Title: Eternal Darkness
Pairing(s): Kai/Ozuma (this is me, remember? I'm obsessed with this coupling!), OMC/Ozuma (unrequited)… Um, I dunno what else to include. I'm open to suggestions, but nothing weird or out of the way, okay? (I was thinking of putting in mentions of past OzTy this very morning, what do you guys think?)
Warnings: Heavy, insanely huge doses of Angst, Sap, Shounen-ai and implied NCS (yikes!)

Brief Summary:
On the night of the day that Zeo defeated Ozuma, the Saint Shield is feeling really depressed. He goes for a walk and his nightmares start from there.
(I know, pretty vague summary, but I don't want to give too much away)

Disclaimer:
Man, I can't believe I forgot to put this. I remembered the moment I uploaded it! (thank goodness for these neat new features the site is making for us!)
Right so, BeyBlade and none of its characters belong to me and they never will. I'm only borrowing them for a while is all.
If the show was mine, I'd make Ozuma the main character (no offense Takao-chan) and I'd make sure he and Kai would be together forever and evermore. dreams
BUT, Mist Shidou IS mine! Mine, and if you wish to use him you'll need my permission, okay? If you ask nicely, it's a guarantee I'd say yes, just do keep him as I've portrayed him, okay? Thanks! (and yeah, it IS the same Mist from my other story My Friend, My Enemy, however here, he's a good guy and I've written him as I'd originally designed him)

Well, enjoy!

Chapter 1
Defeated, Attacked, Broken

He'd lost.
He still couldn't believe it.
He had lost to that amateur blader, Zeo, and he'd lost badly. Ozuma had given the fight his all, had used all his strength and skill and he had been beaten with so little effort from his opponent.
Not to mention…

"Flash Leopard," he whispered almost sadly as he took his blade out from his pocket and looked at the Bit-Chip.
His precious bitbeast had taken a lot of damage during the heated battle, and even though he was never going to admit it to anyone, he felt extremely guilty about it. If only he had been more prepared for the fight!

Heaving a soft sigh, he took a look at his sleeping comrades.
Joseph and Mariam were sleeping soundly, no doubt wanting to be at their best shape for their battle against the conniving King and Queen.
Dunga, on the other hand was tossing and turning slightly in his sleep, still sore and angered deeply by his defeat to Gordo.

Ozuma couldn't take it any longer.
He had to get some air and fast.

Putting his blade back in his pocket, he stood up from where he was sitting by the window and snuck out of the room that had been given to him and his friends.
Making sure to avoid contact with anyone, he made it out of the building without being seen easily.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew against his slight frame.
Raising his arms, he wrapped them around his body, trying not to shake from the bitter cold air.

-----

"We did good tonight, right boss?" snickered a sleazy-looking young man, his eyes never leaving the huge sack filled with money, precious jewelry and all sorts of valuables that he and his cronies had stolen just a while ago.
"Yep, we did. But our fun's not over yet, boys," slurred the leader of the group as he guzzled down a mouthful of beer.
"What do you mean?" the youngest of the lot asked curiously.

"You'll see mate, you'll see," the other said, his dark-blue eyes shining with pure malice.

Just then, one of the members nudged his leader at what, or rather, who he'd just spotted.
"Now there's a beauty, eh boss? Will that one do?" he asked, his voice full of greed and lust.
Apparently he knew fully well what the boss had meant by his words, and he certainly had no objections to them.

The man in charge took a look at the figure that his buddy had pointed out.
He was short, looked young, much younger than they were, and even though it was dark, none of them could take their eyes off the flawless bronze skin.
He was also extremely beautiful, that didn't go past them.

The boy was walking nearby, not knowing that with each step he was nearing great danger…

Nodding his head, obviously very satisfied, he announced to the others, "yes, he'll do perfectly."

-----

Ozuma wrapped his arms tighter around himself, closing his emerald green eyes.

He remembered the fight again.
When his blade had fallen out of the dish with a shattering 'clink' he had felt eyes on him and he'd dared to look whose stare it was he felt burning in his back.
He remembered how disappointed he was when he saw that it was none other than Kai, and how coldly and furiously he had looked at him.
The boy hated the idea of having let down the one he admired most, hated the feeling more than anything else.

Suddenly his instincts were screaming at him to stop in his tracks and turn back now, he was treading on very dangerous grounds.

Opening his eyes, he noticed a group of four young men in a nearby alleyway.
He wasn't sure if they'd seen him and he definitely didn't want to stick around to find out.

Turning on his heels, he began to run back to the building, to safety.
However, he hadn't taken more than three steps when he felt someone push a cloth soaked wet with something foul-tasting firmly against his mouth.
As he let out a sharp, frightened gasp, the horrible liquid from the gag went down his throat; it tasted absolutely terrible, and he felt like his insides had all been set on fire.

Raising his hands weakly, he tried to pry the cloth away from his face, but in a matter of seconds, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell unconscious on the hard ground below him, not knowing his nightmares were only beginning for him.

-----

"What a catch! He's even more beautiful than I first thought!" the oldest of the bunch exclaimed appreciatively, staring at the fallen boy with absolute lust written all over his ugly face.
"Absolutely incredible," the sleazy-looking man agreed.

The youngest however was still in complete shock.
Surely they didn't intend to…
No way!

"Just what are we going to do with him?" he asked, hiding the shiver from his voice, hoping against hope that he was wrong.

"Surely you can't be that dense, eh Mist?" the leader asked with a snicker.
"But… but… this isn't right!" the younger man shouted.

Mist Shidou hadn't been with this group of thieves for more than a couple of months.
He had been found by them when he'd been kicked out of his home by his family and stuck with them since then.
But he had no idea that they'd ever stoop so low as to rape someone, and one so young at that! He couldn't allow them to do such a heinous crime! He'd rather die!

"Gonna chicken out are ya, kiddo?" sneered the sleazy man.
The young man looked down at the unconscious boy and he could feel his heart going out to him. He didn't know him at all, but he felt this strong desire to protect him at all costs.

Nodding his head firmly, he went to stand before the boy.
"I may be a thief now, but I'd never stoop so low! Never!"
"Outta the way, boy!" the boss ordered, his voice demanding obedience.
"Forget it! If you're going to even attempt to hurt him, you'll have to go through me first!"

"Stupid traitor!"

Apparently, Mist had no idea just how strong the others were, because before he knew what was happening, the sleazy man had grabbed his long jet-black hair roughly, nearly tearing every soft strand out of its roots, whilst the oldest punched him squarely in the ribs, effectively rendering him unconscious as well.
"I'll deal with that traitor later myself. First…" At that last word, the leader licked his lips as his eyes roamed over the passed out beauty, lying helplessly at his feet.

Yes, he was definitely going to enjoy this.

Just then, the boy the other three men were gazing lustily at woke up with a soft moan.

-----

As Ozuma opened his eyes, relieved at having escaped that terrible darkness he was welcomed by even more darkness.
He had no doubts whatsoever that this was those four men's doing, the ones he saw at the alleyway; but where had they taken him?
Why was it so dark?

He squinted as hard as he could, trying to make something out through the darkness, but it was useless.
Wherever it was, it was too dark to see.

'Someone, please help me,' he pleaded mentally.

"Hey boss, the little slut's awake!" he heard someone say, the voice sounding frighteningly gleeful.
"I can see that, Bruce! No need to point out the obvious!" This voice sounded even more frightening than the first, Ozuma realized as a violent shudder ran through his entire body.

'How come they can see me and I can't? What's going on?'

"Yo boss, what about Mist? How 'bout we just kill him? What if he gets us caught?"
Ozuma whimpered softly; did that man say "kill"?
He felt scared to the bone that he was about to witness a murder.
If only he could do something, anything, to stop them.

'Did those creeps imprison him as well?' he wondered, trying once more to look around him, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone else that he knew couldn't possibly be any one of his kidnappers.

That frightening voice from before spoke again, immobilizing the boy completely with fear and dread.

"Touch him and I'll break every bone in your body, twice," said the man in a very cold voice that promised exactly what had been threatened.
"Fine, fine. Sheesh!"

"Kai," Ozuma whispered unconsciously, trying to take as much comfort as he could from that one word.

As soon as the word left his lips, he felt a large hand on his face, turning it first one side, then the other.
"Ya said somethin', kid?" sneered the leader of the group.

Ozuma let out a tiny gasp full of terror.
That man, that horribly frightening man was near him, touching him!
He couldn't understand how they were so close and he still couldn't see the man before him, but at that moment he was too panicked to care.

He began to struggle wildly against the man's grip on his face.
Somehow, he managed to land a kick on the man's side but all that did was anger him further.

"You little brat!"
With those three words, Ozuma felt a large fist smash against the side of his forehead, and he fell back on the ground, feeling extremely dizzy.

"Hurry it up, boss! We want our share too, y' know?!" the other two pleaded.
"All in good time boys."

'No…'

He could hear rough footsteps quickly advancing towards him, and he began to scramble weakly away, trying to put as much distance as he could between those vile men and himself.
All of that was futile, however.

A whimper escaped his throat as that man seized a fistful of his silken locks of hair, forcing him back on his feet.
Involuntary tears of pain leaked out of his eyes, though he tried his best to force them away.

"You're not going anywhere."

-----

That's it for this teaser.
I'm getting good at these cliff-hanger things, aren't I?

So, was this any good? I sure hope you all liked it, at least a little bit.
Remember, nice reviews make me upload the full thing much faster and I'd update faster too.
(don't worry Mariam-san, I'm not abandoning My Friend, My Enemy! But these days, I barely have enough free time to type up my stories. It's such a stress! I'll try my best to get something done by the weekend, okay?)