[A/N: Here goes my first shot at a Beyblade Fic. This has been festering in the back of my mind for years now, and when I finally decided I would write it out it didn't go as planned the first four or five times. Then for some reason inspiration hit hit me, but only at 4 in the morning when I was trying to go to sleep, so I started writing it out on my phone, and here we are two months later. I'm actually satisfied with the way this turned out . You're comments will be much appreciated, and i love constructive criticism , Enjoy.]

[Disclaimer: standard disclaimers apply]

Behind the Mask

[1]Black Cat

The white sheets that fell across the window were of a ferocity Rei had never seen before, the world before him was whitewashed. The storm had been going for six or so hours, and as was apparent it had yet to let up, and there was reason to doubt it ever would. With his cheek pressed against the palm of his hand, and his eyes staring unseeingly into the world beyond the transparent barrier that was the hospital window, Rei Kon could do nothing but curse his luck and this god forsaken country. He had never felt so trapped, and he had definitely never seen or heard of so much snow in Japan of all places.

Abandoning his upright position Rei shifted on the bed moving to lie amongst the sterile sheets, wincing when the creak of the springs reached his ears and wrinkling his nose as the smell of antiseptic once again invaded his senses. Rei hated hospitals, and having to be readmitted so soon after his stint with Bryan was almost too much for the young neko-jin to handle.

As for the reason for his hospitalization a mere two weeks after his return from Russia, Rei couldn't be completely positive. Up until now all memories of that night had remained only flashes and blurs of what he had to assume were far from pleasant incidences, and the raging storm outside was entirely to blame.

'Why was it that whenever you were in a hurry you had to get caught up in the worst traffic jams in existence', the neko-jin had to wonder. The roads that day had been blocked once again due to bad weather conditions, and Rei had missed his flight for it, yet another reason for the Chinese bladders hatred for the icy white substance that seemed to be the source of all his most recent troubles.

It had been in the week succeeding the teams return to Japan that Rei Kon's flight would leave from Haneda Airport for china's international airport in central Beijing, where he would board a train to the outskirts of the city by the port, where the ferryman would take him to his home land, a remote island that skirted the edges of the Chinese islands were White tiger village was located. The only problem being, he never reached the airport.

The neko threw his head back, to bounce against the polished leather of the cars back seat, the cab hadn't budged an inch since 4.30. Rei's head rolled to the side, eyes staring out past the rain washed streets at the Tokyo clock tower that hung overhead, he couldn't help but glare at the mocking arms that seemed to move faster than the world around them ever would. It was 5.07 and his flight was due to leave in a little over an hour, he stared longingly at the airport that loomed just beyond his line of sight, he'd never make it home at this rate.

It wasn't until another 10 or so minutes that the traffic had finally let up, and not 15 minutes later that the cab pulled up before the Haneda Airport departure hall. As such 5.40 found Rei Kon standing before the check in counter pleading with the most stubborn flight attendant in a language he could barely comprehend.

Rei stared blindly up at the white ceiling overhead, frustrating thoughts of his encounter in the airport now flooding his mind. Language had never been his strong suit, and in his state of panic, what little Japanese he had learned from his teammates was completely useless. It didn't help either that woman standing beyond the counter hardly spoke a word of English.

"What the hell kind of flight attendant doesn't speak English." He burst out suddenly, pushing himself once more off the bed in his frustration, not even realizing he'd spoken out loud. Ignoring the pain in his swollen left ankle, Rei pulled himself to his feet using the side table as a support, before making his way to stand by the window. The Chinese blader pressed his forehead to cool glass of the window pane and stared longing down at the street six stories below. It didn't matter how much he hated the snow, he hated hospitals that much more.

The footsteps of the evening nurse coming down the hall reached his ears long before the creak of the door as she opened it to peek inside. "Mr. Kon is there a problem." The young blond spoke from the doorway, having heard his yell of frustration not minutes ago.

"No. I'm fine." His answer to the young American was short and clipped, but she smiled anyway, though he didn't turn to look at her, her green eyes sparkling slightly in the florescent lights of the hospital room.

"Watashi wa zan'nen sā ndakedo, sore wa anata no hikō o minogashite iruga hyōji sa remasu [1]." The flow of Japanese words that passed the smiling lips of the small brunette were of absolutely no meaning to Rei.

"I'm sorry, what?" his voice was edgy and his eyes flashed, but the woman only repeated herself, infuriating smile still plastered on her face. "I don't understand you" he tried again. Rei's patience was wearing thin, he had been standing here for a full five minutes trying to communicate with the flight attendant, but to no avail, and the giddy counterfeit smile of the airhead across the counter was only grating on his nerves.

"Nani?" She asked her head cocked to one side.

"Don't you speak English." The pupils of his amber eyes turned to slits, and he gritted his teeth, trying desperately to keep his temper in check.

At his final comment the dark brown eyes of the woman lit up. "Ah!" she nodded finally understanding what the boy was trying to tell her. "um…" she paused, a blank look on her face, as if unable to recall how to speak the language. Rei smacked his hand against his forehead in frustration, this was taking far too long, and he was growing impatient.

"Plane gone." She finally spoke up in broken accented English.

"What!"

"Plane gone."

"I know what you said!" his hand slammed hard on the counter causing the woman to jump, and finally wiping that infuriating grin, so typical to flight attendants, right off her face. "How is it gone!"

"No yell." The now agitated woman scolded the boy hands on her hips in a fashion that reminded him too much of Mariah for comfort, she was going to have his head for this.

"How is it gone." He said again through clenched jaw and gritted teeth, this time low and quiet, but far from calm.

"You late, no go."

"The plane doesn't take off for another 30 minutes."

"30 minutes too soon, have be here two hours before." she said jabbing her finger at the ticket. "This policy."

"Oh, so you know policy now" his tone rang with sarcasm.

Slamming down his passport and ticket on the counter she glared at him. "No go!"

The snow that fell from the endless sky coating the rooftops and sidewalks looked surreal from such an aerial view. And the darkening sky overhead was calming in its own way. Rei wondered briefly how his friends back in white tiger village were spending their time, he hadn't contacted them since notifying them of his missed flight. They were unaware of his hospitalization, and honestly Rei preferred it that way.

Another knock on the door snapped Rei back to reality, "It's open." He called to who he had to assume was the nurse. As the door creaked open and the small blonde poked her head into the room for the second time that night his assumptions were confirmed.

"My shift is over," she spoke "I'm heading out now, need anything before I go?"

He didn't speak just shook his head quietly, all he needed was out.

Paying the taxi that had dropped him off at the Granger dojo, he hardly had the energy to drag his duffle bag out from the back seat as he went. This day had been far too exhausting, and all Rei wanted was a hot bath and sleep. Slinging the bag over his shoulder he stumbled up the porch steps, pausing before the front door he hesitated only briefly before ringing the bell.

If there was one thing Rei hated it was asking for help. It wasn't so much his pride, as it was his insecurities that held him back, he hated to be a burden. But as it happened he had no one to turn to but the Bladebreakers. In the months since he had met them the bond between them had grown at an immensely fast pace, and where Rei was often reserved and introverted he found himself at ease when amongst them. Rei couldn't remember an instant since hello when any of the boys had hesitated to support, encourage or lend a hand to him, and it was for this reason that Rei stood now on the doorstep of his former teammate with conviction, as he would not have done with a childhood friend or a brother.

"Um…shouldn't you be at least halfway to china by now." The voice that reached his ears was that of Tyson, who stood before him in the now open doorway head cocked to one side, and scratching his skull in confusion.

Rei checked his watch, it was 8.23 "yeah about." He paused then at Tyson's confused stair he sighed heavily he spoke again. "I missed my flight ok."

Tyson snorted but held back his laughter; Rei could be scary when he was pissed. "Come on, everyone is in the kitchen." He said stepping aside to allow Rei's entrance, he snickered slightly.

The blinking red digits of the clock that stood by his bedside table read 9.45, as Rei allowed himself to collapse once again onto his cot, time was passing far too slow for his liking, he just wanted this day to end. Letting his head roll to the side Rei stared at the door longingly, willing someone to break the barrier between him and the outside world and tell him he was free. But that was unlikely; he was scheduled to be here for three more days.

He groaned inwardly, three days meant 72 hours, which meant 4320 minutes of this, maybe he should just open the window and jump.

It was to Rei's utter disbelief as he lay there still staring at the door, willing it to open, that in actually did swing forward to admit the ever shy young night nurse, Shiori.

"Mr. Kon." he shot up, as she addressed him, from the undignified position where he lay sprawled on the bed, only just realizing she had not been a figment of rapidly diminishing mind. The sudden movement jarred his injuries slightly and caused his head to spin, a side effect of the medication, but he ignored it.

"yeah?"

"um…" she chuckled slightly, politely attempting to hide behind her clipboard as she continued. "It appears you've been checked out."

Rei froze, scrutinizing her for a minute, she had to be joking. "You're messing with me."

"Afraid not," she checked her clipboard, smiling at his antics. "Um… by a Mr. Kai Hiwatari, he's waiting for you in the lobby."

Rei didn't respond immediately, in fact it he wasn't sure exactly how long he continued to stare at the concerned nurse before snapping back to reality. "um, yeah thanks…I'll be down in a minute." He spoke distractedly, but not until the nurse had left closing the door behind her did her words really sink in.

Moving from his spot on the bed he began to gather his stray positions from about the room collecting them all in duffle bag at the foot of his bed. 'Kai…' he ran the idea over and over again in his mind as he went but the scenario just didn't seem to make sense. He hadn't seen Kai since he left them at the airport two weeks ago, the team had since been disbanded, leaving Kai as neither friend nor captain, what was he doing here now.

Throwing his t-shirt off to replace it with a clean shirt Rei found himself somewhat relieved that he hadn't yet seen the last of the stoic boy. Since their first encounter the enigmatic Kai Hiwatari had been an interesting character to say the least, and while his communication with the boy was minimal it was far from insignificant to him. Where he was normally sociable Rei found himself struggling to make conversation with Kai, striving for his friendship and even at times his approval. And the short lived conversations that he had had with the captain, though few and far between, had been the highlights of some of his days. Rei wanted to know him, understand him, he wanted to be able to call him a friend.

Stuffing the shirt in the bag and slipping on his shoes, Rei slung the small bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. Now was his chance, his second shot, maybe without the distraction of his other teammates, he'd be a little more approachable, he always was when they weren't around.

Now in the elevator he hit 'G' button that would take him to the ground floor, then standing back against the wall he watched the doors slide shut, trying desperately to ignore the lightheaded feeling he got as the lift sank to the floors below. Resisting the urge to close his eyes, for fear of getting nauseous, Rei focused on a spot on the tiled floor, distracting himself from the motion.

The abrupt stop told him that he had arrived in the hospital's main waiting room, and Rei hurried out as the doors slid open, he hated elevators, they always managed to make him feel sick.

Crossing the lobby he found Kai sitting in one of the chairs in the back corner arms crossed, eyes closed, waiting. As the neko-jin approached he rose to his feet, eyes opening as he turned to face Rei, their eyes locked, and Rei found himself unable to look away from the deep crimson orbs that seemed to pierce his sole. Then just as if nothing had happened he turned away without a word leading him out into the cold night, and just as he always did, Rei followed.

Rei pulled his jacket closer around himself as he emerged from the warmth of the hospital's central heating. The snow that fell around them had eased considerably from the ferocity of just an hour before, the rapidly multiplying white dots had turned to gently falling flakes of ice that melted to the touch. Amber eyes scanned the street taking in the familiar surroundings from a new angle as he searched for the tall figure of the slate haired boy.

The beep of a car caught his attention as the sleek vehicle pulled up before him. Leaning over the driver pushed open the passenger side door, familiar gloved hands gesturing for him to get in. Doing as told Rei lowered himself into the car ignoring the pain in his aching muscles as he proceeded to fling his duffle bag into the back seat. Kai was just 15, that meant he was under legal driving age, so what exactly was he doing, Rei had to wonder. Wrapping his finger around the handle of the car door he pulled it closed, deciding there were more important matters to address.

"Hello to you too." He said instead into the silence. There was no answer as Kai pulled back on the breaks and pressed down on the accelerator, before maneuvering the car around the corner with practiced ease. "I could have walked to the car you know." He tried again.

"The cold will aggravate your injuries." He replied not looking at his companion, but the road ahead, as he maneuvered between cars, all the while increasing his speed. He seemed to have complete control over the car.

"Who was the man that attacked you?" the smooth monotone of his captains voice sounded again, to Rei even his questions were spoken as if they were orders.

Rei shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, does it matter."

"Of course it matters." He turned the car into an empty street, pulling up on the side of the road; the car came to an abrupt halt.

"What are you doing?" Rei burst out in frustration, as he was jolted forward, wincing at the pain that shot through his entire body at the action.

"I need to know who it was that broke in. It's important that you tell me everything you know." Kai turned to him eye's piercing, as he all but shouted at the other teen.

"I don't know ok, I don't remember!"

Darkness, complete and utter darkness was all he could see for miles before him. He blinked several times, then squinted into the darkness again, just barely able to make out the blurred outlines of his sleeping friends. He wasn't sure what had woken him. A sound of some sort, but it was completely quiet, silently pulling back the covers, Rei eased himself out of the cot where he had been sleeping. Bare feet touching the cool wood paneled floor of the dojo, where they all had camped out. His vision now adjusted to the darkness, his cat like eyes and ears searched for some sort of irregularity. Nothing, Tyson still snored quietly in the corner, Kenny's heavy breathing was steady as always, and the quiet rise and fall of Max's chest went undisturbed.

Convinced that his friends were alright, he proceeded to scan the room. There was definitely some sort of unwanted presence, he felt as if someone was watching him. Stepping back in order to view the entire room at once Rei maneuvered himself into the back corner, blocking out the chance of being ambushed from behind.

Slowly sliding his foot back, he was careful not to make a sound. Vision straying to the window, maybe he was just being paranoid, then his foot hit something solid and he knew he hadn't yet reached the wall. A dark figure passed before his eyes, a barely audible gasp escaped his lips before a thickly gloved hand clamped down over his mouth and nose, a sharp odor shot through his senses leaving a bitter taste on his tongue as another arm coming around his waist plunged into his gut, causing him to keel over in pain.

Rei's vision blurred slightly as he clawed at the hands that restrained him from behind. His mind blanked, suddenly, his childhood lessons were forgotten as he struggled in vain against the vice grip, he couldn't breathe. Acting on impulse he bit down in the gloved hand that still gagged him sharp canines tearing at the material of the glove, as the hand was retracted and he was released from the hold.

He barely heard the grunt of pain from his opponent, as he fell to the floor, knees buckling under him as his vision swam before his eyes. Gasping for breath Rei pushed himself off the ground, swinging around to face his assailant he ignored the feelings of lightheadedness, and nausea that assaulted him.

The hard fist that smashed against his jaw caused him stumble back, but he stayed standing. Pinning the man with his eyes he kicked off the ground beneath him, fist poised for attack, he launched himself at what he assumed was the chest of the dark figure. The punch connected, thrusting the man back, but minimal damage was done.

A knee to his gut caused Rei to once more bend over, clutching his stomach, gagging and fighting for breath he didn't see the hand that crashed hard against the side of his head, sending him crashing into the back wall. The pain was overwhelming, he felt as if his head had split in two, as he struggled to stand again, only faintly aware of the stirring of his friends at the far end of the dark dojo.

"After I missed my flight, I went to call a cab, I was out there for two hours before I actually got a ride." He found himself explaining the story to Kai. "I went to Tyson's place, to spend the night, everyone was still over there." Kai listened intently, as Rei recounted what he remembered of the night.

"I don't really know what happened after that, I just remember waking up to some kind of sound, or a presence more like, I'm not sure." He looked over to his former captain who once again had his eyes on the road ahead as he drove on, though Rei knew he was listening to every word. "It was dark, something grabbed me from behind, and after that it's kind of blurry. We fought, I know I got hit a couple times, I can remember the pain but I dunno where or how. I remember it going dark after a while, Tyson was on the phone or something, that's it. I guess it was supposed to be some sort of robbery or something, and I just got in the way." There was a long pause after Rei had finished his recount of the night's events, both falling into their thoughts, contemplating what the chances were that it really was just an attempted robbery.

"Get your bag, we're here." Kai said suddenly pulling back the hand brakes, and shifting the car into park.

"Where are we?" Rei questioned after a pause, only just realizing the car had stopped moving some time ago. "Where is here exactly?" Rei looked out the window at the unfamiliar street. Somewhere along the outskirts of the city he assumed. Though the urban style buildings were considerably neater, and the area more remote, they weren't far from the city.

"My place." Was the monotone reply as he opened the car door stepping out.

"What!"

"Get your bag." He repeated, pulling his own duffle bag out of the back seat, knowing all too well that wasn't what the other teen had been referring to.

TBC...

[1] "I'm sorry sir, but it appears you have missed your flight."