Like the title says. Happy early Christmas. FFN fucked around with my formatting. I apologise.
She winked at her reflection. Perfect as usual, but then, could anything less than fabulous be expected from a Hiwatari woman? Perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect smile, and, for tonight a perfect plan.
Her lips quivered and the well-practiced smile of a wife of a Hiwatari fell away, quirking instead into a mischievous grin as she stared out over the glittering lights of Yokohama. Oh yes, perfect indeed. Her dear, sweet, beloved Kai wouldn't know what hit him.
A giggle found its way from her painted lips.
"Do I want to know?" Her husband droned.
She spun around and bounded over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. If he was surprised by this erratic behaviour, his deep red eyes showed none of it.
"I'm a Grade- A genius," she grinned as she pulled back to inspect whether she had left any lipstick stains on his pristine white collar.
Her husband looked extremely dubious. "Hmm… right."
"No, really," she persisted, "I have the most wonderful, brilliant plan in the world, but I can't tell you about it yet!"
"Should I take my son and run while I still have the chance?" He deadpanned.
She stuck her lower lip out in a childish pout. "You have no faith in me," she accused.
"You know I do, darling. Just as long as it doesn't involve anything remotely important to do with our lives," he said with a charming smile.
"Humph," she huffed out, sticking her nose in the air. "Chauvinist pig."
He chuckled dryly. "Careful now, darling. You know how I get when you talk dirty to me," he said in the smooth voice of a practiced businessman, reaching out to grab her and spin her around.
She yelped, though it soon dissolved into a laugh. "Stop it, you fiend! Just because you're Mr Rich Successful Businessman doesn't mean you can bully your poor woman!"
"Oh, I'll give you suffering!" He growled out, before proceeding to tickle her mercilessly, while getting in the odd 'entirely accidental' grope. He had her bent over double, shrieking through giggles when their son walked in.
"I sincerely hope that I am interrupting something," he drawled, looking utterly unimpressed with his parent's display. Not that they sprung apart looking horribly guilty like he hoped they would. They just kind of paused in what they were doing.
"Awwww, come on, sweetheart!" His mother cooed as she straightened up, though she was still very much encircled by her husband's arms. "Aren't you happy that your mommy and daddy still love each other?"
"You know, I don't care either way as long as I don't have to see that sort of thing," he muttered. "I'm… impressionable."
"Grumpy-guts," his mother pouted, though this time she did step away from his father.
"Oh come on, you two are what? Fifty? That sort of thing should have stopped twenty years ago, for the good of everyone."
"Forty-five," his mother was quick to correct, before her familiar mischievous grin fell quirked her lips again. "And really, Kai, if you think that sex needs to stop at thirty, then you're going to be out of time before you even get started."
Red splotches bloomed on Kai's cheeks, and after opening his mouth to argue and thinking better of it, he left the room without another word.
Mr Hiwatari sighed at his smug wife. "Darling, why do you tease him like that? You know he's going to be acting like a kicked puppy for the rest of the day now."
Mrs Hiwatari's eyes lit up in what some (some being her son, Kai) might call an unholy light. "Not when my secret plan kicks in he won't."
Mr Hiwatari sighed again and shrugged on his black jacket.
It was less than five minutes later that they were in the car heading off for their meal.
"I don't see why we didn't take the limo," Kai muttered from the back seat.
Mr Hiwatari chuckled. "Kai stop sulking just because I won't let you drive the Merc," he said, referring to the brand new, and very expensive car that they had picked up the previous day- their very reason for even being in Yokohama.
Kai's eyes narrowed, but he refrained from arguing back. Much as it disgusted him, after years of intimidating people, dominating people and generally getting exactly what he wanted from anyone who so much as looked at him, his parents still always got the better of him in an argument.
So he had long since given up even trying.
Instead he stared out of the window in boredom and pictured better times, running around the world with a group of half- crazy teenagers in the name of sport. He sighed, suddenly missing it all terribly. Life was so boring now…
The sudden realisation that the car was slowing down made him glance down to his watch and he was surprised to find that he had been dreaming of the past for a good twenty minutes.
"Are you sure about this, darling?" His father spoke up, and Kai had to agree with him. They were parked in a small inner-city car park, which probably wasn't the best place in the world to leave a car worth more than a decent sized house.
"Entirely!" His mother seemed undeterred. So much so that her seat belt was unbuckled and she was half way out of the car.
"… We're walking the rest of the way?" Kai added. After all, he was used to handing over the car to a valet whenever they went out to eat. He suddenly seriously doubted his mother's choice in restaurant for the evening.
"Don't be so lazy! You used to spend all day training for your Beyblading, so a little walk will hardly kill you," she said as she rolled her eyes and tugged her son's car door open.
Kai raised an eyebrow, but once again, said nothing. Questioning his mother's logic? Yeah, he'd long since given that one up too.
"Let's go!" Mrs Hiwatari piped up, and marched off, apparently sure of where she was going. Kai sent his father a bemused look, but his father only shrugged and shook his head. Both were fractionally worried, but still obediently followed the lady of their household past garish, brightly coloured eateries, canteens and bars, eyes darting suspiciously from place to place, until finally they stood in front of a slightly run-down looking Chinese restaurant.
"Mom. Are you kidding me?" Kai asked in disbelief.
"Don't be such a snob, Kai. I've heard the service is excellent here," she snapped. And then her sudden bout of anger faded and she smiled and winked at him.
Kai just stared back at her.
Not that it did much good since she had turned back around and bounded in through the front door. With a resigned sigh, Kai trudged in alongside his father.
His mother was already speaking with the doorman, chattering excitedly at the poor man who looked slightly frightened. "… Remember! The manager. He knows about my special reservation. Hiwatari, but shush. Keep that part to yourself, okay?" She nudged the man playfully. He seemed to take it as a hint to fetch his manager, because he was fleeing only a second later.
They only had to wait for about a minute (a minute too long, in Kai's not very humble opinion) before a little, balding man scuttled over to them and seized his mother's hand in his weedy fist.
"Mrs Hiwatari, it's an honour! Truly, you bless us with the presence of your esteemed family," he fawned over her. Kai, much as he would like to have denied it, could see why, since his mother was an extremely beautiful woman when she actually held herself with dignity and didn't act like a schoolgirl.
"Not at all, Mr Li, not at all. We're all very excited to be here!" His mother responded with a grin. Kai felt his father's elbow jab him in the side to shut him up when he made to protest that point, so he simply snorted indignantly instead. "So where's our special table?" She beamed.
"Right over here, dear lady. It's just here," the small manager trilled, busying his hands with excited little motions, as he lead them over to an entirely average looking table. Kai's conviction that his mother was playing some kind of insane joke only increased when he noted with distaste that his chair was wobbly half a second after he had sat down. Why were they here? Why not go out for Italian in anice restaurant instead of being perched on a wonky chair that was likely flea infested in a backwater place like this? What's more, the paint was peeling off the wall only a few inches away from him. The tablecloth had a couple of burn-holes in it too… surely this was a joke. Surely.
He looked imploringly up at his mother, but her eyes were too busy excitedly darting around to notice him, damn woman. She'd probably read some stupid child psychology book or other and come up with this vague, bizarre plan to make Kai appreciate how the working class lived.
It really wasn't working. Not one bit. Which was clear from the way that Kai was trying to glare another burn hole into the tablecloth. He was more willing to bet his weighty inheritance that the food tasted like crap and the service was incompetent, than be bothered with how the average man lived. If someone wanted more money then work harder, or get lucky. That was all there was to it. He wasn't about to pity those plain, boring, slack-jawed idiots.
Speaking of slack-jawed, why hadn't their damn waitress given them the menu yet? Not that Kai was one to assume, but the cow-eyed, dim-witted bitch was probably wasting their time having a quick cigarette in the staff room, guffawing over some over some 'celebrity' without make-up on, like the usual brainless—
"Hello, my name is Kon and I'm your waiter for this evening. Here are…" – slutty… that voice didn't sound like a brainless slut of a waitress. That melodious, soft to the point of being slightly husky, and yet still masculine without being deep enough to ruin the sing-song effect of the slightly accented, long-time unheard but still very familiar voice, in fact, sounded rather like…
Kai's eyes widened and his head flew up in an almost comical reaction. And there, standing just off to his left, next to his mother, with yellow eyes equally shocked, stood Rei Kon.
Rei Kon. As in his old team-mate Rei Kon. As in the top Chinese beyblader Rei Kon. As in his friend who he hadn't seen for two years and ten months (and eight days if Kai remembered correctly) Rei Kon. As in the one person who Kai wanted to pick up the phone and talk to more than anyone else in the world, but never seemed to find the courage until he'd lost all way to contact him Rei Kon…
They stared at each other for a long moment before Kai spoke. "Can I see the menu?"
As soon as the words left his mouth Kai wanted to slap himself. Of all the memorable, tender greetings he could have chosen, he'd asked to see the menu. He winced at his mother's inexplicable look of horror, his father's look of disbelief, and the fact that Rei looked torn between laughing hysterically and fainting. "Err…" he trailed off, for once honestly, truly having no idea what to do. And he was Kai. Kai always knew what to do.
Rei acted first, seeming to remember that he was a waiter suddenly. "Of course, K- sir- Mr Hiwatari," he bumbled, quickly handing his ex-team captain a menu. Kai remained staring wordlessly at him for several long moments after he'd taken it from him.
It took a sharp kick from his mother to jolt his attention away, and all of his willpower not to swear and rub at his stinging shin.
"Well, sweetheart, do you mind if we have a few minutes to look over the menu?" Kai's mother cooed.
"O-of course, madam," Rei said with a feeble smile. "I'll be back in a short while." And then he practically ran off, presumably to the staff room to finally do that hyperventilating he looked so eager to do. Kai watched him go with a longing stare, though he admired the way that he was handling the situation better than him.
Better than his mother too, judging by the level of her glare. "What?" he said defensively.
She spluttered, apparently deeply offended. "After what? Three years of moping like a lovesick little boy, you finally see him again and all you can do is treat him like a… like a… waiter!"
"Well… he sort of… is," Kai argued back, though he knew his words were not the wisest.
"So that's Rei Kon," his father murmured, interrupting his wife's impending fit.
"What do you mean by 'so that's Rei Kon'? What the Hell is going on here?" Kai hissed, trying to sound calm, even though his mind was flying through ten thousand questions a second and his stomach was doing weird flip-flops.
Mrs Hiwatari grinned. "I hope I make a good impression," she said instead, explaining nothing.
Kai went to argue, but suddenly realised something at the word 'impression'. Quickly, he rose to his feet and excused himself, saying that he needed to find the toilets.
Mr Hiwatari watched him go with a mixture of amusement and pity. "Darling, just so you know, if Kai collapses and dies from shock tonight, I'm blaming you."
Mrs Hiwatari giggled. "His face. I thought he was going to choke! And did you see the colour of his cheeks? I've never seen him look like such a little boy since he was about eight."
"It sort of reminds me of his expression the time when we hired that Santa to come around to the house when he was seven," He agreed.
"Can I see the menu though? Goodness, I'm surprised I didn't hit him for that. I honestly thought we'd raised him better than tocompletely lose his brainpower."
Mr Hiwatari chuckled. "My love, you're forgetting. This is Rei Kon we're talking about here."
His wife laughed in delight until her son returned from the table. Both noticed the fact that Kai's hair suddenly looked a little wilder and that his top buttons were undone. They smirked when they caught each other's eye.
"What? I was hot!" Kai snapped.
"Of course, Kai," his father laughed.
"Whatever you two are so childishly implying, I don't want to know," Kai rolled his eyes. The action caused his vision to land upon the approaching figure of their waiter, Rei Kon. He immediately straightened up in his chair.
Rei seemed a lot calmer than before, and Kai couldn't help but notice that Rei was standing closest to him this time around, notepad poised between steady fingers. "Hello, are you ready to order? Perhaps some drinks first?" he prompted, though he seemed to be actively avoiding looking at Kai.
Kai felt a little bit hurt by that. Especially since he'd gone to the effort to make his hair look cooler.
"Mineral water," Mr Hiwatari smiled good-naturedly.
"A glass of your finest red wine, please!" Mrs Hiwatari added.
Kai pretended to study the menu. "I'll have—"
"Something strong," his mother interrupted with a broad smile. "He'll have something strong."
"O-okay," Rei smiled, looking a little confused, "one mineral water, one glass of red, and one double Jack Daniels and Coke with plenty of ice and no lemon."
Kai's head jerked up and his eyes locked on Rei's. "You remembered?" he whispered. Then he realised how stupid he sounded and coughed quietly to pretend that his throat was dry, though it was even harder to fight down his ludicrous blush when he caught his mother's mischievous smile.
"Ummm, yeah," Rei responded almost as quietly.
"So!" Mrs Hiwatari half sang out, making both boys startle. "We finally have the pleasure of meeting the famous Rei Kon!"
Rei's eyes widened and he looked a little uncomprehending. "You follow Beyblading?" he asked.
"Not really," she responded. "We only tended to watch to make sure that Kai was doing okay. We've wanted to meet you for so long though! Kai talks about you so much that we both really wanted to become acquainted with such a wonderful person."
"Wha… really?" Rei was starting to blush. Kai couldn't help but notice that it made him look more boyish.
Kai's father caught his son's rather dreamy look and decided to help out. Naturally, he took his wife's side. "Certainly. You're all he talks about sometimes. Kai doesn't talk about much with us, but he certainly seemed happy to tell us all about you. We were so glad that Kai found himself such a precious friend and we've been waiting for him to introduce you to us for a while now."
Rei's hands were starting to tremble a little, but when he looked down at Kai, possibly for confirmation, Kai decided to look in another direction entirely, avoiding his gaze.
Rei sighed quietly and forced another smile. "I'll be with you shortly. I need to fetch your drinks."
Kai was mortified, but he waited until Rei was out of eyesight before he turned furious eyes on his parents. "What did you say all of that for?" he hissed, angrily aware of how red his cheeks had gone. "Why are you trying to embarrass me like that in front of an old friend?"
"Old friend?" his mother asked with a raised eyebrow, so much like one of Kai's own usual expressions. "Kai, you're the worst person in the world with feelings. Your father and I only understand the way you act because we've known you all of your life. Goodness knows how that poor boy coped when he knew you."
"What are you talking about?" Kai frowned, growing tired of being so confused by everything.
"Son," his father spoke up, looking at him very seriously. "It's really okay. Your mother and I are fine with it. He seems like a very nice boy."
The colour drained from Kai's face when he realised what his parents were implying. "What?" he tried to shout, but it came out a strange sort of strangled yelp. "You think… he and I… you think that something happened between us?" The colour returned to his cheeks full force at the thought of 'something'.
Mrs Hiwatari looked at him for a moment in confusion, before she laughed softly. "Oh, sweetheart no! We don't think that at all!" Kai relaxed slightly, suddenly feeling a little foolish- "Of course nothing happened between you. If something had then you wouldn't have been moping around for the past three years, being too chicken to phone him and tell him that you missed him."- Or maybe not.
"Kai…" his father started softly, sounding entirely understanding. "We've known for a long time. You don't have to keep hiding it from us. I mean, I wish you'd told us, but neither of us can blame you for keeping it to yourself."
"Keeping what to myself?" Kai had a good idea of what they were trying to say, but he really wanted to hear the words, just so he could really comprehend all of this.
Naturally, it was his mother who answered. "Kai, you have the hugest crush on Rei. I think it might even be safe to say that you're half in love with him," she grinned before clapping her hands to her face. "I honestly never thought I'd see my baby have a first love."
Kai stared at her and then glanced at his father. He honestly didn't know whether to be offended or nervous. "Why…" his voice sounded a bit too meek for his liking, so he cleared his throat. "Why the Hell would you think that?" He winced. He'd meant for that to sound offhand and dismissive, but instead it had ended up sounding rather desperate.
His mother and father both gave him a look that read 'duh.'
"Apart from the fact that you have a picture of you and him together in your wallet?" Mrs Hiwatari started.
"And the fact that you really did talk about him all the time when you were Beyblading together," Mr Hiwatari added.
"And that since the team split up, you've been acting like a little girl who's lost her favourite doll."
"And the fact that you used to hover around the phone with his number in your hand, looking a bit sick."
"And since you lost contact with him altogether, you spend half of your time in a daze."
"And the sudden, single-minded interest you have in the sports news whenever there's a Chinese Beyblading tournament."
"Oh, and—"
"Enough!" Kai broke in, staring at them incredulously. Had he really been so horrendously obvious? He'd always honestly thought that he was being really subtle about his feelings. "Okay, okay. I get it!"
"Kai, what's my favourite colour?" Mrs Hiwatari asked suddenly.
Her son looked bewildered. "What?"
"And how old are we?" Mr Hiwatari asked.
"Do we like coriander?" Mrs Hiwatari pressed. Kai stared at them blankly, honestly wondering if there was a right answer to these questions, and if, by meeting Rei, the other boy's radiance had somehow melted their brains. "I don't… know?"
Mr Hiwatari smirked. "Well, did you know that Rei likes red most, and that he's now nineteen, and that he likes to add coriander to his food, even though not many Chinese people do?"
"Or so you've told us, Kai," Mrs Hiwatari finished her husband's point. It took all of Kai's willpower not to bury his flaming face in his hands. He'd told his parents all of that useless crap? And what's more, they'd noticed? "In fact, just last week you casually told me that Rei liked lavender more than sea breeze when Kidae bought you your fresh clothes," she added with a smirk, referring to one of the maids.
Kai's sudden need to die was averted with the return of Rei. "I'm so sorry that it took so long!" he smiled apologetically, blissfully unaware that he had been the topic of debate for several minutes. "Mineral water, red wine, and 'stress relief'."
Kai glanced up at the name, and found Rei looking down at him. Stress Relief. That's what he'd called it three and a half years ago when Rei has asked what he was drinking. Rei had laughed and asked if the stress was otherwise known as Takao. Kai had grunted and hid his smirk by titling his glass to his lips.
Kai's stomach did that little flip-flop again and he quickly looked away to stare at his drink. It was perfect. "Thanks," he rasped out.
Taking pity on him (finally), his mother decided to order his food for him, as well as her own. As soon as Mr Hiwatari was done ordering, Rei pattered off again, presumably to inform the chefs.
"Kai?" his mother spoke up almost as soon as Rei was gone.
"Hmmm?" Kai sounded, looking up.
Mrs Hiwatari seemed to be fighting back giggles. "You know, with that silly grin on your face, you're doing an awfully good impression of a love-sick idiot."
Kai responded by glaring darkly at his plate.
If he was honest, Kai didn't notice most of the meal. It was all right in a plain, but wholesome sort of way. Instead he busied himself with very casually and very subtly watching Rei bustle around the restaurant, serving his tables.
He was still so graceful, Kai just happened to notice.
Still, time flew by far too quickly and before Kai knew it his mother and father were finishing off their after-dessert drinks. He stared at his own drink and desperately willed it to somehow tell him what to do next. No answers came. All he knew was that he had some silly urge to hug Rei and take him home for fear of never seeing him again, but he couldn't seem to find anything to say and, much as he was loath to admit it, he was terrified of rejection. He knew how foolish he was being. He knew that this was probably his last real chance to see Rei again, since he doubted he'd find the nerve to find this restaurant again. He was being a coward. He knew what he wanted and he knew that his time was running out.
And yet he still just stared at his drink.
"Are you going to drink that, son?" Kai's father spoke up, looking at Kai with an unreadable expression.
Kai shook his head and looked back at the drink, cursing it for not helping him.
"They're starting to clear all of the tables now," his mother muttered.
"Yes, we've been here three hours," Kai's father confirmed. He paused for a long moment. Kai knew that they were waiting for him to do something, but he simply carried on sitting there. Mr Hiwatari sighed. "I suppose we should ask for the bill then."
That was it. He'd lost his chance yet again, and all because he was struck dumb by seeing him again. Him and his damn perfect hair, and perfect skin, and perfect eyes, and perfect heart-shaped face, and perfect ass.
"How can I help you?" said owner of perfect ass spoke up after Kai's mother had beckoned him over.
"Yes, sweetheart. May we see the bill?" she asked in a strangely resigned voice.
Kai looked up out of the corner of his eye long enough to see Rei's face drop. "O-oh, of course, Mrs Hiwatari. I'll just be a moment."
As soon as Rei was out of earshot, she looked at Kai very seriously. "You're being a fool."
"I know," Kai replied softly.
She gave him a very sad look.
The sound of soft footsteps interrupted the solemn moment. "Here you go," Rei said, though his obviously forced cheeriness sounded horribly out of place.
"We'll pay in cash," Mrs Hiwatari muttered after glancing at the bill. "Darling?" Mr Hiwatari was already handing her his wallet. She pulled out a few notes and pressed it into his hand.
"I'll be right back," Rei smiled, though it dropped as soon as he looked over at Kai, who was beginning to shrug his jacket on. His mother and father followed suit, slipping back into their coats and standing. If they were about to move though Rei stopped them by jogging back over. "Mrs Hiwatari, you gave me far too much. Here, your change." He held his hand out, offering the money on his palm.
Mrs Hiwatari stared at him, then glanced down to the money, and then looked to Kai. She sighed and then, to everyone's surprise, she grinned. "No, you'll need that, in fact, hang on a moment." Leaning down, she pulled a pen out of her pocket and scrawled something down on a napkin. Then she straightened back up and placed the napkin on top of the money, before folding Rei's fingers around it. "That is the telephone number of our house. I hope that you're braver than Kai with it, since all Kai used to do with your number was sigh, grip onto it and then stare longingly at the phone. He's crazy about you, you know? Ever since you two parted ways, all he's done is loafed around the house, skulking in corners, and lamenting about his days on the BBA. He was even worse when he finally found the courage to call you only to find that you'd left the village again and no one knew where you were. I honestly thought for a long moment that he was going to burst into tears or something.
I'm sorry for how he's acted tonight, by the way. I think he's just completely awe-struck by seeing you again. You were certainly hard to track down too, you know? It took weeks! I was intending to do this for Kai as a Christmas present, but I really couldn't wait. I was far too excited to finally see him happy again, and to be fair; I was far too excited to wait to meet you, because he really does go on and on about you, isn't that right, darling?" She cocked her head at her husband with a childish grin.
"He's hooked," Mr Hiwatari answered simply, with a slightly embarrassed smile and outstretched hands.
"Oh, certainly. Forgive him for how he's been. You know Kai. He's not good at handling emotion very well. Trust me, if his father and I hadn't raised him, we wouldn't understand him either. Give him a chance though. He really does think the world of you. I mean, he's been watching you with a dreamy look on his face all evening. He's just shy, though it may be hard to believe. I think he's scared of being rejected, but I'm almost entirely sure that you won't be doing that, judging from the way you've been blushing every time he so much as looks at you. Anyway. It's late now and we should be getting home. What time do you finish, Rei?" Mrs Hiwatari asked.
"Umm… in about half an hour," Rei half-squeaked out.
"Oh, okay then! Well, don't forget to arrange with Kai when you can come over to ours for dinner. Kai?" she turned to her son.
Kai, who had gone horribly red at his mother's rant, the graceless spilling of his emotions, and the wonderfully hopeful look that Rei was giving him, could only force out an "Unn?" sound.
"Be a gentleman and escort Rei home. It's late after all. There's enough there for taxi money." She had started walking by this point and had almost reached the door. "Oh, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to rush home, sweetheart. Your father and I were hoping to continue what we started earlier. Love you, bye!"
Though it seemed impossible, Kai both blanched and turned a deeper shade of red. Mrs Hiwatari laughed a delighted little laugh and bounded out of the restaurant.
As she skipped along back towards their brand, new car, which was clearly not the reason for being in Yokohama, Mr Hiwatari spoke up. "I was wondering why you were so adamant on going to the Yokohama dealership."
She laughed again as they approached the car. "Say it."
"Say what?" he answered as he leaned against the side of the car with his arms folded upon the roof.
"You know what, Susumu," she ginned as she tugged open the car door.
"Nope," he smirked in a way that was remarkably reminiscent of his son.
"I am a Grade- A genius!" She flashed him a peace sign and ducked into the car.
"Oh, you're something alright," her husband chuckled before getting in the car too. He settled himself and clicked his seatbelt in. Then he turned to her, looking rather inquisitive. "So did you say that we're going to continue in the hopes that Kai would stay over Rei's place, or did you actually mean it?"
Mrs Hiwatari's only answer was a smirk and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
Make up the rest of the story if you want.
I personally see awkward, but kind of sweet fooling around in store for Kai and Rei that night.
I hate the impression people have of poor, unloved, abandoned Kai. I think his parent's would be kind of childish. I mean, in the manga his mom seemed kind of strange, and his dad left to go and make toys.
So yeah.
Anyway, have a nice December.
xx