Reviews: The biggest thanks to everyone who reviewed. (throws cookies at everyone) X3

Ah! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry (times infinity) for taking so long to update. The last week and a half has been hell. First I get sick, is behind a lot of things at work and up to my armpits with it, next I had a board meeting at work that didn't go to plan (So not my fault!) and then I had another meeting that was supposed to go for an hour, but only lasted ten minutes! Gah! Working sucks! Why can't I win lotto?

Sorry about the tiny rant. I really should do it in my old live journal, but I can't be bothered. Too sleepy…Anyway, please enjoy!


I'm so glad my knee is better again, Kai muses to himself as he walks down the surprisingly empty streets under an overcast sky. I'd go mad if I had to stay inside a day longer.

The air is becoming uncomfortable humid, which tells Kai that more rain is on the way. It had been raining this very morning, but slowly came to a halt a little after lunch. Not that it matters all that much to Kai whether it is raining or not. He's just glad to get out of his apartment.

The same apartment Rick nearly busted his shoulder trying to break in to.

Kai can't help but chuckle softly at the thought of the bulky street blader and wonders if his shoulder is healing correctly. Rick has said that it doesn't hurt, but one can't be too sure. His pride can sometimes get in the way of admitting the truth. Not that the American would right out lie like that or anything, he just rather not be made a big deal over.

And Kai truly understands that. Still, he's just going to check up on him just in case. It's not like he has anything better to do at the moment.

God, he just hopes that he doesn't hurt his leg again and give Rick ample reason to hurl him over his shoulder like he has done, what, three times before? Kai's face flushes with indignity at how easy he had been thrown over his shoulder. Rick made it look so easy. Like he weighs next to nothing! It's humiliating…

The sound of someone rushing up behind him quickly pulls Kai from his musing, but it's a little too late. He receives what feels like a large, rough hand hitting his shoulder, pushing him to the side, and ultimately causing him to stumble off the street curb and into a large puddle of water on the edge of the road. In a daze, Kai sits on the ground, his knees bent, in the puddle of water, his gaze immediately falling on the back of a guy about his age wearing wore out, black leather, running along the foot path. The same footpath Kai had been standing on moments earlier.

Kai blinks, then realizes something. That guy didn't just bump into him on accident, he purposely pushed him!

"Hey!" Kai calls out in anger. "Watch where you're going, you inconsiderate prick!"

"Then don't get your scrawny ass in my way!" The guy yells over his shoulder.

"What?!" Kai immediately bristles. "Come back here and say that, you punk-rocker wannabe!" he yells, but the guy merely laughs and keeps running. What he is running from, Kai can only guess, but he's certain it isn't because of him. Damn, he must look pitiful sitting in this puddle, soaking wet.

"Dammit," Kai mutters as he immediately checks his knee, sighing with relief when he sees there are no injures to be seen. "Why do people always comment on my weight? It's getting old."

With a sigh, Kai moves on to his knees, and begins pulling out leaves and twigs from his hair. "Great, what else can happen?" Suddenly, he feels something hit his forehead. He blinks and turns his gaze heavenward, towards the gray sky. "Huh?" then another drop and then more. Soon it starts to pour down rain, coming in torrents. Kai feels his eye twitch. "Great. I should have known."

He struggles to stand up, dripping wet and flicks the water off his hands and then pushes the wet bangs from his eyes. "Karma is seriously pissed off with me for some reason," he gripes, but pauses when he hears another set of footsteps moving quickly towards him. He turns slightly, expecting another blow to the side when he sees a familiar tall, dark skin American. Their eyes immediately catches the other's.

"Rick?" Kai blinks.

Rick blinks as well, his eyes wandering up and down his body and Kai instantly feels self-conscious. "What the hell happened to you?" Rick asks, lending out his hand, helping Kai back onto the sidewalk.

Kai takes his hand and steps back off the street, sighing wearily as he does so. "Some jerk ran into me, knocked me over and then called me scrawny," he explains and narrows his eyes in a fearsome manner. "Gwad, you have some rude people in this city, I tell you."

Rick couldn't help but smirk at the comment. He knows all too well the rudeness of the city. He is a street blader after all. "Come on," he says, still holding on to Kai's hand in his much larger one. "There's a bus shelter not far from here."

Kai nods, unconsciously swallowing thickly when he feels Rick's hand tighten around his. Holding tightly onto Rick's hand as they start running down the footpath, Kai lets him lead the way as the torrential rain is causing him to become temporary blind due to his hand falling constantly over his eyes.

The only warning Kai receives when they reach the shelter of the bus shelter is by running directly into Rick's back when he stops suddenly. Muttering an apology, Kai steps back and shakes his head in an attempt to remove the water droplets from his hair, and out of his face.

Leaning against his knees Rick too shakes his head to dislodge water from his hair, before standing straight and looking out at the dark gray sky. "Typical, isn't it?"

Kai sighs heavily and mutters, "Don't get me started."

Rick smirks, before dropping it suddenly, his gaze immediately looking over Kai's body, looking for any injured after he remembers that Kai has been pushed earlier. "You didn't hurt your knee again, did you?" he asks.

"No, fortunately," Kai replies, trying to curl a rebellious strand of his hair behind his ear. "I just grazed my hand when I fell, but that's it. Didn't even break the skin."

Rick gazes at him with a hard stare before he nods and turns back towards the rain. "…when do you think the rain will stop?"

Shrugging, Kai sits down against the wall of the shelter and pulls his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around them hoping to create some extra heat as he is starting to get a chill from being soaking wet. "Who knows, hopefully it'll let up enough for us to make it home."

Once again, Rick nods before turning his gaze back towards Kai. His eyes instantly narrows when he notices that Kai is shivering slightly. He's trying to suppress the small shudders, but Rick's eagle eyes catches the small movements. "Eh? Are you cold?"

Kai shakes his head and bites the inside of his mouth to stop his teeth from chattering. "It's just a chill from being wet, that's all."

Rick's eyes narrow, not believing him for a moment. "You're going to get sick," he states with a authority in his voice.

"I'm fine," Once again Kai insists, before shivering again. Gwad, I must look pathetic.

Kai continues to shivering from the cold. Rick blinks down at him, sighs and shrugs off his jacket, offering it to him.

"It's waterproof, so I'm dry," Rick tells him, keeping his eyes elsewhere, looking to the world that this offering is taking a large amount of effort. "You take it."

Kai blinks blankly for a moment, looking at the offering. "Are you sure?"

Rick's eyebrow twitches slightly. "I wouldn't give it to you if I wasn't. Just take it."

Once again, Kai finds himself blinking at it, before lifting up his hand and takes the warm article of clothing, wrapping it around his shoulders and curls underneath is. "Thank you," he finds himself whispering.

Rick looks at him from the corner of his eye. "…Don't mention it," he replies just as quietly. He then moves to sit down next to Kai, and he folds his arms behind his head, waiting for the rain to stop. Kai sighs softly as he sits in silence, listening to the gentle pitter-patter of rain around him. He peers out from the corner of his eyes to gaze at Rick. The older teen is silently staring out at the rain, his face looking uncharacteristically soft, complacent.

Kai continues to gaze at him for a moment, before slowly turning back to the rain and pulling the jacket tighter around his body. He subconsciously rubs his cheek against the collar of the jacket and notices that is smells oddly like Rick. It's a deep, musky small. A mixture of aftershave, sweat and cologne.

And strangely the smell is oddly comforting.

Suddenly, the sound of feet thundering against the pavement pulls both teens out of the musings and to lazily glance up to see who it is. A moment later a teen not much shorter than Rick appears. He stumbles into the shelter, panting. But, as soon as he does, Rick shoots up to his feet, and stares him down, almost standing in a defensive position. The sudden movement startles Kai, but he doesn't move.

"What the hell do you want?" Rick snarls, venom dripping off each syllable, his lips in a thin line as he eyes fill with hate and anger.

The leather clad teen looks up, then immediately stands up straight, his own dark brown eyes narrowing with disgust. He runs his hand through his black hair that has streaks of red running through it before he points a finger directly at Rick, staring him down. "I want a rematch," he says suddenly.

"Get lost," Rick all but spits. "I'm not in the mood to battle amateurs. I'm above that, now."

The guy grits his teeth as he hands curl into fists by his sides, shaking with suppress anger. "You and me, sudden death match, right now."

Silently, Kai climbs to his feet and lingers in the background, subconsciously pulling the jacket closer. He peers around Rick, catching sight of the teen. He blinks, finding him somehow familiar. The teen suddenly glances over at him, and then smirks at him. He seems ready to say something, but is cut off Rick steps protectively in front of Kai, blocking him from sight. The sudden movement manages to startle Kai again as he finds himself staring at the back of Rick's shirt, clearly seeing the hard outline of his shoulder blades under the dark blue material.

"Fine, I accept your challenge," Rick says, as he pulls out his blade and launcher. "But only because you're pissing me off and I would love nothing more than to see you totally humiliated."

"We'll see about that," the teen smirks and pulls out his blade that is surprisingly a dark orange color. Kai had expected a either a black or red blade, after all, many punk-wannabes like those two colors, They're cool. But before either teen can launch their bladers a cop car drives past.

"Shit!" The teen curses before he pulls back and takes off running down the street, looking as if he's trying to avoid being seen.

Kai blinks as Rick noticeably relaxes. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

This time Kai narrows his eyes, skeptical at the short answer. "Uh huh. So, who was he?"

"Just someone I unfortunately know," Rick mutters in reply.

Kai pauses for a moment, before continuing his questioning. "He's an underground Beyblader, isn't he?"

Rick also pauses for a moment, before his shoulders slump ever so slightly in defeat. "Yeah, he goes by the name Bat Fang, something incredibly tacky like that. Named after the vampire bat, probably. He has one tattooed on his shoulder. He's just a wannabe punk, if you ask me. He also has it out for me."

"Was it because you defeated him, or something?"

He slowly nods. "Yeah, something like that."

Kai remains silent after that and smiles softly in understanding, before his eyes widening in alarm. "Hey, wait, I think I've seen him before…"

"You have?" Rick asks, as he turns around abruptly, successfully startling Kai for the third time in those many minutes. "Where?"

Kai reels back slightly in surprise at the demand. "Um, I think he was the guy who pushed me earlier," he replies slowly, before shaking his head. "No, wait, I'm sure of it."

Rick's eyes narrow dangerously, before snarling under his breath and turning in the direction the teen, now known as Bat Fang had run off. "Sounds like something he would do," he mutters. He suddenly turns back around and carefully takes Kai by the shoulder, looking him straight in the eyes. "Listen, Kai, you should probably stay away from him."

"What?" Kai asks, feeling slightly uneasy. It isn't like he's afraid of Rick himself, but the seriousness in his voice tells him that he shouldn't take this lightly. "Why?"

"He's dangerous."

"I've faced more dangerous opponent than him in a beybattle, Rick."

"I wasn't talking about Beyblade."

A look of surprise appears on Kai's face, before turning into understanding. "Oh, I see."

"Well, will you?" Rick asks, moving both of his hands to rest on Kai's upper arms, pulling him a little bit closer. So close in fact, if anyone should stumble across them, they would immediately apologize for interrupting an intimate moment.

"What?" Kai asks, trying to keep the fact that Rick is almost holding him up against his chest out of his mind.

Oblivious to Kai's discomfort, Rick leans forward to look straight into his eyes. "I want you to avoid him at all costs. Do you promise that you won't have anything to do with him?"

A splash of crimson spread across Kai's nose and cheeks at how protective Rick is sounding at the moment. "…Yes, I promise."

Rick noticeably relaxes, but keeps his hands on his arms. "Good."

Kai gazes up at him, his eyes holding a hint of confusion. He's so tense. I wonder what happened…

"Come on," Rick says suddenly, letting his hands drop to his sides. "the rain is letting up."

Kai finds himself frowning at the suddenly lost and looks down, remembering that he is still wearing his jacket. "Oh, here," he says as he goes to take it off, but Rick stops him.

"You hang onto it," he says. "My place it closer. You can give it to me later."

Kai is about to ask whether he's sure, but presses his lips together, remembering what Rick has said earlier. "Ok, I'll drop it off tomorrow."

Rick gives him a sharp nod as he gazes at him with he steel gray eyes. He then shoves his hands in his pockets and begins to walk away. He suddenly pauses and calls over his shoulder, "You better take care of your hand, it might get infected."

Kai glances at his hand, before lifting his head and nods. "Will do."

Rick smiles over his shoulder and continues walking. Kai watches him leave, pulling the jacket closer around his body. Suddenly, a small, gracious smile appears on his lips.

And he doesn't know why.


Oh, things are starting to get interesting now, aren't they? Bat Fang isn't really a made up name. I know some moron who calls himself that. No, really. Thinks he's incredibly cool, as well. He makes me laugh and shake my head at how cheesy he is. I mean, really, Bat Fang? (laughs hysterically and then sighs wearily) Gwad, my life's a circus.

Please review!