Fate

Ah, it's been a while hasn't it. Sorry, it took so long to update but I've been really busy of late. I've have QCS, block exams, assignments, formal preparations, etc. To be honest, I'm knackered but I figured that I should probably update this now that I'm on holidays. I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, favourited, added this to their story alert , etc. I'm glad my story is being received so well. Hopefully, it'll stay that way.

I have a few questions to pose to you guys. Firstly, is it okay if I don't describe every bey battle in detail? I haven't really seen the show in ages so I'm trying to base everything off memory but it's difficult trying to remember every character's name, bit beast, appearance, attacks, etc so I'm not gonna be very detailed. Also, my story focuses more on the characters and not their beyblading so their won't be many battles described. Frankly, I think beybattles are better to watch than read. However, if you do want more bey battles or want to request a match between two specific characters, just email me.

Secondly, do you guys want any pairings? If you've seen/read Fruits Basket, you'll know that Kyo (Takao) ends up with Tohru. Do you want that pairing to still happen? Any other pairings? I was thinking about Kai and Kagura but I was wondering if Kai falling in love was a bit too out of character. For the record, I don't plan to make this a slash simply because I don't have the nerve nor the competency to pull off a decent one. Sorry all you slash lovers but there are much better slash writers out there than I would be.

Well, that's about all. Please enjoy this chapter and please, please, please send a review!

Clicks to Hiyami who noticed I put 'Remember to update' instead of 'Remember to review' at the end of my last chapter. Lol. I'm glad someone's on the ball.

This chapter is dedicated to my cat, Divot who was sadly put down on Tuesday 18/09/07.

Rest in peace, mate. xoxo

Hmm… Things have really become a lot more eventful of late. Takao's Father beat him up again and now his team mates know about the Curse. I wonder what I should do? Technically, if someone were to find out about the Curse, Akito would be informed immediately. He would then decide whether they were allowed to know such information or whether they should have their memories erased by Hatori.

However, I don't think that would be the best course of action at this present time. If the end truly is nigh, then Takao doesn't have long left. If he can make peace with his demons before that time comes, perhaps he will not suffer as much in his isolation or better yet, maybe his Curse will end. Nobody really knows why the Curse has broken for most of us after all. It has obviously been weakening over the centuries. That's evident by the changes in some of the Zodiac forms like Hatori turning into a seahorse rather than a dragon. So it is possible that Takao's curse will end soon. The question is whether it will be before or after he is put into isolation.

-An extract from the diary of Shigure Sohma.

(Takao's POV)

"C'mon Dragoon," I encouraged as I watched him swiftly dart around the bey dish. I held my breath as Emily's bey blade, Trygator, brutally rammed into Dragoon, momentarily knocking it off balance. Luckily, Dragoon managed to regain his balance in time to swerve around Trygator and slam into it. Trygator began to wobble violently and Emily yelled out commands to retreat but it was too late.

"Finish him off, Dragoon! Phantom Hurricane attack!" I grinned predatorily.

Taking on an ethereal blue glow, Dragoon hurriedly whipped up a gale, which easily tossed Trygator out of the bey dish, ending the match.

"Yes!" I yelled as I pumped my fist in the air. The audience bellowed their approval as I did a quick dance to celebrate my victory.

After shaking hands with Emily, I rushed over to my team's bench where Rei and Max were laughing happily.

"Well done, Takao" Rei beamed as he pat me on the head, knocking off my cap.

"Yay!" Max squealed as he gave me a congratulatory hug.

In the background, I could just make out DJ Brad's voice over the loudspeaker informing the screaming crowd that upon our defeating the All Starz, our team was officially advancing to Round Two of the tournament.

"Let's go back to our locker room," Kai suggested in an annoyed voice. I grinned as I noticed he was shading his eyes against the multiple camera flashes coming from the audience.

"C'mon, Kai," Max whined. "Let's enjoy the spotlight for just a bit longer."

"Max," Kenny chided. "We have to clear the stage for the next match. If you haven't noticed the Blitzkrieg Boys and the Majestics are waiting to start their battle."

I looked to where Kenny was pointing and sure enough, I could make out both teams glaring at us. Robert was tapping his watch impatiently and looking at me pointedly.

"Alright, let's go!" I called as I ran off of the stage eager to get away from Robert and Tala's glares. I couldn't help but giggle as I heard the guys behind me racing behind me yell at me to wait for them. I didn't bother slowing down. Truth be told, I was still hyped up with adrenalin from the match against Emily. I couldn't even feel my injuries at the moment. A huge grin graced my face as I increased my pace even more whilst navigating the twisting corridors towards our locker room. Soon, I wasn't even able to hear my friends' footsteps trailing at me. I laughed, too caught up in my bliss to notice the dark figure in front of me.

"I'm glad to see you're having fun, Takao," Akito's deep voice broke through my joy. I immediately stopped running as the grin disappeared off my face. Even though he hadn't raised his voice, I felt as if I'd been slapped. A cold sensation settled over my body as he slowly made his way towards me.

"It's been a long time, Takao. You didn't even visit me once. Do you know how sad and lonely you made me feel?" Akito questioned as she raised a hand and cupped my cheek. I flinched at her touch but couldn't move away. It was as if I was petrified.

"I heard what your Father did to you. Don't worry, I shall have him punished. He should have known better," she continued stroking my cheek tenderly. Abruptly I felt Akito's grip harden, painfully pinching my cheek. "You're my prey not his," she concluded, swiping his nails across my cheek.

"Akito!"

Akito lowered her hand and turned to glare at the man who had called her name.

"Kureno," Akito acknowledged with a small nod, blatantly disregarding the presence of my team mates who were standing clustered around Kureno.

"It is time for your lunch," Kureno stated as he pushed a strand of his dark red hair away from his eyes. Nodding slightly, Akito sent me a menacing smile before she began walking away, Kureno following him a step behind. I didn't move as I watched him leave. I waited, knowing instinctively that she had not dismissed me yet.

"Enjoy yourself while you can, Takao," Akito's soft words sounded as she continued to walk away from me. "The end is nigh after all. Are you ready?"

As Akito's form disappeared around the corner and out of sight, I let out a breath I hadn't even realised I'd been holding. My body sagged as if it'd just been freed from invisible bonds. I could move again.

"Takao, what was that?" I heard Rei stutter.

"That was my head of house greeting me," I replied sardonically, as I tenderly touched my cheek. On pulling my hand away, I found it coated in blood.

Sighing wearily, I resumed my walk to the locker room, the guys following me silently. When we arrived at the locker room, I wasn't surprised to find to find my cousins already seated inside.

"Come here, Takao-kun," Kagura ushered me onto a bench. She then pulled out a first-aid kit from her bag and began to clean my wound for me.

"He didn't do anything too bad, did he?" Yuki asked as he and the others made room for my team mates to sit. Fortunately, the room was decent-sized so crowding wasn't an issue.

"Nah, nothing I can't handle," I assured everyone as I allowed myself to be subjected to Kagura's ministrations.

Immediately, the tension in the room subsided as my cousins took in my words. My heart warmed a bit when I realised how worried they had all been for me. I was beginning to regret not keeping in contact with any of them. It was nice to have family that could understand what you were going through.

"Wait, you guys knew Akito was going to attack him?" Kenny queried, looking shocked.

"It was inevitable. Akito hasn't seen Takao since he ran off almost four years ago. Of course there was gonna be a confrontation. Only an idiot would think otherwise," Hiro stated pompously.

"Hiro, don't be so mean. You're sure you're okay Takao-niisan?" Kisa asked, glancing sadly at my cheek, which now sported a bandage to cover the cuts.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I smiled at her. She beamed back whilst Hiro scowled.

"Was that red-haired guy another one of your cousins?" Max asked curiously.

"'Red-haired guy?' Do you mean Kureno?" Rin snapped, a fierce frown marring her face. The frown eased slightly as Haru began to massage her shoulders.

"Yes on both counts," I replied. "He was the one who got Akito away from me," I admitted.

"I still don't like him," Rin ground out.

"Why not? Is he a Zodiac too?" Max interrogated. His question resulted in a loud burst of noise that caused me to block my ears as all my cousins, bar Yuki, let out a startled cry.

"THEY KNOW!?" Rin exclaimed.

I nodded my head as I mulled over how I was going to deal with this problem. Apart from Tohru, my team mates were the only people outside my family who had been told about the Curse and still had their memories. Usually if anyone found out the truth about us and our Curse, Hatori would be ordered to erase their memories, which he did with a curious power granted to those of the Dragon. From what Shigure and Tohru had told me, it took all my cousins months for them to accept that Tohru knew their secret. Despite them no longer being affected by the Curse, I had a feeling that they would still be strongly adverse to the idea of anyone knowing the truth.

"Yes, they know," I muttered. "They found out about four days ago when they saw me transform in front of them. Grandpa explained it to them."

"How could you be so reckless to transform in front of them?" Hiro angrily asked.

"It wasn't his fault, Hiro," Yuki cut in calmly. "His Father had injured him quite severely and he transformed out of sheer exhaustion. Honda-san was the one who found him and brought him to us to be treated. We were more concerned about keeping him alive than worrying about whether they saw him transform of not."

Once more I had to cover my ears with my hands as the room resounded with shocked exclamations. After reassuring my cousins once more, I turned to Yuki and asked why he hadn't told them all this already. The dumb Rat just looked at me as if I were an idiot and said, "Because I thought you'd be able to handle the situation yourself."

Stupid Rat bastard!

"Fine, I guess you guys are curious to know who was what?" I directed the question to my friends who nodded. Ignoring Rin's sneer, I began to list out the names of my cousins along with their Zodiac animal. "Yuki was the Rat, Shigure was the Dog, Hatori was the Dragon, Kagura was the Boar, Haru was the Ox, Rin was the Horse, Momiji was the Rabbit, Hiro was the Goat, Kisa was the Tiger, Kureno was the Rooster, Ritsu was the Monkey and Ayame who you haven't met yet…"

"And hopefully never will," Yuki cut in.

"…was the Snake," I concluded, counting them down on my fingers.

(Kai's POV)

I blinked as Takao finished listing all his cousins. What about…?

"What about Akito?" Rei queried, posing the question I had just been thinking of.

My eyes narrowed as I saw Takao and his cousins exchange glances.

"He's the head of our family," Momiji stated, his normally bubbly voice subdued.

"But I'd have thought he'd have had a role in the Zodiac too. It's only logical seeing as he is the head of your family," I reasoned.

After exchanging an uncertain glance with his cousins, Takao opened his mouth only to shut it again with a snap when Ritsu accidentally knocked her elbow into one of the lockers with a smash. With a cry she stood up and began running maniacally around in circles, her shrill voice resonating in the enclosed room.

"ARGH! OH GOD! OH GOD! I'M SO SORRY! I APOLOGISE TO THE WORLD FOR MY CLUMSINESS. I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO CREATE SUCH AN UNGODLY SOUND JUST AS YOU WERE ABOUT TO SPEAK TAKAO! YOU MUST HATE ME NOW AND RIGHTFULLY SO! OH GOD, I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! I'M SO SORR..."

Ritsu's running and frantic screams ended abruptly as Rin poked her quite sharply in the back.

"You learnt that trick from Sensei, didn't you?" Haru asked her after everyone's eardrums had stopped ringing.

"Yes and I'm very glad I did get Shigure to teach me it. He's always such a drama queen," Rin sighed, rubbing her temples.

"HE?!" Max, Rei and Kenny yelled in unison. I raised my eyebrows, silently asking them the same question but in a much more dignified manner. (A/N: Keep telling yourself that Kai…)

"Yeah, Ritsu's a guy," Kagura answered emphatically. "For some reason dressing up as a girl soothes his nerves."

Weird people…

"Anyway, back onto more important matters. I assume that you guys all won your matches and have advanced to Round Two?" Takao questioned.

"Of course! Those nasty White Tigers didn't stand a chance against the might of Team Bunny!" Momiji proudly sang.

I smirked as I noticed Rei's eye twitching from the 'nasty' comment about his ex-team.

"Um… 'Team Bunny'?" Takao asked, exasperated.

Kagura and Yuki both groaned and began rubbing their temples.

"Since Kagura and I wouldn't let Momiji play a big hand in organising this tournament, we told him he could name our team," Yuki sighed.

"Yep! Team Bunny! Fight!" Momiji chanted.

"…Right," I said. "So on… that team, it's you, Kagura, Momiji and…?"

"Ritsu," Yuki finished, indicating the past out cross dresser lying unconscious on the floor.

"Our team's called The Shadowed," Haru muttered. "Before you ask, we've already defeated the F-Dynasty and been moved on to the next round."

"Excellent, I wonder who's winning between the Blitzkrieg Boys and the Majestics?" Max wondered allowed.

As if on cue, DJ Brad's voice filtered through the speaker in the locker room declaring the Blitzkrieg Boys as the victors.

"Will all bladers who have made it to the second Round please make their way to the stage," he continued.

"Well, we'd better get going," Kenny suggested, standing up.

As a group (Haru was carrying the still unconscious Ritsu) we swiftly made our way back onto the stage much to the delight of the cheering audience. Akito was already there waiting for us, as were the BlitzKrieg Boys. The White Tigers, All Starz, F-Dynasty and the Majestics were now occupying the front row of seats amongst the crowd.

Upon seeing us, Akito smiled. Based on the tense stances of Takao and his relatives, I could tell I wasn't the only one who had detected the subtle undercurrent of maliciousness in Akito's smile. When the crowd had died down, Akito began his address.

"Firstly, I'd like to extend my sincere congratulations to the BlitzKrieg Boys, Team Bunny, The Shadowed and the Bladebreakers for their victory today. These four successful teams will be advancing to the second round of the Tournament, which will commence tomorrow. I would like to remind these teams that in Round Two, they will be split into teams of two. These partners will then go on to battle the other partnerships until only two teams remain. I'm sure it will be an invigorating and exciting show so I'd ask you all to go home, get some rest and be ready for Round Two tomorrow morning. Good night!" Akito concluded, waving to the crowd who clapped and cheered crazily in return.

As the crowd began to exit the stadium, Akito turned around and faced us.

"You did excellently today. I expect the standard to only improve. Until tomorrow…" he trailed off, sending a wink to Takao who immediately stiffened. With a final smile at us, he too left the stadium.

Round Two of the tournament began without much ado the following morning. I was currently sitting with Takao and his cousins as we watched Momiji face off against Tala. Tala looked particularly murderous as he obviously still remembered Momiji glomping him the early day. Momiji was ignoring Tala's glares in favour of enthusiastically grinning and waving at the audience who were completely smitten with the blonde. This did not improve Tala's mood.

"So in these two on two battles, both team members have to defeat their opponents to pass into the next round, right?" Kenny asked Kagura who was blowing Momiji a kiss.

"Yep and if by the end of the two battles it's a tie, one player from each team will battle to decide which team advances," she explained.

"Cool, I can't wait to see you guys blade. I didn't even know you could to be honest," Takao admitted.

"That's because we wanted it to be a surprise for you," Kagura beamed.

"What kind of bit beasts do they have?" Rei queried from where he sat next to Max and Mariah.

"I'm curious about that myself," Lee remarked.

"Wait. You mean you didn't see any of their bit beasts yesterday when you fought them?" Max interrogated, his eyes widening.

"Yeah, they're very strong. All of us were obliterated in the matches even though we were the only one who called on our bit beasts," Gary replied surlily.

"Well, thanks for the compliment even though I don't really appreciate your tone of voice," Yuki responded, his attention fixed on Tala and Momiji's match, which had finally started.

"Do you guys even have bit beasts?" I wondered.

"Yeah they would and I could probably give a good guess to what form they will take too," Takao murmured, his eyes following Momiji's blade as it whizzed easily around Tala's much heavier, and thus much slower, beyblade.

"Do you mean…" I began but my words were cut off by Tala calling forth his bit beast, Wolborg.

"Ooh," Momiji cooed as he was showered in the dazzling light of the now present Wolborg. "Well, two can play it that game," Momiji grinned as he lifted his arms skyward, his pink bunny ears waving as a strong breeze ruffled them. "Come out, Awa-chan!1"

I had to shield my eyes as a brilliant pale blue light burst forth from Momiji's blade. When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to find the air filled with bubbles that a six-foot tall, pale yellow rabbit was vainly trying to catch in its mouth. Momiji just beamed as he ignored the bewildered looks of the crowd and caught one of the bubbles calmly in his hand. He looked up to see Tala's glares had faltered as he stared in confusion at the swirl of bubbles surrounding him and the giant bunny hopping around in front of him. Momiji's smile became almost predatory as he took in Tala's uncertainty.

"Awa-chan, fusion blast!" he commanded with a grin.

Drawing in a deep breath, the rabbit released a small bubble of light from its mouth. All other bubbles in the stadium immediately converged on the small, floating ball of light, which was now hovering above Wolborg. The ball of light grew brighter and brighter as more bubbles fused with the light until BOOM! The explosion of light rocked the stadium, causing violent winds to buffet the audience. When the wind died down and everyone could see again, they were treated with the sight of a happy Momiji with a lollipop in his mouth searching through a mound of shrapnel.

"Ah, here you go Tala-chan," he sang, as he pulled a battered Wolborg from the refuse. Tala just looked at him stupidly as he accepted the offered blade before walking back to join his equally stunned team mate Ian.

"Momiji…is the winner," DJ Brad stuttered as he tried to overcome his shock. That blast had been huge, yet Momiji's blade didn't look even rattled as it continued to spin steadily in the remains of the bey dish.

A/N: Make my day and send me a review. C'mon, you know you want to…

1 'Awa' is Japanese for bubble.