EDIT! - IF OC'S SCARE YOU, DON'T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM READING THIS FIC. THERE IS ONLY A - VERY - TEMPORARY ROLE FOR AN OC, FOR THE SAKE OF THE PLOT. PLEASE, GIVE IT A CHANCE!

Note: DO NOT expect me to update frequently as I have a busy life – actually, scratch that – no life due to homework. :) This was also a spur-of-the-moment idea, so I haven't planned ahead at all, which will probably make updating even slower.

FOREWARNING: This story is intended to be TYKA. That is, a romantic relationship between Tyson and Kai. If you do not like these types of relationships, press the back button immediately.

Therefore, it should be noted that the reader should not send me flames because of the pairing.

SWEAR WORDS ARE USED IN THIS FANFIC. Don't like it, don't read it. Simple.

Disclaimer: I, under the pen name Phoenix-Roar, do not own Beyblade – That is, I do not own any characters, the plot of the show/manga, names, etc. (It should be noted that I do own Viktor Svyatoslav, a character that will be introduced later.) Takao Aoki owns Beyblade (I think? That's the name that's on the spine of the manga, anyway… If somebody could clear this up for me, I'd be grateful). I am not making any profits whatsoever from writing this. I am just writing it for the entertainment of others and to improve my literary skills. I thank fanfiction . net for providing me with a server to share my fanfictions with others that are willing to read them.

Please, please, please review! Reviews are one of the factors that keep me writing.

For Reference:

'…' – Human thinking.

"…" – Human speaking out loud.

Italics, usually following '…' – Bitbeast's thoughts.

THE PLOT IS SET TO POST G. REV.

How to survive without a Heart

Chapter I

Discovery; Recovery

A soft blanket of cotton covered the azure sky, miniscule pieces of it falling unto the lands below its omnipresence. A lack of brutal wind allowed said fluffy pieces to be pulled down to earth at a comfortable, silent pace. With a mute sigh, the snowflakes would come to rest once a physical object stifled their paths.

One such physical being was becoming an object of attention for the flakes of the clouds. Its double coloured hair, silver and cobalt blue, was seasoned with the precipitation like corn would be with salt. A cloud of steam flowed from its mouth as it exhaled deeply, disappearing almost as quickly as it formed. It – more specifically, he – walked in a quiet fashion through the building up layers of snow. The taciturn young adult of sixteen years slid his slender yet hard-worked hands into his jacket pockets to shield them from the biting cold. Orbs as crimson as rubies analyzed the landscape. Trees exposed without their canopy of leaves surrounded him, the branches stretching towards the zenith, as if to entwine with the thick, overcast atmosphere.

The trees' trunks were becoming thinner and thinner. After a few minutes of trudging through the woods, Kai could see a brighter light ahead of him, signalling that he was coming to the edge of said terrain.

Nonchalant and taciturn would be the first thing to come to mind when thinking of Kai Hiwatari. When the Bladebreakers - Rei, Max, Kenny, and Tyson - first met him, his aura exerted coldness far greater than that which was trying to chill Kai as he walked through the woods. Indeed, he used to be even colder than absolute zero. However, over the years of being near the Bladebreakers, the iceberg blockade between himself and the universe began to thaw. He hated to admit it, but he'd grown a small liking to his team, even if he didn't act that way.

Again, Kai reassured himself, he still didn't like them all that much. They probably didn't enjoy his presence because he made them train like there would be no tomorrow. The cold hearted one smirked for a quick moment, a snide expression crossing his unbelievably handsome features. That reminded him – he'd promised the team an extra practice session that day.

As the last few trees dwindled around him, Kai subtly stroked the cobalt beyblade in his left pocket. He gently extracted it from its shelter and held it in his hand, examining the beyblade as the shadows outlining it retreated at the strengthening invasion of daylight. He focused on the chip in the middle. A graceful firebird looked back at him. His lips managed to coordinate into a small smile, not very indifferent from his usual unemotional façade. Even though the change was miniscule, he knew that the phoenix would understand.

The trees were well behind him now. A beautiful meadow was splayed out before him, a white canvas. The chilling wind, now slightly stronger than before due to the non-existence of the trees, caused Kai to readjust the collar of his scarf to warm the bottom half of his face. Warmth trickled into the palm of his sinistral hand, trailing up his arm. He looked back down at his phoenix again, gratitude showing within his scarlet eyes.

A faint chromatic light began to emit from the chip. Kai's eyebrows pulled together slightly in adroit concentration, his other features remaining frozen. His bitbeast was trying to tell him something.

Kai had been following a set of footprints which were hard to see due to the snow that had settled overtop them. He continued to walk at a brisk pace along the faint trail. The chip containing the firebird accelerated in glowing the farther the teenager went, shining like a beacon with a crimson hue similar to Kai's eyes – the flames of the phoenix. The warmth emitted gave Kai a new boost of energy, and he began to walk faster.

After a moment, the glowing and warmth began to fade. The handsome beyblader placed his beyblade back inside his jacket pocket. Kai concentrated ahead, seeing two figures not too distant from his own position. One was extremely grand compared to the other in size. As Kai approached, the figures began to clarify themselves. One was a teenager about the same age as Kai, and the other was not human.

A large dragon hovered in the air, somewhat touching the snowy ground. The mystical creature was covered with defensive plates that were different tints of blue. It was serpentine in shape, limbs portraying copious sharp claws, each the blade of a scythe which were capable of shredding endless amounts of steel. The dragon's being glowed with an unearthly, eldritch radiance, quite similar to a phantom. It loosely coiled its long spiritual body around the human as if to shield it from the weather, subconsciously flicking its tail in the air.

The teenager had a ponytail of cobalt blue hair. It reached the length of his shoulder blades. He had slightly tanned skin. His eyes, focused on the dragon, were a very similar colour to his hair. A cap was placed on his head; his usual fashion.

"Dragoon, I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you in person for a while. I was busy. I never got a chance to be by myself," the teenager said, Kai just entering within earshot to hear the part of the conversation. The blue haired teen smiled kindly at his spirit.

There was silence for a moment.

"What was it that you needed to talk to me so badly about?"

More silence, this time for a longer duration.

"What…? What do you mean by that?"

"Tyson."

"Wah!"

The teenager referred to as Tyson whipped around, eyes wide with surprise. Dragoon shifted, uncoiling from his companion. He swam through the air slowly, stopping to hover close to Tyson, keeping his catlike eyes trained on the approaching figure.

"Kai!" Tyson nervously laughed. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Following you," Kai grumbled in discontent, fixing his scarf. "You can't disappear to the middle of god knows where," Kai expanded his arms as if to gesture to the surrounding area, "when we've got a practice session to do." Crimson eyes watched Dragoon.

"Oh… Yeah, I guess you're right… It's just… I haven't had the time to talk to Dragoon, y'know, one-on-one," Tyson explained, looking back into the face of the large serpentine dragon.

Tyson frowned.

"Dragoon? What's wrong?"

An inhuman snarl escaped from the mythical beast, teeth as narrow and sharp as needles barred.

Kai froze, glaring at the dragon. He placed a foot backwards, ready to run if it was going to attack.

"Dragoon, stop it! Kai's not our enemy, you should know that!" Tyson shouted. A deep growl rumbled in Dragoon's chest. Teeth still showing in great dislike, the dragon suddenly twisted and returned to the chip in the middle of Tyson's beyblade. The glowing aura remained for a moment, like an imprint in the air, before disappearing after its owner.

Tyson sighed after an uncomfortable moment of noiselessness. "Heh," Tyson smiled at Kai, as if it would make the situation any better, "I guess Dragoon doesn't like you too much, huh?"

"No shit." Kai muttered under his breath with a scowl plastered on his face.

The two stood immobile in awkwardness, the snowfall still not letting up.

"Is that normal?" Kai said monotonously, seemingly talking to the air as his eyes were focussed on the clouds.

"Is what normal?"

"Talking with your bitbeast like that."

"Why, you've never done it?"

The Russian didn't reply. He pulled the phoenix beyblade from his pocket and stared at the chip with an unreadable expression on his face.

"No." His voice seemed to portray a hint of jealousy; or was that sadness that Tyson detected?

Said blue haired boy reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. In the midst of unwrapping it, he caught Kai's unimpressed glare, and smiled sheepishly. "What? I'm starvin'!" He took a bite, and then began to talk again. "Voo shoo' rewy drr' to talk wiph'er!" Bits of semi-chewed pieces of the junk food flew from his mouth. Kai crinkled his nose slightly, a look of disgust crossing his handsome features.

Swallowing the food, Tyson let out a small laugh at Kai's expression. "Sorry. What I said was; you should really try to talk with her! You already talk to her through, like… telepathy, right?"

Kai once again averted his eyes from the pig standing before him and looked back at Dranzer, the phoenix, her frozen image staring back up at him.

"Riiiight?" Tyson pushed.

"…Rarely."

Tyson's smile disappeared slowly as a look of confusion replaced it. "Max and Rei, they both told me that they're pretty close to their bitbeasts. They hold conversations with them all the time. I mean, they even summon Draciel and Drigger to physical form, like I just did, to talk to them in person. You've been around us for long enough for me to know that you aren't the nicest guy, but Dranzer should definitely talk to you… more than rarely, at least. If I were her, that's what I'd do."

Kai raised an eyebrow and looked at him after the last comment.

Tyson slightly crimsoned. "What I mean is, y'know, when we're blessed with the few words you speak," Tyson spoke with a sarcastic voice for part of the sentence, "you say some pretty deep stuff, full of meaning. If you talked more, maybe Dranzer would want to talk back. Just a suggestion."

"…Hn," Kai grunted.

"Oi, does reverse psychology work on you or something? When I say you need to talk more, you get quiet! Did you wear your vocal chords out? Actually, this is the longest conversation I've had with you in a long time, come to think of it…"

No reply.

"Hey, do you want to try calling out Dranzer? I'll help you." Tyson ate the last piece of chocolate bar and stuffed the wrapper in his pocket.

The chilled metal of Dranzer bit into Kai's palm, nearly drawing blood. He hadn't realized that he was holding it so tightly.

"…Fine."

"Okay. First, you know how you can sense your bitbeast always present in your mind, like a second conscience, but it's a part of you?"

Kai nodded subtly.

"Now, close your eyes, and try to reach out to Dranzer. Try to combine your two minds together."

The Russian closed his eyes as he was told, and soon after, all background noise fell away. There was no snow falling around him, no ground below him, no zenith above him, no Tyson before him.

'Dranzer?' Kai searched through his conscious, sensing, feeling the phoenix there. But he couldn't see her. He reached out, searching the infinite plain of his mind, but he couldn't find her.

Kai.

A velvety smooth voice echoed though his mind as if it were whispered from atop a mountain. It was inhuman in its beauty.

A warm feeling started to spread through him, making him feel like he had disappeared from the snowstorm. He'd found Dranzer.

His eyelids fluttered open, revealing crimson orbs. "I found her." He looked at Tyson with half-seeing vision; he was somewhat focused on his instructor, and somewhat focussed on the warm spirit in his mind.

Tyson looked a bit concerned. "That took way longer than it should have. Second step: Try to bring her out of your mind and into reality. It's hard to explain; it's something that you need to figure out on your own."

Kai closed his eyes again. Tyson analyzed his emotionless face. He looked serene when he was delving into his subconscious. After a moment, Kai's eyebrows began to arch downwards slightly, his frown becoming more defined.

"It didn't work. She's far away again." Kai opened his eyes for the second time, glaring at the ground. They seemed more vapid than a minute ago, somehow.

"It's okay, Kai. You can always try again later. Do you want to head back now?" Tyson looked up at the darkening sky. There was no break in the clouds, and the snow was still falling. "Please tell me you brought a car or something to pick us up! I'm not in the mood to walk all the way back to the dojo," Tyson grumbled.

"You're a dumbass for walking out here in the first place," Kai crossed his arms and glared at his team member. "I paid a taxi to wait outside the woods. It's an extra thousand yen for every extra half-hour we leave him waiting. And that, of course, is coming out of your salary."

"Aww, no, that's not fair!"

"Me having to come out here to drag your sorry ass back home isn't fair, idiot."

"Humph!"

Kai assumed that Tyson was watching the streetlights flash by as he was leaning towards the cab window, but was assured that he was wrong when he heard a soft snore.

The teen with two blue triangles on each cheek had both hands hidden in his pockets. He had never stopped clutching his beyblade since the event at the meadow. He couldn't deny the truth from himself; he was jealous of Tyson. Not only Tyson, but of all of his team members.

He closed his eyes in contemplation, a habit he had always had. Maybe Dranzer had never forgiven him for the Black Dranzer incident. That was probably a major part of the problem. Although it was a few years ago, Kai could feel the deep wounds that it had inflicted on his mind. There was no doubt that Dranzer was still upset. If Kai could sense the wounds, then Dranzer would probably be still living through the worst of them. He'd tried to fix the relationship between the firebird and himself, and it had worked. But the future potential between the two was greatly unquestionable.

"Oi, you two. This is it, isn't it?"

Kai's eyes snapped open, and he regarded the property the driver had pulled up beside. Tyson made a couple of grunting noises and stretched dramatically. "That was an awesome nap! Oh, we're home already? Thanks mister!"

The newly awoken blader threw as much of a feral glare as he could muster at Kai while searching around in his pocket for some money to pay the driver.

"…Comes out of my salary, of course…" Tyson grumbled, handing over the cash.

Max opened the door to greet a shivering Tyson and an indifferent Kai. "Hey guys! Where were you?" He moved aside to allow them to enter Tyson's dojo. His electric blue eyes sparkled with their normal hyper energy level, his sunshine blonde hair in the usual disarray.

Tyson shook himself like a dog, solid and melted snowflake matter alike spraying the surrounding areas. Kai glared at him as if to say 'uncouth', a line stolen from Robert, and gracefully brushed snow off of his shoulders and hair.

"Oh, I was just out for a walk when I ran into Kai, that's all." Tyson replied to the earlier question, grinning at his best friend.

"Kai, is this the first extra practice that you've booked and then missed?!" Max fake-gasped, and then quickly ran down the hall 'teehee-ing' when Kai shot him a death glare.

"Everybody gets quadruple training tomorrow to make up for the double training lost today," concluded Kai, who had crossed his arms by now, another natural habit of his. Tyson and Rei, who was sipping a cup of green tea nearby, groaned at their captain. "And Max, you get quintuple training tomorrow for being an idiot." Surprisingly, Max heard this from across the residence and howled in agony.

As soon as he had finished howling, Max quietly asked Kenny, who happened to be working on his laptop in the same general area, "How much is a quintuple?"

Without looking up from his screen, Kenny held up all five fingers. Max pretended to faint.

The dojo ceiling never could contend Kai for hours on end, especially in the dark. The Russian beyblader stared at said ceiling, thoughts rushing through his head. Tyson's snoring was the only thing breaking the dead silence. Kai stretched upwards, reaching for his digital wrist watch. He spared it a glance. Three thirty, not bad. Placing it back in its original spot above his head, Kai went back to staring at the ceiling again.

Rei, Max, and Kenny had all departed within two hours of Kai and Tyson's return home. They'd then had dinner, bento boxes; Tyson, of course, had managed to eat his within two minutes, while Kai hardly touched his. He hadn't felt hungry.

Why was it that everybody could summon their bitbeasts except him? What did they do to allow such a bond to occur? What had they suffered through? They'd all had good lives; that's to say, better than Kai's. Nothing could compare to his past. Didn't he deserve to have a best friend to rely on, to help him with his problems, which just so happened to be plentiful? Hadn't he suffered enough? Kai let out a frustrated sigh, now glaring at the wooden panels above him.

'What am I doing wrong, Dranzer?'

His question cascaded back at him several times, lost to the mountain range of his mind. Kai rolled onto his side, seeing the dark outline of Tyson's figure not too far away. The counterpart of Dragoon was breathing slowly, an aria of snores without the accompanying music.

'At least somebody is able to sleep normally.'

A half-hour passed, and Kai could feel the fatigue flowing through his veins. A somewhat lighter shade of light started to filter in through the high, barred windows.

'Whatever I've done, Dranzer… I'm sorry.'

Finally, Kai slipped into unconsciousness, eyelids fluttering over his crimson irises. At last, peace had decided to come to him; although his penitence would never leave him alone.

A river of sunlight flooded through the high windows, warming the wooden room as if to tell it that morning had arrived. A moment passed and Tyson screwed up his face, disgruntled. He rolled onto his back, letting out a large puff of air from his lungs. Wearily, the Japanese blader opened one eye halfway, not fully conscious of reality.

Despite the dense rays that graciously came to greet him, Tyson subconsciously sensed an uncomfortable stillness in the room. He tilted his head to the left. After a quick analysis of the perfectly made futon a meter or so away, he concluded that Kai had already gotten up.

Said Russian had been his 'roomie' for a couple of months or so, and thus, Tyson had gotten used to the other's usually constant presence. For instance, every time he was in a room alone with his captain, it was like some godly, eldritch figure had pressed the mute button on their programme. But there was still something that filled the emptiness… something greater than silence, but less than the quietest noise. Without Kai, there seemed to be a different kind of silence altogether that highly disturbed him.

Tyson suddenly did not want to be in that room all alone. The sun's rays no longer warmed him. He opened his eyes fully after passing his wrists back and forth over them. He flipped his sheets to the side and stood up, stretching while taking his first few steps of the day.

Perfect silence rang through Kai's ears, imaginary mountains rolling out before him onto an infinite horizon. A voice surrounded him, cooing to him softly, its comforting warmth drowning out all of Kai's other thoughts. He yearned to get closer to it, like a moth to a flame, like a child to a mother, like a plant to the sun. He could feel the warmth increasing, like the spreading fatality of a violent fever; was it, in fact, the middle of winter? Memory was a thing of the past, for however long the past may have been from that moment.

The Russian sensed a different kind of warmth resting on his shoulder, which had just freed itself of the numbness of meditation. Still mostly wrapped up in his inner consciousness, he had difficulty realizing that he was intended to awaken by some other physical force. He could not register what it was that attempted to compete with the warmth of the phoenix. Slowly, reluctantly drifting away from the rocky sanctuary, Kai opened his eyes. Half-lidded wine coloured eyes stared blankly at the floor for a moment, before rising to scan the face before him.

Tyson stood in front of him, his uncapped mass of blue hair tied back in a quickly done, sloppy ponytail. He was slightly leaning over Kai, supported by an arm. Kai flicked his eyes, following the path of his team-mate's arm. Tyson's hand was placed on his shoulder. The Japanese blader's palm was the unidentifiable source of foreign warmth that had interrupted his entire state of meditation.

Kai turned to look Tyson in the eyes. The vicious storms that appeared specifically during the summer season had been locked within those orbs. The dark clouds of a typhoon made the outside ring, the circle that defined the iris from the rest of the eye. Intense thunderbolts of silvery gold shot out from behind his pupils, seeming like two eclipses of binary stars, frozen in the exact same position in the exact same point in time.

Within a moment of realizing that his captain was not, in fact, dead, Tyson began the removal of his hand. Kai had looked completely lost when his eyelids first fluttered open. After a pause to allow himself to adjust, he'd looked into Tyson's eyes. Tyson couldn't help but stare back; he'd been caught in a snare that Kai had not even made on purpose.

Kai's eyes were so unique, unlike anything he'd seen before. Cherries, a setting sun, crimson wine, a pure drop of blood; all beautiful things individually, but after being compared with his eyes, they were put to shame. The silvery strands of hair that interrupted the normally empty crimson plates had only added to his mystery.

Below the twin red wonders, Tyson noted more prominent black circles. Kai always seemed a bit fatigued, but he seemed a bit more tired than usual.

"You're alive after all! For a second, I thought you'd gone and died just sitting upright like that."

Again, no reply. The pressure under Kai's puncturing gaze was immense, making Tyson nervous.

"So," Tyson said after straightening up, shifting his weight to the other foot, trying to break the ice of silence; even if this was the silence he preferred, the unique silence that he shared with Kai. He trotted out of the living room in which Kai was sitting and into the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge.

"What are you doing up so early?" Tyson spoke, throwing a quick glance at the clock on the wall, which read six thirty in the morning. "Never mind - stupid question, you're always up early," continued Tyson, pulling out a carton of milk and closing the door. "Let me rephrase that. What have you been doing? Trying to connect with Dranzer again?"

Kai nodded his head absentmindedly, forgetting that Tyson could no longer see him. The subconscious fog still gripped the pale captain, unwilling to let him snap out of it.

"I'll take the silence as a yes." Tyson began to pour some cereal into a bowl. "How are things going with that?"

It then dawned upon Kai that actions were not enough to stabilize the one-sided conversation.

"Progress," he muttered, letting his eyelids slide shut over his tired eyes. He could still sense the warmth of Dranzer within him; it had not left, like last time he had attempted to bond with her. It was like a second circulation of blood; a backup life, in the event that the main character died. He could almost drift off to sleep right then and there, so comfortable was he.

"Do you think you're ready to give the summoning another try?" Tyson's voice was much louder now, allowing Kai to snap back to reality. He had come to sit across from Kai, supporting his bowl of cereal with his right hand and eating the food with a spoon in his left.

Kai paused. "Do you think… one day of bonding is enough?"

"Maybe, if you've been trying really hard. You need to decide these things on your own." Tyson replied with words that were muffled behind the cereal which was still going through the chewing process.

"I made a bowl for you." Tyson nodded his head in the general direction before going off on a tangent. "Jeez; you think you could take better care of yourself? I know you too well to know that you didn't get anything to eat first before meditating your ass off."

Kai had to smirk as he stretched to retrieve his bowl, which was not far away; they were sitting beside the low-rise table. Tyson did know him a bit too well.

They sat in silence, eating their breakfast. Obviously, Tyson finished first, setting his bowl aside. He watched Kai intently with curiosity glinting in his fascinating, stormy eyes.

Kai raised an eyebrow, slowly scraping up the last of the cereal and eating it. "Did I grow two heads?"

Tyson laughed. "No, you have this expression on your face… y'know, like you're going to say something. Quite rare, if you ask me." His eyes widened, a smile still imprinting his face. "Shall I get my camera?"

Kai placed the empty bowl beside Tyson's. "Actually, there was something…" Tyson stared at him again, curiosity brought back full force.

"Oh, really? What is it?"

Kai searched around him, finally finding what he was looking for. He picked up a folded newspaper section which he had been looking at earlier. Opening it, he scanned the page, and then ripped off a section of it. Discarding the rest, he handed the piece to Tyson. Kai seemed sad, but Tyson passed it as his normal face.

The paper displayed a cut-off article, along with numerous ads along the side. One such ad was circled with a permanent red marker. In microscopic print, it read:

Apartment Available for Rent

One bedroom, fully equipped kitchenette included

Rent per month approx. ¥ 150 000 (Price subject
to change). Call superintendent, Ito Yamamoto,

if interested for residence at 759-261-3008-5217.

…

There was more information at the end, including location, but Tyson hardly read past the words 'for residence'.

"Wha..? What is this..?" Tyson looked up at Kai, no longer smiling.

"It's time I got out of your hair. I've overstayed my welcome." Kai suddenly found the hardwood floor quite interesting. He couldn't meet Tyson's eyes.

"But isn't it a bit… expensive?" Tyson pressured. Kai knew that he was trying to talk him out of it.

The pale Russian crossed his arms, lifting his eyes from the floor. "I think I can cover it."

Tyson quickly scanned over the location. "It's pretty far from here; how are you going to coach our team?"

"Don't question my punctuality."

A tense moment passed.

Kai sighed. "Tyson, look… I called the superintendent last week, and I've already given him the first rent payment. It's the best thing for everybody. I just wanted to say goodbye." The last sentence took him a moment to formulate, as if the words were foreign in his mouth.

A smile crept onto Tyson's face, but this time, it was a sad one. "You are so wrong, Kai, so wrong…" Tilting his head downward, his blue bangs fell across eyes and face, shadowing much of his expression. "If that's what you think you need to do… then… I can't keep you prisoner here." He placed the paper on the table and grabbed the empty bowls. Without another word, he whisked himself away to the kitchen.

Kai stood and went into the sleeping quarters, rolling up the futon that he'd borrowed from Tyson. He gently put it back inside the sliding closet, surprised that he could even remember where it came from, as it had been so long ago when he'd first taken it out. He heard a loud crash come from the kitchen; he had a correct hunch that Tyson had just carelessly thrown the ceramic bowls in the sink.

The dark room was not much of an improvement from the dark corridor from which it spawned. Kai leaned against the door, listening as the hinges moaned and creaked, until finally there was a resonating click from the lock. And then silence.

It was an awful silence that nearly dragged Kai's soul out of him, as if his spirit had become heavily chained to the floor. It wasn't a silence he was used to, even for someone of so few words, and it depressed him. He was baffled by it, choked by it, strangled by it. The room was full of pitch black shadows; he was blinded by them. A patch of moonlight sifted through the rectangular window that led to his balcony and onto the carpet, contrasting against the pure darkness.

Kai ran his fingers along the wall beside the door after he had removed his shoes. Finally, he found a light switch, and flicked it on. A weak light illuminated the room somewhat, not quite winning the war against the shadows.

The apartment was very simple and plain. The entrance opened into a small living room, equipped with a single overhead light and independent lamp. A beige sofa was pushed into the corner, the lamp beside it. The carpet and walls were also coloured with the same palette; grey and beige. A white wooden screen door that didn't seem too secure of itself led out onto a small, concrete balcony.

The kitchenette was built into the already small living room. It was composed of a small fridge, a stove that suspiciously looked like it didn't work very well, and a pair of old cupboards. The wooden counter that divided the kitchenette from the living room was supposed to be used as the table, Kai assumed, hence the rickety old stool that was pushed up beside it.

The bathroom was just that, and nothing more. A toilet, a shower, a sink, a broken mirror. The bedroom, however, did not live up to its name; it was smaller than the bathroom. It was completely empty and shrouded in darkness. Then again, the ad didn't particularly say that it would come with a bed.

Kai sighed, about to turn back to the living room, when a soft meow broke the silence. Frozen in his tracks, Kai looked down to feel a furry body brush up against his leg. An animal had walked out of the darkness that was his 'bedroom'. He assumed it to be a feline, not an extremely young kitten, but not developed into an adult cat. It meowed again, circling him. He knelt down, and once he was sure it would not bite him, he lightly, carefully brushed his palm down its back. The kitten seemed to enjoy the treatment, and sat, staring up at him with huge, black eyes.

"Kitty, you're lucky that the Ice Prince has a soft side for your kind," Kai muttered, stroking the trusting animal a couple of times more. Its fur was extremely soft.

Kai stood, and attempted to find the light switch to his bedroom. He found it, and light poured down from a ceiling bulb. The room was the same colour as the living room. It appeared to have been empty for a long time.

"So, you've been living here by yourself, huh?" Kai looked down at the cat. It had followed him with its gaze. Its fur was white as snow, but it had one blue eye and one yellow eye. It blinked up at him cutely and let out a meow.

Kai shut off the lights and proceeded back into the living room. "I wonder if your previous owner just decided to leave you here." He took a seat on the sofa. The cat had followed him, and was sitting near his feet, continually regarding him like he was the most interesting thing it had ever seen. He analyzed the cat once more; it was skinny.

"I guess I'll never know about your past, just like you'll never know about mine," Kai concluded, "but just so you know, I'm not going to kick you out. I guess I need the company." The cat meowed in response, although it didn't understand a word that Kai said. Kai brought his feet up and stretched, trying to get used to the fact that he would have to face the newfound uncomfortable silence without Tyson's snores to satisfy it.

The kitten meandered around the living room, inspecting it all in a new light, before going back to the room where Kai had first encountered it.

"I'm supposing you want a name, then?" Kai asked after the cat had long since disappeared. Names flashed through his mind, but none, he deemed, were appropriate for this animal. He placed his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. Ten minutes passed; nothing good. Twenty minutes; still, nothing.

He nearly choked when the name 'Tyson' crossed his mind. "No way am I calling you that." He hated to admit that he was tempted to. "If he ever found out, he would laugh his ass off at me." He paused for another five minutes. He then realized that he didn't know the gender of the animal, but assumed it was female as its meow was quite high-pitched.

Finally, a name came to him. "I think I'll call you Isabella."

Hours later, Kai was in his boxers and an extra shirt, trying to sleep on the sofa. The lights had been turned off, and the apartment looked the same was as it did when Kai first walked in. Despite there being no heat provided in the apartment, heat seeped through him.

Moving images flashed through Kai's mind, recollections of the past week thrown together.

"Tyson, look… I called the superintendent last week, and I've already given him the first rent payment. It's the best thing for everybody. I just wanted to say goodbye."

"I just wanted to say goodbye."

Kai smacked his forehead and groaned, covering his eyes with his hand.

'Why did I say something so… so…'

Mushy?

'Yes, mushy.'

It took Kai a moment to realize that Dranzer was watching the images with him, and the extent of what he'd just thought. Her sweet voice was echoing through his head, making him feel schizophrenic.

I think you like the boy a little more than you give yourself credit for.

'I guess he's not the big loser I thought he was when I first met him, although he can still get on my nerves.'

You sound like you are trying to defend a lie. I still say he's the closest person you have.

Kai thought hard, thinking of all the relationships he'd gained over the past few years with the Bladebreakers. 'You know… You're right. But I also have you.'

The warmth increased, and Kai's eyelids drooped in reaction.

You need sleep, little phoenix. You have not been getting the amount required for human sustenance. Do not forget, training is still on for tomorrow, according to your orders.

Kai reflected on the training session they'd had after he'd told Tyson that he was moving. Tyson didn't look him directly in the eyes the entire time, didn't say anything to him. But he could feel Tyson's eyes bore into his back every time he was not facing the blue-haired blader.

Kai shut his crimson eyes, trying to follow Dranzer's demands, but the drenching silence was loud. It was as if somebody had taken cymbals to his ears and was constantly clapping them. It would not let him sleep.

Within a large, grey, morbid room sat several people in plain orange clothes on one side of a large glass divider. The walls were made of thick stone bricks, deep cracks visible within them. On the other side sat regularly dressed people, chatting to those in orange wear across the glass through telephones hooked up to individual walls.

Four security guards entered one side, each pair pulling along a prisoner of said jail. One prisoner had short, purple hair; the man was quite tall and had a bulky face. The other prisoner had long hair dyed grey with age. The old man was forced to sit at one of the booths, while the purple-haired man was forced to stay near the wall by the remaining guards.

The ancient man tapped his fingers on his knee, glaring at the glass as if he could burn a hole through it and escape. If he stared at it long enough, the intensity of his glare probably would have done just that, but he was interrupted. The door opened on the other side, three men walking into the room.

Two of these men were dressed in black, sunglasses shielding their eyes. They maintained unemotional expressions.

The third man seemed to be the other two's central focus. He was shorter than his body guards, but definitely still tall. He hardly looked older than eighteen. The young man sported green hair, a more vivid tint of viridian. Thin bangs draped over his left eye, obscuring it well. The bangs on his right side were pinned up with a unique, thick pin that portrayed an image of a skull sitting atop crossed bones. On both sides of his face, just before his ears, draped the longest bangs he owned. A 'rat tail' of his green hair went down to his lower back, swaying with his calm gait.

The young adult sat in a chair opposite of the ancient man. They stared at each other through the glass, picking up the phones beside them.

"Hello, Voltaire." A smooth voice flowed out of the green-haired man's lips and into the phone.

"What do you want with me?" The man named Voltaire asked in a vexed voice, gripping the phone so tightly that it threatened to break. His aged eyes drilled into the young man's face, but the other was not at all affected by his hostility.

The green-haired teenager leaned in, a small smirk on his face.

"How would you like to be free again?"

Voltaire froze, unsure of what was going on. "What are your intentions of talking with me?"

"I know Biovolt has been shut down. I know that you ran it alongside that man, Boris." He flicked his eyes over to the purple-haired man in the back, before returning to their conversation. His voice lowered, although the smirk grew in intensity. "I have the power to steal Black Dranzer back from the government, who confiscated it from the labs."

Voltaire snarled, wrinkles clearly defining his anger. "How do you know all of this?" He hissed into the phone, while looking around at the guards standing around him. They did not appear to be reacting to the words the felon on the other side of the glass spoke.

"I have sources," the young one continued, "in more places than you think." He looked up at the guards on the other side of the glass. In an instant, Voltaire understood. The smooth voice carried on. "For instance, this conversation is not being monitored due to some 'background' work."

"You don't look like an evil mastermind," Voltaire grumbled, "on the contrary, more of a punk than anything else."

The so-called punk brushed his hand over his face, moving the obscuring bangs from his left eye. He stared into Voltaire's eyes, and saw them change emotions from hostility to amazement.

The now visible eyes shocked Voltaire. Very pale irises stared back at him, a similar colour to his hair, only much lighter. Although Voltaire had only looked into those eyes for a few seconds, he saw wickedness; a feral look that renewed hope within him.

"My name is Viktor Svyatoslav." The pale-eyed man let go of his left bangs, letting them fall loose to drape over his face. "I get what I want. I want to expand my team, and I can't let such corrupted minds as yours and Boris' go to waste. In exchange, I will break you out."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"Nothing is impossible when you work behind the scenes; a bit of ingenious thinking here, some firepower there… It'll be fun."

"You have won my faith, Viktor."

"Expect to be working for me in a few days. Pass the information on to Boris."

Viktor hung the phone back onto its wall mount, and disappeared, followed by his body guards. He stepped into the limo waiting in the parking lot, and heard the engine roar to life. All the while, his smirk did not disappear. 'This is going to be a great deal of fun,' Viktor thought, the powerful image of Black Dranzer imprinted in his mind.

Wow, I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written; about eighteen pages long!

I swear this story has a plot! Hopefully we'll see more of it next chapter.

If you want to see a sketch of Viktor that I drew in Photoshop, you may follow this link to the image on DeviantART. Copy and paste it into the URL, but make sure to delete all of the spaces and replace what is needed before pressing enter.

http (colon: double backslash) phoenix-roar . deviantart . com / art / Viktor - Svyatoslav - 76142208

If the link doesn't work, then look up my homepage on DeviantART, which is under the same username as this one (Phoenix-Roar). At the top, near my stats, there should be a line that says "1 scrap (browse)". Click browse, then click on the image there. :)

Please note that it was a very quick sketch, so it isn't very good. I just hope it gives you a better idea of what he looks like.

Again, please review! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of How to survive without a Heart.

Phoenix-Roar