I do not own Beyblade or the characters.

Rated M for potty mouths.

Real Summary:

Kai Hiwatari in the past two years has:

1.) retired from boosting cars,

2.) been cheated on by his ex-girlfriend,

and 3.) ran away from his psycho grandfather.

But now because of his (annoyingly) kind-hearted friends, he's back helping his (cheating) ex-girlfriend get together a big boost before she gets herself killed (not that he would mind...) and all within the risk of having his (crazy) jackass of a grandfather finding out he's back.

In Kai Hiwatari's opinion his life hasn't been all that great so far.

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Calm Before the Storm

Prologue: A Minute Difference

I'm frightened by what I see,

But somehow I know there's much more to come.

Immobilized by my fear,

And soon to be blinded by tears.

-Evanescence - "Whisper"

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"Could you be any louder? "

"What? You're the only one making any noise with that loud whisper of yours."

"I'm talking about your feet."

"What about them - go right down this hall."

"I'm talking about you dragging them like a fucking zombie, Ana, stop."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are, I can hear them."

"Whatever - it's the fifth office on the left after this turn - if it wasn't for me you wouldn't even be having this opportunity right now, so shut up - no you idiot, I said the fourth."

"You said the fifth."

"I meant the -"

"Stop. Camera down the hall."

I ran right into my brother's back and swore rather loudly as I stumbled and glared at the back of his black ski mask covered head. Blond tuffs of his hair were peeking from the bottom of it. Does he not know how goofy that looks?

"Let me see the pick." He was watching the camera carefully from his crouched position behind the safety of the corner. He held out his hand behind him. I reached into the back pocket of my black jeans and pulled out a small silver lock pick and handed it to him.

"Gabe, what are you -"

Without warning, Gabriel launched himself down across the hall towards the fourth office while the camera was turned. He slid all the way to the office door on his knees where he quickly played around with the pick and lock on the door. Just as the camera was turning back, Gabriel slid open the office door and hid inside.

What an idiot. And he tells me that I need to cool it? Whatever. He's such a hypocrite.

The camera was looking down the now deserted hallway. I didn't dare look around the corner again and risk getting caught on tape by the stupid thing, so instead I looked at Gabe. Inside the safety of the office, he was holding up a hand, signaling me to wait. He cocked his head to the side and slowly peered out of the office window to watch the camera.

I was ready the moment the lens turned away again and Gabe signaled me to go. I dashed across the hall and gracefully slide into the office.

I looked around the dark room, letting my eyes adjust, and my adrenaline pounding heart calm down. A light colored wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, with two plush customer chairs in front, one of which I'd sat in hours earlier. I remembered the nice, plump, fair haired salesman who had negotiated prices of a car in here with me. Too bad I wasn't the least bit interested in the prices he was rattling off and more of the large box of car keys behind him. This was the box that Gabe was looking at right now. This was the box that held all the car keys of the brand spanking new cars sitting outside. All these keys - keys to a couple hundred grand machines I might add - and all within our reach.

Oh yeah. There was no way he could complain about me after I did such an amazing job of getting us this far. That's right Gabe. Who got the layout of the dealership? Me. Who located the office containing all the keys in the whole damn place? Me again. And who got us into said dealership after every pencil pusher here had gone home? Oh, yeah…me.

"Which ones?"

I pushed the sleeve of my black shirt up and the edge of the black glove of my right hand down to glance at what I'd written there earlier.

"Six-oh-four and six-oh-nine," I recited back.

While Gabe was looking through the keys, I continued looking around the room. On this man's desk - damn what was his name? - there was a picture frame that held a plain-faced, curvy woman in her late thirties smiling back a the world. Behind her was the ocean and a setting sun. Lucky bitch.

Wow. Now that I really looked around, I could see that she was all over the place. Big, small, wide, narrow frames, close ups, and full body shots of this woman posing at different places. She wasn't even that great to look at but this guy obviously thought so. She had a pleasant face I guess, but nothing spectacular.

My eyes roamed around some more as I waited. In the corner of the room there was a very green and healthy looking plant. This guy really knew how to pamper his plants just as much as he did the girl in the photo.

Jeff! That's what his name was!

"Alright, let's go." Gabe was smiling at me like he'd just won a mini lottery - and really, if you thought about it, he sorta had…or, well he was holding a pair of keys that belonged to something that was worth a mini lottery…

Almost the instant he turned to give me this winning smile, it faded, because around us an alarm started wailing and a red light started flashing from all the built in security systems.

"Fucking shit," Gabe hissed, flying around to see how he'd set off the alarm. Under the flashing red light of the security system we could both see the little clear, round sensors surrounding the inside of the box.

Neither of us bothered to hide from the camera anymore on our hasty way out of the office, and then purposely just used the front door on our way out because really there was no point to hide anymore. Might as well make life a little easier.

"Nice going, Gabe," I sneered as we walked through the darkness across the parking lot. I couldn't help it. It was too great an opportunity to pass up.

My brother arrogantly ignored me, and instead mumbled harshly to himself. Somewhere off in the distance I could hear the sirens wailing their approach.

We quickly walked along the rows of many expensive flashy cars and already I was sweating. Damn it got humid around here -by here I meant the west coast of California - but the air also had that smell and feel like it was going to ran. Up head I could see the two winners I'd chosen for us on my trip here this morning. As we approached, Gage threw me a set of keys and then walked to the third car down from me, flashing the lights of a fire engine red Audi TT 3.2 convertible as he unlocked it.

Wait just a second…I picked that car out specifically for me!

"Why do you get the convertible?" I whined.

"Because I'm older."

"Well obviously I'm smarter since I didn't get us caught, so I think I should get the TT."

"Looks like your SOL. Get in the car."

What was with older brothers and their egos? I swear even if I could take it, burn it, drown it, rip it apart and spit on it, bury it in China, whatever, it wouldn't matter. He'd still have enough of it to feed Africa with.

Well, screw him and his testosterone.

I unlocked my silver car and got in, settling down into the squeaky leather seats of the wonderfully smelling car. Yes, besides the smell of gasoline, wet paint, apple pie, and new car parts, I like the smell of brand spanking-ass new car. Especially the smell of a brand spanking-ass hundred grand new car.

I started up the machine. Underneath the hood, the engine roared to life, sending my Audi R8 into a frenzy of vibrations that soothingly rolled up my spine.

Fuck yes.

My foot twitched over the accelerator and my fingers started drumming against the wheel, itching to see what this car could do.

To my right, Gabe was already reversing out of this parking spot, peeling out as he shifted gears with such force that he went hurling over the lot and toward the exit. The top was down and he was waving at me to get my ass moving.

Ugh. Damn him and his convertible that was suppose to be mine.

I backed out of the lot and made it onto the city roads. I shifted gears, controlling the Audi as I smoothly weaved in and out of the slow moving cars around me and followed Gabe.

"I wasn't sure if you were ever going to get your ass outta there."

I jumped when the small walkie-talkie on my hip suddenly quivered to life by his voice. With my free hand I picked it up and tartly responded, "Bite me."

In front of me, Gabe turned a corner with one hand in the air, flipping me off. I snorted. What a showoff.

We were only on this road for a few more minutes before the walls and windows of the buildings around us started to reflect the red, blue and white lights of the cop cars who'd caught up with us. The loud wailing sirens triggered more excitement in me and soon by body was again housing thousands of tiny veins pumping adrenaline to my heart and limps.

"Ready to lose them?"

"Ready when you are…meet up at 4th and Darr in, oh…five minutes?"

"Sure. Loser who couldn't shake them buys lunch for the week."

As soon as his answering words sprouted from the walkie, I shifted down a gear, made a sharp left away from Gabe, shifted again, and starting speed down a side street with four cops in my wake.

In my R8, I maneuvered passed the light traffic of cars going the same way. I smirked at the noisy cars behind me in my rear view mirror; I knew exactly were I was going to loose them at. Suckers.

About a mile down, I merged into a busy highway where traffic was heavier. I didn't have much of a problem moving between cars - my Audi responded almost immediately to my sharp jerks and turns - but the cops behind me had a little more trouble keeping up.

I pushed the car faster. Up ahead I saw the small break I'd been looking for. It was a narrow piece of concrete that connected either side of the highway. Shifting down, I jerked the car through two lanes of traffic, and spun it through the small pathway, my tires squealing, and successfully into the opposite side of the highway.

I heard angry and panicked honking and even a few sounds of the colliding of metal. I looked into the side mirror to find that only two of the four cop cars had made it.

Wow. Kudos to them.

Coming up on my right I saw the familiar exit next to Pizza Hut. My foot never lifting from the petal, I sped onto the ramp, and immediately took another sharp right and then a left into an alley way, almost side-swiping my beautiful Audi on the last, almost impossible, turn. I slammed on my breaks and quickly killed the lights to wait.

Sure enough, moments after, the cops whizzed by the opening of the alley. I waited a little longer before turning the lights and car back on. Cautious, I backed out and went the same way I'd come in.

I hurried to the designated meeting spot that was located on the outskirts of town. Pulled into a dark and deserted parking lot, Gabe was already waiting for me; he'd obviously lost his cops too.

I rolled down my window and leaned outside just as he was starting his convertible back up.

"I guess we pay for our own lunches this time," I shrugged, pulling off my ski mask I obviously didn't need anymore, and tossed it into the passenger seat. I was already feeling less bitter about not getting the convertible. I was starting to warm up to the other Audi I was sitting in, because now we'd had a good run together, and this baby drove beautifully.

"Guess so," Gabe answered, and then suddenly his eyes narrowed and he was staring hard at my face. "What is that?"

"What?" I asked alarmed. I could swear he was staring at my face. Did I have something on it?

He leaned forward looking disgusted.

"You have a hole in your nose."

Instinctively, I reached for my nose, brushing against the small, hard diamond on the side of it. My worry disappeared and I rolled my eyes at his exaggeration.

"It's a nose ring, moron."

"When the hell did this happen?"

I shrugged, "A couple days ago, I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

"That's gross," he answered, leaning back into his car and shifting gears. His convertible rolled forward; obviously he didn't want to talk about my 'horrible' nose piercing anymore.

"Common let's go home."

He led the way, taking a right down Darr, and heading for the small, hilly highway off the coast that led to our house in the California hills. And no, I don't mean that upscale, rich ass subdivision, where people thought they were too good to mow their own lawns. I mean the isolated hills of forest and rock outside the city, where we mowed our own grass, thank you very much.

I rolled down the rest of my windows as we sped down the only part of the flat road before we hit the really hilly stuff and the coast off to the left. The wind whooshed from the windows and blew my long dark brown hair around me, releasing it from it's pervious rolled up position that made it easier to conceal inside the mask.

In the distance, over the height of the many hills and tress, the humid sky lit up with a charge of lightening.

Gabe sped up to a hundred and ten miles an hour and kept climbing. Obviously he was feeling the same restlessness I was to run these cars and see what they could do.

He kept gaining speed as we neared the last seven miles of the flat road. My limbs were tingling with excitement, and my body felt so light that I thought it could be floating. The feeling of knowing you controlled this machine as you flew down the road was exhilarating. Knowing that your traveling at dangerous speeds. This was what I lived for. Not for the jobs. Not for the money. Not for that fact that if I didn't do the jobs, I'd probably be killed.

I did it because of the excitement. The danger. The speed. Because I loved fixing cars and pimping them out, making them my own creations. Because I loved to be around some of the most expensive, fast, and rare cars you could get around here.

Gabe had also taken his mask off and the high speed wind was ruffling through his blond hair. Over the roar of my engine and the occasional sound of thunder, I heard his whoops of excitement.

I thought I was enjoying this…I think he was more. Little too much.

Seeing an opportunity to bug him, I picked up my walkie and pressed the side button before talking into it.

"You need a girl. This is pathetic." Click.

"I have Sheryl."

I rolled my eyes, putting the microphone back to my lips. "I don't mean that car you work on night and day, I mean a real flesh and blood woman. You know, boobs…ass…" Click.

Gabe didn't respond for a couple seconds. "When I find her, I'll find her. I'm not worried about it. For right now I have Sheryl, the jobs, and you. That's enough for me."

I smiled, a bit speechless. I didn't know whether to poke more fun at the big teddy bear, or think it was sweet.

Alright fine. It was really sweet.

Gabe annoyed and frustrated me six out of the seven days of the week. He made me so mad sometimes I thought I would punch a Gabe sized hole in the wall. His habits, like leaving toenail clipping all over the bathroom floor, infuriated me to no end until I wanted to shove the clippings down his throat. And some times he said things that hurt me.

He watched over me, protected me. Made sure I had enough to eat by the end of the day. Called to see when I was coming home after being out until four in the morning. Bailed me out of trouble countless times. He knew me better then anyone else.

He was a good guy. A good brother. I owed him more then I realized.

We were nearing the end of the flat stretch of road. I knew this because of the small flashing red light up ahead, indicating a four way stop. Like a lot of stops out here, most people ran them because usually you didn't see anyone at the stop light at the same time you were.

Gabe's foot didn't come off the petal, and I followed a bit behind just in case he decided to stop suddenly, which he like to do to see of I was paying attention sometimes. It was annoying because I would have to slam on my breaks and swerve to miss him. I would yell at him, but he just laughs at me.

We neared the flashing intersection and Gabe tapped on his breaks a little. Maybe he was smart enough to realized going through any intersection at a hundred and fifty miles an hour was a bad idea.

We slowed down to ninety.

It was still to fast to go through, what was he thinking?

"Hey, slow it down, this is still an intersection, you know." Click.

Gabe's head disappeared as he bent over to retrieve something that had fallen, or well, that's what it looked like to me. He probably dropped the walkie.

We were close to intersection, we hadn't slow down but maybe by ten miles per hour, and Gabe's head was still hunched over, when I saw headlights coming from the right of the four way stop. A large cargo truck appeared and stopped, only to continue to pull out and make the left towards us.

The slow moving body of the big truck wasn't going to clear the intersection before we got there. We were going way too fast. Gabe's head was still down.

"Gabe," I warned into the walkie, trying to get his attention, "look up, slow down."

I started breaking. Gabe's head remained down, searching, reaching for his walkie talkie.

I slammed on my breaks. The tires of the Audi squealed in pain and my torso jerked forward and hit hard back into my seat as I came to an abrupt stand still. I watched, my eyes wide and my heart hammering with panic as Gabe kept going.

One hand went straight to the horn, the other to the walkie.

"GABRIEL!"

He finally looked up.

Some people claim that when they are watching something tragic happening, that time slows down. Some say that time speeds up.

Time for me did both.

At first it was slow. Like God wanted me to witness every single second, to punish me, no doubt, for my crimes.

The squealing of the tires of his last, panicked attempt to break cut through my heart like a hot iron knife. The sounds of metal colliding sent a painful pulse straight though my brain and my hands started shaking.

Gabe's Audi TT ran head first into the back wheels of the tuck; it crumbled and shattered on impact.

Then everything sped up into fast forward.

I watched, my eyes froze into shock, as my brother's body was thrown from the car, hit the truck with sickening force and fell onto the pavement.

The shear force of the speed at which Gabe had been traveling, caused the truck's body to roll over off it's wheels and onto it's side, creating another loud crash as it hit the ground.

It took my shocked brain a second to register what had just happened.

I fumbled to find the gear shift. My hands finally wrapped around the control stick, I shifted into first, second and then third gear as I clumsily steered toward the wreckage.

The air smelt of exhaust, smoke, and a bit of salt from the ocean. Broken glass and pieces of metal were everywhere. My whole body was shaking as I slammed on my breaks and stumbled out of the car near the crushed Audi TT.

Gabe's blood pooled around him. It led to his head where it was flowing from a large crack in his skull.

Crimson blood matted to his blond hair and his dark clothes.

His limbs were twisted in a way I knew wasn't normal.

I stared, horrified, at my brother's body.

No. This wasn't- no, he had to be alive still.

Against my will, my knees buckled. A hand instinctively flew to my mouth and my stomach heaved sporadically, but nothing ever came up. I coughed and choked violently instead.

I leaned over him.

And then scrambled to get back up.

His dark blue eyes were open, staring passed me, frozen into what I guess was shock when he'd hit the truck.

Terrified tears started to fall from my own eyes.

A sob heaved from my chest and out my mouth, and once that started, I found that I couldn't stop.

Heaving with sobs and barley able to see through my tears, I knelt back down next to him. I reached over and with my still gloved, trembling hands, I closed his eye lids, smearing the blood over his face and getting it on my black gloves.

I had never hurt this much in my entire life. I literally felt like I was also bleeding from the head. The pain was filling my body so completely that I was surprised I hadn't passed out.

The heavens opened up and let loose fat, wet drops of rain.

I wrapped my arms protectively around my self and cried too.

Why?

I needed him.

Everything had been fine. Five minutes ago, I had a brother.

Now I was alone.

And I was screaming.

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Good or no? Remember, this is just a prologue, you've got a whole story ahead of you.

I've written almost all of the story out already and will be posting every Monday, except for the next chapter, that'll come in a few days because this was a prologue.

Please tell me what you think.

---rayluva4