Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade in any way. The only characters I own are Marina, Pyro and Venera as they are my OCs. I have permission to use Tari from my friend, Smiffyizdabest. Any other references I make are purely coincidental.
Chapter 14: Brothers Fix Problems
Over the next day, the guys, especially Ian, were having a hard time not spilling the good news. Tari had noticed how Ian was excited, but since he was always energetic, she shrugged it off. Kai of course wasn't giving anything away in any way.
There was one matter that Tala needed to discuss with Kai, though he wasn't sure how he'd bring it up in a conversation, it doesn't help that Kai doesn't talk much. He had already discussed the situation with Bryan then Spencer told him to maybe consider having TWO best men for his wedding. Bryan gave Spencer a funny look, but agreed, so now Tala had to ask Kai to see if he was even remotely interested.
He was saved the trouble of starting a conversation when Kai talked to him first.
"What is up with you lately, Tala? You should be happier than this since you're getting married soon." he asked his friend.
"I am happy, Kai. It's not anything like that, just thinking..." Tala started then his sentence trailed off into nothingness.
"If this is about Brooklyn coming back or not, don't let it worry you that much. He'll come back once sorted." said Kai.
Tala just stood there, unsure of how to ask Kai this. He wondered if he was being silly by backing out, so decided to just come out with it.
"Kai, we've been friends a long time right?" he asked.
Kai looked at him a little funny and said "Yeah. Where are you going with this, Tala?"
"Well, I've known Bryan a long time too and I was stuck between two choices for best man. Spencer suggested I have two. Bryan has accepted being one. I was wondering if you would be interested in being the other." he answered.
Kai looked surprised, but kept his composure as he thought about it.
"I'll admit I never expected you to ask me. I thought Bryan or no one, but...sure, I will share the position with Bryan." said Kai with a small smirk.
"Thanks, Kai. We may argue occasionally, but we are good friends." said Tala and he smirked back.
"No, thank you, Tala. I never thought I'd be considered to be your...or one of your best men." said Kai and both friends chuckled slightly.
"At least I know the rings will be safe now." Tala joked as he knew Bryan would probably lose them.
"Like you could trust Bryan with them. It'd be like trusting Ian with breakable objects." said Kai.
"Yeah, or trusting children to be around Ian." said Tala.
"Children? Don't tell me you're thinking about that when you're not even married yet." said Kai surprised.
"What? No, well, not really..." answered Tala slowly and Kai noticed something else was bothering the red head.
"What's up, Tala?" he asked.
"I'm part machine, Kai...what will my children think of me?" Tala asked, and Kai hadn't expected that question.
"Tala, either way, you'll be their father. They won't abandon you because of that, or think less of you. They'll just love you because you'll be their father and will love them and care for them." answered Kai and Tala nodded, though he wasn't sure if he believed Kai.
"Tala, listen to me. You'll be a great father, you're not the only one who has the possibility of your children going against you. Myself, Tari and the rest of your team have it too." he continued.
"You're saying we'll all be great parents. Any child of yours would be a happy child." said Tala with another smirk. Kai smirked back.
"Tar is going to have to wait a while anyway." he said and Tala raised an eyebrow until he figured out why.
"Protective older brother act again." he replied and Kai gave Tala a glare.
"Why am I having this conversation with you anyway?" Kai asked and Tala growled. Kai's glare hardened and both friends were back to square one: glaring then square two: arguing.
Tari was sitting in the back yard of Tyson's dojo when Marina came out and sat next to her.
"How are you doing, Tar?" she asked.
Tari didn't answer so Marina fiddled with her ring. Tari looked over and noticed it, she didn't seem too surprised, but lightly smiled to herself before returning to her usual look.
"Congratulations, Marina." she said.
"Huh? Oh, the engagement." said Marina as she caught up to what Tari had said. "Thank you, Tari."
"Marina, can I talk to you?" called Tala.
"Sure." said Marina and stood up. "See ya later, Tar." and she went over to Tala, who was still with Kai, yet the glaring/argument had stopped.
"Everything okay?" Tala asked.
"Yeah, I just want to cheer Tari up, but I'm not sure how to." said Marina.
"It could take Tari a while to forgive Brooklyn when he comes back." said Tala and Marina looked up at him.
"Tala's right. Brooklyn has upset Tari and it took her a long time to forgive Tala after he broke up with her." said Kai.
"I just hope Brooklyn gets back to normal soon." said Marina. Tala and Kai nodded.
Later on, Tari was training by herself and her blade was smashing through some wooden blocks. It came round to smash another, but bounced off because Tari had used so much energy on the others.
"Let's try again, Spiked Tiger." she said in her mind as she picked her blade up.
"Whenever you're ready, Tari, though shouldn't you rest?" asked the golden tiger.
Tari just released her blade, but as she was about to hit the block, a blue blade blocked her path and sent her blade flying back to her hand. Tari looked up as the blue blade returned to the hand of its owner.
"Kai, what are you doing here?" asked Tari in an annoyed tone.
Kai hn'd. "I just want to know what's going on with you, Tar." he answered.
"Nothing." she replied and placed her blade back in her launcher.
"That won't cut it, Tar. I want to know what's going on." he said with his arms crossed over his chest.
Tari frowned. She could really hate her brother's stubbornness in these situations.
"Well?" he asked.
"You always want us to butt out of your life, so why don't you butt out of ours?" she asked and Kai growled lightly.
"There's more than one way to get an answer." he said and placed his blade in his launcher.
"Okay, bring it on, Kai." Tari said, though very slightly unconfidently as she didn't think she could beat her brother.
"3...2...1...let it rip!" both Hiwataris shouted as they released their blades.
Kai's blade landed on the hard concrete ground perfectly. Tari's blade left a small crack in the floor as she had used more power in her launch.
"Attack, Dranzer!" shouted Kai and his blue blade charged towards Tari's purple blade and pushed against it.
"Hold up, Spiked Tiger!" commanded Tari and her blade pushed back against the blue blade.
"Just like the old days, right Tar?" asked Kai with a smirk and he was pleased that she smirked back.
The blades kept pushing against each other until Kai turned it up a notch.
"Blazing Gigs!" he shouted. Tari gasped as she hadn't seen that coming at this point of the battle.
"Spiked Twister!" she shouted, but the twister didn't rise in time and her blade was pounded by fire and the blue blade crashed into the purple blade, knocking it down so it stopped spinning.
"Good battle, Tar." said Kai as he caught his blade.
Tari picked up her blade and smirked in agreement.
"Feeling better?" he asked her.
"Much better, thanks Kai." said Tari. Kai smiled that he had succeeded in cheering his sister up.
Suddenly a tennis ball came flying in and nearly hit Tari, she stepped back in time as it flew past her, brushing her hair as it went.
"Oh wow...too close." said Ian as he came running in. He had been playing ball with Spencer it seemed.
"Are you trying to kill someone, Ian?" Tari asked the indigo haired teen in an annoyed tone.
Ian gulped and ran for his life.
"Get back here, shrimp!" shouted Tari as she ran after Ian while he screamed for someone to help him.
Kai picked up Ian's forgotten tennis ball and just smirked that things were back to normal-ish. He later returned the ball to Spencer while Ian gasped for air from being so tired running all over the neighbourhood, but Tari looked okay.
"I need to do more fitness stuff." gasped Ian and the others all laughed at him.