Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, but things aren't going to well at home. I went and saw the new Batman move today though. Heath Ledger was amazing in it and I give my condolences to his family and friends after his passing.

OMG my copy of the new Dark-Hunter book Acheron arrived today!

I leave to go to Auckland next week! YAY! I'm going there for my 18th and I'm going to see Panic! At The Disco! YAY!!

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I have reached my personal best! Thank you! Oh and could you please give me feedback on my portrayal of Boris? Some of it has stemmed from Heath Ledger' portrayal of the Joker. Thanks!

Review replies…

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15 reviews for chapter 9!

Sorry for no personal replies, but I was running out of time to get this posted! They will resume next chapter, promise!


TEN BLACK ROSES

DancerInTheDark101


Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or the song and lyrics to Ten Black Roses or the band The Rasmus (although I do own all of The Rasmus' albums!). Oh, but I do own the plot.

Summary: When Kai's friends start to suspect something isn't quite right at home, they pry into the matter. What they find shocks and horrifies them, but does it explain the constant bruising and bandages? What is Kai hiding so desperately? Abuse, dark themes

Chapter 10: When You're Sad, And No One Knows It

(I'll Send You Black Roses)

BANG

Tala gasped as the bullet slammed into the concrete wall beside his head. Breathing shallow and fast, he desperately tried to calm his heart down enough to let him think properly. Why hadn't Boris killed him?

The redhead blinked, wondering why Boris wasn't taunting and mocking him. He looked over to see the monster leaning over Bryan's still form. Worry settled in his mind as Boris Balkov stood up, a strange look falling over his features.

Then Boris smiled and walked over to the door. Tala caught a gleeful glint in his eyes as the door shut and the worry in his mind increased tenfold.

Looking over to where Bryan lay, a horrifying realisation jolted him out of his slight stupor.

Bryan isn't breathing…

Many things ran through his mind at the sight of his friend lying there, pale and covered in blood. The noticeably absent rising of his chest that associated with breathing was a shock to the system and Tala could feel the shock rising within himself.

He stared, wide-eyed at Bryan and felt his heart skip a beat when Boris' heinous purple hair suddenly came into view. The man looked over to Bryan and smirked, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Tala felt anger surge and boil in his blood. Boris was a sick, twisted psychopath. The monster could maim and kill an innocent boy and think it was just a childish game that was played at birthday parties.

"You…you" he stumbled, unable to form the words as the anger and pain grew to astounding levels. The redhead had always tried to keep his anger in check when dealing with Boris, but now…now the man had gone too far.

Bryan can't be dead…He can't be!

"Me what?" the sarcastic and mocking tone spoke the volumes of enjoyment that Boris was experimenting. "Come on, Tala," he teased. "You've got to tell me more than that!" The man leant in close, smirking and brushing his lips past Tala's ear to whisper into it.

Tala recoiled as he felt Boris' breath caress his ear. "You think he's dead?" There was a pause. "He's not dead. Yet."

The Russian man pulled away with a cackle and Tala felt the shock of the past few minutes finally catch up with him. His body started to shake and he found himself gasping for breath. Truth be told, Boris Balkov scared the living shit out of him.

Boris sighed and rolled his eyes and Tala felt himself being lifted off the ground by two hands. Moments later he came face to face with his tormentor. Boris' cold, deep grey eyes bored into his own ice blue ones and it was then that Tala realised the full extent of Boris Balkov's insanity.

The man's eyes were a deep grey in colour and were burning with a twisted, sadistic pleasure. Tala could see that Boris was enjoying the amount of pain and fear he was inflicting, taking some kind of pathetic pleasure from it all. The light shining in the depths of his eyes flared and died down at moments that were obvious excitement and disappointment.

Another thing Tala noticed was the man's competence to bring out a smirk more chilling than that of Kai Hiwatari. Whereas Kai's was more to get people to leave him alone, Boris Balkov's was a smirk to install fear and anxiety into the people around him. His lips twisted upwards seemingly way too far for a normal mouth and they twisted slightly, making the smirk look even more evil.

"Well, well, well…" Boris noted, his mouth twisted in said smirk. "Look's like young Tala has a fear…of me!" The man cackled again and Tala couldn't help but wince. He just wanted to get out of the room.

A sudden push and the redhead found himself on the floor, head cracking against the concrete hard. Stars swum before his vision and he groaned as a pounding headache battered at his skull.

"Goodbye, Tala. Voltaire will be along later to pick up you and the other brat." The words were said with no emotion what so ever. "Hopefully the brat isn't dead then," Boris mused quietly to himself in an amused tone. "Voltaire will be most displeased if he is."

Tala let out a shot of indignation and stared at Boris, mouth open wide, as the man ignored him and stalked out of the cold room. The door slammed shut, sealing the two boys in the room once more.

The redhead rushed over to his friend, shaking the pale-haired teen. He bit his lip in frustration when Bryan didn't wake.

Oh god…please Bry, don't give up.

On another note, Tala glared at the shut door. His thoughts drifted slightly to Boris Balkov. I swear on Bryan's life that I will be the one to kill you, Boris Balkov. Whether it be by a gun, knife or my own bare hands, I will be the one to end your pathetic life.

--

Present time…

Kai frowned and looked into the darkness beyond the threshold of the door. His grandfather reached in and flicked on a light and Kai felt his world crumble before his very eyes.

No, no, no…no!

There, in the middle of the chamber-like room lay two figures. Blood covered their barely-clad bodies and their hands and feet were bound.

Kai could hear the shallow breathing coming from the room and stared in shock. What? How? Why?

"Tala…Bryan…"

"I hope you like your surprise, Kai."

Kai ignored his grandfather and stared at the chaotic mess in complete anguish.

Both Tala and Bryan were bound with what looked like plastic wire. Their wrists were rubbed raw and blood seeped from small cuts where they would have tried to escape the binds. Both were very pale and Tala had blood running into his left eye from a deep gash on his forehead.

Bryan was lying very still, too still for Kai to like. There was a lot of blood coating Bryan's torn clothes, but Kai had a sinking feeling that it wasn't all his as the bluenette couldn't see any major wounds on the boy from his vantage point.

Abruptly, Kai found his right arm being grabbed and twisted behind him. The healing bone protested sharply and the pain intensified tenfold. Shit, he was supposed to be getting the cast off soon. If his grandfather did anything to damage the bone, it would be on for a hell of a lot longer.

"Get in there!" His grandfather boomed, shoving him inside. Gasping as he stumbled, Kai hit the floor, hard. His head hit the floor – albeit not very hard – and Kai found himself seeing stars for a moment

As his vision cleared, Kai heard a whistling sound and frowned. The sound became apparent as a steel-toed boot came into contact with his ribs. He chocked on a breath and a little spit came flying from his mouth to land on the floor in front of him. Okay, his grandfather was angry.

There was one final kick before Kai heard his grandfather storm off and slam the door behind him. Lying on the floor in pain, the bluenette finally managed to gather enough strength to look over at his two friends.

"Tala? Bryan?"

Surprisingly Kai's gaze met a pair of blue eyes. Had Tala been awake for the whole thing?

"Hey, Kai…" Tala's voice was weak, strained even and Kai thought he heard a slight waver. Was Tala crying?

"Tala? What's wrong? Apart from the obvious…" Kai asked, afraid to hear the answer.

There was a moment of silence before Tala spoke again and when he did, crystalline tears dropped from ice-blue eyes to make trails down a pale and bloodstained face. "Bryan…Kai, Bryan's dying…"

Kai couldn't have been more shocked had he been dipped in a lake in the middle of Russia on the coldest day of winter. He felt as though his lungs were closing up, his body forgetting how to breathe.

"What?" he whispered. "How…why? What happened to you two?"

"It was Boris…"

Kai needed no more words. He was going to kill the motherfucker!

A sudden gasp caught both of their attention and the two Russian teens looked over to where Bryan was struggling to breathe. The pale boy's chest was heaving in and out, trying desperately to draw a breath.

"I'm…sorry…" Bryan whispered. His lilac eyes opened slightly and gazed around the room. The boy's eyes were fogged over and Kai bit back a sob as he realised that one of his closest friend's time was up.

"Bry…no…"

"Don't…" Bryan shivered groggily. "Don't…feel…bad for…me. I'm no-not…in…any p-pain…it…doesn't h-hurt…"

Tala screamed then and Kai averted his gaze from the two teens. He couldn't handle it. Bryan wasn't…he couldn't be! Then the teen spoke again and Kai knew that it was time.

"I'm tired…I'm so…tired…"

Bryan's pale eyes fluttered closed as his last word trailed off into silence. The cancer had finally won the war.

It just ain't living

And I just hope you know

That if you say

Goodbye today

I'd ask you to be true

'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you

Kai didn't stop the sob that escaped as Bryan closed his eyes for the final time. Tala's tragic scream echoed in his ears long after the vocal agony had died away. He had thought that Bryan was going to be okay. The cancer wasn't supposed to win! Bryan was going to beat it; it was supposed to go away.

Bryan wasn't supposed to go like that. He was meant to live a long, happy life. Not die covered in blood and not aware of anything. If anything, he was supposed to pass with all his friends surrounded around him. It was supposed to be peaceful, not kidnapped by an evil Russian man.

Kai let the tears roll. If one person deserved tears, it was Bryan. The boy had always been there whenever someone needed a friend. The pale-haired boy was always kind and caring to those he cared about and stood up for them no matter what. Why was it always the kind ones that went first?

The bluenette was so caught up in his misery that he didn't notice the door open and in walk his grandfather. He stared teary-eyed at his friend.

…'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you…

Bryan…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…


TBC…

Please review!


Preview: Chapter 11: When Your Heart's Dark And Frozen

(I'll Send You Black Roses)

One week later…

Grey clouds loomed overhead, signalling the impending rain. Kai Hiwatari stood amongst many other people dressed in the international colour of mourning. His cobalt blue tattoos stood out against his pale face as he stared at the photo placed on top of the white casket housing his close friend's body.

It had been one week since Kai had been given his 'surprise.' It had been a week filled of tears and beatings from his grandfather. Being back at school had been a mission in itself. Once word got round that Bryan had passed…

He and Tala had talked about what had happened and after much internal debate, Kai finally told someone about what his grandfather did to him. He found out that Tala had already suspected, but apparently hearing it being proved true was even worse than suspecting.

Tala stood to his left, face also pale. A small, white bandage covered the stitches on his forehead and tear tracks marked his gaunt cheeks. The person who had taken Bryan's death the hardest had been Tala and it was showing.

"We are here today to mourn the loss of a great person," the minister was saying in a solemn tone. "For one to battle so hard against such an awful disease for so long is an accomplishment and I am sure that everyone here today is proud of Bryan for this. He held on for as long as he could, but…in the end it became too much. Although his passing is one of tragedy, at least he will not be in any pain. His soul will have passed to a better place where the pain of his disease will not harm him any longer."

Kai saw another tear roll down his best friend's face. He didn't know how easy it was going to be to live without Bryan. Nothing in his life was going well. His grandfather was still abusing him, one of his closest friends was dead and his best friend was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

How much more could they all take? Truthfully, he didn't think that it would be much more before he broke.


Please let me know what you thought!

-Dancer-