questions at all?" Ray asked, sighing as if admitting defeat. And yet still Kai didn't reply. "I'll take your silence as a 'no' then…"

"Jeez! Who needs you!" Tyson scoffed. "You keep your little letter to yourself then Kai! It's obviously not that important!" he then reaffixed his full attention on his food, and finished his eighth and ninth helpings in no time, and was soon going back for a tenth serving.

"Tyson, I know you must be starving, but some of us are bored and want to leave," Kai said finally after a long awkward silence.

"Namely you I presume?" Tyson said, shovelling his tenth serving into his mouth. He then performed a miracle by putting his knife and fork down. "Man! I'm stuffed! Let's get some sight-seeing done!" Tyson got to his feet and told the waiter to give the bill to Mr Dickinson. The six of them then left.

They wandered around Russia for a few hours, taking in the sights of Moscow, and occasionally stopping along the way because Tyson wanted a hot dog. Kai was beginning to feel weariness overtake him, and was unsure as to whether he'd be able to walk on much further. He was starved, but he didn't want to eat anything. His apparent eating disorder was starting to consume him. Why wouldn't he just admit he wanted to eat and just eat something? Because he was afraid. Afraid of being poisoned, or not holding it down. Whilst he had been at The Abbey, he was frightened to eat because Boris and Voltaire had given him food poisoning on more than two occasions. That was probably what was putting him off. But this wasn't just in Russia; this was in Japan, America, and most of Europe. He seemed to refuse to eat anywhere. Was he that paranoid?

"Hey Kai, you OK? You don't look so good," Ray asked. He was now walking pretty independently, aside from the crutches. Mariah was in a conversation with Max about their Bit Beasts.

"I'm fine," Kai replied, lying through gritted teeth. He felt light-headed and drained, but like he was going to show them any signs of weakness. Before Kai knew what was happening, his vision started to blur and it felt as if the world was spinning frantically around him. He then felt a huge surge of pain through his right shoulder and went blank.

Save me

I'm trapped inside a mental prison

I've locked myself behind bars

I don't want people to see me

They won't understand

But I want to be saved

I don't want to die…

SN: Yeah, that's it. I know a lotta people write about Kai, but that's cos he's got an interesting plot to work with! My hugest inspirations are TigerTerror (Coffee Break is awesome!) and treachery89 (A Year To Live is a total classic.) My thanks goes to them!!!

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