Disclaimer – Beyblade does not belong to me, it belongs to Takao Aoki

Warning – Yuri, Yaoi, slight OOC, a lot of flashback/dream sequences.

Flashback/Dream

'Thoughts'

Runaway Feelings

Soft, honey eyes glanced around the small area enclosed by a cloth tent. The air around the room gave a new meaning to 'you-could-cut-the-air-with-a-knife-the-tension-was-so-thick'. Mao held her breath, glares from all around her were concentrating to the front of the room with deadly precision. To her left, all of her teammates from Bai Fu Zu were participating in the group glare, perhaps with even more venom than anyone else.

Fighting back tears, Mao hung her head down in shame. She couldn't stop what was about to come, no matter how much she wanted too.

"We are gathered here today to punish the condemned, Rei Kon, for acting out in ways that are unacceptable. Young Rei has committed treason to this village by partaking in unlawful, and unproductive relations with another male. Rei has admitted to his crimes, and will submit to his punishment of exile.

"Rei Kon, from this day forth, you are no longer apart of this village. You shall not step foot in this village, or claim to be from this village. Should you go against what has been set forth, you shall be punished by execution. Is this understood?" asked the head elder.

Mao watched the back of Rei's head as he nodded, ignoring the response behind him, as people began voicing their opinions. Most, of course, were approval.

"Good, you have until the end of the day to collect you belongings and say goodbye to whoever will listen to you. You're leaving first thing tomorrow."

Mao snapped out of the memory, frantically looking around to see if anyone had noticed her spacing out. Spotting no one, she laughed quietly to herself. Of course no one would have noticed, she was at her secret hiding place.

Sighing, Mao pulled her dark fuchsia hair out of its normal high ponytail, running her fingers through the silky strands. Laying down in the soft patch of grass, she folded her hands together on her stomach, staring at the patch of sky and clouds through the bushes and trees surrounding her.

Ever since last week she had been spending the majority of her time outside, away from everyone else. She knew that by now Rai and the rest of her team would be worried by her constant disappearances, but she couldn't stand being around the others right now. Not with knowing how much they hated Rei, and how much they would hate Mao if they ever found out the truth.

Rolling over onto her side, Mao sighed for what was the hundredth time that day. One hand was cushioning her head from the hard ground, the other wrapped around her waist as if giving herself a hug. A comforting hug was what she needed right now, only neither of the two people to give it were there.

The more she thought about the happenings of last week, the more her body unconsciously started curling up into a ball. As much as she just wanted to forget what happened, the disturbing memory refused to leave her mind, haunting her every moment as it altered each time she saw it.

'That could me be next time, it could honestly be me,' Mao thought a bit frightened. The thought of being cast away by the only people she called family was terrifying.

"Mao!" Rai yelled, pushing though a bush that was previously hiding the young female from her fellow villagers. "Is this where you've been hiding all week?"

'Looks like I'm going to have to find a new hiding space.'

"Yeah, you caught me!" Mao put a fake smile on her face and started laughing. She almost physically cringed with how fake it sounded. "I'm not going to get in trouble, am I?"

"Well, you've missed practice all week, and you've been worrying everyone to death. But I suppose, if it means that much to you, that I can let you off the hook," Rai teased, nudging Mao's foot with his own.

"They don't need to worry about me, I'm fine. It's not like I've run away, I come home for supper and sleep in my room like I've always done. I guess I just need a bit of a break, we do train a lot. Master Tao pushed us from the earliest of hours to the latest and through thunderstorms! I'm sure if it snowed here, he'd make us train in the snow too," Mao whined, using the current situation to distract her earlier thoughts.

"You should here yourself, maybe he pushes us so hard because of how much we whine. Think about it, even through all of the training we go through we're still not good enough to beat the Bladebreakers. Well, yet anyway."

"Whatever, look, I'm heading home. I'm sure mother wouldn't appreciate it if we didn't show up on time for dinner."

"Mao, don't worry about me, it's you that you should be worrying about," Rei commented, as they hid away in a small area surrounded by trees and bushes. "I'm leaving to start a new life with Kai, I'll have my dream life and more. But once I'm there I'm going to end up worrying about you."

"Uh, Rei? Can I ask you a favor?" Mao asked, ignoring what Rei had said.

"Of course, what is it you need me to do?" Rei asked back. He had already tried to persuade her to leave the village with him so she wouldn't have to live through the harassment, but she was too afraid to.

"If you see her, can you tell her I miss her a lot. I don't know how long it's going to be before I'm out of the village again. I'm sure you'll come into some form of contact with her long before I do." Mao cast her upset look to the clouds above before looking at Rei, patiently waiting for his response.

"I will." Rei started chewing his lip, as if he were deciding whether or not to tell her something before reacting into his pocket for a piece of paper. Handing it over, He gave Mao a concerned look.

"This is the number for the place where I'll be staying at with Kai. I can't tell you too much, but if you find that you really need to talk to someone, I'm sure you can run into the city just down the river to find a phone. Just don't lose the phone number, it's really important. Okay?"

"Yeah."

Mao's head jerked back into reality, the sudden movement getting the attention of Rai and both her parents. She glanced between them before signing, and shaking her head. Of course this would happen during dinner. Their was no way to escape the attention now.

"Mao, what's going on? You've been acting weird ever since the elder exiled Rei . . . Oh," her mother gave her a sympathetic stare, petting Mao's hair in what was meant to be a comforting manor. Only it had the exact opposite effect, making Mao even more upset. "Is that why your upset? Don't be, Rei choose to be a disgrace instead of marrying you. It's not your fault that Rei is a very confused young man.

"You're just upset that you won't be able to marry Rei. You always had the cutest crush on him," her dad said, getting a look on his face as if he were remembering a pleasant memory. "Besides, there are other men you can choose from."

"No, that's not it. I just don't feel good," Mao said, pushing herself out of the chair, starting to leave the room. She could hardly believe how ignorant her parents were. As if they wouldn't know what was really bothering her. Suddenly she turned around.

"I never loved Rei like that anyway, he was just a big brother to me when Rai wasn't around. When we was younger, Rai was always with grandfather, learning to be the next elder. He never had time to play with me, so instead Rei did. Rei was their for me when Rai couldn't be. It just. . . it just makes me so mad how people assume that two people must love each other just because they hanging out!"

That said, Mao ran from the room. Slamming her door shut as she slid down to the floor, suddenly overcome by sobs.

'Rei, they wont ever understand that you were simply my older brother. Just because we played together when we were younger they took it as we liked each other. They couldn't be farther from the truth. So what if we enjoyed each others company.

'When you told me about your boyfriend, I couldn't begin to tell you how happy I was for you, I still am. If anything, I was just a bit sad that you would abandon me, but you never did. You came back knowing the consequences; that not only had you left, but you had a secret that could destroy your life.

'I hope you made it back to him, that everything is okay. I know that Kai will be able to take better care of you better then the whole village combined.'

Mao calmed down a little, taking deep breathes, one phrase going through her head. She grabbed a little slip of paper that was hiding beneath her mattress, smoothing it out along her hands before coming to a decision.

"Mao, spill it. Who is it?" Rei asked, giving his female friend a knowing look.

"I have no idea what your talking about," Mao blushed. How could he know, was it that obvious?

"I know you like someone, just tell me who it is. Please!" Rei begged, eager to know who had gotten Mao's attention.

"Actually, we're seeing each other."

"No need to get defensive on me, I just want to know who. Don't leave me in the dark," Rei continued to plead.

"Well, I'm suppose to be meeting her in half an hour. I don't have time to tell you now, maybe later."

"It's a she?" Rei asked, the knowing grin breaking out on his face again.

Mao blushed again, in disbelief that she had slipped up like that. Well, if Rei wasn't going to back down with his persistence. . .

"Fine. The person is . . ."

Looking suspiciously around her, Mao couldn't shake the feeling of paranoia. She couldn't help but feel that everyone was staring at her, which she knew wasn't true. In fact, no one was really around. Most of the people living here were either at work or school at this time of day.

Walking up to an abandoned pay phone located on the side of the grocery store, Mao put in the required change. Pulling out the small slip of paper, she quickly dialed the number. The faster the conversation stared, the sooner she would be free.

Last night had been the final straw, she couldn't stand the sympathetic looks everyone was giving her. Or the whispers of 'the poor girl'. She had finally gathered the courage to leave, bringing with her only the necessities in a small bag.

Mao listened to the rings, counting each one. One ring, two rings, three rings. Then the sound of the phone picking up brought Mao to full attention, waiting for the customary greeting.

"Hello, Hiwatari residence," answered a feminine voice.

Mao froze at the sound of the voice, recognizing it not to be Rei's or Kai's. But that wasn't what shocked her, she knew who that voice belonged to. She would have recognized it even over an extremely static-y phone. But what was she doing in Kai and Rei's home?

"Hello? Is anyone there," the voice asked again, this time a bit impatiently.

"Julia?"

This time it was Mao's turn to wait, as shocked silence immediately fell upon the other female who was Julia.

"Mao! Is that you?" Julia still sounded shocked, but it didn't stop the joy from coming through. Mao knew it was the same joy she was probably feeling at this same exact moment.

"Yeah, what are you doing there? Is Rei home?" Mao asked. Just then she heard Julia's sound of defiance as someone took the phone away. There was a quick argument before another voice came over the phone.

"Mao, are you okay? What's up?" It was Rei, he sounded concerned.

"I guess the correct answer would be no. I," Mao paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm leaving the village. Well, technically I've already left."

"What!"

"I'm already two cities away, I left last night. Ever since you've been banished people keep staring at me as if I'm an abandoned kitten. They also keep referring to me as 'that poor girl'. It's too much. So I left."

"You should have called earlier, before you left. Well it doesn't matter now, I can still arrange for you to get on a plan to Japan. You can come live with me and Kai until you find your own place. In fact, Julia and Raoul are living with us right now until they can find their own place to stay at. It's big enough for the five of us, trust me," Rei sounded exasperated. They must be living in some sort of huge mansion or castle.

Mao paused. This was what she wanted, what she had planned even. But suddenly she didn't want to impose on Rei, he had been through a lot recently.

"Mao?"

"O-okay. Thank you so much Rei. Can you put Julia back on the phone, I want to talk to her."

"So, what do you think?" Julia asked, cautiously eying Mao.

"I'd love to," Mao blushed, still not believing that she had just agreed to go out on a date. With Julia nonetheless.

"Great! I have the perfect restaurant in mind too. You're going to love it, I promise." Julia smiled at Mao, secretly amused by Mao's blush. She looked uncertain for a moment, then leaned forward to press a kiss to Mao's check.

"See you tonight."

Mao continued to smile like a love-struck schoolgirl. Which, she supposed, she was. She was remembering her first date with Julia, at the restaurant that was much fancier than she expected.

Once the plane she was on landed, she would be reunited with the two most important people in her life. Julia, her lover; and Rei, her best friend.

'The plane should be landing soon,' Mao thought. Looking up to the front, she saw one of the flight attendants reach for the speaker.

"Attention all passengers, we are getting ready to land. Please buckle your seatbelt, and sit tight. Thank you for flying with us, we hope you have a great day."

If anything, Mao's grin probably doubled. She was getting restless, so buckling her seatbelt took longer than it should have. Restraining the urge to bounce up and down in her seat, Mao looked out of the window, watching the ground steadily get closer.

The descent was smooth, well, as smooth as it could be. Mao got up from her seat, hurrying to get off. Her first stop was to get her luggage, which consisted of only one bag. Then it was off to find Julia who would bring her back to the place they were staying at.

Bag in hand, Mao glanced around the waiting area, but she didn't see Julia. Mao pushed the thought away, and decided to take a seat. Maybe Julia was a bit late, sounded reasonable enough.

But she hadn't even gotten to the seats, when someone threw themselves at her from behind. The person wrapping their arms around the shocked female. Mao was about to flip the person off of her back, when she spotted a few strands of dark blond hair, now she knew who it was.

"Mao!" The person behind her cried out.

"Julia! You scared me!" Mao yelled back, turning around to give Julia the biggest hug she could muster. Julia was taller than she was, her shoulders meeting Mao's nose. Mao blamed it on her Chinese genetics, why were Chinese people short?

"Come on! You're not going to believe how big Kai's house is! It's almost a mansion," Julia exclaimed, grabbing Mao's right hand to lead her to the car. It wasn't hard to read how happy and excited Julia was at finally seeing Mao again. One might even say she was glowing with energy.

"I've missed you so much!" Mao blurted out, unable to keep it in. She had been thinking of Julia ever since she had heard Julia's voice over the phone.

"I've missed you too, Mao-Lin," Julia shot back, using her nickname for Mao. "More than you can guess."

"Same here.

The two females looked at each other, smiling. The crowd around them forgotten as they were reminded again of how much they loved each other. Julia was the first to move, grabbing Mao's left hand and drawing the fuchsia-haired female closer. Leaning into the other, their lips met in the middle in a searing kiss. Mao wrapped her arms around Julia's neck, Julia's arms wrapping around Mao's waist.

The two parted, simply staring at one another. Ignoring the sounds of disgust, and the few cheers that were going on around them. All that mattered in that one moment was the other.

"I love you, Mao."

"I love you too, Julia."

The End

A.N.- My first Beyblade Yuri fic. I think it went fairly well. R&R, thank you!