A/N: Just wondering about what it would be like if Kai had been the one to go after Rei and comfort him after Drigger(sp?) left him for those few episodes. There's slight Kai/Rei. Eh...yeah, that's all I have to say.
This fic is dedicated to Sunfreak, for being such an awesome writer and inspiration, and for everyone else that supported and liked the idea of me writing Beyblade fics.
Oh, one more thing. I just saw this official pic that seems to be Max stripping. Talk about a nosebleed.
He stared down into the abyss. He wondered to himself how many times he had stood there, staring down, his body urging him to move forward, swaying on his feet, but his mind screaming for him to stay on the ground. His eyes hurt faintly, almost like he had stayed up reading something for too long. He enjoyed reading in the dark. He even enjoyed that gentle hurting in an odd way.
He wondered how it was possible to lose your life within the span of a few seconds...and yet still technically live. He thought he had lost his life, seen it all go down the metaphorical drain. He hadn't thought he'd ever see it again after that.
That is why he stood there again, flirting with danger, dancing on the edge.
He felt faint touches and heard gentle whispers in his ear, begging him to take the step forward into darkness. He could almost see the thin line he walked on, or rather stood on, in that moment in time. It was a white thread, gleaming in an almost evil way. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't, which made his eyes redder around the rim and hurt even more. There was a strange distortion to everything around him that he couldn't quite place at first, though it was vaguely familiar.
"Rei," a low voice whispered. The voice was cold and Rei shivered slightly at the sound of it. He turned his head the slightest bit toward it to show he was listening, but still stared down into the abyss before him.
"You know you don't really want to do it," the boy's voice said. "Don't be so selfish and come back to the hotel."
Selfish? Was he being selfish? Had he been selfish before, and was that the reason his beloved had left him? Was that the true reason he was there, right then, standing and contemplating the plunge? It must have been. Yes, he was too selfish.
Rei shut his eyes and whispered to himself, "I'm selfish."
He heard footsteps walking around him and then pausing in front of him. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up into clear, dark eyes. There was the usual coldness in them, like something unbreakable and flawless. However, Rei noticed a difference in them. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something different flickered in those deep eyes.
"You're selfish, I'm selfish, we're all selfish. It is in our nature," the voice continued calmly, as if they weren't standing on the edge of a knife.
Rei suddenly grew angry. He narrowed his eyes at the person in front of him and reached out to push him back. The boy's eyes widened slightly and he took a step back. Rei realized they were farther from the edge than they'd been a while ago. There was still a good amount of space between where they stood and the drop off into nothing.
Rei's clouded vision began to clear as he felt something dripping onto his cheeks. Rei breathed a little harder as he tried to hold the tears back, not wanting to show weakness to the other.
"Why are you trying to save me? You never gave a damn about me, or any of the team, for that matter. In fact, I bet Takao and Max forced you to come and drag me back to the hotel, didn't they? Didn't they, Kai?" Rei asked fiercely.
Kai's eyes softened the slightest bit. He turned and glanced behind himself at the edge of the cliff they were standing on. He glanced towards Rei again.
Kai took two steps forward and gently leaned in so he could whisper in Rei's ear. "I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you to be sad. I don't want you to think there's nothing left now that Drigger's left you, and I don't want you to think you're totally alone. I want you safe," he murmured, his breath gently blowing against the shell of Rei's ear.
Rei let his eyes drift close and felt the words sink in, somewhere deep inside of him. His eyes fluttered open again as he felt Kai's finger dragging down the side of his face. He stared up into Kai's eyes and watched the boy give a rare half-smile. "And no, Takao and Max did not force me to come up here, though they did debate for a really long time whether they should come over and try to find you or leave you in peace. Kyojyu finally told them to shut up and leave you be."
Rei chuckled lightly at that thought. "I figured they'd do something like that. I'm glad you were the one to find me, though, Kai," he said, feeling oddly shy now in the presence of the other boy.
Kai rolled his eyes and turned to walk off back down the mountain path, hands shoved in his pockets. Rei smiled as he watched the other tiger-boy turn in his direction.
"Are you coming or what?" Kai called impatiently.
Rei turned and walked after him, not looking back even once at the cliff edge he had been so enamored with before. Kai waited briefly for Rei to catch up, and then the two boys began walking back down the mountainside together.
Somehow, the walk back down was a good deal shorter and easier than walking up to the top had been.