Yay new chapter, I really hope you enjoy this one, I had a lot of fun writing it (tormenting Kai is one of my favourite pastimes). Thank you again to Cuteyhil, Desires of Autumn Leaves and wingsofpegesus for your reviews!
EDIT: Ok, rewrote the chapter! Finally! Excited to get the next chapter live soon!
CHAPTER 9 - DAY 3
BROOKLYN'S WRATH
As the stands cleared, Tyson had made it clear to the rest of the team that it was his duty as world champion that he must go and check on Justice 5 and make sure that they were ok. Kai thought this was a stupid idea, however, somehow he found himself being roped into going by his own curiosity getting the better of him.
They were now walking down the corridor that housed all of the team rooms and Kai was strongly resisting the urge to grab Tyson and Daichi, march them over to their very own room, and lock them inside. He watched irritatedly as the terrible duo ran down the long corridor from door to door, opening each one silently with great care, peering through the gap, and then slamming them closed with a loud racket upon realising it wasn't the room they were looking for.
Kai wondered if his presence, considering that he himself had been the first person to ever beat Brooklyn, would anger the red-haired blader. Kai chuckled silently; after all, he wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea to show his face in front of Brooklyn, but he was going to anyway, just to be an ass.
Finally, they found the room. The door looked as if it had been on the receiving end of a vicious attack, it hung limply from its frame and there was a huge splintered hole through the wood.
"Uhhh…." Tyson said as they all stared, deliberating over whether or not to go in. Kai was quite sure turning back now would be the most prudent option.
"Come on Tyson, it wont be that bad." said Max. Tyson knocked warily; the room seemed silent but then they heard footsteps and Garland appeared through the gap.
"Oh," He said with his head bowed, "its you guys." Garland lifted back the splintered wood so they could make their way safely inside.
"We just wanted to come see, how you were…" Ray's voice trailed off as he stared around the room. Crusher was sat on the sofa next to his sister whom he had his arm around; they both had downtrodden looks on their faces but greeted them as they entered. Ming-Ming was sat in a chair with her head on a table, can of cola in her hand. Garland had gone to sit on the arm on the sofa; he wore a frustrated expression on his face.
Kai's eyes were immediately drawn to a crumpled up red haired boy, who was hugging his knees in the corner of the room, stuck between two lockers. Kai rolled his eyes, if he had to rate everyone that he knew on a chart of one to ten for childishness, he was sure Brooklyn would be an eleven, or maybe Tyson, then again maybe Daichi he pondered, thinking this would be a fun subject to really have a good muse over whilst he had some spare time.
They all pulled up chairs and began to discuss the match while Kai's eyes lingered on the shadow crouching pathetically in the corner. After a while, the conversation moved onto their lives outside of beyblading. Kai, not wanting to discuss his home life, decided it would be best to remove himself from the conversation, so he stood up and took refuge in the corner of the room, glancing over again at Brooklyn as he went. He wasn't sure why Brooklyn's pathetic appearance gave him a slight jilt of elation.
He folded his arms and leant against the nearest wall, thinking about the previous match. How had that girl done it? He traipsed through his brain for answers, but none came. Instead, it simply made him wonder if his own win against Brooklyn wasn't as significant as he first thought. Kai did not like that idea.
In defeating Brooklyn, Isobella had subsequently knocked not only Brooklyn but also Kai down on his imaginary leaderboard. He inhaled sharply, he really didn't like that idea. Was she another person to add to his list of those he must defeat to get to the top?
Kai was so lost in thought he barely knew what was going on around him, that was until a pained voice shouted, "What is HE doing here?" Kai looked up to see everyone else's eyes flickering between himself and Brooklyn. The crumpled blader had finally realised he had visitors, and was pointing directly up at Kai from the floor.
"Well," Kai paused, "I mean... I'm definitely not here to congratulate you." Kai smirked sarcastically, averting his eyes. This was exactly what he expected his first meeting with Brooklyn would be like.
"ARE YOU HERE TO MOCK ME?" Brooklyn shouted, jumping up and making both lockers rattle around noisily in the process. Kai rolled his eyes and feigned ignorance but Brooklyn lunged across the room towards him with a totally deranged look upon his face. Kai quickly swerved out of the way as Garland grabbed Brooklyn by the upper arm and insisted he calm down.
"Brooklyn's had a difficult year," he explained, holding onto the red-haired boy with both hands as he thrashed around.
A cheery voice traveled over the commotion, "Brooklyn doesn't like loosing." It was Mystel; he had just sprung into the room through the broken door like a cat.
"We know." The Bladebreakers responded in unison.
"Since you beat me, everyone beats me" Brooklyn mumbled in a voice that was so quiet it was scary. "ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!" he yelled.
"Sounds like you lost your confidence." Kai smirked. He knew he shouldn't antagonise him, but it was just too tempting not to.
Completely outraged, Brooklyn uttered the only words he seemed to be able to muster. "HOW DARE YOU!"
Kai laughed. "Yeah, hah. You know its true."
"Kai!" Tyson protested, "He just lost a match, give the guy some credit!"
"Yeah Kai, aren't you being a bit harsh?" Max added. Kai responded with a look of derision.
"Whatev-" but before he could finish, Brooklyn broke free from Garlands grip and lunged forwards again. Kai let out a gruff noise as his head connected sharply with the wall behind him, he could see out of the corner of his eye that Brooklyn was moving in for another attack and his reflexes kicked in, instantly reaching out and grabbing the redheads neck.
Brooklyn squealed as Kai one-handedly lifted him off the floor and slammed him into the wall that he had just been leaning against only moments ago. Kai could hear the room's occupants gasping loudly behind him. "Don't bother!" he spat angrily into Brooklyn's face, after all, his head really hurt.
Brooklyn stared down at him and his face turned from fear to a malicious grin, "heh heh heh, you wouldn't be able to beat her either, you're just like me." He snarled. Kai frowned asaA flutter of fear spread across his chest. Brooklyn must have known that comment would be enough to enrage him, and that was probably why he said it, but Kai didn't care, Brooklyn was asking for it.
Tyson must have noticed because he tried to intervene, "Kai he's not worth-" he began, but it was too late; in a split second Kai had thrown Brooklyn across the room, onto a pile of stacked chairs. It looked incredibly painful and for a few seconds, Brooklyn hung there limply in a position that simply wasn't natural.
Garland rushed forwards, "Brooklyn?" but Brooklyn was up and was already pushing past his teammate, making another beeline directly for Kai. He swung and Kai ducked, swerving back around to punch Brooklyn square in the jaw. Brooklyn staggered and leant on the nearest table and began to chuckle.
"That wasn't very good, Kai, I still have all my teeth." He giggled patronisingly as he tapped the side of his jaw lightly, "you would think your time at the Abbey would have taught you how to fight a loser like me!" he laughed through a mouthful of blood.
Kai froze. "What?"
"Oh yeah, Boris told me all about it! Your time at the Abbey, your so called terrible past." Kai felt as if someone had frozen him in time and all he could do was listen to what Brooklyn was saying. "The way you strut around here as if you own the place-"
"Shut up." He whispered. He could feel the eyes of the entire room bearing into him.
"But you always look so sorry for yourself, tell me Kai, why is that?" He stood there motionlessly, not sure how to make his feet move. "I guess its probably because you had such a terrible upbringing, I mean, your parents are dead," Brooklyn continued.
"They're not dead!" he snapped back in a daze, desperately wishing that Brooklyn would stop talking.
"That's not what your Grandfather told me," Brooklyn laughed. "Well, I mean, I feel so sorry for you Kai. Oh wait, I forgot, you're actually a spoilt rich boy." Kai stared at him, eyes like dinner plates. What had his Grandfather told him? Did everyone on the Justice 5 team know what happened at the Abbey? Did they know details about him that maybe even he didn't know? Kai was starting to panic, his eyes darted around the room, looking for an exit. "Do give Voltaire my regards when you see him, after all, he did say he wished I was his grandson instead of you."
For one long moment, Kai wanted to kill him. He wanted to tear every single limb from Brooklyn's body with his own hands and throw the good for nothing smarmy git off a cliff.
Kai took one step forward but suddenly Tyson was in front of him, facing Brooklyn with an arm thrown out to hold him back, "he's not worth it." Tyson repeated again.
Kai's eyes traveled in a daze to stare at his teammates face, Tyson was wearing a cold, hard expression and Kai knew what it meant. Normally he wouldn't take a lifeline from Tyson, but this time he knew he had to; he had to stop himself from doing something very, very stupid. He seethed with anger for a few more seconds, staring over Tyson's shoulder at Brooklyn's face, which, although bruised and bleeding, was contorted with laughter. A few more seconds elapsed before he turned and bolted towards the door, almost tripping over his own feet as he went. He slammed it shut so forcefully that the already broken wooden frame fell into pieces behind him.
"Hey Kai!" called Max, his blonde hair poking out of the doorframe as if he were about to follow.
"Leave him, Max." he heard Hilary say dismissively. He was grateful; he didn't want anyone coming after him. He stormed off down the hall wishing that he had just gone back to the hotel in the first place, that he had followed his instincts instead of his ridiculous sense of curiosity. He wished he had just kept his stupid mouth shut.
Kai crashed through the hallway making no effort to keep quiet as he wondered painfully about what he had just heard. Had his grandfather really said that? Did he really wish that Brooklyn was his grandson instead of Kai? Kai sighed, pausing for a moment next to a bin. The worst part was that it wouldn't even surprise Kai if his Grandfather had said it. Not that, that made it any less painful. He kicked a bin harshly, immediately regretting it as pain seared through his foot. He swore loudly and carried on down the corridor to the main entrance.
He rushed over to the exit, pressing his hand onto the glass door. There was a large crowd gathered outside, Kai told himself they were probably just beyblade fans that were still here from the earlier matches. He looked up to make sure there was nothing in his way as he stepped over the threshold, someone shouted and as the door swung closed behind him, Kai was blinded by hundreds of flashing lights. He growled, now was not the time that he wanted to be mobbed by crazy beyblade fans. But something about them quickly told Kai that they were different. He stared at the flashing lights, quickly they people he was being mobbed by were all holding large professional cameras, and the people attached to them were also holding microphones.
"MR HIWATARI!" A greedy looking middle-aged man in a green tweed suit ran forwards, brandishing a microphone, "what are your thoughts on your Grandfathers arrest?"
A stout looking woman whose hair was pulled up into a tight bun elbowed the man in the tweed suit out of the way as she rushed forwards, "does your Grandfathers arrest have any connection to the arson at Balkov Abbey?" she pried.
"Did you get that gash on your head during a battle?" A tall man at the back of the crowd shouted over all of them.
Kai froze. There was a swoon of interest as they all began to excitedly photograph the cut on his head; Kai hadn't even realised it was there. He stared around, looking for an exit but there were reporters and flashing lights everywhere. "Hnnnn." He growled, putting his head down as he tried to force his way into the crowd. They were beginning to ask more and more invasive questions.
"Is it true that your Grandfather was running a terrorist organisation?"
"Were you once apart of BioVolt?"
Kai wanted, no, Kai needed to get away; he stared desperately over the crowd towards the taxi rank. There was only one taxi waiting and he hurried over to it, knocking people out of the way angrily as he went. Before he could open the door of the car, reporters had pinned him to the left rear wing so that he couldn't get away. The taxi driver rolled down the window, "mate this taxi is taken," he explained with a look of pity on his face, then turning towards the reporters, "excuse me, you're in the way!" he said, obviously annoyed as more and more reporters began to engulf the car.
"We heard you grew up at Balkov Abbey, what was that like?" the woman with the bun asked, thrusting her voice recorder up into his face. Kai pushed her away, staring longingly at the car; he would have willingly climbed into the boot at this point. There were so many people and he couldn't move an inch. Kai was starting to panic; everywhere he looked there was a reporter, there were no longer any gaps in the crowd for him to escape to. For one small moment, he considered launching Dranzer at them, knowing full well that a BitBeasts power should not be used on humans. After all what else could he do? It would only be self defence, Kai told himself, and he wouldn't attack them, no matter how much he wanted to. Kai reached awkwardly into his pocket for his launcher.
The taxi door swung open forcefully, knocking Kai forwards and pushing aside five photographers who had been gathered behind it. Kai stared momentarily at the empty seat in front of him. Then, a small hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, pulling him onto the back seat. Kai didn't resist and followed the hand without hesitation, slamming the door quickly behind him, as he tried to control his incoherent breathing.
"Go." A small, soft voice spoke to the driver.
"Right you are, Miss!" The driver replied cheerfully, pipping his horn in a passive aggressive way at the crowd of people.
Kai stared at his knees, wondering who it was that had saved him, who had seen him panic, who had took pity.
He looked up and felt a short stab of surprise, followed by a small groan as he saw Isobella staring straight back at him.
