Disclaimer: Beyblade, of course, belongs to Aoki Takao and not me. Sad truth, I know. :P

Hurry Up

"God, hurry up, Kai," Tala called over his shoulder crossly as he walked briskly towards the double doors of the hotel, towards the taxi that would take them to the airport. "A tortoise can walk faster than you."

Inwardly rolling his eyes, Kai stepped out of the elevator, taking his own sweet time. Nobody - not even his team captain - told Kai Hiwatari to hurry up. Ever. Kai sauntered over the plush carpeted floor, one step at a time. He moved slower than usual, just to annoy the redhead. Behind him, the elevator door whooshed shut. Kai took another step. As he was about to take another, someone tugged at his scarf. Kai stopped, wondering who had the guts to pull at his scarf. Better not be a fangirl, he thought irritably. Deliberately, he turned his head, glare locked in place.

The corners of his mouth turned down slightly in a scowl.

One side of his scarf had gotten caught in between the elevator doors.

His eyes moved towards the floor indicator and gave an inaudible sigh of relief that it was still at the lobby. He moved to press the button, so the doors would open and release him. His fingers were only a few millimeters away from the glowing arrows before everything around him turned black.

A few screams of surprise echoed throughout the building.

"Calm down!" A man shouted from the front desk. "It's just a power outage; nothing to worry about. The power will be back on in a few minutes once our backup generator kicks in."

Kai squeezed his eyes shut in exasperation.

Just what he needed. A power outage.

Fan-frigging-tastic.

Fangirls would be so much better than this.

Tala would be coming to look for him, wondering why he didn't make it to the car. But before Tala could find him in such a humiliating situation, Kai decided to take action. He marched closer to the elevator and began to pull at the stuck end.

The scarf didn't even budge.

He tried again.

It still didn't give way.

Kai growled. Just then, he heard Tala's voice calling for him over the excited chatter of the hotel guests.

"Kai! Where the heck are you? We need to leave now!"

His voice sounded close.

Shit, shit, shit.

Planting his feet firmly into the ground, Kai tugged harder at the scarf, hoping to free it before the redhead found him. He gave it another tug.

And another.

And another.

And-

Well, you get the idea.

He didn't stop, well, at least until the faint sound of fabric tearing reached his sharp ears. He froze, hoping fervently that the tear wasn't severe.

"Kai!"

Tala's voice sounded even nearer.

As calmly as he could, Kai weighed his options in his head: tear his beloved accessory or let Tala see him in this idiotic situation? Cold logic (coughpridecough) told him to suck it up and just rip the damned scarf, but his heart told him otherwise. It was, after all, his favorite scarf, it whispered, and he went through a lot with it- the world tournament, kept him warm through those cold nights in Russia, training…

Kai wavered, his grip on the soft material loosening and tightening as logic and heart waged war in his mind. But before either side could emerge victorious, he sensed someone standing in the doorway which separated the lift area and the lobby. Please don't let it be Tala, please don't let it be-

"There you are, Kai!"

He must have done something to offend Lady Luck, Kai thought as dread began to make itself at home in his stomach.

"What are you standing there for? Come on, let's go!"

Kai didn't move.

"Moving sometime in the next century would be nice," Tala drawled, the barest hints of impatience creeping into his voice.

Taking a deep breath, Kai gritted his teeth and ground out, "I can't."

Pause.

Kai could imagine the look on the redhead's face. A perplexed frown, mixed with annoyance. Hands on his hips as he stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"...scarf's stuck."

Another pause.

Kai could practically feel the disbelief emanating from the redhead. Wordlessly, Tala walked over. Now that he was right in front of him, Kai could see his bright blue eyes narrow as he touched the trapped scarf. Those eyes brightened as their owner began to roar with laughter.

"What the hell!" he spluttered, doubling over. "This. Is. Hilarious."

"Glad someone's enjoying themselves," Kai muttered darkly as he glowered into the darkness.

Chuckling, Tala gathered enough breath and control to talk.

"I'm guessing you were late," a snigger punctuated his sentence, "because you were waiting for the power to come back on?"

Not wanting to embarrass himself further by telling Tala the actual events, Kai decided to settle with his trademark 'hn'.

Tala chortled. "This is too funny," he choked out, still laughing.

"I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen," the man from the front desk said. From the sound of his voice, Kai guessed he was using a megaphone. "Unfortunately, there's a problem with our backup generator. We won't have any electricity for the next few hours, until our people manage to get it up and running."

At this, Tala sobered up.

"A few hours? A few hours?" he spluttered, eyes wide. "We don't have a few hours! We need to check in at the airport in half an hour!"

Kai resisted the urge to bang his head into the wall. "Well, do you suggest then?" he asked drily.

"Cut your stupid scarf!"

Too mortified by the idea of mutilating his precious scarf, Kai didn't take offense when Tala insulted it. "What? No way."

"Like we have any other choice, Kai. Come on, I'll even be nice and cut the other side so it'll be even. No one will even notice!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because," Kai wracked his brain for a reasonable answer that wouldn't make him look sissy, "you don't have any scissors," Kai congratulated himself for coming up with such a brilliant reason and for not sounding like a loser.

"I'll go get one then!"

With that, the redhead walked away. Kai's heart clenched painfully. His scarf was going to get mutilated, he thought, feeling rather dizzy. In an attempt to calm himself, he took a few deep breaths. I can get through this, he told himself bravely.

Tala was back.

Kai's palms began to sweat. My scarf, he moaned in his head.

"Pft," Tala grumbled. "Those idiots won't give me any scissors. They said I might hurt someone by accident or something."

Phew.

"But thank god I brought Wolborg," he continued brightly. Kai's stomach dropped. "The cutting might not be perfect, but it'll get the job done. Stand by the wall so I wont hit you by accident," Tala instructed, oblivious to his friend's turmoil. Kai quickly made some decisions.

"I told you. No."

"What? Come on Kai, we need to leave now! We're running late enough as it is! If I didn't know better, I'd think you're attached to the scarf or something, like some sentimental fool!"

Kai bristled. Him, a sentimental fool? Bah, he'll show him.

"You wish, Ivanov," he hissed coldly. "I just wanted to do it myself," he said as he took out Dranzer from his pocket, "you'll just mess it up."

"Tch, whatever. Hurry up then."

Kai stiffened. Hurry up. The two bloody words that started this whole mess in the first place. Gritting his teeth, Kai pulled the ripcord, his eyes shut, as if he could avoid seeing this, this unforgivable act he was committing.

Swoosh.

The other end of the scarf floated gently at his side. The deed was done. Dranzer returned to his hand. Without another word, Kai stalked outside, Tala following close behind.

As soon as they were outside, Tala glanced at the trailing ends of Kai's scarf, stifling a laugh. The previously stuck side was significantly (well, half it's usual length) shorter than the other. He shook his head. Kai should've let him do it. No amount of cutting of the unharmed end was going to fool anyone now.

Omake

Kai stood in front of his open closet, staring reverently at its contents.

Identical scarves hung from hangers, white and pristine.

Kai picked one and placed it around his neck. Then he took his poor, damaged scarf, folded it and placed it deferentially into a shoebox, which he tucked into a corner of the closet.

x

Tala did a double take as Kai walked past him, equal lengths of scarf trailing behind him.

The same length as before the elevator incident.

"How did you- Why is your scarf back to normal?"

"It grew back, obviously."

"…"

AN: YAY! New oneshot! Hope you found it funny! The idea came to me while I was about to fall asleep the other day, heh. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, omake is sort of like a bonus scene. Do tell me your opinions, point out any mistakes etc. I'd appreciate it a lot. And thanks for reading! :D

To any Stranded readers out there, I've began writing the next chapter. I was stuck in a case of writers block and school, but as you can see, I'm much better now. –grins-