I get way too many oneshot ideas that I work on when I really should be sleeping but this glorious thing just HAD to be completed once I started writing it, so here it is. It is now slightly past two AM and I need to sleep. Enjoy!

Of all the weather that could have happened on this particular day, it just had to be rain. Then again, considering the date, Arashi figured that it was more suited to his current mood. It certainly helped to hide the tears running down his cheeks, tears he was currently trying to hide from everyone. That was why he was walking down the streets on the outskirts of the city, having slipped away from everyone still battling at the Bey Park.

Arashi sighed through his nose. He smiled faintly at the thought of how much fun his brother had been having when he left. Said Cerberus owner had been in the middle of a heated battle against none other than Gingka himself. Isamu would be perfectly fine with the Legendary Blader around, Arashi knew. He would not have left his brother at the Bey Park otherwise. However, Arashi was feeling a great need to be alone, yet, at the same time, a desire to be with people. But the people he most wanted to be with no longer existed.

The thought hurt so badly that Arashi suddenly fell to his knees, wrapping his arms tightly around himself and letting out a choked sob before he shakily stood and stumbled underneath a nearby overpass to get out of the rain, as well as to hide.

Shivering slightly, and with the emotional pain still throbbing at his core, Arashi sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, hugging his legs and resting his chin between his knees. He should not have let himself get as soaked as he was, he knew. He could practically hear his father reprimanding him for it. Arashi sniffled and buried his face in his knees, allowing himself to release the anguished cries that he could not hold in any longer. After a few moments, he laid down on the ground, still curled, his eyes closed tightly.

"Oh, my boy…"

Arashi gasped sharply and looked up as a pair of arms that had always been stronger than his own slid around him and pulled him close into a tight embrace.

"F-Father…?" He whispered in shock as his emerald and silver eyes came into contact with a kind pair of red eyes.

A slight nod and smile of reassurance was all that Arashi needed before he convulsively clutched onto the figure he was being held against. He began sobbing afresh, relief flooding his being like the antidote to the pain that had previously been there.

"Shh… Shh…" Isao soothed, sitting next to his son and holding onto him tightly while stroking his head with one hand.

"I… I…" Arashi tried to speak, but the emotions flooding him at seeing his father again, when he had thought the older was dead, prevented him from doing so.

"Shh.., You're safe. I'm here." His father replied, strong arms locked in a tight embrace.

"W-where have you been…?" Arashi asked, trying to calm himself down even as his body continued to shake violently with sobs.

"Trying to find you… Isamu…?"

"H-He's safe… He's at a place called the Bey Park… I left him there with the Legendary Blader and some other friends…" Arashi sniffled, swiping tears away with one hand.

Isao smiled softly. "I knew you would keep him safe. Look how strong you've gotten in the past two years," he said, "Nearly a man now. Makes me proud."

Arashi sniffled and managed a faint smile. "I… Sorta had to…"

Isao pulled away slightly and placed a hand on his son's face, a sad smile crossing his lips. "So grown up… Perhaps slightly before your time, but it couldn't be helped."

"Y-Yeah…" Arashi said softly, sighing shakily and looking away slightly, his eyes focusing on his father's strong arms rather than his eyes.

"Arashi, look at me." Isao said gently, tilting the younger bluenette's head up towards him.

Arashi slowly raised his gaze, emerald meeting garnet as he and his father made eye contact.

"I'm so proud of you. You did what I told you to. You protected your brother from the enemy and you have grown much stronger than what I expected to find. I searched for- IS THAT A LIZARD?!" Isao suddenly screeched, interrupting himself at the sight of a small reptile scurrying up the wall.

Arashi sweatdropped and, despite himself, let out a small laugh in amusement, one that quickly grew larger until the Chimera blader was doubled over laughing nearly as hysterically as he had been crying moments before.

"It's not funny! That thing was the size of my head!" Isao exclaimed, waving his arms around comically in the air.

This only made Arashi laugh harder, something he had not done for the past two years, as his sorrow had been too great to allow for anything of the sort.

"D-Dad… That was TINY." He said as soon as he had calmed down enough to be able to speak.

"Tiny, my sword!" Isao exclaimed. "It was the size of my sword!"

"It was barely the size of a toothpick." Arashi sweatdropped. "Seriously, you and lizards…"

Isao paused and huffed, crossing his arms. "It was a big lizard." He insisted, stubbornly.

"It really wasn't."

"... Well, whatever!" Isao said, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"I swear, you're more childish than Isamu… Still."

"It's not childish! Those little demonic things are out to get me, I tell you!"

Arashi sweatdropped once more. "If you say so…" he grumbled, then yelped and ducked as his father reached over and ruffled his hair, snatching the tie that held it in a topknot in the process and causing Arashi's hair to tumble down around his head and neck in an unruly fashion.

"Hey! Give that back!" Arashi yelped, leaping to his feet at the same time as his laughing father did.

"Make me!" Isao challenged, dodging and using his height to keep the thin strip of fabric away from his son. However, he underestimated the newly-gained agility of his son.

Arashi, after a couple of minutes of leaping at his father from the ground, darted off to the side and around his father before taking two steps up the wall next to him and leaping off that, tackling Isao from behind. The older yelped in surprise as he fell to the ground with his son. The two began to wrestle, with Isao trying to pin Arashi down, while Arashi used his size and agility to his advantage to avoid being pinned. Eventually, Arashi managed to scramble back to his feet, darting to the other side of the space with a triumphant smirk on his face. It was only then that Isao noticed that his son was now once more in possession of the thin strip of fabric that Isao had stolen from him a minute before. Not only that, but Arashi was holding a second hair tie.

Isao's eyes widened and he felt at the back of his head, only to find that his own hair was hanging around his neck.

"When did you…?!" he said in shock.

"About the same time I snatched my own back." Arashi replied smugly, dangling his father's tie in a taunting manner.

"Oh you've gotten good." Isao said, grinning at the challenge his son was presenting. "However, can you take my special fighting style?"

Arashi raised an eyebrow, pausing. "Your… What?" He asked, trying not to sound caught off-guard.

Isao allowed a slow smirk to spread across his face before he lunged at Arashi, tackling the younger to the ground and immediately beginning to tickle him. Arashi let out a startled screech, struggling and trying not to laugh while attempting to tickle his father back, but to no avail. Soon, all the younger could do was lie helplessly on the ground, gasping in between laughs, while his father's loud laughter echoed through the air.

"I win." Isao said in a smug manner as he held up both hair ties before dropping Arashi's tie onto the younger's heaving chest.

"No… Fair." Arashi grunted, panting, but smiling despite his defeat.

Isao chuckled and brushed Arashi's bangs out of his face before pausing and frowning. "How did that happen…?" He asked, concernedly, at the sight of the eye that flashed, not emerald like the other, but a ghostly silver.

Arashi averted his eyes once more, ashamed. "When Isamu and I were escaping, we… Didn't escape completely unharmed…" He said softly. "Isamu only got a gash on his leg large enough to leave a scar, but… I lost my sight in this eye…"

"I see…" Isao said softly, gently rubbing his thumb over the long scar that cut down his son's face. "I'm so sorry, Arashi."

Arashi sighed shakily and reached up, latching both arms around his father's neck tightly and holding on, afraid to let go of him again. "Isamu's survival and now yours makes it worth it…" He said softly.

Isao smiled and put his arms back around his son, pulling him into a sitting position in his lap. "I'm so glad you're both alive…" He whispered gently.

"We… Should let Isamu know." Arashi said softly, his voice slightly muffled due to the fact that his face was pressed into his father's shoulder.

"Let's go see him then, shall we?" Isao said with a soft smile as he stood, tugging Arashi into a standing position as well.

"Yeah… Let's." Arashi said softly, finding that he did not have very far to look up before meeting his father's eyes now.

"So grown up…" Isao chuckled, patting his son's back. "Lead the way then."

Arashi nodded and gladly did so, noting that his entire body felt lighter. He glanced back at his father several times, secretly, to reassure himself that he had not been dreaming. Isao followed close behind his son, glancing around at the buildings that grew ever closer to the sky as they got deeper into the city.

"Metal Bey City, eh? Considering that I gave you and your brother beys just before sending you off, I'm not surprised. How about showing me how skilled you have gotten with them?" He said.

Arashi paused in his steps and chuckled under his breath. "Oh that can be easily arranged." He said, hands already reaching for his launcher and bey in practiced fashion, finding them without his eyes having to look.

Isao raised an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face as he watched his son skillfully slide the needed components into place before setting his hand on the cord that would soon send the bey attached to the underside of the launcher rocketing into action.

"Chimera has grown quite responsive." Arashi said, pausing for an instant and coiling his muscles before releasing them, his arm moving backwards in a smooth pull. His silver and black bey hit the ground in a steady spin, circling slowly around its master's feet in a smooth motion for a few moments before moving over towards Isao and circling the feet of the older, who watched, fascinated at the displayed level of control.

"Impressive. I always did wonder how commanding them worked." Isao said.

Arashi shrugged and held out one hand, palm upwards. Chimera immediately leapt into his hand in response, continuing to spin across the tips of his fingers before spiraling smoothly into the center of his palm and remaining there.

"Beats me how it works. Sometimes it is difficult, sometimes easy. It really is a mix between strength of the mind and strength of the body, if you ask me. I've heard that spirit plays a part in it, and Isamu seems to gain more strength from that than I have." Arashi said before closing his fingers around the gleaming bey in his hand and halting its rotation completely. He looked at it for a moment, smiling softly, before replacing it in its case along with the launcher.

"Well, I'm sure the battles between them are quite spectacular at times." Isao said as he and Arashi continued to walk.

"Occasionally." Arashi said. "The stronger the competitors, the more intense it gets. The battles of the Legendary Blader, especially, hold quite the dramatic flair to them."

Isao chuckled. "And yours?"

Arashi paused for a moment in thought. "Well, they aren't boring. I haven't battled very often."

"I suppose I'll have to see them for myself." Isao said.

"At some point." Arashi nodded in agreement, his focus partially on avoiding the puddles left over from the earlier rainstorm, which had cleared shortly after Isao had found him. "We should be nearly there."

Isao nodded, smiling at his son. Within a few more minutes, the Bey Park came in sight. Arashi paused for a moment and looked at it, beginning to wonder if his absence had been noticed. He figured he had been gone for a couple of hours by now, so surely Isamu had figured out that he was missing. The bluenette closed his eyes for a moment and sighed through his nose.

"Something wrong?" Isao asked.

"... I snuck away from them without telling them I was going somewhere." Arashi said. "I was just wondering if they were still here or if they had gone searching for me."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Isao chuckled, giving his son a light shove towards the building.

"Suppose so." Arashi said, shoving his hands in his vest pockets and walking inside calmly with Isao still close behind. The two paused just inside the shadows of the hallway as the stadium came into view. Isamu was visible, standing in line once more and eagerly chatting with the other bladers. The sight of him caused a soft smile to cross Arashi's lips, as well as Isao's.

"I'll get him." Arashi said, stepping out of the shadows as Isao nodded.

"Oi, pup!"

Isamu and several of the other bladers turned, wide, friendly smiles appearing on their faces at the sight of the older bluenette.

"Arashi!" They exclaimed.

Arashi chuckled under his breath and opened his mouth to tell Isamu to come with him, but the words stopped in his throat as he heard his name being called again, this time from a distance.

"Arashi!"

Arashi suddenly realized that he still felt very wet and very cold.

"Arashi!"

His eyes widened slightly, unwanted revelation entering his mind. An evil-sounding female chuckle rang in his ears as another pair or red eyes flashed in his vision for an instant, but this pair did not belong to his father. Arashi closed his eyes to block them out.

"Oh, my poor, sweet, dear little brother… How foolish you are."

"Arashi!"

As his name was called for the fourth time, this sounding more frightened and worried than the last few had, Arashi felt as if he had been shot in the chest. The pain exploded through his entire body and refused to fade as he opened his eyes with a sharp gasp and a cry of anguish that ripped from his throat.

"Arashi!"

Before Arashi had fully realized what was going on, one pair of arms had been thrown around him tightly, nearly knocking him completely to the ground, while gentle, yet strong and firm hand was placed on his shoulder. His single, trembling emerald eye soon informed his brain that it was Isamu who had tackle-hugged him, crying in relief. A slow look to his right, and he was greeted by the face of Gingka,who had one hand on his shoulder and worry in his golden-brown eyes.

The sight of the highway overpass and the still-pouring rain was all Arashi needed to realize that it had all been a dream after all.

I'M NOT SORRYYYYY! -cue authoress collapsing into bed in triumph and FINALLY going to sleep-