Live Your Life, a beyblade fanfic

Another thing that came out of nowhere. The song is Live Your Life by T.I. and Rihanna. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.

Summary: With all his tournament money going to Voltaire, Kai's learnt to live day by day, stuck chasing flimsy pieces of paper to survive. G-Rev was to never find out. But juggling training, work and health isn't as easy as Kai thought.

You're gonna be a shining star, with fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go far.
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.

The rays from the early morning sun shined through the dirty window, highlighting the dust particles dancing in the air. Falling against the body of a half naked teen, the rays shined in his face and he scrunched his nose. He draped an arm across his forehead, covering his eyes as he opened them slowly. He stared at his arm, glancing around it as much as he could to stare at his small apartment.

Bed pressed up against the wall, kitchenette near the front door and a small living room off that. Apart from the front door, the only other door in the apartment was the one that lead to the small ensuite.

Heaving a groan, he pulled his arm away from his eyes, blinked a couple of times and sat up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes lazily and shoved a hand under his pillow, feeling for his small alarm clock. The small red digits flashed on the screen; 6:17. Good, he hadn't slept in.

Pushing the thin blankets from his legs, he placed his bare feet firmly on the floor, shivering. The winter air during the night had made the floorboards cold and he dreaded having to walk on the tiles in the bathroom.

So live your life, ay ay ay.
You steady chasin that paper.
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
Ain't got no time for no haters
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
No telling where it'll take ya.
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
Cause I'm a paper chaser.

He felt around under the bed and his hand wrapped around the straps of his duffel bag. Pulling it out, he unzipped it slowly; the metal cold on his already numb fingers, then dug around for his work clothes. He pulled out the first set of black pants he found, eyeing the creases in the material and deciding that they would do. He found a white tank top to slip underneath the blue shirt he was required to wear, the café's name scrawled in fancy cursive along the top of the breast pocket. His sneakers were by the bathroom door and he headed over, wrapping his shirt around his hand so that he wouldn't have to freeze his fingers against the doorknob when he opened it.

The bathroom was small, and he dumped his stuff on the toilet. He hurriedly brushed his teeth, trying to get rid of the strange taste in his mouth. Then he hopped into the shower. The water beat rhythmically against his skin, plastering his hair to his face. He shivered as his body quickly adjusted from the cold winter air to the hot water running down his body, pooling at his feet and running towards the small drain. Once warm, he quickly washed himself and ran his fingers through his hair a few times, using the bar of soap in place of the shampoo he couldn't afford. Soap worked better anyway, in his opinion. Why spend money on shampoo, conditioner and crap hair products when you could use soap?

Just living my life, my life, my life, my life
Just living my life, my life, my life, my life
Just living my life

Bracing himself, he walked into the cold winter air, pulling his scarf up to cover his mouth and nose. He buried his gloved hands deep in the pockets of his old trench coat after pulling the hood up. He took the couple of steps from the front door of the apartment block to the street and after checking for any approaching cars, ran across. When safely on the footpath again, he fell into a steady pace, staring at the snow around his feet as he walked. A gust of warm air hit him as someone pushed open a door leading to an old store. He glanced at the store, looking through the windows at the Christmas decorations hanging from the walls.

From under the scarf, he drew in his bottom lip and toyed with it with his teeth, pulling at the skin as his eyes drifted back down to the ground.

Where was he going to spend Christmas this year, he wondered, brows coming together thoughtfully. He was pulled from his thoughts when he realised he had reached his destination, and with a sigh, he pushed the door open and entered.

Never mind what haters say, ignore them 'til they fade away.
Amazing they ungrateful after all the game I gave away.
Safe to say I paved the way, for you cats to get paid today.
You still be wasting days away now had I never saved the day.

"Kai!"

His name was called so delightfully and so loudly. His head shot to the right, just in time to see three young children coming at him before they tackled his legs. He wobbled dangerously and grabbed the wall to keep balanced, not wanting to fall on the kids.

"Hey guys," he greeted, pulling his hood back and shifting his scarf so it sat comfortably around his neck. He pulled his gloves off and stuffed them in one of the pockets of his coat. He crouched down so that he was eye level with the eldest of the children, little Elise, who was only at the grand age of eight. She grinned shyly at him and wrapped her arms around his neck before quickly pulling away, blushing. He smiled at her and her grin widened.

He glanced at the twins, Corey and Mitchell, only five years old. He hugged them both at once and they laughed as he stood up, both of them still in his arms. Elise bundled her small fist in his jacket and dragged him towards the kitchen at the back of the café.

"Mummy, mummy! Kai's here! See?" exclaimed Elise, grinning up at her mother who shared her dark curly hair. Sarah, Elise's mother, placed her hand on her child's head and nodded.

"Good morning Kai," she greeted warmly.

"Morning Miss Scottyard," replied Kai. He put the twins down and hung his jacket and scarf on a hook on the wall. "Are the others here yet? I'm not late, am I?"

Sarah shook her head and sent the children back out into the café. "You're not late. Jeffery and Matt are here already, they've just gone out round the back to accept some deliveries."

Kai nodded and went to join the other two males. He scowled as he was once again introduced to the cold air and he quietly greeted the others.

"Nice article in the paper bout you," called Matt from where he was signing something. Jeffrey pointed to the paper sitting on the crate and Kai flicked through it to the sports section. He sighed as he saw the heading.

Badass Russians Equals Bad Influence? Let the haters hate, he thought as his eyes skimmed the article. Since when did he care what others thought?

Consider them my protégé, homage I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violate in a major way.
I never been a hater still I love them, in a crazy way.
Some say they so yay and no they couldn't get work on Labor day.

Glancing down at the order written on the pad, he nodded and told the couple their food would be out shortly. He glanced at the order again as he was walking away and shook his head, reminded of Tyson and Diachi. He handed the order in at the kitchen and grabbed a wet cloth, noticing a couple of tables that needed to be cleared and wiped down.

He'd been captain of the Bladebreakers, now G-Revolutions, for three years now and to his surprise, they hadn't worn him down. He was proud of them, they'd come far. The awe he had felt coming from them had turned into respect and he had learnt by now that it was safe to call them… friends. He never hated them, as they always thought he did… he just despised the motives and sayings and friendship shit. Nevertheless, he had to admit, he thought as he dumped the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and started it, he loved them in some crazy sort of friendship-shit way.

"Hey Kai," called Jeffrey. Kai glanced over and nodded to show he had heard. "Don't ya have to go?" and he pointed to the clock.

"Shi-uh-oot!" Kai cursed as he saw Elise and the twins heading towards him to say good-bye. He kissed them each on the forehead, called a good-bye to Sarah and everyone else as he grabbed his coat, and sprinted out the door.

It aint that they black or white, their hands a area the shade of grey.
I'm West side anyway, even if I left the day it stayed away.
Some move away to make a way not move away cause they afraid.
I'll go back to the hood and all you ever did was take away.

Running down the streets, Kai called a quick apology as he ran into another person yet again. He was so screwed if he did not catch that bus. How could he have lost track of the time? If it were not for Jeffrey, he would still be back at the café. He raced down the stairs leading to the subway, knowing he could cut across.

He emerged on the other side, still running. He threw himself over a fence, cutting across Anita's yard. He waved hello to her as he ran past and scaled the wall that led to the Prossers' yard, waving to the teenage boy that lived there. How many times had he done this? He cut across one more yard, the owner not home, and then climbed the large lemon tree in the corner. Once high enough, he used one of the branches to swing himself over the fence and landed on the footpath running.

He dived through the bus doors just as they were closing. Panting, he flashed his pass to the driver and took a seat. He sunk down and tipped his head back, closing his eyes as he caught his breath.

"That was close, Kai," called the driver as he glanced in the rear-view mirror.

"Tell me about it Charles, tell me about it," grumbled Kai. He stood and reached above his head, grabbing the backpack that he knew was sitting there. There was a similar bag on two other buses, the same buses he caught each day. He pulled off his blue work shirt and switched it for the black tee that was in the bag.

The bus stopped a couple of streets away from the Grangers. Kai watched the bus pull away, took a breath, and started running again.

I pray for patience but they make me want to melt they face away.
Like I once made them scream, now I could make them plead their case away.
Been thuggin' all my life, can't say I don't deserve to take a break.
You'd rather see me catch a case, and watch my future fade away.

Skidding to a halt outside the Grangers' house, he smoothed out his clothes, caught his breath, settled his facial expression and walked in. He passed the kitchen, nodding in acknowledgment towards Hiro and Gramps, who looked at him knowingly. He knew how Gramps had found out about all his jobs and shit, but he wasn't sure how Hiro had found out. He didn't really care, as long as they didn't tell the others.

Speaking of the others, he thought, as he entered the lounge room silently. He walked up to the couch; the others still had not noticed his presence. Standing behind the couch, he looked at them. Max was writing a letter to his mother, Diachi and Tyson were playing some game and Rei was curled up reading.

"Training, now."

Rei tensed and his pupils slit, muscles spasming as he forced them to relax. Max jumped and his hand moved up the page, drawing a long black line over what he had written. Diachi dropped the remote, Tyson's character ran into a tree as the hands on the remote, and the rest of his body jerked.

"Hello Kai," sighed Tyson. He paused the game and looked at his captain, then at the clock further behind him. "You're late, by fifteen minutes. So because of that, we shall go have lunch now."

Kai twitched. "Are you deaf, fatso? Training, now."

"No." Tyson crossed his arms defiantly and leaned in towards Kai. "We're the World Champions, we don't need to train. There is no one in the world that can beat us, let them try if they want but me and Dragoon will blow 'em away."

"There's still heaps to learn. You can't even do a simple upper cut without having to launch off the rim of the dish."

"Lunch." And Tyson walked off. Kai twitched again. Arrogant, cocky bastard.

You're gonna be a shining star, with fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go far.
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.

He joined them in the kitchen, scowling. Gramps asked if he wanted any of… whatever was boiling in the pot but Kai quickly turned it down. He never ate at the Granger's unless Rei, himself or Hiro had cooked. If he had it his way, he would never have to eat at the Granger's, he couldn't stand having to depend on others. If he couldn't feed himself, he didn't eat. Simple as that.

"Tyson, hurry up and finish shoving that down your throat and get outside already," he growled.

Tyson looked up at him and sneered. Kai clenched his fist. He had spent ages training them, getting them to where they were now. The pride he had felt for them earlier was quickly disappearing, leaving an empty gap that was quickly filled with hate and rage. He had always made sure to keep their feet on the ground and their heads out of the skies, so what had happened? When had they become so… so… stuck up?

Tyson belched and rocked back on the hind legs of his chair. He looked at Kai, then his plate, then finally the pot still sitting on the stove. "Seconds please!"

That was it, thought Kai. He stormed over, yanked Tyson from the chair and dragged him outside. He literally threw the younger boy off the porch and loomed over him, arms crossed.

"Training, now!"

So live your life, ay ay ay.
Instead of chasing that paper.
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
You got no time for no haters
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
No telling where it'll take ya.
Just live your life, ay ay ay.
Cause I'm a paper chaser.

Just Livin My Life.

As he watched them train, he realised what it was. The sport had become more about the fame and money to them. He almost wanted to laugh. They, who had always told him to relax, it's just for fun, it's not life or death (though for him, it usually had been), and here they were launching lazily, staring off into space as their blades ran circles around each other in the dirt. Again, what had happened? How the fuck had he missed this?

Money was a funny thing. It was paper, noting more, nothing less really. Yet it determined one's status in society, determined if one were to survive or not. And that was why Kai found himself balancing looking after a team, training them and three different jobs. Fun.

He launched Dranzer, swiftly and silently and quickly knocked the other beyblades out. He caught Dranzer as she came back to him, the blue beyblade at a temperature that would usually burn.

"All of you, battle me."

Rei blinked slowly, incredulously. "All of us?"

"I just said that didn't I? Has sleeping in the same room as Diachi and Tyson affected your hearing, Kon? Now go." And he launched again, waiting for the others. They came, crying out the names of their bitbeasts but Kai knocked them all out before they even hit the ground. "Again."

They repeated the same thing over and over; meanwhile, Kai's thoughts were somewhere else. They had started training awfully late today, and it wasn't because of lunch. He'd been asking for longer shifts, trying to earn more money, and training sessions were getting shorter and shorter… he caught a glimpse at the time on Max's watch and cursed. Time to go.

I'm the opposite of moderate, immaculately polished with the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid.
Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics.
Articulate but still would grab a nigga by the collar quick.

He disappeared out the Grangers' front gate, his team calling after him. Job 2 was calling. He came around the back of the dojo, scaling the fence and using a tree to climb onto the roof. He stashed another bag up there for after training, with his other uniform. Pulling of his black t-shirt, he replaced it with a white dress shirt, red vest and black tie. Stupid prestige restaurants and their ridiculous uniforms. Gramps had been cleaning the roof one time when he had found the bag. He had found a picture in there, of Kai and the Blitzkrieg Boys and had later confronted Kai about it. That was how he found out about the hectic life Kai lead.

When ready, Kai made sure the bag was back in place, so that he could change again later if he ended up returning to the Grangers'. Jumping effortlessly from the roof, he left the way he came.

Whoever havin problems, with they record sale just holla TIP.
If that don't work and all else fails, then turn around and follow TIP.
I got love for the game but ay I'm not in love with all of it.
I do without the fame and the rappers nowadays are comedy.

Getting to his second job was easy. He had organised for it to be near the Grangers' dojo, so he could easily get there without the stress of catching who knows what form of transportation. His phone vibrated against his leg and he pulled it out, grinning beneath his scarf when he saw the caller ID.

"What the fuck do you want now, Ivanov?" he greeted, once again finding his eyes dragged towards the snow at his feet.

"Love you too Hiwatari. How is life?"

"Fucked up, what'd ya think? You?"

"Ditto. Let me guess, you are currently walking to the prestige restaurant with the uniform you love so much, right?"

Kai smiled again. "You know me too well."

"Why are you working more and more? You're going to kill yourself Kai."

"I know, you've said. Some new idiot realised that there was an extra bank account for a non-existent servant, so he told Voltaire who closed the account, pulled all the money from it and left me financially fucked."

"Again or just more so… Kai… I'm begging you, be careful. If Voltaire finds another fake account somehow and gets suspicious, you know he'll come straight for you."

"I know… but all the money from the tournaments goes to him, and I can't do anything about it. I need these jobs to survive, Tal." To his surprise, his voice broke, choking off at the end.

Tala's voice was soft and comforting. "I know, I know... Hey, think about coming home for Christmas, ok? I will call later; you must be there by now. Love you, you fool."

And before Kai could say, it wasn't normal for best friends… best male friends to say that, Tala hung up. With a sigh, Kai pocketed his phone and looked up. Sure enough, he was there.

The hootin' and the hollerin', back and forth with the arguing.
Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in.
Seems as though you lost sight of what's important with the positive.
And checks until your bank account, and you're above all poverty.

He had only been there for two minutes when his name was called. His sighed. He hated the manager and the owners, his fellow workers were nice enough though.

"What is it, Darren? I can't be late, before you say I am, I'm early." He turned to face the manager, Darren, and crossed his arms.

"No, I know you are not late, it's about this," explained Darren, shoving the article Kai had seen earlier today in his face.

"…oh."

"Yes, 'oh', Mr Hiwatari. We cannot have you working here if things like this keep popping up. What will our customers think, hmm?" Darren twisted his wrist so he could have a look at the article for himself, stone grey eyes scanning it sceptically. His nose crinkled as though he had smelt something truly disgusting, and he shoved the paper in Kai's hands. "I know you desperately need this job, Mr Hiwatari, but really."

"Look," snapped Kai. He narrowed his crimson eyes and prodded Darren in the chest. "I can't exactly control what the media writes about me, they're filthy disgusting lowlifes. I've had enough crap from everyone else today and for once, I am not going to take the extra crap from you. So shut your pot hole, turn around and go find some way to pull that tree trunk from your arse."

Darren blinked, face twisted in pure shock. Slowly he smiled, then chuckled and ruffled Kai's bangs. "Welcome to life Kai, welcome to life."

Kai watched, jaw hanging open as Darren walked away. He didn't regret what he said, but he was definitely astounded by the other's reaction. Welcome to life? Huh. Life, where everyone worries about what you did, how you did it, and then labels you saint or 'bad influence'. He could get used to this. Pft.

Your values is a disarrayed, prioritizing horribly.
Unhappy with the riches cause you miss-poor morally.
Ignoring all prior advice and fore warning.
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden aren't we?

No matter how hard he tried to focus, he kept finding his thoughts dragged back to his now self-righteous, stuck up, arrogant, cocky, selfish, bratty, team. Bastards, they all were. They took it all for granted, everything! They had money in their pockets now, a secured label and they were cool with that. Now every time they went to a beybattle, even a charity match, they would expect the fame and glory that came with. Again, Kai found himself wondering how he had missed the sudden change. Maybe all this work had finally caught up to him.

"Oi! Boy! Waiter, are you going to get me a glass of water, or what?"

Kai blinked a couple of times and looked down at the ageing man. "Uh, sorry sir, right away. My apologies." Kai bowed and retreated backwards. He straightened and turned to face the way he was going while pulling a face. Oh, rich people were such a joy, weren't they?

You're gonna be a shining star, with fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go far.
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.

For what seemed to be the hundredth time that day, Kai stepped into the cold air, even colder now that night was falling. Light from street lamps made shadows flicker wildly and the lights up ahead of cars waiting at a set of lights looked like giant fairy lights.

Kai headed for where he usually managed to pick up a taxi. He didn't like using public transport at night, especially not near rush hour, for many reasons. Therefore, he always used the tips given to him from the customers at the restaurant to pay for a cab ride home.

Sitting comfortably against the leather seats, Kai stared at the houses and buildings zipping by. He was bloody exhausted and wished he could prolong his last job of the day. He would get home, shower, change and then walk to the Chinese restaurant down the road. Once his shift was done, he would walk home, shrug off his shirt and fall asleep in the pants he'd been wearing all day. It was routine.

Kai had known how to speak Chinese for years, so getting along with the owners of the small Chinese restaurant had never been a problem. When he nearly collapsed onto an ordering customer, then a problem became clear; his health.

"You are working too hard," stressed Huiqing as she sat him down, her Chinese rolling from her tongue so fast Kai had to blink and slow it down in his head to understand it… or maybe he was just that tired. Maybe Tala was right. The redhead was going to kill him when he found out about this.

Not knowing what the elderly Chinese woman had said, the young woman who Kai had toppled into placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're ok? My husband and I can drive you home if you would like. Where do you live?"

Kai shook his head. "I'm fine, thank you. But what about you? Are you ok? Again, I apologise."

He clamped his hands over his ears as the two women began speaking at once. He heard his name being called, tainted with a heavy Chinese accent; Shunyuan.

"Are you ok Kai?" he asked and again Kai struggled to interpret the Chinese. "You spaced out and started swaying. Huiqing thought you were going to pass out again."

"I'm fine," Kai replied hurriedly. He stood up and took off the apron. "I-I'll go home, please, if that's alright –"

"I'll drive you home," stated the young woman. Kai closed his eyes tight and rubbed at his temple. He hadn't even realised he'd been speaking English. He explained in Chinese to Huiqing and Shunyuan, bid them good night and left with the couple.

Just living my life, my life, my life, my life
Just living my life, my life, my life, my life

The next morning, Kai found himself repeating everything from the previous day. Cold floorboards, colder tiles. Teeth, shower, dress and leave. But he did it all in a daze, still thinking of last night. The couple had dropped him home, surprised to find he lived alone at the 'tender age' of 17. They had given him their numbers, just in case he should need anything, learnt their names to be Brittany and Jonathon. Then they had left. He had read the piece of paper with their details on it, found they had also put their address and work addresses on it and to his own surprise, he refrained from throwing the small piece of paper out. Instead he had constantly scrunched and un-scrunched it as he stared at his phone, debating whether to call Tala. It was not the hour he was worried about, hell, they were best friends in two different countries, and they were prepared to talk whenever, wherever. It was what he feared the redhead would say.

Now everybody watchin what I do
Come walk in my shoes
And see the way that I'm livin if you really want to

I got my mind on my money and I'm not goin nowhere

He hadn't called Tala in the end, deciding he would rather put it off until he could get the story straight and let it sound a little bit worse. Because, really it wasn't that bad. He had worked, trained, worked, worked again but fainted on the last 'worked'. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall eating the day before, not until Huiqing and Shunyuan's son Chenglei and his girlfriend had come over to drop off some food from the restaurant, 'with love from his parents'. Then he had handed him some Chinese herbal medicine. Kai had no clue as to what it did, but it smelt foul and was currently sitting in a lone cupboard in the kitchenette. Chenglei and his girlfriend had stayed a little bit, for they had dropped the food off at about 8 o'clock, but Kai had lain on the couch staring at the ceiling. The girl had kissed him on the forehead, wished him good health, and then they had left so quietly Kai didn't notice their presence was gone until he finally sat up to eat.

So keep on gettin yo paper

And keep on climbin
Look in the mirror
And keep on shinin

"…are you sure he doesn't work here? Kai Hiwatari."

"No, I'm sorry, he doesn't work here, and there is no customer here either by that name, I'm sorry."

Kai frowned as he came around the corner, plates and glasses in hand to set another table. Who was Jeffrey talking to? Not the press surely? How would they have found out he worked here?

"There he is! Kai! Kai!"

The glasses and plates toppled to the ground, smashing. Kai stared with wide eyes, barely breathing, at the four familiar faces standing at the entrance to the café. No. His team weren't supposed to find out about anything! They weren't to know he was financially fucked. Why the fuck were they here? Kai remembered to breathe, dragging in a ragged breath as he looked down at the mess on the floor. He crouched down, scooping the smashed glasses and plates into his apron. His hands were shaky and he cut himself countless times. Blood dripped to the floor and Kai tensed as he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Jeffrey. "Go, I'll cover your shift. Sarah will understand."

Kai pulled off his apron, the white cotton stained with his blood, and ran from the café, pushing past his team and exiting onto the cold street.

Til the game end
Til the clock stop
We gon' post up on the top spot
Livin' the life, the life

Kai ran straight home, taking a few cuts and turns in case the others were following. He slammed the front door behind him and leaned against it, listening for any footsteps. None. He breathed a sigh of relief and sunk to the floor. He didn't know how long he sat there before he crawled to where his phone was sitting from the night before.

He dialled the all too familiar number with shaky fingers and pressed the phone to his ear. He looked out the window while he waited for the other to pick up. The sun was shining through, ever so pale, but enough to glint off his crimson eyes.

"Hello?" was the groggy answer.

"Tala? Oh, god Tals, I'm sorry, you were right. Yesterday, I fainted at the Chinese place. I was tired and hadn't eaten but some nice couple drove me home, Chenglei dropped off food. I went to work this morning though and oh god, they were there Tala. G Revolutions were there. They found out, they know how financially fucked I am. They weren't supposed to ever know… Tala… I'm so scared."

In Russia, Tala sat up, alert and now fully awake. How he wished he could be with Kai so he could comfort him. Right now though, all he could do was hush Kai through the phone and comfort him as best he could without being able to hold him. "It's ok Kai, it's ok. They'll understand, I'm sure. Nothing terrible is going to happen. I promise. Remember? Till the day that we die, we're gonna be who we are, and everyone else can go get fucked if they have a problem with it."

In the brand new city
Got my whole team with me
Livin my life, my life

Kai stayed locked up in his apartment for a week. The only food he ate was the Chinese dropped off by Chenglei each night. There was still blood on his hands, and he was still wearing the same clothes from that day. His phone kept ringing, but he never bothered to pick it up, let alone glance at it.

It was ringing again, and for the first time all week, Kai looked at it.

Before he could even say anything, Tala's voice was blaring in his ear. "What the fuck are you trying to prove Hiwatari? Honestly, tell me. Humour me. Your team finally resorted to calling me and asked me to talk to you. Kai let them in, let them see. Bryan trusts them for fuck's sake! …Walk over to your bed and unscrew all the bed knobs. Now, Kai."

With a sigh, Kai stood on shaky legs and did what he was told. He stored all his valuables and personal possessions in his bedposts. Newspaper articles, old beyblades, photos, jewellery and in one, money from different currencies.

"Look at the articles Kai, and the pictures, the beyblades. That is who you are."

Kai stared at it all, Tala's words ringing through his head. "…Thanks Tala. Seriously, thank you."

I do it how I wanna do
I'm livin' my life, my life

He stood just outside the front gate, which as always, was wide open, welcoming. They usually closed it at night, but from what Tala had told him, they'd left it open even then, in hopes that he would come back.

Right now, they were training. Training without having been told to do so. He would have thought they would be taking the time off, but no, they were sweaty, puffed, and working bloody hard.

Rei looked up and wiped a hand across his forehead. That was when something caught his eye and he turned his gaze to the front gate. "Kai!"

Kai took a hesitant step back when he saw Rei, and then the others running towards him. To his surprise, Rei wrapped his arms tightly around his neck and hugged him, stepping from foot to foot in his delight.

Tyson, Max and then Diachi hugged him as well. They then stood back and looked at him.

"Aw, what the heck!" exclaimed Tyson, and they gave him one big group hug.

He slipped out of their holds and lifted his gaze from the cement beneath his feet to stare at them, eyes burning. "I-I want to show you something, if you'll let me."

I will never loose 'em
Livin my life, my life
And I'm not stoppin

Tyson and Diachi were on the floor, and Rei and Max took up the two-seater couch. Kai was leaning against the wall next to the window, chest pressed up against the plaster as he looked down on the street.

"I live my life… day by day. I chase after money so that I can survive, because all the money I win at tournaments goes straight to my grandfather, Voltaire Hiwatari. I'm practically related to the team you used to hate more than anything, the Blitzkrieg Boys. I consider myself best friends with my current team, the G-Revolutions, and I wouldn't leave them without a very good reason. I live my life by just living, regretting the past, figuring out the future, and wondering what the hell is happening right now. And until the clock stops and there is no more life within me, I will continue to do so." He turned to face them, wanting to see their reactions. His eyes quickly flickered over his apartment.

To his surprise, they were smiling, all of them. But not in a 'are you kidding me?' sort of way. It was gentle, soft… accepting.

"We know, Kai, we know. And we wouldn't have you any other way. Bad-ass Hiwataris like you are rather rare, ya know?" Tyson grinned at him and gave him a double thumbs up.

And Kai couldn't help but smile back.

So live your life.