Disclaimer: I don't own the cast of Beyblade. I do own the plot and the town and the people who live there, most especially Amber, Treasa, Nicolai, Jean and Molly.

Chapter Two

"For some reason, I didn't expect the film to be like that. I'm kind of disappointed."

Kai glanced over his shoulder to the girl shuffling along beside him, scuffing her worn sneakers against the frosted grass. The carpark of the cinema had iced over and was as slick as a glass bowl now; despite the fact that they weren't looking forward to the upcoming FD (family dinner), neither of them wanted to evade it by spending a few hours in casualty with a broken arm.

Kai shrugged. Personally it wasn't what he expected either. Weren't vampires supposed to be gruesome and blood thirsty? The film had been like vampire family Robinson, especially during the dinner scene. "It's a chick flick with dead people." He surmised, jerking Amber away from a patch of dog poop which someone had already stepped on.

She crowded close to him with a pout. "I know, but still. I was expecting something a little less Ten Things I Hate about You. Also knowing about the vampire killers before the other cast members did sucked. It took away the whole suspense thing."

Kai honestly didn't care; his attention was pulled to the thick blanket of clouds descending upon the seaside village. It would sleet soon though the snow wouldn't lie due to the salt in the air. Still, he didn't fancy being caught in the impending shower.

"Come on," he grabbed her arm and jerked her into a quick stride. They travelled around the carpark and came up behind his blue Evo 9. He fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car while Amber used the car to aide her journey to the passenger door over the slippery surface.

Kai carefully made his way to the driver's side and slid in, sticking the key in the ignition. As soon as he had, Amber turned the heaters on full blast. Cold air filled the car and he grimaced, switching them off so he could run the engine.

"The car needs to heat," he told her, frowning at the state of the window. Ice crusted along the windscreen wipers and ghosted up the glass.

"Can we swing by the Friars?" Amber asked, propping her feet on the dash board only to scowl when Kai pushed them down. "Break my knees why don't you?"

"I've warned you about putting your feet on my dash, Ember."

She stuck her tongue out and sulkily glared out the window. "So Friars, Kai-Pai?"

He rolled his eyes at the childish nickname before reaching into the glove box and pulling out the pamphlet. He twitched when Amber's fingers plucked at his hair, removing a few strands when he pulled away to hand her the folded sheet. "Here, phone in our order."

"Why phone in?"

"Because we can't sit in, it'll take too long." His father would kill them both if they tried to skip the dinner; though he was unbelievably tempted.

Amber snagged his phone from the holder by the heater and began to thumb in the number. He quirked a brow, but remained silent; previous experience told him that she didn't have any credit in her phone and even if she did, she'd deny it. It was simpler to just let her have her way while he sorted out the window – they wouldn't be going anywhere if he couldn't see.

"What's your dad cooking?" Amber asked as she listened to the phone ring.

"Something he found in one of mom's old cookbooks," and that was another sticking point between them, "Treasa said she left a lasagne in the fridge in case things go wrong."

Amber hung up with a sigh. "We shouldn't eat something else then. Nicolai is going to the effort and all. We should try and be supportive."

"You've seen my dad's cooking. Wouldn't it be better to have something to line our stomachs?"

Amber shook her head. "It just doesn't feel right to eat before his dinner. We can go get something later. I'd say you'd need a drink by the end of it."

He glanced at her quickly, feeling momentary surprise followed by a fleeting burst of pleasure. "You're offering to take me drinking?"

"I'm offering to phone Johnny and Rei to take you drinking," She retorted primly. "I know what you're like when you're drunk."

He turned his attention back to the window, noting the ice dissolving in small spots above the heaters. He frowned faintly. What had he done the last time he'd been drunk around Amber? Ah. He insulted the pristine Mystel, the virgin boy wonder of their small town. His lips tilted slightly only to part on an expelled breath when Amber roughly punched him in the side.

"What the hell?"

"It wasn't funny. You were such an asshole. When I tell you things, you do not repeat them to Johnny."

"The guy hasn't slept with you; there's something wrong there." He ignored her dark look and when she opened her mouth, he shushed her efficiently by covering it with his hand. She licked him. "Jesus Ember, what are you? A dog?"

"A slut and a dog? Wow, I'm the regular transformer!"

Girls, they were so sensitive. "It was a compliment." He muttered.

"How is that a compliment? Mystel respects me."

"You're..." He made a face. He wasn't good at telling people things they should already know and telling Amber that she was attractive was just weird. It wasn't something he could say to her. He always feared their dynamics would change but Mystel pissed him off. If Amber was his girlfriend, if he thought of her in that way, he would have... had sex with her. There was no reason not to.

"I'm what?"

"Hn."

Amber's head hit the back of the seat. "Come back of the century. Are you sure you even want me to come tonight because – "

He snagged her chin forcing her to look at him. "If you ditch me Benson, you're dead to me."

Her eyes lifted to the roof of the car but she reluctantly smiled. "What sort of friend would I be if I just abandoned you?"

He nodded tightly and settled back in his seat, knocking the car into gear and slowly easing out of the space. The wheels squeaked against the slick tarmac and the car jerked forward, growling at its inability to move fluidly. But they were moving and they weren't in any hurry to make their destination.

"Now I want you three to behave, please."

Tala Valkov used the fact that he was concentrating on driving to evade his mother's comment. He had no intention of pandering to his mother's whims, to play the perfect son so that she could fall into another marriage that they would have to struggle out of. He ignored his mother's gushing statements about how perfect this new man was. He'd heard it all before. He really loves children and he can't wait to meet you. Oh and he's got such a big house and we're all going to live there together. Tala gripped the steering wheel tighter and the car swerved around the corner, almost fishtailing before he got it under control.

"Watch your speed," Grace warned. "It's icy out there."

Tala ground his teeth. If the weather had been like this any other night, his mother would have restricted them all to the house claiming it was too dangerous to venture anywhere. But since this was a trip to the new man's house, of course they had to go. Who cared if they skidded off the road and into a tree?

"We shouldn't be out here." The comment echoed Tala's thoughts only in a more pointed tone.

His mother sighed wearily and turned with a fixed smile to look at his siblings in the backseat. "Look, tonight has been planned for a while now –"

"A week and a half is not a while, unless you planned it before even mentioning it to us," his sister's acerbic tongue lanced into his mother. Tala could almost see the dent and the flash of pain but he bit his tongue. This wasn't fair to any of them. His mother was pushing them into something none of them wanted and she hadn't even bothered to discuss it with them.

Just like last time.

Amber pushed her way out of the car and grabbed the door to prevent herself from falling flat on her face when her legs squicked out from underneath her.

"Holy hell," She yelped, struggling to find her feet while Kai snorted out a laugh. "Not funny, Hiwatari-ass."

"Benson your nicknames are becoming pathetic."

"Only just becoming?" She tiptoed over the driveway and skipped onto the grass, struggling over to Kai so she could latch onto him and keep her balance. "Since when did it become so cold at this time of year?"

"Something to do with global warming," Kai muttered, wrapping his large warm hand around hers. "Your skin is freezing."

"Bad circulation, Mum thinks. Nana has it too."

Kai felt his expression soften at the mention of the Benson Matriarch. The woman was like no one he'd ever met. She was old enough to be set in her ways and nothing interfered with that. She had a wicked sense of humor, a sly wit and a firm protective instinct towards her clan and her temper was a force to be reckoned with. Usually when Molly blew, the whole family hit the deck and hoped for the fury to pass over quickly.

The sharp pinch of fingernails had Kai growling and angling his hand to twist Amber's fingers into a tight grip. She yelped and struggled against him, shoving her back against his chest as she pried his fingers from hers.

"You're freakishly strong," she growled, jerking her elbow back into his gut but shouted when her elbow collided with something hard. "What the fricken hell is under your coat? A stone tablet?"

He huffed out a breath and shifted so his hips were away from her body. "Let go of my fingers and I'll let go of your hand."

"Eh, you're not really very noble." She squirmed and backed into him, ruining his attempt at chivalry. He scowled and began to shuffle them towards the house.

"Where the hell have you two been?"

Kai froze in position, hands entangled with Amber's, arms and legs caging her so that he was all but covering her. Of course his father was going to open the front door and see this. Of course his father was going to jump to conclusions. It wasn't as if Amber and Kai hadn't faced these jumps before. You live right next door, you're both teenagers and have hormones and you spend so much time in each other's company... For some reason, it never occurred to their parents that he had too much respect for Amber to jump her bones for convenience sake or that Amber was too loyal to Mystel to jump his.

He lifted his head to glare at his father from under his hair. "Out."

He felt Amber sigh loudly against him and her body sagged as she twisted out of his grip. "Sorry uncle Nicky, I made Kai take me to the cinema. I didn't realize it would get so icy out. Do you need help or something?"

Kai scowled as she skipped over the frosted lawn and almost slipped on the paving until she reached the front stairs. He followed leisurely after her, meeting his father's accessing look with one of contempt. He didn't want this woman in their lives and this dinner was going to be one big farce. No doubt there would be polite smiles and an over eagerness to please

He stepped past his father and into the hall, kicking off his boots like Amber had so that there wouldn't be footprints on the floor.

"So when's she getting here?" Amber questioned, picking up the mail and fanning through it. Kai snatched the envelopes from her and placed them back on the phone table, pushing her ahead of him into the kitchen. He was dying to see what his father had done to the place. There were pots soaking in the sink, the dishwasher was gurgling happily in the corner while the oven hummed. One of the mahogany cupboards had turned white, a handful of flour covered a patch of the slate tiles while a sopping cloth was weeping a puddle on the marble countertop.

"Well," Amber mused in an aside, "It's not as bad as I expected it to be."

He had to agree with that. He'd expected the smoke alarm to be going haywire as smoke funnelled from the oven or for the fire extinguishers foam to be a decorous coating to every available surface.

Instead it all looked quietly under control.

"Nicky," Amber sang his name knowing she was possibly the only person who'd get away with calling him such, "what time are we eating at?"

Nicolai slipped out of the lounge and stopped in the hallway, dark eyes dazed and his peppered navy hair was a dishevelled mess. There were patches of powder on his black slacks, on the backs of his hands and in a streak over his forehead. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the neck and rolled up at the sleeves and the man simply looked frazzled. Kai looked away.

"Um, she should be here in half an hour. We'll have dinner shortly after that."

Amber nodded, ochre eyes assessing as she studied both of them. Kai met her gaze unflinching and she heaved a sigh. "Alright, I'm going." Kai's stomach jumped and her eyes widened, "Oh, I mean to get dressed."

"Oh, I should change." Nicolai nodded to himself, turning from them and heading for the stairs. The man was not acting like himself at all.

"Right, I'll walk you to the door." Kai stated, ignoring her bewildered look to grab her elbow. He escorted her through the kitchen to the backdoor. Opening it, he kept a hold of his friend until she looked at him with an expression of sheer exasperation.

"What?"

"Don't do a runner. If you abandon me, we're through. Got it?"

"Really? By abandoning you now, you'll throw away years of friendship? Don't worry Kai-Pai. I'll come back, though by the way, it's really not fair that I have to wear a stupid dress to eat dinner at your house. When did you guys become so hoity-toity?" She flashed him a grin and punched his arm before skipping off the steps, skidding on the ice and falling on her ass. "Ow!"

Kai grinned but said nothing as she huffed and got to her feet, rubbing her backside as she hobbled over to her house. He closed the door with a slight shake of his head.

AN: Yes another long time between updates but I've been really busy with home life and writing my novel for creative writing and keeping my friends happy by visiting. It really does just catch up so that time just slips away. I'm going to try being more dedicated but... we'll see what happens. Hope you enjoyed this though. Just something wintery to get into the spirit of this time of year.