The woman who had been addressed as Annastacia was stood to the far end of the office. She had thought the meeting Mr Dickenson had called her to would be isolated to between the two of them.
But what shocked her even more was the appearance of a face that she had not seen in the flesh for quite a few years.
Kai.
How quaint. Looks like the friendship brigade will be party to this little 'reunion' too, She thought as something of a snarl began to form on her face. The Bladebreakers looked visibly intimidated and Anna was satisfied. At least they knew now that she was not here to make friends.
Meanwhile, Kai felt trapped. She wasn't looking at him, but her cold, blue-eyed stare surrounded him. He could not escape it and he knew that this was what she wanted: to make him remember who he had left behind, and who's wrath had now come back to get him.
"Now Bladebreakers, I would like you to meet Annastacia Samogon. And Annastacia, I would like you to meet the Bladebreakers: Tyson, Max, Ray, Daichi, Hilary and Kenny - we also here have Tyson's grandfather." Mr Dickenson promptly introduced those who were strangers to each other. Anna almost had to laugh at the way the old man had subtly missed out 'introducing' her to Kai. Maybe he hadn't forgotten to be discreet.
"Lovely," Anna stated dryly, unable to find the will or the energy to be polite, "So tell me, Mr Dickenson, what exactly are we going to be discussing in this meeting? I didn't think the Bladebreakers took any interest in official matters."
Straight to the point, Kai thought. Even as young girl, Annastacia was never one to let her opposition take things further first; any issue was promptly nipped in the bud. Even to this day, she could still piss him off and she was doing a fine job, right this moment. She was first to stab the needle in, letting it niggle. All the while, she would be cool and exceptionally collected. Judging by her feral expression, it would appear she enjoyed it.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyson suddenly spoke up, unable to contain himself as the rest of the team attempted to shush him back into line. Meeting his now fired up brown eyes, Anna raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.
"It means what I said. Correct me if I'm wrong if you must, but do be quick about it."
Kai couldn't resist smirking a little. It was about high and time that someone other than he had come along to smack Tyson down a couple of notches. Even the rest of the Bladebreakers couldn't come up with a retort good enough to make her back down.
Seeing that this meeting was heading a route that was not quite appropriate to host in a purely business prospective, Mr Dickenson coughed slightly, "Shall we proceed to the meetings room?"
Taking in the warning look from Mr Dickenson, Anna then nodded and followed the Mr Dickenson down the corridor. Once they reached the meeting area, Anna on the scene sat promptly across from the Bladebreakers. Mr Dickenson sat gently beside her in contrast.
"Now you all know that I like to surprise you all with upcoming plans for each tournament, so this year hopefully shall not be much different. Though before we proceed with those details, I have an announcement to make," He paused and took a breath before delivering the news, "I am retiring as Chairman of the BBA."
Every guest present gaped at him, not quite believing that what they had feared for a few years now was coming true. Even Anna, who had not beybladed for a while now, couldn't suppress a profound sense of loss inside her. After all, if anyone had made the most time for her, Mr Dickenson was one man who had supported her undoubtedly and unendingly.
"Re-re-retiring? You're leaving us, Mr Dickenson?" Kenny stuttered, pretty much saying it for everyone in the room. Of course they knew that he needed his retirement someday soon, and that he probably was yearning for a quiet time to settle down with his family. But it just wouldn't be same without him. How could it?
Mr Dickenson chuckled good naturedly at their reactions, his smile bright despite wiping his eyes for what looked like the beginning of tears.
"Oh my dear Kenny, of course I would never leave you kids! But I have reached my time and I feel that it's time to let someone younger and stronger do the job. But rest assured, I will be there still, in a way." He said.
The Bladebreakers looked amongst each other, not quite reassured. Anna frowned slightly. She couldn't help feeling suspicious that maybe there was another reason that Mr Dickenson was looking to resign so quickly from the BBA. She certainly didn't like the notion of him 'reaching his time'. But until she could corner him alone, she swallowed her questions.
"So what's the surprise for the tournament, Mr D?" Tyson asked with forced cheerfulness, trying to lighten up the mood in the room.
"Ah, well, this is why I have asked Anna to come here as it would need her permission to let the tournament go forward," Mr Dickenson then turned to the said brunette, whose eyebrows had furrowed in with another load of questions sitting there in her eyes, "What would be your verdict if I were to ask you host the tournament at your home stadium in England, my dear?"
The Bladebreakers gasped and murmured with excitement: a tournament in England? They had only ever been once during their escapades of the first World Championships they participated in as a team. But they had thoroughly enjoyed their travels there, so it only felt very appropriate that they would get to compete.
If, obviously, Miss Samogon agreed.
And already Anna's untrusting mind was calculating quickly. It had been her initial thought to refuse. The Bladebreakers were her rivals and Mr Dickenson knew that she didn't take too kindly to strangers on most occasions. To have them in close proximity, in her own territory, made her heckles rise even more. But she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of thinking that she saw them as competition. They were old news as far as she was concerned.
"What are the conditions?" Anna answered, staying polite for now. After all, it is said to be easier to catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Even if the honey is slightly off.
"Well I don't think we'll be doing a tag team tournament again for a while, so I was thinking that we have the international teams compete against each other…but with a little twist, of course." Mr Dickenson's eyes twinkled with mischief as he turned directly to face Anna's narrowed blue ones.
"And that twist being?"
"Each team must choose a member to swap with another chosen blader from an opposing team that they have been matched, at least according to a random sorting."
There was a dumb silence from the Bladebreakers, whilst Anna kept her face perfectly still. Now this was certainly an interesting prospect, she thought. Every team would have the opportunity to play this tournament to their advantage by choosing their player wisely, so this would be a case of outsmarting the rest of the teams to get furthest ahead. Of course, this was assuming her team was matched with the Bladebreakers.
Her only other problem? The person who could match her for brains and possibly thwart her cunnings was sat opposite her, glaring defensively in her direction. Kai may be a lone wolf, but he had a possessive streak. A trait Anna herself was all too familiar with. No, I can't choose one of the five who are expert bladers, that would not undermine them. They know each other as well as they know themselves. I need to choose someone else, someone who they would least expect…
Anna's cold eyes then fell on Hilary. Could the girl blade? Probably very little. But that wasn't an issue for Anna. The aim was to fragment the Bladebreakers, and taking their only female, well…Anna could only imagine the possibilities. Suddenly she smirked and enjoyed the way it made the Bladebreakers look uneasy.
"Have the documents, legalities and so forth sent to my office, Mr Dickenson. We have a lot of work to do planning this…tournament." She finally replied, her lip curling in a furtive manner as she stood up from the table.
"Alright, yeah! Thanks Anna, I can't wait to have a match with you." Tyson exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air as Mr Dickenson and his friends around him laughed and patted him to calm down.
Anna did not smile.
"If you make it past the preliminaries."
Everyone else immediately stopped talking amongst themselves and turned to stare at Anna in disbelief. The bait of course worked a treat. Tyson immediately flared up again and rose from his seat.
"And you think you're tough enough to take me on, do you?"
"Perhaps you will find out when we get this little tournament started. I don't need my mouth to tell you what I'm capable of."
Kai could feel his blood run cold. How would he be able to warn his teammates about Anna without revealing that he knew her? How much had she advanced on her skills since they had last beybladed together? Likely chances are that she had made as much progress as he had, and if that was the case, she was going to be a huge problem.
"But you need your mouth to aggravate, of course. Perhaps your bark is loud." Kai finally challenged Anna, not caring that his response the most inflammatory that he could come up with. There was no way he was letting her get away with this. If she thought she could simply walk into his life and walk out of it again without picking up where they left off, she had another thing coming.
Anna felt her eyebrow twitch as she looked at her opponent with menacing eyes.
"If my comments are aggravating because they might be true, then maybe you should work on your own bite. Not that we see much of it nowadays." She replied icily, her voice edging on venomous in tone.
The pulse in Kai's temple raged and he suddenly got up out of his seat. Even Tyson looked shocked at how wound up Kai had now become. What was it about this one woman, who had rattled his cage and wasn't showing any signs of backing down herself either?
"I think that will be enough from the both of you." Mr Dickenson finally intervened, his own voice now unrecognisably irritated and final.
As stubborn they both were, Kai and Anna knew where respect was due. While he resumed his seat, she dipped her chin in recognition.
Mr Dickenson cleared his throat and said to Anna, "Is there anything more you wish to add, Anna?"
Anna gave him one stony look before bestowing it once again up the Bladebreakers, who by now were beginning to realise that this was no ordinary opponent they had now encountered.
"While this tournament commences, I will treat you all with the accommodation and respect you require," She then placed a hand on the table and leaned forward in a feral manner, "But be warned: if I get any trouble whatsoever that will cause me to regret my decision, I can make things very difficult for you all, I can assure you."
Kenny gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow. They all had no doubt that she was not one to make idle threats and the majority began to wonder how and why Mr Dickenson would try to persuade such a hostile woman to host a sport that should be about fun.
Satisfied that the message was clearly drawn in the sand, Anna walked away from the table to the doorway.
"Be ready, Bladebreakers."
Smiling cruelly at the way they all shifted uncomfortably in their seats, she said or did nothing more and exited the room.
Before the team could protest, Kai immediately got up and followed Anna out into the corridor. Within seconds, he grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him, his eyes almost the colour of purple molten.
"You come near my team and I will destroy you." He stated coldly. Anna let out a dark chuckle, taking his hand from her arm and shoving it back where it belonged.
"Confusing me with your Grandfather? How touching. That you think I would make everyone else suffer for your faults. Well, let me tell you something: your little friends are perfectly safe and won't see any harm from me," She paused, smirking.
"But if they don't tow the line and cross wrongly into my territory, there's nothing you or Mr Dickenson can do to stop me from doing as I see fit. This isn't about us any more, I am not interested in that. So I would suggest you start preparing your team and giving me a wide berth, lest you want the whole beyblading community to find out everything. We wouldn't want that now, would we?"
Anna then barged past him, reeling. Now was not the time to fight him, though it was horribly tempting after wanting to all these years. When it was right, she would face him about everything her done to her. But for now, she would go home and prepare. Her family were waiting for her and that in itself had troubles.
This round, Kai was defeated. Yet he understood her position completely. She hated him, that much she made clear. But there was honour in her hatred; she only took vengeance against those who wronged her and like him, the past was her best kept secret. So Kai knew the rest of his team and his dirty little secrets were safe in that honour she had, which was his only relief.
But how long this would go on, he couldn't vouch for, especially when both of them knew just exactly how to provoke each other.
Second chapter edited. Wasn't too keen on seeing Anna and Kai so emotional so early as I had written in the previous draft. Those emotions may come later, who knows.
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