Hey! I'm back, sorry about the wait. I'm swamped with assignments and exams and junk like that, but I got an idea and I just had to go with it, because I've had artist's block for the longest time now. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who's ever bothered to review this fic, it means a lot to me! Also, drop me a line and tell me which two OCs you'd like in a "Thanks for 100 Reviews!" picture, which I hope to get up some time within the next few months... I know that doesn't sound all that encouraging, but anyway... This update's a little longer than my other ones, so I'll stop rambling now!
Disclaimer: The same as always, I don't own any copyrighted names that may appear in this fic. The only things I own are my OCs, and this idea for a fic. Please don't steal them!
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Yuuji was bored. Really, really bored. He was so bored, that he didn't know quite what to do with himself. The teen was stuck sitting in the first class area with no American to amuse him. It sucked, to say the least. Ayumi had left the plane in order to go help in the search for Kai in the airport, while Makoto was simply making busy work for himself. The man was stuffing the team's carry-on luggage into an overhead compartment when Yuuji piped up.
"You know, the kids on this team aren't exactly that bright. They won't be able to find their luggage if you do that." He pointed out, shifting his view from out the window to the man halfway down the aisle.
"Really? Well then, that makes it all the more amusing for me." Makoto gave the knapsack he was holding one last push, before swiftly shutting the compartment door. He nodded to himself before walking over to the teen currently sitting beside a window. "Yuuji-san, right?" The dark haired teen looked up at the man standing off to the side, and furrowed his brow.
"I don't remember introducing myself to you."
"Well… It was really hard to put two and two together when all the guys on the team were saying 'Let's leave Yuuji behind…'" Makoto teased, smirking in a way that was eerily like the teen's own.
"Right…" The dark haired translator sighed, remembering how the other teens had basically leapt at the opportunity to leave him behind.
"Anyway, how're you?"
"Pretty good. And yourself?"
"Excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing my brother on this afternoon's flight, I haven't been able to talk to him in a while." Makoto looked genuinely excited by the prospect, and it wouldn't have surprised Yuuji if the man had started to skip down the aisle of the airplane because of that. There was a pause as the two heard Ayumi's voice on the other side of the door, assuring a customer that they were doing all that was in their power to get the plane in the air. "Is she back already?" Yuuji watched as a surprised look settled over Makoto's features as he listened on. "… She sounds annoyed." This comment caused the teen sitting near him to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh? Well to me she sounded like she genuinely cared about the customer." Yuuji stated, obviously doubting the man's words. The flight attendant was given no time to respond as the sound of the doorknob rattling became apparent. Hurriedly, he unrolled his sleeves, did up the cufflinks, and no sooner had he snapped up his jacket than Ayumi opened the door.
"Ah! Keiichiro-san, aren't you supposed to be looking for Hiwatari-san?" The flight attendant looked over the man in front of her, cocking her head to the side questioningly. Makoto didn't look at all taken-aback by this comment, and he quickly composed himself.
"Tsukishiro-san! It's good to see you again. I was searching the airport, but Makoto insisted we switch. He probably just wanted to get out of the plane, but you know how he is about these things…" The man rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at the woman. She nodded her head in an understanding manner.
"I know what you mean. Just a little earlier I had to tell him to compose himself properly. You wouldn't believe the way that man wears his uniform!" Ayumi frowned and crossed her arms. "I just wish that he'd take a page from your book and look respectable once and a while." By now, Yuuji was snickering silently as he watched Makoto try to look apologetic.
"I'm so sorry that my brother's been causing you problems Tsukishiro-san, I'll try to talk some sense in to him when he gets back, but he's so stubborn sometimes!" There was such a sincere look on the man's face as he said this, that Yuuji almost lost his composure.
"It's really not your fault Keiichiro-san, you didn't choose to be related to him. I know that you're trying your best given the circumstances." Ayumi's attention was quickly taken away from Makoto as she heard a voice on the other side of the door calling for service. She groaned, shot Makoto a look that clearly stated she wanted to be somewhere else, then headed out the door to go check on the customer. As soon as the door shut, Yuuji burst out laughing.
"Did she seriously believe that you're Makimoto-san?" He asked, trying hard to keep from laughing too loud lest Ayumi hear.
"I am Makimoto-san, remember?" Makoto made it more of a statement than a question as he snickered silently.
"You know what I mean. How could you have pulled that off though? You're wearing a flight attendant's uniform, and your name tag says Makimoto Makoto…" Yuuji trailed off, casting an inquiring look at the man who was desperately trying to compose himself in case Ayumi decided to come back in.
"That's simple. Keiichiro always changes to this uniform when he gets on the plane, and Ayumi-chan hasn't exactly got the best vision ever. I was standing far enough away that she couldn't read my name tag." He grinned devilishly and brushed a few imaginary specks of dirt off his uniform. "Worked like a charm. It helps that she hasn't seen Keiichiro for about a year or so, she's not always on duty when he flies." It was then that the man's cell phone decided to go off, and Makoto instantly snatched the device from his belt.
"What is it?" Yuuji watched as the man's grin got knocked down a few notches.
"Text message. Rei-san and Trent-san haven't responded to repeated calls to their walkie-talkie. Most likely they've not heard it, but on the off chance that that's not the case…" He didn't need to finish the sentence. Yuuji narrowed his eyes in thought, and then opened his mouth to speak.
"Text back and tell them to expect the worst."
"What?"
"Rei is too organized to let something like a walkie-talkie go missing, plus his hearing's so good he would have picked it up in an instant, and Trent wouldn't have headed out on a dead, or near dead, battery. Tell them to expect the worst." The teen held eye contact with Makoto for a little while before the man turned around. There was nothing but the sound of keys getting pressed as he brought the phone up to his ear and waited. Silence. A click, a few rapid exchanges, then… Nothing.
"Hello? Are you still there? Keiichiro, this isn't funny…" Makoto furrowed his brow as he paced along the aisle. The man who had seemed so laid back a few seconds ago was now anxiously biting his bottom lip, listening to his phone tell him the line was dead.
"So?" The dark haired translator smoothly turned in his seat so he could get a better view of the flight attendant.
"Keiichiro said that he's lost sight of Takao-san and Kyouju-san now… and his cell phone battery just died on him…" The man looked angrily out the window, before slumping into a seat opposite Yuuji. Running a hand through his hair, Makoto stared at his cell phone as if pleading it to make the connection work again.
"It doesn't sound like anyone's hurt. What're you getting all worked up for?" The teen rested his head on a hand, slight boredom creeping into his gaze. "There's nothing we can do about it anyway." He stated, his voice indicating that he was now tiring of the subject.
"Do you have any siblings, Yuuji-san?" The question caught Yuuji off guard, and he raised an eyebrow at the man before shaking his head. "Anyone special?" Again, a shake of the head. "Well when you do, you'll understand." There was a stunned silence as the teen recovered from that statement, and the next time he spoke was with a slightly softened tone.
"Well, worrying won't do anything."
"I suppose you're right…"
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Trent was sitting cross-legged on a trash bin, leaning back onto his hands and surveying the scene in front of him. Rei was looking over the map, turning it every which way and growling slightly, his pointed teeth poking out from under his upper lip. Takao, Kyouju, Max and Terry on the other hand were either pacing around annoyed, chatting, or gazing down alleyways with a half-here-half-not sort of expression on their face.
How the teens had all met up was actually quite a mystery, however they were together, so they figured they might as well stay that way. It kind of helped that none of them had any means of communication. You see, all of their walkie-talkies had either mysteriously disappeared, been crushed by random flying blades of doom, or been pick-pocketed off of them. All of those were probably connected somehow if they decided to pursue the idea, but they had more pressing matters on their hands. They were lost, and they still hadn't found Kai.
"Well, this is just great." Rei growled, crumpling up the map of Tokyo and lobbing it at Trent. "I can't read a character of this, and we're in the middle of no-man's-land. Plus, there aren't any signs around here, so we couldn't go off of that." He sighed, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "This is entirely stupid." A few gasps were heard as the teen uttered this.
"Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Has Rei-kun finally showed us his dark side?" Takao gasped so loud and hard after he said this that he started coughing. A few laughs followed this, but most of the teens were now in a sour mood, and were kind of glad that Rei had voiced their thoughts.
"It's true I guess, we can't find any sign of Kai-san, and we've gotten lost with no means of communication. Could it get any worse?" Kyouju wailed, hopping around nervously. "I mean, how are we going to get back to the plane in time? What time is it anyway?" The teen was on the verge of hyperventilating, so Terry had him sit down and carefully lead him through some deep breathing exercises.
"In through the nose, and out through the mouth… That's it." The blue-haired Canadian instructed the Japanese teen until he was breathing normally, and gave him a few reassuring pats on the shoulder. "Good, feel better now?" The brunette nodded, taking another breath in. "Anyhow, we still have forty-five minutes to go before we need to get back on the plane… Should we dedicate it to finding Kai, or getting out of here?" Once the Canadian was sure that Kyouju was going to be all right, he vaulted on top of the trash bin to join his fellow translator.
"Kai's close." This statement sent everyone into shock, since Trent sounded so sure of himself when he said it. The translator had closed his eyes, and had a look of complete concentration on his face. Stunned silence, as everyone cast strange looks at the translator who was now getting off the trash bin.
"… And… How did you know that?" Max attempted to raise an eyebrow, but failed miserably. It was just one thing after another today, surprise after surprise after surprise.
"Just a feeling." The teens were hoping that the translator would elaborate on the matter, however it didn't seem that there would be anything more. "Are we going or not?" By now, the Canadian was already at the opening of the next alleyway, pointing down it and looking expectantly at the rest of the teens. After a round of shrugging and confused looks, all of them headed out, following Trent into the unknown of Tokyo.
The alleys were like an unending maze of twists and turns, and the team found themselves marvelling at how Kai managed to navigate his way around with no problems that they knew of. Noise was muffled, they were in the inner workings of the living, breathing, bustling city of Tokyo, with no idea as to where they were, or how to get out. The only person that seemed confident was Trent, who calmly lead the pack of teenagers down alleyway after alleyway. There was silence as the teens walked, other than the small noises that managed to reach this far in, and the lack of noise was driving Takao insane.
"SO! Terry-kun… How do we know that this guy isn't getting us even more lost, huh? I mean, he could just be acting all secretive because he's planning on leaving us stranded in the middle of the city all by ourselves with no way out…" The Japanese teen yawned as he said this, clapping a hand noisily over his mouth.
"You really think that's what's going to happen?" Terry asked, looking over the other teen with an unbelieving expression on his face. "You've got the wrong guy."
"But still, how do we know that he knows where he's going?" Max piped in, anxiously watching the teen up ahead to make sure he couldn't hear the talk about him.
"Relax okay? He'll get us where we need to go, so stop worrying so much." There was an edge to the Canadian's voice as he said this, and the other teens backed away on the subject. For the usually happy-go-lucky teen to sound even the slightest bit annoyed was not a good sign, and no one wanted to be the one who pushed him over the edge. They didn't know what would happen, since it hadn't yet, but from what Trent had warned, it wasn't a pretty sight. They left that topic of conversation unexplored, as they noticed that the alleys seemed to be getting slightly less tangled, and more noise filtered through the buildings around them. "Told ya!" The small fact that Trent seemed to be guiding them out of the mess of alleys seemed to be enough to cheer up his fellow translator, and the tension in the air was immediately cut by more than half. He was now beaming from ear to ear, and the teens made a mental note that it didn't take much to distract Terry from re-enacting the explosion of Mount Vesuvius.
"Okay, okay, we admit we were wrong in doubting Trent-kun's amazing abilities, but I don't see any Ka-" Takao was cut off by the silent team captain suddenly coming into sight up ahead. Surrounding him were three boys, and one girl who seemed to be heatedly debating things amongst themselves. Kai had crossed his arms and was glaring straight ahead, as the teens turned to talk to him. They shouted at him, before shaking their heads and glancing at one another. Their frustration seemed to be growing as the Russian teen refused to even acknowledge that they were there, not even lifting a finger in response. Part of that might have been attributed to the fact that he had no idea what was being said, but even if he was able to understand, he probably wouldn't have done anything. There was a little more shouting, before one of the teens turned around and noticed the small band of teenagers standing at the opening of the alley.
"Who're you?" The youth demanded, his gaze flicking over each teen in turn. He paused for a second as his eyes fell on Rei, but he said nothing of it. "What are you doing here?" The two translators looked at each other for a second in shock. They hadn't expected this. The teen in front of them… was not speaking Japanese as they had assumed he would, but, of all languages, Mandarin. Rei froze.
"I'm… assuming you know him?" Max ventured, taking in the look on the Chinese teen's face. Rei sort of made a noise somewhere between a hiss, a growl, and a choke before making a face and shaking his head slightly. He didn't want to go there right now. "I suppose that you don't want to talk about it?" the American asked again, trying to get some sort of verbal response other than noises. It wasn't really working. The raven-haired teen next to him wasn't intent on talking at the moment.
"Well, hi there!" Terry attempted, smiling at the teens in front of him. They gave him a look that read somewhere between astonishment and annoyance, before one of the other boys spoke up. He was fairly large, not just in the wide way, but in the tall way too. Although he towered over the rest of the teens, he didn't seem very intimidating, and at the moment he was the teen with the kindest look on his features.
"You… you speak Mandarin? And well too?" He asked, looking over the blue haired Canadian. The teens with him seemed to be still in shock. "I might have guessed the boy next to you, but not you, no, not you." Terry laughed.
"Really? Some people think I look Oriental, but there's nothing of it in me!" the Canadian grinned, and some of the tension began to slowly evaporate. Max even managed to laugh at the comment.
"So, what are you here for?" one of the other teens demanded, this one shorter and more sly looking. This time it was Kai who spoke up, much to the entire crowd of teen's disbelief. Some even jumped at the sound of his voice.
"They're here for me." He answered simply, looking up and glowering at his team. The boys weren't deterred.
"You have to come back with us! Our flight leaves in like… half an hour, and there are people everywhere looking for you! Come on, don't be selfish, it's not fair to the rest of us!" Takao ranted and raged for a few minutes at the Russian teen, his face becoming almost red enough to be a stop sign. All through the rant, the Chinese teens around Kai simply stood and watched in amusement as the teen was told off by his teammate. The girl kept casting Rei glances, some of them annoyed, others hopeful, and still others downright angry. The raven haired teen didn't seem to be noticing the continuous attention he was attracting from the girl, although he might have just been trying to ignore her. This caused the girl to look even more annoyed and desperate as she tried to grab his attention.
After Takao basically threatened to kill Kai if he didn't come with them, the teen showed signs of possibly moving from the spot he'd been in since they'd encountered him. In an explosive end, the Russian teen eventually began walking away, back through the alleys supposedly on his way to the meeting spot that Takao had told him about in his rant. The rest of the teens quickly turned tail and followed him, leaving the Chinese teens to themselves.
"That was… quite interesting." One of them commented once the other teens were out of earshot.
"Indeed" agreed the other.
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There was scrambling, constant walkie-talkie calling and over all chaos as the teens returned to the agreed meeting place, with Kai in tow. Dozens of guards were called back from scouring the alleys and streets of Tokyo, calls going out telling them that the objective had been achieved, the Russian teen had been found. Moreover, he appeared to be in the mood to co-operate, so it was even better than they had expected. There was a slight air of panic as some guards reported that they couldn't get a hold of Keiichiro on his phone or his walkie-talkie. After contacting Makoto, the men were in even more of a frenzy as they were informed of Keiichiro's dead battery, and his lack of a communication device. They were just about to dispatch more people to go look for the translator, when he showed up in a taxi looking slightly rumpled, but none too worse for the wear. He appeared surprised as soon as he caught sight of Kai, and was then quick to usher the boys into a near by cab to get rushed back to the airport. Time was ticking away, and with only ten minutes left the teens blasted through security once more, and ran for the plane like the devil was on their backs. Makoto was standing anxiously at the doorway, a look of utter relief washing over his face when he saw the teens on their way. Greeting them, he basically tackled his younger brother as he repeatedly told the man off for scaring him like that.
"I'm… I'm sorry! Ack, get off of me, it wasn't that much of a scare!" Keiichiro protested, attempting to pry his older brother off of him.
"It was! Do you know how bad it is to be on the receiving end of a call like the one you gave me? Do you? You don't! What if something had happened?" The teens almost found it amusing how Makoto was so shaken up about the matter, but it was also nice to see how much he cared. However, Keiichiro didn't seem to share the sentiments and was quite comically struggling to get away. Now that the teens were able to properly compare the two men, they took advantage of the situation to try and find a difference. However, none of them managed to, so they simply settled for watching as Keiichiro acted in a way they'd never seen before.
"Makoto! Get off of me! Come on, this isn't fair, you're shutting down my circulatory system!" Keiichiro tugged at the older man's arm, trying desperately to move it, and turning quite red in the process. After a few more protests, Makoto let go and held his brother by the shoulders at arm's length.
"You're okay right? Nothing happened? Take off that suit, you're making me sweat just looking at you!" As the flight attendant's gaze flicked over the other man, the translator simply sighed and rolled his eyes.
"You're not much different, I'm surprised Tsukishiro-san managed to get you to do up your jacket and keep your sleeves down." At the mention of her name, the female popped her head out the door.
"Ah! Keii…chi…ro…-sa…n…" The woman trailed off, noticing that both men were looking at her expectantly as if waiting for the question she seemed to be ready to pose. Rubbing her temples, Ayumi looked from one to the other and the teens could see the gears working as she tried to figure out who was who. Finally seeming to decide, she turned to face the translator with a look of exasperation.
"So, not only did you steal his search area, but you also stole his clothes! You're impossible!" Ayumi threw up her hands in annoyance, as the man to whom the comment was aimed looked perplexed.
"What?" Was the simple question, as Keiichiro tried to figure out what he'd done wrong and whose clothes he'd stolen.
"Don't you play dumb with me Makoto! You just had to ruin Keiichiro-san's reputation didn't you? I bet you that you didn't even look for Hiwatari-san!" The woman looked quite ready to beat the man with a blunt object, and it quickly became apparent that she favoured Keiichiro over Makoto. Heck, she even gave Keiichiro an honorific, while Makoto was left with none. The translator spent a few seconds looking perplexed, before a mischievous look settled on his features. The teens were surprised, the man always seemed so formal with them, and now he was showing them a completely different side to his personality they couldn't have imagined.
"Ah, Ayumi-cccchhhhaaaannnnn! It's not my fault that the airplane is stuffy and hot! Wouldn't you like to get out of it? Plus, we could pull off the switch, so why not?" Grinning cheekily, Keiichiro crossed his arms and nodded. "Anyway, I wouldn't ruin your precious Keiichiro's reputation, why would I? He'd just go and ruin mine!" At this comment, Ayumi glared daggers towards the man.
"You don't have any reputation left to ruin!" She seethed, and Makoto placed a hand gently on her shoulder as if to try and calm her down.
"Please don't listen to him, he's just trying to rile you up. Besides, I was the one who agreed to go along with the idea…" He trailed off, watching as the woman instantly changed attitudes.
"Don't try and take the blame Keiichiro-san! You know full well that it was all that brother of yours' fault! I wish that you'd stop trying to protect him, one day you're not going to be there to help him!" Keiichiro looked offended, as Makoto rubbed the woman's shoulder soothingly.
"Makoto is my brother, I care for him no matter what he does." the flight attendant stated, and the woman again began to calm down. "Anyway, what is it that you wanted to tell me that you came out here for?" It was as if a light had gone on in the woman's mind, and she instantly turned to face her co-worker (though she was fairly convinced he was her beloved translator).
"That's right! The plane is leaving soon, are you going to be on this flight or the next?" she asked, looking hopefully at the man.
"I have to go back to Daitenji-san, so I'll switch clothes with Makoto and return to the Beyblade Corp. office building." At this statement, the woman instantly looked saddened.
"But, you'll have me to keep you company!" Keiichiro chimed in, grinning from ear-to-ear. Ayumi simply glared.
"Perfect, just what I needed." She grumbled, heading back onto the plane.
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... I do believe my OCs are taking over... Yup... Anyway, I don't know the Japanese names for other characters, so I'll (unfortunately) be using the English dub names for the rest of them. Don't forget to vote on your two favourite OCs! (Terry, Trent, Yuuji, Nathaniel, Kenji, Rebecca, Wyatt, Keiichiro, Makoto, Mamoru, or Ayumi) I'll try hard to keep things going! Later!
