"THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT GAIA…"
A Beyblade Fic
By Sakin-chan
Disclaimer
: You people are cruel! Of course I don't own Beyblade. I don't even own a decent ruler.AN:
Revised, rewritten and re-mastered.Chapter 1:
'Familiar Faces'[Late evening in the Granger household…]
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"I know! Let's all go to New York!" Max said, hand in the air.
"Nah, already been there." Tyson told him. "Why don't we go somewhere different, like…"
"Hong Kong!"
The four boys looked at Rei. Kenny shook his head.
"Been there, done that."
"I agree; let's go someplace nice." Tyson said.
"Hear, hear!" Max cheered. Kai kept quiet.
"Aw, come on!" Rei wasn't about to give in that easily; last time they went 'someplace nice', it was to a 'We-Love-Tyson' fanclub. Rei shuddered. It had not been a nice experience, especially as the rest of their team had had to fight to keep the forty or so girls from ripping off Tyson's clothes. Besides, Rei figured that it was about time he went for a visit to his family.
"I need to check up on my folks." He looked to Kai for support.
"I think we should go to China this time around. It's not fair on Ray if we keep going to Tyson's fanclubs and Max's old hangouts in New York." Kai said, surprising them all. Rei gave him an appreciative smile, and smirked at the others.
"But don't you want to go anywhere, Kai?" Kenny asked.
Kai thought about his grandfather, and then about his old team-mates. He mentally grimaced.
"No."
Rei looked around at Tyson, Max and Kenny's downcast faces, and at Kai's neutral one, and laughed. He couldn't wait to see his parents, and his little sister. And Gaia. He especially wanted to see her again.
"China it is, then!"
He wondered if she would remember him.
[Afternoon in Hong Kong, China…]
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"Wanna go someplace to eat?"
"YEAH!!!"
"Alright!"
"But Tyson, you ate five minutes ago!"
"Kenny, you don't understand. I'm a growing boy. I can't live on three measly meals a day!"
"Give him a break, Kenny, if he wants to eat like a pig, then let him."
"Rei!"
"Thanks, buddy – hey! What do you mean, like a pig?!"
The Bladebreakers had arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago. They were heading for their hotel to pack up their stuff and leave for Ray's old hometown – or were supposed to, anyway, but Tyson had stopped at so many restaurants and noodle-carts, that they'd had to cancel their train and book it again for tomorrow morning. The only problem was how on earth they planned to get Tyson to wake up at 6 am.
(Oh, well,) Rei thought, (At least we haven't been kicked out of any restaurants yet.)
"Let's go in here," he suggested; there was something familiar about this dinky little café. Rei navigated between the screens surrounding each table, and pointed to a table with six seats. A waiter in a dark-blue suit passed their table, and Rei stared at him. Then realization hit him like a mallet to the back of his head.
"I remember this place!" he shouted suddenly, causing everybody to jump, and the waiter to scream in terror.
"I used to work here before!"
"OH, MY GO-O-OD!!!" Rei heard a familiar voice screech above him. He looked up, and flinched. Tyson and Max saw the expression of total horror on Rei's face, and glanced at each other, then looked at the cause of this reaction.
It was a perfectly normal-looking, hot (albeit loud) girl of their age, with nice, long brown hair tied up in a bun, black eyes and a tan. She was wearing the same dark-blue suit as the first waiter, except she was wearing a very short skirt instead of pants, which exposed her long, tanned legs. Max, Kenny and Tyson's faces went like (O.o?!) at the sight of those legs; Kai had to admit they looked pretty good.
Anyway, back to Rei.
"OH MY GOOOOOOOD!!! REI, YOU PIG! WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED ME?!!!"
"Yeah, Rei." Max chimed in, and Tyson added "You PIG."
She grabbed Rei's shirt, and pulled him up. Rei began to sweat-drop.
"Uh… C-Clarise… hi…!" he stammered, trying desperately to think of a way to escape her clutches.
(What is she doing here?! I thought she was fired!)
Let me tell you why Rei was so afraid of Clarise. She was crazy. A homicidal maniac is the term he would have preferred. She had once threatened to pour a bucket of boiling water on him if he didn't sleep with her straight away, and when he refused, she actually poured it on him! Rei had dodged most of the shower, but a cupful had landed on his side and burnt off his skin, and he had ended up in hospital for weeks. Clarise had threatened him with various other grizzly ways to die, and Rei wouldn't have taken her seriously, except she really did try to execute her threats, and Rei had only escaped every time by luck. He especially remembered the time when Clarise had tried to shred him with a lawnmower. She'd brought it upstairs with her to his room, put it on his bed, and started it up. If Rei hadn't been a light sleeper, he wouldn't have lived to see the next day. She had lived in the same town with him, and Rei would bet that she had slept with every man under thirty there. The girl was freaky. He hated her guts. And the fact that she still expected him to jump into her arms after all the times she had attempted to kill him didn't convince him of her sanity, either.
"DO YOU KNOW THAT KEIRA AND GAIA ARE STAYING HERE, TOO? I BET YOU DIDN'T!" she screeched. Rei's hopes for survival increased. If Gaia and Keira were here, then they could help him out.
"Hey, Clarise! That's no way to treat an old friend, now, is it?" (Speak of the devil,) Rei thought, feeling a strange thrill in his stomach. Clarise unhooked her long, red nails from his shirt, and stepped back.
"Till next time, Rei baby," she whispered menacingly,
"Till next time…"
Rei shuddered, and hurriedly took three long steps away from her. "Don't count on it."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Hey, leave him alone, Clarise." Two girls appeared from behind a screen, and smiled at them.
(Gaia… it's YOU…!) Rei thought, and smiled unconsciously at her. Kai saw something change in his friend's face at the sight of the girls, or rather, the second, white-haired girl. Something shifted in his expression, revealing something that Kai had never seen before in anybody's face. Kai narrowed his eyes at her.
The first of the girls had short red hair, and blue-gray eyes. She had a slight figure, and wore a blue shirt and black pants; it was obvious she didn't work here. The girl introduced herself as Keira.
The second one, who had caught Rei's eyes (and, unknowingly, the rest of the team's eyes too, including Kai) was a slightly short girl with a nicely curved body. Her skin was the color of dark caramel, and glowed. She had almond-shaped brown-black eyes, long white hair that reached the small of her back, and curled around her shoulders. She wore a white shirt similar to Rei's one, but without all the yellow bits, and a red skirt that went down to her ankles. A big black belt hung around her middle, and she wore flat shoes like Rei's. She raised her hand in greeting, and he quickly stood up, and his smile widened into a grin.
"Guys," Rei went over to her side, "I'd like you to meet Gaia. Gaia, these are my team-mates: Kai, Max, Tyson and Kenny." He pointed to each in turn.
"Hi."
"Hello!"
"Hey, there."
A nod from Kai. Rei felt pleased at their reaction to her, especially Kai's. He thought it a great favor that his friend acknowledged her, and had greeted her in his own way.
(He made the effort. Maybe there's hope for you yet, Kai.)
Gaia smiled at each in turn, and turned to Rei.
"It's… good to have you back, Rei-san," she said softly, and Ray felt his stomach do a 360-degree flip.
"It's good to be back, Gaia." He stared at her face two seconds longer, then turned away. Keira was flirting with Max and Tyson and Kenny, and Max suddenly turned a bright shade of red, while Tyson laughed at him. Clarise was trying it on with Kai, but his glares shriveled even her die-hard attempts. He came over to them, and told Rei bluntly:
"Ask that fool of a girl to leave me alone if she values her life."
Rei could see that the Russian meant business, but he really didn't want to go near that maniac.
"I'll go talk to her," Gaia stated calmly, and walked off towards Clarise.
"Thanks," he said, genuinely grateful, and felt a twinge in his chest as he watched Gaia walking away. He sighed, and ran his fingers through his fringe.
"You really… like her, don't you?" Kai asked him, feeling somewhat awkward. Rei didn't even look at his friend; he knew Kai would work it out the minute he saw Rei with her.
"Like isn't the word, buddy." He sighed again, and turned to look at Kai's face. He wondered once more what went on behind that calm mask – how was it that he was so comfortable expressing his feelings to his friend, when Kai had never told him anything about what went on in his own heart? When he could be so cold to others?
Rei worried about Kai a lot. He wondered when he would open up and allow himself to have more expressions than two – calm, and angry.
"I see." Kai's mouth twitched into a small smile;
"What is the word, then?"
Rei smiled awkwardly, and blushed. He shrugged. He rubbed his neck, and his smile widened into a grin, which showed off his fangs.
"I-I don't know."
He glanced at Gaia, who was arguing quietly with Clarise. He decided to throw the ball back into Kai's court. "What do you think, Kai?"
The silver-haired boy looked troubled. Rei saw he had touched a raw nerve, and apologized to him. He didn't want to offend his friend. Not now, when things were going so well.
"So," he said after a pause, "Does your Kai-ness approve?"
"Do I approve of Gaia?" Kai said, then looked at her thoughtfully.
"Well… she seems like a nice girl. Quiet. Polite. She's… pretty, I have to give you that. Can't really say any more since I don't know her."
Kai wondered why Rei would ask him such a question. Could it be that his friend valued his opinion that much?
"I just want to know what you think. I trust your judgement, Kai." Kai glanced at him sharply, and said "You do?" before he could stop himself. Rei nodded.
"Yeah, man. Of course I do."
Kai stared at Rei, making him feel a little uncomfortable.
"Hmm." Kai looked away. "Anyway, have you known her for a while?"
"We grew up together. In the same little village." Rei's eyes were distant, like he was watching a memory in his mind.
"She came to live next door to us back when I was 6. I was playing in my yard when she was brought to our town, and she was crying. I thought I had done something to her, so I jumped over the fence and went to see what she was crying about… and when I asked, she looked up at me and said "I'm crying because I will never see my parents again."
"Gaia was so mature… even back then. I asked her why, and she said: 'Because they have died. They're dead and buried. Dead!'"
Rei smiled, perhaps a little inappropriately, and glanced at her again.
"And then she hit me, and ran inside her house. I didn't see her again for ages. When I did, she had calmed down. And she's been calm ever since." At this point, Rei looked a little sad.
Kai frowned.
"Don't be angry, Kai… but she reminds me of you. You both are too calm. Too quiet. Like you don't want the world to know what you're feeling."
Kai knew that Rei was close to the truth. Too close for comfort. So he did what he usually did when he was confronted by the truth.
He did a disappearing act.
Rei watched him go, wondering if it was something he had said. He was about to go after Kai, when Gaia appeared next to him, and touched his arm.
"Tell me what you've been up to, Rei-san. It's been a few years, now, hasn't it?"
Rei smiled down at her. "Yes, it has." He pulled her along by her arm, and they went outside to have a little privacy. They stood near the wall, and looked at the milling crowds.
"You've grown, Gaia." Rei looked at her with a wry smile.
"In a good way, or a bad way?" She gave a smile just as wry, then changed the subject.
"I saw you on TV the other day. Our Rei, a champion! I was proud."
She touched his shoulder, and he felt his skin tingling where her fingers lay.
"Well done." She looked at his eyes, and blinked, feeling a little weird. She thought she'd seen something strange there, something… different.
For the first time in that evening, Rei allowed himself to stare into her eyes, and stop breathing. Her dark-brown eyes looked into his, and he felt his legs weakening, and his breath catching. Gaia saw pain in his eyes, and his cheeks suddenly flamed red.
"Rei? Are you okay?"
He blinked, and snapped out of it.
"Rei?"
"What?"
"…Never mind." She gave him a puzzled glance, then shrugged; she would find out what was up with him later.
"I was saying that you must come back home soon. I'm leaving tonight."
"No way! We're going tomorrow!" he said, back to his usual self again. "How's your grandfather?"
"He's fine. So are your parents. And your little sister's going out with somebody! Did you hear?"
"………?"
"It's that Xiaou Ming guy from the grocery-store. Isn't that sweet?"
"………?!"
Gaia tried her last weapon.
"Riku said she wants to marry him in a few months, and your parents have agreed."
Cruel, but effective, Gaia reckoned.
"WHAT?!"
Gaia laughed. "I'm just kidding! She doesn't want to marry him. Not yet, at any rate."
"Tsk, Gaia! Of course she won't marry him."
"How do you know?" Gaia asked quietly, and smirked at him.
To be honest, he didn't really know. He just hoped Riku-chan wouldn't, because… well, simply because.
"Never mind how I know; tell me about what you've been up to. All I've been doing is travelling around boring old villages and learning how to cook, clean and beyblade. The rest you already know from TV."
Gaia cleared her throat. "Well, nothing much, really. Fong from the workshop stopped stalking me after Grandpa taught him a lesson."
"About time. That guy was always bugging you."
Gaia didn't know what came over her. She just suddenly took his hands, and said: "I've missed you, Rei."
He blushed, and looked at her through his fringe.
"I've missed you too." He felt a sharp pang in his chest, and took a shaky breath.
"Why did you leave?" she asked him, silent accusation in her eyes. Rei let go of her hands, and sighed.
"Because I had to go out and see the world. Experience it. I didn't see much point in staying in one spot for the remainder of my life, Gaia, and I still don't." He looked at her, and put his hand on her cheek. Their eyes met, and something passed between them, changing the way Gaia thought about Rei for the rest of her life.
"I don't regret leaving, Gaia." She felt butterflies in her stomach, and wondered why.
(It's just Rei-san. Nobody else. He only thinks about me like he would think about Riku, his kid-sister.)
Rei brushed her hair back from her eyes, took a deep breath, and said:
"I just regret not taking you with me."
And with that, he got up, and went back inside, leaving a shaken Gaia standing outside.
A/N
: As you all can see, I've made a few changes. Rei will now, and forever more stay REI. Also, chapters 1 to 8 are now in their final, possibly never to be modified form. Enjoy.