-1I need to really work on this story more, cuz it seems like KaiMariah is slowly dying here… Need to fix that!

Yeah, I kinda did make Kai and Rei a little OOC, but ya know… it had to be worked that way or something :P it's an AU universe anyways… so yeah.

Disclaimer: Don't own Beyblade and blah blah blah

Chapter 10

"What's that amnal, Daddy?" a small black-haired child asked, while on his father's shoulders pointing to the grizzly bear sleeping at the top of the cliff

"That's a bear, Chao," his father answered as he felt a pair of small hands rest in his blue hair. "Do you know what sound a bear makes?" Chao shook his head. "Bears go ROOOAR!" Kai started to tickle Chao as he went into a fit of giggles. He continued to roar and tickle his son while they went to the next exhibition at the local zoo.

"Ooooooh!" Chao exclaimed in awe as he watched jaguar walk towards them. "What amnal is that, Daddy?"

"That's a jaguar." Kai looked up and smiled at his son's excitement for the large cat that was sitting at the edge of the cage, watching the two intently.

"This particular jaguar, Cho-Cho loves people to pet him," one zoo keeper who came up to them said. "Would your son like to pet him?"

"Can I Daddy? Please?!" Chao begged as he looked at his father in an upside-down manner. His large golden puppy-dog eyes stared down into Kai's crimson red ones.

"Are you sure that it's safe?" Kai looked at the zoo keeper in concern.

"I'm positive. We allow children to pet Cho-Cho all the time."

"Alright, Chao, you can pet the jaguar," Kai said defeat as he took the child off his shoulders and placed him on the ground, where he ran towards the jaguar. Cho-Cho poked his head out the fence when Chao approached him. Chao began to scratch the large cat behind the ears, causing him to purr in response.

"Look Daddy, I'm petting him!" Chao exclaimed eagerly as Kai took out his camera and took a couple of photos.

"Yeah I see you," Kai grinned as his son ran back to him. "You know your mom is going to freak out when she finds out that you touched a jaguar, ya know?"

"Yeah, I do," Chao giggled as he was replaced back on Kai's shoulders. They visited the rest of the animals at the zoo until the sun began to set. While they were walking back, Chao still on Kai's shoulders, he asked, "How come you have those blue things on your face and I don't?"

"Because they're tattoos and you're too young to get one," he answered as he felt Chao touch his cheek.

"How come your eyes aren't yellow like mines or Mommy's?"

"Well, you got your eyes from your mom's side of the family, not mine."

"Ooh! Why is my hair not yours or Mommy's color?" Kai remained silent, now knowing how to explain that to a three-year-old. Brushing off the silence from his father, Chao placed his head on top of Kai's and slowly drifted off to sleep. Kai took him off his shoulders and carried him the rest of the way home. Once he made it to the house, he used his free hand to unlock the door.

"Welcome home," Tala greeted from the couch, looking older and scruffier than ever. "How was the zoo?"

"We had a blast," Kai answered as he placed Chao on the couch. "Look at what Chao was able to do." He pulled out his digital camera and showed his brother the photos.

"Heh heh, Mariah is gonna flip if she sees these, man," Tala laughed quietly as he looked at the digital images.

"Mariah's gonna flip if I see what?" Mariah emerged from downstairs and walked over to her boyfriend, hugging him.

"These!" Tala tossed the camera to her and she looked at the photos. When she got to the pictures of Chao petting the jaguar, her jaw dropped.

"Kai! Why is Chao touching a wild animal?!" Mariah exclaimed as he glared at her boyfriend.

"The zoo keeper said that jaguar gets petted all the time, 'Riah. He was safe; I wouldn't have let anything happen to him, you know that." He kissed her and said, "Besides, who could I've said 'no' to his pleading eyes. He wanted to pet that thing for the longest."

"You know how much he loves animals," Mariah sighed as she picked up Chao and carried him to his room to rest. Kai and Rusco followed suit and the three watched the sleeping child. "He's so innocent…"

"He is…" They left Rusco in the bedroom and they left the door cracked. "Today, Chao asked a bunch of questions."

"He's three, Kai, of course he's going to asked questions," Mariah replied as they walked back downstairs.

"But they were hard to explain questions, though. He asked me how come his hair was black and why he didn't get my eye color. I didn't know how to explain that to him…"

"Like a said, he's three; he's going to ask a lot of questions," Mariah consoled as ran circles on his back.

"That's the thing, Mariah. He's going to continue asking questions until he finds out that I'm not his real father…" Kai sighed and they fell to the couch exhaustedly.

"Chao will understand and probably will want to meet Rei one day, but he's going to know that you are a real dad because you've been the one that's always been around to care for him. And nothing, not even his blood father, can take that away from either of you."

"Thanks, 'Riah. You always seem to know what to say," Kai smiled as he rested his head on her shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"It's what I do." They shared a laughed as they stayed in that position for a while.

So…. Fast update, isn't it? Only 4 to 5 more chapters to go, though :P Anyways, just click on that bluish-gray button right there and tell me whatcha think of this chapter. Come on… you know you want to.