KBJB: A Kai/Ray Beyblade Story. Next chapters in progress. Enjoy. And Please Review.

Title: Family Matters Most
Summary: Ray's nightmare sets off a chain of events no one expected.

Tears stung his eyes as he kept running, not daring to look back.

He was scared, running for his life, yet he wanted so much to turn back. Turn back for her.

A blood-curdling shriek rang out into the black night, causing the young boy to cry out.

"MOMMA!!!"

Ray snapped awake to someone shaking him. He looked up to see the rest of the BladeBreakers looking worried. Tyson was the one who woke him.

"Ray, are you okay?" he asked. "You were screaming."

Ray took a minute to breathe, then answered.

"It was just... a nightmare. I'm okay. Really."

The others were still concerned about the Chinese blader, but all went back to bed. Except Ray himself.

He remembered that dream. It wasn't really a dream, but a memory. A really bad memory he had tried so hard to forget. And now it was coming back to haunt him.

"Momma." Ray whispered, pulling the covers over his head. He cried himself to sleep that night.

[The next day, in Tyson's backyard]

"Ray had a nightmare, really?" Mariah asked.

"Yeah, he woke up screaming." Hilary explained. "Or at least that's what Max told me. They're worried about him."

"I can understand that." Mariah said. "Even as a kid, Ray rarely had any nightmares."

"Ray had a nightmare?" Lee asked, walking in.

"That's what I've been told." Mariah said.

"What of?" Lee asked. "What was his dream about?"

"We don't know." Hilary said. "Ray didn't tell us."

Lee's face turned serious, and he left the room quickly.

"Come to think of it." Mariah muttered. "Today's the seventeenth of May, right?"

"Yeah." Hilary replied.

"Then I shouldn't be surprised that Ray had a nightmare." Mariah said.

"Why?" Hilary asked.

"Back in China," Mariah said, "starting on the seventeenth of May, Ray would wake up screaming from nightmares for an entire week. Lately, though, that hasn't happened."

"Strange." Hilary said.

"Well, we better warn the other BladeBreakers." Mariah said. "Let them know there's a chance they'll be woken up in the middle of the night by Ray."

"Right." Hilary said, and the two went back inside.

[Nearby]

Ray layed silently on the roof of Tyson's house, staring up at the clouds. But his mind was elsewhere.

"Momma." Ray whispered.

"Strange to find you up here." a voice took Ray by surprise. Snapping out of his daydream, his gold eyes locked with Kai's crimson ones.

"Oh, hey Kai." Ray sighed dismally. "What're you doing up here?"

"I asked you that first." Kai said, sitting down next to him.

"You didn't really." Ray said.

"Just answer me." Kai said. "What're you doing up here?"

"Just... thinking." Ray replied.

"About what?" Kai asked.

"...Nothing." Ray muttered.

"It can't be nothing." Kai said, trying hard to get Ray to tell him what his nightmare was about the night before.

When Ray didn't respond, Kai decided to just ask him.

"What was that dream about?" Kai asked. "You know, the one last night."

"...It was just a nightmare." Ray said. "...Just a nightmare."

"Sounds to me like you're trying to convince yourself rather than trying to convince me." Kai said. "Was it really just a nightmare?"

Ray sat up. He turned his head and stared at Kai for a few minutes. The look in his eyes said "Ray is not here. Please ask again another time." It was almost like Ray was in a trance of some sort, staring at Kai, his mind clearly somewhere else.

"Ray." Kai said, waving his hand in front of Ray's face. "Ray, snap out of it."

With a snap of his fingers, Kai was able to wake Ray up.

"Huh?" Ray looked around, confused. "When did I get up here?"

'He doesn't remember?' Kai thought.

"Ray, you've been up here for the past few minutes." Kai said.

"...Really?" Ray asked, staring at Kai. "But why?"

Kai sighed in annoyance. How could Ray forget practically everything in the last few seconds?

"Just get back inside." Kai said. "They say if you can't remember, than it must be nothing important."

"Right." Ray smiled weakly and jumped off the roof to head inside.

'I will find out what your nightmare was Ray.' Kai thought to himself. 'Even if you don't want to remember what it was.'

Hoped you enjoyed this first chapter.
Next chapter Warning: OCs.
Thank you.