"You look like you want to hit something," Anastasia nudged Kai's shoulder playfully, only to shirk back when he turned his glare onto her. "Wow, sheesh! Don't kill a girl for trying. What's wrong?"

"I don't enjoy this," said Kai shortly. He leaned back against the wall, returning his gaze to a random corner which was, fortunately, empty. Exhibition matches for the next tournament were in three months, and until then Dickinson had had the bright idea to host parties for all the teams to socialize before they went up against each other. In Kai's opinion, it was stupid, but his entire team enjoyed mingling, so he had been outnumbered and they had gone.

The only benefit was that Anastasia had been invited as well, and when she had sensed his reluctance to go, she had taken pity on his team-mates and asked him to drive her there. They had been spared his bad mood for most of the night, since she had then promptly attached herself to him. Unwilling to introduce her to everyone just yet – Tyson would probably, very loudly, ask if they were dating – he had allowed her to accompany him in his corner, and she had stayed by his side most of the night, only wandering off a few times in the couple of hours they had been there, probably to talk to her room-mates. He could see the blonde girl, Alice, who had opened the door for him the other day, eyeing them curiously.

"You don't enjoy anything, superstar. Lighten up," Anastasia mimicked his pose and leaned back against the wall as well. "Nice suit, by the way."

Kai rolled his eyes. The attire was formal, so of course he had worn a suit. It made him uncomfortable, reminding him of the many times his grandfather had forced him into attending social gatherings to show him off as his heir. He frowned, and pushed that thought away, grunting in response to Anastasia's comment. He wanted to tell her she looked stupidly beautiful again, but he didn't. She wore a pretty, light blue bandage dress with thick straps, white sandals with a slight heel that made her legs look like they went on forever, and sparkly silver earrings. Her makeup was minimal, and her hair was twisted at the nape of her neck into a messy bun, the loose tendrils making his fingers twitch with the strange urge to run his hands through them.

"I know I look stunning, by the way, you don't have to say it," she added jokingly. Her tone was teasing, but there was a faint edge to it. Kai frowned. Anastasia had never used that tone with him before, but he had heard it, often when she was talking to her sister. It was sarcastic and snide, but also guarded, as if she didn't want to reveal how she actually felt. For some reason, that annoyed him. She always told him exactly how she felt all the time, what was the problem now?

"You don't need me to tell you that you look beautiful," he said finally, quietly, almost hoping she wouldn't hear him. But she did.

For a few seconds, she merely looked at him, her face blank, as if trying to judge from his facial expressions how she should respond. Finally, she seemed to see something she understood, because she looked away and returned to gazing at the crowd. "I don't, but you could tell me anyway," she shrugged, angling her body so her arm was pressing against his again. The edge was gone from her voice, but she wasn't smiling yet. "So, do you do this all the time?"

"What?"

"Stand in a corner and stare unblinkingly into another corner."

"Yes."

"Fun," she rolled her eyes. "Play a game with me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Kai!"

"Fine," he said grudgingly. Damn crush was making it impossible to say no to her. "As long as it's not stupid."

"It won't be," she assured him, her grin back in place. She dug her phone out of the small bag that was dangling from her shoulder and jerked her head towards the people milling about. "Pick someone."

Kai raised an eyebrow, his interest reluctantly piqued.

"You pick someone, I'll do my hacking magic and we'll come up with ways for you to beat them in case you have to face them in a match soon and cross-check it with previous battle stats," she explained quickly. "Is that okay?" she added, looking at him quizzically. "I mean, I could go flirt with the guys and steal their beyblades or something but the BBA might fire me if I get caught."

Kai blinked, not even registering the fact that the very idea of her flirting with other guys made his hands clench into fists. "You want to work?"

"Why not? You won't dance with me, I know that without even asking, and beyblading is about the only thing that I can get you to talk about for longer than two minutes," she shrugged. "Are you in or not?"

Kai nodded, still a little surprised. He had expected her to talk his ear off, again, but she seemed to genuinely be making an effort to entertain him. He scanned the crowd, spotting a few faces he recognized: Julia from F-Dynasty was huddled with Matilda from Barthez Battalion, and Ray was talking animatedly to Lee from the White Tigers. He spotted an unfamiliar looking red-haired girl who was scowling at nothing in particular, and nudged Anastasia. "Her."

Anastasia narrowed her eyes at the girl and opened an application on her phone, her nails rhythmically tapping against the screen as she typed furiously. Kai counted to thirty-five in his head, and when he glanced at her screen by the end, it was showing a profile page similar to the one she had opened of him the first time they'd met.

"Her name's Claire, she's seventeen, not exactly a newbie but this is the first time she's joined a team with some backing. She's the newest member of Barthez Battalion, renamed Freedom Battalion this year," Anastasia tucked her hair behind her ear and frowned, angling her phone up so Kai could read the screen better. "Am I reading this right? She doesn't have a bitbeast?"

Kai snorted. "They must really be desperate if they've added her to the team."

"Don't underestimate her," scolded Anastasia. "She could be really good, I've seen amazing beybladers who don't have bitbeasts."

"As amazing as me?" Kai raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"No," Anastasia huffed. "Your ego really does need to be taken down a few notches."

"You've never bladed with a team?" asked Kai, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why would I do that when I can make more money fixing beyblades for every team registered under the BBA?"

Kai snorted. "Nice, Anna."

"I'm kidding," she assured him. "I've never bladed because I'm not very good. I got into it, got my bitbeast, but I liked fixing them more. I could make myself the most powerful beyblade ever, but that would be a waste because I'm not the most powerful beyblader ever."

"You're good," said Kai. Anastasia opened her mouth to argue, but Kai shook his head. "If you sucked, you know I'd tell you."

"Good point," she wrinkled up her nose. "What am I good at?"

"You're fast. You're good at defending yourself. If you can push back and attack with the same speed you dodge with, you'd be unstoppable."

Her eyes glinted. "That has a nice ring to it."

Kai rolled his eyes. "You'll never do it."

"I won't?" Anastasia sounded amused.

"You would hate to prove me right."

"Aww, Kai, you do know me!"

Kai made a noise that sounded like a laugh and returned to gazing around the room. There was a mildly attractive girl leaning against the wall opposite him who was giving him a look he knew exactly how to decipher. Normally he would smirk back, but for some reason he didn't feel like it tonight. He turned away, pointedly, and looked in the other direction. He spotted Ray coming towards them.

"Tyson's halfway gone," informed the Chinese boy once he was close enough. "Someone spiked the punch."

Anastasia giggled. From the corner of her eye, Kai saw that she was diligently looking at her phone, but she wasn't typing. Obviously trying to give them some privacy. Kai grunted. "I'm not taking him home, he threw up in my car last time."

Ray shrugged. "Tala said he would. Chief and Max are heading with them."

"I need to drop Anna home."

"Still here, superstar," said Anastasia, jerking both boys from their conversation. She didn't look up from her phone. "Don't talk about me like I'm invisible, its rude."

"We'll head home after I've taken her back," said Kai finally.

"You could at least introduce me, Kai," Anastasia sighed in exasperation, but still refused to look up. "Its only polite."

There was a beat of silence, in which Kai merely closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall again, and then Ray turned to her in slight embarrassment. "Nice to meet you. Hilary and Tala have told us a lot about you. So has Kai."

"I doubt Kai talks about me much, Ray, but you're sweet for trying," she sounded amused, eyes still glued to her phone.

Kai sighed, but didn't open his eyes. "Ray, this is Anastasia," he said slowly. "Anna, Ray Kon. White Tigers."

"Hello," Anastasia finally looked up from her phone and gave Ray a brilliant smile, accepting his outstretched hand. "Call me Anna. Which one is Tyson?"

"Blue hair," Ray grinned and jerked his thumb behind him. Anastasia gripped Kai's arm and stood on her toes, her heels giving her an added height bonus. She narrowed her eyes for a few seconds, then burst into laughter. "The one trying to balance the empty bowl on his head?" she let go of his arm. His arm felt cold without her touch. Weird.

"That's him," grinned Ray.

"He's funny. Next time Kai feels up for social interaction I'll make him introduce me to the rest of your team."

"You'll be waiting for a while then," said Kai dryly.

Anastasia laughed, and quickly engaged Ray in conversation. Kai was glad. Tala was a natural flirt, but Ray's obsession with Mariah, the pink-haired girl from the White Tigers that he had grown up with, meant that it was highly unlikely he would make any advances towards her. Internally, his train of thought made him pause, and then frown. Why did it bother him so much if someone tried to flirt with her? Probably because, despite her tendency to talk too much, he had enjoyed having her around the whole night. He had seen boys eyeing her openly, but she had acted as if she hadn't noticed. Or maybe she actually hadn't noticed. Kai wasn't stupid. It wasn't common decency that made her want to stay with him versus every other guy in the room, but exactly how far did her feelings go? His were slowly becoming immeasurable.

"I've met Mariah!" Anastasia's exclamation brought him back to the present. "Emily hates her!"

"All Starz Emily?" asked Ray in surprise. Of course, it had only taken him five minutes to start talking about his girlfriend. "How do you know her?"

"Your friend Max, his mom is my boss," explained Anastasia, and then delved into a shorter version of the story she had told Kai. He noted that she was much friendlier with Ray than she had been with Tala, but she seemed to be trying much harder to be nice than she normally did. She would have passed a sarcastic comment by now if she had been talking to anyone else, but the smile on her face when she spoke to Ray was warm and completely unaffected.

Kai wondered what she looked like to other people when she smiled at him.