Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me. No profits are being made off this story.

The Balancing Act

It was a cool night in the busy city of New York. The circus was in town, but it wasn't just any circus. A famous Spanish travelling family had come to perform.

The tent itself was large but it only filled a quarter of the lot they'd set up in. Mobs of people were in and out the grounds with their children or their dates enjoying the festivities. Popcorn, cotton candy, and men in tights were just some of the colourful sights that littered the property.

Inside the tent, the two large rings that made up the performance area were scattered with various equipment. Spanish men and women wearing clown make-up ran around doing tricks and giving treats to paying customers. However, the majority of the spectators could not eat as they were pointing and gasping at the latest act. An acrobatic feat was being preformed right above their heads.

The tightrope walk.

Raul shuddered as the lights beat down on him. They were really bright and he was really close to them; he could feel his make-up melting off. Long brown hair brushed his arm and he looked beside him to his twin sister Julia.

"I'll go first." She said behind her decorative mask, and one of their 'uncles' helped her get into position with her pole.

True, the circus was technically made up with many different families, but they all thought of each other as related. Although, none of them shared a bond like Raul and Julia, who'd practiced together since they were old enough to walk, and then taken to beyblading together in the international beyblading circuit as well. Down below, their flamboyant coach Romero was tossing roses and acting as a debonair Ring Leader. The women always loved it, but it was obvious that Romero loved it more.

Raul smiled and adjusted his frilly collar with good nature. "In some ways this is less stressful than a beybattle." He muttered to himself and offered Julia thumbs up as she looked back at him.

She smirked, "See you in a minute," and took a carefully balanced step and then another and then the crowd roared and the spotlight shone onto her.

A minute later with Julia standing in the direct middle of the rope, Raul followed and the crowd went wild.

"Good for nothing BBA." Rick cursed as he made his way through the rapidly darkening streets. Why they insisted on not being open twenty-four hours annoyed Rick greatly. He bet the Japanese BBA headquarters was open all night. That could explain some things.

"Bah!" He kicked at an old beer bottle and sighed as he passed the entrance to the park. He'd kinda gotten used to the sweet professional treatment he'd had during the world tournament. He couldn't even streetblade anymore as an alternative, because going pro had diminished his reputation with the other streetbladers out there.

Being legit sucked. He cursed himself for going so soft.

In his opinion, the members of the PPB All Starz were a bunch of irritating and weak nobodies. Now he was the only one left with any sort of talent, at least until Max came back from Japan. If he did.

Luckily, after hours he'd been using an alley dish that no one frequented anymore. Besides, Michael and company would never go to an alley to train.

He grinned with renewed spirit and doubled back, entering the brightly light park to cut across to the old alley to continue training.

"What the heck!" Rick exclaimed, casting an angry eye at the tent that obscured his path. "Geeze, when did the circus come to town?"

Then again, he supposed he should have noticed there were more weirdoes roaming around than usual. This was New York.

The tent wasn't that big, so the crush of people inside seemed particularly thick. Not wanting to go around it since he'd probably get too turned around to find the alley, Rick ducked inside and made his way through the mobs of people leaving.

The show had just wrapped up and people were filtering out in large clusters. This was the best time to try and get some personal tips from the audience. Performers rushed around in the final frenzy, doing quick tricks and upending their colourful hats or gloved hands for money. Fortunately, the man on stilts had very, very low pockets.

Romero almost always cleaned up during this time, since he walked around with a giggling fanbase, eager for him to dish out some of his suave lines in Spanish.

Julia and Raul usually pulled out their beyblade tricks for these moments. It was fast, easy, and got people really excited.

Rick pulled to a stop as he noticed some beyblades doing tricks. He frowned, 'They have beyblades as circus entertainment now?'

Thunder Pegasus did a loop de loop and Torch Pegasus mirrored it making a crowd of people clap and toss a few coins. The beyblades sped up and caught the coins and produced a shower of sparks and jingles. The twins bowed and their audience began to disperse.

Rick's mouth formed an amused smirk. 'Child's play. If only these kids knew the kinda money real bladers could make.' The teen remembered fondly the betting systems of streetblading before he shuffled past and continued on his way.

Julia stooped and collected their earnings. Raul smiled and packed his blade away. He rubbed at his cheek which smudged his make-up. "How'd we do?"

"Not bad." Julia spared her brother a crafty glance. "You mind covering for me if I give you all of tonight's dough? I have a date!"

"D-Date?" Raul's brow furrowed in confusion.

Julia stabbed him in the chest with her finger. "You do remember Jack? You know, the cute American who asked me out yesterday?"

Raul felt suitably cowed. "Oh." He said in a small voice, "That's what that was?"

"Geeze, sometimes I think I have a younger sister instead of a brother!" Julia grinned evilly and patted Raul's pinkish red bangs, then ruffled his costume's collar. She herself had changed out of her costume after the act.

Raul puffed out indignantly but still took the cash from her. "Only by a few minutes! H-Hey," He caught her sleeve as she turned to leave. "Uhm… be care-… I mean, have a good time, ok?"

Julia slapped him lightly and walking away backwards laughed, "You should wish I have a horrible time, otherwise you'll be cleaning tomorrow night too!"

Raul smiled a little helplessly and waved. Same old Julia.

The male half of team F-Dynasty stood in one of the rings holding a broom. Raul wiped a bit of sweat at his forehead, and was startled to see white make-up on the back of his hand. He'd forgotten he was wearing it still. Usually they didn't bother changing out of the colourful, frilly costumes until they got back to the trailers.

"I guess… I wonder how Julia is doing on her date…" He swept up some more confetti; there was no end to the stuff!

"Don't stay too late, Raul!" Uncle Alberto called out and the dual-haired teen nodded and sped up his sweeping.

It went faster with two people, normally. Raul sighed and sat down on an errant clown box. Sometimes it seemed like Julia always had a boyfriend. Everywhere the circus went, there'd be a horde of guys waiting to ask her out.

It wasn't that he was jealous of his sister, or that he wanted to keep her to himself. He frowned and picked up an oversized dustpan to collect more confetti. He just couldn't help but feel a little… left out.

He knew he wasn't as outgoing as his sister, and he definitely wasn't as manly as his sister was pretty. He didn't even want a girlfriend or anything like that.

Raul scooped up the last of the rubbish and tossed it into the garbage.

He guessed he just felt a little, just a little, alone… maybe.

Raul laughed a little to himself as he put the broom away and got ready to go home to bed. "At least this way I get all the money!"

"Mnnn… I definitely stayed too late…" Raul moaned to himself in despair. The air outside was much cooler than before and the sky almost pitch black.

The teen shuddered and pulled his frilly sleeves farther over his hands while he walked through the shadowed park. It was kind of… no, it was kinda reallyscary. Spooky. Terrifying.

He was alone at night in a strange place and he had to find his way home and hope desperately that he didn't get lost.

Raul slumped. On the bright side, since he was still in costume, any random criminals might mistake him for a deviant individual as well and he'd be safe.

He reached the small chain link fence that led to the alley he'd seen that morning that he knew as a shortcut. The crew was staying at a parking lot two blocks away in their respective trailers that had been rented for their tour of America.

Edging closer to the darkened entrance of the alleyway, Raul accidentally stumbled on an old trash can lid lying in the middle of the ground.

"Ahh!" He yelled. A sharp burst of light and clatter flew and hit the fence in front of him and zoomed straight for his head.

Chkkt-Thunk!

The teen's heart thumped loudly in his chest and he clenched whatever he'd caught in his hand. The grungy brick wall was moist against his back, and it felt like his foot was stuck in the trash can he'd tripped over. He didn't dare open his eyes.

"Nice catch." A voice said to his left and Raul jumped. He opened his green eyes and then blinked rapidly.

So it was a beyblade he'd thought was gonna kill him! Feeling unbelievably dumb he stuttered, "Y-yeah, th-thanks…um…"

"Hey, no need to thank me," The other teen walked out from his shadowed corner. A small but alluring smirk emerged on his face. Slowly, just like Julia's did. It was dark, and so was the stranger, so Raul couldn't make out much except that he was very tall and had a sports jacket on.

Raul shook himself but it could not keep him from cowering slightly. Even though the other guy was obviously not going to kill him; he was still intimidating.

Those piercing eyes stared down until a stray string of dingy yellow streetlight caught him and Raul blinked rapidly. He had grey eyes, unusual.

Rick scratched at the soft part of his cheek, sizing up the cowering performer. The cocky grin he'd become famous for crept up his lips. "Y'know, you're not bad. For a clown." The American gave the intruder another once over, taking in the smeared makeup and colourful ruffles.

"A cute clown." The cocky grin was complete in all its glory.

Embarrassment assaulted the dual-haired beyblader in a way he'd never known before. It rushed from the cold air he sucked in, straight down to the bottom of his shoes, making his toes curl, and zoomed back up again to make his cheeks flare bright red.

Who did this guy think he was?

He fumbled for a reply.

"I-I-I'm a BOY, for your information!" He stuttered, and tried desperately to pull his leg out of the garbage can. The beyblade in his fist was shaken menacingly. "Yo-You-You can't just go saying stuff like that! I'm a-" A vicious kick and his leg was free, "Beyblader too!"

Rick leaned a bit closer, squinting in scrutiny. Raul cringed and took another step back, immediately falling over the garbage can and dropping Rock Bison clumsily.

Chuckles erupted from the American and Raul blushed looking down instantly. It was almost too embarrassing to bear!

He saw the streetblader pick up the beyblade out of the corner of his eye and held his hands in front of himself in defence, squeezing his eyes shut. 'I should have gone on more dates…' Raul thought desperately.

But the scary stranger just walked away.

Slowly the teen dragged himself up, dusting off his costume half-heartedly. The trash had soiled his shoe and smelled particularly funky now that he wasn't too scared out of his mind to notice. Raul gave the can a swift kick and jumped when it clanged loudly in the dark, landing in a huge beydish he hadn't noticed.

'So that's why he was here.' Uneasy, the weary teen puttered around the dish careful not to knock into anymore things.

Raul nearly fainted in relief a few minutes of walking later, when he saw the parking lot with the row of brightly decorated trailers. Walking alone with only the racing of his heart had made him light headed. Running up as fast as he could, he whipped out his keys and they jangled as he unlocked the small door. 'I sure hope Julia gets home better than I did.' He thought, and blew out a breath as he closed the door behind him without a sound.

"He was a perfect gentlemen!" Julia crowed the next night, sweeping up the confetti with her brother. It was a peaceful task, he smiled in the florescence of the few stage lights kept on so they could work.

"There's a lot of beautiful shops that he took me to. Luckily I had saved up since I knew we'd be coming to New York! I wasn't disappointed!"

Raul tapped the dustpan against the garbage and then his thigh, when he was finished, for something to do. "That sounds really great. Maybe I can visit some while we're still here."

"Oh, that's right." The news of their impermanent stay deflated his sister and he wished he hadn't said anything at all.

Trying to mend things he said, "Will you see Jack tonight?"

Julia didn't reply for a moment, before, "I think I will. I only have so much time."

There was always that issue that he never discussed with his sister but was so desperately curious about, it drove him insane. Julia went out with so many boys for the few precious moments they were in a new town and country. Sometimes they were set up for weeks on end, sometimes only days. Sometimes only one day.

What did she say to them, when she left? Was she sorry, or did she even care about that sort of stuff? Julia always found something she loved in each place they went, whether it a boy or a new dress.

Raul wracked his brains as he watched her comb her hair with her hand and grab her jacket to go.

Was leaving as dreadful as being alone?

End Chapter One