Title: Obsession

Author: PandaPjays

Chapter Title: Routine

Rating: T

Warnings: Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

Disclaimer: If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

Author Note: And welcome back for another funfun chapter! I'm on a complete sugar high so I apologise in advance if this note gives anyone a headache or if it's completely incomprehensible. I've made a New Year's resolution that I'm going to write at least a page of any given fanfic every day. So far I'm going well but we shall see how that goes down, no? Other resolutions I've made include the ever popular 'Be nice to people' THAT one went down the drain fairly quickly. As did 'use all christmas gifts'. Some have already been relegated to the cupboard. Ain't life grand? Anyways I think that's enough rambling from my corner. Enjoy!

"Kai!"

Kai looked up from his computer screen, trying to make it look like had hadn't been spacing out for the past half hour. "Hm?"

"Kai!" The person called again before seeing the man he was seeking sitting at his desk. "Oh thank God, you haven't left!"

Kai raised an eyebrow at the other man in front of him. "Why would I have left?" He asked mildly.

"I don't know!" The blonde in front of him said, waving his arms. "Karma?"

Kai smirked in amusement. "Karma? Is that what it is this week?"

Enrique shot Kai a glare. He was famous in the office for having a new craze almost every week. Last week it had been feug shui and he had spent his time rearranging the office to produce the best flow of positive energy, or something similar to that. Kai wasn't up on the details. That said, Enrique had found that his wastepaper basket had been in the 'wealth' section of his cubicle. That explained more than it didn't.

"No. Karma is universal. Not 'this week'. It's the lazy way of getting revenge." The blonde told Kai matter-of-factly. "Now. I need your help."

Kai sighed. "What with?"

"You suck at organising things so they're readable"

Kai's face went stony. "I'll assume that there was a hidden compliment in there somewhere."

"No, Kai. There wasn't. For whatever reason, one of our clients have decided to pull out of here and go and find another company to advertise their products. Obviously the words 'Best in Japan' just don't have the same ring as it used to."

Kai tuned out as Enrique continued to ramble. He discreetly glanced at the clock to see how long it would be until he could escape and go to see Rei.

No. To go and have lunch. Seeing Rei was a bonus.

A big bonus.

Actually the whole reason he went to that café every day.

The café had only been open for a week and it had found a regular customer in Kai. Normally whenever something new such as The Gatling opened Kai would go for a couple of days and then somehow or another end up not going back.

Not so anymore.

He didn't know what it was about the Gatling that made him want to go back… actually he did. It all had to do with Rei. He fascinated Kai.

Rei was different from anyone else Kai had had the misfortune to lay eyes upon. For one thing, there was his mere appearance. Even after seeing him many times as he moved, no, floated through the café doing whatever he was doing, Kai still had to remember to breathe. It was something in the way Rei always dressed in white like some sort of angel. Or maybe it was his hair.

Kai had not realised, quite, how long Rei's hair was until a few days ago when Rei had turned around quickly and his hair had whipped Kai in the face. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It gave Kai a chance to speak to Rei. One of the few chances he had had.

There was one event that stuck in his mind, though. Whenever he fell back on his new-found activity of contemplating Rei he always came back to the day Rei had served him coffee. Apparently a new selection of coffee had come in; it had been called a really pathetic name that Kai couldn't remember. He hoped that it wasn't Rei who had come up with it but even if he had small imperfections only made him all the more perfect. He was able to rise above his flaws. Anyway, Kai had decided on a whim to see what would happen if Rei were to pick his coffee for him. He was interested to see the results of his experiment.

The results had been outstanding.

It had been the best coffee Kai had ever tasted. How Rei knew that he liked truly bitter coffee was beyond him. But, somehow, Rei had known. He had known how to pick the perfect coffee.

If Enrique hadn't still been blathering on about something to do with the other company's accountant not being able to decipher Kai's work he would have laughed at himself. Matchmaking through coffee choice? It sounded absurd.

It was absurd.

But Kai couldn't help placing at least a little bit of value in it. Maybe it was telling that Rei knew something about him just by looking at him. Maybe it was saying that Rei understood Kai just a little bit more than most people.

Maybe he was starting to sound like Enrique with his wild speculations about fate and destiny. Speaking of Enrique…

"-Kai? Have you listened to a word I've said?"

"No." Kai figured that honesty was the best policy when it came to Enrique. That, and it was funny to watch the blonde get angry.

"KAI!"

"Yes?"

"I don't think you've quite got a grasp on how important this is. If we get a reputation for not having legible accounts people are going to stop coming here."

"What I do is legible. It's printed off a computer. It's in a format that I understand. What's the problem? I'm the only person who sees it anyway."

"That's the point! We're not going to be paid for the work we've done already if the other company's accountant can't figure out what you've recorded!"

"Let him figure it out on his own then. It's what he's paid to do."

"No, Kai. That's what you're paid to do." Johnny told him, walking up behind Enrique and glowering down at Kai. "I expect it to be done."

Kai debated whether death glaring at Johnny was a wise move. He decided against it when Johnny's eyes took on a superior glint. That only meant one thing.

Kai's life was about to go from hell to uber-hell.

Kai nodded grudging consent to the task Enrique had been trying to get him to do. Here came the news Johnny had been dying to impart.

"Oh!" Johnny said nonchalantly like it had only just occurred to him. "By the way! On Monday we're getting a new trainee accountant. He'll be your responsibility."

And there it was. Kai struggled not to stand up and start using his chair as a hammer to Johnny's nail.

"W-what?" He asked, cringing inwardly at how pathetic he sounded.

"Exactly what I meant. This office needs a new accountant, it's too much work for you." Kai noted how Johnny pointedly left out the 'alone' part of that sentence. "So we're getting a new one in."

By new one you mean a replacement for me when you find a way to fire me, yes? Kai asked silently, keeping his face as emotionless as possible. "Ok. What's his name?" He asked cautiously.

Johnny shrugged. "I can't remember. You'll have to ask him when he gets here on Monday," He said, placing extra emphasis on that word. Belatedly, Kai realised that it was Friday so this was apparently his last day of freedom.

He nodded, hoping that his gesture was enough to make Johnny saunter away to go and tell other people how important he was.

Thankfully, he was right.

Johnny left, leaving Enrique to lean with one hand on Kai's desk. "What did I tell you?" He asked. "Karma. If you even tried to be nice to him you might find that working here is a whole lot easier."

"And suck up to him like certain people I could glare at?" Kai asked snippily as he eyed the box Enrique had lugged over when he had first come to Kai's desk.

Enrique stood up straight abruptly. "If that's the way that you feel about it no wonder Karma's out to get you." He told Kai shortly before walking away and pulling out his mobile phone.

Probably going to call his spiritual advisor Kai thought, rolling his eyes as he hefted the office box Enrique had brought over on to his desk and began to look through it, looking for the faded print that his printer always produced no matter how many times he changed the cartridge.

He found a few scattered pages near the top, then another a few sheets further down into the pile.

You are kidding me. Kai thought as he looked at the pile hopelessly. Obviously whoever had been through the box last had forgotten and all principles of neatness and orderliness. It looked like the papers had been taken out of the box, had a game of fifty-two thousand pick-up played with them and then had been shoved back into the box without anyone caring how they went in.

This was going to be a long morning. Kai glanced at the clock. And it was only 9:30. He had been at work for an hour. Life was not being kind.

Before he started on the monster of a task that he had in front of him Kai stood up and made his way to the staff kitchen. He set the kettle to boil and pulled out a cup from the cupboard, checking it carefully, making sure it had been washed properly. Kai was certain that at least half of the staff had rabies or some other sort of deadly jungle virus. He didn't want to risk catching it.

When he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the cup, Kai set it down on the bench with a sigh. He rubbed his eyes as he felt the beginnings of a headache begin to pound behind them and spooned two heaped tablespoons of coffee into his mug.

He had figured out how to plug in the coffee machine at home so it was only here, at work, that he had to resort to drinking the much hated instant. Kai opened the small fridge gracing the corner of the room and peered into it, looking for the milk.

He located it between two containers of something. Kai reached for the milk bottle without really looking at it and pulled it out. He checked the due date of the milk cursorily and froze in his actions.

The milk was about a month out of date.

When Kai looked down at the actual contents of the bottle he saw that the milk was taking on a distinctly yellow-ish tinge. He quickly put the bottle down and stepped away from it, as if putting some distance between it and himself would change anything.

People are gross. Kai decided as he peered cautiously at the bottle, afraid that it would explode. He didn't know what had possessed him to reach for the milk. He knew that the milk was never what could be classed as hygienic. He knew it. And yet he had reached for it anyway.

At the office he always drank black coffee. He'd had too many 'coffee ruined by lumpy milk' episodes to risk trying to have white coffee. But at home, where the milk was guaranteed not to be lumpy, he always had white coffee. So maybe it had been force of habit.

It semi-appalled Kai that he could think of the office as anywhere close to his home so he quickly finished making his coffee, threw away the milk and made his way back to the desk.

He glanced at the clock on his computer. 9:35.

Kai sat down with a sigh and took a sip of the scalding, bitter liquid he had made for himself. Bring on lunchtime.

There was no question about where he'd go.

-o-

When Kai entered the courtyard in front of the café he had to stop himself from sighing in relief. Whenever he entered into Rei's home ground he felt like the weight of whatever was stressing him was left on the street, ready for him to pick up when he left his sanctuary.

He immediately made his way to the counter of the café and ordered a cappuccino from the red haired server. Tala. Kai remembered. On the second day that he had visited, while enjoying the coffee Rei had chosen for him, Kai had dedicated himself to learning the names of the staff. The only member that he hadn't seen, only heard about, was Lee, the chef.

"Would you like to try an exotic bean flavour from our Great Coffee Bonanza?" Tala asked him.

"Yes. I don't know what it's called but the other day I came in here and someone served me coffee that was really bitter." Kai carefully omitted mentioning Rei's name. It sounded too familiar to say out aloud.

Tala thought for a second. "I have no idea which one you're talking about." He said honestly before looking at the selection offered in the 'Bonanza. "How about I use the bitterest flavour we have and see if that was the one you wanted?"

Kai nodded his assent and took the number Tala offered him. 23? Wow. They must be busy today. He thought absently as he moved to take is usual seat in the café.

He sighed as he sat down and ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up even more crazily than it had been before.

His attention immediately snapped to the door that lead to the kitchen when Rei walked through it.

Kai's memories of the man were nothing compared to the real thing. There was no word that Kai could think of to describe Rei as a whole. No word other than- 'Wow', that is.

Today Rei was wearing his usual white ensemble, the only difference being that he had decided to use a red wrap to wrap up his hair. Kai thought that it gave the outfit just enough dramatic flare without being melodramatic. He loved it.

But then again he loved any and all of the clothes that Rei wore.

Rei said something to Bryan before walking around the counter.

Kai frowned, confused, Rei wasn't holding anything. Why was he coming out on to the main floor?

His question was soon answered as Rei reached the door of the café and turned around to wave, grinning at Tala and Bryan behind the counter. "I'll be back in an hour." He told them before turning around and walking out of the building.

What? No! Come back! Kai thought at Rei, hoping that his thoughts would somehow or another be projected into the other's mind.

They weren't.

Immediately, as Rei left the premises, Kai felt all of the stress and worries of the day hit him hard.

Without Rei in it the Gatling was just like any other café. It didn't have the effect that Kai wanted, no, needed it to have. He needed to have somewhere that he could be and not worry about work or anything related to it.

Apparently, without Rei it wasn't possible.

Kai stood up and left the café, ignoring the fact that he still hadn't received his coffee.

He picked his way through the tables and began his long, arduous journey back to work. Maybe for work he could subscribe to the principle that the sooner he started the sooner he'd finish.

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