Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

I lay there on my bed stiffly, not moving a muscle. My arms were comfortably crossed under my head, and my legs were crossed at the ankles. I stared blankly at the ceiling thinking about practically nothing. I looked over to my roommate to see him lying on his left side with his left arm tucked under his head. Then I began to scan the rest of the room we were in. It wasn't fairly big or small. I could see the faint outline of the door in the darkness in the left corner of the room. Next to my bed was a small table with a lamp and a digital clock on it. Did I say 'my' bed? I should have said 'our' bed. That's right there is only one bed in this room for my roommate and I. But I don't mind sharing a bed with him. We have been friends since childhood. We have always stuck together much like now.

I scanned the rest of the room and then spotted our built-in closet in the right corner. That's where we kept our uniforms for school and other articles of clothing we wanted to hang. Our other clothes are obviously in the dresser. As I thought about the dresser, I wiped my head around toward the lone dresser. But it's not really alone since there is a picture hanging right above it. The picture was of my roommate and I.

Right outside the window that was to my left in the corner, opposite of the door, the moon peeked out from behind the clouds and its silver light dimly lit the room up just a bit. Just enough light to let me see the picture. But of course, I looked at the picture many times before to know what it looked like. It showed my best friend and I when we were younger. It was a day when the people at the orphanage let the children, as well as us, play at the park. Yeah, you heard me right. My friend and I are orphans. Our parents died when we were really young. I don't remember my parents much. Only the important memories like their smile, face, laugh, and a little bit of their voice. But all these memories are starting to get hazy as the years pass by.

I don't know if my friend remembers his parents. He doesn't talk about them that much. I tore my gaze away from the photo to look at my companion. Sometimes, I see this melancholy and distant look on his face whenever we see a child with his or her parents somewhere in public. I could tell he was thinking about his parents at those times. It's kind of obvious if you ask me. But now he has this peaceful and serene expression on his face.

'He must miss his parents a lot,' I thought sadly. The only things I know about his parents were how they looked and how they died. My friend's father had flaming red hair and deep blue eyes. He was also tall and strongly built looking. His mother had aqua hair and the same color eyes. She was kind of on the short side and had the gentlest touch. They died in a fire. My friend never said how their house caught fire. I'm not sure he even knows.

Now, I bet you are wondering what my parents look like. My dad had slate blue hair and crimson eyes much like my own. He usually had this serious expression of his face. But deep down, he was a nice and caring person. He was tall and always kept his head up. My mom had dark blue hair and peach color eyes. She always had a smile on her face. She never let anything keep her down. She could probably light a dark room with a smile as bright as hers. I remember the day they died. It was a rainy day. They both had to go to some business meeting since they both worked in the same building. They had to leave me with a babysitter since they didn't have any relatives around that area or maybe not any whatsoever. The meeting ended late at night. By then there was a big thunderstorm while on their way back home. Their car swerved out of control when they turned a sharp corner. Neither of them survived the crash. These memories made my eyes looked toward the picture once again.

Anyways, about the picture. It was a picture of my friend and I when we were about eight years old. That day at the park, it was a bright sunny day. There was also an ice cream cart strolling around selling ice cream. I was actually smart enough to bring money that day. It seems my parents left me some money in a bank account before they died. Lucky for me. I decided to treat my friend and I a little treat. One of the workers at the orphanage just happened to walk by with a camera when we bought our ice cream cones. She was taking pictures of the other orphan kids playing. Now, she wanted to take a picture of the two of us. Both of us were like 'what the heck?'

In the picture, I'm crouching slightly with my knees bent, my right hand on my right knee, and my ice cream cone in my other hand, stretched out in front of me, almost like asking any person looking at the picture to take a bite of my ice cream. I was wearing baggy navy blue shorts with a black T-shirt and sneakers. My friend was at my right side with his left slung around my neck tightly. He had his other arm high in the air above his head and ice cream at hand. But if you looked carefully, you could see that a little bit of my friend's ice cream was starting to drip from its cone. He was wearing khaki shorts with a royal blue T-shirt and sneakers. Inscribed at the bottom of the picture was a promise. Our promise. I'm not exactly the type to make promises. I am always asking myself this particular question when it comes to making promises: What if I break the promise? That's why I don't really make promises. But this promise was an exception. The promise said this in neat handwriting:

"Tala and Kai: Best Buds Till The End"

This promise I know I won't break. We've been friends far too long for this friendship to end. Now, I'm beginning to remember how we first met.

Flashback

I was sitting alone in the corner of the playroom of the orphanage trying to draw a picture of what I thought was a 'dinosaur'. I heard the door open and the owner fo the orphanage came in with a young boy about my age.

"Alright kids gather around," the owner called out to everyone in the room. All the kids began to stop what they were doing and were scurrying about and gathering to where the owner was waiting with the young boy. I too stopped drawing my 'dinosaur' and joined the other kids.

As I got closer, I took a good look at the boy. He almost looked kind of funny if you asked me. His clothes were way too big for him. His shirt was so big that one side kept falling off of his shoulder as he attempted to keep it from falling but failed miserably. His pants were so big that they covered his shoes completely. His hair was what caught my attention the most though. He had brilliant flaming red hair that was spilt in the middle of his head. The hair was separated at that spilt and stuck outward on both sides of his head. He also had two stray strands of hair hanging loosely in front of his face. He was standing there, with wide aqua eyes, innocent looking with this scared and nervous expression on his pale face while his index finger on his left hand was in his mouth and his right hand was clinging tightly the skirt of the orphanage owner.

"We have a new friend joining us. His name is Tala. Now, I want you all to be friends with him and play nicely. Tala, why don't you say hello?" the owner looker encouragingly at Tala as he looked up at her with a frightened look of his face. He reluctantly pulled his finger out of his mouth and looked shyly at the kids. He looked everywhere else besides the children present in the room. Nervously, Tala looked and everyone and looked down at the floor, having a sudden interest in it as everyone stared at him expecting something.

"H-He-Hello," he said just barely above a whisper. There were some responses of hello back.

"Very good. Now, Tala, I'm going to leave you here with the rest of the other kids. I will come back later to come check up on you. And remember play nice kids," with that said she was out the door. The other kids started to return to what they were originally doing. I too returned to my 'dinosaur' drawing.

When I finished my drawing, I looked up to see the new boy still by the door. But this time he was sitting on the floor with his legs huddled up in his chest. His tiny arms were wrapped tightly around his legs with his face in his knees. I looked around the room and saw that no one was really paying attention to the new boy. I gazed back at the boy and say that he was shaking slightly. I thought he could be crying. I scanned the room around the room again to find that everyone was still doing what they were doing. I made up my mind and started to walk towards the new boy. I don't even think he noticed me until I tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped, startled a bit, and looked up at me teary-eyed. My suspicion was right. He indeed was crying.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked with my voice filled with concern. He nodded his head slightly but just barely. He was still hiccupping from his earlier crying as he wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt. After he finished wiping his tears, he looked back up at me with a face that held nervousness. "Hey, you don't need to be nervous or anything. My name is Kai. Your name is Tala, right?" I questioned making sure. He gave me a bigger nod this time as a response. He looked a little at ease with my friendliness. Tala wasn't crying, shaking, or hiccupping anymore. "I'm Kai. Come on, want to come play with me?" I asked him as I stretched out my hand for him to grab. He looked at my hand then at my face then back to my hand then my face again. He finally yet reluctantly took my hand.

"Sure," he said as I pulled him off the floor. Then, hand in hand, I led him to where my finished drawing of a 'dinosaur' was...

End of Flashback

I smirked at the memory. I will never forget that fateful day. But that memory also made me remember how I got into the place I'm in, in the first place. If you're asking, no, I am no longer at the orphanage anymore. Now, I'm recalling what happen a few days ago.

Well that's it for chapter one. Please R&R!!

akai-ookami