A/n: Thanks so much for all the reviews, story favorites, and story alerts from chapter one alone! I take it I'm doing pretty decent for my first Kai/TYson so far.

By the way, this fiction takes place in the V-Force timeline. That's the one I've decided on.

Disclaimer: Yaoi fanfiction. Don't own Beyblade.

Beta Reader: None


A Rumor in St. Petersburg
Two — A Mission at Hand
[Tyson's POV]


Four-o-clock in the morning is an unholy hour to be up at. Why do people invent having to wake up so early for work? Why can't we all just agree on starting work at ten and wake up at eight? The world would be so much of a better place. But I'm so proud of myself, because today I woke up at four all by myself, before my alarm clock even went off. And why's that? Because I'm going on vacation, duh!

I was kind of surprised when Kai gave me a plane ticket for Russia last night. I mean, I knew that he knew I was bummed about not going anywhere, but I didn't think he'd actually do anything about it. Usually he won't even go through the trouble of saying "bless you" when one of us sneeze; no way did I think he'd go through the trouble of getting me a ticket to fly with him just to make me feel better.

"...Unless he's doing this to his own advantage...somehow..." Max muses, taking a large gulp of his iced coffee while we wait for the rest of the team to pick up their orders. "Nah. Kai wouldn't stoop so low. He'd just tell you to suck it up. I guess he really is doing this out of the goodness of his heart."

I nod in agreement, also thinking hard about this entire situation. Then it dawns on me: "Oh my God!" I gasp, "Kai has a heart!" Max promptly slaps his hand over my mouth before I can say anything else.

"Could you be any louder, Tyson?" He hisses, and we both glance over our shoulders to make sure Kai didn't hear. Thankfully, he and Ray are still chatting away about whatever at the pick-up counter. Returning Max's don't-be-so-loud look with my see-there's-nothing-to-worry-about look, I blow a raspberry in his hand so he'll get it off my mouth, grin in triumph, and slurp away at my own iced coffee while he complains about my spit on his fingers. "You're disgusting."

"At least I don't pull wet willies on my teammates." I retort, and my blonde best friend evilly smirks.

"You can't say crap about it because you laugh every time." Then, pulling me off to the side by the rack of boxed donuts, the blonde asks. "You really don't have the slightest clue about why Kai's going to Russia?"

I shake my head, "If I knew, you'd be the first person to know, Maxie."

He frowns again, "Kai didn't say anything?" I once again shake my head, and on my right Kenny shows up holding two cups of steaming hot drinks.

"What're you two whispering about here in the corner?" He inquires.

"Noooothing." I tease, trying to take one of the cups. "Thanks, Chief!"

"It's Hilary's, not yours. She and Salima went to the bathroom to put on some makeup or something." He says, swerving the cup away from me. I pout and take a bite out of my breakfast sandwich. Killjoy.

"She can always buy another, she's got cash."

"Oh really, Tyson?" Speaking of the she-devil herself, she shows up behind me with a smack against the back of my head. I yelp out in pain and give her a glower and stick out my tongue at her. She does the same and thanks Kenny for holding onto her beverage. Seeing that Salima wasn't with her, I glance back to find that she went to join Ray and Kai at the order line.

"So what're you guys plotting here in the corner, completely under the radar?" The brunette asks sarcastically.

"Tyson's mission." Max smirks. We all give the American a puzzled glance. He gestures for us to all follow him to an empty table and we sit down, huddling close together in a circle. "Kay, Tyson, here's the deal," Max starts, taking ten sugar packets and pouring them all into his iced coffee. "Kai's going back home for something and for the first time ever we'll have someone on the inside to tell us exactly what his life away from us is like. You!"

Kenny and Hilary share his smile, nodding in agreement. "Hell, you'll actually get to see what Kai's like since he's always gone!" My bossy friend agrees.

I have my doubts, and my expression reflects that. "I hate to burst your bubble, you guys, but what makes you think Kai's gonna act any different then how he acts here?"

"Well, for starters, Kai's too young to live alone, so he obviously has to live with his parents there." Kenny says, and we all fall quiet for a minute. I'm willing to bet they all thought the exact same thing I just did: does Kai even have parents? I mean, he was living with his douchebag grandfather Voltaire until fairly recently.

"Ok, well he still has to live with some sort of relative back in Russia if his parents aren't around anymore." Ray corrects, joining the table with Salima. We squeezed to make room for the couple, but since it still wasn't enough Ray pulled her to sit on his lap. "Whatever the case may be, he's bound to act at least a little different to them than how he acts with us. He won't be able to hide that from you once you're there, Tyson."

"Where's Kai?" We chorus curiously.

"Bathroom." Salima tells at us, taking a sip of her tea and offering Ray a sip. "We heard you guys conspiring without us and decided to join. Well, Ray did. It's not my team, so I'm staying out of this disaster in the making."

"So are you up for it, Tyson buddy?" Max pipes up again, his freckled cheeks dimpled with a smile. "Will you act as the Bladebreaker undercover agent and learn all of Kai's dirty secrets for us?"

"And Oovoo chat with us every night for updates!" Hilary threw in for good measure.

"Skype us as a backup if Oovoo doesn't work." Kenny added. "We'll also need to figure out a time, Max and I are gonna be on the other side of the planet."

"And if the internet connection back at White Tigers hills sucks and I can't log in—." Ray started.

"Which it probably will." Salima teasingly interjected.

"—Email us." Ray finished with a Cheshire cat grin.

I smile from ear-to-ear, high fiving everyone. "It's a deal! What should we call this mission?"

"How about Mission Phoenix?" Hilary suggested.

"Too obvious." We rejected.

"Mission Vacation?" Kenny thought.

"Too boring." We rejected.

"Mission Russia?"

"Mission Don't Get Caught?"

"Mission Impossible?"

Everyone turned to Salima, who was licking her lips from the tea. "Just because I don't approve doesn't mean I don't want to give name ideas. Doesn't the latest Mission Impossible movie have a Russian segment anyways?"

"Sally, you're a genius!" Ray cooed, giving his girlfriend a tight hug. She squirmed in his grip and muttered something about hating the nickname Sally, but giggled nonetheless.

"That's perfect!" I grinned. "Mission Impossible it is!" I rejoice, fist pounding Max two or three times and accidentally spilling Hilary's coffee. "Sorry Hilary!

"TYSON!"

"I said I was sorry!" I apologize, ducking away from her hand as she smacked me. From the corner of my eye I saw Kai leave the bathroom and head straight for us. He was on his cell phone. "Guys, shush, Kai's coming! As he approached, we heard him speaking in Russian, and just as he reached the table he hung up, taking my donut. "Kai, that's mine!"

He raised a challenging eyebrow at me, biting down into the donut anyway. "Not anymore." He shrugged, his voice thick with a Russian accent. I blinked twice in surprise; I think that's the first time I've heard Kai with an accent. It actually sounds pretty cool. He sounds even meaner than usual! ...Wait, how's that cool?

"Aren't you guys gonna be late for your plane?" Ray asked, nodding at the clock. "It leaves at seven, right? It should be boarding right now."

Kai nodded, pushing my hat down over my face so I couldn't see. "Gah, what gives?"

"Grab your stuff and let's go, idiot. If I miss my flight because of you you're dead." The dual-blue haired Bladebreaker captain announced. I huffed and fixed my hair and hat, stood, and grabbed my carry-on. Kai had already left the cafe and was walking down the terminal hall.

"Talk to you guys later, have fun! Kai, wait up!"

"Bye Tyson!" My team called to me.


So far, I've rounded up the three biggest questions of my trip that I want answered. One, what is Kai planning on doing in St. Petersburg when he lives in Moscow? Two, what secret plans does he have in store for our vacation? And three, what the heck does this brochure say?

"Hey Kai, what does this say?" I ask, holding the brochure off to the side so that the bluenette sitting next to me can read what I'm pointing to. He's deeply distracted reading one of the travel magazines the airplane provides, so his answer to me is a handy Russian travel guide and dictionary built in one. "Really Kai?" I give him a dead, un-humored look. "Would it kill you to look at what I'm pointing to and just say it?"

"You'd be surprised," He smoothly replies, his crimson eyes never tearing away from the page.

"You've got to be kidding me here." I roll my eyes, giving him an inpatient shove on the shoulder. "Kai, just tell me what this says!" I whine, frowning and glowering. Suppressing a growl, the phoenix looks at the brochure briefly before returning to his magazine. "It says Rossnya."

I blink, "So what does that mean?"

"That's what the dictionary is for."

"Kai, would you just-?" I snarl, messing up my bangs in frustration then pulling them. "Gah, forget it! I'll do it myself." I mutter, putting down the brochure and flipping through the glossy pages of the book to find what I want. "Why do you even have this dictionary anyway?" I inquire, getting no answer. "You speak Russian." Again, the crimson-eyed teen doesn't hint that he's about to answer anytime soon. "Or are you talking gibberish that just happens to sound a lot like Russian, thus making us all think you speak it when you don't?"

"I'm surprised you can think of such a devious little plan...what little intelligence you have shines on occasion." He finally says, casually flipping a page of the magazine and running his eyes through its contents. "I got the dictionary for you, so you won't pester me with inane questions like this all the time. Use it."

"Gee, thanks." If he hadn't made it sound like such a pain, I'd actually think of the gesture as a thoughtful one. "What're we gonna do in St. Petersburg?" He gives me the silent treatment once, turning the page and looking at a new article with considerable intrigue, and I snarl and decide to leave him alone. "Fine, don't talk. You don't have to pretend to be so interested in stupid air travel magazines. We all know how pointless those are." I turn my attention back to my previous dilemma of translating and begin flipping back and forth through the dictionary in search of the word I'm looking for. It takes three times longer to do because of the fact that I'm looking up a word in a foreign language with a foreign alphabet. Russian is stupid. Stupid, stupid, impossible to understand alien talk. I mean, just look at these letters! Backwards Rs, weird-looking As, and this thing that looks like an X with an I through the middle of it. How the heck does that make sense?

"I live in St. Petersburg." Oh cool, cool. Thanks for answering, Kai. I'll just forget the fact that you answered five hours late.

Whoa, hold the phone!

"In St. Petersburg? But in the first world tournament I thought you told us you lived in Moscow." I ask, trying to clear up confusion. "That's why you didn't like going there: bad childhood, Balkov Abbey, blah, blah, blah—the stuff you never want to talk about." His lack of a response finally bites my nerves, and I swipe away his magazine and hold it hostage behind my back. The phoenix's crimson eyes bore into my own in an unhappy stare. I swing the magazine temptingly, "No answers, no reading." I sing.

"You're behaving extremely immaturely and rude for a tag-along guest of mine." Kai sneers, his stoic face remaining placidly still. I grinned my trademark grin and the bluenette sighs, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "I never said that I lived in Moscow during that tournament, Tyson. I was born and raised in St. Petersburg until my grandfather won custody of me, where I moved to the waste of space and money known as his mansion. I then lived there for three years before I moved down to Japan in my last year of his custody. I met Mr. Dickenson shortly after moving to Japan, which began the vagabond phase of my life where I had no set living place. I stayed at my grandfather's mansion; I stayed at the BBA; I stayed at hotels...wherever I felt like it. And then I met you," He states with a slight glower after his decidedly bitter story, "and lost to you in the tournament that made me captain of the Bladebreakers. And I've been, more or less, living with you ever since."

I listened closely to every word the Russian said. I think this the most I've ever heard Kai talk...ever. The information processes in my mind quickly because of my excitement: Kai speaks! "So...If your grandfather won custody over you..." I try to find the right words to form my question. "...But I thought you were an orphan."

Now Kai does glare at me, "Goes to show how much you guys care about getting to know your teammates," and tries to snatch back his magazine.

"Well, it's not like it's our fault that we don't know. You're the anti-social one that won't talk." I wittily retort, keeping the magazine at bay. He searches my glove compartment for the same copy, and to my luck my seat doesn't have one. He hisses what I'm assuming is a swear in alien talk. "Tell me or you don't get it."

"As soon as we get there, you're getting your face shoved in snow that's twenty feet deep." He growls.

"I like snow." I smirk back, drumming my fingers on the magazine. With impossibly fast reflexes his hand latches onto the other end of the rolled up magazine, and I keep a firm hold of it so that he doesn't take it away.

Letting out another angry sigh (I swear to God, I'm pushing his buttons so much right now. I'm surprised he hasn't bitten my head off yet) Kai finally makes eye contact with me. "I'm not an orphan. Satisfied? And before you can think of anything else to ask I'm drawing the line right here. I don't wish to disclose my family drama with you. Not now, not ever." His crimson eyes reinforce the fact that his decision is final, and I reluctantly let go of the magazine. Content, Kai returns to his pastime of reading pointless sales and I go back to trying to translate gibberish. I find a promising section of the dictionary and scroll through every word on the page. Then something dawned on me.

"Hey, wait a second!" I grin, turning to the Russian again. "You called me your guest!" From the corner of his eye, Kai raises an eyebrow. "I'm really a guest? Not some other mean and insulting name?"

"O yob tvoju mat." The blunette sighs loudly through clenched teeth. He gets up from his seat and heads down the aisle to the bathroom. The lady sitting across the aisle from us gives me a strange look. (1)

"He never treats me this nicely!" I explain with enthusiasm. She nods slowly, then puts on her headphones and proceeds to ignore me. Well, at least Kai answered one of my questions. I glance down at the dictionary and find the word I was looking for. Yay!

'Rossnya': 'Russia'.

Rossnya means Russia?

"What the hell, Kai! You can't even tell me that Rossnya and Russia mean the same thing!" I yell down the plane corridor. The flight attendants tell me to stop disturbing other passengers and I sulk in my seat, throwing the dictionary in my backpack by my feet. Stupid Kai and his stupid Russian!

For the next few hours, I try entertaining myself in various ways. I play word search. I looked through in-flight magazines I couldn't understand because they were all in stupid 'Rossnyan'. I read my latest Shonen Jump subscription I brought with me. I asked for snacks. I drew Ichigo from Bleach getting his ass kicked by Rukia on a napkin square in pen. I watched Go, Diego, Go! and Blues Clues. I asked for snacks again. I looked through the Russian dictionary again and found the word vagina. I said vagina to Kai in a shit Russian accent and got smacked in the face for it with a magazine. I watched Bride Wars. I asked for pepper spray to burn that terrible movie from my retinas. They didn't have any, so I settled for more snacks. And I tried getting Kai to talk.

Over,

And over,

And over,

And over again.

…It didn't work.

Boredom gets the better of me. And after hours of uneventful air travel and a plane switch in Dubai, I roll over in my cramped seat to get some shut eye. I rest my pillow against the wall by the window, wrap myself in the poor, tiny excuse of a blanket the plane provides, and find a comfortable position.

"G'night, Kai." I say. When I look over my shoulder, I see that Kai's already gone to sleep. He's so quiet I didn't even realize. I mumble a "whatever" and dive face first into my pillow.

"Goodnight, Tyson." The dual-blue haired teen behind me softly mumbles, half asleep. I grin to myself and turn in for the night.


1.) O yob tvoju mat: "Oh fuck your mother." It's a Russian phrase that is the equivalent to the English "Oh my fucking God."

A/n: The plot thinnens...

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