Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

Author's notes: Just taking a break from LITD. I promise, I have the next chapter done, I'm going to be working on the one after that. These one-shots are going to explore the relations between Kai, Takao, and Hiromi. They won't be long, but they will progress and there'll KaiHil by the end. A lot of the focus will be angsty and on how they come from different but equally broken familial situations.

1. Bad Boy

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Takao:

He wasn't sure when she became their mother – and he called her that because he really couldn't figure out another word for the vacancy she managed to fulfill without missing a beat in any of the other roles she filled in their lives – but he figured she was probably looking for her place in their broken family just like everyone else. He was glad for it, that much he knew.

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Takao went through a darker phase around their first year in high school, he was never the bad boy, so he just had to try it. He dappled in drinking, pot, and pointless fights with boys in their year with some rather shady activities with ladies on the side. So when the boy came home with a different girl every night and shuffled them out either well past respectable hours or just before when he himself personally rose at dawn, he had planned to do something about it. However, he stopped himself, knowing that Kinomiya had to learn for himself, that something would give and give quickly. If his grandfather knew what was going on, he was keeping it to himself. If his brother would stick around for more than whatever limelight he could soak up, he would probably beat the sense into him. Better his blood than his 'best friend' with an even darker history.

None of this came into fruition, however, because Hiromi had beaten everyone to the punch. She had obviously known what had been going on from the start, he realized, when she woke him up just an hour after he'd fallen asleep one night in toward the end of winter. He had always suspected that she would be so enraged that she'd fly right off the handle and shriek until everyone in their very strange living situation was aware of what Takao was up to in the wee hours of the morning.

To say that he was wrong wasn't the correct way to put it. She was the kind of white hot angry that a person gets when they're so worried they can't let things continue without intervention. The kind of angry that a person gets about the people they cherish. He knew the rage would eventually wash over her like the tide coming in, but that was probably after Takao was out of whatever crazy situation he had gotten into that night.

She steered them down some back alley near the school without saying more than a syllable or two, and Kai realized upon arrival that this must have been the place he hung out when he said he was staying with a friend, and came into school looking like he'd been sitting in a dumpster all night. It was damp and dark in the midnight hour, illuminated by a garbage can fire and the dark muttering of losers. They overheard Kinomiya's drawling voice slurred further by his new favorite poisons, and Hiromi didn't wait for Kai to come up with a plan before she marched right into the lion's den. When he moved to follow her into the light, she held up a finger behind her back that said to wait. While he didn't like taking orders, he couldn't help but wonder what her brilliant idea was.

Takao's new group of friends immediately eyed her like a piece of meat. Some whistled, and Kai could feel his gloved fists tightening. Takao, though stoned, looked revolted. Truly taking in her appearance, Kai could understand why.

She wore a pair of ripped jeans that looked considerably less worn from behind, and a hoodie that definitely had come from either his or Takao's closet. Either way, it looked ratty and made her look sickly pale in the garbage light. Pulling out a lighter and a pack of cheap pack of cigarettes – where the hell had she gotten those? - and took a rather confident looking drag of one. She didn't even acknowledge her friend and teammate except to reach down at his feet and take hold of the cheap sake bottle to his left. She removed the smoke from her mouth with a calculated puff and replaced it with a longer than necessary swig of the wine.

"Takao-kun, do you have any green?"

One of the men to his left snickered and produced a bong with murky water, and handed it to him. "For your girlfriend," He mentioned casually, motioning to her.

"Like fuck she's his girlfriend," A badly dyed blonde girl proclaimed, grabbing onto his arm. "Ta-kun," she cooed affectionately with a smile laced with meth-destroyed teeth, "Is with me."

Hiromi puffed smoke in her face. "Yeah, yeah. We're all Takao's girlfriends," She replied nonchalantly, reaching for the bong in his hands. "The only difference between me and you is that I don't care about all the others," She finished her smoke and threw it to the ground, smashing it with the heel of one of her oldest pairs of sneakers. "Kinomiya, hand it over."

Kai had to hand it to her. She took another big gulp of sake and set it on the ground, punctuating it with a large belch. Meanwhile, Takao looked utterly conflicted. He looked at the paraphinalia in his hands, then at the faces watching him intently from the darkness of the alley. Finally, his eyes rested on Hiromi, who obviously wasn't joking. Curiosity got the best of him, and he handed her the bong.

He almost stepped in at that point, wondering if this was actually a plan or if he was going to have to kick ass and then drag two people home tonight. Instead, he chose to trust her, knowing that she was way too straight laced for what she was doing. Doubt crept into his mind – how did she manage to drink and smoke without gagging and coughing? - but he kept his thoughts at bay. Better to be the ace in the hole, he reasoned.

Halfway through her first toke – she had barely touched the disgusting looking piece of equipment to her lips – Takao nearly screamed, ripping the bong out of her reach, knocking over the bottle of sake in the process. The girl hanging all over him hollered, trying to no avail to save even a drop. Hiromi looked surprised, then incredibly pissed off.

"What the hell was that for, Kinomiya?"

"Ehh?"

Kai was taken aback. Takao looked as though she'd hit him in his manly parts. Sure, Hiromi-chan could be grouchy or yell, but she'd never said more than the word crap, and she certainly did not appreciate anyone around her using cuss words. Takao's surprised turned into an equal anger.

"That's enough," He shouted, trying to make up for his previous fumble. "We're out of here." He grabbed her by the tattered elbow of her hoodie. "You freaking know better, Romi," He growled at her as he steered her away from the group.

"Takao-kun, where are you going?"

Takao didn't bother answering her. Instead, he pulled a browish-green colored bag out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Here. To make up for your sake," With that, he never looked back again.

It wasn't until they turned the corner towards home that the blunette stopped her, glaring daggers at her. "Are you stupid? You know better than to do that stuff!"

She pulled out of his grasp with an aggravated grunt and began marching towards home. Starting after her, Takao was startled by two very strong hands gripping his shoulders painfully.

"Yeah, you little bastard, we thought you did too."

As Kai brushed past him and held Hiromi's hair back while she vomited into a very well placed trash can, Takao vowed he'd never try to be the bad boy again.