Disclaimer: Although I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters, I do own the plot.
Warnings: Violence, smoking
Author's Note: I completely lost inspiration for my other fics at the moment, so I decided to revisit a fandom that I haven't visited in a while. I already have this entire fic planned out to every last detail. As of now, I'm planning on 32 chapters plus an epilogue at the end. I hope you enjoy reading this fanfic, and remember, reviews always make me happy, whether they are good or bad.

All Will End - Part 1: Learning to Trust

Chapter 1: Abuse

He came from a small village in the country of Russia, a hamlet that tells of legends and prophecies even to this present day. His father had decided to move to the United States in search of a better life, leaving the bitter cold of Russia for a land drenched in sunlight. The journey had been so hard for the family that one member had paid the ultimate price for the survival of the rest. To this day, he never forgot her brave sacrifice for his own life.

His crimson eyes scanned the titles of the books in a desperate search for something that would be at least moderately interesting to read. His concentration, he noticed, was broken several times by the numerous stares directed at him. He knew his appearance was odd - blue hair wasn't exactly natural in this country, or in any country, for that matter, and his clothes being as dark as the night itself didn't help either. Regardless, he kept to himself to avoid any conflicts with the people in the library.

The dust in the library made him sneeze and cough uncontrollably, although the librarian seemed to be unaffected. As his eyes searched through the rest of the titles, he let out a soft sigh at coming out of his search empty-handed. He turned towards the entrance of the library when three words caught his eye: Edgar Allan Poe.

He was tempted to smile at the discovery of the book, but he kept his face emotionless. He calmly walked towards the book, confidently pulling it away from the others with his right hand. His crimson eyes met with the librarian's as he walked towards the check-out counter.

"I'd like to check out this book," he stated.

"Alright. Do you have a library card?" the librarian asked.

The teenager thought for a moment. He had a library card in his possession, but it was for a Russian library...

"No, I don't," the teenager admitted, refusing to beat around the bush.

"If you'd like, I could put you on the waiting list," the librarian offered. "This library has had so many requests for library cards lately that I've been unable to keep up with them all."

"Sure," the teenager agreed, keeping his eyes locked with the librarian's. "My name is Kai Hiwatari."

"Kai Hiwatari?" the librarian confirmed as she wrote down the name on a piece of paper. "That's not a common name."

"I'm from Russia. I only arrived here the other week," Kai stated.

"You speak English remarkably well," the librarian remarked as she stamped the date that the book was due on a card and stuck it inside of a small pocket inside of the book.

"My mother was from America, so she taught me English," Kai said, grabbing the book as the librarian handed it to him. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. Have a good day, Kai! Your library card should arrive in the mail in a few weeks," the libarian smiled at him.

Kai nodded as he walked out of the building, a copy of a book containing Poe's every written work in his hand.

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Kai wiped beads of sweat from his forehead as he turned the page of the book. Despite sitting in the shade under a broad-leafed tree, the sheer humidity was too much for a body that was used to the bitter cold. Of all of the places in America, why did his father had to choose the hottest, he wondered. Kai had a vision in his mind, not of the black cat that Poe spoke about, but of instead of his father basking on the couch in a cool, air-conditioned living room. The thought caused him to scowl. Regardless of the luxuries the house had to offer, Kai was reluctant to return to his house.

It wasn't a home, by any means. It was only a house made out of bricks and wood. A home is a place where love was present, Kai remembered his mother saying. It was obvious that this new house in America had just about as much love as the outside world. His father certainly didn't help the transformation of house to home, Kai was certain.

As he finished reading the last few sentences of "The Black Cat," he lifted his eyes from the paper to watch the city's children play. Kai concluded that they had obviously been in the city for most, if not all, of their lives, explaining why they were able to play under the hot sun. While the children seemed to despise the shade, Kai seemed to dwell in it. Kai knew that if he were to return to his house that day, it would be only when the sun had set and the moon had risen. Although shadows weren't considered a blessing during Russia's winters, the shadows were a blessing when under a land ruled by a relentless sun.

Kai marked his spot in the book by folding the corner of the page ever-so-slightly before closing it. The village in Russia had been too poor to afford many books, and each child was taught to handle what books they had with extreme caution. Even though Kai no longer lived in Russia, some of the habits he had learned when in that country had followed him into America.

Kai supposed that he was lucky to be in America legally. Thanks to his mother, he was an American citizen. He was a Russian citizen as well due to his father. Kai realized that his days of dual-citizenship were numbered. From observing the other people in the city, he concluded that cars, and thus, a driving license, were necessary to survive. He was one of the few that lived in the poor section of the city that was in the country legally. Most of the people in the neighborhood were illegal Mexican immigrants, crossing the border with hopes for a better life.

Once again, Kai's used his arm to wipe away beads of sweat. Although warmth was needed during Russia's harsh winter, and thus black was a welcome color, black simply made one too warm in this city. He was certain that his black sleeveless shirt and black cargo pants with a black scarf weren't helping his situation. Even his feet were sweaty due to his combat boots. Although he was uncomfortable, he refused to let his memories of Russia die. He wanted to remember his heritage, not forget it like immigrants had to when they went through Ellis Island in the early 1900s.

The sun had finally set, much to Kai's relief. Simply sitting under a tree for the majority of the day had caused his legs to fall asleep hours ago, and when he stood with their assistance, caused an uncomfortable feeling of pins and needles. Stumbling slightly as his legs awoke, he began the journey to his house, once again reminded that it would never be a home.

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The pain of shards of glass entering his skin would have been too much for most people, but Kai was used to such treatment. He glared at his drunken father, resisting the urge to strike back. No, he wouldn't fall to his father's level. He wouldn't lose his dignity and his honor as his father had.

Even when he saw his father pick up a pocket knife and ready it for violence, Kai's crimson eyes didn't widen even slightly. He knew that his father's intoxication would make him slow, and that taking the knife away from him would be a simple task. Kai feigned a punch directed at his father, causing the older man to raise his arms defensively. Kai smirked as he snatched the knife from his father's scarred hands. It was much too simple.

What Kai hadn't counted upon was his father to pull a broken vodka bottle out of seemingly nowhere and using it to slash open Kai's chest. Kai quickly ripped off the tattered remains of his sleeveless shirt, throwing them into his father's face. The drunken man began to swipe at the tattered remains with his bare hands, as if the shirt could kill. Kai watched with amusement as his father missed nearly every time - his father was definitely seeing at least double the true amount.

Using his father's confusion to his advantage, Kai quickly kicked his father in his knee, causing the drunken man to fall down. Kai smirked again as he hurriedly dashed up the stairs to his room and threw on another sleeveless black shirt. After throwing on the too-tight shirt, he locked his bedroom door before sitting on his twin-sized bed, gazing at the moon and starry sky. He knew that his father wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, even when he was sober. When the door was locked, Kai was safe. The thought of knocking the door down had never crossed his father's mind in sixteen years, much to Kai's amusement.

In Russia, the village elders had taught Kai that injuring your parents was a horrible act. As a result, Kai had never cut open his father with a knife or injure him in that manner. When Kai went to the village elders for advice on dealing with his father's violent acts, the elders had told him that injuring your parents for the sake of survival was not to be frowned upon. The survival of the next generation would always be the first priority when the parents attacked their children. A village elder, skilled in martial arts, had taught Kai how to knock down a large opponent with a single blow to the knee. Kai, as he grew older, had perfected the technique. It would have been to his father's dismay should his father ever had been sober enough to remember the numerous times his face met with the floor.

Kai fumbled around in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The law in America forbid him to purchase cigarettes, but cunning Kai had managed to make common street thugs make the purchase for him. Kai found it strange that anyone could buy a lighter, however. American law was strange, he thought as he inhaled, sending smoke into his lungs. It wasn't a forbidden activity in his village - almost everyone did it - but in this city, everyone seemed to be on an anti-drug, anti-smoking campaign. Kai couldn't see why it mattered - as long as he smoked in private, where no one else could inhale the second-hand smoke, it shouldn't matter to them.

As he tossed his cigarette out the window, the crash of a falling door caught his attention. That was Kai's main problem when he smoked - he became oblivious to everything around him; he even became careless around his father. Before Kai had time to react, he found himself struggling to breathe as his father dragged him down the stairs by his scarf.

He could have just undid the knot that kept the scarf around his neck, but it would have ashamed him to do so. It was a gift from his mother, and he refused to let anything happen to anything that she had given him. And with those beliefs, he increased his own suffering at his father's hand.

Kai, running on adrenaline, searched for a way to escape his father's grasp. With both hands struggling to keep the scarf away from his neck so he would be able to breathe, removing even one hand for just a second could close off his supply of air. His legs, limply dragging on the floor, were too far away from any part of his father's body to assist in anyway. Kai knew what to do in a hopeless situation - one would have to endure the pain until an opportunity presents itself.

Luckily for Kai, the opportunity presented itself not too long after he had been dragged down the stairs by his father. Kai felt relieved as the front door opened, despite the pain shooting up his back from being thrown onto the sidewalk. Kai glared at his father, not feeling the least bit threatened by the gun in his hand - Kai himself had unloaded and disposed of the ammo in it beforehand.

His father cursed at him in Russian, something that would translate roughly to, "Go now, before I blow your head off."

Kai pushed himself off the ground, daring his father to shoot him. He smirked when his father pressed the trigger, but nothing happened. He felt amused when his father turned away to enter the house, cursing at the turn of events. How stupid his father could be.

There was no hurry, Kai realized, to escape to a safe place. His father was dumb; it would take him an eternity to find something to harm Kai with. Then, when he did find something, Kai would have already been long gone, anyhow. Feeling somewhat safe, Kai let his feet carry him to the local park. There, he noticed a forest nearby. The fog around it provided for a mystical atmosphere, but it didn't phase Kai. Fear wasn't even present in his heart as he walked into the forest.

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Relaxation was the only thing running through his mind as he laid on the ground with a long blade of grass in his mouth. He was in a neck of the woods that was located far enough away from the city to prevent anyone from finding him, yet it was close enough to allow for an hour or so walk before he reached the city sidewalks.

Within the first few hours that he had found this spot of heaven, he had quickly thrown together a shelter, a technique passed through the Russian village in case anyone would be stuck outside in the cold. Of course, the terrain and plants weren't exactly the same as Russia's, but the same basic principles applied: get a roof over your head and a fire going.

Kai was certain that the roof over his head, made of pine needles, would be sufficient enough to keep out the rain. Even if his hypothesis were proven false, a little rain wouldn't phase him as much as the snow had. If one couldn't figure out if Kai was cunning and resourceful, one glimpse of the small living area would practically spell it out. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, there was still human trash lying about. Kai had found several old, plastic bags on the ground. He stuffed them full of pine needles to make himself a firm mattress.

Even Kai knew that he wouldn't be able to escape the unstoppable flow of time, but that was where his watch came in. It was an heirloom from his mother - it was only 10 years old and made of the best technology that Russia had to offer at the time. The battery was newly replaced in it, so there was no fear of having it die on him any time soon. Kai dug the watch out of his pocket and set the alarm to five in the morning: it would be an hour walk to the city, not including the time needed to bathe and eat. School began at eight in the morning, so he would have plenty of time to get awake and ready, even if he would happen to wake up a little bit late.

While his basic needs were taken care of, there arose some other problems, like clothing and obtaining food. Kai wasn't too familiar with the bushes and trees around the forest, and the berries on the bushes could prove to be poisonous, possibly even deadly. There was no sure way of telling for sure.

When it came to clothing, Kai only had the clothes that he was wearing currently. He couldn't wear the same clothes everyday - they would smell disgusting eventually, and he couldn't forget that there was something inside of his mind that protested against wearing dirty clothes.

Kai was aware of his father's new job: it would take him out of the house until late at night, and it began early in the morning. Kai knew that he would be able to return to his house after school, just long enough to grab a bite to eat and some clothes to wear. As soon as he would hear his father enter the house, he would sneak out his bedroom window and retreat to the forest. It was a plan that would seem irrational to most, but wouldn't the idea of sleeping in a forest every night seem irrational as well?

Before closing his crimson eyes, he reached under his shirt and grabbed the phoenix pendant that dangled from a thin, silver chain.

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Author's Note: And there is the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it. If you enjoyed reading it, or even if you didn't, feel free to leave a review. I take all opinions, and critique is optional and welcomed. And even if you don't leave a review, thank you for reading anyway!