Hey peeps! This is my first real attempt at a beyblade fic so any constructive critisizm is welcome. Im not going to beg you for reviews like some writers, but if you see something wrong or right with my writing, feel free to review me.

I would like to stress that this fic is NON YAOI! See, I put it in bold print so it will draw your attention! waves goodbye to all the Yaoi lovers clicking on the cancel program button this has only friendship in it, and maybe Rei/Mariah later on. Im not sure yet.

There will be a fluffy moment between Tala and Kai though. I know what you're thinking. What is Tala doing in the first chapter and why is the time that he is in the chapter fluffy? Well, all of you Tala lovers(myself being one) can stop drooling for now because its in a flashback. I do plan on putting Tala in the story more later on though.

Happy reading!

Rei 

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Dawn smiled upon the Granger Dojo amidst the warm weekend morning. The sun hung high in the sky, it's scalding fires warming the earth.

Ajisais, Azalias, and Unknown Beauties bloomed in various assortments of colors around the garden. In the middle of the arrangement of flowers sat a small pond, Koi carp swimming frantically under the lilies that infested the water. Wavy patterns danced across the polished wood of the dojo house created by the gleam of the sun's rays on the pond's surface.

Beautiful Japanese birds fluttered above the dojo's garden before landing on a stone or tree branch, folding their wings like colorful kimonos around their tiny bodies. Their mellifluous voices echoed through the yard as they sang for the joy of summer.

"LET IT RIP!" A white flash zoomed across the gravel in the front of the house, kicking up tiny pebbles as it flew by.

"Go Dragoon!" The beyblade sped for a Japanese angelic tree growing nearby. Despite the shouts and commands emitting from it's master to curve to the left, it continued on the same path. A splintering crack sounded as the spinning metal collided with the trunk, causing a flock of Narcissus flycatchers that were perched in the tree's branches to scatter.

So much for the morning tranquility.

Once the dust cleared, Tyson Granger could see his beyblade lodged in the tree's bark, spinning slightly before finally stopping and falling to the ground with a clunk.

"Aw, man," he sighed, bending down to pick his beyblade up out of the wood splinters. "Hey, guys, do you think Dragoon's sick?" Tyson turned his beyblade over with his fingers, checking it over in case something was wrong with it.

"Don't be silly Tyson, bitbeasts don't get sick." Max stopped for a moment, thinking his answer over. "Do bitbeasts get sick?" He turned to Rei, who shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with your bitbeast Tyson, it's your brain that's malfunctioning," spat Kai.

Tyson stared at him for a minute, trying to remember the definition of malfunctioning. "Hey!" he whined once he had remembered.

Sitting on the edge of the dojo's porch, Rei, Max and Kenny laughed quietly at Tyson's current lapse in brain activity.

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Tyson, you're relying on your blade to do all the work for you. A bitbeast feeds off the blader's energy. You're going to have to meet Dragoon halfway, because if you decide to act stupid, he's going to do the same thing."

"Are you saying I'm dumb!" huffed Tyson.

"I didn't say that," explained Kai, a rather large hint of annoyance in his voice. "What I am saying is that if you don't start acting more serious with your blading and train harder, then Dragoon's going to see no reason to listen to you."

"Hmph, what makes you think I need to train harder?"

Kai walked over to the cracked tree trunk and motioned to the hole imbedded in the bark. "Exhibit A."

Tyson just snorted and planted a large pout on his face. "You're just jealous because you lost your match in the tournament and I became world champion."

"I didn't say that either," said Kai through clenched teeth.

"You didn't have to. Ever since the first time I beat you you've just been green with envy, haven't you?"

"Tyson, I don't think jealousy is the issue here. You have been really off with your blading ever since the championships," intervened Rei.

"Oh sure take his side, since you're both so perfect!"

"Tyson, knock it off! You're acting like a big baby!"

"Why should I listen to you Kai, huh? Give me one good reason!"

"Because I'm your captain!"

"Oh, so just because you're the captain you're always right? Well, lets' recount shall we? Rejoining BioVolt: that idea was a winner. Battling us at Lake Baikal and nearly killing yourself: a brilliant decision, that one was. And, to top it all off, using Black Dranzer in the championships and nearly blowing the whole tournament for us: good going Kai."

"You don't know shit about any of that Tyson so don't pretend you do!"

"Then you stop pretending like you're better than everyone else, 'cause you're not!"

"Tyson, you'd better shut up or I'll—

"You'll what Kai? Beat me up? Or were you thinking of calling up your abbey friends to come and pound on me? Well, I hate to tell you this, but they're off kissing Boris's feet right now so—

Tyson was silence when something hard punched him in the cheek so fast he didn't even have time to blink. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground that just second ago he had been standing on. Hr looked up to see an extremely angry looking Kai standing over him with one hand balled up into a fist. Rage swirled around in the black depths of his scarlet eyes.

"You don't know anything Tyson!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "You don't know anything about BioVolt, Boris, the Demolition Boys or me!"

Rei, Max and Kenny rushed over to help Tyson stand up. He swatted them away and stood himself to face Kai. His left hand was on his cheek, which was turning a blackish-purple color, and the other hand was clenched.

"Is that how you treat your team Kai, by hurting them?"

"Is that how you treat your team, by harassing them?

"At least I don't cause my team pain!" Tyson retorted.

A noticeable change came over Kai. His muscles became less tense and his features softened slightly. He unclenched his right fist and let it drop to the side. An emotion flashed through his eyes for a split second, before disappearing and being replaced with anger again. But Tyson caught it while it was there. The others must have to, because they began exchanging glances from behind. The emotion that had appeared just as fast as it had gone was one that none of them had ever seen Kai use. He looked…hurt?"

"There are more types of pain than just physical, Tyson. You remember that," he said softly before turning around and walking out of the dojo's yard.

Tyson couldn't move. His whole body screamed at him to do something, to run after him to stop him from leaving, or yell at him to come back. It seemed that his body had lost it's ability to function. He just stood there with his mouth open, eyes fixed on the spot that Kai had been. He had…hurt…Kai? Just for talking about BioVolt.

'Talking? Give me a break. You totally trashed him. I'd say you've earned that bruise,' said a voice in his head.

'Shut up,' he told the voice.

He shook off his guilt just in time to hear his teammates calling after their captain. Once Kai had disappeared from view, they all turned around to face Tyson, Each one glaring with everything they had (except Kenny, 'cause you really never see his eyes).

"What?"

They all held their glares, narrowing their eyes slightly at Tyson's incompetence.

"Nice going Tyson!" yelled Max. "You have just succeeded in royally pissing off our captain! Again!"

"Oh come on Max. A twig could piss that guy off," insisted Tyson, although his mind kept telling him otherwise.

"Tyson, you acted like a jerk! You stuck your nose into things that you had no clue about, and then trashed them! I wouldn't be surprised if he quits the team!"

"I can only hope Rei."

"Oh knock it off already. You know you were out of line Tyson. Just admit it so we can get on with our lives!"

"I was out of line! You don't think he was out of line by punching him in the face!

"I have to side with Kai on this one Tyson. You deserved what you got," agreed Kenny.

"Not you too chief."

"Kenny's right. He had every reason to sock you one," Max agreed.

Tyson looked around at his friends. Rei's amber eyes were still locked on him, anger ever present in his gaze. The cheerfulness had left Max's features, replaced with a mix of the same anger he had seen in Rei's eyes, and sadness. The parts of Kenny's face that you could actually see behind his tuffs of brown hair looked as though he was just as P'Od as the others.

"So all of you have turned against me too? Well fine! I don't care." With that he turned around and stomped back into the dojo.

Once Tyson had left they all let out a huge sigh of frustration.

"So, what do we do now?" Max turned to look at Rei. He looked extremely tired, but Max knew that it was emotions more than anything.

"I think we should just cool it for a while. We'll let Tyson down, and if Kai isn't back by nightfall, I'll go look for him."

The others nodded in agreement, then followed Tyson inside.

-meanwhile-

Kai walked down the strip of docks at the pier. He could never put his finger on why he always went there when he was mad. The movement of the waves and the sound of the ocean just seemed to soothe him for some reason.

The soft sea breeze blew through his cobalt hair as he continued to walk along the pier, trying to find a spot with no people and no boats. He could hear the creaking of the rotting wood under his feet as he walked, softened by the elements. There was little activity, seeing as it was getting too late for ships to make birth. There were a few cargo ships being unloaded and a sailboat or two, but other than that practically nothing.

Kai finally found a place that suited him and leaned on the railing of the pier. He concentrated his gaze on the ocean, watching the waves crash into the harbor. He glanced quickly at the sun. From it's position in the sky, he guessed that it was about 7:00. That gave him two hours at the most before the cavalry arrived.

Kai thought back to earlier that day when and Tyson had had the fight. He was pretty sure Tyson had seen his inner barriers fall for the brief moment that they did, judging by the look on his face when he had left. It wasn't really what Tyson had said that had hurt him; he could care less what he thought. But that particular fight had stirred painful memories inside him, memories that Kai had tried to keep locked up for so long. Tyson didn't understand why the Demolition Boys had done what they had done. He didn't understand that they hadn't had a choice in the matter. That's why Kai had hit him. Tyson had no right to say those things. Tala, Brian, Ian and Spencer had been some of his best friends at the abbey, especially Tala. He probably would have died if it hadn't been for Tala…

-flashback-

Thunder and lightning danced across the sky. Purple clouds billowed above, crying for a lost soul. A five year old Kai was kneeling on the muddy ground, soaked with rain. He had been sitting in the same position for hours, not caring about the consequences he was going to be presented with when he returned to the abbey.

He seemed to be kneeling next to a mound of dirt(or in this case, mud). Closer inspection showed a tiny plank of wood imbedded in the ground next to the mound. Lightning flash again and, if only for a moment, made it possible to read the tiny plank.

Stephania Hiwatari

1986-1993

The crude handwriting suggested that a child had made the grave marker, most likely Kai himself.

Kai heard footsteps sloshing through the mud towards him. He closed his eyes and braced himself for what he thought was a BioVolt employee to drag him back to the abbey. But instead of feeling rough hands wrap around his tiny body, he felt a small hand lightly touch his thin shoulder.

"Kai…" the owner of the hand said softly.

"Tala…" he whispered back. He shifted his eyes to meet the red heads own blue ones. "What do you want?"

"I want to help you Kai," he answered. "You haven't eaten in over two weeks, you're not paying any attention to the instructors, and if you keep disobeying Boris then he's going to beat you to death."

Kai looked back at his sister's grave. "I want to die Tala. I've got no reason to live anymore." Tears began streaming down his cheeks(of course since it was raining you couldn't tell the difference.). "He killed her Tala. He killed his own granddaughter. She was all I had left and he killed her!" He held his head in his hands, sobs racking his small frame. "Just let me die."

"NO!" Tala wrapped his arms around Kai and embraced him in a hug. "Please Kai, I don't want you to die!" Sobs now shook his own body. "You're my best friend."

"Tala—

"Don't throw your life away Kai. She wouldn't have wanted that."

Kai just stared at him for a moment, contemplating his decision of death. He remembered when he had found Stephania's body dead and bloody on the floor of the dungeon. He thought of the same image again, only his body was on the floor and Tala walked in to find him dead. He returned Tala's hug.

"I'm sorry Tala," he sobbed into his shoulder, his voice slightly muffled. "I'm so sorry."

-end flashback-

Kai had decided there, sitting in the mud in the middle of a thunderstorm, that he would live not for his own sake, but for Tala's. He wasn't going to cause his best friend the same pain that he had felt when Stephania had died.

Kai let out an exasperated sigh. Today was turning out to be an extremely complicated day. As if his inner turmoil wasn't enough to torture him, memories had to keep popping up too. If his life continued on this emotional rollercoaster, he just might have to resort to seeking professional counseling.

'Ha, like any shrink's going to be able to help me. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a lost cause.'

-Granger Dojo, two hours later-

Night had befallen the Granger Dojo, the moon full and hanging brightly in the star speckled sky(try saying that ten times fast! I know I did. On the tenth time it sounded something like shar shpeckled sty.). An uneasy silence had settled inside the dojo, making everyone uncomfortable. No one had said a word since the fight that morning. Tyson sat on the couch fiddling with his beyblade, his brow knotted together in frustration. Max was sitting next to him, staring down at his hands in his lap. Kenny was off typing somewhere, where somewhere was, no one quite knew. Rei was standing next to the window, arms crossed over his chest, staring into the dark.

Kai had been gone for nearly 12 hours straight, and Rei had to admit that he was impressed at his raw determination to avoid anywhere within a five mile radius of Tyson. He wasn't happy about the dispute between the two bladders, but it was hard not to admire the kind of drive it took to avoid someone for so long. Of course, it was probably more arrogance than determination that kept Kai away. That and the fact that Tyson could be a royal pain in the ass sometimes.

'Anyway,' Rei thought, 'it's getting late. I should probably go look for Kai now.'

He leaned away from the window and walked in front of the couch. "It's getting late you guys. I'm going to go look for Kai."

Max continued to stare at his hands, but Tyson spoke for the first time since that morning, although what he had to say was rather rude.

"When you find him, tell him not to hurry back."

"You don't mean that Tyson."

"Yeah I do!" he insisted. "Kai's punches hurt! I'd like to stay as far away from his fist as humanly possible if you don't mind."

"Actually, I do mind. You know as well as I do that Kai had a good reason to punch you Tyson. You said some pretty nasty things."

"Well I'm sick of him acting like he's always right and telling me what to do and criticizing me all the time!"

"Tyson, he's the captain. He's supposed to criticize you. When you do something wrong he's supposed to help you fix it. Sure he's pretty hard-core, but a little discipline wouldn't hurt you." Max said.

"Well I understand the discipline thing, but what was I doing wrong?"

"Considering your current state of denial, I'm going to let the tree answer that question." Rei pointed outside to the tree that Tyson had succeeded in drilling a hole into.

Tyson let out a large sigh. You just couldn't pit facts against pride. The cold hard truth was that his blading had sucked that morning. Kai tried to give him advice and what did he do?' He got jealous. He just couldn't stand the fact that Kai was right about the whole thing, that he wasn't doing his part by focusing and giving something back to Dragoon. Then he had accused Kai of being jealous of him.

"I guess you guys are right. It's just that, I'm supposed to be the world champion of beyblading. What's wrong with me? Why wouldn't Dragoon listen to me?"

"Well, like Kai said, you weren't meeting him halfway. Plus, I think that fame has gotten to your head Tyson. Maybe Dragoon's trying to tell you something."

"You think so Rei?"

"Yeah. All you need to do is stop acting like such a hothead and Dragoon will go back to normal. And when I say hothead, I mean that in the best possible way."

Tyson laughed softly at Rei's attempt to avoid confrontation. He guessed the fight him and Kai had had was more than enough for Rei. Tyson couldn't help but agree with him.

"Hey, guys, I'm sorry about earlier. I was out of control."

"Tyson."

"Ok, I was way out of control."

"Tyson!"

"Alright Alright! I went totally and completely insane, are you happy now!"

A catlike spread across Rei's face. "Yep."

"Well, now that that's been straightened out, maybe go back to looking for Kai, Rei," Max suggested.

"You're right. I'll see you guys later." Rei turned and began to walk out of the living room.

"Hey Rei?" Rei stopped and looked back at Tyson.

"When you find him, tell him to hurry back."

Rei smiled. "Sure thing."

-the pier-

Rei found Kai leaning against the edge of the pier's railing, watching the moonlight reflect off the water and the tiny waves roll into shore. Rei wasn't sure why he had looked for Kai here. It just seemed like every time Kai had walked out to be alone, they always found him near water.

Now that Rei had found him, all he had to do was convince him to come back and forgive Tyson. Easier said than done. 'Well,' he thought, 'here goes nothing.'

Kai heard footsteps coming towards him and guessed that one of his teammates had come to get him. He knew it wasn't Max, and it defiantly wasn't Tyson. Kenny rarely got involved in his business so that ruled him out. 'It must be Rei,' he thought. He was thankful for that. Rei was always to talk to than the others. He never put pressure on him and didn't bug him when he didn't want to talk. And when he talked with Rei, it actually felt like he was listening. Maybe that's because he was.

Rei walked up to the wooden railing and leaned next to Kai. "So," he began, "are you okay?"

He didn't answer. Not that Rei had expected him to. Kai wasn't exactly what you would call talkative. In fact, he was the exact opposite. Kai was famous for what people called his 'lone wolf attitude.' Rei figured that was why he was so distant; he didn't open up to them at all. Sometimes he went whole days without talking.

Rei sighed and stared at the knots and cracks in the wood of the rail, waiting to see if Kai would answer. Minutes ticked by and he gave up on getting Kai to talk.

"I didn't mean to hit Tyson."

Rei started at the sudden voice. He turned to face Kai, who was still staring out at sea.

"He didn't mean to hurt you Kai."

"He didn't hurt me." Turning to see the disbelieving look on Rei's face, he continued. "Not really anyway. It's just…" Kai trailed off and turned his attention back towards the water.

"It's just that sometimes, words slip out that bring up things that are painful for you to remember, and you just get so mad at hurt by the memories that you loose yourself," Rei finished.

Kai turned his head to look at Rei again, eyes widened slightly. "How did you know?"

Rei shrugged. "S' happened to me before. I didn't hit Tyson though, but I doubt that my memories are as intense as yours."

"What makes you think that?"

Rei stared back down at the railing. "I don't know. You just don't show what you're feeling when you're around us, and when Tyson said all that stuff about BioVolt… I've just never seen so much emotion come from you before. I figured that for you to express yourself in front of us like that, you must have experienced some pretty bad things."

Kai stated at Rei in slight awe. The fact of the matter was, Rei was right. He was more than right actually. He had hit the nail so hard on the head that it had gone straight through the board.

"You know something Rei?"

"What's that?"

"You have an uncanny ability to read people, even people like me."

Rei smiled. After all, how many times in your life did Kai give you a compliment? "Thanks Kai."

"Hn."

Rei's smile got bigger. That was Kai alright. Give him a 'thank you' and he'll give you a 'hn.'

Kai suddenly went on guard. Hid muscles tensed and his eyes grew concentrated. They darted back and forth using his perifrial vision to see from side to side. Rei, noticing the changes, faced him, worry etched into his features. When Kai sensed that something was wrong, there usually was.

"Kai what's— Rei was stopped when Kai covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shhh…"

And then he heard it. The faint click of a car door closing.

"Run," Kai whispered.

"Wha—

"Run!"

Kai pushed Rei forward. He obeyed Kai's order and began running. He could hear Kai's footsteps behind him, along with several others. The owners of the footsteps were shouting frantically in a language he couldn't understand.

Rei felt himself slam face down into the pavement. He wondered what could of possibly tripped him, until he felt the weight of someone else on top of him. Someone had tackled him. Judging by the thud that he heard behind him moments later, he guessed that Kai had been tackled to the ground also.

He struggled against the several arms pinning him down, desperately trying to get free to help Kai, but the grips held.

Kai was doing the same thing, only he was trying to get free to help Rei. There was only one difference. Kai got out.

Kai broke free of the five sets of arms that had been holding him down. He ran towards the struggling Rei, ready to spring on the men holding him down, when one of them picked Rei up by his throat and lifted him 10 inches of the ground.

"Take another step and he dies." To prove his point, the man tightened his grip on Rei's neck, cutting of his air. Kai stopped so fast that he almost fell forward.

Despite the fact that he was being hung up by his throat by a man who most likely wouldn't loose any sleep over killing him, Rei looked around at the several men who had ambushed them. Through his blurring vision he could see the letters 'BV' printd on the men's shirts. BV. It was only two letters but Rei knew what they meant. BioVolt. These men had come to take Kai back to the abbey.

The BioVolt men took advantage of Kai's lapse in concentration and pinned him to the ground again. Kai did next to nothing to stop them, as Rei was still suspended in the air by the neck. One false move, and they wouldn't hesitate to snap his neck in two. The men bound his hands behind his back despite his lack of struggling, just in case he did try to make a break for it.

Rei tried to call out to Kai, to tell him to just forget about him and run, but a choking noise was the only sound that came out. Even if he had managed to say the words, Kai wouldn't have listened. Rei knew that he wouldn't of listened had their places been switched.

Once they were sure that Kai wasn't going anywhere, the men began to talk amongst themselves.

"What should we do with this one Viktor?" asked the man holding Rei in Russian.

Viktor thought for a moment. "He knows too much Adrik. You know what to do," he replied, also in Russian.

Adrik nodded and let go of Rei's neck, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud. He got up on his hands and knees, gasping for air, and massaged his neck, which was turning a purple color.

Adrik lifted him to his feet and locked his arms under Rei's. He struggled to get free, but no avail. The man was too strong.

Kai, who was still pinned to the ground, widened his scarlet eyes when he noticed Victor begin to pull something out of his belt. The reason his eyes widened was because of the glint of moonlight reflecting off of the barrel of a gun.

"REI, LOOK OUT!"

But it was too late. The bullet exploded out of the barrel and began ripping through the air towards Rei.

The bullet entered Rei's upper abdomonen, a gasp escaping from his lips when the bullet impacted. A red stain immediately blossomed through Rei's white shirt. Adrik let go of him, again, and Rei fell forward.

For Kai, it seemed like everything was going in slow motion. He watched in horror as Rei fell forward and hit the hard ground, his skin deathly pale and a puddle of blood forming under his still form.

"REI!"

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RT: Goodness gracious golly gosh! Is Rei going to be ok? Only I know the answer to that. You will just have to stick around to find out!

Rei: You actually shot me! Flame her! She's evil!

RT: Oh, shut up! Its my fic and I will do what ever I want! And If you don't behave I might have to kill you! That gun is still fully loaded!

Rei:cowers in fear of my sadist writing abilitys

RT: he's right though, I am evil! laughs meniaclly

Anyway, I hated writing that fluffy thing between Tala and Kai. It was so corny! Cringes at having to write fluffy crap Again this will be NON YAOI so I don't want any requests to turn this into a yaoi fic, because I will simply not listen to them.

Stick around for the next chapter! I have some evil things in store for Rei and Kai!