Rectification

Written by Finni
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rated PG – PG-13 for character angst, dark themes, and violence
Disclaimer: Beyblade and all recognizable characters, settings, and situations © TAKARA / Beyblade Project, Hudson Soft and TV Tokyo. All rights reserved. I do not claim any of the aforementioned in any way, shape, or form.  Korudo, Kire, Rise, and Touji are © Finni and cannot be used without my permission.
Summary:  Korudo is given a chance to go back to the past and she immediately accepts, hoping she can prevent her brother's death, but something goes terribly wrong.  Kai X Korudo(OC)

A/N:  I do realize that I'm not even close to finishing LotEB, but this idea came to me and I just couldn't pass it up.  Therefore, some references in this fic will be revealed later on in LotEB, so call this a spoiler fic XD.  Just keep in mind Korudo and Kai later on become kind of rival/friends.  Furthermore, this fic will be quite short (probably less than 6 chapters) so it'll give me the satisfaction of actually completing a fic.  Also, this is the first time I've used my characters in more than one story.  I think.

The title, Rectification, means to correct by removing errors or to set right, which suits the topic of the fic very well.  I might change the title though, so bare with me.  Also, this is my first... romance themed fic.  I don't like writing romance much, but I've obviously been talking and hanging out with Silverwolvernia way too much.  I've been doing almost nothing except for Beyblade related stuff.  You can blame her or you can thank her.

I also dislike fics where people only use the characters and not the actual point of the story (ie. A YGO fic with no duels, Beyblade fic with no battles) but I guess I'll have to be a hypocrite then.  ^_^  If you want action, go read LotEB.  This fic is mostly mushy feelings.

Now before all you Kai fangirls start attacking me and killing me saying "Kai is mine, back off!" or something similar (probably more violent), I'd like to state that Kai is property of his rightful copyright owners, and none of us fangirls own him at all.  Sorry to break the news to you.  So, none of us own him, there's no "I saw him first" because kids in Japan saw them way before we did, and the creators saw him before they did.  There is no owning.  Sure, it's fun to joke around, but please, don't get further.  Snarling, hissing, etc. each other because of an insanely cute bishie character is very ridiculous.

That's out of the way now!  (This is a very long author's note haha) I'd appreciate it very much if you'd leave your comments/criticism or anything you felt after you read this part one.  So, read, review, and enjoy!

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Running.  Running, faster, faster...

Kire!  Where are you!?

The rain fell heavier, droplets splashing in tiny little increments off of a soggy steel-blue colored shirt, the sleeves unrolling themselves from inside and dropping over her shoulders.  She was running, long purple hair tied in a swift ponytail behind her, hair flying dangerously in the wind.  Running to what, she didn't know.  But she was running from her memories.  Her fears. 

Her brother was dead.  There was nothing she could do.  She was not even nine when he died, fighting to save her life in the middle of a gangfight on that stormy day at the pier.  If it weren't for her, he'd still be alive.

You hear that, Kire?  If it weren't for me, you'd still be alive.

It was hopeless to run.  Running wouldn't get her anywhere, but, somewhere deep down inside, she didn't want to admit he was gone.  He was always there for her; he was always there to take care of her.  Even after their parents died in a horrible car accident when they were very young, being thrown out of the neighborhood, he was there for her.  Looking down at her hands and letting the continuous water droplets fall, almost stingingly like a thundering hailstorm, she was unable to distinguish where her tears had fallen.

Running away from your problems wasn't something she always did.  In fact, she hated running away.  She hated acting the coward and being afraid.  But she was.  It was so much easier to run than to face all the pain straight on. She was so afraid, so scared, so terrified of the truth that had been shaking its fist in her face since the day it happened.  Since the day he died.  Since the day she had spent all night in the freezing rain, crying over his dead body, too scared and too ashamed to admit he was dead.

Sudden images flashed through her head, hitting her hard like several blows to the stomach and she could feel her head exploding in pain; images of Kire's tattered body in the middle of the street, blood flushing down into the drainage pipes; images of the horror on her face when she had seen the note that confirmed her fears; images of her promising herself she'd never let anyone see her cry.

I won't cry.  I won't.  I'll never let myself again. 

... it hurts too much to let someone see me cry.

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"Hey Ko, sleep well?"  Rise prodded Korudo in the shoulder with a finger and she slowly regained consciousness to the living realm, eyes squinting from the bright light.  She looked around her; they had been sleeping behind the rail below a small highway as shelter, and loud honking noises were heard from above.  It was morning already; rush hour, in fact, judging by the amount of cars that packed the road above them.

"You were yellin' in your sleep again," said the brown-haired boy as Korudo got up, tying the black cloth that she had draped around her shoulders back onto the back of her neck, where it hung like a short cape, and dusted the polluted earth off of her oversized pants.  "You alrigh'?"

"I'm fine," Korudo responded coldly, careful to avoid Rise's hawk-eyed gaze.  She swiftly brushed around him, noticing he was rebandaging his arms to cover nasty scars that marked the memories of countless fights. 

Rise stood up, a good half-head taller than her, and spat "Then forgive me for being concerned" in a tone that radiated sarcasm.  "Seriously Korudo, get a grip.  People are trying to help."

Korudo responded with nothing, and shuffled her feet uncomfortably in the dirt.  She then simply strode off towards civilization and said, "I'm going to find some breakfast."

A pair of amber eyes watched her carefully before she disappeared on the horizon, smaller than an ant.  Sighing, Rise sat back down to finish the bandaging he had started, and out of the corner of his eye, saw a message etched onto the dirt with the heel of a shoe where Korudo had been standing.

Sorry.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head in amusement.  "Always acting' like nuthin' ever bothers ya."  Rise laughed and, looking up at the sky, said "It's alright.  You're f'rgiven, Ko."

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Korudo walked briskly down the streets of a small city, one she did not recognize, looking for a store where it would be easy to grab a bite to eat.  Life, it seemed, was always this way – stealing food and living under concrete highways to survive.  Eyeing and glancing at several small shops that had been set up on rich, expensive-looking fabrics, she sighed disappointingly.

Nothing, she scowled as she walked on.  I can't take anything in broad daylight in front of everyone like this.

Then something caught her eyes.  A few mats had been set up winding into a dark alley; somewhere that would be perfect to steal something, where few people had their watchful eyes on her.

Korudo was so focused into her actions as she turned the corner that she didn't notice a familiar blue-haired boy wearing a long, billowing scarf pace towards her direction, hands folded on his chest, looking thoroughly pissed off.

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It wasn't that Kai was a bad leader; it was his teammates were so obsessed on the topic of food to comprehend anything in the future except for their aching stomachs.  Did it help that Rei was a professional-level cook?  No.  Did it help that Takao had the stomach of five grown men? Of course not.  It was early morning and Kai was already frustrated with his team and left the building without looking back.

What he couldn't understand was why the simple concept of training couldn't be comprehended through their thick skulls.  Sure, Takao had the attention span of a wasp and the intelligence levels of a five-year-old, but – It made him mad at the thought of it. 

Not like Kai hadn't gotten used to it by now.  During all their tournaments, he had retreated to sulking against the back wall, acting as if he was oblivious of the whole match and probably even uncaring of whether his team, the Bladebreakers, won or not.  In fact, he was the one that was most aware of what was really going on, even when his team members weren't. 

But how they managed to piss him off just four hours into the day surprised even him, as feelings of anger and frustration filled his head while walking down a half-deserted street, the merchant's shops up ahead.  He half considered turning around and returning to the main building when Kai's eyes caught the glimpse of a familiar long purple ponytail that he recognized as someone he knew.

Must be hallucinating, Kai thought, and proceeded to return to the building where the rest of his team was, but realized the girl there was very much real and picked up his pace.

Korudo, wait – where are you going?

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Korudo was immensely disappointed to find that only three shops had been set up inside the alley, none of which had any food or items that she could find of use.  Of course, she could steal some extremely valuable jewelry or gold and sell it, but who would buy stolen goods from a gangster girl? 

She tugged on the wrists of her gloves, unable to think of what to do.  Her day so far had been dull, with nothing exciting happening, whether it be a Beyblade match or a decent bite to eat.  She lined her back up against the wall and brought one foot up so it was parallel to the brick barrier.  I might as well take something just for the fun of it, she thought as she tugged at the ends of her gloves again.

But her dream – it wasn't the first dream she had of Kire.  In fact, she had those dreams very often, sometimes waking up screaming or drenched in sweat.  Korudo had been told many times in the past to just let it go. 

But I just can't let it go.  I won't let myself.

Her growling stomach then reminded her she had not eaten since yesterday at noon, when Rise had managed to scrape half a loaf of day-old bread.  Korudo sighed to herself and walked inconspicuously down to the third mat in the row of shops, and when the merchant wasn't looking, quickly swept her left and dominant hand across and a moment later, the golden bangle that was placed at the edge was gone. 

Stuffing it into her large pockets hastily, Korudo shifted her black-gloved hands into her pockets, acting like a random passerby, and she would have been able to get away with it if it weren't for several voices behind her yelling "Thief!" before she broke out into a run.  Korudo desperately hoped that the alley opened up to a street on the opposite side, but found herself soon facing a dead end.

What happened next was a blur, and she could only remember that one moment, she was turning around and seeing two merchants waving their fists madly at her, and when she faced forward and a man in a hooded cloak she could've sworn wasn't there a second ago waved a ringed hand into the air, and the merchants were suddenly seated back in their usual spots behind their precious goods.

Feeling the golden bangle still in her side pocket, she opened her mouth and stuttered, "How.. did you-" but he grabbed Korudo around the neck and muffled her mouth with his hand.  Naturally, Korudo bit down hard on his fingers, making the man jump back in surprise.

Before Korudo had a chance to say another word, the man whispered harshly in her ear, "Idiot girl!  Just saved your ass and you nearly eat me!"  He tugged on her arm and beckoned her to follow him silently deeper into the alley.

The moment they were out of earshot, Korudo hissed, "I appreciate the help, but who the hell are you!?"

Behind his hood, Korudo could see strands of dark hair falling into his eyes, similar to Rise but lacking Rise's warmth.  "Who I am is not important.  Who you are and why you're so troubled is more."

Korudo thought for a wild moment he was referring to her dream of Kire and his death, but reassured herself, saying there's no way he could know over and over in her head.  She narrowed her eyes and glared at the man, who seemed intent on keeping his hood on.  "Troubled?  I think you got the wrong girl."

He chuckled a low, raspy sound from the bottom of his throat.  "I've got the right person, mind you.  I've never been wrong before.  Something has happened in the past – something you fully regret and know that if you were given a chance to... perhaps, go back in time to fix it-" He let the words sink in as a look between emotional pain and pure surprise squirm onto Korudo's face.

"What – how did you – I – what the!?" she choked out and the man continued, pointing his non-bitten fingers at Korudo's left side pocket. 

"You have something I want – that golden bangle is something I've been searching for a long time now.  If you hand it over, I might just be able to do you a favor."

Korudo scoffed and proceeded to turn around and leave, thinking that what she had swiped was much more valuable than she thought, and could probably make a great deal of money off of selling it than to give it to a strange man she met in the alley.  "Sorry, but I'm not selling."

But before Korudo stepped more than three steps, his words caught her attention like a frog's tongue and a fly. 

"I could send you back in time, and maybe you could stop something from happening... something that would lead you to steal goods off of streetside shops... something that would make you feel so alone."

She whipped around, long ponytail swishing behind her and she pulled the bangle out of her pocket.  I can save Kire. She smashed the stolen good into the man's hands and looked up at him.  "Just tell me what to do."

The man laughed and muttered, "I knew you'd see things my way."

Short on patience, Korudo narrowed her eyes dangerously and repeated, slowly and full of demand, "Tell. Me. What. To. Do."

Shrugging as if it were common practice, he held out a stone from the depths of cloak pocket.  It flashed a neon green and felt strangely warm under Korudo's touch, even through her gloves.

"Concentrate hard on a memory, whether it be good or bad-" He smirked. "And squeeze the stone in your hand, and you will disappear from this time and reappear in a different time."

Korudo nodded even as he continued speaking.  "Remember that if something goes wrong, you'll have to stick it out, and the stone will only bring you to a time period of two hours, and after that time is up, the world will fade and the scene will replay again from where you started." 

More chances to save him, she thought, and the man continued further, but she was so absorbed into looking at the stone that she didn't hear these words.  "You won't be able to touch anything or anyone.  You'll be impalpable as a ghost, and few will be able to see even a mere image of your bod –"

She didn't listen.  She concentrated hard on every memory of Kire she had, every living cell in her body thought about the night he died.  There wasn't a question – she was going back to save him. 

Korudo gripped the stone tightly as if her life force was in it, and as she disappeared, she looked back and saw Kai running towards her, and slowly disappeared before Kai managed step more than a few steps into the alley and to see more than a transparent image of her body disappear completely.

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A/N: ^_^ I intended to make it longer but I guess I'll stop here.  Please review and make me one happy Finni!