Disclaimer: I do not own the series. Only this fanfiction and the OC characters who appear in that story.
Warning: I am using the Japanese terms and names in that fanfiction. If you are not sure who is who, then please look it up somewhere (for example: Chisai no Hane, look at my profile for the link) or you are free to ask me per PM.
Chapter 1: Trust no one
Without a place to return to, Kai was walking on the streets of Russia in the middle of the night. The city had calmed down and everything had gone to sleep, except for him. He watched the last carriage passing him and continued his aimless walk. Eventually, he sat down on a bench to rest and to think about what he should do. At the moment he would even deal with the annoyance of Takao or Daichi, who was as loud as a whole kindergarten class if he could stay in the doujou of the Kinomiya family. Only a few minutes ago, he was in a warm bed, thinking about a new Beyblade move. However, the bail hearing was to his grandfather's favour and his grandfather did not waste a single second to throw him out of the mansion without any money or food. The only things he still possessed were his Beyblade, his beloved Dranzer and the clothes he was still wearing. Luckily he had not changed into his sleeping clothes, or he would have frozen in the cold night even more. He pulled his scarf a little higher, a useless attempt to receive a little bit more warmth than before. Letting out a sigh, Kai looked blankly at the floor. Was he going to die like that? Without noticing it himself, he closed his eyes and fell into a slumber.
The Hiwatari household was one of the most reputable families in Japan - especially the current head, Hiwatari Susumu, who was able to push the reputation and wealth of the family even higher than the previous heads in the past. Of course his wife, Hiwatari Yuuka, was rumoured to be the most beautiful and the kindest lady in the whole country, living happily together with the most wealthy and talented man of the world. However, the reality was different than the family showed in the surface. The true face of the Hiwatari family was passed on illegal trades, production of war weapons and drugs. Yuuka was also anything but kind. She was heartless, cruel and always asked for the impossible. Susumu was also not loyal to his wife, meeting several other women and having illegitimate children from them, claiming that they were the children Yuuka had given birth to.
Susumu had just returned from one of his many business trips and was crowded by his children, waiting for their presents – expensive toys, clothes, even jewels or pets. Only one child was sitting in the dark corner, hugging his knees and looking away. Kai was that one - and the youngest of Susumu's illegitimate children. Although those children were treated equally, he was not. His mother was Russian and died after giving birth to him. Therefore, the other children bullied him or simply treated him like dirt. However, he did not care or mind at all. He just accepted the treatment or ignored them. The only reason why he did not fight against his fate was his father.
After giving all of the children their presents, Susumu walked over to Kai. The little boy looked up at his parent, who was smiling warmly and gently to him.
"I'm home, Kai," the father said, making Kai smile and reply: "Welcome home, father."
The elder man picked the boy up and walked upstairs to Kai's room. There he put Kai down on the bed and sat beside him.
"When I was buying the presents I noticed that you haven't written down anything," the adult said, still smiling.
"I don't want anything," Kai tried to explain. "I only want my father to come back as fast as possible."
Susumu patted the head of Kai and stood up. "I'm going downstairs to the others. Do you want to come along or would you rather stay upstairs like always?" Susumu asked.
Kai looked at the floor, not wanting to reply. The man gave a small, but hurt smile and left the room.
Some months had passed and his father was returning once again from his trips. Kai was standing in front of a window, watching the carriage arrive in front of their mansion. The children rushed to the doors, waiting for their father to enter and receiving their presents. Kai closed his eyes, waiting for the ruckus to start. However, there was only silence. Wondering what was wrong, Kai opened his eyes and turned to take a look at the door, seeing an elder man standing besides Susumu. "That is your grandfather, Hiwatari Souichiro." Susumu introduced. "He'll be stayimg here for a while. Show your utmost respect to him." The children obeyed and waked to their grandfather, bombarding the old man with questions. However, only one glare and a disapproving expression made all of the noisy children quiet.
Kai decided not to watch any longer and to head to his room, hoping not to have to greet that moody, old man too. The little boy just entered his room and turned around to close the door, when he saw Susumu standing in front of him, looking down at him emotionlessly.
"Should you not greet your grandfather instead of going to your room, Kai?" the man asked.
Kai looked away and scratched his cheek nervously. "But he doesn't seem to like children…" Kai whispered, only audible for the two of them.
Hearing that, Susumu chuckled a little bit and picked Kai up. "That's also right," the man said and walked to the window, looking outside. "Your mother said the same words."
Kai blinked and stared at his father, wondering why he brought his mother up in that very moment. Then Kai was put down and Susumu crouched to his height. He took something out from his pocket and showed it to Kai. It was a small musical clock. "It belonged to your mother. I want you to keep it." The little boy looked up to his father, wondering if he could really have it. After receiving no reaction Kai nodded happily and took the clock, holding it with both hands.
Deep in the garden of the mansion, the older siblings of Kai bullied the little boy once again. His father was going to be home at any minute and Kai wanted to wait for him. However, the other children dragged him outside to batter the younger one.
"You're only a beggar's son who happened to meet father. You don't even have the right to see him, let alone talk to him!" The girls started to throw small stones at him.
Kai covered his face with his arm, hoping that it would be over soon. As the boys were tired of hitting him, they moved to throw mud at him. Eventually they heard the wheel of the carriage coming.
"Father's coming back!" one of the children exclaimed and the others rejoiced.
They headed back to the mansion, leaving Kai on the floor. Believing he was safe, Kai stood up and wanted to head back too. However, he was proven wrong when the two oldest boys of the Hiwatari children grabbed his arm and jerked him back.
"Where do you think you're going?" one of the boys asked. Kai only looked at them blankly, receiving a punch in his face as an answer to his look.
"Don't screw along, you brat!" the other boy said, starting to kick him around before the other one joined in.
Kai closed his eyes and covered his head, waiting the beating to end once again. After a while they stopped and headed back to the mansion. Kai remained motionless and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pain he was feeling. When he opened his eyes, it had started to rain. He pushed himself up with his arm and tried to stand up, before he noticed something fall out from his pocket. He picked the object up and moved it closer to his eyes to have a better look at it. It was a splinter of glass. His eyes widened and his took out the musical clock he had received from his father. He grimaced and noticed that the glass of the clock was broken. The clock's hands were twisted and were not moving properly. Kai clenched his fingers around the object and narrowed his eyes slightly. It was his very first present from his beloved father. At that moment it was only a piece of scrap like himself.
Late in the night, Kai returned to his room, unnoticed by the rest of the family who were having dinner together. He closed the door behind himself and put the clock at the bedside cabinet. Then he changed his clothes and hid the dirtied clothes under his bed. Suddenly he heard a knock at his door and he turned to look at. He had remained motionless until a second knock was audible, sounding angry. Kai moved to his wardrobe and hid there, leaving it only a little bit open. After repeated knocking, the person entered the room. Kai could not see the face of the person who because the clothes behind which he was hiding blocked the view. However, he knew that it was his father according to the shoes. The man walked to the bedside cabinet and looked at the broken clock. Kai covered his mouth with his hands as he realized that he had left the clock at that table. The man gripped the clock angrily and threw it on the floor, causing the clock to shatter into his pieces. Kai's eyes widened as he watched the scene.
"That brat is like that bitch! What's the sense in bothering with him?" the adult hissed before he walked outside, slamming the door closed.
Warm tears were streaming down from Kai's eyes, although he was really not crying. The tears just flew down freely without control. He could not believe what his father had said. No, he did not want to believe it. His father was the only person in that whole mansion and in his whole life who was ever kind and gentle to him. However, everything was a lie. Gathering the courage to come out of the wardrobe, he crawled out from his hideout and looked at the last remainders of the clock. He took one of the clock's hands and closed his eyes painfully, looking away. Then he let out a scream, but the noise was covered by a clap of thunder. After he calmed down, he reopened his eyes to notice that something blue was on the floor. He picked it up with his free hand and turned it around. A red bird was in the center of that object. Wondering what it was, Kai turned it up and down several times before he stopped. The hand that held the chip was becoming warm and Kai leant his cheek against it, closing his eyes, enjoying the warmth. Suddenly his eyes shot open, having a hateful and determined expression. He was not going to forgive: his family and his father.
The dinner room was filled with joyful chatter when the door was opened slowly. Susumu turned to the door, seeing Kai approaching them.
"There you're are, Kai. I was looking for you. Where were you?" the father asked.
Kai looked up to Susumu with a death glare, causing that his father to shift uncomfortably. Giving him the cold shoulder, Kai walked to his seat and started to eat without saying a single word. Susumu did not move a millimetre, still paralyzed from Kai's hateful glare. The other children also remained silent, too scared to say anything. Souichirou was the only person who was unaffected by Kai's glare and he watched the little boy eating his meal silently. A smirk formed in the corner of his lips as he observed his youngest grandchild.
Winter arrived in Japan and everyone was in the mansion, except Kai. He was sitting on a limb of a tree, looking at the chip that had been hidden in the musical clock. He had done some research about it. It was not any ordinary bird, but a Suzaku. The phoenix which was immortal and represented the element fire was rumoured to be protecting the south of the world. Wondering why it was hidden in the clock, Kai raised his hand so that it was blocking the sun's rays that shined on him. Then the chip glimmered a little bit and Kai blinked his eyes. Afterwards he rubbed his eyes and pulled the chip closer. The chip was no longer glimmering. Was that his imagination? Kai moved closer to the chip so that it was only some centimetres away from his face. Suddenly one of the phoenix's eyes blinked and Kai fell from the tree's limb he was sitting on due to his surprise. He rubbed his back - which he had landed on when he made contact with the ground.
"What are you doing here?"
Kai's eyes widened slightly before they returned to their previous state, and looked at the owner of that voice. His grandfather was standing in front of him, looking down at his little figure. Kai stood up and dusted his clothes off.
"None of your business," Kai replied coldly.
The older man frowned at that comment and looked at his grandchild, telling the boy that Kai was talking in the wrong tone with him. Then the red phoenix on the ground caught the old man's eyes and he asked, "From where did you get this?"
Kai looked at Souichirou surprised before he realized that he was talking about the Suzaku. Kai picked the chip up and put it back into his pocket, pretending not to know what his grandfather was talking about.
"Why do you possess a Seijuu?" Souchirou continued his questioning.
"Seijuu?" Kai asked, looking at the old man surprised. "You know what it is?" Souichirou nodded and said: "It's a tool to obtain power."
"Power…" Kai repeated that word in his mind.
"You use it with this." Mr. Hiwatari continued, taking out a Beyblade from his pocket and offering it to Kai.
Kai turned his gaze from his grandfather to the Beyblade and back, wondering what that old man was scheming.
"I have no use for it. You can have it." Hesitating a while, the boy raised his hand and accepted the object.
"What are you doing outside of the mansion?"
Kai turned around, seeing his father approaching them. "It's cold here. Why don't you come inside?"
Kai narrowed his eyes and put the Beyblade back in his pocket before he walked passed his father. The older men watched the boy heading inside, not saying another word.
Late in the afternoon, Susumu was leaving the mansion again to escort Souichirou to the train station. The children bid goodbye to their father and repeated what they wanted when their father was back once again. In the meanwhile, Kai was in the library, looking up what a Beyblade or Seijuu was. Sitting on the couch, he held a big lexicon in his hands and read it carefully. He was so deep in its context that he did not notice that someone was approaching him. The shadow of the person fell on him and Kai looked up, noticing the lack of light to read. Once again Souichirou was standing in front of him. Kai remained as silent as the old man, waiting for his grandfather to break the silence.
"Father? Where are you? We're leaving," Susumu called for his father.
Souichirou simply smirked at Kai before he turned to leave. What was that? Kai slammed the lexicon shut angrily, wondering what the meaning of that conversation was - if you could even call it 'conversation'.
Afterwards, he headed out to the city, wanting to be outside of the mansion. Eventually, he reached a court which was crowded by little children. Approaching the crowd, he noticed that everyone was looking at a dish that held two Beyblades in it. The blades slammed against each other until one of them left the dish. A boy with long dark blue hair jumped in joy and said something like "I've won". A taller boy came down to the winner of that match and patted at the smaller boy's head. It seemed that they were siblings. Taking off his cap, the older boy put it on the shorter one's head who smiled even brighter than before. Kai turned around before anyone had noticed that another person watched the match and headed back home.
On his way home, a vehicle of the fire department passed him. He watched the automobile for a while before he realized that it was heading to the mansion he lived in. There was no other building in that direction. Breaking into a run, he sprinted home. As he arrived, his eyes widened. The mansion was on fire.
Proof-read by Kitty Kat K.O.
Thank you very much for your effort!