A/N: I do not own Beyblade. Edited, other characters from the beyworld have been added.


School Start

"Kai-kun chotto matte yo!" A young girl, probably around eleven years old, is running up the streets of San Francisco. A young boy around the same age as her is up ahead laughing as he is running full speed back to their home in the slums of Japantown. Both of their parents wait at top the steps of their apartment complex. The boy stops at the foot of the steps, panting and looks up at them. They look sad and yet happy and the boy does not know why. Finally the girl catches up to the boy and she too looks up at her parents. The girl seemed to know what is going on, but did not say a word

"Yume, honey, we have some news." Her mother cautiously speaks up, trying to break the news slowly to the children.

Without warning the boy yells realizing what is coming next and looks to his parents, "YUME IS MOVING?"

"The Hiromi family finally found a hospital that will accept Yume's father without going through medical school again. They are also giving them a house downtown and a driver. You should be happy for them Kai." His father explains to Kai. He comes down the stairs and pats him on the shoulder.

"Yes father." Kai puts his head down, so that he can control his tears. Then he shakes off her father and look at Yume. Her eyes are filling up with tears. He wants to assure her that nothing will change. "We'll still be friends."

Yume shakes her head, doubting him, "Sayonara Kai-kun."

He puts both hands on her shoulder and shakes her a little, "Iie. Ja ne not sayonara. We will still be friends. I promise" A car pulls up and Yume's fathers heads into the car. The driver comes out to take their luggage. Her mother follows, tugging on little Yume's shirt, signaling that it was time to leave. Yume is about to follow, when Kai stops her and gives her a small parting gift. She looks at it for a moment and then looks up at Kai. Her parents have no idea what it is, but Yume clenches it tightly and follows her parents into the car.

The car pulls away as Kai waves goodbye. Kai hears a loud ringing in his ears and tries to plug his ears, but the noise persists and never stops.

"KAI!" A voice finally calls out to him.

I suddenly wake up realizing it was just a dream. I look up from my bed to my alarm clock and groan. It's time to head to school. A dream. Just a dream that I have been reliving for the past five years. My mother hollering at me to wake up is actually a blessing. I hate living in the past especially that moment of my life. The day my best friend left this dingy apartment to an upscale house downtown. I get up, knowing if I don't wake up soon my mother will come in here and hall my ass outside. Half-asleep, I fold up the futon and head to the only bathroom we have in the apartment. I examine myself in the broken mirror. My hair is dyed fiery red, but my black roots are coming in a little. It looks like a big bed head. I just shake my head and comb my hair a little to make myself look more presentable. It's curled out on the bottom making me look somewhat feminine, but I still have a masculine face. My hair, though, isn't the first thing that stands out, it's my red jade phoenix necklace. The sign of an Asian associated with a gang. I guess I could call myself a yanki. Although, if I do say so myself I look like a Japanese Idol. My face chiseled to perfection. High cheekbones, brown Asian eyes and very handsome smile. I'm about six four now at the tender age of sixteen. Under my shirt, I have a well toned three-pack, but what girls like about me most is my lips. They say it's really kissable and I prove them right every time I make out with them. I have no scars from fights which is a testament how well my body heals and how often I get injured in fights and gang wars.

What does that make my father? He's not young anymore to be called a yanki and gangster just sounds black. I guess I could him a yakuza. Yep, both my father and I are in the same gang. I joined just after she moved out. I hear the door slam. What a coincidence it's my father. He must be back from his work. I quickly change in some jeans and a short sleeve shirt that I picked up from the ground. Mother barely does laundry anymore. Lazy mother.

"Kai! Turn off your alarm!" My mother badgers me again. I must have forgotten to shut it off when I woke up. I walk back to the room and hit the off button. Now I can clearly hear them arguing again. Typical. Every morning, father comes home late and mother goes off the roof. It's not his fault the gang holds him up on late night shifts.

I walk into the kitchen and grab a piece of bread and butter from the fridge. The two adults don't even notice that I'm even there spreading the butter and eating breakfast. They're too busy yelling about Father's responsibilities to the house. One day the neighbors will come in here and complain or call the police.

"How was work father?" I try to break their little argument, so mother can calm down and I can get the low down on what is going on with the gang.

"We got our hands on few engines. One of them built for your bike. I installed it already, just be careful with it." Father finally turns to me. "You'll need that bike in peak condition for the race."

"Sure thing." I shrug. I grab my bag and head out. As I mentioned my father and I are in the same gang. He's a veteran and I'm just a tadpole. I joined because I saw the awesome parts my father was coming home with and the cars my father got to work on. He told me by joining I would get full access to them. That's exactly what happened. When I turned twelve, my father gave me the bike parked right outside my apartment. Big and blue. Looks like a bike someone would race on the track. The wheels are just built for that. Speed. We may not get cash from our gang, but we get major car upgrades. I guess you can say we're like the people in The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, but we bring more violence and bloodshed to the table. This bike has been with me ever since. I take it with me every where I go, but this year will be the first year I take it for a ride to school. My sleek Yamaha. Man oh man do I love this bike, maybe that's the reason I'll do anything for it, even pull a trigger to kill. I rev up my bike and then high tail out to school. Surprisingly enough I go to a high class private school. It's uptown across the Golden Gate Bridge. My grades from Junior High got me a full scholarship to the school. Books, uniform, locker, classes, lunch they are all paid for. I almost didn't accept to scholarship, mostly because I didn't even want to go there in the first place. Surrounded by rich kids and dressing up in a tie and knit sweaters in the winter and people with designer this and designer that with their luxury cars. Also their rich families, who just have to walk in a room and demand attention. They also have an influence on whatever happens in the school. No teacher dares to stand up to them if they want to ditch, smoke some pot and drink until they lost all inhibition. The teachers just let them do what they want. Finally, they are always demeaning and insulting my way of life. In the end, two people convinced me to go. My proud mother and... I don't even want to say her name. After I was accepted a trend started. All the smartest guys in the gang transferred to the school with a big fat scholarship. The gang needed a reliable alibi, I guess. It changed the face of the school forever. Now instead of just European sport cars and luxury vehicles driving into the lot, we a few motorcycles that ride into the lot everyday. Well, a total of five bikes, but at least ten of us total in the school. Small group, but hell do we cause a lot of trouble for the student population.

I find my bike can speed across the bridge with such velocity, I could just drive without the handles and take off my helmet and let the wind blow in my face. I arrive at the parking lot and park my bike with the rest of the bikes. Some of my people give me a smile or pat me on the back, welcoming me back to school. I don't care for any of them. They just want what I have in the gang. Power and control. The only friend I have in this whole gang, Tyson, is the only one to follow me up the stairs and into the halls of the school. I sometimes think this school could be a boarding school because of the sheer size of it. We have a four wings. One for each grade and in the center of the school is the wing of lockers. The two open spaces between the lockers and classroom is the courtyard. It's where the students here eat and hang out. On the left is where the freshmen and sophomores eat. On the right is where juniors and seniors eat.

"Taking full advantage of the first day of school?" Tyson smiles at me as he looks at my clothes. We're only a day apart, but the way we look people think we're twins except he has brown hair. I treat him like a brother anyways. First day of school we never have to wear uniforms. "Well, they changed the uniform policy. Abolished uniforms to let students express themselves. We're free to wear what we please."

I give a smirk and pat him on the shoulder, "Which means, this school will see our gang colors more often and see us for what we're truly are."

I walk to my locker and I look back. None of the others are following me. Don't know why though. I have a hunch. They are afraid of me, the things I've done for the gang are too gruesome for an average High schooler to even contemplate. Most of them just commit petty crimes for the gang unlike me. I've grown from that. Tyson, on the hand, has a locker next to me and plus we're like brothers so no harm there. I picked up my schedule a week ago and to my disappointment Tyson and I aren't in the same class anymore.

"Hiwatari just to let you know I..." He cuts off because I stop dead in my tracks three feet away from my locker. There at Tyson's locker is her. My childhood friend, the girl who convinced me to come here. "I..."

"You got moved and she's here. You could have called me at home." I angrily turned to him. "I ordered you to watch her movements and give me a report every week."

"Yeah and today is the day I'm suppose to give you the report." Tyson defends himself. I control myself before I do something I regret. He was right that I asked him to give me a report every Monday, but I'm still angry. I sometimes wonder why I promised her that we would still be friends when she moved out in sixth grade. I ended up breaking that promise, but she forgave me in ninth grade when I finally told her I joined the gang.

"Thanks, anything else?" I ask before he has to head to another direction for his locker.

"I think you two have the same class." Tyson mentions. Just great. The last thing I need is for her to be involved in my school life. Tyson leaves me alone to confront her. I give a sigh and shake my head. All I can do is just walk to my locker and put my stuff in before class starts. Usually she starts a conversation, but for some reason she doesn't even acknowledges my presence. I know she knows that I have a locker right next to her, but she doesn't say anything, not even a 'hi'. Before I can even say a thing she shuts her locker and leaves. This is a good sign I guess. At least I won't have to worry about her talking to me. Then again, I haven't really spoken to her since she moved. She kept pestering me why I wouldn't talk to her or hang out with her anymore until the ninth grade when we got to High school. I finally confronted her and told her I joined the gang and wanted her to never to speak to me again. I don't feel guilty. It was for her safety. I was deep in the gang and didn't want her to get hurt. If the gang knew I had a relationship with a rich girl like her, they could use it to their advantage to make me do things I wouldn't want to do. I shut my locker and head off to class.

One thing I hate about this school, and I have a long list, is all the whispers about me and my association with the gang. Half of them are false accusations. The only reason I come here now is to provide an alibi that I am good model student, who is pursuing an education.

All day she completely ignores me and during physics, when we move to another room for the lab tables, she tries to sit on the other side of the room so that we don't have to work together. At lunch it's a different story, she laughs with her trashy white friends and I get dragged off to my group. Instead of listening to the latest crime that we have committed, I look on at her.

"She was born in our side of the town, but she's turned into white trash just like those wishy washy girls. Hiromi has been completely whitewashed." The guy that was telling about the crime, Sato, mouths off about her. I knew I wasn't polite by looking the other way when he was talking, but hearing that comment I explode. I lash across the lunch table and start slugging the guy. I can feel the others trying to pull us apart and his desperate attempts to hit back. It's useless, I've been in much more fights than this guy and workout everyday. One time in a brawl, I nearly killed a guy. Tyson knows this, which is why he's yelling in my ear to get the hell off of him.

"Yo, Hiwatari security is coming. Get off of him before you kill the guy!" Tyson continues to yell at me. By the time security does come, I'm through with the guy and face my maker. The whole school is watching now, including her. They're in shock over what has happened in less than a minute. That's definitely our nature. One moment we could be laughing it up, the next one of us could on the ground fighting for his life. I take a glance at Sato and I see my work. I did a good job showing him up. He now cowers in fear for his life and understands that in this school I rule the gang. I'm sure he'll learn his lesson not to talk shit about her.

They drag me off to the principal's office. Seriously, the last time I was here was the day I entered the school when he gave me the lecture to keep gang related business in the streets. Tch, like that ever happened.

"Hiwatari. You're lucky the guy is still alive. He has bruises all over his face, a cracked skull and jaw and internal bleeding in the skull." Mr. Watson, our principal, white and clearly thinks all Asian are geeky or goodie-twoshoe.

"He'll live. Sato is stubborn." I scoff, blowing the incident off like it was nothing.

"You are suspended for a week." Just like that he gives me his sentence without giving me a chance to have a say about what happened out there. I sit back with a smug look on my face like I did nothing wrong. His face blows up like a big blowfish and he points out the door. That's my signal to leave.

I walk to my locker, grab my stuff and head out the school door. Tyson catches up to me before I can get on my bike and shakes his head, "I'm surprised that he didn't ask why you did it."

"Well, I don't care. He clearly wanted to show off his power over students. Thinks he knows every student." I growl. I'm still angry about the comments made about her.

Tyson turns his head for a moment and whispers, "You know I think Sato was right." Before I can put my hands on him he stops me. "You won't even say her name. That means she really betrayed you."

"I betrayed her. I stopped talking to her as soon as she left when I promised nothing would change. I joined a gang and didn't tell her about until after I entered this damn school." I smiled bitterly." Just watch over her. I'm home for the week. Call me if anything comes up."

I leave Tyson to his own accord and drive off on my bike. I think about the comment made about her. She wasn't whitewashed. I could see she still had her Asian pride. It's just dampened by the hardships in our friendships. She's just doing the best she can to survive in that high class world. It's just sad that I'm letting her go through this by herself when I should be helping her.

Driving home, I see a couple of Junior High kids and college guys break dancing in an alley. Recruiters, reminds me of when I joined. To get in I had show that I had talent, strength and the will to do anything they would throw at me. Of course I passed. My father was proud, but my mother, on the other hand, was scared for me. At the house my mother and father, who were just on lunch break, were waiting and boy they were furious. I parked my bike in the drive way and jump off the bike. My father is first to lecture me.

"The only good that has come out of this is that now you can come with me tonight for a little moonlighting. We were informed that a trunk going out of the city has a load of parts we need for our race in a month." My father sternly tells me. Such a sweet deal. I get suspended, but not punished by my gang. They see this as an opportunity to use me.

"Nice. I'm game." I arrogantly smile at the thought of my hands with those parts and putting them into the hood of my car. The one I'll be driving next month.

My mother was more concerned about me and asked, "Honey, what was the fight about?" I sigh and pass her by. I didn't want to talk about it. There was nothing to discuss. "Was it about Hiromi?"

I turn and face her. What can I do, but answer, "Yeah. The guy was mouthing off about her."

I leave them be and head inside and straight to my room. I sit in the only chair in the room near the window seal. The rest of my room empty, only a desk to study at and a stolen apple laptop from the last highway robbery on top. I really didn't want to talk about it. I'm just itching to get on my bike tonight and jack some parts for the big race. I lay on the floor just thinking about last night's dream. Every night I relive that day in my dreams. I hope tonight I can push that aside with some new parts. I check the time, it's nearly the end of school at the inner city High school. I will be getting a visit in 5...4...3...2...1.

The door slams open and there she is, "Sweety how are you?" Her name is Hilary. Sexy, hot sixteen year old Japanese girl. Her legs are long, toned and tanned. Hilary's outfit makes me shift in my seat and lick my lips in lust. Her little short-shorts, that should be considered just underwear judging on how short it is, hugs her small, tight ass. When she walks they move with her. The rest of her body is just as hot, if not hotter. Her tiny waist is a nice contrast from her nice full breasts. And her face, man, the best part of all. She has such kissable lips. Uses them well if you know what I mean. I can honestly say she is a good lay. "You didn't get hurt from today's fight?"

"Oh, so you got the news. Word travels fast in this huge city." Hilary is a dropout, drop in High school type of girl. Comes and goes as she pleases. I get up from the chair and pull her into me, gripping her ass and giving it a nice squeeze. I lean down to kiss her full luscious lips when I pull away for a moment, I smell something odd and the aroma that gives away that she's completely drunk. "Well he's the one that is messed up."

With that, we started making out. Our tongue swap spit and I finally get a confirmation on the smell. It was semen, which means she means sleeping with someone else. She is definitely drunk because she's kissing me so sloppily. I push her off of me before I get a full taste of the other guy.

"You've been sleeping with someone else?" I made the accusation loud and clear. She regains balance and looks at me with no remorse. Such a slut. Makes me wonder why I even hooked up with her. "You sick girl, get out."

She scoffs at me and doesn't seem to care that I just dumped her, "Something tells me we've only been in this relationship so you could get your mind off of that sweet innocent girl." Hilary walks and slams the door behind. The bitch got the last word. Everyone in the gang knew about her family. How could they not? Her father treated most of their wounds, but no one ever told the man they were in the gang. Just the fact they were just an innocent bystander. We would take off our symbols so he wouldn't know. Plus this whole block was part of the same gang. Word travels fast as I said before. Nothing I can do now but wait until nightfall.

Once night arrived I prepared for the moonlighting. I would be with the older members of the gang, the veterans. I put on my colors, anything dark blue and black. My father and I step outside and rev up our bikes. My father hands me an AK-47 to pop a few tires. Then we are off. We meet the other men outside of the city and take our bikes across the freeway. All of us ride fast and weave in and out of traffic. Finally about an hour into our drive, one person signals to the target. This is where I come in. I speed up to the front and take out the gun. I am the best at sharpshooting and can shoot while riding so I take aim and fire. It hits its mark. A tire flies out and we dodge the thing so we don't get hit. Two men drive forward and hijack the truck tying up the truck driver and then pull the trailer to the side. We then open the hatch and take the stuff we need. One person over does it and goes to the truck driver and shoots him about twelve times. He's lucky there was no one watching us on the highway before, otherwise, evidence would lead straight to us. Our group leaves the scene taking the spoils of war. Nothing like a moonlighting spree to calm my body and nerves. This night I sleep well and I have no dreams of her. All I could dream was cars and the tailpipe of a car fuming blue flames hot as the sun.

Next morning I check my bike before the sun rises and my parents wake up. I rev up the bike and it purrs like kitten. Father must have changed the muffler. I guess that's an improvement I can speed across town in silence. No more cops trying to bust me when I'm on the job. On the road it's even better. The bike is much faster than before. I barely can control the speed. Luckily, it's still pretty early and no one is on the streets. Since I have no school, I might as well leave town and clear my head. I head to the freeway and take the scenic route to SoCal, not that I'm heading there. It's just that the cliffs over looking the oceans are a great place to relax. There's this one place, outside of Santa Cruz, I go to all the time. It's about an hour drive, but for me and this bike, it takes me about twenty minutes. I park near the edge and stare at the vast clear blue-green ocean. I look down. The sandy beach inhabits no one because the waves are so rough. All too soon memories start to flash before me.

"Nee! Kai-kun isn't this dangerous?" Yume gives a shout to Kai as she climbs down the rock cliff. Kai brought her with his bicycle all the from San Francisco without their parents knowledge.

"Scared? It'll be fine. I'm right here!" Kai calls up from the ground.

She was scared of heights. I had forgotten that day and she slipped. I was there to break her fall though. By now I already climbed down the rocks and sitting on the beach. The sun is finally rising over the horizon. We came back a few times before she moved out. I guess I can't forget the life I had when I was a child. My life was over since I joined the gang. I'm too deep in it to get out. Do I blame her for it? A little. Nothing I should groan about. I will get through High school. Then she'll leave the town for college and I will be able to get my more deeper in the gang without worrying about her safety.

Finally, after a week, my suspension is over. I get back to school and Sato apologizes to me straight away as I park. I forgive the guy while staring at the damage I did to him. They were extensive. His face was still swollen and his hair was shaved off so I can see the stitches they sewed in to close the skull. Tyson brings me his report as we walk into the school. He's talking to much I don't catch all of it. She hasn't been doing anything suspicious. Which is good. I leave with Tyson and head to the lockers. Today seems different because she was looking at me at the lockers. Tyson leaves so I can head to class. Those big brown eyes staring at me so...I don't know – filled with emotions? I wonder if she was concerned about me. I let it go and head to class, but she stops me in my tracks by blocking my way.

"I don't think your white friends would appreciate you talking to me." She flinches as I stare at her with narrow eyes. Seeing that she wasn't going to move, I try to push her aside. Instead, she holds her ground.

"I heard why you hit that guy." She finally speaks, but barely above a whisper. "Thank you."

After that she leaves. Hearing her voice again is a little odd. It was so depressing. Maybe the real reason she's avoiding me is that I told her to. The day I told her about my association, I did tell her to stay away from me. For her own safety of course. She protested, but I pushed her away. It must have been easier last year because we had different classes and lockers a world apart from each other, but now it's different. Fate is bringing us together. I head off to class and I find out we're not only getting assigned seats, but also getting lab partners for physics. The teacher ends up putting me behind her. Is fate against me or something? At every corner I seem to be getting closer to her. My agenda is to stay away from her, not endanger her. I'm happy, though, my seat is by the window, so I can stare off into space while not listening to the teacher. After two periods, I have physics and our first assignment was due today. My teachers gave me homework after I got suspended and so I got to finish them then take my bike out all day during the suspension. Then, the teacher assigns us as partners. When she moves next to me, she tries to sit as far away from me as possible like I'm the plague. She's doing a great job of avoiding me. Too good. Usually she would be happy to see me even happier now that we have the same classes. I examine her body language and I can tell she's afraid of something or maybe someone. It doesn't matter right now because next, we're stuck with book work. She doesn't talk to me again after that, so I guess this morning was a fluke.

At lunch I'm surprised to see her walking with a guy. Tyson did not tell me about him. They seem to be together and the guy tries to make her hold hands with him. She slightly hesitates, but the guy gives her a criticizing look and it scares her into listening to his order. At their table, he holds her like she's all his and no one else can touch her. Tyson comes by with his food and I grab him by the shirt, causing him to spill his food on the ground and the tray slams on the ground.

"You forgot a tiny detail." I sneer at him in anger. The rest of the gang is watching. "She has a beau"

"I don't know much about him sir, so I decided to wait until I had enough information. Please wait until next week Yoru." Now I know he's serious about that information. He just called me by my other name. "I did see a ring though."

I'm taken off guard by that. The girl engaged to a white man? Her father would not want that from her. Would he? Certainly he did not want her living on our side of town.

"So the girl is getting hitched!" Sato makes a remark again and laughs. I let go of Tyson and leer at Sato. He backs off before I go after him again. I'm sure he does not want a repeat of the first day of school.

"Why?" I whisper and look over to her. She doesn't seem happy with him. "Arranged?"

"Wouldn't she have told you?" Tyson straightens himself out and picks up his trash to throw away later.

"Yes, which worries me. Meaning, this could have been arranged when she moved out." I concluded. It's so obvious now. The new house, job, car, servants, and money-all of it. So how did this dude get to pick and choose his wife? "Tyson find out who's the father of this boy and how and why this was arranged. I want it in two weeks."

"Yes sir." He responds.

I look at her again and it's clear to me she isn't happy with him. The way she fidgets in her seat is a sign that she doesn't like him. Is that makeup she's wearing? I can't really tell from the other side of the cafeteria. At any rate she doesn't wear make up. In fact she hates wearing any makeup. Then why...?

"Tyson make sure you also find out how well their relationship is going." I add before sitting down and talking with the others about the race in two weeks. I don't have the stomach to eat the lunch bought for myself anymore.

After lunch I head back to class and to my surprise there's a note on my desk addressed to me. I looked at her for a moment, but like the other encounters we had she doesn't respond. I look at her right hand and then her ring, maybe four carats. I don't really care. The fact she would make a hasty decision like that enrages me.

"Nice ring" I comment even though she doesn't say a thing. She just pulls her hand away. "I'm guessing you're getting married soon?"

Nothing. I don't get time to ask anymore questions because the teacher walks right in as the bell rings. I open the note and all it says is help me. I begin to evaluate what has happened to her. The makeup, the strange engagement. It could be abuse. I'm absolutely sure. When the teacher was writing on the board, I passed back the note asking why she's wearing makeup because she never wore it before. Again she doesn't reply, whether if it's because she doesn't want to get caught passing notes or does not want to answer I have no clue. It's driving me crazy that she's not telling me anything. I might as well deserve this punishment. I didn't tell her until I got in deep into the gang, so why should she reveal her problems to me.

The rest of class I just silently pay attention and just get through the day without an incident. Once the bell rings, she quickly flies out of the desk and heads to her locker. I slowly get up and follow suit, but once I'm nearly there, there's some white trash blocking my locker. The same one that was with her at lunch. I just stand a good distance, enough to hear them talk.

"I don't want you near him!" He throws out orders like she was an animal. His fist slams hard against my locker. He doesn't dent it, but the sound reverberates across the hall.

"I understand, but we have the same class together and we are lab partners." She tries to reason with the huge oaf. Tall, muscular, and pretty decent for his people. If I didn't know this damn school so well, I remembered he is the number one jock in this school. I forgot his name of course. There was no way I pay attention to people like him. They only got to the top of the food chain through their parents money and their deceit. "There's no way to avoid him."

"Then don't ever talk to him!" He barks. I'm surprised that no one is stopping his remarks. Students just pass by not even looking at them. It just goes to show how much authority the white jock has at this school. He raised up his hand like he was going to slap her, but calmly controlled himself. One more move, I would have blown my cover and walked up there and punch him in the face so hard that he would knocked out at the moment of contact. "Sheesh I thought Asian women were submissive. I'll be at your place for dinner and none that crap you call food."

He leaves, so I can finally get to my locker. She looks terribly shaken, her hands shakes while holding her books, but there's nothing I can do. He doesn't want me talking to her. I rather not talk to her than risk her life. I place my books in the locker and then shut the door. I turn to leave, but she's looking at me. I check around me to see anyone that knew her was looking or if her fiancé was still watching. There's no one that would see us talking.

"Is he whitewashing you?" I demanded to know. Again, to my frustration, she doesn't answer. "I can't help you if you don't tell me."

Her eyes begin to soften and glisten with tears. I don't want to make a scene her, but what can I do? She's about to cry and she's my friend. No matter what I want to protect her. That's why I asked Tyson to watch over her. To her shock, I pull her into my arms and let her cry there in the middle of the school, where all could see. I tried to calm her down, shushing her to be silent, telling her I would be there for her. I don't want her in my life, but I can't help but get into hers. When she pulls away, I see her makeup is on my shirt. She attempts to wipe it off but I pull her hands away. I could care less about a shirt. Her feelings and problems were more important. Now I can see the extent of the damage he made. Her face wore a hand sized print right across her left cheek. Her lips were black and blue and almost cut, if not for the red lip gloss covering it up. Damn it. That guy really did this to her. No respect for women. I take one look into her eyes and then sigh. I can't bare to see the sight on her face.

"I have to go. Put more makeup on. Your bruises are showing." I let her hands go and walk the other way. I get outside the school walls and into the parking lot to ride home. She managed to catch up to me because before I get on my bike she grabs my shirt. I'm scared for her. If she's this desperate to ignore my pleas from two years ago, then she must be really hurt.

"I really need to go." I remove her hands form my shirt. "I will promise this though," She looks at with me with such sad eyes. It's almost as sad when I told her I joined the gang. I tilt my head just over her ear and whisper, "mamoru."

She stiffens for a moment and when I pull back to rev up my bike, she looks more relaxed. Soon after I leave the premises, the wounds on her face still fresh in my mind. I can't forget them the look on her face. It was just gruesome. Almost as bad as the fights I get into. Tyson follows behind me. From time to time he visits my home just because he wants to. Plus, I like to practice my dance moves with him. I find company once we get home. Our rivals from Chinatown. What a nice change. Geez I hate these Chinese guys. All of us are Japanese and still have hatred over them since WWII, so you can imagine from time to time we fight all the time. Especially, on race days. There is one exception though. We have a couple of guys who have one Chinese parent, but the rest of their family has Japanese blood. Chinese come to us for drugs and then resell them for a higher profit.

"What do we do? They brought their cars." Tyson is very worried. He has the right to be. When they bring their cars, it usually means a dance battle, but also it could be a fight. It's why we don't accept dance battles from them. In this situation, though, it's best to go along with what they want. Otherwise, it'll be a war zone in less than six seconds. Their cars always rivals ours. Tricked out to the extreme. I also scan their clothes. We're lucky. They just want to dance. The other members of our gang all convene to scene. They back us up if there is an outbreak on us.

"You the one called Yoru?" The guy in the front, the leader of this small group asks. He's about twenty. Looks young enough, but he's nothing compared to me. I immediately smirk. My nickname is known throughout the streets. It's not much of a shock when they call me by that name. It means night because I rule the night and all underground street racing. I can tell they mean business.

"Who's asking?" I arrogantly answer back with a question. I have a problem of picking up fights at the worse times. This counts as one of them.

"We would like to have a little dance battle before the race in two weeks." One of his cronies answers for him. This is great some excitement to get my mind off of things. "Three on three. Sound good?"

Tyson steps up to the plate and call out for another guy on my side, Sei. He's probably the second person I'd go to if I need help. My cousin in fact. He doesn't go to our school so I don't see him unless we're doing something gang related. He brought out his stereo and starts the music. It's so great to dance. The rush of doing a freeze, the sound of the crowd roaring around you and the respect a person wins in the end. Each group tries to intimidate each other by attack them with their dance moves, well not literally. Although, sometimes one person might purposely kick the opponent or an accidental trip is played. Anything to win. The Chinese, or Chins as we call them, nearly kicked me. Now they were going to play dirty so I signaled to the other two to respond. I kicked one guy in the shin when I was doing my freeze and Tyson hit another in the face. It start to get so bad we stopped dancing altogether and started to fight. Everyone was egging us on. Fuck the dance now we had to fight for our lives. The crowd wanted a fight until the death. It seemed like we were. Punches were flying everywhere and we started to bleed. One guy got to my jaw with a punch and I coughed up blood. That's when I heard it, the unsheathing of knives. Leave it to the Chins to bring concealed weapons. I was stabbed in the back of my shoulder and I fell to the ground, but I was able to roll away before they could gang up on me and beat the crap out of me, while I was still on the ground.

Someone called out that the police were on the way and we all dispersed like vultures back into our houses and the Chins into their cars. They drove away as fast as the came in. Well, except for me and my buddies. We were the only ones left. I was wounded badly. Tyson and Sei took me back home to my mother's horror. She immediately started yelling at me like she does with Father. Yeah instead of suturing my wound that is bleeding out on the wood floor, she just stands there and tosses me a lecture. Tyson had to compress the wound to let it stop bleeding. Finally Mother went to get her medical supplies and stitched up my wound. After Tyson and Sei took me to my room and Mother left us alone.

"That was intense." Sei shook with fear. He was new to all this. He had just joined last year. This kind of violence is new and fresh to him. "The Chins were screaming to get Hiwatari. Wonder why you?"

"Because Hiwatari is known around the underworld as a champion street racer. Are you going to be ready in two weeks? That stab looks bad." Tyson explains to the newbie.

"This? It's nothing. I'll be fine." I scoff." This is nothing compared to the last cut. Now would you guys go I need to rest." I order them to leave the house and the step out, saying their goodbyes to my mother.

I go into my closet and take out the futon with my good hand and lay it out. I fall into it, careful not to further injure my back. I'm shocked that I got hit today. Usually I'm able to dodge their attacks. I guess I'm just tired from school and not focusing well. The last wound I got left a huge scar on my left wrist. Yeah, I slit my wrist right after she left. Once she drove away, I ran back inside, grabbed a knife and cut my wrist deep so it would bleed out. I was depressed and didn't know how to let it out. I thought by feeling pain I would let myself know that I'm still alive and not feel numb from the lost of my best friend. My mother found me passed out on the kitchen floor and immediately took me to the hospital that same day. The doctors told my mother nothing was damaged, but there was a lot of blood loss. I had gotten several blood transfusions. Later, in my hospital bed, my father gave me a proposal that I should join with him in the gang. He told me it would give me a sense of belonging, plus I would get access to the cars and bikes we rode nearly everyday, so I joined just like that. I battle danced against the elders and won. I can't stop thinking about her though. I can't get her out of my mind. With that guy? He was rough to her, had no respect to her culture and most of all he stereotyped Asians. Then again I do that to the whites, but we don't really use it against them or tell it to them outright. Arranged marriage? How did that happen? Maybe the deal they made her father's work. That's the only explanation. I need to know what's the guy's father's occupation at the hospital. If that's true then, what they did was extortion, but will she be willing to work with me to get away from him? I hope so, because even though I don't want to her to be near me anymore, I still want to protect her.

I look at my injured shoulder. My biggest question is how do I hide it from school authorities. The last thing I need is another suspension when I just got back from suspension. It's school all over again and this year is going to a ride of my life. I may not go on to college, but I want to make the best of High school and make sure by the time we graduate, she leaves with a smile on her face and forgets that she ever grew up in the tangled up web of this city and the school. Let school start.


A/N: Please review and no harsh flaming.