Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. I own, however, Seiko and all her genealogic tree and volleyball players around her. I do not own some of the team's names referred in here, since I'm not even sure if some exist or not, and definitely not the national teams.


Chapter 7: Engineering

Ray had absolutely no idea why there was a knock on their door, even though he was back home watching Mariah carrying a letuce and then throwing it on the middle of a railroad he didn't even know. His subconscious frowned, what the hell was that? And why did he keep hearing someone knocking if there were no doors around the place where he was?

A surprisingly sharp knock, however, made him open his eyes and blink quickly, eyes hurting because of the sudden flash of light projected by the digital clock on his bedside table. God, that thing was bright... and kept blinking, and showed that it was 2.43h in the morning. He started. Someone knocking on the door at this hour? He rolled over to spot the other boy lying on the bed beside him watching his breathing make the blanket move up and down in a slow and steady pace. Hadn't he known better, Kai would be fast asleep and dreaming about whatever a guy like him dreams about, but he could sense that he was very much well awake, and had just waited for him to wake up and take care of whatever was happening. Ray rolled lazily out of the bed and opened the door, squinting his golden eyes to peek on the corridor and the person who had woken them up.

"Wha... Hilary?" he muttered lazily, sticking his head through the space between the door and its frame. The brunnette was looking sheepish, and slightly adorable in that oversized beige pajamas of hers.

"I can't sleep, Ray," she whispered back, not wanting to disturb the people in the other rooms. Wise move, the neko-jin thought. In hotels, you could always listen to what other people were saying in the corridors. It was standard fact. "I've been waiting up for Seiko to come back, but then I realized she might not come, and I got worried..."

Apparently Hilary wasn't making much sense at the moment. Probably she was just as tired as he was. However, the fact that Seiko hadn't shown up in her room at this time of the night was unsetling. He thought about warning her team's coach, Kozue, but then he had heard before that she wasn't staying in the hotel but in a villa in the suburbs of the city. "Do you know who the vice-captain of their team is?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger.

At that, Hilary blinked, wondering why she had never thought about that fact. Ray knew that was it she was thinking because he was wondering the exact same thing. So far, Seiko had been the one who took the reins and led the team even outside the courts. Her presence had been so demanding that it put the people around the team certain that she was boss, and no one else. He frowned. There was always a team captain and a vice-captain. Who could it be? Yama was wise and mature but she seemed too aloof to actually have a leadership role. Kimi was just too much of a trouble maker to actually bear the responsibility of a whole team on her shoulders. Chikako seemed nice, but not exactly autoritary... he wondered if there was a girl in the National team that hadn't shown her true leadership skills so far, some sort of Shadow Queen (and where the hell did he pick that expression up?) that only showed her true character when the situation called for it.

Ray sighed. "I guess we can take a look around the hotel," he suggested, tilting his head a bit to lean on the door frame.

Hilary looked relieved. "Seriously? Can we do that? I wanted to, but the hotel looks so dark and scary at night..." as if on cue, she shivered. Ray gave her a sleepy, but comforting smile. "Yeah, just let me get dressed, I'll knock on your door when I'm ready."

"Alright!" She said, a little too louder than she was supposed to and, realizing that, covering her mouth with her hands. She gave him a thumbs up, and went back to her room to get changed, while Ray turned around and shut the door behind him to do the same.

He took a look at Kai's fake-sleeping form absently. Hillary had told them that Seiko had arrived late the other night and that when Hillary had woken up, she was gone already. He had thought Seiko was hanging out in her team-mates' room or something, but it was starting to look like this was something that Seiko did regularly. Even if he wasn't the type to pry into other people's business, he couldn't help feeling that something was fishy. Maybe she turned into a ninja warrior at night to fight against the darkness that looms over the purity of justice ...man, he wasn't exactly awake yet, was he? He shook his head and decided to put some clothes on, and then, when he opened the door, he found a Max zooming past by him. "Hey!" Ray whispered fiercely, making the blond america turn on his heels with a start. "Jesus on a flying cracker, Ray, don't scare people like that!" Max reprimanded as he looked around and put his hand on his chest to control the heaving.

"What are you doing here?" Ray asked him, taking in his sleeping outfit - t-shirt and some large old shorts.The blonde grinned. "I was about to get something from the vending machine by the elevator, I get hungry in the middle of the night, see, and I ran out of Oreos," Max did a double take on the Chinese boy and, immitating him, took in his clothes. "Why are you in full gear at a time like this?"

Ray sighed. "Seiko hasn't gone to her room yet, and Hillary is worried. I'm going to search around the apartment with her," he said. The American tilted his head.

"So you just searched your bedroom? Did you think she was with Kai or something? I've always heard that opposites attract, not the other way around..." at Ray's pointed look, he stopped with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, head functions funny at this time of the night."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Ninjas."

"Dude, I so understand that."


In the end, Max decided to go with them, since the cookies and the soda he bought were sort of giving him a sugar rush and he needed to do something before trying to get back to sleep to burn it all, or it would end up in a night with tossing and turning on his bed, specially with Tyson on the bed next to him snoring like a bull. This usually resulted in not getting enought rest and him in a groggy state until noon, and Max hated that. He wondered if a hangover felt similar; he had heard tales and stories about hangovers that made your head hurt, and even though he didn't drink (never saw the appeal of alcohol, after all), he had to wonder about it. He was a teenager, right? It was normal to be curious about this kind of things, though Max knew better than to exactly try them.

The American wondered about these late nights of Seiko. Where could she be, and what exactly was she doing at this hour? Max peeked around a corner where two hallways intercepted, just to take a look at the lounge in the ground floor. "She's not here, either," he told the brunette next to him, shrugging his shoulders in a sign that there was nothing he could do.

Hilary grunted. Seiko wasn't even in the gym, where she thought she would be. The volleyball player seemed to be the type of person who would stay up the hours of the night to train alone, but it was with slight disappointment and some anxiousness that she found the gym empty, the floor shimering and reflecting the city light projected through the windows. She had found the court beautiful like that, specially when Max turned on the lights to take a better look. Seeing the lights flickering and becoming more stable with each blink as it revealed the gym little by little, the light dampness of the air surrounding it, and specially the quiet, every single step given by her or Max echoing easily in the walls, the pristine white net stretched across the field... she could understand the appeal to it. And as she glanced over to Max, he must've been thinking along the same lines too.

"Maybe Ray has better luck," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "He's better at covering ground than us, after all."

Hilary nodded. Ray said he'd be back when he finished taking a look at the upper floors. In the meanwhile, she was going to take a breath of fresh air in the garden.

The air was damp outside, there were small droplets of water on the grass blades with the night dew, but it was warm and comfortable. The night sky was clear, but showed no stars, due to the heavy lighting of the city around them. There were small light spots in the middle of the lush garden, providing small places with interesting shadows cast on the ground and the walls. It made this simple garden look like a place of a fairy tale, and Hilary imagined masquerade parties in the middle of a night like that, soft violin music drifting through the air and brushing pleasantly over someone's ears like the dew in itself. Clearly the hotel designer had thought about every single detail.

She stretched and yawned, and then spun on the tips of her toes to go back inside. It was then that she noticed something that contrasted with the dream-like landscape around her. On the pristine white wall, next to the electric doors, there was a dark patch, almost circular, with a pattern that was pretty much familiar to her.

"Hey, Max, come over here," she said, stepping closer to it and tracing the dent on the wall with her fingertips. When Max stood next to her, she pointed to it. "Isn't this from a beyblade?" she asked, stepping aside to let him take a closer look. The blond leaned into it, and blinked, tilting his head. "Yeah, a beyblade apparently smashed against the wall face first on here. I wonder if it had a bitbeast and if it did, if it damaged it," he muttered. Hilary's eyebrows arched graciously. "I don't recognize the pattern, though. Is this," she pointed to the edge of some spiky curves that curled outwards, like a burning sun, "an attack ring?"

"...yeah." Max frowned, he had seen this type of attack ring before, but he knew for sure that it wasn't a common attack ring. Who did this beyblade belong to? And what happened for it to smash face first on this wall? "I might ask Kenny about it, maybe Dizzy can have some information on it."


Ray was about to give up searching for Seiko. To be honest, he wouldn't have done it if it weren't for Hilary seeming so worried. That in itself puzzled him. One moment Hilary was dead afraid of the volleyball captain, the other she couldn't sleep because she was worried and wondering where she was. For some reason it struck him as odd, and he decided to put it on the "women are complicated" behavior list. Not that he hadn't seen that happen before. Once in a while, when he was upset with Mariah or vice-versa, he witnessed some of her mood-swings before. One time she was angry and hissing at him, the other she was almost purring at him and giving him those eyes... Argh, snap out if. Bad kitty! He sighed again. It wasn't the time of thinking about his girlfriend, which he missed terribly. He needed to make sure that Seiko wasn't in one of these conference rooms in one of the top floors.

Ray opened the door to the first one, only to find the light out and empty. The large window pane consisted in a whole wall, showing the Tokyo landscape by night, a perfect place to take a picture, copy it and sell them as postcards. The room had a large table, eclipse-shaped and surrounded by chairs that looked posh and executive and yet comfortable. Hanged on one of the walls was a silver screen, and, on the oposite side of the room, a projector. He wondered if the people who had meetings in this room actually managed to get some work done. All a person needed to get distracted was taking a look at the landscape and absort themselves in it, which wasn't a hard task at all. Ray could just sit there and meditate while looking over it, the hullaballoo of the city night life quietened down easily with the altitude where he was, distant from everything stressful.

Well, Seiko didn't seem to be there. He shut the door quietly, and it was then that he found a light at the end of the (tunnel? Shut up) hallway. It was seeping under the door, from another conference room. He strode the corridor with light steps, and noticed when he was close enough that the door was open, just resting by the door frame. Ray pushed it slowly and peeked through the gap, blinking at the light hitting his eyes. He saw various piles of books and papers, and he had to open the door a bit more to take a better look.

It was then that he saw a person sitting at the farthest seat of the long meeting table, head resting on arms that were folded over the table top, over a book. If it weren't for the long braid cascading down her shoulder and coiling around her elbow, Ray couldn't exactly tell it was Seiko. Was she okay? He opened the door, and quietly moved closer.

She seemed to be asleep. The neko-jin had to make a triple-take to make sure it was her, after all. Those stern features he had seen the other days were absolutely gone, and he realized then that she seemed a lot older than she actually was. He had given her more than 20 years old, but now that he watched her sleep, he just noticed she was probably their age. Another thing she had in common with Kai, he thought as he reached to brush away a strand of her hair that was lying across her cheek and over her lips; that, and the fact that the Russian also looked extremely vulnerable when he was sleeping. He had seen his expression once or twice when he woke up in the middle of the night for no special reason. He also knew that was why Kai was always the one getting up early, so others wouldn't wake up to see his face, and why he was the last one going to bed, waiting for everyone to fall asleep first. Ray thought it was a plain silly reason, but he didn't talk to him about it. Kai was a proud guy, so of course he would find it a weakness and would probably be pissed if mentioned.

But Seiko looked vulnerable and extremely tired. The light accentuated the dark circles forming under her eyes, barely noticeable by the dark lashes that crowned her cheekbones. Ray looked over to the books and the papers. There was a large ruler resting over a wide blue paper and a white marker. Plans? He leaned in and found that it was a blueprint of an automobile. He picked up the first book on the pile on his left and read the title: Advanced Engineering, it said. So Seiko was studying to be an engineer? On top of being a volleyball player? He wondered why she was doing this. Her team mates were right, she was overworking herself.

Ray sighed and decided he shouldn't wake her up, that it would embarrass and infuriate her to no end to have him find her there. He made sure she was well sat on the chair and took the books under her arms carefully. This was the least he could do. He went away and turned the lights off, checking on Seiko once more before closing the door behind him and heading towards the lobby, where Max and Hilary were possibly waiting for him. He turned around, suddenly, with an odd prickle on the back of his neck. He scratched that spot. How odd, he could swear he saw something move. He shook his head again. It was late, he should go back to sleep.


"Ray," Hilary called as the Chinese boy sat down next to them on one of the couches on the lobby. "Any luck?" she asked curiously. Ray took a while answering. Should he tell the others that Seiko fell asleep when studying? He cautiously pretended to yawn as he decided about the subject. Not that his friends weren't trustworthy, just that this was Seiko's business and not theirs. And certainly not his either. "I found one of her colleagues in the hallway," he lied, wincing internally but finding it wouldn't matter much. "She said that she had been practicing till late and had to go to talk to her coach. She's probably staying the night there," he said.

"See? No worries, Hil," Max patted Hilary on the shoulder in a gentle manner and stood up. Ray did the same and offered her his hand to help her stand up as well. "Now let's get some sleep, cause we'll need the rest, for sure!"

They were starting to head towards the elevators when Hilary stopped on her tracks, watching the doors that led to the inner garden. "Oh, by the way, Ray, let me just show you this first before I forget." She pointed at the garden, earning a curious look from the neko-jin.

Max stood his ground and lazily pressed the button to call the elevator, waving him a dismissive hand. "Go ahead, already seen it. Going to bed," he said. Ray shrugged and followed Hilary inside the garden.

Hilary showed him the shape of the nicked wall, and Ray sobered up a little. "This is from a beyblade," he muttered, and Hilary nodded. "Yeah, see here? Max and I think that this is probably the attack ring. I don't remember seeing a shape like this in Kenny's archives. Does this mean anything to you?"

Ray's eyes narrowed slightly as he scrutinized the shape on the wall. That was unmistakeably an attack ring, he just didn't know what type was it. He picked up his own beyblade and pressed it slightly in order to fit it against the dented wall. His beyblade was larger, so it didn't fit, but looking at the top oh his blade, he could compare the outline of the hole with his. It seemed similar to him, only that the design was more simpler. It was slightly unnerving, trying to picture a blade like that. It gave him the same impression that a sharp katana would give him. Simple, austere, but deadly when handled correctedly. He wondered about its owner, if it were just a mere amateur that tried to build his own parts or if it was a professional's job. Ray ran his fingertips over it to feel the sharpness of the dent and it was with surprise that he felt the stone of the wall cutting the skin of the pad of his finger and almost cutting the flesh. His eyes widened and he pulled his finger back to take a good look. It was like a papercut. It was starting to feel like one, too, that annoying itch mixed with ache already making his finger swell. He stopped wondering: a blade capable of doing such a thing wasn't a mere ammateur's work, but of a precise craftsman. And he was sure the outline seemed familiar, but he was just too tired to think about it clearly.

"More or less," he muttered, reaching up to rub at his temple. "I can't remember clearly, but it's familiar," Ray looked over at Hilary's eyes. "I'll remember to ask Kenny about it. This seems interesting. But for now, let's go to bed. It's getting chilly and we need to rest."

Hillary nodded, and Ray barely got the feeling of going up to his and Kai's room via elevator and muttering good night to Hilary. He did, however, have the final thought of how did Kai manage to sleep if he didn't have his blanket over him anymore, before falling asleep.


Authors' Note: Whoa, it's been a while since I've written anything. Again, sorry about the spelling/grammar mistakes, I just bought myself a laptop and I don't have Microsoft Word, much less a checker. This was all done in WordPad, whoo.

Also, I'm sorry I took so long writing but to be honest, inspiration was hard to find. Plus, there has been real life trouble that didn't exactly allow me to have a life, much less have time to actually do some of my hobbies. Hope it won't be the case from now on!

As always, reviews and comments are very much welcome. This chapter seems to build up even more questions about the volleyball players, specially Seiko, and doesn't give any answer to the readers. I appologize to all you rock throwers that are probably calling me a tease right now. It's just that I rather enjoy taking things one step at a time. Now why would Seiko study enginneering if she already is a professional volleyball player? There's a hint in one of these 7 chapters already, you just need to pay attention.

As for pairings, I already settled who will stay with who, but it's going to take a rather long while since these characters are stubborn little things. And I do mean long, seriously. There have been hints around too, but that's for you to find out. Come on, fandom, you can make subtext turn into buttsex in Harry Potter, sure you know where to find the blooming romance. Oh, and to who's asking, no yaoi here, nope. :P