Greetings, all! Thank you to The Dark Light 22, storm-of-insanity, catseyes77, Blood of the Wolf, and Avatar of Fyre for reviewing! Wowy…so many, LOL. Much appreciated. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade; it belongs to Aoki Takao. Haven't you figured that out by now?

Chapter Seven

Kai's POV

I traveled once again, for about six days: It took me that long to get to the suburbs Tala lived in. It took me a while to remember which house was his; all the houses in his neighborhood looked like they accommodated rich people.

I stood in front of his house for a long while, staring, wondering what I was going to say. I hoped Tala would be there, but I wasn't sure at how he would react to seeing me; I did kind of just leave without a "good-bye" or "thank you" and I panicked when he claimed, in a somewhat childish way, that I was his friend.

I hoped he would understand why I did that after I explained because I thought of him as a friend too, and I could have used a friend—no matter how strange and undesirable that confession was inside.

Another thing, I was hoping that his parents weren't that upset about the whole escapade…simply because I was hungry; I had to skimp with food because my money was running low. Just another thing to feel weak for…unable to stay at proper nutrition level on my own….

"Can I help you young man?" a male voice broke into my thoughts. Startled that there was someone present besides me, I turned around and found myself looking at Tala's father, Ivan. When he recognized me, the only suggestion of his emotion was the dislike flaring in his eyes; the rest of his face remained void.

"Aren't you the kid who stayed at our house for a night a couple of weeks ago?" His unhappiness upon seeing me was hinted in his voice.

"Yeah," I responded monotonously.

"And you're back? Why?" he asked, making me feel as if I were a suspected criminal being interrogated.

"I have my reasons."

"Tell me those reasons."

"I want to talk to Tala."

He chuckled sarcastically. "Oh. And why is that?"

"Why'd you laugh?"

"Because you're one of many to make my son feel worthless and disrespect my family. I chuckled because you're the only one so far to come to our house and then come back a second time." With that, he walked past me toward his house. When he was a few feet past me, "Wait" came out of my mouth. He turned back around, staring at me with dislike and anger written on his features.

"What?"

"I didn't come here to make Tala feel worthlessor todisrespect your family, this time or the last. I came here to talk to him, and about what is none of your concern. Also, I wanted to thank you and your wife for housing me and giving me my basic needs. With that being said, I would like to speak with Tala."

Ivanstared at me, surprise evident among the other, more negative emotions.

"Fine," he said after a long silence.

He turned and slowly walked toward his house, and I followed suit. Once inside, he told me Tala was in his room andIvan walked off in another direction, leaving me to remember where Tala's room was. I made my way up the stairs and I wandered down the hallway until I stopped in front of the only closed door. I knocked on it without giving myself a chance to decide what I was going to say because I knew I would stare at that door forever going over my words.

Silence came from the other side of the door, followed immediately by clamoring. A couple of minutes later, the door swished open, revealing Tala, who looked rather emotionless.

Well, that didn't last long: Upon seeing who had knocked, his crystal-clear-blue eyes widened. "Kai? What are you doing here?"

"Apologizing." What I was saying was so unlike me…but something about this boy was goading me into acting as such. For some reason or other, I had the strangest gut feeling that he was like me…that he was lonely and in pain too…and his father's words had only backed up that instinct. It felt comforting to know someone else in the world shared my emotions….

Tala regained his collected poise, and simply cocked an eyebrow.

I continued, "Well…about leaving like I did…I'm sorry." Internally, I was hoping he would take that well; after all, it wasn't every day Kai Hiwatari apologized…especially to people who are so…girlish….

I broke our eye contact, gazing downward at the floor, examining my shoelaces, while the redhead mulled over what I had said….

"…Why should I believe that you are sorry?"

Should have seen that coming…. "I hardly ever apologize. Hardly ever. The fact that I'm doing so to you speaks for itself." (Note that I left out the part about my thinking of him as girly….)

Still, I examined my shoelaces, feeling rather like a 12-year-old girl myself….

I must say, I was shocked to hear what Tala said next.

"That's…alright."

So startled was I that I actually gazed into his eyes again. And I received yet another shock to see…melancholy sincerity reflecting in the blue depths.

And, in an action quite the opposite of what his eyes portrayed…he sent me yet another shock by upturning one corner of his mouth in a slight smile.

The biggest shock of all was yet to come:

I couldn't explain it…but Tala gave me an odd feeling of acceptance…like he knew what I was going through, like he knew I was feeling pain…and thus, I allowed one corner of my mouth to upturn as well….

--

I tried to keep Kai in-character while making him…realistic? Yeah, I find that really hard…so please tell me what I could have improved on in that category…much appreciated.

have a nice day

CyborgRockStar