Authors Notes: This is my first Beyblade fic so it might not be very good. It takes place after the episode when Rei looses the Bey battle to Kevin and Driger leaves him. This fic contains shounen ai (male/male relationships). If this offends you in anyway then I suggest you don't read. I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes there might be.
Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade. Please don't sue me. ^_^;
Faith in you: Chapter One
The rain pounded down fiercely upon the raven haired boy as he ran as fast as he could into the night. A million thoughts circled through his mind all yelling to be heard. All he could do was run away from them just as he was running away from his team-mates. Finally he stopped unable to continue any further. Letting his body fall to the ground he desperately gasped for breath.
"This can't be happening. It can't be real."
Just thirty minutes ago he had lost his bit beast, his dignity and most importantly his life. He had lost it all and without Driger he was nothing. Without his bit beast Driger he had no reason to even exist, "How the hell could I have been so god damned stupid?! How could I have fallen for his pathetic act so easily? Am I really that dumb?!" He knew what the answer would be. Tightly he grasped a hold of himself as tears began to from in his eyes. "I'm such a baka. I don't deserve Driger. I don't deserve to be a beyblader. He felt the darkness consume him as drifted further and further away from reality.
Many voices began to call out in his mind.
/Rei I can never compare to you./
/Hey don't worry about it, you'll get the hang of it in time. You just need a little more practice that's all./
/ Thanks!/
/I want to master the tiger claw attack just as great as you!/
/Way to go Rei!/
/Rei's the greatest!/
/I wanna be just like you./
/Oh Rei…/
/How could you abandon us like that?!/
/I trusted you!/
/Traitor!/
/Rei would never betray us!/
/How are ya buddy?/
/We're a team!/
/Leave him alone, it's none of our business./
/Rei are you all right?/
/You're pathetic!/
/Forget about the White tiger team all ready!/
/I'll never forgive you!/
/I thought you were smarter than that…/
/You're a disgrace!/
/What kind of blader are you?!/
/No matter how much we want to, we can't change the past./
/I hate you!/
Don't leave me!
Aloud scream penetrated through the night. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" the Chinese boy pleaded, repeatedly hitting his fists into the ground. "Why? Why does this always happen to me?! Every time I try to do something right it just gets ruined! Am I really that senseless that I can't tell between right and wrong?!"
Finally he let his arms go limp giving up in his struggle. His clothes were covered in thick layers of mud, his hair in tangles from his struggle to escape. But none of that mattered. He had brought disgrace to his village, the Blade breakers and his old team mates. He and Driger would have easily won if only his heart had been there. Apart of himself refused to believe that this was even happening and that he was back in his bed asleep and everything that had just happened had only been some horrible nightmare.
Drigger had left him and he was never coming back. Without Drigger he was nothing. Drigger was the one that gave him life. All his hopes and dreams for the future were projected on to the powerful creature, and with Drigger gone, they too were lost. Desperately he wanted to cry out his bit beast praying that perhaps he would return. But if Drigger had returned it would have been out of pity and of course Bitbeasts didn't unite themselves with the weak. Well that idea went down into the gutter, the very place Rei himself felt he belonged.
"Drigger… Drigger… please come back to me." He begged softly, his whispers being carried in to the night, a place surely no one would hear.
"How pathetic..."
Slowly Rei gazed up to see his team-mate Kai standing over him.
"Ka-kai?" the neko-jin asked startled by his presence.
"If I'd have thought I would see you here like this I would have returned to bed."
"Kai what are you doing here?"
"Just thought I'd come all the way out here cause you know how much I like to go out for walks during the middle of the night in the freezing rain." The blue boy snorted. "I came out here to find you."
"Why?"
"Because you're part of this team, you can't just go off when you damn feel like it."
"But I lost…"
"I know that, and I want you to know that you really disappointed me in that last battle. Compared to the air-heads Tyson and Max I thought you actually took beyblading seriously. I guess I was wrong."
"Kai-"
"No matter who you're fighting you should never once let you're guard down. You shouldn't have been so careless." stated Kai coldly.
These words hit Rei hard and now he felt all but an inch high. He could see Kai, Lee and everyone else towering above staring down at him in disgust. Part of him wished that Kai would just stand on him and crush him. He had no dignity left to loose.
Lightning struck and rain began to pour down even heavier. His tears merged with the drops of rain and ran quickly down his cheeks into a puddle below. He could feel Kai's strong gaze upon him, probably expecting him to say something. But what could he say? 'Sorry'? No, sorry wouldn't make things all better again.
"We all make mistakes. We all fail one time or another in our lives, even the strongest of people. But wallowing in self-pity won't do anything to help us. Therefore we have to move on and look to the future.
"But without Driger I'm nothing."
The pale boy sighed. "Get up we're going back to the Inn."
"Going back there won't help me."
Kai folded his arms, growing irritated. "The others are worried about. When you've got people worried about you, you can't just ignore it, and you just can't walk off when ever you like especially in this kind of situation."
Suddenly Rei felt himself grow angry. He looked up and stared into Kai's cold eyes. "You're one to talk Mister –I'll ignore everyone and do whatever the hell I want. You leave without telling anyone where you're going all the time!"
"That's because I don't care."
"Then how is this any different?!"
"Because I know that you care." replied Kai in a somewhat amused tone. "I see the way you look at your ex-team mates. The regret and guilt you hold because you know they hate you or so you believe." Rei winced. Kai was staring right at him now. "You know what you did hurt the White tigers. Do you really want to do the same to the Blade breakers?"
"I have no choice. I'm useless now and without Driger. There's no way I could possibly make it to the finals now. If I did return I'd just be getting in the way and ruining everybody chances of getting to the finals." The raven haired boy replied weakly.
"You're right Rei. Without you bit beast there's no chance of you making it to the finals, not to mention beating the White Tiger team. But the same applies to us. Without you and Driger I doubt very much that we'd make it either.
"You-you're just pretending." he whimpered.
Kai narrowed his eyes. "You should know now that when I say something I mean it. I don't use lie as excuses, but it's good to see that you're not so gullible now. That's an improvement. Now all we need to do is to get you to stop kicking the shit out of yourself."
"From what I've heard you're ancestors took a lot of pride in beyblading. The blades that they had were supposed extremely powerful and they devoted a lot of their time into developing them."
"Yes… There power was unbelievable! I spent a lot of my time reading up about Beyblading's history as well as practicing. I was amazed by the things I learned and I finally realised why the village elders took the art of Beyblading so seriously. The elders sometimes watched while I practiced and even said I had a great talent for blading. After reading all that my ancestors had done I decided that I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to be remembered, to be a legend. That's why I left my village. There was only so much you could do in a small place like that. I had learned all that I possibly could of from my village and so I decided to venture out in the world so that I could gain even more experience. I challenged bladers from all over but they were they no match for me. After that I was sure I would come out on top." He gave a weak laugh. "But look at me now. I've hit rock bottom."
"Only failures give up."
"I-I guess that's what I am then."
Anger was building up in Kai and he couldn't help acting out. He grabbed the other boy by the collar making him cry out. Kai's dark eyes pierced right through him and quickly Rei found himself having to look away.
"Rei look at me!" yelled Kai yanking him again. "Stop feeling so fucking sorry for yourself! If it was one of the others would you just leave them here like this? No you'd help them! God I wish you were the one looking on and you'd finally be able to see how pitiful you're acting."
"I'm aware of how I must look." The Chinese boy replied weakly.
"Then why don't you do something about it?!"
"Why the hell do you even care?!" Rei screamed finally loosing his temper. "You don't care about anyone! All you care about is beyblading! You act like you can't stand me and the other. You're always bossing us about and complaining that we aren't good enough! I know you're team captain but you should at least try to sympathise. Everyone's trying the best they can!"
Kai's eyes widened slightly taken back by Rei's sudden out burst. But within a moment he put on his normal exterior. "I can see someone is trying their best right now. Staying here in the mud is really going to help things."
"What is it that you want from me? Are you trying to humiliate me, is that it? Just tell me what you want all ready!"
Kai slowly frowned. Rei stared in surprise. He had never really seen Kai show any kind of emotion before. He suddenly felt guilty for yelling in such away. Perhaps he was turning into Tyson.
Kai could feel Rei's gazed upon him and hastily turned away. He knew he should say sometime but wasn't quite sure of what to say. What's wrong with me?
"Ka-Kai, why did you come all the way out her? You came to search for me but why?" he asked nervously.
Kai's heart beat started to increase and still he refused to look at the neko-jin. "Because I want you to come back. I want you to stay with the team."
"But what if Driger doesn't return to me?"
"Trust me he will. In time he will."
"Is that the only reason you want me to come back, because of Driger?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought. If it means that much then I promise to do my best to get Drigger to return, but I wouldn't get your hopes up or anything…"
"Good."
Slowly Rei tried to pull himself up only to fall back down into the mud. He gave a small groan of pain and unexpectedly Kai rushed to his aid. He gently grasped a hold of his arm and carefully pulled him up.
Rei stared in surprise. "Ka-Kai?"
Well we better head back now. Climb on to my back and I'll carry you back to the Inn."
The neko-jin's eyes widened, shocked by the boy's generous offer. "But-but why?"
"Well you're certainly in no position to walk and if I were to let you, the Asian tournament would probably be over by the time we got back. Now hurry up and get on."
Rei sighed and climbed on to the boy's back. "Typical Kai…"
Authors Notes: I hope that wasn't too bad. Sorry for any out of characterness, especially on Rei's part. He's usually a lot stronger in the TV series. I think I made him too uke. ^_^;; For anyone that doesn't know, Neko-jin means cat person in Japanese. I saw someone using it to describe Rei a while ago and I couldn't resist not using it. It just sounds so kawaii!
Feedback and any advice upon how I can improve my writing or if I should continue with this story would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading! Ja ne! ^_^