Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade in any way. The only character I own is Marina as she's my OC. I have permission to use Tari from my friend, Smiffyizdabest. Any other references I make are purely coincidental.
Chapter 3: Love Hurts
The following morning, Marina went down to breakfast early, before any of her team-mates.
"I don't know if I should say anything…" she started to herself as she entered the kitchen and stopped when she saw Kai.
"Something wrong?" asked Kai as Marina just stood at the doorway.
"Huh? No, just got a lot on my mind at the moment." answered Marina taking a seat at the table.
"Has somebody died? You're both looking so tense this morning." said Brooklyn walking in, as calm and relaxed as usual.
"Brooklyn, unless you were completely out of it yesterday, you would know that there is a lot to think about." said Kai.
"Oh, you mean Boris being seen? Is that worrying you, Marina?"
"Actually, no, Brooklyn. I…have more than that on my mind." she answered, looking down.
She and Kai looked up as Tari entered. Brooklyn edged away to the nearest wall.
"What is wrong with him?" Tari asked, indicating Brooklyn.
"No clue." answered Kai and Marina together. Tari almost frowned slightly.
"You guys are all so weird. Four of you in there and no smell of breakfast." said Tyson from the other room.
Kai just sighed; leave it to Tyson to mention food when there is something more important to think about.
Later on, Mr. Dickinson informed them that Hiro would be arriving the next day because of travelling from Japan to Russia, so the two teams decided on another snowball fight.
"Bryan, he's in your sights!" yelled Ian as Bryan aimed at Ray.
"Ian, will you stop giving everything away?" asked Bryan angrily, turning to face Ian.
"Um…Bryan. Behind!" shouted Ian diving away and a massive snowball formed by Ray and Tyson landed on Bryan.
Tala, Marina and Brooklyn were sitting on the sidelines as supporters for Bryan, Spencer and Ian. Brooklyn was looking at Tari a few times. Tala was laughing at Bryan, but Marina was distracted.
"Bryan, we were all taught better than that." said Tala.
Tala ended up getting hit by a snowball. A big one.
"Now try and be smart." said Bryan turning back to the snowball fight.
Marina smiled as Tala brushed all the snow away. He had been reduced to a Russian Snowman.
"I didn't deserve anything less than that." said Tala, smiling as well.
Kai, Tari and Kenny were on the sidelines for Tyson, Ray and Max. Kenny was excited. Kai wasn't interested as usual, while Tari was clearly distracted.
"I hate Boris. Why can't he just stay away?" Tari asked herself.
Suddenly, a snowball hit Tari making her stumble backwards.
"Oh, darn. I'm sorry, Tari." said Ian. "I mis-aimed."
A snowball hit Ian making him fall on his back.
"Was that you, Ian? So sorry, I didn't see your shrimpy form there." said Kai sarcastically and Tari laughed.
Not long after the snowball fight finished, Tari was walking down one of the corridors thinking when Brooklyn came out a room and walked into her.
"Sorry, Tari." he said, trying to hide a blush, which fortunately Tari didn't notice.
"Get out of my way." she said harshly and walked past Brooklyn. He didn't seem too bothered though.
He went down to one of the rooms and saw Kai, Marina and Tala. Rather, Tala and Marina were together while Kai stayed out the way.
"Are you okay?" asked Marina seeing Brooklyn.
"Yeah, of course." said Brooklyn.
Marina had a long kiss with Tala, and Brooklyn could tell Kai didn't want to be in the same room as them.
He indicated to Kai and Kai left the room with him.
"I'm guessing you didn't want to stay with my cousin and her boyfriend." said Brooklyn, almost smiling.
"No, I didn't."
They walked through the corridors, not talking much. They got so many floors up when they encountered Tari. She still looked distracted.
"Are you all right?" Brooklyn asked politely.
"Brooklyn, leave me alone. I don't trust you or like you and I'm not going to pretend otherwise." said Tari and she walked away from them.
Brooklyn watched her go and Kai noticed.
"You better not have a thing for my sister." he said, giving Brooklyn a dark glare.
"Well, I…um." said Brooklyn, a little embarrassed and trying to find an excuse.
"You do." said Kai, knowing for sure now.
Brooklyn looked a little nervous.
"Do you know what Tari's been through? She doesn't need you making things worse." said Kai.
"I don't intend to make things worse." said Brooklyn backing away a little.
"Your presence makes things worse and the only reason I haven't said anything before now was for Marina's sake."
"Sorry, Kai. I'll leave Tari alone." promised Brooklyn.
"You better leave her alone. Don't go near her or you'll wish you had never been born." Kai said and walked away; leaving Brooklyn with a small look of relief on his face that nothing else had happened.
Where Tala and Marina were, they were sitting together, Tala's arm around Marina and Marina had her head on his shoulder.
"I don't know why I did it, Marina." said Tala, out of nowhere.
"Did what? Something bothering you?" asked Marina.
"Lost control and attacked you three years ago." said Tala.
"Tala, it's in the past and I forgave you. Don't let it bother you." said Marina.
"I've had history with Tari though. I never attacked her like that. I did after my experiment, but never because of my emotions." said Tala.
"What do you mean? You didn't lose control with Tari, but you did with me." asked Marina, a twitch of annoyance in her voice.
"I didn't mean that." said Tala.
"What was it, Tala? Was she easier to be with? Am I a problem? Someone you couldn't handle as easy as you liked?" said Marina, starting to lose control in her anger.
"You're being stupid, Marina. The reason is because you're my true love. Tari was a phase in the past." said Tala, trying to explain and partly lying.
"A phase? Was that it?" asked Tari, hearing the argument from the doorway.
"I'll explain it. Give me a minute." said Tala, who was having trouble here.
"I'm your true love. Really?" asked Marina.
"Yes, though me and Tari were close." admitted Tala.
"Well, if that's the case…" started Marina, and Kai entered behind Tari.
"Tari?"
"Don't ask what started this." answered Tari, so she and Kai just watched the argument unfold.
"What's the case? What are you thinking?" asked Tala.
"You can stick your true love!" and she slapped Tala around the face and ran out the room, between Tari and Kai, crying.
"We have to stop her. She can't leave the base." said Tala, rubbing his cheek.
Kai smiled at first, but left, leaving Tari with Tala.
"What was he smiling about?" asked Tala.
"Well, Tala. Seeing you getting slapped by a girl isn't an everyday thing." she said and he smiled slightly. It was something new.