Note: I do not own Beyblade or any of the characters from said show. I give all due credit to its creators and only take credit for Lilith and Layla as they are written here.
Chapter 1: Hidden Away
"We've received a letter! You might wanna come and read this!" Called a sultry voice from the living room. The steam from the recently taken hot shower was brushed aside, clearing the large vanity mirror in the bathroom for her reflection. She stared at the beautiful blond in the mirror across the sink, playing idly with her wet bangs as her soaked hair slicked excess droplets down her creamy, slightly tanned skin. With a sigh, she looked the girl up and down, taking in the smooth curve of her waist, her large breasts, and shapely hips. "Hey!" The voice called once more, and the blond sighed. Walking out of the bathroom, no cover for her voluptuous curvature, the blond strutted into the living room and crossed her arms just under her chest.
"What?" She said simply, taking in the other girl who was flopped on the couch casually. The girls bright auburn hair was sprawled out on the couches cushions and in her hands, which were held above her head, was an envelope, back torn open. Scanning the room, the blond noticed the letter, obviously the contents of the envelope, sitting on the coffee table, open and read. "What's it say?" She asked, walking to the couch and sitting down in the slick curve of her friends waist.
"Read it yourself. I was rereading who it was from, myself." Was the answer she received from behind her. As she read the letter, a smile graced her thin lips and she began to twirl her golden blond hair around her pointer finger. With a quick glance behind her, their eyes met, her friend peering over the emptied envelope. "You wanna?" She asked, the slight Russian accent peeking out.
"I believe this could be a lot of fun for us, Layla." Her voice was filled with a slight excitement, and her eyes were sparkling with glee. The other girl sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I guess we ll just have to go, since he's twisting our arms on this one. I'll call him, if we re going, he's going to pick us up." The red head pulled herself to her feet and started towards the bathroom. Before shutting the door she leaned out, hanging on the door frame and smiling. "After my bubble bath!" She called and whisked herself away to the bliss of a hot bath in a garden tub. Smiling, the blond stood and walked towards the bedroom, a decent wave in her step, as she leaned from hip to hip.
The knock on the door sounded throughout the small, modernized apartment like thunder, bouncing off of every wall and into the bedroom. Shifting a bit, with a groan, the girl pulled herself up. Sliding out of the bed in absolutely nothing, the blond grabbed a black silk robe that barely fell to her thighs and slid it on. Tying it closed as she walked out of the room and around the corner towards the door, another knock echoed into her head as the person outside her door grew slightly impatient. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She called as she reached the door and proceeded to undo the three locks that held it closed. Swinging the door open, she glared out at the person who would dared wake her from her slumber. Standing there in her door way was the same red head who showed up out of the blue from time to time. "Don t you have a key?"
"Yes," She said, happily bounding into the apartment. "but you locked the dead bolt." She turned and gave the blond large puppy dog eyes as she said the words, making her friend sigh and roll her eyes as she relocked all of the doors forces. "Anyways, it's time to start getting ready. We don't know how long we'll be there, thankfully we both have funds to hold ourselves for the next three years of non-stop shopping, just in case, but we do have to pack something." She said, rushing over to the couch and diving onto it's soft leather cushions.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll pack. By the way, what do you think the weather's gonna be like in Japan?" The blond asked as she strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. She popped the top open and sipped at the carbonated beverage, tipping her head to the side a bit in thought.
"I don't know, but it's winter, so pack warm. I m pretty sure Dickenson said it got cold, and if we're wrong, we can always go out shopping for better suited things." Layla rolled over onto her back and stared up at her friend. "I can't believe you didn't look that up, though. It's not really like you to be so relaxed about a trip, Lilith." The blond cast her icy gaze to her friend and smiled.
"I guess I just got a little too excited thinking about the actual reason for the trip." Lilith said, taking another sip of her soda and striding towards the large windows that over looked down town Paris. The lights glowed softly against the setting sun, the Eiffel tower just beginning to come alive with the buzz of ant like figures filled with romanticism and cheesy intentions. "It might be good to leave France for a while, to just see the world for a change instead of living my day to day life here as daddy's little girl." She murmured under her breath as she took in the scene she saw every night.
"You could always come and stay with me in Moscow for a few months." Layla offered, rolling off the couch and walking up behind Lilith, wrapping her arms around her waist and setting her chin on her friends shoulder. "Though you d have to dress twice as warm." Lilith smiled and leaned her head against her friends.
"And freeze my butt off in ten feet of snow? No thank you." With a slight chuckle, they released each other and walked towards the bedroom. "This whole trip has me thinking about the good old days, when daddy used to actually have time for me and would whisk me away to so many different places to take in the different cultures. Now, he hardly ever sees me because he s so enraptured with work, and when he does, it s only for a few hours to go over things I need to know for when I take over Live Pop." She rolled her eyes and walked into the spacious room. The king sized bed sat against one wall, its lavender colored, silk sheets mussed and the giant, tan fur blanket tossed haphazardly on the top. Across from it stood a large floor standing mirror, at least four feet wide and six feet high, with intricately carved roses on the stand. Walking to the large walk-in closet, Lilith ran her fingers through her gold, wavy hair. "So, should I just grab all sorts of colors, or do a theme this time?" She asked, leaning against the door frame and looking into the closet at the perfectly arranged clothes. The clothing had been organized by the color and style, purple dresses next to purple dresses and so on.
"I think you should be spontaneous!" Layla called out, jumping on Lilith s bed and rolling around like a dog. "It's more fun if you wear all sorts of colors and styles to shake things up a bit. You know, make people always look twice and watch as their eyes pop out of their heads. Something sexy followed by something modest." As she rolled onto her stomach and leaned her head on her hands, she began to kick her legs back and forth in the air. "You know how I just love watching you walk by, every guy in the room following you with their gazes. It keeps them from looking at me."
"Oh, but their eyes are all on you when that battle is called, lovely." Lilith said as she pulled out several sweaters and jeans in assorted colors, and walked out to the open suit case on top of the dresser. Walking back into the closet, she began to pick out a number of long sleeved maxi dresses, simple and always stylish. As she walked back into the main bed room she paused to stare at Layla, who had moved from the bed and was now searching through her underwear drawer, picking up various lacy things and tossing them into the suitcase. "What are you doing?" She asked as she walked towards her friend slowly, dangerously.
"Oh, come on. We re going to see a bunch of guys who are close to our age and they have a very good chance of being very good looking. You have all this cute lingerie and no one to wear it for, you might as well live a little while we re there." She smiled as she held up a largely sized black lace bra covered in small blue bows. Lilith tossed the clothes into the suitcase and went after the bra, chasing Layla around the room until she'd finally tackled her to a stop on the bed. As she sat on top of her friend, she held the bra up and tipped her head a bit.
"Sure, okay." She said with a smile and a shrug, climbing off of the other girl and beginning to organize the suitcase, including all of the nice lingerie that had been added. She finished packing and they sat on the couch for a while, watching TV idly, until a knock on the door alerted them to their rides arrival. Layla jumped off of the couch and ran to the door while Lilith went to her room and wheeled out her bags.
"Mr. Dickenson!" Layla called out loud, making Lilith smile, for what she thought would be the last time for the next few weeks. Running her hands through her hair, she sucked in her air and put on the serious face that she used against everyone but Layla. Walking out, she crossed her arms under her chest and leaned against the wall, staring at the older man without emotion. The man turned, his large stature and chubby cheeks making him appear younger then he probably was.
"Ah, there you are, Lilith. Are you ready to go and meet the Blade Breakers?" He asked casually and she tipped her head in mock thought. After a few moments, she shrugged as though the meeting were nothing more than a trip to the store. She saw him frown and heard the slight sigh of failed expectations. 'Was he expecting me to be excited or something? To show him some sort of giddy school girl side of myself? Hell no, old man, that s saved for Layla only.' She thought as he walked over to help her with her bags. Layla ran and grabbed her own, racing out the door as fast as she could and leaving Lilith alone with Mr. Dickenson. She silently took a deep breath and began to walk out of the apartment. "Lilith." His voice sounded so serious, she couldn't help but stop and look back at him.
"What is it?" She kept her voice flat, listless, keeping up the facade of not caring at all. He walked to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. Looking into his black eyes she made sure to keep her face as still as stone. "Yes?" She pressed and he tensed a bit.
"I think one of the Blade Breakers can help you with the problem we discussed last time. I urge you to spend as much time with them as possible while you re in Japan." The honesty in his voice stabbed into her like pins and she suppressed a shudder. Shrugging his hand off, she continued walking, leaving him behind in silence. When she reached the car outside, a young man took her bags and placed them in the trunk of the car while she and Mr. Dickenson climbed into the plush leather seats. The ride to the Air port was a quiet one, Lilith staring out the window at the familiar streets of Paris flashing by. She couldn't stop thinking about what he'd mentioned earlier. She couldn't get the conversation out of her head, the original one where he'd told her that she needed to lighten up inside and outside of the Bey stadium. 'Lighten up in my life? Who does he think he is? My father?' She thought to herself as she tried to relax herself. By the time they got to the airport, she'd gone over his exact words at least a hundred times. As the plane lifted off the ground, she took one last look as the famous city grew smaller and drifted behind them slowly. They were on their way to Japan, and on a fast track to meeting with a group of guys who'd taken the entire Beyblading world by storm.
"Lilith, come on, wake up." Layla's voice drifted into the midst of Lilith's dream before the shaking was truly felt. Lilith opened her eyes slowly and looked up at her long time friend. Layla smiled widely and pointed towards the window. "We're going to land in about five minutes, so get ready." With that, she walked off, returning to her seat down the aisle and out of Lilith's forethought. Staring out the window, the blond couldn't get over the view of Bay City, with its tall, modern buildings, and millions of people, a small part reminded her of home, though everything was very different. She could already make out the sharp contours of the classic Japanese styled buildings, a part of their culture, and something very different from Frances extravagantly carved stone ones. While Paris was filled with light, marble colored structures, the ones in Japan appeared to be much darker and more wood than anything else. As the plane landed she took a deep breath and gathered her bags. "We'll drop you off at your temporary residence, where you'll be living while you're here in Japan, and give you a day to settle in and get used to things. Tomorrow we'll meet the Blade Breakers and do a bit of remembering." Mr. Dickenson said with a smile, turning and leaving the two of them standing just outside the gate.
"Remembering? Remembering what, exactly?" Layla asked in a confused tone. Lilith shook her head at her friend and started off toward baggage claim.
Lilith stared across the seats at the old man, a slight sense of hatred welling up inside of her. 'What the hell does he know about me anyways? All he knows is that fake face I've been putting on for the past five years. He thinks I need help? HA! If I need help controlling myself, he needs eyes to see and a brain to think with.' Her thoughts raced, the sleep that still over whelmed her from jet lag making her irritable. He'd showed up at their door step nice and early, or what was early for them, and whisked them away with hardly a word on where exactly they were going. She'd hardly gotten sleep last night anyways due to the unfamiliar setting.
"So, Where are we gonna meet these boys, anyways?" Layla asked, easing Lilith's mind from the anxiety of having to ask herself. The old man looked at them and smiled.
"Well, first, we're going shopping, since I don t think you ladies brought anything terribly fancy. After that we re going to meet them at a party that one is holding. It's quite large, but that should be fine for you both, right?" He said, both of them knowing it was a rhetorical question and not to be answered. The two women exchanged slightly worried looks as the car pulled to a stop in front of a mall of sorts and the driver jumped out to open their doors.
Stepping out, Lilith couldn't help but embrace the pang of home sickness that rose sharply within her. She knew the shopping here would be nothing like the high rise shops of Paris, fashion capitol of the world. A slight breeze bit into her cheeks as she waited for the other two outside the car. Layla jumped out and was on her way towards the doors in a matter of seconds, making Lilith follow behind her.
"See? I told you we'd be able to just buy whatever we forgot." The enthusiastic red head grabbed her friends hand and pulled her into the high end shopping mall. Looking over her shoulder Lilith kept her eye on the large older man, a suspicious feeling welling up inside of her. Layla caught her friends wary eyes and looked back at Mr. Dickenson as he made his way to them at his own slow pace. "What s wrong? You have that look on your face."
"What look? I do not have a look!" Lilith said defensively as she began to walk and tore her eyes from their third wheel. Once they were far enough away from him, she leaned closer to Layla and confided the truth. "I'm suspicious of him. I don't know, it just feels like Dickenson's up to something this time. It's not like I trusted him completely before, but this time, he's always smiling and talking like he knows something we don't." Lilith pretended to be looking into a dress shop as she talked, using it to cover what they were really talking about. "Did I tell you what he told me the last time?" Layla caught on to the act quickly and pretended to be interested in the disgustingly gaudy dress in the display.
"You mean what he told you before? About being too cold and cruel?"
"Yeah. He brought it up at the apartment, saying that one of these guys could help me with it." She rolled her eyes away from the older man and continued walking. "Once I meet these boys, I m out of here. I hate it here already." Her voice was cold and she held her head high as she walked to a shop that she was actually semi-interested in. Dragging her friend inside, Lilith began to look at the dresses inside. "So, what kind of dress should I look for?" She questioned.
"Hmmmm..." Layla looked around at the dresses and shrugged. "I don't even think any of these will fit your chest." The two girls looked at each other, after making sure that Mr. Dickenson had waited for them outside the shop, Lilith met Laylas eyes and the two women began to laugh at the statement.
"Now I m determined to find one that will!" Lilith said as she began to sort through the dresses, pulling out ones with potential. After a session of "fashion show" where they both tried on, what seemed like, a million dresses, they both finally exited the shop with bags.
"Alright then, let s go," Mr. Dickenson began.
"Hell no! We need shoes!" Layla yelled, grabbing Liliths hand and dragging her off towards the nearest shoe store. They spent a good amount of time looking for shoes that matched the new gowns they'd gotten, but when they were finally successful, they walked out. "Okay, now we can go and meet your boys." Layla said with a smile. Once they reached the car, the girls polished themselves up with makeup and changed into their clothes.