Chapter Nine

He sat on the railing of the balcony, his balance perfect, he wore jeans and an old white shirt, the buttons undone, exposing his toned torso.

"You're going to catch your death out there"

Not needing to turn around Mikhail knew it was Luka.

Luka came and sat next to him, he didn't have a shirt on at all, and just his jeans he sat next to his best friend.

"Look whose talking"

Luka smiled and looked out into the dark world they both were born into.

"It's been a long time"

"Long? Its feels like an eternity since we were here together".

"Hey Mikhail…your lucky, you have a real future which you can go back to anytime you like, we, we just have each other".

"Do you ever wonder, what life would have been like if Emile wasn't who he was?"

Luka nodded, "everyday since you left…I tried to convince myself that you were in a better place with Voltaire"

"Voltaire fought for my custody only to lose it to his best friend"

"Dickinson?"

Mikhail nodded, Stanley Dickinson was his godfather, and he was Voltaire's friends through life, their collage through their hopes and dreams.

"Did you ever see your mom, before she died?"

Mikhail closed his eyes.

"No…I was away with you, I never knew, we came back the same day she was killed, and he…Emile did what he wanted with me"

Mikhail's words were chocked.

"Did Boris or Voltaire ever…?"

Mikhail shook his head, tears slipping down his pale skin.

"Only Boris…he destroyed every child in that place".

Luka didn't wish to watch his friend break down; he'd seen it so many time it just got worse every time.

Luka placed his hand on Mikhail's shoulder which shook.

"Hey listen man…I'm sorry, I should have been there…I shouldn't have left ya like that"

Mikhail looked straight at Luka and smiled in thanks.


Jaz looked at the two behind the bluish curtain; he would never act like that with the others, not with her, not with Kiska.

She knew he was Kai, she knew he was the beyblading champ; she knew everything except what made him tick.

Jaz also knew that it was his old team calling him the night before, she knew they were calling him and he'd run away like a coward.

Jaz hated seeing people break up, she hated seeing friendships broken.

Jasmine knew one thing and that was that Mikhail needed his team, whether he liked it or not he needed them as much as they needed him.

She knew Mikhail had always been afraid of the future, but it was time he met up with his destiny and become the person he was meant to be, not some lowlife who drank and smoked, who fought to make ends meat.

There was someone inside of him who wanted to come out and see the world, the person she'd only caught a glimpse of as a child.

The child that was locked away inside of him, deserved to run free.


Rei lay in his bed listening to the creaks around the hotel, with Tyson's snoring at one end of the room and Max's mumbles along with Kenny's odd squeals he knew something was missing and that was the silent breathing of Kai.

Kai.

It had been him, he knew it and he knew Kai knew they were here.

Rei sighed and removed the duvet, looking around he grabbed his bag and switched on the bedside light, rummaging in the bag he found the small mahogany box.

It was pure mahogany wood; it had been carved by hand with a symbol carved on the lid of a phoenix.

Rei smiled, Kai had given it to him as a gift for defeating Bryan, and he said it took guts to stand up to someone as malicious as Bryan.

Kai had said it was a sign of friendship, saying that it didn't just belong to Rei, it also belong to the team, to all of them.

Rei lifted the heavy lid and saw an old photo of them all standing, Tyson holding the trophy, everyone smiled, while Kai smirked.

Inside was also the melted Beyblade of Kai's, no BitBeast, and no Dranzer, the one sign Rei took that Kai was alive, he wouldn't go anyway without the phoenix.

Inside the box was a photo of just Kai, he stood arms crossed, eyes open staring straight through the picture, his face emotionless, it had bee taken after the last championship.

Placing the box back into the bag Rei sighed and turned of the light, he lay in his bed, his mind wondering over the reasons why Kai would be in the one place he loved but hated at the same time.

And who were those people he was with.

The girl was a mystery; she looked so young, so innocent so out of place.

But Kai carried her as if she was made of glass.


The next day Mikhail and the others went out to breakfast, even though Luka was complaining of his stomach aching the others ignored him, Luka did not like waking up so early in the morning and he especially didn't like being woken up with ice cold water thrown over him by his own sister.

The mall was a popular place for picking pockets, and the peak of the season was during breakfast, lunch and diner and when it was snowing like crazy outside.

It was something new to teach Kiska and who better to teach it then the master himself, Luka.

They found a spot to scope, Jaz and Dominic on one end of the huge mall and Dmitri and Mikhail on the other, while Luka did his teaching bit.

They did pretty well, it had been a while since Mikhail and done this and had a funny recollection of Anton teaching him, Luka and Jaz.

Luka said he was going to the bathroom and left Mikhail in helping Kiska.

Mikhail pointed out someone and Kiska made a hesitant move to rob them of their wallet.


They went shopping for a hot, hot cup of coffee.

Rei and the others walked around the mall drowsy.

They heard shouting in Russian, Rei and the others looked to see two teens running towards them at full speed; it was Kai and the girl they saw last night.

The were being chased after by what appeared to be security and a large woman.


Kiska had screwed up.

Mikhail had grabbed her and they ran, soon they were being chased.

He was dragging her along by the wrist, she still held onto the purse.

Mikhail's eyes widened as he saw them, his whole team and Tala staring straight at him.

He looked around quickly and saw Luka looking sick in Dominic and Dmitri's arms, Jaz trying to get his attention to get to the doors.

Mikhail made a sharp turn and skidded on the wet floor, he hadn't seen the wet floor sign at all, and he and Kiska skidded right into Tyson and Max.

Hurrying to get up, Mikhail saw the team staring at him in disbelief, he heard Kiska yelling at him that they were trapped.

The girl was yelling at Kai in a foreign language, he snapped at her and yelled back, they were surrounded.

But the odd thing was, was that they security had surrounded the team as well as Kai and the girl.

Mikhail was at a loss, he wasn't sure what to do anymore.

He knew the breakers had their BeyBlade's on them, they always did, he saw Tyson's and Max's, he saw Kenny holding onto the laptop, he saw Tala glaring at him and he saw Rei dumbfounded.

He needed to get Kiska out of this, he asked for the purse.

Kiska gave it to him; he stuffed it into his pocket.

Then he turned to Rei.


"Give me Driger Rei" he said, staring at Rei.

Rei's mouth went dry; his voice was the same commanding tone.

He held out his hand, he wanted Driger.

Rei gave him Driger, the girl frowned.

Kai held the Beyblade and launcher towards the floor below them, letting the rip cord go.

The Beyblade spun towards the floor; they were on an upper level of the mall.

The concrete collapses below them, Kai held onto Kiska and threw the Beyblade towards the sky, readying for impact they hit the ground, Kiska's ankle sprained, he picked her up and they ran.


Kiska's mind was a buzz.

What just happened?

Rei and the others stared; Rei grabbed the Beyblade and launcher.

"Kai?"


TBC…

REVIEW

REVIEW!

Thanx to those who have reviewed!

And yes he was carrying Kiska not Jaz...