TalaTati19- Welcome, everyone! A new story here, aren't you excited?! I must say that I am, because this is my first yaoi ever. Everything that I plan to do here is completely -and I mean COMPLETELY- different from my other story, which is the category of writing that's easier for me. I'm planning to keep it more down to earth here.

So please be patient with me, leave positive/negative comments on things I may want to improve/avoid, and enjoy reading!

Summary:.. [Rei's POV] It's been nearly five years since the last time we saw each other. The gang has made no effort to keep contact and I am also to blame. Now, out of mere chance, fate is binding us again. "How did we get here? I used to know you so well…" K/R, T/M

Note:.. The theme song of this story is the song 'Decode' by Paramore, found on the Twilight Soundtrack. It's the centerpiece of this puzzle.

Genres:.. This story falls under the following categories- Drama/Romance

Disclaimer:.. TalaTati19 does not own Beyblade or any other commercial/marketing references that may appear throughout the story.

Scene Break:.. x-x-x-x

Decode

How much longer am I going to keep lying to myself like this?

"I love you, Rei." Mariah had said, madly in love with me and caught up in her wild teenage emotions.

"I love you too, Mao." I'd replied, more forcefully than I ever thought I'd have to. I wish I wasn't so much of a pushover, or at least one that doesn't drag his loved ones down to the abyss with him.

Years later, there I was, married. I never wanted to get married to Mariah; I loved her like a sister, I still do, but I knew we'd never work out together. She's an amazing person, yet not for me. More precisely put, not with me. Our personalities do not mix.

I wish I hadn't lied about wanting to marry her.

"Get out of my house, Rei, you selfish cunt!" She'd screamed, knocking over the stained glass décor and ornaments we'd so carefully shopped for together when piecing together our humble apartment: our future home…my old home. "How could you do this to me?!"

"Do what, stand up for myself? Pursue my dreams?! Excuse me for trying to be happy!" I'd yelled back, storming into the small kitchen with a glass of water.

"I thought you said you were happy! You're president of cargo management at Lee's company, a job that others would kill to have. We have our own and we always see each other because you're-." She'd followed me, dressed in a small white silk nightgown and pink slippers with pompoms on them. She sat up on the high stool of the island and crossed her legs and arms, glaring at me.

"Because I'm best friends with the guy who owns the company? And you think that's fair that I can just waltz around doing whatever the hell I want? What about what others think?" I snarled through my teeth, attempting to contain my anger and mulling of a different way to settle this argument at that moment in time.

"I don't care what the others think, they don't have to think anything!" She slams her palm on the table, sending an echo of a slap to bounce off the kitchen walls.

"See, that's your fucking problem, Mariah!" I'd spun on my feet from the sink and thrown the glass across the room, hitting the wall shattering into glittering razor-sharp pieces to the wooden floor. "You accuse me of being a selfish bastard but you're just the same. In that little fried pink head of yours you think the world revolves solely around you. Better yet, you think the universe does! With you it's all about your wants and your needs. Before anyone else can do anything for themselves, they have to satisfy what you want to be done first."

She and I stood glaring at each other for a long moment, the former Chinese beyblader left speechless. "Do me the favor of interrupting if I get anything wrong, but it's the goddamn truth! Ever since we were little, you had to get everything you wanted first. Before The White Tigers got their respective Bitbeasts, you had to get yours. Before everyone else had to sign their name to the pro-beyblading contract with BBA, you had to sign yours first. Before Lee got his driver's license, you had to get a dumb cell phone. Before I get to decide what's best for the two of us, you're already resolving it on your own."

"Oh, so are you trying to say that I don't let you decide anything around here? If so, then you're a hypocrite for saying that! I let you decide on plenty of things!" She rebutted.

"Really, like what?!"

"Like having kids!" She yowled, jumping down from the stool and walked over to me. "What happened to our family plan, huh?" If there was one thing I never brought myself to give to Mariah, it's kids. And I know that it tore her apart, because her entire life fantasy was having a large happy family with me. "You want to live your dream but you're not giving mine a chance!"

"I already told you I'm not ready for kids." I had replied remarkably calmly in comparison to my mood. "And I'm not happy with my job, either. I want to chase after acting- you know that I'm a promising star, I've already acted in six different productions in the past four and a half years!"

"I don't know what to do then; how the hell am I suppose to make you happy, Rei?!" She argued with me, the corners of her sun shining golden orbs sparkling with tears.

"You don't!" I'd cracked- the cat was out of the bag (no pun intended). "You don't make me happy, Mariah, you never have! You only see your end of the line, but you fail to see my own. While you're living up your little fantasy I'm withering away in what's been dwindling into a living hell!" She stood still as a statue, her eyes wide and her mouth frozen in a small 'o', her breath hitched in her throat.

She'd finally made a move, balling her hands into fists and pounding on my chest like bongos, screaming 'asshole' at the top of her lungs. I'd shoved her back and silenced her; the slap to her cheek echoed throughout the entire silent apartment.

"You're the most selfish twit I've ever known and I still have no idea why I agreed to marrying a whore like you! You're a stuck up, conceited, and heartless little bitch that doesn't deserve to have kids- otherwise we would've had one by now after all this time!" I'd barked down at her mercilessly, hissing through my teeth with slit golden eyes.

Tears spilt down her harasses bright red cheek and traced down her quivering jaw. Her eyes were fogged and her hot pink bangs clung to her temples and cheekbones where it was wet with the warm salty water. Her lips were curled over her canines, downcast at the corners, and her teeth were clenched.

"Get. Out." She ordered. I remember that I'd suddenly felt horrible and out of place. The situation was oddly awkward and I was glad to comply to her orders.

I went to our bedroom and pulled out my old suitcases from the depths of my side of the closet, throwing in all my clothes and belonging. I fished through the desks and bureau and collected what was mine in both my office and the bathroom as well. When I was finally finished I took my trustworthy phone and precious small treasure box containing my beloved Driger, slipped on my shoes and a jacket, and took my things out to the front door.

Mariah sat on the couch hugging her legs. She refused to look at me even after I'd kissed her atop the head and wiped away a few of her tears. "Sorry, Mao." I profusely apologized, making my way out the door and leaving my copy of the house keys by the door.

"Someone will call you to go sign the divorce papers." She informs me, coincidentally enough, as I was removing the golden band from my left ring finger that symbolized nothing but a tragedy now. I leave the ring beside the keys and catch a final glimpse of Sakura, our Persian cat. I had nothing more to say to her -I actually couldn't think of what to say to her after our final spat- and left it on that note.

I closed the door behind me and left, racking my mind in search of any cheap and decent hotels I could check into for the night. As I waited for the elevator just a few steps down the hall, I heard the agonizing sobs of my once best friend. Now, who knows what we are…

x-x-x-x

"Rei! Rei, helloo! Come back from lala-land for a moment, please!" The voice through my phone wails. I shake my head, ridding the images of last night that were flashing back, and turn away from the television set that was also distracting me.

"Sorry, Tanya. What were you saying?" I respond. My 'manager', as she likes to call herself, sighs on the other ends of the line and I can imagine her shaking her head at me.

"So you and Mariah really are over?" She asks, pitiful of me. "The divorce is happening for sure this time?"

I nod, even though I'm perfectly aware she can't see. "Last night was it. The perfect couple of Rei Kon and Mariah Kon exists no longer." I assure her, walking off the stress I'm in ever since this morning when I awoke.

"Do you think that Lee knows?" The bronze girl on the other end of the line says again, a certain fear in her voice. I shuddered the instant I pictured my brother-in-law in mind. Rather, my ex-brother-in-law.

"I imagine he does. I haven't even checked all the missed calls I have yet." Lee, I can guarantee, is furious with me for hurting his precious little sister. I swallow thickly as I involuntarily picture him giving me the beating of a lifetime. "He's going to hunt me down and kill me." I tell her in a small voice.

Tanya gasps and tried to reassure me. "No way, you guys are childhood friends, he wouldn't do that. He doesn't even have a clue as to where you are right now…please don't tell me you're planning to go to work." Her voice fluxes into a deadpan and a part of my wants to laugh at it, yet I'm too caught up in my emotions that I fail to notice that humorous bit until mid-sentence of my response.

"God no, are you insane? I'm perfectly comfortable with hiding here for the time being."

"Why only for the time being?" She inquires.

I sigh as I give her the sad facts. "I'm currently paying my stay with my credit card, because when I arrived here last night I found out that I'm cash broke, unfortunately enough."

She somewhat hisses in displeasure, filling in the rest of the blanks on her own. "Since your name is in their computer system it's only a matter of time that he tracks you down…if he wanted to, that is."

I'm positive that he'll want to, that's what scares me the most. I'm a pacifist kind of guy to begin with, and if I were to be pinned against any friend of mine to a fight then I'd surely lose. I can't bring myself to fight a friend as old and dear to me as Lee, so I'll most likely die without putting up a fight. Why are all the odds stacked against me?

"Alright, alright, I've got an idea. I'll book a flight for New York right now and you'll be out of China by noon the latest. Then we'll meet up here and we can discuss and go over some cinematic project opportunities I have for you here. How does that sound?" She offers, finding the light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel. I grin from ear to ear at the idea, but then a different thought occurs to me.

"Actually, Tanya…" The insane tapping of keys to a keyboard ceases on the other end of the line and she speaks up again.

"Alright, I have two and three stop connections that go through India and Africa, one that goes through southern Russian, Italy, then Britain, and one that goes through Hungary, Spain, then Washington DC. Half of those leave at one, the India one leaves at noon, and Hungary one leaves at three. Take your pick." She presents me with her options.

"Tanya, I have a different idea." I tell her.

"Oh?"

"I want to go to Japan." I say, turning my back to the window and lovely view of the city of Hong Kong and glancing from my Beyblade to the last group picture the Bladebreakers ever took.

"Why?" She asks point blank. "What the hell are you going to do there?"

"Just trust me for once." I assure her, silently walking over and twirling the light gray tiger Beyblade around my fingers, picking up the picture next.

"You're the boss…" She mumbles under her breath, and I hear the crazy keys commencing again as she hums to herself in her melodic voice.

I'm extremely curious to see exactly what's happened to the main BBA headquarters back in Tokyo. I haven't heard from Mr. Dickenson since the holidays -the generous old man never forgets to call all the retired beybladers in the original league that began a new sport craze- and I haven't seen him ever since I retired. I think it'd do his old heart some good to see that at least one of his old students does care enough to go pay him a visit, and I think that I might actually need a good dosage of nostalgia as well.

Not to mention that I'd like to find out what exactly my old teammates have been up to. Peppy old Max, Kenny the genius, Tyson the world's most beloved pig (the beloved has limits), even Hilary. And of course, I can never forget Kai…

"Alright, I've got a list of flights right in front of me, hot stuff. Any particular time in mind?"

"Today." I say, and she laughs sarcastically: obviously she knows that its for today. "Uh, if the latest could be five tonight I'm good with that."

"There's two flights only today, one that leaves in the next hour and one that leaves at quarter to five." She tells me.

"I'll take the runner-up." I confirm for her. As she books my flight I saunter into the kitchen by the phone the hotel provides, searching in the yellow pages of the phone book for a good restaurant that's nearby. A nice one would be one that delivers here, so I don't have to risk my ass and walk out of here. For the time being, at least in here I'm safe. Sushi doesn't sound so bad.

"Rei, I have a question."

"Shooooot." I say out of reflex.

"What exactly do you plan to do in Japan? Is this about the Bladebreakers?"

"Mmm, perhaps…" I shrug, picking up the crappy phone with a coil cord and dialing the number to the sushi shop.

"Is this about Kai?" I fail to answer her question, a little shocked that she'd suddenly jump to such a topic. "You still like him, don't you?"

"…I have to go, I have a call on the other line." I stutter out.

"What other line? Rei!" I hear her ask again as I hung up on her, focusing on ordering my takeout to a certain extent.

I wonder what's happened to everyone…

x-x-x-x

Read, review, and happy holidays to everyone!