Hesitation

It had been a couple days since our arrival and so far, things were going a lot smoother than they had started out. Kyra was slowly beginning to warm up to us, even instigating conversations with Ray or I if she saw us around the house. Usually nothing more than a greeting or update on how we were doing, but according to Justin this was her version of warming up, which was understandable since it also used to be mine. I was starting to wonder if this type of personality was caused by Voltaire or if it was just a Hiwatari thing.

Regardless, things were going rather well but we were unsure of where we were supposed to go from here. Neither Ray or I wanted to pressure Kyra or make her feel uncomfortable, but the two of us couldn't stay in California forever. The two of us had lives and jobs to get back to. But she had a life here. She had friends and a good thing going for her here. How could we take her away from that?

It was a Wednesday, which meant Kyra was at school while Justin was at the office in meetings majority of the day, which meant Ray and I had the house to ourselves. Ray had decided to take advantage of the pool, while I sat and watched him while also answering to the emails that had begun to pile up from work.

"Are you sure you can't take a break from that laptop for just half an hour to swim with me? I swear you're on it every time we're alone." Ray pouted, giving me his signature kitten eyes.

"Sorry kitten, work is calling. Who knew leaving Japan meant being bombarded by emails? Let me know to never trust my employees to keep things smoothly run again." I sighed.

He came up behind my chair, wrapping his tanned arms around my neck and pressing his lips to the top of my head. "I wish we could figure out what to do. I don't want to pressure her or rip her away from anything, but I don't want to go back to Japan without her. We just got her back. I don't want to lose anymore time with her."

I put a hand on his arm, slowly caressing his skin with my thumb. "I know. Neither do I. There's a lot more at stake than we thought there would be. We'll just have to see how things progress and maybe address our concerns with Justin."

Just as we had finished the conversation, Kyra and Tristan came through the back gate, Tristan telling some story about a professor as Kyra nodded along. She had apparently told her boyfriend her past on Monday which had led to her not coming home until Tuesday evening. At first Ray and I thought it might've meant something bad happened but Justin assured us she was just staying over with him and that the whole thing had gone well.

"Hey Mr. Hiwatari, Hey Mr. Kon! Good afternoon." Tristan grinned. I had to admit, our daughter had good taste in men. Tristan was two years older than her, making him nineteen and in his first year of college. He was taller, around 6' feet with tussled black hair that went just below his neck.

"We told you before, Ray and Kai are just fine!" Ray laughed.

"Right, sorry. Just not sure how to address the fathers of my girlfriend." He grinned in embarrassment.

"Easy. The same way you treat the foster dad of your girlfriend." She smirked.

"Hey, he was my boss before you came in the picture." He laughed, nudging her slightly.

I closed my laptop, turning my focus on the two teens. "So what brings you over Tristan?"

"Actually not sure. Justin called the whole band to meet here to discuss some big opportunity. He wouldn't tell us what, but he said it's huge." Tristan exclaimed.

"He said it apparently also involves you two. Did he tell you anything about it?' Kyra questioned, furrowing her brows in confusion.

The two of us shook our head. How could something involving music have to do with us?

-

The members of Lost Intent all sat close together in the living room, trying to make some sort of guess on what the big news was. Before the discussion, Kyra had decided to brief the guys on who we were, giving the least detail about her past that she could.

"Lost Intent, long lost dads. Long lost dads, Lost Intent. There, done." She announced, falling into the couch after speaking.

"Justin found your parents!" Zane exclaimed, looking from us to Kyra.

She sat up straight. "Wait, you knew he was looking?"

Zane grinned awkwardly. "Umm, maybe?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So, since you seem to be so in the know with Justin, what is this big announcement?"

"Yeah Zane. You know more about the business side of the band than the rest of us." Alexander commented.

From what Kyra had described, Zane was twenty one, making him the oldest member of the band. He was also the founder and co-wrote majority of the songs along with Kyra. He seemed to hold the most authority for decisions outside of Justin and basically was like how I was for the Bladebreakers, but for Lost Intent.

"Hey, I know just as little as you guys on this one. I didn't even know Justin was working on anything. I have a feeling it's a gig, but I didn't know he was looking to book us." Zane said defensively.

"Hey, hey, don't bite each others heads off." Justin walked in the room smiling as usual.

"What's the big news?!" Jason yelled.

"Damn, not very patient today. Fine, if you guys must know, I've booked a show." He stated.

Kyra rolled her eyes. "Really? That's the big news you had to gather us for?"

He smirked. "No. But what the show is might be a big deal. So I'm hoping by this point Kyra has introduced you boys to Ray and Kai?"

The four of them nodded.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with the show?" Tristan asked.

"Well, if you all didn't know, the two of them are retired professional beybladers from Japan. They were on the Bladebreakers team." He started to explain.

"Wait, what? So you guys are famous?" Jason asked, turning his gaze to the two of us.

Ray blushed a bit. "I guess you could put it that way."

"Well the reason this fact is important is because Mr. Dickenson, who is head of the BBA, contacted me yesterday. He informed me that next month is the beginning of the World Beyblading Championships, starting in Japan. Since he knows how much Ray and Kai want to get to know Kyra but also need to get back to their lives in Japan and with the BBA, he decided to make an offer." Justin told them.

"What's the offer?" Zane asked, leaning further in anticipation.

"Well, apparently to kick off the World Championships they have a week that's full of events for the teams competing, as well as a big concert at the end of the week for both members of the BBA as well as fans. They haven't been able to fill a slot yet for the headlining band and thought what better way to end off the show than with the band of two BBA alumni's daughter? Also they loved your sound and would be honoured to host your Japanese debut." He grinned.

"So we're going to Japan?" Jason exclaimed.

As soon as Justin nodded the four boys stood up, cheering and high fiving as Kyra sat quietly, seeming very deep in thought.

"So I'm assuming this is something you guys want in on?" Justin asked.

"Yes!" The four of them yelled.

Justin turned to look at our still silent daughter. "Kyra? What do you think?"

She looked up, her crimson eyes looking confused. "I mean, it's a great opportunity and I think we should take it. I just don't want this being all about me. We're a band. The attention should be on all of us."

That's when I decided to speak up. "For the first little bit, it will most likely be about you. But that's because you and your absence from our lives has been the topic of conversation for so many years. But the minute you all take that stage, it'll become about all of you."

Kyra starred at me then nodded. "Alright then. I guess we're going to Japan."

The rest of Lost Intent cheered pulling her up against her will into a group hug.

"Hey I don't care how happy you guys are! No group hugs. No touching Kyra Madden." She put her hands up, making a scowl.

"You mean Kyra Hiwatari." Tristan grinned, causing Kyra to blush for the first time infront of us and for Ray to laugh.

-

After the announcement of the Japan trip, the four teens, Justin and Zane had decided they were going to go out to dinner and celebrate the exciting news while Ray and I hung back at the house, partly to let them all celebrate the accomplishment but also to give us time to finally call back our friends who had been bombarding Ray's phone with texts since we had landed in California.

"So what's she like?" Hillary asked while trying to get herself in the same frame as Tyson, Kenny and Max. Trying to do a video chat with four people on the other end of the line was harder than they'd imagined.
"Quiet, very to herself and only really shares stuff on a need to know basis. Very smart and talented though." Ray explained.

"So like Kai pretty much?" Tyson grimaced.

Ray laughed. "A bit like teenage Kai."

I shook my head. "She is different in ways. Seems she found the worth of friends earlier on than I did."

"Aw Kai, you're saying we're worth something to you?" Tyson gushed.

"Hn." I scoffed, turning towards Ray. "Why did we decide to Facetime with them again?"

Ray laughed. "So I'm assuming you guys have heard the news about the championships?"

"Yeah! Stella and Matt are really excited about it. Seems the BBA is pulling out all the stops for this one. The first week is full of so many press events and parties that they're already planning all the events they're going to." Max enthused.

"I don't know about them, but Thomas has been talking about it non-stop since it was on the news last night. He's been practicing with Dragoon all day. Chip off the old block if I do say so myself." Tyson grinned.

"Is it right that Kyra is actually going to be there and perform?" Hillary asked.

Ray nodded. "Yeah they just found out today. They all seem pretty excited but Kyra seemed wary of the announcement."

"Well if you think about it, she might be worried about having to meet everyone? I mean, all of us have known about her this whole time and been waiting so long to meet her but she only just found out about you guys, let alone this whole community who has been helping you guys in the search. Hopefully it's not too overwhelming." Kenny mused.

I didn't think about that. Although Kyra could be considered well known here, in Japan she was known by all as Kai Hiwatari and Ray Kon's lost daughter. She had been a news topic for so long that the press were going to be after any picture or information they could get. That was when I also realized, according to Kyra, Voltaire and Boris were still out there. She had been sent to America to hide from them, but would being in Japan in such a public matter put her in danger again? As much as I wanted to bring our daughter home, could I risk putting her in harms way yet again?