Man I'm bad it's been so long since I last updated this, oops. Sorry for the long wait I won't go on about excuses instead I'll get right into the chapter. This one begins my little tournament at the blind school and I hope that you all enjoy it. One last thing before I get into the chapter, I'd just like to say this a bit of a late birthday present for Lord of Fluff. Happy belated birthday to him and I hope he likes this surprise.


Chapter 11 Practice

The following Sunday Kai had returned to the blind school with Cassie. The hype of the Beyblade tournament was the topic on everybody's minds as the competition had gotten underway. Even the grey haired young man was lost in thought about the first day of matches as he traversed the halls on the second floor of the main school building.

The opening matches went smoothly enough, I suppose but it was pretty tame. I was right to assume that this would prove to be a waste of time. These weaklings have absolutely no skill, Kai thought to himself as his feet seemed to absentmindedly carry him towards the library.

"Just where do you think you're off to?" The dark phoenix pecked at the back of Kai's mind.

"Where do you think? I'm going to the library the way I do every day at lunch time," Kai replied while his feet led him to his destination.

"Have you forgotten what day it is? If you don't turn around and hurry down to the gym right now we're going to miss our match. You promised I would get to battle but if you miss the match all the training we've been doing would have been for nothing. You better keep up your end of our bargain, I need to have my fun in the dish," Black Dranzer whined expressing his distress.

The crimson eyed young man realized the truth in the bitbeast's words as he swore, "Shit! You're actually right for once!"

Determined to not take a page out of the idiot Granger's book Kai hoped he would make it to his match on time. Bolting off towards the gym Kai descended the main flight of stairs in a sprint. Once at the entrance of the setting for the tournament the famed captain of the Bladebreakers burst through the doors. Upon entering Kai heard the roarous cheers of a massive crowd that was gathered there.

They must be excited for the chance to witness a real beyblader at work, Kai decided before turning his thoughts to the bitbeast, "Black Dranzer lend me your sight so I can get a feel for where the dish is and get a better sense of my surroundings."

A moment later Kai could see the space of the room around him. The young man's crimson gaze darted around the gym as he quickly inspected its area. Through the veil of fire that was the dark phoenix's sight Kai noticed that the expanse of the gym had been split in half by a dividing wall. The wall had a door at one end of it to lead to the other side of the room. The young man also noted that the crowd of spectators were gathered on rows of benches that made up a set of bleachers, lined against the wall at the end of the gym.

Kai then glanced up to see an open space near the ceiling where even more people were huddled to watch the event of the beybattle. The young man guessed they were leaning over the edge of the track on the second floor of the gym that he knew was located there from Phys Ed classes he'd had held over the past month he'd stayed at the school.

Kai glanced back around the main floor that surrounded him where wrestling mats lay spread out underneath his feet. The mats were dark blue in colour with a white target like pattern decorating them. In the centre of this sat the beydish, perfectly placed in the middle of the room that would serve as a stadium for everyone there to see.

Kai's opponent was already present waiting at one of the ends of the dish. Unforfunately for the young man the fiery vision he had borrowed from the bitbeast failed his unseeing crimson orbs before he could grasp a good look at the boy he was about to face. So Kai strode across the floor of mats to claim his place at the opposite end of the dish. As he took up his stance a chorus of cheers and woots thundered from the audience in support of the former captain of the World Champion team.

"Well it looks like I'm the first one to challenge the Great Kai Hiwatari. Now I'm pretty good when it comes to sports so don't get too cocky on me or anything, okay?" Kai's opponent remarked and he recognized the voice to belong to Dylan.

The experienced beyblader merely rolled his eyes at the comment as Black Dranzer butt in, "Cocky? Us Cocky? I think this guy's the cocky one. Let's get down to business and show this boaster what we're made of... eh Kai?"

"Yeah sure, just remember there's no need to unleash anywhere near your full power on one who doesn't possess a bitbeast."

"Oh you're no fun! Alright... I suppose I don't have to go so hard on the kid, he probably won't even last long enough to give me that much fun anyway," the dark phoenix groaned as he was subdued by his master.

"Good," Kai replied as he readied Black Dranzer on his launcher.

Before Kai could release his Beyblade into the dish the young man heard Mr. Gall's voice.

The staff member of the residence who appeared to be standing in as referee announced, "Hello folks I'd like to introduce you all to another battle of W. Ross Macdonald School's first Beyblade Tournament. I'd also like to ask you to try and keep your cheers to a minimum. The students here are blind and visually impaired and need silence to help their concentration. A reminder that these preliminary matches are single elimination rounds to determine who will move on to the next level. The combatants already know these rules as they were detailed by our principal the day before at the tournament's opening. So good luck and a good match to both of you. Beybladers at the ready and.... 3... 2... 1... let it rip!"

As the last bit of the speech was called Kai joined in out of habit while he pulled the ripcord hard with all of his force. Kai's launch was strong and powerful and his black beyblade soared forth into action to strike at the spinning object that opposed it. Through his other senses he had trained to accurately assist his blading without his eyesight, Kai could discern the feeble rotation of Dylan's Beyblade. The object spun with a wobble and Black Dranzer closed the distance between the two Beyblades, going in for the kill.

In a split second the battle was over almost as soon as it had begun. Kai knew that his black blade had sliced through the other boy's sloppy defenses once his sharp hearing picked up on the sound of his opponents blade clatter to the floor outside the dish. Kai had won, seizing a swift and early victory. The grey haired young man retrieved the dark phoenix's beyblade as the crowd went wild in approval of the show of skill and power the former captain had performed.

"Ha! I sure showed him! So much for that kid actually thinking he stood a chance against us," Black Dranzer snickered in triumph.

"I thought I told you no showing off?" Kai inquired in response within his mind.

"I wasn't! I just took the kid down before the weakling had a chance to do anything about it," the dark phoenix justified his actions.

Kai shrugged and dismissed the conversation as it seemed that Cassie had joined him bringing over a couple of her friends.

"Yeah! You did it Kai! That was such an amazing match, my brother's not even that good," the girl who was Ray's sister congratulated, giving the young man a friendly pat on the back.

Kai shrugged, "That was nothing, it takes years of experience to perfect your skills to that level and I've been training all my life."

"Well it was still an awesome battle. We'll have to celebrate later but we should probably get to class now. Come on, there's the bell," the dark haired girl stated in a casual chipper tone.

As the bell signalled the end of the lunch break, Mr Gall made another announcement, "It looks like Kai Hiwatari makes a spectacular win in this first round! Now as the participants Beyblading in the next battle prepare I would like to note that all students who don't have a match or aren't competing are expected to attend their classes as scheduled!"

The crimson eyed young man let out an agitated grunt as he'd intended to avoid his boring classes but he soon realized that was the least of his worries. The audience gathered on the bleachers seemed to swarm around him, the fans crying his name and asking for autographs. Luckily for Kai just before they could mob him completely he was relieved from the crowd. Someone had grabbed his hand and had managed to pull him from the claustrophobic mass of people.

Once safely away in the hallway a concerned voice asked, "That was close. Are you alright, Kai?"

Grateful to his rescuer Kai replied, "Yeah, I'm fine Cass... thanks... I guess..."

"No problem," she calmly said with a tone that told Kai she was smiling, "You coming to class?"

"You know, for once I'm not going to argue with you," the grey haired young man stated with a sigh.

"Wow! Really? You sure you're feeling okay? You're not sick or been hit on the head or anything?" The girl wondered in complete and utter shock and surprise.

"Yeah, I just really don't want to have to deal with those crazy fans. I think that I'd rather deal with Bernard than be mobbed by them," Kai shuddered and he walked off with Cassie to willingly put up with the torment of the boring school day.


The remainder of the day proved to pass by at a slow pace and Cassie could tell that her brother's old captain was nearly bored to death throughout their classes that afternoon. Eventually it had passed and Cassie found herself sitting in a room of the music wing that she used for her practice each night. The rooms used for music or studios as they were called, were all pretty much the same in appearance. They were small in size, containing a piano as well as a chair or some other kind of instrument in one of the corners.

The girl sat on the bench in front of the piano kicking her feet as they dangled over the bench's edge. Cassie was usually quite productive in both her lessons and practices and with nothing more to do she waited for the practice to be finished. Cassie was ready to head over to the school's auditorium for Choir. After a while the whistle to tell the students practice was done finally blew and Cassie left her studio. In the main hallway the girl met up with her closest friends Kathleen and Amanda and she happily greeted them.

"Hey Cass, how was practice?" The blonde girl wondered as the three of them crossed paths with each other.

"Not bad, Kakky. But I'm glad it's time for Choir."

"That's cool," Kathleen stated as the small group made their way over to the doors of the auditorium.

"Yeah, so do you think that friend of yours is finally going to join us tonight?" Amanda curiously piped up.

"I'm not sure," Cassie replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Well you seem like the only person he really talks to, with all the time you two spend together..."

"And you do seem pretty close to the guy. Seriously Cass, have you even asked him out yet?" Kathleen prodded in agreement with the shorter girl.

"No! Kai and I are just friends and even if there were a remote chance of us being something more than that he's in love with this old girlfriend of his back in his hometown," Cassie exclaimed feeling the heat of a tiny blush creep across her cheeks.

Kathleen noticed it as the blonde girl grinned, "Oh so there is a spark there! You do have feelings for him?"

"I do not! Just because I spend a lot of time with Kai doesn't mean that I like him or that he'd tell me whether or not he's coming to practice. I'm not his keeper so stop asking," Cassie huffed, her temper steadily rising with her friends' accusations.

"Alright already... just calm down. We've known you for years so we thought the signs were there and something more would come out of your spending time together," Amanda reasoned coolly.

"But if he really does care for someone else we won't hurt you by going on about it. Though you do know people are going to get suspicious and start asking questions? I bet all of his fans are going to get really jealous by how the two of you are always hanging out," Kathleen finished seeming satisfied by Cassie's reactions.

"Well those airheads can just go jump off a bridge for all I care. And I don't want to hear another word about Kai or me liking him either," the Chinese girl declared as she stormed off into the auditorium.

Inside its doors was a pretty large expanse of space with it being used to hold the school's gatherings. There was a big stage at one end and rows of chairs facing this at the other. Below the stage were risers that the music teacher had set up for the practice. As well as a grand piano that would accompany the singing lay in the space between the risers and the aisles of chairs.

Kathleen and Amanda caught up to Cassie and the blonde suggested, "Hey, let's find our seats while we wait for the rest of the Choir to show up!"

"Yeah sure," Cassie agreed as she took Amanda's arm and guided the girl over to a spot of the risers next to Brooke, the girl Cassie shared a room with.

Splitting up from her short friend Cassie rejoined Kathleen at the other end of the risers where the two girls claimed a couple of spots. The Choir was divided into four sections, Alto, Base, Tenor, and Soprano. The two of them were Sopranos while the other dark haired girl was an Alto.

As Cassie and Kathleen made themselves comfortable another girl entered the large room. It was a preppy blonde who was none other than Stephannie Leach. None of the friends liked her with her bitchy attitude and how she was always trying to be little miss perfect. Cassie inwardly groaned as Stephannie approached her.

Hands on her hips, the preppy blonde of a bitch huffed, "If it isn't the two whores. First you try stealing my boyfriend away from me after Courtney dumped you and now you're stealing Kai away from his adoring fans. Why someone famous like him would want to waste time with a slut like you is beyond me. I mean he is so way too good for you, completely out of your league."

"Oh yeah and I suppose you're just perfect for him? Kai wouldn't give a bitch like you the time of day let alone go out with you," Cassie spat out in response.

"Of course he would be better off with me and if not then at least someone else who admires him as much as I do, not a pathetic little girl who tries too hard to impress everybody," scoffed the ignorant, attention seeking, goody goody.

"The only thing you admire Kai for is his fame! He should be with someone who cares about him for who he is not just because he's a champion. Now get lost before I have to kill you! You intolerable... good for nothing... perfect... little-" Before Cassie could finish the insult there was a hand on her shoulder.

Halting the girl in mid sentence Kathleen stepped into the banter, "That's enough Cass, we all know your feelings of hatred are mutual. Besides Leach, Cassie was just saying how there was nothing more than friendship between her and Kai. So calm down and try not to bite each other's heads off... Choir will be starting soon."

"Fine Kakky, spoil my fun," Cassie mumbled as Stephannie stalked away to the other side of the Soprano section.

The other students had begun to trickle in by then. The snob who was Cassie's enemy, met up with her bitch of a best friend, Lindsey, to probably gossip on about how the rest of the world was beneath them. After a while the students were all gathered for Choir practice and Mr. Boyd followed a few minutes later, with a tense and agitated looking Kai. Cassie was surprised to see him and glanced over at the young man as he was dragged into the auditorium.

Guess I better go help him. He is my friend after all and it would probably show Leach a thing or two, the girl decided as she went over to the entrance where a grumbling Kai was still fighting against the music teacher.

As she approached the girl caught a flash of something she couldn't recognize. For a moment it appeared as if the young man's crimson depths glinted with a burning fiery gaze. Kai appeared to be anxious by being around all the other kids in the unfamiliar area but when Cassie stared back into his unseeing orbs, they looked normal and it was as if Kai had eased up a little.

Intent on assisting her friend, Cassie offered, "If you tell me which section to put him in I can give you a hand and help your friend here find a seat."

"Yes that would be appreciated, thank you Cassie. You can put him somewhere with the Tenors," Mr. Boyd replied appreciating the help with the stubborn and difficult young man.

Grasping Kai's hand, in a friendly tone she encouraged, "Try not to look so glum. Choir practice is fun, you'll see that it really isn't as bad as you think it is. I think that you even know some people here, Dave and your roommate Brandon King are even a part of Choir and you seem to be getting along with them alright so you should stop your worrying."

"Hn," Kai shrugged emotionlessly and Cassie sat her anxious friend at a spot between the two boys she'd mentioned who also sang as Tenors.

While she had led him over to the boys it was as if the grey haired young man trusted her and had released his tension as if he felt safe by holding her hand. Leaving Kai in the care of the fun loving guys Cassie returned to Kathleen. She felt pleased in helping her solitary friend and getting him to cheer up somewhat from his worry of the practice.

Mr. Boyd played through some notes to help the Choir warm up as they got into the swing of the practice. They went through different songs that Boyd expected the group to perform at some point. In between a couple of them Cassie chanced a look behind her to check up on her brooding grey haired friend. The young man on the section of risers behind her looked uncomfortable as Cassie noticed the older boy next to him lean over to whisper something.

"You know it's alright if you don't think you're any good at this? That's why we sing in a group, to help each other out. If you're lucky and do it right, no one will even be able to pick your voice out from the crowd. Besides if you don't sing with the rest of us Boyd is going to single you out and then everyone will be able to hear how well or terrible your voice sounds," the girl barely heard Dave say.

It seemed like he'd gotten through Kai's cold demeanor and made some sense as the young man nodded his head of grey locks in understanding. The practice transpired and Cassie participated in the activity of singing, listening to those around her as well while pacing her high voice through the notes and lyrics of the music. As she did so she could distinguish the sound of a new voice that had joined into the mix.

Deciding she liked what she heard, Cassie tried to discern who the melodious delightful sound belonged to as she wondered to herself, Is that Kai? Wow can he sing! He sounds really good. I never knew he could sing like that, no wonder Boyd was so interested and keen on getting him to join Choir.

It wasn't much longer until the hour set aside for Choir was up and practice was finished for another week. Their time with Boyd over Cassie exited the room, heading back to the residence with her friend Kathleen. Spotting Kai's grey head walk down the halls of the school with Dave Cassie called over to him.

"Hey! Now was that really so bad?"

Hearing her the young man glared over in her direction, "Yes it was but I guess the torture I get to be put through tomorrow is going to be a lot worse."

"What's Boyd making you do tomorrow?"

"Something to do with singing in some stupid concert next week," Kai replied begrudgingly.

"Oh I hate those! It's so nerve wracking getting up on that stage to sing in front of such a big audience," Cassie agreed with a shudder.

"Well there you guys go, looks like you have something in common to talk about. Come on Dave, let's hurry back to the res. These two can discuss the concert and catch up to us in a minute," the blonde girl mischievously giggled and grabbed Dave's arm to lead him off.

"Yeah sure... guess I'll see you later dude," Dave mumbled without a clue of what was going on.

Kathleen winked over at Cassie and towed the older boy away from his friend. Cassie stifled a blush from the realization of what her evil friend was up to. Then glanced back toward the companion she had been left alone with. Kai rolled his eyes and the two of them started making their way to the residence as well.

Walking together the crimson eyed young man inquired, "So I'm not the only one who hates the idea of singing in front of people?"

"Nope but my teacher is a lot more flexible than Boyd and I always find a way to get out of these stupid concerts. So I never have to worry about them," the girl grinned proud of herself.

"Lucky for you, I don't seem to have that luxury. Boyd's got it set up in a way that I don't have much of a chance to do that myself."

"Well I'm not sure if I'll exactly be able to skip it this year either," Cassie admitted to him.

The two of them continued on their way, the conversation still flowing as they stepped outside into the brisk evening. Cassie was enjoying their short time together as talking about the stupid concert had seemed to open the cold beyblader up to her. Sadly for her it was almost at an end and the two of them had once again ended up at the entrance of the senior residence.

"Well good luck with Boyd in your lesson and I'll see you tomorrow," Cassie said goodbye to her brother's old captain as she left him on the threshold of the boy's floor and returned to the second level of the building.


The next morning Kai walked down the corridors to the torture of Boyd's lesson he had been dreading. Upon reaching the music wing the bitbeast Kai possessed decided to pop up inside the young man's mind.

"Aww someone seems grumpy! Are you in a bad mood just because of what your teacher has in store for you today?"

"Oh shut up already!"

"What? I think this could be interesting. But fine if you're going to be that way... when's our next match?" The dark phoenix cooed.

"Is that all you care about?"

"No, getting in the dish just makes me feel better and it should make you feel more relaxed too," the bird in Kai's mind went on.

"Whatever, I think it's tomorrow afternoon to determine if I can make the Quarter Finals next week. These matches are nothing so of course I'm going to," Kai smirked to himself.

Black Dranzer seemed satisfied for the moment and excited for the next battle.

Though Kai chose to ignore the bitbeast as he strode into Boyd's office to deal with his lesson.

Leaning against the counter as he always did Kai sighed, "Well we might as well get this over with."

"I'm glad that you're here on time Kai. Before you meet your partner for the concert I wanted to apologize to you. I understand that it probably doesn't count for much but I feel sorry for all the terrible things you've had to go through in your life. No one should have to handle the terrible things that you have," the man exclaimed sympathetically.

There was something in his voice that made Kai believe Boyd's disgusted feelings towards his childhood were true as Kai realized that the man had took him into his arms in a caring embrace.

The crimson eyed young man stood there for a moment before pulling away and angrily stating, "It's not like it really matters now what happened to me in my past. I'm not going to let my damn grandfather or anyone else do anything like it to me again! And now that it seems you've finished reading it you can give me back my story."

"Yes I finished it and it was very touching. I figured that others should know of the hardships you've faced and overcome. So I got in touch with an old friend of mine," Boyd stated in response.

Kai glared his crimson depths in his teacher's direction, "I gave you my story so you would stop interrogating me. You weren't supposed to show it to anybody!"

"I'm sorry Kai, I probably should have asked you first but my friend was moved by it just as much as I was and he decided to publish your work into a novel. My friend would also very much like to meet you to discuss the details, distribution, payment, things like that..."

Kai could feel his temper boiling up within him as he roared, "You're damn right you should have asked me first! That story was about private emotions... you had no right to go ahead and do something like that!"

The young man would have continued yelling, pissed off in disbelief of what his teacher had done. He wanted to fully express his rage and when he opened his mouth to continue doing so someone interrupted him.

"Looks like I came at a bad time... What's all this yelling about?"

"No you're right on time, Miss Kon. It just seems that I've upset your partner here," Mr. Boyd replied.

"Of course you've upset me-" Kai began as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

Kai shot his crimson orbs in the direction of the person next to him as the female voice spoke again.

"Alright Kai... it's okay. Now why don't you calmly explain to me what's bothering you?"

"Stupid Mr. Boyd took my story and published it," growled the grey haired young man.

"That doesn't sound too bad. What did you write about?"

"My crappy childhood," the young man replied curtly, "And no one else needed to about it!"

"Well if you want my opinion it's probably a good thing for people to know about what your insane evil grandfather has done to you. Maybe he'll finally end up back in jail where he belongs," the girl stated in a dark tone that was laced with the kind of hatred that Kai himself felt for the vile bastard.

"You know Kai, your little friend here has a point? Isn't that just what you wanted anyway? Besides if people like your writing as much as your blading you may even be able to get home to Russia sooner than you expected," the dark phoenix reasoned and Kai understood what he was getting at, thinking that Black Dranzer just might be on to something for once.

As Kai calmed down his burning outrage subsided. His head clear once again Kai finally noticed the girl who had joined him in Boyd's office was Cassie.

The young man pondered, "What are you doing here? You never struck me as one who would skip classes."

"Cassie here is the girl I told you about... she's the one who will be performing the duet with you at the noon hour concert next week," Mr. Boyd suplimented answering Kai's question.

"I have to sing with her... you're kidding me..." Kai groaned with a roll of his dead crimson orbs.

"If you recall Kai, I'm the one who always skips these things? So I don't want to have to go through with doing this anymore than you do, you know?" Cassie grumbled sounding irritated by the prospect as well.

"I'm sure that the two of you will do fine. I paired you together to deal specifically with this issue of stage fright you both seem to have. Now I'm glad that you know each other, so introductions aside we can get right down to work on the song that you'll be performing," Mr. Boyd declared enthusiastically and Kai heard the man claim his seat in front of one of the room's pianos.

It was as if the forty five minutes of the lesson lasted for hours as Boyd repeatedly played through the insane choice of a song the two students were expected to sing. When the bell had finally rang Boyd went on about how the two of them should work together in music practice so they would be prepared. Kai merely shrugged uncaring as he and Cassie left the office.

Walking down the hall to exit the music wing the girl who was Ray's twin broke the silence between them, "I know you don't like eating much, so I don't expect to see you in the dining hall for lunch but do you want to get together afterwards to work on some Braille or something?"

"Yeah I guess I could meet you up in the library or whatever," he replied.

"Alright I'll see you later, just try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone," Cassie teased and the girl walked off in the direction of where lunch was held.

Turning towards the courtyard Kai thought to himself, It's not like I really get into that much trouble... that girl has got to be kidding me?

"Yeah you never get into any trouble at all... You're just the perfect little student," Black Dranzer mocked and the dark phoenix wondered, "So can we get to training already?"

"No, didn't you just hear me say I was going to meet Cassie later?"

"But we need to be ready for our match tomorrow..." the bitbeast whined at its hopes being shot down.

"I'm perfectly ready! Anymore practice and those kids won't even be able to stand a chance against me. I like to get some enjoyment out of blading too and if it ends so quickly I won't be able to mess with the kids' heads. So shut up and stop bugging me about it!"

"Oh fine, just ignore me and get ready for your date with your little girlfriend," the dark phoenix sulked dejectedly.

"She's not my girlfriend! The only girl for me is Bree, you should know that by now," Kai barked out at the bitbeast.

"Yeah sure, if you say so but you've been spending so much time working with this girl and everything... you never know what could come out of it. Don't try to fool me I know you're starting to question your feelings yourself, you enjoy spending time with this girl so just admit it already."

"Even so she means nothing to me! The only reason I'm going outside is to have some peace and quiet for a while. Now shut the hell up I'm not blading!"

"Whatever you say, Kai. You can deny it to yourself all you want but we're bonded together and I know where your heart truly lies," the dark phoenix chimed its opinion, seeming overly amused by Kai's emotions.

The young man grumbled his disdain at the bitbeast's words as he stomped out into the fresh air of the courtyard. He was off to bask in the quiet just as he had planned. The annoyed beyblader allowed time to slowly dwindle by as he put all thoughts of his old teammate's sister out of his mind. Kai lay down in the soft grass in an attempt to think of nothing at all as he was determined to prove Black Dranzer's taunting theories wrong.


There's another chapter finished. I hope that you all enjoyed it and I apologize again for the long wait. I had a very bad case of writer's block but don't worry I've got this fic on track again now so I'll be going back to regular updates. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, let me know what you guys think and I'll have the next chapter up and ready soon.