Chapter 9: Preparation
One of the strange things about Kai and Annie now living together was that, at home, they didn't argue. Not once except for that first day. It wasn't because they'd started to get along better, and it definitely wasn't because they were obeying the commands of their guardians.
Actually, no one was quite sure why there weren't constant 'explosions' coming from the two teens, but it never happened and some people were just grateful for the peace. The maids belonged to this category. They were extremely busy with Vada and Voltaire's wedding getting ever closer and they didn't need two impossible teenagers disrupting the rest of the household with their own private war.
There was usually no conversation at dinner so they never needed to worry about interacting there and they usually just kept out of each other's way during training. Kai would stick around for a little while after and Annie would leave as soon as the training session was over.
This routine, however, was interrupted the following week. The Bladebreakers and Annie headed out to the train station after one on their sessions. They were saying farewell to the White Tigers, who were taking the train to an airport in the next town over. Ray was the only one who was getting on the train with them. He would say his official goodbye right before his former teammates got on their plane.
Annie didn't have to come with them but on impulse she decided to. When she announced this, Kai raised his eyebrow at her and she couldn't blame him. Annie was a bit surprised herself. Oh well, she thought. Why not?
They had a clear blue sky that day. Perfect weather. Also on impulse, Annie announced to the group right as they were loading themselves into the cars that she had decided to walk to the station. Most of them looked stunned, Kai just looked amused.
"Annie," said Max in surprise. "It's a little over a mile away." He himself could barely get through the physical training that Kai assigned, though he wasn't nearly in as bad a shape as Tyson.
"Yeah, and I could use the excercise," she said simply. It was probably the longest sentence she'd ever said to any of them other than Kai, who made quick work of hurrying them along and convincing the others to let Annie walk. Annie figured that he just didn't want to have to put up with her for any longer than was necessary.
She started to walk once the car was out of sight. It was a peaceful walk and incredibly, no one else seemed to be outside on such a nice day. Annie had decided to walk because she knew that by the time she got there the White Tigers would be long gone. Perhaps the Bladebreakers would be, too. That didn't bother her so much; if so, she'd simply turn around and begin the walk back. Mariah had been trying to make friendly conversation with her all week, but so far she hadn't come up with anything that Annie had had to give a long answer to.
The girl was almost at the station before she ran into trouble. With much hatred, she noticed a familiar red-haired teen walking towards her. Just great. Why was Tala, of all people, here? What business would he have around this part of the city? It didn't seem logical, but the only reason Annie could think of was that Tala must've known she was there. But who could possibly be feeding him information? Annie almost wanted to suspect Kai, but after a moment of thought she realized that even Kai wouldn't stoop that low to make her miserable. Besides, he and Tala weren't exactly on the best terms anymore...
Unfortunately, Tala walked right up to her, familiar smirk in place, just as she'd been dreading. "Hey, Annie. Funny seeing you around here." Not funny at all. There was no way this was a chance meeting. Annie just scowled at him in response. This seemed to fuel the ill-intent behind Tala's smirk. Just great.
Tala got closer until he was only a few feet away. "So," he said in a sickly pleasant tone of voice, "I've heard that you're the new edition to the gang of losers that Kai ditched us for."
"I'm not sure who you're getting your facts from, Tala, but you might as well tell them they're wrong," Annie said loftily. If Annie was the one who tended to set Kai off, Tala had nearly that exact effect on her. Only her anger seemed to show in that she just got snobbier and snobbier. Tala may have known exactly what she'd meant but he pretended like he misinterpreted it wrong.
"Really? Have you seen them blade? They've got no talent," he sneered. "Obviously comes from no proper training."
"Yeah, well I heard they beat your team in the tournament!" Annie shot back. Tala's sneer turned into a glare and he looked ready to retort, but he apparently thought better of it, because his expression turned back to one of fake pleasantness.
He leaned his face into hers and said, "It's a shame such a pretty girl turned into such a violent brat. You could've been really useful to us, you know."
Annie felt more hatred for this certain teenager than she had for quite a while. She hated the fact that he would tower over her if her stood up correctly. She hated to admit that he was undoubtedly the stronger of the two. She hated the fact that they had ever met, and most of all, she hated that he hadn't fallen off a horribly tall cliff in the time since she'd left the Abbey.
Annie said her next words with all the venom in her voice that she could muster. "Tala, you'd better get lost before I start going up to random strangers and telling them I'm being stalked and harassed!"
She hoped that, by an immense stroke of luck, Tala wouldn't realize that there didn't happen to be anyone else on the street that day. But since Tala's sneer worsened she realized that this hadn't happened.
"You heard her. Get lost."
What the hell? Why was Kai here?! Tala scowled at him, but Kai defeated this with the harshest glare Annie had ever seen on him. Her instincts told her to shudder, but she ignored this and continued to watch the two of them. Some people thought that Kai and Tala had been friends before Kai became one of the Bladebreakers. Those people didn't know what they were talking about. Before the Bladebreakers, Kai didn't even know the basics of friendship, and he still wasn't that good at it, but he was getting better. Tala and Kai had been teammates, meaning simply that they'd had to work together and deal with each other's company. That was the end of their relationship.
Tala's scowl didn't leave his face, but slowly he left the two of them on the sidewalk. Kai's glare softened to a scowl as he looked at Annie. He put his hand on her back and pushed her forward. She walked.
Kai's voice was nothing more than a growl, but it was clear enough for anyone around them to hear him. "That figures. You're left alone for a little while and you find Tala." He spat out his name.
Annie's confusion turned back to anger. "Yeah, because I went looking for him," she said sarcastically.
"I don't want you anywhere near him!" Annie rolled her eyes. Like she needed that order. Annie didn't want to be anywhere near him. Those were Kai's last words to her as he reentered the station. Max had been following him and had seen the whole thing, but Kai didn't bother to make this fact known. If he wanted to be a snoop, fine. But he was doing a pretty crappy job if whoever he was following could tell he was there. Max didn't call out to either of them, but he managed to get back inside before Annie.
Waiting for them were the rest of the Bladebreakers, minus Ray. "There you two are!" exclaimed Tyson. "What took you so long?"
Kenny noticed the look on Kai's face, which was a whole lot more vicious than when he'd left. Annie looked sort of like a pouting child who'd been caught doing something wrong even though, in reality, she had done nothing wrong. "What's wrong, Kai?"
"Nothing," he spat out. Kai turned his glare on Kenny, who didn't refrain himself from shuddering and he dropped the subject.
The ride back was tense. Kai just glared ahead, clearly not seeing any of the scenery pass by. Tyson was chatting amiably with the driver. Kenny was discussing something with Dizzi, who was open in his lap. He had Draciel in his other hand.
Annie had her arms crossed and was mentally going over what had happened that afternoon. Max kept shooting curious stares back at her, but stopped when she looked up at him with one of her eyebrows raised as if to say, 'what?'
Kai and Annie departed as soon as soon as they were back at the dojo. Max left to go help his dad in his shop, so Tyson went inside to have a very different kind of practice session with his grandfather.
The walk back to the Hiwitari mansion was just as quiet as the ride to the dojo. They walked into the building and were about to turn their separate ways when they both stopped dead and stared at their surroundings.
The inside of the mansion looked positively festive in a gloomy sort of way. They each cautiously took a few more hesitant steps into the gleaming building.
"What the-" before Annie could finish, Voltaire and Vada came down the grand staircase, arm in arm. They looked dressed up and Annie and Kai could hear faint chatter coming from the drawing room.
"What is this?!" Annie asked in disbelief.
Vada looked disapprovingly at the two of them in everyday clothing. "We are having a bit of a party in preparation," She said quite stiffly.
Annie almost said, 'preparation for what?' But then she saw Kai's scowl and remembered that their wedding day was drawing ever closer. Kai stalked off towards his room and Annie swept past her great aunt towards her's with a scowl very similar to the one on her soon-to-be stepbrother's face. But she was met with another surprise when she closed the door to her room and turned around.
"What are you doing here!?" she screeched, her eyes wide. Max was sitting cross-legged on her floor, her beyblade in his hand. In the few seconds it took for him to look up at her, Annie had stormed over and snatched her blade from his hand. Her blade was dark blue, the color of Dranzer actually, except her blade had random deep purple streaks all across it in no particular pattern. Annie couldn't help but notice how right it felt when she held it. A pang of nostalgia hit her as she realized how long it had been since she'd locked it away. She shook the thought from her head and turned back to Max who was now smiling up at her a little sheepishly.
She sighed, sat down next to him, and said, "How did you get in here?"
"One of the maids let me in through a back way and directed me towards your room." That figured. Max wouldn't have been let anywhere near the house if he'd been caught by Voltaire or Vada.
What surprised Annie most was that she didn't really mind having the usually hyper teen in her room. It wasn't even bothering her right now to sit next to him. But what she did mind was, "Why were you going through my stuff?!"
Max held up his hands in an apologetic surrender. "Calm down, Annie. I wasn't really going through your things. But you can't leave an unlocked, fancy box in front of a visitor. Besides, it wasn't like I was going to steal anything," he defended.
Annie smiled wryly as she replaced her blade. "Sorry, I wasn't aware I was going to have company." It pleased her that she could talk to him now that Max was in her territory. Or rather, Kai's.
She looked down at the box again. "What's wrong?" asked Max after seeing the expression on her face.
Annie ran her fingertips over it's smooth surface. "I haven't touched my blade since they released me from the Abbey," she murmured softly. Out of the corner of her vision she saw Max's eyes widen slightly. He got up.
"Well, I have to go help my dad in his shop. So I guess I'll see you later."
"Wait! Why did you even come?"
"Oh! I just wanted to say... well, I saw what happened between you and Tala today, and... well, I'm just glad that things should be more peaceful from now on."
"Peaceful?" Annie snorted. "What do you mean?" But she had to admit that, compared to the beginning, things were already more peaceful.
"Just that Kai's looking out for you like an older brother should," Max said simply with a smile and left. Annie was left in a state of confusion.
Kai? Looking out for her? The idea was almost laughable. Annie had gotten used to Kai causing most of her problems. But then... I don't want you anywhere near him! Was that what he meant? Had Kai really been looking out for her?
What an interesting thought. She doubted Max had any idea what he was talking about... but an interesting thought none the less.
Okay, sorry it's been so long since the last update, even though it probably feels longer than it has actually been. Review Please! This was an interesting chapter to write. I hope you like it! I enjoyed writing it. :)
Revised 11/20/12
