Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblades, its characters, or anything else related to it. –River Rae
Tolling Lives
The Scaling Cat
The large analogue clock gleamed white reflections of the moon on the face of the National Tokyo Museum. The moonlight streamed through the large smoky glass window revealing a slim dark figure making its way towards the encased glittering diamond upon its fluffy purple cushion. The entire four by four metre area around the jewel was concentrated by thousands of invisible infra-red beams, ready to trigger a silent alarm the moment any object entered that area. The slim figure had the stereotypical resemblance of a thief; head wrapped up in black cloth, skin tight black body suit; the dark glasses covering the eyes. As the figure slowly made its way towards the security-covered glimmering diamond it failed to notice the shadow that was slowly creeping behind it. The shadow prepared its silencer on the small hand gun it wore around its belt. As it assumed to aim the gun towards it intended victim, the thief advanced towards the security zoned area around the diamond. Looking as if it would walk straight into the trap alarm, the thief jerked towards the right and leapt several feet into the air and landed right in front of the jewel, completely avoiding the trap. The shadow froze; a second later he would have killed his intended victim had he not hesitated; now one main stage of his plan was completed without any effort on his behalf. He almost laughed at his luck if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want to be exposed to his victim. The intruder stepped back into the shadows, blending in so well that he had to place a pair of glasses over his eyes to hide the yellow glare. However, the initial thief was blissfully unaware of how close he had come to death. All he was concerned with right now was the jewel that he now held in his hands. Leaping over the infra-red beams for the second time (a good five feet into the air) the thief proceeded towards the entrance he'd made for himself in the large window of the museum. Unaware that he was being followed, the thief continued applying the safety harness that would allow his safe descent to the ground from three stories up. The shadow found this a very convenient hand that fate had thrown his way. He chose this time now to make his move.
Without making a noise the shadow crept his way along the moonlit path on the tiled floor to the thief. The thief felt a sudden chill along his spine and turned to feel the back of a black figure's fist contact the side of his skull.
The shadow, who was now revealed in the moonlight to be a similarly clad figure, quickly grabbed hold of the limp body before it hit the ground three stories below. As it dragged the thief back inside it searched the unconscious body for the prized diamond. The bandit found the jewel and held it up in the moonlight. As the moon beams were magnified and scattered around the deserted corridor as if by a disco ball the bandit's eyes shone yellow and cat-like with glee. It quickly hid it in the black bag around its waist and looked at the unconscious body of the first thief, wondering what to do with it.
After making its decision the former thief's body was flung out of the window and was heard to hit the ground three stories below with a satisfying thud. The bandit smiled and set about fixing the safety harness and the accompanying equipment to look like an accident on the former thief's behalf. After five minutes the bandit looked at his work and was satisfied. He reapplied the sticky gloves and proceeded to scale the outside of the building until he reached the roof; five stories up. From here he had a great view of his handiwork. Below him on the ground was the crumpled form of the thief who had lost the valuable diamond, which was now safely hidden in the waist bag worn by the bandit. He would have taken a picture if it wouldn't have been incriminating evidence.
A single clear, resounding toll announced the half-hour. 4:30 a.m.
Anyway, time to go home, sun's almost rising…
;.;
Max was happily walking down the footpath, snuggled under the arm of his boyfriend Tyson, when he was reflecting on how beautiful the day was. The sun was yet to shine its brilliant yellow; the grass was a glossy damp green with morning dew; he had his love right next to him and they were going for ice-cream early in the morning. Life was great.
"What flavour do you want, Maxie?" asked Tyson when they reached the Ice-Creamery corner shop.
"Um…" Max looked at all the flavours that the shop had to sell. What should he choose? Today didn't feel like a caramel day, not a chocolate one either, nor cinnamon swirl… "You choose first Tyson."
"No, I want to choose mine based on what you choose," Tyson said.
Max looked up at his boyfriend. "Why?"
"Because I want to choose a flavour that matches my love for you," Tyson smiled. Then he laughed "Don't question the logic," he said happily to the ice-cream vendor.
Max smiled. "OK, I'll pick the Almond Swirl with Rainbow Sprinkles." Max waited to see what Tyson would choose.
Tyson laughed. "OK, I'll choose the Rainbow Swirl with Almond Sprinkles," he said.
After Tyson paid for their ice-creams they started walking along the footpath and admiring the flowers. After a while, Max had to ask "Tyson, how does Rainbow Swirl with Almond Sprinkles match Almond Swirl with Rainbow Sprinkles? I thought that that would be the exact opposite to mine?"
"Well," Tyson started. "It's kind of hard to explain but I'll give it a go. If I were to choose the opposite of yours I would have chosen Fruit Plain with Black Topping. But choosing the same Ingredients as you, but not the same method, is my way of saying that I want to be with you and whatever you are, but not the same way. I mean, if we're two the same then we're not a whole. If we're kind of different, but matching, we are a whole. Like a puzzle," seeing the confused look on the younger boy's face he added, blushing: "Just trust me; I'm an expert on food"
Tyson's blush went even redder as his lips were met by Max's own. Five minutes later they continued walking down their path.
"Hey Tyson," Max said in the voice he always used to get what he wanted with Tyson. "Can we go past the museum? Apparently they've got a new display outside and since no one else is up this early maybe we could see it without the long line?"
Since Tyson was no historical enthusiast and learning something was not on his 'To Do…' list. But if it was for Max, and when he used his special voice, Tyson would endure hours of lecturing and learning torture for him.
"OK, but we'd better hurry up; it is 4:28 and the Museum opens at 5 a.m." Tyson said just to see the look of joy on Max's face.
Discarding the empty ice-cream cone, Max took off towards the Museum, challenging Tyson to a race. Tyson sprinted to catch up to his love.
Max's laughter was cut as he stopped dead short in his tracks. The small boy was shaking like a leaf and couldn't manage his jaw muscles properly.
"T—t-t-t-t-t Tyson…" he mouthed before letting out an ear-piercing scream.
A single clear, resounding toll announced the half-hour. 4:30 a.m.
;.;
The sky was a bright blue and the birds were singing their morning melody. The sky was too bright; the birds too loud. Ragged children ran past the shop window; their laughter was elated and the people inside the shop chatted quietly. Distorted midgets ambled past the hazy glass windows; voices warped around him as people with twisted features stared at him and glared. As if he had been sucked into a warped world and life so unlike his own, there was a feeling of such happiness that he felt no need to wake up to reality at this ungodly hour of the morning…
…"kai.."…
Hopefully that little annoying voice in his head would go away and leave him alone…
"..hey…wake up.."
Why didn't life itself give such an ecstatic happiness?...
"Hey, wake up… dude…"
He squeezed his eyes closed tighter; trying to block out the twisted face and the warped voice…
"KAI!"
"What…?"
Reality sunk in slowly; the face in front of his taking shape after he opened his eyes. The image began to swim and flicker before the obscure image began to resemble the face of someone he knew…
"Hey, man, were you getting high again? I told you that's nasty stuff," Joey said, slapping Kai's face to wake him up again.
"Hey, I'm awake, OK?" Kai racked his brain to try to remember how he got into this dingy place. The small coffee shop was grimy and smelt of disease and old people. He was seated at a small round table with his back to the wall; Joey had realised the reason for this seating as Kai had been leaning against the filthy brick wall on the rear legs of his chair when he came in. To their left was the hazy window-walled face of the shop, which hosted a soiled and dust encrusted painted sign on the window showing the shadowy side of Tokyo. A long bar table was placed against the large window and was used by the grubby card players and pot smokers who sat, huddled among themselves trading business, on the worn down bar stools. Several other tables like the one at which Kai sat were scattered around the cramped space that consisted of the small business coffee shop. To Kai's right was the bar, which fed its occupants the 'life-giving' liquid they craved to allow them to slowly drift into unconsciousness and to escape their miserable reality. The bartender stood there with his gapped grin that tormented his latest customer. Joey looked at the bartender wiping a huge glass with a suspiciously soiled rag and felt sick. This fleapit was for the dregs of the hopeless, not his best mate. Trying not to breathe in the fungi that he was sure was amassing in the air, Joey urged his friend out of the dingy shot.
"C'mon, Kai, "Joey said. "Let's get outta this fleapit."
Kai rubbed his blood-shot eyes and tried to rise from the chair. His arms wobbled as he used them to lift his wait and he landed back on his seat. The bartender let out an indifferent and mirthless laugh that rattled his throat.
"Same time next week, eh Hiwatari?" he sniggered as Kai passed him, supported by Joey. Joey turned and flipped the bartender the finger before kicking open the corroded door. The bartender let out another laugh that echoed after them as they left 'The High Shot Coffee Bar'.
The two of them walked on in silence for a while; Joey supporting Kai and contemplating his friend's dead-end predicament, Kai trying unsuccessfully to battle a raging migraine. After several blocks it was Joey who broke the silence.
"Kai, man, what did I tell you about that dump? I thought you were off 'pot'…"
"It wasn--- BLAUGH---" Kai had to stop mid sentence to bring up his breakfast from earlier that morning. "It wasn't pot, Joey…"
"Well, it definitely wasn't happy gas, was it?" Joey said sarcastically. Then, seeing the state his friend was in, said: "What I mean is, whatever it was, it didn't do you any good. Look at the state you're in!"
They continued walking in further silence. "So what was it, anyway?" Joey asked.
"A new drink that Harry was trying to sell on the market. Harry said that he needed someone to test it for him, apparently there were a few things he needed to sort out with it."
"I'll say…" Joey muttered, but he let Kai continue.
"I told him where he could stick his drink, but he said that he'd give me five thousand yen and I was curious as to what effect it would have on me," Kai said.
"That's dangerous for your condition and it's not like you needed the money, Kai! Your parents left you more money than the bloody British Monarchy," Joey cried.
"Yeah, I know, Joe. But Boris has friggin cut off my bloody allowance to the damn bank account!" It was rare that Kai showed this much emotion so strongly about anything so Joey stayed quiet. "Sorry, Joe," Kai apologised for his outburst. "I just hate that frigging idiot…"
They had reached Kai's apartment building. "Thanks, Joe," Kai mumbled as he retrieved his arm from around Joey's shoulders. Kai stood for a moment, arms out for balance, and gave a confident smile as he stayed upright.
"Are you sure that you can tackle those bloody stairs? Make sure you take the elevator, you can barely stand. Are you sure you're right to find your place?" Joey was hesitant to leave his best friend in his drunken state. Blind as a maggot and wrenching up his guts, Kai was in no state to negotiate his way up sixty five stories of stairs. Even if he chose the elevator, it was more than likely that Kai would collapse into a coma before the lift stopped at his floor.
"Joey, I'm fine," Kai announced before stumbling backwards and gripping the brick wall of the building to avoid landing on his backside. Joey helped him back up and steered him in the direction of the door, inside and towards the stairs. "I don't need any help. See you tomorrow, Joe," Kai mumbled, ambling towards the stairs.
"OK, see you tomorrow, man," Joey called after the ascending drunken figure. Joey exited through the screeching plastic doors.
Kai went up and up and up and round and round and round and backwards, onto his back, stood up again and retraced his steps back up the spiral stairs that hugged the light blue-green walls. Kai stumbled on in his trial up the remaining forty stories of stairs. On the forty-fifth story his stomach finally emptied itself of all food. He collapsed onto his knees and spewed up bile. After five minutes of regurgitation his stomach had nothing left to give. Kai looked up at the grimy and stained window before collapsing onto his side and passed out.
Not so far away in Tokyo, a single clear, echoing toll announced the second half of the hour; 4:30 a.m.
;.;
-River Rae
