Title: Over The Hills
Chapter title: Foreign
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Notes: I wrote the first two chapters of this in 2004 and never finished it. I found it just now and thought, 'I know, I'll post and finish it!'. That's probably what I wrote it for in the first place, after all. And I still love this pairing, even if I haven't seen Beyblade for quite some time.

Kai Hiwatari stepped off the train with his bag slung over one shoulder and focused on getting out of the station. The crowds of additional people who had got off the train were pissing him off to say the least, what with their rudeness and their inconsideration for everybody else. After making his way as quickly as possible through the huge station, he stepped outside and squinted at the bright sunlight. The sign in front of him said London Victoria. Looking around, he smirked to himself. The ridiculous place was just as he remembered it. Busy, noisy and malodorous. After an hour on a train, most people would appreciate fresh air and being outside again. Not Kai. He just wanted to be in a nice, air-conditioned hotel as soon as possible. Putting on his trademark scowl, he made his way out of the station and headed off into London.

Ray Kon trudged wearily along the sidewalk, rubbing at his eyes. It had been hard to get much sleep recently, what with everything that had been going on. He winced as he caught his toe on a bit of the pavement that was sticking up, and grabbed a nearby phone box to get his balance. Everything still hurt like hell, and he hated it. Letting out a small, half-hearted chuckle, he wondered what Kai would say if he ever saw him like this. The word 'weak' ran though his mind, and he sighed. It had been four years, yet Ray was still thinking about Kai as if he'd never gone. It was pathetic, really. Taking a deep breath, he forced his feet to move again and continued trailing through the hectic streets.

"What the hell's going on here, then?" Kai brushed his hair out of his eyes and read over the map again. And again. Then looked up at road he was currently standing in. The two were completely different…which meant he either had the wrong map, or he was in the wrong street. Kai groaned and opted for the latter, seeing as he hadn't been here in four or five years. Something like that. In truth, he couldn't remember how long ago he'd left or why, but just thinking about it was giving him a migraine. That fact that he was now practically lost probably wasn't helping matters much.

Eyeing the busy street again, Kai pondered how he was going to find his hotel. Asking for directions was out of the question; it would make him look utterly stupid and looking stupid was not something that Kai would do if he could avoid it. He could look around for a tourist information centre or something…but is he was going to do that, he might as well just wander around looking for the hotel. Which would also make him look a bit stupid if the same person saw him more than once. This whole 'moving around' business was proving to be harder than he originally thought. Ah, well. His best bet was probably trying to find a tourist information centre amongst the shops. No way in hell was he going to try and get information out of any of the bizarre cannabis addicts that were roaming around here and polluting the streets. With this decision in mind, Kai strode off into the seething mass of people ahead of him, trying to make some sort of sense out of his geographically challenged map.

Yet another impatient foreigner shoved his way past Ray, almost knocking him off his feet. Ray glared at the retreating figure's back before carrying on walking with renewed energy. God, he hated foreigners. Years of teachers trying to teach him French at school, and he still didn't know a goddamn word of it. Except perhaps 'bonjour'. With his head down, staring fiercely at his feet, he power-walked right through a huge mob of people and straight into somebody.

Said 'somebody' lifted his scarlet eyes from his map and raised an eyebrow bemusedly. The hooded person who'd just slammed into him was now curled up in a ball on the floor in front of him, clutching their side and hissing with pain. Kai blinked. Were all people in London so ignorant as to not notice someone in front of them? He briefly wondered if the figure was alright, and considered at least helping them up. But he couldn't do that. It'd be too nice, and besides, he'd been paying attention to where he was walking; it was the other boy's fault for rushing through a place like London. Muttering a harsh 'Watch where you're going next time,' Kai stepped over the guy, who had visibly tensed and stopped wincing.

"…Kai?"

The tone had Kai frozen to the spot, and his eyes went wide. He knew that voice. He knew that voice better than anyone's. He turned his head slowly, as though it might not be real if he looked too quickly. His stunned, blood red stare locked with a familiar, equally stunned, hopeful amber gaze, and Kai knew that this was indeed happening. He crept closer to his old friend and knelt down in front of him, lifting his hand to take off the boy's hood so he could see him properly.

"Ray…"

Ray sat there in shock. It was really Kai. He'd returned. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. Ray had missed him beyond belief, and had never been expecting him to come back. Ray had needed Kai so much in the last few years, and Kai hadn't been there because he had left. But he was here now, and to Ray, in that moment, it was all that mattered. Acting on impulse, Ray threw his arms around Kai's neck and started crying uncontrollably into his shoulder.

"I missed you so much…"

Kai didn't quite know what to make of the situation. Kneeling in the middle of London, surrounded by tourists and the like, with someone he hadn't seen or heard from in years attached to him and crying all over the place. If it had been anyone else, Kai would have detached them from him, hit them and proceeded to tell them how stupid they were being. But this was Ray, he closest thing he used to have to a friend. He would never be able to treat him like that, even if he wanted to. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around Ray, raising an eyebrow as the smaller boy winced. It shouldn't have hurt. Some catching up was definitely in order.