|Blade Store|

"What do you mean, sold out? The parts only became available yesterday, right? No way you don't have any left at all!" Kishara cried out when the shop clerk gave her the news. She'd been hoping to get the new parts yesterday, but Tyson had shown up at her house, begging for help with belated homework. Now she wished she hadn't helped him out. Puffing up her cheeks she just about hung over the counter, to great dismay of the shop cleric. "When are you getting them shipped in again?"

"Two weeks from now, miss. The gentleman who bought the last ones was very insistent about them. Uhm… if you don't mind?" The cleric gestured behind her, where a line of costumers were waiting to get the parts for their own Beyblades.

With a growl she desisted, running her fingers through her bangs. The black locks fell in front of her right eye seconds later. What was she supposed to do now? It was today and she had had everything banked on those new parts. Okay, it wasn't smart, but they had been perfect. Tyson could do his own stupid trig homework next time, that was for sure.

She ran a finger along the collar of her Chinese top, slinging her backpack over one shoulder as she left the store. Now she'd have to tell Kai she'd failed. He would be disappointed, though he'd never say that to her face. He'd probably rather die than tell her she'd failed him. They were supposed to meet in half an hour too, which gave her some time to steel her nerves. While walking she decided she might as well stop at her favorite ice cream shop. If there was one day that could make this day better-

They had to be kidding her. On the door was a neat little plaque, which read "closed due to unforeseen circumstances, be back tomorrow. Stay frosty!". Kishara reminded herself to just take deep, even breaths, while tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Today had been supposed to be a good day, a great day. Now it was just turning in some kind of disaster.

Dragging her feet she slowly made her way to Kai's apartment. She wondered if she could tell him to just wait two weeks more. It would be rude, but at least she'd be able to save her face. The closer she got to his front door, the slower she walked, until she had stopped moving altogether. Why had she even helped Tyson? She didn't even like him that much. But then he'd said that Kai would really appreciate her being a pal, and that had been enough for her to give in. She rubbed the corner of her eyes, sniffing.

Cold knuckles bumped in the side of her head, catching her off guard. "Are you planning on standing here all day? You were supposed to come to my place."

Kai scolded her gently, not entirely displeased with her, judging from the glint in his eyes. He was wearing the blue stripes on his cheeks again, indicating he'd just returned from a Beyblade match not too long ago. He studied her for a few seconds, before unwinding his red scarf. "Here, put this on. It's too cold to be walking around without a coat."

Kishara accepted the scarf with a pout, but didn't move to put it on. "Kai, I-"

"Want me to help you put it on? You're such a kid sometimes," He said with a rather cheeky grin, cutting off her words as he wrapped the scarf around her. When she opened her mouth again to ask him for two more weeks, he started to walk to his front door.

"Listen to me, please?" Kishara followed behind him, running up the stairs. Kai hardly ever took the elevator, and though normally she preferred to take it easy, she really wanted to just confess her failure to him already. Sadly for her, he had such a firm step he was at the top of the stairs before she was even halfway, and disappeared in his apartment. She just caught the door, holding it open. Panting she glared at him, her twin tails slightly disheveled. "Would you just listen? It's about today."

"I didn't forget, if that's what you're worried about. Here's your present." He smoothly slid a small, soberly wrapped gift box over the kitchen counter, before taking out a bottle of fizz.

"But that's not the problem. I-"

"I have another surprise for you. Open that while I got get some."

With that he left her standing in the room, staring at the small box. The wrapping, dark gray with a darker blue ribbon around it pretty much screamed Kai. She pulled at the ribbon, slowly, getting angry at Kai for not listening to her already. He was always like this, waltzing over people when he didn't want to talk about things. Today was their Together Day, the day where they'd first met, even though back then they hadn't guessed they'd end up being so close. At first he'd only thought of her as a talentless brat, while she'd thought he was a stuck-up prick.

The wrapping fell open neatly, and Kishara felt her breath hitch. No way. No fucking way had he- how had he? When? "Kai?!"

"Yeah?" he asked, carrying a box in one hand and two spoons in the other.

"How'd you know I was going to get this?" In her hand she held the parts she had wanted to pick up today, gleaming in the light.

For a moment he seemed surprised, his eyebrows raised while his mouth formed an 'o'. "Because you ordered my cell phone to look up when they'd be arriving. You don't normally pay much attention to Beyblades, so I thought these must be pretty important to you."

Her jaw dropped open. "But what if I'd have bought them myself?"

"That's why I had Tyson distract you yesterday. I was lucky though, I just got the last pair."

He had sent Tyson to her? Kishara felt the corner of her mouth pulling in a smile. "… idiot."

Kai blinked, taken aback by her comment. "Excuse me? I thought you wanted these? Even your mom said that you've been talking about nothing except how much you HAD to have these, the moment they came out."

Kishara rolled her eyes, not believing how clueless her best friend could be at times. He knew she didn't even have a Blade of her own. She walked closer to him, holding up the parts. "I wanted to buy it for you, dummy! You just bought your own Friendship present."

For once the great Kai was completely speechless. His mouth formed words, but no sound reached her ears. When she reached him, he looked down on her with the most flabbergasted expression to ever grace his face. She poked his chest with a smile. "You know me so well, you confuse me with yourself sometimes."

A faint pink crept toward his cheeks as he glanced away from her. "I could've guessed. I just thought you might be interested in learning. And I hoped…"

"You hoped?"

He glanced back to her, swallowing. Had he always been this tall? His hand touched the scarf around her neck, his words hesitant. "Maybe I could teach you how to Blade?"

His hand brushed past the skin on her neck, and suddenly Kishara was very aware of the distance between them. "Oh well… I guess I could give it a try?"

He smiled, bumping his forehead against her for a second. For a moment he looked like the boy she'd first had gotten to know, when he'd first really smiled at her. "Great. But I'm sure you'll like this present even better."

From behind his back he pulled out a carton of her favorite flavor ice cream, along with two spoons. "I thought you'd like some while we watch movies tonight. Don't worry, I have tons more. I went… kind of overboard at the shop, so I got all of the ice cream they had."

Kishara's eyes landed on the name on the carton, which said 'Stay Frosty!' in big, swirly letters, and grinned. "You always go overboard when you have a chance. That's what I like about you."

He wrapped a cool arm around her shoulder, opening his eyes just a little wider. Then Kai leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss against her temple. Surprised she looked at him, and the sudden shy smile that played across his lips. "Convenient, because I happen to like you."

At once she lost every semblance of composure. "Wh-Wh... what? Can you repeat that?"

Kai leant closer to her, his pale bangs mingling with her black locks. "I like you."

"As in love?"

He grinned, though from this close up she could see how much he blushed. "You tell me, miss I-Know-Kai-So-Well."

Kishara nodded, pressing her nose against his. They exhaled, together for the moment. Then she frowned at him once more, green eyes flickering in the light. "Does this mean I need to get you a new present?"