A Somewhat Normal Life
My take on Kai's life after Moscow. After extensive searching on the Internet for spoilers, I have the general idea. The grandson of most-wanted man Voltaire Hiwatari, he was forced to leave behind all that he knew to move to Kagoshima to restart life as Kai Tameru. But things are heating up in Tokyo, and the other Bladebreakers aren't going to let him slip away that easy…
A/N: Okay, I just picked a town at random from the map on my antique desk, so I have no clue what Kagoshima is really like or even if it still exists.
DISCLAIMER: I own nobody but the others at Kagoshima Academy.
Chapter 1: First Day
"Kai! Get going!"
"I'm going, Grandfather!" 15-year-old Kai yelled, slamming the door behind him as he exited the courtyard of 1313 Devlin Blvd. Glaring back at the drawn curtains of the mansion, he tossed his head and climbed into the chauffeured limousine his grandfather had hired, an old adherent of Biovolt, to head towards Kagoshima Academy, and the end of all he knew…
"Kai!"
"Yes, Grandfather?" Kai asked sullenly as he entered the drawing room of the Hiwatari mansion. He stopped as he saw his grandfather's two bodyguards advance threateningly.
"As you very well know by now, we have little time before that idiot Dickinson and his cronies come and arrest us for the activities involving Biovolt. Boris, himself, has already been apprehended." Voltaire stated.
"Us?" Kai asked sarcastically.
"Yes." Voltaire repeated. "Guilty by crime of association, Kai. So tonight, I am going to a safe house I have already procured far from here. You will come with me."
"And exactly how do you plan to go unnoticed, Grandfather?" Kai asked again, shaking his head.
"Simple, Kai, simple." Voltaire said. "With new papers, new identities, a bit of help from estheticians and a bit of acting."
"And what if I don't want to leave?" Kai asked defiantly.
"You will." Voltaire smiled maliciously. "You'll have no choice, once we're through with you."
Kai shook his head slightly to rid himself of the memories that still tormented him in his sleep, and leaned back into the cushioned seat as it pulled out onto Devlin Blvd.
"You'll arrive at the Academy about fifteen minutes before the entrance bell." Darius, the driver, said into the silence.
"Hmph." Kai said.
He wasn't looking forward to school. He hadn't set foot in an actual school for pretty much his entire life. He was educated in the abbey, by an individual tutor and an accelerated program. None of the other trainees had gotten any schooling outside what they came with, but as the grandson of Voltaire, he had to have at least a high school education. Once he'd left Balkoff Abbey, Voltaire had tried to acquire an at-home university program for Kai, but since he was never in the mansion if he could help it, there hadn't been much use.
And then, of course, last year had been one tournament after another. While Mr. Dickinson had insisted on them doing enough schoolwork to keep up with their classmates, Kai hadn't really needed it, since he already had a high school diploma.
But since he had a new alias, the high school diploma made out to Kai Daivid Lyaksandr Hiwatari was useless. Now he had to earn it again, in a school, for Kai Yukio Tameru.
When Darius let him out at Kagoshima Academy, Kai was slightly surprised to find it exactly like any other school yard he had ever seen in his life. Younger children were running around like maniacs, screaming and laughing and singing. The older students, around fifth grade to eighth grade, were standing around in small groups, talking. The high school students were all busily writing or studying.
What ultimately drew Kai's attention, though, was two boys who were yelling enthusiastically at a simple, portable Beyblade dish. Grinning slightly, he withdrew his launcher and bitbeast-less Beyblade and launched it in the direction of the dish, efficiently knocking both blades out.
When the two looked up in confusion and looked around, Kai strode up and picked up his Beyblade. "Hello."
"Hi… new boy." the dark-haired boy said warily.
"Rich new boy," the boy with blonde hair said to the other. "Probably thinks Beyblade is a way to try and get some mindless drone to do his bidding."
"Oh," the first said dejectedly.
"You know, I am still standing here," Kai interrupted harshly. "And if I wanted a mindless drone to do my bidding, I wouldn't be using a Beyblade. You can get any number of mindless drones just by waving a twenty in the air."
"Sorry about my brother," the dark-haired one said. "He's a bit suspicious. I'm Reuven Stepanski. Tenth grade."
"Marek Stepanski." The other offered grudgingly. "Tenth grade."
"Kai Tameru." Kai said. "Tenth grade."
"Cool." Reuven said. "Maybe we're in the same homeroom. It'd be nice to have another serious Beyblader in this place besides Marek."
"It's getting a bit boring," Marek admitted resentfully. "We know each other's moves off by heart by now, and—"
The bell rang just then. Grumbling, Marek and Reuven stuffed their Beyblades and launchers back into their bags and scooped up the dish and took off for the open doors, Kai trailing after them.
"Students, can I have your attention, please?" the teacher, Mrs. Eii called. Not too many actually listened, but she seemed encouraged and continued, saying, "We have a transfer student from Tokyo, Kai Tameru. Mr. Tameru, you can have a seat back there." She gestured at an empty desk in the back, right in between Marek and Reuven. Silently, Kai took the seat and smiled slightly at Reuven as he grinned at Kai.
"Now, we'll return to our studies. Please take out your history textbooks and turn to page 218."
When History had ended, Kai, unsure of the high school routine, drifted along with the crowds, veering out at his locker, grabbing his math textbook and dropping the history textbook. Then he was marched by Reuven, who was still grinning widely, to math.
By the time lunch had whirled around, Marek had accepted that his brother was going to drag Kai along everywhere. So he managed a vague smile as Reuven slid into the booth in the school cafeteria, followed by Kai. "Reuven, are you going to forcibly drag him around with you for the rest of the year?" Marek asked teasingly, grimacing as he dumped out the contents of his lunch bag. "Ugh. A traditional Polish lunch again."
"What's wrong with that?" Reuven asked, mouth full of perogy.
"Not that I'm not totally thrilled with the idea of having all this night after night, it's just that I want a traditional bag lunch every once in a while. You know, sandwich and an apple and whoa, what are you having?"
"A traditional Japanese lunch." Kai grumbled, poking a chopstick lethargically at the tempura. "I am sick of it."
"Wanna switch?" Marek asked hopefully.
"Sure, why not?" Kai responded and the two willingly switched lunches. The rest of the lunch hour was spent with Reuven laughing as Marek tried to figure out how to work the chopsticks, to no avail. He finally took the fork and knife back from Kai in the last ten minutes of lunch and downed the now-stone-cold food. Kai cracked a half-smile as he finished off the lunch using the chopsticks. "You'll learn, Marek. All it takes is practice."
"Yeah, and super-flexible fingers," Marek muttered.
As the end bell rang, Reuven and Marek both parted with Kai at the gates to the school, where the public bus stop was a short walk away and Darius was waiting with the limousine just inside the circle drive.
"Well, I guess we'll see you tomorrow," Reuven said, grinning as Marek gestured frantically at him as the bus pulled up. He dashed off and Kai slid into the backseat of the limo as Darius slammed the door after him.
"Next time, you don't dawdle." Darius ordered. "No more of this loitering around the gate with riffraff. We're going to be late getting back with all this blasted traffic and your grandfather is going to be upset."
"Hmph." Kai responded and raised the privacy glass.
"Kai, you're late." Voltaire snapped. "Darius reported in on the way back that you were… associating with riffraff."
"They were classmates." Kai responded, taking a seat on the window seat in the study.
"On the floor!" Voltaire roared and Kai, startled, slid quickly to the floor. "Until you learn that your place is far above any ordinary person in this world, you will have no privileges. That means that outside of school, you will go nowhere. Outside of your suite, you have no right to use any furniture in this household. Unless the call has business behind it, there will be no phone calls received. The same applies to visitors. Am I clear?"
"Crystal." Kai grumbled. He stood up, with slight difficulty, and started out the door when Voltaire said,
"I haven't dismissed you yet, Kai."
"Fine," Kai growled, turning back around. "May I be dismissed, Grandfather?"
"You're dismissed. And I'll be taking your Beyblade." Voltaire said.
"What?!" Kai yelped.
"You are now officially retired from Beyblading until further notification." Voltaire smiled cruelly as he accepted the Beyblade Kai held out, face muscles contorted with anger. He stormed out of the study and once the sounds of a slamming door above was heard, Voltaire smiled as he closed the study door to the sounds of Kai yelling and throwing objects around his suite on the third floor.