Hi All,
Sorry for the delayed upload but I had family visiting.
Anyway, here's chapter 6 for you all.
I hope you enjoy and as always, any feedback is appreciated but not expected.
Enjoy x
Chapter Six
He groaned as he woke up, the pounding in his head coming to the forefront. He hadn't though he'd drunk that much last night but the hangover he was now going through said otherwise. Rolling onto his back, he rubbed his eyes before spreading his arms out and staring up at the ceiling. Even with the hangover, he couldn't regret drinking so much. He'd had a good time the night before but he was putting that down to how much fun he'd had with Alyssa.
She'd relaxed with him last night and he certainly wasn't complaining about the flirting. They hadn't gotten any further than just flirting but again, he wasn't complaining. He didn't want to move to quickly with Alyssa. She was smart, talented, kind, independent and beautiful. He didn't want to push for things that would potentially push her away. And he didn't know her completely yet.
When his head throbbed again, he groaned and finally climbed out of bed, heading down to the kitchen with his phone in hand. When he walked into the kitchen, he found Kai leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee in hand and a pot of coffee still steaming.
"Morning," Kai greeted.
"Morning," Ray response, "Where are the painkillers?"
Kai reached an arm behind him before holding the box out to him. Whilst he poured himself a mug of coffee and took some of the tablets, they stayed quiet. Once Ray was sat at the breakfast bar, waiting for the headache tablets to kick, he tried to strike up a conversation.
"You and Liana looked pretty close last night," Ray commented.
"Any you and Alyssa didn't?" Kai asked with a raised eyebrow.
Clearly Kai hadn't missed a thing last night. But neither had he. He'd seen how Liana and Kai had interacted with each other. They were getting closer each time they met.
"I'm only pointing it out," Ray stated, "Plus you both disappeared after taking Kiyoko up to the apartment."
"We went to go dance downstairs."
"You actually danced?" Ray asked shocked.
"She wanted to dance," Kai answered, "You guys don't know everything about me."
"Apparently," Ray murmured looking into his muf.
"You going to ask her on an actual date?" Kai asked.
"I don't know," Ray admitted, "I don't want to move too quickly with Alyssa."
"So let her take the lead," Kai stated making Ray look up, "Put it on her terms for a while and see where it goes."
"Is that what you're doing?" Ray questioned curiously.
"What makes you say that?"
"Just how you are with her and Kiyoko. You're acting out of character."
"Maybe. Guess you'll have to wait and see."
Ray laughed as Kai walked into the lounge. He'd have to thank Liana for bring this side of Kai out. The sound of a new reported, pulled him into the lounge to see what was being reported. Currently it was a report on a local crime that had been in the news for a few days already. Kai was in the process of reaching for the remote when the next reported started.
"In other news, the 2 most sought after bachelors of the Beyblade Industry may be off the market ladies and gentlemen," the female reporter announced, "An anonymous source sent in these photo's of Kai Hiwatari and Ray Kon of the BBA Revolution with 2 women yet to be identified."
4 photos appeared one after another showing Ray dancing with Alyssa, Ka dancing with Liana, Kai stopping the guy with the knife and both of them getting the girls home that first night. The angles of the obscured the girls from view, leaving their hair as the only discernible feature. The hairstyles were common for the area but it wouldn't take long for people to recognise their surroundings.
"Several other news stations have been sent these same pictures as well as newspapers and several social media websites. It's quickly becoming a viral sensation with fan girls around the world sharing the photos in an attempt to discover the women's identities," the male reporter continued, "Whoever they are, they must be pretty special to catch the attention of these 2 bachelors. We would like to take this moment however, to ask all our viewers and any fans of the team, to value and respect the privacy of every member of BBA Revolution, their families, friends and the 2 women in the photo. The police have advised anyone caught violating their privacy or sharing their details online will be arrested and prosecuted."
They both looked at the TV in shock for a few moments. Kai was the first to recover, turning the TV off and head up to his room with a scowl. Ray heard the shower start a few moments later but Ray couldn't blame Kai for his reaction. They'd gotten used being out of the new and now they'd be the main topics for months. Any chances of a normal possible relationship starting with Alyssa were already fading for him it seemed.
He heard his phone go off and headed into the kitchen, finding it was a message from Alyssa.
'Good thing we dyed our hair this morning lol x'
He couldn't help but laugh. Instead of being scared off, she'd just joked. Then he noticed the time and realised if they'd already dyed their hair, they'd have been awake for a few hours already. He quickly messaged her back, asking how long they'd slept if they'd already been changing hairstyles. He smiled when he got an instant reply.
'4 hours but we'll nap later. Give it 15 minutes and turn the new back on. Kai too.'
That confused him but he didn't questions it. He waited before he headed up to Kai's room, finding him putting a t-shirt on aggressively.
"You might want to put the new back on," Ray stated.
"Are you trying to piss me off?" Kai asked glaring at him.
"Don't shoot the messenger."
Kai continued to glare as he switched the TV on, seeing the same reported from the 1st report.
"We've just received reports that a mob of local fans has formed to work together to find the women from the photo's sent in earlier today," the female reporter announced.
"However, we've also just received a report that 1 woman alone has confronted them. We now go live to our cameraman on the scene."
The two of them watched silently as the scene changed to show the mob as well as the one women facing them. She had brown eyes and her hair was black with a red ombre effect. It took a minute for both of them to realise it was Liana.
"Get out of our way or we'll move you by force!" Someone yelled.
"Try it and I'll break your damn arm. Go the fuck home and start setting a decent example or I'll recalibrate you morons the hard way," Liana growled.
"We're not doing anything wrong!"
"Uh Huh. The KKK and Nazi's thought the same thing. You're all up in arms because 2 guys decided to get to know 2 women. You're interrogating everyone who has the same colour style in their hair. Last I checked that's discrimination and segregation which is all wrapped up in the bundle of idiocy I'm looking at right now," Liana argued, "So tell me, who here has ever been stalked, abused or raped?"
Kai and Ray watched curiously as most of the mob raised their hands silently.
"Well done people. You're now your attackers all rolled into 1. You're no better than they are and what an example that is for younger fans," Liana announced, " None of you have a say in their private lives just because you're fans that held unrealistic views of them. So get over yourselves. Past and present this exact behaviour left them no choice but to watch their backs, second guess motives and keep as much of their lives hidden to avoid their hysterics. Now go the fuck home, wait for the announcement and anyone who needs this lesson beaten into them, I'm more than happy to deliver it."
Amazingly, the mob broke apart and headed in different directions without further protest. The cameraman tried to move closer to Liana but she glared at him and threatened to castrate him if he got any closer. The footage cut off, changing to the flustered reporters in the studio.
"Well I think we can all learn from that. Now onto Yuki for…"
Kai turned off the TV and Ray headed back down to the kitchen to make some more coffee. His phone ringing caught his attention and he answered, using the loud speaker feature as soon as he saw the caller ID.
"Hey Alysa, we just saw the news."
"It's official, Liana's insane. That's not what I thought she'd do though."
"What was you expecting her to do?" Ray asked curiously.
"Exploit having supports to spin a tale of being injured by a fan girl so the police would break up mobs worldwide," Alyssa advised, "She's usually more calculating than that."
"Maybe she's saving it," Ray suggested as he heard a phone ring in the background.
"Hang on Ray… Hello?... Liana? What were you thinking?... And you had to be caught on TV?... What do you mean it was a happy coincidence?... Ok just give me a sec to put you on loud speaker and boot the system… It's on but somethings popped up. Just hit ok and it should do all the work for you. Yeah it is but explain why I'm now looing at a bund of photo's of people we don't know. I had a small camera with me. The program should pick up the cameraman's footage shortly. But by tonight all the clubs in the group will have copies so their facial recognition software alerts them. As long as it's a club in the group, the boys and the other teams can still have their privacy.Wait, these are all the people from the mob? Yeah, why? Did you think I rushed out to lay a guilt trip the size of Jupiter on their asses for kicks? I thought you knew me better than that. I do, I was just worried you'd gone crazy for a moment there. I was already crazy so lesson learnt. See you at the club. Lian? Dammit, Ray? You there?"
"Yeah."
"I told you she was calculating didn't I?
"I'd call her a genius personally," he joked.
"She's that too. I need to get back to the club, I think I upsety Liana. You and the team should get there early again if you're still planning on coming tonight."
"Sounds good. I'll see you later on."
Ray didn't see much of Kai for the day until it was time to head to the club. Stanley had sent a driver to collect them after collecting Tyson and Max at the dojo to get them there without bringing too much attention to them. None of them were happy about their personal lives being back in the news, but they weren't about to make it apparent or let it ruin their daily lives. When they got to the club, Alastair was waiting for them outside and looking stressed.
"Has something happened?" Ray asked once the greetings were out of the way.
"You don't know the half of it. Alyssa got back here an hour before Liana and when she finally turned up, Liana had a new injury so Alyssa blew. Huge fight, Liana leaves and Alyssa's been freaking out since," Alastair explained.
"Any idea where's she go?" Tyson asked.
"Lots of places but when she doesn't want to be found, she can't be found. She'll disappear for days at a time," Alastair stated, "And they've never fought like this before."
"Hopefully, she'll turn up tonight then," Max offered.
"You said she disappears for days at a time. She ever disappears when she's injured?" Kai asked.
They didn't get an answer and judging by Kai's silence, he hadn't expected one. But they had their hands full trying to get Alyssa to calm down. Whilst Kai and Max had helped the staff get set up, Ray with Tyson's help had calmed Alyssa down. Tyson had managed to distract her by asking about her hair which was like Liana's now but with a dark green ombre effect. It had given them their way in to distract her further and since she wasn't performing, along the way, she told them a little of what the fight was about.
How she hadn't given Liana a chance to explain the cut on her face and accused her of being reckless and of having a death wish. She even explained how Liana fought back by telling her she was keeping them all protected and she'd gotten too used to being safe. She hadn't told them anything else and it left them all curious as to why Liana was so adamant about protecting her family.
As the night drew on, Liana didn't appear and Ray had seen Kai talking with Alastair a few times, not that he caught what they discussed. And by the end of the night, Liana still hadn't shown so they'd all helped clear up whilst distracting Alyssa from panicking again. Even Kai had seemed disappointed that he wasn't giving many tells. When Max and Tyson had left in the car, Kai was talking with Alastair as Alyssa came out from the back with her coat.
"Kai," Ray called out catching his attention, "I'm going to walk Alyssa home. I'll see you when I get back."
"Thanks kid. I owe you one," Alastair responded, "You 2 get going."
"Night Uncle," Alyssa said before leaving.
For the first 5 minutes, they walked in complete silence. But Ray could tell Alyssa was beating herself up.
"Stop worrying," he said putting an arm around her, "She always comes home doesn't she?"
"She does but I don't usually cause her to disappear," Alyssa sighed.
"Well you can't change what happened but you can make sure you don't do it again if it makes you feel like this."
"Thank you for tonight. I'm not sure I'd have got through tonight without you."
"All I did was distract you but you're welcome. I like the hair by the way. How long did it take?"
"Too long. But it's nice to have more of my natural hair colour again."
"I can't decide which I prefer."
"Well you should see some of the other styles I've had. Pretty sure you'll find a favourite."
"Got any photos?"
So that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
For anyone who's an Escaflowne Fan, please check out my story Return to Gaea.
As always, any feedback is great feedback, but it's not expected.
I'll be uploading the next chapter on 25th December.
Until next time xx