I haven't written anything for beyblade in years, but I missed these kids a lot. Watching the new subs hasn't really helped in letting them go.

This chapter is set sometime during The Big Sleepover (aka VForce), because I wanted someone to bring up the scars Rei must have from his battle with Boris in s1, and also bc I love domestic moments that lead to bonding.

I use (as close to) original names as I can, so I recommend doing a quick google search if you're only familiar with the dub names.

Characters: Hiromi and Rei, with mentions of Takao and Kyouju.

Warning: There's a reference to cutting (self-mutilation), but only as a question and there's mentions of some blood in this one, as Rei accidentally cuts his hand with a knife, in case that makes you feel queasy or yucky.

Thanks for reading!

It was hot in the kitchen and so Rei had dressed down to just his black tank and pants, which meant Hiromi could see the large scars on both his shoulders. She'd been curious about them, but hadn't found a good time to ask since Rei seemed to try to keep them hidden most of the time.

Hiromi was helping Rei in the kitchen, as the two of them were the most competent of the entire team—despite what Takao keeps claiming about her cooking. Rei was cutting vegetables, while Hiromi stirred the soup on the stove.

She heard the clunk of the knife hitting the cutting board, and Rei let out a sharp hiss of pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning around.

Rei looked up at her almost sheepishly, and he was cradling his hand away from the vegetables. There was blood seeping between his fingers.

"Oh!" Hiromi gasped.

"I slipped," Rei admitted, "do you know where Takao keeps the bandages?"

Hiromi was unable to move—she hadn't seen this much blood before—and she was frozen in place as she watched a fat bead of Rei's blood drip off of his cupped hand and splash onto the floor.

"Hiromi?" Rei asked, "are you okay?"

"Sorry!" she shouted, "I think—" she dove into a cupboard she'd seen Takao go into multiple times for band aids, "here!"

"Is there gauze?" Rei asked her, "I just need to soak the blood up first—actually I'll wash some off. Do you mind moving the dishes out of the sink?"

She nearly dropped the box of bandages in her lunge for the sink. How was Rei so calm?

He shook out the hand he'd had cupped under his injured hand, and she could heard the heavy splash of blood as it hit the sink. Her stomach dropped. Rei ran his cut hand under the water for a few minutes without flinching, and then accepted the gauze and put pressure on it.

"I think the vegetables are still okay," Rei told her while she was wrapping a bandage over his hand and the gauze, "I didn't bleed on them, but we should rewash them just in case."

Hiromi could only stare at him. He'd cut his finger deeply, almost to the bone, and there was still blood on the floor, and on the counter by the sink and a little splatter on the cabinet doors. And he was worried about the vegetables?

"Hiromi?" Rei caught her gaze, "are you okay? You're not scared of blood, are you?"

Hiromi shook her head, "No, I… how are you so calm? You didn't even flinch!"

Rei seemed confused about her words for a moment, and then he laughed, "I, uh, you could say I've been through worse. I've got a high pain tolerance, and blood doesn't really freak me out anymore."

Hiromi's eyes moved to the large scars on Rei's upper arms. This close she realized that they weren't just one large mark, but were made up of many smaller lacerations, and that his arms were covered in them. There were just more in certain areas that gave the illusion that Rei was only scarred in specific areas. There was no way they were accidental, the cuts were too fine.

"Those aren't medical," Hiromi said, gesturing at the cuts up Rei's arms, "like… a doctor didn't make those, right?"

"No," Rei agreed, "they aren't from a doctor."

He moved away from her to grab some paper towel to clean up the blood splatter. Hiromi knew when she was being brushed off, and she resisted the urge to pry. Maybe she could ask Takao or Manabu about it.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" She was curious why Rei was being so secretive. She'd seen the boys comparing scars before, and boasting about the dangerous, and often stupid, things they'd done to receive them. Maybe Rei was ashamed of these scars?

"No, I think I'll be okay, but I'll keep an eye on it. I'm not a big fan of doctors," Rei shrugged.

"Are your scars… self-inflicted?" Hiromi blurted out before she could stop herself.

Rei looked startled for a moment, and then gave her a wry grin, "Well, I suppose they are, but not in the way you're thinking."

"I don't understand," Hiromi said before she could apologize for talking without thinking. She was just as bad as Takao sometimes, not that she'd ever admit it.

"There was… I had a choice, and I could have walked away," Rei continued cleaning up blood, "but I didn't. And I'm proud of that. I'm stronger for it now, but… it's not a happy memory. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay," Hiromi nodded, "I'm sorry, I was… I was really curious. I shouldn't have pried."

"Thank you," Rei smiled.

Hiromi washed the vegetables—Rei hadn't bled on any of them—while Rei finished cleaning. She took over doing the prep work under Rei's guidance, while he took over stirring the soup and other duties he would do with only one hand.

"There's videos," Rei surprised her by talking, "Kyouju probably has some recordings. If you wanted to see."

Hiromi glanced at the scars on Rei's arms again, "Videos of you getting hurt? I don't… I don't think I want to see that."

Rei nodded approvingly, "I'm glad you asked me first, but I don't mind if you wanted to talk to the others about it. I just... I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay," Hiromi agreed. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know now, if it meant hearing about Rei being badly hurt. Curiosity still pulled at her, but she felt content for now. There was a weird mood between them that felt too heavy for Hiromi's liking. She didn't like the furrow in Rei's brow that meant he was probably remembering what had happened to him, so she tried to think of something that would make him laugh.

"I got this one," Hiromi pulled back her hair to show a bright pink scar just above her ear, "when I tried to curl my hair. My hair came right off! Burned hair smells awful."

Rei broke into a loud laugh, "I thought girls were supposed to be good at hair stuff?"

"It was my first try," Hiromi pleaded, "I'm sure you've done something dumb with your hair."

Rei looked a little embarrassed when he admitted, "Once while I was travelling I was sleeping too close to a campfire and I burned my hair too. It was actually on fire and I had to jump into a river to put it out."

"Oh no!" Hiromi laughed, "that's terrible! That's worse than mine!"

They continued trading embarrassing mishaps and laughing as they finished making lunch.