"So you think she's pretty," said Tala conversationally.
Kai rolled his eyes and dumped his dishes in the sink, grabbing the mug of coffee Tala had made for himself and glaring at his friend when he merely raised his eyebrows. "What's your point?"
"Well, don't get me wrong, she's gorgeous, but you date girls who are much better looking. And with lower IQs."
"I don't date."
"Fine, you sleep with girls that are much better looking. I was trying to be polite," Tala rolled his eyes. "So?"
"So?"
"So, do you like her?"
Kai frowned. "How should I know that after barely a month?"
Tala chuckled. "You stare at her."
"I don't," he said coldly.
Tala snorted. "Fine, you look at her way more than is healthy."
Kai smirked. "What do you know?"
Tala wasn't daunted. "I know you. And I know she's your type. Tall, leggy, brunette, sharp as a razor. Did I get everything?"
Kai leaned back in his chair. "I thought you said lower IQs were my type?"
"Only you would have a type for sleeping around," Tala shrugged. "Anna is way more. She's half Russian too, isn't she?"
"That has nothing to do with it."
"No, but it helps," Tala grinned. "She reminds you of home."
Kai stood up from the table. Heart to hearts with Tala at nine in the morning when he was supposed to meet Anastasia for her first day of fixing his most prized possession wasn't something he wanted to do. "That place isn't home."
"Yes it is, Kai. Don't deny it. Before the Abbey, it was home."
"We can't go back."
"Maybe not yet. But don't try to say that hearing her speak didn't remind you even a little bit of the good old days before your psychotic grandpa ruined our lives."
Kai groaned. "Get the hell out, Tala."
Tala grinned and got up from his perch on the counter. "I'm going. You late for your date?"
Kai knew he shouldn't reply, but he did anyway. It was hard to ignore someone as persistent as Tala. "Its hardly a date. I'm supposed to meet her every day."
"I've got a bet with Ray that you ask her out by next Saturday."
"Weren't you just leaving?"
!
"So," Anastasia sat down in her usual spot on the floor, her lips twitching when she saw Kai's mouth curl slightly in distaste as he sat on the sofa in the corner. She knew her incessant talking bothered him, but for some reason she couldn't help herself. If she didn't talk, she knew she'd just stare at him like an idiot. Clearly, she had not done him justice when she had seen him last. He was delicious. "I have most of your stats and your beyblade. You can have it back, by the way," she suddenly remembered and removed the the beyblade from her pocket, tossing it to him. He caught it without blinking, his expression utterly bored. Anastasia couldn't decide whether to laugh or make a face. "Is there anything else you want to tell me, Kai?"
"No," his answer was curt. He was taking his no-talking rule very seriously.
Undaunted, Anastasia merely shrugged. "Cool. Well, I actually need supplies before I can start making a beyblade. I was hoping that you'd be willing to do a demonstration for me, though."
"Demonstration?" his voice sounded grudgingly curious.
"Yeah, I figured it would be a good idea for me to see you battle so I know how well your current beyblade is working."
"You have the stats and the videos."
"Yeah, but your last battle is from about six months ago, and I understand that you've been practicing mostly solo since then," he didn't respond, clearly not willing to listen to sense, so Anastasia tried another approach. "You could battle me, if you don't want your team-mates involved? I'm no world champ, but I'll know what to look for so we can be done quicker."
As she suspected, Kai wasn't a talker, but she knew he harboured a healthy level of curiosity about her. His eyes lit up slightly as she spoke, whether it was with the expectation of beating someone easily or with the idea of getting to know more about her, she couldn't tell. Still, she took his sudden movement from the sofa towards the door to mean that he was agreeing with her. Grabbing her bag off the floor next to her, Anastasia hurried after him.
He led her down two flights of stairs, ignoring the elevator and causing her to huff slightly in annoyance. The basement of the BBA building had a large gym and several different training rooms, for single as well as multiple players. Kai led her towards one of the doors at the far end of the corridor. Anastasia walked inside after him and noted that it was one of the simpler rooms, with a beydish in the centre that was larger than the one she was used to, plus a variety of computers and scanners in the corner that a technician would no doubt use while the team battled. Since there were only two of them, Anastasia dumped her things onto the empty desk and fired up the computer quickly. She fed it a few, basic commands, not interested in getting a play-by-play of the match but rather only wanting a recording and some statistical monitoring. Once she was satisfied with the system, she grabbed her beybalde and launcher and approached the dish, where Kai was already standing, his posture bored.
"Don't go easy on me," joked Anastasia, attempting to lighten the mood. She was surprised to see Kai smirk as he fitted his beyblade into the launcher. She mimicked him, merely cocking her head to one side and smiling easily when he glanced curiously at her white beyblade.
"I won't," was all he said. The machine behind them beeped out the countdown and they both released their beyblades at the same time. Anastasia's landed at the edge of the dish, swooshing down to the centre and meeting Kai's Dranzer head on in a display of power she was sure he hadn't been expecting from her. She tried to resist the urge to smile as she silently willed her bitbeast to go harder and faster, noting with no surprise that, while Kai was obviously the better beyblader, his control over his beyblade seemed to be lacking.
Filing that information away for future reference, Anastasia instructed her beyblade to pull back, waiting for Kai to attack, as she knew he was dying to do. He didn't disappoint, and within seconds he was pushing her beyblade back towards the edge of the dish. That should have been in the end of it, since Anastasia was sure she knew what the problem was, but she realized that she was enjoying herself. Being a technician, she didn't often battle other people simply for the sake of it. Despite the fact that this was purely an information-gathering exercise, she realized she wanted to draw it out for a little longer. Internally shrugging, she made her beyblade fly up, causing Dranzer to lose her balance slightly, but nevertheless keep spinning and move back to the centre of the dish. Anastasia's beyblade landed opposite her, flipped up again and landed on the other side. She knew she was showing off a little, and judging by Kai's raised eyebrows he thought so too.
She threw him an innocent smile. "Did you think I was all bark and no bite?"
His lips twitched. "Aren't you?"
Anastasia pretended to be surprised. "Is the superstar really going to challenge a lowly technician like me?"
He was definitely smirking now. "Let's see what you've got. Dranzer, flame thrower!"
"Vera, defence!"
Anastasia could have squealed with happiness when she saw Kai's eyebrows shoot up again as his attack turned from fire to smoke as Vera made a figure eight in front of Dranzer, causing a gust of wind to repel the flames.
"The only way to overcome your attack is to throw water on it or to just blow out the flames," said Anastasia, keeping her eyes fixed on Dranzer, who had begun to circle Vera now. "My bitbeast isn't a water or air type, but my beyblade is strong enough to cause a wind that can make sure you don't knock me out of the dish, as long as you don't call out your bitbeast."
"How did you know I wasn't going to call out my bitbeast?" Anastasia jumped in surprise when he spoke, tearing her eyes away from their circling beyblades and catching his gaze. He didn't look impressed, but the slight surprise in his tone was probably the closest thing to admiration she was ever going to get from him.
"Oh," Anastasia blinked and went back to watching the beyblades. "Because I saw your face when I said don't go easy on me. You didn't think I'd last this long. In fact, I bet you're still waiting for me to just stop spinning," she threw him a quick grin. "You don't think I'm enough competition for you to call out Dranzer."
She saw something flash in his eyes, and then his smirk widened until it looked like he was actually smiling at her. Anastasia blinked, completely taken aback. The next thing she knew, her beyblade whizzed past her, landing with a soft thunk on the carpeted floor behind her. He had knocked her out of the dish as soon as she had caught his eye.
Anastasia rolled her eyes good-naturedly and stepped away from the dish, going to pick up her beyblade, but Kai was already there. He was looking at the bitchip with mild curiosity.
"Which type?" he asked as she held out her hand.
"No elements," she shrugged as he dropped it into the palm of her hand. "Vera is a fox, and she's very fast."
"But you don't blade."
"I do, sometimes," Anastasia pocketed her beyblade and walked past him, towards the computers. As she began to save the data and burn a disc for her future use, Kai leaned against the desk and she saw from his body language that he was interested in hearing more, so she complied. "I'm just a sneaky attacker, honestly. I've never beybladed professionally."
"Where did you get your bitbeast from?" Kai surprised her by picking up her bag and swinging it over his shoulder as they exited the room. Anastasia blinked in confusion, but jogged to keep up with him, her mind in a turmoil. He was being nice to her now?
"Oh, it just sort of… happened," she said lamely. Kai raised an eyebrow. She blushed. "I'm not technically an orphan, but I lived alone for a long time, as a kid, in boarding school. It was an all-girls thing and we all really got into beyblading, and one of the girls had a bitbeast but she was never allowed to actually battle with it. We were like, thirteen or fourteen," she glanced up at him from beneath her lashes to see if he was still listening. The small crease between his eyebrows told her he was. "We were playing one night, and I kept losing. Eventually that girl brought out her bitbeast, and the next thing I know her beyblade is lying trashed in a corner and mine is doing figure eights in the beydish. I didn't really understand what Vera was until I met Judy, your friend Max's mom," at that, Kai turned to look at her, his curiosity fully piqued now. Anastasia tugged on a lock of her hair. "Yeah, Emily was the girl that I battled against. When she joined the All-Starz she introduced me to Judy. I hadn't really battled much, but I was really good with beyblades, fixing them and stuff, so she gave me a part-time job and eventually she kept me on as their technician. I was really good though, for my age, and since I wasn't into battling as much as everyone else, I had a lot of time to learn. I signed up with the BBA and I do favours for Mr. Dickinson from time to time. And that's how I heard about you."
Kai grunted in acknowledgement of her story, but didn't comment. Anastasia was grateful for his silence, and she scurried into the small office that housed her few belongings, quickly settling back onto the floor and opening her laptop to view the footage from the battle. Kai sat down next to her, to her surprise, and his posture told her he was watching the video as well. Since he didn't speak, Anastasia decided to ignore him and opened another window alongside the media player, quickly beginning to type out her notes.
She worked in blissful silence for at least two hours, re-watching the video until she was sure she knew every screech and move by heart. Once she was sure she had all the notes she needed, she sent the file for printing to the printer in the lobby and closed her laptop, signalling to her companion that she was done for the night.
Anastasia packed up her things quickly, feeling a stab of pity when she saw Kai rub the back of his neck wearily as he led her towards the elevator instead of the stairs. She tried to tug her bag out of his hands, but his grip was firm and he ignored her feeble movement. Deciding to let him have his strange form of chivalry, they rode the elevator in silence, and Anastasia bounded over to the printer as soon as the door opened. Her file was waiting for her in a neat stack.
"You're going to need to visit the beyblading store tomorrow," Kai's voice sounded in her ear suddenly, causing her to jump and turn around to face him quickly. He was much closer than she anticipated, and she had a full view of his strong, chiselled features, deep, mahogany eyes and lips that were too close to her own for comfort. Resisting the urge to blush like a preteen, she inwardly sighed in relief when Kai took a step back, obviously understanding the meaning of personal space.
It took her a few seconds to remember what he had been saying. "Oh, yeah, I should do that," she avoided his gaze and stuffed her papers into her bag. "Mr. Dickinson told me I could hire a car and-"
"Hire a car?" Kai sounded surprised. "For what?"
"Oh, I'm going to need to visit stores a lot because I like to tear apart prototypes as fast as I can."
Kai blinked at her offhand tone. "Tear apart…?"
"Yeah," Anastasia smiled slightly at his confused expression, her normal confidence returning once they began to talk about something she was familiar with. "Mr. Dickinson hired me because I'm good, after all. I don't build a beyblade in one go. I've done all my theory work," she gestured to the papers she had just put into her bag. "Now I need to start building prototypes. I play around with different stuff, like attack rings and defence rings, and then I try and incorporate everything into one beyblade. It sounds like it takes long, but it doesn't," she added reassuringly. "I kill prototypes really quickly."
"Okay," Kai didn't sound convinced. "But you don't need a car, Anna," her heart skipped a beat at the name. "I'm going to drive you."
"You're what?" Anastasia was completely taken aback. "Kai, you really don't have to do that, I-"
"It wasn't a question," a lazy smirk crept onto his face as he gestured for her to follow him to the parking lot. "Maybe this way I can teach you to beyblade too."
Anastasia huffed, forgetting her momentary confusion. "I know how to beyblade!"
"Not well," Kai shrugged and opened the passenger side door of his car for her, his movements so absent that Anastasia was sure it was something he had done unconsciously. He leaned against the door when she remained standing. "You have a lot of potential," he offered, his tone slightly grudging. "You're sneaky, and people will underestimate you. You don't have to hide behind your computers and your prototypes."
Anastasia shook her head. "I'm not hiding."
"You just don't want to share her," his tone was surprisingly gentle. Anastasia bit her lip, her eyes flickering down to her sneakers. It didn't surprise her that he had figured out the real reason she was so reluctant to beyblade, even though it was something she had never voiced in her entire life. "It's okay," his tone was still kind, but not smothering. She could appreciate that. "Anyway, it's getting late, I need to get you home."
The change of subject was a peace-offering, and Anastasia accepted it gladly. She slid into the car, shut the door behind her, and arranged her bag in her feet as Kai got into the car beside her and started the engine. Anastasia whistled at the sound. "I love your car."
He smirked again. "I'll let you drive it if you let me help you kill a prototype."
Anastasia's eyes widened. "Can I hold you to that?" the excitement in her voice caused Kai to almost laugh. She smacked his shoulder, ignoring his look of surprise when she touched him. "Please?"
Just because she was bearable today, didn't mean he would give in to her demands. Even if her eyes widening like that caused his mouth to go dry. "Shouldn't I be testing all prototypes anyway?"
"You should, but how would you know what to look for?" she spoke like it was obvious.
Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not an idiot."
"Nobody touches my prototypes," said Anastasia, waggling a finger at him threateningly. Then, her gaze flickered to his dashboard. "Though I would totally make an exception for this car."
Kai chucked at her enthusiasm, discreetly pressing a button on the steering wheel. The old-fashioned music system made a whirring sound, and he saw Anastasia's eyes widen as it began to fold up into itself, finally rotating back into the alcove of the dashboard. What was now in front was a much newer system, with multiple USB ports, a touch screen, and three CD players. She touched the power button gingerly, jumping slightly when it turned on. Her phone beeped, and Kai rolled his eyes when he realized it had connected to the nearest Bluetooth device automatically. However, Anastasia looked horrified, and the next second he realized why. The car began to play the last song she had listened to, which she had obviously paused halfway and forgotten to turn off.
He laughed as the words to a boy band song came on, and Anastasia picked up her phone and quickly jabbed the screen until the music shut off. Kai was still laughing.
"Its good for working?" she offered weakly. He only laughed harder. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.
