Alrighty, actual chapter for once. Umm, I want to ask: would readers rather a long, rather drawn-out story, or a short, detailed one? By short I mean maybe… 10-12 chapters, and long… well, I don't know. But yes, please drop by and give me your opinion. Thank you to all my patient readers, especially to my reviewers. It means a lot.
Disclaimer: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade belongs to Aoki Takao and is in no way affiliated with the author of this fanfiction.
Chapter Five
"What the hell do you mean, he's gone?!" I shout, ignoring the slight throb in my head. Max winces, and Rei holds up his hands placating. I'm sitting on my hospital bed with my fists bunched up and a huge scowl on my face. I just cannot believe that they let him walk away like that – they didn't even wait for me to wake up, for God's sake! And that stupid, idiotic, moronic, imbecilic jerk, Kai – what the freaking hell was he freaking thinking, racing off again just as we've found him! I'm pretty sure that finding him again will be a million times harder this time. Last time I just found him out of pure luck. But this time… He didn't even leave us any clues!
"Takao, you should-" Max says softly, I cut him off easily.
"This is about that jerk, not about me! Maxie, how could you just let him go like that?! And Rei – wasn't he hurt? Couldn't you have just kept him here? Overpowered him – or something?! And we don't even know where he went, or why he went, or even what his favourite colour is!"
I stop and blink at them, as Rei and Max stare at me bemusedly. I'm not too sure where that last thing came from, but… it's true, damn it! We don't know much about him at all, so how the hell are we supposed to find him!? I close my eyes and take a few deep, steadying breaths. Okay. Focus, Takao. You're gonna find him. Even if it's just to strangle him and tie him to your front gate so that he can't go disappear anymore. Hmm.
"Though, Takao," Rei starts hesitantly, "he did say something weird before he left…"
My eyes shoot open and I stare at him. "Well," I say quickly, "tell, tell!"
"He says he's sorry, and thank you for everything," Max pipes up, cocking his head to the side, "and he looked really sad."
"Oh," I mutter. Well, that doesn't help much at all. He's sorry, yet he leaves anyway. He's thankful, and yet he doesn't want to stay. Why is that? Why doesn't he want to be around us? He said that he could stay – he damn near promised! He told me to my face that he had finished up with everything in Russia, he told me that he was always going to be here, in Japan, with me!
"Well yeah," Rei continues, "he did say that, too, but that wasn't what I was going to tell you." He takes a deep breath and his face grows even more serious. "Though if I tell you, Takao, you have to promise me something, okay? Promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
"What do you mean?" I ask him suspiciously. I can feel in my gut that what he's about to tell me is bad, very bad.
"I don't mean that we won't try and help him," Rei says quickly, noticing my expression. "We're friends. Of course we'll do anything for him. As a team. But…" He breaks off again, and exchanges glances with Max.
"I know you're really upset about this, Takao," Max tells me, and I believe him. If anyone knows how I'm feeling right now, it'd be Maxie. "But the thing is… It could potentially be dangerous, and, well…"
I huff softly. "I get what you're saying," I mutter, "but you know, I can't promise something like this. It's Kai we're talking about – if he's in trouble, we gotta help him. There's no way that I'll just turn my back because it's too dangerous, or something."
"We knew you were going to say something like that," Rei sighs, "and in the end, we have to tell you anyway. Kai says that the accident wasn't actually an accident."
A feeling of dread sinks into me and I take a deep breath. "Well," I say softly, "if it wasn't an accident, what was it, then?"
"Kai says it was a warning," Max whispers meekly.
There are a few seconds of silence, broken only by the background hum that seems to occupy all hospitals. Then I slide off the bed, wincing as my feet contact with the cold floor.
"That bastard!" I yell, realisation sinking in.
"Um, Takao, I'm sure Kai -"
"Not that bastard!" I snap, causing Max to flinch again. "I mean that other bastard, that arrogant monster, Voltaire!" Inside, the only emotion that I can feel is anger. It's churning around and bubbling up, almost to the point where I want to explode, or punch something, or… something! Voltaire must be it. The only reason that Kai would leave, after saying that he would stay… especially since he said that it was a warning… Kai, you stupid, stupid idiot! You think you can protect us by just running away? I don't for a moment doubt that Voltaire is a nasty piece of work. But at the same time, I can't help thinking that maybe, Kai should have been a bit smarter and realised that it would be safer here, with all of us around, rather than running off on some heroic dash.
"… What happened with Voltaire?" Rei asks finally, and I realise that they haven't heard. They think that he's still safely locked up in prison, which he most definitely is not. They think that Kai's still safe from him, which he isn't – I told him! I freaking told him that Voltaire would be a problem, and that idiot just would not listen to me, he just brushed it off as if it was nothing, and look at what's happened now!
"He's gone," I tell them sullenly.
"Gone?" Rei questions, and he and Max glance at each other worriedly. I sigh.
"He's gone, as in poof, out of prison and on the run he goes. But no one knows. Everyone still thinks he's still behind bars."
"How do you know?"
"Kai told me," I shrug. "He seemed worried about it at first, but then he just completely dismissed it. It was so annoying, because even I could see that he'd be in danger from that freaky old man, and he just wouldn't listen to me."
"Well, Takao," a voice interrupts from the doorway, "at least we know where to start, now."
I glance over and Kenny, the Chief, is standing right there with his oversized glasses and precious laptop. Never have I been so glad to see him before. Okay, I probably have, but whatever. He has his laptop. If this guy can't track down Kai, well then… I don't know who can.
"Chief!" I shout and rush over to him, flinging my arms around him. He laughs quietly and says, mock angrily, "you didn't tell me that you were going to Russia, and you didn't call me to let me know when you were coming back, either! I was very upset with you, Takao."
"Be upset with me all you like," I tell him, slinging an arm around his shoulder and steering him towards the couch in the corner of the room, "as long as you help us find Kai."
"As if I wouldn't," he says, rolling his eyes. "Kai's not the nicest guy in the world, but all the same, he's a good person. I'll find him, even if I have to do it illegally!" He pales a bit at the thought, but presses on bravely. "We know that his grandfather was in Russia, right? Assuming that his grandfather is behind it all. But he was in prison. Since he somehow got out, he'd stay under the radar – out of the public's eye. It'd be pretty easy for him to sneak out of the country, considering his wealth and influence, but still… There are too many beyblading authorities and they're situated in most countries, so I can't see him leaving Russia… Unless he happened to bribe the authorities in another country… Oooh, we're going to get into so much trouble for this! But still, we'll find him!"
See, that's what I love about Kenny. He's terrified of everything and tends to look upon situations pessimistically, but he's smart and totally loyal and will use his skills to his full potential if it means that he will help out a friend. He can overcome any fear for a friend – so even though he's a scaredy-cat, he's also extremely brave in his own way. Not fearless like Kai nor gallant like Rei nor even determined like Max – he just has a quiet, nervous kind of strength that stems from the desire to be the best friend that he can possibly be.
"I'll leave it up to you, then," I smile, giving him a thumbs-up. He beams at me and nods enthusiastically.
"By the way," he adds, "your grandpa has signed you out and is waiting for you at the front desk."
It's weird that even though I've been in a car accident and have been unconscious for… I'm not quite sure how long… I feel okay. A little achy, but that's to be expected, right? I wonder how Kai feels right now. Was he badly hurt? I don't really want to ask the guys; they seem to feel guilty enough as it is. I remember the blood running down his face – don't scalp wounds always bleed a lot? Doesn't that mean that he could have had severe blood loss? And what ever happened to that unfortunate driver, anyway? I guess it's just another thing that Kinomiya Takao will never know.
Kenny leads the way and soon the four of us are strapped into my grandfather's car and on the way back to the dojo. I don't have a clue how to look for Kai – that's what Kenny's for. He'll do the planning because he's the brains of this operation. Max… is the confidence booster. Rei… can get us out of any tight spots. And me? I just have to dash in there, grab Kai and run the hell away as quickly as I can.
Okay, so I haven't really thought out our roles well enough, but at least it's a start.
As soon as we get away from my (seemingly insane) grandpa and are situated cosily in my bedroom, we start planning. Or rather, I sit there and attempt to plan as Rei and Max ponder their thoughts and Kenny clicks away in the corner. After about sixty million hours – okay, so it was only about fifteen minutes – of silence, I bang my head against the floor and groan, "so what are we gonna do?"
"We should probably go to Mr Dickenson," Rei suggests, but immediately all the American movies I've ever watched stir up bad thoughts in my head and I let out a strangled, "no!"
They all stare at me strangely, so I continue. "Well, what if we tell Mr Dickenson and then he tells everyone and then Voltaire finds out that everyone knows that he's out of prison and then as revenge he kills Kai?" I take a deep breath to keep myself from passing out. They're still all staring at me as if I've grown another head or something.
"But we don't even have proof that he has Kai," Max points out softly. "Kai said that the crash was a warning. But he didn't say that it was a warning to make him return to Russia – it could just be a warning to stay away from us. Kai used to think that having friends was a bad thing, remember? I think it's safe to assume that his grandfather taught him that. So maybe his grandfather just doesn't want Kai to have friends."
"Voltaire," I stress, and when they look at me enquiringly, I shake my head. "Don't call him that. No grandfather would ever treat his grandson the way Voltaire does. I'd prefer to think of them as not being related in the slightest."
"If you tell Mr Dickenson," Kenny calls out from his corner, "then I probably won't be able to use all my methods. He's a lenient kind of man, but every man has his limits."
So it looks like telling Mr D about it is out of the question. I scratch my head. "Well, if Voltaire doesn't want Kai to be with us, where else can he go? I think he'd have to head back to Voltaire. Is he still underage?"
"I'd assume so," Rei replies, "though somehow I don't think that poses much of a problem for him."
So he's underage, trying to take care of a massive company and has a crazy, power-hungry and controlling… caretaker. Wow, Kai. What a great life you lead. No wonder you turned out the way you did.
"… have to tell Mr Dickenson eventually," Max is arguing as I tune back into the conversation, "I mean, if we're going to go country-hopping to look for Kai, then we're going to need funds, right? And Kenny, we're not going to be with Mr Dickenson the entire time anyway, so it should be okay. Don't worry about it."
Everyone pauses for a moment and I put my hand up in the air. When all the attention is focused on me, I ask, "so… what's the actual plan, guys? Are we gonna travel all over the world and hope that we just happen to bump into him? Or are we gonna make some educated guesses and locate him that way? Or, and this would be best: is there any way to work out where he is?"
Kenny makes his way over towards the rest of us, with his laptop tucked securely under his arm. "We'd be able to find out easily if Voltaire was still a prominent beyblading figure and still constantly in the media. However, since he's an escapee, we know that he'll avoid the media wherever possible."
"Doesn't that just make it harder?" Rei and Max groan in unison. I nod my agreement. We want Voltaire to stay in the spotlight so that we can actually locate him. And where could he go? In Russia it would probably be too dangerous. I mean, he's a wanted man and he's not exactly popular, regardless of his wealth and status, so I kind of get the feeling that he won't be all that comfortable hiding out there. But to be sure…
"Can't we get in touch with the other teams?" I ask suddenly. "I mean, can't we call each of the other teams up and ask if they've seen Kai in their country?"
"That would work," Kenny says, nodding slowly. "That way, we have many countries covered… China, Russia, the major parts of Europe…"
"Don't forget the Americans," Max added, "And I doubt that Voltaire's gonna go hide out in Africa or something, so we don't need to contact there, right?"
"We don't actually need to travel though, do we?" Rei asks. "It could get very expensive. Takao's idea about calling them could some in useful, though it'd probably be better to call them from the BBA headquarters, rather than from the dojo. Your grandpa would go ballistic at the phone bills."
"We can go ask tomorrow. Since it's Kai, Mr D will definitely approve." I'm excited now. We have a plan, which means that we're one step closer to getting that idiot back. Hah, it's funny, isn't it, that Kai always calls me an idiot, and now I'm calling him one. But he's really much stupider than me. He's definitely smarter than me, but he's sure not as intelligent as me. Though he'd probably punch me if I ever said that to his face. Or he'd say something along the lines of 'Don't compare me to the likes of you. That's disgusting,' or something, though in not so many words.
"Are you guys staying over?" I ask, trying to stop thinking like Kai. It's disturbing.
Max smiles. "Well, I just gotta call my dad. And Rei was staying over with me while you were away, so if it's not too much trouble then I'll give him a quick call now."
I nod and he hurries from the room. I can hear him engage in an animated conversation with my grandpa and then there's the beeping of the phone and he starts to dial the number.
"I can't," Kenny tells us apologetically, "my parents will want me home like, now. Since it's you, Takao, they can wait another… ten minutes maximum, but any more than that and I'll be dead and unable to help. I'll try to get more planning done tonight, though."
"That's okay," I tell him. Max comes back into the room and we quickly bid Kenny goodnight. I flop back on my bed as Rei drags out the spare futons. They've stayed over so many times before that they know exactly where everything goes, which I guess is a little creepy, but… they're my best friends, so I think it's okay. Even Kai's slept over before, and he knows the way around my house like the back of his hand. Or something. Either way, I miss him, and I want him to be here with us, sleeping over and playing stupid games and talking late into the night.
Rei turns off the light and the two of them lie there, murmuring softly to each other. I pull the blanket up to my ears and curl up on my side. I want to find him, no matter what. I'll put the same determination into this as I do into my beybattles. I'll do everything in my power to bring him back where he belongs. Where is he right now? What is he doing? I sigh softly and close my eyes.
I miss Kai so much it hurts.
